Sarah J. Maas returned to her bestselling romantasy series with A Court of Splintered Harmony, selling 188,914 copies in the United Kingdom between October 27 and October 31 to become the nation’s fastest-selling adult fantasy novel since records began in 1998.
Maas Sells 188,914 Copies in UK
According to NielsenIQ BookData, the sixth installment in the A Court of Thorns and Roses series marked Maas’s first return to the fantasy world in more than five years. The opening-week figures surpassed the previous record held by Rebecca Yarros’s Onyx Storm, which sold 155,141 copies during its debut week in January 2025.
Philip Stone of NielsenIQ noted the historical standing of the release:Harry Potter has the record for the highest ever weekly sale for a fantasy novel, but it’s the biggest sale since our records began [in 1998] for an adult fantasy novel.
The hardback also emerged as the fastest-selling hardback novel since Dan Brown’s Inferno sold 229,000 copies in its first week in 2013. In addition, the book achieved the largest single week of sales for any adult fiction title in the UK since Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman in 2015, as stated by publisher Bloomsbury.
Preorders Reach 1.7 Million Copies
Across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia, English-language print and ebook editions reached 1.7 million copies in preorders and first-day sales, excluding audiobooks and translations. Total worldwide sales of Maas’s English-language books across all her series now exceed 100 million copies.
The novel went straight to No. 1 on the UK’s overall book chart, marking Maas’s third time leading the list. When she last topped the chart in January 2024, House of Flame and Shadow from her Crescent City series sold 44,761 copies in its opening week.
Bookshops Host Midnight Launch Parties
Bookshops across the UK hosted release parties and opened past midnight to accommodate readers. The Waterstones chain organized 60 midnight launches alongside 80 early openings and release-day parties.
As one of our most pre-ordered books of the year, excitement for Splintered Harmony was at fever pitch, and the astounding first week of sales has reflected this,
said Lucy Jakes, the science fiction and fantasy buyer at Waterstones. It was amazing to see the hype translate into thousands of Sarah J Maas fans gathering in bookshops.
Romantasy Genre Drives Fiction Revenue
UK fiction revenue crossed the £1 billion threshold for the first time in 2024, supported by sales in both romance and fantasy. Much of the genre’s growth is driven by young women on TikTok, where hashtags related to Maas have accumulated more than 14 billion combined views.
Series Continues on January 12
What is A Court of Splintered Harmony? It is the sixth book in Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses series, serving as the first part of a four-part story with the next two parts contained in A Court of Forgotten Melody, out on January 12.