Review: The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas

Series: Throne of Glass #0.1-0.5
Genre: YA, fantasy, magic, short stories
Release date: March 4th 2014
Length: 448 pages

Celaena Sardothien is Adarlan's most feared assassin. As part of the Assassin's Guild, her allegiance is to her master, Arobynn Hamel, yet Celaena listens to no one and trusts only her fellow killer-for-hire, Sam. In these action-packed novellas - together in one edition for the first time - Celaena embarks on five daring missions.
They take her from remote islands to hostile deserts, where she fights to liberate slaves and seeks to avenge the tyrannous. But she is acting against Arobynn's orders and could suffer an unimaginable punishment for such treachery. Will Celaena ever be truly free? Explore the dark underworld of this kick-ass heroine to find out.

My rating: ★★★★★

“I love you,” he repeated, shaking her again. “I have for years. But if I asked you to pick, you’d choose Arobynn, and I. Can’t. Take. It.” 

“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.”

 

I'm going to try to keep this short. Basically this book almost killed me of feels... Maas is a brilliant author and she managed to portray Celeana just like I imagined her while reading ToG.

The Celeana that we know from Throne of Glass (and after) was very different in The Assassin's Blade. But absolutely not in a bad way. She was forced to change and grow up faster (I always forget how young she actually is :o ) due to betrayal and pain. She went through a mayor character development, but it doesn't feel rushed at all. Every novella tells one "story", but they connect each other perfectly which I loved a lot. And I'm so thankful for this book because now I feel like I understand more of her decisions that she made in 'the present'.

I'm not going into the plot of this book because if you read Throne of Glass, you'll understand why. It's not necessary for me to try to convince you to read this book. Once you read ToG and you loved it, then you'll want to know everything about the world Celeana lives in. You'll want to know about her past and about her dear Sam.

 "She would tuck Sam into her heart, a bright light for her to take out whenever things were darkest." 

Oh Sam... Although you already ship Celeana with either Chaol or Dorian, you won't be able to resist loving Sam. He's even better than I imagined him. I love him so much, despite the fact you know what will happen to him. And it hurts so freaking much when it comes to it. It crushed me and I felt my heart broke for him ♥ I cried... SO MUCH. I didn't want to grow so attached to him, but I couldn't help myself. And now I'm left her with all those feels.... ugh *cries some more*

To conclude everything: this book is brilliant. The side-characters, the world, the romance, the writing .... is perfect. It's probably everything you want it to be and more. If you loved ToG than you certainly should read this book! It's so worth it. And don't forget keeping some tissues close to you.

"My name is Sam Cortland, and I will not be afraid."