Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Splintered Harmony has become the UK’s fastest-selling adult fantasy novel since reliable sales records began in 1998. The sixth book in her A Court of Thorns and Roses series sold 188,914 copies between its publication on 27 October and 31 October, according to NielsenIQ BookData.
The opening also marks the strongest first week for a hardback novel since Dan Brown’s Inferno sold 229,000 copies in 2013. Rebecca Yarros’s Onyx Storm previously held the adult fantasy record, with 155,141 copies sold in its opening week in January 2025.
Publisher Bloomsbury said the novel recorded the biggest single week of sales for any adult fiction title in the UK since Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman in 2015. It also reported 1.7 million copies sold through pre-orders and first-day sales worldwide. That figure covers English-language print and ebook editions in the US, Canada, the UK and Australia, excluding audiobooks and translations.
The book went straight to No 1 in the UK’s overall book chart, giving Maas her third title to reach the top spot. Her previous chart-topper, House of Flame and Shadow, sold 44,761 copies in its opening week in January 2024.
The release was accompanied by events at bookshops across the UK. Waterstones held 60 midnight launches and 80 early openings and release-day parties. The novel begins a four-part story; the next two parts are included in A Court of Forgotten Melody, due out on 12 January.
Sources: The Guardian World.