
← Romantasy Roundtable: Fantasy Romance Reviews18 aug · 32 min
ACOTAR 6 & 7: Reveal
Episode Title: ACOTAR 6 & 7 REACTIONS: New Covers, Koschei, Stygian Spiders & What Was Broken Will Be Remade?!
Description: Sarah J. Maas really said, “Here, take TWO books,” and the Romantasy Roundtable immediately stopped its vacation plans to scream about it! Rick, Amanda, and Kim are back for an emergency ACOTAR bonus—sorry, FILLER—episode after SJM dropped the titles, covers, page counts, and blurbs for A Court of Splintered Harmony and A Court of Forgotten Melody!
ACOTAR 6 is 352 pages, ACOTAR 7 is a MASSIVE 896 pages, and we are officially entering the Valkyrie Cycle with movements one, two, and three... plus a mysterious fourth book still to come?! We break down what this new era of ACOTAR might look like and why the wildly different page counts have us wondering exactly how these books are structured.
Then we go FULL conspiracy board on those covers. The first gives us bones, fire, fangs, destruction, renewal, and approximately one million questions. Meanwhile, the second has Rick spiraling because if that is a STYGIAN SPIDER, everyone can get... well, you know.
We also dissect Koschei the Deathless, the Night Court's “recent betrayals and revealed truths,” and the former alliances they need to resurrect. Naturally, Rick immediately decides this means TAMLIN REDEMPTION ARC, BABY. Amanda and Kim are... less convinced.
And then there's the MUSIC. Splintered Harmony. Forgotten Melody. The Valkyrie Cycle. Movements. The Harp. The Dread Trove. Rick starts connecting musical language and recurring art themes throughout the Maasverse—and admits he has a bigger theory he isn't quite ready to share yet.
Plus, we debate whether ACOTAR is about to go full Throne of Glass with an ensemble cast, who the romances of the Valkyrie Cycle might be, whether Rick is ever going to stop complaining about the Valkyrie plot being “too convenient,” and why apparently the money's in the smut, baby.
Key Topics Discussed:
• ACOTAR 6 & 7 Are Official: Our immediate reactions to the titles, covers, blurbs, and SJM casually dropping two books on us.
• The INSANE Page Counts: Why 352 pages for A Court of Splintered Harmony and 896 pages for A Court of Forgotten Melody have us questioning how this story is structured.
• Welcome to the Valkyrie Cycle: What do “movements” mean, why is there a mysterious fourth book, and how does A Court of Silver Flames bridge us into this new era?
• Koschei the Deathless: Rick refreshes Amanda and Kim on the ancient being, his connection to the Bone Carver and the Weaver, and Vassa's curse.