The sixth instalment of the A Court of Thorns and Roses series, A Court of Splintered Harmony, has hit bookstores this week, but fans are questioning one key decision by author Sarah J. Maas.
The book, released as the sixth in the saga that began in 2015, has been eagerly awaited by readers, with many attending midnight release parties dressed as their favourite characters. However, some fans have pointed out what they see as a flaw with the new release, wondering why Maas chose to publish it in its current form.
Fan confusion over book size
One fan, Aiya Raslan, showed a copy of one of Maas's Crescent City books, comparing its thickness to the latest release, and questioned why Maas had not simply published one thick book in the ACOTAR series. Many others shared the same curiosity.
"She told us that there were physical limitations to making this volume as large as she wanted it to be. And then proceeded to print something this large," Aiya said, showing how thin A Court of Splintered Harmony is at just 352 pages. In contrast, the Crescent City books are all upwards of 800 pages.
Maas's planned volumes
Maas has said that books six, seven, and eight comprise volumes one to four of the latest part of the story. Aiya continued: "I don't know what the length is of the three volumes that are to come; she told us that the second book, the second physical bound book, is gonna have volume two and volume three in it, and then there will be a fourth volume that will be its own single book."
"So three books for four volumes... and it could not physically be bound, there are limitations to what you can physically bind in a book, coming from the woman who did this," she said sarcastically, while holding up her much chunkier Crescent City book.
Other fans defend the decision
However, other fans jumped to the author's defence. One wrote: "Can you guys, just… think for a second? I don’t think she could have possibly fit ALL of the story in one book like she wanted to, as she said in the interview - so she had to find natural breaks in the narrative that would’ve made sense in story flow to separate the story into multiple books with natural story arcs."
"She can’t put out a 2,000+ page book. Y’all are acting like it was only going to be 900 pages, and she only has the first two completed, as she said, and wanted to get them out for people to read."
Another fumed: "Book 1: 332, Book 2: 800+, Book 3: Unknown… So a 2,000 page book possibly yes sounds like it’s a physical limitation for her printer." "And half of it is explaining what happened in Crescent City," a third joked, while a fourth said they are "fed up of people complaining".
Other reader complaints
Another issue annoying readers is that the book does not physically fit with their other ACOTAR books, as it is a hardback and much bigger, so it does not look aesthetic on their shelves. People have also complained about the colour scheme of the newer books, with A Court of Splintered Harmony and A Court of Forgotten Melody both having multicoloured covers, whereas the original releases of books one to five have single-colour covers.
