ACOTAR Books in Order: Reading Order, Ratings & What’s Next

I put off A Court of Thorns and Roses for years because I was sure it was going to be silly and not for me. I was so, so, so wrong. This series changed my reading life, I rated the second book 5,000 out of 5 stars on this blog, and I stand by the math.

Now the question I get from every friend about to start the series is the same one you probably typed into Google: what order do the ACOTAR books go in, and do I have to read all of them? Here is the whole series in order, with my rating for each book, the one you can skip, and where the two new books landing this fall and winter fit.

Read the ACOTAR books in publication order: A Court of Thorns and Roses (2015), A Court of Mist and Fury (2016), A Court of Wings and Ruin (2017), the novella A Court of Frost and Starlight (2018), then A Court of Silver Flames (2021). Book six, A Court of Splintered Harmony, arrives October 27, 2026, and book seven, A Court of Forgotten Melody, follows on January 12, 2027.

Publication order is also the story’s chronological order, so there is no cleverer path through Prythian. The only real debate is the holiday novella, and I have a strong opinion about it below. No spoilers anywhere on this page, as always. Let’s dive in.

The ACOTAR Books in Order

1. A Court of Thorns and Roses (2015)

2. A Court of Mist and Fury (2016)

3. A Court of Wings and Ruin (2017)

4. A Court of Frost and Starlight (2018, a novella)

5. A Court of Silver Flames (2021)

6. A Court of Splintered Harmony (October 27, 2026)

7. A Court of Forgotten Melody (January 12, 2027)

Here is what each one is, what it earned from me, and how spicy it runs.

1. A Court of Thorns and Roses (2015)

This book is about… Feyre Archeron kills a wolf in the woods to feed her family, and the wolf turns out to have been a faerie. The price is her life, paid out in the faerie lands of Prythian, in the house of a High Lord named Tamlin who is hiding what his court is up against. Beauty and the Beast is the scaffolding. The series does not stay there.

Spice level: 🌶️🌶️ 2/5. Slow to arrive, and tame next to what comes later.

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 stars. I knocked one star off for an opening that takes its time, and I still recommend it without hesitation, because it sets up everything that follows. Read my full review here.

2. A Court of Mist and Fury (2016)

This book is about… Feyre after the events Under the Mountain, and the bargain she made with Rhysand, High Lord of the Night Court, that comes due. It is the book where the series stops being a retelling and becomes itself, and it is the reason people who finished book one lukewarm end up with a Velaris tattoo.

Spice level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ 3/5. The burn is long and the payoff is the reason the internet talks about this book.

My rating: 5,000 out of 5 stars. Yes, a thousand times yes. My review is here, and it is the least objective thing I have ever published.

3. A Court of Wings and Ruin (2017)

This book is about… War. Feyre goes back into a court she has every reason to burn down and plays a longer game than anyone there suspects, while Prythian braces for the king of Hybern. It is the biggest book of the original trilogy and the one where every character you have opinions about gets a job to do.

Spice level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ 3/5.

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 stars. Do yourself a favor and add this page turner to your Kindle, then clear your morning schedule. Read my full review here.

4. A Court of Frost and Starlight (2018, the Novella)

This book is about… A holiday in Velaris after the war, told from several points of view, with the Inner Circle shopping, feuding, and healing. There is almost no plot, on purpose.

Spice level: low. It is a holiday special, and it behaves like one.

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5 stars. A plotless, pleasant holiday special for readers already in deep. My advice in the full review still stands: skip it unless you are a diehard fan. I am one, I read it with a chai, and I regret nothing. Read my full review here.

5. A Court of Silver Flames (2021)

This book is about… Nesta Archeron, Feyre’s furious older sister, and Cassian, the Illyrian general assigned to keep her alive and out of trouble. It shifts the series from Feyre’s story to the wider family, and it is the book readers mean when they call ACOTAR spicy.

Spice level: the highest in the series by a wide margin, by every reader poll I have seen. Plan accordingly on public transit.

My rating: this is the one ACOTAR book I have not reviewed on the blog, so I am not scoring it here. When I do, this page gets updated the same day.

6 and 7. The Valkyrie Cycle: A Court of Splintered Harmony and A Court of Forgotten Melody

Sarah J. Maas announced the next two books on August 17, 2026, after wiping her entire Instagram feed and dropping the titles a few hours later, which is the most ACOTAR way to announce anything. A Court of Splintered Harmony (The Valkyrie Cycle: Movement I) arrives October 27, 2026, and A Court of Forgotten Melody (Movements II and III) follows on January 12, 2027. Maas has said the two are part of one larger four-part story meant to be read together, so treat them as a pair. I will add my ratings here the week each one lands, and my ARC reader guide explains how early copies of books like these get handed out.

Should You Read ACOTAR in Publication Order?

Yes, and it is the only order that works. The novella and Silver Flames both assume you have lived through the first three books, and the emotional turns in book two only land if you were lukewarm on the same people in book one. Skip ahead and you will arrive at a very specific party in Velaris with no idea why everyone is crying.

Can You Skip A Court of Frost and Starlight?

You can. It is a holiday novella with almost no plot, and I gave it 3 out of 5 for exactly that reason. Two things it does that you may want: it lets the cast breathe after the war, and it seeds the Nesta thread that A Court of Silver Flames picks up. If you are reading straight through, spend the afternoon. If you are on a deadline (book club Tuesday, a long flight, an exam you are avoiding), jump from Wings and Ruin to Silver Flames and read the novella later as dessert.

Which ACOTAR Book Is the Best?

A Court of Mist and Fury, and it is not close. It is the book I rated 5,000 out of 5, the one I recommend to people who bounced off book one, and the reason I now read 80-plus romantasy and fantasy books a year hunting for that feeling again. Wings and Ruin is the biggest, Silver Flames is the spiciest, and Thorns and Roses is the one you have to read so the others work.

Is ACOTAR Spicy?

It starts mild and warms up. I rated book one 2 out of 5 chilis, books two and three 3 out of 5, and Silver Flames is the one with the reputation. If spice is the reason you are here, my ranked list of the best romantasy books on Kindle Unlimited has a chili rating on every entry.

What Should I Read After ACOTAR?

Every ACOTAR reader hits the same wall: the series ends and no book sounds right because it is not the book you just finished. I built a whole list of books like ACOTAR for exactly that week, and the short version is From Blood and Ash for forbidden romance, Quicksilver for fae enemies-to-lovers, and Fourth Wing if you want dragons and a war college (I keep a separate list of books like Fourth Wing for the aftermath of that one). My ranked list of the best romantasy books puts the whole shelf in one place.

Staying inside the Maas universe: House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City) earned 3 out of 5 from me and is worth the 200-page toll, and my Throne of Glass series review is the guide for epic-fantasy patience-havers. Read ACOTAR first either way.

🔥 A Deadly Trials Romantasy on Kindle Unlimited: The Ash Trials

In the grand tradition of this blog’s transparent self-promotion: yes, I wrote this one, and I wrote it because ACOTAR turned me into the kind of reader who needed more deadly-stakes romantasy than the genre could hand me fast enough. Saffron Vale wakes in a ruined wedding dress, locked in a prison for the kingdom’s deadliest criminals, with no memory of who she is. To survive the brutal Ash Trials, she must outlast shifters, spellcasters, and something even more dangerous: the truth about herself. It’s on Kindle Unlimited, and if tonight is the night you stay up too late with a book, I’d love it to be mine.

FAQ: ACOTAR Reading Order

How many ACOTAR books are there?

Five published: three novels, one novella, and A Court of Silver Flames. Two more, A Court of Splintered Harmony and A Court of Forgotten Melody, are dated for October 27, 2026 and January 12, 2027, and Maas has described them as part of a four-part story, so the shelf is still growing.

Can I read A Court of Silver Flames first?

No. It is built on three books of history, and its main characters are people you are supposed to have complicated feelings about by then. Start with A Court of Thorns and Roses and let Silver Flames be the reward.

Do I need to read Throne of Glass or Crescent City before ACOTAR?

No. They are separate series that share a universe, and the crossover moments come late in Crescent City. ACOTAR stands entirely on its own, and it is the friendliest entrance to Maas: my Throne of Glass review says read ACOTAR first for a reason.

Is the ACOTAR series finished?

No. As of September 2026 there are two dated books coming and at least one more after that, per Maas’s own description of the Valkyrie Cycle. I update this page when release dates or titles change.

Start with book one, ignore anyone who tells you to skip ahead, and clear a weekend. Prythian will still be there when you come up for air.