Throne of Glass Books in Order: Complete Series Reading Guide (2026)

Quick answer: Read the Throne of Glass series in this order: Throne of Glass → The Assassin’s Blade (after Book 1) → Crown of Midnight → Heir of Fire → Queen of Shadows → Empire of Storms → Tower of Dawn → Kingdom of Ash. Do not skip Tower of Dawn — it is not optional.

All Throne of Glass Books at a Glance

Best starting point: Throne of Glass — the only entry point into the series.

Throne of Glass Books Ranked

Start With Throne of Glass

Throne of Glass (2012) introduces Celaena Sardothien — the kingdom’s most feared assassin, currently serving a sentence in the salt mines of Endovier. When the Crown Prince offers her freedom in exchange for competing in a tournament to become the king’s champion, she accepts. The setup is clean and the court setting is contained enough that the novel works as a standalone introduction to the character and world.

The common criticism of Book 1 is that it doesn’t feel like the series it becomes. This is accurate. Celaena competes in a tournament, navigates court politics, and deals with a supernatural threat — but the scale is modest compared to what follows. Maas herself has said the series evolved significantly beyond her original vision as she wrote it. New readers who start Throne of Glass and find it merely competent are often advised to continue to Book 2, where everything changes.

The tournament framework, the court relationships, and several seemingly incidental details all pay off in later volumes. The book is doing foundation work that only becomes visible in retrospect.

The Assassin’s Blade — When to Read It

The Assassin’s Blade (2014) is a collection of five prequel novellas covering Celaena’s career as an assassin before the events of Book 1. They were published individually and then collected, and they follow her work for the Assassin’s Guild and a relationship — with a young man named Sam Cortland — whose outcome is known before the novellas begin.

The question of when to read them is one of the most discussed points in the fandom:

Read them after Throne of Glass, not before. The novellas contain minor spoilers for Book 1, and the emotional weight of Sam’s storyline — which is the reason the novellas matter — is entirely dependent on understanding who Celaena is in her current circumstances. Reading them cold, before you’ve met her, removes the devastation that makes them essential.

Most readers place them immediately after Book 1, before Crown of Midnight. This is the recommended approach. Some readers prefer after Crown of Midnight, arguing that Book 2’s revelations make the novellas land even harder. Either placement works; the important thing is not to read them before Book 1.

Crown of Midnight — Where the Series Reveals Itself

Crown of Midnight (2013) is where the series announces what it actually is. Celaena is now the King’s Champion — officially the kingdom’s most feared assassin. The novel follows her assignments, her relationships with Dorian and Chaol, and a secret she has been keeping that, when revealed in the final third, completely reframes everything that happened in Book 1.

Crown of Midnight is the first book in the series that earns the word “devastating.” The ending — which many readers cite as the moment they became fully invested — works precisely because Maas spent all of Book 1 doing the foundation work that makes it land. Readers who found Book 1 merely enjoyable often finish Book 2 needing to start Book 3 immediately.

Heir of Fire — The Epic Begins

Heir of Fire (2014) is the moment the series transforms from a court fantasy into an epic. Celaena arrives in a distant kingdom tasked with an assassination — and encounters Rowan Whitethorn, a faerie warrior who becomes the most significant character in the series after Celaena herself.

Heir of Fire introduces the mythology that will drive the rest of the series — the Wyrdkeys, the Valg, the full scope of the threat facing the world — and it does so across a large cast of POV characters. Manon Blackbeak, the iron-toothed witch, makes her first appearance here, and her storyline becomes increasingly important through Empire of Storms and Kingdom of Ash.

This is also the book that begins to dismantle the lighter elements of Books 1 and 2. The series is now operating at a different register — darker, more ambitious, less interested in the romance mechanics that defined the early volumes.

Queen of Shadows and Empire of Storms

Queen of Shadows (2015) brings Celaena — whose true identity has now been fully established — back to Rifthold for a confrontation with the King. This is widely considered the series’ best volume: the character has become who she was always meant to be, the ensemble cast is at its strongest, and Maas’s pacing is at its most controlled. Several plot threads from the first three books pay off here, and new ones open that drive the back half of the series.

Empire of Storms (2016) is the penultimate novel before the Tower of Dawn detour, and it is the most structurally complex book in the series. Multiple storylines converge on a series of revelations that significantly expand the world’s mythology. The ending requires Tower of Dawn to make sense of, and the two books should be read back-to-back.

Tower of Dawn — Not Optional

Tower of Dawn (2017) follows Chaol Westfall and Nesryn Faliq in the Southern Continent while the events of Empire of Storms unfold elsewhere. It runs concurrently with the final portions of Empire of Storms and introduces characters — particularly Yrene Towers — who are central to Kingdom of Ash.

Tower of Dawn is the most divisive book in the series. Its timeline structure (concurrent with a book the reader has just finished) creates disorientation, and some readers find the shift from the main storyline frustrating. It is not optional: the characters and plot threads introduced here are load-bearing for the conclusion, and readers who skip it or skim it arrive at Kingdom of Ash without essential context.

Read it after Empire of Storms. Some readers choose to alternate Tower of Dawn chapters with Empire of Storms chapters (Maas originally conceived them as one book), but most find it easier to finish Empire of Storms first and then read Tower of Dawn before starting Kingdom of Ash.

Kingdom of Ash — The Conclusion

Kingdom of Ash (2018) is 980 pages long and functions as the payoff for everything across seven books. Multiple storylines — Aelin’s arc, Chaol’s arc, Manon’s arc, Lysandra and Aedion, Dorian — converge on a final war against the Valg. Maas has said it was the hardest book she has ever written, and the scale of what she attempts matches the claim.

The criticisms of Kingdom of Ash are real: at 980 pages it is occasionally slow, and the structural demands of resolving seven books of setup mean that some characters’ endings feel rushed while others are extended. The emotional payoffs, however — particularly Rowan and Aelin’s arc — are among the most satisfying in any epic fantasy series of the past decade. Readers who invested in the series do not typically regret finishing it.

Is Throne of Glass Connected to ACOTAR and Crescent City?

All three Maas series — Throne of Glass, A Court of Thorns and Roses, and Crescent City — exist in the same universe. The connections are minor through Books 1–4 of each series, but Crescent City Book 2 (House of Sky and Breath) and Book 3 (House of Flame and Shadow) introduce direct crossover elements involving characters from both Throne of Glass and ACOTAR.

The recommended approach: finish Throne of Glass and ACOTAR before starting Crescent City. Reading Crescent City first will not ruin Throne of Glass or ACOTAR, but the crossover moments will carry significantly more emotional weight for readers who already know the characters involved.

For the full guide to all three series and the crossover reading order, see our Sarah J. Maas Books in Order guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is the Throne of Glass series to read?

The seven Throne of Glass novels total approximately 4,000 pages and around 1.5 million words. At an average reading pace, that is roughly 60–70 hours of reading. The series rewards binge-reading — the political and character arcs accumulate across volumes, and stopping between books (especially between Empire of Storms and Tower of Dawn, or Tower of Dawn and Kingdom of Ash) is difficult. Most readers pace the series over several weeks or months.

Is there a Throne of Glass TV adaptation?

No confirmed Throne of Glass TV series or film had been announced as of 2026. Given the series’ fanbase and the success of fantasy adaptations generally, a production has been widely discussed and speculated about. Maas’s ACOTAR series has been in development for a television adaptation with various studios. No official announcement has been made for Throne of Glass specifically.

What age is the Throne of Glass series appropriate for?

Throne of Glass is shelved as Young Adult but reads older as the series progresses. Book 1 is appropriate for readers aged 14 and up. Books 4–7 are darker in tone, more violent, and more sexually explicit (though not graphically so) — closer to New Adult or adult fantasy in practice. Empire of Storms in particular contains explicit romantic content that some parents consider appropriate only for older YA readers (17+). Adult readers are a large part of the series’ audience.

Is Throne of Glass a standalone or does it need to be read in order?

Book 1 (Throne of Glass) works as a standalone in the sense that its central plot resolves by the end. However, major character revelations from Crown of Midnight — the second book — reframe the events of Book 1 in ways that make the first book more meaningful in retrospect. The series as a whole is one continuous story that cannot be meaningfully understood from any book other than the first. Read in order from Book 1.

What is the best Sarah J. Maas book?

Among Throne of Glass fans, Kingdom of Ash and Queen of Shadows most frequently top rankings for their emotional payoff and character work respectively. Across all three Maas series, A Court of Mist and Fury (ACOTAR Book 2) is most often cited as her best individual novel — widely considered one of the finest fantasy romance books published in the past decade. For the full ranking of all Maas books across all series, see our Sarah J. Maas Books in Order guide.

Books Like Throne of Glass

For epic fantasy and romantasy series with Throne of Glass’s combination of political intrigue, chosen-one arcs, and slow-burn romance, see our Best Fantasy Books of All Time list.

For the full Sarah J. Maas bibliography across all three series, see our Sarah J. Maas Books in Order guide.

For the full Sarah J. Maas biography and author page, visit the Sarah J. Maas author page on Editors Reads.

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