June 11-August 4

Contains all five novellas.

Celaena Sardothien is Adarlan's most feared assassin. As part of the Assassin's Guild, her allegiance is to her master, Arobynn Hamel, yet Celaena listens to no one and trusts only her fellow killer-for-hire, Sam. In these action-packed novellas - together in one edition for the first time - Celaena embarks on five daring missions. They take her from remote islands to hostile deserts, where she fights to liberate slaves and seeks to avenge the tyrannous. But she is acting against Arobynn's orders and could suffer an unimaginable punishment for such treachery. Will Celaena ever be truly free? Explore the dark underworld of this kick-ass heroine to find out.

Review :
Loved these prequels I cried I laughed
I have read these before but before I read throne of glass and its interesting to read after that I've read the first 3 books

Review:

The assassin and the pirate lord
Celaena and Sam are sent to deal with this pirate lord for their master but it turns out to be in slave trade so they free them . I love Celaena and sam 5/5

The assassin and the healer
Celaena meets a healer and helps her learn to fight and gives her money so she can get to a healer school I enjoyed it . 5/5

The assassin and the desert
Celaena is sent to the red desert to get the approval of the mute desert I really liked this story more the second time reading it Celaena becomes friends with Ansel who has been through a lot and with her hate poison the mute master and Celaena warns her to leave or else .
She gets the approval from the mute master 4/5

The assassin and the underworld
I loved this story Celaena ends up getting her own apartment and she's going to move out . Celaena sees sam and her and sam get closer in this one . Sam confess his love her Celaena. Arobynn sets her up to kill this guy who is dealing in slaves but it turns out it was a set up from Arobynn she tells him she's moving out and she pays him back and pays Sam's bill to . 5/5

The assassin and the empire
This story always makes me cry Celaena and sam are together and so cute and sweet they tell Arobynn they are moving away. They get a assassin job to kill these twisted and sick people. But sam gets killed by one of them . It was a trap and Celaena gets sent to the salt mine. Arobynn set it all up cause he was jealous of sam what a prick I hate him . 5/5

Quotes
This had better be important."
"Perhaps if you hadn't been reading all night, you wouldn't be so exhausted," snapped the young man seated across from her.”

Sam,” she murmured into his chest.

“Hmm?”

She peeled away from him, stepping out of his arms. “If you ever tell anyone about me embracing you... I'll gut you.

“Life isn’t easy, no matter where you are. You’ll make choices you think are right, and then suffer for them.”

I love you,” he repeated, shaking her again. “I have for years. But if I asked you to pick, you’d choose Arobynn, and I. Can’t. Take. It.”
“You’re a damned idiot,” she breathed grabbing the front of his tunic. “You’re a moron and an ass and a damned idiot." He looked like she had hit him. But she went on, and grasped both sides of his face. “Because I’d pick you.”

Why did you do it?"
He removed her hand from his cheek to kiss the tips of her fingers. “I get scared, too,” he murmured onto her skin. “You want to hear something ridiculous? Whenever I’m scared out of my wits, I tell myself: My name is Sam Cortland … and I will not be afraid. I’ve been doing it for years.”
It was her turn to raise her brows. “And that actually works?”
He laughed onto her fingers. “Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. But it usually makes me feel better to some degree. Or it just makes me laugh at myself a bit.”

Why did you do it?"

Arobynn's attention drifted back to the wagon, already a small dot in the rolling foothills above Rifthold. "Because I don't like sharing my belongings.”

by Sarah Maas

This is my first Sarah Maas book and despite some challenging format on the ARC, it drew me right in, Fayre is one of three sisters who live in reduced circumstances after having known a comfortable life. Their mother is dead and their father is crippled and often in a world of his own, because it was some nasty creditors who crippled him in painful ways.

Fayre hunts for food, since the family is destitute. The forest is dangerous, full of hungry wolves as well as fae shapeshifters, and when she encounters a large wolf stalking the same deer she's hunting, she can't be sure which it is. The tension of her attempt to hunt food without becoming prey herself got the story off to a good start.

I wondered many times if this was meant to be a re-imagining of Beauty and the Beast, as there were a lot of similar elements. Fayre is a strong but fearful character, mistrusting the Fae effectively as monsters despite their physical beauty. These are not your fairytale Fae! She encounters some chilling creatures in the course of the story.

The first half kept me riveted, but then it started losing me. The standard gratuitous sex scene that seems to be a feature of New Adult books was better written than most, but still the same old actions. There was some inconsistency in characters and somebody needs to explain to the author that villages don't have 'blocks', an exclusively American term used by city dwellers.

There were also several occasions where the use of a word in a sentence would klunk, just not quite fitting. Despite that, the imaginative encounters with various supernatural characters and especially in the trials Feyre had to face were well done. The end was fairly predictable, but fit the story.

I don't think I'll be continuing the series, but overall I did enjoy the read.

Book 2 in the throne of glass series is a bit more complex than the first making it take a bit longer to read. I’m still hooked on the series!

I originally read this and the entire series last year but I’ve felt a little empty since reading it. I’m not on my second journey through and I’m picking up on a lot more detail. So far this one is the fastest/easiest read because the plot hasn’t thickened tooo much.