My name is Celaena Sardothien ... and I will not be afraid

I cannot recommend reading this book more, if you are a fan of the Throne of Glass series and haven't yet read this book, 100% go for it. So much backstory and so much foreshadowing occurs within these five prequels. You meet characters who appear later on in the series and you gain a better understanding of what made Celaena the way she was. You learn how she ended up in the Salt Mines.

When I first read this book, I never really grasped the significance of this book or gave it much thought, but now my second time reading it after having read the series last year, I loved it.

When I began reading it this time around, I was listening to some music and this song, just made me tear up knowing the context of the story, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUpCkktBNRw.

FALSE

This may not be my favorite in the series, but it serves a crucial role in providing backstory and depth to the world and characters. Through the collection of novellas, I gained valuable insight into elements that have been hinted at throughout the first three books, enriching the overall narrative experience. I particularly enjoyed the short story format, as it allowed for a more focused exploration of Celaena's character and motivations. Overall, this book proves to be a worthwhile addition to the series, offering essential context and compelling storytelling.

⭐⭐ 2 Stars

Finally, it's over. It took me almost 5 months to finish this. Everytime I took a break, I just couldn't pick it up again, I ended up choosing something else on my current reading pile or something new to begin rather than continue The Assassin's Blade.

My problem it's the exact one I had with Throne of Glass. The story, the writing, the world, they´re all fine, but I don't really like Celaena. A lot of reviews said to read this to understand her, so I read it right after the first book, hoping that I could like her more, but it just aggravated my problem.

For two whole books I read about how great she was, she's the best assassin in Adarlan, she has the best training, but she never proves it, for me she's really immature and annoying, I know she's young, but the author (and some fans) pint her as this incredible character, a badass assassin, trained to kill anyone in her path, almost invincible, but I don't see all of this reflected on her actions, all she does is complain, judge and make the worst mistakes, and I can't look past how selfish she is.

Spoiler

Sam told her to come look for him at a specific hour, and she falls asleep not once but twice? She's the best assassin in Adarlan and yet couldn't even try to save him? I'm not saying it could have changed the outcome, but at least try to get in to see if he was even there. She swears to get revenge and leave Arobynn after all he did to Sam and to her, but all it takes is some gifts and him talking pretty words to her to just forgive him? She kills people before they can tell her she's making a mistake or falling into a trap, and she does it twice. She fails to see that her beloved master is actually the bad guy,

if she actually stopped for a second to THINK instead of just boost her own ego, things would have been very different. And if I start to talk about her selfishness this review would never end,

Spoiler

they were already FREE from Arobynn (at least, legally), but little Celaena couldn't go to another continent where she would be safer and could start a life with Sam, because she couldn't leave her things behind, Assassins are resourceful, they could have figured things out once they were in a safe place, but noooo, she had to take all of her books, and jewelry, and furniture and lavender soap.

If she were a “promising apprentice” it would have made sense to have a character with a lot of talents that make mistakes because of her lack of experience, and we would be on this journey with her, this would have been a great lesson for her, but this life altering event did not change her that much, ToG Celaena is the same. You can't tell me this is the best Assassin in the whole world when even Wesley looked smarter.

1 star is for poor Sam who deserved better, and the other is because I enjoyed traveling to different cities and places in this world.

Note: I'm not sure when you are supposed to read this book. I definitely would not put it first because it is very slow, it took all of me to continue. If it wasn’t because I already bought the entire series in a pack and because apparently the second book in Crescent City it’s somehow connected to this (and now that I know this, I need to finish the series before I continue with House of Sky and Breath) I would have stopped reading this series completely.

I'm so glad I read it third. Emotional damage has been done.. It was a bit of a slow start because Celaena was so different from the first 2 books but as I kept reading everything started to make sense. My girl has been through so much...

just as i predicted im mad as hell and it’s a man’s fault

Crying in the club, rereading made me love Sam even more and I’m still not over it