Popular TikTok influencer Piper CJ holds a master’s degree in Folklore and often talks about those topics on her profile. In 2022, she self-published a book titled The Night and Its Moon which was soon picked up by a traditional publisher for a four-book deal under Bloom Books, an imprint of Sourcebooks LLC. Today we’re going to talk about why these books are controversial.
Who Is Piper CJ?
Piper CJ is a TikTok influencer with a master’s degree in Folklore who makes folklore and mythology-inspired content. She often speaks about the histories of different folkloric creatures and mythologies on her page. Piper CJ is also the author of The Night and Its Moon and its three sequels as well as The Deer and the Dragon (May 2024).
A Summary of The Night and Its Moon
The Night and Its Moon follows young, orphaned girls, Nox and Amaris, who are separated when Nox takes the place of Amaris when she is sold for a ransom payment. They spend most of the book adapting to their new lives while trying to figure out how to reunite with each other. The story delves into themes of love, friendship, and the battle between good and evil.
Controversy in The Night and Its Moon
Here’s where things get messy. Of the entire cast of characters and all of the people that Nox and Amaris meet along their journeys, Nox is the only person of color. Also, her name is Nox. Which is just a bit on the nose, if you ask me. There is not a single other person of color in this book. So, people noticed this when they started reading the book. Many readers today like to see representation in books – and it’s a great thing when there’s accurate and positive representation, but Piper CJ’s book does not have accurate or positive representation.
The whole purpose of Nox’s existence is to preserve Amaris, who is a white person. So, when she takes the place of Amaris and goes to her new home, she literally takes beatings and is whipped in place of Amaris. You might be thinking, “Well if her task is to take the place of the other girl, what’s the issue?” – the issue is that she’s the only person of color in the entire novel and she’s being treated like garbage.
Another major issue is that readers claimed that major parts of the book were basically plagiarizing The Witcher. I have not read The Witcher, so I cannot substantiate this claim.
Controversy from Piper CJ
Things get messier though. Not only does this book have a token POC, and copy major parts of The Witcher, but when readers took to social media to post their reviews and engage in conversations about this book, Piper CJ and her editor lashed out at them. They attacked readers for their opinions and tried to justify the racist content within the books.
The most astonishing thing, however, is that Piper CJ’s bio on Goodreads states “I wrote these books for an audience of one, and that audience was me. I wanted to see bi representation, love, mental health struggles, religious trauma, and overcoming the of obstacles that I needed to be modeled in my own life.” She wanted to see representation in her books, yet she excluded and then targeted an entire population of underrepresented people. It’s a shame.
Conclusion
Piper CJ’s The Night and Its Moon was a popular book on TikTok’s #booktok, but after readers found out that it wasn’t all it was advertised to be, they were disappointed. Piper CJ’s behavior in response to the negative reviews was inappropriate and mean, leading to a highly controversial discourse on Piper CJ herself.
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