Sarah Janet Maas (born March 5, 1986) is an American fantasy author known for her series '' Throne of Glass,'' ''

A Court of Thorns and Roses ''A Court of Thorns and Roses'' is a fantasy romance series by American author Sarah J. Maas, which follows the journey of 19-year-old Feyre Archeron after she is brought into the faerie lands of Prythian. The first book of the series, ''A Court ...

'', and '' Crescent City''. As of 2024, she has sold nearly 40 million copies of her books and her work has been translated into 38 languages.

Early life

Maas was born on March 5, 1986, in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. She was adopted by a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

mother and a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

father, and they lived on the

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper We ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. Sarah grew up Jewish. In 2008, Sarah Maas graduated

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

from

Hamilton College Hamilton College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Clinton, Oneida County, New York, Clinton, New York. It was established as the Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 and received its c ...

Kirkland, New York Kirkland is a town in Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 10,075 at the 2020 census. The town is named after Samuel Kirkland, a missionary among the Oneidas. The Town of Kirkland is southwest of Utica. In 1829, part of K ...

west of Utica, where she majored in creative writing and minored in

religious studies Religious studies, also known as religiology or the study of religion, is the study of religion from a historical or scientific perspective. There is no consensus on what qualifies as ''religion'' and definition of religion, its definition is h ...

Career

Maas began writing what would become her debut novel, '' Throne of Glass'', at age sixteen. She posted several chapters of the novel then titled ''Queen of Glass'' on FictionPress.com, where it became one of the most popular stories on the site. It was later removed from the site when she decided to publish the novel. The story line of the series is based on the story of

Cinderella "Cinderella", or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a Folklore, folk tale with thousands of variants that are told throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988. The protagonist is a you ...

, with the premise of "What if Cinderella was not a servant, but an assassin?... what if she didn't attend the ball to meet the prince, but to kill him, instead?" In 2008, Maas sent the novel to agents before signing with Tamar Rydzinski of The Laura Dial Literary Agency in 2009. ''Throne of Glass'' was purchased in March 2010 by

Bloomsbury Publishing Bloomsbury Publishing plc is a British worldwide publishing house of fiction and non-fiction. Bloomsbury's head office is located on Bedford Square in Bloomsbury, an area of the London Borough of Camden. It has a US publishing office located in ...

, who later purchased two additional books in the series. The series is available in 15 countries and 35 languages. Four prequel novellas set two years before the first novel were published and later condensed into a book, ''The Assassin's Blade'' as well as an original novella. The second book of the series, ''Crown of Midnight'' was a

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

young adult best-seller. The final book in the series, ''Kingdom of Ash'', was released on October 23, 2018; the finished series comprised seven books plus the novella collection. ''

'', Maas' second fantasy series, is a loose retelling of "

Beauty and the Beast "Beauty and the Beast" is a fairy tale written by the French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in (''The Young American and Marine Tales''). Villeneuve's lengthy version was abridged, rewritten, and publish ...

". The first book of the trilogy was written in 2009, but was not published until 2015. Due to the success and popularity of the original series, it was extended, and a spin-off series was announced, featuring stories of other popular characters. The fifth book in the series and the first of the spin-offs, '' A Court of Silver Flames'', was published on February 16, 2021. The series was optioned for a television adaptation in 2021 by

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, but as of February 2024, the television series is no longer in active development. On May 16, 2018, Maas announced her first adult fantasy series, '' Crescent City''. The first book, titled '' House of Earth and Blood'', was released by Bloomsbury on March 3, 2020. It was ranked one of the top twenty Science Fiction & Fantasy books of 2020 on Kobo. The sequel, '' House of Sky and Breath'', was released on February 15, 2022 and won the Best Fantasy award for

Goodreads Choice Awards The Goodreads Choice Awards is a yearly award program, first launched on Goodreads in 2009. Winners are determined by crowdvoting, users voting on books that Goodreads has nominated or books of their choosing, released in the given year. Most boo ...

in 2022. The third installation of the series, '' House of Flame and Shadow'', was released on January 30, 2024.

Critical and commercial reception

Maas' character development, particularly of morally grey characters, has been lauded as one of her best qualities, as well as her world building. ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' compared Maas's success to that of

J. K. Rowling Joanne Rowling ( ; born 31 July 1965), known by her pen name , is a British author and philanthropist. She is the author of ''Harry Potter'', a seven-volume fantasy novel series published from 1997 to 2007. The series has List of best-sell ...

, noting their shared ability to inspire passionate fans, drive huge numbers of book sales, and create complex worlds with complicated caste systems. It also noted how Maas "was ahead of the game when it came to the rising appetite for empowering female heroines," acknowledging that her books "are notable for a niquedefining factor: female agency." '' Vox'' has described Maas as Romantasy's "reigning queen," praising both her writing for being "pleasingly familiar, with a gentle touch of surprise" and her deftness in working homages and references to classic Fantasy works into her worldbuilding. In August 2024, the Utah State Board of Education released its first list of banned books which all public and charter schools in the state were required to dispose of under a new law, House Bill 29. Of the thirteen books on the list, six were written by Maas.

Influences and style

Maas attributed her love of reading and writing fantasy to

Garth Nix Garth Richard Nix (born 19 July 1963) is an Australian writer who specialises in children's and young adult fantasy novels, notably the ''The Old Kingdom, Old Kingdom'', ''The Seventh Tower, Seventh Tower'' and ''The Keys to the Kingdom, Keys t ...

's novel ''

Sabriel ''Sabriel'' is a fantasy novel by Garth Nix, first published in 1995. It is the first in his Old Kingdom (book series), Old Kingdom series, followed by ''Lirael'', ''Abhorsen'', ''Clariel'', ''Old Kingdom (book series)#Goldenhand, Goldenhand,'' ...

'' and Robin McKinley's '' The Hero and the Crown''. She has also named movie scores,

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

, ''

Buffy the Vampire Slayer ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' is an American supernatural fiction, supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. The concept is based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film), 1992 film, also written by Whedon, a ...

'', and ''

Sailor Moon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's Shōjo manga, ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Nakayoshi'' from 1991 to 1997; the 60 individual chapters (later reorganized into ...

'' as influences. In 2020, Maas said, "The sense of discovery is why I love writing so much. It's a total thrill for me." Her books are known for their themes of romance and sexuality, and Maas noted that she was surprised ''

'' had been classified as

young adult In medicine and the social sciences, a young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence, sometimes with some overlap. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages ...

Personal life

Maas met Josh Wasserman at Hamilton College in Kirkland, New York. At the time, she was a freshman and he was a resident assistant in her dorm building. They got married on May 30, 2010. Maas and Wasserman have two children, a son born in 2018 and a daughter born in 2022. The family have a home in

Bibliography

''Throne of Glass'' series

* ''The Assassin's Blade'' (2014) * ''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)

Companion books

* ''Throne of Glass Coloring Book'' (2016) * ''The World of Throne of Glass'' (TBC)

''A Court of Thorns and Roses'' series

* ''A Court of Thorns and Roses'' (2015) * ''A Court of Mist and Fury'' (2016) * ''A Court of Wings and Ruin'' (2017) * ''A Court of Silver Flames'' (2021)

Novella

* ''A Court of Frost and Starlight'' (2018)

Companion books

* ''A Court of Thorns and Roses Coloring Book'' (2017)

''Crescent City'' series

* ''House of Earth and Blood'' (2020) * ''House of Sky and Breath'' (2022) * ''House of Flame and Shadow'' (2024)

Non-series

* '' Catwoman: Soulstealer'' (2018)

Awards and nominations

Year-end lists

Decade-end lists

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maas, Sarah J. 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American women writers 1986 births American fantasy writers American women novelists American young adult novelists Hamilton College (New York) alumni Living people American women writers of young adult literature American women science fiction and fantasy writers Jewish American novelists Novelists from New York City