Published: October 27, 2026
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses #6
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Page: 352 (Hardcover)
Synopsis:
What was broken will be remade.
Deep in the heart of the continent, Koschei the Deathless is stirring. Though he’s been bound to a mountain lake for millennia, the insidious threat of his return now spreads across the Fae territories, attracting powerful allies hell-bent on reclaiming what was once theirs: the human lands.
The Night Court will not stand idly by while innocents are attacked. But with Prythian still piecing itself together in the wake of the devastating Hybern War, the task of uniting is proving more difficult by the day.
To make matters worse, those who rule and protect the Night Court are reeling from recent betrayals and revealed truths. The rifts dividing them seem insurmountable.
But to defeat Koschei’s creeping shadow, they must find a way back to each other and resurrect their former alliances. To survive, they must find a way to repair the splintered harmony all around them.
I, along with millions of other readers, have been anxiously awaiting the next ACOTAR book for several years now, especially since the series crossover with Crescent City. A Court of Splintered Harmony (ACOSH) picks up just a few weeks after the multiversal madness that was House of Flame and Shadow and much of the Night Court’s inner circle is mad at Nesta for choosing to help someone save their world, nevermind that if presented the opportunity or choice themselves, the others would have likely made the same call.
The first few chapters of this book are spent on some of the clumsiest politicking I have ever seen. Rhys and Feyre are meeting with representatives of the continental Fae kingdoms that they believe to be allying with Koschei the Deathless. They go into this meeting trying to discourage them from invading the human lands south of their kingdoms, but to no avail. In fact, they mostly accuse them of having (or trying to find) made items while these representatives proceed to tell them that the Night Court sure has a lot of Made items and they feel the need to defend themselves. This was largely akin to basic modern arguments about weapons of mass destruction. I cringed as our supposedly clever characters proceeded to be, well, not clever at all. Feyre and Rhys proceed to make a number of choices I think are actually pretty awful and generally distasteful throughout the book. They are certainly not good people, though they like to think of themselves as quite righteous. For gods sake, they suggest rebuilding a WALL. I’d also like to give a special shout out to Feyre’s constant mention of her leaky breasts, which will go alongside her repeated mention of watery bowels in my mental image of her.
Azriel is given long awaited POV chapters and rather than finding someone interesting, we find that he needs extensive therapy and probably some SSRIs. He hates everything about himself – his shadows, his job, his siphons, and even Truth-teller because he thinks the dagger abandoned him for Bryce. Even though she did bring it back. He is the angstiest, most self-loathing character I have ever come across and this led to some very self destructive choices later in the book. He should have remained hot and mysterious as SJM first portrayed him.
The best POV is that of Nesta, who is still working through her own personal issues that she started to overcome in A Court of Silver Flames. I like her. She wants to be loved and find her place in the world and protect those dear to her. Even if those dear to her kinda shit all over everything she does. She remains a badass, learning to winnow, defending her family from Bryaxis, and her determination to return to the Prison in search of a weapon that might save her court. Also, she probably was called to by Narben, the death sword that was previously mentioned as having been tossed in the sea by Amarantha, so chalk that up as another win for her.
A Court of Splintered Harmony is an apt title because this book is MESSY. There are so many small conflicts between the inner court members. Feyre and Amren argue over who they should try for alliances with. Why they don’t listen to ancient, powerful, knowledgeable Amren, I will never know. Rhys doesn’t trust Nesta (never has, really). Cassian is even still angry with Nesta, his mate, and basically hasn’t spoken to her in three weeks. Azriel is being sneaky and defies Rhys. Even Elain is being shady and awful! It’s constantly something with these people!
Overall, even taking in consideration that this book is the first ‘movement’ in this story arc, I think it was overly chaotic, messy, and honestly a little boring outside of the extensive interpersonal drama. I struggled with what rating to give this because I’ve only just finished it, had a tremendous amount of hype for the story, and really did have a decent time reading it even if I didn’t like a lot of character choices. The messiness does set up for some redemption arcs and hopefully some *quality* drama in the next book, which comes out in January 2027.
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