Why do we hate ACOTAR?

Gateway books allow us to broaden our reading horizons.

Reading has always been a part of my life. I had books as a kid, Junie B. Jones’ books specifically (Did you know they want to ban those?), and I had no issues reading and finishing them. My mother has always been a reader and reads incredibly fast, which can make you dizzy just thinking about it.

But I didn’t become a reader till the pandemic, and during that time, it was a lot of self-help books, which is understandable since we were all cooped up in our homes and finally had the time to do some self-examination, whether that was to our detriment. We turned toward those who seemed to have their lives “together” during hard times. Here’s a tip: No one had their lives together! We were all fucking messes; some people were just better at hiding it.

My reading addiction didn’t kick into high gear until I’d say 2022. The idea of narrowing down the moment to where I picked up a book and now, 3 years later, I lose my mind if I don’t read every day is hard to pinpoint. Today’s post isn’t about me; it’s about the books. Especially the ones that get us into reading altogether, or back into the throes of limitless worlds with characters that make us forget about the mundane nature of our day-to-day lives.

While 2020 was my self-help year, I ended the year with a fiction book. I feel as if the book was the catalyst for my fiction reading. I love a good non-fiction book about a topic that I find interesting, but fiction is where I find the most satisfaction in reading because the ending is a surprise, unless you are one of those readers who must theorize every single moment that happens within a book. If you are that person, that’s amazing, and I’m not at all that person. I read for the vibe only; I can’t imagine dissecting every moment within a story.

The closest I can pinpoint to the book that got me into reading, The Girls by Emma Cline.

It’s a fictional retelling of the Manson family and the time leading up to the murders, told from the perspective of one of his followers. Once I finished that book and 2021 rolled in, I was hooked. In 2021, I read 22 books, that’s up 10 books from 2020. I just consumed and consumed, chasing the stories that I longed to create myself, and I delved further into more fiction stories.

In 2022 and 2023, the numbers steadily increased. Come 2024, I would call it close to a banner year. I read 96 books. I can’t even begin to explain to you how I managed that. But it started with one book…and that book is what brings you here today. You are probably going to shrug or roll your eyes, and that’s fine. Because if I were where I am right now, looking back on myself in hindsight, I would probably do the same thing.

It was A Court of Thorns and Roses.

Okay…let’s have the collective sigh.

I get it, the series isn’t a literary masterpiece, everything always happens in the last 150 pages, and the books are longer than all the pages of my TBR combined. I get it. I understand the hype and the hate.

But god damn, this series is a gateway book.

Brandon Sanderson, a renowned fantasy author who came out with the much anticipated 5^th book of the Stormlight Archive went viral when he spent the first 10 minutes of his speech at his release party talking about how the fantasy community needs to be more welcoming to those who read romantasy (which is where series like ACOTAR falls), and that gatekeeping readers who are new to the genre is not okay.

It was a poignant moment in BookTok and Bookstagram corners that I believe single-handedly breathed new air into the hobby. While I’m choosy about who I follow in that realm, ie. Like 2 people, but I can’t deny that they did make reading “cool” again.

So ACOTAR came and went, and by the time I finished the series I had already heard this disdain for anything Sarah J. Maas (affronted automatically based on her name alone), she was essentially taking over the genre and while that’s great for Maas (she deserves it), it felt like fantasy and romantasy got mixed and I will be the first to say that it’s two separate genres. I’m sure anyone can read this can track my path from ACOTAR.

-Throne of Glass

-Crescent City (Still on my TBR, I’ll get there one day)

- Fourth Wing (I haven’t read Onyx Storm yet)

-Quicksilver

While it may be easy to pick out exactly what I read when I finished ACOTAR, the path of my reading. I’ve never been into trends, and when the same books are shared on every reel, YouTube haul video, that feels problematic in a sense that anyone who reads regularly, no matter who everyone has a different opinion, and yet, all the praise that was given to these books was exactly the same. This pushed me to push myself out of my comfort zone and stop relying on BookTok to pick my books.

What came next is still something I do every week. I started going to bookstores. My local indie bookstores, my local thrift shop (which has been a goldmine), and yes, Barnes & Noble. You can shame me all you want, but it is what it is. But I started wandering around these stores and just looking at covers and seeing what captured my attention. The wonder of picking up a book that you weren’t told to read by an influencer who seems to consume more than read, and be surprised by a book, whether it's good or bad, is half the fun of reading.

Have I picked up a book and been disappointed? Absolutely. Being constantly concerned about how good or bad a book is is exhausting, and I don’t have time to contemplate that before I read something.

Some of the books that I loved that I have barely seen on any influencers’ pages, and the only recommendation you’ll see me give when it comes to books, because I firmly believe that you should read something that intrigues you and not something someone is getting paid to say is great.

- Hell’s Library Trilogy by A.J. Hackwith. This is a great foray into fantasy because it’s completely original and unique. Book #1: The Library of the Unwritten.

- Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson. This is a banned YA book, but God damn it will gut you, and it’s 100% worth reading, and you will be supporting banned authors!

- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson: This is an older series, but despite that, it holds up even 20+ years later. Be aware that Larsson only wrote the first 3 books before his untimely death. Other authors continued it; you can choose to read those or not.

- Until We Meet Again by Michael Korenblit. I know this one is on no one’s radar, mainly because it was published in 2001. It’s the true story of two Holocaust survivors, and the book is written by their son, Michael. 10 out of 10.

If I hadn’t read ACOTAR, I wouldn’t have read amazing stories, met people with a similar passion for reading and books, and I wouldn’t have 120-ish books on my TBR. (Yeah, it’s bad.) As I’ve grown as a reader, I have learned to broaden my horizons and look for books that tell amazing stories but aren’t necessarily being talked about by every book influencer from TikTok to Instagram.

This is a reminder, most of these influencers are getting paid…while some stick to their morals and treat their social media pages to talk about books. Most are a façade and tout overconsumption, and frame it as an immense love for books. I love that reading is becoming cool again, and that bookstores are in a renaissance era; it’s lovely. As they say, too much of a good thing…

I didn’t realize until I started wading into the book influencer community that people get very upset about what others are reading, as if it’s an affront to their reading journey.

I will never judge anyone for what they read, and if you do, you are awful, end of story. The reason for that you don’t know what their reading capability is; that SJM book could be something they got from a free library, and the first book they’ve ever read, and here you are judging them, and they may never pick up a book again because of the judgment you said flippantly. Like I said, you are awful. Remember that the next time you are thinking of opening your mouth about what OTHERS are reading.

I will forever be grateful for ACOTAR because it opened me up to so many other amazing books. I think ACOTAR did that for new readers, and we must give credit where credit is due! It was a gateway book in Romantasy, Fantasy, Thrillers, and even Sci-Fi. I will forever be grateful. Please check out some of the books I recommended, but there is no pressure. Find books you love and immerse yourself in their stories, escaping for a while. Books not only create connections in the world, but they also make us better people.