Right off the bat, I have to say that I absolutely loved The Assassin’s Blade as a whole for the most part. I found all five of the novellas that are featured in this book very enjoyable to a certain extent. Reading The Assassin’s Blade was also definitely a very interesting experience for me, since I originally read Throne of Glass for the first time back in 2017; not realizing that most fans of the Throne of Glass series actually recommend reading this book before reading the book Throne of Glass since the five novellas that are featured in this book essentially serve as a prequel to the series. Reading The Assassin’s Blade after having already read Throne of Glass ultimately caused me to more or less see a few things that happened in the five novellas featured in this book coming from the get-go. However, I thought it was also kind of fun to read this book after reading Throne of Glass, because it gave me the chance to learn the origins behind a few aspects of the series that I was already aware of.
Since The
Assassin’s Blade is a book of five novellas, I decided that the way I would
approach reviewing the book by briefly reviewing each novella in the book
individually, give each novella their own individual score, and my final overall
score for the book is the average of the five individual scores. That being
said, here are my thoughts on all five novellas that are featured in The
Assassin’s Blade.
The Assassin
and the Pirate Lord
I thought that The
Assassin and the Pirate Lord was a great novella to open the book with, and
I loved it for many reasons. For starters, Maas definitely did a great job of
introducing Celaena as the protagonist of the Throne of Glass series in
this novella, and giving people a feel for what she’s like as a character. Plus,
the overall plot of The Assassin and the Pirate Lord worked very well for
a novella in the sense that it focused on Celaena completing a single mission
that her master, Arobynn, sent her on with Sam; which proved to be a very interesting
and well developed concept for a story within the novella’s relatively short
length. (This novella is 75 pages long in the hardback edition of The
Assassin's Blade.)
As far as I’m
concerned, The Assassin and the Pirate Lord’s three greatest strengths are
Maas’ writing for Celaena as the protagonist of the series, her writing for Sam,
and her writing for Celaena and Sam’s friendship. I absolutely loved the somewhat
playful and the platonically affectionate dynamic of their friendship, because
it really made the interactions between them throughout the novella very entertaining.
That being said, the only genuine complaint that I have about The Assassin
and the Pirate Lord is the fact that I found the first chapter somewhat
chaotic due to quite a few characters being featured in the chapter that weren’t
present or a part of the novella’s plot after that chapter. I really think the
first chapter could have benefitted from Maas not featuring as many characters
in the first chapter as she did.
Ultimately, The
Assassin and the Pirate Lord was definitely a great novella to open The
Assassin’s Blade with. It really did a great job of introducing Celaena as
the protagonist of the Throne of Glass series. Sam is also a great character,
and the friendship between Celaena and Sam was a major highlight of the novella
for me. Despite the fact that I found the first chapter a little chaotic due to
the fact that it featured a lot of characters weren’t present for the rest of
the novella, I thought that the overall plot of The Assassin and the Pirate
Lord was executed very well. Reading The Assassin and the Pirate Lord
definitely got me even more excited about finally revisiting Maas’ Throne of
Glass series after having only read Throne of Glass for the first
time back in 2017.
That being
said, my score for The Assassin and the Pirate Lord is 9 out of 10.
The Assassin
and the Healer
I really liked The
Assassin and the Healer for the most part, and if I’m being completely honest,
this particular novella definitely wasn’t quite what I had been expecting prior
to reading it. Considering that Celaena is the protagonist of the Throne of
Glass series, the fact that The Assassin and the Healer focused on
the character Yrene, and to a small extent the character Nolan, more than it
focused on Celaena really surprised me. I think that was somewhat of a bold
move on Sarah J. Maas’ part since I’m guessing we won’t be seeing Yrene, or
Nolan, again as the series continues. However, I think that having this
particular novella focus primarily on Yrene allowed Maas to further develop
Celaena in a very interesting way; in the sense that we got the chance to see
how other people view Celaena as a person.
Yrene was
definitely a very interesting character, and I thought that Maas did a really good
job of developing her as a character in the small amount of time that she had
to focus on Yrene. I loved the way that Maas really emphasized the fact that Yrene’s
life hasn’t gone the way she was she was hoping it would in the sense that she
felt like she was somewhat stuck in a rut, since she had been working at White
Pig Inn longer than she had initially been planning to, or hoping to; since her
dream was ultimately to become a healer. That aspect of Yrene and the novella
as a whole definitely made her a character that I think a lot of people who
read this book will be able to relate to.
When The
Assassin and the Healer focused on Celaena, the novella ultimately felt
like somewhat of an epilogue to The Assassin and the Pirate Lord due to
the fact that Maas followed up on the events that happened at the end of that
novella by referencing her master, Arobynn Hamel’s, reaction to Celaena’s
actions at the end of The Assassin and the Pirate Lord. It’s mentioned
in the narrative, that the assignment that Celaena was sent on in this novella
was essentially her punishment for those actions.
I love the fact
that this novella gives the reader a chance to see somewhat of a different,
kinder, and more caring side of Celaena when it comes to the way she gives Yrene
a lesson in self-defense, so she’s better equipped to defend herself in dangerous
situations. Plus, Celaena also provides Yrene with the financial means to quit
her job at the White Pig Inn, and go train to be a healer like she wanted to at
the end of the novella.
The Assassin
and the Healer was
definitely somewhat of an odd novella, as far as I’m concerned, in the sense
that it was rather lowkey in terms of the plot of the novella not really having
an overarching conflict to it. That being said, I really enjoyed the fact that
this particular novella felt like somewhat of a character piece for Celaena,
and primarily focused on fleshing her out a little bit more as the protagonist
of the series. Ultimately, I have to say that for that reason alone, The
Assassin and the Healer really got me even more excited to continue reading
The Assassin’s Blade than I already was.
That being
said, my score for The
Assassin and the Healer is 8
out of 10.
The Assassin
and the Desert
The Assassin
and the Desert is
definitely my favorite novella in The Assassin’s Blade so far, and I
loved this novella for many reasons. For starters, I love the fact that it
continues to build upon the events that have taken place in the first two novellas
that are featured in this book; which is something that has really made this
book feel like an actual novel to me, instead of just being a collection of
novellas like I had been expecting The Assassin’s Blade to feel like
prior to reading this book. I also love the fact that the overall plot of this
novella is very action-packed, and full of quite a few twists and turns
throughout the whole story.
As much as I
loved the action-packed nature of The Assassin and the Desert, my
favorite thing about this novella is definitely the fact that not only did it
add to the complexity of Celaena as the protagonist of the Throne of Glass
series; it also features a variety of complex secondary characters, namely
Ansel, who I quickly fell in love with when I was reading this novella. I
really loved the friendship between Celaena and Ansel pretty much right from
the beginning of the novella, so I was genuinely surprised when she betrayed
Celaena. That being said, the fact that Ansel ended up betraying Celaena, and just
her actions in general throughout the entire novella is ultimately what made
her such a complex and intriguing character, in my opinion. The fact that I
quickly came to love Ansel as a character prompted me to look on the Throne
of Glass wiki to see if I could find anything about whether or not Ansel is
featured in any of the other books in the series; and I was thrilled to
discover that in addition to being mentioned in Queen of Shadows, she
also appears in Empire of Storms and Kingdom of Ash.
Discovering
that The Assassin and the Desert isn’t the only time people will be
seeing Ansel in the Throne of Glass series is definitely something that
made me think that it truly is important to read The Assassin’s Blade; and
if I’m being completely honest, prior to reading this novella, I had always
wondered if it really was necessary that people actually read this book. All in
all, The Assassin and the Desert truly is my favorite novella in this
book so far.
That being said,
my score for The
Assassin and the Desert is 10
out of 10.
The Assassin
and the Underworld
While I didn’t
necessarily hate The Assassin and the Underworld, it’s definitely my
least favorite novella in the book. On the positive side of things, I thought that
Maas did a great job of fleshing Celaena out as a character in this novella by exploring
some of her interests and her life outside of being an assassin. Honestly, I
was really surprised by the fact that the opera performance that Celaena and
other assassins went to as a way of scouting out their latest target made her
cry. I just didn’t see Celaena as being the kind of person who would ever cry
over an opera performance; but I ultimately think that the whole thing with her
crying in reaction to the opera was a great way for Maas to portray Celaena as
being a character who’s very complex and as someone who has a lot of depth.
I was thrilled
to see Sam finally return in The Assassin and the Underworld. The parts
of this novella’s plot that focused on the relationship between Celaena and
Sam, and the romantic tension that exists between them were definitely the
other major highlight of The Assassin and the Underworld for me
personally. The parts of the novella involving Lysandra also proved to be
rather entertaining as well. One last positive comment that I would like to
make about The Assassin and the Underworld, is that I thought it was really
great to see Celaena sever her ties to Arobynn Hamel at the end of this novella.
While I do think that Arobynn does care about Celaena in his own messed up way;
he definitely isn’t the nicest person for her, or anybody for that matter, to
have to deal with. That being said, what ultimately makes The Assassin and
the Underworld my least favorite novella in The Assassin’s Blade is
the fact that I didn’t find the actual job that Celaena and the other assassins
were working on in this novella all that interesting; and that’s definitely not
a good thing since their latest job is a major part of The Assassin and the Underworld’s
plot.
All things
considered, my score for The Assassin and the Underworld is 5 out
of 10.
The Assassin
and the Empire*************
The Assassin
and the Empire continued
the trend of building upon the events that took place in the first four novellas
in The Assassin’s Blade; which not only once again caused The
Assassin’s Blade to feel like a traditional novel to me, it was also a
great way to end The Assassin’s Blade as a whole. That being said, while
I did love The Assassin and the Empire, I do have a couple complaints
about the novella. In terms of what I liked about this novella, I found the
overall plot of The Assassin and the Empire very interesting and action-packed.
Plus, the parts of the novella that focused on Celaena and Sam’s relationship
were once again a major highlight of the plot for me, just like their
relationship has been a real highlight for me in the other four novellas that
are featured in this book.
One storytelling
technique that I’ve always had somewhat mixed feelings about is nonlinear storytelling
that starts off on a rather cryptic and dramatic note, and then shows the
events leading up to the moment that was hinted at at the beginning of the
story. The reason why I have mixed feelings about this storytelling technique
is because there have been many times over the years where I ultimately felt
like it led to the plot coming across as being anticlimactic, and there being a
lack of a satisfying payoff for the audience. That being said, in this case, I
thought that Maas did a great job of executing the nonlinear structure of the
plot of The Assassin and the Empire in a way that I ultimately felt had
a very satisfying payoff; and as someone who has already read the book, Throne
of Glass, before, I thought that she also did a fantastic job of leading
into the events that take place in that book.
Even though I
was happy to see Celaena trying to sever her ties to Arobynn in The Assassin
and the Underworld, I have to admit that I did enjoy her interactions with
him in this novella. While Arobynn is without a doubt a rather shady person,
his shadiness does provide quite a bit of interesting drama from a storytelling
standpoint. For that reason, I kind of hope that Arobynn sticks around to serve
as a villain for the Throne of Glass series as the series continues.
As I said at
the beginning of this review, I thought that it was kind of fun to read this
book after having already read Throne of Glass several years ago;
because it gave me the chance to learn about the origins behind a few aspects
of the series that I was already aware of. I especially loved learning that
Celaena’s mantra, “My name is Celaena Sardothien, and I will not be afraid.”,
originates from Sam telling her in this novella that he says the mantra, “My
name is Sam Cortland, and I will not be afraid.”, whenever he’s scared.
Having already
read Throne of Glass prior to reading The Assassin’s Blade definitely
made it so that I pretty much saw Sam’s death in The Assassin and the Empire
coming ever since I read The Assassin and the Pirate Lord, since he hadn’t
appeared in that book. That being said, while I thought that Sam’s death was
rather predictable, I thought that Maas handled writing Sam’s death and Celaena’s
reaction to it pretty well for the most part. However, that does bring me to
the one genuine complaint that I have about The Assassin and the Empire.
I personally found the overall pacing of the plot slightly jarring once I got
to the part of the novella where Sam dies; due to the fact that Maas didn’t
spend very much time having Celaena react to Sam’s death and acknowledge his
death before Maas moved on to the next part of this novella’s plot.
Perhaps Maas
was trying to execute Sam’s death, and Celaena’s
reaction to his death, in a way that illustrates how life doesn’t necessarily
pause or stop when people are faced with the death of a loved one, or any kind
of tragedy, or problem for that matter; so they have time to slow down, work
through it, or grieve before they move on with their lives. Life and the world
just keep moving forward, and unfortunately the hits can keep on coming in a
person’s life; which was definitely the case for Celaena in this novella. If
that was indeed what Maas was going for in terms of how she handled the writing
for Sam’s death and the overall plot of The Assassin and the Empire as a
whole, I think she did a great job of conveying that idea. That being said, when
it comes to how Maas ultimately handled the writing for Sam’s death and Celaena’s
reaction to it, I still honestly kind of feel like Maas treated that aspect
this novella’s plot as something that she simply needed to check off her To-Do
list in terms of all things she wanted to accomplish in The Assassin and the
Empire; instead of putting at least a little bit more time and effort into
the writing for that aspect of this novella than she did, as far as I’m concerned.
However, despite the complaints that I have about Maas’ writing for Sam’s death
in this novella, I ultimately thought that The Assassin and the Empire
was not only a great way to end this book, it was also a great way to set
things up for the book, Throne of Glass.
All things
considered, my score for The Assassin and the Empire is 9 out of
10.
Final
Thoughts
As a whole, The
Assassin’s Blade definitely does a great job of serving as a prequel to the
Throne of Glass series. I felt like all five of these novellas did a
really good job of introducing both Celaena, as the protagonist of the Throne
of Glass series, and the world that the series is set in to people who are
just getting into reading the series. As I said earlier in this review, my favorite
novella in this book is definitely The Assassin and the Desert, and my least
favorite novella in the book is The Assassin and the Underworld.
Finally, I have to say that I’m definitely very excited to reread Throne of
Glass, and then read the rest of the Throne of Glass series after
reading this book. Sarah J. Maas’ writing might not always be perfect, but as
someone who has read all of the books in her A Court of Thorns and Roses
series (A Court of Thorns and Roses, A Court of Mist and Fury, A Court of Wings and Ruin, and A Court of Frost and Starlight) that have been released so far, I can definitely always
count on her books to be insanely addictive!
That being
said, my overall score for The Assassin’s Blade is 8 out of 10.
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