The map above, which can be found in the book, shows Zhao’s fantastical world does not appear to be one exact country.Ĭultural appropriation is not a new criticism for young adult novels. NO THANKS.” There is no direct reference to Russia in Zhao’s book besides her saying that she was inspired by the story of the Russian Grand Duchess Anastasia, and I see no obvious relation to Russia, but people have argued the novel is Slavic-inspired. Map of the imagined Cyrillian Empire in Zhao’s novelįrom the point of sending drafts to beta readers (between 20), negative reviews flooded Goodreads before publication.Ī Goodreads reviewer addresses one controversy of the novel: “Another generic fantasy that appropriates Russian culture by twisting the tragic history of Anastasia Romanova. In the final copy, May’s skin tone is never referenced. For the “black slave girl” I believe refers to May, who is never described other than a young girl with “turquoise eyes” in the final copy. Zhao, who emigrated from China when she was eighteen, said that her book drew on ‘the epidemic of indentured labor and human trafficking prevalent in many industries across Asia, including in my own home country’” (Waltman, 2019).
However, this is only in the original manuscript which some reviewers including McKinney received as an advanced readers copy. According to The New Yorker, “critics felt that Zhao’s slavery narrative had erased a specifically African-American experience, and they objected to a scene in which an apparently black slave girl dies in an apparently white character’s arms, in an act of self-sacrifice. McKinney was not the only person upset by Zhao’s novel. People responded to McKinney’s tweet saying they were immediately cancelling pre-orders of Zhao’s book. This is probably not the best pitch for a novel and I can see why McKinney was upset, but I was disappointed to see an author of color being torn down before her book was even published. Internalized racism and anti-blackness is a thing and I…no” (Twitter, 2019).
The original blurb for Blood Heir read: “In a world where the princess is the monster, oppression is blind to skin color, and good and evil exist in shades of gray…” Author LL McKinney tweeted (after reading half of an advanced copy) “I don’t give a good god damn that this is an author of color. Ever since the delayed release of Blood Heir I have been following the novel’s rocky road to publication.įor those who haven’t heard, Blood Heir by Amélie Wen Zhao was called “this year’s most controversial YA novel” by Slate Magazine.įellow author LL McKinney of A Blade So Black blasted Zhao’s book on Twitter calling it “anti-black”.
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