Recently, I’ve discovered readswithrachel on YouTube, which is a book commentary channel dedicated to reviewing books and discussing author drama. I love it.
As I was binge watching readswithrachel videos last night, I came across a deep dive about an author I’ve discussed on this blog before: Jay Kristoff. In the video, Rachel discusses issues with his online persona as well as problematic cultural stereotypes and misinformation used in his books.
In my post about using minority language in fantasy (which you can read here), I briefly discuss Kristoff’s problematic Maori representation in The Nevernight Chronicles. What I didn’t know at that time is that there are also some issues with another series of his that I also really enjoyed, The Lotus Wars.
The Lotus Wars draws inspiration from feudal Japan, and as someone with very little knowledge of Japanese culture, I could find no fault in this aspect of the book. I did find fault with how many times he used the phrase “bee-stung lips” in those books. It was egregious.
Unfortunately, it seems like he made some grievous errors surrounding the use of the Japanese (and Chinese) language that even a basic google search would have fixed. As an example, he frequently added “-san” as a suffix where it wouldn’t truly be used, which is something middle school boys do when they first discover anime. He also used a modern Japanese expression that describes someone who works in an office cubicle, which makes no sense for a book even loosely based on feudal Japan. And, just for good measure, he threw in a Chinese phrase that Japanese characters wouldn’t know or use.
Even though the book is only “drawing inspiration” from feudal Japan and is not meant to be historically accurate, Kristoff is using a real language spoken today incorrectly in both modern and historical context. It’s just bad writing. Not to mention, using a Chinese phrase that I’m sure he assumed was actually Japanese shows his utter lack of research.
While this isn’t the most atrocious writing faux pas an author can commit, it is disappointing, and there is an aspect of these types of seemingly innocuous or lazy mistakes that really, really bothers me.
In the post I mentioned before, I discuss how Rebecca Yarrow and Leigh Bardugo (she still has my heart, though) also commit some faux pas when it comes to using foreign languages in their books. I think many people condemn this as lazy writing rather than as anything heinous or malicious, and I do tend to agree, but there’s an additional layer that readswithrachel’s critique has made me consider.
Reading The Lotus Wars, Fourth Wing, or Shadow and Bone, I noticed absolutely zero issues with how the foreign languages were used or how the culture was represented in the novels. That’s because as a young, white woman in the U. S., I have very little experience with those cultures.
I don’t know common grammar rules of Japanese language because I don’t speak Japanese. I don’t know what proper Gaelic pronunciation sounds like because I don’t speak that language and hadn’t even heard it spoken until the drama with Yarrow’s book. I had no idea that “grisha” means “Greg” in Russian because I don’t speak Russian.
The reason these mistakes are allowed to continue so far is because the authors (and editors and publishers) are playing on their audience’s ignorance.
These are white, English-speaking authors misusing foreign languages, misrepresenting foreign cultures, and getting away with it because very few people in their core audience actually know any better. It’s only when the books reach larger (sometimes international) audiences that these issues get brought to light, and at that point it’s much too late in the process to change anything.
The readers themselves don’t know anything about the cultures the writers are drawing from, so they don’t know to question the usage. In this case, ignorance begets ignorance. It also goes to show that the authors aren’t running their works by anyone who speaks the language they’re drawing from or anyone who is a part of the culture their fantasy worlds draw from. Personally, I wouldn’t ever largely use a foreign language or culture in my book without hiring a consultant, actually having some prior knowledge in that area, or at least doing a preliminary google search. It’s frustrating that as a reader I know this to be the best course of action, but these major authors and publishing houses don’t.
This is extremely frustrating to me because it shows such disregard for other cultures. It’s more than laziness. It’s ignorance of the authors that then plays into their unsuspecting audience’s ignorance. It makes me feel quite the fool.
It’s not my job as the reader to ensure that the information in someone’s book is represented accurately, and it does make me feel really foolish to gush over a series that I like only to find out that the author made a significant amount of mistakes in it.
When a book has severe grammatical errors in English, I put that book down! Actually, I never would have picked it up in the first place most likely. When a book has grammar, language, or other cultural issues in it that I don’t know about because I’m not familiar enough with the culture, I feel downright swindled. I feel like the author is profiting off of my ignorance.
It also sours my appreciation of the books altogether. I still really like the plot and fantasy worlds behind The Lotus Wars and The Nevernight Chronicles, and they would have only improved had Kristoff done some basic research into the cultures he borrowed from. The books would have been a better experience for everyone and may have even appealed to a larger audience, and they certainly wouldn’t have incurred as much backlash.
When we find out something like this about books we really like, I don’t think it means we have to automatically dislike them. No book or author is perfect, and there are certainly discrepancies that are much bigger issues than others. I will still highly recommend the Six of Crows duology, even with the “gregs”. I still think The Nevernight Chronicles is an innovative and well-written fantasy series, but I’ll never write about it without mentioning the Maori misrepresentation.
I don’t think the obligation is that you have to immediately change your opinion about a book because you’ve found out something in it is problematic, but I do personally feel an obligation to point out these problematic facets once I find out about them because I don’t want to stay ignorant or encourage others’ ignorance. I want my audience, the people I’m recommending books to, to know what they’re getting into. Some of these issues may be enough to turn someone off of a series completely, and they should have that information to be able to make that decision.
So, The Lotus Wars (and Jay Kristoff as a person, honestly) is a bit problematic. If you’ve read other posts where I’ve highly recommended the books, know that I still think it’s a good steampunk series, but there are some issues with the representation of Japanese culture. Moving forward, I will not discuss these novels without mentioning this misrepresentation, and I think that’s all that really needs to be done.
The Lit Wiz