Reviews with content warning for Adult/minor relationship - The Assassin's Blade

(I don't remember reading this book when I did and I probably read it after the full series was complete in my first time reading 6 years ago.)

First off, I am reviewing this book as a prequel rather than novellas because the individual short stories come together as 1 larger story. it shows the people, reasons, and events that lead Celaena to the Endovier Salt Mines.

This time I read it in the order Sarah J. Maas recommended, which is to read this after Crown of Midnight (Book #2). Reading the prequel/novellas made so much more sense since you understand Celaena and it helps you see why she makes decisions in the way she does. You also see some important context to characters and events that were mentioned in the first 2 books. If I remember correctly, some of the key characters in the short stories appear later on in the series.

Content Warnings

nikkic66's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

asimpson7's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

spatterson7's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional 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? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

barbarianmissy's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

THE ASSASSIN AND THE EMPIRE:

ouch…. I knew exactly what was gonna happen but it STILL. HURT. ME!

I loooooooove that “My name is Celaena Sardothien and I will not be afraid” is from the one person she had left in her life that truly loved and cared for her. I gasped when he said it the first time and needed a moment to cope! Rip Sam, you were one sweet pea.

Arobynn, I hope you get brutally murdered in later books, I said what I said, and what I said is that you’re a stupid skank.

AS FOR THE BOOK AS A WHOLE!

I really enjoyed reading this prequel! It made me understand Celaena a lot more and appreciate her as a character and where she comes from. Dorian and Chaol better step up their game cause Team Sam alllllll the way, baby!

One small thing I did notice though was that, for the world’s greatest assassin, Celaena sure does get betrayed and captured a lot in these novellas. But it made for a fun time!

ONTO THE NEXT!

Content Warnings

horsegurl1's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional mysterious sad fast-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? No

4.25

Content Warnings

emilycfox's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

After looking at some Reddit discussions, I decided to read this before starting the actual series. So I knew it might be a little slower to get into than if I’d started with TOG. The first few novellas are a bit slow, but then it picks up.

Content Warnings

quietlex's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

I didn’t love or hate it. It seemed pretty lackluster and predictable at times. I didn’t believe the romance between Celena and Sam, it felt forced and uninspired. I think this book was more focused on the different missions and progressing the plot rather than developing interesting and complex main characters. I’m hopeful that the rest of the series will build on who Celena is and why she thinks and acts the way she does. Quite disappointed with the lack of spice as well. Not the best start to the series, in my opinion.

Content Warnings

More...