A review by danajoy
The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas

adventurous challenging dark emotional

3.0

Short Story Collections are really not my thing, as a general rule. I think this would've been stronger if it was written as a novel - it feels a bit silly to have the story you just read recaped to you in the next one. 
If I had read this first I'm not sure if I would have continued into the series. The last short story was compelling (and is spoiled in Throne of Glass) but overall I found Celaena annoying in these. She seems to make a lot of dumb, pride-driven decisions and doesn't seem to think things through which makes it hard to believe she's the best Assassin. 
The Sam love story didn't completely get me and I don't think that was because I knew where it went. I didn't think it would be angled as an enemies to lovers situation when we have such a limited time experiencing them together. Also, if she's so observant (as you'd assume you would be as a deadly assassin) how did she not realise that he liked her? Adolescent Obliviousness? I think I was hoping to swoon more at them but I wasn't really convinced. He said sweet things and she found him handsome but I wanted more chemistry and more romance between them. 
The last story in the collection is the standout and it is ROUGH. I found it particularly evocative and it does help that it was the longest novella. 
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