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sreddous's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Throne of Glass stories........ really, really, reeeeeeally need to have LONG books and LONG pacing.
These short-story formats didn't do these characters any favors. There's a lot of complicated topics and problems that this collection hones in on -- and has no time to actually develop them. Therefore, IMO, every story here is shallow and extremely frustrating.
I found Celaena to be completely insufferable in this collection. An arrogant, full-of-themselves character CAN be a really fun narrator if we actually have the time to see them interact with people who leave an impact on them and broaden and grow their worldview. Celaena does get the chance to do that in future Throne of Glass books (I thought it was efficient in Heir of Fire!), but she doesn't do barely any of that in this one. The only story that I thought was actually a good character study for her was the Assassin and the Desert, and even then, I put an asterisk with that one, because it still had pacing problems and "she gets to actually grow and learn cool stuff with the Master only in the last few pages" issues. The rest of the stories, she's a badly-developed YA-tropey teen when the plot needs her to be, and she's a cool suave elegant warrior when the plot needs her to be, and it's hard to get immersed in.
I thought the romance arcs were ridiculous. On page 314, Celaena mulls over thinking: "For the life of her, she couldn't understand why [Sam likes her]."
Yeah, me neither, dude. 90% of your interactions across these stories are you guys being mean to each other. I can't think of why Sam would love her based on her actions in this book except that she's hot and talented at fighting. There're only tiny snippets where they actually communicate well or find common interests, and some of those are literally offscreen -- around the halfway point-ish Sam gives her custom sheet music, which would have been a lovely scene.... eeeeexcept he's offscreen and they don't really talk about it later. I don't see why she loves him so much, either. She constantly talks about how hot he is, I guess. And... then they argue and make big decisions for the other without communicating again. Yay.
It's weird!!! Later romances in this series also have that bickering, but they also have enough space to have common interests and nice scenes where the characters share things that help change each others' worldviews. We barely get any of that here. So I guess that keeps my formula of: "any of these stories could've been good if they were longer, but as-is, yikes" at the forefront.
But, don't worry, these Excellent Romances are the vehicle for my least-favorite literary trope of all time: oh, man, does the I'm Not Like Other Girls cup runneth over in this group of stories. I almost DNF'd this book during the Assassin and the Underworld. The depiction of Lysandra's character (and other characters like the throwaway girls in the last story that are laughing and minding their own business that Celaena wants to be violent towards) is so. sexist., and this is why I don't think this book deserves three stars. Celaena is constantly judging the hell out of Lysandra because Lysandra is a girly girl who uses her looks and charisma to be manipulative... and then during that story later, Celaena herself goes to Doneval's couch and mushes her tits together to get what she wants from him (but while she's literally there doing this, she points out to us in narration that SHE'S still showing less cleavage than the Other Girls who are fawning over Doneval).
How interesting could it have been for Celaena to be, like, a girl's girl, who loves dressys and jewelries and dancing and parties, who has respect for Other Girls who are also super into those things? Her reasons for liking sparkly crap aren't somehow less shallow than any other reason girls might like that stuff. She's completely bought over by her abusive boss sending her pretty jewelry, after all. How.........is she different than Lysandra?
I'm just... really frustrated, because I know that this series is detailed and good and interesting, and I know that Celaena as a character is nuanced, and I know that some of the later romances and love-triangle-y things in this series actually can be pretty mature. But, jeez. Even Sarah J. Maas's normally-gorgeous, highly-descriptive writing style feels more generic in this one.
Idk man. Throne of Glass stories just.... need to be more than 100,000 words each, I guess.
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Sexism
hschlecht's review against another edition
5.0
Minor: War, Classism, Physical abuse, Violence, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Slavery, Torture, Blood, and Sexism
nerdkitten's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Gaslighting, Confinement, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Physical abuse, Deportation, Murder, Slavery, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Stalking, Torture, Trafficking, Sexual assault, and Vomit
Minor: Excrement, Genocide, Adult/minor relationship, Medical content, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Classism, Death of parent, Rape, and War
k_dorner's review against another edition
- 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? No
3.75
Minor: Toxic friendship, Torture, Death, Violence, Slavery, Grief, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Blood, Vomit, Physical abuse, Murder, Kidnapping, Cursing, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Sexism, Death of parent, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, and Abandonment
nicoledr's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: War, Torture, Sexism, Slavery, Death, and Sexual assault
Minor: Pedophilia, Vomit, Grief, and Murder
halfbloodprincess_hogwarts's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I honestly thought this was going to be a smol Novella...like the average novella. This was a freaking tome🤣🤣🤣😭 over 12 hours long. I immediately switched over from the ebook and requested my library to buy the audio (thankfully they approved👏🏼🙏🏼). Without further ado, my ratings for novellas:
- the assassin and the pirate lord 5/10⭐
- The assassin and the healer 8.5/10⭐
- The assassin and the desert 10/10⭐
- The assassin and the underworld/underword (I've seen it spelled both ways but either way my rating does not change)...bump up in star b/c her and Sam kissed😘 4/10⭐
- the assassin and the empire 10/10⭐.... Sam🥺🥺🥺
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Trafficking, Violence, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Murder, Sexual content, Slavery, Animal death, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, and War
ilove_books16's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Body horror, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, Blood, Confinement, Death, Gaslighting, Gore, and Sexism
Moderate: Vomit, Slavery, Violence, War, and Torture
sami_leigh's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Gore, Murder, Misogyny, Violence, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Sexism, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Slavery, Physical abuse, and Grief
Minor: Torture and Confinement