#sjmess

Oh, wow, really? That does seem very low by SJM standards. I wonder how accurate those numbers are, though? I feel like the only people who’d have accurate sales numbers is Bloomsbury and SJM, so I would definitely take that with a grain of salt. But neither would I be too surprised if that was true, too. Everything is bound to affect book sales. It’s interesting that you mention KOA’s special editions – there are only four of this this time around (only…HAH.) I also noticed that seemed to have dropped Australia/NZ from their special editions? If I recall correctly, then both ToD and ACOWAR had special editions in the Australia/New Zealand region but don’t this time around. Guess they didn’t sell well enough to warrant one for KOA… 

white savior trope, women pitted against other women under the veil of ‘feminism’, cultural appropriation, ableism, cause god forbid diversity.. coming to you fall 2017

Thanks! It’s probably a combination of a few things, really. I feel like in 2016 (around the time when she became very sparse on social media) there was an upswing in diversity and accurate representation in YA literature. I remember – a little before EOS was released, I think – there were multiple threads going around on Twitter about SJM & critique of her novels. I’m guessing this is also the time where SJM and Susan Dennard (& co.) stopped being friends, as well. (As for the show…I don’t know what’s going on there. Adaptations are notoriously slow, I’ve heard other YA authors saying, but ultimately, SJM is so popular that the show will probably go ahead. Eventually.)

Yep, not only did she take the concept from Anne Bishop’s Black Jewels series…but she took the name from an actual culture (probably.) To add to Anon, the Illyrians were an Indo-European-speaking people that were eventually conquered by the Romans. If, however, we were going to give SJM the benefit of the doubt, then she could have gotten the name Illyria from other places too – it’s a fairly common name (eg. it was used in Buffy, etc.) 

Ah, I see. I…guess that makes more since? Still not convinced it’s necessary but I’ll do my best to reserve judgement as I obviously haven’t read it. I do wonder, though, if any other YA author but SJM would be able to get away with such a thing. Personally, I find one “prologue” obnoxious enough, let alone two…