I have tried, tried SO HARD, to enjoy these books but I just can’t. For me it felt like Sarah J Mass has a huge problem with telling and not showing. In Throne of Glass the heroine is introduced as the world’s number 1 assassin, no one is better at killing than this 19 year old, she’s a total badass and pretty damn sexy to boot. But we’re not really given any context as to how she became this badass, then she spends half the book worrying about what dresses she’ll be wearing and doing no actual killing. She’s in a competition to the death and is more worried about the hunky guard and what he’s up to rather than, I dunno, surviving?! Couldn’t stand it.
My friend kind of half spoilt some of the surprises in the later books to try and convince me it got better, but without spoiling anything they just made me think it was a bad soap opera but in armor.
So then I was told with confidence to try ACOTAR, as this series was more “adult.” But on the very first page the heroine is complaining that she’s not beautiful because she’s “too skinny.” I did the biggest eye roll before making the quickest DNF decision I’ve ever made with a book.
But it cannot be denied how unbelievably popular these books are. Especially on TikTok. There is a never ending pile of memes, fanart, playlists all based around these books. Sarah J Mass seems to be the queen of YA, and I’ve started to see her books appearing in the adult section of the fantasy shelves.
What is is I’m missing? I’d LIKE to enjoy a silly fantasy/romance book every now and then as a little break, but every time I try I just want to slap the main characters silly.
by PMMeYourHousePlants
8 Comments
Personally I like her books. It’s perfectly okay if you don’t. There are plenty of authors out there you may like better.
They are books written for teens… A lot of people read and loved them when younger and hold huge nostalgia – or if you are reading them later on, you have to approach them rather lightly otherwise you will be disappointed.
A lot of TikTok creators also tend to be on younger side, like early twenties. I don’t think you have the right expectations from these titles.
I feel like SJM being a subpar writer is something mostly agreed upon here on the subreddit, that won’t have people losing their minds like they were in the Sanderson post.
That being said, I think SJM was just many people’s entryway into a genre that’s very popular right now (romantasy) so people latched onto her.
Pop culture doesn’t necessarily promote what is good. It promotes… something. Generally something new but not always. People want something to talk about with others. They enjoy that. They might enjoy anything that others are buzzing about because the buzz is the point.
I think by the second book of Sanderson I knew I wasn’t picking up a third. I know what you mean about not being able to stand some characters.
I’m a big fan of Children of Time. I can’t recommend all of Adrian Tchaikovsky. The sequel (Ruin) is good in a horror sense and Garden of Eden was good (not connected). I can’t remember there being a character I didn’t like in there. (The children series is a space travel theme, which might be a big pivot from assassins and hunky guards.)
Yall why are you trying so hard to like books that are about fairy smut? It’s not like they’re critically acclaimed classic literature masterpieces to feel like you don’t get it. It’s just a silly romantasy series. Read book 1, hated it, never bothered again
Why do people do posts like this for any authors? You didn’t like some book you read. Great, just move on to something else.
I have zero opinion on SJM. I haven’t read the books, I have friends who have, and some have suggested I read one eventually. Zero opinion on this besides okay perhaps.
However it was either here or in another sub where someone expressed that SJM fans are exhausted by the number of people who need them to know they dislike SJM’s writing. She expressed it way more eloquently than I can, and this isn’t shade at the OP, but I think she had a good point.
If someone really loathes a book I like to read about it/know why, but I think social media has made it way too easy for both sides of the coin to be constantly, constantly put up for debate.
You reference Tik Tok, which means you probably follow “influencers” whose goals are to grow, entertain, and sell a product. They are trend-chasing or receiving free products. This means they are going to hype up whatever it is they’ve gotten. They also won’t fight the trend.
This issue is on every platform.