Thirty-four-year-old Sarah J. Maas is the author of the “Throne of Glass” series, the “A Court of Thorns and Roses” (ACOTAR) series, as well as the newest edition still being worked on, the “Crescent City” trilogy. Millions of copies have been sold and are translated into 37 languages. Maas is one of the many authors best known for her High Fantasy writing. While her books are technically marked as Young Adult High Fantasy, many believe that it should really be considered Adult Fantasy since Young Adult describes works written for the ages 12 to 18. 

“Throne of Glass” is a series that consists of seven books and one prequel. “Throne of Glass” was the first book in the series which she started writing back when she was just 16 years old with her first book released in 2012. She became a New York Times bestselling author for the YA series that had readers falling in love with the fictional story of a young assassin, Celeana Sardothien. Maas later released the first book to the ACOTAR series in 2015. In June 2020, the ACOTAR series got a new cover look and only these books were placed in the adult section in all stores. 

This series consisted of three full-length books and one novella in total but with the new release, there are now five books.  It originally started out as a Beauty and the Beast retelling but quickly took a twist when hitting the second and third installments. In this series, we follow a girl named Feyre who has hunted and killed predators all her life to survive. When she spots a deer being pursued by a wolf, she doesn’t hesitate to kill it for its flesh. However, in doing so it costs a big price that she must now repay. She is brought into the world of faeries but with being human, she is vulnerable to the dangers this new world threatens to unfold. With many characters that come in and out throughout the entire series, this allows so many opportunities for different narratives as the books continue.

With this new release, Maas decided to make it not about Feyre but about her older sister, Nesta. This character is both loved and hated by many readers while reading the series but when fans found out she was getting her own book, many were thrilled by the idea of it. 

On Feb. 16, Maas’ new book “A Court of Silver Flames” came out. Many videos were posted on TikTok throughout the day of people waiting in lines to purchase one of the most anticipated reads of the year. On Instagram, the book community started posting pictures, displaying the cover and congratulating the author on her new release. 

It was a big day for readers until it started to get ugly. People started posting videos on TikTok within the literature-loving community known as BookTok, slandering the accomplished author. With insults such as “If you preordered Sarah’s new book or purchased it today, unfollow me right now” or “you are supporting a problematic author by giving her your money,” some of these comments were being ignored. Unfortunately, this is when things started to escalate. 

There is lots of controversy when it comes to Maas’ books. While her books are well written, they lack diversity which is something readers have been seeking more of with everything that’s been happening recently in the world. The LGBTQIA community have expressed that she needs to show some representation in her books without feeling the need to kill them off or keep them as a side character. An example is Nehemia from the “Throne of Glass’’ series. Nehemia appeared in the first installment as Celeana’s best friend when Celeana needed to disguise herself. Nehemia was the Princess of Eyllwe, one of the kingdoms within the fantasy series. She was unfortunately killed off too soon in the second installment “Crown of Midnight.” Considering that she was the only POC character at the time, people raged over the fact that her role within the books was cut short despite the series continuing for another five books.

Such outcry and opposition may remind some of the similar controversy with the acclaimed “Harry Potter’’ series author, J.K. Rowling. Rowling, who waited years after her series became a movie franchise and was included in theme park rides at Universal Studios, didn’t add any diversity or even LGBTQIA+ characters until just recently in what seemed to be a way to stay relevant and has even received backlash for transphobic comments and beliefs. Despite there being drastic differences between Maas and Rowling, one would hate to see Maas’ writing career suffer a similar fate for lack of diversity. Although, not as wholly opposed, Maas’ recent controversy has many forming their own opinions, with some buying her books to simply make an opinion for themselves or just tear it apart. She could soon be walking on eggshells.

A situation like this is never one-sided. When talking about Maas as a writer, most would agree that she is very talented. She started at the age of 16 and published her first book at age 26. However, with all the books she’s written in total, there still seems to be little to no representation in her stories. There can be many reasons for this. One could be that she doesn’t fully understand what it’s like to be a person of color or to be a part of the LGBTQIA+ community so she feels that she can’t write it validly. With this point in mind, readers argue that she can still put more effort into doing the research so that she can educate herself like many other authors do. Even the people reading the books do their research to better understand the meaning behind the story or sexuality of a character. Let’s say that she does write in a POC or LGBTQIA+ character but it’s very stereotypical. There will be people who will be upset about that so it’s kind of a “damn be damned” situation. 

That is what makes being an author or writer so difficult. People write because they love to tell a story through the pages that are read. But while doing so, there are always people to please. And if they are not happy, then there will be some disliking that spreads and there will be people who will choose whether or not to agree. 

A big personality on both of TikTok and Instagram platforms posted a video in the early afternoon of Feb. 16 sharing to his followers that he had received his book. A couple of hours later, he posted a video saying that he deleted the previous video because he was receiving mean comments and death threats through direct messages for purchasing the book. 

These platforms which originally started so that readers can express their love for reading with people who will understand it best, are now being used as a method of antagonizing individuals within the writing community. Many people started calling these platforms and profiles toxic and stated how ashamed they were to be a part of such a community that just tears people apart for having their own opinions. 

While many agree that encouraging diversity is good, it gives no one the excuse to send rude comments and especially death threats. Bullying is not acceptable in any environment. A book release shouldn’t have surged into a bunch of death threats being sent. 

The situation, however, settled in a matter of days. Readers started posting on their pages communicating that their feeds will be a safe space to comprehend everything that went on and where spoilers of the book will not be posted without warning. 

Situations like these are not just one-sided. But whichever side was chosen, opinions shouldn’t be something that has to be accepted personally but rather respected. This goes for most things within the Arts and Literature. If you love something, never let anyone take away what brings you joy. If you do not like something, that is okay too. Shaming people is not welcomed, and this has been displayed once again, throughout the writing community.

 Caitlin Alicea | The Oswegonian