the idea that not criticising or talking about someone is somehow the same as deplatforming when that person has a huge, dedicated fanbase is so such a bizarre argument. all it does is silence valid criticism about maas and her actions and effectively encourage uncritically engaging with her work. its very transparent
Very!! And yet that doesn’t stop people from thinking they are doing something by being like “why do you keep talking about Maas?” Like idk how else to explain to people how REVIEWS work and why they are important.
I mean we live in an era where fans, and some authors, demand you don't give a book anything less than 3 stars because it hurts their fee fees. So many people have lost the plot.
@@HungryEyes-sl3muThis statement reeks of psychosis, a term I use not lightly but necessarily. Have people really forgotten that you're more or less free to do as you please, and that the cacophony of nonsense on the internet holds no actual weight? All these insular echo chambers, this channel included, delude themselves into believing that pandering and parroting each other's drivel somehow equates to a revolution. Imagine, if you will, in '64, the idea that the course of history could be altered by people downvoting some teen girl's frivolous books... You've all lost the narrative.
I remember years ago when i got on goodreads they almost got me lmao everyone was selling it as the best fantasy, thankfully i saw a video about her books before wasting my time
Okay, the thing about SJM being this crazy amazing world builder is so interesting to me because I feel like a lot of the fans do the heavy world building FOR HER. People will write these insanely long analysis and essays and come up with lore for SJM based off super minor details in her works. It then just gets circulated so much that I think there is a disconnect between where SJM's work ends and head canon begins. There are a ton of reasons that her most recent CC book was bad, but I also saw a lot of fans being dissapointed that this weird head canon the community had developed was never built upon. But like...it was never actually there in the first place?? The whole thing is so bizarre to me and I think it inflates this idea that SJM is some masterful world builder.
I feel like a major elitist douche saying that, but it also kinda feels like limited reading experience to me? If your experience with genre is the lighter romantasy fair I would guess SJM could compare favorably, but if you're really into worldbuilding just.... go read more widely, please. There are authors that genuinely have essay-worthy worlds
I agree with this comment but I didn't read any of her books, but I read some fans spin-offs of her work, or fans fiction that uses word that she started but they build so interesting stories there that got me interested. So I had this thought - a lot of this nice work are influenced by The books so maybe I should read them if the world is soo nice, but I decided to watch few rewiew and heh, I never read the books. This video is my like 5 maybe review, but the few a watched was enought to not buy it. I had few reasons but first was language, in all videos there were fragments shown, and when I heard how high schoolish it sounded I was like "no", dissapointed hit. Then when I found out that plot of first books ends with nothing, like you have to read like 5 books to get something "bigger" in story. And I say it bc I know the plot with my reading few short stories, looking up books, I knew that story was supposted to get very big with magic and fights and all, but then in review I heard that magic is like in 3 or 4 book, the same with this big romance that supposted to be there. I decided to not read this books. I can honestly say that if I wouldn't read this FF I wouldn't look at this books, bc I always thought this was teeneger books, bc in my country they are in Teens category. So yeah I let them go, but when I see so many people like them I go back and think maybe I should read first one, maybe get from library, but then I hear things like in this video and again hear language and "not worth my time" comes to mind ...
The strong world building and fan lore reminds me of when Cassandra Clare started out. The world itself was sloppy, too much pastiche with little originality, often conflicting character observations. But the fans built so high that it was easy to handwave the issues. Granted, CC already had fans built in but many of her current fans are younger than her HP days. So it's easier to ignore the criticism. I think SJM has a similar legacy. It's been so long that a new gen is finding the works and doesn't necessarily understand the writing time context.
My own personal thoughts. I read all of ACOTAR and all of Throne of glass (I was down bad for someone don't judge me). The death of Nahemia left a really bad taste in my mouth when reading it. I stopped buying her books after she exploited Breonna Taylor's death. It was disgusting that she would do that to begin with but it also reflected the way she treated her black character in her stories. While I also have laundry list of SJM criticism. I will simply comment them when/if you post more videos to get you engagement.
The main thing I remember about this book is a training scene early on where a man had to explain to her that she could use her anonymity and humble cover story to her advantage, and she was shocked pikachu over how brilliant this pearl of wisdom was. The best assassin who ever did live needed to be told that being inconspicuous is good actually. I DNF'd. The gap between what the reader is told about the MC and what we're shown is a canyon.
I feel this way about the FMC in all of SJM's books that I've read. I got so annoyed reading through Crescent City every time the FMC had a "brilliant idea" and it was from the other MCs perspective. Why not show how she came up with the idea instead of how impressed the man is that she could some up with this thing we never saw her even thinking about in her perspective? And don't even get me started on Feyre, she had to have everything spelled out to her multiple times throughout the series, yet we're told all the time how smart and clever she is.
None of her characters has enough intelligence to get themselves out of a paper bag. It is as mentally stimulating as watching a wall but one can actually be deeply entertained by that if their imagination is running wild at the same time. Not the case with the works this woman presents. The bar is on the floor.
It's an interesting look on the impact of editing when you notice an author's books spiral and inflate as they grow more popular. It's kind of a shame how little people seem to value editing when everyone needs another look at their work to make it the best it can be
Yeeeep. Authors like SJM are going to be successful anyway and they often get more power to push back on notes and edits and you end up with works that…. Really needed editing.
As someone who shelves books in a library as part of my job, YES. I get so sad that writers' books become more unwieldy as they gain popularity. Shelving Maas's, Patterson's, and Armentrout's books drives me bonkers.
When LKH and Anne Rice bragged about not having to accept editors anymore I remember it BOGGLING my mind. As a writer, by the end you’re SO close to the work you need fresh eyes! The key is to find an editor you trust who understands what you want and will help you make it the best possible version.
The point you made about more juvenile-like writing style made me realize that I wasn’t crazy when I read throne of glass and 100% thought I was reading a YA novel aimed at teens - only to pick up the next book in the series and be blinded by unprovoked explicit smut 😭
I'm only dealing with people who can get out of the shallow end of the pool is such a mood. The way in which you criticized her with precision was chef's kiss.
Videos like this- that point out how popular content contain harmful aspects- also are very helpful to prospective readers (like myself) who are curious as to whether something is worth their time or not. As you said, in a world where SJM's work is already massively popular, criticism of the material is necessary. It promotes healthy discussion.
the wild racism and other bigotry in a lot of incredibly popular fantasy romance books right now is genuinely insane to me. tell me who let Armentrout publish a series where the black people can turn into wolves, get deep spiritual bonds from childhood with individuals from the majority lighter skinned race that mean they'll ~always be companions~ (NOT individual servants given at childhood we swear you guys), and then has the MC get a power upgrade where every single bond for every single wolf shapeshifter is transferred to her, gaining deep psychic bonds with every single one of them and removing that aspect of their relationship with their previous bonded buddy, AND EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM IS JUST FINE WITH IT??????? NOT A SINGLE INDIVIDUAL PERSON OF THE RACE IS AT ALL UPSET THAT THEYRE NOW PERMANENTLY PSYCHICALLY BONDED TO SOME SHITASS RANDO AND CAN NO LONGER SPEAK PSYCHICALLY TO THE PERSON WHO WAS PREVIOUSLY SUPPOSED TO BE THEIR MAGICAL BEST FRIEND FOREVER WHO THEYVE SPENT POTENTIALLY HUNDREDS OF YEARS WITH?????????? Then, when it's revealed the main character can *literally* bring people back from the dead, the only people she can't LITERALLY RESURRECT are the black people. whom she's god-ordained magically bonded to. so THEY can die for real and that's not a risk for anyone else. cool cool cool. none of this even begins to touch the genuinely jaw-dropping antisemitism in that series, which is somehow arguably worse, the genuinely horrendous relationship dynamics, or the fact that the writing is literally just bad. I've never seen any criticisms of her work. reading it felt like I was in the twilight zone, it boggles my mind that these are the books libraries need to get hundreds of copies of on libby
Eyyyyy fellow armentrout hater! Every single thing you just said is so true. Guys, i prommy it's not slavery 🥺 don't you get it, they WANT to serve them. You're also forgetting that this race of people also are very rough, animalistic and have violent sex and enjoy exhibitionism bc....why not? And Armentrout used the bonding as a bait to use Kieran for a stupid threesome. I just about lost my mind and faith in people when fbaa fans were sexualizing him just to read him be a glorified dick for the speshul mc. I hated the bonding and I hated how no one was complaining about how Armentrout used this gross idea of using black people in this fetishy way. Cool cool cool. Everything's cool there's nothing racist going on here Btw what are the anti semitic tones? I didn't pick them up myself but I'm curious to know
I read and talking pretty extensively, mostly on TT, about the racism in FBAA, but I bounced after the first book SO I HAD NO IDEA IT GOT WORSE?? Jesus. And those books were so TERRIBLE that reading more would be a cosmic punishment.
Bruh, it's like Operation Get Behind the Darkies from the South Park movie..but at least the South Park movie has the African Americans move out of the way
I was honestly shocked when SJM got popular, bc my first experience with her was when I tried to read Throne of Glass ~10 years ago and hated the writing so much I quit on page 5. A couple years later when my roommate in my dorm tried to convince me SJM was the best writer ever I said nah then forgot SJM existed until I saw everyone talking about her books again like 2 years ago. I miss not remembering who she was tbh, but I'm also always here to hear you break down what exactly makes her writing bad. I always feel like I'm learning new ways of critically examining what I read when I watch your videos, and I am forever grateful that you're suffering through this book for us
The mention of misogyny sent off some alarm bells of agreement. I find Maas so fascinating because she's marketed as "feminist fantasy" but her works hate women and glorify deeply abusive relationships. I will say it again as I've said it before: Rhysand being promoted as this perfect boyfriend character is deeply troubling to me because his behavior in any other context is reprehensible. But because Maas is writing him, he's framed as THE BEST BOY simply because she says so when the text plainly shows the contrary. And Maas doesn't worldbuild. The ACOTAR series (which are all I've read of hers) feels like a grab-bag of various tropes and elements pulled from High Fantasy 101 but they're purely aesthetic. There's no logic or theme at play to make the fantasy mean anything. I personally find her works so objectionable as a man because of the way she portrays men. The men in her work are all the same in that they're all broody, snarky assholes who abuse and neg women, but it's ok because they have some really out of place trauma to justify it. I'm devoted to writing fiction that fights this and portrays men as good and kind and decent. It depresses me that this is people's entry point back into reading when it's repeating the same horrid ideas about gender roles and relationships that we should be over by now in my view. I'm just so happy that there are people who don't worship this person's work. This weird cult-like devotion to a hack writer is so weird to me.
💯💯💯YEP. I'm sorry but I don't understand why women read these kinds of books so much. Is it like some internalized misogyny or trauma or something. Girlie there are better ways to deal with those most of the time
@@AGK1999FE you responded to your own question. internalised misogyny. we literally grew up watching movies like beauty and the beast. what do u expect?
As a woman I also get confused as to why women like SJM but also Colleen Hoover. Both write like third graders and glorify/romanticize abuse. There are in fact better writers who write both realistic and good male and female characters. They even world build and not beat you over the head with what they’re trying to say… they show you.. with their good writing and story lines that don’t have massive plot holes.
I had other smart thoughts i could contribute, but being reminded about the new name meaning "spirit that could not be broken" blew ALL of those out of the water like 😭😭😭 Sarah that's LITERALLY the final impact line from Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron WHAT ARE YOU DOIIIING!!! And now i can only imagine this main character as a huge yellow horse with huge human eyebrows
Someone else pointed this out in my comments and it reminds me that I should a list of her plagiarism- I mean “inspirations”- as well. Spirit is wild work!!
@mynameismarines its SO wild!!! Even without the history of "inspirations" (i could otherwise easily chalk it up to a "phrase that stuck in her brain after watching the movie as a kid then Forgot" kind of accidental pull), its just such a different more mediocre context to hear the line in, its soooo funny to me sjfhsk. Like yeah girl, this is for sure on the same emotional level of a Native American man and a wild horse escaping the harrows of settler-colonialism, go off (😭)
10:10 To add to your argument, Sarah J Maas put Caelena's backstory into a prequel book which is why her character felt hollow in TOG like you said. As a result, it weakened her as a character since at the time most people didn't know those books were apart of the same series
Tbf her backstory was put into prequels because she had posted that stuff online prior to getting a publishing contract. Fans of her work before she was published already knew all that information and they were the people reading ToG when it first came out. That’s why those stories were published later because she developed this huge fanbase that didn’t know she had been popular online beforehand and had never read any of her previous material.
@@LaurenPebblethat….is not an explanation. That is a deeper condemnation. She got a publishing contract and apparently - even with the groundwork laid for her by her own hands for ultimate ease - refused to layer in the implications or references that would give a new audience proper framing through inference or spare but telling details.
This was a very well thought out review of this book. When I read Throne of Glass I basically glazed over every character description because the m-dashes were protruding so much that I either let them interrupt my reading, or I would power through and miss details. Now that I know Nehemia was the only coloured person and used for the sole purpose of fulfilling the protagonists ark, I see the issues. I’ve also seen people critique Sarah’s ‘gender essentialism,’ I don’t take any issue with her use of that as someone who’s more right leaning, but I do agree that a lot of her descriptions are out of place and rub me the wrong way: ‘he had a purely male smile.’ I don’t know what the hell that was supposed to mean, maybe ‘masculine’ would’ve been a better term, even then, what does a masculine smile look like? Lord, the amount tangents I could go off on if anyone handed me any of her books. As for the Breonna Taylor situation, I personally don’t see what she did wrong. Sarah used her platform to raise awareness as many other online presences didn’t. I didn’t see it as malicious at all, she revealed her book cover hoping it would bring joy to people, encouraged her audience to vote because the election was around the corner, brought up injustices as if that’s tied to political leanings which I don’t believe, but she clearly does and that’s it. As much as I can harp over how much I dislike her and her work, she was well intended in that specific instance so I will defend her there. That’s all you get from me Maas. I appreciate this video a lot and I hold your opinions to a high regard!
First, “person of color” is preferred as “colored” is an offensive term! Second, she did not use her platform to raise awareness. That would’ve been a post about Breonna Taylor. Or at the very least, an acknowledgement or even just deleting the post when people expressed that they were upset with the way she went about it. If her intention was to “raise awareness,” why not take the feedback when people said “hey, promoting your own book alongside speaking about the murder of a Black woman is wrong”? Imagine saying “hey, I know that police have been murdering Black people in great numbers recently, but my book is coming out and I hope that makes you happy.” And you don’t see how that’s wrong? Why do her “intentions,” which you actually don’t know, get so much defense over the impact her words had? Why does it matter less that so many people say the post was callous, insensitive, dismissive of the death of a real person? I appreciate your comment and kind words, but I hope you see that the post was wrong. It’s also easy to look back now and forget the context- people at the time were refraining from posting their regular content in order to voice support from the Black community or protest government sanctioned violence. SJM decided promoting her own book was more important.
I always find it interesting when people talk about “turning their brains off” as they read books. That would actually not make me feel very good if I was the author 😅 why do you need your brain off to read my work? And it feels impossible for me to turn my brain off when I read a poorly written/edited book. It feels like I’m teaching again, trying to decipher my 3rd graders’ writings. My brain can actually relax (which is what I hope people mean when they say turn off) when everything makes sense. I’ve heard about SJM quite a bit and have some friends who are diehard fans. But the couple times I’ve started one of her books, it’s been a slog. Plus the books are massive - I can read 200 pages of trash no problem. But 800 is pushing it.
I WOULD BE SO EMBARRASSED. I mean, I know SJM can dry her tears with her millions of dollars, but if people primarily talked about out having to turn their brain off to enjoy my books?!? That would be a LOT of tears to dry.
It seems that some people are more primed for self delusion (ignoring the bad for the good) which is why so often it feels like people are literally doing the work of the author (e.g. filling in the plot holes, developing characters and worldbuilding, etc). I refuse to do this. I think it's a slippery slope to complacency and self-gasslighting.
Ohh my mom on vacations read books that she can turn her brain off. Normally she read more complicated books, mystery, light criminal, political drama, biographies, so the brain is still "in work" after work, it is good for brain to be train. But on vacations she is like "I want to be empty and have blank mind" and you can't really turn off your brain , even if you try not to think of some things your thought głów there (like things at work), so she read erotic romances, really shitty ones, she says that there is almost not plot or almost always is similiar, language is simple, most sex parts are actually more funny then sexy, soo not much to think about but go with flow of book, she calls this books the "tuning your brain off" type, they are usually short too so yeah great for beach... But when you have fantasy book that is promoted as this world building masterpiece then yeah it is quiet sad to be in that category.
Yes, it’s an amazing feeling when you start a book and at some point you just feel like you can trust the author and don’t have to worry about plot holes and confusing descriptions. You can just enjoy the story. The only way I got through acotar was a really well done TH-cam narration and even then I have so many notes ranting about it.
I never regret watching of your videos. I’ve had the second half of the throne of glass series sitting on my Goodreads TBR for many years, and this is clearly a sign to give up on it. I don’t need to waste my time with this series when I know there are so many others i could spend my time and money on.
I appreciate your content so much, thank you❤. So honest; I havent read TOG , however Maas gave Lucien and Tarquin (summer court high lord) the same treatment in ACOTAR. At this point she uses race /poc as tokens. Its exhausting, after finishing ACOSF, I will never read another of her works. Her fanbase even refuse to accept how damaging/exhausting these stereotypes are.😩
I remember in acomaf how Feyre had chemistry with Tarquin who was honestly too sweet for this book. Sarah j Maas went out of her way to say that Tarquin was not good enough for Feyre because he was too privileged for her. The guy that is currently trying to avoid war and be a good leader is not good enough for her. Not only that but Feyre also insults him for wanting to get rid of the Wall. Like you have this fae guy who's actually good and sweet AND he wants to demolish the class division between both fae and humans and Feyre calls him stupid. That part of the book is honestly so telling of Sarah j Maas' inner thoughts. A black man wanting to get rid of racism and class division? He's an idiot! Doesn't he understand that we need those class division obviously 🙄?/jk
Totally agree. It became unbearable reading from Feyre’s pov and the inner circle; who constantly justify their own wrongdoings but belittle others for theirs - for example - demonising Tamlin (locking Feyre up, but then locks up Nesta),Lucien, Tarquin, even Julian. Lest we forget Lucian’s dad, who is Helion (Autumn court high lord). The only reason Feyre wanted to shit stir and tell Lucian the truth was the leverage they would have over the Autumn court. Helion, was then reduced to a mere sex object ; I dont want to assume but why is the only other black high lord , who is promiscuous and bisexual(which Feyre was side eyeing), has ‘no idea/no care for a son’. This is lazy writing on Maas part to be honest.
@@DarwinRoger893 I usually don't like to bring too much real life stuff into this, but I just read a book abut white feminism and some historical accounts on mostly white women feminist getting upset when talks about black people equality and the idea of a black man specifically getting more rights before them being something that angered them...
It’s so weird that there are people who think that critiquing someone is bad. How will someone learn and be better? I personally will never read her work because of how she used Breonna Taylor’s death to market her book.
Maas' books, for a young girl impressionable mind, re-inforce a lot of harmful sexual ideals & expectations, too💀 Thank you for this video - from South Africa
Even before I learned about all the valid criticisms (before I was in the online book community), SJM had already lost me as a reader. The one and only series I've read from SJM was ACOTAR back in high school in 2015-2016. Even in high school, I didn't love ACOTAR, like I thought it was mediocre, but because I loved faeries (they're my favorite mythical creature, at least at the time. IDK if they still are, but we'll get back to that), and ACOTAR held enough of my attention to read book 2 (ACOMAF) and I'll admit, while I did not think SJM was a "great" writer (even in high school), I really enjoyed ACOMAF. So I was excited for book 3 (ACOWAR), . . . and I did not like it. Looking back at it now, I suspect ACOWAR is when SJM stopped having edits done to her books. MAN, once she realized she could get away with writing smut (back when she was still considered YA, before the rebrand to Adult/New Adult), her writing went from mediocre to tasteless slop to me in just one book. Again, I didn't think SJM's writing was amazing, but it was enough to keep me entertained for the ACOTAR and ACOMAF, and sometime that's all I ask for in books. I don't have any problems with smut, I like a good smutty scene as much as the next person, but SJM's sex scenes are too hardcore porno for me. When I read ACOWAR in high school and didn't enjoy it, it's when I realized that SJM uses sex scenes to distract from the GAPPING holes in her writing; plot holes, lacking world-building, non-existing character development, and tell-don't show style. I've listened to reviews about her other books, since I've never read them (and never will), it sounds like she copy and pastes the same characters in every book. If writing smut/erotica is something SJM enjoys doing, I'm happy for her (I have nothing against either of those), but I wish people would stop talking about her books as if she's done something ground breaking. And now any faerie/mythical creature adjacent books obviously inspired by SJM, has bogged down my enjoyment od faeries. I side eye anyone who recommends SJM's books or compares a book to SJM's. Which is why I appreciate authors like Julia Kagawa and Holly Black for their faeries, while not 100% folklore accurate, they still have the magical, enchanting, alluring feeling associated with faeries I grew up with, that SJM just doesn't have in her faeries. I think an argument can be made that SJM/SJM-copycats are why so many of us don't enjoy the romantasy genre. Sorry for the yap, this video just opened up a well for me. lol
Every time I recall this first book, I just remember how much it felt like fanfic that I read in the early 2010s and am always shocked that no one has uncovered SJMs secret past FF page
@mynameismarines go figure her best writing is a ripoff of someone else's. Now, all of her newest books are going to be fanfics of her OWN stories. She's going to have all the main characters in the SJM Multiverse start portal jumping into each other's world. That's the type of innovative storytelling her diehard fans deserve
YES. That was what initially appealed to me about her writing style. It had that trope-y “gotta know what happens next!” feeling, and that’s how it hooked me even when everything else about the story infuriated me
I really appreciate you sharing your critique. It's important to question the things we're reading for pleasure, even if it's just to stay practiced for other critical thinking (also I think we should all be thinking about what the fiction we read is saying and whether we agree or disagree and how/why. Fiction is a communication tool just like any other medium).
Agreed! Also people like to believe the media we engage with doesn't impact the way we think about the world but I believe it always has in every society back to the first stories humans ever told. Being able to recognize unhealthy or racist undercurrents and dissect our media is so important to not letting these ideas seep into our unconscious
iirc, the amount of times where C’s like “someone’s been murdered? You can’t do that, it’s illegal!” is baffling. It’s like they’re working off of a different definition of assassin.
Some authors don’t GAF about their female characters outside of being a hollow self insert vessel. So they regurgitate tropes - in this case an immature teen movie side character - then have everyone else her inform her what type of personality she has and hope no viewer cares about female characters or quality either.
The number of times I shouted “YES!” while watching this 😂 The inconsistencies with the show v tell with Celaena and the weird details we get and don’t need… I also personally think the first 30-40 pages are the worst opening in a book I’ve ever read. It’s so muddled and heavy handed. Great video ❤ Edit to add - SJM is not good at foreshadowing. It’s either painfully obvious or one tiny detail that I only notice bc it’s weird or out of place. She never hits the sweet spot of leaving a trail of bread crumbs. And SJM’s tendency to use slavery as a backdrop or trauma backstory is….. troublesome to say the least. It’s very tone deaf (at best).
Something that really bothered me about Nehemia was the fact that she seemed to have run of the palace. I would think that the King (who we are told is evil but also isn’t remotely scary or brutal on page) wouldn’t let the Princess of an enslaved people go wherever she wants. Is she or isn’t she a political prisoner? I read her as definitely a political prisoner, yet she is never treated like one. Speaking of the King- every time I read a truly sinister bad guy in another book, I think about the TOG king and how complete useless he is as an antagonist. You’re never truly worried about ANYONE around him. We are just told that he’s scary. He doesn’t do anything scary. You don’t feel that imminent threat that other well-written bad guys have.
The thing that really gets me about Celaena suspecting Nehemia is that the actual culprit was so obviously the villain that I almost started suspecting Nehemia too. If I recall, Celaena herself notices that the guy seems to get stronger after every death that occurs, and he knows how to read the archaic magic circle in the garden and he is one of the only people not bothered by the murders. I'm sure Maas thought that was "planting seeds," but it was all that versus Nehemia being able to read more "English" than she claimed.
Okay, I forgot to mention this in the review because I had all these notes in my plot summary, but the way the villain is SO OBVIOUS really is infuriating because every just glosses over the murders and the man like… literally exuding demon energy. Everyone is like wow, three more people died, anyway, let me go flirt with Celaena who I can probably sneak up on lol.
As an unrelated note, those earrings are so pretty! Edit: I read ACOTAR recently and to hear that her writing has gotten worse since then.. lol I can’t wait to hear how that’s possible
@atella394 idk about you but it kills me that there’s so much hype around releases for these books lol I want to participate in the hype but her writing is so painful!
I tried to read ACOTAR to have something to chat about with my sister and in the very first paragraph she uses ‘parameters’ to mean ‘perimeter’ and I had to put it down for a bit.
as someone who still enjoys reading Maas despite her and her books’ faults, I really enjoy seeing deeper criticisms of her work. they’re educational for everyone, and helpful for prospective readers. really appreciate your work always!
The only reason I got through it so fast was because I needed something to be mad at, and that series sure made me mad. It was also really easy to read because I got some laughs out of it because so much of it is so bad 😭
MARINES😂😂😂 I am cackling out loud at “the lacroix of a plot” bahahahaha I’m no longer a fan of SJM but ToG remains my favorite series of hers & I unfortunately have nostalgia with it that still makes it mostly a fun time, despite all of its many (MANY!) issues. So many. Especially as it continues because omg the lack of editing 🫠
If I remember correctly, in ACOTAR isn’t the barbarian shadow race Rhysand is a part of described as having a darker complexion? I could be wrong since it’s been years. The topic of the plague of ambiguously brown love interests in big YA hits would be interesting to cover though if you haven’t already.
Rhys is part of a race of dark skinned people who are characterized as barbaric, ruthless, tribal, animalistic, misogynistic. Aside from him and the other two illyrians, the other dark skinned characters are either villains, fridged women or servants. There are two prominent wraith/illyrian women who are described to have near black skin. These are also servants of Rhys who only show up to dress up Feyre, serve the inner circle or just stay in the background. I just want to point out how Sarah j Maas wrote her poc characters. They're all sexualized, villains, servants or abused women. It's like she just can't write people of color AT ALL. I'm genuinely baffled how no one seems to care that much about this aspect. And it's not just Sarah, it's other writers too who are milking the racially ambiguous shadow daddy trope. Part of the intrigue of this trope IS the racially ambiguousness. He's tall, he's dark but not too dark and him being racially ambiguous is what makes him so sexy. That paired with the fact that the shadow daddy trope more than often features an anti hero, morally grey man feels like good ol' racism.
If you are interested, she has a short essay on her Bindery about this very topic. She also mentioned it in the video before this one, she was talking about When The Moon Hatched, apparently it has the same problem
@@thehappyrecluseI get your point here but there isn’t really a way to ‘look Arab’ and I find it’s not very useful to describe appearance in that way. There are light skinned Arabs, dark skinned Arabs and even black Arabs. Whether they’re from Egypt, Morocco, Sudan, Kuwait etc. they’re still Arab. Not all Arabs are from south west Asia and not all south west Asians are Arabs (sincerely, a Kurd who fits the stereotypical image of a Middle Eastern person) That being said, I’m almost 100% certain that SJM thinks of all Arabs as Middle Eastern and Muslim of a specific skin tone as she does seem to be leaning into some stereotypes when it comes to ACOTAR (honestly I’ve only read the first book and hated it so I’m going off what others have told me)
Even when I was a fan of Sarah J. Maas I was so mad about Nehemia, especially in Crown of Midnight. It gets so much worse. I would tell fellow fans that I could never forgive Maas for that.
When you mentioned the number of en-dashes I thought, well, that's not that many... And then I remembered books in English use quotation marks for dialogues, not en-dashes 🙆 So yeah, that IS a lot
I’m so happy to hear someone do a critique of this book because I first read it, and a handful of its sequels, in high school. Throne of Glass was the first book in my memory to make me realize that… you can get a book published that’s just… completely bad? the prose IS sooo juvenile. This is the sort of prose I read from my peers sometimes and went “yeah, that isn’t good enough to publish” from just the first couple of lines. I was in disbelief and was like “surely, this terrible prose quality can’t last, someone has to tell her”-and then they never told her. I ragequit after the 4th book because of how the plot stalled, and then spent years going crazy because I had never found anyone else who had a) read the books and b) also thought they were awful. But then she blew up with her second series and- 💀
Thank you for the series. I’ve been thinking more deeply on how I thought I liked her books but there are some things that don’t sit right with me. Everything you are saying is spot on
Been reading these books with my book club and was wondering what people really saw in these books because i have such a hard time getting through them, glad to hear your perspective on it.
Ugh! This was so good! I read like 60% of the books and still felt at arms length of it. I hated how it was written and ended up DNFing it cause I couldn’t care less. With the points you bring up, wow, I saved myself. Thank you for such a great video!
I DNF the second book about seven years ago after SJM killed off Nehemia. Already, I knew the story was poor but I thought I could push through and finish the book and possibly the series. But when I got to the part where she was offed from the plot only for the MC to learn and grow, I was done. If you have a POC character and you kill them off to bolster your already perfect white MC, then what was the point? And I actually liked Nehemia but her getting axed was my last straw. And from what I heard from the rest of the series, I wasn’t going to like it any further and I’m glad I stopped reading SJM’s writing. I get people get back into reading using her books, I know I did when I was only seventeen, but once you expand and read more books, you’ll see the flaws of her writing exponentially. I rather people be critical of work than let things slide. Writers should learn and grow, not be coddled by fans. It’s a craft that needs to be nurtured like any other skill. If you constantly bring out poor quality work, then I fear it shows what you truly think of writing: a cash grab. Note: writers can write for fun, no shame in that, but you do have a duty to enhance and grow throughout your career. Declining in quality is telling of how you view your work.
I’ve been watching your channel for a long time and your uploads are always worth a watch! Criticism like this is truly so important. I’ve never had any interest towards SJM, but I was somewhat astonished to hear your review. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone mention these topics or how harmful they are. Thank you so much for sharing ❤
I appreciate this critique and your informative breakdown so much. I never had any intention of reading this or anything else by SJM (just not my genre), but I work in a public library and her titles stay checked out constantly. I'm grateful to have these issues laid out because it's important to me to only recommend materials that do representation right.
Omfg the whiplash of you reading that quite on the prince being handsome vs her being dragged out of salt mines to be enslaved... If that isn't poor YA writing in a nutshell
Also it’s just bizarre. That’s not remotely the cultural mythology around royals - even anti monarchists recognize that - and if she’s such a cynically intensely trained agent that she has the opposite impression of royals, she should not be loudly declaring to us that she’s so incredibly stupid she thinks ‘only evil people are ugly’ is….actually a thing….and that being pretty means he’s not weak, corrupt etc. i mean hell she’s openly vain about her great beauty and is shallow, classist etc and she kills people for a living!
24:02 I feel like there's also a little bit of the "noble savage" trope mixed in here. This is usually applied to Native Americans, but I feel like there's a connection between how Nehemia is treated as 'one of the good ones' and more enlightened than other people from her country. Especially with the renaming thing, I feel like that's some weird stereotyping of Indigenous people.
I know continuing series might be torturous for you but I would so appreciate your fantastic takes on each book. I’ve never seen anyone critique the series beyond the first book and there is SO much going on in the other seven. I end up having a love/hate relationship with ToG series myself 😅
Sooooooo not only does a sacrifice of a person of color happen in this book, but it’s also in acotar. And it’s always the “only one” poc thats in it that it happens too.
@@MuslimahNefertari the ToG series has at least one more ambiguously dark skinned person of colour and he magically transforms into an owl and binds his soul into Celaenas servitude by the end of the series! :D what fun times I don't know why silver haired ambiguously tanned men is a trope so common it's even in most of my anime nerd stuff but it is!
I have attempted Throne of Glass and ACOTAR. Maybe it's cause I'm a guy, but I couldn't get into them. I think I DNFed at 25% on both of them. The one thing I thought during my read of ACOTAR was I'm more invested in the warrior woman in the town. The FMC going off with that warrior woman would have been a much better story to me.
As a woman I think it’s more likely because you have taste 😂 Idk for me , SJM just writes the same tropes we’ve all seen a thousand times, but with the influence of modern Pinterest and the aesthetic romanticization, plus smut. I don’t have a problem with the aesthetic part of fantasy at all, I love pretty castles and dresses, but hers only goes that deep. The pandering girl-bossification of ALL her female main characters drives me up a wall. It’s so shallow and in the end they always still need their male romantic interests to be hyper masculine and territorial.
@@WinterSPF15the REMARKABLE shallowness and lack of craft in her stories really gets me. I have nothing against some silly Id-indulgent popcorn media. But as you said, it’s the equivalent of a washed-out Pinterest board. Not an inspiration board meant to spark off or relight the thoughts one already had, to put someone in the right mood to delve deeper into their projects, but ONLY the collection of overexposed pastel filters. ONLY the equivalent of a flat rote description of the photos of petticoats. And the total lack of even energy in her depiction fo the female leads is palpable. Everything is left to woodenly yelling at the audience about her badassery because the author simply does not care about her leads enough to make them actual characters with motivations, layers, personality traits that consistently inform her interactions with the world. She just mindlessly regurgitates whatever poorly written mean girl high school movie side character she saw last and doesn’t care if the character’s actions make any sense. This is something you see a lot in younger writers, because we’re all informed by what we’ve read, seen, listened to before - what touched us, what spoke to us, what excited us. And younger writers often haven’t quite developed the craft to unpack the silent layers beneath character choices and narrative presentation, so they can create unintended implications by the scenes or cliches they reproduce. But as an author you’re supposed to keep pushing yourself, growing, developing a deeper understanding. Just a bummer.
I read the book back in my Assassin’s Creed phase, I was very disappointed and salty to this day. And listened to a book not too long ago that was like an Ella Enchanted mix with Throne of Glass…. Never reading another girl assassin book again…. Not in the romance or ya section anyway.
I read "A Court of Thorns and Roses" when I was on a big Beauty & the Beast retelling kick while on medical leave from college back in 2015. I remember mildly enjoying it, but not enough to motivate me to seek out any sequels. From what I remember about my impressions at the time, it was FINE, but there were just too many weak points for me in characterization, storytelling, and world-building that I felt no compelling drive to read anything more from her. I found many books that did what she was trying to do much much better. I will never understand the massive popularity that she gained.
@@mariavalie8434some of the ones that are more in line with tone are controversial to rec, but War for the Oaks is a fae romance/modern-action-fantasy with an indie rock musician getting stuck between the courts.
@@mariavalie8434also, Holly Black also has some real issues with other women in her books but has more interest and more genuine tension and spookiness (at least in the couple older books of hers that I’ve read)
ToG and ACOTAR were perhaps the most influential books for me and my young autistic mind, and helped inspire a bunch of plot ideas and concepts for my own fantasy world/story. Looking back...a lot of the story ideas SJM show are promising but oh DEAR the writing and tonal inconsistencies, her depiction of black and queer characters, and beyond that the thing she said about breonna Taylor and also being proud of israel.... It is DIRE, this is such a great video and rly helped update the view i had on SJM since i read her books nearly a decade ago. Thank you for the vid!!
I appreciate it! And yes, I feel like the healthiest sign of a reader is that we keep reading and changing and growing! It’s GOOD to look back and say “huh, I’ve actually grown from there.”
I completely forgot about Nyhemia and full expected this to be about Rowan and the fae and how they all transform into beasts but Celaenas transformation is unique because she can go from paper white human girly to paper white elf girly with a cabal of soul-bound burly animal-man servants (plus her cousin) Its been almost a decade since I read the ToG series but now that I think about it, theres a pile of topics you could critically analyse in the series, like the several physically disabled characters or the multiple women who forfeit their lives in service of Dorian and Chaols well-being. I might give it a reread for the first time since middle school
I’m here for all of this. I read/listened to TOG and ACOTAR as all my friends were really into it. And I felt like I couldn’t talk to anyone about how bad the writing, worlds, and character continuity was. I feel so validated. Thank you.
I genuinely consider people that can't see her flaws in her works bad readers. One can like flawed things but if one doesn't understand or can't comprehend what is being criticized... there is an issue with their capabilities.
With how massive fan bases of SJM and Colleen Hoover I started feeling like I was crazy for thinking they’re both absolute trash. I’m so glad I’m not alone 🥲, you and read with Cindy are the real heroes for this
Thank you for this really detailed explanation. I enjoy SJM books generally for the drama and sappy romance, but as I read more widely I've begun to notice how genuinely flawed her stories (and writing) can be. Throne of Glass was, in my opinion, not a very good book because of the things you pointed out, and after I finished the series I felt that it was almost completely disconnected from it. It makes it hard for me to understand why people sing its endless praises. Also, I'm happy to hear someone so concisely explain what is problematic about this book--in a world of nonstop praise for her and her books, it's nice to see some well thought out and reasonable criticism.
Thank you for sharing! Even as someone who couldn’t make it past page one of the book I find the points you brought up so interesting and important, and it really helps me be critical of the work I consume too ☺️
Thank you! Well done! This was very informative, and now I can scratch this off of my reading list I definitely don't want to spend time or money on it
Sometimes I almost wish I'd read at least this one SJM book to be fully justified to join the hate train, but then again, I can always rely on good people like you to tell me why I'm not missing out😅 I'm too biased atp anyway.
I read the first two Throne of Glass and got so pissed at Nehemia dying i haven't touched SJM since. Thank goodness. Everything i heard about the next books in the series seem like stuff I'd hate anyway.
Loved your review and thank you for using your platform to critique sjm(s writing), I see way too many people being way too uncritical and uninformed about her obvious displays of racism
What was done to Nehemia is why I dropped this book series and refuse to read any more of her works. Pity I miss the lead up from the first book, think I was more lenient than I should have been. I was more intrigued by the political intrigue and lure of the world. I put up with Caelena and her shenanigans which gets worse as far as I am concerned with each subsequent book. I do remember book 2 being an absolute nightmare of a read and barely contained my anger. It deserved a 1 star
Thank you for making this series, good criticism of sjm is impossible to find online!! I had the same observations as you when i read the first three books a few years ago. There is another instance of a woc, saoirse, dying for the sake of a white protagonists, dorian, in the third book. Saoirse is a really shallow character and her death is treated exclusively as 'trauma points' for dorian. Dorian has a really bizarre line speculating about the racial makeup of saoirse whcih gives 'sexy ambiguously-brown' trope. Something that sjm is guilty with all her romantic male leads (rowan, hunt, rhysand). I think that sjm writes POC characters who are racialised, yet doesnt want to write about how race is constructed within her worlds.
Back when the book had just come out and was really popular, I bought the book. I read the first couple of sentences and closed the book. It was a lot worse than fanfics I've read written by 14-year-olds.
@@mynameismarines Yeah, I had to go and search for the book in my library. "What she did not usually expect, however, was a hooded man in black at her side -- as there was now." I had to stop reading at that. XD;;; ...English is not my native language, but I have read English books for many years (and fanfics for almost as many). I couldn't deal with how...not good...that sounded. ^^;
Truly taking one for the team, Mari!! I love being a hater lol but I refuse to read this author so it’s so helpful to have smart, critical things to say when people ask for suggestions (I work in a bookstore)
I had this book on my shelf for a very long time in my "to read" section before Maas became popular online. My friends told me it was a good read, but I was hesitant to start it because of the blurb. It gave me a typical YA love triangle vibe instead of badass assassin story, which is what I thought it was when I bought it. Anyway, I'm glad I didn't waste my time with it and this discussion on the themes and tropes included in the story is really insightful and important. Also I love your earrings!!
100% agree with you. I like the rest of the series for the ensemble cast (book 4 onwards is the real meat of the story imo). However the Nehemia thing is awful. Especially since we get no real closure with her family. Even when the crew is around the area at the end of book 5 iirc, they never visit her family. It would've been a lot better imo if we got to see her family because it would put more emphasis on her character outside of what she could do for the plot and Celaena -_-
I read this book as a pre-teen when it came out, and really the only things I remember are liking the main character's name and the fact that it mentioned a period. The latter being something that is frankly so rarely addressed in YA that it has stuck out to me to this day.
It's so weird hearing someone talk about the actual Throne of Glass books nowadays, because the only way I've interacted with the series in the last half a decade is through someone's fanfic reimagining that's actually pretty damn good. (Shatterglass on ao3, for the curious). Anyway, thanks for taking one for the team Mari! If these books are gonna continue to somehow remain popular, then thoughtful critique of them is a must.
her books are not good. they're wattpad books and i'll hold to that. it was so validating watching your review cuz you had all the same problems with the book that i did whereas everyone i know lovessss SJM
I tried to read ACOTAR as everyone was talking about it. From the outside, it looked like something I would enjoy, as I'm a fan of Beauty and the Beast, which everyone was saying it was loosely based on, and fantasy in general. I got to a point where I realised that I hated every single character, so gave up trying to finish it. A few months later I read the 'Silvermay' trilogy by James Molony (published 2011-2013) and I was surprised because two of the main characters are Tamlyn, who is cursed, and Lucien, a boy who suffers at the hands of his father and brother. I'm not saying that it can't be a coincidence that the ACOTAR series has characters with basically identical names, but when you add in some of the other elements from 'Silvermay' also appearing in what I managed to read of ACOTAR, it's harder to believe that is the case.
Hi ! The name Tamlin comes from a scottish folklore character names Tamlin who is cursed and can only be freed by the love of a woman. So I dont think it's weird that two books are inspired by the same legend.
Probably. She uses "rattle the stars" from Treasure Planet in a later book, and has also ~borrowed~ lines and scenes from Lord of the Rings. The plagiarism gets overlooked quite a bit because it's one of the least problematic things about her
@mynameismarines thanks for the correction 😊 I couldn't remember if it was in this book or a later one because my memory conflates it with the conversation she has about continuing her imperialism so she can "bring culture" to the rest of the world, as if they didn't already have their own, and the sheer audacity to write that out loud from the hero's mouth fries my brain with annoyance every time
The background is so good so ( I don't know if the word I am going to use is the best to describe it) pristine , so I simply can say is real is 3d rendering or a image , it gives a vibe
I read this whole series because people kept saying “it gets better like 5 books in” lol 🤡 nehemia dies for Aelin to motivate her to work against the king- it is a purely symbolic death that is described as being very brutal. It is so so so stupid. And (spoiler) ultimately, it is in vain because the gods nehemia was working for turn their backs on Aelin as soon as they get what they want. I remember feeling crazy and being angry the whole time i was reading these books because everyone was saying TOG is a masterpiece. Thank you for talking about this.
I always found the ‘you just have to get to the fourth book and then it’s SOOOO good!’ thing so wild. Why would I take that person’s word for it? They obviously liked the first book well enough to go on to the second and third and so on, which makes the assertion that it’s going to ‘get good’ feel disingenuous to me. Btw, not saying I’ve never continued with a series after not loving book one, but there has to be *something* in there that gives me some hope for that next book to be better.
Saaame! Also, I’m sorry, but if it takes 4 books in a series “to get good,” it’s a bad series!! And I’m the same. I’ve continued in series I didn’t love because there was something I loved. There was something GOOD.
I also read this book about a decade ago and the only thing I remember is the scene where she eats the mystery candy without a second thought despite allegedly being such a skilled assassin lmao
My feelings on SJM are complicated as someone who first encountered her work as a teenager. Throne of Glass is a 3 star series for me after rereading the first two and reading books three and four for the first time. The racism is definitely an issue. I also came across some less significant, but still present transphobia and gender essentialism. And I have questions about the one gay couple we see. And I was not a fan of the ending of Queen of Shadows so we'll see if I ever continue. The one I'm really attached to is ACOTAR and ACOMAF, but I can still tell they have problems. They just influenced my taste so much and I think I projected onto them in a way that I still connect with them, even now, even with the questionable craft and all the other issues. I'm still nervous to read ACOWAR, though, especially with how long it is.
Wow this was a really insightful video. I am a bit of a fan of sjm so its nice to here people talk critically of her works as i think its good to be aware and open to different perspectives particularly of things you like. I had no idea about the magical negro trope and it was extremely eye opening to hear about that sort of thing. You never want to hear that about a series you enjoy. At first i was like nah i think Nehemia is developed as a charecter but honestly the more you explained the more obvious it became. Like even if she did develope her charecter more its obvious it was just to kill her off which is honestly unexceptable in those circumstances. That being said, in the name of constructive criticisms and open discussion i do think that although you were bang on about many things a few things would have mad more sense and helped you solidify your arguments if taken in the context of the whole series rather than just the first book. Although you did acknowledge that so I can't be too mad. I just think that you really did make really great points at trying to critically analyse the text and i agree completely that there should always be balanced discussions about things, particularly extremely popularised trends. I just think that there will be fans out their who will be quick to dissmiss your arguements purely because you only pull from the context of 1 book. But also understand that you may not want to slog it through all of that and this is your own platform to use as you wish. Finally I do think that the target reading audience (or at least the one its popularlised in) is at a lower reading level than you criticised the book for. I say this knowing full well I am that lower reading level. So if and i am full making an assumption here is targeted towards those levels things like too many nm dashes dont matter to us. Not saying that it shouldnt be criticised, i think it is important to point out. However what im trying to say is although not the most grammaticaly correct and enjoyable to read for soneone of a high reading lvl I think it add to the draw of her books for particularly some getting back into reading. For me i found her writting natural to read which is what made it so easy to keep reading. So far i have found that books recommended to me or typically portayed as the perfectly eliquent grammatically correct books are so hard to read i feel shamed out of even trying. Which i do thinks has an important place in the world of books. Because i started reading mlre due to ger books i am now more confortable and confident in reading some of those books i would previously never touch. So as one last suggestion or request, i guess, is what are some books you would recommend in place of sjm? Which book or author do you think should be in that place instead?
Hi, thanks for the comment! I mentioned in the video that this is the start of a series. The intent is to dedicate a video to each book and to slowly build up a comprehensive critique of this series. For any fan who would dismiss me because I’ve only read book 1, they won’t be able to dismiss me once I’ve read the rest. But I do need to read them first. Furthermore, even in a series, each book is still a book! They have to, in some regard, stand on their own and are able to be critiqued on their own. Imagine if we told reviewers they couldn’t review a Marvel movie on its own, and could only review the whole MCU. That would be silly, right? Each entity still gets to be critiqued, even if there is also critique we could apply to the whole series or franchise. I understand what you mean about reading level, but also, people only improve by learning? I don’t expect everyone to have perfect grammar, but I do think they can learn what makes a good book tick. Besides, my problem with the em dashes isn’t purely grammar. I mention in the video that they are an eye sore, too, and they make the writing choppy. It forces tone. I’ve had people tell me they would’ve never noticed on their own, but now it stands out to them because they learned about it from my videos. So, sure, a SJM fan may not care about grammar, but I don’t think that’s a reason to not explain why her writing doesn’t work for me. After all, this is still a review. It’s just my opinion. I don’t have great recs for “instead of” SJM because I genuinely hate her books, and I don’t understand what fans get out of it. Like, I’m not sure what experience people are trying to replicate when I find the writing bad, the characterization bad, the plots bad, the worldbuilding bad, and the tropes often racist, you know? Thanks again for the comment!
Thank you for solving my problem! I hadn't read any Maas since trying ACOTAR when it came out. People keep waxing poetic about how great ToG is and I was wondering if I should give it a go. You reminded me of all the reasons why I don't enjoy Maas as an author...and as a person.
![[FINALE] 💸ที่แท้พ่อเป็นผู้ถือหุ้นบริษัทพันล้าน เขากลับใจตอนนี้ก็สายไปแล้ว🙇🏻♂️#ละครคุณธรรม #short](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/yFwgjTFISUI/mqdefault.jpg)
the idea that not criticising or talking about someone is somehow the same as deplatforming when that person has a huge, dedicated fanbase is so such a bizarre argument. all it does is silence valid criticism about maas and her actions and effectively encourage uncritically engaging with her work. its very transparent
Very!! And yet that doesn’t stop people from thinking they are doing something by being like “why do you keep talking about Maas?” Like idk how else to explain to people how REVIEWS work and why they are important.
I mean we live in an era where fans, and some authors, demand you don't give a book anything less than 3 stars because it hurts their fee fees. So many people have lost the plot.
Exactly. And that critiquing them automatically equals promoting them. It's likely people don't understand what promoting someone means
@@HungryEyes-sl3muThis statement reeks of psychosis, a term I use not lightly but necessarily. Have people really forgotten that you're more or less free to do as you please, and that the cacophony of nonsense on the internet holds no actual weight? All these insular echo chambers, this channel included, delude themselves into believing that pandering and parroting each other's drivel somehow equates to a revolution. Imagine, if you will, in '64, the idea that the course of history could be altered by people downvoting some teen girl's frivolous books...
You've all lost the narrative.
The popularity of SJM will forever be lost on me
Never read anything by her, yet. I might borrow it from the library one day out of curiosity
I remember years ago when i got on goodreads they almost got me lmao everyone was selling it as the best fantasy, thankfully i saw a video about her books before wasting my time
The books are amazing
I'm glad you like them. I tried a couple of her series, and they were not enjoyable to me.
@@believeume122 Why?
Okay, the thing about SJM being this crazy amazing world builder is so interesting to me because I feel like a lot of the fans do the heavy world building FOR HER. People will write these insanely long analysis and essays and come up with lore for SJM based off super minor details in her works. It then just gets circulated so much that I think there is a disconnect between where SJM's work ends and head canon begins. There are a ton of reasons that her most recent CC book was bad, but I also saw a lot of fans being dissapointed that this weird head canon the community had developed was never built upon. But like...it was never actually there in the first place?? The whole thing is so bizarre to me and I think it inflates this idea that SJM is some masterful world builder.
I feel like a major elitist douche saying that, but it also kinda feels like limited reading experience to me? If your experience with genre is the lighter romantasy fair I would guess SJM could compare favorably, but if you're really into worldbuilding just.... go read more widely, please. There are authors that genuinely have essay-worthy worlds
I agree with this comment but I didn't read any of her books, but I read some fans spin-offs of her work, or fans fiction that uses word that she started but they build so interesting stories there that got me interested. So I had this thought - a lot of this nice work are influenced by The books so maybe I should read them if the world is soo nice, but I decided to watch few rewiew and heh, I never read the books. This video is my like 5 maybe review, but the few a watched was enought to not buy it. I had few reasons but first was language, in all videos there were fragments shown, and when I heard how high schoolish it sounded I was like "no", dissapointed hit. Then when I found out that plot of first books ends with nothing, like you have to read like 5 books to get something "bigger" in story. And I say it bc I know the plot with my reading few short stories, looking up books, I knew that story was supposted to get very big with magic and fights and all, but then in review I heard that magic is like in 3 or 4 book, the same with this big romance that supposted to be there. I decided to not read this books. I can honestly say that if I wouldn't read this FF I wouldn't look at this books, bc I always thought this was teeneger books, bc in my country they are in Teens category. So yeah I let them go, but when I see so many people like them I go back and think maybe I should read first one, maybe get from library, but then I hear things like in this video and again hear language and "not worth my time" comes to mind ...
The strong world building and fan lore reminds me of when Cassandra Clare started out. The world itself was sloppy, too much pastiche with little originality, often conflicting character observations. But the fans built so high that it was easy to handwave the issues. Granted, CC already had fans built in but many of her current fans are younger than her HP days. So it's easier to ignore the criticism. I think SJM has a similar legacy. It's been so long that a new gen is finding the works and doesn't necessarily understand the writing time context.
i feel much the same about jk rowling as well
It’s like how people will fill in the gaps for JK Rowling too.
I am sat. We genuinely need more people criticizing her work. You and Cindy are the only people I have really seen criticizing her work.
My own personal thoughts. I read all of ACOTAR and all of Throne of glass (I was down bad for someone don't judge me). The death of Nahemia left a really bad taste in my mouth when reading it. I stopped buying her books after she exploited Breonna Taylor's death. It was disgusting that she would do that to begin with but it also reflected the way she treated her black character in her stories.
While I also have laundry list of SJM criticism. I will simply comment them when/if you post more videos to get you engagement.
@@corvi_daeSHE DID WHAT? NO. I wish I was surprised, oh my god 😭
Hannah from A Clockwork Reader and Merphy have also criticised her
Reads with Rachel has an Author's Behaving Badly video about SJM that goes over a lot of stuff
There's also Unresolved Textual Tension, which have a long podcast on some of her books and criticize them heavily.
The main thing I remember about this book is a training scene early on where a man had to explain to her that she could use her anonymity and humble cover story to her advantage, and she was shocked pikachu over how brilliant this pearl of wisdom was. The best assassin who ever did live needed to be told that being inconspicuous is good actually. I DNF'd. The gap between what the reader is told about the MC and what we're shown is a canyon.
I feel this way about the FMC in all of SJM's books that I've read. I got so annoyed reading through Crescent City every time the FMC had a "brilliant idea" and it was from the other MCs perspective. Why not show how she came up with the idea instead of how impressed the man is that she could some up with this thing we never saw her even thinking about in her perspective? And don't even get me started on Feyre, she had to have everything spelled out to her multiple times throughout the series, yet we're told all the time how smart and clever she is.
None of her characters has enough intelligence to get themselves out of a paper bag. It is as mentally stimulating as watching a wall but one can actually be deeply entertained by that if their imagination is running wild at the same time. Not the case with the works this woman presents. The bar is on the floor.
THIS.
What does DNF’d mean? That is a good point, an assassin should already know being anonymous is important.
@@mattbradshaw7007It's an abbreviation for Did Not Finish. The inconsistencies were so bad I stopped reading.
“The Lacroix of a plot” had me choking on my breakfast. You really ate that
I stole it from my best friend, and we use it all the time lmao
It's an interesting look on the impact of editing when you notice an author's books spiral and inflate as they grow more popular. It's kind of a shame how little people seem to value editing when everyone needs another look at their work to make it the best it can be
Yeeeep. Authors like SJM are going to be successful anyway and they often get more power to push back on notes and edits and you end up with works that…. Really needed editing.
As someone who shelves books in a library as part of my job, YES. I get so sad that writers' books become more unwieldy as they gain popularity. Shelving Maas's, Patterson's, and Armentrout's books drives me bonkers.
When LKH and Anne Rice bragged about not having to accept editors anymore I remember it BOGGLING my mind. As a writer, by the end you’re SO close to the work you need fresh eyes! The key is to find an editor you trust who understands what you want and will help you make it the best possible version.
The point you made about more juvenile-like writing style made me realize that I wasn’t crazy when I read throne of glass and 100% thought I was reading a YA novel aimed at teens - only to pick up the next book in the series and be blinded by unprovoked explicit smut 😭
I'm only dealing with people who can get out of the shallow end of the pool is such a mood. The way in which you criticized her with precision was chef's kiss.
James Tullos has three hour-long videos reviewing the Throne of Glass series that are honestly more entertaining than the books themselves.
Wow!!😂😂
Love his videos always a good laugh
I loveeee those videos and his channel in general. Everyday I pray he does ACOTAR series
Videos like this- that point out how popular content contain harmful aspects- also are very helpful to prospective readers (like myself) who are curious as to whether something is worth their time or not. As you said, in a world where SJM's work is already massively popular, criticism of the material is necessary. It promotes healthy discussion.
Thank you for this! You would think this would be easy to understand but there are genuinely people who think her work shouldn’t be criticized.
the wild racism and other bigotry in a lot of incredibly popular fantasy romance books right now is genuinely insane to me. tell me who let Armentrout publish a series where the black people can turn into wolves, get deep spiritual bonds from childhood with individuals from the majority lighter skinned race that mean they'll ~always be companions~ (NOT individual servants given at childhood we swear you guys), and then has the MC get a power upgrade where every single bond for every single wolf shapeshifter is transferred to her, gaining deep psychic bonds with every single one of them and removing that aspect of their relationship with their previous bonded buddy, AND EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM IS JUST FINE WITH IT??????? NOT A SINGLE INDIVIDUAL PERSON OF THE RACE IS AT ALL UPSET THAT THEYRE NOW PERMANENTLY PSYCHICALLY BONDED TO SOME SHITASS RANDO AND CAN NO LONGER SPEAK PSYCHICALLY TO THE PERSON WHO WAS PREVIOUSLY SUPPOSED TO BE THEIR MAGICAL BEST FRIEND FOREVER WHO THEYVE SPENT POTENTIALLY HUNDREDS OF YEARS WITH?????????? Then, when it's revealed the main character can *literally* bring people back from the dead, the only people she can't LITERALLY RESURRECT are the black people. whom she's god-ordained magically bonded to. so THEY can die for real and that's not a risk for anyone else. cool cool cool.
none of this even begins to touch the genuinely jaw-dropping antisemitism in that series, which is somehow arguably worse, the genuinely horrendous relationship dynamics, or the fact that the writing is literally just bad. I've never seen any criticisms of her work. reading it felt like I was in the twilight zone, it boggles my mind that these are the books libraries need to get hundreds of copies of on libby
Eyyyyy fellow armentrout hater! Every single thing you just said is so true. Guys, i prommy it's not slavery 🥺 don't you get it, they WANT to serve them.
You're also forgetting that this race of people also are very rough, animalistic and have violent sex and enjoy exhibitionism bc....why not? And Armentrout used the bonding as a bait to use Kieran for a stupid threesome. I just about lost my mind and faith in people when fbaa fans were sexualizing him just to read him be a glorified dick for the speshul mc. I hated the bonding and I hated how no one was complaining about how Armentrout used this gross idea of using black people in this fetishy way. Cool cool cool. Everything's cool there's nothing racist going on here
Btw what are the anti semitic tones? I didn't pick them up myself but I'm curious to know
I read and talking pretty extensively, mostly on TT, about the racism in FBAA, but I bounced after the first book SO I HAD NO IDEA IT GOT WORSE?? Jesus. And those books were so TERRIBLE that reading more would be a cosmic punishment.
I had no idea, thank you for this warning because I have not seen this anywhere.
Oh my god????
Bruh, it's like Operation Get Behind the Darkies from the South Park movie..but at least the South Park movie has the African Americans move out of the way
I was honestly shocked when SJM got popular, bc my first experience with her was when I tried to read Throne of Glass ~10 years ago and hated the writing so much I quit on page 5. A couple years later when my roommate in my dorm tried to convince me SJM was the best writer ever I said nah then forgot SJM existed until I saw everyone talking about her books again like 2 years ago.
I miss not remembering who she was tbh, but I'm also always here to hear you break down what exactly makes her writing bad. I always feel like I'm learning new ways of critically examining what I read when I watch your videos, and I am forever grateful that you're suffering through this book for us
I have so many IRL experiences where I meet someone who is like “I love reading too. Have you read SJM?” And I have to 😬
Same
SAME. I tried this book once and it was so godawful i thought I must be misremembering that it was written by the same author.
The mention of misogyny sent off some alarm bells of agreement.
I find Maas so fascinating because she's marketed as "feminist fantasy" but her works hate women and glorify deeply abusive relationships.
I will say it again as I've said it before: Rhysand being promoted as this perfect boyfriend character is deeply troubling to me because his behavior in any other context is reprehensible. But because Maas is writing him, he's framed as THE BEST BOY simply because she says so when the text plainly shows the contrary.
And Maas doesn't worldbuild. The ACOTAR series (which are all I've read of hers) feels like a grab-bag of various tropes and elements pulled from High Fantasy 101 but they're purely aesthetic. There's no logic or theme at play to make the fantasy mean anything.
I personally find her works so objectionable as a man because of the way she portrays men. The men in her work are all the same in that they're all broody, snarky assholes who abuse and neg women, but it's ok because they have some really out of place trauma to justify it. I'm devoted to writing fiction that fights this and portrays men as good and kind and decent.
It depresses me that this is people's entry point back into reading when it's repeating the same horrid ideas about gender roles and relationships that we should be over by now in my view.
I'm just so happy that there are people who don't worship this person's work. This weird cult-like devotion to a hack writer is so weird to me.
THIS🙌🙌
💯💯💯YEP. I'm sorry but I don't understand why women read these kinds of books so much. Is it like some internalized misogyny or trauma or something. Girlie there are better ways to deal with those most of the time
@@AGK1999FEnot everything is caused by trauma. some people are just stupid.
@@AGK1999FE you responded to your own question. internalised misogyny. we literally grew up watching movies like beauty and the beast. what do u expect?
As a woman I also get confused as to why women like SJM but also Colleen Hoover. Both write like third graders and glorify/romanticize abuse. There are in fact better writers who write both realistic and good male and female characters. They even world build and not beat you over the head with what they’re trying to say… they show you.. with their good writing and story lines that don’t have massive plot holes.
I had other smart thoughts i could contribute, but being reminded about the new name meaning "spirit that could not be broken" blew ALL of those out of the water like 😭😭😭 Sarah that's LITERALLY the final impact line from Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron WHAT ARE YOU DOIIIING!!! And now i can only imagine this main character as a huge yellow horse with huge human eyebrows
Someone else pointed this out in my comments and it reminds me that I should a list of her plagiarism- I mean “inspirations”- as well. Spirit is wild work!!
@mynameismarines its SO wild!!! Even without the history of "inspirations" (i could otherwise easily chalk it up to a "phrase that stuck in her brain after watching the movie as a kid then Forgot" kind of accidental pull), its just such a different more mediocre context to hear the line in, its soooo funny to me sjfhsk. Like yeah girl, this is for sure on the same emotional level of a Native American man and a wild horse escaping the harrows of settler-colonialism, go off (😭)
I’m a simple lass. I see Mari’s new video being a roast of an SJM book, I click. 😌 we thank you for your service, Mari ❤
10:10 To add to your argument, Sarah J Maas put Caelena's backstory into a prequel book which is why her character felt hollow in TOG like you said. As a result, it weakened her as a character since at the time most people didn't know those books were apart of the same series
Tbf her backstory was put into prequels because she had posted that stuff online prior to getting a publishing contract. Fans of her work before she was published already knew all that information and they were the people reading ToG when it first came out. That’s why those stories were published later because she developed this huge fanbase that didn’t know she had been popular online beforehand and had never read any of her previous material.
@@LaurenPebblethat….is not an explanation. That is a deeper condemnation. She got a publishing contract and apparently - even with the groundwork laid for her by her own hands for ultimate ease - refused to layer in the implications or references that would give a new audience proper framing through inference or spare but telling details.
This was a very well thought out review of this book. When I read Throne of Glass I basically glazed over every character description because the m-dashes were protruding so much that I either let them interrupt my reading, or I would power through and miss details. Now that I know Nehemia was the only coloured person and used for the sole purpose of fulfilling the protagonists ark, I see the issues.
I’ve also seen people critique Sarah’s ‘gender essentialism,’ I don’t take any issue with her use of that as someone who’s more right leaning, but I do agree that a lot of her descriptions are out of place and rub me the wrong way: ‘he had a purely male smile.’ I don’t know what the hell that was supposed to mean, maybe ‘masculine’ would’ve been a better term, even then, what does a masculine smile look like? Lord, the amount tangents I could go off on if anyone handed me any of her books.
As for the Breonna Taylor situation, I personally don’t see what she did wrong. Sarah used her platform to raise awareness as many other online presences didn’t. I didn’t see it as malicious at all, she revealed her book cover hoping it would bring joy to people, encouraged her audience to vote because the election was around the corner, brought up injustices as if that’s tied to political leanings which I don’t believe, but she clearly does and that’s it. As much as I can harp over how much I dislike her and her work, she was well intended in that specific instance so I will defend her there. That’s all you get from me Maas.
I appreciate this video a lot and I hold your opinions to a high regard!
First, “person of color” is preferred as “colored” is an offensive term!
Second, she did not use her platform to raise awareness. That would’ve been a post about Breonna Taylor. Or at the very least, an acknowledgement or even just deleting the post when people expressed that they were upset with the way she went about it. If her intention was to “raise awareness,” why not take the feedback when people said “hey, promoting your own book alongside speaking about the murder of a Black woman is wrong”?
Imagine saying “hey, I know that police have been murdering Black people in great numbers recently, but my book is coming out and I hope that makes you happy.” And you don’t see how that’s wrong? Why do her “intentions,” which you actually don’t know, get so much defense over the impact her words had? Why does it matter less that so many people say the post was callous, insensitive, dismissive of the death of a real person?
I appreciate your comment and kind words, but I hope you see that the post was wrong. It’s also easy to look back now and forget the context- people at the time were refraining from posting their regular content in order to voice support from the Black community or protest government sanctioned violence. SJM decided promoting her own book was more important.
I always find it interesting when people talk about “turning their brains off” as they read books. That would actually not make me feel very good if I was the author 😅 why do you need your brain off to read my work? And it feels impossible for me to turn my brain off when I read a poorly written/edited book. It feels like I’m teaching again, trying to decipher my 3rd graders’ writings. My brain can actually relax (which is what I hope people mean when they say turn off) when everything makes sense.
I’ve heard about SJM quite a bit and have some friends who are diehard fans. But the couple times I’ve started one of her books, it’s been a slog. Plus the books are massive - I can read 200 pages of trash no problem. But 800 is pushing it.
I WOULD BE SO EMBARRASSED. I mean, I know SJM can dry her tears with her millions of dollars, but if people primarily talked about out having to turn their brain off to enjoy my books?!? That would be a LOT of tears to dry.
It seems that some people are more primed for self delusion (ignoring the bad for the good) which is why so often it feels like people are literally doing the work of the author (e.g. filling in the plot holes, developing characters and worldbuilding, etc). I refuse to do this. I think it's a slippery slope to complacency and self-gasslighting.
Ohh my mom on vacations read books that she can turn her brain off. Normally she read more complicated books, mystery, light criminal, political drama, biographies, so the brain is still "in work" after work, it is good for brain to be train. But on vacations she is like "I want to be empty and have blank mind" and you can't really turn off your brain , even if you try not to think of some things your thought głów there (like things at work), so she read erotic romances, really shitty ones, she says that there is almost not plot or almost always is similiar, language is simple, most sex parts are actually more funny then sexy, soo not much to think about but go with flow of book, she calls this books the "tuning your brain off" type, they are usually short too so yeah great for beach...
But when you have fantasy book that is promoted as this world building masterpiece then yeah it is quiet sad to be in that category.
Yes, it’s an amazing feeling when you start a book and at some point you just feel like you can trust the author and don’t have to worry about plot holes and confusing descriptions. You can just enjoy the story. The only way I got through acotar was a really well done TH-cam narration and even then I have so many notes ranting about it.
I never regret watching of your videos. I’ve had the second half of the throne of glass series sitting on my Goodreads TBR for many years, and this is clearly a sign to give up on it. I don’t need to waste my time with this series when I know there are so many others i could spend my time and money on.
Thank you! And yeah, I can’t say I recommend finishing it up, personally. It’s trite and predictable on top of being problematic.
I appreciate your content so much, thank you❤. So honest; I havent read TOG , however Maas gave Lucien and Tarquin (summer court high lord) the same treatment in ACOTAR. At this point she uses race /poc as tokens. Its exhausting, after finishing ACOSF, I will never read another of her works. Her fanbase even refuse to accept how damaging/exhausting these stereotypes are.😩
I remember in acomaf how Feyre had chemistry with Tarquin who was honestly too sweet for this book. Sarah j Maas went out of her way to say that Tarquin was not good enough for Feyre because he was too privileged for her. The guy that is currently trying to avoid war and be a good leader is not good enough for her. Not only that but Feyre also insults him for wanting to get rid of the Wall. Like you have this fae guy who's actually good and sweet AND he wants to demolish the class division between both fae and humans and Feyre calls him stupid. That part of the book is honestly so telling of Sarah j Maas' inner thoughts. A black man wanting to get rid of racism and class division? He's an idiot! Doesn't he understand that we need those class division obviously 🙄?/jk
Totally agree. It became unbearable reading from Feyre’s pov and the inner circle; who constantly justify their own wrongdoings but belittle others for theirs - for example - demonising Tamlin (locking Feyre up, but then locks up Nesta),Lucien, Tarquin, even Julian. Lest we forget Lucian’s dad, who is Helion (Autumn court high lord). The only reason Feyre wanted to shit stir and tell Lucian the truth was the leverage they would have over the Autumn court. Helion, was then reduced to a mere sex object ; I dont want to assume but why is the only other black high lord , who is promiscuous and bisexual(which Feyre was side eyeing), has ‘no idea/no care for a son’. This is lazy writing on Maas part to be honest.
@@DarwinRoger893 I usually don't like to bring too much real life stuff into this, but I just read a book abut white feminism and some historical accounts on mostly white women feminist getting upset when talks about black people equality and the idea of a black man specifically getting more rights before them being something that angered them...
It’s so weird that there are people who think that critiquing someone is bad. How will someone learn and be better? I personally will never read her work because of how she used Breonna Taylor’s death to market her book.
Maas' books, for a young girl impressionable mind, re-inforce a lot of harmful sexual ideals & expectations, too💀 Thank you for this video - from South Africa
I heard about this channel from readswithrachel and let me tell you, I'm so glad I checked it out! Thanks for the lovely, thought provoking video!
I love Rachel! Thanks for watching and for being here ❤️
Even before I learned about all the valid criticisms (before I was in the online book community), SJM had already lost me as a reader.
The one and only series I've read from SJM was ACOTAR back in high school in 2015-2016. Even in high school, I didn't love ACOTAR, like I thought it was mediocre, but because I loved faeries (they're my favorite mythical creature, at least at the time. IDK if they still are, but we'll get back to that), and ACOTAR held enough of my attention to read book 2 (ACOMAF) and I'll admit, while I did not think SJM was a "great" writer (even in high school), I really enjoyed ACOMAF. So I was excited for book 3 (ACOWAR), . . . and I did not like it. Looking back at it now, I suspect ACOWAR is when SJM stopped having edits done to her books. MAN, once she realized she could get away with writing smut (back when she was still considered YA, before the rebrand to Adult/New Adult), her writing went from mediocre to tasteless slop to me in just one book. Again, I didn't think SJM's writing was amazing, but it was enough to keep me entertained for the ACOTAR and ACOMAF, and sometime that's all I ask for in books.
I don't have any problems with smut, I like a good smutty scene as much as the next person, but SJM's sex scenes are too hardcore porno for me. When I read ACOWAR in high school and didn't enjoy it, it's when I realized that SJM uses sex scenes to distract from the GAPPING holes in her writing; plot holes, lacking world-building, non-existing character development, and tell-don't show style. I've listened to reviews about her other books, since I've never read them (and never will), it sounds like she copy and pastes the same characters in every book.
If writing smut/erotica is something SJM enjoys doing, I'm happy for her (I have nothing against either of those), but I wish people would stop talking about her books as if she's done something ground breaking. And now any faerie/mythical creature adjacent books obviously inspired by SJM, has bogged down my enjoyment od faeries. I side eye anyone who recommends SJM's books or compares a book to SJM's. Which is why I appreciate authors like Julia Kagawa and Holly Black for their faeries, while not 100% folklore accurate, they still have the magical, enchanting, alluring feeling associated with faeries I grew up with, that SJM just doesn't have in her faeries.
I think an argument can be made that SJM/SJM-copycats are why so many of us don't enjoy the romantasy genre.
Sorry for the yap, this video just opened up a well for me. lol
Every time I recall this first book, I just remember how much it felt like fanfic that I read in the early 2010s and am always shocked that no one has uncovered SJMs secret past FF page
She wrote Sailor Moon fanfic, but pulled it all when she was trying to get published
It was serialized at first too and I think you can definitely still feel pieces of that even though this was changed and edited before publication.
@mynameismarines go figure her best writing is a ripoff of someone else's. Now, all of her newest books are going to be fanfics of her OWN stories. She's going to have all the main characters in the SJM Multiverse start portal jumping into each other's world. That's the type of innovative storytelling her diehard fans deserve
ya she was a fictionalley writer lol.
YES. That was what initially appealed to me about her writing style. It had that trope-y “gotta know what happens next!” feeling, and that’s how it hooked me even when everything else about the story infuriated me
I really appreciate you sharing your critique. It's important to question the things we're reading for pleasure, even if it's just to stay practiced for other critical thinking (also I think we should all be thinking about what the fiction we read is saying and whether we agree or disagree and how/why. Fiction is a communication tool just like any other medium).
Agreed! Also people like to believe the media we engage with doesn't impact the way we think about the world but I believe it always has in every society back to the first stories humans ever told. Being able to recognize unhealthy or racist undercurrents and dissect our media is so important to not letting these ideas seep into our unconscious
I love your analysis so much. I couldn't stand the shoddy writing in the first book of the ACOTAR series. I'm happy to hear I'm not missing much 😂
I really don’t think you are. I mean, even her fans talk about reading this “brain off” and how you have to ignore a bunch of it to have a good time.
iirc, the amount of times where C’s like “someone’s been murdered? You can’t do that, it’s illegal!” is baffling. It’s like they’re working off of a different definition of assassin.
Some authors don’t GAF about their female characters outside of being a hollow self insert vessel. So they regurgitate tropes - in this case an immature teen movie side character - then have everyone else her inform her what type of personality she has and hope no viewer cares about female characters or quality either.
The number of times I shouted “YES!” while watching this 😂 The inconsistencies with the show v tell with Celaena and the weird details we get and don’t need… I also personally think the first 30-40 pages are the worst opening in a book I’ve ever read. It’s so muddled and heavy handed. Great video ❤
Edit to add - SJM is not good at foreshadowing. It’s either painfully obvious or one tiny detail that I only notice bc it’s weird or out of place. She never hits the sweet spot of leaving a trail of bread crumbs.
And SJM’s tendency to use slavery as a backdrop or trauma backstory is….. troublesome to say the least. It’s very tone deaf (at best).
Something that really bothered me about Nehemia was the fact that she seemed to have run of the palace. I would think that the King (who we are told is evil but also isn’t remotely scary or brutal on page) wouldn’t let the Princess of an enslaved people go wherever she wants. Is she or isn’t she a political prisoner? I read her as definitely a political prisoner, yet she is never treated like one.
Speaking of the King- every time I read a truly sinister bad guy in another book, I think about the TOG king and how complete useless he is as an antagonist. You’re never truly worried about ANYONE around him. We are just told that he’s scary. He doesn’t do anything scary. You don’t feel that imminent threat that other well-written bad guys have.
The thing that really gets me about Celaena suspecting Nehemia is that the actual culprit was so obviously the villain that I almost started suspecting Nehemia too. If I recall, Celaena herself notices that the guy seems to get stronger after every death that occurs, and he knows how to read the archaic magic circle in the garden and he is one of the only people not bothered by the murders. I'm sure Maas thought that was "planting seeds," but it was all that versus Nehemia being able to read more "English" than she claimed.
Okay, I forgot to mention this in the review because I had all these notes in my plot summary, but the way the villain is SO OBVIOUS really is infuriating because every just glosses over the murders and the man like… literally exuding demon energy. Everyone is like wow, three more people died, anyway, let me go flirt with Celaena who I can probably sneak up on lol.
As an unrelated note, those earrings are so pretty!
Edit: I read ACOTAR recently and to hear that her writing has gotten worse since then.. lol I can’t wait to hear how that’s possible
I think Throne of Glass was published prior to ACOTAR. I've only read the former but I promise you it was baddddd
@atella394 idk about you but it kills me that there’s so much hype around releases for these books lol I want to participate in the hype but her writing is so painful!
I tried to read ACOTAR to have something to chat about with my sister and in the very first paragraph she uses ‘parameters’ to mean ‘perimeter’ and I had to put it down for a bit.
as someone who still enjoys reading Maas despite her and her books’ faults, I really enjoy seeing deeper criticisms of her work. they’re educational for everyone, and helpful for prospective readers. really appreciate your work always!
No joke, Acotar took me 3 years to finish. Can't even imagine going into any other book like that.
There's a reason I read this book in 2015 and I'm only now like OKAY... I'LL READ THE REST...
The only reason I got through it so fast was because I needed something to be mad at, and that series sure made me mad. It was also really easy to read because I got some laughs out of it because so much of it is so bad 😭
MARINES😂😂😂 I am cackling out loud at “the lacroix of a plot” bahahahaha
I’m no longer a fan of SJM but ToG remains my favorite series of hers & I unfortunately have nostalgia with it that still makes it mostly a fun time, despite all of its many (MANY!) issues. So many. Especially as it continues because omg the lack of editing 🫠
If I remember correctly, in ACOTAR isn’t the barbarian shadow race Rhysand is a part of described as having a darker complexion? I could be wrong since it’s been years. The topic of the plague of ambiguously brown love interests in big YA hits would be interesting to cover though if you haven’t already.
Rhys is part of a race of dark skinned people who are characterized as barbaric, ruthless, tribal, animalistic, misogynistic. Aside from him and the other two illyrians, the other dark skinned characters are either villains, fridged women or servants. There are two prominent wraith/illyrian women who are described to have near black skin. These are also servants of Rhys who only show up to dress up Feyre, serve the inner circle or just stay in the background. I just want to point out how Sarah j Maas wrote her poc characters. They're all sexualized, villains, servants or abused women. It's like she just can't write people of color AT ALL. I'm genuinely baffled how no one seems to care that much about this aspect.
And it's not just Sarah, it's other writers too who are milking the racially ambiguous shadow daddy trope. Part of the intrigue of this trope IS the racially ambiguousness. He's tall, he's dark but not too dark and him being racially ambiguous is what makes him so sexy. That paired with the fact that the shadow daddy trope more than often features an anti hero, morally grey man feels like good ol' racism.
If you are interested, she has a short essay on her Bindery about this very topic. She also mentioned it in the video before this one, she was talking about When The Moon Hatched, apparently it has the same problem
Yes they are described as having a tan complexion. Most people interpret this as them looking Mediterranean or Arab.
@@thehappyrecluseI get your point here but there isn’t really a way to ‘look Arab’ and I find it’s not very useful to describe appearance in that way. There are light skinned Arabs, dark skinned Arabs and even black Arabs. Whether they’re from Egypt, Morocco, Sudan, Kuwait etc. they’re still Arab. Not all Arabs are from south west Asia and not all south west Asians are Arabs (sincerely, a Kurd who fits the stereotypical image of a Middle Eastern person)
That being said, I’m almost 100% certain that SJM thinks of all Arabs as Middle Eastern and Muslim of a specific skin tone as she does seem to be leaning into some stereotypes when it comes to ACOTAR (honestly I’ve only read the first book and hated it so I’m going off what others have told me)
Oh that Nehemia part sent me in a 2010's flashback loop. I can't believe they want to send the world back to this and worst.
Even when I was a fan of Sarah J. Maas I was so mad about Nehemia, especially in Crown of Midnight. It gets so much worse. I would tell fellow fans that I could never forgive Maas for that.
Not it gets so much worse 😔
Yes! I love your reviews. You are so thorough and articulate.
When you mentioned the number of en-dashes I thought, well, that's not that many... And then I remembered books in English use quotation marks for dialogues, not en-dashes 🙆 So yeah, that IS a lot
Someone else in the comments mentioned how bad it was reading in a translation where they DO use em dashes for dialogue 😮💨
I’m so happy to hear someone do a critique of this book because I first read it, and a handful of its sequels, in high school. Throne of Glass was the first book in my memory to make me realize that… you can get a book published that’s just… completely bad? the prose IS sooo juvenile. This is the sort of prose I read from my peers sometimes and went “yeah, that isn’t good enough to publish” from just the first couple of lines. I was in disbelief and was like “surely, this terrible prose quality can’t last, someone has to tell her”-and then they never told her. I ragequit after the 4th book because of how the plot stalled, and then spent years going crazy because I had never found anyone else who had a) read the books and b) also thought they were awful. But then she blew up with her second series and- 💀
Thank you for the series. I’ve been thinking more deeply on how I thought I liked her books but there are some things that don’t sit right with me. Everything you are saying is spot on
Read the title, laughed out loud, and then clicked on it. I thought I was the only one who thought this
Been reading these books with my book club and was wondering what people really saw in these books because i have such a hard time getting through them, glad to hear your perspective on it.
Ugh! This was so good! I read like 60% of the books and still felt at arms length of it. I hated how it was written and ended up DNFing it cause I couldn’t care less. With the points you bring up, wow, I saved myself. Thank you for such a great video!
I DNF the second book about seven years ago after SJM killed off Nehemia. Already, I knew the story was poor but I thought I could push through and finish the book and possibly the series. But when I got to the part where she was offed from the plot only for the MC to learn and grow, I was done. If you have a POC character and you kill them off to bolster your already perfect white MC, then what was the point? And I actually liked Nehemia but her getting axed was my last straw. And from what I heard from the rest of the series, I wasn’t going to like it any further and I’m glad I stopped reading SJM’s writing. I get people get back into reading using her books, I know I did when I was only seventeen, but once you expand and read more books, you’ll see the flaws of her writing exponentially. I rather people be critical of work than let things slide. Writers should learn and grow, not be coddled by fans. It’s a craft that needs to be nurtured like any other skill. If you constantly bring out poor quality work, then I fear it shows what you truly think of writing: a cash grab.
Note: writers can write for fun, no shame in that, but you do have a duty to enhance and grow throughout your career. Declining in quality is telling of how you view your work.
I’ve been watching your channel for a long time and your uploads are always worth a watch!
Criticism like this is truly so important. I’ve never had any interest towards SJM, but I was somewhat astonished to hear your review. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone mention these topics or how harmful they are.
Thank you so much for sharing ❤
I appreciate this critique and your informative breakdown so much. I never had any intention of reading this or anything else by SJM (just not my genre), but I work in a public library and her titles stay checked out constantly. I'm grateful to have these issues laid out because it's important to me to only recommend materials that do representation right.
Omfg the whiplash of you reading that quite on the prince being handsome vs her being dragged out of salt mines to be enslaved... If that isn't poor YA writing in a nutshell
Right, like I’m all for soapy, but the whole being dragged in chains and being like waaah princes aren’t supposed to be CUTE was….. a bit much.
That was literally when I put the book down. I knew it wasn’t for me.
Also it’s just bizarre. That’s not remotely the cultural mythology around royals - even anti monarchists recognize that - and if she’s such a cynically intensely trained agent that she has the opposite impression of royals, she should not be loudly declaring to us that she’s so incredibly stupid she thinks ‘only evil people are ugly’ is….actually a thing….and that being pretty means he’s not weak, corrupt etc. i mean hell she’s openly vain about her great beauty and is shallow, classist etc and she kills people for a living!
24:02 I feel like there's also a little bit of the "noble savage" trope mixed in here. This is usually applied to Native Americans, but I feel like there's a connection between how Nehemia is treated as 'one of the good ones' and more enlightened than other people from her country. Especially with the renaming thing, I feel like that's some weird stereotyping of Indigenous people.
I know continuing series might be torturous for you but I would so appreciate your fantastic takes on each book. I’ve never seen anyone critique the series beyond the first book and there is SO much going on in the other seven. I end up having a love/hate relationship with ToG series myself 😅
Sooooooo not only does a sacrifice of a person of color happen in this book, but it’s also in acotar. And it’s always the “only one” poc thats in it that it happens too.
Can’t wait to get to that one 😩😩😩
@@MuslimahNefertari the ToG series has at least one more ambiguously dark skinned person of colour and he magically transforms into an owl and binds his soul into Celaenas servitude by the end of the series! :D what fun times
I don't know why silver haired ambiguously tanned men is a trope so common it's even in most of my anime nerd stuff but it is!
I have attempted Throne of Glass and ACOTAR. Maybe it's cause I'm a guy, but I couldn't get into them. I think I DNFed at 25% on both of them. The one thing I thought during my read of ACOTAR was I'm more invested in the warrior woman in the town. The FMC going off with that warrior woman would have been a much better story to me.
Not a guy thing, don't worry. They really are hard to read just by way of being nonsense.
As a woman I think it’s more likely because you have taste 😂
Idk for me , SJM just writes the same tropes we’ve all seen a thousand times, but with the influence of modern Pinterest and the aesthetic romanticization, plus smut. I don’t have a problem with the aesthetic part of fantasy at all, I love pretty castles and dresses, but hers only goes that deep. The pandering girl-bossification of ALL her female main characters drives me up a wall. It’s so shallow and in the end they always still need their male romantic interests to be hyper masculine and territorial.
@@WinterSPF15the REMARKABLE shallowness and lack of craft in her stories really gets me. I have nothing against some silly Id-indulgent popcorn media. But as you said, it’s the equivalent of a washed-out Pinterest board. Not an inspiration board meant to spark off or relight the thoughts one already had, to put someone in the right mood to delve deeper into their projects, but ONLY the collection of overexposed pastel filters. ONLY the equivalent of a flat rote description of the photos of petticoats.
And the total lack of even energy in her depiction fo the female leads is palpable. Everything is left to woodenly yelling at the audience about her badassery because the author simply does not care about her leads enough to make them actual characters with motivations, layers, personality traits that consistently inform her interactions with the world. She just mindlessly regurgitates whatever poorly written mean girl high school movie side character she saw last and doesn’t care if the character’s actions make any sense.
This is something you see a lot in younger writers, because we’re all informed by what we’ve read, seen, listened to before - what touched us, what spoke to us, what excited us. And younger writers often haven’t quite developed the craft to unpack the silent layers beneath character choices and narrative presentation, so they can create unintended implications by the scenes or cliches they reproduce. But as an author you’re supposed to keep pushing yourself, growing, developing a deeper understanding. Just a bummer.
LOVED this and would love to see more critical analysis of popular books/authors like SJM!
I read the book back in my Assassin’s Creed phase, I was very disappointed and salty to this day. And listened to a book not too long ago that was like an Ella Enchanted mix with Throne of Glass…. Never reading another girl assassin book again…. Not in the romance or ya section anyway.
I read "A Court of Thorns and Roses" when I was on a big Beauty & the Beast retelling kick while on medical leave from college back in 2015. I remember mildly enjoying it, but not enough to motivate me to seek out any sequels. From what I remember about my impressions at the time, it was FINE, but there were just too many weak points for me in characterization, storytelling, and world-building that I felt no compelling drive to read anything more from her.
I found many books that did what she was trying to do much much better.
I will never understand the massive popularity that she gained.
I also don't get the SJM popularity. Since you mentioned it, can you recommend some books?
@@mariavalie8434some of the ones that are more in line with tone are controversial to rec, but War for the Oaks is a fae romance/modern-action-fantasy with an indie rock musician getting stuck between the courts.
@@mariavalie8434also, Holly Black also has some real issues with other women in her books but has more interest and more genuine tension and spookiness (at least in the couple older books of hers that I’ve read)
OH, how she LOVED sweets!!
i had no idea she did that thing with breonna taylor, that’s so messed up :(
Thoughts and Prayers to THAT lady's Black and Brown fans bec. she doesnt love them back!
😬
It sure seems like she doesn’t 😬
ToG and ACOTAR were perhaps the most influential books for me and my young autistic mind, and helped inspire a bunch of plot ideas and concepts for my own fantasy world/story. Looking back...a lot of the story ideas SJM show are promising but oh DEAR the writing and tonal inconsistencies, her depiction of black and queer characters, and beyond that the thing she said about breonna Taylor and also being proud of israel.... It is DIRE, this is such a great video and rly helped update the view i had on SJM since i read her books nearly a decade ago. Thank you for the vid!!
I appreciate it! And yes, I feel like the healthiest sign of a reader is that we keep reading and changing and growing! It’s GOOD to look back and say “huh, I’ve actually grown from there.”
I completely forgot about Nyhemia and full expected this to be about Rowan and the fae and how they all transform into beasts but Celaenas transformation is unique because she can go from paper white human girly to paper white elf girly with a cabal of soul-bound burly animal-man servants (plus her cousin)
Its been almost a decade since I read the ToG series but now that I think about it, theres a pile of topics you could critically analyse in the series, like the several physically disabled characters or the multiple women who forfeit their lives in service of Dorian and Chaols well-being. I might give it a reread for the first time since middle school
Every time someone tells me something new about this series, I swear it sounds fake as hell. Like surely not!! Surely not!!
@@mynameismarineshas someone mentioned the inc*st yet? because yeah, that happened too
I’m here for all of this. I read/listened to TOG and ACOTAR as all my friends were really into it. And I felt like I couldn’t talk to anyone about how bad the writing, worlds, and character continuity was. I feel so validated. Thank you.
I genuinely consider people that can't see her flaws in her works bad readers. One can like flawed things but if one doesn't understand or can't comprehend what is being criticized... there is an issue with their capabilities.
With how massive fan bases of SJM and Colleen Hoover I started feeling like I was crazy for thinking they’re both absolute trash. I’m so glad I’m not alone 🥲, you and read with Cindy are the real heroes for this
Love seeing your content on booktube again !
Thank you for this really detailed explanation. I enjoy SJM books generally for the drama and sappy romance, but as I read more widely I've begun to notice how genuinely flawed her stories (and writing) can be. Throne of Glass was, in my opinion, not a very good book because of the things you pointed out, and after I finished the series I felt that it was almost completely disconnected from it. It makes it hard for me to understand why people sing its endless praises. Also, I'm happy to hear someone so concisely explain what is problematic about this book--in a world of nonstop praise for her and her books, it's nice to see some well thought out and reasonable criticism.
Thank you for sharing! Even as someone who couldn’t make it past page one of the book I find the points you brought up so interesting and important, and it really helps me be critical of the work I consume too ☺️
Appreciate that and thanks for watching!
Oooohhhh. I’m SEATED. 🤣❤
Gah, this is so incredibly helpful to articulate what my hindsight is about all of SJM now that I’m continuing in my reading and reviewing practice.
I didnt want this video to ever end!
Thank you! Well done! This was very informative, and now I can scratch this off of my reading list I definitely don't want to spend time or money on it
Sometimes I almost wish I'd read at least this one SJM book to be fully justified to join the hate train, but then again, I can always rely on good people like you to tell me why I'm not missing out😅 I'm too biased atp anyway.
I read the first two Throne of Glass and got so pissed at Nehemia dying i haven't touched SJM since. Thank goodness. Everything i heard about the next books in the series seem like stuff I'd hate anyway.
Loved your review and thank you for using your platform to critique sjm(s writing), I see way too many people being way too uncritical and uninformed about her obvious displays of racism
What was done to Nehemia is why I dropped this book series and refuse to read any more of her works. Pity I miss the lead up from the first book, think I was more lenient than I should have been. I was more intrigued by the political intrigue and lure of the world. I put up with Caelena and her shenanigans which gets worse as far as I am concerned with each subsequent book. I do remember book 2 being an absolute nightmare of a read and barely contained my anger. It deserved a 1 star
I feel like I can’t put off book 2 for too long because I’ll just keep not reading it again 😩
Thank you for making this series, good criticism of sjm is impossible to find online!!
I had the same observations as you when i read the first three books a few years ago.
There is another instance of a woc, saoirse, dying for the sake of a white protagonists, dorian, in the third book. Saoirse is a really shallow character and her death is treated exclusively as 'trauma points' for dorian. Dorian has a really bizarre line speculating about the racial makeup of saoirse whcih gives 'sexy ambiguously-brown' trope. Something that sjm is guilty with all her romantic male leads (rowan, hunt, rhysand).
I think that sjm writes POC characters who are racialised, yet doesnt want to write about how race is constructed within her worlds.
Back when the book had just come out and was really popular, I bought the book. I read the first couple of sentences and closed the book. It was a lot worse than fanfics I've read written by 14-year-olds.
It really is clunky, I fear.
@@mynameismarines Yeah, I had to go and search for the book in my library.
"What she did not usually expect, however, was a hooded man in black at her side -- as there was now."
I had to stop reading at that. XD;;; ...English is not my native language, but I have read English books for many years (and fanfics for almost as many). I couldn't deal with how...not good...that sounded. ^^;
@@froggyringuSarah j Maas not using the word "male" is trippy.
This happened to me with ACOTAR 😭
@@asteridshydrangea-jt2hf
Truly taking one for the team, Mari!! I love being a hater lol but I refuse to read this author so it’s so helpful to have smart, critical things to say when people ask for suggestions (I work in a bookstore)
I’ve read both Throne of Glass and ACOTAR. Neither book made me want to continue either series.
I had this book on my shelf for a very long time in my "to read" section before Maas became popular online. My friends told me it was a good read, but I was hesitant to start it because of the blurb. It gave me a typical YA love triangle vibe instead of badass assassin story, which is what I thought it was when I bought it. Anyway, I'm glad I didn't waste my time with it and this discussion on the themes and tropes included in the story is really insightful and important. Also I love your earrings!!
Thank you so much for doing this!
100% agree with you. I like the rest of the series for the ensemble cast (book 4 onwards is the real meat of the story imo). However the Nehemia thing is awful. Especially since we get no real closure with her family. Even when the crew is around the area at the end of book 5 iirc, they never visit her family. It would've been a lot better imo if we got to see her family because it would put more emphasis on her character outside of what she could do for the plot and Celaena -_-
I read this book as a pre-teen when it came out, and really the only things I remember are liking the main character's name and the fact that it mentioned a period. The latter being something that is frankly so rarely addressed in YA that it has stuck out to me to this day.
It's so weird hearing someone talk about the actual Throne of Glass books nowadays, because the only way I've interacted with the series in the last half a decade is through someone's fanfic reimagining that's actually pretty damn good. (Shatterglass on ao3, for the curious).
Anyway, thanks for taking one for the team Mari! If these books are gonna continue to somehow remain popular, then thoughtful critique of them is a must.
GIRL!!👏👏👏Bless you and Bravo!! I have been saying this for years!! It is about time people start criticizing this racist author.
That thumbnail is 🔥
her books are not good. they're wattpad books and i'll hold to that. it was so validating watching your review cuz you had all the same problems with the book that i did whereas everyone i know lovessss SJM
I tried to read ACOTAR as everyone was talking about it. From the outside, it looked like something I would enjoy, as I'm a fan of Beauty and the Beast, which everyone was saying it was loosely based on, and fantasy in general. I got to a point where I realised that I hated every single character, so gave up trying to finish it.
A few months later I read the 'Silvermay' trilogy by James Molony (published 2011-2013) and I was surprised because two of the main characters are Tamlyn, who is cursed, and Lucien, a boy who suffers at the hands of his father and brother. I'm not saying that it can't be a coincidence that the ACOTAR series has characters with basically identical names, but when you add in some of the other elements from 'Silvermay' also appearing in what I managed to read of ACOTAR, it's harder to believe that is the case.
Hi ! The name Tamlin comes from a scottish folklore character names Tamlin who is cursed and can only be freed by the love of a woman. So I dont think it's weird that two books are inspired by the same legend.
It also sounds like (im reading the legend right now) the story is the inspiration for beauty and the beast !
isn't that 'spirit-who-could-not-be-broken' line from the movie Spirit??
Probably. She uses "rattle the stars" from Treasure Planet in a later book, and has also ~borrowed~ lines and scenes from Lord of the Rings. The plagiarism gets overlooked quite a bit because it's one of the least problematic things about her
I didn't catch that, it's been too long since I watched that movie!
She really went ahead and renamed her main character after a horse lmao
Rattle the stars is in this book and I highlighted it and forgot to mention it!!!
@mynameismarines thanks for the correction 😊 I couldn't remember if it was in this book or a later one because my memory conflates it with the conversation she has about continuing her imperialism so she can "bring culture" to the rest of the world, as if they didn't already have their own, and the sheer audacity to write that out loud from the hero's mouth fries my brain with annoyance every time
say whaaaaaat 😩😩😩
The background is so good so ( I don't know if the word I am going to use is the best to describe it) pristine , so I simply can say is real is 3d rendering or a image , it gives a vibe
Oh I've been WAITING for this one 😂
3:38 I always forget about that and every time I am reminded, it's like a punch in the gut
I read this whole series because people kept saying “it gets better like 5 books in” lol 🤡 nehemia dies for Aelin to motivate her to work against the king- it is a purely symbolic death that is described as being very brutal. It is so so so stupid. And (spoiler) ultimately, it is in vain because the gods nehemia was working for turn their backs on Aelin as soon as they get what they want. I remember feeling crazy and being angry the whole time i was reading these books because everyone was saying TOG is a masterpiece. Thank you for talking about this.
Ok I have such a problem with the idea that I have to invest the time and money for it to get better in 5 books! That’s actually crazy!
I always found the ‘you just have to get to the fourth book and then it’s SOOOO good!’ thing so wild. Why would I take that person’s word for it? They obviously liked the first book well enough to go on to the second and third and so on, which makes the assertion that it’s going to ‘get good’ feel disingenuous to me.
Btw, not saying I’ve never continued with a series after not loving book one, but there has to be *something* in there that gives me some hope for that next book to be better.
Saaame! Also, I’m sorry, but if it takes 4 books in a series “to get good,” it’s a bad series!!
And I’m the same. I’ve continued in series I didn’t love because there was something I loved. There was something GOOD.
Not the “my eyes change color depending on the light or my clothes” 😭😭😭
It’s giving my immortal lol
@@ifyouckutubei wish celaena had long ebony black hair with purple streaks and red tips
I also read this book about a decade ago and the only thing I remember is the scene where she eats the mystery candy without a second thought despite allegedly being such a skilled assassin lmao
My feelings on SJM are complicated as someone who first encountered her work as a teenager. Throne of Glass is a 3 star series for me after rereading the first two and reading books three and four for the first time. The racism is definitely an issue. I also came across some less significant, but still present transphobia and gender essentialism. And I have questions about the one gay couple we see. And I was not a fan of the ending of Queen of Shadows so we'll see if I ever continue. The one I'm really attached to is ACOTAR and ACOMAF, but I can still tell they have problems. They just influenced my taste so much and I think I projected onto them in a way that I still connect with them, even now, even with the questionable craft and all the other issues. I'm still nervous to read ACOWAR, though, especially with how long it is.
Wow this was a really insightful video. I am a bit of a fan of sjm so its nice to here people talk critically of her works as i think its good to be aware and open to different perspectives particularly of things you like. I had no idea about the magical negro trope and it was extremely eye opening to hear about that sort of thing. You never want to hear that about a series you enjoy. At first i was like nah i think Nehemia is developed as a charecter but honestly the more you explained the more obvious it became. Like even if she did develope her charecter more its obvious it was just to kill her off which is honestly unexceptable in those circumstances.
That being said, in the name of constructive criticisms and open discussion i do think that although you were bang on about many things a few things would have mad more sense and helped you solidify your arguments if taken in the context of the whole series rather than just the first book. Although you did acknowledge that so I can't be too mad. I just think that you really did make really great points at trying to critically analyse the text and i agree completely that there should always be balanced discussions about things, particularly extremely popularised trends. I just think that there will be fans out their who will be quick to dissmiss your arguements purely because you only pull from the context of 1 book. But also understand that you may not want to slog it through all of that and this is your own platform to use as you wish.
Finally I do think that the target reading audience (or at least the one its popularlised in) is at a lower reading level than you criticised the book for. I say this knowing full well I am that lower reading level. So if and i am full making an assumption here is targeted towards those levels things like too many nm dashes dont matter to us. Not saying that it shouldnt be criticised, i think it is important to point out. However what im trying to say is although not the most grammaticaly correct and enjoyable to read for soneone of a high reading lvl I think it add to the draw of her books for particularly some getting back into reading. For me i found her writting natural to read which is what made it so easy to keep reading. So far i have found that books recommended to me or typically portayed as the perfectly eliquent grammatically correct books are so hard to read i feel shamed out of even trying. Which i do thinks has an important place in the world of books. Because i started reading mlre due to ger books i am now more confortable and confident in reading some of those books i would previously never touch.
So as one last suggestion or request, i guess, is what are some books you would recommend in place of sjm? Which book or author do you think should be in that place instead?
Hi, thanks for the comment! I mentioned in the video that this is the start of a series. The intent is to dedicate a video to each book and to slowly build up a comprehensive critique of this series. For any fan who would dismiss me because I’ve only read book 1, they won’t be able to dismiss me once I’ve read the rest. But I do need to read them first. Furthermore, even in a series, each book is still a book! They have to, in some regard, stand on their own and are able to be critiqued on their own. Imagine if we told reviewers they couldn’t review a Marvel movie on its own, and could only review the whole MCU. That would be silly, right? Each entity still gets to be critiqued, even if there is also critique we could apply to the whole series or franchise.
I understand what you mean about reading level, but also, people only improve by learning? I don’t expect everyone to have perfect grammar, but I do think they can learn what makes a good book tick. Besides, my problem with the em dashes isn’t purely grammar. I mention in the video that they are an eye sore, too, and they make the writing choppy. It forces tone. I’ve had people tell me they would’ve never noticed on their own, but now it stands out to them because they learned about it from my videos. So, sure, a SJM fan may not care about grammar, but I don’t think that’s a reason to not explain why her writing doesn’t work for me. After all, this is still a review. It’s just my opinion.
I don’t have great recs for “instead of” SJM because I genuinely hate her books, and I don’t understand what fans get out of it. Like, I’m not sure what experience people are trying to replicate when I find the writing bad, the characterization bad, the plots bad, the worldbuilding bad, and the tropes often racist, you know?
Thanks again for the comment!
Thank you for solving my problem! I hadn't read any Maas since trying ACOTAR when it came out. People keep waxing poetic about how great ToG is and I was wondering if I should give it a go. You reminded me of all the reasons why I don't enjoy Maas as an author...and as a person.