Why The Assassin’s Blade is Essential for any Throne of Glass Fan

I started The Throne of Glass series not too long ago and heartily enjoyed the first two books. But then one of my friends informed me that I needed to read The Assassin’s Blade before I went any farther. I was thinking, well if it’s like The Selection series, it shouldn’t matter when I read it, but she insisted. So, I bought it and started reading it. And now I agree. If I could go back, I would read it after the first one. It makes me want to go reread the first one because I feel like a couple things would make more sense now. If you want to read more about why I love The Throne of Glass, you can find my review here.

The Assassin’s Blade is an essential part of the Throne of Glass series.

So, The Assassin’s Blade is divided into five different short stories that all kind of flow together. They’re all in chronological order too, which makes them easy to follow. They can easily be read as a prequel book. It’s certainly long enough to be one. I’ll just give you some quick summaries. The Assassin and the Healer and The Assassin and the Desert are my two favorites, so you’ll notice that I’ll probably talk about them a bit more than the others.

The Assassin and the Pirate Lord-

A good introduction to Celaena if you haven’t read the other books. You get a sense of her skill but also her moral compass that hasn’t been the strongest. You also get to see the beginning of her relationship with Sam, when they’re more competitors than friends. I enjoyed it, but you didn’t get to delve very far into the characters. So, it was a necessary story to tell, to explain other things, but it wasn’t my favorite.

The Assassin and the Healer –

This one was so cute. It gave the reader a chance to visibly see the changes taking place in Celaena’s head. She’s a badass assassin, but she also is generous and caring. She goes out of her way to help a girl who’s situation could’ve been hers had things gone differently.

Celaena is still pretty selfish at this point, but you see that shifting. Which is one of the main points of this story.

The Assassin and the Desert –

This one was my very favorite one! I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to have a story based on one of the apprentices of the desert assassins. It’s a very different type of training then what Celaena had from Arobynn. the emphasis was less on brutality and more on subtilty and learning. The experience Celaena has here really mold what happens to her in the later books. She learns new tactics, but also mercy. Her escape from Arobynn is also given a beginning here. The Silent Master is also one of my favorite characters! He’s so wise and understanding. He’s exactly the kind of person that Celaena needs in her life.

The Assassin and the Underworld –

This one felt very much like a story of transition. Celaena arranges to free herself from Arobynn. She and Sam confess their feelings, etc. It felt very much like a ‘must get reader to love Sam so you’ll be sad later.’ Which is fine and completely necessary. It was just hard to get attached, knowing what was going to happen. This story also contained a lot of cute moments between Celaena and Sam, which is adorable! But this story really blended into the next one.

The Assassin and the Empire –

This one takes place right after The Assassin and the Underworld. All is not rainbows and butterflies for Celaena and Sam.

You know things aren’t going to end well and they don’t… But it really clears up Celaena’s past. This is the moment that you wonder about all through Throne of Glass. And you finally get to see exactly how it went down. It’s really sad…

Overall-

Definitely a must read! Any Throne of Glass fan needs to read these. The biggest reason why is the understanding these stories bring. They give you a lot of insight into Celaena’s past. Which makes her decisions in the later books make more sense. Also, it’s worth the read just for the Assassin and the Desert. It’s so good! Plus, Sarah J. Maas’ books are so long, this makes a nice change. You can read one of the stories in just a few hours and put it down. It’s not like her other ones that suck you in for days. Which is also good, but this is a nice way to mix it up. Pick it up here.

Have you read The Assassin’s Blade? What did you think of it?

 

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