The new ACOTAR book divides readers. It’s partly a mess of Sarah J. Maas’s own creation.

Sinking ships, extra chapters and unwarranted crossovers, oh my! Fans have been waiting for over five years A court of broken harmonythe sixth installment in the bestselling romance series from author Sarah J. Maas A court of thorns and roses (ACOTAR, for short). At first, the story followed a human teenager named Feyre Archeron who found herself involved in the affairs (both political and romantic) of the neighboring fairy kingdom, Prythian. Since the first novel in the series – published over a decade ago in 2015, before experiencing a resounding surge in popularity during the pandemic when the story (and its many scenes of fantasy smut) became a BookTok obsession – the story has expanded: Feyre’s allegiances have shifted, a war has been fought and won, and our set of main characters has grown exponentially. NOW, ACOTAR is quite simply a phenomenon: this sixth novel, published on October 27, sold more than 1.7 million copies on the day of its release alone. Chances are, if you know a woman between the ages of 18 and 35, she’s aware of the latest happenings in Prythian. Yet, despite Broken harmonyAfter the economic success of , the long-awaited sequel struggles in a key category: reader satisfaction. The notes for Broken harmony are the lowest of all ACOTARTop novels on the book review site Goodreads, as well as threads on social media and Reddit, are full of complaints about everything from the story to the characters to the prose. There is disarray in the kingdom of Maas, but this chaos is partly the result of his own creation.

Readers’ harsh criticism of Broken harmony start with something as basic as its structure. The sixth ACOTAR This episode just feels like part of a book because, essentially, it’s about: Broken harmony starts with the announcement that this arc of Prythian history will be divided into four parts, dubbed “movements” by Maas, which will be told, confusingly, in three volumes. Yet even knowing that this is the first part of a long series – the second and third movements will be detailed in the next book, A court of forgotten melodywhich should be released in just three months—Broken harmony seems boring and unfinished. Me, a casual ACOTAR reader who does not follow Maas’ publicity tours on podcasts like Call her daddyhad naively assumed that the fifth volume in the series, A Court of Silver Flames— which follows Feyre’s older sister Nesta, a newly-turned fae struggling to find her new normal after the devastation of their recently won war — would be the start of a few final books of resolution. I had also naively assumed that Maas would feel the same way I do about fantasy series: they should only involve A big war throughout the arc, that’s it.

Looking back, Broken harmony reveals that Silver Flames there was no resolution at all; instead, it was the calm before yet another storm (and another war!). This means that Broken harmonywhile it touches on the backstories of all our main players, fails to deliver anything very concrete plot-wise. The book follows Feyre and her partner (or, to use ACOTAR language, “mate”), Rhysand’s turn as new parents, the fallout from their close friend Azriel’s doomed attraction to Feyre’s second-oldest sister, Elain, and a bunch of chessboard builds for the impending conflict. On paper this may seem expected for a four-parter, but in reality the reading experience felt like paying for a season of television and only getting one episode. It was irritating to launch into 350 pages or 13 hours of audiobook narration sowing seeds when you expect, at the very least, a single sprout. That shouldn’t be too much to ask of a full-length novel.

If the unfinished stamp of Broken harmony weren’t defeated enough, an even more frustrating aspect of reading this latest volume is how much of its vital context – particularly the events that occurred between books 5 and 6 in the series – is wrapped up in the plot of an entirely different series. Maas has started his third fantasy series, Crescent City, in 2020; It follows a half-fae, half-human girl named Bryce Quinlan who encounters mysteries and political intrigue on her planet Midgard. ACOTAR readers who are not interested Crescent City might be surprised to discover how important the latest events are. Crescent City book, House of Flame and Shadoware at Broken harmony. The events of House of Flame and Shadowwhich was released in 2024, is integral to understanding why, even though she saved many lives and endeared herself to the Inner Circle at the end of Silver FlamesNesta starts Broken harmony in a completely different state of being, removed from our main characters when we had just left her in a place of harmony in her book. Essentially, Maas pulled a Marvel and began the multiversification of his series. As you might expect, this is just as awkward to encounter in a book as it is in a movie or TV show.

Most of these grievances could be part of tactics designed to make more money for publishers and authors. Dividing a story into as many parts, releasing a book that is barely one, referencing works outside the main series that readers will then have to catch up on; All of this amounts, to put it bluntly, to proven financial drains. As Vulture’s Kathryn VanArendonk noted, these tactics worked and will work here, because “this is a perfect, book-based implementation of the sunk cost fallacy. The only way to justify reading this one is to also read the next one.” Often these gadgets have other costs as well; Broken harmony also suffers from what sometimes feels like a decline in writing quality. And it doesn’t help that Maas has done similar things in the past, namely choosing to release special editions of a book that include bonus chapters – pretty important chapters! – which are only available in copies sold by specific suppliers, such as Barnes and Noble. The end of Broken harmonyin case you were wondering, includes three additional scenes that provide useful context to the current relationships between many of the characters. They certainly would have been nice to have had years ago without having to hunt for special copies.

To be clear, fans aren’t just upset about the industry’s strategy around this book’s release. There has also been disagreement over the story’s romances. In fact, a lot ACOTAR diehards are so invested in these couples that they’re angry for an entirely different reason: naval wars. The main relationship explored, albeit briefly, in Broken harmony is that of Azriel and Elain (a couple known as “Elriel”). The two fae have feelings for each other, but their attraction is doomed. because Elain is Lucien’s companion, friend and critical political ally of Feyre. In Maas’s world, a mating bond forms unintentionally, causing the fae to become beholden to an animalistic attraction and a random connection with another fae, much like the cursed imprint in Maas’s world. Dusk universe. Despite the reality, we’ve been shown that Elain only loves Azriel (and feels deeply uncomfortable around Lucien, mating bond be damned), Broken harmony basically obliterates this ship. This is bad news for Elriel shippers, and also a flashpoint moment in Maas’ story that seems to rob Elain of much of her physical agency (although it wouldn’t be a romance if someone wasn’t emotionally tortured for little to no reason). Broken harmony might pave the way for Elain and Lucien (“Elucien”) to reach the endgame, after all, although it doesn’t give any idea of ​​how the worried friends will get over the hump they find themselves facing at the end of this episode. Azriel, meanwhile, may be settling down with a new romantic interest, but Broken harmony fails to contribute anything of real importance in this area. As it stands, the book ends with Azriel emotionally devastated and feeling left out, as is Maas’ tendency; the author is known for breaking her characters down to their lowest points before they can find happiness or love. We’ll have to wait for another book to see any sign of resolution or character development, and in the meantime, the ship wars have been fought fiercely online and even in Maas’ comments on social media, stoking some of the negative feelings surrounding this outing.

East Broken harmonyIs the mixed reception a sign of the franchise’s waning prowess as a romance mainstay? I doubt it; just look at Maas’s sales and the fact that we’re still talking about all of this. Nevertheless, this version worries me about the quality of these future “movements”, especially in the wake of Silver Flameswhich was one of Maas’ best entries in the ACOTAR series. The romance genre relies, in many ways, on making its readers feelwhether it was good, bad or exciting, but the only thing I felt when…