We have all been anxiously awaiting news on an ACOTAR 6 release date, and we FINALLY have somewhat of an update from Sarah J. Maas!
She recently posted on her Instagram that she has finished the first draft for ACOTAR 6 (more on that later). In the midst of all of the excitement about finally getting a new ACOTAR book, the discourse around the “necessity” of reading Crescent City before the ACOTAR 6 release has re-gained momentum.
Let’s talk about why reading Crescent City before ACOTAR 6 is such a hot button topic (without giving away any CC or ACOTAR spoilers, of course)!
PS: If you haven’t read either of these series, you can find my spoiler-free guide for ACOTAR here, and for Crescent City here. I also have a post on what order to read the Sarah J. Maas books in here!
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Should you read Crescent City before the ACOTAR 6 release?
Sarah J Maas Reading Order
I’ll cut straight to the chase: I do think you will get the most out of the Sarah J. Maas books by reading all of her series. There are little easter eggs in different books for different series that are so much more fulfilling and rewarding if you know about the other worlds.
That being said, you do not HAVE to read all of the SJM series to understand what’s going on in any given book. Your understanding of the characters and locations might be heightened by reading the other series, but they are not necessary.
If it seems like I’m being vague, that’s on purpose! Like I said, I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone.
Crescent City gets a lot of hate, but overall I LOVE this series. It’s very unique and fun. The third book fell flat for me, but overall I still highly recommend the series—ESPECIALLY after reading ACOTAR.
Again, to avoid spoilers, I won’t go into why—but there’s a very specific callout in Crescent City that had ACOTAR fans freaking out. Because of that callout, the fandom is speculating there could be some more “intertwining” of Crescent City and ACOTAR in ACOTAR 6.
This, of course, is ALL speculation. We don’t even know who the 6th ACOTAR book is about yet—let alone what kind of themes or easter eggs will appear. But if you have the opportunity, then YES, I would read all 3 Crescent City books before ACOTAR 6 comes out, ESPECIALLY if you love theories.
Amazon affiliate links for Crescent City and ACOTAR
THE Sarah J Maas Instagram Announcement
Now, we have to dissect SJM’s Instagram announcement a little bit deeper to continue this conversation. Below is a screenshot of the Instagram post, and as you can see, it reads “first drafts done.”
As a professional writer, it is safe to assume she did not make any grammatical errors when writing this caption. If she meant to say “first draft IS done,” then it would have read “first draft’s done” (with an apostrophe). HOWEVER, it appears drafts is written in a PLURAL form instead of as the contraction of “draft” and “is.”
The idea of her writing SEVERAL drafts has sparked several theories from fans:
1. Many people (myself included) believe the front of the notebook reads ACOTAR 6–8. Based on my own theories about the ACOTAR world, I believe there are going to be 8 books total. Now, I ALSO think that would be a HUGE bomb to drop in an Instagram post, BUT this could solve the riddle of plural drafts. Maybe she wrote the drafts for ACOTAR 6, 7, and 8, at the same time and all first drafts are now done?
2. Another option is that she wrote multiple first drafts for this story. This is probably the front-runner theory in my mind (writing drafts for 3 separate books at once seems crazy to me). She could have potentially written several different drafts to send to her team to help decide which way the story is going to progress. This would also fit with her statement of “first drafts done,” meaning she finished her first draft options for this story and has sent them to her editor.
3. The final theory is that she just forgot the apostrophe, and what she really meant was “first draft’s done.” I am not even going to entertain this theory. Again, because this is a professional author, I don’t even think she would make grammar mistakes that trivial on accident.
The Maas Multiverse
If we are to believe this story is going to span 3 more books, then I do think Crescent City is going to come into play with ACOTAR at some point. In an article with The Bookseller, SJM said, “I had planted seeds in all my series about the possibility of it being a multiverse. The worlds exist, but they are planets and lightyears away.”
Based on the seeds that have been planted, I do think it’s realistic to expect some additional easter eggs (or full-on crossovers) in the future. Again, I still don’t think that necessarily means you HAVE to read Crescent City, but I think it could deepen your appreciation for any potential crossovers.
Marvel really introduced us to the ways of the multiverse, and while you probably would be able to watch the finale of Avengers without watching any other Marvel movies, you certainly are not going to be quite as invested without some additional context into other Marvel characters.
Marvel really introduced us to the ways of the multiverse, and while you probably would be able to watch the finale of Avengers without watching any other Marvel movies, you certainly are not going to be quite as invested without some additional context into other Marvel characters.
It’s the same thing with the SJM world. Her writing is excellent, and I’m sure it will be fantastic regardless of whether she decides to go the multiverse route or not, but getting additional background into different characters and different worlds could be really beneficial.
Long story short: I say YES, read Crescent City before the ACOTAR 6 release date—just to be prepared, you know?
ACOTAR 6 Release Date
Now let’s talk a little bit MORE about the potential ACOTAR 6 release date.
A big fan theory is that she will release ACOTAR 6 on Winter Solstice, which is Feyre’s birthday (who is the main character in the first 3 books), as well as a very important night in ACOTAR lore. Again, I won’t be sharing why…because spoilers.
I am not holding my breath for this, because fans also largely speculated about getting a release date announcement on the Spring Equinox, and that did not happen. Winter Solstice (December 21st) is also a Sunday this year, and all books are released on Tuesdays.
I also don’t think the Winter Solstice has as much significance in the second half of the series as it does in the first half, so I don’t think we will get anything of note around Winter Solstice (not even a release date announcement).
The 2 Year Theory
The announcement that her “drafts” were done was posted on July 11th. For a series this popular and a book this highly anticipated, I don’t believe it’s outside the realm of possibility to expect edits, rewrites, publication, etc., to take up to 6 months. Six months from July 11th is January 11th, so I do believe we can expect a release around that time.
House of Flame and Shadow, which is SJM’s most recent release (and the third Crescent City book), was released in January 2024. This would mark 2 years between releases. In an interview with Today, she mentioned she will likely be slowing down her release pace, which has historically been a book released every year/year and a half.
If she is slowing down her releases to a 2 year gap cadence, a January 2026 release (2 years from her prior release) puts us right on track for that timeline.
Using Historical SJM Releases to Make a Prediction
The release date for House of Flame and Shadow was announced about 6 months prior to publication, so I would imagine that once the team knows how extensive the edits are going to be, they will be able to plan a release date.
The first 4 ACOTAR books were all published in May. The only exception to the May publishing date is the 5th book (A Court of Silver Flames — ACOSF), which was released in February 2021. If I had to guess, I would say she will be releasing this book in February of 2026 to correspond with the release of ACOSF.
Even though February feels lightyears away compared to how badly I want this book to be released, I am just excited that we have SOME semblance of an idea of when this book will be coming out.
This also gives me plenty of time to do any re-reads and gather up my theories before the release :).
So stay tuned for lots of theories to come, and I will also be creating book by book recaps AND an entire series recap. Here’s to the dreamers who look up at the stars and wish ;).
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