Book · 2012
Throne of Glass
by Sarah J. Maas
A teenage assassin is pulled out of a slave mine to fight strangers for the title of King's Champion, freedom as the prize.
What does Reddit think of Throne of Glass?
What traffic exists argues about one thing: whether the series is the smut people assume. The correction shows up twice in the top quotes (↑479, ↑97) — it started as YA, not the ACOTAR-style romance it gets mistaken for. Sarah J. Maas began writing it at 16, and one commenter (↑125) calls out plot holes and a timeline that's 'bananas' in the same breath as saying they loved it enough to cry. Reception genuinely splits rather than settling into a tier. One reader calls it 'one of the worst things I've ever read' (↑91); another says reading it caused 'physical pain' (↑108), without making clear which way that cuts. r/Fantasy also treats it as a case study in male authors getting more benefit of the doubt than female ones (↑151).
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · YA roots versus a smut reputation
- · the author's age at 16 showing in early books
- · reception that splits rather than tiers
- · gateway series for readers new to fantasy
- · gender double standard in how it's judged
Common praise
- + One reader admits the plot holes and a 'bananas' timeline and still says they cried over the series (↑125).
- + Commenters keep correcting the record that it started as YA, not ACOTAR-style romance (↑479, ↑97).
- + It gets cited on r/Fantasy as proof that female authors get judged harsher than male ones for the same tropes (↑151).
Common criticism
- − One reader calls it 'one of the worst things I've ever read' despite its popularity (↑91).
- − 'Physical pain while reading it' (↑108) reads like a real complaint about the early books' quality, not just a joke.
Who it's for
Come in expecting YA pacing in book one that matures fast, and the plot holes people mention (↑125) won't surprise you. If your last fantasy read was Tolkien or Terry Goodkind, r/Fantasy suggests you're the reader it clicked hardest with (↑76). The smut reputation is mostly wrong, but nobody should pretend the opening book isn't rough around the edges.
Mentions over time
Top subreddits
Which Reddit comments matter for Throne of Glass?
Top-upvoted quotes across the subreddits where this book is mentioned. Click through to read the full thread.
“Throne of Glass isn’t the book series people equate to smut and nothing more, as Throne of Glass was originally marketed as YA. The one that’s very smut heavy is the ACOTAR series.
“As a woman I've found this sub better than a lot of places on Reddit in terms of sexism, but that's a very low bar. However, I do notice that male authors often get taken a lot more seriously than female authors and some guys will just outright reject book series by female authors by claiming they'r…
“Maybe unpopular opinion but Throne of Glass. The writing has a lot of problems- author was 16 when she started the series and it starts as a YA and gets much more mature as you go. There are insane plot holes, the timeline is bananas… but…. I LOVED this series so much. Not sure I have ever cried ove…
“Throne of Glass 😭 I had physical pain while reading it.
“The misconceptions and outright lies about Throne of Glass drive me crazy. There was a post a while back where someone was saying it was “just a smutty chic flick romance series” and I tried to explain (although I need to learn to not engage blatant misogynists in conversation) that the entire 8 boo…
“It seems Throne of Glass is very popular. I thought it was one of the worst things I've ever read. More recently I read The Lost Metal and didn't like it when everyone around me seems to love it.
““People who don’t have an extensive list of other fantasy work to compare it to,” is such an important concept that many people need to consider in relation to whatever early/gateway works they hold dear. If I’d read a lot of Terry Goodkind, Terry Brooks, or Tad Williams, etc. before I picked up W…
“You just read throne of glass didn’t you
Convinced? Pick up Throne of Glass
What else does r/suggestmeabook read?
Other books mentioned in the same sub, ranked. Shared-sub overlap with this title breaks ties.
Project Hail Mary
Andy Weir
A high-school teacher wakes up alone on a spaceship with no memory of how he got there and one job left: save Earth.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
J. K. Rowling
A neglected eleven-year-old discovers he belongs to a hidden magical world, enters Hogwarts, and learns that wonder carries history and danger with it.
All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries)
Martha Wells
A security robot hacks its own governor module, gains free will, and spends its days streaming soap operas instead of killing anyone.
Mistborn: The Final Empire
Brandon Sanderson
A street thief gets recruited into a heist crew plotting to overthrow a god-emperor who has ruled unchallenged for a thousand years.
Circe
Madeline Miller
An exiled witch on a deserted island turns men into pigs and spends three thousand years deciding what she actually wants.
The Count of Monte Cristo
Alexandre Dumas
A framed sailor rots in an island prison for fourteen years, escapes with a fortune, and spends the rest of the book collecting on every debt of vengeance.
Throne of Glass — frequently asked
Is Throne of Glass actually a smut series?+
No, per the top-voted correction (↑479): it was originally marketed as YA, and the smut reputation belongs more accurately to ACOTAR. A second comment (↑97) calls the 'smutty chick flick' label an outright lie that persists anyway.
Why do people say Throne of Glass has plot holes?+
Because Sarah J. r/Fantasy treats the early roughness as a known trade-off, not a dealbreaker.
Is Throne of Glass worth reading if you're new to fantasy?+
r/Fantasy suggests yes, with a caveat (↑76): readers without an 'extensive list of other fantasy work to compare it to' tend to enjoy it more, since well-read genre veterans notice the seams sooner. It's positioned as a gateway book, not a genre high-water mark.
Does Reddit think Throne of Glass is good or bad?+
Both, honestly, and not quietly. One comment calls it 'one of the worst things I've ever read' (↑91) while another describes 'physical pain while reading it' (↑108) in a way that could cut either direction. 434 total mentions is modest, but the split is real, not manufactured.