A book with three faces, four movements
I adore how the term movements carries multiple meanings. It is connected to movements in a symphony, each section one part of the whole and various instruments working together in harmony. Sarah uses a lot of musical imagery in acotar: from battle to torture to spells to dreaming to creation. All the world is a song. I could see the next book having a consistent title, like @shadowyfawn has suggested, with subtitles that indicate the different movements in this next story.
I do expect that movement might be tied to the language or map for creation—
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There is another map we glimpse in acosf when Nesta tracks down the Harp. It is at the center of an eight-pointed star, associated with four cardinal directions like a compass rose:
We know the compass rose is used for travel; it was once referred to as a wind rose or rose of winds (which might be why roses are connected to creation and movement in the Maasverse as well). In Greek mythology, the winds were the product of Eos (Dawn) and Astraeus (Dusk), representing different seasons and directions. North, West, South, and East.
It doesn’t seem like a coincidence that Elain’s first question to Azriel elicited information on Illyrian’s connection to the song of the wind. When she uses her untrained magic, Elain also notes how the Suriel moves like the breath of the western wind. And she begins to repeatedly move like an unseen force—like the wind—soon after this.
We know her magic, the murky realm she has access to, is connected to the Cauldron—the map for creation—and likely allows her to move beyond earthly rules and borders. Sarah takes it a step further in acosf and even ties her magic to the Harp. Look at these responses from Elain and the Harp to Nesta:
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I sound like a broken record about this at this point, but I think it’s likely a dawn ritual—one that inspires communion with the Mother, movement outside the body—could help Elain like the dusk ritual helped Nesta enter a trance. Could the four movements of her story reflect her exploration of pathways and doors, space and eons like we suspect? And will Azriel—a secret dreamer, his magic born in darkness—learn how to help her explore, his voice a quiet anchor in the void?












