My Initial Reaction...
The Assassin and the Empire was so good! As long as you understand that by good I mean devastating and fury-inducing. I knew this was how it would end, and yet somehow I'm still overwhelmed.
The Good...
This is going to be the suckiest review because everything I want to say would be a huge spoiler if you haven't read either The Assassin and the Empire or Throne of Glass.
What I will say is whether you've read Throne of Glass or not, I think you'll just FEEL where The Assassin and the Empire is headed. And you'll love hating it. You've read those books right? They infuriate you. You want to shake characters and let them know they're making some of the stupidest decisions they could possibly make. You want to DESTROY the bad guy. And not nicely. I mean you want to make him/her feel every ounce of how horrible s/he is.
That's how I felt reading The Assassin and the Empire. By time I finished (in 1 sitting BTW), I was on a war path. Which was healthy, because without the anger, I probably would have been sobbing.
The Bad...
After all that Good, you know I've got nothing here, right? All GOOD.
Concluding Sentiments...
I'm so geared up to read Crown of Midnight after finishing this. Since I can't wreak bloody vengeance I'm just dying to read about Celaena doing it! So glad I know she's not a softy!