Sarah J. Maas | |
|---|---|
| Born | Sarah Janet Maas March 5, 1986 New York City, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Hamilton College |
| Occupation | Author |
| Notable work |
|
| Spouse |
Josh Wasserman (m. 2010) |
| Children | 2[1][2] |
| Website | sarahjmaas |
Sarah Janet Maas (born March 5, 1986) is an American fantasy author known for her fantasy series Throne of Glass, A Court of Thorns and Roses,[3] and Crescent City. As of 2022, she has sold over twelve million copies of her books and her work has been translated into 37 languages.[4]
Maas was born on March 5, 1986, in New York City.[5][6] She grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Born to a Catholic mother and Jewish father, she was raised Jewish.[7] As a child, she enjoyed creating stories based on popular tales or myths. She also used to write Sailor Moon fanfiction in her youth.[8]
In 2008, Maas graduated magna cum laude from Hamilton College in Clinton, Oneida County, New York, where she majored in creative writing and minored in religious studies.[9]
Maas married her husband Josh Wasserman in 2010.[10][11][12] Together they have two children, a son named Taran (b. 2018) and a daughter named Sloane (b. 2022).[13][14][15]
Maas began writing what would become her debut novel, Throne of Glass, when she was sixteen years old.[9][16] After writing several chapters of the novel, then titled Queen of Glass, Maas posted them on FictionPress.com, where it was one of the most popular stories on the site. It was later removed from the site when Maas decided to publish the novel.[16] The story line of the series is based on the story of Cinderella, with the premise of "What if Cinderella was not a servant, but an assassin? And what if she didn't attend the ball to meet the prince, but to kill him, instead?"[16][17] In 2008, Maas started sending the story to agents before signing with Tamar Rydzinski of The Laura Dial Literary Agency in 2009.[16] Throne of Glass was purchased in March 2010 by Bloomsbury, who later purchased two additional books in the series.[18] The series is available in 15 countries and 35 languages.[9][19] While four prequel novellas set two years before the first novel were also published, these were later condensed into one book, The Assassin's Blade plus an original novella.[20] The second book of the series, Crown of Midnight was a New York Times young adult best-seller.[5][21] The final book in the series, Kingdom of Ash, was released on October 23, 2018; the finished series comprised seven books plus the novella collection.[12][19]
A Court of Thorns and Roses, Maas' second fantasy series, is a loose retelling of the traditional Beauty and the Beast.[22][23] The first book of the trilogy was written in 2009, but was not published until 2015. Due to the success and popularity of the original series, it was extended and a spin-off series was announced which would feature stories of other popular characters. The fifth book in the series and the first of the spin-offs, A Court of Silver Flames, was published on February 16, 2021.[24]
On May 16, 2018, Maas announced her third fantasy series which is also her first adult fantasy series, Crescent City. The first book, titled House of Earth and Blood, was released by Bloomsbury on March 3, 2020.[25][26] It was ranked one of the top twenty Science Fiction & Fantasy books of 2020 on Kobo.[27] The sequel, House of Sky and Breath, was released on February 15, 2022 and won the Best Fantasy award for Goodreads Choice Awards in 2022.[28] [29] The third installation of the series, House of Flame and Shadow, was released on January 30th 2024.
She was ranked the fifth most popular author between 2016 and 2021 on Goodreads.[30]
The A Court of Thorns and Roses series was announced to be adapted into a television series for Hulu in 2021.[31] In an interview with The New York Times, Maas confirmed that she was developing the project with the writers and the showrunner as executive producer.[32]
In February 2023, the St. Johns (Florida) County School District removed three of her books and quarantined another. [33]
In May 2023, an article in The Verge reported that the cover of the UK edition of House of Earth and Blood uses an AI-generated image.[34]
In an interview with Writers & Artists, Maas told them that movie scores and classical music are her inspiration as a writer.[35] She continued on to say that Sabriel written by Garth Nix and The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley began her love for reading fantasy and writing it.[35] Her character development has been lauded as one of her best qualities for storytelling, with morally grey characters and strong world building.[36]
Maas has mentioned that, "The sense of discovery is why I love writing so much. It’s a total thrill for me."[14] Her books are known for heavy romantic themes, and Maas herself has said that her fantasy series A Court of Thorns and Roses "does skew older", sitting somewhere between young adult and adult genres.[37]
