There are various lists of banned or most banned books. ALA does one too. Banning usually happens in the context of a school or public library. Ban requests tend to come from individuals or groups--the school board or library trustee or local governmental body don't originate bans, though perhaps that is changing. They are not interested in policing what people read. Librarians aren't either--they want to buy books that patrons want to read. They don't care if something is controversial or not to their personal taste. Romance and romantasy are probably the most popular category of fiction in public libraries. In school libraries, it's often graphic novels. Academic libraries are different, of course. -- a librarian
What is offputting to me personally about these books is strictly the explicit sexual content. I love romantic fantasies about being the only weakness of an incredibly powerful man! But I don't read smut of any kind and I don't think it's particularly good for anyone, especially not children. I don't think explicit sexual content should be in school libraries, for instance, but if an adult woman wants to read it that's her prerogative! If these books were less explicit I would 100% read them myself. They sound really fun otherwise!
this is so excellent - I haven't read a Maas book since I was an actual teenager - but the emergence of romantasy makes me think of Melanie Rawn books, which I read all of - dragons and sex in the sand dunes, perhaps a bit less explicit than ACOMAF (always with the embarrassing acronyms lol). I remember the furore on YA fantasy book twitter when a book subscription book included a dick-shaped soap inspired by ACOTAR; the explicit sex is clearly a big part of the appeal, but being a little horrified by it adds to the thrill.
i don't know anything about maas or romantasy writ large, but i'm so grateful for this piece!
i'm interested to learn that maas chose to rework "tam lin", which really is a story about female agency originally: against the protests of her family and against her own doubts, a woman holding fast to her love. the man in himself scarcely matters, for she holds to him even when he looks like a wretch or a wild beast; what matters is her own iron will and her compassion. it's not surprising that so many genre writers have chosen to rework it, from diana wynne jones in fire and hemlock (a wonderful book) to sheri tepper in beauty (an insane book) to, now, maas: it's an incredibly appealing and evocative story.
I've been hearing people talk about ACOTAR for at least two years (likely longer, this is a conservative estimate) and AT NO POINT DID ANYONE MENTION TO ME THAT IT'S A TAM LIN RETELLING!?
I'm pretty irate! I've listened to probably fifteen different versions of that ballad, and know the Child and Roud numbers (39 and 35, respectively) *off the top of my dang head*! Heck, I've performed Tam Lin (well, I was drumming, so maybe that doesn't count).
Sure, I'm a straight cis dude, but I feel like this should have come up at some point!
That aside - something I'm often curious about when I hear about "banned books" is what context, exactly, they're being banned in. My local library doesn't have a restricted-access section, so the only way to prevent children from accessing a given book would be to just not stock it - and I'm in a sufficiently-liberal county that they would definitely not do that. Similarly, I don't think I've ever seen a Barnes and Noble employee refuse to sell a book to a minor.
Which leaves school libraries. And like... I think kids should have access to books, but if I'm a school librarian, I can see things lining up such that I might avoid controversial books. Which is the same thing, effectively, as the book being "banned" - the difference is mostly whether the librarian is following a policy, or exercising professional judgment. My preference would be that school libraries have enough popular books that kids who are on the fence about reading might develop a love of it, but I don't have a strong feeling that it would be wrong of a librarian to not-buy romantasy (apart from the degree to which that further contributes to dude-centric media culture), especially given recent incidents of angry parents haranguing School Boards.
(My main touchstone for romantasy is Jacqueline Carey, and since the books of hers that I've read are all like 25 years old I probably need to try something more recent just for calibration.)
Lyta is thoughtful but she's extending too much here. I would wager good money that most of the people who want to ban these books have absolutely no idea of what the actual plot is and wouldn't care if the heroine was horny in a conservative-coded way or in a left-wing way.
I'm inclined to agree - surely most of these book bannings are driven by parents sharing s few out of context passages. ACOTAR's sex scenes are quite vague and allusive, the ones in the sequel get more explicit, and that seems enough to explain the pattern of bannings.
(Aside from that point I thought it was a great post, though.)
There are various lists of banned or most banned books. ALA does one too. Banning usually happens in the context of a school or public library. Ban requests tend to come from individuals or groups--the school board or library trustee or local governmental body don't originate bans, though perhaps that is changing. They are not interested in policing what people read. Librarians aren't either--they want to buy books that patrons want to read. They don't care if something is controversial or not to their personal taste. Romance and romantasy are probably the most popular category of fiction in public libraries. In school libraries, it's often graphic novels. Academic libraries are different, of course. -- a librarian
What is offputting to me personally about these books is strictly the explicit sexual content. I love romantic fantasies about being the only weakness of an incredibly powerful man! But I don't read smut of any kind and I don't think it's particularly good for anyone, especially not children. I don't think explicit sexual content should be in school libraries, for instance, but if an adult woman wants to read it that's her prerogative! If these books were less explicit I would 100% read them myself. They sound really fun otherwise!
this is so excellent - I haven't read a Maas book since I was an actual teenager - but the emergence of romantasy makes me think of Melanie Rawn books, which I read all of - dragons and sex in the sand dunes, perhaps a bit less explicit than ACOMAF (always with the embarrassing acronyms lol). I remember the furore on YA fantasy book twitter when a book subscription book included a dick-shaped soap inspired by ACOTAR; the explicit sex is clearly a big part of the appeal, but being a little horrified by it adds to the thrill.
i don't know anything about maas or romantasy writ large, but i'm so grateful for this piece!
i'm interested to learn that maas chose to rework "tam lin", which really is a story about female agency originally: against the protests of her family and against her own doubts, a woman holding fast to her love. the man in himself scarcely matters, for she holds to him even when he looks like a wretch or a wild beast; what matters is her own iron will and her compassion. it's not surprising that so many genre writers have chosen to rework it, from diana wynne jones in fire and hemlock (a wonderful book) to sheri tepper in beauty (an insane book) to, now, maas: it's an incredibly appealing and evocative story.
I've been hearing people talk about ACOTAR for at least two years (likely longer, this is a conservative estimate) and AT NO POINT DID ANYONE MENTION TO ME THAT IT'S A TAM LIN RETELLING!?
I'm pretty irate! I've listened to probably fifteen different versions of that ballad, and know the Child and Roud numbers (39 and 35, respectively) *off the top of my dang head*! Heck, I've performed Tam Lin (well, I was drumming, so maybe that doesn't count).
Sure, I'm a straight cis dude, but I feel like this should have come up at some point!
That aside - something I'm often curious about when I hear about "banned books" is what context, exactly, they're being banned in. My local library doesn't have a restricted-access section, so the only way to prevent children from accessing a given book would be to just not stock it - and I'm in a sufficiently-liberal county that they would definitely not do that. Similarly, I don't think I've ever seen a Barnes and Noble employee refuse to sell a book to a minor.
Which leaves school libraries. And like... I think kids should have access to books, but if I'm a school librarian, I can see things lining up such that I might avoid controversial books. Which is the same thing, effectively, as the book being "banned" - the difference is mostly whether the librarian is following a policy, or exercising professional judgment. My preference would be that school libraries have enough popular books that kids who are on the fence about reading might develop a love of it, but I don't have a strong feeling that it would be wrong of a librarian to not-buy romantasy (apart from the degree to which that further contributes to dude-centric media culture), especially given recent incidents of angry parents haranguing School Boards.
(My main touchstone for romantasy is Jacqueline Carey, and since the books of hers that I've read are all like 25 years old I probably need to try something more recent just for calibration.)
Lyta is thoughtful but she's extending too much here. I would wager good money that most of the people who want to ban these books have absolutely no idea of what the actual plot is and wouldn't care if the heroine was horny in a conservative-coded way or in a left-wing way.
There's a massive difference in banning books outright and grading them appropriately the way films and games are age graded.
Its very left coded to 1: argue fervently for the sex rights of kids to the point of adding to the I'm Still A Virgin angst.
2: Put books up in some ratified category above such prole- lian as movies and games.
Unexamined assumption married to blithe self regard is very off putting to many people of all persuasions.
I'm inclined to agree - surely most of these book bannings are driven by parents sharing s few out of context passages. ACOTAR's sex scenes are quite vague and allusive, the ones in the sequel get more explicit, and that seems enough to explain the pattern of bannings.
(Aside from that point I thought it was a great post, though.)