Imagine my surprise when I learned that one of my most popular posts continues to be about my gripe with Holly Black. I wrote that post close to five years ago now after being majorly disappointed with her work. I thought it might be fun to revisit said-post and thoughts and see how much of old me I still agree with.
Let’s start with my initial first point, which was that she tends to glorify evil in her books. I would continue to agree with that. You see, showing evil or dark themes in a story isn’t a bad thing. In fact, it can help to offer a story that isn’t afraid to be realistic. However, my issue with Holly’s stories is the glorification of it. Evil is not shown to be wrong. There is no white or black – only grey. The problem with not defining right and wrong is two-fold. First, impressionable and often vulnerable teens are the ones reading her stories. Making it clear from the start that Cardan is abusive towards Jude is necessary. We don’t need more young teens fantasizing about unhealthy relationships. Second, we live in a world where morals are important. Even fictional worlds must be governed by right and wrong. A story that is unwilling to call out evil is a story that I don’t think teens (or anyone, really) would benefit from reading.
My second point was the unnecessary sexual content. Ya’ll, I am married. I am not weirded out by sex nor do I think it has no place in YA fiction. HOWEVER, I do think it needs to be handled appropriately. There is a reason you need an ID to see rated R movies. There is a reason you need an ID to purchase alcohol. Because teens are not adults. Yes, teens have sex. Yes, teens still drink. But there’s a difference between something being normal and something being good. I don’t believe teens need or should be reading overt scenes about anything sexual. You might disagree, and that’s fine. The beauty of independent thinking is that we all get to make our own choices in life 😉
Lastly, my main issue was that she took both my concerns above and made the story heavily focused on both. Not only does it feel like pandering to lonely, horny teens (yeah, I said that), but sloppy writing overall. If you need to constantly capitalize on dark, gritty themes to keep readers intrigued, you might want to rethink why you’re writing.
Again, people will feel differently. Do I dislike her books as passionately as before? Not really. I’d probably give The Cruel Prince another shot because I thought her writing shone best there. But I do think her books like The Coldest Girl in Coldtown are both cringey and not worth your time. If you’re closer to 18 I think you can probably see past a lot of the flaws, but if you’re on the younger end of YA (12-14), I’d highly recommend steering clear of her books. For now.
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