The Assassin's Blade question

Read Assassins' blade first. I did that too and it helped me understand the next books. I had a friend who didn't read it first and she was very confused most of the time during the first book. :)

I always tell people it depends on how you like to read stories on when to read Assassin's Blade.

if you really like to read when events happen in chronological order, read it first! You'll learn about events that shape the main FMC into the lovely assassin we all know and love.

Publication order is my go-to recommendation. By reading Assassin's Blade a bit later (but before Queen of Shadows!), when you finally do read Assassin's Blade, it's that much more impactful and emotional. Even though you knew what the ending was, it was a whole new perspective seeing the events play out rather just be told what events happened.

Basically - either do chronological order if events need to happen in sequence and have it be a surprise her backstory or publication order if you want to enjoy not knowing her background first before getting to know Celaena.

I read the books in publication order. It wasn't bad but I felt like Assassin's Blade would have been better if I didn't know so much about some of the character's fates. I recommended that my sister read it first and she DNF - said it was boring. So that tells me that it's better if you're a bit emotionally invested in the characters. All that is to say, I think you're good reading it in the publication order.