Series Name: Throne of Glass
Total Books in Series: 8
Genre: Fantasy, fantasy romance
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Publication Dates:

Throne of Glass: August 2012
Crown of Midnight: August 2013
The Assassin’s Blade: March 2014
Heir of Fire: September 2014
Queen of Shadows: September 2015
Empire of Storms: September 2016
Tower of Dawn: September 2017
Kingdom of Ash: October 2018

Series Rating:

If you’ve ever casually browsed through Bookstagram or Booktok, it’s highly likely that you’ve seen recommendations for Sarah J Maas’ Throne of Glass (TOG) series. The YA phenomenon began when Maas released the first book at just 16 years old and its popularity has steadily increased ever since.

I read this series a bit out of order from diehard Maas fans. I stumbled upon A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR) in 2021 and quickly became obsessed, finishing that series very quickly. I then moved onto the Crescent City series (one of my favourites of 2022 and Maas’ most recent work), and then lastly, circled back to read TOG, her first published series.

While I enjoy the odd YA piece of fiction, I’m not a YA myself and generally prefer more adult-oriented books. I still preferred ACOTAR and Crescent City more, but I did really enjoy TOG and think that if you’re into the Maas-style universe, it’s a must-read.

Note: while I’ve discussed the series here at a high-level, I did not include The Assassin’s Blade, as it’s a prequel of novellas. It was a great book, and I think if you’re invested in the TOG series it’s a must-read, but it’s more an additive.

Spoiler alert: if you haven’t read the TOG series, there may be some spoilers from here on out. You’ve been warned.

Series Review: Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas

The Throne of Glass series (named after the first book) follows characters through a mythical universe full of magic, political intrigue, and war. The story begins with protagonist Celaena Sardothien, the best assassin in all of Adarlan (a country on the continent of Erilea), being offered a chance at redemption. Despite the fact that she is only 18 years old, she is currently serving several life sentences in a labour camp for her crimes when the crown prince of Adarlan offers her the opportunity to compete against other assassins in a tournament to become the king’s personal champion assassin. She accepts this challenge, and so embarks on an epic journey.

I actually didn’t love the first book in this series. Maas is still developing as an author, and it shows. That said, the characters are loveable, the plot is enticing, and the action made it worthwhile to finish. I wasn’t 100% sold, but I continued with the series with high hopes from all of the stellar reviews I’d read, and I was really glad I did.

After Celaena wins the competition, Maas begins to intertwine the pivotal characters more intricately. In Crown of Midnight, Celaena must decide where her allegiances lie, and in doing so, rediscovers aspects of herself and her past that are difficult for her to swallow.

Crown of Midnight kicks up the action a notch and does some serious character development. Maas begins dropping breadcrumbs and foreshadowing that only really become clear in later books as she flushes out both an entire universe and the character’s places within it. It built off of the first book in a spectacular way and had an ending that had me staying up way too late turning pages.

By time you arrive at Heir of Fire, Celaena has already survived some significant trauma. She’s been through deadly contests and punishments, she’s had her heart broken time and again, and now she’s faced with determining her place in the fate of the world.

While this book was slower on the action front, it was a wonderfully epic arc for Celaena as a character as she trudges through a deep, debilitating depression. I thought Maas’ writing was very poignant on this topic and I appreciated the realness she brought to Celaena’s feelings in what was so obviously a very unreal world. She walks with her through her feelings until Celaena comes to a point where she must make a choice about who she wants to be and how she wants to proceed. This book is a slower burn, but a really gratifying one that has you excited to start the next book as soon as you’ve finished.

Where Heir of Fire was more focused on the emotional aspects of character development, Queen of Shadows begins to move a lot of the plot forward. Celaena, now accepting her identity as Aelin Galathynius, Queen of Terrasen, embarks on a quest that will permeate through the remainder of the books to liberate the people of Erilea from their oppressive ruler. It’s absolutely packed full of action and was probably one of my favourite books of the entire series just for the sheer quantity of plot and character development.

From here, it becomes more difficult to give summaries without giving too much away. Empire of Storms continues to move Aelin forward in her quest to achieve freedom for her people and sees her form significant alliances and friendships with core characters who will become incredibly important as the oncoming war begins to break and lines are drawn between enemies. The book serves as an epic set-up for the final crescendo of war that will see the world forever changed, and results in even more pain and trauma for Aelin herself as secrets are revealed and she’s forced to make significant sacrifices for her friends. This book was action-packed and emotional and brings together a lot of disparate pieces that have been slowly building over the course of the series together to reach this final peak on the eve of battle. It’s super satisfying to see Maas pull it all together, even if the conclusion is a devastating one.

The next book is a full shift in perspective over to secondary characters, leaving Aelin and her side of the plot behind. Tower of Dawn follows Chaol and Nesryn across the continent to seek both healing and allies for the upcoming war.

Until this book, I actually couldn’t stand Chaol as a character and Nesryn had very little impression on me, but by the end, I was really invested in both of their stories. While the book is certainly an aside compared to the rest of the series, it does contain important elements that add a lot of depth to the final book.

Speaking of, Kingdom of Ash serves as the final installment in the epic series, and it’s a beast. The book rotates perspectives through the majority of the main characters, spanning across huge swaths of land, alliances, and plot aspects. The story covers several major arcs, ending with the final battle for the continent and bringing to a close many, many characters and plot lines across the vast universe that Maas has woven. I really enjoyed the conclusion, but felt it was perhaps a little long. That said, I do understand that wrapping up 8 books worth of content would be difficult to do more concisely.

Concluding Thoughts

As a whole, TOG was really enjoyable. The universe was well designed, and the books had a lot of great characters with flaws and challenges and depth. Aelin in particular is a flawed heroine with a bad lot most of the time, but through Maas’ storytelling, you understand some of those more challenging aspects to her personality and learn to appreciate what she’s been through.

One thing that I enjoy about Maas’ writing in general is that while there are always romance elements to the plot, the female characters are typically strong and independent. In the times when it matters, they often save themselves. Aelin, Lysandra, Manon, Elide, and all of the other female characters have to trudge through the traumas of their experiences to decide who they want to be and how they want to live. While each has a love interest, they’re also self-contained, self-assured characters who make their own decisions and don’t need to be saved by another. For YA books, there was a little spice as well, though not nearly as much as her other series.

Maas also has a signature style I love that involves weaving breadcrumbs through her stories until you reach a twist that brings everything together nicely, and almost all these books contained a degree of that foreshadowing.

The series is long and meaty, so if you’re looking for something that involves a lot of perspectives, a lot of world building, and a good investment of time, TOG may be a good match. It’s pretty squarely YA in it’s delivery of both content and writing, but as an adult, I had no challenges enjoying it. If you’ve read any of Maas’ other works and enjoyed them, it’s likely you’ll enjoy this series too. A solid 4-stars for me.