Rating: 3.5 stars
Synopsis: 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, 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 free? Explore the dark underworld of this kick-ass heroine to find out.
Review: Yes, you've read the title right. I've finally started reading the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J Maas! I wasn't originally going to read this bind up, but, a lot of people said that they wished they'd read them before starting the series so, I decided to pick it up. Now, if you've seen my review of A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas, you will know that I absolutely adore that book, and is probably going to be my favourite book release of 2016. So, I have high hopes for the Throne of Glass series. Based on this bind up, I'm slightly disappointed. But, it seems I'm the only one who feels that way.
Now, let me explain. I have (somehow) managed to come into this series with very few spoilers. I know a few minor things but, actually, I don't know much about what is to come. So, I'm judging this book as any new book that I read. As far as first impressions go, I was left slightly disappointed by these stories.
The five stories recount the events that lead up to Throne of Glass. They obviously give more details on the characters and the world which was really nice. Once again, Sarah has created an incredibly intricate world for these characters to live in and I'm excited to read more about it. My issue, I think, was actually Celaena. In these stories she is incredibly self-centred and spoilt, which means that I had a really hard time liking her as a character. Like I said, these are prequel stories to the main series, so she is bound to be different here than in those books, but these characteristics made it really difficult for me to finish the book; especially through the first four stories. I thought that the Assassin and the Desert would persuade me to like Celaena, but the next story kind of destroyed that for me. It wasn't until the final story where I finally saw Sarah's finesse and style really come out.
I had the same problem with this book as I did when I read 'Dorothy Must Die' by Danielle Paige. While I was reading it, I was intrigued and invested but, I could put it down and step away for days at a time and not be bothered by it. This happened up until the last story and that had me hooked from the first page and, again, I think it's because I finally saw Sarah J Maas in the writing. Which, doesn't make much sense but, her writing style generally is just so effortless and, usually means I fly through her books.
If you haven't read the Throne of Glass series yet (I feel like I'm talking to the minority here!) then I would recommend picking up at least the last novella 'The Assassin and the Empire.' This was my favourite of all five and sets everything up for Throne of Glass and gives you some context to the events leading up to that book. This story actually really excited me and made me look forward to reading Throne of Glass (which I'm currently reading right now!) so I would definitely recommend this one. The other four obviously give some more context to the final story but you don't need to have read them to understand the Assassin and the Empire.
Overall this collection was okay but, without that last story, I wouldn't have been nearly as excited to pick up Throne of Glass as I was. I'm hoping that the further in to the series I get will change my opinion on the other four stories, but, I guess we'll see.
I had the same problem with this book as I did when I read 'Dorothy Must Die' by Danielle Paige. While I was reading it, I was intrigued and invested but, I could put it down and step away for days at a time and not be bothered by it. This happened up until the last story and that had me hooked from the first page and, again, I think it's because I finally saw Sarah J Maas in the writing. Which, doesn't make much sense but, her writing style generally is just so effortless and, usually means I fly through her books.
If you haven't read the Throne of Glass series yet (I feel like I'm talking to the minority here!) then I would recommend picking up at least the last novella 'The Assassin and the Empire.' This was my favourite of all five and sets everything up for Throne of Glass and gives you some context to the events leading up to that book. This story actually really excited me and made me look forward to reading Throne of Glass (which I'm currently reading right now!) so I would definitely recommend this one. The other four obviously give some more context to the final story but you don't need to have read them to understand the Assassin and the Empire.
Overall this collection was okay but, without that last story, I wouldn't have been nearly as excited to pick up Throne of Glass as I was. I'm hoping that the further in to the series I get will change my opinion on the other four stories, but, I guess we'll see.
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