The Assassin's Blade Review
Celaena Sardothien is Adarlan's most feared assassin. As part of the Assassin's Guild, her allegiance is to her master, Arobynn Hamel, yet Celaena listens to no one and trusts only her fellow killer-for-hire, Sam. In these action-packed novellas - together in one edition for the first time - Celaena embarks on five daring missions. They take her from remote islands to hostile deserts, where she fights to liberate slaves and seeks to avenge the tyrannous. But she is acting against Arobynn's orders and could suffer an unimaginable punishment for such treachery. Will Celaena ever be truly free? Explore the dark underworld of this kick-ass heroine to find out. (Image and synopsis from Goodreads)
There are 5 stories that follow Celena before her adventures in Throne of Glass. I loved this book because it gave more background to Celaena and I felt like I had been let in on an inside joke after reading this. They always talked about these events, but they don’t make sense until you read the book. I enjoyed getting a better picture of who Celaena was before and what made her the person she is Throne of Glass.
The first story is the Assassin and The Pirate Lord. This one follows Celaena and her fellow assassin, Sam Cortland, as they are sent on a mission to Skull’s Bay and the infamous pirate Lord, Rolfe. I loved this story because we get to see Celaena and Sam go from hating each other’s guts to not minding the other. In this novella we see that Celaena might actually have a heart, which is a nice change for all of the ruthless killing. This was my second favorite overall and was a great start to the novellas!
The second story is the Assassin and The Healer. This was the shortest story and portrayed an encounter between Celaena and a bar maid. Again, we see that Celaena cares for people other than herself, she just has an interesting way of showing it! Most of the stories pick up one after another, but this one does not. At first I was annoyed by this, but as you continue to read you understand why Sarah did this. I would say this was my fourth favorite overall. I liked it, but there were other I absolutely loved.
The Assassin and the The Desert is the third story that follows Celaena as she is being trained by the Silent Assassins. I loved seeing her do actual assassin-y stuff and having to navigate the rules of the Master. There was so much going on in this story in this story and so many new characters introduced. This was my favorite overall! I absolutely loved this story!
The Assassin and the Underworld is the fourth story that follows Celaena and Sam as they are back in Ardalan. We get to see more of the Assassin’s Guild and understand what they really do. In this story, Celaena begins to question the things she has always known and she develops a lot as a character. This was my third favorite overall. I loved the development, but it was slightly slower paced than the others.
The final story is The Assassin and the Empire. This follows Celaena and Sam on another mission, the most deadly either one of them had ever taken on. This was my fifth favorite purely because I hated the ending with my entire being. It was written well, the plot fast and the characters lovely, but it killed me. It absolutely killed me.
Since the Assassin's Blade is the bind up of prequel novellas, it is hard to tell when to read them. Sarah J. Maas says to think of them as a “book 0”. I read them after Crown of Midnight for two reasons: one being that I did not have the book until then, and the second being that this is the publication order. You can read this book before, but I personally think it makes more sense within the context of the world. I would recommend reading it after Throne of Glass so that you can be accustomed to the world, but not everything has been spoiled yet. By the time I finished Crown of Midnight, I already knew how all of them were going to end. But if you read them after Throne of Glass, there is less that is spoiled. Honestly, it is just your personal preference. You can read these stories at any time and they will still be good and give insight to Celaena’s life.
I gave this book 5/5 stars overall. I loved seeing what Celaena was like before and being able to better understand her character. Have you read The Assassin’s Blade? Which story was your favorite? Please comment below. I would love to hear from you!
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