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Throne of Glass Optioned for Television


I guess Throne of Glass won't become a movie after all.

No, much better, it'll become a TV series! Well, it's been optioned for television by the Mark Gordon Company (the same company behind Grey's Anatomy!!!!), which means it's still in the early stages and hasn't been signed as a TV series yet. So keep your fingers crossed and hope they sign off on the deal (and get some casting news too)!

Sarah tweeted the news hours ago saying:

ToG Fans have been positive thus far on Twitter. Showing their support for the news in true fan-fashion:




Others are even getting straight into the casting business, airing both concerns and predictions:




You can read the original article here.

What do you think? Would it have been better as a movie? Do y'all have any casting suggestions? Sound off in the comments!

Queen of Shadows Tour Stops

Quick side note #1: If you didn't already know, Sarah officially joined Instagram!


follow her now at @therealsjmaas

Quick side note #2: Look-y!! The actual of  hardbound QoS!!!!


Carrying on...


It's that time of year, America! Sarah J. Maas will be touring, once again, to sign books. This time around, however, she'll be signing those brand new reddish-ombre-pink Queen of Shadows books! 

Take note of her tour stops and see if she'll be coming close to your area! If you do go, make sure to take lots of photos and tag us on twitter and/or instagram to make us super jealous be featured on the site (with your permission, of course)! 

Have fun, Assassins!

Sarah J. Maas joined Instagram


Our queen, aka Sarah J. Maas, officially joined Instagram today after many fruitless attempts to report an account impersonating her.

Go follow her now at @therealsjmaas!!!

[United Kingdom + more] ACOTAR Tour Stops


Once again, Sarah comes back the United Kingdom (you lucky brits!!!); but unlike the Heir of Fire tour, this one's for her new and upcoming series A Court of Thorns and Roses (commonly referred to as ACOTAR), Here are the tour dates (which you guys must take note of!) for her UK tour:

(click on photo for better view)


But that's not all! Oh, no no no, it doesn't end there.

Sarah also announced that she's headed to Australia and New Zealand for her ACOTAR tour (!!!!!!), don't believe me? watch her announcement below!


There'll be more details to come about her US tour (yes, there will be one) and her upcoming Queen of Shadows tour, so stay tuned and subscribe to our newsletter to get the first scoop on everything Throne of Glass (and Sarah J. Maas!!!).

If any of you guys get the chance to attend her book signings, don't forget to tag us in your photos (and make us super jelly) or tweet us while waiting to get your books signed and get a chance to be featured on the site (with your permission of course)!


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Queen of Shadows cover reveal

You've probably already seen it around the web, but if you haven't THE QUEEN OF SHADOWS (Throne of Glass #4) COVER IS HERE, IT'S HERE, IT'S HERE:

US cover

 

UK cover


It's final, I have a new favourite cover. 

Sarah discusses a few details on the cover and what they mean on her livejournal blog. We've enumerated them below! (Beware!! Some Heir of Fire spoilers ahead!)

Does the sword have any significance?

Yes, and no. The sword on the cover doesn’t actually appear on the book. Just like how Aelin doesn’t have silver hair and gray skin (lol), the sword, along with the outfit, is an artistic interpretation. We considered using exact renderings of one of the two swords Aelin wields in Queen of Shadows (Goldryn and Damaris), but upon studying the comp images I dug up (and comparing them to some others I had on my Pinterest page), neither had that Murder Princess vibe that we were going for. So—yes: Aelin wields a badass sword in the book—it just doesn’t look like that one on the cover. (Which is totally fine by me, because LOOK AT THAT SWORDDDD!)

Does Aelin wear that armor/outfit in the book?

Sort of. Like the sword, this is an interpretation of what she wears. If you’ve read The Assassin’s Blade, you might remember Aelin/Celaena receiving a pretty badass/nifty/useful suit from Arobynn. And that suit may or may not make an appearance in QOS. ;)

Did she get a haircut? 

Yep. At the end of HOF (spoiler alert! Avert your eyes!), Aelin’s hair gets cut short during her battle with the Valg princes. So much of this cover is just a gorgeous/fierce interpretation of the book, but the hair length is the only thing that’s 100% accurate!

Is that Manon's cloak?

Haha, no. Smart guess, but no. We tried a few different cloak colors, but none of them really fit that gorgeous, bloody background as well as the maroon. (What I find eternally funny is that—aside from the gray skin—the Celaena/Aelin depicted on these covers is kinda how I picture Manon: silver hair, red cloak, otherworldly fierceness.)

When will we see the dress on the book?

Soon, hopefully! I haven’t even seen it yet, so I’m just as eager as you are! Aelin’s "big" dress in QOS is perhaps my favorite of all of them so far, and I’m dying to see how the illustrator interprets it!

You keep calling her Aelin, does that mean…….?

Yep. The last line of HOF solidified the switch from Celaena to Aelin. You guys might have noticed that when I pin images on the TOG Pinterest board, I’ll still label some images with Celaena and some with Aelin—and that usually is because those images will represent the various parts of her history and who she is. And looking at the QOS cover, I feel like that shift in her character is subtly reflected, too.
Sarah just loves teasing us, doesn't she? Sarah [angrily shakes fist] stop teasing us!

What do you guys think about the cover and these extra juicy details? Has it become your new favourite too?

Throne of Glass 4 has a name!

Aaaaand we can finally stop calling the fourth book Throne of Glass 4 and start calling it: 


Note: you can already pre-order Queen of Shadows on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, Books-A-Million, and Book Depository

Here's Sarah's explanation of the name:

Honestly, I wish I had some super-cool or epic explanation for how we came up with the title, but... it came to me as I was drafting the novel & then just...stuck. Like, to the point where I couldn't imagine calling it anything else. So Queen of Shadows it was! 
It's difficult to explain the full meaning of the title without spoiling the book, BUT let's just say that it (naturally) applies Aelin (AKA the assassin formerly known as Celaena) as she at last returns to Rifthold (capital city of Adarlan) to confront her past & fight for her future. Vengeance, violence, attitude problems & big egos, hot dudes, pretty clothes... You know, the usual.
AND the title also applies several other characters in the book. Like Manon, who is now down in Morath, which is a preeetty shady (har har har) place. Annnnd mentioning any of the other lovely ladies who show up feels kinda spoiler-y, but if you follow my TOG Pinterest board, you probs have a good idea of who might show up in this book (old faces, new ones...more pretty clothes & mayhem).
Right now, I'm in the middle of doing line edits for the book, and already counting down the days/months until you guys can finally read it (it will be on September 1st--worldwide)! I had such a blast writing this book (and miiiiight have cried 1000000 tears, but...I think that might be normal when working on this series), and it honestly might be my favorite yet, especially since so many of the moments in this book were ones I've been dying to write for YEARS!
It sounds awesome! But then again, what doesn't sound awesome when it comes to Sarah J. Maas? It'll be a blast reading this book (hopefully not too painful)! And I have this very strong feeling that the cover will be pink and I'm going to love it.

What are you guys looking forward to the most in Queen of Shadows?

Which To Read First: Assassin's Blade or Throne of Glass

The ever prominent question of which to read first has invaded forums all over the interwebs, leaving readers either satisfied or more confused than ever. Today, we hope to answer that question - adequately - so that you can finally get on with reading the series.

(photo source: aedionashryver from instagram)

What is Assassin's Blade? Is it the first book? 

Assassin's Blade is a book of five novellas that transpired before Throne of Glass.
It is NOT the first book, but it did happen before the first book.

Should I even read Assassin's Blade? Can I ditch it altogether?

Reading or not reading Assassin's Blade will not hinder you from understanding the series.

But my recommendation, for whatever it's worth, is that you should read it. I personally enjoyed Assassin's Blade tremendously more than Throne of Glass. It'll also help you get an in-depth view of what Celaena went through and who she was before her time in Endovier.

Besides, you'll get to know SAM sexy fcuking ass CORTLAND.

So Throne of Glass is the first book? Not Assassin's Blade?

Yes.

But if I were to list the books chronologically, it would go like this.
  • Assassin's Blade (Throne of Glass #0.5)
  • Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass #1)
  • Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass #2)
  • Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass #3)
  • Throne of Glass #4 
  • Throne of Glass #5
  • Throne of Glass #6
So should I read Throne of Glass first?

Now this is where it gets tricky. If you're the kind of person who doesn't like spoilers, at all, then I'd recommend you read Assassin's Blade first. If you don't mind them that much then go on ahead and read Throne of Glass. But see, Assassin's Blade isn't all that exciting, around three-fourths of the book is about Celaena gallivanting around the desert and the best parts come around the last leg of the book (cough Sam Cortland cough). So if you're the kind of person who risks ditching a book in the middle of it then I'd highly recommend you read Throne of Glass BEFORE Assassin's Blade.

Bottom line 

It doesn't matter which way you read it, as long as you read both.

But be warned that Throne of Glass hints a few spoilers about Assassin's Blade. Also be warned that Assassin's Blade can be very, very, very painful. Here's a survival guide.

Chapters 1-4 Revealed: A Court of Thorns and Roses

Last December, Teen Vogue shared with us the first chapter (scroll down to read it) of A Court of Thorns and Roses - Sarah's new book which comes out May 2015. But now you can read the first four - yes FOUR - chapters!


Click on the button you'd like to download the eSampler from below.
 

Don't forget to let us know what you thought of the chapters!

Chapter 1 of A Court of Thorns and Roses

The forest had become a labyrinth of snow and ice.
I'd been monitoring the parameters of the thicket for an hour, and my vantage point in the crook of a tree branch had turned useless. The gusting wind blew thick flurries to sweep away my tracks, but buried along with them any signs of potential quarry.
Hunger had brought me farther from home than I usually risked, but winter was the hard time. The animals had pulled in, going deeper into the woods than I could follow, leaving me to pick off stragglers one by one, praying they'd last until spring. They hadn't.
I wiped my numb fingers over my eyes, brushing away the flakes clinging to my lashes. Here there were no telltale trees stripped of bark to mark the deer's passing—they hadn't yet moved on. They would remain until the bark ran out, then travel north past the wolves' territory and perhaps into the faerie lands of Prythian—where no mortals would dare go, not unless they had a death wish.
A shudder skittered down my spine at the thought, and I shoved it away, focusing on my surroundings, on the task ahead. That was all I could do, all I'd been able to do for years: focus on surviving the week, the day, the hour ahead. And now, with the snow, I'd be lucky to spot anything—especially from my position up in the tree, scarcely able to see fifteen feet ahead. Stifling a groan as my stiff limbs protested at the movement, I unstrung my bow before easing off the tree.
The icy snow crunched under my fraying boots, and I ground my teeth. Low visibility, unnecessary noise—I was well on my way to yet another fruitless hunt.
Only a few hours of daylight remained. If I didn't leave soon, I'd have to navigate my way home in the dark, and the warnings of the town hunters still rang fresh in my mind: giant wolves were on the prowl, and in numbers. Not to mention whispers of strange folk spotted in the area, tall and eerie and deadly.
Anything but faeries, the hunters had beseeched our long-forgotten gods—and I had secretly prayed alongside them. In the eight years we'd been living in our village, two days' journey from the immortal border of Prythian, we'd been spared an attack—though traveling peddlers sometimes brought stories of distant border towns left in splinters and bones and ashes. These accounts, once rare enough to be dismissed by the village elders as hearsay, had in recent months become commonplace whisperings on every market day.
I had risked much in coming so far into the forest, but we'd finished our last loaf of bread yesterday, and the remainder of our dried meat the day before. Still, I would have rather spent another night with a hungry belly than found myself satisfying the appetite of a wolf. Or a faerie.
Not that there was much of me to feast on. I'd turned gangly by this time of the year, and could count a good number of my ribs. Moving as nimbly and quietly as I could between the trees, I pushed a hand against my hollow and aching stomach. I knew the expression that would be on my two elder sisters' faces when I returned to our cottage empty-handed yet again.
After a few minutes of careful searching, I crouched in a cluster of snow-heavy brambles. Through the thorns, I had a half-decent view of a clearing and the small brook flowing through it. A few holes in the ice suggested it was still frequently used. Hopefully something would come by. Hopefully.
I sighed through my nose, digging the tip of my bow into the ground, and leaned my forehead against the crude curve of wood. We wouldn't last another week without food. And too many families had already started begging for me to hope for handouts from the wealthier townsfolk. I'd witnessed firsthand exactly how far their charity went.
I eased into a more comfortable position and calmed my breathing, straining to listen to the forest over the wind. The snow fell and fell, dancing and curling like sparkling spindrifts, the white fresh and clean against the brown and gray of the world. And despite myself, despite my numb limbs, I quieted that relentless, vicious part of my mind to take in the snow-veiled woods.
Once it had been second nature to savor the contrast of new grass against dark, tilled soil, or an amethyst brooch nestled in folds of emerald silk; once I'd dreamed and breathed and thought in color and light and shape. Sometimes I would even indulge in envisioning a day when my sisters were married and it was only me and Father, with enough food to go around, enough money to buy some paint, and enough time to put those colors and shapes down on paper or canvas or the cottage walls.
Not likely to happen anytime soon—perhaps ever. So I was left with moments like this, admiring the glint of pale winter light on snow. I couldn't remember the last time I'd done it—bothered to notice anything lovely or interesting.
Stolen hours in a decrepit barn with Isaac Hale didn't count; those times were hungry and empty and sometimes cruel, but never lovely.
The howling wind calmed into a soft sighing. The snow fell lazily now, in big, fat clumps that gathered along every nook and bump of the trees. Mesmerizing—the lethal, gentle beauty of the snow. I'd soon have to return to the muddy, frozen roads of the village, to the cramped heat of our cottage. Some small, fragmented part of me recoiled at the thought.
Bushes rustled across the clearing. Drawing my bow was a matter of instinct. I peered through the thorns, and my breath caught.
Less than thirty paces away stood a small doe, not yet too scrawny from winter, but desperate enough to wrench bark from a tree in the clearing.
A deer like that could feed my family for a week or more.
My mouth watered. Quiet as the wind hissing through dead leaves, I took aim.
She continued tearing off strips of bark, chewing slowly, utterly unaware that her death waited yards away.
I could dry half the meat, and we could immediately eat the rest—stews, pies...Her skin could be sold, or perhaps turned into clothing for one of us. I needed new boots, but Elain needed a new cloak, and Nesta was prone to crave anything someone else possessed.
My fingers trembled. So much food—such salvation. I took a steadying breath, double-checking my aim.
But there was a pair of golden eyes shining from the brush adjacent to mine. The forest went silent. The wind died. Even the snow paused.
We mortals no longer kept gods to worship, but if I had known their lost names, I would have prayed to them. All of them. Concealed in the thicket, the wolf inched closer, its gaze set on the oblivious doe.
He was enormous—the size of a pony—and though I'd been warned about their presence, my mouth turned bone-dry.
But worse than his size was his unnatural stealth: even as he inched closer in the brush, he remained unheard, unspotted by the doe. No animal that massive could be so quiet. But if he was no ordinary animal, if he was of Prythian origin, if he was somehow a faerie, then being eaten was the least of my concerns.
If he was a faerie, I should already be running.
Yet maybe...maybe it would be a favor to the world, to my village, to myself, to kill him while I remained undetected. Putting an arrow through his eye would be no burden.
But despite his size, he looked like a wolf, moved like a wolf. Animal, I reassured myself. Just an animal. I didn't let myself consider the alternative—not when I needed my head clear, my breathing steady.
I had a hunting knife and three arrows. The first two were ordinary arrows—simple and efficient, and likely no more than bee stings to a wolf that size. But the third arrow, the longest and heaviest one, I'd bought from a traveling peddler during a summer when we'd had enough coppers for extra luxuries. An arrow carved from mountain ash, armed with an iron head.
From songs sung to us as lullabies over our cradles, we all knew from infancy that faeries hated iron. But it was the ash wood that made their immortal, healing magic falter long enough for a human to make a killing blow. Or so legend and rumor claimed. The only proof we had of the ash's effectiveness was its sheer rarity. I'd seen drawings of the trees, but never one with my own eyes—not after the High Fae had burned them all long ago. So few remained, most of them small and sickly and hidden by the nobility within high-walled groves. I'd spent weeks after my purchase debating whether that overpriced bit of wood had been a waste of money, or a fake, and for three years, the ash arrow had sat unused in my quiver.
Now I drew it, keeping my movements minimal, efficient—anything to avoid that monstrous wolf looking in my direction. The arrow was long and heavy enough to inflict damage—possibly kill him, if I aimed right.
My chest became so tight it ached. And in that moment, I realized my life boiled down to one question: Was the wolf alone?
I gripped my bow and drew the string farther back. I was a decent shot, but I'd never faced a wolf. I'd thought it made me lucky—even blessed. But now...I didn't know where to hit or how fast they moved. I couldn't afford to miss. Not when I had only one ash arrow.
And if it was indeed a faerie's heart pounding under that fur, then good riddance. Good riddance, after all their kind had done to us. I wouldn't risk this one later creeping into our village to slaughter and maim and torment. Let him die here and now. I'd be glad to end him.
The wolf crept closer, and a twig snapped beneath one of his paws—each bigger than my hand. The doe went rigid. She glanced to either side, ears straining toward the gray sky. With the wolf's downwind position, she couldn't see or smell him.
His head lowered, and his massive silver body—so perfectly blended into the snow and shadows—sank onto its haunches. The doe was still staring in the wrong direction.
I glanced from the doe to the wolf and back again. At least he was alone—at least I'd been spared that much. But if the wolf scared the doe off, I was left with nothing but a starving, oversize wolf—possibly a faerie—looking for the next-best meal. And if he killed her, destroying precious amounts of hide and fat...
If I judged wrongly, my life wasn't the only one that would be lost. But my life had been reduced to nothing but risks these past eight years that I'd been hunting in the woods, and I'd picked correctly most of the time. Most of the time.
The wolf shot from the brush in a flash of gray and white and black, his yellow fangs gleaming. He was even more gargantuan in the open, a marvel of muscle and speed and brute strength. The doe didn't stand a chance.
I fired the ash arrow before he destroyed much else of her.
The arrow found its mark in his side, and I could have sworn the ground itself shuddered. He barked in pain, releasing the doe's neck as his blood sprayed on the snow—so ruby bright.
He whirled toward me, those yellow eyes wide, hackles raised. His low growl reverberated in the empty pit of my stomach as I surged to my feet, snow churning around me, another arrow drawn.
But the wolf merely looked at me, his maw stained with blood, my ash arrow protruding so vulgarly from his side. The snow began falling again. He looked, and with a sort of awareness and surprise that made me fire the second arrow. Just in case—just in case that intelligence was of the immortal, wicked sort.
He didn't try to dodge the arrow as it went clean through his wide yellow eye.
He collapsed to the ground.
Color and darkness whirled, eddying in my vision, mixing with the snow.
His legs were twitching as a low whine sliced through the wind.
Impossible—he should be dead, not dying. The arrow was through his eye almost to the goose fletching.
But wolf or faerie, it didn't matter. Not with that ash arrow buried in his side. He'd be dead soon enough. Still, my hands shook as I brushed off snow and edged closer, still keeping a good distance. Blood gushed from the wounds I'd given him, staining the snow crimson.
He pawed at the ground, his breathing already slowing. Was he in much pain, or was his whimper just his attempt to shove death away? I wasn't sure I wanted to know.
The snow swirled around us. I stared at him until that coat of charcoal and obsidian and ivory ceased rising and falling. Wolf—definitely just a wolf, despite his size.
The tightness in my chest eased, and I loosed a sigh, my breath clouding in front of me. At least the ash arrow had proved itself to be lethal, regardless of who or what it took down.
A rapid examination of the doe told me I could carry only one animal—and even that would be a struggle. But it was a shame to leave the wolf.
Though it wasted precious minutes—minutes during which any predator could smell the fresh blood—I skinned him and cleaned my arrows as best I could. If anything, it warmed my hands. I wrapped the bloody side of his pelt around the doe's death-wound before I hoisted her across my shoulders. It was several miles back to our cottage, and I didn't need a trail of blood leading every animal with fangs and claws straight to me.
Grunting against the weight, I grasped the legs of the deer and spared a final glance at the steaming carcass of the wolf. His remaining golden eye now stared at the snow—heavy sky, and for a moment, I wished I had it in me to feel remorse for the dead thing.
But this was the forest, and it was winter. 

ACOTAR eSAMPLER (CHAPTERS 1-4)

 

If you're having trouble downloading the eSampler, feel free to comment below and we'll try to help you in any way we can. A Court of Thorns and Roses eSampler is available in .epub .mobi and other formats that coincide with those reading applications. 

A Playlist To Match


If you want to spice up (did I really just say 'spice up') your reading experience, you can listen to this spectacular Throne of Glass playlist by soundofpages from 8tracks. It captures the raw emotions felt when reading the Throne of Glass books. 

Or if you don't want to read while listening, you can always listen to it after or before reading. Or just listen to it, period. It's a brilliant playlist on and of itself. If the iframe below doesn't work, click here.

Don't forget to let us know what you thought!

TRACKLIST
-
Prophecy / Adrian von Ziegler 
Chimeras / Tim Hecker
Dorian / Agnes Obel
Red Wolf / Thad Kopec
Let Me Go / HaIM
Yellow Flicker Beat / Lorde
Ritual / Ellie Goulding
Obedear / Purity Ring
12 more songs …