Ranking the ACOTAR Books After A Court of Splintered Harmony: My Order (So Far)
I finished A Court of Splintered Harmony on November 1, and one question has followed me since: where does it sit in the whole series?
Ranking the ACOTAR books used to feel like a fun, settled argument. Now there's a new book on the shelf, and it's a part 1, which makes the whole exercise gloriously unfair. So here is my honest attempt, with one big asterisk: this ranking is provisional. Book 7, A Court of Forgotten Melody, arrives January 12, 2027, and it could move book 6 in a heartbeat.
How I'm ranking them
I'm weighing four things: how a book made me feel, whether the characters actually grew, how rereadable it is, and how its ending lands. That last one is where book 6 gets complicated, because a part 1 doesn't get an ending: it gets a pause. So I'm ranking it twice in my head: where it sits now, and where it might sit once book 7 completes it.
How the book made me feel in my bones while reading.
Whether the characters actually evolved or stalled out.
The urge to dive right back into its pages again and again.
How cleanly and powerfully the final act lands.
The six books, in publication order (not my ranking)
The six: A Court of Thorns and Roses, A Court of Mist and Fury, A Court of Wings and Ruin, A Court of Frost and Starlight (the shorter novella), A Court of Silver Flames, and A Court of Splintered Harmony.
That's publication order, not my ranking.
My ranking (for now)
Here is where they land for me right now, with the big asterisk that book 7 could shake everything up:
What I do know is which questions were pulling me in different directions. Do I rank on the book that wrecked me most, or the one I'd reread first? Does a novella belong on the same list as the doorstoppers? And how much weight do I give a book for setting things up beautifully, versus paying them off? For now, this is where my heart landed, and I want your answers too.
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Where A Court of Splintered Harmony sits, for now
Even without a locked order, I can tell you how book 6 feels in the ranking.
The highs are genuinely high. I shrieked at the Azriel-backstory prelude with his shadows. I loved Nesta's POVs, and I will defend her for doing the right thing even when she gets flack for it. Seeing Feyre as a mum, actually seeing a character we love grow into motherhood on the page, broke me in the best way.
But the lows are real too, and they keep book 6 from sliding neatly into a top spot just yet. Some POVs were tough until the action picked up around 70% in. Cassian frustrated me for most of the book, ignoring Nesta for weeks, not coming home, not checking on her when she was hurt, and I need book 7 to show him doing better. And I wanted so much more Gwyn than we got.
Then there's the part-1 problem. The book set the board and broke some things down, and it left me feral for book 7, but a setup, however good, isn't the same as a complete story. So my provisional feeling is this: book 6 earns its place on its best POVs and its final stretch, but its final ranking has to wait for book 7. If book 7 repairs the bat boy brotherhood, gives Gwyn and Azriel the healing they deserve, and gets Nesta out of the prison to find Gwydion, book 6 will look very different in hindsight, in the best way.
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What could change my ranking
Almost everything, and that's the fun of it. Book 7 could reframe book 6 entirely, and a reread could change it too: slower stretches sometimes read differently when you know where they're heading. So this is a snapshot, not a verdict; I'll update it after book 7.
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Your turn: what's your order?
Now I want yours. Rank all six, yes, including the novella, and tell me where A Court of Splintered Harmony landed for you. Did the slow start bother you, or did the last stretch make up for it? Are you ranking it as a part 1, or waiting for book 7 like I am?
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