Addicted to All Things Books discussion

Sarah J. Maas, when you hear the name in the book community people either love her or hate her (very rarely do I find someone with an indifferent opinion on her). Is she a victim of cancel culture or is she a stain on the YA community?

Before I start, I'd like to say that I am completely biased, as I have read many SJM books and loved them, and put out there that I by no means know everything and would take no offense if you correct me (on the contrary, please do so!).

Colonizer language in ACOSF:
Simple background: In SJM's most recent novel readers were disgusted to find colonizer speech in her novel (if you want the exact quote just search up colonizer speech in ACOSF, I was having a hard time uploading it. sorry :/). I am a first-generation American and come from a country that was colonized( i lived in said country till I was 5 and still visit often) with that in mind I know what it feels like for a country to suffer the consequences of colonization despite gaining independence. When I read ACOSF, I did not feel any colonization undertones within the story. (view spoiler)[ The situation in the book where Amren suggest for Rhysand to become the head of Prythian, I understood to be a high-ranking official telling their leader their options. In the books, it is explicitly stated that all the leaders, high lords, of each territory would keep their lands and the people of the lands would live their lives as if nothing happened (culture and tradition-wise). (hide spoiler)]I by no means am invalidating other's opinions, everyone is entitled to their own.

Her Birthright Trip:
Prior to starting, I would like to once again state that I do not know everything and would greatly appreciate it if you *kindly* correct me if I get something wrong. In 2015, Maas revealed that she took a birthright trip( a nonprofit organization that sponsors a 10-day trip for people, primarily teens, of Jewish heritage to travel to Israel. They ignore what has been done to Palestine.). Maas stated that her birthright trip was one of the coolest experiences of her life and completely ignored and did not mention the atrocities done to the Palestinian people. I do not feel comfortable expressing an opinion on this topic because I know very little.

My overall opinion: Many people immediately pick a side and start arguing and debating online without consulting the author herself. I am a firm believer in giving a person the right to explain their actions. Something that is almost never done on the internet.

With that, I open the conversation up to the public. Please be respectful in the comments.

bestie might be starting something w this. alright, I did not know about the birthright trip and I won't be speaking on it because I had no idea and I know so little that I'm not in a place to really have an opinion.

now, for acosf I didn't really pay attention to any Plot With a Capital P (sue me) but I did kind of notice that. I am a huge fan of acotar, tog, and crescent city and while I've noticed a few things that I'd change (her representation, the way her female characters sometimes seem like they were written by men, the occasional misogynistic behavior of the "males") I do think that some people go too hard on her. everyone is entitled to their own opinion, freedom of speech means we can share it, but I don't know if maas deserves to be cancelled bc of it

I don't have a huge opinion on this, to be honest. This is simply because I am not the most educated when it comes to problematic authors and what that involves.

I do love the acotar series and I don't think anything will change that. I do also notice the things that people point out in them like the way she portrays some people and their relationships.

However, as I said, I am not the most educated when it comes to all of this but I also do think that a lot of people are super aggressive when it comes to vocalizing their distaste for her. So, I don't know if she has done anything to rectify her actions or whatnot, but I would love to know more about this and become more educated on other problematic authors in the future.

Woah, I didn't know those things about her. I thought A Court of Thorns and Roses was problematic and that made me dislike her but for really different reasons. It was a fantasy world published in the 2010's and yet every single character was straight, white, and cis and the two black characters had barely any scenes and one was killed right away. This suggests some underlying racism to the author, but I'm going to give her other books a shot before I label her as racist. Secondly, the sexual assault/harassment/manipulation wasn't dealt with well. Sorry to talk about very adult content matters, but Feyre being turned on by being sexually assaulted and then falling in love with the guy who sexually assaulted her and then also forgiving the guy who sexually manipulated her and then him ending up being the love interest for the rest of the series... so wrong and disgusting. Like I'm trying not to judge her for these things in ACOTAR but it's hard...

when did rhys assault her?? the only thing coming to mind is when he kissed her in the closet under the mountain and that was to save her skin. I really didn't like that part because feyre made it so obvious she didn't want to do kiss him, but this trope (hurry! let's pretend we're making out so we don't get caught!) has been used in dozens of books that I've read. someone please enlighten me, I love acotar but I need some truth over here I guess.

I’m guessing the assault claim comes from under the mountain when he got her drunk so she wouldn’t remember the events of the night when she was taken around the party by Rhys. Then Feyre talked about the body paint being smeared and having hand prints from him. It eludes too him taking advantage of her but to what I remember, there wasn’t any confirmation of that fact…? Correct me if I’m wrong please.

oh! I never would've thought of that as feyre explains that the paint was never smeared on any intimate places. this is such a tangled web oh my goodness. if only things were simple

Yeah I don’t think she ever said where the paint was smeared if I can remember correctly (again I’m not 100% sure) but there was never anyone outright claiming rape or sexual assault, etc.

There are valid criticism of her books but sometimes I think people over analysis on some things.

As for the birth right trip, she never said anything about the Palestinian genocide so I don’t want to jump to conclusions on how she feels about.

Stephanie Meyer duh

Since she doesn't have any poc or queer characters, at least none that actually matters, I don't like her. I think that it's ok to white cis straight people make this mistake in their first book, but she's one of the authors that best sells nowdays, and has already something like 15~20 books, so no excuses for this whitewashed shit she's doing. I read ACOTAR and a lot of people told me to read her others books, but I'm not reading anything from someone who only sees her own ass.

Caitlyn wrote: "I’m guessing the assault claim comes from under the mountain when he got her drunk so she wouldn’t remember the events of the night when she was taken around the party by Rhys. Then Feyre talked ab..."

I viewed it as sexual assault/abuse/manipulation. Even if he didn't explicitly touch her, it was hinted at that he was at least doing somewhat sexual moves with her and it was described in detail that she was practically naked with a flimsy dress so people could basically see everything and he forced that kiss onto her when she didn't want it

Here's what I wrote in my review directly after reading the Rhys scenes:
The other sexual assault scenario was an ongoing several day event that happened in the book where every night Rhysand would get Feyre drunk, have her do “dances” that were very sexual in nature, touch her waist without consent, and had her wear clothes that were described to reveal basically everything about her. It almost feels like the author was trying to get her completely naked but she thought that maybe a light thin sheet that is described in detail to show off every intimate part of her body was more appropriate. I don’t understand how this scene was published in a book. I also nearly forgot to include when Rhysand kissed Feyre very deeply when she didn’t want it and then how Feyre is like “oh, all of what Rhysand did was okay because he was saving my life.”