We finally have an update on the release of ACOTAR book six (and seven).
Sarah J. Maas announced on the Call Her Daddy podcast that Book 6 is indeed coming in 2026, and will officially followed by Book 7. There has been wild speculation for months, but now that Maas spoke to Alex Cooper to share the (very) exciting news, we have some actual concrete information.
So in honour of this long-awaited updated, here's everything I (a member of the fandom) have managed to dig up about the sixth (and seventh) ACOTAR books.
ACOTAR 6 has as 2026 release date – it's in October
We finally have an answer to the million-dollar question: ACOTAR book 6 is set to be released on 27 October 2026.
While the popular theory was that ACOTAR 6 that it would be released at the end of 2025 in line with the holidays, that didn't happen. The natural assumption was then early 2026. But another twist followed. The fandom was concerned that the book wouldn't drop this year at all, after it was excluded from publisher Bloomsbury's January-June 2026 list of all the books being released in the next six months.
But we now know its not on the list because the release was pushed to October – more than 12 months after Maas confirmed on Instagram that she's finished writing the book.
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Prior to the Call Her Daddy episode, our last material update on the next ACOTAR book was back in July 2025. The series’ author Sarah J. Maas posted to Instagram announcing that has officially finished writing the sixth instalment. On 12 July 2025, Maas shared a reel showing herself closing the cover on a notebook titled “ACOTAR 6”, shutting a laptop and then opening a bottle of sparkling wine.
So, while we've known the book was finished for some time, it's the specific release date that has been under wraps until now.
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Sarah also announced an ACOTAR Book 7 and Book 8– sort of
Probably the biggest news to come from the Call Her Daddy episode is the confirmation of a seventh book in the ACOTAR series – and an eighth too.
Essentially, Maas' writing of the events in Book 6 became too long, well over 1,000 pages. So, she decided to split it into parts. There are four parts to this story. The first part will be Book 6 and released on 27 October 2026, this section is more than 400 pages in itself. Part two and part three will be bundled into a seventh book, a currently untitled Book 7, and released on 12 January 2027. As for part four? That is still being written. Hello, ACOTAR Book 8. There is no release date for the last part of this story but we will keep you updated.
Maas formalised the announcement on Instagram: "When the moment came, what I thought would be one book… very quickly became something else. The story just kept expanding, and I couldn’t wait to share a single part of it any longer!"
We know its going to be long
Maas sat down with Spotify in late 2024 and although she refused to divulge any plot details, she did say that the book was going to be a long one. Which would explain why it is taking such a long time to come together, and why the story has been split into two books.
@spotify ACOTAR fans, author of the year Sarah J. Maas spills the tea. #SpotifyWrapped #booktok #acotar #sarahjmaas ♬ original sound - Spotify
It will likely focus on Elain's perspective
Maas did say in the same Spotify interview it was "too early" for her to reveal who the book was about. She then said she hoped to have more details for us soon, but it's been more than six months since then.
Without any concrete details, we can make some educated guesses. Fans know books one, two and three focused on Feyre. Book four, a novella, set up the transition of events to hint at a change of perspective in the story line. Following on, book five, focused on Nesta's (Feyre's sister) point of view and her eventual romance with Cassian. As a result, the current hypothesis is that book six will follow the perspective of Elain, Feyre's other sister. Many people have taken this Time Magazine article as confirmation, but it really just confirms it as a fan theory.
In one of my many reddit deep dives, I found a theory that some of the book could be in Mor's POV. Silver Flames often had cryptic references to the day that Eris found Mor in the woods. So, it could be a set up to give us the full story, and in her point of view. I personally think that we'll see a potential Mor and Emerie romance, which adds to the theory that we'll see the storyline through her eyes at some points.
We're going to get a lot more Azriel
Because we don't really know anything concrete, we have to largely rely on hints and clues. And a lot of these come from the unpublished bonus chapters. There was an unpublished bonus chapter early on that detailed a demure but heated encounter between Nesta and Cassian which in a way foretold the events of book five.
Most fans will know of the two bonus chapters that came with Silver Flames, one that features Azriel – if you haven't read them, you can find links to the bonus chapters on the subreddit. In one bonus chapter, he has an electric moment with Elain at the townhouse and then in the other, a sweet encounter with Gwyn at the House of Wind. Using the theory that these bonus chapters give us some insight into the events of the coming books, we can expect to get a lot more Azriel in ACOTAR book 6.
Maas has certainly hinted that he may form a romance with the third Archeron sister Elain. It's stirred up mixed feelings in the fandom. Some are here for it. Others – like myself – love Lucien as a character and are rooting for him to get the girl.
Also, a third Archeron sister ending up with the final member of the Illyrian trio? Does it perhaps feel too neat? I think it's more likely Azriel will end up with Gwyn? All of this is still very much speculation and opinion. We’ll just have to wait and see where the story goes.
Does Tamlin get a redemption arc?
Maas teased in her Call Her Daddy episode that the truth about Mor’s powers will finally be revealed. Will we finally understand the complicated back story around why Eris left her for dead in the snow.
Also, there might even be a redemption arc for Tamlin, despite him being one of the least popular characters according to the fandom. It's naturally sparked a ton of speculation. Maas made it clear that if she writes more about Tamlin, it’ll be done with respect given there was an abuse storyline tied to him.
One of the core group will betray them
The origin of this theory is not clear but everyone in the fandom is on board. There are suggestions that the theory began here, with quotes from the evil queen Briallyn: “There are many in the world who would happily see the Night Court fall. Who would betray their so-called High Lord for a chance at power.”
A popular theory is that Mor will betray the group. She's known for being secretive and there's still a lot we don't know about her back story. Eris for example has hinted there was a specific reason he left her in the woods to die.
Other theories say it will be Gwyn who is the betrayer. Or even Nesta after some speculate that Cassian dies. Personally I think it could be Lucien. Especially if Elain ends up with Azriel.
But let's be clear. Sarah J Maas has never confirmed there will be a betrayer, so this could just be a theory.
Expect the spice to stay high
This one is confirmed, straight from the horse's mouth. Maas has said that Azriel is a freak in the bedroom.
Anyone who's read the series knows that the heat was turned all the way up when we arrived at book five. Given this Azriel titbit, there's absolutely no sign of it being turned down in book six.
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When was the last book in the series, A Court of Silver Flame, released?
When Sarah J. Maas posted videos from a Taylor Swift concert, the reaction from the ACOTAR fandom was largely the same. Girl, get back to your computer!
The fifth book in the series – A Court of Silver Flames – was published in February of 2021, which means we will have waited for over five years for the next book in the series. I don't know about you, but I'm getting impatient.
We were initially told to expect it in 2025 – but now it will be 2026
There was an update from the publisher Bloomsbury in 2023 that said fans could expect the book in 2025. But it became clear that was not going to happen
It appears that the sources that said we might have to wait until 2026 were correct. At this rate, many thought we have ended up with the fraught ACOTAR TV Show first, even though it's been repeatedly cancelled.
The only other update we’d received on the actual writing of the book was in April 2024 when Maas posted to Instagram about heading North "to write for a while" with ACOTAR hashtags in the caption.
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There was some hype that we were going to get some news in March 2025 regarding the the official release date. This is when the quarterly Bloomsbury trade and business update happened – on 20 March. It's common for Bloomsbury to make major book release announcements on these dates. Alas, nothing happened and there was no meaningful news on the book.
But all this speculation is in the past now that we have the October and January release dates.
Sarah actually hinted at a seventh ACOTAR book months ago
The news of a seventh book is not exactly news to some. It was widely accepted that Book 6 was going to be the last book in the series but Maas then did an interview with Today, that hinted there might be another one.
Maas said that she knows what her next four books are going to be. One of them we know is ACOTAR 6, what about the rest? Given that she's only got two active series going (ACOTAR and Crescent City), this hinted there was more ACOTAR coming. They couldnt all be Crescent City books. We now know this is because she decided to split the sixth instalment into two distinct books.
