Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas

23 reviews

tabea1409's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional tense fast-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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Child death, Blood, Classism, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Stalking, Child abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, Genocide, Death, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Gore, Torture, and Violence

faithsbookreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

SAM😭💔

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Slavery, Alcohol, Death, Body horror, Stalking, Blood, Gore, Grief, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

barbarianmissy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.25

THE ASSASSIN AND THE EMPIRE:

ouch…. I knew exactly what was gonna happen but it STILL. HURT. ME! 

I loooooooove that “My name is Celaena Sardothien and I will not be afraid” is from the one person she had left in her life that truly loved and cared for her. I gasped when he said it the first time and needed a moment to cope! Rip Sam, you were one sweet pea. 

Arobynn, I hope you get brutally murdered in later books, I said what I said, and what I said is that you’re a stupid skank. 

AS FOR THE BOOK AS A WHOLE! 

I really enjoyed reading this prequel! It made me understand Celaena a lot more and appreciate her as a character and where she comes from. Dorian and Chaol better step up their game cause Team Sam alllllll the way, baby! 

One small thing I did notice though was that, for the world’s greatest assassin, Celaena sure does get betrayed and captured a lot in these novellas. But it made for a fun time! 

ONTO THE NEXT! 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Blood, Gore, Sexual assault, Vomit, Child abuse, Death, Murder, Sexual content, Stalking, and Torture

allydoessomereading's review against another edition

adventurous sad medium-paced

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

4.0

A great series of adventurous short stories to add some depth and backstory to the characters of celaena sardothien and arobynn Hamel. The first few stories feel more like separate adventures, lower stakes. Then the last two chapters/short stories are much higher stakes, impacting the wider story. A lot of fun to read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Body horror, Sexism, Slavery, Stalking, Torture, Emotional abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, War, Confinement, and Vomit

quietlex's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I didn’t love or hate it. It seemed pretty lackluster and predictable at times. I didn’t believe the romance between Celena and Sam, it felt forced and uninspired. I think this book was more focused on the different missions and progressing the plot rather than developing interesting and complex main characters. I’m hopeful that the rest of the series will build on who Celena is and why she thinks and acts the way she does. Quite disappointed with the lack of spice as well. Not the best start to the series, in my opinion. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Slavery, Abandonment, Child abuse, Child death, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Stalking, Trafficking, Violence, Vomit, Bullying, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Classism, Death, Drug use, Grief, Excrement, Medical content, and Torture

lancy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.5

it was enjoyable but quite slow pace,

but the part were hunt tried to save Bryce really got me wanting to cry

and the part were they cut his wings aka Micah hate him btw i cried my balls out omg ahhhh

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Blood, Deadnaming, Bullying, Cursing, Addiction, Alcohol, Body horror, Body shaming, and Child abuse

Minor: Grief, Slavery, Stalking, Eating disorder, Kidnapping, Murder, and Hate crime

emilywemily6's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

• 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? No

4.25

This collection of stories about Calaena before the Throne of Glass events was harder to get through than I thought, and I think it’s because I knew the eventual outcome for both Calaena and Sam 😭 I really enjoyed the second and third stories though. I saw the “twist” of whose to blame from a mile away and felt like this grouping of prequel stories didn’t add a lot to the series as a whole, but gave me more time with Calaena’s character. I was really hoping for more info about the HUGE spoiler revealed at the end of Crown of Midnight, but all we got was an allusion to Calaena keeping secrets about her past 👀 So while I enjoyed this read, it didn’t meet my expectations in a couple ways. I am excited to get back into the rest of the series!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Slavery, Body horror, Colonisation, Alcohol, Death, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Trafficking, Grief, Violence, Blood, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Murder, Child abuse, and Classism

Moderate: Stalking, Sexual content, Abandonment, Racism, and Sexism

mangofraiche's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Child abuse, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, Body horror, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Confinement, Death, Torture, Blood, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, and Slavery

merrow's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

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

2.75

It was nice to have some background on this series, but it didn’t really deliver on showing us Adarlan’s Assassin, who

got into trouble and tricked every assassination we were shown

. It’s the same for her first true love, who’s just another enemies to lovers and

lovers for only a month off screen before he’s killed

.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Stalking, Slavery, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Physical abuse, Gore, Violence, Death, Murder, Grief, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Colonisation, Confinement, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, and Blood

bookedandbusy's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? No

4.5

I really enjoyed these novellas. I’m doing the reading order where you read Assassin’s Blade for the most emotional impact and PHEW. Some scenes felt like a gut punch. I really enjoyed each story and felt that they allowed me to learn more about Celeana!  But I did feel as if some of them dragged on at times, particularly “the assassin and the desert.” 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Stalking, Violence, Torture, Death, Blood, and Gore

Moderate: Slavery