A phony book announcement for the next Sarah J. Maas’ project.

Although clearly a joke, this is not the first time phony announcements have focused on the Spring Court, raising interesting questions about the POVs in the ACOTAR series. The creator jokingly said, “Elain, anyone?” concerning Tamlin, highlighting how reductive of Elain’s character it would be to connect her to Tamlin in a redemptive context. Although Maas did the multiple-POV format well in A Court of Frost and Starlight, Elain desperately needs dedicated development in book 6.

A Court Of Gentle Claws: ACOTAR Book 6's Fake Title Explained

The Title Was A Fake Announcement For April Fools

On April Fool's Day 2025, Instagram need ACOTAR book 6.

The creator’s description of the hints at the fake book’s plot line were intentionally egregious, mentioning a “love triangle” specifically including Elain, to many ACOTAR readers’ dismay. This is not the first April Fool about the eagerly anticipated ACOTAR book 6 - last year, there were similar prank titles (per Reddit), including A Court of Bloom and Decay and, hilariously, A Court of Fiddles and Pollen. All of these jokes referring to the Spring Court show that there is clearly an appetite for more Tamlin in the storyline, regardless of whether readers sympathize with him or not.

A Court Of Gentle Claws Is A Great Choice For Tamlin's Redemption Arc, But Not For Book 6

Achieving Gentleness Would Track With His Initial Beast-Inspired Characterization

A Court of Gentle Claws as a title, despite being a little goofy, is surprisingly appropriate for a later book focused on Tamlin. I’ll be disappointed if a Tamlin mate theory comes true where Elain is concerned. Elain’s love should not be the thing that redeems Tamlin, as it would completely undo the message told in the original trilogy, where Feyre’s love is certainly not enough to fix him. This said, a general redemption arc makes sense, particularly because A Court of Thorns and Roses is partly inspired by Beauty and the Beast.

However, book 6 is too soon for a full circle moment like this. Tamlin needs to redeem himself, and for that to work, readers arguably need a return of Feyre’s POV, which is pretty sparse in Silver Flames. It needed to instead focus on Nesta’s journey. Because it seems pretty likely that Elain is next, it is unclear whether Sarah J. Maas simply wants to move on from Feyre’s POV, so that readers would see her family life through other characters, not unlike Diana and Matthew in Deborah Harkness’ All Souls series.

Why The ACOTAR Series Needs To Tell Elain's Story Before It Moves On To Other Characters

Elain Has Not Been Explored Enough Yet

A natural progression from Nesta’s POV in A Court of Silver Flames would be focusing on Elain. This was not so subtly hinted at toward the end of the fifth book, with Rhysand speculating that there is more to Elain than her family assumes. If book 6 were to jump to Tamlin’s POV before developing Elain’s character, I think a lot of readers would be upset, myself included. Not to mention, there are unresolved feelings between ACOTAR’s Elain and Azriel that should be explored in the next book, especially considering Azriel’s bonus chapter in A Court of Silver Flames.

Their potential romance has been set up with forbidden love implications because their getting together could cause a major inter-Court conflict via Lucien, her “fated mate”. Pivoting to write book 6 about Tamlin’s redemption arc would be a waste of this buildup. It also seems like it is time to explore a potential couple that are not mated, since Maas already has two fated pairs in the Inner Circle: Feyre and Rhys, and Nesta and Cassian. However, even readers who a pairing between Elain and Lucien likely want that next rather than the abrupt shift to Tamlin.

It would also provide a sense of symmetry in the overall story to firstly flesh out all three Archeron sisters...

It would also provide a sense of symmetry in the overall story to first flesh out all three Archeron sisters. Elain’s character has real potential, but has been largely underexplored, perhaps intentionally. Hopefully there is a payoff in the next book, because I suspect Elain will turn out to be the most interesting sister of the trio in A Court of Thorns and Roses.

Source: Reddit, @kalia.books/Instagram