tw // mental health , alcoholism , slurs , ableism , homophobia , extreme violence , abuse , consent , csa , drug abuse , gore
[ a realistic thread on AFTG ]

- this thread isn't to recommend the books to anyone, it's just letting you know what to expect before going into the books

diversity - the books only have around 3 main/important poc characters to the plot and they are painted out to be villains/have done questionable things. any other poc that you've heard are in the books are from fanon content which is fine but it's NOT canon and the author

doesn't deserve credit for any form of good diverse rep because most of the main characters are canonically white.

mental health - throughout the course of the 3 books not once is it cleared up what exactly the character (who appears to be suffering from the most mental health issues) suffers from and it's explained in a confusing way that doesn't help any of us understand what the illness

actually is. it was very poorly researched and not representative of the illness at all. it's also explained how the character was wrongly issued antipsychotics but it doesn't mention anywhere how this could likely cause him further mental health issues.

alcoholism - another of the mcs is an alcoholic, this shouldn't be glossed over in any way, he suffers from a real addiction and it shouldn't be made into a joke or him be called a "wine aunt". he uses alcohol to cope with trauma, but in the books he's shown to just be a coward

who is too afraid to face his demons. it doesn't show how the alcohol affects his life or whether/if he recovers from it.

drug abuse - a few of the mcs either currently suffer from or have a past of drug abuse, this isn't explained in a lot of detail.

slurs - almost every character uses ableist or homophobic slurs throughout the books and they use them quite openly and almost no one ever criticises their use of them.

the lgbt rep - there's a great slow-burn mlm ship, which is one of the main reasons why people read these books. the audience understands the mc to be demisexual (NOT CONFIRMED IN THE BOOKS) as his attraction is explained by him saying he "doesn't swing" and that he doesn't see

his other male teammates in a romantic light now that he's started kissing a boy, and he's only attracted to the person that he's with. the other canon gay rep is shown to be incredibly predatory throughout the books which pushes the stereotype that gay people are predatory and

society needs to be cautious of them. there is no wlw rep in these books, any you've seen is from fanon.

the mc neil josten has suffered from a lot of violence and abuse in his life and has learnt to protect himself by being bold and acting however he feels he should in order to defend himself. all of that trauma gave him confidence to speak out against anyone who might want to

harm him. he's not shy or scared and his life on the run from the mafia made him do a lot of horrific and traumatising things e.g setting fire to his dead mother's body.

the writing - the books are very slow paced and only in the third book the mafia plot really makes an appearance. some lines have been written well, but this could be interpreted like that only because they're linked to the main mlm ship. the mc also has a few "iconic" speeches.

consent - out of everything this is probably what the books cover best. consent between the main mlm ship holds a lot of importance as one of them is a csa survivor and the other has faced a lot of trauma.

foundfamily trope - the books also show this quite well and especially how whenever the mc is uncomfortable in certain situations, the rest of his team work harder to make him feel more at ease, whilst also respecting his boundaries and trying not to cross them(most of the time).

all of this being said, fanon is way better than the actual books but if what happens in the books is more important to you than creating your own story based off of these characters, then these books might not be the ones for you as a lot of content created by the fans is

based off of fanon. if you choose to read these books, it's up to you, but most aftg stans acknowledge how badly some things have been handled in the books, whilst still having deep attachments to the characters (hence the in love with neil josten).