The obscuration of a book like this being literal porn is, I think, the point. My wife and I interact with a lot of religious girls, being near a religious university. She has had this book recommended to her by otherwise pious girls, who could probably recite a screed again porn videos, but don't see the connection between that and what they do with their books.
Which is to say, the shell games with words was supereffective against naive women in particular, and by the time they might realize it they're too much of a femgooner to be honest with themselves. I hope Maas rots in hell for the insidiousness of what she created.
Wow, I had no idea this was the content of the book my ex was reading. I shelled out a lot of money for a custom Etsy laser engraved Stanley cup themed after this book series. This whole time I thought it was just Narnia for women. I was swindled…
I could go on about the neuroticism of my Taylor Swift loving, BookTok, therapy speak ex-girlfriend, but ultimately I’m happy I came to the realization about who and what she was before I put a ring on it. Thank God.
Very astute (and comedic) write up. I made the mistake of reading it at the recommendation of an ex who said they were her "favorite fiction books of the last five years". Not to put her on blast but you're absolutely right that the core consumers of the series don't see these types of books as the hard erotica, since if they did, I doubt she would have told me to read it. I suppose that's where the double-standard that really irks me about this entire genre comes into play; I hate to be the guy who says, "Well, if the roles were reversed" since I usually don't like that argument, I can't help but wonder what would actually happen if a man was to rewrite one of these books where the exact same thing happens, but the POV is changed from the woman's to the man who kidnapped her. It'd be derided as exploitative, misogynistic, and worse, I'm certain. This goes for just about anything I've seen crawl out of the fetid pool of BookTok, most of which exceed ACOTAR in the severity of the content, and if any of it was written by a man, he'd probably be arrested. I'm not saying that a gender-swapped or POV-swapped copy would be any better or justified, because it wouldn't, but the lack of self-reflection, dishonesty, and cognitive dissonance on behalf of the readership is what stuns me more than anything about the book itself.
Also yes Maas is a thoroughly mid author, and even that feels like giving her too much credit. In a culture that took literature seriously, she'd be relegated to the back corner of the bookstore on the romance shelf with corny Harlequin romance novels that, for whatever reason, are still clowned on even though their less self-aware spiritual descendants are moving by the caseload.
"I can't help but wonder what would actually happen if a man was to rewrite one of these books..."
May I introduce you to Norman's Gor series of barbarian novels? Which women also loved, BTW. Naturally, it was frozen out by the industry despite its wide popularity.
It turns out that there's an entire substack article about this very thing. The whole Gor slave-girl aesthetic turns on many women, but feminists couldn't admit that. It did less for me; but remains a cult series, and has kept publishing into recent times.
I read this book before it was cool and hated what the author did to Tamlin. I did a search for Beauty and the Beast retellings, which I was into at the time (still am, but good ones are so hard to find) and that's how I waded into it not knowing what it was. Maas completely trashed and undermined this premise by switching the love interest based on literally nothing. I suspect she just wanted to drag it out into a series after getting enough sales to justify it. I've not recommended it to anyone, nor raved about it, nor really done anything but let it lurk on my Kindle app. It's not on my physical bookshelf for anyone to see. I agree with you. Women want captured, held, and enslaved, as long as the prison is comfy and they're flattered by the near-rape levels of insane lust that lead to ravishment. Time to bring back some barbarism if you want to put them into their place again.
My ex got very into these books while we were dating, then suddenly her standards for me changed quite a lot until I wasn't the right man for her anymore. Glad my wife hates the author and won't pick up any of her books!
Twilight and 50 Shades were the same thing for the generation before ACATAR.
I also find it hilarious, depressing, disheartening, and gross that the first book's love interest is discarded for the new better hotness in the next book.
And before that it was Jackie Collins, Jilly Cooper and whoever wrote "Flowers in the Attic". Before that was Lady Chatterley's Lover and Mills & Boon.
My mom (ignorant) bought me (male) Fourth Wing for Christmas because it been recommended to her by coworkers. I realized this was not just Fantasy written by a woman in the first paragraph... Look at all the tens/hundreds of thousands of public reviews for the book by women with their personal names and selfies up, imagine if guys did the same for pornography. Totally insane.
It is porn, and it is an addiction. The section labeled BookTok, or even worse, SpicyTok are filled with dozens upon dozens of pornographic books.
I can’t read most new releases because I don’t know what progressive hell I’m going to delve into when reading. For now I have to stick to the classics or at least authors I’ve read before.
Maas is only one of the many, many accomplices who has ruined a generation of women.
Reinforces my general approach of only allowing books that are at least 80 years old for my children. Anything newer has to be reviewed, which is often a pain in the ass. I don't want to read this garbage. The Goodreads for ACOTAR is also garbage. Check it out. What is with these women and their reviews? Utterly cringe.
So I just have to hope someone with a brain and a moral compass has read the book. Thanks for taking one for the team!
You are so delusional. I have never read the book, but to Say women love rape more than men Is so miopic i have to doubt your sincerity. 98% of sexual crime Is done by men. And comparing reading a fucking book that talks about sexuality and rape (while talking about plenty other things) to literally porn, which Is the most searched thing in the web by a long Screech, which features constant rape and degradation of women (Just read the titles and were chocking and facials are now "normal" and almost vanilla compared to t'he rising normalization of incest and other worse perversions) and that almost evry men goons (literally not mentally) everyday of his life. How can you Say the book Is worse and It shows how women dont know how to romance? When 95 % of women Goon every single day to vídeos of men getting chocked, hitted and humiliated by other women or men which are nothing more than their bodies, call me.
It is not possible to fantasize about getting raped, because if you want to have sex with the person it is not rape. Even if the majority of women want that (wich is absolutely not the case) is a fantasy that they don't want to happen in real life, they want to imagine the "chad" as you would call it get so crazy in love that they can not restrain himself from having sex with you. They don't want their uncle/creepy men to rape them.
Can you truly not differentiate between a fantasy and an act? Have you never fantasiezed about killing someone? Should it be treated the same as you literally killing someone? Do you not realise if your sexual fantasy includes a guy getting with you irregardless of your opinion, that sexual fantasy its still under your control because its happening in your head and you wouldn't want it to happen in real life?
Sounds like these ladies would like some classic Robert E Howard Conan the Barbarian stories. Lots of delicate flesh crushed against hard armor by iron thews, smothering kisses, etc, as well as LOTS of nubile young ladies held down writhing on altars to dark gods and/or whipped by evil sorceresses
Listening to two minutes of description of this book and I could tell you it was romance femsmut but I had no idea it was this bad. Highlights an interesting phenomenon in today's world: the acceptable socialization of fringe entertainment or ideas b/c of the appeal to women.
I think one of the less-appreciated downsides of hardcore pornography being everywhere is how it outshines all other forms of titillation. They get lost in the glare.
The effect gets doubled when you already have a cultural blind spot for female lust.
The Monster Girl Encyclopedia mention sent me. Hope the editors pay you enough for a flamethrower next round.
“This book and its popularity has lead me to believe that women do not feel love in the way men understand it to be”.
100% yes. I do not think the concepts of love that men and women have are the same. Men love when they are willing to sacrifice - I don’t know many women who live a definition of sacrificial love for anything but their children, and even that seems to be falling by the wayside these days. To be honest, I barely even remember what it was that first led me to this conclusion - I think noticing how quickly young women moved from relationship to relationship while their ex’s frequently stayed single and emotionally fragile for long periods of time played into it.
Men are hands down the fairer sex, at least when it comes to this.
Which is exactly how women feel after watching a lot of male fantasy porn. I think this is a case of projecting the false erotic desires of one sex onto the other. Women don't desire to be raped, just as so much male porn depicts rape doesn't indicate most males are closet rapists. It's the eroticization of the suppressed desire to be sexually and emotionally active/receptive. No more than that.
The obscuration of a book like this being literal porn is, I think, the point. My wife and I interact with a lot of religious girls, being near a religious university. She has had this book recommended to her by otherwise pious girls, who could probably recite a screed again porn videos, but don't see the connection between that and what they do with their books.
Which is to say, the shell games with words was supereffective against naive women in particular, and by the time they might realize it they're too much of a femgooner to be honest with themselves. I hope Maas rots in hell for the insidiousness of what she created.
(((Maas))).
Wow, I had no idea this was the content of the book my ex was reading. I shelled out a lot of money for a custom Etsy laser engraved Stanley cup themed after this book series. This whole time I thought it was just Narnia for women. I was swindled…
I could go on about the neuroticism of my Taylor Swift loving, BookTok, therapy speak ex-girlfriend, but ultimately I’m happy I came to the realization about who and what she was before I put a ring on it. Thank God.
Glad you got out while you could bro the engraved Stanley cup is crazy
A red flag so large it would collapse into a black hole.
All Women Are Unrepentant Gooners.
Good Lord, i should not have looked up gooner
Very astute (and comedic) write up. I made the mistake of reading it at the recommendation of an ex who said they were her "favorite fiction books of the last five years". Not to put her on blast but you're absolutely right that the core consumers of the series don't see these types of books as the hard erotica, since if they did, I doubt she would have told me to read it. I suppose that's where the double-standard that really irks me about this entire genre comes into play; I hate to be the guy who says, "Well, if the roles were reversed" since I usually don't like that argument, I can't help but wonder what would actually happen if a man was to rewrite one of these books where the exact same thing happens, but the POV is changed from the woman's to the man who kidnapped her. It'd be derided as exploitative, misogynistic, and worse, I'm certain. This goes for just about anything I've seen crawl out of the fetid pool of BookTok, most of which exceed ACOTAR in the severity of the content, and if any of it was written by a man, he'd probably be arrested. I'm not saying that a gender-swapped or POV-swapped copy would be any better or justified, because it wouldn't, but the lack of self-reflection, dishonesty, and cognitive dissonance on behalf of the readership is what stuns me more than anything about the book itself.
Also yes Maas is a thoroughly mid author, and even that feels like giving her too much credit. In a culture that took literature seriously, she'd be relegated to the back corner of the bookstore on the romance shelf with corny Harlequin romance novels that, for whatever reason, are still clowned on even though their less self-aware spiritual descendants are moving by the caseload.
"I can't help but wonder what would actually happen if a man was to rewrite one of these books..."
May I introduce you to Norman's Gor series of barbarian novels? Which women also loved, BTW. Naturally, it was frozen out by the industry despite its wide popularity.
It turns out that there's an entire substack article about this very thing. The whole Gor slave-girl aesthetic turns on many women, but feminists couldn't admit that. It did less for me; but remains a cult series, and has kept publishing into recent times.
https://socialmatter.substack.com/p/the-john-norman-school-of-romance
And another one here:
https://www.anarchonomicon.com/p/the-banned-fantasy-novels-feminists
I was gonna say, women loved that series, but other women hated it so much they got it suppressed. LoL
I read this book before it was cool and hated what the author did to Tamlin. I did a search for Beauty and the Beast retellings, which I was into at the time (still am, but good ones are so hard to find) and that's how I waded into it not knowing what it was. Maas completely trashed and undermined this premise by switching the love interest based on literally nothing. I suspect she just wanted to drag it out into a series after getting enough sales to justify it. I've not recommended it to anyone, nor raved about it, nor really done anything but let it lurk on my Kindle app. It's not on my physical bookshelf for anyone to see. I agree with you. Women want captured, held, and enslaved, as long as the prison is comfy and they're flattered by the near-rape levels of insane lust that lead to ravishment. Time to bring back some barbarism if you want to put them into their place again.
Considering so many women's obsessions with allowing the country to be invaded by 3rd world rapists, barbarism is coming, like it or not.
I need to get my daughters to a convent, stat. Sadly it’s too late to not teach them how to read.
Don't worry, there ARE good books out there.
My ex got very into these books while we were dating, then suddenly her standards for me changed quite a lot until I wasn't the right man for her anymore. Glad my wife hates the author and won't pick up any of her books!
Twilight and 50 Shades were the same thing for the generation before ACATAR.
I also find it hilarious, depressing, disheartening, and gross that the first book's love interest is discarded for the new better hotness in the next book.
I also can't say that I'm surprised by it.
And before that it was Jackie Collins, Jilly Cooper and whoever wrote "Flowers in the Attic". Before that was Lady Chatterley's Lover and Mills & Boon.
My mom (ignorant) bought me (male) Fourth Wing for Christmas because it been recommended to her by coworkers. I realized this was not just Fantasy written by a woman in the first paragraph... Look at all the tens/hundreds of thousands of public reviews for the book by women with their personal names and selfies up, imagine if guys did the same for pornography. Totally insane.
It is porn, and it is an addiction. The section labeled BookTok, or even worse, SpicyTok are filled with dozens upon dozens of pornographic books.
I can’t read most new releases because I don’t know what progressive hell I’m going to delve into when reading. For now I have to stick to the classics or at least authors I’ve read before.
Maas is only one of the many, many accomplices who has ruined a generation of women.
Great essay, well done.
Reinforces my general approach of only allowing books that are at least 80 years old for my children. Anything newer has to be reviewed, which is often a pain in the ass. I don't want to read this garbage. The Goodreads for ACOTAR is also garbage. Check it out. What is with these women and their reviews? Utterly cringe.
So I just have to hope someone with a brain and a moral compass has read the book. Thanks for taking one for the team!
You are so delusional. I have never read the book, but to Say women love rape more than men Is so miopic i have to doubt your sincerity. 98% of sexual crime Is done by men. And comparing reading a fucking book that talks about sexuality and rape (while talking about plenty other things) to literally porn, which Is the most searched thing in the web by a long Screech, which features constant rape and degradation of women (Just read the titles and were chocking and facials are now "normal" and almost vanilla compared to t'he rising normalization of incest and other worse perversions) and that almost evry men goons (literally not mentally) everyday of his life. How can you Say the book Is worse and It shows how women dont know how to romance? When 95 % of women Goon every single day to vídeos of men getting chocked, hitted and humiliated by other women or men which are nothing more than their bodies, call me.
Literally, half the essay is literally talking about women’s high standards and how the writer couldn’t keep up with them 😭
If so, why 98 % of sexual crime is done by men?
It is not possible to fantasize about getting raped, because if you want to have sex with the person it is not rape. Even if the majority of women want that (wich is absolutely not the case) is a fantasy that they don't want to happen in real life, they want to imagine the "chad" as you would call it get so crazy in love that they can not restrain himself from having sex with you. They don't want their uncle/creepy men to rape them.
Can you truly not differentiate between a fantasy and an act? Have you never fantasiezed about killing someone? Should it be treated the same as you literally killing someone? Do you not realise if your sexual fantasy includes a guy getting with you irregardless of your opinion, that sexual fantasy its still under your control because its happening in your head and you wouldn't want it to happen in real life?
Isn't it more disgusting that men rape than any other private fantasy women can have?
Sounds like these ladies would like some classic Robert E Howard Conan the Barbarian stories. Lots of delicate flesh crushed against hard armor by iron thews, smothering kisses, etc, as well as LOTS of nubile young ladies held down writhing on altars to dark gods and/or whipped by evil sorceresses
Listening to two minutes of description of this book and I could tell you it was romance femsmut but I had no idea it was this bad. Highlights an interesting phenomenon in today's world: the acceptable socialization of fringe entertainment or ideas b/c of the appeal to women.
I think one of the less-appreciated downsides of hardcore pornography being everywhere is how it outshines all other forms of titillation. They get lost in the glare.
The effect gets doubled when you already have a cultural blind spot for female lust.
The Monster Girl Encyclopedia mention sent me. Hope the editors pay you enough for a flamethrower next round.
The Right understands the Left better than the Left understands the Right: exhibit 9998
“This book and its popularity has lead me to believe that women do not feel love in the way men understand it to be”.
100% yes. I do not think the concepts of love that men and women have are the same. Men love when they are willing to sacrifice - I don’t know many women who live a definition of sacrificial love for anything but their children, and even that seems to be falling by the wayside these days. To be honest, I barely even remember what it was that first led me to this conclusion - I think noticing how quickly young women moved from relationship to relationship while their ex’s frequently stayed single and emotionally fragile for long periods of time played into it.
Men are hands down the fairer sex, at least when it comes to this.
Which is exactly how women feel after watching a lot of male fantasy porn. I think this is a case of projecting the false erotic desires of one sex onto the other. Women don't desire to be raped, just as so much male porn depicts rape doesn't indicate most males are closet rapists. It's the eroticization of the suppressed desire to be sexually and emotionally active/receptive. No more than that.