“When women come into their power, taking away their magic doesn’t take away their strength, it doesn’t define [them] and losing that, doesn’t make you any less of a hero, any less strong,” says Sarah J Maas, author of the ‘Court of Thorn and Roses’ series in discussion with Alex Cooper, host of Call Her Daddy podcast.
Maas has become a household name with the series and others, shooting her into a new stratosphere, earning her swathes of award nominations and seeing her works published in more than 40 languages.
She has once more grabbed headlines this week, on World Book Day, speaking about her two new books due to launch this autumn through raw emotion, tears, laughter, deep thoughts, and powerful feelings.
For some readers, the big draw is the central role female characters play in the stories.We spoke to readers in Cheltenham on Friday about the new release dates.
“I’ve read more of this style of books in the past 5-6 years as there is so much going on in the world,” explained Katie Leach, 44. “For me, reading is somewhere I can switch off and escape from that and read something that’s going to make me feel happy”.
The books draw in a wide range of genders and age groups, many of whom not only appreciate a strong female lead but are now part of a significant shift in digital consumption patterns. Readers are turning away from the trend of social media and short-form content to lengthier, value-driven formats, with new appreciation for complex ideas and intelligence.
“[Romantasy is] bringing in a whole generation of people who haven’t picked up reading in a long time and are so over short form content”, said Lauren Row, 26. “It’s such a lovely feeling of community, and so nice to get [young adults] back into reading”.
“Young adults are experimenting with the romantasy genre,” remarked Jess Coo, 22. Many feel the new generation of book fanatics want something easy to read when they get home, titles that aren’t too heavy and they can recommend to each other.
People often describe the series as anxy, romance and compelling.
It is rare for mainstream, blockbuster authors to release multiple books in such a short timeframe; many theories occurred about why Sarah may have done this but as Tamlin says in Book 1, “Don’t feel bad for one moment about doing what brings you joy”.
The next two drops of the Court of Thorn and Roses series will be on October 27th, 2026, for Book 6 and January 12th, 2027, for Book 7 parts 1 and 2 respectively.
