A Court of Splintered Harmony is the sixth book in the ACOTAR (A Court of Thornes and Roses) series and my most anticipated book release of 2026. It’s been five years since book five, A Court of Silver Flames was published, and it’s so nice to be geeking out over a book release again.
It’s sub-title is The Valkyrie Cycle: Movement 1 which is highly exciting as Nesta, Gwyn and Emerie (the Valkyries) are some of my favourite characters so a development of their storyline has me very intrigued.
Opening sentence: There was a room, little more than a cell, far beneath his father’s mist-shrouded keep.
Picking up where the crossover left off
The first thing to say is, if you haven’t read the (in my opinion, brilliant) Crescent City series, also by Sarah J. Maas, then maybe consider doing that before delving into A Court of Splintered Harmony as there are spoilers and the overall context of the link between the two series will give you a far better reading experience.
A Court of Splintered Harmony takes us back into the inner circle of the Night Court, with an emphasis on Azriel who has a lot of POV chapters. The book title is accurate, there is a lot of discontent in the group, with a focus on the fractured relationships between the characters. But is this all their own doing or are outside forces at play?
Who is Koschei the Deathless?
So, the blurb tells us that Koschei the Deathless is the main protagonist in A Court of Splintered Harmony, and the subsequent books. So, who is Koschei? Literally can’t remember him at all from the previous books TBH but he’s a big deal here. Don’t worry, you pick it all up again while reading. He’s not obviously featured a lot, it’s his stealth and potentially deadly influence that’s explored.
A reading experience of splintered harmony
While brilliant moments in the book gave us the plot canon we were craving in moving some elements forward and planting seeds for theories in the next books, I will admit that there were a few chapters in the middle where I found myself slightly bored. The political sub-plot is not holding my interest, I think because the reasons behind it are wishy-washy and it feels like territory hashed out in the previous books. Also, all the Azriel chapters… his POV is not painting him in the best light. (On purpose? Who knows.)
On the other hand, when we did get the interesting characters in the mix, those moments felt exciting. When I say the legend that is Nesta basically carries A Court of Splintered Harmony, I’m not exaggerating. It’s her time to shine and I’m here for it.
Also, since reading ACOTAR 5, I have devoured Throne of Glass and have to say, I really prefer the writing style and characterisation of that series, so it meant coming back to the ACOTAR way of writing and nuances sometimes felt a little clunky to me.
For example, such seemingly mundane things are focused on, here we get paperwork, court admin and breastfeeding. Yes, Feyre and Rhysand’s son, Nyx, has an awful lot of page-time in A Court of Splintered Harmony (I can only assume for foreshadowing reasons in the next book) and we are told, on what feels like every other page, that Feyre is breastfeeding. I guess to up her perfect mother credentials?
So, while the book overall didn’t blow me away, I feel it gave us the perfect amount of plot nuggets to keep things very interesting and it does its job well as a teaser for the much longer book seven, A Court of Forgotten Melody, out in January 2027. I’m looking forward to finding out what happens next. I have many theories.
- Get your copy of A Court of Splintered Harmony here;
- Published by Bloomsbury 27th October 2026;
- 352 pages;
- My rating:
