The Assassin's Blade (Throne of Glass, Books 0.1-0.5)

by Sarah J. Maas

I am not sure what to think of this book. Some of the stories were just ok, nothing special, nothing interesting. I did not particularly care for the relationship between Celaena and Sam, because their romance seemed too sudden for me. She went from hate to love overnight. I tried to care about it, but I was not invested in their relationship. However, I did like the fact that their relationship had its flaws. They were absolutely no perfect couple, Celaena was selfish and he was stubborn, which made it feel real, realistic in comparison to all the perfect relationships we often see in books.

Sam did grow on me. He was such a loving character and the reasons behind his actions made a lot of sense. I understood where he was coming from, and often agreed with him. However, I did not feel connected to Celaena's grief, because her feelings for him did not feel real to me.

The small stories were not my favorites, but the overall story was very interesting. I never suspected Arobynn to be a good person, so the final plot twist and his betrayal were not surprising to me. However, I had not expected that he was so obsessed with her. It even felt wrong to read about it, how he thought about her and how he had always been obsessed with her and had used her. How he only cared about himself.