Throne of Glass
#54.43 in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 7 books Status Complete 2012–2018 Reading commitment High Sarah J. Maas Last reviewed 2026-10-16
Overview
Sarah J. Maas's debut fantasy saga (Bloomsbury, 2012-2018) follows Celaena Sardothien, a legendary assassin fighting for her freedom and, later, her kingdom, in the magic-banished empire of Adarlan. Published across seven main novels plus a prequel novella collection, the series began as a reworking of a story Maas started writing as a teenager and posted online before it was acquired for traditional publication. Its tone shifts from a court-intrigue assassin thriller in the earlier volumes toward large-scale epic fantasy and open war by its conclusion, Kingdom of Ash (2018). Throne of Glass became one of the defining young-adult fantasy series of the 2010s and helped establish Maas as one of the best-selling fantasy authors of her generation, laying commercial groundwork for her later adult series. It remains a separate continuity from Maas's later A Court of Thorns and Roses and Crescent City sagas; the three share only Easter-egg-level nods, not plot or setting.
Romantasy, Epic fantasy · For YA
Core Canon: Reading Order (7 works) counts toward ranking
Throne of Glass Sarah J. Maas
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Throne of Glass | 2012 | 1 | core | 4.18 (2,691,680 ratings) |
 | Crown of Midnight | 2013 | 2 | core | 4.36 (1,986,255 ratings) |
 | Heir of Fire | 2014 | 3 | core | 4.44 (1,767,737 ratings) |
 | Queen of Shadows | 2015 | 4 | core | 4.62 (1,597,825 ratings) |
 | Empire of Storms | 2016 | 5 | core | 4.63 (1,402,861 ratings) |
 | Tower of Dawn | 2017 | 5.5 | core | 4.28 (1,222,415 ratings) |
 | Kingdom of Ash | 2018 | 6 | core | 4.71 (1,251,764 ratings) |
Tower of Dawn is an interquel running concurrently with events late in Empire of Storms/before Kingdom of Ash, hence internal chronology 5.5 rather than a plain integer, following a companion-volume convention already used elsewhere in this canon.
Library / Expanded (1 work)
Throne of Glass -- Prequel Novellas Sarah J. Maas
| Work | Year | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The Assassin's Blade | 2014 | 4.20 (1,326,451 ratings) |
Omnibus collection of the 5 prequel novellas (The Assassin and the Pirate Lord, The Assassin and the Healer, The Assassin and the Desert, The Assassin and the Underworld, The Assassin and the Empire), individually e-published 2011-2012 and first collected in this one volume in 2014. Expanded, not Core, mirroring A Court of Thorns and Roses' own novella-interlude treatment -- the numbered main sequence is the primary reading unit.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Throne of Glass? Throne of Glass's Core Canon is 7 books, plus 1 more in the wider Library/Expanded material.
- What is the reading order for Throne of Glass? Publication order, starting with Throne of Glass. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is Throne of Glass finished? Complete (2012–2018).
- How much reading does Throne of Glass take? High reading commitment (estimated from 7 Core Canon books · ~4,492 pages).
- How is Throne of Glass ranked? #5 in this site's official ranking, based on 11,920,537 reader ratings across 7 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #5?
Ranked #5 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 4.43 across 7 core books.
- Backed by 11.9M reader ratings.
- Uneven reception: its books range from 4.18 to 4.71.
- 0.03 behind #4, Cosmere.
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Top-tier rated · 7 books · Complete · 11.9M ratings · Ranks #5 overall
Good choice if you want a long-running romantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (7 Core Canon books)
- Throne of Glass (2012)
- Crown of Midnight (2013)
- Heir of Fire (2014)
- Queen of Shadows (2015)
- Empire of Storms (2016)
- Tower of Dawn (2017)
- Kingdom of Ash (2018)
Documented internal/story chronology is recorded for every Core Canon book here, and matches publication order exactly, with no divergence to show separately.
Awards (verified)
- Readers' Choice Award (Best Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction), 2018: won: Kingdom of Ash; Confirmed via the award body's own Choice Awards category results page.
Related universes
- Same author A Court of Thorns and Roses: Both by Sarah J. Maas. Secondary reporting describes ACOTAR, Throne of Glass, and Crescent City as part of a loosely shared “literary multiverse”, but this project confirmed there are no direct crossovers beyond Easter-egg references; each is registered as its own separate universe, not a merged shared world.
- Same author Crescent City: Both by Sarah J. Maas. Throne of Glass and Crescent City are confirmed separate continuities from each other, sharing no direct crossover beyond Easter-egg references.
You might also like
Suggestions computed from what Throne of Glass and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- Os Dragões Originais Romantasy / Epic fantasy · Ongoing · Low commitment · 4.44
- Seven Realms Epic fantasy · Complete · Medium commitment · 4.30
- A Saga das Pedras Mágicas Epic fantasy / Romantasy · Complete · High commitment · 4.15
- The Obernewtyn Chronicles Epic fantasy / Dark fantasy · Complete · High commitment · 4.07
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.43 across 11,920,537 ratings on 7 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Throne of Glass admitted; Core Canon = the 7 numbered novels, Expanded = The Assassin's Blade accepted 2026-08-07
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
Related universes: see the Related universes section above.
Last reviewed: 2026-08-07
Rule: Core = the 7 numbered novels (Throne of Glass through Kingdom of Ash), a completed series. Expanded = The Assassin's Blade, the omnibus collection of 5 prequel novellas, following the same novella-interlude-as-Expanded treatment as A Court of Frost and Starlight.