To get a breather from the ship wars, here’s what I feel like would happen, roughly, in ACOTAR 6-7, potentially 8 + my reasoning on why based on what we have at the moment. I don’t think I’ve gotten everything. Yes, there’s a lot of blanks but that’s mostly cause I’m not SJM and I’m dealing with a lot of general notions. I’m also very aware of how SJM writes, which is very unpredictable and she works with wherever her whims lead her so I might be completely off on all of this.
The purported length makes me think it’s going to be a plotline more immediate and easier to resolve sooner, and to me that’s Illyria
Not sure if the gray color for the temp cover means anything, but I’m just gonna assume for a moment it does. Gray lines up heavily with Illyria, the mountains, wings, leathers and steel of weaponry
I also feel like it would be harder to deal with the international issues when the Night Court has been dealing with domestic issues like rebellion and ill-will with Illyrians since ACOMAF
ACOSF left off on the Valkyries winning the Blood Rite, and I don’t think that’s something that’s something that can go unaddressed, when the group of people that serve as the Night Court’s military are angry at the High Lady’s sister and friends (one of whom is an Illyrian that has to go back home at the end of all of it)
In addition to the implications of what it has to do with Emerie and potentially Nesta, ACOSF was not subtle about Azriel’s feelings towards the Illyrians, all while also building up his character in other ways. Cassian is also still tied to all this, since he is the general of that army.
Overall, a decent number of characters tied directly to Illyria, a good reasoning for why this needs to be addressed, and why it needs to be addressed immediately.
I don’t actually think any ships would be finalized in this book, but it may indicate more to what the ultimate ships would be.
Potentially Emorie, some beginnings of Gwynriel
SJM said the perspectives “surprised her,” and it seems like the one book-one couple format has been deviated from. The only perspectives I think would make sense would be Emerie and Azriel, two characters that have a plotline and character struggles in common, but we would be dealing with two ships in the one book.
Emerie and Azriel as a potential mejor perspectives to open potential for more Mor and Gwyn as their prospective love interests, which would lead to…
ACOTAR 7 - the Autumn Court
Mor and Eris have things to resolve
Gwyn’s lineage to the Autumn Court is mentioned in ACOSF, and it’s notable because we usually don’t get lineages for characters, let alone for side characters
There’s also this really weird bit with Eris in ACOSF and maybe this is a stretch but I feel like somehow he’s related to Gwyn
I feel like we would get Emorie and Gwynriel in this book
Going into the Autumn Court here would also open up the possibility for more Lucien, potentially his parentage being revealed
Lucien being more prominent would also open up possibility for Elain to be more of a focus
I feel like Beron would try something, potentially with Elain, since by virtue of being Lucien’s mate she’s going to dragged into any politics attached to him. She could be leverage used against him by Beron.
I don’t see Beron surviving to the end of this series, would be really surprised if he does
I can see it going down with Helion and Beron over the Lady of Autumn, Lucien’s parentage being revealed during that conflict
Eris becomes High Lord, maybe the stuff with Mor is resolved - opens up another route for steadier alliance between Night and Autumn before they have to deal with Koschei
As for the temp cover…yes it’s pink, but it’s also orange and yellow, and that is very reminiscent of fire
I do feel like something unavoidable will happen with Elain and/or Lucien that forces them to work together. I do think something will happen where Vassa is captured by Koschei, maybe that would be the driver for leading into the last book…
I don’t think Koschei will be addressed until the very end of the series, every other plotline needs to be resolved before this one, since this is the heaviest, magic and politics-wise
I don’t actually have a full picture on what could happen in this cause this book is far out in the future and dependent on two (three?) prior books
The Prison might be revisited
Not sure where the Dusk Court would fit into all of this
Spring Court, I feel like is likely to revisit. We went to the Spring Court in ACOFAS and ACOSF, I don’t think we’re done there.
There also has to be some kind of resolution to the court, I feel like it is kind of a major issue for Prythian and the other High Lords if an entire court is out-of-service and it’s previous leader is spending the rest of his days as a beast waiting to meet his end in whatever that happens
I don’t know how I would feel about Lucien and Elain taking on the Spring Court, but there’s literally no one else to take it on. Lucien was emissary there for at least 50 years, he knows the in’s and out’s of that land, its people, its politics. Geographically, it’s positioned between the human lands and Autumn, and Lucien is familiar enough with both to be a good controlling force there. Elain, as Nesta said, would thrive there (and maybe I have this wish for her to become this powerful nature-cryptid type of High Lady, sue me for a bit of indulgence in an already self-indulgent post). Again, referring to geography, a former human like Elain who was popular in human society would be a good peacekeeper between the fae and the humans who lived on the other side.
I also don’t see Tamlin living out to the end of the series, sorry to the Tamlin redemption fans. SJM does not seem keen on redeeming him, but at the same time I feel like him and Lucien have to have some closure.
I also just feel like it would be nice for the series to come full circle— ending with Elucien, two characters that we were introduced to when the series first started, and ending in the same place we started.
