Sarah J. Maas' A Court Of Thorns And Roses Book 6 Breaks Sales Record

Sarah J. Maas’s sixth ACOTAR book, A Court Of Splintered Harmony, sold 1.7 million copies on its release day, breaking her previous record.

At long last, the drought of A Court of Thorns and Roses books is over. Maas’ epic romantasies have taken the world by storm, weaving fairy tales and mythology together into whole new patterns (with rather more spice). A Court of Splintered Harmony is the first “Movement” in a story that will be told over the next two books, continuing on in January with A Court of Forgotten Melody. And it seems readers were definitely ready to return to the Night Court.

According to Variety, ACOTAR Book 6 has broken Maas’ record with a staggering 1.7 million copies sold on Tuesday alone. That’s an increase of 600% from the release day of Book 5 (A Court of Silver Flames) back in 2021. According to Bloomsbury, that includes preorders and Day 1 sales worldwide for English-language print and ebook editions at major retailers and indie bookstores in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Australia. It does not include audiobooks or translations into other languages.

A Court of Splintered Harmony has come in for mixed reviews, partly because the story ends quite abruptly; as Maas explains in the foreword, it’s not really a full novel in its own right. “It is not a novel, not a ‘Book One,’” she writes. “It is merely part of a much, much longer book.” Her hope is that readers will one day go through this and the next two books in one go (granted, over many days, because apparently the full story is so long printers couldn’t manage it).

That said, at time of writing, A Court of Splintered Harmony sits at 4.07 on Goodreads (with 17,709 reviews and counting). It’s still cleary loved, very definitely enjoyed by most, but it isn’t the top-ranked by any stretch; in fact, only one ACOTAR novel currently ranks lower (A Court of Frost and Starlight). Ratings are coming in at a staggering rate; when I checked yesterday, this had 13,000 reviews.

Personally, the highlight of A Court of Splintered Harmony lies in the fact we finally get to see through multiple characters. This is a book that gives time for Azrael and Morrigan, as well as Feyre and Rhysand. Granted, Maas takes an experimental approach to narration with this too; the Feyre sections are first person, while the others are all third person. Again, this strange narrative choice (currently unexplained) may contribute to the mixed reception.

Regardless, Maas will has good reason to be delighted at these stunning sales figures. ACOTAR is clearly bigger than ever before right now, and it will be fascinating to see whether the next book actually exceeds this staggering record. We’ll only have to wait until January to find out.

You can order A Court of Splintered Harmony Sarah J. Maas' A Court Of, or preorder A Court of Forgotten Melody Sarah J. Maas' A Court Of.