The Throne of Glass books in order question is really two arguments wearing one trench coat: where does the prequel actually go, and are you allowed to skip the Chaol book? Eight books, one assassin, and a fandom that has strong opinions about both - with Sarah J. Maas's universe having a very loud moment right now, half of BookTok is starting (or restarting) her longest series. Here's the order that works, the two debates settled honestly, and where it sits next to ACOTAR.
The quick list: Throne of Glass books in order
Publication order is the read that works. Main series:
- Throne of Glass (2012) - an assassin is pulled out of a death camp to compete for her freedom
- Crown of Midnight (2013) - the series stops being a competition story and shows its real hand
- Heir of Fire (2014) - new continent, new fae, and the character who rearranges everything
- Queen of Shadows (2015) - the homecoming; old debts get paid
- Empire of Storms (2016) - the board widens into full war
- Tower of Dawn (2017) - the parallel book (more on the argument below)
- Kingdom of Ash (2018) - the ending, at a colossal 980+ pages
And the prequel: The Assassin's Blade (2014) - five connected novellas about Celaena's life before book one.
Where does The Assassin's Blade go?
Not first - even though it's the prequel. Chronologically it happens before Throne of Glass, but reading it first flattens book one's mystery and frontloads a heartbreak that lands harder with context. The fandom-standard placement, and ours: read it after Heir of Fire, before Queen of Shadows. Queen of Shadows pays off names, faces, and debts straight out of those novellas, so that slot turns the prequel into ammunition. If you've already finished the series without it, it works as an epilogue-in-reverse - just don't make it your first day in Erilea.
Can you skip Tower of Dawn?
No - and we say that knowing exactly why you're asking. It's the book where the main heroine barely appears, following Chaol across the sea instead, and an entire wing of the fandom swears it's skippable. Here's the honest version: it runs parallel to Empire of Storms, and what happens in it - the healing arc, the southern continent's armies, one particular reveal in the final chapters - is roughly half the load-bearing structure of Kingdom of Ash. Skip it and the finale's biggest arrivals feel unearned. If the pace scares you, the popular compromise is the tandem read: alternating chunks of Empire of Storms and Tower of Dawn, since they share a timeline. But going in blind to Kingdom of Ash is the one order mistake this series actually punishes.
Do you need to read ACOTAR or Crescent City first?
No - Throne of Glass stands completely alone, and it's where many readers start Maas entirely (it's her longest, most epic-fantasy-flavored series - more war campaign, less court intrigue). No plot crosses over with ACOTAR or Crescent City, though the universes wink at each other and fandom theory-crafting connects all three. If you're deciding which Maas door to walk through: ACOTAR for the romance-forward fae version - especially with book six landing October 27 - Throne of Glass for the epic with a body count, Crescent City for the modern-fantasy remix.
Where should a new reader start (and push through)?
Start at book one, and know the fandom's honest warning: Throne of Glass opens as a YA competition story, and the series grows up book by book from there. Crown of Midnight is where it shows its teeth, and Heir of Fire is where it becomes the thing people get tattoos about. If you're a romance-first reader, know that the endgame ship doesn't even appear until book three - this is the genre's longest con, it opens as enemies to lovers, and the slow burn is the point. The romantasy boom's epic wing - Fourth Wing included - is running plays this series wrote first.
What to read after Throne of Glass
If the war-campaign scale is what you'll miss, the best romantasy books maps the epic end of the shelf. If it's the morally-flexible assassin energy, the morally grey explainer is stacked with her heirs. And if you want the fifteen-book indie version of a fae war with a found family, the Zodiac Academy reading order is the KU fandom's answer to exactly this itch. (Completionists: Goodreads' series page tracks every edition and novella printing.)
And when what you'll actually miss is the court itself - the lethal male who watches the room and only softens for one person in it - Swoony holds that world open: romance and nothing else, closed-door and unhurried, a relationship that grows across five stages and is never paywalled - no subscription, no per-message tolls. Start with Kaden of the rebellion, the blade every cadet fears, or the assassin who missed - he's never missed a shot, and he missed you on purpose.
Eight books, two debates, one right answer each. The prequel waits for book four - and nobody skips Chaol.
