Midnight launch for new ‘romantasy’ novel - Ciara Treacy Reports

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

The Hard Shoulder, with Ciara Kelly and Shane Colman. On Newstalk, with Ciara.

Ciara Treacy (0:16)

Almost 200 people were queued up outside Dublin's Parnell Street on Monday night to get into Chapters Bookstore. Why? To celebrate the release of the sixth book in Sarah J. Mass's romantic series, Akatar, also known as A Court of Thorns and Roses.

To mark the release of the latest book, A Court of Splintered Harmony, Chapters did something Ireland hasn't seen since the days of Harry Potter, a midnight release party. I spoke with Ciara Phelan, the manager of Chapters Bookstore, as well as fans attending the launch to find out why the series is so special and what people could look forward to at the release party.

Ciara Phelan (0:52)

Well, our customers, we just have known for so long that they absolutely love Sarah J Maas and The Court of Thorns and Roses series.

We knew this was coming out and we thought, why not do something special with our customers? They're so great at coming into events and supporting us, so it's great to be able to give back to them and have a fun night with everybody.

Ciara Treacy (1:10)

And talk us through what people can do here today.

Ciara Phelan (1:13)

We have friendship bracelet making. You can choose which different court you're gonna end up in. We're gonna have trivia throughout the night. You'll have seen lots of people in fancy dress, so we'll have spot prizes for that.

And it's just a really nice place to gather with like-minded people.

Ciara Treacy (1:29)

And what's so exciting, especially for this, the midnight release, do you think it adds an extra, like, quark, extra element to it?

Ciara Phelan (1:35)

Absolutely. I think there kind of hasn't been that same hype around a series in particular in so long that the fact that people were willing to come out on a bank holiday Monday, it's not the nicest weather outside. It creates just a little bit of atmosphere. It's kind of an extra special atmosphere. You can see it in the shop. There's really nice energy in here. So, yeah, we're delighted to be able to support.

Ciara Treacy (1:55)

And what makes this series in particular so special?

Ciara Phelan (1:58)

I think there's kind of, it's an escapist thing. There's something for everybody. There's a fantasy element. There's also a little bit of smut in there, which people like, you know, keeps it interesting. And yeah, it's just, there's something for everybody. It's fantasy without being too deep into the fantasy world. So it's a really nice, if you're kind of interested in it, if you think you're interested in it.

It's also so great. It's a whole generation of readers that maybe wouldn't be reading ordinarily if they picked it up through TikTok or, you know, through just chatting with friends or anything. It's, yeah, something for everybody.

Ciara Treacy (2:33)

Can you explain for people who might not have read any of Akita for, what is Akita?

SPEAKER_4 (2:38)

This human girl, she is the protagonist and she gets flung into this fantasy world, ends up in the spring court, has to deal with these trials and tribulations, gets flung into the night court, there's lots of different things that happen. But it's just, it's a great whirlwind of lots of different things that happen to her. She overcomes lots of different trials and tribulations, and it's just a very, it's a great story. And there's so much that happens because there's so many books now, but it's really, really great.

SPEAKER_5 (3:06)

It's a really fun, like, romantasy series. So there's a bit of romance, there's flying, there's swordplay, there's fae, and magic, found family.

It's just a series that really, it kind of opens up to a whole different world of, like, fairies and stuff like that, and it's a really good escape for a lot of people.

Ciara Treacy (3:29)

What makes this such a special series, do you think?

SPEAKER_4 (3:32)

I think a lot of people see themselves in different characters within the book, so I think it's quite unique in the series where the female protagonist is not necessarily what everyone is seeing themselves in, so they will see themselves in other characters within the book.

Ciara Treacy (3:47)

More than just enjoying the series, the launch party also gave act-art lovers and the wider book community a reason to come together and share their passion.

SPEAKER_4 (3:56)

I just, I love everyone getting together, and I feel like Ireland hasn't had anything like this beforehand, and it's a massive thing, so I obviously just wanted to be here obviously for the book, but also for, like, I knew so many people coming here beforehand, but then meeting other people who have the same interests, and you see it in America, you see it in Europe, you don't see anything like this in Ireland, and I feel like in the last couple of years, the book community has been massive, with Romantic and all those kinds of books, and just something like this is huge for, you know, as you said, people of our age who grew up reading, and then this big outburst of Romantic, it was just massive to have the community together.