The Assassin and the Empire

Dire che mi sento completamente svuotata è un eufemismo. Non so neppure da dove cominciare per descrivere questa storia così coinvolgente, originale, inaspettata, dolce e straziante allo stesso tempo.
Il rischio di affezionarsi ai personaggi è che il loro dolore diventa anche il tuo, ed è proprio ciò che è successo.
"Tutto ha un prezzo" aveva detto un mercante a Celaena, e purtroppo per lei giunge il momento di scoprire quanto sia veritiera quella frase. Avrei quasi voluto abbracciarla e piangere con lei tanto sono rimasta sconvolta dagli eventi, un susseguirsi di inganni, alleanze e tradimenti legati inevitabilmente gli uni agli altri.
E con questo spin-off dichiaro Arobynn uno dei personaggi che odio di più, spero che muoia tra show more atroci sofferenze! I suoi comportamenti dettati dall'egoismo lo portano ad essere di una spietatezza semplicemente imperdonabile. show less

4.25 stars.

I don't know what to say, because my heart is broken. I didn't expect it would end up like that.
I'll try, somehow, to write something..
I liked this novella, even though my favourite one will always be [b:The Assassin and the Desert|15713907|The Assassin and the Desert (Throne of Glass, #0.3)|Sarah J. Maas|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1341878246s/15713907.jpg|18814070]. When I started reading it, the events didn't fully convince me and I thought that everything would end in a positive way for Celaena and Sam (that they could achieve their almost impossible mission and could be free from Arobynn). I found the plot a bit forced in the first half and I was like "hurry up, guys! you keep saying that your're the most capable show more assassins of Adarlan, so show it and make it short", but after you-know-what, I was overwhelmed by my inability to see that coming and by feelings.
So, on one hand I appreciate the courage of the author and the fact that the story isn't predictable and on the other I'm here with a shattered heart and in 'don't-know-what-to-do-of-my-life' mode.

Damn you, Sarah T.T show less

“Celaena." She looked back at him, her red gown sweeping around her. His eyes shone as he flashed her a crooked grin. "I missed you this summer." She met his stare unflinchingly, returning the smile as she said, "I hate to admit it, Sam Cortland, but I missed your sorry ass, too.”

Is it possible to ship Celaena to two guys?!? YES! I love Chaol but seriously.. Sam won his way to my heart. There's really no stopping it from happening.

"I can wait," he said thickly, kissing her collarbone. "We have all the time in the world."

Maybe he was right. And spending all the time in the world with Sam..

That's a treasure worth paying for.

This is just from Chapter 2 and my heart already hurts. Ahh very cruel circumstances. I just want to make show more Arobynn disappear. For pete's sake, he doesn't own Celaena!! She has her own mind!!

Well, I just think now that if this didn't happen, then Celaena will not meet Chaol and just that reason is simply enough to make me smile again.. But... Sam... It was a cycle. I am getting crazier every minute!

"She would tuck Sam into her heart, a bright light for her to take out whenever things were darkest.
And then she would remember how it had felt to be loved, when the world held nothing but possibility. No matter what they did to her, they could never take that away.
She would not break.
And someday ... someday, even it took her until her last breath, she'd find out who had done this to her. To Sam.”

I really advice to read these novellas guys before jumping to Throne of Glass!! Celaena can be so annoying but she'll grow on you. :D show less

Well. Now that I'm good and broken, perhaps I should go do something more pleasant...like tear my own toenails out. Something this well done still doesn't ease the pain of loss.

This is the fourth novella that takes place before the first Thorne of Glass novel. I really enjoyed it alot. It gives excellent insight as to how Celaena finally found her way to the Salt pits.

Celaena and Sam are finally free and living on their own. They want to escape the city they grew up in once and for all and set up their trade as assassins in a different city. In order to finance this they decided to take on one last Assassination job. This is the job to finally get them their freedom and of course it goes all wrong.

Celaena has developed from a very vain character to one that actually cares for others. Here we see both aspects of her personality, the one that loves fine things and the one that cares about her friends. It was show more interesting to compare who she was at the start of these novells to who she is now, and then compare that to who she becomes in the Throne of Glass. She is a strong and yet flawed character, that is easy to engage with and love.

We see a lot more of Sam in this book as well. His devotion to Celaena is solid and wonderful, yet he has his own flaws. He is also stubborn and proud.

This novella follows Sam and Celaena as they plot their final job together. So there is lots of strategy and some action. There are a couple excellent fight scenes too.

As you can imagine from where things start in the Throne of Glass series, thing go horribly wrong and Celaena ends up in the salt mines.

This was an excellent continuation of these novellas that tell us about Celaena's life before when went to the salt mines. It was well written, engaging, and easy to read.

Overall I enjoyed this novella a lot. I love these characters, especially Celaena who is courageous and loyal, yet flawed. I love the setting and the writing as well; these books/novellas are so wonderfully written and easy to read. This whole series is strongly recommended to those who love fantasy novels, they are really well done. show less

Of course, I got these novellas out of order and read the last one first! Oh well, I kinda already knew what was going to happen anyway. I enjoyed this story but I wasn't bowled over by it. Maybe if I had read them in order, the ending would have been a bit more emotional for me. As it was, I was just upset by it but I kinda knew what was going to happen from Throne of Glass. Still it was a decent read.

1st read: December 2019
2nd read: September 2023

It's interesting to read about how Celaena made it into the salt mines.

But Celaena is still ridiculously gullible and arrogant. And it's not enjoyable to read about people barreling into troubles that could have been avoided if they just stopped to think, or listened to other people's advice.