Sarah J. Maas put A Court of Splintered Harmony back in motion on Monday afternoon, pairing the ACOTAR 6 title with cover art and a release date. The reveal also ended the latest round of speculation around the series’ online footprint, where fans had been parsing changes to her Instagram presence and website.
At 1 p.m. ET, Maas posted the cover and the line “What was broken will be remade.” She used the same rollout to surface A Court of Forgotten Melody, whose subtitle reads The Valkyrie Cycle: Movements II and III, and wrote, “What was lost will be reclaimed.”
ACOTAR 6 and 7 dates
A Court of Splintered Harmony is scheduled for October 27, 2026, and A Court of Forgotten Melody is scheduled for January 12, 2027. Those are the first new entries in A Court of Thorns and Roses since A Court of Silver Flames arrived in 2021, so the calendar now gives readers a concrete window instead of guesswork.
The timing matters because the buildup had centered on disappearing posts and shifting artwork around Maas’ online accounts. Instagram lets users archive content, and archived posts stay visible only to the account owner, which explains why fans could spot a change without getting a public explanation attached to it.
The Valkyrie Cycle format
The Valkyrie Cycle label also tells readers these books are being presented as a linked sequence rather than isolated installments. Movement 1 on one cover and Movements II and III on the other suggest a three-part structure across the two books, which is the clearest clue in the reveal about how the pair may be organized.
Maas and her publisher have not opened the rest of the file. Plot synopses and point-of-view characters remain unrevealed, so the marketing now gives exact dates and art but leaves the central casting question unanswered.
Elain Archeron, Azriel, Lucien
That gap is where the speculation has lived, with attention fixed on Elain Archeron, Azriel, Lucien or another character. The titles and covers narrow the release schedule, but they do not settle who anchors the next two books.
For readers, the practical read is simple: the series is back on a timetable, but the story plan is still being rationed out one reveal at a time. The dates are on the books; the point of view is still the missing piece.
