Sarah J. Maas

Sarah Janet Maas (born March 5, 1986), better known as Sarah J. Maas, is the #1 New York Times and internationally bestselling author of the Throne of Glass and A Court of Thorns and Roses series, as well as her adult series Crescent City.

Her books have sold more than eight million copies and are published in thirty-six languages. A New York native, Sarah currently lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, son and dog.^[1]

Life & Career[]

Early Life[]

TBA

Throne of Glass[]

“	Celaena is as much an epic hero as Frodo or Jon Snow!	”
– Tamora Pierce, New York Times bestselling author

Sarah J. Maas began writing the Throne of Glass series, then a trilogy called Queen of Glass, when she was only sixteen on a website called FictionPress.com. Over the six years it took for her to write the trilogy, Queen of Glass became one of the most popular stories on the site, and in Fall 2008, she took the story offline to try to publish it through traditional means.^[2]

A Court of Thorns and Roses[]

“	A gorgeously written tale as lush and romantic as it is ferocious. Absolutely spellbinding.	”
– Alexandra Bracken, New York Times bestselling author

Sarah had the idea for the A Court of Thorns and Roses series in the spring of 2009 while she waited for her literary agent, Tamar Rydzinski, to return from her maternity leave. Because they had decided not to send out Throne of Glass to publishers, Maas began to write the first two books in the ACOTAR series. She revealed, "This was a story where, within a matter of days, I heard Feyre's voice, and I saw so many scenes play out in my head."^[3]

She got the idea for the series after listening to the song "The Demon God" from the Princess Mononoke soundtrack. Sarah also sought inspiration in the fairy tale The Beauty and the Beast, in the Norwegian tale East of the Sun, West of the Moon and in the legend of Tam Lin. Maas declared, “It actually wound up going away from those things; it started off as a retelling of the more original fairy tales, but then moved away. Like Throne of Glass has done.” ^[4]

Sarah wrote A Court of Thorns and Roses in a month and immediately jumped into writing the second book, which became A Court of Mist and Fury. When her agent returned from maternity leave, Maas put the project back on the shelf. They sent Throne of Glass out to publishers, and it sold to Bloomsbury in 2010. Around the time Crown of Midnight was coming out, Sarah realized that the pace of publishing one book a year seemed a little slow for her. So, she sold the ACOTAR series to Bloomsbury in 2014.

The first book stayed more or less the same, but when it was time to work on the sequel, Sarah decided to rewrite it from scratch. She said, "It wound up having some parts that were similar to my first draft, but all these new characters appeared. I was lucky because the years that A Court of Thorns and Roses set on my shelf let me figure out what I really wanted to do with this series."

In November 2015, the entertainment site Deadline announced that the first book in the series would be turned into a movie by Tempo Productions.^[5] In 2018, Deadline revealed that Tempo Productions would work alongside Constantin Film to adapt the series to the big screen.^[6]

DC Icons[]

“	An epic shoutout to all the bad girls who know how to have fun.	”
– Kirkus Reviews

In March 2016, Random House announced a partnership with DC Entertainment to create a series of four books, called "DC Icons," about the most famous characters in the DC universe.^[7] Sarah J. Maas was chosen to write about Catwoman and her novel, entitled "Catwoman: Soulstealer," was published in August 2018. The book received a starred review from Kirkus^[8] and hit the New York Times bestseller list.^[9]

Crescent City[]

“	House of Earth and Blood is a gamechanger! A must read. Sarah J. Maas has set the new standard with this book	”
– #1 NYT bestselling author J. R. Ward

In May 2018, Entertainment Weekly revealed details about Crescent City, Maas’ first foray into adult fiction.^[10] The story is set in a city full of demons, vampires, shapeshifters, and angels, where humans struggle to survive and half-human, half-Fae Bryce Quinlan joins forces with Hunt Athalar, a powerful warrior-angel, to avenge the death of her best friend. Sarah was on a plane, during the Heir of Fire book tour back in 2014, when she got the idea for Crescent City. Maas was listening to “Shenzhou,” written by the British film composer Steven Price for the movie Gravity when she saw a scene play out in her head. She said, “What I was seeing hit me so strongly, I was so overwhelmed that I began sobbing on the plane. I listened to this piece of music over and over again on this two-hour flight because I was having such a strong reaction to these new characters.”^[11]