The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J. Maas – This One Ripped My Heart Out

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“This girl wasn’t like wildfire—she was wildfire. Deadly and uncontrollable. And slightly out of her wits.”

Goodreads / Storygraph

Summary

Celaena Sardothien is her kingdom’s most feared assassin. Though she works for the powerful and ruthless assassin’s guild, she yields and trusts no one, except her fellow assassin, Sam. 

When Arobynn Hamel, Celaena’s master, sends her on a mission that takes her to remote islands, she finds herself acting independently from Arobynn’s wishes. 

But defying Arobynn comes with a harsh punishment and puts Celaena’s closest friend, Sam, directly in danger. 

This prequel to Throne of Glass features five novellas that weave together Celaena’s early years.

Novellas included are:

• The Assassin and the Pirate Lord

• The Assassin and the Healer

• The Assassin and the Desert

• The Assassin and the Underworld

• The Assassin and the Empire

Thoughts on the Plot

Something I enjoyed quite a bit about this series was how even though this book is technically five short stories, they read like one long story. 

Similar to Throne of Glass and Crown of Midnight, the early stories felt slow. 

By the time we get to The Assassin and the Desert, things really start to pick up.

Celaena travels to quite a few places within this series of stories, so the continued world-building was interesting. 

Also for context, I read this book third in the series and kinda regret it. The ending of Crown of Midnight made me want to jump straight into Heir of Fire, not take a break for a prequel. 

If I was going to make a recommendation, I’d say read this one first. All three books took me a while to get into always, so might as well start at the beginning. 

I did start this story by reading the paperback, but eventually switched to the audiobook because I felt it was dragging. 

The audiobook narration is okay, the narrator does a good job of bringing the story to life. I just wasn’t the biggest fan of her voice, but that is a personal preference.

Thoughts on the Characters

It is interesting to see a younger Celaena. She is definitely different from the Celaena we get to know in Throne of Glass and even Crown of Midnight. 

She was a bit much in these shorter stories. She’s supposed to be this feared and deadly assassin with a hidden identity, but she’s constantly going around, making it clear just exactly who she is.

Like what? 

Another reason I wish I had read this book first was because while we meet a ton of new characters, we also see a few friendly faces. 

I feel like Throne of Glass would have had a bigger impact than it did because I would have had more context. 

I also now finally understand why everyone loves Sam. My boy deserved far better. 

And next time you think about complaining about Tamlin, let me introduce you to Arobynn Hamel.

Arobynn is Calaena’s handler and far more dark than he may come across. 

I really hope Celaena returns to the Assassin’s Guild to give Arobynn exactly what he deserves. Because if we have learned anything about Celaena, it’s that she’s not going down without a fight. 

Overall Thoughts

As I mentioned earlier, so far in the series, I would have read this one first instead of third. 

I just disliked interrupting the series to go back and I feel like Throne of Glass would have had more of an impact. 

These stories were woven together so cleverly, it truly felt like one long story, rather than 5 short ones. 

This is definitely a required read, and I would not skip it by any means. I have a feeling we are going to see a lot of the characters introduced in this series soon in future books. 

This one gets another 4 stars out of 5 stars. 

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