ACOTAR release guide
ACOTAR Book 7: A Court of Forgotten Melody Release Date
US release: January 12, 2027. The Valkyrie Cycle continues after Splintered Harmony.
Prythian has never been short of grudges. A Court of Forgotten Melody follows Splintered Harmony into the next two movements of The Valkyrie Cycle, with the Night Court looking beyond its own borders for help.
Official US publication date
ACOTAR book 7 release date: January 12, 2027
Sarah J. Maas's seventh ACOTAR book is A Court of Forgotten Melody: The Valkyrie Cycle, Movements II & III. Bloomsbury and Maas's official website confirm January 12, 2027 as its release date.
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What is A Court of Forgotten Melody?
It is the seventh title in A Court of Thorns and Roses, continuing after Splintered Harmony, which was published on October 27, 2026. The new subtitle keeps it within the main ACOTAR sequence.
What do we know about the story?
Prythian needs allies it can rely on. Bloomsbury's premise gives it alliances that are falling apart instead. Koschei the Deathless has powerful supporters, and the Night Court's Inner Circle is spreading out to find a way to counter them. The description also promises shifting power and the return of old enemies, without naming them.
That political strain has roots well before book 6. The courts have had to cooperate without forgiving each other, while the human territories have their own reasons to distrust Fae rulers. Feyre and Rhysand can hold their own court together and still face a much harder task beyond it. Velaris is only one part of the map.
Eris is a good reminder of how complicated that cooperation can be. His history with Mor and his own ambitions make an alliance with him uncomfortable, however useful it might be. Those older entanglements help explain why gathering support is harder than assembling the strongest fighters.
The two books and their movements
What is The Valkyrie Cycle?
The Valkyrie Cycle is the name linking these ACOTAR installments. The movement labels describe their parts in that story, while the book numbers keep their usual place in the series.
Book 6
A Court of Splintered Harmony
The Valkyrie Cycle, Movement I
The opening movement was published on October 27, 2026. It follows A Court of Silver Flames in the main series.
Its position matters: the next book continues this cycle instead of beginning a different ACOTAR story.
Book 7
A Court of Forgotten Melody
The Valkyrie Cycle, Movements II & III
The January 12, 2027 continuation contains both Movement II and Movement III under one title.
Two movements do not make this books 7 and 8. Forgotten Melody is a single seventh installment, and its subtitle does not establish a separate trilogy to read out of order.
What has not been confirmed in the public synopsis?
The publisher description does not name the viewpoint characters or identify a central romantic pairing. It leaves the returning enemies, individual character arcs and ending undisclosed too. The Valkyrie title points back to a tradition with real history in the books, but it is not a cast list.
Elain, Lucien and Azriel leave plenty to argue about, as do Gwyn's place in the story and Nesta's future. None of those conversations establishes who leads this particular novel. A musical title or a detail on the cover can feed a theory; it cannot settle a pairing.
The optional refresher below contains spoilers through A Court of Silver Flames (book 5). It contains no events from book 6.
Show spoilers: What should readers remember from the first five books?
What should readers remember from the first five books?
In Silver Flames, the Valkyries become something Nesta, Gwyn and Emerie build together through training, friendship and the Blood Rite. Nesta's recovery is tied to that work as well as to Cassian. Her acceptance of their mating bond does not make those friendships incidental, and her sacrifice for Feyre leaves her with less power than she once held.
At that point in the series, Feyre and Rhysand have a family to protect, while Elain has not accepted Lucien as a partner. His ties to Vassa and Jurian connect him to the human lands. Vassa's curse also gives Koschei's threat a personal cost long before the new books put him at the center of their descriptions.
The war with Hybern has ended, but Spring is weakened and the wall separating human and Fae territory is gone. Old debts and resentment remain. These are reminders of where book 5 leaves matters, not an account of what changes in book 6. The full recap below goes through those earlier events and relationships in more detail.
ACOTAR recap through Silver Flames: major spoilers for books 1-5
Do you need to read book 6 before book 7?
Yes. Read Splintered Harmony first: it is Movement I, and Forgotten Melody continues with Movements II and III. Skipping straight to January's book would mean missing the opening part of the cycle, along with whatever it changes for the characters.
New readers can find all seven titles in the ACOTAR reading-order guide, including the place of Frost and Starlight between Wings and Ruin and Silver Flames. Returning readers who have finished book 6 can continue with Forgotten Melody when it arrives.
All seven ACOTAR titles in reading order · Sarah J. Maas: ACOTAR and her other series
Quick answers
A few more questions about book 7
Why is this book 7 if Frost and Starlight is sometimes called 3.5?
Bloomsbury's sequence counts the Frost and Starlight novella as the fourth title. With Silver Flames fifth and Splintered Harmony sixth, Forgotten Melody is seventh. Calling the novella 3.5 does not move it out of the reading order.
Does this reveal the ending of Splintered Harmony?
No. The story details here come from the public book announcement, with no plot events from Splintered Harmony. The separate, expandable refresher contains spoilers only for the first five books and is clearly marked.
Sources
Sources for this guide
Release information and the public story premise were checked on November 1, 2026. The optional refresher stops at Silver Flames; this is not a review of either Valkyrie Cycle book.
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