Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas

83 reviews

chelsey_belle's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Oh, no! A low rating for an SJM book?! 😱 While I am glad that I read AB, for a less than 500 page book it took me FOREVER to get a spark of interest in the backstory of Celaena (though 3.5 of the novellas were just exciting enough to keep me going). I loved getting to see

where the start of her trying to free slaves started, the cast of characters we’ll inevitably run into in later books, and how she was heartbreakingly betrayed over and over until she gets carted away to Endovier.

But I kept waiting for more- more emotional response, more relationship building with Sam

(because let’s face it, that kinda came out of left field on her part…)

, just MORE of everything that makes me love other books in this series. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Physical abuse, and Death

britwalsh16's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Gahhh!!! Sooo good!!! 
Now I’m glad I waited to read this one after reading books 1 & 2, so I know who Celaena is now, & then reading this book gave me more of an insight into why she is the way she is. And I just love it! I love her!  Amazing!!! 
But also, a part of me wishes I started with this book, because falling in love with Sam & his character, knowing that by the end he is going to die, is pure torture! It just made finishing the book so much harder! & yes I cried when he died even knowing ahead of time it was going to happen!
And Arobynn, I never liked him, and always had an inkling he was the one that betrayed Celaena, but to actually meet him, & get to know him, gah! He’s despicable! He might actually be worse then the King of Adarlan! Keyword, might. We’ll have to see what happens as the rest of the books play out. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Confinement, Cursing, Gore, Kidnapping, Torture, Toxic friendship, Trafficking, Physical abuse, Violence, Toxic relationship, Murder, Stalking, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Slavery, War, and Vomit

Moderate: Cursing

Minor: Death of parent and Fire/Fire injury

amanda_reads13's review against another edition

emotional 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

4.0

A collection of novellas following Celaena's journey leading up her being thrown in Endovier. 

I really enjoyed this collection of novellas and seeing the journey that Celaena took before Throne of Glass. I really liked how the novellas didn't jump all over the place, but together they created a linear and cohesive story. I read this after Crown of Midnight and I am really glad I did. I felt that I had a bit of a stronger connection to the characters having read the first 2 books in the series.

Calaena is blind when it comes to Arobynn. It was pretty obvious to readers what was going on behind the scenes with Arobynn and his sketchy behaviour. Calaena was too blinded by their past to even fathom that he could be responsible for setting her up. I wanted to scream at her through the pages. 

I loved Sam. I am really sad that we lost his character before the series really even began. 

I am hoping that at some point in the series this all loops back and we get to see Calaena get her revenge on Arobynn for what he did to her and Sam. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Blood, Death, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, and Torture

cait's review against another edition

adventurous challenging sad fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, Physical abuse, Gore, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Trafficking, Blood, Slavery, Stalking, Violence, Vomit, Abandonment, Child abuse, and Torture

aammeess's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Trafficking, Alcohol, Grief, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Stalking, Torture, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Colonisation, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Pedophilia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Gaslighting, War, and Rape

Minor: Vomit

nitecrtlvr's review

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I wouldn’t read this book before Throne of Glass unless it’s your second or third time reading it. To avoid any spoilers with the series. It makes more sense in this case to read it after Heir of Fire; that way the short stories in the Assassins Blade is fresh and helps explain certain characters that are introduced later in the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Violence, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Murder, Torture, and Death

ashleynp24's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.5

I really enjoyed that it was cut up into smaller stories with subplots with so many different characters. I’m really excited to see how they play into the series later. 

I knew Sam died because I read Throne of Glass first, but the death was still so sad it had me sobbing. I didn’t expect her to get betrayed like that with him being the bait. It ruined me. I’m interested to see her relationship with Arobynn later because of it.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Gaslighting, Torture, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Blood, Slavery, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Death, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Violence, and Murder

acorny's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Torture, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Rape

meredith_williams_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I read the Throne of Glass series last year, but ended up skipping the novella read because I was too invested to move backwards in the timeline. I decided to reread the series as a whole and started with Assassin’s Blade this go around. I actually really liked reading the prequel novellas with the full knowledge of how Celaea’s story plays out. It was fun to revisit the world and know how each prequel was laying important groundwork for Celaena’s journey in the main series. 

I did not shed one singular tear while reading the TOG series, and Sam’s death broke me! I was unprepared for how tender and soft his character was. His relationship with Celaena (while certainly influenced heavily by some trauma bonds) was an excellent portrayal of innocent first love. Both of them deserved their dreams and that made his loss all the more heartbreaking. Also, Arobynn is such a horrifying villain! You know it after Queen of Shadows, but SJM paints such a sinister and accurate image of an abuser in him that it makes my skin crawl.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Torture, Violence, and Gore

Minor: Vomit

abicaro17's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

SJM knows exactly what she did. I will be crying in my room for a week thanks.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Death, Grief, Toxic relationship, Blood, Body horror, Stalking, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Torture, War, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, and Gore