Throne of Glass reading order

Sarah J. Maas · 8 books

The short answer

Read Throne of Glass, then Crown of Midnight, then the prequel The Assassin's Blade, then Heir of Fire onward. Read Empire of Storms and Tower of Dawn in tandem, not back to back.

Prequel slotted in third, tandem read at the end. This is the order most of the fandom lands on.

Tick them off as you go

Throne of Glass2012
Crown of Midnight2013
The Assassin's Blade2014Prequel novellas. Hits hardest here, after you already know who she lost.
Heir of Fire2014
Queen of Shadows2015
Empire of Storms2016Start the tandem read with Tower of Dawn.
Tower of Dawn2017Runs concurrently with Empire of Storms.
Kingdom of Ash2018

Why the order is argued about

Two real questions here. Where does The Assassin's Blade go, and what do you do about Tower of Dawn.

The prequel is best read after Crown of Midnight, because book two leans on a loss the novellas make you feel. Read first, it is a decent assassin story. Read third, it rewrites book two in your head.

Tower of Dawn happens at the same time as Empire of Storms with a different cast. Read straight through after Empire of Storms it feels like a detour at the worst possible moment. Alternate chapters between the two and the timing works. There are chapter-by-chapter tandem schedules floating around the fandom, and they are worth using.

Settling in for all 8? A page marker you do not mind losing track of helps. We like these suncatcher bookmarks, and Sarah J. Maas's site is worth a look for release news.