The key facts

  • The sixth novel in the 'A Court of Thorns and Roses' series — 'A Court of Splintered Harmony' — was released on the night of October 28, 2026
  • The series is one of the leading titles in the 'romantasy' genre, which is gaining popularity through BookTok
  • Bloomsbury is counting on the release after revenue fell 5% and profit fell 30% in the first half of the year

Midnight release and fan parties

Thousands of fans in costumes lined up in queues for the release of the sixth novel in Sarah J. Maas's 'A Court of Thorns and Roses' series — 'A Court of Splintered Harmony'. According to AFP, at midnight bookstores across the country held parties: at The Ripped Bodice bookstore in Los Angeles, readers with 'faerie' ears and wings watched fire-breathers and acrobats perform. 'A new book coming out and all these people around us — this is what we've been waiting for,' said the store's general manager Taylor Capizola, adding that ACOTAR is 'the foundation of this genre'.

The genre, the author, and the publisher's expectations

The series, known to fans by the acronym ACOTAR, is one of the most successful in the 'romantasy' genre, which combines fantasy settings with romance novels; the genre also includes Rebecca Yarros's 'The Fourth Wing' and Callie Hart's 'Quicksilver'. The genre was boosted by BookTok — the part of TikTok where readers recommend books in short videos. Maas, who has sold 75 million books in 40 languages, was the best-selling author in the United States in 2024, and the first novel in the series, published in 2015, has been on the New York Times bestseller list for 92 consecutive weeks. The release is also important for the publisher Bloomsbury (which owns the rights to 'Harry Potter'): according to AFP, in the first half of the year its revenue fell by 5% and adjusted pre-tax profit by 30%, whereas in 2024 Maas's novels brought the company record profits.

Translations and fan adaptations

Demand for the book is so high that translations are coming out almost simultaneously: the German edition appeared on the same day, and the Spanish and French editions the next day. The series has no screen adaptation yet: according to AFP, Hulu dropped the adaptation in 2025, and some fans are now using AI to create their own trailers and short episodes based on the series, popularizing the heroine Feyre. At the Los Angeles party, readers said they were ready to start reading the book right away, despite its 350-page length: 'I think most people will have read it once or twice by the weekend,' said 44-year-old Natalie Jean, co-host of the podcast about Maas, 'LNP Deep Dives'.