The Issue(s) With Sarah J. Mass

Sarah J. Mass, Best known for her ACOTAR (A Court of Thorns and Roses) book series, began exponentially growing in popularity shortly after the creation of the “BookTok” hashtag (see my previous post), with an increase in 86% more purchases. Her career as an author began in 2012, when she published “Throne of Glass,” (TOG) a romantical fantasy which, as of 2024, has over 40 million copies sold worldwide in over 38 languages. Typically, her books include a relatively standard plotline featuring female heroines with copious amounts of trauma as they fight their way through wars and relationships, and are primarily intended for entertainment. Her books have set a sort of standard for other similar YA or even NA (young adult or new adult) novels, and have therefore contributed to the issue of an increasing number of copy-paste books (again, see my previous post). While I believe there is nothing wholly wrong with capitalizing upon something clearly favored by a certain audience, it could be argued that it’s not really doing anything ‘good’ for the book community either. Furthermore, her three series contain many of the same elements as each other, following similar plot twists and even character development. And lastly, there have been huge online debates about the lacking inclusivity of race or poor representation within her novels.

 

While there is nothing to do about her influencing other authors to create similar books (cus like- she can’t dictate their choices and it's not as if what she’s doing can even be considered genuinely wrong- like she’s just writing books- and arguably good ones considering how many have purchased them (myself included)), I do find it odd how each of her series follows the same primary themes, and nearly identical or elementary characters. For example, when comparing the main characters of her three series, there are stark similarities. Celaena from TOG likes music and is a rambunctious assassin raised by the cruel King of Assassins. Feyre from ACOTAR likes painting and is a rambunctious self-taught hunter trying to support her family in poverty. Bryce from Crescent City likes dancing and used to be rambunctious until she had to navigate her new dysfunctional family dynamic and recent death of her best friend. *SLIGHT SPOILER ALERT* Towards the end of ACOTAR and TOG, both main characters also decide to settle down, despite their fighting for the right to fight for the past 5-8 books (there’s also the issue of the main character in TOG losing her powers at the end, which also began a large debate, but this could take up an entire blog post so I’m only briefly mentioning it) *END OF SPOILER*. But anyway, see what I mean? They all have a relatively common hobby and some sort of trauma alongside a rambunctious personality. But what’s wrong with this? Isn’t this what other books do as well? Well, yeah. Practically all books contain some sort of conflict and defining characteristic for a character. But what annoys me about her books is that when consecutively reading her series, there’s no getting around the similarities—the same applies for her mmcs (male main characters). (Theoretically, it could also be intentional considering her last few books have been aimed towards connecting the ACOTAR and Crescent City universes, also hinting at bringing in TOG into the mix- but I still stand by my opinion that she could do slightly better at making more individually unique characters).

 

And not only are her characters so similar to one another, but some aren’t entirely developed. For example, Morrigan from ACOTAR is arguably one of the most important characters in the series when considering her position in the “inner circle” (basically a group containing the most influential and powerful ‘people’ of the most powerful region, (they’re not people but I’m not gonna get into describing fae or illyrians) her vital role in politics, wars, and so much more. She’s also largely why Feyre (the mc) is able to overcome her fears and trauma (won't be specified bc of spoilers), and helps transform Feyre into the powerful character she becomes in the third book/ end of second book. However, despite her essential contributions to other characters and the plot, she's incredibly underdeveloped. Her powers being the main example. They’re said to be incredibly powerful and deadly “truth” abilities, but are never exhibited or further described. Even her backstory has less focus than other similar characters, such as Cassian and Azriel (other inner circle members). But Morrigan is not the only character lacking these details. In Crescent City, most characters are just as underdeveloped as Morrigan (in my opinion), but honestly, I think that series is another mess, which I won’t get into.

 

Anyway! Online discussions concerning Sarah J. Mass’ lacking inclusivity of race or proper representation surfaced around 2021/2022. Around that time, readers began pointing out that one of the only primary non-white characters within her TOG series was murdered, therefore removing some of the only racial representation. Many individuals then brought up how they felt her books having the large majority of characters be described as white (I’d say about 95% of characters were described as having traditionally white features (eg: red hair, blond hair, light skin, blue eyes, etc.)) was an issue; others argued back, saying the fact had no matter when considering her books took place in a purely fantasy world without any real-life racial constructs or negative stigma concerning race. As response to these critiques and backlash, Mass made more of an effort to include racially diverse characters within her newer novels (Crescent City), but has overall kept racial discussions out of her books, likely because the worlds within those books don’t contain the same historical context as real-life. But, should that mean it’s unnecessary to ensure characters reference all real-life races when you’re already clearly using one as reference? Is it possible to completely remove any traces of real-life influence from books? Mass also already uses social structures and social norms based on real-life, and many of her wars or societal issues largely reflect those in real history (eg: the slave camps  and colonization in TOG (based on citizenship/ species), the politics in Crescent City, the prejudice and subjugation of humans in ACOTAR, etc). So, with everything mentioned in mind, it’s quite unclear where Sarah J. Mass is drawing the lines between what she will include from real life, and what she won’t. But, based on how much she’s already drawn from (mainly Western) history, I’d say she should broaden her character’s cultural backgrounds to incorporate more than just Western influences. For example, The Cruel Prince too draws from real historical contexts, yet manages to incorporate different races without drawing away focus from both plot and the absence of real-world racial ideologies, showcasing exactly how possible it is to simply include more representation within a series.

 

ANYWAY GUYS I THINK THAT'S ALL I HAVE TO SAY THANKS FOR READING!! BYE BYE NOWWWWW

-Karina