Latest news with #Maas
Cosmopolitan
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
How to Read the Sarah J. Maas Books in Order
If you spend enough time online—particularly among the algorithmic undergrowth of TikTok, Goodreads, or the more ungovernable corners of Reddit—you've likely seen the name Sarah J. Maas. In an era defined by burnout, disillusionment, and endless scrolling, Maas offers immersive narrative as an antidote. For years, fantasy literature, like much of genre fiction, was siloed into two camps: what men read seriously, and what women read guiltily. Over the past decade, Maas has built a publishing empire by doing something deceptively simple: giving adult readers—especially women—permission to take genre fiction seriously, and to lust over winged creatures. So, what exactly is she writing? And where should a curious reader begin? Let's break it down in a mostly spoiler-free reading guide. A collection of five interconnected novellas that follow 16-year-old Celaena Sardothien, the most notorious teenage assassin in the kingdom of Adarlan. These stories show how she went from elite killer to enslaved prisoner. Key moments include her romance with fellow assassin Sam, betrayals within her guild, and a mission to a desert fortress that foreshadows her moral awakening. Essential context. BUY NOW Celaena is pulled from prison to compete in a brutal contest to become the royal assassin for the tyrannical King of Adarlan. Begins deceptively light but sets the tone. BUY NOW The political intrigue deepens, secrets unravel, and the real magical plotline starts to emerge. BUY NOW Celaena journeys to a new continent and begins training in magic. Massive expansion of the world and key new characters are introduced. BUY NOW Our heroine returns to the original court with a vengeance. She confronts the shadows of her past—literally and emotionally—while assembling a core group of allies to undermine a regime. BUY NOW The story explodes across continents intro full-scale fantasy, including war, alliances, ancient gods, and brutal cliffhangers. Reads like a sweeping epic. BUY NOW A parallel novel to Empire of Storms set in a different location, focusing on Chaol's journey. Crucial for world-building and convergence. This one is a vital piece of the endgame puzzle. BUY NOW The final installment. All storylines converge in an all-out war for the future of the realm. Heavy, emotional, cathartic. BUY NOW Feyre Archeron, a mortal hunter struggling to feed her family, kills a wolf in the woods—who turns out to be a fae (read: fairy) in disguise. As punishment, she's taken to the Spring Court of Prythian by Tamlin, a fae High Lord. There, she discovers a court cursed by dark magic and gradually falls for her captor. The final act shifts into horror and violence as Feyre must complete deadly trials to save Tamlin and the realm. BUY NOW Book two marks a genre shift: trauma recovery, emotional healing, and a different love story. This one is widely regarded as the series' peak. BUY NOW War breaks out across the fae realms in this political and action-heavy installation. Questions of loyalty, leadership, and legacy are central as Feyre becomes not just a survivor, but a commander of fate. BUY NOW A quieter, post-war novella that serves as an emotional coda to the original trilogy and a bridge to future stories. Set during the Winter Solstice, it focuses on healing, rebuilding, and the everyday tensions among Feyre's inner circle. BUY NOW Focuses on Feyre's sister Nesta and the warrior Cassian. The plot follows their physical and emotional growth while a new magical threat rises. It's more mature, grounded, and emotionally intense than the earlier books. BUY NOW Bryce Quinlan, a half-fae party girl, lives in a modern city run by angels, shifters, witches, and bureaucrats. When her closest friend is murdered, Bryce is pulled into an investigation with Hunt Athalar, a disgraced angel enforcer. What begins as a murder mystery becomes a deep dive into grief, guilt, ancient magic, and forbidden love. By the end, Bryce is no longer the woman the city thought she was. BUY NOW The story expands beyond the city to a secret resistance, forbidden magic, and the beginnings of multiverse crossover. The book ends with a twist that links the Crescent City series to the ACOTAR universe—setting up the Maasverse crossover. BUY NOW Picking up immediately after the multiverse cliffhanger, this book explores the consequences of the crossover and the origins of the shared worlds. It's the most meta of Maas's books and bridges her multiple worlds with high stakes and bold narrative experimentation. BUY NOW
The Star
28-05-2025
- General
- The Star
Boomers, Gen Z, Gen X: Do generation labels make any sense
First there were the baby boomers, then Generation (or Gen) X, followed by Y, Z and Alpha. This year, a new cohort has emerged: Gen Beta. This generation, expected to span from 2025 to 2040, is already being discussed by demographers and sociologists, with the term gaining traction in English-language media. But how meaningful are these generational labels and what do they really tell us about the people they define? 'They are more of a popular science category,' says generational researcher Rudiger Maas, author of the book Konflikt der Generationen (Generational Conflict). Sociologist and youth researcher Klaus Hurrelmann says: 'The classifications have become very common in marketing and advertising, but also in science.' Boomers and millennials A new generation emerges on the scene roughly every 15 years: the numerous and self-confident baby boomers – those born after World War II up until 1964, were followed by Gen X, for people born from 1965 to 1979. Gen Y, also known as the millennials, from 1980 to 1994, or sometimes seen as those born until the end of the 1990s, depending on the classification. They were the first generation not to experience the East-West conflict during their formative teenage years, but they did experience the terrorist attacks of Sept 11, 2001 and the financial crisis. Those born between 1995 and 2010 belong to Gen Z, a group often stereotyped as having a poor work ethic. However, it has been reported that Gen Z's approach to work is shaped by their values, priorities and desire for work-life balance. Perceptions of 'laziness' may, in fact, be rooted in generational misunderstandings rather than reality. Participants chant slogans during a climate strike demonstration organised by the international movement Fridays for Future. Photo: EBRAHIM NOROOZI/AP Adhering to generational classifications arbitrary Of course, the classifications are somewhat arbitrary – children born at the beginning of this year are no different than those born at the end of 2024. 'It's more like the zodiac signs,' says Maas. In other words – some people put stock into this – and others not. In addition, phenomena are sometimes associated with a particular age group, even though they are not characteristic of it as a whole. Maas cites the equation of Gen Z with Fridays for Future and sustainability. A study by his Institute for Generation Research showed that only about 15% of young people identified with their so-called generation. Wars and technical innovations shape personalityHowever, it is undisputed that there are generational differences. This can be seen in everyday things: older people ring doorbells instead of sending a WhatsApp message telling a person they are visiting that they are 'downstairs.' And they like to make phone calls often – instead of sending voice messages. 'The core idea of age cohorts is plausible,' says Hurrelmann in an interview with dpa. 'Wars, upheavals, technical innovations leave traces in people's personalities, and this is especially true in adolescence, when people are shaped for their entire lives. Of course, everyone is unique, but there are also many similarities.' Those who went through puberty around 2020 were very strongly influenced by the coronavirus pandemic, for example. Are today's teenagers a 'coronavirus generation? 'Studies show that this has led to considerable uncertainty. You could almost speak of a 'coronavirus generation.'' says Hurrelmann. However, it is important to note that not everyone has had the same experiences. 'It makes a huge difference whether you experienced the coronavirus pandemic in a stable family home, where your parents earned well and were able to switch to working from home, or whether you had parents who had economic problems and were really thrown off course as a result.' 'And these differences are easily obscured by the cliched division into generations,' he adds. Hurrelmann says generational labels such as baby boomers and Gen X, Y and Z have become very common, not only in marketing and advertising, but also in science. — BRITTA PEDERSEN/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa What's expected for Gen Beta 'You can always speak of a new generation when there is a noticeable change in circumstances,' said Maas, the generational researcher and book author. The famous Gen Z – born between about 1995 and 2010 – is, for example, the first generation to have grown up with social media and cyberspace as a matter of course. The consequences of this development can hardly be overestimated. 'Members of Gen Z touch their smartphones about 4,000 to 5,000 times a day and unlock them several hundred times,' says Maas. 'It's fair to say that never before in human history has an object been touched and used so often.' Maas expects that those who have been labelled as Generation Beta will be even more digitalised and, above all, influenced by artificial intelligence (AI). 'The majority of them will work in jobs that don't even exist yet. They will encounter a labour market for which they provide all the experience, and no one to train them, because they are the first.' It's also a world in which it will become increasingly difficult to know which data can be trusted. What is really true, what is AI-generated, and what is not? Maas is convinced that 'AI will not make the reality of life easier and more convenient for today's babies, but much more complex and challenging.' Hurrelmann believes that it is not yet possible to say much about Gen Beta with any certainty – except for one thing: It will in all likelihood be a very small generation, because the birth rate is currently falling. – dpa
San Francisco Chronicle
25-05-2025
- Automotive
- San Francisco Chronicle
This is the most stolen car in San Francisco — and it's not a Honda or Toyota
For the 12th year in a row, Hondas were the most frequently stolen car brand in San Francisco. But over the last two years, another car maker saw one of its models stolen more than any other car in the city. While car thefts in San Francisco are low compared to prior years, new police department data shows that more than 1,200 Hondas were stolen in the city across 2023 and 2024. But the most frequently stolen model in San Francisco was the Hyundai Elantra, which a recent national study found was the vehicle most at risk of being stolen across the country. In San Francisco, out of 1,120 Hyundais stolen, more than 500 of them were Elantras. The second-most frequently stolen car model was the Honda Civic, with 420 thefts from 2023 to 2024. Following that was the Honda Accord, with 339 thefts, and the Hyundai Sonata, with 298 thefts. Honda, Hyundai and Toyota were the top three car brands stolen most from 2023 to 2024, respectively. The number of brands stolen in a particular city often strongly corresponds with the numbers of cars that are popular in that city or state, said Brian Maas, president of the California New Dealers Association, who said he wasn't surprised to see Honda and Toyota in the top three, given how pervasive they are across the state. 'Californians have expressed a longstanding preference for Toyota and Honda vehicles,' he said. 'It makes logical sense. The more you sell, the more opportunities for those vehicles to be stolen.' Hyundais were most recently listed as the 7th largest brand in California, Maas said, well behind Tesla and other brands. But in San Francisco, Hyundais saw a sharp spike in theft in San Francisco from 2022 to 2023, when the number of thefts jumped from about 140 to over 750. By 2024, however, thefts of Hyundais had fallen by a third. Still, the temporary spike of Hyundai thefts aligns with the national study of stolen vehicles, where researchers speculated that the Elantra's 'popularity among thieves' may be because its parts are compatible with other Hyundai models, a boon that makes the models more amenable to black-market resale and chop shops. Across the country, more than 48,445 Hyundai Elantras were stolen in 2023, according to Tinting Laws, a group of window tinting law experts who analyzed data from the Insurance Information Institute. Data from the Highway Loss Data Institute found that Hyundai and Kia thefts rapidly increased in recent years across the country, which the institute partly attributed to videos posted to social media that broadcasted the fact that certain car models lacked a security device that would normally stop a car from turning off without a specific fob or key. Hyundai and Kia agreed to pay upward of $200 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that alleged the companies manufactured vehicles that made the cars easier to steal, the New York Times reported. Recent theft numbers for Kia in San Francisco may reflect what was happening across the nation. Kia thefts jumped in 2021 from 43 to 97 in 2022. By 2023, they had reached 547. In 2024, thefts had plummeted to 207. Hyundai Motor America said it had included free software upgrades, cylinder protectors and reimbursement programs to thwart thefts of certain 'entry-level models' that lacked immobilizers, Reuters reported. The company said 68% of vehicles at risk had received those updates. Tesla — which held 12% market share of vehicles sold in California in 2024 — has not seen significant increases in thefts in San Francisco. Tesla thefts have gone up slightly in the past two years, but not by much. In 2023, there were 33 reported thefts, and those reduced slightly to 20 in 2024, SFPD data shows. Maas said that although Tesla had moved up to the top three in popularity across the state, their market share seems to be declining and their reshare value has been dropping precipitously, which could explain why the cars are not as attractive to thieves. 'Stealing vehicles is a crime of opportunity. … And you're going to have a harder time getting rid of the parts on a Tesla vehicle than you would on some of those other cars,' said Maas. 'Toyotas and Hondas are going to stay on the road for a long time and consequentially, the value of those vehicles as used cars is going to be significantly higher.' Nationwide, car theft numbers are seeing decreases. In 2024, about 850,000 vehicles were reported stolen nationwide, according to data from the National Insurance Crime Bureau. 2024 was the first time since 2021 that thefts did not surpass 1 million. Numbers in San Francisco seem to reflect similar trends. Car thefts decreased by 22% last year, from over 5,100 in 2023 to just under 4,000 in 2024. Harsha Devulapalli contributed to this report.
CBS News
20-05-2025
- Automotive
- CBS News
California's plan to ban new gas-powered cars by 2035 could soon hit dead end
SACRAMENTO — California's plan to ban new gas-powered cars by 2035 could be hitting a dead end by next week. The U.S. Senate is set to take a controversial vote next week on whether or not to lift that ban. It comes as new numbers show EV sales slowing in California. The Wall Street Journal reports GM now wants the mandate lifted as well and is pushing hard for that to happen. Brian Maas is President of the California New Car Dealers Association. As the U.S. Senate seeks to end California's 100% zero-emission new vehicle sales mandate in 2035, Maas is warning of a closer deadline — a 35% mandate for next year's models. He's calling on the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to pause its own mandate. "None of the manufacturers our customers would recognize are going to meet that deadline," Maas said. "And that's a real problem if you have a rule that people can't meet. It's not going to work." California EV sales show a once-growing market share suddenly stagnated at about 20%. That stagnation ties into Tesla's sudden market share slide, falling 12% in the first quarter, blamed on Elon Musk's political fallout. State Senator Henry Stern (D-Los Angeles) sits on CARB and is a supporter of the zero-emission goals. "If it craters and no one is buying them, and you're in 2026 and suddenly the world is upside down, we can re-assess then," Stern said. "But to sit here and pull the plug, it's pulling the lifeline on American auto innovation." To buy electric or not. It is the car-buying question Joe Edwards answered before he even got to the Elk Grove Auto Mall lot Monday. "Trying to get a deal," Edwards said. "I'm going to stick with my gas." Edwards searched for a new vehicle ahead of Memorial Day weekend sales. To him, the EV issue is too few charging stations, which is fueling his desire for a new gas-powered ride. "You've got to map everything out when you go out of town. Make sure you stop at a station somewhere that you can plug it up," Edwards said. "I don't want to do that, I just want to put some gas in it and go."
Mint
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Mint
‘Mezok': A play featuring six actors and a shapeshifting table
Actor-director Jyoti Dogra's penchant for using objects in her productions dates back to 2014 when she worked with a table and chair for a short performance in Japan. 'I started working with it, climbing on it. When you stand on a table, you are a different—a changed—person," she says. In her previous award-winning production, Black Hole, she used a sheet in a big way. But it all began with a wooden stool that broke mid-rehearsal. 'If that hadn't happened, Black Hole would have been a different play." And now, the table returns in her latest play, Mezok, as well. Dogra is best known for her solo work like Notes on Chai, Black Hole, and recently, Maas. But this is the first time that she has traded an actor's role for the director's seat in an ensemble piece featuring six actors and a shapeshifting table. They take you on a journey across mountains and towering malls, through stories of desire and longing, frequently interrupted by bureaucracy and fate. Dogra has little interest in linear stories or narratives or, for that matter, in language in its literal sense. But she uses some form of all three to give her piece its unmistakable rhythm. She began Mezok, which was earlier named Mez (table in Hindi), with no idea or theme in mind. All she had was an image of six actors walking on a table. 'You begin with nothing and stay in the nothingness till the end. That allows things to change," she says. Siddharth Sirohi of Baro Design was roped in to design the formidable piece of furniture straight out of Dogra's imagination. 'I had told him that the table must look like a tree had been uprooted. It must reflect in the texture. And indeed, Siddharth's table is made of old teak. It has a certain coarseness," she says. Her characters in the play, though, are rootless—in search of homes, lives, and connection. Dogra chooses to layer textured moments and images that can unlock something deeper in the audience. Despite the devised nature of the play, the lines are poignant and often stop just short of being poetic. Dogra's extensive exercise in elimination ensures that discomfort, not beauty, takes precedence. Also read: 6 events you must check out this Mother's Day weekend The devised piece began with the cast mining their own lives for stories rooted in their culture and region. A week later at their residency at Prakash Raj's Nirdigantha in Mysuru, the enormous table entered the fold. It was welcomed and cared for as a new actor— a raw giant member of the ensemble. Dogra encouraged the actors to walk on it, sit underneath it, and note the change in experience. They moved the table around— it stood upright at times and was overturned at others. When they stood on top of it, the actors looked up and said they felt like they were atop a mountain. 'Because when you are on a mountain, you look up. It is only when you are in buildings that you look down," says Dogra. This is how the idea of the fictitious mountain Mezok was born. It helped that two of the cast members (Ambika Kamal and Tsering Lhamo) came from the hills. The group discovered and developed many ideas, and eventually distilled them down to longing for different lives, and homes. The central characters are all named Pavitra Kumar and have the same distinguishing features. The first, a driver from Delhi, dreams of a life in Alberta, Canada. The second makes the move from the mountains to Mumbai to work as a watchman in a glitzy new mall. The third accompanies an army battalion as a porter in high-altitude conditions. A fleeting fourth, Pavitra Kumar, a corporate slave, visits the mountains in search of peace. He dreams of quitting his job, marrying a Pahadi girl, and becoming a potato farmer. The two hill women, though long for the men, live robust lives filled with labour and simple pleasures. The sixth member of the ensemble (the table) becomes the seat of every rendezvous. It stands tall when the lovers meet amid mountains, is dragged around when the women gossip while they labour, doubles up as a passport office, and turns into the door to a childhood home when a son comes calling on his estranged father. The under-shelf shapeshifts into different kinds of windows in an office and a home. It unlocks a new space for the actors to explore. The table is never left behind and is central to the scenography of the play as the seventh member of the ensemble. It urges you to look deeper, not simply marvel at its form and function. Mezok, majestic and imposing at once, sees you before you see it. It is as much a metaphorical mountain in the lives of its protagonists as the real snow-capped image. But the play does not exist in the fantastical space one may imagine. Its moments are deeply rooted in the politics of labour and class, migration and urban development, and more. Also read: White smoke on the silver screen: How Hollywood sees the papacy Much like Dogra's other work, it doesn't pontificate but lets the layers unravel for the viewer. Dogra believes it is 'unconsciously' political and it's the way she'd like it to remain. 'A position is too simplistic a way of doing things. As much as I am interested in politics, when it comes to my art, I am interested in other things," she explains. Mezok has a bare black stage for its abstract world with inventive use of threads to aid movement. As the table is dragged around its periphery, the heaviness produces a coarse grating sound upon friction. Though discomforting at first, it finds its rhythm in the musical interludes by Kaizad Gherda. A vocal call to the mountain Mezok, by the actors, flirts with the idea of a different realm and escape from reality, but the play never fully commits to it. It's quite like the lives of the many Pavitra Kumars and their imagined existence in different worlds, so clear yet so far. It creates the space for a track on bureaucracy and endless paperwork. The limbo and the language are in stark contrast to the emotional graph of the scenes. The son, dealing with his father's death, is seen grappling on an extended phone call with an insurance company. The driver's flame of hope is quickly doused by the jaded officers at the passport office. And a woman's search for her missing husband in the upper reaches of the mountains is impeded by forms and formality. Mezok is filled with these subliminal inner explosions, and a particular externalised one. And while at it, it leaves you on the verge of one of your own, offering a rare catharsis wrapped up in the swathes of an imagined picturesque landscape. Like the mythical mountain, it makes you feel seen — sometimes small and defeated, and at others, tall and hopeful. 'Mezok' will be performed at the Prestige Centre for Performing Arts, Bengaluru, 10 May, 7 pm. Also read: What to watch this week: 'Gram Chikitsalay', 'The Royals', and more
