History FandomRivalry / Literature

* Fans of Creator/JaneAusten vs. fans of the Brontë sisters. Charlotte Brontë personally never liked Jane Austen's work herself, and many fans of Austen's romantic comedies and the Brontë sisters' DarkerAndEdgier Gothic romances dislike the other's works.

* Fans of Creator/JaneAusten vs. fans of the Bronte sisters. Charlotte Bronte personally never liked Jane Austen's work herself, and many fans of Austen's romantic comedies and the Bronte sisters' DarkerAndEdgier Gothic romances dislike the other's works.

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' vs. ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'': Unsurprisingly, given both are very dark takes on HighFantasy but the former is known for its GreyAndGreyMorality and favoring gritty realism over magical solutions, while the the latter has extreme BlackAndWhiteMorality and relies heavily on magical DeusExMachina. The animosity is mostly limited to the ASOIAF fans, who have made a long-running game of mocking the [=SoT=] series, its author Terry Goodkind, its fans, and its similarity to Ayn Rand's Objectivist philosophy (it's notable that George RR Martin is socially and economically quite left-wing). Animosity on the [=SoT=] side is mostly limited to reactions against this game.

** ''Literature/TheCampHalfBloodSeries''. Fans of ''Harry Potter'' accuse it of [[TheyCopiedItNowItSucks being a rip-off]] and criticize it [[TrueArtIsAngsty for being too lighthearted]]. Fans of ''Camp Half-Blood'' defend that the series stopped being "[[RecycledInSpace Harry Potter with Greek Mythology]]" after the first book and [[GrowingTheBeard came into its own as it progressed]], that it kept a consistent tone while [[SoBleakItsBoring HP started taking itself too seriously after]] ''Goblet of Fire'', and the ''Camp Half-Blood'' books do a much better job with racial, ethnic, and LGBTQ+ representation than ''Harry Potter'' does. The rivalry only intensified in late 2019 when J.K. Rowling got hit with accusations of transphobia after defending Maya Forstater.

** ''Literature/TheCampHalfBloodSeries''. Fans of ''Harry Potter'' accuse it of [[TheyCopiedItNowItSucks being a rip-off]] and criticize it [[TrueArtIsAngsty for being too lighthearted]]. Fans of ''Camp Half-Blood'' defend that the series stopped being "[[RecycledInSpace Harry Potter with Greek Mythology]]" after the first book and [[GrowingTheBeard came into its own as it progressed]], that it kept a consistent tone while [[DarknessInducedAudienceApathy HP started taking itself too seriously after]] ''Goblet of Fire'', and the ''Camp Half-Blood'' books do a much better job with racial, ethnic, and LGBTQ+ representation than ''Harry Potter'' does. The rivalry only intensified in late 2019 when J.K. Rowling got hit with accusations of transphobia after defending Maya Forstater ([[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment let's just leave it at that]]).

** Some fans of ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' never pass an opportunity to point out that Harry Dresden would [[CurbStompBattle utterly destroy]] Harry in a fight. Never mind the fact that the only similarity between the two characters that even warrants any comparison at all is that they're both wizards named Harry.
** There was some animosity between ''Harry Potter'' and ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' fans due to a misconception that ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' character Ponder Stibbons copied ''Harry Potter'', or the other way around. In reality, Creator/TerryPratchett has said that Creator/JKRowling is a friend of his. (And besides, Ponder appeared years before.)
** When both ''Harry Potter'' and ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' had their first movie adaptations released within a month of each other, many comparisons were made, with small skirmishes between the two fandoms resulting. The two [[TheMentor mentor]] wizards (Richard Harris and Ian [=McKellen=]) even sniped at each other in the press.

** ''Literature/TheCampHalfBloodSeries''. Fans of ''Harry Potter'' accuse it of [[TheyCopiedItNowItSucks being a rip-off]] and criticize it [[TrueArtIsAngsty for being too lighthearted]]. Fans of ''Camp Half-Blood'' defend that the series stopped being "[[RecycledInSpace Harry Potter with Greek Mythology]]" after the first book and [[GrowingTheBeard came into its own as it progressed]], that it kept a consistent tone while [[DarknessInducedAudienceApathy HP started taking itself too seriously after]] ''Goblet of Fire'', and the ''Camp Half-Blood'' books do a much better job with racial, ethnic, and LGBTQ+ representation than ''Harry Potter'' does. The rivalry only intensified in late 2019 when J.K. Rowling got hit with accusations of transphobia after defending Maya Forstater ([[{{Administrivia}}RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment let's just leave it at that]]).

* Some fans of ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' never pass an opportunity to point out that Harry Dresden would [[CurbStompBattle utterly destroy]] Harry in a fight. Never mind the fact that the only similarity between the two characters that even warrants any comparison at all is that they're both wizards named Harry.

* Some fans of ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' never pass an opportunity to point out that Harry Dresden would [[CurbStompBattle utterly destroy]] ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' in a fight. Never mind the fact that the only similarity between the two characters that even warrants any comparison at all is that they're both wizards named Harry.
* There was some animosity between ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' and ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' fans due to a misconception that ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' character Ponder Stibbons copied ''Harry Potter'', or the other way around. In reality, Creator/TerryPratchett has said that Creator/JKRowling is a friend of his. (And besides, Ponder appeared years before.)
** Not to mention that the only thing Ponder and Harry have in common is that they are both students of wizardry. And, like 68% of the UK population, wear glasses.
** In addition, Sir Terry made some comments criticizing an interview with JK that some Potter fans interpreted as being critical of her. Similarly, his jokey line about "defeating evil by throwing a piece of expensive jewelry into a volcano" was seen as a "swipe" at Creator/JRRTolkien, whom he has praised to the rafters elsewhere. Pratchett's fans ''expect'' him to be ironic, even about things he likes, but those who aren't used to his style can take offence. And Discworld fans, who strive to be equally ironic, don't always help.
* When both ''Literature/HarryPotter'' and ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' had their first movie adaptations released within a month of each other, many comparisons were made, with small skirmishes between the two fandoms resulting. The two [[TheMentor mentor]] wizards (Richard Harris and Ian [=McKellen=]) even sniped at each other in the press.
** When the first ''Potter'' film came out, ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'' did a week's worth of strips with Jason, already established as a ''Rings'' fan, going up against Eileen Jacobsen, who turned out to be a ''Potter'' fan. (The last strip revealed that Jason secretly dressed up as Harry and went to the movie anyway.)

** There's ''Potter'' vs. ''Literature/{{Twilight}}''. Never has such a fandom rivalry been so whipped up by the ''media itself''. ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'', like ''Potter'', is something of a literary phenomenon, and its [[FilmOfTheBook movie]] stars a Film/HarryPotter [[Creator/RobertPattinson alumnus]], so the two were constantly compared. They really have nothing in common though, apart from both being children's/young adult's fantasy series.
** A more interesting fact is that the ''Twilight'' vs '''Harry Potter'' war was whipped by the media constantly comparing the two, but then spread to the fandoms themselves on it own accord and media fanning the flames to ''that''. Harry Potter fans stated that a war between good and evil was a story much deeper than a teenage romance, the Twilighters claiming their series is "sexier and more mature than HP (sic)".
** Made worse, when asked "who would win" with Harry versus Edward, Creator/StephenieMeyer didn't just say "Edward would win due to having SuperSpeed", she said "Edward would '''kill Harry''' because his SuperSpeed makes him faster than wizards shooting wands at each other. You can't say something like that without backlash, folks.
** To a lesser extent, [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Buffyverse]][=/=]traditional vampires[=/=]Creator/AnneRice fans. They seem to imply that a true vampire genre fan could never like the blasphemy of Twilight or the take on the female lead when Whedon created such a strong female. However Whedonesques are usually very civil on expressing their dislike of the saga, while not bashing it or its fans.
*** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZwM3GvaTRM Speaking of Twilight and Buffy...]]
** ''Harry Potter'' fans joined themselves to avoid the ''Eclipse'' movie from trending on Twitter on the day of its midnight release.
** ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' fans are almost always sided with Potter. There are even "District 9¾" alliance pages on Facebook. Some are former Twilight fans, as Creator/StephenieMeyer's rave review brought ''The Hunger Games'' to the attention of many, frequently resulting in readers realizing how much better ''The Hunger Games'' is than ''Twilight''.
** And then, of course, we always have that small group of [[ItsPopularNowItSucks pretentious elitist snobs who believe]] [[TrueArtIsAncient that kids should instead be reading Carroll and Twain and that adults should be reading Austen and Faulkner]].

** On the Narnia fans' side, it was primarily caused by the author of ''His Dark Materials'' loudly criticizing the Narnia series. You can't say stuff like that without causing a fandom war, folks.

* ''Literature/BattleRoyale'' fans (book, movie and manga alike, who also have their own rivalries) vs. ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' fans. Fans of ''Battle Royale'' aren't happy about how [[ItsPopularNowItSucks much more popular]] ''Hunger Games'' is and frequently accuse Suzanne Collins of having ripped off ''BR'' while writing her series, an accusation that ''HG'' fans counter by noting that ''BR'''s plot itself [[OlderThanTheyThink isn't all that original]] (see ''Literature/TheRunningMan'', ''Literature/TheLongWalk'' and GladiatorGames in general). Moreover, Collins herself has stated that she had never heard of ''Battle Royale'' until her publishers brought it up to her, and the inspirations for ''The Hunger Games'' were the legend of the Minotaur in the Labyrinth and channel-surfing between horrifying news of war and superficial reality television.

* There's a small degree of this between ''{{Literature/Animorphs}}'' and ''Literature/{{Everworld}}'', due to the fact that K.A. Applegate (the husband-and-wife team of Creator/KatherineApplegate and Creator/MichaelGrant) left to work on Everworld, the Animorphs series was largely ghostwritten, and suffered because of it. Fortunately, nothing gets too overly heated.

* There was some rivalry between ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' and the ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'' during their common hey-day, courtesy of both being major {{Genre Deconstruction}}s of HighFantasy and willing to kill off important characters, even though that's where the similarities end. Malazan fans were arguing that at least there was rhyme and reason beyond the shock value in their series' character deaths, and besides, at least Creator/StevenErikson was delivering his {{Doorstopper}} volumes on time, while Creator/GeorgeRRMartin's fans were claiming they'd rather wait five years for a book than deal with the inconsistancies and {{Asspull}}s the ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'' was riddled with. The situation wasn't helped by ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'' fans also often being fans of ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' but leaving it behind due to the increasing ScheduleSlip and ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' fans looking for a palate cleanser between books but finding the ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'' to be nothing like their favourite series and turning away in disgust. Lots of mud slinging happened. The authors themselves are on friendly terms, and tried to discourage any thoughts of competition but ended up fueling it even more in some cases by stating that they'd read each other's first volume and found it not to be their cup of tea. The rivalry died down when ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' became hugely popular thanks to the [[Series/GameOfThrones TV adaptation]] and the ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'' had its last volume published.

* When both ''Harry Potter'' and ''Film/LordOfTheRings'' had their first movies within a month of each other, many comparisons were made, with small skirmishes between the two resulting. The two [[TheMentor mentor]] wizards (Richard Harris and Ian [=McKellen=]) even sniped at each other in the press.

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' vs. ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'': Unsurprisingly given both are very dark takes on HighFantasy but the former is known for it's GreyAndGreyMorality and favouring gritty realism over magical solutions, while the the latter has extreme BlackAndWhiteMorality and relies heavily on magical DeusExMachina. The animosity is mostly limited to the ASOIAF fans, who have made a long-running game of mocking the [=SoT=] series, its author Terry Goodkind, its fans, and its similarity to Ayn Rand's Objectivist philosophy (it's notable that George RR Martin is socially and economically quite left-wing). Animosity on the [=SoT=] side is mostly limited to reactions against this game.
* Literature/TheWheelOfTime vs. Literature/SwordOfTruth is far more flammable due to fans of the former accusing the latter of being nothing but a thinly-veiled ripoff.
** It really does [[{{Understatement}} NOT]] help that when asked about the similarities between the two series, Creator/TerryGoodkind (author of ''Sword of Truth'') suggested that people that find any similarities "probably aren't old enough" to read his books...
* Some fans of ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' never pass an opportunity to point out that Harry Dresden would [[CurbStompBattle utterly destroy]] Franchise/HarryPotter in a fight. Never mind the fact that the only similarity between the two characters that even warrants any comparison at all is that they're both wizards named Harry.

** In addition, Sir Terry made some comments criticising an interview with JK that some Potter fans interpreted as being critical of her. Similarly, his jokey line about "defeating evil by throwing a piece of expensive jewellery into a volcano" was seen as a "swipe" at Creator/JRRTolkien, whom he has praised to the rafters elsewhere. Pratchett's fans ''expect'' him to be ironic, even about things he likes, but those who aren't used to his style can take offence. And Discworld fans, who strive to be equally ironic, don't always help.

* ''Literature/BattleRoyale'' fans (book, movie and manga alike, who also have their own rivalries) vs. ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' fans. Fans of ''Battle Royale'' frequently accuse Suzanne Collins of having ripped it off in writing ''The Hunger Games'', an accusation that ''HG'' fans counter by noting that ''BR'''s plot itself [[OlderThanTheyThink isn't all that original]] (see ]] ''Literature/TheRunningMan'', ''Literature/TheLongWalk'' and GladiatorGames in general). Moreover, Collins herself has stated that she had never heard of ''Battle Royale'' until her publishers brought it up to her, and the inspirations for ''The Hunger Games'' were the legend of the Minotaur in the Labyrinth and channel-surfing between horrifying news of war and superficial reality television.

** Made worse, when asked "who would win" with Harry versus Edward, Creator/StephenieMeyer didn't just say "Edward would win due to having SuperSpeed", she said "Edward would '''kill Harry''' because his SuperSpeed makes him faster than wizards shooting wands at each other. You can't say something like that without InternetBackdraft, folks.

** ''Warriors'' has rivalries with almost every cat {{xenofiction}} book out there simply because they all star cats. ''Literature/VarjakPaw'', ''Literature/TheBookOfTheNamed'', ''Literature/TailchasersSong'', and ''Literature/TygrineCat'' are some of the few works that have some level of a fandom rivalry. It's mainly {{friendly|Fandom}} in that the series often share fans, but it can get ugly when fans of one call it "better" than the other or accuse one of ripping off the other (even if [[OlderThanTheyThink the book predates the other]]).

** And then, of course, we always have that small group of pretentious elitist snobs who believe that kids should instead be reading Carroll and Twain and that adults should be reading Austen and Faulkner.

* Some fans of ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' never pass an opportunity to point out that Harry Dresden would [[CurbStompBattle utterly destroy]] HarryPotter in a fight. Never mind the fact that the only similarity between the two characters that even warrants any comparison at all is that they're both wizards named Harry.

* Fans of 1984 vs Fahrenheit 451. Fans of 1984 criticize the Fahrenheit 451 as being a knockoff due to similar themes such as censorship and criticize the book's sci-fi elements. While fans of Fahrenheit 451 criticize 1984's length and writing style.
** Fans of Brave New World sometimes gets thrown in with many fans of 1984 due to similar dystopia.

* ''Literature/BattleRoyale'' fans (book, movie and manga alike, who also have their own rivalries) vs. ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' fans. Fans of ''Battle Royale'', often {{Hipster}}s, frequently accuse Suzanne Collins of having ripped it off in writing ''The Hunger Games'', an accusation that ''HG'' fans counter by noting that ''BR'''s plot itself [[Literature/LordOfTheFlies isn't]] [[GladiatorGames all]] [[Literature/TheRunningMan that]] [[Literature/TheLongWalk original]]. ''The Hunger Games'' fans also will point out that THG condemns child-on-child violence where ''Battle Royale'' glorifies it with heaping helpings of {{Gorn}}, that ''The Hunger Games'' has more developed characters than ''Battle Royale'', and that ''The Hunger Games'' has deep political themes, clever social commentary and literary value whereas ''Battle Royale'' is just mindless violence for the sake of mindless violence. Just check the comments section on [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-T7yPJVvXw this trailer]] for the ''BR'' movie... it isn't pleasant.
** Collins has stated that she had never heard of ''Battle Royale'' until her publishers brought it up to her. She has stated that the inspirations for ''The Hunger Games'' were the legend of the Minotaur in the Labyrinth and channel-surfing between horrifying news of war and superficial reality television.

* The LoveItOrHateIt series ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' has inspired quite a few fandom rivalries.

* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' fans have had some disagreements with ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' fans over some comments Terry made that, while they definitely established he was a Tolkien fan, had a bit of a backhanded feel to them. Conversely, some Discworld fans see Middle-Earth as everything Discworld is saying fantasy shouldn't be.

** A more interesting fact is that the ''Twilight'' vs '''Harry Potter'' war was whipped by the media constantly comparing the two, but then spread to the fandoms themselves on it own accord and media fanning the flames to ''that''. Harry Potter fans stated that a war between good and evil was a story much deeper than a teenage romance, the Twilighters claiming their series is "sexier and more mature then HP (sic)".

** There was some animosity between ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' and ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' fans due to a misconception that ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' character Ponder Stibbons copied ''Harry Potter'', or the other way around. In reality, Creator/TerryPratchett has said that Creator/JKRowling is a friend of his. (And besides, Ponder appeared years before.)
*** Not to mention that the only thing Ponder and Harry have in common is that they are both students of wizardry. And, like 68% of the UK population, wear glasses.
*** In addition, Sir Terry made some comments criticising an interview with JK that some Potter fans interpreted as being critical of her. Similarly, his jokey line about "defeating evil by throwing a piece of expensive jewellery into a volcano" was seen as a "swipe" at Creator/JRRTolkien, whom he has praised to the rafters elsewhere. Pratchett's fans ''expect'' him to be ironic, even about things he likes, but those who aren't used to his style can take offence. And Discworld fans, who strive to be equally ironic, don't always help.
** When both ''Potter'' and ''Film/LordOfTheRings'' had their first movies within a month of each other, many comparisons were made, with small skirmishes between the two resulting. The two [[TheMentor mentor]] wizards (Richard Harris and Ian [=McKellen=]) even sniped at each other in the press.
*** When the first ''Potter'' film came out, ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'' did a week's worth of strips with Jason, already established as a ''Rings'' fan, going up against Eileen Jacobsen, who turned out to be a ''Potter'' fan. (The last strip revealed that Jason secretly dressed up as Harry and went to the movie anyway.)

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' vs. ''Literature/SwordOfTruth''. The animosity is mostly limited to the ASOIAF fans, who have made a long-running game of mocking the [=SoT=] series, its author Terry Goodkind, its fans, and its similarity to Ayn Rand's Objectivist philosophy (it's notable that George RR Martin is socially and economically quite left-wing). Animosity on the [=SoT=] side is mostly limited to reactions against this game.

** Fans of Brave New World sometimes gets thrown in with many fans of 1984 due to similar dystopia. Settings

** To a lesser extent, [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Buffyverse]][=/=]traditional vampires[=/=]AnneRice fans. They seem to imply that a true vampire genre fan could never like the blasphemy of Twilight or the take on the female lead when Whedon created such a strong female. However Whedonesques are usually very civil on expressing their dislike of the saga, while not bashing it or its fans.

* There's a small degree of this between ''{{Literature/Animorphs}}'' and ''Literature/{{Everworld}}'', due to the fact that K.A. Applegate (the husband-and-wife team of KatherineApplegate and MichaelGrant) left to work on Everworld, the Animorphs series was largely ghostwritten, and suffered because of it. Fortunately, nothing gets too overly heated.