Reviews with content warning for Toxic friendship - The Assassin's Blade

If you're on social media and an SJM fan, you're aware of the discourse around which order to read the Throne of Glass series. I chose to read The Assassin's Blade first and I am so glad I did.

Split into five novellas, The Assassin's Blade gives readers a peek into the past of Celaena Sardothien and sets the foundation for a lot of decisions she makes in the later books. Learning about Celaena's history as Adarlan's Assassin, her moral compass at the youngest age she is throughout the series, and her relationships with friends and lovers, alike, were all valuable moments that allowed me to feel much more connected to her as a main character.

In addition to giving readers an intimate peek into the history of our main character, The Assassin's Blade also introduces us to at least one character in each of the novellas whose whereabouts by the end of the novella are unknown, leaving them seemingly destined to play a larger role later in the series.

I found that the novellas flowed quickly and I loved the way one novella picked up after the last with only a minor time jump. This technique kept the overarching story moving and kept me interested from start to finish. That ending though, my GOD. I was sobbing into my hands during the last 10 pages which seems to be a consistent trait of SJM's writing. And I have to say, it works! I found myself so invested in Celaena's future that I immediately picked up Throne of Glass which is exactly the kind of vibe I am looking for in a series!

Side Note: To each their own with their preferred order, I don't care to hear anyone else's reasonings behind the order they chose (trust me, I've seen enough TikToks about it to last me a lifetime.) One of the best things about books and reading? It is a completely personal experience. And I appreciate that the TOG series can be read in a variety of orders. I think that it is incredibly awesome that I can go back and read the books again in a different sequence if I want to have a different experience than what I'm having right now. Amazing!

Content Warnings

tguccione's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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

Content Warnings

firehearttt's review against another edition

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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? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

booksalacarte's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Assassin’s blade- 4⭐️ 2🌶️

Ya Romance

Morally grey FMC

Novella collection

Secrets

Training

There is almost NO fantasy elements to this book. The only thing that mentions magic or mystical things is the pirate captain’s map tattoo.

It was so interesting to see the before tog starts. I feel like this is a far better start than tog. Sam’s character was fine, but I don’t think he would have been anything special if he had lived. It would have been the run of a mill romance type situation… I don’t think that has much competition to fared mates. We will see how much he comes up and how he ties in. I remember him being talked about.

It was good to see the characters that seemed to come from no where to help in the end. It makes way more sense now.

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clem9's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.5

All the stories were very interesting and I'm very excited to meet the characters in the series again. Like Yrene was such a nice and kind character to meet I really what she became or Ansel, even if her betrayal kinda surprised me, I can see her coming back at some point even if it's not a big part.

But the last story ...

I'm heartbroken, Sam's death was horrible and he deserved so much better, he was such the perfect guy and I'm so sad that Celaena had to go through that loss when there was so much more to happen with him. Like they had a future planned together and she never had the chance to tell him she loved him.

I HATE Arobynn I honestly hope him and Farran will get tortured and viciously for what they did to Sam (and Celaena). Just because Arobynn felt possessive of Celaena ?? Are you kidding me ? I hate him so much !!!!

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britwalsh16's review

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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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