Fans Swarm Brooklyn for Midnight Release of “A Court of Splintered Harmony”
Around 400 costumed fans gathered at Brooklyn’s Bell House to celebrate the sixth A Court of Thorns and Roses novel and its merch.
Seconds before midnight, an ecstatic scream rippled through the Bell House, a converted warehouse in Brooklyn, as roughly 400 fans gathered for the release of Sarah J. Maas’s sixth A Court of Thorns and Roses novel, A Court of Splintered Harmony.
Attendees arrived in fairy wings, silky gowns, sparkly tiaras, flower wreaths and, for the less flamboyant, pointy prosthetic ears, signalling that the night was anything but ordinary.
The celebration, hosted by romance‑focused bookstore The Ripped Bodice, was one of about 2,000 midnight release events worldwide. According to Bloomsbury, sales on Tuesday—including pre‑orders—reached 1.7 million print and e‑book copies across the United States, Canada, Britain and Australia, setting a single‑day record for Maas.
Fans spent the pre‑release hours trading conspiracy theories about future plot twists, getting temporary tattoos and face paint, sipping themed cocktails, posing behind a giant cauldron and purchasing branded candles, bag charms and other memorabilia.
While most book launches feature an author with a Sharpie and a stack of new copies, the Maas phenomenon has turned new releases into extravaganzas, and the Brooklyn party was a vivid illustration of that trend.
