This A Court of Thorns and Roses review rates all six books, and five of them earn their spot. The original trilogy is three straight fives, A Court of Silver Flames is my favorite of the whole series, and A Court of Frost and Starlight is a cozy three. A Court of Splintered Harmony, the brand new book six, gets a 2.5 because it’s openly part one of a bigger story and doesn’t finish anything. Read the first five now. Hold book six until January. No spoilers anywhere.
The series at a glance: six books out and still going, with A Court of Forgotten Melody due January 12, 2027 and one more part after that. Romantasy with faeries, rival courts and a lot of wings. Mostly Feyre in first person early on, then it spreads out across more of the cast. Spice runs anywhere from a 1 to a 5 depending on the book. 3,152 pages across all six, per Wikipedia and Goodreads. I read every one on Kindle, reread Silver Flames on GraphicAudio, and just finished Splintered Harmony.
Most ACOTAR series reviews stop at book five and say book six is “still pending.” It isn’t pending anymore. It came out October 27, and it changes what this series is. So this one covers all six, book by book, plus the spice level, the reading order, and the thing nobody tells you before you start book six.
Quick context on me. When ACOTAR was all over my feed, I held off for months because it was mostly women reading it and I felt weird being the guy who picked it up. I wrote about that whole thing in Dungeon Crawler Carl vs ACOTAR. Then I read it anyway. Best reading call I’ve made in years.
Here’s the setup. Feyre Archeron is nineteen and hunting in the woods to keep her family from starving. She kills a wolf that turns out to be more than a wolf, and the payment is being taken across the wall into Prythian, the land of the faeries. That’s book one. Everything after it gets bigger, darker and a lot more romantic.
Here’s who it’s for. If you want a romance that drives the plot, found family and faeries with wings, start today. If you want careful prose or a magic system with rules, this isn’t that series. And know going in that the spice ramps up hard later on.
Vibe Check: Is the ACOTAR Series an Easy Read?
Mostly, yes. The books are long (Silver Flames alone is 768 pages), but they read fast because the relationships carry everything. The slow part is the first half of book one, which I’ll get to. If you liked the Empyrean series, ACOTAR is the comparison you’ll see everywhere, and it’s a fair one. I covered that side in my Fourth Wing review.
I read the whole series on Kindle. The only one I’ve gone back to on audio is Silver Flames, and I did it on GraphicAudio, a full cast dramatized production with sound effects that splits the book into two parts. It’s better than reading it. Nesta and Cassian with real voices and a whole cast around them hit harder than they did on the page, the same reason I fell for the Harry Potter full cast audiobooks. If you’re doing a reread, do it that way.
Is ACOTAR Spicy?
Yes, and it climbs. Here’s how I’d rate each book on a 1 to 5 scale:
- A Court of Thorns and Roses: 3
- A Court of Mist and Fury: 4
- A Court of Wings and Ruin: 3
- A Court of Frost and Starlight: 2
- A Court of Silver Flames: 5
- A Court of Splintered Harmony: 1
Even book one sits at a 3, so none of this is for younger teens. Silver Flames is the spiciest by a wide margin. Splintered Harmony barely has any, which tells you how much of that book is setup.
ACOTAR Reading Order (and the Book You Can’t Skip)
Read them in publication order. Frost and Starlight is short and light, but it’s the bridge into Silver Flames, so don’t skip it. Here’s the order:
- A Court of Thorns and Roses (2015)
- A Court of Mist and Fury (2016)
- A Court of Wings and Ruin (2017)
- A Court of Frost and Starlight (2018)
- A Court of Silver Flames (2021)
- Crescent City 1 to 3, ending with House of Flame and Shadow (2024)
- A Court of Splintered Harmony (2026)
- A Court of Forgotten Melody (January 12, 2027)
That sixth spot is the catch. Splintered Harmony picks up right after House of Flame and Shadow, the third book in Maas’s Crescent City series. That isn’t optional. You have to read Crescent City before book six, or the inner circle won’t make sense. More on that below.
A Court of Thorns and Roses, Book One
A slow first half, and still a five. It sets up everything the later books pay off, and the back half is where you find out if this series is for you.
A Court of Thorns and Roses gets a five from me, and I’ll be honest about the catch. The first half is slow. A lot of it is Feyre settling into a strange new place while the book quietly lays down pieces you won’t understand the point of until much later. I’ve said before that it’s weaker than what comes after, and I stand by that.
It’s still a five. Everything the later books do lands because of what this one sets up, and the back half moves. If it feels slow, push through. That’s the price of admission.
A Court of Mist and Fury, Book Two
The one that hooked me. Whatever you think this series is after book one, this is where it flips, and I could not put it down.
A Court of Mist and Fury is the one that hooked me. Whatever you think this series is after book one, this is where it flips, and I’m not saying a word about how. I couldn’t put it down.
Most ranked lists put this book at number one, and I get it. It’s the book that turns a decent faerie romance into the thing nobody will shut up about. It’s also where the spice jumps to a 4.
A Court of Wings and Ruin, Book Three
The payoff. Book two builds the pressure and this one spends it, closing out the original trilogy the way it should end.
A Court of Wings and Ruin is the payoff. Book two builds the pressure and book three spends it, with a war that’s been coming since the first chapter of the series. At 720 pages it’s the second longest book in the series, and it earns the size.
If Maas had stopped here, the original trilogy would have been a complete story with a satisfying ending. She didn’t. That’s mostly good news.
A Court of Frost and Starlight, Book Four
A cozy winter novella with no real stakes. Fun between the big books and you get to know the characters better, but nothing really happens.
A Court of Frost and Starlight is a three, and the reason is simple. Nothing really happens. It’s a fun novella, basically something to read in between the big books, and there are no real stakes after an entire war.
You do get to know the characters a little better, and that’s worth something. It’s also a very nice cozy winter read, so if you’re getting to it in November, good timing. At 240 pages it goes fast, and it sets up where Silver Flames starts, so read it anyway.
A Court of Silver Flames, Book Five (My Favorite)
My favorite of the six. Nesta’s arc, Nesta and Cassian, the Valkyries and the most spice in the series, and it’s even better on GraphicAudio.
A Court of Silver Flames is my favorite book in the series, and I know that isn’t the popular answer. Most rankings put Mist and Fury on top. Here’s my case.
This is Nesta’s book, and she starts it as maybe the hardest character in the series to like. Watching her climb out of that is the best arc Maas has written in this world. Nesta and Cassian together are the most fun the series has ever been. Then there are the Valkyries, the training and the women Nesta builds it with, which is found family done right. And yes, the spice. It’s a 5, the spiciest book in the series, and it doesn’t apologize for it.
The Valkyries matter more now than they did in 2021. Book six is subtitled The Valkyrie Cycle, so what starts here is where the rest of the series is headed.
A Court of Splintered Harmony Review, Book Six
Part one of a bigger book, and it reads like it. Good to be back in Prythian and it sets up something big, but it concludes nothing, and you need Crescent City 3 to follow the inner circle.
A Court of Splintered Harmony came out October 27, 2026, and it opens with something I’ve never seen in this series. A letter from Maas, right at the front, telling you this is part one of a much larger book with more to come. She means it. The full title is A Court of Splintered Harmony: The Valkyrie Cycle, Movement I. A Court of Forgotten Melody holds Movements II and III and comes out January 12, 2027, with a fourth part after that, per NBC News. Maas said it’s “meant to be read as one massive, massive story.”
So it doesn’t read like an ACOTAR book. It isn’t a novella, and it isn’t really a full novel either. It’s 352 pages that start a lot of things and finish none of them. That’s the 2.5.
There’s good in it. It’s nice to be back in Prythian. It’s a quick read compared to the doorstoppers. And it’s obviously setting up something big. I just can’t rate where a story is going. I can only rate what’s on the page.
The bigger problem surprised me, and it’s the one to know about before you buy it. Splintered Harmony picks up right after House of Flame and Shadow, the third Crescent City book, and you have to have read it. Not “it helps.” You have to. The inner circle’s group dynamic shifted a lot between Silver Flames and Crescent City 3, and the whole time I felt like I’d missed key events. The characters still seem like themselves. I just didn’t understand what got them to where they are now.
My advice is to wait. Forgotten Melody is about ten weeks away. Use that time to read Crescent City if you haven’t, then read books six and seven back to back, the way Maas says the story is meant to be read.
Final Thoughts
The ACOTAR series is five great books and one half of a book. Read the first five if you want a romance that runs the show, found family and a lot of spice by the end. Skip it if slow starts or open door scenes are dealbreakers, and if you finish all of it and need what’s next, The Kindred’s Curse Saga is the romantasy series I hand people first.
3,152 pages is a real commitment, and the first five books are worth every one. Book six can wait until January. Go start A Court of Thorns and Roses tonight.
