Saratoga Springs turned into a faerie court on Monday night, as about 525 fans filled Universal Preservation Hall for a midnight release party celebrating the sixth book in Sarah J. Maas's A Court of Thorns and Roses series. The three-hour bash came with costumes, trivia, music and a line for flash tattoos, all built around the arrival of A Court of Splintered Harmony.
Northshire Bookstore and Universal Preservation Hall teamed up for what the Times Union describes as their first joint midnight release party, one that spotlights the popularity of romantasy and the ACOTAR fandom. The event had a cap of 600 people, and the attendance figure of about 525 was attributed to Marisa Flynn. Each ticket included a hardcover copy of the 352-page sixth installment, distributed at midnight.
Ink, Bedazzling and a Midnight Hardcover
Billed as the ACOTAR 6 Release Party, the evening was scheduled to start at 9 p.m., according to Proctors Insider. Each ticket included a hardcover copy of the book handed out at midnight, plus a DJ dance party, trivia, a costume contest, a photo station and book bedazzling. Amp Tattoos and Happywear were offered as extra-fee vendors for fine-line tattoos and custom hats.
A tattoo station offered fine-line tattoos during the night, the Times Union reports. Abigale Prue got her very first tattoo. Vicki Anderson, meanwhile, already wears two tattoos inspired by Maas's books.
A Fandom With Real Library Numbers
The turnout fits a pattern in the Capital Region. Sarah J. Maas holds a “cult following on BookTok and a legion of devoted readers,” according to Metroland Now, which also noted that skipping a Northshire event means “missing out on the communal aspect of fandom.”
The library stacks tell a similar story. The Albany Public Library and Upper Hudson Library System logged 23,902 checkouts of the first five ACOTAR books in 2026, per the Times Union, and 51,853 checkouts of Maas titles overall. The Upper Hudson Library System also reported that 21% of its 2026 digital circulation involved titles categorized as romance fiction and fantasy fiction.
Beyond the region, the series has sold more than 75 million copies internationally and is published in 40 languages, according to Bloomsbury. The books follow Feyre, a human forced to live in Prythian after killing a faerie wolf while hunting for food.
More Release Parties on the Calendar
If the night left you wanting more, organizers are already planning ahead. Northshire and Universal Preservation Hall have a party set for A Court of Forgotten Melody on Jan. 11, 2027, and Proctors Insider lists an ACOTAR 7 release party for 9 p.m. that same day. A release party for Rachel Reid's Unrivaled is planned for June 1, 2027.
Flynn said organizers hope fans will keep coming back as they build on the event. Rachel Person, Northshire's director of events, said Northshire partnered with the hall to create more out-of-the-box book events.
