Title: The Assassin and the Underworld
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Series: Throne of Glass #0.4
In: The Assassin’s Blade (Sarah J. Maas)
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Fantasy, Romance, Strong women
Pace: Medium
Format: Novella
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Year: 2012
5th sentence, 74th page: Even after her fourth bath – which had been immediately after her liquor-bath – she felt like grime coated every part of her.
When the King of the Assassins gives Celaena Sardothien a special assignment that will help fight slavery in the kingdom, she jumps at the chance to strike a blow against an evil practice. The misson is a dark and deadly affair which takes Celaena from the rooftops of the city to the bottom of the sewer–and she doesn’t like what she finds there.
Although for me, this story was mostly about the beginning of Celaena’s change to Aelin, it also finally gave an insight into just why Celaena and Sam became an item. Although his death and their love is a driving factor for much that she does, I never quite understood what a reportedly sweet man could be doing falling head over heels for a thorny, indulged assassin. Yet, finally, with The Assassin and the Underworld, this made sense.
While falling for Sam was the true reason Celaena was eventually betrayed, her future betrayal and bitterness at Arobynn was laid out within this tale too. His maliciousness and ability to set Celaena and Sam up in the most excruciating of ways begins in this way, and it is this long-term foresight and possessiveness that creates a truly terrifying villain in the King of Assassins. The inklings of what he is truly capable of and the uncaring way in which he is willing to pit members of his own court against one another sent goosebumps down my spine. There is something truly horrifying about a villain who has no conscience and is driven purely by their own needs.
Earth and Skye 
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