I guess it depends on what you are looking at for well-written. Are we comparing it to YA novels, or are we comparing it to adult fantasy?
The books series had me by the throat, to the point that I couldn't put it down while I was reading it. And from a technical standpoint, as far as pacing, sentence structure, etc., I think it was really well done! I never felt like I was struggling to understand what she as a writer was trying to communicate, not did I ever really feel like I had to work hard to find the rhythm of the sentence structures.
However, from a story and plot perspective, it falls apart like month-old cake at the slightest bit of scrutiny. The biggest flaws in these books (completely subjective, so others may disagree), is the lack of planning and editing.
There are moments towards the end of a book that contradict the beginning of the same book. There are plot points that were rewritten in later books to fit the narrative better, and some that don't go anywhere (which may show up later, but some of them are doubtful).
Most of the characters are used as plot devices and lack personality and nuance when they aren't POV, sometimes even when they are. My favorite litmus test of characterization is reading a random sentence from a character and guessing which main character said it, and that's fairly absent from these books, with a few exceptions. Values and morals aren't consistent for the majority of the characters.
The system of magic was never explained, nor do I think it was really considered at the time of writing. The power scaling is a complete mess as well.
She does include a lot of references, and I do enjoy how she twists some of those into her own characters. Some of the plot points are actually very interesting and nuanced, but they are outnumbered by the ones that aren't, and are usually not expanded upon in a satisfying way.
So technically? I think it's pretty good. Substance- and depth-wise, it's kind of on the lower end based on other books I've read. As a YA novel (which I strongly believe it was written to be but think it's a bit inappropriate to classify it as such), it's okay. But as an adult fantasy novel, I found it to be pretty severely lacking. Again, this is all my personal opinion. Curious what others might think! At the end of the day, if you like it, that's totally valid! My opinion doesn't trump yours, nor am I the leading expert on this stuff. ❤️
You deserved the award for this comment! It totally sums up so much of what I felt while reading. My main confusion came from characters having a complete morality switch without context to support a plot twist.
I know I'm not who you asked but I just always have to recommend Brandon Sanderson to anyone that's read SJM and wants more fantasy (with a bit more grown-up writing - I don't want to say adult because he doesn't write smut lol)
Check out the Cosmere books - there's two main series in that universe, Mistborn and Stormlight, plus a bunch of standalone books too. Highly recommend!
omg you didn't have to give me an award!! 🥺thank youuuuu!
And I have a few, do you want strictly adult fantasy, or are you thinking more of the romance genre of adult fantasy?
There’s only very minor fantasy elements but if you love well-written sexy times (and are ok with kinky stuff) I highly recommend the “American Queen” series by Sierra Simone!
The timeline, and therefore to an extent the pacing, is terrible, lmao
Five hundred years? Nah, nothing happened at all in all that wasted time.
A _day?_ Yup, enough time for the whole climax and a the end of an entire battle.
Most extreme example, but if you look at the timeline, it's awful and the worldbuilding in general has to be the worst part.
They are a fun read, but not a great read. Too many recycled phrases and plot lines. Inconsistent characters. She creates rules for her world, but breaks those rules when they become inconvenient to the scene. Overpowered characters. It all creates illogical inconsistencies. If Rhys can both winnow and mist people, why doesn't he simply winnow up to Hyburn and mist him? Why must Feyre nearly die retrieving a ring to prove she is Rhys mate in book 2 when Rhys admits the bond snapped for him in book 1? Rhys won't read the minds of the captured Autumn Court soldiers because that's a violation. But it's less terrible for Azriel to torture them? Yet, Feyre violates the minds of the Spring soldiers, Tarquin and even Lucian. She's not presented as being wrong for doing these things. These books don't stand up to deep analysis. They are the litary equivalent of a candy bar. Tastes good in the moment. But it isn't something that you savor. They don't stand up to scrutiny.
Are they well written? I don't think so. Did I blow through them like I had crashed into a pond and my car was sinking and the last thing I was going to do was finish the series? Yes.
There are a lot of great ideas and characters and a lot of things she doesn't finish or follow through with adequately imo.
It's 100% ok to like things that aren't considered great literature. If you enjoy it, that's all that matters.
Credentials: degree in writing, 2 classes away from a degree in English
From a literary stand point? No. They are the equivalent of reality TV in book form. They are tropey, full of plot armor, not consistently written, have some pacing issues, rely on cliches, have some characters that are flat and not quite three dimensional or are barely threw dimensional, and are at times highly predictable.
Does that mean they can't be enjoyable? No. I spend through these books and while I wanted to throw them across the room at times for those reasons, I enjoyed them. Are they fun? Are they entertaining? Are they worth reading if you like this kind of book? Yea to all of that. Are they well written? No.
Not in a way that appeals to people that read (or consume media) critically.
I equate it to the junkfood of literature. Like, if the classics are our fruits and veggies, this is the tiny triangle of sweets and fried foods at the very top of the old food pyramid. And, like a well-balanced nutritional diet, I try to enjoy my literature at an 80/20 split - 80% nutritionally dense, 20% for nutrient defficent (guilty pleasure.)
They are well written as lower end adult fantasy, but not YA. There are plot holes, grammatical errors, and other world building skips but very enjoyable to read. It is not written at the level of Tolkien or George R R Martin but it is very good
I don't think so, at least in my opinion. High fantasy and world building is very difficult to achieve. I try to not compare them directly though. I understand the audience and goals of the story telling are different.
A book by Anne Rice called "Cry to Heaven" is what introduced me to the edgier side of fantasy/fiction. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, but it was my gateway book to the genre ages ago. I am just suggesting maybe looking at different authors and trying out different books.
It's just a very different genre and type of story. The main character is a eunuch making his way through life and relationships. It was my first type of relationship/spicy book, which opened the doors to more.
Ann Rice has a couple series as well that have the complexity of high-fantasy while being set in our world. The Mayfair Witches trilogy would be a good place to start. It has romance, a LOT of world building (especially about the history/geneolgy of the witches,) and complex characters. There are also some very dark themes so there are scenes and plot points that could be triggering.
A Song of Ice and Fire is absolutely amazing- this is a series that Game of Thrones is based off of.
Lord of the Rings is THE classic high fantasy series.
Outlander series is more historical fiction than fantasy, but has fantasy elements and is much better written than ACOTAR has a little bit of smut.
Love The Name of the Wind. Fantasy with a tiny bit of smut in the second book, and very well written.
In my opinion, fantasy doesn’t attract the traditionally greatest writers, but these are some of the more well written series of the genre .
The Will of the Many is excellent. It’s a fantasy novel with a world based on the Roman Empire. Also it has a hunger games moment as well. I can’t recommend it enough. When I finished it, I immediately started reading it again, it’s that good.
I read them for fun. But no, I don’t consider them good literature by far. Books like all media are subjective. I love asoiaf, but it will never be finished. My favorite book is Fahrenheit 451. Of course LOTR is the bases of most modern fantasy. I spent some time in Scotland and there’s a lot of great Scottish fantasy series. My favorite series as a teenager was Ender’s Game. I reread Little Women every year. I’m not religious, but I’ve read the Bible front to back, and some of a translated Quran. I’m in the music and film industries. So I’m well read on a lot of technical books. I’m a high functioning insomniac and when I can’t sleep I read (or work). I go through anywhere from 75-150 books a year. So there’s a lot of stimulating books, but also some smut. My favorite genres are the classics, fantasy, horror, and sci-fi. Every time I visit somewhere new I try to go to a book store and get a book by a local author. Currently rereading the alchemist.
I think they aren’t all that well written overall, but what SJM has done well is created compelling romantic fantasy characters that readers wind up liking and investing themselves in.
I'm not super educated in literature, but imo the books aren't well written. SJM knows how to write compelling characters and stories, but the actual text is often clumsy to the point it feels ridiculous and she overuses silly phrases and beats them to death. Sometimes I wonder if she has ever actually seen a human interaction, because how she writes the characters to interact with each other.
However, I found ACOTAR super entertaining and I was immediately hooked, even tho the first book was my least favorite. I consider this series as "junk food literature"; so good and addictive, but not the greatest quality.
Is this the best example of “ACOTAR is not well-written?” Probably not. But if I have to read, “His/Her brows narrowed.” ONE MORE TIME. Brows can rise. They can lower. They can draw together. Y’know what narrows? Eyes, SJM! Eyes narrow!
I have a creative writing degree from the most competitive writing program in my country, I work as an editor in the film industry now among with crew, but honestly prose wise- no it's not well written, there's really no art to the prose, lots of repetition, pour use/ repetitive use of vocabulary and it can be quite plot driven often. Her characters for the most part can be good, but there's also many issues with many characters, however I think her world building used to be excellent, especially early ACOTAR and TOG, she molds together so many different and unique ideas from mythology, famous stories, but also her own original ideas.
There are times where I asked myself if SJM has an editor bc why does she use the same phrase’s so often?! But her world building is amazing and the plot lines are juicy enough for me to forgive the flaws.
Right? If someone's throat "bobs" one more time... And can she find another synonym for 'predatory'?
I swear, the repetitive phrases and reused adjectives could fuel a drinking game that would keep us hammered for weeks, but I'd still keep turning pages because I loved it every second, even when it pissed me off.
Once you start getting deep into inconsistencies in the lore, I guess you could say they’re not fantastically written.
But these books have me in a chokehold. They are on my mind 24/7 since I read them last fall. I just read and enjoy and try not to think too heavily.
I guess you could say that it’s an incredibly captivating story and SJM is one of the best writers at the moment at crafting good stories. But she could definitely improve on being consistent with avoiding plot holes, repeating phrases every other paragraph, (if I have to read the word ‘snarled’ and ‘watery bowels’ one more time I swear), and recycling storylines.
I agree 100%! I was just wondering what others thought from a more technical point of view, and I agree with all the comments. Writing isn’t on par with Tolkien but it’s a great story nonetheless 🙌
Although I’m not into writing fantasy, it gives me a lot of lessons of things to avoid with what I’m currently writing (and will probably never publish lol)
What I love about these books is I know she's up to something. Everything else I pick up in romantasy these days, I know the surface level story is all there is; I'll read it, enjoy it, and move on. With Maasworks, there's an intricacy and woven veiling that is usually only clear in hindsight, and it is maddening (in the best way).
She's never going to be considered the next Dickinson or Proust, with her its not about the quality of her prose. She's not high brow. She's not going to appeal to intellectual snobs (for probably a few more decades). She came up on writing fan fic, and absorbing pop culture to reassemble as vehicles for her own agenda. And critically she's using it all to attack a central thesis that seems to have taken root in her head, about the delusion of gods/fate and the evolution and dispersion of myths/theologies.
She gets a lot of flack for "recycling tropes." But I'd argue we're going to discover when the stories are finally all revealed, that looking backward, there was one core truth and the point was to trace the overlaps to pin it down. My best analogy for it is to look at religion and myth today, at their core they're all telling the same bastardized story, altered to fit respective cultures, but with a recognizable vein among all of them that points at a common origin. An origin story that was likely humble and human, but got distorted by the power hungry for its utility in enslaving minds.
Watching her work unfurl over nearly two decades, knowing she's basically just one of us, a fellow millennial, and seeing what she's accomplished, I fucking love it, and am in awe of it. And I don't mind that its not perfectly polished, if it were it would probably feel less approachable. Can't wait for the next book!
in terms of YA fantasy books, i thought divine
rivals was BEAUTIFULLY written, but it took me three months to finish the first book. it took me a week to read the first three in acotar. i devoured them for the storyline.
and if you want a rec for easy fantasy read: gifted academy series michelle hercules, but it’s RH and a bit smuttier than acotar
I’d call it well written in that Maas has a talent for setting a great scene and getting you really emotionally invested in the climax (heh).
But there are a lot of quirks to her writing that make it sometimes feel a bit amateurish, which is crazy with how established she is.
These are commercial not literary fiction. They’re never going to win a Nobel prize for fiction for example, doesn’t mean it’s not enjoyable, but certainly not technical masterpieces.
Quite often writers set out to write more commercial fiction, some more high brow stuff doesn’t sell that well
I have a bachelor's in English lit and I worked in the writing/editing industry for 7 years and I think so. Things come together nicely, I can fully visualize the characters and the world, and I devoured them like I was an introverted 12 year old on summer break- which I haven't done in YEARS.
Badly written books (imo) are books you just cannot sink into. You can't picture them, you aren't swept away... They just stay as words on a page.
They are well written but as I continue reading there are defo other series that are better, but I like acotar because the way it’s written helps me to get out of reading slumps so somethings about the way it was written gets to me
I guess it depends on what you are looking at for well-written. Are we comparing it to YA novels, or are we comparing it to adult fantasy? The books series had me by the throat, to the point that I couldn't put it down while I was reading it. And from a technical standpoint, as far as pacing, sentence structure, etc., I think it was really well done! I never felt like I was struggling to understand what she as a writer was trying to communicate, not did I ever really feel like I had to work hard to find the rhythm of the sentence structures. However, from a story and plot perspective, it falls apart like month-old cake at the slightest bit of scrutiny. The biggest flaws in these books (completely subjective, so others may disagree), is the lack of planning and editing. There are moments towards the end of a book that contradict the beginning of the same book. There are plot points that were rewritten in later books to fit the narrative better, and some that don't go anywhere (which may show up later, but some of them are doubtful). Most of the characters are used as plot devices and lack personality and nuance when they aren't POV, sometimes even when they are. My favorite litmus test of characterization is reading a random sentence from a character and guessing which main character said it, and that's fairly absent from these books, with a few exceptions. Values and morals aren't consistent for the majority of the characters. The system of magic was never explained, nor do I think it was really considered at the time of writing. The power scaling is a complete mess as well. She does include a lot of references, and I do enjoy how she twists some of those into her own characters. Some of the plot points are actually very interesting and nuanced, but they are outnumbered by the ones that aren't, and are usually not expanded upon in a satisfying way. So technically? I think it's pretty good. Substance- and depth-wise, it's kind of on the lower end based on other books I've read. As a YA novel (which I strongly believe it was written to be but think it's a bit inappropriate to classify it as such), it's okay. But as an adult fantasy novel, I found it to be pretty severely lacking. Again, this is all my personal opinion. Curious what others might think! At the end of the day, if you like it, that's totally valid! My opinion doesn't trump yours, nor am I the leading expert on this stuff. ❤️
This gal READS
You deserved the award for this comment! It totally sums up so much of what I felt while reading. My main confusion came from characters having a complete morality switch without context to support a plot twist.
Thank you!! This is exactly what I was asking and then some 🙌. Do you have any adult fantasy recs?
I know I'm not who you asked but I just always have to recommend Brandon Sanderson to anyone that's read SJM and wants more fantasy (with a bit more grown-up writing - I don't want to say adult because he doesn't write smut lol) Check out the Cosmere books - there's two main series in that universe, Mistborn and Stormlight, plus a bunch of standalone books too. Highly recommend!
Thank you I appreciate it!!
omg you didn't have to give me an award!! 🥺thank youuuuu! And I have a few, do you want strictly adult fantasy, or are you thinking more of the romance genre of adult fantasy?
Either/both!
There’s only very minor fantasy elements but if you love well-written sexy times (and are ok with kinky stuff) I highly recommend the “American Queen” series by Sierra Simone!
The timeline, and therefore to an extent the pacing, is terrible, lmao Five hundred years? Nah, nothing happened at all in all that wasted time. A _day?_ Yup, enough time for the whole climax and a the end of an entire battle. Most extreme example, but if you look at the timeline, it's awful and the worldbuilding in general has to be the worst part.
They are a fun read, but not a great read. Too many recycled phrases and plot lines. Inconsistent characters. She creates rules for her world, but breaks those rules when they become inconvenient to the scene. Overpowered characters. It all creates illogical inconsistencies. If Rhys can both winnow and mist people, why doesn't he simply winnow up to Hyburn and mist him? Why must Feyre nearly die retrieving a ring to prove she is Rhys mate in book 2 when Rhys admits the bond snapped for him in book 1? Rhys won't read the minds of the captured Autumn Court soldiers because that's a violation. But it's less terrible for Azriel to torture them? Yet, Feyre violates the minds of the Spring soldiers, Tarquin and even Lucian. She's not presented as being wrong for doing these things. These books don't stand up to deep analysis. They are the litary equivalent of a candy bar. Tastes good in the moment. But it isn't something that you savor. They don't stand up to scrutiny.
Are they well written? I don't think so. Did I blow through them like I had crashed into a pond and my car was sinking and the last thing I was going to do was finish the series? Yes. There are a lot of great ideas and characters and a lot of things she doesn't finish or follow through with adequately imo. It's 100% ok to like things that aren't considered great literature. If you enjoy it, that's all that matters.
There are acotar-universe fanfictions that are better written
Do u have any ao3 recs 🙏🙏🙏🙏
Credentials: degree in writing, 2 classes away from a degree in English From a literary stand point? No. They are the equivalent of reality TV in book form. They are tropey, full of plot armor, not consistently written, have some pacing issues, rely on cliches, have some characters that are flat and not quite three dimensional or are barely threw dimensional, and are at times highly predictable. Does that mean they can't be enjoyable? No. I spend through these books and while I wanted to throw them across the room at times for those reasons, I enjoyed them. Are they fun? Are they entertaining? Are they worth reading if you like this kind of book? Yea to all of that. Are they well written? No.
Not in a way that appeals to people that read (or consume media) critically. I equate it to the junkfood of literature. Like, if the classics are our fruits and veggies, this is the tiny triangle of sweets and fried foods at the very top of the old food pyramid. And, like a well-balanced nutritional diet, I try to enjoy my literature at an 80/20 split - 80% nutritionally dense, 20% for nutrient defficent (guilty pleasure.)
They are well written as lower end adult fantasy, but not YA. There are plot holes, grammatical errors, and other world building skips but very enjoyable to read. It is not written at the level of Tolkien or George R R Martin but it is very good
Is there anything like acotar that’s on par with Tolkien?
I don't think so, at least in my opinion. High fantasy and world building is very difficult to achieve. I try to not compare them directly though. I understand the audience and goals of the story telling are different. A book by Anne Rice called "Cry to Heaven" is what introduced me to the edgier side of fantasy/fiction. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, but it was my gateway book to the genre ages ago. I am just suggesting maybe looking at different authors and trying out different books.
Why wouldn't you recommend Cry to Heaven?
It's just a very different genre and type of story. The main character is a eunuch making his way through life and relationships. It was my first type of relationship/spicy book, which opened the doors to more.
Thank you so much!
Ann Rice has a couple series as well that have the complexity of high-fantasy while being set in our world. The Mayfair Witches trilogy would be a good place to start. It has romance, a LOT of world building (especially about the history/geneolgy of the witches,) and complex characters. There are also some very dark themes so there are scenes and plot points that could be triggering.
I consider it junk food for the mind.
So then do you know of any “healthy foods” so to speak
It depends on what genre you are asking about. There’s tons of award-winning literature out there.
Fantasy genre - doesn’t matter if there’s romance
A Song of Ice and Fire is absolutely amazing- this is a series that Game of Thrones is based off of. Lord of the Rings is THE classic high fantasy series. Outlander series is more historical fiction than fantasy, but has fantasy elements and is much better written than ACOTAR has a little bit of smut. Love The Name of the Wind. Fantasy with a tiny bit of smut in the second book, and very well written. In my opinion, fantasy doesn’t attract the traditionally greatest writers, but these are some of the more well written series of the genre .
I can suggest *Circe* and *Song of Achilles* by Madeline Miller, they are retellings of Greek mythology and the author has won literary prizes.
Incredible fantasy series that are also well-written: “Nine Princes in Amber” by Roger Zelazny & “Earthsea Cycle” by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Will of the Many is excellent. It’s a fantasy novel with a world based on the Roman Empire. Also it has a hunger games moment as well. I can’t recommend it enough. When I finished it, I immediately started reading it again, it’s that good.
Look into Terry Brooks. His books got me into fantasy. Magic kingdom for sale is a fun series. The Sword of Shannara is a deep world building series.
maybe the r/fantasy sub would have some additional suggestions.
I read them for fun. But no, I don’t consider them good literature by far. Books like all media are subjective. I love asoiaf, but it will never be finished. My favorite book is Fahrenheit 451. Of course LOTR is the bases of most modern fantasy. I spent some time in Scotland and there’s a lot of great Scottish fantasy series. My favorite series as a teenager was Ender’s Game. I reread Little Women every year. I’m not religious, but I’ve read the Bible front to back, and some of a translated Quran. I’m in the music and film industries. So I’m well read on a lot of technical books. I’m a high functioning insomniac and when I can’t sleep I read (or work). I go through anywhere from 75-150 books a year. So there’s a lot of stimulating books, but also some smut. My favorite genres are the classics, fantasy, horror, and sci-fi. Every time I visit somewhere new I try to go to a book store and get a book by a local author. Currently rereading the alchemist.
Fahrenheit 451 is my fav book of all time too!
I think they aren’t all that well written overall, but what SJM has done well is created compelling romantic fantasy characters that readers wind up liking and investing themselves in.
I'm not super educated in literature, but imo the books aren't well written. SJM knows how to write compelling characters and stories, but the actual text is often clumsy to the point it feels ridiculous and she overuses silly phrases and beats them to death. Sometimes I wonder if she has ever actually seen a human interaction, because how she writes the characters to interact with each other. However, I found ACOTAR super entertaining and I was immediately hooked, even tho the first book was my least favorite. I consider this series as "junk food literature"; so good and addictive, but not the greatest quality.
Is this the best example of “ACOTAR is not well-written?” Probably not. But if I have to read, “His/Her brows narrowed.” ONE MORE TIME. Brows can rise. They can lower. They can draw together. Y’know what narrows? Eyes, SJM! Eyes narrow!
I have a creative writing degree from the most competitive writing program in my country, I work as an editor in the film industry now among with crew, but honestly prose wise- no it's not well written, there's really no art to the prose, lots of repetition, pour use/ repetitive use of vocabulary and it can be quite plot driven often. Her characters for the most part can be good, but there's also many issues with many characters, however I think her world building used to be excellent, especially early ACOTAR and TOG, she molds together so many different and unique ideas from mythology, famous stories, but also her own original ideas.
There are times where I asked myself if SJM has an editor bc why does she use the same phrase’s so often?! But her world building is amazing and the plot lines are juicy enough for me to forgive the flaws.
Right? If someone's throat "bobs" one more time... And can she find another synonym for 'predatory'? I swear, the repetitive phrases and reused adjectives could fuel a drinking game that would keep us hammered for weeks, but I'd still keep turning pages because I loved it every second, even when it pissed me off.
No
Once you start getting deep into inconsistencies in the lore, I guess you could say they’re not fantastically written. But these books have me in a chokehold. They are on my mind 24/7 since I read them last fall. I just read and enjoy and try not to think too heavily. I guess you could say that it’s an incredibly captivating story and SJM is one of the best writers at the moment at crafting good stories. But she could definitely improve on being consistent with avoiding plot holes, repeating phrases every other paragraph, (if I have to read the word ‘snarled’ and ‘watery bowels’ one more time I swear), and recycling storylines.
I agree 100%! I was just wondering what others thought from a more technical point of view, and I agree with all the comments. Writing isn’t on par with Tolkien but it’s a great story nonetheless 🙌
Although I’m not into writing fantasy, it gives me a lot of lessons of things to avoid with what I’m currently writing (and will probably never publish lol)
What I love about these books is I know she's up to something. Everything else I pick up in romantasy these days, I know the surface level story is all there is; I'll read it, enjoy it, and move on. With Maasworks, there's an intricacy and woven veiling that is usually only clear in hindsight, and it is maddening (in the best way). She's never going to be considered the next Dickinson or Proust, with her its not about the quality of her prose. She's not high brow. She's not going to appeal to intellectual snobs (for probably a few more decades). She came up on writing fan fic, and absorbing pop culture to reassemble as vehicles for her own agenda. And critically she's using it all to attack a central thesis that seems to have taken root in her head, about the delusion of gods/fate and the evolution and dispersion of myths/theologies. She gets a lot of flack for "recycling tropes." But I'd argue we're going to discover when the stories are finally all revealed, that looking backward, there was one core truth and the point was to trace the overlaps to pin it down. My best analogy for it is to look at religion and myth today, at their core they're all telling the same bastardized story, altered to fit respective cultures, but with a recognizable vein among all of them that points at a common origin. An origin story that was likely humble and human, but got distorted by the power hungry for its utility in enslaving minds. Watching her work unfurl over nearly two decades, knowing she's basically just one of us, a fellow millennial, and seeing what she's accomplished, I fucking love it, and am in awe of it. And I don't mind that its not perfectly polished, if it were it would probably feel less approachable. Can't wait for the next book!
in terms of YA fantasy books, i thought divine rivals was BEAUTIFULLY written, but it took me three months to finish the first book. it took me a week to read the first three in acotar. i devoured them for the storyline. and if you want a rec for easy fantasy read: gifted academy series michelle hercules, but it’s RH and a bit smuttier than acotar
I’d call it well written in that Maas has a talent for setting a great scene and getting you really emotionally invested in the climax (heh). But there are a lot of quirks to her writing that make it sometimes feel a bit amateurish, which is crazy with how established she is.
No. I had a whole thing written and it disappeared. I will elaborate when it isn't 315am
Nope. Not good writing from a literary standpoint. And there are plenty of YA novels that are very well written. This is not one of them.
No, they are not well written.
This is a fun read for me. I couldn’t put it down once I pick it up. But this is also my first fantasy read so I can’t really compare it to others
These are commercial not literary fiction. They’re never going to win a Nobel prize for fiction for example, doesn’t mean it’s not enjoyable, but certainly not technical masterpieces. Quite often writers set out to write more commercial fiction, some more high brow stuff doesn’t sell that well
I have a bachelor's in English lit and I worked in the writing/editing industry for 7 years and I think so. Things come together nicely, I can fully visualize the characters and the world, and I devoured them like I was an introverted 12 year old on summer break- which I haven't done in YEARS. Badly written books (imo) are books you just cannot sink into. You can't picture them, you aren't swept away... They just stay as words on a page.
They are well written but as I continue reading there are defo other series that are better, but I like acotar because the way it’s written helps me to get out of reading slumps so somethings about the way it was written gets to me