The Best Sarah J Maas Books Ranked 2026

Last updated on 7 January 2026

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I remember reading my very first Sarah J Maas book. I was late to the party by two years (which was pretty good – not to drastic!), and I finally got my hands on Throne of Glass and devoured it. Since then, I’ve finished that series, and finally finished ACOTAR, and am excited to dive into the Crescent City series. While it takes me a while to read them, I love Maas’ books. I thought it would be fun to look at the best Sarah J Maas books ranked by you, the bookish people.

I did this for VE Schwab, and we looked at a list in a similar way: I headed to Goodreads* and found the top Sarah J Maas as called by the bibliophiles. Sarah J Maas fans are big fans. They have big feelings, and they are verbal about them. Which we LOVE. And this means that this is probably pretty accurate.

I went to see Sarah J Maas in Auckland in 2019, and while I did get spoilers for Kingdom of Ash (it was shortly after that book was released), it was such an incredible night. It’s always a joy to be able to hear from authors about their journeys, their stories, their worlds and their characters. If you ever get to go to hear either Maas or your favourite author, then I highly recommend it!

I don’t think I was that surprised by the list, but there are probably a few changes that I would make if I were making my own ranked list. And it’s good to point out that these are voted upon, so the older books usually have more votes, simply because they’ve been around for a longer period of time. So just keep them in mind. Let’s get into it!

The Top 10 Best Sarah J Maas Books Ranked

A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1) (2015)
A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #2) (2016)
A Court of Wings and Ruin (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #3) (2017)
Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1) (2012)
A Court of Silver Flames (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #4) (2021)
A Court of Frost and Starlight (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #3.5) (2018)
Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass, #2) (2013)
Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass, #3) (2014)
Queen of Shadows (Throne of Glass, #4) (2015)
Empire of Storms (Throne of Glass #5) (2016)

Let’s check these out, starting with number 10 and working our way up to the best Sarah J Maas book, which is sitting pretty at number 1.

10. Empire of Storms (2016)

The fifth Throne of Glass book starts us off at number 10 on this list. You can check out some thoughts at the end of this post about this position, but Empire of Storms was another great book from Maas. I would probably move it up and kick A Court of Frost and Starlight off the list as it’s a novella, but I totally understand why it’s in the top 10 best Sarah J Maas books.

8. Queen of Shadows (Throne of Glass, #4) (2015)

Queen of Shadows is the fourth book in the Throne of Glass series, but it is the first ToG book which I gave less than 5 stars to. But at the same time, it did give me one of my favourite book quotes: “Let’s go rattle the stars.” I understand why it’s here in the top 10 but also not higher than it is.

8. Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass, #3) (2014)

For some unknown reason to me, Heir of Fire is the only book in the Throne of Glass series that I didn’t write a book review for. This is annoying for times like these, but I seem to recall enjoying this one, too. And we’re introduced to Manon Blackbeak in this one, who is one of my favourite characters later on in the series, though I remember hating her in this one. Great character development! We’re also introduced to Rowan in this book.

7. Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass, #2) (2013)

From memory, Crown of Midnight was just as enjoyable as Throne of Glass (more on that below). We begin to learn more about who Celaena is in this book and can start to see where she might be headed. Some of my favourite characters aren’t in these early books, though, so there is that. Also, the one-liners and quotes in these books are always great. “I worry because I care. Gods help me, I know I shouldn’t, but I do. So I will always tell you to be careful because I will always care what happens.”

6. A Court of Frost and Starlight (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #3.5) (2018)

While this is an accompanying book, and it’s mega short (coming in at around 230 pages, depending on the version). This is a novella that bridges the gap between A Court of Wings and Ruin and later books in the series, according to Goodreads. I’m intrigued at why this is in the top 10 books though, but suspect it’s simply because it’s part of the ACOTAR series.

5. A Court of Silver Flames (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #4) (2021)

This was definitely more spicey that the previous books, but I did enjoy the storyline and the relationships in this book. There are so many fans of the ACOTAR series in general, that it’s not surprising that all the books are in the top 10 best Sarah J Maas books. And compared to some of the others on this list, it’s more recent, too. We’ll look at the first three books in the ACOTAR series soon, as they do come in at numbers 1 – 3.

Side note: Still mad about the change of cover and how it doesn’t match my other ones. 😡

4. Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1) (2012)

Throne of Glass was my first introduction to SJM, despite me reading it several years after it came out. And I absolutely loved it, and I think, looking back and also having the knowledge of the rest of the series, and having read some of her other books, I think it’s still a favourite of mine.

I loved the assassin vibe that we started with in this story, and while Celeana is still very much assassin-strong in future books, we lose some of her along the way. Obviously, we pick up other epic traits and storylines and all that good stuff, but there was something about the first book in the Throne of Glass series that really captivated me.

Also, it’s the shortest. Ha.

3. A Court of Wings and Ruin (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #3) (2017)

And we come to the top 3 best Sarah J Maas books, as ranked by the people of Goodreads. While this wasn’t as good as Mist and Fury (that’s a general consensus, I reckon), I still obviously enjoyed this book.

2. A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #2) (2016)

A Court of Mist and Fury is at number 2 of the best Maas books, and I’m pretty okay with that. It’s in this book that we really get Rhysand. And if you’re familiar with the ACOTAR series, you know this is a big win for us all. In my review of A Court of Mist and Fury, one of the things I point out is that once I started reading this one is that I was hooked into the story super quickly, once again. That’s what I’ve found with Sarah J Maas books – even if I have a bit of break (read: potentially a year’s break ha oops), I’m sucked back into the world as soon as I pick up the next book.

1. A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1) (2015)

Ah yes. A Court of Thorns and Roses is the top Sarah J Maas book and I’m not surprised. This series is popular for a reason: it’s fantastic. The world, the characters, the storyline, the twists and the turns of this series. Brilliant. And the people love it. If you spend any time at all on Booktok or Bookstagram, then even nearly 10 years later, this book still blows up in videos and online. And just writing about it now actually makes me want to reread it.

What would I change about this list of best Sarah J Maas books?

So there we have it! The best Sarah J Maas books ranked by you, the people. Or the royal ‘you’. Whoever is voting on Goodreads for these lists. And for the most part, minus the books that I haven’t read yet, this is pretty accurate to how I would rank these books, I think. Perhaps I would move Throne of Glass into the 3rd position.

It’s interesting how Kingdom of Ash, the final book isn’t on this list. I suspect it’s a timing thing – by 2018 when Kingdom of Ash came out, there were already two if not all three ACOTAR books, and the general consensus from the online bookish world is that the love for ACOTAR is greater than ToG. So perhaps that’s why the later books don’t feature on this list. Unsure, but I’d love to know what you reckon!

The other books that aren’t on this list, and again, I think it’s a timing thing, and because people aren’t using Goodreads as much anymore, is the entire Cresent City series, which people love.

So tell me! What do you think of this list of best Sarah J Maas books, as ranked by Goodreads?

Do you agree with the order? What would you change?

Perhaps you’d add some of her other books in here and subtract others?

*I looked at Sarah J Maas’ author page on Goodreads and sorted the books she’d written by popularity to get this list.