I'm so glad Maas wrote these character building short stories. Each one getting better than the next. I've loved Celeana since I started this series, but seeing these early glimpses of what made her who she is today made me love her that much more. In this story we also glimpse more of the assassin life as well as her relationships with Arobynn and Sam. Honestly my only complaint is wanting even more. 

March 2022
So this chronologically is technically the first book in the Throne Of Glass series but I read it third because it was written later and booktok told me to read it 3rd/4th. In hindsight I think I wish that I’d followed the advice of Sarah J Maas and read it first. There’s spoilers in Throne Of Glass and Crown Of Midnight which meant I knew what was coming in The Assassin’s Blade. And whilst for some readers this means they feel things even more deeply, for me it messed with my head a bit and I didn’t feel as much emotion as I think I would have done if I hadn’t known what was going to happen. I’d recommend future readers to stick to the chronological timeline and read this book first.
Overall I thought it was a good read. Each novella within the book developed Celaena’s character a bit more and that’s another reason I think this is an important book to read prior to Throne Of Glass as her character is not hugely developed in that book. I’m actually kinda sad I’ll never get to read this one spoiler free.

Jan 2023 REREAD
I started my reread with this book this time, the first in chronological order of the series and I think it works and flows so much better this way. After re-reading Assassin’s Blade, I still love this book, I still love Celaena’s character and it was nice to read about the other characters in the novellas, now knowing more about the roles they come to play in the future. I especially loved all of the Celaena/Sam content in these novellas, despite how much his death hurts at the end. “My name is Sam Cortland and I will not be afraid” has so much more impact now too having read the rest of the series, and it makes me a bit emotional each time the sentence is used. I will forever be sad that Celaena never once returned the words “I love you” to him before he died. But their youthful, bickering but tender relationship is just so god damn sweet and Sam will always have a very special place in my heart.
I think Assassin’s Blade is an important book for setting up how arrogant Celaena is but also showing what a toxic upbringing she’s had with Arobynn.
The novellas are important to show Celaena does actually have a good heart (she saves the slaves, gives Yrene money for passage to the Southern Continent, gives Ansel an extra minute to ride away, sells her horse to buy Sam his freedom) these are all big plot points, and whilst she is young and incredibly bratty right now, these novellas give a small window into her background with arobynn and how she has been *made* that way, but start to demonstrate how she’s not actually a bad person when given the opportunity to do something good and right.

The Assassin’s Blade is an exciting prequel to the Throne of Glass series. I gave it 4/5 stars as I believe the book could benefit from some diversity among the characters, and a little more world building.