History Literature / SaveThePearls

* BrokenAesop:
** The series is ostensibly a fable about the foolishness of racism, set in a world where an environmental catastrophe has left melanin content as a prized thing, with blacks on top and whites on the bottom, with an interracial romance to drive home the point. What it ''is'', however, is a series where white people are called "Pearls" and blacks are called "Coals," the white female lead starts off severely uncomfortable around black people (to the point of using slurs like "haughty Coal" in inner monologue), white people often wear blackface to "pass," the white lead is threatened with rape at the hands of a giant black man, and the love story is described as a "Beauty and the Beast" fable where the black love interest literally turns into a beast thanks to {{genetic engineering|IsTheNewNuke}}.
** Also in regards to Bramson, his being turned into a chimera is treated as him having a chance to understand what it's like to experience being a social pariah... except that he was one of the most fair characters in the cast (protecting Eden multiple times from black people trying to kill her, hiring a white woman for a good position as stewardess of his private jet after her husband died in Branson's service, etc). Eden is the one who constantly misconstrues his actions as having ulterior motives.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: In the post-apocalyptic world in which the books take place, the Coals have become the majority because they have more melanin, and thus have more resistance to the sun, and an innate resistance to skin cancer ("the heat"). While it's true that darker skin does give increased protection from the sun, the author tends to treat it as a blanket immunity, which is an unfortunate misconception that in real life has led to preventable deaths when skin cancer isn't recognized as early in dark-skinned people as it is in people with light skin.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: In the post-apocalyptic world in which the books take place, the Coals have become the majority because they have more melanin, and thus have more resistance to the sun, and an innate resistance to skin cancer ("the heat"). While it's true that darker skin does give increased protection from the sun, the author tends to treat it as a blanket immunity, which is an unfortunate misconception that in real life has lead to preventable deaths when skin cancer isn't recognized as early in dark-skinned people as it is in people with light skin.

* WhereDaWhiteWomenAt: Inverted. "Pearls" are the ones chasing "Coals" to marry, and apparently they're kicked out of society if they are not "mated" by 18. Strangely, it's never really explained why the white people don't just reproduce with each other or why they're ejected at 18 if they're not married. It creates strange contradictions like Eden calling for Pearl equality and independence but practically throwing up at the idea of mating with one of her own.

* ButNotTooBlack: One of the many, many reasons that series fell down flat on its face with its message about the pains of racism. So it's far in the future, blacks are on top culturally, whites are on the bottom, and as a result, the standards of beauty lean black... and yet when white people "pass" as black (using, yes, exactly [[{{blackface}} the means]] you think they do), they've still got some pretty damn straight hair.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: In the post-apocalyptic world in which the books take place, the Coals have become the majority because they have more melanin, and thus have more resistance to the sun, and an innate resistance to skin cancer ("the heat"). While it's true that darker skin does give increased protection from the sun, the author tends to treat it as a blanket immunity, which is an unfortunate misconception that in real life has lead to preventable deaths when cancer isn't recognized as early in dark-skinned people as it is in people with light skin.

** The series is ostensibly a fable about the foolishness of racism, set in a world where an environmental catastrophe has left melanin content as a prized thing, with blacks on top and whites on the bottom, with an interracial romance to drive home the point. What it ''is'', however, is a series where white people are called "Pearls" and blacks are called "Coals," the white female lead starts off severely uncomfortable around black people (to the point of using slurs like "haughty Coal" in inner monologue), white people often wear blackface to "pass," the white lead is threatened with rape at the hands of a giant black man, and the love story is described as a "Beauty and the Beast" fable where the black love interest literally turns into a beast thanks to genetic engineering.

* ButNotTooBlack: One of the many, many reasons that series fell down flat on its face with its message about the pains of racism. So it's far in the future, blacks are on top culturally, whites are on the bottom, and as a result, the standards of beauty lean black... and yet when white people "pass" as black (using, yes, exactly [[BlackFace the means]] you think they do), they've still got some pretty damn straight hair.

* LatinoIsBrown: Latinos call them "Tiger's Eyes" and it is clear that the author thinks that all Latinos are of one race.

* ButNotTooBlack: One of the many, many reasons that series fell down flat on its face with its message about the pains of racism. So it's far in the future, blacks are on top culturally, whites are on the bottom, and as a result, the standards of beauty lean black... and yet when white people "pass" as black (using, yes, exactly the means you think they do), they've still got some pretty damn straight hair.