Review: The Assassin and the Empire

The Assassin and the Empire by Sarah J. Maas
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Having read and enjoyed the first five Throne of Glass books and impatiently awaiting the sixth, I decided it was time to work my way through the five novellas offered up in The Assassin’s Blade. I’d debated reading these stories at an earlier stage, yet I found myself too pulled into the main story to take a detour. Detour now, officially over, I’m hoping book six will be well worth the wait.

With these novellas, I’ve had ups and downs. Upon finished The Assassin and the Pirate Lord, I was unsure whether or not the stories would do much. The Assassin and the Pirate Lord was an okay read, but for the most part I really didn’t care. The Assassin and the Healer improved upon the first novella, yet it still wasn’t quite what I had hoped for. It was enough to leave me with the belief the stories would improve. With The Assassin and the Desert, I found myself back at my earlier stage. It was an okay read, but it failed to give me all I had hoped for. The Assassin and the Underworld returned me to the point of the second book. In fact, it was my favourite of the first four novella – I enjoyed it much more than the other stories. The Assassin and the Empire was somewhere in the middle, for me. I didn’t love it in the way I had hoped I would, nor was it terrible. It was merely okay.

Considering how much I enjoyed the fourth novella, I was expecting really big things from this one. We all knew what was coming, and due to that, I was anticipating a truly powerful read. Instead, I felt as though it dragged. It never really hit the high point I was waiting for. I appreciate being given the background details, I enjoyed seeing what played out, but what was in my mind was much more moving than the events that played out. I wanted more. I wanted my emotions pulled at, my heartstrings damaged once and for all.

I fear I’m in the minority when I say this, but this last novella wasn’t at all what I’d been hoping to receive.

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