The Assassin’s Blade

The twist of a knife. The birth of a legend.

Step into the world of the #1 bestselling Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas with this collection of prequel novellas.

Celaena Sardothien is her kingdom’s most feared assassin. Though she works for the powerful Assassin’s Guild and its scheming master, Arobynn Hamel, she yields to no one and trusts only her fellow killer-for-hire, Sam. But when Arobynn dispatches her on missions that take her from remote islands to hostile deserts, Celaena finds herself acting independently of his wishes and questioning her own allegiance.

If she hopes to escape Arobynn’s clutches, Celaena will have to put her faith in her wits and her blade…knowing that if she fails, she’ll lose not just a chance at freedom but her life.

A prequel to the New York Times bestselling Throne of Glass, this collection of five novellas explores the history of this cunning assassin and her enthralling—and deadly—world.

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Trigger Warning: Alcohol consumption, Blood & gore depiction, Physical assault & injuries, Murder, Knife violence, Imprisonment, Blackmail, Victim blaming, Rape mentioned, Sexual harassment, Emesis, Death of a mother, Hostage situation, Adult-Minor relationship, nonconsensual drugging, Torture, Fire, Misogyny, Slavery, Slut-shaming, Suicide, Poisoning, Drowning

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My Thoughts

I’m not usually a huge fan of novellas, but the five novellas that make up the Assassin’s Blade do an amazing job of giving us much needed insight into Celaena.  This is where I was finally able to understand her arrogance, pain, friendships, heartbreak, and skills. SJM weaves the various plots together that lead us right into the Throne of Glass series (freaking brilliant). So a must read!

Since I started with Throne of Glass and then backtracked to Assassin’s Blade I did struggle a bit to believe Celaena was THE MOST skilled, deadly assassin in the world but now, after AB, I get it. I needed Assassin’s Blade to fully understand her and how she became such a skilled and deadly fighter…and why she’s dead inside. But I also needed to start with Throne of Glass to feel as connected to some of the characters as I did. So my recommendation is to start with Throne of Glass.

Without rehashing each novella, I’m going to try to share my thoughts on the compilation. The Assassin and the Pirate Lord is the beginning of Celaena’s storyline. She’s a 16 year old, pre-Endovier young woman working for Arobynn Hamel, head of the Assassin’s Guild, and with Sam Cortland (oh Sam…). On an errand to Skull’s Bay for Arobynn, Celaena and Sam meet the Pirate Lord, Rolfe, and after learning why Arobynn actually sent them to Skulls Bay, let’s just say Celaena blows shit up (I see you girl) and leaves Rolfe very unhappy with her.

Celaena and Sam return to Rifthold and Arobynn (being the massive asshole that he is) ends up sending Celaena to the Red Desert as punishment (apparently beating the shit out of her wasn’t punishment enough). On our adventure to the Desert (The Assassin and the Healer), we stopped at the White Pig Inn (I don’t know I would want to stay at a place called the White Pig Inn but options were probably limited). We meet Yrene Towers, a young barmaid and healer, who’s just trying to survive at the PIG Inn until she saves enough money to go to Healer school. Celaena ends up helping Ms. Towers teaches her some moves to defend herself against the rowdy bar patrons and gives her some money to help her get to the school. I really liked Yrene and I’m hoping we see her again.

“Hoped that an assassin’s jewel would pay for a healer’s education.”

Now that we’ve reached the Red Desert and the Silent Guild (The Assassin and the Desert), we find that not all guilds are based on the violence and bullshit we’ve experienced with Arobynn (I say we because clearly we are all in the Guild LOL).The Master of the Silent Assassins (a quiet guy LOL) teaches Celaena a different way of doing things which she really needed. She meets Ansel of Briarcliff and they become friends, until Ansel pulls some shenanigans. I do think Ansel will show up again.

“But she’d also promised Ansel that she had twenty minutes to get out of range. Celaena had fired after twenty-one.”

We go back to Rifthold (The Assassin and the Underworld) where Arobynn, in an effort to smooth things over, apologizes and offers her a job. At this point, I’m terrified of what she’s going to have to face because Arobynn is a twisted, possessive, abusive, lying, manipulator to put it nicely. We also meet Lysandra who is a big brat, but I wonder if there isn’t more to this girl. She’s had a rough life and maybe just needs some help.

Finally, in the Assassin and the Empire I fall in love with Sam and want nothing but good things for him and Celaena…but of course since this is just the beginning of Celaena’s story we don’t just ride off into the sunset. Instead, we’re left destroyed and I am 100% on Team Celaena needs to fuck shit up! So glad I bought the entire series at once so no delay in going straight to the next book! 

“She just prayed Sam wouldn’t get hurt. In the silence of her bedroom, she swore an oath to the moonlight that if Sam were hurt, no force in the world would hold her back from slaughtering everyone responsible.”

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“If you can learn to endure pain, you can survive anything. Some people learn to embrace it- to love it. Some endure it through drowning it in sorrow, or by making themselves forget. Others turn it into anger.”

“My name is Celaena Sardothien,” she whispered, “and I will not be afraid.”

“She was fire, she was darkness, she was dust and blood and shadow.”

“There was no way in hell she was going to move to the southern continent without all of her books.”

“Life isn’t easy, no matter where you are. You’ll make choices you think are right, and then suffer for them.”

“You’re a damned idiot,” she breathed grabbing the front of his tunic. “You’re a moron and an ass and a damned idiot.” He looked like she had hit him. But she went on and grasped both sides of his face. “Because I’d pick you.”

“This girl wasn’t like wildfire—she was wildfire. Deadly and uncontrollable. And slightly out of her wits.”

“Get ready to unleash hell.”

“The music broke her apart and put her back together, only to rend her asunder again and again.”

“The world was waiting–wide open and hers for the taking.”

“He brushed his lips against hers. “I love you,” he breathed against her mouth. “And from today onward, I want to never be separated from you. Wherever you go, I go. Even if that means going to Hell itself, wherever you are, that’s where I want to be. Forever.” Celaena”

“She would tuck Sam into her heart, a bright light for her to take out whenever things were darkest. And then she would remember how it had felt to be loved, when the world had held nothing but possibility. No matter what they did to her, they could never take that away. She would not break.”

“Some things are more important than death.”

“And the city would have a library, too. A great, wonderful library. Or a bookshop with a knowledgeable owner who could make sure her thirst for books was always sated.”

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a terrifying creature arrives to demand retribution. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she knows about only from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not truly a beast, but one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled her world.

At least, he’s not a beast all the time.

As she adapts to her new home, her feelings for the faerie, Tamlin, transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But something is not right in the faerie lands. An ancient, wicked shadow is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it, or doom Tamlin – and his world – forever.