The Assassin's Blade

While The Assassin’s Blade is the first book chronologically in the Throne of Glass series, Maas recommends reading it after the second book, Crown of Midnight. The prequels benefit from the context of the first two books, as they elaborate upon the world in which Celaena lives. Unlike the first two books, the prequels provide an in-depth exploration of a number of different settings across the continent of Erilea. The first two Throne of Glass books take place entirely in Rifthold, the capital of Adarlan, the country that overtook Celaena’s home nation of Terrasen. The Assassin’s Blade, however, takes place in Rifthold, Skull’s Bay, Innish, the Red Desert, and briefly in the Salt Mines of Endovier. The variety of different geographical and cultural settings makes the world of Erilea feel expansive and vibrant.

Rifthold features heavily in the last two prequel novellas, as Celaena and Sam move between the Assassins’ Keep, the Vaults, Celaena’s apartment, and the city’s theater. Celaena looks at the glass castle at the center of the city from the outside, foreshadowing her future inside the castle in Throne of Glass. The city of Rifthold shows the world’s duality, with wholesome festivities—like the Harvest Moon party and the symphony performances—and a corrupt underbelly, like the violent, blood-soaked Vaults. Innish, a port city in Melisande, also plays a major role in the second novella, as Celaena and Yrene Towers meet while passing through the small, run-down town. Skull’s Bay, the coastal pirate town off the east coast of Erilea, features heavily in the first novella, as the setting for Sam Cortland and Celaena’s blossoming friendship and romance. Sam and Celaena’s time in Skull’s Bay is later mirrored by Celaena’s time in Skull’s Bay in the fifth book, Empire of Storms. The Red Desert is the final setting in the prequel novels that is only mentioned in the rest of the series. The Red Desert is the most remote location, as Celaena spends time in a fortress nestled amongst sand dunes. The wild difference in settings, from cities, to port towns, to the desert dunes, allows Celaena to discover new things about herself, grow, and change, in a variety of symbolic locales.