Sarah J. Maas

Sarah Janet Maas is an American fantasy author born on March 5, 1986, in New York City. Raised on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, she was adopted by a Catholic mother and a Jewish father and grew up Jewish. She later studied at Hamilton College, graduating magna cum laude in 2008 with a degree in creative writing and a minor in religious studies.

Maas began the work that became her debut novel, Throne of Glass, when she was sixteen. Then called Queen of Glass, it appeared in chapters on FictionPress.com and became one of the site’s most popular stories before she removed it to pursue publication. Its premise came from a twist on Cinderella: what if Cinderella were not a servant, but an assassin, and what if she went to the ball not to meet the prince, but to kill him?

After sending the novel to agents in 2008, Maas signed with Tamar Rydzinski of The Laura Dail Literary Agency in 2009. Bloomsbury Publishing bought Throne of Glass in March 2010 and later bought more books in the series. The completed series includes seven books and the novella collection The Assassin’s Blade, with Kingdom of Ash released on October 23, 2018. Her second fantasy series, A Court of Thorns and Roses, began with a first book written in 2009 and published in 2015. A loose retelling of “Beauty and the Beast,” the series expanded after its early success, with A Court of Silver Flames published on February 16, 2021.

Maas announced her third adult fantasy series, Crescent City, on May 16, 2018. Its first book, House of Earth and Blood, was released by Bloomsbury on March 3, 2020 and was ranked by Kobo among the top twenty Science Fiction & Fantasy books of that year. The sequel, House of Sky and Breath, came out on February 15, 2022 and won the 2022 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Fantasy. The third book, House of Flame and Shadow, was released on January 30, 2024. As of 2024, Maas has sold more than 75 million copies of her books, and her work has been translated into 40 languages.

Her tastes were shaped by fantasy novels such as Garth Nix’s Sabriel and Robin McKinley’s The Hero and the Crown, as well as movie scores, classical music, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Sailor Moon. In 2020, she said, “The sense of discovery is why I love writing so much. It’s a total thrill for me.” Critics have praised her character development, especially morally gray characters, and her detailed imaginary worlds. Her books have also received criticism from some readers for their handling of racial and LGBTQ+ diversity.

Maas’s work speaks strongly to readers who like romance, danger, magic, and characters making hard choices. Her rise also reflects a modern path for fantasy writers, from online fiction communities to major international readership. In 2021, A Court of Thorns and Roses was optioned for television by Hulu, though as of February 2024 the series was no longer in active development. Whether read for plot, mood, romance, or the pull of discovery, her books continue to find a large audience across languages and countries.