The Red Flags Are Between the Lines

All of these authors are problematic but I will continue to have them in my taste, my TBRs, and my lists because I firmly believe that we can learn both technique and warning signs from authors. Avoid these books if you want enjoyment, fun, and whimsy. Read closely. If you look, the warning signs were there in plain text the whole time.

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created by Techystatic

last updated August, 2026

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What were the warning signs in these books?

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Edited

Good question! Spoilers: I haven't finished Neverwhere but the way he writes the girlfriend gives me ick. She's so ambitious and sophisticated and yeah she's rich or whatever but before the breakup scene she gets last minute snobby rich traits. It just feels like Neil Gaiman hates women who are ambitious. Then Door kisses Richard on the cheek, "like friends do" and that feels weird because I don't know her age but right before that Richard was wondering how old she was and he was guessing 15... Weird. The allegations levelled against him suggest a desire of power over women among other things. Harry Potter has SO MANY including, but not limited to, elf slavery, Hermione doesn't have friends of her own, Hermione's appearance is constantly under scrutiny in a way none of the male characters are treated, the stairs block male wizards from entering the girl's dormitory but no such protections exist for the boy's dormitory, Umbridge, the evil headmaster wears pink and is traditionally feminine and she is the best written villain that everyone hates, the goblins align with Jewish stereotypes. So racism, transphobia, misogyny, and antisemitism. There's probably more on that one. For the Shining, it's that Stephen King has a mother suffering a father's bout of psychosis. I have the impression he's sexist, especially because of In the Tall Grass. Stephen King is a known sexist at this point. Percy Jackson, as much as I love the books, has the whole "exceptionalism because of bloodline" thing that may be unintentional racism. Rick Riordan, as high of hopes as I had, doesn't want to say anything definitive on Palestine and could be a zionist.

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