Novella Review – The Assassin and the Desert (Throne of Glass, 0.2) by Sarah J. Maas (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Size: 1785 KB
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Release Date: March 30, 2012
ASIN: B007O61DVI
Stand Alone or Series: Novella 0.2 in the Throne of Glass series
Source: Bought
Rating: 5/5 stars

This was the second novella in the Throne of Glassseries; there are four novellas that take place before the Throne of Glass novel and this is the second of those. I really enjoyed this novella even more than the first one; it gives the reader a good look into how Celaena became who she ends up being in the Throne of Glass novel.

Celaena is in trouble following the events of the The Assassin and the Pirate Lord, where she lost her master a ton of money because of all of the slaves that she freed. As part of her punishment she is sent to a well known assassin school in the desert. She is supposed to get a certificate of training from the head master there; instead she gets pulled into politics between the assassin school and the local nobility.

This was a very well done novella. Watching as Celaena learns and trains with the assassins is interesting and intriguing. The whole time you are trying to unravel the mystery behind the headmaster. The tension as to whether or not Celaena will get what she needs from him really propels the story forward.

The plot is well done and has some excellent twists and turns. This is the first story where we get to see a good picture of Celanae’s loyalty to those around her and also get a sense of her determination to succeed. I felt like this story gave us a better glimpse as to who Celanae will become in future stories (and in the Throne of Glass novel).

There is a tiny bit of romance, but it is definitely not the focus of the story. There are some truly awesome action scenes and getting to watch Celanae in action is fabulous. I also really enjoyed the scenes where she trained with the Headmaster.

Overall I really enjoyed this novella. It takes us further along Celaena’s path to how she got to where she was in Throne of Glass, both as a person and as a journey. There is some great action, some wonderful characters, and a wonderful world. Highly recommended to fantasy fans, as is the first novel in this series Throne of Glass.