UPDATE 09-12-17: Tower of dawn is one of the MOST read NEW ADULT READ THIS WEEK , MAAS HAD ALSO ONE OF THE MOST READ BOOKS IN THE EROTICA GENRE LAST WEEK 

I took screenshots, because those lists change every week. THRONE OF GLASS ISN'T A YOUNG ADULT SERIES even though they toned down the erotic scenes for this book. Young adult hasn't ever been a sexless genre contrary to popular belief, but Maas books are NEW ADULT and her content is erotic, not just graphic, it's erotic. 



UPDATE 09-15-17
Please check my friend Emer's review. I agree with her review
in so many accounts
Emer's A court of wing and ruin review

ORIGINAL RANT

NOT A SINGLE SERIES WRITTEN BY SARAH J. MAAS IS REALLY A YOUNG ADULT SERIES. All are new adult/adult and, in the case of A Court of Mist and Fury, erotica/erotic romance

Don't let some booktubers, Kirkus reviews, common sense media or some goodreads users tell you otherwise. They might have their own reasons to lie about this issue but trust only the reviews where the reviewers are willing to mention that this book isn't young adult or that mention the sexual content.

I repeat

NONE OF SARAH J. MAAS SERIES IS YOUNG ADULT. Perhaps book 1 and 2 of the throne of glass series have some young adult elements, but the rest of the book in the series is new adult. 

One more time I'll say this just because I still get reports of 12-13 YO kids reading A Court of Mist and Fury and also several libraries and bookstore have shelved Maas books in the YA section.

THRONE OF GLASS IS A NEW ADULT SERIES EXCEPT FOR THE FIRST TWO BOOKS, the rest is heavy on adult content. If any BOOKTUBER, Book blogger or Goodreads user (PLUS COMMON SENSE MEDIA AND KIRKUS REVIEWS) tells you otherwise it's because they are lying through their teeth. Don't trust them. Do your own research. You can start by reading pages 21, 22, 530, 531, 532, 533 of the harcover american version of A Court of Mist and Fury


Be careful if you're planning on giving any of Maas series as a book gift to an underage reader. It will make you look like a pervert because it's like giving Fifty shades of Gray. No I'm not exagerating. Several HONESTgoodreads users have mentioned Sarah J. Maas sexual scenes in their book reviews. Of course those reviews aren't visible as honest reviewers are rarely popular.

If sexual content doesn't bother you or you are of age then I think you are okay reading both series. I think A court of thorns and roses is the best one of the two. 

If you don't feel comfortable reading sexual content, or you aren't of age yet to read sexual content avoid the Throne of glass series and the A court of thorns and roses series.

If any teacher or librarian is reading my review, please be aware that trusted websites like Goodreads, Common sense media and Kirkus reviews have covered up the information regarding the sexual content and genre of Maas books.Maybe by mistake. But don't let them fool you. 

A COURT OF MIST AND FURY (book 2 of ACOTAR) A COURT OF WINGS AND RUIN (book 3 of ACOTAR) EMPIRE OF STORMS (book 5 of Throne of glass) and TOWER OF DAWN (book 6 of Throne of glass) AREN'T SUITABLE FOR UNDER 18 READERS 

All Sarah J. Maas series are new adult, meaning that they portray certain themes of the young adult genre but their characters are older and the violence and the sex are more in tune with adult reads. Most libraries and bookstores don't have a new adult section so Maas books should go to the adult section even though they are new adult. 

More on what New adult is HERE (Notice that SJM books are among the most read of the new adult genre)



New Adult fiction bridges the gap between Young Adult and Adult genres. It typically features protagonists between the ages of 18 and 30.

The genre tends to focus on issues prevalent in the young adult genre as well as focusing on issues experienced by individuals between the area of childhood and adulthood, such as leaving home for university and getting a job.

New adult is typically considered a subcategory of adult literature rather than young adult literature. Some popular new adult titles include The Magicians by Lev Grossman, A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire and Fangirl by Rainbow Rowel

Bloomsburry Children, the publishing company, has added some warnings in some editions in some countries. Those warning aren't present in all the editions of Maas books so be careful. If possible, Spread the voice, because pornographic content is often used by child abusers to lure their victims. Please don't let these books stand in the children section of your local bookstore.

ADDITIONAL NOTE: Some GR librarians will tell you that content and age of a book won't matter for a book to be considered as long as a young adult imprint is behind the publication of said book. 

Don't believe them. Fifty shades of grey and in this case Fifty shades of fae won't ever be young adult books even if there's a "children" imprint behind it. Besides Children and young adult are different genres so the deceiving name of the publishing company doesn't count if they are going to publish erotic content.

Also please don't comment in my review telling me "I'm x years old and I'm not disturbed by erotic content" or "I'm a parent and I let my kids read fifty shades of grey". Good for you but even if what you said was true, everyone is different. Some kids can handle adult content others can't, some 9-13 YO will keep buying books in the YA section of the bookstores and libraries because parents have the wrong impression (maybe because there are so many YA books turned movie) that YA is a sexless genre safe for 9-14 YO to read. Which in the case of Sarah J Maas and other New adult authors isn't the case.





I took those screenshots from this list:
https://www.goodreads.com/genres/most...

UPDATE 09-19-17
Thanks to Belle for sharing this picture, but how come an EROTIC/NEW ADULT series is a CHILDREN'S best seller? 


People please don't get decieved. Honest reviewers, please do your research and post a HONEST REVIEW that mentions the erotic content of the series (not this particular book) so parents, librarians, teachers and readers can make informed decisions about this series. Stop covering up for the publishing company.

04-22-2018
I understand Goodreads censoring my review to hide it from the main page as it seems they are playing into Bloomsburry agenda. But why hide it from my friends? I think it's responsibility of parents and readers to research what the content of a book is before buying/reading.  That's not a responsability of authors or publishers. But how are we the readers supposed to do that when Goodreads, Common sense media and some booktubers are so bent into hiding the information? Please Goodreads employees and editors, don't make it difficult for us the readers to find the appropiate information. Your DECISIONS should be considering ALL goodreads members's best interests in mind, not just a few authors and publishers interests in mind.

Overall, this book is made up of four short stories. Each focuses on a young Australian woman and the various states of their love lives.

I didn't feel any emotional pull to any of the women, nor the men in their lives. I did get annoyed at the rather underhanded and insulting behaviour of some of the parents in the story though, especially Michaela's parents.

Underlying each story I felt a sense that each of these women behaved as if the men in their lives were defining them, like they couldn't function appropriately without someone telling them what to do. This 'person' was generally male too, be it boyfriend, husband, father or boss.

The book needs another pass over by an editor, there were a number of small typos and errors.

Comments for each story are below, along with the things I noticed in each.

Michaela Betrayed
I liked the musical elements to this story, but little else. Michaela came across as a little fickle and a little whiney.

8% - ...increased by (delete by, insert my) sense of comfort...
11% - and as (wrong font) arranged we left...
26% - ...since I'd be(en) held, kissed, or loved.
34% - Bye (delete e) the way...

The String of Life
This was my second least favourite story. The ending was so abrupt it felt like the ending was tacked on as a 30 second after-thought.

37% - "So, what are (you) doing...
46% - Chapter 10 text is centre aligned and smaller than the whole page.
Wtf? That was so abrupt!

Amelia's call
This was my least favourite story. I really disliked how Amelia came across as needing a man.

There were too many adverbs and unnecessary words, which was throughout the book, but worse in this story.

56% - ...become an (delete an) "an item"
58% - Suddenly I become acute(ly) aware...
69% (but all throughout too) - too many adverbs!

Grr, why can't the women be happy without a man?

Lauren Played
I wanted to slap the naive out of Lauren. In her defence she was young, but it was still annoying. I didn't like either Rob or David and also wanted to slap Zoe.

89% - I (delete I, insert A) guy like that wants to respect...
96% - As he (delete he, insert his) smile became rueful...

A Town called Dust: The Territory 1, is a long-winded, Dystopian-esque, Young Adult, zombie adventure story that is accessible to just about any audience.

Let me unpack that sentence for you.

Young Adult: The protagonist, Squid is a young boy (aged 15-16) and the other primary character is Lynnette who also happens to be the same age. One thing that doesn't happen (that seems to happen in a lot of YA/Dystopian stories these days) is a love triangle. Or really, romance of any sort. This was refreshing.

Dystopian: Squid is being raised by his Uncle and Aunt on a dirt farm (yes you read that right) in the red, barren Australian outback in the general area of Alice Springs/Central Australia (I am assuming this based on some of the names in the story). Except, this version of Australia is overrun with ghouls (dried out strobe-moving creatures that thirst to ingest your bodily fluids) and it is jointly run by a parliament of sorts, and the Church (but not our church). These institutions run the world with an iron fist and the consequences of breaking their rules are quite harsh. This of course is a perfect setting for a dystopian story.

Zombie: As I breifly mentioned above, the ghouls are, for all intents and purposes, zombies. Their mannerisms are not all that different from your usual type of zombie. But there is one real difference. Instead of eating brains, these ghouls thirst for liquid because of their perpetual dryness. Their skin flakes off as they move about in the big red outback.

Adventure: Well of course, Squid and Lynnette end up having an adventure. That's pretty much agiven.

Long-winded: Probably the only real negative point for this book is the length of time it takes to see some real action. A great deal of the book is spent in one of two locations. Dust, where Squid's Uncle's dirt farm is, or the walled city of Alice, the major 'town' that Lynnette lives in. There isn't a lot of movement other than that.

The world building was great. The reader is given plenty of opportunity to get to know the ghouls, the protagonist and main characters, Dust, the city of Alice, the Church, the Ambassador who heads the parliament... pretty much everyone. This is where we could probably do with a little bit of a cull. Some of this comes across as being a bit stuck in the minutiae and really could be left to the readers imagination.

I knocked one star off for that.

The second star was dropped off because the villans aren't really villans. What I mean here, is that they aren't dark enough. This could be because of the Young Adult genre, but I've read far more 'evil/bad/crazy' villans in other YA work. The villan/s fell a bit flat for me in A Town Called Dust.

Overall, I think the book is accessible to all readers, with parental guidance recommended for younger readers because of the violence that crops up from time to time.

**Note: I was provided an electronic copy of this book in return for an honest review**

I read 6% of this book, tried to force myself to see past the issues with the writing, but alas, I couldn't. There were too many, sometimes several issues to a single page.

The issues ranged from incorrect word choices (as per my quote for this book). That word doesn't mean what you think it means... Try 'thrashing', thrashing bodies sounds better than thriving bodies, especially when one is dying.

Other issues included too many attributions outside of 'said'. Things like: Yuri snapped, Sal wailed, and Winston screamed.

Probably one of the worst instances of rambling I've ever read, this story tells you something, then follows up with the same thing, just to make sure you got it.

Examples include:

Getting the raider into his line of sight, Winston sprinted the distance towards him and struck at full speed, tackling him hard into the dirt. Their bodies slammed with a thud, but Winston leapt to his feet first before the raider could recover.

Also, superfluous words much?!

Despite his words and the resolve with which he spoke them, in his mind, he knew Sal would be dead soon, probably within a matter of minutes.

Why not just say: he knew Sal would be dead in a matter of minutes?

Things also ranged into WTF territory a couple of times with rather bizarre things happening. Like when Winston shoots a guy square in the chest, but it's described as 'leaving a small, searing flesh wound' which to me makes me think that either Jacob and I have differing opinions of what a flesh wound is, or Winston is a really crappy shot!

I had a look at the other reviews, majority seem to rate this as non-original and a bit boring. From what I've read, I'd have to agree.

*Note: I was provided an electronic copy of this book in return for an honest review.**