I'm praying you all are right and the rest of this series is amazing, because this prequel .... was not. I know the reading order for this series is controversial, and there is a chance I will feel differently after having read further, but even so, this is just not a good book.

The novella format was an interesting choice. I think it resulted in the story feeling far too disjoined, and the story line and depth of the characters suffered greatly as a result of Maas trying to incorporate too much. In that vein, I understand that Sam and Celaena's relationship is supposed to be this magical love story, but because of how much was going on, I didn't feel invested or overly moved by them or their chemistry.

And is Celaena like...actually an assassin? This bitch was captured/drugged/compromised three times throughout this book. I get people make mistakes, but for someone who is supposed to be second in command, "Adarlan's Assassin", she was sloppy and whiny and was constantly letting her emotions get the best of her. It was not giving "best of the best", to me.

I am genuinely shocked by how high of a rating Assassin's Blade has because even if you love the characters from reading the rest of the series, I just feel like this is objectively bad book for SJM. I am going to push through all this and read the first book, but I'll be honest, I am a little skeptical.