Yesterday, I got the chance to attend a Kingdom of Ash fan event in the beautiful McEwan Hall at the University of Edinburgh. I’ve never been to a fan event quite like this and wasn’t sure what to expect; I certainly didn’t expect to see hundreds of people! Literally hundreds of young fans came from across the UK and even Europe (!) to hear Sarah J Maas talk about the Throne of Glass series and her latest release, Kingdom of Ash.
I travelled up to Edinburgh and received this delightful signed copy of Kingdom of Ash:
The McEwan Hall was packed as Sarah J Mass spoke about both Throne of Glass and A Court of Thorns and Roses series, and the development of both. Did you know SJM wrote Kingdom of Ash in six weeks? Almost a thousand pages in SIX WEEKS?? And that was cut down! The book was so large the glue needed to hold the pages together couldn’t manage it.
Sarah also spoke of her influences whilst writing her books, and I was happy to hear her talk about her experience of meeting Tamora Pierce, an idol we both share. Questions were opened up to the audience, and of course wingspan got mentioned. Some lucky fans also got the chance to meet Sarah in person.
All in all, it was a lovely night with other Throne of Glass fans, though we didn’t speak any Kingdom of Ash spoilers since it was released a couple of weeks ago and only a few in the audience have finished reading it. I HAVE finished it, so please hit me up with your spoilers and thoughts 😉
Attending this fan event opened my eyes to just how many passionate SJM fans there are out there, and how popular young adult fantasy continues to be. Keep on reading what you love!