Assassin's Blade

This is the first time I read anything from Sarah J. Maas and after reading The Assassin's Blade, I think I should have done it earlier. Back to the book now. I really liked it and I cannot wait to continue with the rest of the series. The word Assassin in a book synopsis is my weakness. I love anything to do with them and this book thankfully was no exception. It is action packed and fast-paced and I really enjoyed the writing of SJM. Every story is griping and reveals something from Celaena's past. I loved Sam and I think he was perfect for Celaena. Celaena on the other hand is a character that you love to hate with her flaws but also with her strength and determination. The story is making me happy at same points and at others angry and sad. The world sounds amazing and I want to explore it more. My favourite of the five novellas is the third one, The Assassin and the Red Desert where we meet the Silent Assassins.

There are a few things I feel like I need to point out when it comes to the Assassin's Blade book. In which order should you read it? When it comes to the order in which you need to read the book throughout the series, I would say that it basically depends on what you want. Either experience is unique and Sarah J Mass has managed to create a standalone that can easily be put in any at least three different orders throughout the series . 1st BOOK in order Reading this book 1st before the rest of the series can give you a background of Celaena’s past. If that is what you want good for you 4th BOOK in order If you decide to read the book 4th in the series you are giving yourself the chance to figure Celaena out before learning about her backstory. That would be my preference due to the fact that it creates a mystery around Celaena Sardothien and it creates a more unique experience reading the series before the prequel. Surely there will be some references to her past that you won’t be able to understand, but that personally didn’t bother me at all as it was part of the mystery of her past and I liked it. I was hesitant about the fact that I was reading about such a a strong character that is so young in age and reading the prequel first could probably give me a better view about her upbringing But aside that, I still believe that reading the book 4th in the series is the best option for the mystery of it. Now here I need to be honest, I actually read the book 5th in line. That is because I was so invested in continuing the series to the present that I didn’t really bother knowing her past at that point. You could do that too, though in the fourth book of the series (Queen of Shadows) there are many many references to her past that reading the Assassin's Blade first would be very helpful. So whether I regret reading it after Queen of Shadows instead of Before, the answer would be yes just because I’ve lost many references along the way. Is it worth reading it or can I skip it? If you decide to read the book at any point after the Heir of Fire, you will find it a little bit difficult to follow Celaena's story in the past. That is due to the fact that you have created this image of a very well developed character that going back in her past is like reading about an immature character and you won’t find that very interesting The first two Novelas for me were very hard to follow and I almost gave up the Assassin's Blade but from the third Novela and afterwards the story became a little bit more interesting and as I was reading I got really invested into understanding what is going on and the events that followed. How do I feel about the romance? I am not very into reading about multiple love interests for one character. I kind of feel like it loses its magic, though I have to say that you cannot not fall a little bit in love with Sam‘s character. There are many good qualities that make him likable and can create this bond between you as a reader and him that you do feel heartbroken when the time we all know eventually comes . The writing ? I am very torn when it comes to several points in Sarah J Maas's writing in this series. Everybody is handsome. Everybody is magically beautiful and mesmerising and that is way too excessive. How is it possible for every single individual inside the series to be that handsome? I mean in that case the word loses its meaning when you want it to mean the most, doesn’t it? Another thing is about the age. I don’t think there is a single person inside the series so far especially through Assassin‘s Blade that is more than 30 years old. The captain, the master, the salesman, the assassins, the guards. Even they are all so young that it is so weird, it’s like I am reading a teenagers dream and sometimes that doesn’t work. How can they be THAT young, THAT handsome and THAT successfull? Does it make sense? I get that the whole point of the series is to create a bad ass heroine. But for the the best ever existed assassin to be only 17 years old is way too difficult to imagine. It’s like you’re trying to convince me that amongst masculine men, men on their 30s, women on their 20s even, and still a 17-year-old is the greatest assassin the world has ever seen? I get the point behind having a strong heroine and her age due to the sake of the story her past etc, but it’s very hard to follow when it’s that excessive and that ideal that it almost gets unbelievable even for a fictional character Celaena Sardothien We see the foundations of her character development I am glad that we get to see a teenage Celaena. She does seem a little bit more hopeful and ignorant about the cruelty that she is surrounded by, she gets betrayed a few times which shows how she became so hesitant to whom to trusts throughout the series We also see a more vulnerable side of her when it comes to the love life. Since she does fall in love she pictures the perfect ending for that love story and it makes sense to the current world how she’s so reluctant when it comes to acknowledging her own feelings and the depths of them.