Sarah J. Maas has officially revealed the titles and covers of the next two A Court of Thorns and Roses books, and the announcement gave us considerably more than two new release dates.
ACOTAR 6 & 7: The Biggest Reveals
The sixth ACOTAR book is titled A Court of Splintered Harmony and will be released on October 27, 2026, followed by A Court of Forgotten Melody on January 12, 2027. Both books are part of a newly named story arc called The Valkyrie Cycle, with Splintered Harmony labeled Movement I and Forgotten Melody containing Movements II and III.
That alone is a major change for the series. Sarah J. Maas is not simply introducing two new ACOTAR novels; she is framing the next part of the story as one connected narrative told across four movements, and almost every piece of language surrounding the reveal points back to that musical structure.
The titles, subtitles, cover imagery, and new descriptions give us our first real clues about the next ACOTAR era. They point to Koschei, the human lands, the Valkyries, and the ominous “nightmares of the past.”
ACOTAR 6 Is A Court of Splintered Harmony
The next ACOTAR book will officially be titled A Court of Splintered Harmony: The Valkyrie Cycle, Movement I. Its release date is October 27, 2026, and the accompanying tagline reads:
What was broken will be remade.
The new description finally brings Koschei the Deathless out of the background and into the central conflict. Koschei has remained one of ACOTAR’s biggest unresolved threats since A Court of Wings and Ruin. His control over Vassa and interest in the human queens have kept him closely tied to the story.
The synopsis suggests that Koschei is now moving against the newly freed human lands. Others also appear willing to join his fight. That puts Vassa, Jurian and Lucien back at the center of the political situation, especially given Lucien’s role as a link between the Night Court and the human territories.
The synopsis also reveals that the Night Court is struggling with “recent betrayals and revealed truths.” This suggests tensions within Prythian could become just as important as the threat posed by Koschei. Exactly what those betrayals and revelations refer to has not yet been confirmed.
A Court of Forgotten Melody Follows Only Months Later
The seventh ACOTAR book, A Court of Forgotten Melody, will follow on January 12, 2027 and contains Movements II and III of The Valkyrie Cycle. Its tagline is equally intriguing:
What was lost will be reclaimed.
The description suggests that the conflict with Koschei will expand beyond the Night Court and the human lands, with members of the court travelling far and wide as they attempt to stop him. More importantly, Koschei may not remain the only threat.
The synopsis also teases the emergence of “nightmares of the past.” Maas does not explain what they are. They could be ancient enemies, creatures, forgotten powers, or figures connected to Prythian’s history.
After A Court of Silver Flames and House of Flame and Shadow revealed how much of Prythian’s history has been buried or forgotten, that wording feels especially significant.
The Next ACOTAR Books
Sarah J. Maas is returning to Prythian with two new books in the Valkyrie Cycle.
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The New ACOTAR Titles Break the Familiar Pattern
The titles themselves also feel deliberately different. Most of the previous ACOTAR books were built around paired concepts: Thorns and Roses, Mist and Fury, Wings and Ruin, Frost and Starlight. A Court of Silver Flames had already stepped away from the literal “X and Y” formula, but the two newly announced books push the series even further in a different direction. Instead of opposing or paired ideas, both titles revolve around music:
Splintered Harmony.
Forgotten Melody.
That language becomes much more meaningful once the subtitles are included. We are no longer simply reading Book 6 and Book 7; we are reading Movement I, followed by Movements II and III, within something explicitly called a Cycle.
Sarah J. Maas has explained that the new storyline was conceived as one enormous story divided into four parts rather than three completely separate novels. A Court of Splintered Harmony contains the first movement, A Court of Forgotten Melody contains the second and third, and a future book will complete the story with Movement IV.
The musical wording therefore appears to be part of the actual structure of this new ACOTAR era rather than simply an aesthetic choice.
The Valkyries May Be More Important Than We Thought
Perhaps the most important detail in the entire announcement is the name Sarah J. Maas chose for this four-part narrative:
The Valkyrie Cycle
The Valkyries became central to Nesta’s story in A Court of Silver Flames, when Nesta, Gwyn and Emerie revived the ancient female warrior tradition and became the first new Valkyries in centuries.
Until now, it was possible to view that storyline primarily as part of Nesta’s personal journey. Naming the entire next ACOTAR arc after the Valkyries makes that increasingly difficult.
It does not confirm that Nesta, Gwyn, or Emerie will be the main POV characters in ACOTAR 6. Maas has still not officially revealed whose story the new books will follow. However, the Valkyries are clearly important enough to define the identity of the entire four-movement narrative.
That makes Silver Flames look less like the conclusion of the Valkyrie storyline and much more like its beginning.
Is The Valkyrie Cycle Connected to Wagner’s Ring Cycle?
The combination of Valkyrie, Cycle, Movement, Harmony and Melody raises another interesting possibility: Sarah J. Maas may be drawing inspiration from Richard Wagner’s famous Der Ring des Nibelungen, commonly known as The Ring Cycle.
Wagner’s Ring Cycle is one enormous story told across four interconnected music dramas. One of its most famous parts is Die Walküre — The Valkyrie. Maas has now described her new ACOTAR arc in a strikingly similar way: one enormous story divided into four movements, with the entire narrative called The Valkyrie Cycle.
If the comparison is deliberate, the bigger question is what Maas is borrowing from Wagner. Is it only the structure and musical imagery? Or could the Ring Cycle’s themes and mythology also hint at where the story is going?
That deserves a much deeper look of its own.
Koschei May Be Bringing Prythian’s Past Back With Him
While the Wagner connection remains speculative, Koschei’s role does not.
The new descriptions make it clear that the death-god will be one of the major forces driving this story, and his return becomes even more interesting when combined with the language surrounding the second book.
Koschei is one of three ancient siblings associated with death in ACOTAR mythology, alongside Stryga, the Weaver, and the Bone Carver. Both Stryga and the Bone Carver died during the war with Hybern, while Koschei remained alive and bound to his lake on the continent.
There is currently no confirmation that Maas intends to resurrect either of them, but the wording surrounding the new books inevitably raises the question.
What was broken will be remade.
What was lost will be reclaimed.
Then, in A Court of Forgotten Melody, “nightmares of the past” apparently begin appearing alongside Koschei. That does not automatically mean the Bone Carver and Stryga are returning, but it does make the possibility of old powers resurfacing considerably harder to dismiss.
Could the “Nightmares of the Past” Be the Asteri?
There is another obvious possibility, particularly for readers who have finished Crescent City.
House of Flame and Shadow fundamentally changed what we know about Prythian’s history by revealing more about the beings once known there as the Daglan and their connection to the Asteri. We also learned much more about the Prison, the lost Dusk Court and the ancient history surrounding Nesta’s world.
Because of that, any reference to horrors returning from Prythian’s past now carries very different implications than it would have before the crossover.
The “nightmares of the past” could refer to the Daglan or Asteri, but nothing in the newly released ACOTAR descriptions confirms that interpretation. It is just as possible that Maas is referring to threats that exist entirely within ACOTAR lore.
For readers who want to approach the next ACOTAR books without including Crescent City, Koschei and Prythian’s existing ancient mythology already provide plenty of possibilities. For readers following the larger Maasverse, however, the wording gives us another reason to keep the Asteri in mind.
The New Covers May Contain Their Own Clues
The covers themselves are also already generating theories.
Both designs look noticeably different from the existing ACOTAR books and lean heavily into symbolic imagery. A Court of Forgotten Melody in particular has attracted attention because the creature featured on the cover resembles a Stygian spider, while an eight-pointed star also appears within the design.
Neither detail has been officially explained.
The eight-pointed star immediately stands out because similar imagery has become increasingly important across Sarah J. Maas’s books, while Stygian spiders already have a place within the broader Maas universe.
Whether those elements are genuine plot clues, Maasverse connections or simply part of the visual identity of The Valkyrie Cycle remains unknown, but they are exactly the kind of details worth watching as more information about the books is released.
What We Actually Know About the Next ACOTAR Books
For now, there is an important distinction between what Sarah J. Maas has confirmed and what readers are beginning to theorize.
We know that A Court of Splintered Harmony releases on October 27, 2026, followed by A Court of Forgotten Melody on January 12, 2027. Together with a later fourth movement, they form a connected story called The Valkyrie Cycle.
We also know that Koschei is moving against the human lands, that the Night Court is dealing with betrayals and newly revealed truths, and that something described as the “nightmares of the past” will eventually emerge alongside him.
The Wagner connection, the possible return of Stryga and the Bone Carver, and a renewed threat involving the Daglan or Asteri remain theories rather than confirmed plot points.
What makes this reveal so interesting is that many of the new clues revolve around the same idea: things Prythian believed were finished, forgotten or lost may not be gone at all. Between the titles Splintered Harmony and Forgotten Melody, the two taglines and the return of Koschei, The Valkyrie Cycle appears to be bringing pieces of Prythian’s past back into the present.
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