Reviews with content warning for Gore - The Assassin's Blade

Reviews tagging 'Gore'

The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas

107 reviews

jmdressel's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

surprisingly, this is probably my least favorite book of this series so far. it seemed very repetitive and i’ve enjoyed having small parts of the main character’s past experience revealed little by little. for me, i think reading extensively about a character’s past can feel like it boggs down the present writing portions. looking forward to getting back into the meat of the story!

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leguminosae's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

I was going to give up on this series until I read this book.

Things I liked:

A more immature, teenage voice from our protag (interesting to see. She also is a lot more manipulatable and you get sad for her)
Compelling side characters
We love a — *hand outstretched* Come with me. Think of what we could do. Together. — moment between women
The roller coaster of the relationship she has with [important character]

I feel like I was finally able to appreciate the main character in a way I wasn’t really connecting with before.

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_marycappiello3's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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poppyskills's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Read this 3rd in the series for sure, it adds many levels to Sardothiens character, it’s worth the exposition and pulling through the other books. Personally, I really liked finding out her history after having met her as a person in Throne of Glass, and don’t really understand how someone can read this first

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emilymay153's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The assassin and the pirate lord: 4.75⭐
This one is possibly my favourite of all the short stories in this collection. I love the action and the character development of the characters starting to question their own motivations.

The assassin and the healer: 4⭐
This one is slower paced and a lot less happened but I did enjoy seeing Calaena's interactions with another female character.

The assassin and the desert: 4.25⭐
Another favourite. This one is fast-paced and a lot happens. It has major character development for Calaena in many ways.

This is also where the theme of betrayal starts to kick in and gives understanding to Calaena's hesitation to trust in the Throne of Glass series.

The assassin and the underworld: 5⭐
I rated this the highest of the stories immediately after reading this one but the plot was the least memorable after finishing the entire book. This might just be because the events in The Assassin and the Empire overshadow it a bit.

This is the one where Sam and Calaena move out from the Assassins Guild after Calaena finding out she was betrayed on her latest mission as she didn't have the correct facts.

I did like the subtle hint to the relationship Calaena has with music and how she gets lost in it, which is later used in the Throne of Glass series.

The assassin and the empire: 4⭐

This one is a complicated one. I think it's mostly just frustrating because there are so many ways that the story could have ended differently. Maybe I'm just mad Sam dies. I think the whole idea of them doing one last job and organising it themselves was never going to go well since they have never been involved in that side of the planning before. The fact they went for what is said to be one of the hardest jobs just doesn't make sense to me. All I can think of is that it speaks to their desperation to leave Rifhold.

Sidenote: I know I'm supposed to dislike Arobynn as a character but for some reason I don't.

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