Sarah J. Maas Series Order – A Complete Guide

Unless you have been hiding under a rock in the past couple years, you’ve probably heard of Sarah J. Maas (SJM) and her books.

Whether you’re overwhelmed, curious, excited or just want a straightforward guide explaining what each series is about and what’s a reasonable series order you should read them if you’ve come to the right place.

Continue reading about my ultimate Sarah J. Maas series reading guide.

The Ultimate Sarah J Mass Series Reading Order

TLDR: If you are just getting started with Sarah J. Mass series my recommended order would be

1. A Court of Thorns and Roses
2. Throne of Glass
3. Crescent City

1. Start with A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR)

This is the series you’ve probably heard the most about. Even though the series was written as early as 2015, the explosive popularity on BookTok brought it back to the focus and for good reason.

ACOTAR is the easiest series of SJM to get into. The world is relatively straightforward, the magic system is comprehensive and understandable. Although it has fantasy elements, A Court of Thorns and Roses series is her most accessible series, because it is much more romance than fantasy.

ACOTAR follows Feyre Archeron, a human girl who is trying to provide for starving her family who kills a wolf and a Faerie (think Elves not Tinkerbell) comes to demand her to pay the price of taking another Faerie’s life.

She gets taken to live in a magical land, and her captor, Tamlin becomes more than an enemy as the book goes on. Feyre proceeds through the book realizing there is more to the world of Faeries than the stories she’s been told growing up and tries to save the land of Fairies from being devoured by a blight. This book is marketed as a Beauty and Beast retelling which it kind of is, but there is so much more as the series goes on. The second book is the darling of the fanbase and for good reason.

As it currently stands, ACOTAR is unfinished, with 5 books out. It currently consist of 4 books and one novella with the sixth book of the series slated for late 2025 or early 2026.

1. A Court of Thorns and Roses
2. A Court of Mist and Fury
3. A Court of Wings and Ruin
4. A Court of Frost and Starlight
5. A Court of Silver Flames

2. Read Throne of Glass (TOG) Second

Throne of Glass is technically Sarah J. Mass’s first work, although over the years she published multiple books in all of her series. It’s way more fantasy than romance, although there is plenty of romance.

Celaena Sardothian’s story is an absolute literary masterpiece, and my favorite series of all time to this date. However the barrier to entry is a bit higher for a couple of reasons.

Since it is SJM’s first work and she was pretty young when she wrote it the first few books might feel a bit slow and potentially juvenile. It is also a lot more fantasy than romance, with the series starting from having a main character to following multiple characters across the world Erilea similar to Cosmere and Game of Thrones.

Even if fantasy isn’t your jam, if you enjoyed ACOTAR I strongly urge you to give TOG a chance until the third book. Seriously, if you’re going to take anything away from this post it is that Throne of Glass is a spiritual experience. Besides if you followed my order, you would’ve have read ACOTAR by the time you get to TOG and you’ll be begging for more SJM content.

The premise of Throne of Glass is “What if Cinderella was not just a girl but an assassin?”. It follows Celaena Sardothian, the most notorious assassin of Erelia who somehow found herself enslaved in the salt mines of the kingdom she lives in.

The first book begins with an opportunity for Celaena to earn her freedom by competing at a tournament and as the books go on the series turn more into a multi-POV fantasy saga following multiple characters you will be very invested in to find out how the series ends. If you’re apprehensive about having to follow so many characters, don’t worry, they are introduced gradually and by the time they become a big part of the plot, you’ll be plenty invested.

There’s quite a bit of a contention on how to read Throne of Glass and what’s the correct order is, I have another post up walking through different options on how to read them along with what my preferred reading order is (Yes you need to read Tower of Dawn, and you absolutely need to tandem), click here to read more about that.

A disclaimer on this series is that like I said, Sarah J. Mass literally grew up writing this series, so if you’re someone who skews Young Adult or New Adult, you should know the series changes tones midway through and has a more adult narrative as the time goes on.

Either way, please give this series a shot as reading Throne of Glass is a life changing experience that will alter your brain chemistry forever.

Throne of Glass consists of 8 books and it is a complete series.

1. Throne of Glass
2. Crown of Midnight
3. The Assassin’s Blade
4. Heir of Fire
5. Queen of Shadows
6. Empire of Storms/Tower of Dawn (These books are recommended concurrently AKA tandem)
7. Kingdom of Ash

3. Read Crescent City (CC) last

Crescent City is an urban fantasy fae series, meaning it’s a fae world with cell phones and pizza. It is largely considered to be the hardest series to get into, as the world SJM drops us is pretty intricate, I have friends who consumed Crescent City just as easily as other books, so don’t be turned off by the online commentary and try to read it with an open mind.

Crescent City is the story of Bryce, a half-fae resident of Lunathion who finds herself at the center of a murder mystery only to discover earth shattering truths about her world. I won’t spoil anything of course, but the fan service this series does and the implication it makes across all of Maasverse will tilt the axis of your world if you read CC last!

Here’s my personal hot take, although I consider Throne of Glass as SJM’s best overall series, the first book of Crescent City, House of Earth and Blood is her best literary work. Sarah J. Mass is notoriously renowned for her “last 150 pages end of book frenzy” in which she resolves all of her plotlines in a chaotic but poetic way and I swear the first CC book is like a fever dream. Have I mentioned this series is filled with jaw dropping moments and easter eggs that connect the world of SJM together.

Crescent City series currently has 3 books, it’s unfinished and we don’t know when the next book is coming out. It won’t be out until after the sixth of ACOTAR is published.

1. House of Earth and Blood
2. House of Sky and Breath
3. House of Flame and Shadow

There you have it! This is my overall guide to how to read Sarah J. Mass books. If you have any comments, recommendations on what books we should cover next, or if you end up reading and enjoying this series just as much as we did, give us a shout and we’d love to hear what you think!