Sarah J Maas — a spoiler-free guide to starting the 16-book Universe
A brief overview of ACOTAR, Throne of Glass and Crescent City
Background
Sarah J Maas first started writing and ‘self-publishing’ online at the age of 16. She went on to traditionally publish her first book, Throne of Glass, at the age of 26, in 2012. And now, in 2024, she has 16 books published across three connected series. Maas writes Fantasy/Romance, otherwise known as ‘Romantasy’. Throne of Glass, A Court of Thorns and Roses(ACOTAR) and Crescent City, the three series have sold over 38 million copies and have gathered an extremely dedicated group of fans. Despite being published in 2015, the first book in the ACOTAR series is currently third on the New York Times best-seller list and has been for the last 16 weeks, we can put this recurrence of popularity down to ‘booktube/booktok/bookstagram’, where you can’t go 2 minutes without seeing someone talking about the books.
The big question: where should you start?
Which order to read the three separate series seems to be the cause for many, very heated debates online.
If you think that you would like to read all three series and dive in, I recommend: Throne of Glass, ACOTAR and then Crescent City.
