When she enters through the front door, fans are so busy sipping on themed drinks and prepping for trivia that she goes unnoticed. There are a few stunned gasps. Then the cheering begins. "I feel like this will go down as one of the best nights of my life," she tells me at the next stop, a Barnes & Noble where she will count down to midnight with a bigger crowd. "There's such a positive energy."
So much has led up to this moment: Maas has sold more than 38 million copies of her books. She is a titan of fantasy fiction whose three best-selling series-Throne of Glass, A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR), and Crescent City-are a driving force behind the meteoric rise of romantasy (a portmanteau for "romantic fantasy"). On BookTok, the influential, reader-centric corner of TikTok, the #ACOTAR hashtag boasts over 8.5 billion views, with users touting podcasts and tattoos. Demand for Maas' books has surged in response, with her publisher, Bloomsbury, announcing that sales of her work had increased by 79% in the first half of 2023-a boost compared to the "Harry Potter effect."
"My fans are a force of nature," Maas, 37, had warned me over Zoom, the day before the new book's release. "I wouldn't be where I am today without them."
She's reached a critical juncture-a crossover between two of three fantasy worlds that grounds her 15-plus books within one multiverse. It's an ambitious move, and not without risk-even if her book is a blockbuster, can she continue to top her own success? As the clock inches closer to 12, the palpable excitement makes one thing clear: as long as her readers have a say, Maas is here to stay.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der February 26, 2024-Ausgabe von Time.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der February 26, 2024-Ausgabe von Time.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
Michael Crow The president of Arizona State on handling campus protests, embracing AI, the future of college sports, and partying
Since Oct. 7, protests and conflicts over free speech have erupted on college campuses and beyond. It seems that the job of university president has become one of the more stressful occupations in America. What's your stress level right now?
The most anticipated summer TV shows
The sun is coming out, the days are getting longer, and life somehow just seems that little bit happier. But even as nature beckons us out of doors, the lure of the fluorescent blue-light box remains, especially as a season once associated with reruns and stagnation only seems to get more packed with appointment viewing.
The decades-long build to Eruption
WHEN MICHAEL CRICHTON AND HIS WIFE SHERRI FIRST started dating, all they did was hike. Every weekend there they were, taking in the scenery from the coasts of California to the mountains of Hawaii. The island of Kauai was their favorite place, its rivers carving through volcanic rock and steep, jagged cliffs cutting the sky. The couple would wake before dawn to be first ones out on the trails, and together they'd take in the sunrise.
OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF BABES
A new comedy takes on the unfiltered realities of pregnancy, motherhood, and friendship
MOST INFLUENTIAL COMPANIES 2024
From retail behemoths to AI pioneers, these are the businesses shaping our world
EL LOCO
PRESIDENT JAVIER MILEI'S MISSION TO REMAKE ARGENTINA
The parents who regret having children
NO ONE REGRETS HAVING A CHILD, OR SO IT'S SAID. I'VE heard this often, usually after I'm asked if I have children, then, when I say I don't, if I plan to. I tend to evade the question, as I find that the truth-I have no plans to be a parent is likely to invite swift dissent. I'll be told that I'll change my mind, that I'm wrong, and that while I'll regret not having a child, people don't regret the obverse. Close family, acquaintances, and total strangers have said this for years; I let it slide, knowing that at the very least, the last part is a fiction.
Health Matters
TICK SEASON IS ONCE AGAIN UPON us, and so are fears of Lyme disease. Most people who contract Lyme after a tick bite fully recover after a course of antibiotics-but for roughly 10% of people, for reasons doctors don't fully understand, the medicine doesn't take, leaving them with chronic symptoms including fatigue, brain fog, and neurological issues that can be completely debilitating. Other people with Lyme are never treated at all, which can cause lasting issues without clear knowledge of where they originated.
Japan's ruling party burns through another leader
IT'S NOT EASY BEING JAPAN'S Prime Minister. Though the center-right Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has dominated the country's politics for nearly seven decades, the top job has frequently changed hands. Fumio Kishida is just the third leader in the past quarter-century to last at least two years. Yet once again, change is coming.
DEMONIZING RURAL AMERICA
By the time I was 7 or 8 years old, I was keenly aware of my father's drug use. He didn't snort pills in front of me yet―he saved that for my teen years—but he talked about pills freely, and I knew he took them. And by the time I became an adult, everyone in my nuclear family-and plenty in my extended family-was struggling to cope with the impacts of violence, incarceration, and addiction.
