• Sarah J. Maas is returning to the "ACOTAR" world with two new books.
• The sixth book will be released on October 27, 2026, and the seventh on January 12, 2027.
• Teasers shared ahead of its release confirmed four characters who will return in book six.

Sarah J. Maas fans, gather round. We're just one a week away from returning to Prythian.

On August 17, 2026, Maas announced the titles of the sixth and seventh "A Court of Thorns and Roses" books, along with initial descriptions of the novels. Book six is called "A Court of Splintered Harmony" and will be released on October 27, 2026, and book seven is "A Court of Forgotten Melody," hitting shelves on January 12, 2027.

Maas first announced she would publish the sixth and seventh installments of her "ACOTAR" series in March 2026, remaining tight-lipped about them until the title announcement in August.

The books are eagerly awaited not only by fans but also by Maas' publisher, Bloomsbury. The company's sales fell 10% for the 2025-2026 fiscal year because Maas didn't release a new book, Publishers Weekly reported.

Ahead of the release, Bloomsbury shared quotes from "A Court of Splintered Harmony" on social media, building hype for the novel and teasing what's to come. Maas joined in the fun a week before the release (after asking fans to stop sharing any leaks of book six).

Here's everything we know about "ACOTAR" six so far.

Warning: Some spoilers for Maas' work — including "ACOTAR" and "Crescent City" — ahead.

Maas is releasing the sixth 'A Court of Thorns and Roses' story in multiple volumes

In March 2023, Bloomsbury announced that Maas had signed a deal for three more books with the publisher. At the time, she was already under contract for four titles, including "House of Flame and Shadow," the third installment in her "Crescent City" series, published in January 2024. Readers didn't find out what the next book she would write would be until her March 2026 appearance on the "Call Her Daddy" podcast with Alex Cooper.

She told Cooper she finished the sixth "ACOTAR" book while writing in Montana over the summer of 2025, but she didn't share details about it because of its nontraditional release structure.

"This book's coming out October 27, and then on January 12, like two months later, I can't do math, whatever that is, the next ACOTAR book will be coming out," Maas said. "So there will be two books within, like, a very short span."

As her fans will know, Maas' books are typically split into parts, separating different sections of the story she is telling. However, when it comes to the sixth "ACOTAR" story, Maas said the individual parts became longer than she anticipated as she started writing, with part one coming in at 400 pages at one point.

As she continued writing, Maas decided the parts didn't have to be in a single physical book.

"What if this book was really long?" she said. "What if it took me more than a thousand pages to tell the story that needed to be told, the arc that I wanted to create from start to finish?"

Maas said the story for "ACOTAR" six was ultimately divided into four parts, though it is still one cohesive story. Part one is the novel Bloomsbury will publish on October 27, 2026, and parts two and three will be published together on January 12, 2027. Maas has yet to write or give a publication date for part four, but she told Cooper all three volumes would be published "in a very short time."

"It's meant to be read, ideally, as one massive, massive story as opposed to in a trilogy," she said. "It's not a trilogy. Like, arcs aren't wrapped up."

Maas finally shared some details about the books in August 2026

On August 16, Maas cleared her Instagram of all its posts, changing her profile photo to a black-and-white illustration of a monster and a spider. Then, on August 17, she shared the covers and titles of books six and seven on social media.

The "Splintered Harmony" cover features a pink-and-orange backdrop with a sketched drawing of a monster with teeth and bones, and the subtitle is "The Valkyrie Cycle: Movement I." The Valkyrie were introduced to "ACOTAR" in "A Court of Silver Flames," when Nesta Archeron brought the legendary all-female fighting squad back to life alongside her friends Gwyn and Emerie.

Maas posted the book alongside the tagline, "What was broken will be remade." The blurb shared on booksellers' websites reveals that the Night Court is facing new threats when book six opens: Koschei the Deathless, one of three legendary monster siblings introduced throughout "ACOTAR," and those willing to ally with him to claim the newly freed human lands.

The description also notes that there is tension among the members of the Night Court because of "recent betrayals and revealed truths," which they must work through if they want to defeat Koschei.

"A Court of Splintered Harmony" will be 352 pages and will include three bonus chapters from the "ACOTAR" series. Those bonus chapters were previously published in specific editions of Maas' novels, but they will be in all copies of "ACOSH," as the publisher shared on its social media on September 24. One chapter focuses on Feyre and Rhysand, one on Cassian and Nesta, and one on Azriel's experience on the Winter Solstice that takes place in "A Court of Silver Flames."

Teasers from the new book

In mid-September, Bloomsbury began sharing quotes from "A Court of Splintered Harmony," offering more insight into the novel than the vague blurbs.

It released six quotes in total, and the first, shared on September 17, revealed that at least some of the novel will be told from Lucien Vanserra's perspective.

"Lucien's heart thundered, throat drying out," the quote read. "Maybe this had been a terrible idea."

Lucien has only played a supporting role in the "ACOTAR" books so far, but Maas has been teeing up his expanded role in her books through his unaccepted mating bond with Elain Archeron, Feyre's middle sister, and his connection to Koschei. He serves as an emissary to the human lands for the Night Court in "ACOSF," alongside Jurian and Vassa, a human queen who was sold to Koschei and cursed to turn into a firebird each day. It would be surprising if Vassa — and by extension Lucien — weren't involved in fighting against Koschei in book six.

Likewise, the final quote Bloomsbury shared on October 9 appeared to confirm that Azriel will narrate some of "ACOSH." The quote didn't include his name, but the unnamed narrator was communicating with shadows: "'We are here,' the shadows whispered in his ear. 'We are always here.'"

Azriel is a Shadowsinger in the "ACOTAR" world, with his shadows being described as keeping him company and whispering to him as he serves as the Night Court's spymaster.

No other passage shared by Bloomsbury names a narrator, but the quote shared on October 6 mentions Rhysand, whom the narrator calls Rhys — indicating it could be the POV of one of his close companions — giving a "savage smile" before saying, "With pleasure."

A quote shared on September 22 referenced "sisters lost to us — ones we pray each day will find a way home to our sides."

That might refer to the original Valkyrie, many of whom died in the first war against Hybern. Gwyn, whose own sister was killed by Hybern soldiers, had started writing a chapter for a book about the new Valkyrie in "ACOSF," so it's possible the quote is from her book. However, Rhysand's sister was killed by Tamlin's father and brothers, so the quote could connect to her as well.

A teaser shared on October 1 confirmed that a female character will tell some of the story, saying, "Like hell would she allow this creature to bring her to her knees again."

There are several female characters the quote could be attributed to, though some fans think it may be from Vassa when she must face Koschei again.

And most interestingly, the quote shared on September 28 asks if it is "possible for mates to…un-mate" if a bond were to "fracture deeply enough" that it cannot be repaired.

Lucien and Elain's mating bond is strained because Elain has yet to accept it, so some fans think the comment is about them. At the end of "House of Flame and Shadow," though, Nesta and Cassian were at odds, so others think the quote hints at tension between the pair (more on that in a minute).

Maas chimes in

Maas' Instagram was quiet after she announced the titles of her books, until October 19, when she took to her Instagram story to ask fans not to share leaks of "A Court of Splintered Harmony."

"I know how much you love these books and these characters; I know you've been waiting for a long time to know what comes next," she wrote. "That love for these stories is exactly why I'm requesting that you please, please don't share leaks."

"Nothing about this release is meant to feel like a secret that needs to be found out," Maas went on. "Publishing a book takes time and effort from so many hardworking people to get it into your hands. Throughout this long process, everyone involved has been dedicated to keeping things from being spoiled, but sometimes things happen, and it is beyond disheartening to see out-of-context moments take away from all of you who have waited so patiently."

"All I'm asking for is just a bit more of that patience — until you can get everything in its fullness, the way it's meant to be read," Maas said.

Representatives for Maas did not respond to a request for comment on the Instagram story, and Maas did not specify which images spreading online contained authentic leaks of the book.

However, she posted a short video on her Instagram on October 20 that featured another sneak peek at the text, this time from Feyre's perspective, as she confirmed by captioning the post, "7. FEYRE."

Feyre was the narrator for the first four "ACOTAR" books, telling the story from a first-person perspective. Like books one through four, the passage Maas shared was in the first-person perspective:

"My body wouldn't move. Couldn't move. I could do nothing to help him, nothing at all, and I would die from it, this despair and agony. Please, I tried to beg the darkness, please. Anything. I'd give anything for him to be safe. My life, my territory, my — would you give that too?"

Maas provided no further context about the quote, though fans were quick to point out that the inner monologue seemed like what Feyre would have been thinking when she gave birth to her son, Nyx, as she and the baby almost died because he was born with wings. Rhys also nearly lost his life, as he and Feyre bound their lives together at the end of "ACOWAR." Nesta saved them all by returning her power to the cauldron, but the passage could be a flashback to the scene from Feyre's perspective.

Maas also didn't elaborate on why she included a "7" in her caption, though it could refer to chapter seven of "A Court of Splintered Harmony," Feyre as a seventh narrator not yet featured by Bloomsbury in its teasers, book seven, or the number of days until the book is released.

More clues about 'ACOTAR' 6 narrators

Lucien, Feyre, and Azriel all appear to have a POV in the new book, and it's also likely safe to assume Nesta, Gwyn, and Emerie will be central to Maas' new books since the novels are part of "The Valkyrie Cycle."

Maas ushered in a new era of the series by writing from Nesta's perspective in "A Court of Silver Flames," released in 2021.

The "recent betrayals and revealed truths" mentioned in the description of "A Court of Splintered Harmony" could refer to Nesta's actions in "House of Flame and Shadow" from Maas' "Crescent City" series. Specifically, the "revealed truths" may reference the resurrection of the long-forgotten Dusk Court in Prythian, which they discover Rhysand is an heir to, while the "recent betrayal" against the Night Court could be Nesta's lending the Mask of the Dread Trove to Bryce Quinlan, the "Crescent City" protagonist, without Rhysand and Feyre's permission.

Bryce also gave Nesta the sword Gwydion at the end of "HOFAS," telling her she thinks she was meant to have it when she returns the Mask. Nesta shared with Bryce in the same scene that Cassian is the most upset with her of everyone for her actions.

It seems Maas was setting up a continuation of Nesta's story for her next "ACOTAR" story in the scene, which may see her explore her power and connections to the fae of the Dusk Court.

You can read a more detailed breakdown of what to remember from Maas' previous works ahead of "ACOTAR" six here.

Elain's role in future 'ACOTAR' books

Although it seems like Nesta and her fellow Valkyrie will be important in the new novels, Maas told Eva Chen during an appearance on "Live Talks Los Angeles" in February 2021 that she planned to write a book from the third Archeron sister's perspective — Elain.

In "A Court of Silver Flames," Elain had settled into life at the Night Court, refusing to explore her mating bond with Lucien or her Seer powers.

Maas also spoke to Cooper about Elain and Lucien's mating bond, telling her that Lucien's involvement in bringing Elain to the fae world is a barrier to their relationship. She also said she was "interested" as a writer in exploring what it meant for someone not to desire to be mated.

Elain also seems to have an attraction to Azriel in the text, with the pair almost kissing in his bonus chapter. However, Maas juxtaposes their connection with the ill-fitting aspects of life at the Night Court for Elain during a visit to the Court of Nightmares in "ACOSF."

Little-known photographer John Baer captured everyday life before putting down his camera in 1954. His son discovered the images decades later after his death, and John Baer: The Extraordinary Ordinary / A Memoir in Photographs, 1945–1954 marks their first public release

Earlier this year, during an appearance on Kareem Rahma’s popular Subway Takes show, Jasper Craven explained line-crossing ceremonies, in which sailors celebrate first crossings of the equator. In US naval history, line-crossing ceremonies have at times involved violent hazing. But they have also involved pageantry, ritualistic performances of masculinity and femininity that tip over into drag. “Young men want love, support, community,” Craven said. “The military provides a permission structure to show love, often in very pure ways.”

It’s a characteristic insight from Craven, a freelance reporter who has made a singular beat from the intersection of masculinity and the American military. In his magazine features, Craven has scrutinized Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s opposition to women in the armed forces via Hegseth’s undergraduate fits over The Vagina Monologues, and profiled Bernarr McFadden, a bodybuilder and publisher who oversaw two military schools “to impose his love of physical strength onto American children, the War Department, and the world.” Craven’s recent book, God Forgives, Brothers Don’t, follows some of our most insidious models of masculinity back to the military education programs that have shaped them for centuries.

Craven is a dynamic counterexample to the men he writes about, less interested in bulking up the boundaries of his identity than testing their limits. For a memorable Harper’s feature, he spent six months undercover as an employee of the world’s largest private-security firm. (During his first shift, a supervisor criticized Craven for his non-detachable necktie, which could be used to strangle him.) He is at once stridently critical and deeply compassionate. (He is also, as you’ll learn, deeply and truly funny.)

“There are myriad other ways to prove your manhood, and they’re not simply being emotionally vulnerable or non-violent,” Craven told an interviewer earlier this year. “You can actually fight for things: fight for peace, be a little risky, be a little reckless, break the law, put your body on the line. If it’s around a morally sound mission, that can feel incredibly validating.” I don’t take a lot of heart from the men Craven writes about, but I take some heart from his work.

—Brendan Fitzgerald

Where did you grow up?

Peacham, Vermont.

What places feel like home?

The sluiceway at Gull Pond in Wellfleet, Massachusetts; Tom’s Diner in Brooklyn, New York; The St. Johnsbury Athenaeum in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom.

Other than family members, who or what has shaped you the most?

My folks, both filmmakers, shielded me from television and other mainstream entertainment as a child. Much as I resented their restrictions at the time, they forced me to troubleshoot my taste through the physical media available in our home, a beautiful process of discovery tinged by family lineage that I wish was still widely practiced. Nothing got me more excited than the films of Charlie Chaplin. I’ve consumed all his films, and The Great Dictator is my favorite. It is what much of my journalism aspires to be: narratively compelling, funny, and unflinching. 

What is your favorite time of day?

I’ll take any time on the weekend. On workdays: I like the mornings for research and making calls, and evenings for writing. To me, the midafternoon is almost always a slog. 

What are you really good at?

Guessing what time it is without a watch.

What’s the best gift you’ve ever received?

I love Cold War ephemera. My two favorite gifts are a vintage poster of Dr. Strangelove and a Vietnam-era Snoopy Zippo. 

Describe your favorite meal.

Negroni and a cheeseburger at Long Island Bar. 

Sound or silence? (And if sound, what sound?)

Sound. Ideally jazz or a film score. I wrote my book about military masculinity mostly to the work of Bill Evans, Pharaoh Sanders, and the soundtracks from Jackie, Do the Right Thing, One Battle After Another, and Ken Burns’s The Vietnam War.

Where do you do your best thinking?

On bike rides. 

What journey—physical, creative, intellectual, or otherwise—has meant the most to you?

Hauling a golden gorilla statute across America for a crypto concern during COVID.

Where do you like to read?

New York City’s Prospect Park, my clawfoot tub, the bed.

What’s the last rabbit hole you disappeared into?

Disney Adult YouTube vlogs. Still haven’t emerged.

Name three publications you enjoy reading these days.

The Baffler, Harper’s, The New York Review of Finance.

What’s one longread that you can’t stop thinking about?

Evan Esnos’s 2017 New Yorker piece on the ultra-rich doomsday preppers. Wildly prophetic and totally bonkers. 

What was the last book you read?

Fires in the Night: The Earth Liberation Front, the FBI, and a Secret History of Eco-Sabotage by Matthew Wolfe. Reads like The Italian Job or any other great caper movie: a political prophecy of ragtag bandits that is tense, propulsive, and brilliantly reported.

What piece of nonfiction are you most proud of writing?

Probably my Harper’s dispatch on my six months undercover as a security guard.  

What’s your most reliable way to get creatively unstuck?

Watching a movie or schvitzing at The Wall Street Bath & Spa.

Who’s a writer you turn to when you need some inspiration?

Right now, Don DeLillo.

What words do you overuse?

Tenacious. Hyperaggressive. Amped. 

What’s your favorite guilty pleasure?

90 Day Fiancé.

What superpower would you like to have? 

Like any good reporter, I’m very nosey, so probably superhuman eavesdropping. Lost about 20 percent of hearing in my right ear when a speaker blew out at a college party. Would love that back, and then some.

What animal or nonhuman being do you most identify with?

I’ve got the curiosity of a cat, but I often don’t land on my feet.

If you have a free solitary hour in your day, what do you typically do?

I’ll either go on a bike ride or veg out on YouTube. The duality of man. 

What five items would you place in a time capsule?

A hanging chad ballot. The EV Hummer. Some Trump steaks. An AR-15. My medical bills after I fell off my bike. 

What does your writing space look like?

I am someone who writes anywhere and everywhere. Amtrak. Delta. Starbucks. My bed. The Wertheim Room at the New York Public Library has been the best of them all.

Jasper Craven is a freelance reporter covering men and the military for outlets including Harper’s, The New Yorker, New York, Wired, The Baffler, and The New York Times. He’s also the author of a new book for Simon & Schuster about the military’s influence on masculinity, entitled God Forgives, Brothers Don’t.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jeff Kinney, the 55-year-old author of the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" series, who lives in Plainville, Massachusetts. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Every year, when a new "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" book hits the shelves, I'm surprised that kids keep showing up.

I started writing the first book in 1998, while working as a computer programmer and game designer. I wanted to be a newspaper cartoonist, but that didn't work out, so I set out to get my cartoons published somehow. I was inspired by my own childhood experiences.

The first generation of kids who read my books is now almost 30 years old. It's wild to me that there's a new generation of kids encountering these books and finding them fresh.

As an author, I work within a few different spheres: books, my bookstore, movies, and development. I hop from one area to another.

Here's a day in my life.

I wake up before 7 a.m.

I don't set an alarm, so I wake up at that time naturally every day. I stay in bed for a while because after an ankle injury, I have some PT to do, like ankle stretches, while I'm in bed.

I meditate for about 10 minutes, set my intentions for the day, and organize my digital to-do list before I get out of bed.

I do two hours of exercise before breakfast

Right after I get up, I do about two hours of PT yoga, then weightlifting. I do that before I eat breakfast, which is often eggs and sausages.

I'm really committed to my morning physical routine of PT, PT yoga, and exercise. That's now become non-negotiable. I also do some journaling because it orients me toward the day, and it's a calming mechanism.

I've just had my most productive year, during which I wrote two books and two screenplays, so I attribute that to my morning routine. It grounds me.

I stay organized with a habit tracker

I've tried a million different to-do list apps that didn't work, including the pomodoro method and all sorts of others. Then I found a digital habit tracker.

I'm pretty diligent about checking off my daily habits. These include eating enough fiber, drinking enough water, waking up by a certain time, meditating, and doing stretches and yoga.

My workday starts at around 9:30 a.m.

I have about five or six workspaces, and I like to balance between them. One is a really colorful studio with my whole staff on the top floor of my bookstore, which is about three miles away from my home. When I'm not touring or working on a script, I go into the bookstore.

The bookstore is always top of mind for me, though the day-to-day operations are handled by the staff. Every so often, I'll get involved because we'll have a big author that comes to the store, and I'll interview them.

Another is my guest house, where I sit in the quiet living room. I also have a dark room in the basement where I'll go if I need to shut out everything. The other one is sitting in my car at the cemetery, where it's also very quiet. I can't listen to music because it occupies the same part of my brain needed for creating.

Sometimes I write for 8 to 12 hours a day

I feel most creative in the early morning hours, but sometimes I might write for eight to 12 hours a day.

If I'm illustrating, which I basically do all summer, I'll draw from maybe 9 a.m. until about 9 or 10 p.m. every day for months.

When I'm working on a book, I'll write the jokes first, then the manuscript, and finally I'll illustrate. I do all the illustrations myself. I don't usually combine those activities together.

I'm always stuck creatively, so I use a system

When I get stuck, I use something called systematic creative thinking, which helps me to produce material even if I'm not feeling creative.

I start with the components. If I'm writing about an airplane, I'll list the parts of the plane inside and out: the wings, the pilots, the lavatory, everything. Then I'll go through each component with a few different tools like subtraction and multiplication, and that's what gives me my raw material.

I'll use my iPad or my computer, or I have this device called a Freewrite, which is a super simple word processor that's not connected to the internet.

I don't stop for lunch

I only eat two meals a day, so I don't really step away for lunch — this is how I roll.

I do have an energy drink, but it's more of a habit than a need. I also don't typically take breaks.

I don't have many work boundaries

A good day is when I can get my to-do list to under 200 items, which is really hard to do. When I'm not illustrating, my wife might say, "Hey, let's have dinner," and that's my backstop for when I stop working.

Work is always on my mind, and I really don't have any boundaries. I don't tell people when I'm going on vacation because they'll reach me anyway, and I don't want to stop them from making progress. I usually make myself available, even if I'm away.

My team mostly communicates with me by text

Texting is how my team communicates with me. Email has become less useful for me because I get so many emails in a day that I feel like I'm a hockey goalie, and pucks keep whizzing past me.

I can really only answer emails right when I get them. Once they get too far down my list, I'll forget about them. I have a lot of challenges with executive functioning. I really struggle with having a lot of choices.

I've always answered my own emails, and I don't use AI to write.

I'm not often bored; I need stimulation

I don't play a lot. I sometimes go to Celtics games, or I'll go out to dinner with my wife, my friends, or my kids. I'm not often bored.

In fact, I feel very understimulated. I often feel like I'm not getting enough information, or there's not enough that's happening. For example, if I were to drive through the McDonald's drive-thru and get my food, I'd turn on the radio, tune in to some news program, and eat while reading the news on my phone.

Chicken McNuggets with sweet and sour sauce are probably my guilty pleasure. As far as watching TV goes, Survivor is always a staple in our house.

I go to sleep around 9:45 p.m.

These days I go to bed pretty early. I get in bed around 9:45 p.m., put in an earbud, and fall asleep with the news in my ear.

The bestselling author says her books will no longer be supplied to UK bookshops over fears of prosecution. Zoe Williams and Haroon Siddique report

For now there might be a copy or two of Intermezzo left kicking around in your local bookshop – snap it up if you haven’t already, because soon that will be it.

Last year, Sally Rooney said she would be using her royalties to support Palestine Action, a group that is proscribed as a terrorist organisation under UK law. Since then, thousands of people have been arrested for supporting the group. Now, faced with the risk of prosecution under terrorism legislation, Rooney and her publishers have decided to stop supplying her books to retailers in the UK.