All 7 Throne of Glass books, ranked from worst to best

The Throne of Glass book series by Sarah J. Maas is one of the best and most popular fantasy book series of the last two decades. There are seven books in the series, not counting the novellas written by Maas, that tell the story of Celaena Sardothien, a young woman and the most skilled assassin in Adarlan, who is destined for something far greater than the life she knows. To celebrate these great books, let's rank all seven of the Throne of Glass books from worst to best.

Before we dive in, I need to mention that none of the Throne of Glass books are bad. I enjoyed all seven, and I’ll definitely be reading the book series again in the future. It’s that good! Still, some of the books are just better than the rest.

Here’s the list of Throne of Glass books in order of publication:

• 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)

Let’s get the rankings started with the second book of the Throne of Glass series, Crown of Midnight:

7. Crown of Midnight 

Published: Aug. 27, 2013

Crown of Midnight is the second of the Throne of Glass books. While it is the weakest, in my opinion, Crown of Midnight is not a bad story. It’s pivotal to the overall series, and it has some great moments.

In Crown of Midnight, Celaena begins her work as an assassin for the King of Adarlan. The whole time, Celaena is more interested in saving those who the King wishes to kill while she learns more about what’s going on in the Glass Palace, and with the rebels who are searching for Aelin Galathynius, the rightful heir to Terrsasen’s throne.

Crown of Midnight is important to Celaena’s journey and teaches her to embrace her past and future. Without the events of this part of the story, including the storylines with Nehemia, Archer Flynn, the monsters, portals, and Calaena’s Fae heritage, we don't have a series.

At the end of the story, Chaol helps Celaena leave Rifthold, which launches this story into the stratosphere.

Best Moment: Crown of Midnight is full of important moments, as I mentioned. Many are rather devastating. The moment that stands out to me most is when Celaena opens the portal in the castle, kills Archer, and then ventures through the portal to kill the monster that just took Fleetfoot back through the portal. The venture reveals Celaena’s Fae form. The other great moment is at the end of the book when Celaena reveals what we’ve all been thinking: she is Aelin Galathynius. 

Up next is Tower of Dawn!

6. Tower of Dawn 

Published: Sept. 5, 2017

Tower of Dawn is the sixth and second-to-last book in the Throne of Glass series. After the cliffhanger ending in Empire of Storms, Tower of Dawn is definitely a change of pace for the series. It’s the only book that doesn’t feature Celaena Sardothien/Aelin Galathynius much at all. Instead, it follows Chaol and Nesryn to Antica after the battle at the Glass Palace that left the King of Adarlan dead. Chaol is paralyzed from the waist down, and Nesryn escorts him to Antica, her home, on the Southern Continent, where Chaol asks the healers of the Torre Cesme, the best healers in the world, to heal his wound, if it’s possible. Chaol and Nesryn also try to convince the Khagan to send his armies to Adarlan and Terrasen to help defeat Erawan and the Valg.

It’s interesting because this was actually going to be a novella, but Maas loved it so much that it became the sixth book in the series. It’s definitely a change of pace for the series, which largely focused on Aelin’s journey. It’s so important, though. Chaol and Nesryn are such great characters, and they are able to carry this part of the story. Obviously, it’s impactful to the story because of the information Chaol and Nesryn learn, along with convincing the Khagan to send his armies to the north. Most importantly, though, this is the book that introduce one of the most important characters in the quest to defeat Erawn: Yrene Towers, the healer. Yrene is truly one of the best characters in this story. Her journey is so crucial, and meeting her provides a great way for the novels to explore the other parts of this world.

Best Moment: Again, there are a lot of big moments in this book. Overall, the best moment is probably when Yrene has enough of the Valg trapped in Chaol’s spine and finally rids him of the demon, which allows Chaol to walk again. One could also argue that Nesryn and Sartaq learning that Maeve is not Fae but Valg from the spiders was also a huge moment that shaped the course of the final book.

5. Throne of Glass 

Published: Aug. 2, 2012

Throne of Glass is the first book of the Throne of Glass series, and I tried so hard to rank this book higher on the list. The four books ahead of it are just really, really good. Throne of Glass is great, and it’s an incredible introduction to this huge, rich world.

In this book, Prince Dorian and Chaol save notorious assassin Celaena Sardothien from the mines of Endovier. Celaena is brought to the Glass Palace in Rifthold to compete in a tournament against other champions. If Celaena wins, she will become a servant of the King of Adarlan, carrying out missions and, gulp, executions in the King’s name. At Rifthold, Celaena learns more about Adarlan’s history, the King, and more mysterious and evil beings lurking at the Glass Palace.

Looking back, it’s wild how different Throne of Glass feels from the rest of the series. With every passing chapter, the seeds are planted for this story to grow and grow. It’s such a unique entry to the story of the Lost Princess, the Queen of Terrasen, and this lore.

Best Moment: There are so many good moments in Throne of Glass. I think the final challenge is the best part: Celaena vs. Cain. We see Nehemia, effectively, save Celaena’s life, after Kaltain poisons Celaena. 

4. Heir of Fire 

Published: Sept. 2, 2014

Heir of Fire is the third book in the Throne of Glass series, and it’s a good one! For the first two books, the groundwork is laid for Celaena to accept who she really is. It’s not until Heir of Fire that Celaena truly believes and accepts her role in the world as Aelin Galathynius, the heir to the throne of Terrasen.

In Heir of Fire, Celaena is ordered by the King of Adarlan to travel to assassinate their King and help take control of the territory. Instead, Celaena finds her way to Mistward and later Doranelle under the tutelage of Rowan Whitethorn, a servant of Maeve, the Queen of the Fae. There, Celaena dives into and embraces her past, reclaims her true name, and begins to explore the depth of her power as the firebringer. Aelin also falls in love with Rowan, who turns out to be her true mate. She also helps Rowan and the Fae hold off Valg princes who are kidnapping and killing Fae in the region.

Heir of Fire continues to sow the seeds of rebellion against the King of Adarlan. Dorian, Chaol, and Aedion begin to work together against the King. The last few chapters of Heir of Fire are truly horrific and spin this story in a whole new direction for Aelin and her comrades back in Adarlan. Oh, and we also get to meet Manon Blackbeak, a witch and one of the best characters in the whole series.

Best Moment: So many great moments to choose from. The end of this book is, again, horrific! Sorcha’s murder, along with Aedion and Dorian’s imprisonment, is a major downer. I have to choose Aelin going toe-to-toe with Maeve over Rowan Whitethorn. After taking down the Valg Princes with help from Rowan’s magic, Maeve tortures Rowan to try to get Aelin to reveal where the Wyrdkeys are. Aelin then threatens to destroy Doranelle if she doesn’t stop hurting Rowan. Eventually, Aelin trades Maeve Athril’s ring for Rowan. It’s such a good moment because it sets the stage for many more conflicts between Maeve and Aelin.

3. Empire of Storms 

Published: Sept. 6, 2016

Empire of Storms is the fifth book in the series. For some, this book is No. 1 or No. 2 in their ranking. I wanted to rank it higher, but I just love what Queen of Shadows and Kingdom of Ash mean to the story a little bit more. It’s basically a coin flip for each of the top 3.

Empire of Storms is so good! After everything happens at the glass castle in Queen of Shadows, Empire of Storms marks Aelin’s first step in assembling her court, finding allies, and building forces to take on Erawan and Morath. Up to this point, we’ve only traveled to a few places with these characters. The story mainly revolves around time spent in Rifthold, Wendlyn, Mistward, the Ferian Gap, and Morath. Empire of Storms introduces readers to the rest of the continent as Aelin’s court travels around building up her forces. Most importantly, though, this is the book that brings the whole story together. Aelin finally has enough information to do what she needs to do to stop Erawan and Maeve.

Unfortunately, the book ends at the worst point in the series with Aelin a captive of Maeve. Then we had to wait two years to find out what happened! It’s a tough pill to swallow. While I don’t think it makes the book any worse, it’s definitely a tricky ending that sets up the events of Tower of Dawn and Kingdom of Ash. Now that all the books are available, I’ve heard of readers reading Empire of Storms and Tower of Dawn at the same time, so they never have to go too long without Aelin. Honestly, I get it!

Best Moment: For me, Aelin using Dorian and Rowan’s power to slaughter 500 ilken is such a powerful image. It shows truly what Aelin capable of, and that’s not even the half of it, as we know. I also really enjoyed the battle with the Valg ships and Lysandra as a sea dragon, which leads Captain Rolfe and the Mycenians to Aelin’s side. What's also an incredible moment, especially considering what it means for Lysandra’s power and her relationship with Aedion.

2. Queen of Shadows

Published: Sept. 1, 2015

Queen of Shadows is the fourth book of the Throne of Glass series, and it’s one of the most important. It’s also one of the most entertaining because, for the first time, we get to see Aelin’s magic in full force, and I’m not talking about the fire. Throughout Queen of Shadows, Aelin proves over and over again that she’s playing chess while nearly everyone else is playing checkers. She’s always thinking 10 moves ahead.

In Queen of Shadows, Aelin returns to Rifthold to kill the King of Adarlan and save the country before moving on to Terrasen, her home. While she left as Celaena Sardothien, she is returning as Aelin Galathynius, who is Queen of Terrasen by right. Throughout the book, Aelin must confront her past, honestly, to move forward. She teams with Chaol’s group of rebels to learn more about Dorian, the King, and the Valg.

While Aelin learns more about what’s required of her in Queen of Shadows, the book spins this story in a new direction. It shifts the focus from Aelin vs. the King of Adarlan to the larger war to come: Aelin, Terrasen and allies vs. Erawan. Let the games begin! 

Best Moment: Okay, so two moments stand out to me. First, Dorian and Aelin teaming up to break Dorian from his collar, destroy the castle, and kill the King is huge. They also learn that Erawan is actually Duke Perrington after the King reveals that they found a Wyrdkey long ago, which was then used in Morath to unlock Erawan. The other moment is in the final pages when Aelin returns to Terrasen after all those years away.

1. Kingdom of Ash

Published: Oct. 23, 2018

It’s so hard to stick the landing with a book series like Throne of Glass. There are so many characters and so many loose ends. Somehow, Maas figured out a way to work them all together and end the series the perfect way in Kingdom of Ash. The seventh and final book of the Throne of Glass series easily sticks the landing and rewards readers with an incredible ending.

Kingdom of Ash begins with Aelin held captive and tortured by Maeve, who we learn is not Fae but a Valg Queen. Rowan, Elide, Lorcan, and Gavriel team up to find and rescue Aelin, while Aedion, Lysandra, and the forces of Terrasen try to hold off Erawan’s forces from Morath in time for Chaol, Nesryn, and Yrene to lead the Khagan’s army northward to free Adarlan and Terresan. Elsewhere, Dorian flies with Manon and tries to find the third Wyrdkey.

So, there’s a lot going on, more than in any other book in the series. There is so much pain and destruction in Kingdom of Ash, but there are even more moments of triumph, courage and bravery in the face of impossible odds. There are so many twists and turns in this book. At nearly 1,000 pages, which is nearly 200 pages longer than any other book in the series, Maas keeps readers on edge throughout.

I loved how easily Maas makes it to check-in with our favorite characters, seamlessly bouncing back and forth all over the continent. The book is paced incredibly well. It’s not all action the whole time, either, which is a trap many authors fall into when putting together epic war and battle sequences.

I know I love a book when I’m getting closer to the end but I want to read more slowly to savor every word and every moment with these characters. That’s exactly what happened in Kingdom of Ash. 

Best Moment: This one is an all-timer! After Aelin arrives with reinforcements at Orynth and swings the tide of the battle, Maeve and Erawan appear with an even bigger and stronger force. With nowhere to run and time running out, Aelin remains on the field, flaming Goldryn in hand, and challenges Erawan and Maeve. It’s an epic moment for an incredible character.

And those are our rankings of the Throne of Glass book series. Which book was your favorite?

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