The Easiest and Longest Guide to Reading the Throne of Glass Books

If you are starting the Sarah J. Maas Throne of Glass series, you are about to begin an amazing fantasy story. This huge series has a famous killer, kings, magic, and great characters. What starts small quickly grows into a vast war saga about fae, ancient gods, and a lost queen.

Because there are eight books (seven main novels and one prequel collection), the reading list can be tricky. This simple and very long guide will clear up the reading orders, give you deep knowledge about the world of Erilea, and explain the big journey of the main character, Celaena Sardothien.

1. The Clear Reading Orders

There are two main ways to read the Throne of Glass series. You must decide if you want to know the character's past right away, or if you want the big secrets to be revealed as the writer intended.

A. Reading Order 1: Publication Order (Best for New Readers)

This is the exact order in which Sarah J. Maas first sold the books. It is the best way to read for the first time because the surprises and major reveals happen exactly when they should, as the author wrote them. This makes the hidden secrets feel much more powerful.

The Recommended Publication Order:

Throne of Glass (2012): You must start the main story here with all the mysteries still hidden.
Crown of Midnight (2013): This book continues the fight and holds the first big turns in the main character’s life.
The Assassin’s Blade (Prequel Novellas) (2014): Read the prequel here! This is the best place for first readers. Reading these short stories now gives you the deep, sad backstory (about Sam and Arobynn) that makes the next books much more meaningful.
Heir of Fire (2014): The story and world get much bigger here. This is where Celaena goes to Wendlyn.
Queen of Shadows (2015): Celaena finally starts to accept who she really is—a queen—and her amazing powers.
Empire of Storms (2016): This is a huge book, full of action, secrets, and a big build-up to the final war.
Tower of Dawn (2017): This is a crucial book that you cannot skip. This story happens at the exact same time as Empire of Storms. It focuses on Chaol and Nesryn’s journey to the Southern Continent. You must read it before the final book.
Kingdom of Ash (2018): The massive last book that brings all the characters and all the storylines together for the end of the world.

Why this order is the best: You get to know Celaena as the smart, witty, but troubled assassin in the first two books. When you read The Assassin's Blade (Book 3 in the order), you get a heavy emotional punch that makes her character growth in Heir of Fire (Book 4) and Queen of Shadows (Book 5) feel real and deep.

B. Reading Order 2: Chronological Order (For Context and Re-reads)

This list puts the books in the exact order the events happen in the story's timeline. This is good if you want to know everything about the main character’s past before you begin her adult journey.

The Chronological Order:

The Assassin’s Blade (This set of short stories shows the main character’s life and heartbreak before she was caught and sent to prison.)
Throne of Glass
Crown of Midnight
Heir of Fire
Queen of Shadows
Empire of Storms and Tower of Dawn (These two books run side-by-side, covering the same time period.)
Kingdom of Ash

2. The Core Story: The Change of Aelin Galathynius

The series is really a story about one person becoming two: first, the famous killer Celaena Sardothien, and later, the powerful queen Aelin Galathynius. Her journey is all about accepting her true name, her enormous power, and the great task she was born for.

The Assassin: Celaena Sardothien (Books 1 and 2)

When the story starts, Celaena Sardothien is the most feared assassin in Adarlan. But after being betrayed and losing her true love, Sam Cortland, she is captured and sent to the horrible salt mines of Endovier.

The King’s Offer: Crown Prince Dorian Haviliard offers her a deal. If she competes against 23 other tough fighters to become the King's Champion, she can win her freedom after serving the King for four years.
The Contest: Celaena is taken to the beautiful, clear Glass Castle in the capital, Rifthold. She trains hard with the Captain of the Guard, Chaol Westfall. While training and living at court, she begins a complicated friendship with Princess Nehemia and romantic relationships with both Chaol and Dorian.
The Dark Secret: As the fighters start dying in cruel ways, Celaena investigates. She finds a hidden danger involving ancient magic symbols (Wyrdmarks) and evil creatures called Valg. She also begins to see the ghost of the first Queen, Elena, who tells her that Celaena is meant for something much bigger.
The Prequel Details: The Assassin’s Blade gives the sad background of this time. It fully shows Celaena’s harsh training under the King of Assassins, Arobynn Hamel, her deep, true love for Sam, and the event that led to her capture. This sad past is the reason for her strong will and her fear of loving anyone again.

In Throne of Glass, she wins the contest and becomes the King's Champion. But she learns that the King is a servant of true evil, and she is connected to a powerful, lost magic.

In Crown of Midnight, she is forced to work for the King, but she secretly lets his targets live. Her best friend, Nehemia, is killed because of the King's evil plots, making Celaena feel great guilt and rage. She leaves Adarlan, realizing her life is not safe. Before she goes, she finds a message from Nehemia that reveals her birth name: Aelin Ashryver Galathynius, the Lost Queen of Terrasen.

The Queen: Aelin Galathynius (Books 3 through 7)

Celaena is sent to the far-off land of Wendlyn, where magic is still real and powerful. This trip is the turning point where she must stop being the assassin and become the queen.

Finding the Fae: In Wendlyn, she meets the immortal Fae warrior Rowan Whitethorn. He is cold and harsh, but he forces her to face the sadness of her past and to learn to control her massive, powerful fire magic that comes from her Fae bloodline. After months of hard work, she finally accepts her role as Queen and the destiny tied to her family.
The Return to War: The story changes from simple court secrets to a massive fantasy epic. Aelin returns to Erilea, gathers a team of loyal fighters (Aedion Ashryver, her cousin; the shifter Lysandra), and begins building an army. Her goal is no longer just her own freedom, but to defeat the evil King of Adarlan and stop the ancient monster he serves: Erawan, the Valg King.
The Many Paths to War: The series gets much bigger, following different main characters:

Dorian struggles to control the raw magic that wakes up inside him, while fighting the dark influence of his own father.
Chaol goes on a long journey of healing to the Southern Continent, where he tries to make new friends and get help from the Khaganate for the coming war.
Manon Blackbeak, a fierce leader of the Ironteeth Witches, is introduced with her own difficult story. She trains her squad and leads them, eventually becoming a very important, if difficult, ally in the fight for the world.

The Final Battle: The last books of the series are all about the impossible alliances and huge battles needed to stop the Valg from fully taking over Erilea and the other continents.

3. The World of Erilea: Land, Magic, and Monsters

The setting for the story is the giant continent of Erilea, which is split into many kingdoms, each with its own history and place in the war.

The Lands

Adarlan: This is the most powerful kingdom at the start, ruled by the tyrannical King. Its main city, Rifthold, holds the famous Glass Castle. The King conquered many other lands and then banished all magic ten years before the story begins.
Terrasen: This is Aelin's true, lost kingdom in the North. It is a land known for its strong magic and its long history with the Fae. The King of Adarlan conquered it and killed Aelin’s whole family when she was a child. The final fight of the series is to free this land.
Wendlyn: Located across the Great Ocean, Wendlyn is a safe land where magic is still free and very strong. It is home to many powerful Fae, and it is where Aelin goes to get her warrior training.
The Southern Continent: This land becomes very important in Tower of Dawn. It is far to the south and is home to the best healers in the world and the powerful royal family known as the Khaganate.

The Magic and Evil

At the beginning of the series, magic is gone from most of Erilea because the King used powerful, evil items to remove it.

Fae: They are the immortal, strong race who can look either Fae or human. They live for a very long time, are very strong and fast, and have powerful elemental magic (like fire, wind, or ice). Aelin is part Fae.
Wyrdkeys: These are ancient, powerful objects. The King used them to banish magic and conquer the lands. These keys can open gates between worlds, and the true evil of the series wants them all. The war is fought to keep these keys from the ultimate enemy.
Valg: These are the true enemies. They are ancient, demon-like creatures that come from a dark world (the Wyrd-World). They can take over human bodies. Their King, Erawan, is the monster who controls the King of Adarlan, and he wants to bring his whole Valg army into Erilea to destroy it.
Ironteeth Witches: A race of female witches who live in the mountains. They have iron nails and teeth, and they fly on creatures called wyverns. They are powerful and cruel fighters who become involved in the war for their own reasons, eventually joining the fight against the Valg.

4. Deeper Look at the First Books

To make sure you understand how the series starts, here is a long, clear summary of the first two main books and how the characters grow.

Detailed Summary: Throne of Glass (Book 1)

The King's Deal: The book opens with Celaena Sardothien, known as the greatest assassin in the world, being taken from the horrible salt mines of Endovier. She has been a slave there for a year, but the Captain of the Guard, Chaol Westfall, brings her to Crown Prince Dorian Haviliard. Dorian offers her a chance to compete to become his father's Champion. If she wins, she gets her freedom after serving the king for four years. Celaena hates the King, but she agrees because she is desperate for freedom. She will compete under a false name, "Lillian Gordaina."

Life in the Glass Castle: Celaena is given luxury rooms in the massive Glass Castle. She meets Philippa, her kind servant, and the Princess of Eyllwe, Nehemia, who quickly becomes her best friend. Celaena, who loves books, music, and beautiful clothes, starts training hard with the strict but honorable Chaol. She struggles to get her strength back after a year of hard labor.

The Love Triangle Begins: A romance begins to bloom with the charming Dorian, who treats her with kindness and respects her mind. At the same time, a deep, tense connection grows between her and Chaol during their private training sessions. Chaol struggles because he is sworn to protect the Crown Prince, who is also interested in Celaena.

The Murders and the Magic: As the competition continues through several tests, some of the competitors are found dead, murdered in a terrible, unnatural way. Celaena, the assassin, is worried that the King is killing people who know too much. She starts investigating the murders. She finds a secret tomb under the castle and meets the ghost of the first Queen, Elena. Elena, who is half-Fae, tells Celaena that the King is using dark forces and that a demon-like creature (Valg) has entered the castle. She warns Celaena that her destiny is much bigger than just winning the competition.

The Final Fight: Celaena suspects the large, cruel competitor, Cain, is involved. Nehemia warns Celaena about powerful magic symbols (Wyrdmarks) that she has been seeing. In the final duel of the competition, Celaena faces Cain. He reveals incredible, unnatural strength, showing he is being controlled by a powerful Valg demon. Celaena uses all her skill and a sudden burst of mysterious Fae magic (helped by Elena's spirit) to defeat Cain. As Cain tries one last, evil attack, Chaol steps in and kills him, saving Celaena’s life.

The Result: Celaena is named the King’s Champion. She has won her freedom, but she knows the King is pure evil and that a dark, ancient war has just begun inside the castle walls. She is now tied to the man who rules the world, while her secret duty is to fight the world's ancient evil.

Detailed Summary: Crown of Midnight (Book 2)

The Champion’s Duty: Six months have passed, and Celaena is serving as the King’s Champion. She is meant to be killing the King's enemies, but she secretly fakes their deaths, allowing them to escape. She is now in a secret, serious relationship with Chaol, while her bond with Dorian becomes more strained as he struggles to hide the powerful, raw magic that is starting to burn inside him.

The Betrayal and the Loss: The King orders Celaena to execute a group of rebels who are secretly working with Nehemia. Celaena is unwilling to hurt her friend’s allies and refuses to carry out the order. She discovers that Nehemia has been investigating the King's dark magic and the Wyrdkeys that he uses to rule.

Celaena gets distracted by her own problems and ignores a major warning from Nehemia. As a punishment for Celaena’s disobedience, and to cover up his own plotting, the King allows one of his commanders to organize Nehemia’s brutal murder.

Celaena is completely broken by the death of her only true friend. She is filled with rage and guilt, feeling like she failed to protect Nehemia. She wrongly believes that Chaol, who was supposed to be guarding Nehemia, betrayed her friend to the King. In a fit of Fae-enhanced fury, she almost kills Chaol, only stopping when Dorian uses a huge, unexpected surge of his own magic for the first time.

The True Name: Celaena is determined to find the real murderer. She hunts them down and takes a terrible, cold revenge. This act confirms to both Chaol and Dorian how truly dangerous and powerful she is. The King, seeing her raw power, knows he cannot control her while she stays in Adarlan.

Chaol and Dorian decide that the only way to save her is to send her far away. They trick the King into sending Celaena to the magic-filled land of Wendlyn on a fake mission to kill a prince. Chaol tells the King that Celaena must be exiled because she failed her duties and that Chaol will personally make sure she is sent across the sea.

Before she leaves, Celaena finds a hidden message from Nehemia that fully reveals her identity: she is Aelin Ashryver Galathynius, the lost Queen of Terrasen. With her heart heavy from grief and betrayal, and her secret identity now exposed to the few people she trusts, Celaena sails away to Wendlyn. Her assassin life is over, and her destiny as the Queen has begun.

5. Quick Tips for Your Long Journey

Don't skip Tower of Dawn. It is a very long, complex book that many people want to skip, but it holds many secrets, new characters, and plot points that are absolutely required to understand the final book, Kingdom of Ash.
The number of characters grows very quickly, especially from Heir of Fire onward. It's a good idea to keep track of the main groups and their loyalties.
Heir of Fire and Queen of Shadows are the most important books for character change. This is where Celaena stops being the assassin and becomes the Queen. They are big turning points in the entire story.

6. Final Thoughts on Reading the Epic

This series delivers an unforgettable fantasy adventure full of courage, deep love, and immense power. Your choice of reading order depends on what you want from the start, but either way, you will be following a truly epic story.

Start your great journey today with the first book, Throne of Glass special edition, and discover the full power of Aelin Galathynius.

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