Medium – Audiobook
About the Book – From the universe of the ‘Throne of Glass’ comes the prequel to the series, ‘The Assassin’s Blade’. It follows our main character, Celaena Sardothien, in five mini-stories, charting her beginnings as Aderlan’s assassin, to her fall – leading to the first book of the series, ‘The Throne of Glass’. The books also introduce the first man she fell in love with, her childhood rival Sam, as well as other well known characters from the series, such as Lysandra, Ireen, Arobynn, and a short cameo from the Prince and Captain Chaol. After the events of the first novella, ‘The Assassin and the Pirate Lord’, we see Celaena travel across the continent, doing bad things as well as good (well, she is an assassin, after all), and trying to forget her past and find a better future for herself.
My Rating – 4/5
My Thoughts – I really enjoyed the Throne of Glass series, getting through the whole set of books on my journeys to and from work before the lockdown (those heady days in 2019, when who knew what was coming!). Sarah J. Maas’s storylines and plots are both interesting and exciting, and generally not too contrived. There are some YA fantasy tropes – a virginal but murderous female lead, the honourable male lead, a general cast of characters ranging from merely pretty to drop dead gorgeous (seriously, where are all the normal looking characters?) – but they don’t detract too much from the story. I was intrigued to listen to the prequel of the series, but felt that I needed to be in the mood to do it. Which now, at the (hopefully) tail end of the third lockdown, I now am!
The character of Celaena Sardothien is one for whom I have a bit of a love/hate relationship. She’s arrogant and vain, and obviously does a profession which is questionable to say the least. Later in the series, (SPOILERS!) Celaena rediscovers her roots and becomes Aelin Galathynius, the princess of Terrassen, and at that point, I feel that she becomes a more likeable, sympathetic character. The character of Sam is fantastic, so much better than Chaol, who becomes Celaena’s love interest later in the set of stories. He is kind, gentle (for an assassin!) and respects Celaena’s ability to best him in a fight. Part of me does wish that he had stuck around into the main books, as I think he is a much more developed and interesting male lead than some that Celaena is matched with (with the exception of her final partner!) The novella I most enjoyed was the one set in the Red Desert – no Sam, but a much more gracious, endearing Celaena, and the inclusion of Ansel, who is another favourite.
So why only a 4 star? As discussed above, there’s the slightly less sympathetic Celaena, and I felt these novellas didn’t match up to the storytelling in the main book. I felt as well that these novellas were significantly more ‘trope-y’ than the actual novels – it felt like Celaena was very similar to most other fantasy heroines I’ve read in the past. But generally a great listen – especially because of the narrator (Elizabeth Evans, who is excellent).
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