Winter break is coming up, marking the end of the last semester colleges really care about. That means you’ll have a lot of time on your hands.
You’re gonna want to end 2019 in a whirl of emotions, and the best way to do that is to read.
Yup, that’s right. Reading. But not just any book…
Google “best fantasy romance author” and the first one on the list is THE Sarah J. Maas.
God her books are out of this world. Literally.
If you haven’t heard of her, first of all, I don’t know how you’ve lived this long, but second of all, here’s a little bit about her.
Sarah J. Maas is an American fantasy author known for her Throne of Glass and A Court of Thorns and Roses series. She was born in New York and now lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, dog, and soon-to-arrive baby!
But enough about her family. Let’s talk about her books.
FIrst off, I can proudly say that I’m an og fan. I first read Throne of Glass in 6th grade when it had its original cover (so glad she changed it), and have been actively reading and rereading her books ever since. The TOG and ACOTAR series are the only books I can reread without getting tired of them, which is why I’ve reread the TOG series 15 times so far.
But I was only able to do that because of how good Maas is. Her plots are the most thorough, engaging, clear, tear-jerking, heart-wrenching plots I’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing. TOG and ACOTAR are equivalent to the Marvel Universe films in terms of plot twists, cross-film connections, and realness.
Her quotes are also the best:
In every single book across these two series, there are scenes that make my heart literally hurt. I’ve cried so many times while reading them because the way Maas writes makes the characters feel so real. You get to walk with them and experience all the pain and heartbreak and joy and laughter. She makes you feel so fiercely for them that, I promise, you will not be able to put the book down.
On the whole, the Throne of Glass series is about a cunning assassin who faces a Hunger Games-like contest (SO much better than Hunger Games, though), fantastical evil beings, many boys and Fae males (hehe), lots of blood and gore, a serious identity crisis, and a bunch of things I’m not going to name because, well, you need to find out for yourself.
The ACOTAR series is essentially an upgraded, much more extensive version of Beauty and the Beast. It’s about a fiercely independent human who ends up in the land of faeries and Fae where… well, there’s not much I can say without spoiling, which is why you gotta read it.
You might be thinking that these sound like girly books with fairies and butterflies, but NO. Faeries are much different, and like I said before, it’s like Marvel’s films thrown into fantasy and slapped in a book. Maas writes in such a way that really bridges the two series. They’re like cousins—related, but with completely different personalities.
How to read TOG and ACOTAR (personal opinion):
- Throne of Glass (TOG #1)
- Crown of Midnight (TOG #2)
- Heir of Fire (TOG #3)
- The Assassin’s Blade (TOG Prequel)
- Queen of Shadows (TOG #4)
- Empire of Storms (TOG #5)
- Tower of Dawn (TOG #6)
- A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR #1)
- A Court of Mist and Fury (ACOTAR #2)
- A Court of Wings and Ruin (ACTOAR #3)
- A Court of Frost and Starlight (ACOTAR novella)
- Kingdom of Ash (TOG #7)
Some things to note about this list:
- What’s with the prequel?
I personally think reading The Assassin’s Blade (which revolves around the relationship between the main character and a love interest) after HoF and before QoS is the best way to go about reading the prequel because I feel like it was a more natural way of getting to know the main character, Celaena Sardothien.
When you meet someone, you don’t know much about their past, and you find all that out after you get to know them well in the present. And when you finally understand their backstory, it really puts into perspective who they are and how they got to be that way. However, I know a lot of readers just like to go chronologically, so if that’s you, read The Assassin’s Blade before Throne of Glass!
- No, that’s not a typo.
Read the last TOG book after you’ve read the ACOTAR series. If you have a hard time remembering plots and characters, read the ACOTAR series before starting TOG. If you don’t, read it in the above order. I swear you will miss out on so much if you don’t read KoA last.
- Don’t stop half way!
If you’re taking this on, don’t pause in the middle of the series to read some other book(s). Remember, Maas is an experience, and to get the FULL experience, you’ve got to read these in one go. If you’ve been with Maas since the beginning, I know you feel me when I say the year-long waits between books were agonizing.
After reading these series, please immerse yourself in the TOG and ACOTAR fandoms. Instagram is filled with fan pages that make book/character posts that keep the experience of the books alive in you even after closing them. The fanart that comes out are also amazing and some of the best I’ve seen get produced by fans of a book.
I’d rate both series 5/5 stars, though Kingdom of Ash is by far my favorite book of them all. Maas is my favorite author and if you haven’t read for fun in a long while, her books are super easy to get into. They’re engaging from page 1 and will probably make you fall in love with reading if you don’t already love it!
I began reading these books sometime in my freshman and sophomore years! I love the way she builds the fictional worlds, and the way she writes character development is amazing. More recently, I’ve been getting into BookTube, and the people I watch have a lot of mixed feelings on the books. I know many criticize Maas for making Celaena and Feyre adhere too much to the “strong, independent woman” cliche, along with the overly descriptive…scenes (ie. the cabin scene in ACOMAF). Another thing many readers didn’t like is the way Maas tackles LGBT issues, particularly one character’s coming out in ACOWAR. Anyways, I really appreciated this post! I will def try to read the books again (probably won’t have time until next summer though) in your order.