my biggest beef in books (especially when i read the first two books then dnfed this series in high school) is when a character is set up as smart and incredibly competent and then is written as chronically stupid and oblivious for plot reveals... there were so many times where she drew conclusions and i was like 'girl... what is this'. there is nothing wrong with a main character being oblivious and dumb just be honest about it!!! its ok to be dumb about things!
For me that was highlighting just how young she was. She’s incredibly talented and gifted but she’s also just barely an adult and so traumatized. I 100% acted the same way when I was her age with all these expectations and working hard to get to where I am but also never really getting a chance to properly grow. Either too smart for my own good or too oblivious
Yeah I definitely get that, and I think that would have come across more for me if it was written in the first person. I guess it being written in the 3rd person automatically puts up a wall for me as the reader because, even if I don't expect the narrator to be objective, I think it could have done a better job in highlighting the difference in how: Celaena perceives herself, is perceived by others, and then how she actually is. It might get better throughout the series, but it fell too hard into tell not show and sometimes tell then show the contrary -without acknowledgement or effect- for my taste. I tried reading them when I was 17, so luckily the adult brain rational didn't effect my perception of Celaena and teen decision making in the way it can when trying to read younger characters as an adult.@@maddiemainer
ok i made this exact point when i was reading the first couple books but the main character goes through a coming into power thing in the 3rd and she actually is genuinely smart and witty i promise she’s a just deeply traumatized/closed off/paranoid in the first few.
Honestly a book even considering that periods exist is super refreshing. It's not pointless either, since the point of showing Celaena having her period is to show that she isn't malnourished anymore now that she's staying at the castle.
I thought the same! I don’t think I’ve ever encountered it in a fantasy book before so it was a very nice change of pace. And like I can see it from both perspectives, but again it’s nice to have it appear in a popular fantasy book (and in a way that isn’t like. Super traumatizing)
In defense of her having a period and reading erotica, when I read this book at like 15 ish those facts made me feel more proud of my female body and more secure in beginning to explore my sexuality so I think those are good additions to a book of this genre
I feel really stupid for having unironically enjoyed Throne of Glass. It’s been years since I read it, but I remember liking Celaena because she was cool and confident instead of being your typical, “I’m just an ordinary girl with no self-confidence, and even though I’m secretly special, I always see myself as nothing special” YA protag. I also thought it was cool that she liked fashion and spent her money from the competition on looking pretty, because that’s a trait that’s usually vilified and it was neat seeing a hero who liked to look good with being shamed by the narrative for it. I also remember finding the competition itself entertaining because even though I knew Celaena was going to be one of the finalists, it was still interesting to see *what* they would be competing in and *how* she would win. I know these are all stupid arguments, but it might explain why this trash book got so popular.
it's not stupid, and although the story is very well written and can be very silly at times, do not feel stupid for having liked it, because it has many redeeming qualities since not many young adult fantasy romance novels in this style were popular, and i believe we all grow taste from overcoming the things we liked and learning what was positive and what was simply not great about it. You should be glad that even though you liked it a lot one day, now you know you deserve better as a reader lol. as someone who read this quite young and deeply loved it, i believe i have long outgrown it, and that's okay. if anything, you have that.
Everyone enjoys different things in books! You don't have to feel bad for liking a book whose worst crime is being mostly exposition for the next ones (from what I've gathered). Besides the reasons you stated for enjoying this book are pretty neat! (I too don't care if it's too obvious who's going to be in the finale because even when they try to hide it it's rather obvious and I'd rather they develop the character than try to hide them and making them bland and boring in the process and her not being shamed for liking looking pretty and stuff was indeed a breath of fresh air in the period the book came out)
I personally enjoyed the series and I only recently read everything (except tower of dawn) like 6 months ago. I don’t think it’s bad to enjoy these books, you can outgrow them and find other series that you enjoy more but it’s the first ones that sometimes stick with you :)
omg the pronunciation guide lol. My friend used to call Chaol "Mr. Smoothie Man" since I was pronouncing his name as Kale with the help of the pronunciation guide. :3 Honestly wish more people talked about TOG since it killed my love of high fantasy and novels. I read the whole thing and by the end was just hate reading it to find out the end. It truly devolved into something terrible and unexplainable 🥲 There were so many individual elements that were so cool, but when they all came together it was horrible, like the only way SJM could unify concepts was to throw them all into bed together literally??? Manon and the witch coven was so cool; Dorian's later arch was interesting; Nehemiah was done so dirty; and Chaol was my favorite despite the inexplicable character assassination later on (I liked him since he really didn't like Celaena for a lot of the story lol). I hated Celaena. Somehow she was so one dimensional and had a strange effect of making every other character that interacted with her just as flat and boring, no matter how complicated their background and side stories were. Away from Celaena, they were well rounded, interesting characters, but next to her all they could do was be flat like her, maybe so it wasn't obvious that she sucked as a character, idk
I haven’t read the rest of the series but if they’re as much of a mess as you’re saying they are I might just have to suffer through them lol the thing is, it’s not bad in a fun way, it’s just bad in a “I literally don’t give a shit” way which makes for boring reading
Honestly I read all of it and the ending was like stupid in my opinion. I read it when I was 13 so I loved it and I'm still sentimental about it, but even then there were so many things that didn't make sense. And I pronounced Chaol in different ways - like Cole, Haol, Hal. And about his arc, like I still don't get why he changed so much when she was gone on the other continent. Before he even wanted to go with her and saw it as a good thing, and then just straight up hated her. And honestly if Dorian and Manon weren't there I would stop reading this series, I still somewhat like them
@@ainsleesbookclub I put myself through 5 of the books so far and I can't stress enough how much I'm struggling because I do want to finish the series, but still I have two books to go and I literally don't give a shit!!!!AAAA
Everyone is going to tell you that the series gets better. As a devoted high fantasy lover, I assure you they do not. I'd enjoy hearing your thoughts on the later books because they just get increasingly ridiculous, but I totally get it if you don't want to put yourself through that
Also, to be clear: good fantasy has names that make sense within the pronunciation of whatever language they're supposed to be from. Ms. Maas loves to shove random names and/or random letters together and hope it works out
For anyone who really wanted to like Throne of Glass but couldn't (or who really liked Throne of Glass and deserves better): the Witchlands series by Susan Dennard does basically everything this series wishes it could and 1000% more
Witchland series is so good! Also yeah, I skimmed most of ToG series. I think there were good parts but those were few and far between for 7 slash 8 books and it didn't ever seem to get better, just more.
I actually have read every book out at the time in this series when I was around 17 and when I tell you I remember almost nothing about it. Please read all of them I'm obsessed with the fact it had a net 0 impact
Sarah J Maas is crazy because she's by far one of the biggest authors in the game, spends weeks at #1 on the bestsellers list, crushes every Goodreads Choice award, her books always have giant waitlists at my library even if they've been out for years, but no one except the 10% of the country who reads for fun knows who she is. So many times I have mentioned how much I hate her writing to people I know in real life and they're like "Who? What's ACOTAR?"
I got like... five books in? I tried to get back into it after a year or so and genuinely couldn't remember enough about the plot to figure out where I'd left off so I just gave up
Honestly, her writing does get better, but not a lot. I’ve read every single one of her books and they are tiktok tropes shoved into a dust jacket. Like they slay as fun mindless reading but anyone saying ToG gets better is lyingggg 😭
I don’t mind the inclusion of her being on her period and being debilitated by it. There’s an ongoing joke about how women in fantasy settings deal with periods bc it’s so rarely addressed, and I think SJM tries. Bad bitches get cramps too! What annoys me is that’s it’s clearly just there so Dorian can go into her room and further play up the love triangle, rather than explore A) periods or B) Endovier’s effect on Celaena
Terry Pratchett (my favorite fantasy writer) even made fun of unpronounceable names in fantasy, there are some weird names in his books but they are usually easy to pronounce because they are puns or hard to pronounce on purpose and the joke is that no one gets it right. My favorite character from his books is named "Sam"
I only read this book as a teen because I was deep in my Assassin’s Creed phase…. I thought it would satisfy my assassin tooth, it didn’t. And I did try to read the prequel book but I couldn’t… I just couldn’t. It failed as a killer fantasy, and is just SJM, in a nutshell. Read one of her stuff, you’ve read all of her books. 🎤⏬
thats why I cant read this book. I read the first 3 books in ACOTAR, like 5 years ago. I liked them, but I feel like there's no point of reading the rest.
I first thought you meant the Farseer Trilogy, first book Assassin's Apprentice but you were talking about the games right? If you still read fantasy, Robin Hobbs first two trilogies - The Farseer Trilogy and Liveship Trader Trilogy are some of my favorite. Either could be read first but because of the lore I think Farseer should be read first. These aren't romance novels although there is romance. It just isn't the focus. I wish I could read these for the first time again.
@@kirielbranson4843 I heard of the Assassin’s apprentice trilogy, not the other one, but it’s on my to read list. And yes I was talking about the games, loved them! But my gaming love has gone down a lot because of work, school, and being an adult. But it’s like reading now, relaxing free time activity.
@@zoebrugg7594 I am still big time into gaming but I have no children. And am a few years from retirement so don't have any big career drives anymore beyond pulling my weight and supporting my projects. Reading became audiobooks for me about 20 years ago. It used to be that I was reading every chance I got but after almost everything got an audiobook I can now read while walking, doing housework, driving, etc. I have no idea how I managed to read the mountains of books I used to read. How did I find the time? I hope you never completely give up either. And definitely take up Robin Hobbs when you have the time.
girl how come you dont have millions of subs?! you're hilarious and i love the way you talk thru these books! i found your channel yesterday and ur one of my new fav booktubers. i hated this series so much HAHA i made it to maybe the 4th or 5th one before i dropped it because i just /couldn't deal anymore/ y'know? i feel like if you have to read 1000 or some pages in a series for it to get good, it ain't worth my time 😭 excellent video!!
The only thing that stopped me from forcing myself through this series was the fact that I forgot what book I was on and eventually forgot the entire plot. Accidentally mind-wiped myself and saved so much time and money lmao
I also received Throne of Glass as a birthday present and refused to read it. However, it shall forever remain collecting dust at the bottom of my bookshelf 😭
I'm a big SJM fan but if I hadn't been told countless times just how good the series got I would have stopped after ToG. I know she was young when she wrote it, and it's very obvious, but it was just...ok. BUT her writing just got better and better. Queen of Shadows is incredible.
@@tehelea I read the whole series and no, it doesn’t get any better, it gets worse. The last book is disgustingly terrible and a waste of paper. In fact, none of it was ever good. Save your money for a better book series and stay away from SJM because she’s not a good writer.
queen of shadows was actually when my enjoyment started to wane. after liking heir of fire so much, it was disappointing. i wasnt a fan of celaena being romantically involved w rowan. she needed someone more experienced to advise her and help her back in erilia yes but did he have to be her boyfriend too 💀 also maeve changing the nature of his relationship w his dead ex.... can you say retcon? cuz yea i finished the series obviously. call it stockholm syndrome or wtv, but i was 12 when i started them and refuse to account for taste. i read any and everything my mom got for me
@@nao-bo4yz the "it gets better in book 3+!!" phenomenon in books is honestly just a way to hook readers in with the sunk cost fallacy. Like-you've already spent all that time and money getting this far, you may as well finish the series to see it improve and conclude!
i DESPERATELY need you to read and summarize the whole saga. I've only read acotar and i would never go near another sjm book BUT PLEASE QUEEN also this has such a girl sleepover energy i love it somehow its comforting
After all the SJM hype I have been waaaiting for someone to cover TOG so this is amazing- I hate-read all the books in the series and they are all SO bad, but also selfishly I am begging you to cover them all
Girl I live for your videos! You have no idea how distraught I was when I found out you only have like 5 videos 😢 Can not wait for more, your hilarious ❤
Agree!! I actually love fantasy but I could not get to the end of a court of thrones and roses because I felt like the same thing was happening for 2-3 chapters. Idk I think I’m getting exhausted with an enemies to lovers trope
0:24 “I have not read a fantasy book that I’ve enjoyed.” If that’s the case, then please please PLEASE try The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir. It’s a science fantasy series with lesbian necromancers in space! Lots of gay tension, lots of mysterious intrigue, lots of “what the FUCK” moments. What else could you possibly want?
im obsessed with your channel, so happy the yt algorithm recced your channel to me!! you're so charming and funny and somehow it's so so easy to listen to u rant despite my adhd sgshdhsj
As someone who has and will continue to reread throne of glass over and over, this is a heartfelt recommendation to keep reading. At least until heir of fire. I found this series almost 10 years ago when I was very lonely and sad and since then it has been a constant source of comfort. The protagonist goes through so much and the way she manages to come back from it and be the hero she needs to be has given me strength to recover from my trauma. Sarah J Maas was 16 when she wrote the first book. He writing matured quickly. If this series were food, it wouldn’t be organic whole food nutritional balance gourmet. It would be buttery, salty soul food. And every once in a while, it feels good to indulge.
Yes! There are definitely tropey, ridiculous, problematic things in SJM's books, but I really enjoy them AND enjoy laughing at them, and I just skip the first couple books of the series when I reread to get the slightly more filler books out of the way! I love the way she represents mental health issues and the importance of art and community and healing
@@andaluciaprendes8813 that’s what I love about the series too. People give SJM Flack for having her protagonists solve their depression by training, but i love it. I was a ballerina that had to retire early because I broke my back and I came out of it with a really messed up relationship with fitness and so much emotional dysfunction, but the main factor in my recovery was going through a really physically and spiritually intensive yoga journey that was very similar to Aelin’s heir of fire training. And I get some serious vicarious vindication when Aelin and Lysandra and Fenrys get their vengeance. Without over sharing, I had an Arobynn and a Maeve in my life and it was all I could to get away from them, and I never got justice. It’s why queen of shadows is my fav.
@@missanthropy6174 the issue isn't that she has a protagonist get through their depression with training, it's that she has EVERYONE get through their depression with training. The 'trope' itself is perfectly fine on its own and works for some people irl, but she absolutely beats it to death as if it's the _only_ way to recover
@@emackenzie the claim that ALL of her characters recover from trauma through training is an unfounded one. Of the three series, only two of her protagonists go through an intense training transformation to recover from trauma- Nesta and Aelin. Feyre’s main avenues of recovery are through her art and building a found family to support her. Yes, she trains a lot, but it’s never about healing for her. She has a desire and a responsibility to learn how to fight and use her powers so that she can protect her loved ones and her country. In CC, Bryce doesn’t train at all. She has fighting skills, but they were something she worked at as a kid with her step dad, not a coping mechanism after Danika died. Her mental health journey starts with a two year period of emotional isolation and self punishment (never drinking or clubbing or dancing, denying herself the things she enjoyed before) before she and Hunt become friends and learn to forgive themselves. She also uses dance for therapy, which is exercise, but dance therapy is a thing, and dancing is clearly therapeutic for Bryce. None of the male characters in either series use training as trauma recovery. Even with Aelin and Nesta, working out wasn’t the ONLY thing they did to recover. In fact, the training was more of a vehicle through which they made connections with people, learned to trust them, and talked to them about their trauma. It’s the love and support that they receive that allows them to succeed physically and mentally. Aelin was already an elite fighter when she meets Rowen, the training isn’t what heals her. And with Nesta, she was completely out of control of herself and benefited from the structure training provided (much like many recipients of 12-step treatment). I know that Gwyn and Emerie also get the “training treatment” but they’re also the supporting cast in Nesta’s story. And again, training isn’t the only thing they do to recover. It just provides a vehicle for them to meet each other and form the support group that they need to heal. Emerie is a social outcast who doesn’t like going outside her comfort zone. But she does so that she could hang out and train with Nesta. Gwyn has hardly left the library in years but she’s the first to sign up for training because she wants hang out with her friend and learn how to defend herself. And furthermore, when Nesta is in crisis over a conflict with Cassian, Gwyn leaves the House of Wind for the first time since her trauma because she wants to support her friend. During the blood rite, all three women do astounding things in order to support and protect each other. None of their trauma is magically fixed afterward, Gwyn goes right back to the library and only leaves again to go to Nesta’s wedding. My point is that while training to heal from trauma is a frequently used trope by SJM, it’s not the only one she uses, and even when she does use it, it’s never the one perfect solution. There are always other elements present.
I read the prequel to TOG “The Assassin’s Blade” before any of the other books in the series and then promptly decided I wouldn’t be reading any more of them because of how angry the character death in that book made me (iykyk) lmao
i read ToG when i was literally like 12 or 13 and enjoyed my time with it okay. it wasn’t a good book, and i read a lot more agatha christie than sjm , but it was fun and that was what mattered. looking back though, wow. it is a book, it’s got that going. also i feel like i’m the only one who got less interested in the series the more i read it??? i got a few books in but as soon as romance became as much of a plot point as the actual, well, plot, i was out. i was there for magic, and that was it.
I know it’s been a year but like, this series is kind of ehh for me but, ACOTAR is actually good (in my opinion) and SJM has had time as an author to adjust her writing style and make it so that it doesn’t feel like, y’know, three book of just world building (four if you count the prequel) so I do recommend that series
I am a certified OBSESSED fan of fantasy, all of my favorite books are in the genre, most of my favorite games are in the genre, etc etc. I mean, I even play Dungeons and Dragons weekly, I’m *kind of* of a fan of the whole fantasy thing. But when my best friend bought me this book for my birthday a few years back, I literally fell asleep reading it within the first 30 pages because of how boring and utterly incomprehensible it is. Also, don’t worry- it’s not a matter of you reading the map wrong and having no idea what the societal structure is because you’re stupid. It’s just that this book entirely comprised of exposition can’t be bothered to talk about it at all. Also also, a 400 page book can’t have a thousand POVs. A Song of Ice and Fire can get away with it because it’s actually written well (not to mention each book has 800+ pages).This mess is not. Lastly yes I never want to read the word “erect” in anything ever All that aside, I just discovered your content but I love it! I also like that this is sort of akin to a podcast where I can just set my phone down and listen to this while I do other stuff. The blend of text pictures on screen and just talking is great for what this is about! Keep up the lovely work. Have you read the “Red Queen” series? It’s the perfect blend of this monstrosity and the “The Selection” series.
I would like her books if she didn’t even confuse me, and her books were so long. I write books, but I don’t even like writing long books, let alone reading them.
I read these series a while ago and your complaint on the pronunciation guide being at the end and the names not being spelled well to get said pronunciation makes me feel very validated (I had the exact same names ideas… to learn they were wrong)
NO YOU HAVE TO IT DOES GET GOOD! (honestly it's an ok series but the books do get a lot more fun and i think you'd enjoy them. plus i want to watch your reactions to the later books)
my partner is 9 years younger than me and we met when i was 31. but we were in very similar phases of our lives and you can judge me all you want, but it‘s the best relationship we both ever had and i was very aware of the potential power imbalance and consent and equality has been the most important thing for both of us and we‘re gonna get married and we lived together for over 5 years now and it‘s the best thing ever. just wanted to say that age difference has inherent risks, but doesn‘t have to necessarily be an issue. but it often can be. ♥️
we wanted ours to be the biggest party we'd ever throw, and obviously everyone would be there to agree that we are the most awesome couple of all time. We still occasionally get messages that someone went to a wedding but it "wasn't as good as a lesbian dinosaur karaoke wedding" I like having things be official, and it has helped in several circumstances. I've yet to encounter a situation where it's worse being wives than being girlfriends. When you add in the potential tax benefits, there's no reason not to get married when you've got a decent person you want to spend a long chunk of time with. It's not like you couldn't get out of it if it needed to be ended.
I started reading ACOTAR, but when I learned what happens to Tamlin in the latter parts of the series, I put the book down and never picked it up again. I think I dodged a bullet but god was I disappointed 😭
oh my goodness ACOTAR is so bad. I read the first book, then started the second, then put down the second and I haven't read it since. I hate how popular it is because it's really shitty but everyone on booktok is eating up the fae porn
@@spntageous5249 SERIOUSLY. like I’ve rarely come across a romance book that was genuinely appealing and TAMLIN I ACTUALLY LIKED 😭 I don’t understand his sudden shift in character and I hate how Sarah J Maas’s writing spiraled so terribly plot-wise throughout the series
I only pronounced Chaol correctly in my mind because it's one letter off from Chaos, which is what this series is. I love fantasy but I am not a SJM girlie
i love watching reviews where people hate the books when i really like them cause i'm amazed we came out at completely different conclusions. ultimately i'm not reading with a critical lense ever, unless it's the most gaping plot hole concocted, i'm just vibing to the end. that being said i would love for you to continue reading them and giving your feedback, i enjoyed the second book more than the first (i haven't read the rest). i will continue to read the character names as i had imagined them in my head too. kah-ol is laughable, he's chaol with a ch to me.
Girl I am subscribed immediately. I have tried every SJM series and I cannot get into it. I will respect her fans but I just cannot. I'm a Massive fantasy fan and also very into romance! For people who maybe wish they could enjoy SJM or like the concept of her books but can't get into it, may I reccomend: - The Wizard's Masquerade (Jay Pellgrin), which is my current obsession - Married to Magic Series by Elise Kova - AJ Ford (a lot of her stuff is fairly good) - Ilonia Andrews (especially for Urban Fantasy) - The Priory of the Orange Tree (I forgot the author's name but it's very queer and good and has DRAGONS)
Tbh I feel like the 18/22 age gap would’ve been a great opportunity for world building. Like if it’s historical fantasy where you’re expected to have a job, spouse, & kids by 16, then 18/22 is a much more similar life stage than say, something with more modern lifestyle expectations
Can I ask if you are American? Because in my country you're an adult at 18, and pairing with 18/21 or 22 y.o. are fairly normal. I know just because something is normal, doesn't mean it's okay - but it made me curious. I for example was also in a relationship with a guy that was 3 years older than me when I was 18/19. The relationship ended because he wanted to start a family and I wanted to go to university - so I wouldn't say you guys are wrong. I am just curious that this is already considered an age gap and would like to know more about why. (Btw: I think he married a woman around 5 years older than him? I only know this because his bestie was complaining about him and his partner to me... Like wtf dude, wrong address)
throne of glass is a book I read in high school with my classmates to make fun of how hilariously bad and ridiculous it is..then few years later I got into online reading spaces and I was surprised to see that the author is recommended by everybody lmao
I can’t even read Throne of Glass and I like SJM… Read ACOTAR (but stop after the first book cause everything you learn about the characters switches in the next… like they’re new characters… in a bad way). TOG is suck. 😅
haha right?? so many people love SJM but this book was not it 🤠 ACOTAR is on the list but I’m scared to read it lol it’s so long and all of my friends adore the whole series
The characters personalities change so much in the second book. Then in Silver Flames, the ones that changed for good change for bad AGAIN. SJM will change your darling to suit her new plot. Just make a new series, and stop catfish-bate-and-switching us, SJM 🥹
Omg HOW can you recommend stopping after the first book 😳 I just finished a court of wings and ruin and each book has been better than the last Frankly the character development was needed ✨
It's funny because Cain being behind all the bad stuff happening was so obvious, that I expected for it to be someone completely different, which made the fact of Cain actually being behind it all at the end surprising for me. Like "oh, so it's THAT easy". Other than that I enjoyed it, so I'm gonna see what happens next and is it going to get better 😄
I actually loved TOG but Im always opened to criticism, and omg IM DYING OF LAUGHING with u trying to say their names because I CAN RELATE SO MUCH, my best friend was the one who said that this series r amazing and now Im moving to Crown of Midnight, but on the beggining of TOF I was struggling to like the book...I started liking like at 20% of the book!
hey girlie, just wanted to remind you that no one should have to suffer through menstruation pains, and just because you have decided to "suck it up" doesn't mean everyone else has to. loved the video!
My love for fantasy is THE REASON I stay away from Sarah J. Maas like a vampire with garlic, so maybe it's not an ideal starting point🤣 (No shade to her fans, I have personal beaf with her since that retelling of beauty and the beast who has nothing to do with beauty and the beast, you know the one)
When it comes to SJM, I'm a one-and-done kinda person. I had the misfortune of reading ToG while stuck in an airport for 3 days. That alone was torturous, but reading ToG at the same time... double the pain. I have no clue how SJM got successful from this book because it's godawful. I would have DNF'ed it, if it wasn't because I had nothing else to do in the airport. I'm never reading another word written by this woman - and neither should you.
Please please please finish the series 😁🙏 A lot changes after you get through the first two books (honestly, they’re the absolute worst). Now, I’m not saying it gets a lot BETTER… but it definitely gets A LOT more entertaining to read, and the plot goes into a totally different direction than it does in the first two. Also, some actually interesting characters show up (I loathed Chaol and Dorian tbh, they’re so bland). My final (and most important) reason for why you should read the other books in the series is that I really enjoy your rants, and I’m dying to know your opinions on all the things that go on in the rest of the series 😁😁
Loved watching you go through the book. I feel the exact same way, would totally read it if you did too, even if just to have someone to vent my frustrations with.
I'm also in the process of reading this series! I thought that this book was boring too and i don't care about either of the love interests!!! But I started with the assassin's blade which i think helped because it made me attached to celaena and part of the world so I'm excited to see how the plot expands. I also am a big fantasy girly so that probably helps lol.
sjm has really lowered the standard for fantasy - I'm a huge fantasy fan and even I wasn't able to stomach them - it wasn't just the poor writing and really messy plotlines, but the underlying themes just felt really icky. (also why did her books keep getting longer and longer? like there's no plot and yet her possibly nonexistent editor greenlit 900 pages of the main character blinking????)
not TOG being my favorite series 😭 obviously to each their own and not everyone is into the same things but i love this series and just want everyone to experience the same joy this series brought me
throne of glass is Sarah j Maas first book, she wrote it at 16 years old on a fan fiction website and it got published. Please, continue reading ! The series gets way way way way better. I promise you it’s so worth it . Ur missing out on so much
Doesn't like fantasy, doesn't like more than two pov's, I would like to see you read first song of ice and fire. 😂 But liking your content, people be right saying it's sleepover vibes. Fairest of them all book would make an episode 🤔
Im always here for anyone dragging SJM books but I have to say SAME abt not liking fantasy books. I feel that lately its a very beloved genre (esp fantasy with romance) and I just cannot get into it, will certainly not try again any soon. Thank yuou for your rant 🤭
Wow okay this UNLOCKED some memories. I think I read the first three or so as a teen. I don't remember a ton about the books but I remember the smutty fan fics I wrote based on these! I shipped Kale and Dorian (I can't be bothered to research the spelling) as a couple established before the events of the first book and then had them and Selena be a trio.... oh boy. I remember the masquerade ball scene because I had them all dancing together in different pairings in my imagined polyam heaven.
I thoroughly enjoy your videos (coming here after the 50 shades of terror) and I think the reason I initially became hooked on this series in highschool is because to me it felt like YA Lord of the Rings with girls in it. I thoroughly enjoyed the ridiculousness of the whole thing from the names to the irrational characters and it was a really good turn your brain off book series while also genuinely making me want to see what the conclusion to all the cherry bombs being dropped like bread crumbs would turn into. (Distinctly remember pissing off the friend who recommended it to me because I saw through a lot of the foreshadowing and guessed within book one the big “character reveal” ) I also enjoyed how all over the place Celeana is because at that point every other YA or fantasy novel I read the girls even the female MC’s were always so nerfed or powerless despite the blurbs and other characters saying they weren’t. Like even now I’m shocked how hard it is to find a good fantasy book YA or not where the main female character isn’t all talk no walk. Idk I think that’s why it was so popular, yeah she didn’t assassinate anyone book One; but you could actually see her progress in strength in the book up to the final confrontation. She WAS a powerful character and the book is her basically trying to be patient and regain her strength and not accidentally kill herself being cocky or letting on how weak she is. Idk that’s my take, I bought them all hardcover before they switched to the terrible new vector art so I’ll go reread them and see if they hold up to highschool and freshman college me 🤣
I’m so glad someone is talking through this book series. I read half of the first one at the tender age of twelve. I got to the first sex scene and my baby queer ace self noped out. Returned it to the school library the next day. But I’ve always wondered what happened. So let’s see, ig Wait oh my god did I completely misremember this book??? Or did I read into the second book? What??? There appears to be no sex in this book but I remember this book, I remember not finishing it specifically because of a sex scene grossing me out? Am I trippin???
in high school i had a friend that owned this whole series. i powered through them in months and then completely forgot everything about them. the only specifics i remembered from this series is chaol's name and the scene where she gets her period again
I just found you and I just watched all your videos while cleaning my apartment! Thank you for existing! I love when people roast fantasy even though it's my favorite genre lol
girl i completely understand your ick with this book. i read it before ACOTAR (bc my sovereign Brittany broski ordered it so. also apparently it might be a book 2 in the series?? tf??) and hated it, was so bored the whole ass time, hated the characters, magic, and ship dynamics...but I got ACOTAR on a whim from my local library and fell in love. crazy upgrade. i don't know the details of the lore necessarily but ACOTAR just SEEMS like it was written so long after ToG.. the writing style is more poetic, the characters more investing, and the story over all much more captivating. cannot recommend it enough, and i'm not even done with the series. PLEASE read it even though it's a commitment.. cos ACOTAR may be good but ACOMAF is STUNNING, TALENTED, BRILLIANT. I'm sure you'd love it, and it'd make a great video either way🫡
I don't know if it's because I came here straight after the Selection videos or if the book is just Like That but I still have no idea what the plot is about after this video 😂😂 I'm loving your videos though, glad I discovered you!!
When editing my book, I used Selena as my sounding board to see if my protagonist was tolerable. I figured that if I had 75% or less commonality between my OC and Selena, I was good to go.
The complaint about too many POVs was odd to me at first but then I realized that I read all of Wheel of Time...which has 147 different POVs across the series. I don't think that is the standard, and it has ruined my scale for other series
For those who said “Oh you have to keep reading it gets better blah blah blah” NO. A good and responsible writer should make every single book in the series intriguing and meaningful.
The different perspectives thing is sooooooo true. Like there’s so many moments where we could’ve been like “WHAT?” But like girl??? *spoiler* WE KNEW KALTAIN POISONED THE WINE. That would’ve been a nice twist. Like why would you tell us that was happening 😭
Have you ever tried Mistborn? Same trope. Girl kinda of assassin who isn't supposed to fall in love during a ball, but does... If you don't enjoy those I'd love to see one of those videos about Mistborn (aka my favourite trilogy 😂)
I love fantasy. It's my favorite genre-- but I'm not a romance reader. That being said, I'm experiencing Throne of Glass for the first time through this video, and I am having a grand time ❤😂
Exactly! I knew there was no way, but until (spoilers) Nehemia dies I was hoping against hope they would be together. SHE OPENED A PORTAL TO THE SPIRIT WORLD JUST TO SEE HER. She killed multiple people to avenge her. Ms. Assassin didn’t even do that for Sam or her parents as of book 3.
Hey there, if you don’t mind the commitment The Wheel of Time is genuinely one of the best series I’ve ever read period. They’re fantasy classics if you ever wanna check them out. Scarlet St. Clair’s King of Battle and Blood is much shorter (2 books out last one out this year) and pretty awesome. It is smutty btw but still plot driven.
Binging all your content. Unhinged rants abour dumb books is my favorite niche. You have a sleepover energy that I am so here for 😆
Omg thank youuuuuu!! That is literally the biggest compliment cause that’s exactly the vibe I hope to have 🫶🫶
Exactly what I'm working on rn
Samesies lol
omg literally same, do u have recs for similar channels ?? i’m desperate 😩 i’ve resorted to rewatching these vids bc i’ve seen all of her vids already
@@mayafingerle2080you can check lexi aka newlynova or withcindy
my biggest beef in books (especially when i read the first two books then dnfed this series in high school) is when a character is set up as smart and incredibly competent and then is written as chronically stupid and oblivious for plot reveals... there were so many times where she drew conclusions and i was like 'girl... what is this'. there is nothing wrong with a main character being oblivious and dumb just be honest about it!!! its ok to be dumb about things!
I NEED to read a book where the main characters an idiot, KNOWS theyre an idiot, and relishes in the fact that they’re an idiot
EXACTLY! THAT'S WHAT I KEEP SAYING! She's all bark and no bite
For me that was highlighting just how young she was. She’s incredibly talented and gifted but she’s also just barely an adult and so traumatized. I 100% acted the same way when I was her age with all these expectations and working hard to get to where I am but also never really getting a chance to properly grow. Either too smart for my own good or too oblivious
Yeah I definitely get that, and I think that would have come across more for me if it was written in the first person. I guess it being written in the 3rd person automatically puts up a wall for me as the reader because, even if I don't expect the narrator to be objective, I think it could have done a better job in highlighting the difference in how: Celaena perceives herself, is perceived by others, and then how she actually is. It might get better throughout the series, but it fell too hard into tell not show and sometimes tell then show the contrary -without acknowledgement or effect- for my taste. I tried reading them when I was 17, so luckily the adult brain rational didn't effect my perception of Celaena and teen decision making in the way it can when trying to read younger characters as an adult.@@maddiemainer
ok i made this exact point when i was reading the first couple books but the main character goes through a coming into power thing in the 3rd and she actually is genuinely smart and witty i promise she’s a just deeply traumatized/closed off/paranoid in the first few.
Honestly a book even considering that periods exist is super refreshing. It's not pointless either, since the point of showing Celaena having her period is to show that she isn't malnourished anymore now that she's staying at the castle.
I thought the same! I don’t think I’ve ever encountered it in a fantasy book before so it was a very nice change of pace. And like I can see it from both perspectives, but again it’s nice to have it appear in a popular fantasy book (and in a way that isn’t like. Super traumatizing)
:)
NEVER stop the shitty book grind
bahaha never!! its too much fun to read awful books
In defense of her having a period and reading erotica, when I read this book at like 15 ish those facts made me feel more proud of my female body and more secure in beginning to explore my sexuality so I think those are good additions to a book of this genre
I feel really stupid for having unironically enjoyed Throne of Glass. It’s been years since I read it, but I remember liking Celaena because she was cool and confident instead of being your typical, “I’m just an ordinary girl with no self-confidence, and even though I’m secretly special, I always see myself as nothing special” YA protag. I also thought it was cool that she liked fashion and spent her money from the competition on looking pretty, because that’s a trait that’s usually vilified and it was neat seeing a hero who liked to look good with being shamed by the narrative for it. I also remember finding the competition itself entertaining because even though I knew Celaena was going to be one of the finalists, it was still interesting to see *what* they would be competing in and *how* she would win. I know these are all stupid arguments, but it might explain why this trash book got so popular.
it's not stupid, and although the story is very well written and can be very silly at times, do not feel stupid for having liked it, because it has many redeeming qualities since not many young adult fantasy romance novels in this style were popular, and i believe we all grow taste from overcoming the things we liked and learning what was positive and what was simply not great about it. You should be glad that even though you liked it a lot one day, now you know you deserve better as a reader lol. as someone who read this quite young and deeply loved it, i believe i have long outgrown it, and that's okay. if anything, you have that.
@annabeatrizzimmermann7708 couldn't have said this better myself!
Everyone enjoys different things in books! You don't have to feel bad for liking a book whose worst crime is being mostly exposition for the next ones (from what I've gathered). Besides the reasons you stated for enjoying this book are pretty neat! (I too don't care if it's too obvious who's going to be in the finale because even when they try to hide it it's rather obvious and I'd rather they develop the character than try to hide them and making them bland and boring in the process and her not being shamed for liking looking pretty and stuff was indeed a breath of fresh air in the period the book came out)
I personally enjoyed the series and I only recently read everything (except tower of dawn) like 6 months ago. I don’t think it’s bad to enjoy these books, you can outgrow them and find other series that you enjoy more but it’s the first ones that sometimes stick with you :)
Don't feel stupid if you enjoyed it! I'm enjoying this series quite a bit. Not everything you read has to be highbrow award winning literature!
omg the pronunciation guide lol. My friend used to call Chaol "Mr. Smoothie Man" since I was pronouncing his name as Kale with the help of the pronunciation guide. :3 Honestly wish more people talked about TOG since it killed my love of high fantasy and novels. I read the whole thing and by the end was just hate reading it to find out the end. It truly devolved into something terrible and unexplainable 🥲
There were so many individual elements that were so cool, but when they all came together it was horrible, like the only way SJM could unify concepts was to throw them all into bed together literally??? Manon and the witch coven was so cool; Dorian's later arch was interesting; Nehemiah was done so dirty; and Chaol was my favorite despite the inexplicable character assassination later on (I liked him since he really didn't like Celaena for a lot of the story lol). I hated Celaena. Somehow she was so one dimensional and had a strange effect of making every other character that interacted with her just as flat and boring, no matter how complicated their background and side stories were. Away from Celaena, they were well rounded, interesting characters, but next to her all they could do was be flat like her, maybe so it wasn't obvious that she sucked as a character, idk
I haven’t read the rest of the series but if they’re as much of a mess as you’re saying they are I might just have to suffer through them lol the thing is, it’s not bad in a fun way, it’s just bad in a “I literally don’t give a shit” way which makes for boring reading
Honestly I read all of it and the ending was like stupid in my opinion. I read it when I was 13 so I loved it and I'm still sentimental about it, but even then there were so many things that didn't make sense. And I pronounced Chaol in different ways - like Cole, Haol, Hal. And about his arc, like I still don't get why he changed so much when she was gone on the other continent. Before he even wanted to go with her and saw it as a good thing, and then just straight up hated her. And honestly if Dorian and Manon weren't there I would stop reading this series, I still somewhat like them
@@ainsleesbookclub I put myself through 5 of the books so far and I can't stress enough how much I'm struggling because I do want to finish the series, but still I have two books to go and I literally don't give a shit!!!!AAAA
@@Annalisa814201 might rewrite my own ending to this series atp
Everyone is going to tell you that the series gets better. As a devoted high fantasy lover, I assure you they do not. I'd enjoy hearing your thoughts on the later books because they just get increasingly ridiculous, but I totally get it if you don't want to put yourself through that
Also, to be clear: good fantasy has names that make sense within the pronunciation of whatever language they're supposed to be from. Ms. Maas loves to shove random names and/or random letters together and hope it works out
For anyone who really wanted to like Throne of Glass but couldn't (or who really liked Throne of Glass and deserves better): the Witchlands series by Susan Dennard does basically everything this series wishes it could and 1000% more
Witchland series is so good!
Also yeah, I skimmed most of ToG series. I think there were good parts but those were few and far between for 7 slash 8 books and it didn't ever seem to get better, just more.
I actually have read every book out at the time in this series when I was around 17 and when I tell you I remember almost nothing about it. Please read all of them I'm obsessed with the fact it had a net 0 impact
Literally same 💀
Sarah J Maas is crazy because she's by far one of the biggest authors in the game, spends weeks at #1 on the bestsellers list, crushes every Goodreads Choice award, her books always have giant waitlists at my library even if they've been out for years, but no one except the 10% of the country who reads for fun knows who she is. So many times I have mentioned how much I hate her writing to people I know in real life and they're like "Who? What's ACOTAR?"
I got like... five books in? I tried to get back into it after a year or so and genuinely couldn't remember enough about the plot to figure out where I'd left off so I just gave up
Honestly, her writing does get better, but not a lot. I’ve read every single one of her books and they are tiktok tropes shoved into a dust jacket. Like they slay as fun mindless reading but anyone saying ToG gets better is lyingggg 😭
literally the reason I shredded up my acotar books
@@saa.ra181whoa you actually shredded them? Slay queen
I don’t mind the inclusion of her being on her period and being debilitated by it. There’s an ongoing joke about how women in fantasy settings deal with periods bc it’s so rarely addressed, and I think SJM tries. Bad bitches get cramps too! What annoys me is that’s it’s clearly just there so Dorian can go into her room and further play up the love triangle, rather than explore A) periods or B) Endovier’s effect on Celaena
You make me think of @uncarley !! In personality and you literally sound the same ! 😂
dudeeeeee that’s actually so sweet i love her channel that’s a massive compliment :)
Terry Pratchett (my favorite fantasy writer) even made fun of unpronounceable names in fantasy, there are some weird names in his books but they are usually easy to pronounce because they are puns or hard to pronounce on purpose and the joke is that no one gets it right. My favorite character from his books is named "Sam"
Samewise Gamgee...Sam was the most normal in LOTR too!
I was gonna comment about Pratchett too! You get Sam (also my fave) and Susan and then you get Moist and Vetinari and Teatime ("tee-AH-tim-ee").
I only read this book as a teen because I was deep in my Assassin’s Creed phase…. I thought it would satisfy my assassin tooth, it didn’t. And I did try to read the prequel book but I couldn’t… I just couldn’t. It failed as a killer fantasy, and is just SJM, in a nutshell. Read one of her stuff, you’ve read all of her books. 🎤⏬
thats why I cant read this book. I read the first 3 books in ACOTAR, like 5 years ago. I liked them, but I feel like there's no point of reading the rest.
I first thought you meant the Farseer Trilogy, first book Assassin's Apprentice but you were talking about the games right? If you still read fantasy, Robin Hobbs first two trilogies - The Farseer Trilogy and Liveship Trader Trilogy are some of my favorite. Either could be read first but because of the lore I think Farseer should be read first.
These aren't romance novels although there is romance. It just isn't the focus. I wish I could read these for the first time again.
@@kirielbranson4843 I heard of the Assassin’s apprentice trilogy, not the other one, but it’s on my to read list. And yes I was talking about the games, loved them! But my gaming love has gone down a lot because of work, school, and being an adult. But it’s like reading now, relaxing free time activity.
@@zoebrugg7594 I am still big time into gaming but I have no children. And am a few years from retirement so don't have any big career drives anymore beyond pulling my weight and supporting my projects. Reading became audiobooks for me about 20 years ago. It used to be that I was reading every chance I got but after almost everything got an audiobook I can now read while walking, doing housework, driving, etc. I have no idea how I managed to read the mountains of books I used to read. How did I find the time? I hope you never completely give up either. And definitely take up Robin Hobbs when you have the time.
YOU ARE THE ONLY PERSON I’VE EVER SEEN THAT PRONOUNCED CHAOL LIKE I DID 💀 I THOUGHT I WAS JUST CRAZY
girl how come you dont have millions of subs?! you're hilarious and i love the way you talk thru these books! i found your channel yesterday and ur one of my new fav booktubers.
i hated this series so much HAHA i made it to maybe the 4th or 5th one before i dropped it because i just /couldn't deal anymore/ y'know? i feel like if you have to read 1000 or some pages in a series for it to get good, it ain't worth my time 😭 excellent video!!
i COMPLETELY understand the need to finish a series. i don’t think i’ve ever left a series unfinished, i just have to see it through
The only thing that stopped me from forcing myself through this series was the fact that I forgot what book I was on and eventually forgot the entire plot. Accidentally mind-wiped myself and saved so much time and money lmao
I also received Throne of Glass as a birthday present and refused to read it. However, it shall forever remain collecting dust at the bottom of my bookshelf 😭
I'm a big SJM fan but if I hadn't been told countless times just how good the series got I would have stopped after ToG. I know she was young when she wrote it, and it's very obvious, but it was just...ok. BUT her writing just got better and better. Queen of Shadows is incredible.
yeah that's what's keeping me reading, books 1 & 2 were very average to me but i'm hoping it gets better bc everyone says it will 😭
@@tehelea I read the whole series and no, it doesn’t get any better, it gets worse. The last book is disgustingly terrible and a waste of paper. In fact, none of it was ever good. Save your money for a better book series and stay away from SJM because she’s not a good writer.
damn hate harder@@brooke9446 i almost cant see the steam coming out of your ears
queen of shadows was actually when my enjoyment started to wane. after liking heir of fire so much, it was disappointing. i wasnt a fan of celaena being romantically involved w rowan. she needed someone more experienced to advise her and help her back in erilia yes but did he have to be her boyfriend too 💀 also maeve changing the nature of his relationship w his dead ex.... can you say retcon? cuz yea i finished the series obviously. call it stockholm syndrome or wtv, but i was 12 when i started them and refuse to account for taste. i read any and everything my mom got for me
@@nao-bo4yz the "it gets better in book 3+!!" phenomenon in books is honestly just a way to hook readers in with the sunk cost fallacy. Like-you've already spent all that time and money getting this far, you may as well finish the series to see it improve and conclude!
i DESPERATELY need you to read and summarize the whole saga. I've only read acotar and i would never go near another sjm book BUT PLEASE QUEEN
also this has such a girl sleepover energy i love it somehow its comforting
“Is opium…heroin?!” 🤣🤣🤣
After all the SJM hype I have been waaaiting for someone to cover TOG so this is amazing- I hate-read all the books in the series and they are all SO bad, but also selfishly I am begging you to cover them all
Girl I live for your videos! You have no idea how distraught I was when I found out you only have like 5 videos 😢
Can not wait for more, your hilarious ❤
Agree!! I actually love fantasy but I could not get to the end of a court of thrones and roses because I felt like the same thing was happening for 2-3 chapters. Idk I think I’m getting exhausted with an enemies to lovers trope
0:24 “I have not read a fantasy book that I’ve enjoyed.” If that’s the case, then please please PLEASE try The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir. It’s a science fantasy series with lesbian necromancers in space! Lots of gay tension, lots of mysterious intrigue, lots of “what the FUCK” moments. What else could you possibly want?
Thanks for the suggestion!! I’ll check it out :)
Or read Brandon Sandersons Mistborn series! Idk if you've read it but I loved it.
currently reading the second book!
I’m so obsessed with this girl 😂😭😭 more videoooos ASAP pls
im obsessed with your channel, so happy the yt algorithm recced your channel to me!! you're so charming and funny and somehow it's so so easy to listen to u rant despite my adhd sgshdhsj
As someone who has and will continue to reread throne of glass over and over, this is a heartfelt recommendation to keep reading. At least until heir of fire. I found this series almost 10 years ago when I was very lonely and sad and since then it has been a constant source of comfort. The protagonist goes through so much and the way she manages to come back from it and be the hero she needs to be has given me strength to recover from my trauma. Sarah J Maas was 16 when she wrote the first book. He writing matured quickly. If this series were food, it wouldn’t be organic whole food nutritional balance gourmet. It would be buttery, salty soul food. And every once in a while, it feels good to indulge.
Yes! There are definitely tropey, ridiculous, problematic things in SJM's books, but I really enjoy them AND enjoy laughing at them, and I just skip the first couple books of the series when I reread to get the slightly more filler books out of the way! I love the way she represents mental health issues and the importance of art and community and healing
@@andaluciaprendes8813 that’s what I love about the series too. People give SJM Flack for having her protagonists solve their depression by training, but i love it. I was a ballerina that had to retire early because I broke my back and I came out of it with a really messed up relationship with fitness and so much emotional dysfunction, but the main factor in my recovery was going through a really physically and spiritually intensive yoga journey that was very similar to Aelin’s heir of fire training. And I get some serious vicarious vindication when Aelin and Lysandra and Fenrys get their vengeance. Without over sharing, I had an Arobynn and a Maeve in my life and it was all I could to get away from them, and I never got justice. It’s why queen of shadows is my fav.
@@missanthropy6174 the issue isn't that she has a protagonist get through their depression with training, it's that she has EVERYONE get through their depression with training. The 'trope' itself is perfectly fine on its own and works for some people irl, but she absolutely beats it to death as if it's the _only_ way to recover
@@emackenzie the claim that ALL of her characters recover from trauma through training is an unfounded one. Of the three series, only two of her protagonists go through an intense training transformation to recover from trauma- Nesta and Aelin.
Feyre’s main avenues of recovery are through her art and building a found family to support her. Yes, she trains a lot, but it’s never about healing for her. She has a desire and a responsibility to learn how to fight and use her powers so that she can protect her loved ones and her country. In CC, Bryce doesn’t train at all. She has fighting skills, but they were something she worked at as a kid with her step dad, not a coping mechanism after Danika died. Her mental health journey starts with a two year period of emotional isolation and self punishment (never drinking or clubbing or dancing, denying herself the things she enjoyed before) before she and Hunt become friends and learn to forgive themselves. She also uses dance for therapy, which is exercise, but dance therapy is a thing, and dancing is clearly therapeutic for Bryce. None of the male characters in either series use training as trauma recovery.
Even with Aelin and Nesta, working out wasn’t the ONLY thing they did to recover. In fact, the training was more of a vehicle through which they made connections with people, learned to trust them, and talked to them about their trauma. It’s the love and support that they receive that allows them to succeed physically and mentally. Aelin was already an elite fighter when she meets Rowen, the training isn’t what heals her. And with Nesta, she was completely out of control of herself and benefited from the structure training provided (much like many recipients of 12-step treatment). I know that Gwyn and Emerie also get the “training treatment” but they’re also the supporting cast in Nesta’s story. And again, training isn’t the only thing they do to recover. It just provides a vehicle for them to meet each other and form the support group that they need to heal. Emerie is a social outcast who doesn’t like going outside her comfort zone. But she does so that she could hang out and train with Nesta. Gwyn has hardly left the library in years but she’s the first to sign up for training because she wants hang out with her friend and learn how to defend herself. And furthermore, when Nesta is in crisis over a conflict with Cassian, Gwyn leaves the House of Wind for the first time since her trauma because she wants to support her friend. During the blood rite, all three women do astounding things in order to support and protect each other. None of their trauma is magically fixed afterward, Gwyn goes right back to the library and only leaves again to go to Nesta’s wedding.
My point is that while training to heal from trauma is a frequently used trope by SJM, it’s not the only one she uses, and even when she does use it, it’s never the one perfect solution. There are always other elements present.
"soo much happened but also like nothing happened" that was basically how my goodreads review for this started
I read the prequel to TOG “The Assassin’s Blade” before any of the other books in the series and then promptly decided I wouldn’t be reading any more of them because of how angry the character death in that book made me (iykyk) lmao
i read ToG when i was literally like 12 or 13 and enjoyed my time with it okay. it wasn’t a good book, and i read a lot more agatha christie than sjm , but it was fun and that was what mattered. looking back though, wow. it is a book, it’s got that going. also i feel like i’m the only one who got less interested in the series the more i read it??? i got a few books in but as soon as romance became as much of a plot point as the actual, well, plot, i was out. i was there for magic, and that was it.
I know it’s been a year but like, this series is kind of ehh for me but, ACOTAR is actually good (in my opinion) and SJM has had time as an author to adjust her writing style and make it so that it doesn’t feel like, y’know, three book of just world building (four if you count the prequel) so I do recommend that series
Just got recommended your vids today but damn this is exactly the content I adore. I'm thrilled
I am a certified OBSESSED fan of fantasy, all of my favorite books are in the genre, most of my favorite games are in the genre, etc etc. I mean, I even play Dungeons and Dragons weekly, I’m *kind of* of a fan of the whole fantasy thing.
But when my best friend bought me this book for my birthday a few years back, I literally fell asleep reading it within the first 30 pages because of how boring and utterly incomprehensible it is.
Also, don’t worry- it’s not a matter of you reading the map wrong and having no idea what the societal structure is because you’re stupid. It’s just that this book entirely comprised of exposition can’t be bothered to talk about it at all.
Also also, a 400 page book can’t have a thousand POVs. A Song of Ice and Fire can get away with it because it’s actually written well (not to mention each book has 800+ pages).This mess is not.
Lastly yes I never want to read the word “erect” in anything ever
All that aside, I just discovered your content but I love it! I also like that this is sort of akin to a podcast where I can just set my phone down and listen to this while I do other stuff. The blend of text pictures on screen and just talking is great for what this is about! Keep up the lovely work.
Have you read the “Red Queen” series? It’s the perfect blend of this monstrosity and the “The Selection” series.
I tried to read this book like 6 times before I just accepted it wasn’t meant to be and I’m so glad now lol
I would like her books if she didn’t even confuse me, and her books were so long. I write books, but I don’t even like writing long books, let alone reading them.
that’s so real cause the books are sooooo long and like half of it is unnecessary
I read these series a while ago and your complaint on the pronunciation guide being at the end and the names not being spelled well to get said pronunciation makes me feel very validated (I had the exact same names ideas… to learn they were wrong)
I'm on the last book currently. It's SO fun to see the first book through your eyes as a fresh take 😂 I love this channel.
currently binging all your content, i love the way you articulate your opinions on these awful books.
Honestly as a fantasy lover, i absolutely despite this series and anything SJM writes 💀💀
NO YOU HAVE TO IT DOES GET GOOD! (honestly it's an ok series but the books do get a lot more fun and i think you'd enjoy them. plus i want to watch your reactions to the later books)
That’s what everyone keeps saying, so I have no choice but to keep reading 👀
It does not ever get good 😅
@@Contrarian-v7pdon't say that please 😭 I'm 3 books in waiting for it to get good.
@@jess1131 If you're expecting anything more than self-insert wish fulfillment and slightly more than mediocre writing, you may as well quit now lol.
my partner is 9 years younger than me and we met when i was 31. but we were in very similar phases of our lives and you can judge me all you want, but it‘s the best relationship we both ever had and i was very aware of the potential power imbalance and consent and equality has been the most important thing for both of us and we‘re gonna get married and we lived together for over 5 years now and it‘s the best thing ever. just wanted to say that age difference has inherent risks, but doesn‘t have to necessarily be an issue. but it often can be. ♥️
Caelena is RIGHT about marriage!!! the only reason I would get married is for citizenship/tax benefits and also because weddings sound fun!!!
we wanted ours to be the biggest party we'd ever throw, and obviously everyone would be there to agree that we are the most awesome couple of all time. We still occasionally get messages that someone went to a wedding but it "wasn't as good as a lesbian dinosaur karaoke wedding"
I like having things be official, and it has helped in several circumstances. I've yet to encounter a situation where it's worse being wives than being girlfriends. When you add in the potential tax benefits, there's no reason not to get married when you've got a decent person you want to spend a long chunk of time with. It's not like you couldn't get out of it if it needed to be ended.
I started reading ACOTAR, but when I learned what happens to Tamlin in the latter parts of the series, I put the book down and never picked it up again. I think I dodged a bullet but god was I disappointed 😭
oh my goodness ACOTAR is so bad. I read the first book, then started the second, then put down the second and I haven't read it since. I hate how popular it is because it's really shitty but everyone on booktok is eating up the fae porn
@@spntageous5249 SERIOUSLY. like I’ve rarely come across a romance book that was genuinely appealing and TAMLIN I ACTUALLY LIKED 😭 I don’t understand his sudden shift in character and I hate how Sarah J Maas’s writing spiraled so terribly plot-wise throughout the series
Given your anti-fantasy energy, I would love to hear your thoughts on game of thrones, a series actually considered good fantasy.
THE SYNONYMS FOR ‘ERECT’ BIT IS DESTROYING ME HELPPPPP
As a gorgeous gorgeous girlie who hates SJM's writing, i feel seen
I only pronounced Chaol correctly in my mind because it's one letter off from Chaos, which is what this series is. I love fantasy but I am not a SJM girlie
i love watching reviews where people hate the books when i really like them cause i'm amazed we came out at completely different conclusions. ultimately i'm not reading with a critical lense ever, unless it's the most gaping plot hole concocted, i'm just vibing to the end. that being said i would love for you to continue reading them and giving your feedback, i enjoyed the second book more than the first (i haven't read the rest). i will continue to read the character names as i had imagined them in my head too. kah-ol is laughable, he's chaol with a ch to me.
Like what you like. Sometimes what someone else disliked about a book is the thing I liked most.
I knew Maas was getting her references from "trust me bro" when the door to the castles archery range was next to the targets
Girl I am subscribed immediately. I have tried every SJM series and I cannot get into it. I will respect her fans but I just cannot. I'm a Massive fantasy fan and also very into romance!
For people who maybe wish they could enjoy SJM or like the concept of her books but can't get into it, may I reccomend:
- The Wizard's Masquerade (Jay Pellgrin), which is my current obsession
- Married to Magic Series by Elise Kova
- AJ Ford (a lot of her stuff is fairly good)
- Ilonia Andrews (especially for Urban Fantasy)
- The Priory of the Orange Tree (I forgot the author's name but it's very queer and good and has DRAGONS)
omg thanks for the suggestions!! I’m always looking for good books to balance out all of the terrible books I read 😭
@@ainsleesbookclub absolutely! I also enjoy cringe books, but it's important to read things that are actually enjoyable!
omg thank you for the recs!! 🥺
idk how i found this channel but it's super cool so here's some comment to up the engagement
Thanks bestie that means a lot 🫶
Tbh I feel like the 18/22 age gap would’ve been a great opportunity for world building. Like if it’s historical fantasy where you’re expected to have a job, spouse, & kids by 16, then 18/22 is a much more similar life stage than say, something with more modern lifestyle expectations
Can I ask if you are American? Because in my country you're an adult at 18, and pairing with 18/21 or 22 y.o. are fairly normal. I know just because something is normal, doesn't mean it's okay - but it made me curious. I for example was also in a relationship with a guy that was 3 years older than me when I was 18/19. The relationship ended because he wanted to start a family and I wanted to go to university - so I wouldn't say you guys are wrong. I am just curious that this is already considered an age gap and would like to know more about why.
(Btw: I think he married a woman around 5 years older than him? I only know this because his bestie was complaining about him and his partner to me... Like wtf dude, wrong address)
throne of glass is a book I read in high school with my classmates to make fun of how hilariously bad and ridiculous it is..then few years later I got into online reading spaces and I was surprised to see that the author is recommended by everybody lmao
I'm truly so happy that I found your channel
"spirit that could not be broken" LIKE THE HORSE??? THE HORSE FROM THE MOVIE???
I can’t even read Throne of Glass and I like SJM… Read ACOTAR (but stop after the first book cause everything you learn about the characters switches in the next… like they’re new characters… in a bad way). TOG is suck. 😅
haha right?? so many people love SJM but this book was not it 🤠 ACOTAR is on the list but I’m scared to read it lol it’s so long and all of my friends adore the whole series
The characters personalities change so much in the second book. Then in Silver Flames, the ones that changed for good change for bad AGAIN. SJM will change your darling to suit her new plot.
Just make a new series, and stop catfish-bate-and-switching us, SJM 🥹
Omg HOW can you recommend stopping after the first book 😳 I just finished a court of wings and ruin and each book has been better than the last
Frankly the character development was needed ✨
It's funny because Cain being behind all the bad stuff happening was so obvious, that I expected for it to be someone completely different, which made the fact of Cain actually being behind it all at the end surprising for me. Like "oh, so it's THAT easy". Other than that I enjoyed it, so I'm gonna see what happens next and is it going to get better 😄
I actually loved TOG but Im always opened to criticism, and omg IM DYING OF LAUGHING with u trying to say their names because I CAN RELATE SO MUCH, my best friend was the one who said that this series r amazing and now Im moving to Crown of Midnight, but on the beggining of TOF I was struggling to like the book...I started liking like at 20% of the book!
hey girlie, just wanted to remind you that no one should have to suffer through menstruation pains, and just because you have decided to "suck it up" doesn't mean everyone else has to. loved the video!
Very true!!
My love for fantasy is THE REASON I stay away from Sarah J. Maas like a vampire with garlic, so maybe it's not an ideal starting point🤣
(No shade to her fans, I have personal beaf with her since that retelling of beauty and the beast who has nothing to do with beauty and the beast, you know the one)
When it comes to SJM, I'm a one-and-done kinda person. I had the misfortune of reading ToG while stuck in an airport for 3 days. That alone was torturous, but reading ToG at the same time... double the pain. I have no clue how SJM got successful from this book because it's godawful. I would have DNF'ed it, if it wasn't because I had nothing else to do in the airport. I'm never reading another word written by this woman - and neither should you.
Please please please finish the series 😁🙏 A lot changes after you get through the first two books (honestly, they’re the absolute worst). Now, I’m not saying it gets a lot BETTER… but it definitely gets A LOT more entertaining to read, and the plot goes into a totally different direction than it does in the first two.
Also, some actually interesting characters show up (I loathed Chaol and Dorian tbh, they’re so bland).
My final (and most important) reason for why you should read the other books in the series is that I really enjoy your rants, and I’m dying to know your opinions on all the things that go on in the rest of the series 😁😁
Loved watching you go through the book. I feel the exact same way, would totally read it if you did too, even if just to have someone to vent my frustrations with.
I loved this book, all the books in the series too! But hearing you reiterate it like this is hilarious 😂❤
I'm also in the process of reading this series! I thought that this book was boring too and i don't care about either of the love interests!!! But I started with the assassin's blade which i think helped because it made me attached to celaena and part of the world so I'm excited to see how the plot expands. I also am a big fantasy girly so that probably helps lol.
sjm has really lowered the standard for fantasy - I'm a huge fantasy fan and even I wasn't able to stomach them - it wasn't just the poor writing and really messy plotlines, but the underlying themes just felt really icky. (also why did her books keep getting longer and longer? like there's no plot and yet her possibly nonexistent editor greenlit 900 pages of the main character blinking????)
not TOG being my favorite series 😭 obviously to each their own and not everyone is into the same things but i love this series and just want everyone to experience the same joy this series brought me
Sarah j maas books are like scrolling tiktok it’s brain melt but gets you sooo hooked I love Rowan ❤❤❤❤
throne of glass is Sarah j Maas first book, she wrote it at 16 years old on a fan fiction website and it got published. Please, continue reading ! The series gets way way way way better. I promise you it’s so worth it . Ur missing out on so much
Listen girl publishers should still ensure some quality lol but YA sells even without any quality control so here we are.
It really doesn't.
better off reading a court of series instead. still not a masterpiece but at least its entertaining
Doesn't like fantasy, doesn't like more than two pov's, I would like to see you read first song of ice and fire. 😂 But liking your content, people be right saying it's sleepover vibes. Fairest of them all book would make an episode 🤔
Im always here for anyone dragging SJM books but I have to say SAME abt not liking fantasy books. I feel that lately its a very beloved genre (esp fantasy with romance) and I just cannot get into it, will certainly not try again any soon. Thank yuou for your rant 🤭
you should read a court of thorns and roses, not because you'd love it, but because you'd actively hate it
Wow okay this UNLOCKED some memories. I think I read the first three or so as a teen. I don't remember a ton about the books but I remember the smutty fan fics I wrote based on these! I shipped Kale and Dorian (I can't be bothered to research the spelling) as a couple established before the events of the first book and then had them and Selena be a trio.... oh boy. I remember the masquerade ball scene because I had them all dancing together in different pairings in my imagined polyam heaven.
Can’t get over how good these are.
I thoroughly enjoy your videos (coming here after the 50 shades of terror) and I think the reason I initially became hooked on this series in highschool is because to me it felt like YA Lord of the Rings with girls in it.
I thoroughly enjoyed the ridiculousness of the whole thing from the names to the irrational characters and it was a really good turn your brain off book series while also genuinely making me want to see what the conclusion to all the cherry bombs being dropped like bread crumbs would turn into. (Distinctly remember pissing off the friend who recommended it to me because I saw through a lot of the foreshadowing and guessed within book one the big “character reveal” )
I also enjoyed how all over the place Celeana is because at that point every other YA or fantasy novel I read the girls even the female MC’s were always so nerfed or powerless despite the blurbs and other characters saying they weren’t.
Like even now I’m shocked how hard it is to find a good fantasy book YA or not where the main female character isn’t all talk no walk.
Idk I think that’s why it was so popular, yeah she didn’t assassinate anyone book One; but you could actually see her progress in strength in the book up to the final confrontation. She WAS a powerful character and the book is her basically trying to be patient and regain her strength and not accidentally kill herself being cocky or letting on how weak she is.
Idk that’s my take, I bought them all hardcover before they switched to the terrible new vector art so I’ll go reread them and see if they hold up to highschool and freshman college me 🤣
I’m so glad someone is talking through this book series. I read half of the first one at the tender age of twelve. I got to the first sex scene and my baby queer ace self noped out. Returned it to the school library the next day. But I’ve always wondered what happened. So let’s see, ig
Wait oh my god did I completely misremember this book??? Or did I read into the second book? What??? There appears to be no sex in this book but I remember this book, I remember not finishing it specifically because of a sex scene grossing me out? Am I trippin???
in high school i had a friend that owned this whole series. i powered through them in months and then completely forgot everything about them. the only specifics i remembered from this series is chaol's name and the scene where she gets her period again
I just found you and I just watched all your videos while cleaning my apartment! Thank you for existing! I love when people roast fantasy even though it's my favorite genre lol
I think I’d rather chew glass than read a fantasy ya book, but I’ll watch you suffer through it 😭 thank you for your sacrifice
you..you get me on a spiritual level cause same
girl i completely understand your ick with this book. i read it before ACOTAR (bc my sovereign Brittany broski ordered it so. also apparently it might be a book 2 in the series?? tf??) and hated it, was so bored the whole ass time, hated the characters, magic, and ship dynamics...but I got ACOTAR on a whim from my local library and fell in love. crazy upgrade. i don't know the details of the lore necessarily but ACOTAR just SEEMS like it was written so long after ToG.. the writing style is more poetic, the characters more investing, and the story over all much more captivating. cannot recommend it enough, and i'm not even done with the series. PLEASE read it even though it's a commitment.. cos ACOTAR may be good but ACOMAF is STUNNING, TALENTED, BRILLIANT. I'm sure you'd love it, and it'd make a great video either way🫡
Omg it's you in my recommendations again! (my favourite booktuber)
Just went on a binge watch of your channel! You are great, and I hope success comes your way soon!!!
I don't know if it's because I came here straight after the Selection videos or if the book is just Like That but I still have no idea what the plot is about after this video 😂😂 I'm loving your videos though, glad I discovered you!!
When editing my book, I used Selena as my sounding board to see if my protagonist was tolerable. I figured that if I had 75% or less commonality between my OC and Selena, I was good to go.
The complaint about too many POVs was odd to me at first but then I realized that I read all of Wheel of Time...which has 147 different POVs across the series. I don't think that is the standard, and it has ruined my scale for other series
For those who said “Oh you have to keep reading it gets better blah blah blah”
NO. A good and responsible writer should make every single book in the series intriguing and meaningful.
can't wait until shitty book club blows up and I can say that I was here first B)
dudeeee that’s so nice thank you 😭
The different perspectives thing is sooooooo true. Like there’s so many moments where we could’ve been like “WHAT?” But like girl??? *spoiler* WE KNEW KALTAIN POISONED THE WINE. That would’ve been a nice twist. Like why would you tell us that was happening 😭
Have you ever tried Mistborn? Same trope. Girl kinda of assassin who isn't supposed to fall in love during a ball, but does... If you don't enjoy those I'd love to see one of those videos about Mistborn (aka my favourite trilogy 😂)
Maybe read the Court of Thorn and Roses Series??? It is also widely popular but would also make great content to discuss for, many, reasons.
You are my new fave. Keep it up Ainsley ! I appreciate your rhetoric and delivery:)
Nooooo this is the last video I have to watch of yours. Love the content! Can't wait for more :)
the way that I'd never ever read these books, but you telling me all the details is literature
I love fantasy. It's my favorite genre-- but I'm not a romance reader. That being said, I'm experiencing Throne of Glass for the first time through this video, and I am having a grand time ❤😂
Please read the rest!! Imo they do get better! It goes somewhere that I honestly didn’t expect it!
Ur videos r so fun to listen to while playing stardew! Also ur voice reminds me of marceline :3
I love these books, but it is interesting to see reviews from ppl who don't. And you're right. They are related.
princess nehemia would've been a better love interest😭 not a bad thing though, i love gay rep!!!
Exactly! I knew there was no way, but until (spoilers)
Nehemia dies I was hoping against hope they would be together. SHE OPENED A PORTAL TO THE SPIRIT WORLD JUST TO SEE HER. She killed multiple people to avenge her.
Ms. Assassin didn’t even do that for Sam or her parents as of book 3.
Hey there, if you don’t mind the commitment The Wheel of Time is genuinely one of the best series I’ve ever read period. They’re fantasy classics if you ever wanna check them out. Scarlet St. Clair’s King of Battle and Blood is much shorter (2 books out last one out this year) and pretty awesome. It is smutty btw but still plot driven.