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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!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Toxic relationship, and Vomit
Minor: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Fire/Fire injury, and War
poppyskills's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
kristanjenkins's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Toxic friendship, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
shadow_summit's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
The Assassin and The Pirate King - 4.5 🌟
The Assassin and the Healer - 5 🌟
The Assassin and the Desert - 4.5 🌟
The Assassin and the Underworld - 3.5 🌟
The Assassin and the Empire - 3 🌟
Tbh the first few novellas featured in this book are pretty fun and show a lot of growth for our FL, Celaena, but of course it was more difficult to get through the last two books.
The main reason is for the silly decisions of Celaena and her blindness to obvious clues.
At the end of The Assassin and the Desert, you think you've reached a point of realisation and clarity of path for Celaena, but the next novella almost casts us back to the very beginning in terms of Celaena's personal growth, though thanks to our boi, Sam, she doesn't go back completely.
Now Celaena does have some redeeming reasons behind these blind moments, she's young, traumatized and she's obviously been groomed into the life she lives, but ultimately some of her slips of wisdom and blind trust/obedience could have been avoided if she was actually trained to be as cautious as she claims, and took a second to think through what's happening around her and pick up on patterns set by her enemies...
There's a lot of dark topics and scummy topics covered in this book (we are dealing with criminals, assassins and the underworld so it shouldn't be too surprising but still be forewarned).
Also, took a whole star off the overall rating because of an event in the last novella, i.e. main lad, best lad, Sam deserved better. Should have fled away together with the clothes on their back. A little stealing would have been easy enough to achieve along the way and hardly a big no-no compared to all they'd done so far. and while perhaps petty, since its my review I'm allowed to and will.
The Assassin and the Healer - 5 🌟
The Assassin and the Desert - 4.5 🌟
The Assassin and the Underworld - 3.5 🌟
The Assassin and the Empire - 3 🌟
Tbh the first few novellas featured in this book are pretty fun and show a lot of growth for our FL, Celaena, but of course it was more difficult to get through the last two books.
The main reason is for the silly decisions of Celaena and her blindness to obvious clues.
At the end of The Assassin and the Desert, you think you've reached a point of realisation and clarity of path for Celaena, but the next novella almost casts us back to the very beginning in terms of Celaena's personal growth, though thanks to our boi, Sam, she doesn't go back completely.
Now Celaena does have some redeeming reasons behind these blind moments, she's young, traumatized and she's obviously been groomed into the life she lives, but ultimately some of her slips of wisdom and blind trust/obedience could have been avoided if she was actually trained to be as cautious as she claims, and took a second to think through what's happening around her and pick up on patterns set by her enemies...
There's a lot of dark topics and scummy topics covered in this book (we are dealing with criminals, assassins and the underworld so it shouldn't be too surprising but still be forewarned).
Also, took a whole star off the overall rating because of an event in the last novella,
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery and Violence
Moderate: Death, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Trafficking
Minor: Pedophilia, Vomit, Sexual harassment, and War
belletheblogger's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
I really liked this book and I’m happy I read it after heir of fire because I think it really showcases a lot of celenas positive traits and reasons for why she made certain decisions in the previous books. I really hope all the characters minus Sam show up in the next few books. I am nervous about her having to see Aroben Homel (I read the audiobook so idk how anything is spelled) again because he’s a traitorous asshole especially now that we know that he has one of the word keys
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Violence
Moderate: Blood
Minor: War
indigo_fox's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This was a fun read! I found that it easily captured my attention and there were times when I didn't want to put it down. I love the writing style, and the characters were very interesting. I didn't like the MC at first but she grew on me. I think out of the four novellas The Assassin and the Deseret was my favorite. A lot of the characters there were odd and I found that enjoyable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Slavery, Vomit, and Alcohol
Minor: War
emis_books's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-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
4.5
If you read this book after reading Throne of Glass 1-3 you already know how it’s gonna end. It is so heartbreaking.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Gaslighting
Minor: War
asimpson7's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
I’m not really sure what to say about this book. It isn’t the type of book that ive read before, but I really enjoyed it. It kept me hooked the whole way through. I couldn’t stop thinking about what would happen next. Even though Celina is an assassin, she still feels like the good guy. liked how her and Sam ended up together, and I almost cried when he died. Which makes me hate Arobyn even more. I don’t understand how someone could treat a person like that. But now I get the hype over Sarah J Mass books and I can’t wait to read the next one !
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
allydoessomereading's review against another edition
adventurous
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A great series of adventurous short stories to add some depth and backstory to the characters of celaena sardothien and arobynn Hamel. The first few stories feel more like separate adventures, lower stakes. Then the last two chapters/short stories are much higher stakes, impacting the wider story. A lot of fun to read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
raspberrybee's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Blood, Murder, and War