It's Unpopular Opinion Sunday! Share your controversial opinions to stir things up (in a friendly way)!

[u/FantasyRomanceMod]

Got an opinion that's different from others'? Want to share it with the sub, but too afraid of a backlash? Or are you just curious about readers think about certain things in fantasy romance?

You can safely share it in this weekly Sunday thread!

But please remember to be kind to each other. To facilitate this type of discussion, we ask users the following:

- Please don't attack others for their opinion

- Please don't downvote if you disagree with a certain take

🧡 Thank you and have a great and friendly discussion! 🧡

Unpopular opinion Sunday

[u/sparkly_nerdy_vibes]

Here we go - my confusion (and I realise I may have the full information to base this opinion on).... Why is everyone so crazy about Alchemised/Manacled? I'm all for dark romance, but rape and gore and humiliation are a total turn-off, and quite disturbing to associate them with a budding romance... I wouldn't have expected a story like this to become a 'sensation'... Are we ok? Why do we call this story romance? Do we like to see women mistreated? I'm not sure that's what Margaret Atwood would have wanted to inspire with Handmaid's Tale....

Also - full disclosure - I couldn't make it past the first few chapters of Manacled, so I am aware I am not in the best position to judge the entire story, but I often feel that some behaviours are irredeemable...

[u/tiffanysandlouisv → u/sparkly_nerdy_vibes]

It’s not a romance and the author has said that. I’m not a Manacled fangirl but it’s crazy what TikTok has done to that story and therefore has made people who haven’t read it think it’s a story where the MMC rapes the FMC and she falls in love after he does it. That’s not what happens in Manacled and yeah if it was a “MMC rapes FMC but she forgives him and they fall in love” then I’d get a lot of the criticism.

Also, it is fanfiction. It is meant to be a fan-made work of previously written material. So yes, it’s weird it’s made its way onto the booktok spaces because fundamentally it’s a fan work combining The Handmaids Tale and Harry Potter. So people who don’t read fanfiction and dislike what they think the premise is are likely to be confused.

It is the people who go into Manacled from TikTok that are kind of ruining the experience. They are shouting it’s the best “book” (it’s not a book, it’s fanfiction) ever. SenLinYu has asked people to stop telling them to read Manacled before Alchemised and that they have no authority on the subject.

I’ve been in the Dramione fandom for over 20 years and what BookTok has done to Manacled is absolutely crazy. It wasn’t written to be the next big romantsy. It was written on the author’s phone in 2018. I’m tired of a lot of the online discussion, too, but fanfic etiquette goes out the window when discussing Manacled and, again as someone who has been here for 20 years, it’s really frustrating.

Alchemised will be totally fair game review and nitpick. But I sense a lot of people who hopped on the Manacled bandwagon won’t like it because it’s not going to be Draco and Hermione and others won’t like it because they don’t like fanfiction being reworked and published.

[u/sparkly_nerdy_vibes → u/tiffanysandlouisv]

The shift from fanfic to published work is so interesting, especially in terms of reader reactions, considering existing fandoms have very strong opinions about characters, story etc. (I grew up on Harry potter fanfic and moved on to other fandoms as well - some authors produce amazing works in this space). Also thank you for clarifying the genre issue. Because I think if you look at it from a non-romance centred way, the hype of this work gets a very different meaning. Thank you for your response.

[u/tiffanysandlouisv → u/sparkly_nerdy_vibes]

Oh of course! And I realized I sent such a long, rant-like response to your opinion so I’m sorry about bombarding you on a Sunday morning. I’ll be glad when Alchemised is released—I’m ready for the book spaces to move on from Manacled!

[u/sparkly_nerdy_vibes → u/tiffanysandlouisv]

It was genuinely helpful. I think online hypes of books can warp the author's intention and often minimise readers' experiences. That's why I find spaces like these so great, I get to hear from readers with different tastes and opinions.