The Assassin and the Underworld: A Throne of Glass Novella

By Sarah J. Maas

A look at Celaena Sardothien's life before the events of Throne of Glass.

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 that takes Celaena from the rooftops of the city to the bottom of the sewer-and she doesn't like what she finds there.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Release date: May 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9781408834220

Sarah J. Maas

Sarah J. Maas is the #1 New York Times and internationally bestselling author of the Crescent City, Court of Thorns and Roses, and Throne of Glass series. Her books have sold millions of copies and are published in thirty-eight languages. Sarah lives with her family in New York City. sarahjmaas.com facebook.com/theworldofsarahjmaas instagram.com/sarahjmaas

Reviews for The Assassin and the Underworld

[itsbookishme · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

New read date June 5th-6th, 2016

Original read date March 9th-10th, 2013
Celaena Sardothien is doing hard labor for being the Assassin of Ardalan when she's given the opportunity to earn her freedom. Crown Prince Dorian offers her a deal she can't afford to turn down, if she refuses it would mean spending what's left of her life in the Salt Mines of Endovier. Prince Dorian asks her to enter a competition to become a Royal Champion, upon winning she will serve a term as the Kings personal Champion and earn her freedom in a matter of years. As much a Celaena hates the idea of having anything to do with a King she despises with all her soul she knows she has no other choice, it's a lot better than dying a sad death in one of the most horrible work camps. She accepts and begins her journey to becoming a Royal Champion.

Celaena quickly realizes things aren't as they seem when the competition starts and the contestants are dying in the most horrible ways imagined or unimagined. She starts to fear for her life and the other competitors as well, even though there is no love lost between her and most of the competitors, she just can't stomach the idea that someone is trying to eliminate them.

Celaena is a hot head who doesn't realize her own arrogance, her trainer Captain Westfall and the Prince's best friend has to deal with her impatience and anxiousness to show she's the best. Their distrust for each other was strangely funny, they kept playing an unspoken cat and mouse game with each other. Celaena's mind can be very toxic at times but kind of amusing, she is constantly thinking of ways to kill someone who annoys her, I guess I shouldn't expect anything else from a former assassin. I'm sure she still thinks of herself as one though.

A very unexpected event took place when Celaena was tasked with ridding the evil that is killing the competitors. I thought it would just be her journey for her freedom and a love triangle, but I was very surprised with the twists and turns of this story. I was already loving the story and was even more captivated when all the extra elements of the story started to pop up and added more layers and depth to a very interesting concept. Definitely a must read.

[bingereader87 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was my first time reading a fantasy and I instantly fell for Celaena from the beginning. The way she changes throughout the story is amazing and the friendships she developed made me so happy. I laughed, tensed up, and got hyped up throughout this last half of the book and I can’t wait to read the next one, so I can possibly do the same again.

[bookczuk · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I picked this up because several friends are reading it, and have highly recommended it. It's the first book in a series. Some points in its favor include a strong female lead, good character development, interesting conflict situation, and use of cool symbols (the pysanky artist in me adores that.) It was a good book. I enjoyed reading it, but didn't fall in love with it. I'll probably read another book in the series (after all, I've done that for books I like far less) and maybe that'll be the ticket to make me adore the series. Still, Sarah J Mass has done a really fine job with her story, characters, and arc building.

[karenvg3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Okay I'm all over this bandwagon. This was such a fun, fast paced, exciting book. Celaena is a bada** that doesn't back down. So many characters that I wanted to punch in the face, but others that I wanted to hug and never let go. I will say I am team Chaol

[fred_mouse · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

My overall impression of this story is that it is overblown. The characterisations are just a touch too much--too competent, too pretty, too clever, too mysterious, too brusque, too evil--that none of them, except maybe the captive princess Nehemia, felt like people. In a similar vein, the setting is too vague. Not too sparse, which can be done well with a few nicely located items, but just too Not Your Average Fantasy Realm But With All The Tropes. The story itself is a weird hybrid of quest fantasy, 'love triangle' romance, murder mystery, and something else. The quest fantasy aspect--young woman is pulled out of prison, and set the task of becoming the King's Champion, by participating in a slow knockout challenge. This was complicated by aspects of the murder mystery and the something else (supernatural not quite horror? magical not quite horror?) that impinged on the challenge and kind of took some of the interest out of it. Yes, it was a nice plot device to have fewer challenges, but really it felt like it was mostly there to *be* a plot device. The murder mystery/something else -- never really gelled. The motivations of the villains of the piece felt like sleight of hand, of 'don't look behind the curtain'. There were lots of interesting set pieces in this part of the story, but the arc they made was rough and awkward. Reactions of unnamed characters felt acted, rather than felt. The 'love triangle'? Felt forced a lot of the time. Like 'we have a young woman protagonist, this is therefore chick flick dark-ish fantasy, therefore there has to be some kind of romantic tension.' Neither of the love interests were particularly believable, unless they were a lot younger than the writer made them out to be. I did think that the resolution of this aspect of the book was done very well--it showed some thoughtful consideration of the characterisation, and sets things up nicely for the future books. Basically - this story was trying to do too many things, and I would just get comfortable with one when it would change direction abruptly.

[tiffanyak_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow, this is a compelling read. The story, the characters, the suspense... I loved every minute of it. It's an action-packed book with just a touch of romance tossed in. The twists included several things I never saw coming, and it ends on a high note with great potential for the future books. This is one of those that I wasn't sure about, but kept hearing so much about that I finally caved and decided that I had better read it. I was definitely not disappointed, and will be working my way through the rest of the series ASAP.

[damred-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book was really good, interesting characters and plot. In my opinion though it wasn't perfect or a complete 5 stars, I'd give it 4.5.

The things that I didn't like where, that there was a little to much description of the dresses and such. Nicely worded, just wished less wordy. Second, there was one chapter, chapter 40ishsomething, it was a 3-4 page chapter that was completely redundant as it added nothing to the story just went on about the exact thing the previous chapters were about. And lastly, my biggest gripe is with the first 3/4 of the book. Things were happening to keep me reading but nothing was blowing me away, it was just just meh. The last 1/4 of the book is where it really picked up and blew me away. Just wish there was more excitement during the first 3/4 of the book.

All in all though, I did really enjoy this book. The female character was fun to learn about, and the male characters were interesting enough. Just find it funny how for some reason in these kinds of books, all the males fall for the girl even though she spends pretty much the entirety of their time mouthing off and being as belligerent as possible.

[booksovertv · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I absolutely LOVED everything about this book, the characters, the plot, the action and the designed pages of each chapter. I will follow with a review at a later date.

[maxx22-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I wasn't sure about this one when I started but I kept being drawn back in. I liked the stories and the characters. I'm interested to see where this goes in the second book.

[nessa33-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One sitting......that's all I need to say!!

[csdaley-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I would have given this a 4 but I hated the love triangle and wish that teen authors would let it go. It was a fun book. Not great but a solid read.

[faith_murri · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It took me two years to finish this book. Two years. I'm not exaggerating.
I am astonished at how bad this book is. It really should have been better. There were times when it was actually pretty decent, borderline good, but then it went and did things like this: "There was beauty in Chaol's face--and strength, and honor, and loyalty. She stopped hearing the crowd, and her mouth became dry as he stared at her. How had she missed it for so long?" only to go a head and do this on the very next page: "Her heart jumped into a gallop, and Chaol dissolved from her thoughts, like dew beneath the morning sun. She felt bad for forgetting him--but...but...Oh, she wanted Dorian, she couldn't deny it. She wanted him."
😒😕 She literally looks at another man and forgets about the love epiphany she just had? And she's supposed to be a very smart and very cool assassin (who never actually assassinates anyone other than Doneval in the prequel)? I doubt that.
Also, I thought there was going to be a competition in this book, but there were mentions of and brief scenes from the competition but since Celaena didn't really care, I guess it wasn't worth keeping in the book, was it, Sarah J Maas? I mean, Celaena is the best assassin in the whole world and is most definitely not Aelin or connected to Elena because that would be obvious.
😒😑
The world was cool though. I liked the vision parts. I liked the sleuthing and sneaking.

[readerscandyb · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is epic level goodness. I'm not even going to waste my time writing a big review, for I have book 2 to read!

[annhepburn · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I read this awhile ago but was thinking about it just now when I saw that a sequel is coming out. I have a number of issues with this book, but I will mention one specific instance where it differs from other more successful books about fantasy-ish medieval-ish kickass teen girl assassins (Grave Mercy, Dark Triumph, and Graceling).

There is one scene where Celaena wakes up and finds someone has left her some candy next to her in bed. Would Ismae, Sybella or Katsa have slept through someone getting close enough to them in their beds to kill them? How is it that Celaena, the best assassin EVER, wouldn't notice that or have functioning precautions to warn her something like that may happen? And not only that, she immediately begins to eat the candy without checking it for poison. They say over and over again that she is the greatest assassin EVER EVER EVER OMG EVER but like... seriously?

[bookishpeach240 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

SPOILER ALERT!! I just finished this book and I have so many questions! What will happen to Celaena as the king's champion? What is going to happen between her and Dorian and Chaol? What's going to happen to Nehemia? Ahhh! just can't wait to read the second book. Unfortunately I don't have money right now:( I'm saving up to buy A Song of Ice and Fire series so I'll probably have to wait till next month to buy the second book:'( Noooooo!!!

[dawnlovesbooks · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I decided to give this book a try because I kept hearing so much about it, but honestly it just wasn't for me. I did really get into for a little while, but then just lost interest. I am not a fan of fantasy and I don't read a lot of YA, so while this book may be great to a lot of other people, it just wasn't my cup of tea.

[jimpike69 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

While it was difficult for me to get into at first (which is partly my fault, since I had just finished a series that I absolutely loved. So I found it difficult to get into this story at first.), by the time I was 20 chapters in, I NEEDED to find out what was going on, and who was doing what. I had a feeling I knew who the culprit was, and was mildly amused when I was right. Well told story, even with a slow start. But not all books can be action packed from the get-go, and I'm not a quitter. While I can't say this will be added among my list of favorites, it was was still a very good story. Very well told, and detailed.

[bookjunkie777 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Drama, suspense, secrets, abuse, friendship, and hope abound in this story. A testament to never quiting, never giving up hope. A well written story with good plot and character development

[sasham-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It was a good thing I had today off. I picked this up for a half hour of reading at 8am I finished the book at 2.30pm. I'm looking forward to the next one!!

[schatzi_5 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

So this review is probably going to be brief, at least by my standards, because 1) I'm as sick as a dog right now and 2) I just don't care enough to write a long review.If you thought, like I did, that this was going to be a book about a badass assassin who kicks ass and takes names...you're not going to find that here. If you're wanting a book about a spoiled brat who spends most of the book whining, well golly gee, do I have a recommendation for you (hint: it's this book). Celaena might be billed as a badass extraordinaire who survived a horrible prison experience for a year, but...she just isn't written that way. Show me, don't tell me. Instead, she whines about her life, her attire (not fancy enough for her, apparently), the fact that the crown prince wants her, etc, etc. Ugh. I hated her.I liked Chaol (and that's why I ended up giving the book two stars instead of one), and I felt quite sorry for him to be stuck around such dismal characters. Not a huge fan of Dorian, but let's be honest, anyone is better than Celaena. Calaena is awful.

[srsharms · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

...This book. There is something about this book.

On the surface, it's what I would call a typical YA Fantasy novel you'd find on the shelf these days. Sarcastic-and-dangerous-but-somehow-likable-teenage-heroine? Check. A fantasy world that is rather vaguely built but is solid enough that you could live with it? Check. Two equally-attractive-but-different-in-their-own-way males vying for the heroine's attention? Check.

And, there are definitely some obstacles in this book. Especially in the beginning, the reader will have to do quite a bit of work to get past and/or get used to the sometimes unpolished prose, which in parts get stilted and a little dull. The dialogue is cute and snappy, but nothing to cry home about.

But then, it morphs. You start to see fragments of Tamora Pierce's Song of the Lioness Quartet (which, if you grew up loving those as fiercely as I did, totally softens your heart - no matter how stilted the writing gets). And then you see threads of The Hunger Games intertwine, weaving in and out of the storyline. It's as if Alanna and Katniss crashed head-long into each other and somehow created this weird but wonderful Picasso-and-Jackson-Pollock tone. And as the writer gains more steam and finds her feet, the other characters sharpen in focus, and you stop minding that the names in this world are kind of silly-sounding (Except Chaol. I LOVE that name). After some time, you even stop minding that there is yet another love-triangle, because the rest of the story is really starting to move forward, and you start to care about things like the enslavement of the people of a place that has a nonsensical name. You start to care about whether or not the one friend the main character has might or might not be evil. And then you start to care about what will happen after she wins (because, obviously, she wins).

And then there is that climactic last fight itself. Despite the fact that it was so OBVIOUSLY coming, despite the fact that the author somewhat crudely shoved all of the pieces in place so that really, you'd have to be a total buffoon not to see how the end would play out, it was one of the most GRIPPING things I have read all year. I feel like those couple of chapters were where we got to see the true, quite amazing, potential this story has.

...Lol okay. After that completely nonsensical review, I guess what I'm trying to say is - give this book a chance. Don't let the novice writing style stop you from enjoying strong characters and a plotline more fascinating than you'd think at first glance - which makes for a really fun, fantastic story.

[michelleannlib · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I'm quitting this one. I read 50 pages, and did not care much for the main character. I would have liked tighter writing, but I can see the appeal for teens. I was curious about what would happen next, but not curious enough to stick with it.

[laurochka-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Interesting character and world.

[bookzombies · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book!

[teacup_ · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow! I purchased this book and left it on my shelf collecting dust for weeks. Not sure what compelled me yesterday to pick it up with the intention of "only" reading for a few minutes. The "only for a few minutes" dragged to a full day and eventually I spent the entire weekend curled up in my bed devouring this book. It's not a masterpiece, mind you. There are loop holes and slight inconsistencies here and there but overall compared to what is available in the market these days, this by FAR, surpassed my expectations and is well worth the 4 stars and a half I rated it. I'm impatiently waiting for the bookstore to open to get my hands on the sequel.

[trekkiechickreads · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It felt slow to really grab my attention. At 50% of the way through I just about gave up but then it pulled me in and kept me up till the very end. Loved the mystery, the friendships, the building of a new world and all its culture. That second 50% was fantastic and I can't wait to read the next one!

[banoczi_henrietta · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

13/6/2014

ITS SO GOOD

[cathishaw · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fast paced and exciting, with just the right touch of romance and danger, this is one of the best YA Fantasy novels I've read.The main character Celaena is fully developed. But Maas also keeps enough of her personality a mystery that the reader can't help but be intrigued by who (or what) she is. A strong female protagonist who is a match for any of the male characters in the book, Celaena is easy for the readers to root for. And at the same time, there is enough of a romantic, girlish streak in her personality that one can't help but like her.The secondary characters in the novel are developed enough that the reader can clearly see them as people. They are believable and intriguing.The book is perfectly balanced with backstory, danger, and action that I really couldn't put it down. I love when I fall into a story and can't stop reading it.I will definitely be checking out the rest of the Throne of Glass series. I strongly recommend you do as well!

[mamzel_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have heard about this series from friends and students so I was ready for a great read. And I was not disappointed. Calaena Sardothien is an assassin who was serving a sentence in the Salt Mines of Endovier, a truly horrendous place. She is removed by Prince Dorian and Captain of the Guards Chaol, and taken to the capital as the chosen representative in a competition to chose the King's Champion. She must beat other representatives in trials until only four remained and then duel for the winner. Someone or something else is killing the representatives. Magic had been wiped out of the kingdom so what could be going on?Of course, both the prince and the captain become infatuated with her and she is torn between the two of them. Late to the show, I look forward to reading more from this series.

[sbshepherd · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Drama, suspense, secrets, abuse, friendship, and hope abound in this story. A testament to never quiting, never giving up hope. A well written story with good plot and character development