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A review by tomhardygirl
The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas
2.0
God, okay, the truth is that it’s always been hard for me to rate a book like this when it’s finished. This is simply because I have always been such a sucker for endings—and this ending, I did in fact enjoy—so much so that, when in the face of the end, I am suddenly entranced into forgetting the issues I had before, and all the things that dragged and held the book down to the point of at times being boring or downright unbearable.
So—this is me trying to rate it whilst remembering the issues of the entire book, while also accepting that books are whole beings wherein the end must be taken into account and rewarded for its benefits to the story. This is not to say the ending was so spectacular that I will remember it forever, but I appreciated it more than almost every other element in the book and it deserves points for that at least.
See, the thing is, picking this up, I knew the debacle of choosing a reading order and how heavily debated it is. I chose to read The Assassin’s Blade first. With no knowledge of the later books and only an introductory look into this story, as well as knowing myself, I think I regret choosing this order. It was chosen because I saw the accounts of so many people who regretted their choice of reading it later on and exclaimed that reading it first would be the most impactful, heartfelt way to embark upon this journey. While I will not disagree entirely with this reasoning, I can say that for someone who enjoys things being revealed later on (such as, the meanings behind simple little sayings like “I am not afraid”), suddenly injecting substance into things that had not been mulled over before, I do not believe this to be true for me. I cannot help imagining how striking it would have been to uncover meanings behind characters I (hopefully) would have already met and mindsets I would have questioned time and time again—that final ah moment after wondering for so long: why is she like this?
The truth of the matter is this: I do not know these characters and thus harbour no special fondness for them. Things which may have mattered to me had I already known them slipped past me in the wind, hardly registering enough to call them arresting. This book is pure background without any steady foreground to stand on and reads as a story meant for someone who already loves Celaena Sardothein and all the little things about her. As someone who does not know her in the slightest, these little specialties were lost on me.
And, as a sentimental reader, I regret this deeply.
Yet, I know understanding certain things may benefit my love of the characters in an entirely different way down the line and, as I have not read the later books yet, this could merely be the babbling of someone entirely wrong. Perhaps I’ll disagree with everything I’ve said so far and eat each and every word. That is all I can hope for, because I’m absolutely devastated by the idea of losing meaningful revelations.
My conclusion is this: each order must have its drawbacks. I’ve heard that placing The Assassin’s Blade later down the line also aids in its loss of meaning, as one does not care for its contents when they are so eager to continue their journey into the next read. So, away with any disappointment I have for the order I chose, as I cannot reverse time and am sure there would have been other disappointments upon choosing a different path. I’m highly interested in how this chosen order will benefit me in the future.
Aside from my ramblings on the order, I’ll journey on to say this book was subpar at most. I think this is mostly due to the fact of what I’ve already stated: I did not already love Celaena, therefore this book could not piggyback off an already there love for the universe and its characters. The same could have been said for A Court of Frost and Starlight, which surely would have failed had I not already loved Feyre and Rhysand within an inch of their lives. Knowing their journey and all the hardships they’d endured showed just how special this momentary peace was and allowed me to the love the book in the way it was intended.
More than that, the writing was dismal and the plot predictable. It was, in its entirety, quite lacking.
(Warning for a spoiler down below):
I also, very unfortunately felt that her relationship with Sam, being my first introduction to this world, was too quick and hardly fleshed out enough. It felt like a memory (which again, would have stood on better legs later down the line). Going into it—you are not aware it’s a memory and are therefore left waiting for more, grasping at every seam and edge, wondering why everything is moving so quickly and you aren’t being given enough. It appears, in hindsight, that Celaena was never meant to end up with Sam Cortland. Using him for a plot point is not something I will dismiss at all, in fact, I’m excited to see how this influences Celaena’s character growth and journey later on, but reading it first takes away from how special Sam and Celaena’s youthful love could be and leaves it feeling somewhat lacklustre. Their love, when read first, appears as something that has a clear ending point, without the fond yellow haze of a darling memory and thus, in consequence, suffers from, more meanly put, dullness. This is most unfortunate.
With all this being said, though, I am giving this series the benefit of the doubt, just as I did with ACOTAR (something I will never regret). While A Court of Thorns and Roses itself was hardly something to write home about, I adored each and every word dedicatednti Rhys and Feyre in the books thereafter. With this in mind, I am trying to trust the process of building Celaena Sardothein’s story and am still very hopeful it will pay out.
So—this is me trying to rate it whilst remembering the issues of the entire book, while also accepting that books are whole beings wherein the end must be taken into account and rewarded for its benefits to the story. This is not to say the ending was so spectacular that I will remember it forever, but I appreciated it more than almost every other element in the book and it deserves points for that at least.
See, the thing is, picking this up, I knew the debacle of choosing a reading order and how heavily debated it is. I chose to read The Assassin’s Blade first. With no knowledge of the later books and only an introductory look into this story, as well as knowing myself, I think I regret choosing this order. It was chosen because I saw the accounts of so many people who regretted their choice of reading it later on and exclaimed that reading it first would be the most impactful, heartfelt way to embark upon this journey. While I will not disagree entirely with this reasoning, I can say that for someone who enjoys things being revealed later on (such as, the meanings behind simple little sayings like “I am not afraid”), suddenly injecting substance into things that had not been mulled over before, I do not believe this to be true for me. I cannot help imagining how striking it would have been to uncover meanings behind characters I (hopefully) would have already met and mindsets I would have questioned time and time again—that final ah moment after wondering for so long: why is she like this?
The truth of the matter is this: I do not know these characters and thus harbour no special fondness for them. Things which may have mattered to me had I already known them slipped past me in the wind, hardly registering enough to call them arresting. This book is pure background without any steady foreground to stand on and reads as a story meant for someone who already loves Celaena Sardothein and all the little things about her. As someone who does not know her in the slightest, these little specialties were lost on me.
And, as a sentimental reader, I regret this deeply.
Yet, I know understanding certain things may benefit my love of the characters in an entirely different way down the line and, as I have not read the later books yet, this could merely be the babbling of someone entirely wrong. Perhaps I’ll disagree with everything I’ve said so far and eat each and every word. That is all I can hope for, because I’m absolutely devastated by the idea of losing meaningful revelations.
My conclusion is this: each order must have its drawbacks. I’ve heard that placing The Assassin’s Blade later down the line also aids in its loss of meaning, as one does not care for its contents when they are so eager to continue their journey into the next read. So, away with any disappointment I have for the order I chose, as I cannot reverse time and am sure there would have been other disappointments upon choosing a different path. I’m highly interested in how this chosen order will benefit me in the future.
Aside from my ramblings on the order, I’ll journey on to say this book was subpar at most. I think this is mostly due to the fact of what I’ve already stated: I did not already love Celaena, therefore this book could not piggyback off an already there love for the universe and its characters. The same could have been said for A Court of Frost and Starlight, which surely would have failed had I not already loved Feyre and Rhysand within an inch of their lives. Knowing their journey and all the hardships they’d endured showed just how special this momentary peace was and allowed me to the love the book in the way it was intended.
More than that, the writing was dismal and the plot predictable. It was, in its entirety, quite lacking.
(Warning for a spoiler down below):
I also, very unfortunately felt that her relationship with Sam, being my first introduction to this world, was too quick and hardly fleshed out enough. It felt like a memory (which again, would have stood on better legs later down the line). Going into it—you are not aware it’s a memory and are therefore left waiting for more, grasping at every seam and edge, wondering why everything is moving so quickly and you aren’t being given enough. It appears, in hindsight, that Celaena was never meant to end up with Sam Cortland. Using him for a plot point is not something I will dismiss at all, in fact, I’m excited to see how this influences Celaena’s character growth and journey later on, but reading it first takes away from how special Sam and Celaena’s youthful love could be and leaves it feeling somewhat lacklustre. Their love, when read first, appears as something that has a clear ending point, without the fond yellow haze of a darling memory and thus, in consequence, suffers from, more meanly put, dullness. This is most unfortunate.
With all this being said, though, I am giving this series the benefit of the doubt, just as I did with ACOTAR (something I will never regret). While A Court of Thorns and Roses itself was hardly something to write home about, I adored each and every word dedicatednti Rhys and Feyre in the books thereafter. With this in mind, I am trying to trust the process of building Celaena Sardothein’s story and am still very hopeful it will pay out.