Fantasy author Sarah J. Maas announced on March 4, during a podcast appearance, that her next two books in the A Court of Thorns and Roses
series will arrive back-to-back on October 27, 2026, and January 12, 2027, with titles and covers revealed in August.
The Podcast Reveal and the Five-Year Romantasy Drought
The long wait for readers returning to the faerie realm of Prythian finally has an endpoint. Maas appeared on the Alex Cooper Call Her Daddy
podcast to confirm that the sixth and seventh installments of the blockbuster “A Court of Thorns and Roses” series are officially on the calendar. The sixth book arrives on October 27, 2026, followed quickly by the seventh on January 12, 2027.
That back-to-back schedule breaks a five-year hiatus. The franchise has been dormant since the February 2021 release of Book 5, A Court of Silver Flames.
During the drought, Maas focused on expanding her parallel “Crescent City” series while fans on TikTok’s BookTok community continued propelling the first five books—which follow Feyre Archeron, Nesta, Elain, and Rhysand—to massive sales.
“It took me a while to find the right story and to be in the right headspace. And then, like what poured out of me was this and it poured out very quickly. The story that was finally ready to come out of me was big. Really, really big.”
Sarah J. Maas, Author
Titles, Subtitles, and a Massive Narrative Arc
Following an overnight website wipe and social media blackout in August that set fan forums into a frenzy of speculation, Maas dropped official titles and cover art. Book 6 is titled A Court of Splintered Harmony,
while Book 7 is named A Court of Forgotten Melody.
Accompanying digital billboards went live across Los Angeles, Denver, and New York City to broadcast the rollout.
The covers reveal that these two volumes are part of a larger structural design. Book 6 carries the subtitle The Valkyrie Cycle: Movement 1,
and Book 7 lists The Valkyrie Cycle: Movements II & III.
Maas explained that the narrative originally expanded so rapidly that it could not be contained in a single book. Instead, the sweeping story is split across multiple parts and books, with Book 6 featuring an opening section spanning roughly 400 pages, and an eighth book eventually slated to cover the remaining segments.
Publisher Momentum and the Romantasy Market Boom
The announcement delivered an immediate jolt to the business side of the publishing industry. Maas’s publisher, Bloomsbury, is the publisher of the books.
Retail listings have already opened up across major booksellers.
What Remains Unanswered in the Fandom
Despite the precise calendar dates, concrete plot details and point-of-view characters remain closely guarded secrets. While captions accompanying the cover reveals teased that What was broken will be remade
for Book 6 and What was lost will be reclaimed
for Book 7, neither Maas nor Bloomsbury has confirmed whether the narrative will center on Elain Archeron, Azriel, Lucien, or another faerie realm resident.
Fans must also adjust expectations regarding outside multimedia adaptations. A television series adaptation originally set up at Disney’s 20th Television and Hulu with showrunner Ronald D. Moore was scrapped in February 2025 due to creative differences, with the screen rights reverting entirely back to the author. For now, the entire momentum of the franchise rests squarely on the upcoming literary rollout.
