Sarah J. Maas’ next ‘ACOTAR’ book is coming. Here’s what to remember before you read it.

SJM fans, we’re going back to Prythian.

On October 27, Bloomsbury will finally publish Sarah J. Maas’ sixth book in the “A Court of Thorns and Roses” series, “A Court of Splintered Harmony.” The seventh book, “A Court of Forgotten Melody,” will follow on January 12, 2027.

The October release marks Maas’ first “ACOTAR” book since “A Court of Silver Flames,” published in 2021.

However, a portion of the 2024 “Crescent City” book, “House of Flame and Shadow,” took place in Prythian. Maas blended the worlds of “Crescent City,” “ACOTAR,” and “Throne of Glass,” creating an interconnected literary universe. Plus, the book had lasting implications for “ACOTAR,” so if you plan to keep reading the series, you should probably read all 16 of Maas’ books.

With all that in mind, it can be hard to keep track of the details in the bestsellers’ works. To prep for the release, here’s a look back at everything you need to know before reading “A Court of Splintered Harmony.”

Warning: major spoilers ahead for “ACOTAR” and “Crescent City.”

Nesta and the Valkyrie take center stage in ‘A Court of Silver Flames’

“A Court of Silver Flames” marks a turning point in the “ACOTAR” series, as Nesta Archeron becomes the protagonist, alongside General of the Night Court’s armies and Inner Circle member Cassian.

Nesta is in a dark place after she was Made fae by the Cauldron, the King of Hybern killed her father, and she killed him in revenge during the war in “A Court of Wings and Ruin.” High Lord and Lady Rhysand and Feyre instruct Cassian to train Nesta, Feyre’s sister, in the ways of an Illyrian warrior to help her heal.

Nesta strikes a bargain with Cassian to train in exchange for a favor of her choosing, resulting in an eight-pointed star tattoo appearing on their spines. Once she commits to training, Nesta falls in love with it. She recruits priestesses from the library below the House of Wind to join her, including Gwyneth (Gwyn) Berdara. Emerie, an Illyrian, also joins them. Together, Nesta, Gwyn, and Emerie revive an ancient legion of all-female warriors called the Valkyrie (the two new books are part of “The Valkyrie Cycle,” so the legion will likely play a significant role).

The new Valkyrie combine Valkyrie fighting techniques with those of the Illyrian soldiers, and their training heavily emphasizes working as a unit, as Nesta and her friends display when they compete and win the Illyrian ritual of the Blood Rite.

Cassian also supports Nesta as she explores the death powers she took from the Cauldron. She can use the magical Dread Trove, which includes a Harp, a Mask, and a Crown, because they were also Made. She accidentally creates a trove of her own, forging three weapons: a dagger, a short sword, and her personal sword, Ataraxia, which can kill immortals, like the death lord Lanthys.

Nesta ultimately uses the Dread Trove to stop time when Feyre nearly dies giving birth to her and Rhysand’s son, Nyx (as does Rhys, as he and Feyre had bound their lives together). When she pauses time, Nesta gives the power she stole from the Cauldron back to save her sister. The Mother then blesses her, restoring a bit of her power.

Cassian and Nesta’s mating bond locks into place in the final third of the book, and the novel ends with Nesta planning their wedding, which Rhysand is enthusiastically financing as a thank-you for saving his family.

Koschei was positioned as a looming threat

In “ACOSF,” Cassian and Nesta work together to defeat Briallyn, a human queen cursed with old age when she used the Cauldron to become fae. Briallyn seeks the Dread Trove to reverse her curse, but Vassa, another human queen, tells Cassian that Koschei, a death god first mentioned in “ACOWAR,” likely planted the idea in Briallyn’s head in hopes of securing the trove for himself.

Koschei has been confined to a lake for a millennium after being tricked by an unnamed female fae warrior, as his brother, the Bone Carver, told Feyre and Cassian. Their sister, Stryga (the Weaver), was likewise confined to The Middle.

Koschei cursed Vassa to be trapped at his lake and turn into a firebird by day. Nesta’s father made a deal with Koschei to temporarily free Vassa so she could fight in the war against Hybern with the forces he had raised, though Maas hasn’t provided details about the terms of their bargain.

Koschei gives Briallyn the opportunity to take control of Cassian with the Crown from the Trove, but his plan fails when Cassian and Nesta kill her together. However, Koschei’s attempts at freedom aren’t done, as he was singled out as the villain in the description of “A Court of Splintered Harmony.”

Maas set up new plots for side characters in ‘ACOSF’

Although “Silver Flames” focused on Nesta and Cassian, Maas also advanced the arcs of other characters in the book.

• Elain Archeron: Elain lives at Feyre’s home in the Night Court, and she has shown no sign of her seer abilities since the war. When the Inner Circle visits the Court of Nightmares, Cassian says she seems out of place there, thinking the black dress she wore “sucked the life from her.”
• Lucien Vanserra: Lucien continued to travel the human lands as an emissary for the Night Court alongside his Band of Exiles, Jurian and Vassa. He longs to be with Elain, who has yet to accept their mating bond, and he remains unaware that Feyre realized he is the biological son of Helion, High Lord of the Day Court. His relationship with Tamlin is still fractured.
• Eris Vanserra: Lucien’s eldest brother made a formal alliance with the Night Court, telling them secrets about his father to protect the future of the Autumn Court. He also fought Queen Briallyn with them after she kidnapped and controlled his soldiers. Eris continued to hint that there was more to his history with Mor than people believe, setting the stage for a revelation about their relationship down the line.
• Morrigan: At the end of “ACOWAR,” Mor left for the fae court of Vallahan to get a peace treaty between fae and humans signed. They are resistant, and Mor was there for the majority of “ACOSF.” Maas has been vague about how Mor spends her time in Vallahan.
• Gwyn: Gwyn, who has Autumn Court and nymph ancestry, and her twin sister were born after their mother participated in the Great Rite, creating the possibility that Gwyn’s father is a High Lord or fae noble. Gwyn’s sister died when Hybern soldiers attacked the temple where they were raised, and a soldier assaulted Gwyn while she protected children who were escaping. Azriel saved her, and Mor brought Gwyn to the library to recover. She is also writing a book about the new Valkyrie and has a beautiful singing voice.
• Emerie: Emerie was first introduced in “A Court of Frost and Starlight” and owns a clothing shop in the Illyrian camp Windhaven, which she took over after her abusive father’s death. He clipped her wings, so she cannot fly. Emerie also comments on Mor’s beauty when she sees her at the library, telling Nesta, “I always forget about how beautiful she is,” with a blush, hinting at a potential attraction between them.

A ‘Silver Flames’ bonus chapter explores Azriel’s love life

Maas has written three bonus chapters for “ACOTAR” over the years, which were released in specific editions of her books. Bloomsbury announced on September 24 that all three would be included in every edition of “A Court of Splintered Harmony,” indicating the events of the bonus chapters are relevant to its plot.

In particular, readers might want to take a look at the bonus chapter that focuses on Azriel’s experience on the Winter Solstice that occurs during “ACOSF.”

After their friends have gone to bed, Elain and Azriel present each other with gifts, and they almost kiss after Azriel gives her a necklace, despite Lucien sleeping upstairs. Rhysand interrupts them, and he warns Azriel that Lucien could challenge him to a Blood Duel if he found out he kissed his mate, which could lead to political fallout with the Autumn Court and the Band of Exiles for the Night Court.

Azriel says he thinks Elain should be his mate, not Lucien’s, because her sisters are mated to Rhysand and Cassian.

“The Cauldron chose three sisters. Tell me how it’s possible that my two brothers are with two of those sisters, yet the third was given to another,” he said.

After Rhysand orders him to stay away from Elain, Azriel goes to the training arena at the House of Wind, where Gwyn is practicing. His shadows react strangely to her. First, they do not warn him of her presence, and as the pair speak, they are drawn to her.

“Her breath curled in front of her mouth, and one of his shadows darted out to dance with it before twirling back to him,” Azriel notes. “Like it heard some silent music.”

Azriel also says his shadows “calmed” as he spent time with Gwyn, and as he left, he reflected that “he could have sworn a faint, beautiful singing followed him. Could have sworn his shadows sang in answer.”

The musical language surrounding Gwyn and Azriel’s interactions is interesting, given that “harmony” and “melody” appear in the titles of books six and seven. Gwyn also asks Azriel, the Shadowsinger, if he sings during the conversation, driving home the musical theme.

Later, when Azriel finds that Elain returned the necklace he gave her, he anonymously leaves it for Gwyn at the library.

Azriel and Nesta were central to the crossover in ‘House of Flame and Shadow’

When “House of Flame and Shadow” opens, Bryce Quinlan is imprisoned in Night Court after accidentally teleporting herself there at the end of “House of Sky and Breath.” Azriel initially found her, and their weapons recognized each other: Azriel bears the dagger Truth-Teller, and Bryce has the Starsword, known as Gwydion in Prythian, twin blades that have been separated for centuries.

In “HOFAS,” Bryce begrudgingly tells Rhysand, Amren, and Azriel about the Asteri, known as the Daglan in Prythian. Nesta arrives, and she senses Bryce’s Horn tattoo, which was Made like she was.

Bryce escapes into the unexplored tunnels below the Night Court, using the glow from the star on her chest, which Nesta says matches the tattoo from her bargain with Cassian and a carving she saw at the prison. Nesta and Azriel follow her on the path the star is leading her, and they end up at the prison. Bryce steps on the star in the ground, and a vision of Silene, the ancient High Queen Theia’s daughter, appears to reveal the Asteri’s history on Prythian.

The Asteri’s links to Pyrthian and Midgard are expansive, but here’s what’s relevant to “ACOTAR”: The Horn on Bryce’s back was originally part of the Dread Trove, and using it with the Harp can open portals to other worlds. Queen Theia wielded them to go to Midgard, hoping to seek more power than she had at her home, a mist-cloaked island that would be the Dusk Court. It was a trap masterminded by her general Pelius and the Asteri Rigelus.

When war breaks out in Midgard, Theia tries to send her daughters, Helena and Silene, back to Prythian, but Helena sacrifices herself to get Silene and the Harp home, keeping the Horn in Midgard. Silene turned her mother’s abandoned court into the prison, filling it with monsters. She later married the High Lord of the Night Court and made their son’s blood a key to the prison. The lore was lost to time, though the bloodline’s ability to access the prison remained. Rhysand has accessed the prison with his blood throughout “ACOTAR,” making him the heir to the Dusk Court.

Once the story ends, Bryce absorbs the power Silene left there and seems to unveil the court that had been hidden by the prison. Nesta kills an Asteri who was secretly trapped there, named Vesperus, beheading her with Ataraxia.

Bryce flees to Midgard with Gwydion and Truth-Teller, but eventually, she opens a portal to Prythian. She asks Nesta to borrow the Mask, temporarily trading her parents for it to show Nesta she will bring it and Truth-Teller back. Nesta agrees, and Bryce uses the Mask to help rid Midgard of the Asteri.

She returns the items after the war, and before they go back to Midgard, Bryce’s mother, Ember, says Rhysand has been upset with Nesta for lending the Mask to Bryce.

Maas expands on that theme in a bonus chapter of the novel included in the Books-A-Million edition of “House of Flame and Shadow,” told from Ember’s perspective while she is in Prythian. Ember overhears Nesta fighting with Rhysand about her decision to give Bryce the Mask, during which she points out the Trove “answers” to and “obeys” her, not Rhysand. She also tells the High Lord she is not his subject, indicating she may not consider herself a member of the Night Court as the other Inner Circle members do. Nesta later tells Ember that Feyre stopped Rhysand from punishing her, but she also says everyone in the court is mad at her, with Cassian being the angriest of them all.

Bryce also leaves Nesta with Gwydion, encouraging her to explore her connection to it.

“I think that eight-pointed star was tattooed on you for a reason. Take that sword and go figure out why,” she said.