Author: Sarah J. Maas
Series: Throne of Glass #o.4
Series: Throne of Glass #o.4
Date Started: June 25th 2013
Date Completed: June 26th 2013
Genres: Action, Thriller, Fantasy, Romance, Mystery
Rating: Five stars
Review:
It was so good. So, so good. They've all been wonderful and exciting, but they've all been building up to this massive, epic finale that sets up the perfect cliffhanger for the main novels. I honestly don't know how Maas managed to write a book and then create such a detailed, perfectly planned, set-out backstory that happened before. I'm already completely and utterly sold to the series.
The Assassin and the Empire is the last novella before Maas' first Throne of Glass novel. It takes place immediately after The Assassin and the Underworld. Celeana and Sam, now free of the Assassin's Guild, spend their time lazing around in their new apartment. But after a surprise visit from their old master, both decide they want to leave the city and their past behind them. To raise the appropriate funds for their leave of the Guild, the pair decide to handle their biggest mission yet: taking down the Crime Lord of the city. But are Adarlan's best Assassins taking on too much than they can handle?
The writing style is always brilliant when Maas is writing it. It flows, it's detailed, it's imaginative. The action sequences are flawlessly written and I can accurately see everything as it happens in the story. I also love how Maas can correctly portray her character's emotions.
There's a lot of conflicting feelings in this novella, and I think Maas was able to show both sides of all of them so that the reader is able to emphasise with Celeana as she has to make all the decisions herself.
It's one of my favourites - I don't think I enjoyed it quite as much as The Assassin and the Underworld, because I didn't feel there was as much mystery and suspense character-wise, as well as plot. But it's definitely my favourite. So much happens and it all works so well together and ties in, you can tell the author has spent time and effort perfecting her plan of the story before she started writing.
There's so many twists and turns in this story. I think it's the first of Maas' novellas I've read where I'm constantly having to change my opinion on what I think the characters should do because something's happened or because they've learnt something new or because Sam or Celeana have a big speech about how they should do things their way.
I didn't want to put it down at all - even in the slower parts. The great thing was, in the fast, action-packed scenes there was plenty of excitement and danger to keep me entertained. But everything apart from the climaxes were still full of tension and important to the storyline, so I was never reading anything irrelevant or inappropriate.
I've said this in every review I've done of Maas' books, but I love the characters so much. As a whole, they work together better than any other cast I've read. Admittedly, there are very few main characters, but in a way that's better because we can tell the author has decided to take more time to really get into a few characters than only shallowly develop a large number of people.
Celeana is my favourite character of all time. Not even just protagonists; kick-ass girls; beautiful people; realistic personalities. She's just my favourite because of so many reasons. When you think of assassins, you might think of people that are still scared, and still have their own emotions etc, but the thing I love about Celeana is it's very clear she's got the killing instinct drilled into her head - and it's obvious she's more than capable of murdering everyone she sees. But even though she's no doubt an assassin, she's still a human being without compromising that. I'm really impressed with that: being able to say your character is one thing - and stick to that - whilst also showing a comparison the reader might not be expecting.
Sam, you kill me, honestly. I love him so much, and he is the best male interest I've read in a Young Adult story. I love the way he and Celeana are actually quite different, yet they work together wonderfully. He's believable, and yet still perfectly imperfect at the same time. I love his scenes, and I really look forward to any of his dialogue or anything that he's in because I think he's a really interesting character that is exactly what Celeana needs.
My mind is constantly changing about Arobynn: sometimes I'm positive he's evil; then I think he's just cruel; or maybe he's misunderstood and I should feel sympathetic to him; then back to the hating him because he's really mean. I'm never sure whether he's a good guy that's really messed up, or whether he's actually been our to get Celeana from the start. And I love that uncertainty because it makes me want to keep coming back for more.
I think the romance in this book is portrayed very well. There's definitely more in it than there was in the last novella (my favourite) and I think that was why I didn't like it quite so much. The romance didn't get in the way of the story, as such, but it was more ingrained in the main plot. This isn't necessarily bad, I just prefer it the other way around.
But I still think it was really well done. Their relationship is very subtle, and I like that because it's realistic. There's still a lot of doubt in Celeana's mind about whether it's the right thing to do - as in most Young Adult romances - but it isn't the insufferable whiny type that just drives me mad.
I think it's very well balanced out.
A really small thing I've been meaning to mention is that I like the way Maas doesn't go into huge detail about Celeana. We're told she's beautiful, and there is the odd description of golden hair or sparkling eyes, but for the most part, we're just told she's beautiful and that's all we need to know. It's a very small thing that isn't vital whatsoever, but I really like the way she's allowing us to just accept Celeana for ourselves.
The ending killed me. I'm not even joking this time. The thing is, is wasn't even the ending. Maas made me suffer for another twenty percent of the book before she let me come to terms with what happened. I hate authors, honestly. They're evil, yet so clever. It was the perfect ending to the novellas, although I am wondering how the hell Celeana's going to carry on now. I guess I'll just have to find out myself.
I would recommend The Assassin and the Empire to everyone. It's so good, and there's loads to appeal to a whole range of genres and preferences. There's mystery, action, romance, fantasy, thrills. It's very emotional and is a fairly easy read that still manages to include a staggering amount of detail to add to the story. I would recommend reading the previous novellas first, because otherwise your heart might not break as much as the story deserves. And I can pretty much guarantee you'll want to read the novel afterwards to find out what happens to Celeana - I do.
Image Source: http://www.bookchickcity.com/wp-content/uploads/
2012/08/the-assassin-and-the-empire.jpg
It was so good. So, so good. They've all been wonderful and exciting, but they've all been building up to this massive, epic finale that sets up the perfect cliffhanger for the main novels. I honestly don't know how Maas managed to write a book and then create such a detailed, perfectly planned, set-out backstory that happened before. I'm already completely and utterly sold to the series.
The Assassin and the Empire is the last novella before Maas' first Throne of Glass novel. It takes place immediately after The Assassin and the Underworld. Celeana and Sam, now free of the Assassin's Guild, spend their time lazing around in their new apartment. But after a surprise visit from their old master, both decide they want to leave the city and their past behind them. To raise the appropriate funds for their leave of the Guild, the pair decide to handle their biggest mission yet: taking down the Crime Lord of the city. But are Adarlan's best Assassins taking on too much than they can handle?
The writing style is always brilliant when Maas is writing it. It flows, it's detailed, it's imaginative. The action sequences are flawlessly written and I can accurately see everything as it happens in the story. I also love how Maas can correctly portray her character's emotions.
There's a lot of conflicting feelings in this novella, and I think Maas was able to show both sides of all of them so that the reader is able to emphasise with Celeana as she has to make all the decisions herself.
It's one of my favourites - I don't think I enjoyed it quite as much as The Assassin and the Underworld, because I didn't feel there was as much mystery and suspense character-wise, as well as plot. But it's definitely my favourite. So much happens and it all works so well together and ties in, you can tell the author has spent time and effort perfecting her plan of the story before she started writing.
There's so many twists and turns in this story. I think it's the first of Maas' novellas I've read where I'm constantly having to change my opinion on what I think the characters should do because something's happened or because they've learnt something new or because Sam or Celeana have a big speech about how they should do things their way.
I didn't want to put it down at all - even in the slower parts. The great thing was, in the fast, action-packed scenes there was plenty of excitement and danger to keep me entertained. But everything apart from the climaxes were still full of tension and important to the storyline, so I was never reading anything irrelevant or inappropriate.
I've said this in every review I've done of Maas' books, but I love the characters so much. As a whole, they work together better than any other cast I've read. Admittedly, there are very few main characters, but in a way that's better because we can tell the author has decided to take more time to really get into a few characters than only shallowly develop a large number of people.
Celeana is my favourite character of all time. Not even just protagonists; kick-ass girls; beautiful people; realistic personalities. She's just my favourite because of so many reasons. When you think of assassins, you might think of people that are still scared, and still have their own emotions etc, but the thing I love about Celeana is it's very clear she's got the killing instinct drilled into her head - and it's obvious she's more than capable of murdering everyone she sees. But even though she's no doubt an assassin, she's still a human being without compromising that. I'm really impressed with that: being able to say your character is one thing - and stick to that - whilst also showing a comparison the reader might not be expecting.
Sam, you kill me, honestly. I love him so much, and he is the best male interest I've read in a Young Adult story. I love the way he and Celeana are actually quite different, yet they work together wonderfully. He's believable, and yet still perfectly imperfect at the same time. I love his scenes, and I really look forward to any of his dialogue or anything that he's in because I think he's a really interesting character that is exactly what Celeana needs.
My mind is constantly changing about Arobynn: sometimes I'm positive he's evil; then I think he's just cruel; or maybe he's misunderstood and I should feel sympathetic to him; then back to the hating him because he's really mean. I'm never sure whether he's a good guy that's really messed up, or whether he's actually been our to get Celeana from the start. And I love that uncertainty because it makes me want to keep coming back for more.
I think the romance in this book is portrayed very well. There's definitely more in it than there was in the last novella (my favourite) and I think that was why I didn't like it quite so much. The romance didn't get in the way of the story, as such, but it was more ingrained in the main plot. This isn't necessarily bad, I just prefer it the other way around.
But I still think it was really well done. Their relationship is very subtle, and I like that because it's realistic. There's still a lot of doubt in Celeana's mind about whether it's the right thing to do - as in most Young Adult romances - but it isn't the insufferable whiny type that just drives me mad.
I think it's very well balanced out.
A really small thing I've been meaning to mention is that I like the way Maas doesn't go into huge detail about Celeana. We're told she's beautiful, and there is the odd description of golden hair or sparkling eyes, but for the most part, we're just told she's beautiful and that's all we need to know. It's a very small thing that isn't vital whatsoever, but I really like the way she's allowing us to just accept Celeana for ourselves.
The ending killed me. I'm not even joking this time. The thing is, is wasn't even the ending. Maas made me suffer for another twenty percent of the book before she let me come to terms with what happened. I hate authors, honestly. They're evil, yet so clever. It was the perfect ending to the novellas, although I am wondering how the hell Celeana's going to carry on now. I guess I'll just have to find out myself.
I would recommend The Assassin and the Empire to everyone. It's so good, and there's loads to appeal to a whole range of genres and preferences. There's mystery, action, romance, fantasy, thrills. It's very emotional and is a fairly easy read that still manages to include a staggering amount of detail to add to the story. I would recommend reading the previous novellas first, because otherwise your heart might not break as much as the story deserves. And I can pretty much guarantee you'll want to read the novel afterwards to find out what happens to Celeana - I do.
Image Source: http://www.bookchickcity.com/wp-content/uploads/
2012/08/the-assassin-and-the-empire.jpg
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