If you’ve been on the romantasy book kick the last few years, as I have, you may have read the ACOTAR books. If you don’t know what those are, they're A Court of Thorns and Roses, and they are pretty much the most popular books in the genre.
You either can’t get through the first book, or you somehow read all five in one sitting, and you’re utterly obsessed. There is no in-between. And now, the sixth book is finally on the way, whether we are ready for it or not. So here are the five things from previous novels that you should probably remember before you dive into A Court of Splintered Harmony.
Lucien and Elain are mates
The biggest thing to remember going into this sixth novel is that the main characters (the ones we'll probably follow) are Elain, Azriel, and Lucien. There will probably be some POV shifts to the other characters we all know.
For a reminder, the first three novels mainly followed Feyre’s perspective, while the fourth (a novella) followed several individuals in the Night Court. The fifth, A Court of Silver Flames, followed Nesta and Cassian.
The next two novels—with the seventh being one of the biggest in the franchise—are expected to mainly follow Elain and her story, the sister who hasn’t really been explored. But remember that nature chose Lucien as Elain’s mate, and they are… not super compatible.
Well, that’s also based on Elain’s interests. She’s never shown much interest in Lucien, and while he's tried to win her over, we’ve never really seen any real romance between them. That could change in this novel. It most likely will not.
Azriel has feelings for Elain
Another big thing is that Azriel, the last of the “Bat Boys,” has a thing for Elain. They aren’t mates, but the series has stated several times that Azriel has feelings for her, and we’ve seen it time and again.
Because we haven't gotten much of Elain’s POV, we haven’t really seen her side of the story or how much she feels for Azriel. But we do know that she cares for him—and at least a lot more than she does for Lucien.
I personally think if Elain and Azriel got together pretty quickly, it would feel like iffy writing—just a little lazy to me. But it makes sense in the grand scheme of things, since both Cassian and Rhysand are with the other two sisters. The only snafu is that Elain is mates with Lucien. But there’s been teasing on Instagram about “breaking” a bond in the series, so who knows; this could be related to them.
Elain is also a seer
Another important thing to remember, and that we want to see way more of, is Elain coming into her true power as a seer. We’ve seen her power a few times throughout the series, but she's never really… used it to her advantage.
Honestly, Elain is a hidden threat because her power is incredibly rare. I wouldn't be surprised if she ended up as a spy at the very end of A Court of Splintered Harmony. It’s one of the many things we’d love to see in ACOTAR 6: her learning how to control her powers and use them for both the Night Court and Prythian as a whole. If we can do that, I think we can have a super successful novel—or, at the very least, the setup for the payoff in ACOTAR 7.
The Dread Trove remains active
Another thing to remember: the Dread Trove from A Court of Silver Flames is still very much active. These three items are:
- The Mask: a death mask that lets the user raise the dead and command them to do their will, but it risks trapping the user in its power.
- The Harp: a small golden harp that can bend space and let the user step through portals to different locations, realities, and more.
- The Crown: a crown that lets the user pierce mental shields and force anyone to obey orders.
Nesta could control all three of these items in A Court of Silver Flames, specifically because she was Cauldron-made. She gambled with a lot of it toward the end to save Feyre during Nyx’s delivery, which cost her much of that power, but we also saw in House of Flame and Shadow that she can use the Mask (with someone pulling her back from the edge). So that could play into this novel as well.
Prythian and Midgard are connected
If you didn’t read House of Flame and Shadow, I would highly suggest it because those books tie in directly to ACOTAR, but at the end of that novel, Midgard (the world of Crescent City) and Prythian (ACOTAR) are connected.
I don’t want to spoil how this all connects if you haven’t read the Crescent City novels. Still, keep it in mind if you have, and the characters—as well as the overarching lore of the Maasverse—could relate to this novel.
A Court of Splintered Harmony releases on Oct. 27, 2026.
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