#lucivar

[belle-keys]

A strong suggestion of plagiarism: Detailing the similarities between Anne Bishop’s The Black Jewels trilogy and Sarah J. Maas’s ACOTAR series

Anne Bishop released her The Black Jewels trilogy between 1998 and 2003. It is a dark fantasy book trilogy, part of a larger fantasy saga within the world of The Black Jewels. Sarah J. Maas released the first book in her A Court of Thorns and Roses fantasy romance series, which goes by the same name, in 2015. This popular series of Maas is still ongoing.

For the last decade, many individuals have noticed glaring similarities between Maas’ fantasy series and Bishop’s earlier books. From character names to world-building elements and plotlines, several readers have concluded it is highly possible that Sarah J. Maas has plagiarized major aspects of Bishop’s work in the ACOTAR series. For purely legal reasons, I am hesitant to say outright that Mass indeed plagiarized The Black Jewels in ACOTAR. However, I do believe that there is very strong evidence indicating that Maas may have done so. Please note all my screenshots here are all from The Black Jewels and I can provide more if necessary.

This post presents my observations of the similarities between Maas’ book series compared to Bishop’s trilogy. Indeed, there are several elements that are near-indentical in Maas’ series compared to Bishop’s. Whatever is in brackets is my shabby-MLA-esque way of referencing in which specific book you can find the content I'm talking about. I am aware others have made similar posts on Tumblr and Reddit, and I salute them! Here, I am merely outlining what I have noticed myself, and I imagine there will be significant overlap between his post and others online.

The Eyrians and the Illyrians

The Eyrians are a winged warrior race in TBJ, described as having tanned skin, black hair, gold eyes and "batlike wings". They are one of the long lived races and live thousands of years, based upon a lofty mountain range in their realm. They are a warrior race with a long history of physical fighting, often reputed to be "backward" by aristocrats in their realm (DOTB, HTTS). Their "dark, membranous" wings are the prized physical feature among their race and they have a tradition of turning to militarism and barbarism during skirmishes (DOTB). Cutting off or clipping an Eyrian's wings is the greatest torture and the worst dishonour for a warrior (HTTS). The Illyrians in ACOTAR are a virtually identical winged mountain warrior race with a similar culture and physical features including "black, membranous" wings and tanned skin (ACOTAR). The Eyrians, like the Illyrians, yearn for freedom of their expansive mountains and the war camps within them.

Eyrian males are raised to be warriors in hunting camps in the mountains, while females are forbidden from touching weapons and are confined to domestic pursuits. Eyrian women are often mistreated and are usually expected to be docile and subservient to their militaristic males (QOTD). This is the same gender construct present among the Illyrians in ACOTAR.

The Eyrians in TBJ carry prejudices against half-Eyrians, similar to the Illyrians' prejudices against "half-breeds" like Rhysand in the ACOTAR series (ACOMAF). The word “half-breed” is actually used to describe an important half-Eyrian in TBJ, Lucivar Yaslana.

The Eyrians have a practice known as the "Blood Run" which is a rite of passage taken by skilled Eyrian warriors in their mountains, rather similar to both "Nephelle's Run" and the "Blood Rite" which we learn about in ACOWAR and ACOSF respectively.

Powerful Illyrians, like Cassian and Azriel, use siphons—colourful, jeweled gauntlets that channel and hone their magical power. This is eerily similar to the way aristocrats in TBJ use jewels to channel and concentrate their power. The Illyrians also wear fighting leathers while the Eyrians wear black skintight leathers to go to battle.

Lucivar Yaslana and Cassian

Lucivar Yaslana is an Eyrian male who commands a large portion of the Eyrian troops. He is described as a "bastard", both as an insult and a jest in TBJ, because his father and his mother were unmarried and he did not grow up knowing his father who’s the High Lord. The same situation is pertinent to Cassian in ACOMAF whose "bastard reputation" precedes him.

In QOTD, Lucivar begins training Eyrian females to defend themselves and fight military-style, which is a radical move in the realm and receives a lot of push-back from fellow Eyrian males. Lucivar wants to make sure the Eyrian women tap into their strength, at least a little, to prevent them from being helpless when under attack or in battle. There's a few heartwarming training montages in QOTD where he whips them into shape. Cassian leads a similar initiative in ACOSF where he trains Illyrian women so they learn to defend themselves and some even become respected warriors.

Lucivar has gold eyes, big wings, big muscles, shoulder-length dark hair, and light brown skin. Cassian also has gold eyes, big wings, big muscles, shoulder-length dark hair, and light brown skin. Lucivar ultimately reports to the authority of his queen and serves her faithfully just as Cassian reports to authority of his High Lord and Lady and serves them faithfully.

Daemon SaDiablo and Rhysand

Daemon SaDiablo of TBJ was forced to serve as a sex slave in the court of an evil priestess, Dorothea of Hayll, and he has experienced a lot of trauma and pain for hundreds of years due to being forced to serve in the bedchamber of this abusive enslaver. Rhysand similarly serves as a sex slave to Amaratha for 50 years when she builds her court Under the Mountain. In TBJ, the evil queen who conquers the realm through cruelty and corruption, Dorothea, enslaves multiple males to serve her in bed and she even banishes Lucivar to land's brutal "salt mines" when he becomes disobedient. Daemon is known as "Hayll's whore" by the public in DOTB just as Rhysand is known as "Amarantha's whore" by the public in ACOTAR.

Daemon has jet-black hair, golden skin, and a frighteningly beautiful face. Daemon is also known as a natural Black Widow, one of the one only male Black Widows ever in their world. As such, Daemon is one of the most powerful males in all the realm. Rhysand, similarly, has dark hair, a stunningly beautiful face, and has unique powers making him the most powerful High Lord. Daemon, like Rhysand, becomes the highest ranking male in his "Dark Court" and he is also the main love interest (QOTD).

Daemon has a habit of putting his hands in his pocket when he's nervous and/or trying to intimidate people. Rhysand has the same habit. Daemon is feared for his sadism and power in TBJ but is, deep down, a good person and a devoted lover, similar to Rhysand’s persona being much crueler and sadistic than his real personality (ACOMAF).

Daemon originally starts seeing the protagonist of the series, Jaenelle, in his dreams and he recognizes while enslaved that she is the realm's salvation (DOTB, QOTD). Rhysand also begins seeing glimpses of Feyre in his dreams while enslaved Under the Mountain and he knew she was Prythian’s hope (ACOMAF).

Wingspans

We know that in the ACOTAR world, the wingspan of an Illyrian male is supposedly proportional to their, yunno, male parts. This is also the case in The Black Jewels where, in the second book, we learn a male's wingspan also corresponds to the size of his… down there.

Scents and gender

In TBJ, magical figures have the abilities to identify or smell another person based on his or her "psychic scent", which is their unique scent. The psychic scent also allows them to sense the magical abilities, emotions and traumatic experiences of other persons. Romantic couples also have a keen awareness of their partner's scent. This is the likewise the case in the ACOTAR world where mates and fae can identify and read each other based on specific scents including their arousal.

In TBJ, you can put up a "psychic shield" to stop someone from peering into your thoughts and reading you through your psychic scent. It's the same in the ACOTAR world, a concept introduced in ACOMAF, where you can put up a mental shield or barrier to stop someone like the daemati from breaking into your mind.

The males in TBJ can become quite territorial and possessive over their women and mates, almost animalistic based on their emotions. They purr and snarl and growl quite often, and Sarah J. Maas uses identical descriptive language regarding the bat boys.

Dragons and Amren

There's an older female character called Draca in TBJ who is a dragon in human form, trapped in a human body. Draca, who serves in the main character's Dark Court, has to decipher old texts in the TBJ because she is the only one who understands the ancient languages they contain. Draca is referred to as the "ancient one." This is exactly like Amren being known as the little "ancient one", a powerful angel in human form who is the only one that can decipher the Book of Breathings in ACOMAF.

There is a "creature" deep beneath the Keep and library of the High Lord of Hell in TBJ who, in HTTS, turns out to be a mighty dragon whose name is Lorn. Likewise, beneath the library in Velaris lurks Bryaxis who is a dangerous dragon-esque creature (ACOWAR).

Other worldbuilding plotpoints

There are “High Lords” of various realms in The Black Jewels and High Lord is not a traditional feudal title throughout history or mythology. One major character in TBJ is the High Lord of Hell, Saetan SaDiablo. His court, and that of his adopted daughter, is known as the Dark Court or the "Court of Darkness". Rhysand is the most powerful High Lord who presides over the Night Court which is also, in many ways, Prythian's own Court of Darkness.

The Dark Court in TBJ has a "first circle" that is comprised of the queen's most trusted courtiers. Rhysand's Court of Dreams in ACOMAF also has an "inner circle".

Jaenelle is known as "Dreams Made Flesh" because of her immense power and ability to deliver her lands from evil. Jaenelle was a saviour-figure who was dreamt up by the "dreamers" in her realm who were suffering and oppressed for many years, ruled over by cruel queens (QOTD). Likewise, the Court of Dreams and Feyre's defeat of Amarantha were, more or less, the product of dreamers who wished upon the stars (ACOMAF). Just like how Feyre possesses the power of all seven High Lords, Jaenelle is the magical figure to possess the power of all the various colored jewels in TBJ.

There is a character named Prythian in The Black Jewels who is a powerful priestess, and the main land that the ACOTAR series is set in is called Prythian. There's also an assassin-prostitute character in TBJ named Surreal, and the Suriel is character in the ACOTAR series.

The sigil/seal of Janelle's Dark Court in TBJ, we learn in the second book, is an image of a mountain with a unicorn’s horn above it. The main sigil of the Night Court in ACOTAR is a mountain below three stars. The vastness and freedom of mountains are a motif in both TBJ and ACOMAF.

Conclusion: There are others online who have pointed out the similarities between The Black Jewels and the Throne of Glass series, but it’s been many years since I read Throne of Glass and I’m rusty so I won’t touch it. Did Sarah J. Maas rip off Anne Bishop’s work? I think it could be proven in a court of law, but I’m quite hesitant to say outright that she’s guilty of plagiarism. Is Sarah J. Maas guilty of serious unoriginality? Yes, definitely. A preliminary search online will tell you that Sarah J. Maas has openly praised Bishop’s writing and she has even said that Lucivar is her favourite fantasy man of all time. Bishop's books were released when Maas was a teenager. Make of this what you will.

I’ve used a variety of tags on this post because, honestly, I’m not sure whether it falls into the “anti” category of posts or not. I think this post neutral in tone and exists just to catalogue the similarities between both series. I hence believe both fans and antis might appreciate it... for different reasons.

[lucivar]

Billy’s eyes pick up the yellow neon like wet glass, looking up at Steve from under his lashes fanned out thick across his freckled cheeks. “Since when are you some guy?” He says, hand wrist-deep in Steve’s chest.

ahhh kill me with this. For the magical and gorgeous @lazybakerart and their breathtakingly incredible series falling for you in hawkins, indi-fucking-ana that still has me by the gd mf throat - screaming and ripping myself into shreds. i love this series SO MUCH, I would die for these fics <3 Thank you so much!!! x x x

[whimsicalmeerkat]

WIP Wednesday Game Fills

It’s a heavy day, but I’m trying to write so I can at least feel like I’ve pushed back in some way against the people who want to snuff out the things and people they don’t like. Sometimes that’s just doing something they would hate.

This very long set of sentences is from all of this can be broken, which has the working title ‘violence and gore’. People who requested the sentences below. These requests span three weeks. Putting the sentences behind a cut because there’s a whole bunch of them and they’re talking about incest.

@wizisbored x 2 @somefishycat x 2 @violet-prism-creatively x 2 @twyrewolf x 2 @auburnlaughter

@kalira @asha10100101010 @sourb0i x 2 @eriquin @circus-complex

@aparticularbandit @tiercell

They might be in a backwater, but despite the overgrown nature of the path they took to get here, the house Daemon leads Lucivar to is well-maintained. It's small, but everything is clean and in good repair. Lucivar isn't sure he would have noticed if it was a hovel, though. Not with the drugs coursing through his veins. They're starting to make it hard for him to think. Well, to think about anything beyond how restless he is.

He isn't expecting it when Daemon slams him against the door as soon as they cross the threshold and it swings shut behind them. He instinctively reaches for Daemon to change their position, but Daemon uses tendrils of psychic energy to bind Lucivar to the door. He's seen Daemon do this before, but never felt it. He wonders if it always feels like a caress, or if that is unique to them and the current situation. If it is unique, he wonders if it takes specific effort for Daemon to achieve the effect.

"You need to fuck," Daemon says, "and even if you wanted me to, I can't fuck you."

Lucivar stares at him for a moment, wondering why Daemon brought him to this out of the way place if he's just going to refuse to help him. Then Daemon's true meaning penetrates the haze.

"You mean--"

"You'll have to fuck me," Daemon says.

"Have you--" Lucivar starts to ask, before stopping. He doesn't need to finish that sentence to know the answer. Daemon would never have allowed himself to be that vulnerable. Lucivar can't quite believe he's suggesting it even now.

"Don't worry," Daemon says. "It might be my first time, but I won't ask you to be gentle, Prick."

Lucivar swallows, the idea appealing to him more the longer he thinks about it. It shouldn't. He knows it shouldn't. He and Daemon might not have been raised together like brothers, but that doesn't change that they are. He finds he doesn't care about that as much as he thinks he probably should. And fuck, he'd be lying if he said he'd never wondered what Daemon is like in bed. He'd never be so foolish as to ask, but that doesn't mean he hasn't wondered.

None of that makes it OK, though. Oh, not because of their blood relationship. No, Lucivar finds himself incredibly loathe to force Daemon to do anything he doesn't already want to do, and he's given no indication he actually wants to get fucked. Why would he? 

"Stop thinking so hard," Daemon says. "Do you really think this will be such a hardship compared to all of the things we've both had to do?"

"I don't want to do anything you'll regret," Lucivar says. "I especially don't want to do anything you'll regret doing with me."

"This isn't the hunting camps and I'm not a boy," Daemon says evenly.

Well, Lucivar can't really argue with that. He can't even argue that he wasn't thinking about his own experiences when he said that. He hates the mere thought of ever being like those men, but if Daemon is to be believed, he's the only one worried about that.

There's no reason for him to not believe Daemon on the matter. He certainly  has no reason to lie. He's also being unusually sincere. He's still poised, but he doesn't seem as polished as normal.

"Come on, Prick," Daemon says, "are you really going to tell me you'd rather risk death than fuck me?"

"Are you threatening to let me die instead of fighting me, Bastard?"

Daemon laughs. It's so unexpected, Lucivar finds himself staring, cock aching more than ever. Lucivar doesn't think he's ever seen Daemon genuinely, truly laugh.

"No," Daemon says. "I won't ever let you die if I can help it, but you know a fight between us could never be fair, don't you?"

Daemon watches Lucivar, wondering if he'll confirm Daemon's suspicions. He'll have to pick up on his meaning first, but Daemon doesn't think that will be a problem. Lucivar is intelligence in a way that makes people underestimate him, but Daemon has never made that mistake.

"You mean because of--" Lucivar says, eyes flicking to Daemon's right hand, then back to his face.

[dothegravitybounce]

so here's the thing... I genuinely don't have a problem with fix it tics and I like a bunch of them. but I feel like they never do set out to solve the actual problems presented by the narrative, which fair the whole concept it's just the author doing whatever the fuck they want. and it's nice there's some genuine good wholesome scenarios out there. but I like drama and I wished they tackled the drama more, specially in bj there's so much unresolved tension brewing on the very surface of the plot that people just ignore because it doesn't contribute to the romantic storyline that it's just... we're waisting it!!!!!!!!!!

generally these fics try to fix the last three books as if the problem is Jaenelle Saetien or that the mother of Daemon's child is Surreal and not Jaenelle Angelline. But the problem isn't who he ends up with or who is the mother of the child or if the child is or isn't a queen ir have a dark jewel, the problem is Daemon himself lol any every child he has will always have to compete for his time, attention and loyalty with his devotion to Witch and they'll lose. It's just I keep reading these fix it fics that are like "instead of having a terrible child JS, JA never dies and they have five kids, the older is a queen and they live happily ever after" and I keep thinking that doesn't fix the problem, it worsens it all things considered, you've just made higher staker and added more pressure to a delicate situation iykwim, it doesn't solve the problem bcs he'll still give up everything and anyone for an ideal, as soon as an opportunity arises.

But what about Zoey, you ask, she'll also suffer from this if we theoretically stretch the storyline beyond what we've seen, but to a less degree because her attachment to him isn't that big. She has a normal regular degular family and friends, when she realises that she's kinda of a temporary band ai to a messed up situation, it won't be as bad comparatively to Jaenelle Saetien because she has people outside his influence, who'll always choose >her< first. Am I rambling? I am rambling, but I genuinely wished there were more works about his flawed bias and how it eventually ends up isolating him and pushing people away. And that doesn't make him or Jaenelle Angelline villains or anything like that, it's just a bias, a different point of view that could shine in a dramatic fic.

Also I don't ever feel like Jaenelle Angelline ever wanted kids. To me, she'd prioritise the very little time she had left on the world to be with him and I don't think she ever wanted to raise a child. We also need more fanfics that stop presenting the fact she didn't want kids as bad and tragic srsly it doesn't make them less romantic!!!!!! free your mind from traditional romance novels people!!!!!! not even going to elaborate on the fact the books are like daemon and surreal will have a kid in the future from the very first book bcs i know people will get mad so

[alexcollix7]

Sarah J Maas: plagiarism or inspiration

In this post we are going to discuss the various and stricking similaries between Sarah J Maas series TOG/ACOTAR with original books she admited to consume, as well as the use of direct lines from movies, books and tv shows in her books, and where do we draw the line in what we consider to be inspiration vs plagiarism.

As some people know, SJM is a big fan of Anne Bishop's work, especifically her Black Jewels trilogy. Some people already noticed similarities between the two series (and in her TOG books as well) in terms of storyline, races and characters, but it's not nearly talked about enough.

It's good to make clear that the first book of "the black jewels" was published in 1998 and the last one of the trilogy was published in 2000, over 12 years before acotar and TOG was even launched. So Bishop's work was around a long time before sjm started to publish her books.

That being said, let's start with the fact that the beginning of her first series TOG is pratically the same as the beginning of the second book of The Black Jewels, Heir to the Shadows, but with a different character:

"After a year of slavery in the Salt Mines of Endovier, Celaena Sardothien was accustomed to being escorted everywhere in shackles and at sword-point. Most of the thousands of slaves in Endovier received similar treatment—though an extra half-dozen guards always walked Celaena to and from the mines. That was expected by Adarlan’s most notorious assassin. What she did not usually expect, however, was a hooded man in black at her side—as there was now" (TOG, 2012)

"Surrounded by guards, Lucivar Yaslana, the half-breed Eyrien Warlord Prince, walked into the courtyard, fully expecting to hear the order for his execution. There was no other reason for a salt mine slave to be brought to this courtyard, and Zuultah, the Queen of Pruul, had good reason to want him dead. Prythian, the High Priestess of Askavi, still wanted him alive, still hoped to turn him to stud. But Prythian wasn't standing in the courtyard with Zuultah." (Heir to the Shadows, 1999).

So, Sarah's first work begins with a paragraph that is already really really similar to the first one in Bishop's second novel.

Now, let's then move on to the part that shocked me the most and made me sure of doing this post: The extreme and undeniable resemblance between the Illyrians with the Eyriens, a race portrayed in Bishop's Black Jewels books, who one of the main characters, Lucivar (coincidentally or not, Sarah's favorite one) is a part of.

The Eyriens are described to be warriors with tanned skin, gold eyes, and "batlike wings". Eyrien males are trained in hunting camps as children, and the females are forbidden to touch weapons. They are often found in a mountainous territory called "Askavi Terreille", and carry prejudice against half-eyriens. Does all that sounds familiar?

The Illyrians are so much like the Eyriens, it's not even funny. They have bat-like wings, the males are trained in camps, live by the mountains, have their own personalized weapons, and the females are usually mistreated and not allowed to fight. And what does Rhysand suffer from them? Prejudice, because he's half illyrian. Even their physical characteristics are the same: golden brown skin, hazel eyes, black hair. What mainly sets on them apart is their names (which still sound pretty similar) and the fact that the illyrians have tattoos.

"He spread his dark, membranous wings, trying to ease the ache in his back." ( Daughter of the blood, page 12)

"Indeed, it was still Rhysand’s face, his powerful male body, but flaring out behind him were massive black membranous wings—like a bat’s, like the Attor’s" (ACOTAR, page 348)

"Still, it was home, and centuries of enslaved exile had left him aching for the smell of clean mountain air, the taste of a sweet, cold stream, the silence of the woods, and, most of all, the mountains where the Eyrien race soare" (Daughter of the blood, page 16)

"The Illyrians … We love our people, and our traditions, but they dwell in clans and camps deep in the mountains of the North" (ACOMAF, page 165)

"He had never felt this weary, this beaten. Not as a half-breed boy in the Eyrien hunting camps, not in the countless courts he'd served in over the centuries since" (Heir to the darkness, page 13)

“When I turned eight, my mother brought me to one of the Illyrian war- camps . To be trained, as all Illyrian males were trained" ( ACOMAF, page 168)

”She kept resisting because Eyrien females traditionally didn’t touch a warrior’s weapons" (Queen of the darkness, page 151).

“Some camps issued decrees that if a female was caught training, she was to be deemed unmarriageable. I can’t fight against things like that, not without slaughtering the leaders of each camp and personally raising each and every one of their offspring.” (ACOMAF, page 434)

”There are reasons why Eyrien males are the warriors— Lucivar said, his eyes skimming over the women as he paced slowly down the line and back again.— We’re bigger, stronger, and we have the temperament for killing. You have other strengths and other skills. Most of the time, that works out well." (Queen of Darkness, page 156)

“The  Illyrians— Rhys smoothly cut in, that light finally returning to his gaze — Are unparalleled warriors, and are rich with stories and traditions. But they are also brutal and backward, particularly in regard to how they treat their females.” (ACOMAF, page 166)

"She wanted to cut the wings off, raise the boy as Dhemlan maybe. But he said no, in his soul the boy was Eyrien, and it would be kinder to kill him in the cradle than to cut his wings" (Daughter Of The Blood, page 138)

“I banned wing-clipping a long, long time ago, but … at the more zealous camps, deep within the mountains, they do it." (ACOMAF, page 434).

"But they’re good boys, and they’ll carry their weight. And they are full-blooded  Eyriens — he added.

— So they don’t carry the stigma of being half-breeds? — Lucivar asked with deadly control." (Queen of the Darkness, page 39)

"He gave Rhys command of a legion of Illyrians who hated him for being a half-breed" (ACOMAF, page 136)

"Then he called in his Ebon-gray Jewels and the wide leather belt that held his hunting knife and his Eyrien war blade" (Heir to the shadows, page 257)

"I went from physical defense to learning to wield an Illyrian blade, the weapon so fine, I’d nearly taken Cassian’s arm off." (ACOMAF, page 367)

Some people can look at this as simple inspiration, but others consider the races to be almost identical. Their prejudices, the place they live, the place where they train and how they train being the same, with only a few minor key points being changed.

In Bishop's work men and women are adressed and divided as "males" and "females". Their society is based the existence of jewels, where the darker someone's jewel is, the more powerful that person becomes.

The jewels are close to what SJM called siphons, used by the illyrians. They are a representation of the powers of members of the blood, serve as containers, and vary in colors. Siphons, however, are literally jewels who filter Illyrians powers, manipulating magic. Members of the blood can have more than one jewel, and illyrians can have more than one siphon.

"An uncut Jewel is a rare thing, little Sister —   Titian said, removing something from the box.    — Wait until you know who you are before you have it set. Then it will be more than a receptacle for the power your body can't hold; it will be a statement of what you are." (Daughter of the blood, page 71)

"He held up his hands, the backs to me so both jewels were on full display.— They’re called  Siphons . They concentrate and focus our power in battle.” (ACOMAF, page 162)

"The Black-Jeweled ring on his right hand glittered with an inner fire." (Daughter of the blood, page 39)

"Siphons atop his scarred hands flickered like rippling blue fire as he reached for the Attor." (ACOMAF, page 262)

" Your fingers clenched around that Jewel. There was a flash of Red light, and the guards were flung backward." ( Daughter of the blood, page 136)

"Cassian lifted his hand into the air. Red light exploded from his Siphon, blasting up and away" (ACOMAF, page 543)

"Her strength was gone. The Jewel hungaround her neck, dark and empty" (Daughter of the blood, page 399)

"Azriel’s blue Siphons were dull, muted. Utterly empty."  (ACOMAF, page 554)

The Blood possess some ability to sense and mask their psychic scent. The conception of "scent" not only acts as a way for them to recognize each other, but also sense their emotions, and seems to be highlighted between couples, with Daemon for using it in order to fantasize or look for Jaenelle. That matches perfectly SJM's universe where the Fae are able to feel each others scents, sensing their emotions through it, it being stronger between mated couples:

"The psychic scent was almost gone, but he recognized it. A dark scent. A powerful, terrifying, wonderful scent. He breathed deeply, and the lifetime hunger in him became intense".(Daughter of the blood, page 178).

"Like the body that housed it, a witch's psychic scent had a muskiness that a Blood male could find as arousing as the body—if not more so" (Daughter of the blood, page 184)

His  scent  drifted to her, darker, muskier than usual. She’d bet all the money she didn’t have that it was the scent of his arousal. (ACOSF, page 235)

"A room where she had slept would still be strong with her psychic scent, even if it had been cleaned"  (Daughter of the blood, page 182)

"Cassian had flown back up to the House. And found the oak door to the stairs open, Nesta’s  scent  lingering." (ACOSF, page 99)

"No psychic scent of emotions for the guards to play with as they put the sobbing man into the old, one-man boat." (Daughter of the blood, page 149)

"He didn’t need to use a psychic probe to know who was on the other side of the door. The scent of her fear was sufficient." (Queen of the darkness, page 120)

"Their faces were vacant. Not a trace of fear in them, or in their scents." (ACOSF, page 344)

"Those of us who have would notice the similarities in your psychic scents and reach the correct conclusion" ( Queen of Darkness, page 114)

"He didn’t believe me. So he grabbed Catrin, because our scents were nearly identical, you see" (ACOSF, page 652)

The basic unit of Blood society and government is a Queen and her Court. To create a Court, she must be at the age of majority and have twelve males who agree to be in her First Circle. Jaenelle creates hers in the second book, who is  denominated as the "dark court". How is Rhysan's court called? The night court. How is his unity of power named? "the inne circle". Rhysand's court is also referred as "the court of dreams", and Jaenelle is called "dreams made flesh".

"He hoped she'd be pleased to have the use of this place. He hoped he'd be invited when she established her own court. He wanted to see whom she selected for her First Circle" (Daughter of the Blood page 92)

"They’re Rhysand’s Inner Circle.The ones I’d heard mentioned that day at the Night Court—who Rhys kept going to meet." (ACOMAF, page 135)

"The living myth— Saetan whispered.— Dreams made flesh— His throat tightened. He closed his eyes." (Heir to the shadows, page 459)

“And what is this court? — I asked, gesturing to them. The most important question.

It was Cassian, eyes clear and bright as his Siphon, who said — The Court of Dreams.”

Remember Lucivar? The main Eyrien character? Well, it doesn't help sjm's case that he's incredibly similar to Cassian:

Because he's an eyrien, Lucivar was raised as a warrior and has bat wings, together with gold eyes and tanned skin. He also has long black hair and is considered to be well-built. Initially his jewels are birthright red, and later they descent into being ebon grey. Just like his father, he is known as having an explosive temper who often lead him to trouble. Thanks to him not being recognized by Saetan initially, Lucivar is seen as a bastard. This is not at all far from how Cassian is written.

Let's also keep in mind: Lucivar is also responsable for recruting and training Eyrien warriors in the Dark Court, later training the women who live in Ebon Askavi (which, as I will show later, is almost identical to the House of Wind).

Cassian's tragetory is marked by him being underlooked as a "bastard" and not being able to control his temper, and that is further developed in acosf. His appereance is carbon-copy of Lucivar (the only difference being that his eyes are hazel), and his siphons are red. He also happens to train illyrian warriors, and later Feyre, Nesta and the other priestesses from the library. Like Lucivar has a brotherly bond with Jaenelle and waits for her to be his queen, Cassian has a brotherly love for Feyre and respects her as his high lady:

"Unlike the other slaves who couldn't contain their misery or fear, there was no expression in Lucivar's gold eyes" (Daughter of the Blood, page 13)

"Like their High Lord, the males—warriors—were dark-haired, tan-skinned. But unlike Rhys, their eyes were hazel and fixed on me as I at last stepped close" (ACOMAF, page 155)

"She looked so pale against his light-brown skin, and he knew it wasn't simply because she was fair-skinned" (Daughter of the blood, page 19)

"She watched his light brown fingers play against her pale skin" (ACOSF, page 367)

"The man wore a leather vest and the black, skintight trousers favored by Eyrien warriors. His black hair fell to his shoulders, which was unusual for an Eyrien male. [..] A wild joy filled Daemon, even as his heart clogged his throat and tears stung his gold eyes. Lucivar." (Queen of the Darkness, page 45)

"Cassian surveyed Rhys from head to foot, his shoulder-length black hair shifting with the movement" (ACOMAF, page 155)

"Because he was a half-breed bastard, he had no hope of attaining a position of authority within a court, despite the rank of his jewels" (Daughter of the Blood, page 17)

"I can tell you how I hear Eris and Devlon and the others talk and, deep down, I still believe that I am a worthless bastard brute. That it doesn’t matter how many Siphons I have or how many battles I’ve won" (ACOSF, page 434)

"Tears stung Lucivar's eyes. Why, Daemon? What did she do to deserve being hurt like that?  His voice rose. He couldn't stop it. She was the Queen we had dreamed of serving. We had waited for her for so long.  You butchering whore, why did you have to kill her?" (Heir to the shadows, page 31)

"He’d thought about that painting a great deal in the days afterward—how it had made him feel, how close they’d all come to losing their High Lady before they’d ever met her." (ACOSF, page 43)

"Because he was a trained Eyrien warrior and had a temper that was explosive even for a Warlord Prince" (Daughter of the blood, page 16)

"Cassian was lounging in his chair, a glass of wine in his hand, staring at nothing. A brooding warrior-prince, contemplating the death of his enemies." (ACOSF, page 275)

"He could have caught him on the first pass. The young one will have to concede the battle, but it’ll stay in his mind that he put up a good fight. No, Lucivar understands how to train an Eyrien warrior.” (Queen of Darkness, page 103)

"Cassian prayed that the gods were watching over him as Rhys sipped from his tea and said,    

—You’re ready?

He leaned back in his seat. — I’ve gotten young warriors in line before." (ACOSF, page 43)

There's even a line when Lucivar is training the women in ebon askavi that hits very close to one used when Cassian is training the priestesses:

”If you can become half as proficient with this as she is, you’ll be able to take down any male except an Eyrien warrior —  Falonar said slowly. — And you’ll be able to take down half of them as well.” (Queen of the darkness, page 158)

"Cassian continued to train Nesta, Emerie, and Gwyn. The rain didn’t let up, and they were all soaked, but the exertion kept the bite of the cold away.— So this can really down a male in one move? [...] He concentrated on the females in front of him. — This move will knock anyone unconscious if you hit the right spot.” (ACOSF, page 385)

Daemon, his brother, is too very similar to Rhysand. He has the reputation of a sadist, after being tortured and used as slave in the hands of Dorotothea, close to how Rhys was known as a cruel fae who had to serve Amarantha (the way they a called is also pretty much the same, as well, being referred as their "pet" or "whore"). Daemon believes to be destined to Jaenelle, even before meeting her, sometimes feeling her touch, and dreaming or her, just like Rhysand talks about knowing Feyre was his mate, and dreaming of her before they met. He, like Saetan, Jaenelle, and Lucivar, is a black widow: which means he can access people's minds and thoughts, as well as communicate telephatically, exactly how daemanti in acotar have the ability to do.

"His face was a gift of his mysterious heritage, aristocratic and too beautifully shaped to be called merely handsome. He was tall and broad-shouldered. He kept his body well toned and muscular enough to please. His voice was deep and cultured, with a husky, seductive edge to it that made women go all misty-eyed. His gold eyes and thick black hair were typical of all three of Terreille's long-lived races, but his warm, golden-brown skin was a little lighter than the Hayllian aristos—more like the Dhemlan race." (Daughter of the blood, page 24)

"I stepped out of the shelter of my savior’s arm and turned to thank him. Standing before me was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen. Everything about the stranger radiated sensual grace and ease. High Fae, no doubt. His short black hair gleamed like a raven’s feathers" (ACOTAR, page 193)

"I had no answer to that—to the tenor in his rich, deep voice. So I examined the tattoos on his chest and arms, the glow of his tan skin , so golden now that he was no longer caged inside that mountain." (ACOMAF, page 289)

"Daemon smiled that cold, cruel smile. "Now you know what it's like to get into bed with Hayll's Whore." (Daughter of the blood, page 77)

"Lucien interrupted — What do you know about anything? You’re just Amarantha’s whore.

— Her whore I might be, but not without my reasons.” (ACOTAR, page 239)

"In his soul, he knew her. In his dreams, he saw her. He never envisioned a face. It always blurred if he tried to focus on it. But he could see her dressed in a robe made of dark, transparent spidersilk, a robe that slid from her shoulders as she moved, a robe that opened and closed as she walked, revealing bare, night-cool skin. And there would be a scent in the room that was her, a scent he would wake to, burying his face in her pillow after she was up and attending her own concerns." (Daughter of the Blood, page 27)

“Three years ago, he said quietly,  — I began to have these … dreams [...] The images were foggy, like looking through cloudy glass. They were brief—a flash here and there, every few months. I thought nothing of them, until one of the images was of a hand … This beautiful, human hand. Holding a brush. Painting—flowers on a table.” (ACOMAF, page 504)

“I saw you through your dreams—and I hoarded the images [...] I’d wake up with your scent in my nose, and it would haunt me all day, every step." (ACOMAF, page 505)

"There was a bitter taste in Daemon's mouth. The ashes of dreams. After all, he was Hayll's Whore, a pleasure slave, an amusement for the ladies no matter what their age, a way to pass the time" (Daughter of the blood, page 267)

"And he would be at that table in the town house, roaring with laughter—never again cold and cruel and solemn. Never again anyone’s slave or whore" (ACOMAF, page 497)

"You're my Queen,he thought fiercely. His body ached. She was his Queen. But with her family surrounding them, watching, there was nothing he could say or do to help her" (Daughter of the blood, page 360)

"My equal in every way; she would wear my crown, sit on a throne beside  mine. Never sidelined, never designated to breeding and parties and child-rearing. My queen." (ACOMAF, 598)

"He caught her wrists, holding her off with an ease that made her scream. He hit the Black shields on her inner barriers hard enough to make her work to keep them intact, but they wouldn't keep him out for long." (Daughter of the blood, page 302)

"My innate talents allow me to slip through the mental shields of anyone I wish, with or without that bridge—unless they’re very, very strong, or have trained extensively to keep those shields tight." (ACOMAF, page 59)

At some point Daemon is even called Jaenelle's mate:

"He’s here! Jaenelle’s mate is finally here!  Daemon felt as if the wind had been knocked out of him" (Heir to the shadows, page 117)

His position and title of highlord is parallelled a lot by how Saetan is decribed:

"High Lord of Hell, the Prince of the Darkness, the most powerful and dangerous Warlord Prince in the history of the Blood" (Daughter of the darkness, page 266)

"For what it’s worth, I’m the most powerful  High Lord in Prythian’s history" (ACOMAF, page 145)

Moving on to other similarities, Ebon Askavi, known as the black mountain or "the keep", who is put as a sanctuary, keeping a library containing the history of the blood, matches the form in which the house of wind is developed in sjm's books, with the palace also being embedded into a mountain. The Keep is a safe place where the high lord of hell reserves for the demon dead to rest, same as Rhysand turning the library into a home for the priestesses. And the whole Bryaxis situation? A creature who lives in the pit of the library? Well, Ebon askavi used to be the home of the prince of dragons: Lorn, who guess what? Used to reside beneath it. Finally, Bishop literally describes the palace as the place where "The winds meet".

"Saetan limped across the empty courtyard to the huge, open-metal doors embedded into the mountain itself, rang the bell, and waited to enter the Keep, the Black Mountain, Ebon Askavi, where the Winds meet. It was the repository for the Blood's history as well as a sanctuary for the darkest-Jeweled Blood. It was also the private lair of Witch" (Daughter of the blood, page 59)

"Draca led him through the corridors of  Ebon Askavi  toward a large stairwell that descended into the heart of the mountain." ( Daughter of the blood, page 431)

“Her throat closed at the surge of memories and at the sprawling view—the glimmering ribbon of the Sidra far below, the red-stoned palace built into the side of the flat-topped mountain itself." (ACOSF, page 49).

“I made this library into a refuge for them. Some come to heal, work as acolytes, and then leave; some take the oaths to the Cauldron and Mother to become priestesses and remain here forever" (ACOWAR, page 212)

"She still served the Keep itself, looking after the comfort of the scholars who came to study, of the Queens who needed a dark place to rest" (Daughter of the Blood, page 61)

"—  Who was here before them?

  —  A few cranky old scholars, who cursed me soundly when I relocated them to other libraries in the city. They still get access, but when and where is always approved by the priestesses.” (ACOWAR, page 213)

“There is a creature beneath the library. Do you know it?

Amren shut the book.

— Its name is  Bryaxis.

— What is it.

— You do not want to know, girl.” (ACOWAR, page 452).

"Mother Night, Saetan — Geoffrey said, his breathing ragged.  — The Keep is his lair.

He's been here all the time.

He hadn't expected Lorn to be so big. "(Heir to the shadows, page 476)

As for Amren being a unknown creature who was tuned into a faerie and lived centuries before everyone else? Same thing as Draca. She lived by the time Dragons ruled the world and was later turned into something "human", assisting the high lord of hell:

"When only the Queen and her Prince, Lorn, were left, the Queen bid her Consort farewell [...] When the last scale fell from her, she vanished. Some stories say her body was transformed into some other shape, though it still contained a dragon's soul" (Heir to the shadows, page 375).

  "— Why won’t Amren go in here?

  —  Because she was once a prisoner.

  — Not in that body, I take it.

   A cruel smile.

  — No. Not at all.” (ACOMAF, page 185)

"Spiraling? — Geoffrey thought for a moment and shook his head. — No, but that doesn't mean it can't happen. Ask Draca. Compared to her, you're still in the nursery and I'm just a stripling." (Daughter of the blood, page 243)

"In the countless millennia they had existed here in Prythian, Rhys—Rhys with his smirking and sarcasm and bedroom eyes ...And Amren was worse. And older than five thousand years." (ACOMAF, page 145)

"When they had first arrived at the Keep, Lucivar had given him a cryptic warning: Draca is a dragon in human form.The moment he’d seen the Seneschal, he’d understood what Lucivar meant. Her looks, combined with the feel of great age and old, deep power, had fascinated him." (Queen of the darkness, page 252)

"Because even though the short, delicate woman looked like High Fae … as Rhys had warned me, every instinct was roaring to run. To hide. [...] But Amren’s eyes …Her silver eyes were unlike anything I’d ever seen; a glimpse into the creature that I knew in my bones wasn’t High Fae. Or hadn’t been born that way."  (ACOMAF, page 158)

"Draca asked. Her unblinking reptilian eyes revealed nothing" (Daughter of the blood, page 431)

You can also find some of the names of characters and places of Anne Bishop's books in Sarah J Mass ones. For instance: Sarah admited Prythian was a trick on Pryddain from the chronicles of Pryddain but that she couldn't put the original name because it belonged to Phillip Alexander, so she choose Prythian. But one of the high priestesses in Bishop's trilogy is indeed named Prythian.

"Prythian, Askavi's High Priestess, couldn't leash his temper enough to serve witches he despised" (Daughter of the blood, page 16)

If you look at the titles of some of the TOGs books, you realize they are alike Anne Bishop's as well:

The thing is: where do we draw the line when it comes to inspiration in books? It's common to have some similarities between author's works, however, to have that many in lines, places, plots, on top of races and characters who are nearly identical to the ones someone created fourteen years before you? I don't know.

I don't appreciate Bishop's work, in fact, I suffered a lot to go through the trilogy, for problems like: explicit sexual violence, mutilation, and worst of all grooming (Daemon meets his so called soulmate when she's a child, and he kisses her when she's 12), which literally made feel sick, but, is clear Bishop came up with a lot of things a long time before SJM did.

Because her series of books came out by the 2000, most of sjm's target audience doesn't know Bishop's work, making it very easy to avoid comparison. This is one of the reasons why this situation becomes a big problem, because most of her fans think SJM work is totally original, and that she came up with 99% of the concepts by herself.

Besides the black jewels, Sarah was said to have taking scenes, plots and quotes from other original productions/books, like the lord of the rings (which she's also a huge fan):

For example, The White Tree of Gondor and Kingsflame.

The White Tree of Gordon only blooms when the rightful ruler sits on the throne. Coming to later bloom in Aragorn's coronation:

"And so the kingdom of Gondor sank into ruin, the line of kings failed, the white tree withered and the rule of Gondor was given over to lesser men."

Kingsflame, however, it’s a magical flower that first bloomed when Brannon arrived, proof that was a good king:

 "since those ancient days, only single blossoms had been spotted, so rare in their appearance that their appearance was deemed a sign that the land had blessed whatever ruler sat on Terrasen’s throne. (KOA 686)"

Similarly, the flower also blooms after Aelin’s Coronation:

Across every mountain, spread across the green canopy of Oakwald, carpeting the entire Plain of Theralis, the kingsflame was blooming. (KOA 984)

We also have the scene when Haldir arrives at helms deep:

"I bring word from Elrond of Rivendell.  An alliance once existed between Elves and men. Long ago we fought and died together. We come to honor that allegiance."

While Manon says this in KOA:

"Long ago the Crochans fought beside Terrasen, to honor the great debt we owed the Fae King Brannon for granting us a homeland."(KOA, page 693)

And don't forget, Aragorn saying:

"My friends, you bow to no one"

While Rhysand says this in ACOWAR:

"You bow to no one, was all he replied"

Don't forget, the conversation between Theoden and Gamling in the Two Towers movie:

"Theoden: Who am I, Gamling?

Gamling : You are our king, sire.

Theoden : And do you trust your king?

Gamling : Your men, my Lord, will follow you to whatever end.

Theoden : To whatever end... "

Followed by this conversation between Rowan and Aelin:

“—To whatever end? — she breathed.

Rowan followed her, as he had his entire life, long before they had ever met, before their souls had sparked into existence. —“To whatever end, Fireheart.”

We also have other examples, like treasure island:

"Look at you! Glowing like a solar fire. You're something special, Jim. You're gonna rattle the stars, you are!"  (Treasure Island-2003)

"You could rattle the stars," she whispered. "You could do anything, if only you dared. And deep down, you know it, too. That’s what scares you most. "( TOG page 385, chapter 54)

ASOIAF:

A quite similar phrase to "Queen that was promised" was used in GRRM’s ASOIAF,  where an ancient prophecy talked about a "Prince who was promised",  later it being reveleaded that they expected a boy, but the title was said to fall to Daenarys Targaryen (a queen). This is mentioned in " A dance of dragons" which was published in 2011. This prince is also mentioned as being “the Heir of Fire”.

"Westeros must unite beneath her one true king, the prince that was promised, Lord of Dragonstone and chosen of R'hllor" ( A dance with dragons, 2011)

"Perhaps it had all been for nothing. The Queen Who Was Promised" (KOA, page 121, 2018)

"He is fire made flesh, she thought, and so am I."  (A dance with dragons, page 949, 2011)

"Fire - he reminded her of fire made flesh."  (ACOWAR, 2017)

Harry Potter is added to list, as well:

Dumbledore: Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and, above all those who live without love. (HP and the deathly hallows, page 705, 1997).

Rhysand: Be glad of your human heart, Feyre. Pity those who don’t feel anything at all. (ACOTAR, page 418, 2012).

"Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light." (Harry Potter and the prisioner of Azkaban, 2004)

“Light can be found even in the darkest of hells” (ACOWAR, page 577, 2017)

The movie spirit:

Little Creek: Take care of her, Spirit-who-could-not-be-broken (Spirit, 2002)

Nehemia: I name you Elentiya, ‘Spirit That Cannot Be Broken.' (TOG, page 44)

Shadow and Bone:

The quote "like calls to like" explains one of the most important plot points in shadow and bone, the first book was published in 2012, and Sarah was mentioned in Leigh's acknowledgments as the person who gave her first review. She had used "magic calls to magic" before in throne of glass in 2012, yet the book was published in august, while Shadow and Bone came out before, in june. The principle of "like calls to like" in her books was mentioned by the time ACOMAF came out, in 2016, four years later. It was also used to describe attraction to objects of power, which follows Bardugo's concept.

Shadow and Bone: The grounding principle of the Small Science was “like calls to like" (page 113)

ACOMAF: The box—the Book—was silent. Then it said, Like calls to like  (page 350)

“The Grisha claims the amplifier, but the amplifier claims the Grisha, as well. Once it is done, there can be no other. Like calls to like, and the bond is made.” (page 130)

The movie troy:

"Menelaus : Prince? What prince? What son of a king would accept a man's hospitality, eat his food, drink his wine, embrace him in friendship, and then steal his wife in the middle of the night?

Paris : The sun was shining when your wife left you." (Troy, 2004)

“If you hadn’t stolen my bride away in the night, Rhysand, I would not have been forced to take such drastic measures to get her back.

I said quietly, The sun was shining when I left you.” (ACOWAR, page 396, 2017)

The Land before Time:

"Some things you see with your eyes. Other things you see with your heart." ( The Land before Time 1988)

"Some things you hear with your eyes. Other things you hear with your heart."( Crown of Midgnight, page 168, 2011)

Mulan:

"Shan Yu: How many men does it take to deliver a message?

The other Hun: One.

The Hun proceeds to shoot one of the imperial soldiers with an arrow." (Mulan, 1998)

“But it seems like tonight isn’t really your night, Elide said to the ilken, lifting the hatchet again over a shoulder. The ilken might have been whimpering as she smiled grimly.—Because it only takes one to deliver a message. And your companions are already on their way.

The axe fell.

Flesh and bone and blood spilled onto the stones.” (Empire of Storms, page 455, 2016)

There's more to show about the black jewels, but this posts is already huge, so I'm going to finish by talking a little bit about her new series: Crescent city, which people already pointed out to be similar to another series she also talked about before: The Fever series by Karn Marie Moning, published in 2007. Now, I don't think is the same case as the black jewels, because crescent city does follow a much more different story, but is still have matching characters and main storyline.

Darkfever tells the story of MacKayla, a girl who seemingly had a perfect life. After the murder of her sister, she sees herself obligated to make an alliance with the mysterious Jericho in order find her killer, whilst exploring her sidhe-seer powers. Crescent city, on the other hand, is also about a girl losing people close to her: her best friend and her crush, then deciding to solve their deaths by teaming up with the fallen angel Hunt.

Mackayla is a sidhe seer, a person who can see fae, and ends up in the book series as their queen, while Bryce is half fae. They are both extremely attractive girls, who love to party and take good care of their appereance. Jericho, however, is a handsome, tough supernatural being who resources to Mac in order to find answers, ending up getting involved with her. Lastly, Hunt is a fallen angel, who needs to make sure Bryce cooperates with the investigation, and develops feelings for her.

"My sister's whole body had holes in it, Inspector! Not just her arms! The coroner said they looked like teeth marks! — Not of any person or animal he'd been able to identify, though.— And parts of her were just fora!— I was shaking. I hated the memory. It made me sick to my stomach" (Dark Fever, page 71)

"She knew in her bones it was not a hallucination, what lay on that bed, knew in her bones that what bled out inside her chest was her heart. Danika lay there. In pieces" (Crescent City, page 74)

"Grieving wasn't going to bring her back, and it sure wasn't going to make me feel better about whoever'd killed her walking around alive out there somewhere, happy in their sick little psychotic way, while my sister lay icy and white beneath six feet of dirt" (Dark Fever, page 10)

"Briggs planned to hurt people, and he deserved to be in jail, but—he’d been wrongly accused of the murder.Danika’s killer was still out there" (Crescent City, page 145)

"I think I just finally expelled the last drop of moisture from my body that wasn't absolutely necessary to keep me alive. And rage watered my parched soul. I wanted answers. I wanted justice.I wanted revenge." (Dark fever, page 11)

"She didn’t know where to start.But she’d do it. Find whoever had done this.[...] She ground her teeth. She’d find whoever had done this and make them regret ever being born." (Crescent City, page 164)

Once again, Hunt has the exact same appeareance as Jericho, and their personalities are also pretty much alike.

"He studied me with his predator's gaze, assessing me from head to toe. I studied him back. He didn't just occupy space; he saturated it.The room had been full of books before, now it was full of him. About thirty, six foot two or three, he had dark hair, golden skin, and dark eyes. His features were strong, chiseled." (Dark Fever, page 36)

"An angel who reason and history reminded him was an ally, though every instinct roared the opposite.Predator. Killer. Monster. Hunt Athalar’s angular dark eyes, however, remained fixed on the window. On Bryce Quinlan." (House of earth and blood, page 80)

"Hunt nodded once, his golden-brown face betraying nothing." (House of earth and blood, page 81)

"Then the male leafed through Quinlan’s thin file, his shoulder-length black hair slipping over his unreadable face." (House of earth and blood, page 81)

Darkfever presentd V'lane as a third character, an attractive seelie prince, who rules the Tuatha Dé Dannan, and happens to go after Mackayla as revenge against Jericho. In crescent city, there third main character is Ruhn, Bryce's half brother, and who is he? A crowned prince of the fae. And what is his last name? Danaan.

"Even today, after all that I've seen, I couldn't begin to describe V'lane, prince of the Tuatha Dé Danaan." (Dark Fever, page 134)

"Thinking she’d get a nice, sweaty ride with a Prince of the Fae, she’d be sorely disappointed. He was in no shape for fucking right now." (Crescent city, page 199)

“I got a phone call, Naomi said. From Ruhn fucking Danaan. He’s livid that we didn’t notify Sky and Breath about bringing in the girl." (Crescent city, page 96)

The scene where Hunt goes to watch over Bryce in her apartment follows the exact same patterns of the scene Jericho goes to visit Mackayla in her home:

"A moment later, her phone buzzed on the coffee table. Right as her show began.She didn’t know the number, but she wasn’t at all surprised when she picked up, plopping down onto the cushions, and Hunt growled,

— Open the curtains. I want to watch the show.” (Crescent city, page 84)

"Someone knocking at my door awakened me [...] I glanced at my watch. It was two o'clock in the morning. I was sleepy and grumpy and didn't try to disguise it.

—Who is it?

— Jericho Barrons." (Dark Fever, page 40)

“Open the curtains.

— No, thank you.

— Or you could invite me in and make my job easier.

— Definitely no.

—Why?

— Because you can do your job just as well from that roof.” (Crescent City; page 184)

"Do you intend to open this door, Ms. Lane, or shall we converse where anyone might attend our business? [...]. If he was willing to trade, I had to open that door. Unless…

— We can trade through the door, I said.

— No

— Why not?

— I am a private person, Ms. Lane. This is not negotiable." (Dark Fever, page 41)

"His dark eyes didn’t so much as blink. Striking—that was the only word Bryce could think of to describe his handsome face, full of powerful lines and sharp cheekbones. — You can make this investigation easy, or you can make it hard.” (Crescent City, page 187)

" When I said nothing, he said softly — If you are not with me, Ms. Lane, you are against me. I have no mercy for my enemies.  

I shrugged." (Dark Fever, page 46)

So, I do believe SJM is the type author whose actions we need to discuss. Even if you see the whole thing with " The black jewels" is just an inspiration, you can't deny the fact there some exact lines of movies and books in her work. Plus: it's not just one quote or just one plot, but many.

If you ever try to read The Black Jewels trilogy you'll notice much more than what I brought in this post, and I do hope more people are able to research it. However, if you have any triggers regarding SA, mutil*tion, abuse, gr*mming, or torture scenes, I strongly recommend you do not read these books. They are not easy to go through, and the same thing goes to Dark Fever, although is a lot lighter.

Now, you can find more about the "Lord of the rings" and "Harry Potter" situation in here:

This is not a post trying to "cancel" sjm or simply attack her without reason. But I do believe we have to talk about her work and the problems with it, especially when it involves the work of other writers. If anyone has any more examples, or articles about this matter, quote this post with them if you can. I couldn't put more because you have a limit for tumblr posts, and it would be way too much. Anyway, thank you sticking here until the end.

[extremely-judgemental]

Even when I don’t like an artist’s works, I have respect for them for their discipline and dedication to the craft. But that’s hard to muster for SJM. I was told one of her favourites is Anne Bishop’s The Black Jewels series which could have been an influence for the vivid and unnecessary violence in her plots. I haven’t read those books and so I googled it.

One of the major character is Lucivar Yaslana who is Half-Hayllian/Half-Eyrien which sounds suspiciously close to Illyrian. And in fanart, he is depicted with (surprise surprise) bat like wings which are uncannily like the Illyrian wings, and mind you, the first book in this series came out in 1998.

Going through the plot in wiki, there are a lot of names or titles that are similar to the ones in ACOTAR. Prythian. High Priestess. Whore/Consort. Dark Court and First Circle. One of the books’ title is Dreams Made Flesh, and that instantly reminded me of the Made weapons and the phrases often associated with them but that could be nothing. Even the male lead Daemon has quite similar experiences as Rhysand.

Since I don't have much authority in this case to call out SJM or her books, here are some from people who have read both series.

This on Reddit listing the obvious parallels between the two.

And this from @alexcollix7 is by far the best and detailed post I could find on this topic where they address all three series.

I would love for the SJM fans who think she invented commonly used genre conventions to read the Black Jewels trilogy and tell me Cassian isn't a direct result of Lucivar existing (or Rhys and Daemon, for that matter).

By author Katee Robert although she said this in favour of authors reimagining tropes.

Black Jewels is explicitly dark fantasy and deals with and normalises strong themes such as abuse and sex slavery to name a few. It explains why abuse is romanticised in ACOTAR as well since SJM seems to have copied so much from these books. Given the initial drafts of the sequels were scraped off after TAR received much appreciation, there’s no excuse that this was only a fanfic that developed into an original series. Though the plot development and most characters like Tamlin are her own, some key plot points or motivations leading up to it might not be. Her books are applauded as original and unparalleled fantasy of this age by many young readers but the foundations of her world-building heavily imitates Bishop’s own.

A quick google search proves Maas is more popular than Bishop, so is ACOTAR over the Black Jewel series, and maybe it’s the reason why not many are talking about this. Drawing inspiration from real world and existing art or paying homage to one’s favourites is understandable and healthy but what SJM does seems dangerously like rip off.

Thank you @thrumbolt for giving me new reason to hate her.

[acourtofthought]

From a 2014 SJM interview:

"Lucivar Yaslana" isn't that far off from Lucien Vanserra.

SJMs interviews reminding us time and again how Lucien was specifically designed to her likes.

[gabilina]

Throne of Glass was published on fictionpress in 2003. The original version was called Queen of Glass and was supposed to be a Cinderella retelling. As we read throught the final product we can see that apart from glass palace in Rifthold it has little to do with the classic Grimm's/Perrault's tale. In the original fairytale we had cruel stepmom and wicked stepsisters who were mean to Cinderella - Throne of Glass has none of that.

I saw people talking abt how both Acotar and Crescent City shares many elements taken from Abrahamic Religions and I think that with Throne of Glass it's the same, especially the storyline from book 1 about Celaena being a slave at salt mines.

In their old posts @alexcollix7 and @longsightmyth pointed out that Celaena being a slave at salt mines storyline was ripped off Lucivar Yaslana's arc from The Black Jewels trilogy by Anne Bishop, but I think it actually has something to do with The Book of Esther.

The Book of Esther also features a young heroine being sold into slavery who then wants to overthrow a powerful ruler - this can't be coincidence

[good-night-dodger]

Bughead Fandom Love Day

We are incredibly lucky to have so many talented creators in our fandom. I want to thank you all for your gifs, your fics, your fanart, your memes, your comments, your presence. The last few years haven't been easy in canon (to say the least), but we can always rely on you to make it better.

To kick start Bughead Appreciation Week, here are 20+ Bughead fics, new and old, that I revisit often.

Detention by @lovedinapastlife

(wise men say) only fools rush in by @anniemurphys and @syl-s

I would woo you in a quiet place (if i could speak the words) by @honestlyhappymoon

How Things Could Be by GoingQuietly

Playlist Amour by @1sleepydormouse

For All the Words I Can't Speak Aloud (I'll write down in verse) by @itsindiansummer13

Tacos and Tequila by @jugandbettsdetectiveagency

Harvest to Home by @writeradamanteve

Jellybean's babysitter by @cooperandjonesinc

(my youth ain't) tangled up in bad decisions by @anniemurphys

The blonde in the window by @sadie-quinn

A New Creature by @thepointoftheneedle

The Space Between by @bugheadsextape

Southside High by @noorakardemmomesaetre

otherworldly (is how i describe you) by @riverdalenerdlol

Milkshakes & Chastity Belts by darlingdearestdead

if i told you who i am (can i call you baby?) by @thetaoofbetty

Of Midnight and Moonlight by @likemereckless

Summer Shivers by @lucivar

do you like or like like me? by @stonerbughead

In vain I have struggled by @purple-spring

Betty Cooper and the Elixir of Life by @easyluckyfree45

a revelation in the light of day by @iconic-ponytail

a great language by @heartunsettledsoul

[stonerbughead]

Bughead Fandom Love Day

I appreciate all the talented humans in our fandom so much! I've been active in the Bughead fandom since 2018, and while we've seen brighter days, I wouldn't trade meeting so many of you for anything! And I will stan our precious investigative duo till the end of time. In celebration of Bughead Appreciation Week 2023, here are some recs!

Favorite Bughead gifsets

@simon-eriksson's series of fanfics she loves! i will forever be obsessed with the one Lourdes made for my fic.

@bugheadchemistry's Bughead Touches series! so many soft moments captured.

@bettycooper's "that time" series ! no one's doing sassy bughead gifsets like Cat.

@bettyjugheads' investigative duo bughead set

@katherineebishop's beautiful blue and gold bughead set

Some favorite Bughead fics

a dark world aches (for a splash of the sun) by @heartunsettledsoul

a revelation in the light of day by @iconic-ponytail

Betty Cooper, Girl Reporter by @sullypants

step by step by @imreallyloveleee

Let it Snow by @go-ldy

speak by @heavy-lies-the-crown

I’ll be the one by @literatiruinedme

The Space Between by @bugheadsextape

modern love by @stillscape

i'm letting go (of everything but you) by @thetaoofbetty

A Perpetual Estrangement by @satelliteinasupernova

A Written Life series by @darknessaroundus

Waking Druantia by @likemereckless

Viper Radio by @lucivar

The Lightning by @thepointoftheneedle

it's so nice (to be stoned) by @ms-maj

Written in Blood by @kesleyjo

to all the boys (but especially you) by @lovedinapastlife

april come she will by @flwrpotts

swept up in your hurricane by @jugandbettsdetectiveagency

Serpent Strings by @bluevelvetvideo

Some favorite Bughead fanart

bughead makin out against jug's motorcycle by @celandineitsaflowerdickward

a kiss at the center of the universe by satelliteinasupernova

bughead dancing by @alpacalypseartb

1x06 kiss by @archiesart

Bughead and toffee by @edgarsabandonedrocketship

Other Must Follow Blogs:

@ketelonebotanical @winterlovesong1 @thatiranianphantom @lurker-no-more @stillhidden @middleagedresidentofriverdale @bughead-bones @onlyalittlebookworm @underrmyumbrellaella @feisty-aquarius4 @edamamechips @bugheadcuddles @mrscolesprouse @daphnesvieira @raymondebidochonlifechoices @bettsc @djgrannyglasses @good-night-dodger @theheavycrown

it made me stop tagging people i believe, so i'm sorry if i missed anyone!!! i'll try to tag in the replies anyone i remember <3 LOVE YOU ALL, HAPPY BUGHEAD FANDOM LOVE DAY!

[belle-keys]

I'm enthralled by Anne Bishop's "The Black Jewels" series

Yesterday I finished Anne Bishop's "The Black Jewels" trilogy. I know there are more books in the series, and I will get to them, but the first trilogy stands on its own. I'm kicking myself for being 25 years late to the party. Granted, I was only born a year after "Queen of the Darkness" came out... but still!

This post is just an unorganized collection of my observations:

The gender essentialism at the foundation the series is quite interesting. While I understand the limitations of creating a fantasy world where X is always X, Y is always Y, and X and Y have a strict constant relationship to each other, I think Anne Bishop pulls it off somehow. Maybe I'm just a sucker for the way women are always at the top of the Blood's caste system and men live to serve them. I also respect the unapologetic commitment to the gender binary in the book, in all its uncomfortableness.

The Chosen One doesn't get a POV! I really liked that we only see Jaenelle through the eyes of those perceiving her. It made her really feel like a mythical heroine-goddess. I think it's very difficult to capture the thoughts of any fantasy book's Jesus-figure in a way that preserves their power and mystique and doesn't make also them have to go "omg, l'm not like other girls!" | liked forming my own opinions on Janelle from the outside looking in. This made a lot of sense partly because Janelle is a small child for the whole of the first book and having her POV that young wouldn't have served a purpose.

Again, comes back down to the stringent gender roles in the series, but Daemon and Jaenelle growing to love each other as she gets older had me feeling all warm and fuzzy and ready to tear up. Daemon, in general, is a very well-developed and fearsome character in my opinion. Daemon fits in perfectly in a series revolving around sex, seduction, and sadism.

The brutality... I quite appreciated the discussions surrounding sexual abuse, rape, and trauma. Each of those horrible experiences was interwoven with the magic system and the worldbuilding, and while Bishop's presentation of rape is grim and blunt, it also pertinently addresses the horror rape inflicts upon victims and its inherent unforgivability.

[tabbyphobos]

So I started A Court of Thorns and Roses the other day, and actually made some progress before bed last night (Stardew Valley 1.6 is out, I dunno what you want from me). I am 90 pages in and I have something to tell fans of this series.

Acotar is Strictly Worse Black Jewels series.

I read Throne of Glass years ago and in the back it had an interview with Maas. One of the questions was about her favorite authors and she mentioned Anne Bishop. I could see some of the inspirations she took from it: the salt mines being a prison, a badass assassin girl, stuff like that.

But ho-lee shit.

Lucien is, so far, Lucivar--he even uses the phrase "old son." I dunno who Tamlin is supposed to be, but the Fae are clearly the Blood. High Fae are likely Warlord Princes and Queens. Having different fae that are different species is LITERALLY the Kindred. I'm just waiting to see where Kaelas and Ladvarian are. And Andras the wolf? It's that Arcerian cat coat Karla sees someone wearing, and finds herself horrified to find that that cat was a witch and they slaughtered her for her skin.

"But Tabby," you ask, "why do you say strictly worse?"

I Capital H HATE keeping things from the reader by not telling the main character. I get it; Feyre is our conduit into this new world she's in. It's a writing technique as old as time. But nobody tells her anything, so we're just frustrated waiting for the story to start.

Black Jewels gives us a prologue that introduces the main plot and a character we will never have the pleasure of reading from the perspective of again, and why. After that, the book assumes you are in the world and doesn't hold back. It shows Lucivar and Daemon in their slave conditions. It shows Saetan growing tired of his vigil waiting for Witch. And it doesn't wait; Lucivar meets Jaenelle in the first chapter, first scene. And his last line in that scene? "Witch now walked the realms." It's the plot in action.

A Court of Thorns and Roses keeps threatening violence. So far these have been so empty I don't believe them. Black Jewels shows the torture the slaves undergo, and the responses Lucivar and Daemon inflict on their captors. Daemon is not called the Sadist for no reason. In Heir, Jaenelle literally splatters a man around the room. And the Kindred aren't safe either; the end of Heir shows how a unicorn kills a man, and it is pretty fucked up.

So why is Acotar popular and Black Jewels is not? So far, it looks like it's because Acotar doesn't come with the triggering content Black Jewels does.

Black Jewels has genital mutilation, pedophilia, child abuse, sexual slavery, rape, literal actual gaslighting, animal cruelty, and probably more but it's been a few years since I read this, my favorite series.

Again, I am 90 pages into A Court of Thorns and Roses, so I may be wrong. Maybe it gets better. Maybe they stop hiding information from the main character for no damn reason. Maybe they do stop talking about ripping someone into ribbons and actually do the deed.

But Acotar fans, I am BEGGING you. Give Black Jewels a try. A major criticism is that it's very gendered, and you know what? They're right. But you will be so surprised at the similarities, it will be as if Maas wrote another 11-12 books in the Acotar series.

[whimsicalmeerkat]

WIP Wednesday

I was tagged by the ever-brilliant @dear-massacre. This is from a fic with the working title ‘violence and gore’. Enjoy!

~

Daemon walks through the rivulets of blood coating the marble entryway floor of a manor house far from Haylll's capital. The floor is crooked, a slight incline causing the blood to pool in one corner. He doesn't know if it was level before he arrived tonight.

This isn't how he was intending to begin his stay, here in the court of one of Dorothea's pet queens. Philomena is one of Dorothea's little coven of mediocre Black Widows; one who wears the Green. Without the Ring of Obedience, she will pose no threat to Daemon. She never would be capable of that, even if he wasn't also a Black Widow.

The list of people who know that secret essentially begins and ends with him, although he thinks Lucivar probably suspects. That bothers him less than he would have predicted if he'd ever considered the possibility. Even before Tersa told them they were brothers, he'd trusted Lucivar more than any other. Certainly more than any other Warlord Prince.

A war cry splits the air. Daemon recognizes it, just as he recognized the one he heard on his way up the front walk. Anyone recognizing it as Eyrien would know to be afraid, if not for themselves, certainly for the people in the house. When it choked off into a scream, Daemon decided everyone in that house other that the man screaming would die.

He started with the guards escorting him and the ones at the door. Not wanting to alert those inside to his actions—it always takes so much longer when people run in different directions—he paralyzed the guards with the snake tooth on his left ring finger, breaking their necks as he went.

He opened the door to find a butler hurrying into the entryway. When his eyes fell on Daemon, he paled in a way that said he knew who Daemon was. The fact that he immediately screamed for the guards said he didn't know enough about who had just walked into the house.

Daemon stares dispassionately at the heads of the butler and the four guards who came in when he called them. Their faces are frozen in rictuses of pain and terror. He made certain they all felt the full pain of his poison before he killed them. He had to content himself with simple beheadings, though. He's in a hurry. The people torturing his brother won't die so easily.

Daemon glides up the stairs, his power welling up to the surface as he rides the killing edge, that state so unique to Warlord Princes. The one few, if any, of their enemies survive. None in this house but him and Lucivar will last beyond the night. All will be grateful by the end.

"Thomas, where is that water?" he hears, followed by the click of heels.

A woman comes in the the hallway—a Queen. Daemon assesses her, seeing two control rings on her hand. With a psychic blade made of the Black, he severs those fingers.

Philomena—because that is who she must be—shrieks and begins to sob. With a thought, Daemon gags her. He glides forward and heals her hand, removing any chance the fingers can be reattached and stopping the bleeding.

He stoops and picks up the fingers with the rings, vanishing them. He doesn't want to risk the Ring of Obedience being used against him and his brother. Not here in this house.

~

Lucivar writhes, unable to so much as imagine being still. He knows this feeling far too well. That bitch Philomena dosed him with enough safframate to make him out of his mind with lust and some other drug that also keeps him from reaching orgasm.

He doesn't know how long he's kept on the edge—pleasure that had turned too excruciating to be anything but agony mixing with the more banal pain of a small whip. He doesn't know who is wielding the whip. They've blindfolded him and whoever else is in the room with Lucivar never speaks.

The lashes against his wings hurt the most. Not so deep that he'll be permanently injured, but calculated to cause maximum pain. The person behind the whip has tortured Eyriens before.

He feels something change. A shift in the psychic atmosphere. It feels cold and burning colder, containing the promise of exquisite violence. He bares his teeth in a feral smile. His brother is here.

~

Low pressure tags: @definitively-different-drivel @thotpuppy @calenlily @armanya @luthien-under-bough

[ryanoftinellb]

I reckon I could solve 99% of the Black Jewels trilogy with a couple of well-placed telepathic hiveminds. Avoid all the plot-propelling misunderstandings between Saetan, Daemon and Lucivar. And there's no way Dorothea and Hekatah would ever work together if they knew exactly how the other felt about her.

[boag]

Do you have any riverdale fiction recs?

I've read everything by

ForsythiaRising WolfOfAnsbach FreshBrains meditationonbaaal stillscape Lucivar cjones7 soyforramen boos Alsike bigfeetbiggersocks greatkateweathermachine & philcollins

But I tend not to go through ao3s riverdale tag as there are a lot of fans that have different opinions that my riverdale tumblr ecochamber

I fell off I haven’t read any Riverdale fanfiction in years

[likemereckless]

Week 11

It’s been a minute, but I’m back. Life has been very busy and I haven’t had time for much reading or writing. Tonight I have a small window so I decided to read and share my read with all of you!

This week I’m rereading Summer Shivers by @lucivar as a nice intro to my own summer break.

Here’s the synopsis: Betty’s big brother, Special Agent Charles Cooper, is getting married to Kevin Keller. Betty has returned to Riverdale for the summer holidays to help her mother set up for the "wedding of the century” while completing her internship with The Register and hanging out with her best friends: Veronica and JB. When a lead that Betty is investigating takes a dark turn, Charles’s best man and partner, Special Agent Jughead Jones, decides to stay in town to help her out. Or, Betty gets what she wants.

Word count: 127,314

Rating: E

Ao3: Link

Enjoy and leave the author a little love…