Melinda's favourites book montage

The Mark of Athena
The Son of Neptune
The Lost Hero
The Last Olympian
The Battle of the Labyrinth
The Titan's Curse
The Sea of Monsters
The Lightning Thief
Throne of Glass
City of Glass
The Red Pyramid
City of Ashes
City of Bones
The Golden Door
The Farseekers
Obernewtyn
The Poison Diaries
Mockingjay
Catching Fire
The Hunger Games


Melinda's favorite books »

Wednesday 6 February 2013

Review: The Assassin and the Desert by Sarah J. Maas

Synopsis (from Goodreads)
The Silent Assassins of the Red Desert aren’t much for conversation, and Celaena Sardothien wouldn’t have it any other way. She’s not there to chatter, she’s there to hone her craft as the world’s most feared killer for hire. When the quiet is shattered by forces who want to destroy the Silent Assassins, Celaena must find a way to stop them, or she’ll be lucky to leave the desert alive 
The Assassin and the Desert (Throne of Glass, #0.2)
The Assassin and the Desert is the second of the Throne of Glass novellas. I really enjoyed reading it and it was nice to again learn more about Celaena’s past, in this case more about the Silent Assassins.

So what did I like about the book?
  • The plot was entertaining. I really enjoyed the idea of the Silent Assassins and the difference between them and the Northern Assassin King.
  • I loved the cool horses. Ok, I have to admit something here which is that I really love horses. So when any book has a cool horse, in this case two, my thoughts of the book are generally improved. The Asterion horses were great with their fast speed and incredible strength. I really wish I could own one.
  • I really like Celaena. It is a surprise for me that I actually like the main character because quite often they annoy me, but in this case I do. I admire her morals, because even though she is an assassin she respects people and she respects human life. She always tries to find an alternate way than killing someone, even if it makes the job about ten times more difficult than it already was. I do find her a bit arrogant and vain, which are traits that usually annoy me, but the way she cares for others and the wrongs that happen to other help me to overlook this.
  • The new characters that were introduced were really good as well. I loved the Mute Master and his son Illias. The difference between the Master and Arobynn and their interactions with Celaena was interesting to see. I loved the continual comparisons that Celaena made of Sam and Illias, as well, and I was hoping that it would make her more aware of Sam’s feelings toward her. I found Ansel intriguing but she annoyed me a fair bit and I never trusted her. I felt for her though when the truth about her past came out. I also liked Mikhail even if he didn’t play a big part.
  • As always with Maas’ writing I found that the sentences flowed really well and drew you into the story. They weren’t too long and they weren’t too choppy.



Now to what I didn’t like (which in this case are more annoyances than not liking).
  • I had predicted who was going to betray Celaena fairly early on in the book, so when the betrayal actually came I wasn’t at all surprised by it.
  • I would like a little more description, but I can understand why it doesn’t seeing it is only a novella and not a full novel.
  • I got annoyed by Celaena always going “I am Celaena Sordothian, Ardalan’s Assassin.” I think that it could have been left out more often than not because you still got that she was proud and vain without her constantly repeating it.
I really enjoyed this book. It was fairly well written and it was entertaining. I rate it 4/5 stars.

Mel.

Next Up: Throwback Thursday - Inheritance Cycle

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