The Assassin and the Desert

A Throne of Glass Novella

By: Sarah J. Maas

Narrated by: Jennifer Gambino

The Silent Assassins of the Red Desert aren't much for conversation, and Celaena Sardothien wouldn't have it any other way. She's not there to chatter, she's there to hone her craft as the world's most feared killer for hire. When the quiet is shattered by forces who want to destroy the Silent Assassins, Celaena must find a way to stop them—or she'll be lucky to leave the desert alive.

©2012 Sarah J. Maas (P)2025 Dave Tony

It’s… meh

My biggest complaint is the narration. I thought it sounded like she was talking into a tin can, and her inflection was the same for every single sentence. I don’t think she’s listened to the audiobook versions of the main series because her pronunciation of names was different, which really bothered me. I also felt the story had already been told in the main series, I didn’t get anything new from this novella. Not necessarily worth using the credit in my opinion.

Narrator kills it.

Throne of Glass is a well loved piece of work. The entire series is available. I cannot fathom why this narrator didn’t listen to any of the available works to learn the used pronunciation. It makes me irrationally mad and I cringed every time one of the characters and or locations were butchered. There is also no life or strength to her voice like we are used to from the prior books. She may be a great narrator but she was poorly prepared for the venture. I would skip the audio and read the novella I physical form or e-book if you have the tism and these things matter. Story was great it was a refreshing dip back into the world. Unfortunately it will be a once and done for me unless they fix the narration.

Just get the Assasin’s Blade

I didn’t realize that this was the same story as the one in the Assasin’s Blade until I started listening to it. This narrator is terrible compared to Elizabeth Evans who makes the novella in Assasin’s Blade come alive. I would not get this and just get the Assasin’s Blade.

Great novella

Enjoyed the book! It just bothered me that some of the words were pronounced differently than the main books.

Re-told story with little emotion

If you already read/listened to the Throne of Glass series, you’ll already have heard this story. It has been a bit since I listened to the series so I enjoyed the novella/retelling. The narrator has a pleasant voice, but very flat and unemotional. Sometimes it felt rushed, and there were no pauses for emphasis or inflection in her voice. That was a little disappointing.

Refreshing take!

I actually bought the novellas independently on purpose to have a break from the same narrator. LOVE Sara J Mass and I enjoy Sarah Evans narration but it was so nice to change things up and this was actually my favorite of the Assassin’s Blade novellas! The narrator is getting very bad reviews, maybe she’s new but I truly didn’t think it was bad and the pronouncing of certain things was actually more like my brain wanted them said anyway.