Hey guys! This is a new feature I joined from Goodreads’ Top 5 Wednesdays, a weekly book group about our top five favorite things in the middle of the week.
Created by Lainey from GingerReadsLainey and now hosted by Samantha from ThoughtsonTomes, this week’s entry describes the top five polarizing reads.
Mind you, I have not read most of these books, I’m just going by what others have told me about these books, and what I have seen on social media. But let’s get into it!
5. Carve the Mark/We Will Be Mended Epilogue
by Veronica Roth
There has been a whole bunch of controversy behind Veronica’s new novel, especially due to the underlying racism of the white characters hunting and killing down of dark-skinned “otherworldly” characters. I did a little reading and found this note from JustInAIreland.com:
In Carve the Mark the first introduction we get to the Shotet is the male main character, Akos, thinking about how “fierce, brutal” the Shotet are. They killed his grandmother and the reader is told that the cities of the Thuve (who are ostensibly white since they are described by their ability to blush and their light eyes) still bear the marks of Shotet aggression. The first on page appearance of the Shotet is when they arrive unexpectedly at Akos’ family farm and murder his father before kidnapping him and his brother.
These coincidences in world building aren’t happenstance. Rather, it’s because both authors, whether consciously or not, are pulling from the story tradition of the white hero versus the dark enemy. We see this construct in many facets of fiction, such as Westerns where Cowboys versus Indians or thrillers where the American hero (usually white) faces down a dark skinned third world villain. It’s a popular construct, and one that relies on othering people of color to make it work.
It’s definitely telling just imagining what this world looks like. Also, when readers get a copy of this book, they also get to read a new epilogue of the Divergent Series: Allegiant book, called We Will Be Mended. If you thought CTM was bad, WWBM is……..whoa… I won’t spoil in case people don’t want to be, but let’s just say that this will make the Initiates (are they still called that fan name?) really angry. I’m already pretty pissed that Roth’s publishing label, HarperCollins gave her the okay to do this. If the scrapped final movie/TV project wasn’t the last straw for this series, WWBM may just be.
4. Throne of Glass
by Sarah J. Maas
While I have not read this, I have heard many problematic things about how there is a huge lack of diversity in characterization. And with me being a WOC who loves to see herself in the things she reads, it’s become harder to side with SJMaas and her issues. And while there are many books out there that also have little to no diversity in them, it’s not as prevalent as it is in TOG. However, as many issues as this book has in it, it does not give people the excuse to send hate mail or death threats to SJMaas. I don’t condone hate of any magnitude. I just hope Sarah sees the error of her ways and learns from them enough to do better.
3. The Mortal Instruments
by Cassandra Clare
When this series first was released as a trilogy, I was so excited, and so were many other fans! But then the movie kinda bombed, and I’d lost touch with the series overall. Now with the show back on for 2 seasons, it’s brought the energy back to the series. People either love it or don’t care for it because they think the show is wack lol. I like both the show and books though.
2. Fifty Shades of Grey
by E.L. James
Now whoever knows me knows I do not like this series lol. When it first came out, it seemed like it was either loved or hated. Then the movie came out 2 years ago, and it was just ADORED and “OMGGG DAKOTA JOHNSON IS SO HOT” and “OMGGG JAMIE DORNAN IS SO SEXY” and “OMGGG JAKOTA JAKOTA ARE SUCH GOALS OMGG I LUV THEM” and I’m just like
Like I’d like for the next few years to move on just as fast because I know there’s still 2 more books left to transform into movies, please… (sorrynotsorry :P)
1. Twilight
by Stephenie Meyer
I’ll love this series, I’ll always love this series. Hell, I write fanfiction on this series, as well as a fansite based on two of the actors from this series. People either love or hate this series, but I don’t. I can’t. I won’t. Sure, it has its issues, but I don’t expect it to be perfect, just the way it is. And it’s shaped many of what YA books are today, and I’m so grateful for it.
So those are my top polarizing books. I’d love to know your choices in the comments below.
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Thanks for reading! 🙂 ♥
