Book Review :: The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J Maas

The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas
ISBN: 1408851989
Published by Bloomsbury Childrens
on 13 March 2014
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Pages: 430
Goodreads

Celaena Sardothien owes her reputation to Arobynn Hamel. He gave her a home at the Assassins' Guild and taught her the skills she needed to survive.

Arobynn's enemies stretch far and wide - from Adarlan's rooftops and its filthy dens, to remote islands and hostile deserts. Celaena is duty-bound to hunt them down. But behind her assignments lies a dark truth that will seal her fate - and cut her heart in two forever...

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What is The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J Maas about?

The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J Maas is a book with five stories in it and is a prequel to the Throne of Glass series. Celaena Sardothien is the kingdom’s top assassin, working for the cutthroat Assassin’s Guild. But she’s nobody’s puppet and only trusts Sam, her partner in crime.

When her scheming boss, Arobynn Hamel, sends her on crazy missions from remote islands to harsh deserts, she starts doing her own thing and questioning her loyalties. Along the way, she makes friends and enemies, and realizes she feels a lot more for Sam than just friendship.

Going against Arobynn means risking serious punishment, and with Sam by her side, they’re both in deep trouble. They have to risk everything to break free, because if they fail, they lose not just their freedom, but their lives. Dun dun dun.

“If you can learn to endure pain, you can survive anything. Some people learn to embrace it- to love it. Some endure it through drowning it in sorrow, or by making themselves forget. Others turn it into anger.”

My thoughts on The Assassin’s Blade

I actually didn’t read The Assassin’s Blade perhaps when I should have. There are a few different ways you could read this series, and I think if I were reading it now and over the last many years, I would have read The Assassin’s Blade between books three and four, Heir of Fire and Queen of Shadows, respectively. But for whatever reason (I can’t recall), I didn’t and so then I just waited until I had finished the main series before heading back to this prequel.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I don’t love books like this where there are multiple stories in one, but I do think it adds to the main series a lot more. It definitely would have been better to read this before finishing the series, so I do recommend that if you’re just starting in your Sarah J Maas journey.

Because I already knew the rest of the series, it did feel like a bit of a chore getting through these stories. I found myself really slowly getting through it, and almost forcing myself to do so. Which is a bit sad, because I did enjoy going back to Celaena and seeing her with Sam, a character who is already in her past when we first meet Celaena in Throne of Glass. So that was really lovely.

There are five stories in The Assassin’s Blade and while the stories are chronological, they’re not really flowing into one another. They’re definitely unique stories, with a focus character or theme for each one.

The Assassin and the Pirate Lord

The book kicks off with Celaena and Sam being sent by Arobynn to make a deal with a Pirate Lord. When they get there, they realise that there is some seriously shady business going on and that Arobynn is looking into getting involved with the slave trade. Celaena will have none of it, and she moves to betray Arobynn.

I did like this start to the book, and it was nice to finally ‘meet’ Sam after 7 books that were mostly just flashbacks or comments about him.

The Assassin and the Healer

After Celaena betrays Arobynn in the last story, she’s beaten up by him to teach her a lesson, and she’s sent off to the healer, who used to have magic running through the family. The healer has dreams of leaving, but she struggles to actually make it happen. Celaena is there to help.

The Assassin and the Desert

In The Assassin and the Desert, Celaena is sent (read exiled ha) to the desert with a task: to get a sealed letter from the leader of the mute assassins who live there and return to Arobynn. But of course, fitting in with the other assassins down there and trying to best to just get the letter she needs to leave, it’s all a lot more difficult than she thought it would be.

The Assassin and the Underworld

After getting her letter (finally!) in the last story, Arobynn lets Celaena come back, but with a few conditions. She’s hesitant but agrees. Things go pear-shaped though, when she is sent to kill one of the men who is involved with Empire’s slave trade. And it’s in this story where Celaena decides to leave the Assassin’s Guild forever. This was definitely more of a turning point on her journey to the story set out in Throne of Glass I reckon.

The Assassin and the Empire

Celaena and Sam are determined to leave the guild but they do need to buy their freedom. It’s going to take a lot of work to make that happen, and they need to do one last job to get their freedom.

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Overall, I am glad that I read this book and I do think it really adds to the wonder of the world that Maas has created and gives lots of lovely backstories for so many things that come up in the Throne of Glass series and the characters you meet in that. I definitely would have enjoyed it more if I had read it earlier, so that’s my bad, and the reason it’s not a higher star rating.

Oh and I do so love how Celaena loves her books. “There was no way in hell she was going to move to the southern continent without all of her books.”

Have you read The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J Maas? What did you think? Worth it or just a filler?