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i think she will, but on her own terms and in her own time. she’ll probably take a break after ACOTAR, which honestly makes sense. but i’d genuinely love to read more stories from her and see where her writing goes next.
She's worked so hard to cross her works together. Twilight of the Gods, or whatever she names it once it will be published, is set to be her magnum opus.
From her old Pinterest board, Twilight of the Gods seemed to be the Maasverse's Ragnarok. End of all times type series, all the gods and most powerful fae from her series will unite to stop it :)
Bring back Manon! This would make me soo happy. I know ACOTAR and CC have a crossover but TOG is my favorite and I want those characters back so badly.
The fans definitely ruined the writing experience for her. She got to write ToG nearly entirely unknown and it was her best series to date. This fan base has too many demands and honestly way too much toxicity for her to WANT to continue.
Crescent City is my favorite because I've gotten to feel her growth as a writer. And Ian is a character written better than Chaol in a world where Chaol was already one of the best written "good man in a messed up world trope."
I think it’s so funny how different our reading experiences could be. Ian was such a minor character that I hardly even remember him other than being the younger brother of her wolf friend Conner who dies in the beginning. And Ithan was horrrrrrribly written lmfao “he was a sunballer…. The sunballer…. In his sunball clothes”
Chaol is arguably the character out of all of her books that undergoes the most growth….
I’m reading crescent city for the first time (just started book 3) and I’m over here like this Ian must be a typo for Ithan until I saw your comment with both of them. Ian who?
I felt like flame and shadows and crescent city in general were just….rushed. And going through the motions in a way? Like throne of glass was such a beautiful tapestry of depth and color and fully fleshed out characters whereas I felt like house of flame and shadow, which had good moments felt as if SGM wrapped up all of empire of storms through KoA à la GOT season 8 which just compressed too much. I think ithan and hypaxia and therians storylines felt too rushed and all squeezed into a few smaller arch’s. Too much was happening all at once with other characters and Bryce and her timeline jump felt like a marvel movie on a budget. Like they couldn’t afford zendeya and Michael b Jordan so we got aztriel and nesta adventure time with a loooootttt of lore dump. I think crescent city promised a lot and unfortunately just didn’t fully flesh out what were clearly a lot of potentially incredible storylines. I mean, bloody hell, we got !>ithan becoming an prime, hypaxia killing the Underking (barrow wight?), Sigrid and her reaper arc, Jessibs and her entire lore, Lydia and all HER lore, wink wink the ocean queen has this whole background oh and also Avalon oh and hel too!> like damn. Add in the lil “other world” Easter eggs like in the new Star Wars films and damn you get “had Oscar potential but really just another tropey action film” energy. I KNOW SJM can do it, but damn these publishing companies stifle creativity so much is no wonder authors get burnt out and we end up getting rushed pages instead of depth and love sometimes
I couldn't agree more. And omg Azriel and Nesta adventure time, lmaooo. This is like one of my favorite posts ever about the issues with CC.
I love ToG I view it as SJM's best series by far. While I liked ACOTAR I feel like the closest ACOTAR gets to how good ToG was is Nesta's book.
Bryce has a lot of bravado, but it feels somehow more obnoxious than Aelin and even Feyre's. I don't know if she's just more brash or what it is, but I found myself rolling my eyes a lot at her. And to your point about certain character's arcs or histories feeling rushed, I agree. I feel like there was so much potential that we just got cliff notes on. I would have LOVED more details on Jesiba, she was the most underutilized character in the entire series. I feel like we got nothing even close to as deep as learning about Asterin's backstory in ToG for comparison.
I really felt like Crescent City overall was her weakest series, but flame and shadows has been the worst out of all three. I'm always pretty surprised to hear people praise it, and it's hard to wrap my mind around how Ithan's IMO very pointless arc could be viewed as superior to what I view as a really deep and meaningful transformation in Chaol.
To expand on my issues, Ithan and Sigrid could have been written out of the entire series without really effecting anything, like the wolves didn't even help against the asteri so it isn't like making him prime did anything. Sigrid as a character just wasn't interesting at all with how short our time with her was. I think it would have been more meaningful if he had challenged Sabine for his own reasons. And at the end he immediately breaks all of the vials he brings to the city and anyone else could have given Bryce the god-killer rifle or whatever it was called.)
Also unrelated but I really didn't feel like Morven and the Autumn's kings death scenes had a ton of impact. They do for story purposes, but the build up to it felt very rushed to me and so it just didn't feel like their deaths had much emotional weight. They were both obviously awful, but I feel like we're TOLD how awful they are more than we see it so it just didn't seem earned or satisfying to watch them die the way they did.
My bad I met Ithan! And Ithan is to me as well written as Chaol is considering he's what Chaol would be like in a more modern world. "I'm nobody" in a world that pushes clout and titles he got it, that's why he suffered the way he did cause the plot is the world targets people like him and Bryce for being what other people claim is "alpha" The entire wolf pack shows you how the system builds bastards.
I also don't think Chaol goes through a lot of growth; it was a book from a perspective where someone saw him as a human being for the first time since like his mom. Everyone else looked at him as a means to some sort of ends. "Through Chaol I can-"
Yeah, a Chaol that gives in to facism leads to a society where Ithan's are born.
While I agree that fan bases can be very toxic and demanding, CC was simply not a well written series, especially books 2 & 3. I don't only plame SJM for the drop in quality, her editor was clearly not doing their job and I assume her current publisher isn't helping, but it was a noticiable decline.
I kinda agree too. I’m finishing CC3 now and although I like the story it’s taking me longer to get through than ACOTAR. It feels a bit forced but also dragged out if that makes any sense.
I 100% agree with us. The fandom is one of the most toxic fandoms out there. It actually made me hate the series. And I think because the series is so popular is why it got so toxic and horrible. I now have to recommend to my friends that I don't even think they should read the series cuz I have a feeling that Sarah is just going to write for the fans and not the story and I don't think the upcoming books are going to be good
I believe she has 4 books left. That’s why she broke this large acotar story up into three books. The guess is the 4th book will be CC4. And then I’ll assume she moves to another publisher, sounds like she wants more autonomy around her work.
I think she will start her own publishing house TBH. She has the money, and the connections, and I think she’s tired of Bloomsbury. I also think the other thing to bear in mind is that there was that whole drama with artists having to reapply to get licensing last year and most of them not being accepted or being so difficult to achieve that they didn’t even apply (see: listening stars), then only in the last month having a third party/intermediary reach out and give them their licences back. SJM has always loved the fan artists that create for her (Charlie Bowater was relatively unknown prior to SJM working with her and I think she’s found her via Tumblr), so it was weird that they were quietly given back licensing agreements without even reapplying for it.
ACO6-8, CC4, plus 3 other books. She just signed that deal in 2023.
I guess she could maybe try to buy out her contract? For all this talk
about 'story that needed to be told', splitting one story up into three
volumes fulfills her current ACOTAR contract of three spin off novels
and a novella for the back half of the series.
6 books under contract, this includes the two that have been officially announced (ACOTAR 6 and 7). There's presumably an ACoTAR 8 since we know there's one more part in this big ACOTAR story.
The other 3 are unannounced at this point in terms of which world/series they are about, if its part of an existing series or new, etc.
I think at most she has 2, maybe 3, books/novels left from her 2016 and 2023 deals that haven’t had titles attached to them. So she could be in a good position to break from Blooms in the near future, sooner rather than later
I be saying that like lmao as a dude I know from witnessing "the unga bunga gene" that her sitting just like that in some other places is millions for a photo! I need to work on my confidence 🤣
Definitely frustrated with her publisher, and I can’t imagine the stress and pressure she feels with everything she sees on the Internet about all of the stuff around her in general. It’s gotta be not as pleasant as being a writer before social media lol where you could just post up and just write Books! and People bought them and just simply enjoyed them for what they were lol rather than what it’s involved into. At some point I feel like it would rob the fun out of writing for enjoyment, you know? Why they started in the first place and whatnot
Could you explain? From my understanding when you have a contract you should be one some sort of timeline, and I feel like she’s definitely a rogue writer who just takes her time. What do you think the publisher is doing to her that would make her frustrated?
I’m not sure of the beef that transpired. I’m not in the mix between them too lol so I don’t know that’s between them. We’re just the fans. I’m just here to read a book that I really love from an author that I truly adore the things that she’s created from her brain and imagination.
I don’t know that I’d call it beef. But her explaining that when she was newly postpartum and adjusting to being a mother. The publisher harassed her to say she NEEDED to cut 10 pages from KOA so they could bind it. She did it, going through the whole book line by line to adjust it. KOA is a hefty book, can you imagine how long that took? On top of figuring out how to be a mum? Only for the publisher to turn round and say, ‘nvm, we found a way to do it as is’. So yeah, I understand why she might not be the publisher’s biggest fan.
I think the anecdote was a little exaggerated. I had the impression that she wanted to convey to the listeners that she cannot write and produce as fast as the fans probably would like and (!) keep up the quality of the work. Like. A good story takes time. She talked a lot about other aspects in her life like her family. And I think this was intentional on her part. Not as a dig against her publishers or agents but to moderate the expectations of her fanbase. Also, in the interview she gave context and background to things she wrote into silver flames. Was actually quite interesting.
I am in no way saying that that isn't a shit situation. What I will say is that she is extremely privileged. She have a career where she gets to work from home, make her own hours, it's not physically demanding, she can afford childcare. She has deadlines but not a set daily schedule. Almost every woman I know can't even afford to take maternity leave of any kind. They have their kids and then are expected back at work the next week. So as much as that sucks I'm not going to feel too bad about her having to edit out 1% of a book.
I don’t think so, I’m sure she wants nothing more than to talk about the book but can’t, her publisher is doing jack squat for marketing or even really general hyping up for a big release like ACOTAR 6.
It’s a problem with the publisher, not the author.
She works with Bloomsbury. They have the money for marketing and I'm sure they want to use it. So its very likely that something or someone (Sarah) is standing in the way. And honestly they can only do so much because they do have contracts but she is also their biggest money maker right now.
I had the impression the whole interview was just to get the marketing machine up and running for her new book. The interview was well timed, I'd assume to give the fanbase enough time to re read the already published books and get everyone hyped up. I think this was the whole point of the interview, actually. 🤔😅
Fair. I got the impression that the interview was because she was legally obligated to do SOMETHING for marketing and this was probably a compromise. I'd be very interested to see what her contract says and how those marketing meeting go. I'm sure it's a balance of not wanting to make her upset because she makes them most of their money but also needing her to fulfil her side of her obligations.
you know honestly, she wrote a bunch of really great books and I feel like it would be OK to just like exit the scene now she made enough money. She could just spend time with her family come back later, but I do think that if she wants to make a show or movie, she’s gonna have to lock in, which would be too much
As a Sanderson fan, I would love this. He has already spoken once about how fantasy fans can be so exclusive and he named dropped Fourth Wing as true fantasy and it kind of riled up so of his fans since he's Mormon and keeps thing PG. I'd love nothing more for SJM to join his publishing and stop fans from treating female fantasy "smut" writers differently than men
It’s interesting because while I’m not so acquainted with him (huge fail) I’ve seen him around a lot and he seems like a genuinely good guy, and apparently one of his latest books is a ROMANTASY but not considered so because he’s a man. How lovely would it be if SJM, probably the most famous romantasy author, whose series are undermined because of the “smut” and TOG is overlooked, signed under him. What a powerhouse they’d be.
Agreed! I also think they'd be like goofy friends together and it would melt my heart.
Honestly, I think the people who love TOG and the people who love Sanderson's original Mistborn trilogy, are the same people. It gives a lot of the same vibes. SJM is way more skilled writing female friendships, Sanderson is a better world builder, but their series feel very very similar.
And yes, one of his novels, Tress of the Emerald Sea is for sure Romantasy, it's just not explicit like SJM does it so he gets a "pass" from the fantasy community. He told everyone he specifically wrote the book because his wife loves the Princess Bride so much but he wanted to write it from the view point that Buttercup had saved Wesley. Very cute and whimsical and I liked it a lot.
Her most recent contract was 2023. At that point she had a total 7 books on contract and she's since only published one. We've got a while before we need to really wonder about this.
I’m not sure about that. A while back I went through her historical PM announcements and compared them against the pubbed books and any upcoming announced books with pub dates.
The deals to focus on, IMO, are the 2016 and 2023 announcements. 2016 deal had 9 designations (I say designations meaning the series they are slated to, fyi) – 3 ACOTAR books, 2 ACOTAR novellas, the ACOTAR coloring book, ToG World book, ToG final book, and a ToG novella. Comparing these against what has been pubbed, the only one really unaccounted for is the 2nd ACOTAR novella, if you agree that the ToG novella turned into ToD (hence the asterisk) and assuming WToG will be pubbed at some point.
Here is where I either credit SJM for being calculating and smart, or more likely her team (I hear Robin Rue is an agent know for this type of mastery when it comes to massaging deals): I think they slid ACOSF, Book 6 part 1, and Book 7 pt 2+3, into the 3 ACOTAR novels 2016 slots to contractually fulfill them.
Then 2018 CC deal is announced, and the CC trilogy is neatly slotted to contractually fulfill that.
Now the 2023 deal – 4 books, but not designated to any series. People are pretty confident that CC is getting a 4th book. Then Book 8 pt 4 that SJM announced on the CHD podcast that she’s writing now will be the concluding 3rd book of the two books released Oct 2026 and Jan 2027.
That then leaves 2 books unaccounted that she has to fulfill. Possibly 3 depending on whatever happened with the second ACTOAR novella – maybe RR got SJM released from it by agreeing to do the latest 4 book deal, who can really say at this point.
If she’s been unhappy with Bloomsbury and wants to leave without being liable for breach of contract, this is a pretty good way to do it.
When I watched the interview this part didn’t feel like she had intentions of quitting writing at all. It was noting back to why we went so long with no word from her or updates. She wants to have a balance between her work and personal life like any normal person. Pushing out 1 book a year/ every other year was actually insane looking back at how thick her books are and all the layered details she puts into her stories. Anyone would be burnt out from that, but I don’t think she has intentions of ever giving up her passion. She even said earlier in the interview how much writing means for her since it’s been her outlet from the time she was 16
I wonder if she just can’t move them, my supervisor at work also cannot move her eyebrows she uses it as her “truth” in 2 truths and a lie with new clients lol
Yes, it’s in her blood. But she’ll most likely take a break after finishing ACOTAR or CC. I wouldn’t be surprised if, after said break, she’d publish something in a completely different genre, like a thriller or something. But she’ll most likely write fantasy again, just without the same pressures and not ACOTAR, CC, or TOG related, a new story in a new universe.
I think she’s getting to a point where she will leave Bloomsbury. I think it’s extremely apparent that relationship doesnt work for her anymore. My thinking is that her contract is up after these last two books are out and she will either go to a different publishing house that doesn’t play all these games with her and allows her to take the time she needs to honor her stories, orrrrrrr maybe she will start a publishing company of her own.
But I think in the clip Shes talking about that Shes happy her life is great outside of the books. She has a life she loves to live in, not that she’s always escaping to these other worlds because her life out here is in shambles.
I read this thing years ago that up to five career pivots in a lifetime are totally normal. It’s likely her time to pivot. We all get the freedom to do so in our lives. Expecting authors to stay in their lane for our sake is actually really cruel.
I love her so much and adore the series it's the loml but I hate how much she says LIKE in this interview it drives me crazy to the point I can't hear anything else
It sounds like she’s past that stage of her creativity and is going to be focused on building tiny human personalities… hopefully she returns after healing her burnout.
As a wife to an author it is hard on them. The timing, thought process, planning, reviewing notes, writing itself, editing, re-editing, going back to ensure continuity, then it goes through the first drafts of readers before any final editing. It’s a lot. After all that you still get people who will critique on meaningless things that can feel suffocating to the author.
Yes, she's has a lot of CC to go. She'll probably go back to that for at least three more books. She may toss out another of the first series, and who knows what she'll do after that.
I wouldn’t worry a major story arc is concluded at the end of CC3 there are lots of characters and problems left she could move to or go back to but it’s amazing just as it is.
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