My Initial Reaction...
This glimpse of Celaena was even better than the first novella - in The Assassin and the Healer she's still arrogant but now I feel like it's tempered a bit and I like her so much more!
The Good...
The Assassin and the Healer is told partly from the point of view of Celaena and partly from the point of view of a bar maid in this disgusting harbor town, named Yrene. I think this was better than The Assassin and the Pirate because of Yrene. The introduction of Yrene allowed for the introduction of magic to the series - this is the first time (before the novel, that is) that I've seen magic mentioned and it's because Yrene is a healer, as was her mother. Only the King's attack on magic has forced her to temporarily forsake her gift as a healer and for magic to disappear from their land. I loved loved loved seeing this aspect, since the magic in the Throne of Glass had kind of caught me off gauard when I read it. There's not a lot about it, but there's enough for me to get a taste of just how much the world has changed because of the King. And of how evil he is, which I already knew, but still.
I also liked seeing Celaena through Yrene's eyes. She's arrogant and scary for sure, but she's also strong and independent. I think Yrene would want to be nothing like Celaena, because of her healer instincts, but both women have a fierce strength about them, that Celaena could help Yrene unlock. This potential in Celaena and the way she interacts with Yrene was another highlight of The Assassin and the Healer for me. Celaena does a lot better with people, it seems, to whom she has nothing to prove. I hated her with her fellow assassins and the pirate, because her arrogance took over. But with Yrene we saw her softer side and I loved it.
The Bad...
Yeah... can't think of a thing. Could it be longer?
Concluding Sentiments...
Reading The Assassin and the Healer excited me about the Throne of Glass world in a way the first novella didn't and I'm excited to keep discovering more about Celaena's life before the Throne of Glass.