If your teen is currently obsessed with the Throne of Glass series, this is the book where the training wheels come off and the stakes go through the roof. It’s the pivot point where Sarah J. Maas stops writing for the standard "Young Adult" section and starts leaning into the "New Adult" space. The 4.8 Amazon rating isn't just hype—the storytelling is legitimately massive—but the content shift is jarring if you aren't expecting it.
The "New Adult" Bait-and-Switch
Most parents think of this series as a story about a teen assassin. By book five, that’s ancient history. Aelin Galathynius is now a queen-in-waiting dealing with global warfare, political betrayal, and very adult relationships. The series has a "boiling frog" effect: it starts out relatively tame in book one, but by the time you hit Empire of Storms, the romance has moved from longing looks to explicit, "open-door" scenes.
If you’re trying to figure out if your kid is ready for the jump in maturity, check out Empire of Storms: When Sarah J. Maas Stops Playing Nice. It breaks down exactly how the tone shifts from the earlier, more innocent installments.
The Tandem Read Headache
You might notice your teen carrying around two massive books at once or sticking sticky notes between pages. There is a popular fan-driven "tandem read" where readers flip back and forth between this book and the next one, Tower of Dawn, because they happen at the same time chronologically.
It’s a commitment. We’re talking about over a thousand pages of dense fantasy. If your teen is doing the tandem read, they are deep in the fandom. Our guide to Tower of Dawn: The 'Tandem Read' Trend and the Sarah J. Maas Spice Level explains why they’re doing it and whether the content stays as intense in the parallel story.
The Emotional Fallout
This isn't a book kids finish and then calmly go to dinner. The ending is a brutal cliffhanger that has been known to cause actual tears and immediate "I need the next book" emergencies.
The violence here is also more visceral than in the earlier books. We're moving away from quick duels and into the reality of war—torture, loss of limbs, and the heavy psychological toll of leadership. If your kid liked the high-stakes tension of The Hunger Games but is looking for something with more complex world-building and a lot more romance, this is their "Empire Strikes Back" moment. Just be prepared for the moodiness that follows that final chapter.
