The next ACOTAR book isn’t out yet, but some readers are already muting fan pages.
Images purportedly showing pages from Sarah J. Maas's upcoming A Court of Splintered Harmony are circulating online, leaving fans with the choice between scrutinizing the alleged spoilers and trying to make it to the Oct. 27 release without seeing them.
For some, that second option is proving difficult. In the Facebook group A Court of Thorns and Roses 18+, one reader reported repeatedly encountering alleged leaks on TikTok. "I keep trying to avoid them like a plague, but it's literally EVERYWHERE," they wrote.
Another had already taken precautions: "I muted all of my ACOTAR fan pages for a month."
With almost two weeks until the sixth installment in Maas's romantasy series arrives, apparently even visiting a fan group has become a potential spoiler risk. Here’s what we know, without getting into the purported plot revelations.
What are the alleged ACOTAR leaks?
Much of the discussion centers on photos purportedly showing pages 242 through 247 that were shared in the r/acotar subreddit. (The linked thread contains potential spoilers.)
Readers have been picking apart everything from the characters' apparent behavior to the objects visible around the book, looking for clues about whether the images are genuine.
One commenter, identifying themselves as an Amazon fulfillment center employee, claimed to recognize the setting. "I work at an Amazon FC, I can confirm the books came in last week, and these are our yellow totes and the gloves we wear," they wrote.
Other readers questioned the images' appearance and whether the prose sounded like Maas, leaving the discussion caught between analyzing a possible scene and wondering whether there was any reason to analyze it at all.
"I am having the hardest time figuring out if it’s fake or real. I need to know! It seems like a lot of work to make a fake book," one commenter wrote.
Still, uncertainty hasn’t dampened everyone’s enthusiasm. "I kind of love how messy it is honestly," wrote another reader. For others, the alleged pages have simply added another thing to check on release day: "But if this is fake, I can’t wait to see what the real chapter looks like."
How are ACOTAR fan communities handling the alleged leaks?
The scramble to discuss the images is also testing how fan communities accommodate readers who want every possible detail alongside those trying to avoid them.
In r/acotar, moderators have opted to allow discussions about the leaks following a community vote. "We had a sub-wide poll on if we should allow leaks or not. The sub voted for yes," a moderator explained in the thread.
That permission comes with conditions. The subreddit’s leak protocol requires posts to include "[POSSIBLE LEAK]" in their titles, carry a spoiler tag and the appropriate flair, and go through moderator review with supporting evidence. It also prohibits sharing the full book or links to it, as well as leaks that confirm or rule out romantic pairings.
Other communities have drawn a firmer line. Moderators of r/Elucien have said their subreddit does not allow leaks, distinguishing unauthorized material from previews publicly released by Maas or Bloomsbury.
For readers counting down to Oct. 27, those rules can determine whether a favorite fan space remains somewhere to share their excitement — or becomes another page to mute.