#anti crescent city

[ae-neon]

Sarah Janet Maas is obsessed with the aesthetics of oppression and loves trauma porn back stories, especially ones where male love interests were subjugated by Wicked Women™

But she also dislikes actual rebellion. She thinks people have their place and the ones who get uppity are no good

So she writes protagonists and love interests who belong on top, who were born to rule and inherit overwhelming power, being forced down by antagonistic forces

Her wars and battles and story arcs are simply the world correcting itself by having the MC and their friends in power

No groups of people, no marginalised minorities etc are uplifted as a whole and anyone from an oppressed group who used or uses violence is cast as dubious at best and a flat out villain at worst

#anti sjm #anti crescent city #anti acotar #anti tog

[moonssalad]

Im amazed at how SJM is so good at writing such immature characters.

#anti sjm #anti sarah j maas #anti acotar #anti crescent city #anti ccity #anticc #anti tog #anti throne of glass #anti rhysand #anti cassian #anti azriel #anti mor #anti amren #anti feyre archeron #anti feyre #anti aelin #anti bryce #anti bryce quinlan #anti aelin galathynius

[a-court-of-moonlight-and-ire]

my brain is just mush at the moment so forgive me if this doesnt really make sense but does anyone else get a weird anti-therapy vibe from sjm's books. like, just all of them (except maybe throne of glass but idk anything about that series). Its not that noticeable in acotar because its pre (ethical) therapy times, although everything else in velaris is modern as hell so i really dont see why we shouldnt have modern psychiatry, but i remember in crescent city 1 Bryce being like "my bff juniper keeps telling me to go to therapy bc she thinks my way of coping with Danikas death is really unhealthy and therapy really helped her but i dont want to because I want to suffer" ( <- thats that unhealthy way of coping juni was talking abt btw) and then in the second book after Bryce ostensibly moved on and stopped trying to make herself suffer bc she blamed herself for Danikas death AND experienced a bunch more trauma in the form of her city getting bombed and attacked by demons, I dont think theres a mention of her going to therapy. I say i dont think bc I dont ever plan on reading cc2 but Ive watched cari can reads summary a bunch of times and I dont remember her mentioning anything about that. and thats insane to me because like, Bryce was going to commit suicide after Danikas death. like, she was standing on a roof about to jump off, you dont just come back from that. But this series is just like "eh, shes got a sexy boyfriend and some sexy platonic friends, she'll be fine" which is basically the same thing that happens to Feyre in acomaf and then Nesta in acosf. idk, it continues to baffle me that these books are considered good mental health rep in anyway

#anti sjm #anti crescent city #cccomplaining

[set-in-eternity]

I'm noticing something VERY interesting [maybe only to me] about SJ/M's latest release, both from an author/personal standpoint and a reader/book standpoint. [saying this as someone who has followed her, and her work, for at least a decade now]

the anticipation for CC/3 is huge. her fans are frothing at the bit now that the ACO/TAR world has collided with it. everyone wants THEIR ship to sail, everyone wants to see the culmination of their theories unfold.

BUT throughout all of this, in the space between the books, people have been getting upset at her, too. the latest issue has been about fans coming to notice how much money blooms/bury is asking people to pay to see sj/m for for each live event, in addition to the purchase of a book.

this is also riding on the coattails of a larger discussion, seen all over publishing, about how there are 5 [more?] special editions with separate bonus material across several stores, and fans are BIG MAD about that.

so people want the book, but they're upset at the way the publisher is handling the release, and sj/m has been DISTANT herself for years.

on a personal standpoint, which i'm tempted to connect to the reader standpoint: she's MUCH more visible now than she's been in years.

suddenly, within the last 2 months, she's been posting more. teasers, to be fair, for a new release, so not surprising, but that's [i think] her trying to calm the crowd a bit.

midnight release parties? interviews? willfully interacting with fans? yes and yes and yes.

early release material on her website? yes.

people are connecting her current career trajectory with that of smey/er and twi/light because sj/m is so big now and has so much attention and hype.

i agree, but i don't think they're right in how.

it's only been, what? two days? three? people WHO ACTUALLY LIKE HER are already not so happy about what she produced. it's early, but i'm tempted to think it's getting something like break/ing da/wn attention. people who genuinely love her are calling this book sloppy. rushed. they're saying that everything in it is too easy.

i don't think sj/m's going to ride this high forever. i think she's doing some PR for more than just the book.

i also don't think she's going to flop as quickly, and as badly, as smey-er did. smey/er hadn't faced much criticism before, which she'd admitted as much at the time. sj/m has, which is why she distanced herself. where smey/er shot pretty much straight up from where she started, and then totally fumbled once she reached such heights, sj/m has fumbled before, but despite distancing herself, she's still popular, it's not yet totally in vogue to tear her down, if only because her online fan base has given her so much clout [deserved or not].

I don't see this as being the mess that smey/er faced. i think sj/m will hang on for longer, but based on the reactions to the book itself that i'm seeing, i don't think people will let her get away with as much. if she doesn't address the glaring issues the antis have pointed out, she's facing a healthy decline going forward.

ETA: i think a lot of why she's doing the interviews - on daytime TV no less, this is highly unusual for her - is because her numbers [how much fans are buying from her] are down, which is reflected in how upset the fans were about the 5+ special editions across 5 stores with 5 separate but RELEVANT TO THE STORY bonus chapters that blooms/bury wanted them to fight over.

i think sj/m is being told to appeal harder to the adult/middle aged market. she was the "queen of YA" for years, but her books are being challenged in schools and libraries, people online were furious about the highly adult book box that went around with references and/or links back to sj/m's work [and the book box was supposed to be geared towards younger readers? i think? which again, upset a lot of people because sj/m's work has intimate scenes that not everyone agrees on YA readers reading].

so blooms/bury put a fresh set of "older fantasy" and discreet covers on sj/m's books to get some fresh, not-YA eyes on them, she's going on talk shows to say "hey, i write books for adults who like spice," and they're going to push harder for the crowd with slightly more money [not really, but they need to sell books] who won't be totally offended by the spice, and who may not know about her.

the one issue i see right up front is: they DON'T always know about her. their KIDS might, but middle aged/older readers aren't necessarily the same rabid fanbase making tiktoks online that she currently has. her readers are AGING, for sure, and she's having to keep up with that fact, but we know for sure that Millenials and Gen Z aren't exactly rolling in money right now. so she's relying on the Gen X+ crowds to be as hungry for spice and fantasy mixes as the younger ones were...back when they could afford them.

this might pan out in her favor, but i don't see gen x and the older people lining up for midnight book releases. they might watch the show, depending on how well it's done, or they might decide the books are too young for them as older readers who lean more heavily towards GRRM's work. again, this may well be the start of sj/m's decline, but we'll have to see how much traction she gets with the older crowd AND if that reflects in future print runs - does the publisher do more special editions? do they demand twice the price for live events? or do things start to look more reasonable?

ETA 2: the obvious similarity between sj/m's career and smey/er's [besides having a huge fanbase, made mostly of female-identifying people, who want and enjoy romance] is also that sj/m has been in talks for an adaptation of her work, like smey/er got, which could definitely bring in new readers, not sure how i missed that in the rest of the post.

#publishing #thoughts #anti sjm #anti sarah j maas #anti acotar #anti tog #anti cc #anti crescent city #anti throne of glass #anti smeyer

[immortalbastards]

i call this the qos/acomaf event horizon

#anti sjm #anti crescent city #🍄‍🟫

[persiesposts]

Ever since I finished reading HOSAB I noticed some stark similarities between the Asteri and the Skeksis from the Dark Crystal. Maybe it’s just a niche antagonist thing but I’ve only ever seen this done in Dark Crystal and now CC.

***SPOILERS FOR HOSAB/ DARK CRYSTAL KIND OF***

So in the last like 1-200 pages of HOSAB, it’s revealed that the Asteri are not from Midgard and have in fact been traveling the known and unknown universe, consuming the essence or “firstlight” for sustenance and to maintain their youth and power. They are the last of their kind, were once many and are now few. Worlds that rebelled were destroyed and when the people united as one they were able to drive the Asteri out. They land on Midgard and assert themselves as the overarching rulers of the planet (?) They lure beings from different lands to use them as a source of power and as subjects to rule over.

As I was reading this it started sounding reeeaaally familiar. It’s definitely not exact but IMO the similarities are too close to ignore.

The Skeksis are a race of beings who are not originally from Thra, they landed there and asserted themselves as Lords. They initially fed off the Crystal of Truth to extend their lives but when it became corrupted they started using the Gelflings and Podlings (the civilians they rule over) for their essence/lifesource. It’s heavily implied if not outright stated that they have been scouring the universe for a food source/home since being banished from theirs. The skeksis that remain on Thra are the last of their kind after many years of traveling the stars and losing numbers from quelling uprisings.

Is it just me or do these sound super similar? Not trying to imply anything about SJM but Dark Crystal as a movie has been out since the 80’s and the TV show came out in 2019, HOSAB came out in 2022…

#anti sarah j maas #anti cc #anti crescent city #sjm critical #the dark crytsal: age of resistance #the dark crystal #anti acotar #skeksis

[bookofmirth]

I kind of want to film a review/impressions of hofas, except I only remember the things that annoyed me and the other things are... fuzzy. It would be a "this is your book review on drugs" situation (not literally)

#it feels like a fever dream of badness at this point #if it were any other author I'd just move on #but I know she can do better #so I absolutely hate the series now #anti crescent city #:)

[separatist-apologist]

This is your CC3 hater anon from yesterday (sorry I’m always incredibly nervous to come off anon) but I saw a spoiler where Nesta said to Bryce something along the lines of ‘if we had been born in the same world I think we would’ve been friends’ which like. Honey. I’m not a Nesta fan but Nesta would’ve ATE HER FOR BREAKFAST Bryce would’ve never stood a chance I’m sorry but no. No no. I can’t see it. They would never have been friends and I agree it’ll be a hater read of the year if not the century FOR SURE

You don't have to come off anon- I get it. People can be mean/rabid if they perceive you to be a hater, and I think maybe I get away with it because this is hater safe space.

Anyway I AM a Nesta stan and like, keep Bryce AWAY from her jfc. Nesta is such a girls girl- we'd be friends but like, Bryce is NOT a girls girl imo and does not treat her female friends particularly well (or anyone but that's a complaint for a different day).

I told myself I wasn't going to intentionally read things I didn't want to in 2024. That if I read things I hated organically that was fine, but I wasn't going into something purely for a hate read because it's not good for me and it burns me out.

But. I feel like I need to read at least part of this stupid book rather than just letting @velidewrites spoil it for me via hater voice notes and that irritates me so deeply.

Everyone join my Crescent City Hate Read discord server.

#i dont really have a CC hate read discord server hahaha unless?? #hofas spoilers #anti crescent city #haters bookclub

[astrababyy]

the second cc book is so weird because cormac is the guy fighting for justice and pushing the plot along, and he’s got to drag the actual mcs along with him kicking and screaming. like, HE’S the good guy who’s fighting for human liberation, and all the others are playing the whole “reluctant hero” cliche but it just doesn’t work cause they’re, collectively, two royals, an ex-member of a super powerful wolf pack, the underwater queen’s spymaster, and the fucking umbra mortis who JUST got his freedom back after centuries of slavery. but then the mcs are the saints on a moral high horse and cormac is the devil incarnate. idk if it changes as the book goes on, but i’m on this part where declan is joking around about a situation where people could die and cormac is the only one taking it seriously. like this is so tone deaf???

#i’m beating a dead horse lmao #this book came out ages ago #but i’m just reading it now so i can see nesta again in book 3 #and i’m so irritated with every single character except for cormac like i kid you tf not #anti sjm #sjm critical #anti cc #anti crescent city #anti hosab #astrababyy

[captainninej]

i work at a bookstore now and every time my boss shelves the crescent city books in the teen section i passive aggressively move them to the adult section the battle is ongoing but i will win this war

#anti sjm #i can't move acotar unfortunately #we just don't have the room #but i've got my eye on you sarah #anti crescent city #sjm critical #anti acotar

[ae-neon]

Literally only 4 chapters in and Bryce Quinlan might be the worst? Like morally speaking, she might be sjm's worst protag and that's saying something

She says again and again that compared to the rest of midgard humans are treated best in Crescent City, as they don't have to endure menial labour until death.

The treatment in ccity being that best case scenario: you can become rich but will always be a second class. Worst case scenario: you're eaten. Even the average life of even a half-human is selling sex at the Meat Market.

She still thinks the Asteri shouldn't let the human resistance get to ccity. Implying they should be put down, permanently, rather than have them disrupt her peace.

Bryce sees a Fae woman with a barely adult human man, notes the man is clearly drugged up BUT her real issue is that the woman is cheap when she offers Bryce money to sleep with the DRUGGED UP 20 YEAR OLD.

She says she keeps her nails long and body fit to fight for her life in case some random Vanir tries to rape, kill or eat her. But looks down on her human date for not causing a scene when she thinks that the Vanir in the restaurant are thinking "half-blood" when they look at her. Knowing her Vanir friends would definitely fight for her.

Let's think about that

She knows humans can't do much to Vanir without guns and bombs but she thinks humans are disgusting terrorists when they do use them to fight oppression

She, a half Vanir, is always ready to physically fight for her life but is expecting her HUMAN date to fight a Vanir because she THINKS that random Vanir at the restaurant are THINKING bad things about her

So the man must die because Bryce has perceived thought crimes against her

God help me

#anti sjm #anti crescent city #ccity hoeab

[moonssalad]

Honestly why does almost every SJM written relationship start off with one of them abusing or belittling the other? Is SJM incapable of writing healthy relationships?

#anti sjm #anti sarah j maas #anti acotar #anti tog #anti throne of glass #anti cc #anti ccity #anti crescent city #anti feysand #anti rowaelin #anti nessian #i cant think of anymore couples #well more like i cant remember their ship name

[a-court-of-moonlight-and-ire]

I havent really complained about crescent city 1 despite having read it because, idk man, I enjoyed it well enough for the mystery despite the Sarah J Maas-ness permeating all of it but @ae-neon's recent posts about it made me realize just how bad it is after all, specifically the racism and slavery stuff. Im pretty sure this is her third series with a major plotline about humans being enslaved and I would think she wouldve learned how to write it with a little bit of tact by now, and I would be wrong

While I didnt fully register how bad the handling of the racism was when I read it, I do remember feeling very weird about the total lack of human perspectives other than Bryce and the terrorist guy, specifically, about the fact that Bryce didnt seem to have any human friends ?

And I couldnt help but think about my own life experiences as the child of a family that immigrated to germany from an ex-soviet country, and how basically all of my friends were from a similar, if not identical background. Like, I was a child when I made those friends and i was barely aware of the differences between german-german culture and immigrant-german culture so it wasnt like, a conscious decision, I just seemed to bond the most with other kids who had that common with me. So the fact that Bryce, who wanted to seperate herself from her vanir heritage so much so that she almost refused proper citizenship because it meant acknowledging herself as fae, didnt have any human or half-human friends really stuck out

Now, some might say "oh, she only wants to seperate herself from her fae-side, she doesnt have an issue with vanir in general" and eh. Maybe that would be more of a convincing argument if each vanir-group actually had a distinct culture, but they all just kinda blend together so yeah

Also, this is only tangentially related but I just remembered that there was this whole through-line about Bryce learning how to trust vanir men, sorry, males, because she has issues with them because her biological fae father did to her mother what Rhysand did to Feyre, and she needed to get over those in order to love her vanir bf, Hunt, and Im sorry but you cant do the hashtag not all males-thing, when all of the male characters are the same. Like, theyre all just various flavours of the shitty guy that sjm loves to write about and none of them have any distinct cultures to set them apart, except for that one mermaid man who lived in the water and thats about it

#cccomplaining #<- thats gonna be my crescent city tag #anti sjm #anti crescent city

[the-future-is-fowl]

Is there a reason SJM can’t create her own original ideas for world building and instead has to take from Norse, Roman and Christian mythologies as well as their cultures and pass it off as her own? It reads as ignorant and lazy as well as entitled and really not okay. I’m only fifty pages in and I can only assume it will get worse.

#anti crescent city

[anti-sjmessy]

Bryce was always described as golden tanned. Hunt was described as golden brown. Most of her characters are described as golden tanned for some reason.

Yeah…I can’t stand it because, have you seen the color of gold? Idk, that shits always been weird and super lowkey racist to me

#anti sjm #rio speaks #asks #anti acotar #anti rhysand #anti acofas #anti sarah j maas #anti a court of frost and starlight #anti crescent city #anti croissant city #anti sjm memes #anti sjmaas #anti bryce quinlan

[cloverboyblue]

genuinely curious whether sjm has ever written a couple that isn’t technically enemies (or at least animosity) to lovers. anyone got the stats on this

#anti sjm #anti acotar #anti tog #anti crescent city #anti enemies to lovers #tbh #unless it’s done REALLY well