Sarah J. Maas fans disagree about the best way to read the 'Throne of Glass' series. Here's the book order you should follow for a spoiler-free experience.

• The "Throne of Glass" series is one of beloved author Sarah J. Maas' fantasy worlds.
• But it can be confusing to know which order to read the series' eight installments.

Like many fantasy or romance genre fans, I fell in love with Sarah J. Maas' "A Court of Thorns and Roses" series after discovering it on TikTok.

I devoured Maas' books about faeries, and then I quickly turned my attention to her first series, "Throne of Glass," hoping it would give me a similar feeling to the books I'd come to love.

To my delight, "Throne of Glass" was everything I hoped it would be, as it was full of the magic and romance I'd loved in "ACOTAR," plus even more adventure and character depth.

'Throne of Glass' is an 8-book fantasy series about a notorious assassin

In "Throne of Glass," world-renowned assassin Celaena Sardothien has been stuck in a prison camp for over a year, wasting away at just 18 years old in Adarlan, a kingdom where magic disappeared years ago.

She gets a second chance when Prince Dorian offers her a deal: She can win her freedom by competing against 23 other killers to become the royal assassin for his father, the King of Adarlan. Celaena agrees despite her personal feelings toward the king, determined to earn her freedom.

As the competition progresses, contestants start dying mysteriously, and Celaena discovers she may have to confront her past to ensure her future.

I was utterly captivated by "Throne of Glass," and Celaena's world only becomes more exciting in the other seven books in the series.

But while I think the series is worth a read, it can be difficult to know where to start, as there are multiple reading orders for the books.

There's a debate over the proper 'Throne of Glass' reading order

"Throne of Glass" was published by Bloomsbury in August 2012, but Maas had already published four novellas about Celaena online before it was released. The publisher later released the novellas plus one more story as one book, "The Assassin's Blade," in March 2013.

All of the events in "The Assassin's Blade" take place chronologically before those in "Throne of Glass," and its plot is crucial for the second half of the series.

Some fans choose to read the books in chronological order:

• "The Assassin's Blade"
• "Throne of Glass"
• "Crown of Midnight"
• "Heir of Fire"
• "Queen of Shadows"
• "Empire of Storms" and "Tower of Dawn" in tandem
• "Kingdom of Ash"

But I don't think that order offers the best reading experience. Maas intentionally leaves the revelations from "The Assassin's Blade" out of "Throne of Glass," "Crown of Midnight," and "Heir of Fire," so if you read it before the first three novels in the series, you'll be exposed to spoilers you wouldn't be otherwise.

Instead, if you want a captivating, spoiler-free "Throne of Glass" experience, I recommend reading the series as follows:

• "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"

I would have enjoyed the first half of Maas' series no matter what order I read the books in, but the information that is revealed in "The Assasin's Blade" definitely would have made "Throne of Glass," "Crown of Midnight," and "Heir of Fire" less suspenseful if I had read it first.

On her website, Maas lists her preferred reading order for "Throne of Glass," and it's nearly the same as mine, though she puts "The Assassin's Blade" before "Heir of Fire." I think there's slightly more delicious tension in "Heir of Fire" without the history of "The Assassin's Blade," but you can't go wrong either way.

Don't skip 'Tower of Dawn'

"Throne of Glass" fans also have differing opinions on when to read "Empire of Storms" and "Tower of Dawn," the sixth and seventh installments of the series.

"Empire of Storms" was released in 2016 and "Tower of Dawn" came out in 2017, but the events of the novels are actually happening at the same time in different parts of the "Throne of Glass" universe.

Most people read the two books in the order they were released, but "Empire of Storms" ends on a cliffhanger that is not resolved until the last novel in the series, "Kingdom of Ash." I found it somewhat difficult to focus on the events of "Tower of Dawn" because I was so concerned about what would occur in "Kingdom of Ash," even though the plot was riveting.

Some people choose to tandem read the two novels, switching back and forth between them to read the events in "real-time."

And you may see some BookTokers saying they skipped reading "Tower of Dawn" completely because it doesn't center on the protagonist, which I think is a colossal mistake. The events of "Tower of Dawn" are critical to the series' resolution, and you'd be missing vital information if you didn't read it.

However, if you're the type of person who enjoys minor spoilers, I would read "Tower of Dawn" before "Empire of Storms." You will know some snippets of what occurs in "Empire of Storms" before you read it, but you might ease some anxiety by not having to pick up an entire 600-page book between the cliffhanger of "Empire of Storms" and "Kingdom of Ash."

And if you're new to the Sarah J. Maas universe, I'd recommend reading the "A Court of Thorns and Roses" series before you even touch "Throne of Glass." You can read more about why here.