Anita’s review of The Sunken City (The Sunken City #1) > Likes and Comments

Hi Anita! Thank you for your review of my book. As a rule of thumb, I do not like to spend too much time on my books’ GoodReads pages, as they are meant to be a space for readers and reviewers, not authors. However, when a reader alerted me this morning that one of the top reviews on THE SUNKEN CITY’s page was about the “racist” elements in my book, I decided I should give a response. I do not take such allegations lightly, especially in the realm of literature intended for a younger audience.

I see that your primary reason for calling my book racist is that the “bad guys” in the book all have names pulled from African/Asian culture - I can only assume you’re referring to words such as “mchawi,” which is a Swahili word that means “witch” and is what I chose to be the official term for a witch in my series, and “Maoke,” which are a range of mountains in Indonesia and is also the name I gave to the character who is a feared pirate captain in the series.

However, I also see that you DNF’d the book at 33%. If you had continued reading (anyone reading this comment who has not yet read the book - please pause here as this will be a big spoiler!!), you would learn that not only are the mchawi not evil, they are the heroes of the book - not to mention that Amare, the book’s main character, is a mchawi herself. You would also learn that Maoke, the feared pirate captain, is very much good. She becomes one of the main cast of characters and helps Amare in her journey to save the ocean.

I understand why you came to the conclusion that you did, given the small portion of the book that you read. However, I do not think it is fair or kind to call my book “racist” or “orientalist," especially since you do not have the full picture of the story.

All my best,
Emma

You really should have finished the book before coming to these conclusions. You would have seen that your assumptions are pretty much incorrect

Hi Emma,

I included the parentheses about trying to avoid spoilers in the review because I understood that the mchawi would turn out to be the heroes. But I’m sure turning out to be “good” is not a revelation to the mchawi themselves, as it isn’t for the real people within those cultures whose words you borrowed. It’s only a revelation to those outside of it, and I don’t think that lens is fair or kind. I didn’t give your book a star rating because I don’t rate books I don’t finish. But I wrote my honest opinion of what I did read, and I think I was both fair and kind.

Girl bffr. Emma clearly explained it and everything. Stop trying to create an issue that is not there for the book. If you actually continued reading it, as Emma stated, then you would see that the things you are saying are not true. Also do you realize how damaging saying these things are to Emma’s credibility and reputation as an author? Please think about the words you use and the impact they have on others. This is a shameful review and you should be ashamed of yourself for making such ignorant statements and remarks. Shame on you.

Personally, I really feel that authors shouldn’t be coming on to Goodreads. I don’t think one I unstarred review is going to damage an author’s credibility and reputation.

Anita explained exactly why it’s problematic, and it’s completely valid, despite not finishing the book. How it turned out really isn’t relevant here, the point is that the author chose these words on purpose, from a culture she had NO right using, and obviously doesn’t understand or care about the connotations or the ramifications, and won’t even listen or reflect. The double down from the author here is quite pitiful and disappointing, but not surprising. It’s ironic that people jumping to the author’s defence are claiming that Anita is the ignorant one here, when it’s definitely the author and those defending her choices.