A Court of Theories and Controveries
plus: werewolves, direwolves, scottish wolves, and more
Happy Friday, friends! This week, we’re doing a grab bag. We meet some wolves, we talk about the increasing importance of fan art in book marketing, and we dive into some theories about the release date for BookTok’s favorite topic: ACOTAR 6.
Let’s dive in.
A Court of Conspiracies, Theories, and Controversies
May 5 marks the ten year anniversary of the release of A Court of Thorns and Roses. I have many thoughts and feelings. Chief among them - ten years?! The longevity of this series needs to be studied. I recently had an opportunity to re-read this book (for an upcoming podcast) and it was striking how quaint some of the plot points felt ten years on. ACOTAR has many imitators, and they’re all trying to push the envelope just a bit further than their predecessors.
In honor of the ten year anniversary, the series’ publisher, Bloomsbury, announced special “Night Court” editions of the books - all black paperbacks of each book in the series.
The announcement was greeted with angst and consternation. “babes the ACOTAR girlies want another book they don't need more editions lmao,” said @dylanjosephwrites. Another complaint? No special bonus content included.
I think we’re seeing the limits of where special edition culture can take us - readers won’t shell out for just any new edition. They want artwork or gold foil or hardcovers or new epilogues.
In addition to the special editions, giant copies of A Court of Thorns and Roses have been showing up at bookstores across the country:
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Cute! But the caption on literally every BookTok video about these giant books is a plea for Sarah J Maas to announce book 6 in the series (I’m sensing a theme).
I think we’re witnessing the Taylor Swiftification of the ACOTAR fanbase in real time here, as BookTokers have taken to sharing their videos about clues that ACOTAR 6 will be announced soon:
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That May 1 date has passed, but May 5 (the actual anniversary) is on the horizon.
Part of the reason readers are so desperate for an ACOTAR 6 announcement is born out of a long-raging stan war about who the next book will be about and who the love interest will be. Since A Court of Silver Flames was about Nesta, it’s easy to assume ACOTAR 6 will be about Feyre’s other sister, Elain. But who will Elain end up with? Her mate, Lucien? Or Azriel, Rhysand’s spymaster?
The video below includes some good old fashioned Swiftie-style numerology:
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Do you think there’s more to this than an attempt to make sure every person in the world has read ACOTAR? All of this is feeling very Reputation(Taylor’s Version) to me. Let me know in the comments.
Grandmother, What Big Teeth You Have!
I got bogged down in other things in the trend report on Sunday, so you’re getting this piece of it here: WOLVES! They’re taking over.
The romantasy trend cycle moves ever faster, but what I’m seeing right now is a few breakout books featuring wolves, of both the werewolf kind and otherwise. There’s also a lot of crossover with paranormal here (a subgenre that I think is on the verge of being resurrected AND ALSO isn’t quite romantasy, which I know can be confusing).
First, we have Direbound, which I predict will be the next huge romantasy novel. It’s basically Fourth Wing with direwolves, and it’s both an extremely competent amalgamation of recent genre trends and totally fun. Plus, it came out just in time for the direwolf news cycle.
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Direbound’s launch strategy has been fascinating and has included weekly character art reveals on Instagram:
The trend of authors commissioning fan art to promote their new releases isn’t new, but what is new to me is seeing creators use fan art in their videos about a book:
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All of this to say, fan art is occupying an increasingly important place in indie author promotion tactics and with creators. In a crowded market, is this a differentiator?
Another book climbing the Amazon charts? The Wolf King (and recently released sequel The Night Prince). I’d call these books Outlander meets werewolves (the wolves are Scottish and divided into warring clans).
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Shoutout to this girl for her attempt at a Scottish accent.
Then there are the paranormal fated mate werewolf romances that I’m seeing everywhere lately:
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And Rosie Danan’s new release, Fan Service, is also a werewolf book. Watch this space.
Recession Indicator
TikTok girlies using eyelash filters instead of getting real life lash extensions. (Making this post I discovered you can’t see the filters creators are using on desktop TikTok, but in the app you can see she’s using a filter called PRETTY BABE x LASHES).
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Finally, it feels like there has been an explosion of interesting new books on the platform in the past few weeks - is it spring fever? Whatever it is, my Kindle is full. And do you know what it seems like everyone is wanting (other than wolves)? YEARNING.
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Are we ready for yearn-spring?
Next week, I’m finally figuring out who the Boys of Tommen are ahead of book 6 in the series releasing May 27.
xoxo
To all my old school paranormal girlies- read Elizabeth Hunter! I first read Irin Chronicles and have since become a diehard Elemental Universe fan. I think many are on kindle unlimited. She has a new more romantasy oriented series as well as some contemporary romance here and there. Try it, you won’t be sorry!
More evidence to support the wolf trend: a werewolf (called a Lykae in the series) just won my Immortals After Dark voting bracket, beating the popular vampire that most thought would win! The IAD series has its 20th anniversary next year!
The dominance of ACOTAR is wild indeed. I just started doing a NYT Best Sellers analysis and all of the books in the series were on the list at some point in the April sales period!!