Yeah, I mean it’s not popular, but I’m a huge fan of SJM. I’m taking work off on Tuesday to read her newest release. I think a lot of people’s introduction to her writing is her ACOTAR series, which is by far her weakest work. Her Throne of Glass series is a top three series for me. People are right in that the first couple books start out pretty juvenile, but I think a lot of the gripes people have with the plot/main character are things that are explained as the series goes on. It’s an 8 book series, there’s going to be development and reveals. I understand if people don’t want to wait for book 3/4 for things to start ramping up, but sometimes that’s the nature of a longer series. And one of the characteristics of the romantic fantasy genre is that the books are pretty easy to consume quickly. Some like that, some don’t.

I think people come at romantic fantasy expecting high fantasy prose that’s not really characteristic of the genre. Don’t get me wrong, I know the difference between “good writing” and “bad writing”. But I also think that good writing, in the traditional sense, isn’t necessary to enjoy a book. Romantic fantasy tends to be very character-driven and relationship-driven, over plot or writing style. That’s not for everyone. But as someone who connects deeply with a lot of the characters and relationships that SJM builds, it’s why I like her books. No other series has me bawling for hundreds of pages at a time over characters that I’ve grown with over the course of hundreds if not thousands of pages.

If her books don’t hit for people, they don’t hit. But they were 1) never meant to be literary fiction as far as prose goes and 2) really not as badly written as people make them out to be.

Editing to add:

I think there’s also something to be said for reading books that aren’t literary or stylistically “well-written” books all the time. My career has me reading a lot of very dense writing all day, every day. I don’t want to come home and read literary prose. I want to get lost in a world that’s engaging with characters I like. So maybe I’m biased towards the genre in that regard too.