The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Mass is Fantastic! (UPDATED)

Here is my Booktube spoiler free review of Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas:

The Assassisn’s Blade by Sarah J. Maas is amazing! It has action, betrayal, romance, humor, and shows a softer, caring side of Celaena that I wish I had known going into the Throne of Glass series. This book is about two assassins, Celaena and Sam, who like each other in spite of being competitors. We also see Hamel Arobynn’s dark, cruel, mean side--he's a real scumbag. There are five novellas that comprise this book that were all very good. I particularly liked the first three better than the last two just because the last two are so heartbreaking and so sad. After reading this book, I like Celaena even more than I already did.

This book is a page turner that had me from start to finish. I liked this one even more than those I’ve read in The Throne of Glass series because this book does not have any magic in it, just action and a lot of character development. I enjoyed this book very much and wish I had read it before starting the series so I knew Celaena better. I think Celaena and Sam should have went back to the Red Desert and worked for the mute assassin when they decided to leave Arobynn. In the second story about the healer, I found the self-defense lesson by Celaena very interesting and liked how she was willing to train Yrene, the barmaid at the White Pig Inn, how to defend herself. In the third story, Celaena finally finds a friend in Ansel and has some fun for a change. I highly recommend this book if you enjoy adventure, action, and well developed interesting character interaction. 
(Karen's review, 5 stars)

The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Mass is made up of five short stories that give background on Celaena, the main character in The Throne of Glass series.  This collection could have easily been a novel because the stories follow in chronological order.  The three big things I got out of this book were:  (1)  I got to see a different side of Celaena; (2) Got to know Sam and about his relationship with Celaena; and (3) got to know more about Arobynn Hamel (the guy who trained her to be an assassin).

Wow!  This book is fantastic!  The stories are very good and filled with twists and turns.  I LOVED IT A LOT!  I would recommend reading this first before the Throne of Glass series although I didn't do it that way and still enjoyed it.  I just think reading this one first would give you helpful background on Celaena going into the next books.
(Gerard's review 7/22/15, 5 stars)

Review of the previous books in this series:
Throne of Glass
Crown of Midnight
Heir of Fire

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