Reviews with content warning for Slavery - The Assassin's Blade

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The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas

259 reviews

cheythepepper's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.25

I read this first before starting Throne of Glass. I’m already glad I did because I’m so invested in Celaena and her story. It was definitely because I’m already committed to continuing the series that I pushed through the beginning. Though I did enjoy that it’s short stories of Celaena’s adventures.

I absolutely knew Sam would never last but it still broke me so much. I’m hopeful that he’ll be a fond memory and a part of the next books.

Sarah is so great at gripping us right at the very end full of action and developing the plot to make us dive straight into the next book. Can’t wait for this heart wrenching adventure 😀

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itsme_bianca's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

EDIT - After reading the whole series, I had to come back to this review and increase this book's rating; I now appreciate it so much more than when I first read it! The fact that the FMC is so young pulled me away a bit...I might be picky with my female leads but I just don't like reading about a teenager who is the best of the very best - at assassinating too?! Don't think so...Why couldn't she be in her early 20s at least? That would have been more believable compared to being 17 years old...Nonetheless, the pacing and the collection of stories are entertaining and kept me coming back to find out how it'll be all tied together in the end.

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booksemmahasread's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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meeklovestoread's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

3.75

You know I started this book series years and years ago when I was a kid and never finished (probably read like the first four). This was wayyyyy before there was a booktok and that the rudimentary stage of booktube. So, I honestly didn't know this was such a hyped and beloved series until about a year and a half ago. Now when a series is as hyped as this one, especially this author, I'm always skeptical so I never touched but my favorite YouTubers love this series so I finally decided to finally give it a shot.

Now I obviously started with this one because that's how I remember starting it when I was a child. Had no idea there was such confusion on the reading order (more on that later). Honestly if this was the actual first book in the series I would've stopped here and wouldn't have picked this next book up. I wasn't really vibing with Sarah J. Maas's writing here. I've just read better (but I hear she wrote this when she was 16 so I hope the writing improves as the series goes along).

I think it was nostalgia from when I read this book when I was a child, but I remember it being much better than it was. I read all the novella straight across in two days. I wasn't really vibing with the first one. I thought it was a little boring. The second one was slightly better. It was not until the 3rd one that I felt like I was really getting into the story. I'm assuming the people introduced in these novellas will be important for later books. Now one of my main grievances with this book is the lack of world building, but considering this isn't the intended first book, I'm gonna let that go, however, I really hope there is more adequate world-building in "Throne of Glass" because there were so many places and names and things being thrown around I was struggling to figure out what time period they were and where are the places were as well as what the politics and the conflict meant.

Also, as a child, I remember sobbing to this book when

Sam died. I was devasted. I visually remember 11-year-old me sobbing her eyes out when he died. And for some reason I remember him dying on page not off page how it is in the book.

In addition to that, I felt like her "relationship" with Sam was so lackluster. He's only in this book about 55%-ish of the time and half of the time it's literally spent with them arguing and Celaena contemplating if she even has feelings for him or not. I definitely think their "romance" happened extremely quickly and there was honestly no merit as to why they were together. Even as I was reading the book, I was wondering why Sam even liked her to begin with considering she's been nothing but rude to him up until recently. I also think this book is a product of its time because the whole "I've loved you the entire time" trope was most definitely overused, overdone, and in my opinion a sign of lazy writing. If you have to ascribe to this trope to make your love story convincing then that's a problem.

Now I know it seems like I'm harping on this book, but I honestly didn't hate it. I even teared up a bit and a certain part and enjoyed my time reading the last three novellas. Overall, this book was fine, however, because this book series is so hyped I was expecting much more considering how much people praise Sarah J. Maas for how much of a "mastermind" she is. I'm hoping for better for the future books. As for the reading order, although I just restarted this series after almost a decade, I'd say the reading order is put at the reader's discretion. If you want to read it in the chronological order of events then I say read this first as it gives insight as to why Celaena is the way that she is in "Throne of Glass". And if you don't want to be taken out of the story you suggest reading this first, but overall it depends on you.

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marahill14's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

The third and fourth novellas were my favorites

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marygg3's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.25

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ladyrambo's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional fast-paced

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

5.0

Amazing beginning to a new series. I have not read the Throne of Glass series yet, but being a fan of her other books (ACOTAR & CC) and after deep book talks with my book bestie ….. it was time to tackle this series. She recommended starting with this book first (many opinions out there on where to start the series) as she said things will happen later in the TOG series that will bring these short stories back to memory and cause a bigger OMG moment. The Assassins Blade is the prequel to the TOG series and includes (4) short stories of which are very “surface level” compared to the deep dives you see in her other books. However, from what I hear, that is coming with the TOG series. The short stories are great and I fell in love with the FMC immediately. Tough as nails and takes no crap from anyone with attitude (love it). This book grabbed my attention with the first page and kept me turning the pages. If you’ve enjoyed Sarah J. Maas or if it’s your first read, don’t miss out on this one. Happy reading!

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mrsjburgin's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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eemi42's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

I know there are a few options of when to read this book in the lineup. I read this after Heir of Fire.

I'm glad I chose to read it now, after seeing some of Celaena's character development. It took a little perseverance to go back to the old Celaena, with the unchecked anger, rash decisions, and naivety. It would have been much harder to get through if I hadn't had a glimpse of who she'd become.

I get that there's some important backstory here, though. I'm guessing

the information about Arobynn's betrayal will be important in Queen of Shadows, and maybe Ansel will even make an appearance?

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indigo_fox's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-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

This was a fun read! I found that it easily captured my attention and there were times when I didn't want to put it down. I love the writing style, and the characters were very interesting. I didn't like the MC at first but she grew on me. I think out of the four novellas The Assassin and the Deseret was my favorite. A lot of the characters there were odd and I found that enjoyable.

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