The Throne of Glass Reading Order Debate: Publication vs. Chronological

Few series spark a reading-order argument quite like Sarah J. Maas's Throne of Glass — and for good reason. The main novels run Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight, Heir of Fire, Queen of Shadows, Empire of Storms, Tower of Dawn, and Kingdom of Ash — and the prequel collection The Assassin's Blade was published in between, right after Crown of Midnight.

Here's where it gets contentious. The Assassin's Blade is a prequel, so some readers insist on starting there. We don't. The novellas hit much harder once you know and love Celaena from the main books — read cold, they spoil her backstory and land with less weight. Start with Throne of Glass and Crown of Midnight, then read The Assassin's Blade where it was published, just before Heir of Fire. By then you care about Celaena, and its revelations pay off across Heir of Fire and Queen of Shadows.

The other famous wrinkle is Tower of Dawn, which runs parallel in time to Empire of Storms but follows a different character. Maas published them so that you ideally read Empire of Storms, then Tower of Dawn, then Kingdom of Ash — but a popular fan method interleaves the two parallel books chapter by chapter (the so-called "Bowes order"). First-timers are usually happier reading them straight, one then the other.

So where do you land — Assassin's Blade first or later? And did you read Tower of Dawn on its own or interleave it? This is the hill a lot of readers are willing to argue on, so make your case below.