Sarah J Maas's latest book becomes UK's fastest-selling adult fantasy novel
US author Sarah J Maas's novel A Court of Splintered Harmony sold 188,914 copies in its first week in the UK. It is the fastest-selling adult fantasy novel since accurate records began in 1998.
American author Sarah J Maas's novel A Court of Splintered Harmony has become the fastest-selling adult fantasy novel in the UK since accurate sales records began in 1998. The book was published on 27 October and sold 188,914 copies by 31 October, according to book market data firm NielsenIQ BookData. The result underlines the growing popularity of romantasy, the genre that blends romance and fantasy.
Records and comparisons
It is also the fastest-selling hardback novel since Dan Brown's Inferno, which sold 229,000 copies in its first week in 2013. Philip Stone of NielsenIQ noted that Harry Potter still holds the record for the highest weekly sale for a fantasy novel, but for adult fantasy this is the biggest since records began.
The previous adult fantasy record belonged to Rebecca Yarros's Onyx Storm, which sold 155,141 copies in its opening week in January 2025. Publisher Bloomsbury says the new book is also the biggest single week of sales for any adult fiction title in the UK since Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman in 2015.
The novel went straight to No 1 in the UK's overall book chart, the third time Maas has topped it. When she last did so, in January 2024, House of Flame and Shadow sold 44,761 copies in its first week.
Global reach and the series
Worldwide, the book sold 1.7m copies in preorders and first-day sales, Bloomsbury says. The figure counts English-language print and ebook editions in the US, Canada, the UK and Australia, but not audiobooks or translations. Maas's English-language sales across all her series now exceed 100m copies.
On release day, bookshops across the country held parties and stayed open past midnight. Waterstones alone hosted 60 midnight launches and 80 early openings and release-day events.
The novel is the sixth in the A Court of Thorns and Roses series and the first in more than five years. The first book came out in 2015. The new title is the first part of a four-part story, and the next two parts are contained in A Court of Forgotten Melody, out on 12 January.
