If you've spent any time near an Ottawa bookstore in the past few years, you've seen the evidence firsthand: Sarah J. Maas has built a readership so devoted that her releases generate lineups, sold-out stock, and waiting lists at the Ottawa Public Library that stretch for months.
Now she's announced two new books in her beloved ACOTAR (A Court of Thorns and Roses) series, and the reaction from Ottawa's reading community has been immediate and loud.
The Announcement
Maas revealed the new books after years of reader speculation about whether the ACOTAR world would continue beyond the existing five-book series. "It was a long time coming," she told media, acknowledging that the demand from her fanbase made it clear the story wasn't finished.
Details on the new books are sparse, titles and release dates haven't been announced, but the confirmation alone was enough to set book clubs, online communities, and Ottawa's indie bookstores buzzing.
Ottawa's Romantasy Community
Romantasy, the hybrid genre that blends romance with fantasy, which Maas essentially helped define for the current generation of readers, has an enormous following in Ottawa. Local book clubs dedicated entirely to the genre have emerged in recent years, meeting everywhere from Westboro coffee shops to public library meeting rooms in Barrhaven and Kanata.
Independent bookstores like Singing Pebble Books in the Glebe and Perfect Books on Elgin Street will almost certainly be ordering heavily when release dates are confirmed. The Ottawa Public Library, which already maintains Maas waitlists that rival those for any other author in the system, will need to plan accordingly.
Why It Matters Beyond the Fandom
Maas's cultural reach represents something worth noticing: an author who primarily writes for adult women, in a genre that mainstream literary culture has historically dismissed, has become one of the most commercially powerful writers on the planet. Her books are now being adapted for television, and the readership she's built, largely through social media communities, is genuinely global.
For Ottawa readers who haven't yet discovered why their friends won't stop talking about Feyre and Tamlin, this might be the moment to find out.
Source: CBC Arts
