Trivia / Save the Pearls

• Creator Backlash: The last mention of these books on Victoria Foyt’s website was in 2019. Currently, all references to them in that section have since been removed even though a book Foyt published before them is still listed. Whether Foyt has come to agree with her critics about the duology's offensive implications or simply knows the series hurts her reputation (especially since they were unlisted a year before she published her next book) is anyone’s best guess.
• Dear Negative Reader: In response to the controversy surrounding the names for Black and White people in the first book ("Coals" for Blacks and "Pearls" for Whites), the author tried to justify the terminology by stating that in a dystopian society, coal would be far more highly prized than precious stones. This not only comes across as a weak justification but is debunked by the book itself, which calls the term "Coal" an "incendiary racial slur" early on. She also claimed that the intention of her novels was to talk about the danger of global warming, more so than racial issues. Given the duology's emphasis on racism as a plot point, most readers didn't buy this explanation.
• Orphaned Series: Save the Pearls was intended to be a trilogy rather than a duology, but the concluding book was never released, so the story is unfinished. Victoria Foyt has shown no interest in releasing the third book, including going so far as to remove the published books from her website's listed works.
• What Could Have Been: When the second book, Adapting Eden, was published in 2013, a third and final book, Freeing Eden, was also announced. However, Freeing Eden was ultimately never released (nor is it clear if it was even written), with some speculating its release was cancelled due to the backlash over the first two books. This results in the series ending on a cliffhanger with most of its plot unresolved.

---