The Assassin's Blade (Throne of Glass #01. - 0.5) by Sarah J. Maas
When Celaena's scheming master, Arobynn Hamel, dispatches her on missions that take her from remote islands to hostile deserts, she finds herself acting independently of his wishes—and questioning her own allegiance. Along the way, she makes friends and enemies alike, and discovers that she feels far more for Sam than just friendship. But by defying Arobynn’s orders, Celaena risks unimaginable punishment, and with Sam by her side, he is in danger, too. They will have to risk it all if they hope to escape Arobynn’s clutches—and if they fail, they’ll lose not just a chance at freedom, but their lives . . .
A prequel to Throne of Glass, this collection of five novellas offers readers a deeper look into the history of this cunning assassin and her enthralling—and deadly—world.
Included in this volume:
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
Review: This is a collection of five prequel novellas following Calaena Sardothien, who is the most feared trained assassin in her kingdom. Her master Arobynn Hamel sends her on missions that take her to remote islands and hostile deserts, but Calaena finds herself increasingly acting according to her wishes and beliefs rather than just blindly following her master's instructions. Along the way, she makes friends and enemies and always has Sam, a fellow killer for hire, by her side. With Sam, what starts as a working partnership filled with animosity changes over time into something else.
Because I listened to these all together as a single audiobook, it felt very episodic, with each novella each having its own narrative arc and conclusion. But the characters did develop and change over the course of the five stories. I particularly liked Calaena's character development over the course of the novel. Pivotal events happen to her in these prequel novels that undoubtedly will shape her actions and feelings in the future. These definitely felt more like young adult fiction and more innocent in nature than Maas's A Court of Thorns and Roses series but the characters and complexity of the plot and the world laid out also felt more juvenile in some ways. But perhaps I will feel differently once I begin reading the full-length novels.
I know there is great debate among the fandom about when and in what order to read these books! I deferred to chronological order, but I wonder if that was the right choice. Having never read any of the primary novels in this series, these felt like background to stories I am still ignorant of. I did feel like I got to know Calaena more of the course of the novellas and that I will be able to go into the rest of the series with deeper understanding of her back story. But I did not find these nearly as enjoyable as I had hoped.
Stars: 3
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