source: BBC

Sarah J Maas’s blockbuster series is full of brutal wars, scheming faeries and spicy sex scenes. Now the sixth book in the saga is breaking sales records – and dividing opinion. What’s the appeal? And is the latest novel actually any good?

Sarah J Maas is known as the “titan” of romantasy.

The subgenre, which is a blend of romance and fantasy, has become a dominating force in the world of fiction.

Its explosion in popularity, particularly among women under the age of 35, saw an estimated $610m worth of romantasy books sold in the US in 2024, and its popularity helped push UK overall fiction sales to more than £1bn that year.

The boom has been significantly driven by BookTok, a section of TikTok dedicated to book commentary, that has transformed the publishing industry. And BookTok was integral to the success of Maas’s series, A Court of Thorns and Roses (also known as ACOTAR). Although the first novel was published in 2015, it saw massive viral success in 2020, which “really skyrocketed it into the stratosphere,” says Dr Jodi McAlister, senior lecturer in Writing, Literature and Culture at Deakin University, Australia. “It was the snowball that started the modern romantasy avalanche rolling.”

Since 2012, the US author has churned out a whopping 17 books across three romantasy series, the realms of which are all linked under a broader “Maasiverse” or Maas universe: Throne of Glass, ACOTAR and Crescent City. Together they have sold more than 100 million copies worldwide.

And on 27 October, after a five-year wait, fans descended on bookshops across the world for the much-anticipated release of the sixth book in the ACOTAR saga, A Court of Splintered Harmony. The book is tracking to be the largest book release of the year – it sold 1.7 million copies on the release date alone – a 600% increase on the fifth book, A Court of Silver Flames.

The series is undoubtedly Maas’s most famous work and “inarguably the lynchpin of the modern romantasy boom,” McAlister tells the BBC.

Here’s what the ACOTAR books are about – and why readers love romantasy.