Every so often, a fantasy series comes along that changes the course of literary history. In the ‘50s, it was The Lord of the Rings. The ‘90s, meanwhile, belonged to J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire—a.k.a. the basis for the HBO smash Game of Thrones. And in recent years, a new collection of books based on all things mystical and magical was crowned king of the culture mountaintop: Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses, or what fans have dubbed ACOTAR.
Despite the first book in the series originally releasing in 2015, the romantasy series centered on faeries, ghoulish creatures, and otherworldly realms experienced a major revival in recent years after earning its stripes as a #BookTok favorite. 10s of millions of copies sold and more than 14 billion TikTok views later, Maas is still exploring the faerie-based world of Prythian, with a sixth (and seventh!) book currently in the works.
