Review for "The Assassin and the Empire" by Sarah J Maas

How utterly devastating!  I knew from reading the titles of a few reviews exactly what was going to happen in this novella.  I didn’t want to read it!  Of course, not reading it doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen.  From reading the official summary, I can see that most anything I would say would be a spoiler so I will have to resign myself to vagaries. 

This novella picks up right where the last one left off.  Celaena just found out that Arobynn had betrayed her (again) by having her kill the person trying to stop the slave trade (Doneval) instead of the one trying to establish it like she thought.  He thought to break her by this, but really she just deposited the gold that The Mute Master had given her to pay off her debt to Arobynn, sold her Asterion horse to pay off Sam’s debt and informed Arobynn that she would be moving out. 

Sam and Celaena wanted/needed to move to another city so they wouldn’t be under Arobynn’s thumb.  They needed to leave the Assassins Guild amicably so that they wouldn’t be hunted down and killed.  The price for leaving was everything they had left.  So Sam and Celaena needed to find one last job in order to get the money needed to move somewhere else. 

The job was to take out the crime lord, Ioan Jayne and his second-in-command, Farran.  This was to be their most dangerous assignment, but would allow them the freedom to leave Rifthold behind.  Arobynn tried to talk Celaena out of it.  Sam insisted that he would take on the sociopathic, sadistic enforcer.  He wanted Celaena nowhere near Farran.  They quickly learn they have been betrayed again. 

This novella was still phenomenal.  I don’t like sad endings, but I saw this novella as a means to an end.  I needed to read this one, in order to read Throne of Glass.  I can see how this novella is important.  The reader should understand all the heartache and treachery that Celaena went through in order to get where she is at the beginning of the novel.  The novellas guided the reader gently through the growth that Celaena experienced.   

Favorite quote: 

"The breeze grew into a wind, and she closed her eyes, letting it sweep away the ashes of that dead world-of that dead girl.  And then there was nothing left except  something new, something still glowing red from the forging."  

Review for "The Assassin and the Underworld" by Sarah J Maas

It’s like these darn novellas keep getting better and better!  What’s a girl to do?  Keep reading of course. 

I knew I liked Sam from the first novella when he helped Celaena free the slaves. And even though he never made an appearance in the second novella, Celaena's thoughts about him just brought him closer to my heart. In this novella, he firmly takes his place as my favorite character.

This novella picks up right where the second one left off. Celaena comes back from the Red Desert. Seeing Arobynn for the first time after he beat her was less dramatic than she thought. The entire time, he was contrite, he apologized, and sent her gifts. Celaena didn't tell him she had an apartment or that she had money to pay off her debt. He immediately offers her a mission to thwart a plan to start a slave trade between Rifthold and Melisande. There is a great deal of intrigue in this installment. Who can Celaena trust?

At the end, we are not left wondering. We clearly know which side of the line Arobynn and Sam lie on. And what a dastardly villain the villain makes (I can’t tell you who that is, that is part of the intrigue so quit asking me!)  Oh p.s. Lynsander needs to be punched!  I do not like that girl. 

I am immediately jumping into the next one and by the reviews of it being heartbreaking I can see I might be depressed for a few days. I just hope that what I think might happen doesn't happen.

Favorite quote:
"I love you," he repeated, shaking her again.  "I have for years.  And he hurt you and made me watch because he's always known how I felt, too.  But if I asked you to pick, you'd choose Arobynn, and I. Can't. Take. It."  --Sam

Review for "The Assassin and the Desert" by Sarah J Maas

Oh man, oh jeepers. I thought I liked the first one, but I loved, loved, loved this second installment!

Celaena grew so much over the month we were with her in this book. The story picks up just a small time after The Assassin and the Pirate Lord ended. We find out what happened to Celaena and Sam when they get back. As punishment, Celaena is sent to train in the Red Dessert with The Silent Assassins, but first both Celaena and Sam are punished in a far worse way.  Celaena didn't see Sam before she left and is left to wonder if he is okay while she is in the desert.  She needs a good recommendation letter from The Mute Master, but quickly learns it will be difficult to even get him to train her.

Once Celaena passes the first test, she is assigned a room with a roommate, Ansel.  We learn Ansel's back-story about how she came to be with the Silent Assassins.  She wears intricate wolf armor, has brilliant red hair, is very beautiful and has a boyfriend who is clearly besotted with her.  Ansel is also working as the liaison between the Silent Assassins and their nemesis, the king of Xandria.  Ansel takes Celaena with her to Xandria where Ansel meets privately with the king. 

Celaena wanders the market in Xandria and runs into a merchant selling spidersilk.  The merchant recognizes Celaena for the assassin that she is and asks her to help him by destroying the spider whom he bartered 20 years of his life away with for the 200 yards of priceless spidersilk.  Celaena is obviously not available now but states he can find her in Rifthold at the Assassin's Keep at a later date.  He provides her with a 6-inch square of spidersilk to remind her that everything comes at a price.  I am left with the impression that we will see this merchant later in the series perhaps. 

There is a traitor in the Silent Assassins of the Red Desert!  It didn't come as a surprise as to who the traitor was. But that mattered very little. We got to see Celaena make her first real friend (Ansel), and grow so much. In the first book, Celaena comes across as spoiled and very quick to anger as well as conceited. She mentions how beautiful she is many times, but in this book Celaena experiences many things that make her more humble and gracious than she would have been otherwise. I am going to miss the master the most.

Favorite quote:
"When you give your master his letter, also give him this.  And tell him that in the Red Desert, we do not beat our disciples." --The Mute Master

Review for "The Assassin and the Pirate Lord" by Sarah J Maas

I was teetering between 4 stars and 5 stars, but 5 won out when I thought about how this was just a novella, but the characters were so wonderfully done is such a short time span!

Celaena (I am not sure quite how to pronounce this name which is never good, but once I decided on how I wanted to pronounce it, the reading went smoothly) is an assassin and to hear her say it, she is the best.  She is Adarlan's Assassin.  We are introduced to her at the age of 16 and at first there is nothing loveable about her. She is arrogant, sometimes mean, and short tempered.  Through this short novella we see her character grow. Celaena is thrown into a mission with Sam.  Sam is another assassin, just slightly older than Celaena and we learn very early on that Celaena doesn't think much of Sam. 

We find out very quickly that they were sent on a mission under false pretenses.  Arobynn, the King of the Assassins has sent them to Skull Island under the pretense of getting retribution for the assassins that a group of pirates killed.  Although it seems somewhat unbelievable that a group of pirates dispatched trained assassins, but it is briefly touched on that they were outnumbered.

Celaena and Sam are informed rather unceremoniously that they are in fact in contact with the Pirate Lord in order to set up a slave trade for Arobynn.  Neither Celaena nor Sam are ok with this turn of events.  The rest of the novella is how Celaena and Sam come together and devise a plan to help the slaves escape.

The Pirate Lord is at times likeable, and it seems that it is left open for him to come back as an enemy/ally later. He was a gentleman and also an enemy (a gent-emy?). He was a bit of an enigma but it is clear they are not on the same side here.

I can't wait to read the next one and see how Celaena progresses. I am not sure if I am supposed to but I am rooting for Sam right now.