There is a lot of debate over where to read The Assassin Blade in the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas. Not to mention, two of the books literally take place at the same time on different continents (i.e. Empire of Storm and Tower of Dawn) which can be read in tandem. I already did a post on how to complete a tandem read of those two books. So, I thought I would share the various ways the rest of the series can be read. There isn’t a right or wrong way to go about reading this series, and some prefer reading it in a certain order. I am not one of those people, but I also skip over the first and second books whenever I re-read the series or segments of the series. Not that I didn’t like them, but from the third book on the series is completely different.
Purist Order
This is the chronological order of the books as far as the timeline in the series goes:
- The Assassin’s Blade
- Throne of Glass
- Crown of Midnight
- Heir of Fire
- Queen of Shadows
- Empire of Storms
- Tower of Dawn
- Kingdom of Ash
Because The Assassin’s Blade is a prequel to the series, it provides context for Celaena’s mental state at the start of the series. While Celeana does not act on what happened to her at this time, we know she is working toward her freedom so that she can in the future.
You may not get a strong impression of the characters or the story right away, but it is the timeline in which everything takes place.
This is the order I read the series in. I know I did not get fully into the story at this point from reading in this order, but it is still the order I go with (granted I skip the first two).
Romantic Order
This is the reading order if you want the most impactful emotional connection to the characters and story:
- Throne of Glass
- Crown of Midnight
- Heir of Fire
- The Assassin’s Blade
- Queen of Shadows
- Empire of Storms
- Tower of Dawn
- Kingdom of Ash
The concepts of The Assassin’s Blade don’t really come to play until Queen of Shadows, while they are in the background they aren’t really mentioned until this point. It serves as the motivation and gives reasons for Celaena’s priorities when she returns as Aelin. Not to mention characters that she reaches out to for assistance later on.
Also, this is the publication order. So, it makes sense why it has more of an impact when read in this order. Even more when doing the tandem read of Empire of Storms and Tower of Dawn.
What order did you read these books in?
Love ya,
Mae Polzine
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