The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas (Throne of Glass Novellas #0.1-#0.5): Review

Title: The Assassin's Blade
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Publisher: Bloomsbury 
Buy This Book: Amazon / Book Depository

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. (Goodreads summary.)

* Don't read review unless you have read Throne of Glass first! *

This book in one word!

I absolutely can't put into words how much I adored this book. I can't. It's actually impossible. It's basically being marketed as a book of novellas, but it's really one whole story. Maas gave us a whole prequel to the series, she just spoils us like that. I read this between Crown of Midnight and Heir of Fire because my shipper heart couldn't handle the feels and what was to come in book three. I am so glad I did because The Assassin's Blade turned out to be my favourite of all the books so far.

I don't want to individually review the novellas because it honestly does feel like one big story, so I don't want to give too much away. It shows us important events in Celaena's life before Endovier. We get to finally meet Sam, her first love, who we hadn't learned too much about in Throne of Glass. I've wanted to know more about Celaena's past since the moment I started Throne of Glass. You learn little bits here and there but never get to see the whole picture. This book was everything I had been needing, it doesn't reveal everything but it shows me so much. I adored it. Absolutely. Adored. It.

When I picked this book up I admit that I was a little nervous about it. I knew this book would be missing one very important thing: Chaol. Have you read my other Throne of Glass reviews? I am totally, one hundred percent, obsessed with Chaol. So I thought this book wouldn't be able to compete with the unbelievably awesomeness that was the other books. I was wrong. Maas is always proving me wrong. I kinda love her for it. Celaena and all of her adventures completely made up for the lack of Chaol, and then Sam comes in and just breaks my little heart.

Sam & Celaena verdict.

You should all know by now that I am a complete shipper of Chaolaena. FYI, it's my OTP. So I wasn't quite sure how I could even begin to like Sam or his relationship with Celaena. Well, as we all know, Maas is an absolute genius and she can make me love anyone. Sam was just the most adorable thing ever. I adored him, I adored him with Celaena, I adored how Celaena was with Sam. And it broke my heart. I've read Throne of Glass, I know what happens to Sam. I knew it with absolute certainty, I still spent the entire book hoping it would turn out differently.

Maas just knows how to write romances, I don't like romance fiction but if Maas wrote one then I would read it. I didn't think anyone could even come close to Chaol for me in this series, but then Maas introduced Sam. That boy is just adorable, and loveable and everything I'd hoped he would be and wished he wouldn't be all at the same time. I didn't want him to be so wonderful because then I knew I'd be devastated when it all went horribly wrong. And I was. I wanted to hate Maas for it but I couldn't. All I could do was applaud her.

There's pirates!!!!

Maas didn't let me down at all with this book. It had action, sooooooo much action. There's adventure and romance and just EVERYTHING! Even pirates, and who doesn't love pirates. Honestly, I can't praise this book enough. Anything Maas writes I will be buying it and reading it, she's on my auto-buy list for life. If you are going to read the Throne of Glass series then you definitely have to make time for this book. It adds so much more to the story and gives you such a lot of insight into Celaena's past.

5/5 Butterflies

AMAZING!!! I did not expect this book to become my favourite, but it took the spot so easily. It was a fast-paced read, filled with action and adventure, and all the back story on Celaena that I needed and wanted. The romance between Sam and Celaena was totally shippable and heartbreaking all at once. I couldn't get enough of this book, it was just perfect. PERFECT!