Posted on February 1, 2019 at 10:00 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

A much-hyped young-adult novel has been pulled from publication after readers complained about its depiction of slavery.

Amélie Wen Zhao, author of Blood Heir, asked her publisher to halt the book’s release after advance-copy readers made their complaints, according to the New York Times.

Zhao said in a statement that she had drawn on her experiences as an “other” — she was born in Paris, grew up in China, and immigrated to the U.S. at age eighteen — for her novel, which takes place in a fictional empire that enslaves a powerful group of people called Affinites.

The Times reports that Zhao’s publisher still plans to release the other books she’s under contract for, including Blood Heir if she changes her mind.

Read more about the content, the reaction, and how other authors have handled such issues in the Times.

Categories: Today in Books

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