I'm so out of the loop that I barely recognized anything on most of the genre lists this year. It was so neat that Dead Cat Tail Assassins made the list, though!
Some of the picks for YA fantasy & fantasy were book subscriptions picks (5 Broken Blades, The Night Ends with Fire, Voyage of the Damned, A Sorceress Comes to Call, Of Jade & Dragons) so they get a lot more eyes on them than more releases nowadays. You have a much higher chance of knowing what’ll be on those lists if you’re in the special edition book side of the internet.
Underwhelmed is a great way to describe my reaction... I read mostly sci-fi/fantasy and I've only read 5 between the nominees and maybe only another 4 or 5 are on my TBR.
Ikr, it’s a bummer 😭 After I finished filming, I actually went through the descriptions of all the scifi/fantasy noms I hadn’t read and none of them really caught my interest 😞
I find scifi and speculative fiction often get lunped together and it makes for a weird list. The difference is not major but awards will usually go for the more "soupe du jour" kind of themes. I don't know what parameters they have for selecting books, but they invariably remind me that what I read is very niche. Feels starks because my feed is filled with people who read the same things so it looks popular than the reality of it.
I’m feeling the same. I’ve read a lot of front-list fantasy this year but very little of what I’ve read and very few of my favourites are included! (Although I just wasn’t interested in some of the big releases!). Sci-fi is def getting more and more literary and less for genre readers. Would love to see more space opera on there! At least Adrian Tchaikovsky made it on with a nom.
I’m a big reader of literary sci-fi - which always makes up such a big chunk of the science fiction category. But even has a fan I wish they separated it out - maybe into a speculative fiction, or just into regular fiction, because some of the ‘sci-fi’ elements are so barely there. Orbital, for instance, is set on the ISS from the perspective of astronauts - I don’t think that has any speculative elements at all!!
"I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom" is by Jason Pargin (fka David Wong) and is the author of the John Dies at the End series and the Zoey Ashe series.
Where is the epic, high fantasy?!? You are so right when you said "they don't really care about the genre..." I feel like both scifi and fantasy are leaning more literary or more light fantasy rather hard scifi/high fantasy. Very underwhelmed. Great video though!!! Love your scifi recs.
Yeah it’s been such a heavy literary lean the last couple years 😞 I keep hoping they’ll get back to including more genre fantasy & sf like they did before. And thank you! I appreciate you watching 🥹🫶🏼
I've read over 300 books so far this year. I've read none of these, heard of only a handful, and those I have no desire to read. These awards have about as much relationship to my tastes as the Oscars. I hope the people who care about these books see an award for a book they like.
Had the exact same reaction as you to the fantasy and sci-fi lists and also voted for the same exact books you did for fantasy and sci-fi so love that!! 😌
I made a spreadsheet to predict the sci-fi nominees and I got 16 of the 20 correct. The only reason I didn't get the other four is because I thought they might not be considered sci-fi first. For example, I thought Moon of the Turning Leaves would be considered horror before sci-fi. What I've found is that other than the general requirements of being published in the correct time frame and above a 3.5 rating, it is 100% just the total number of people that have shelved the book (read, want to read, or any other shelf they've made) and if the Goodreads' employee ends up counting it as sci-fi first. For example, Playground by Richard Powers had better numbers than more than half the sci-fi nominees, but it was put in the Fiction category. Also, all but two of the nominated books were ones that were included in Goodreads' recommendation articles over the last year (e.g. "The Most Anticipated Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror Books of 2024"). So I assume most of the shelving that happened were just users browsing those lists and adding books to their want to read shelf. So while Disquiet Gods, part of a popular space opera series, had over 3,000 ratings by the nominee announcement date, it had less than 11,000 people who had shelved it total, never appearing on any Goodreads recommendation lists. Whereas The Blueprint, a debut literary sci-fi, had less than 1,000 ratings at the time of the nominee release date, but it had over 20,000 people who had shelved it total, which was probably boosted by the fact that it was on five different Goodreads recommendations articles this year. For reference, The Blueprint was the least shelved book of the twenty nominees, just bumping out Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky from making the list. The two nominated books not included on any recommendation articles were John Marrs and Jasper Ffordes' books. So in one way Goodreads does just follow the numbers (or at least they did for the sci-fi category this year). But it also affects those numbers by recommending books to their users throughout the year. And those recommendations seem to lean more literary sci-fi than genre sci-fi.
Great analysis! It seems like the employees in charge of the articles are mainly litfic readers. The periodic articles about Goodreads editors’ most anticipated releases are always majority literary with a few lite genre fic. It would be nice if Goodreads added more genre readers to their team!
Your reaction to the sci-fi category has me cackling hahaha I feel your confusion 🤣 I am also very very whelmed by this year's awards. Like, how have I read 130+ books published in 2024, and yet I can barely vote? Clearly I am not reading the popular stuff lol
Opening that scifi list had me speechless for a second 🤣 I’m holding onto hope they’ll start mixing in more genre sf with the literary picks 😭 And 130+ is incredible, love that for you!
@@ToriMorrow we can dream hahah. Also, I knew Asunder was never going to make it because it is so criminally underrated but it still hurts to have it not get the love it deserves lol 🥲🤣
The Tainted Cup and The Bright Sword are my 2 favorite books so far this year! It was hard to choose but I ended up voting for The Bright Sword, it really surprised me how much I ended up loving it!
This video just solidified to me that I need to get off the book tok hype books half of these books I have never heard of but they are right up my alley!!! Next year I will do better
Tori! I have a question: I remember you mentioning that China Mieville x Keanu Reeves novel months ago. The other week, I spotted it in a bookstore and thought, I’m curious BUT I won’t buy this unless Tori gives it a thumbs up. Have you read it?
Hi Tori! I hope you've been well. 🤗🖤 I just had to pop in here and say that I agree with you and I'm underwhelmed by ALL of the categories in the Goodreads Choice Awards this year. What the heck happened?! 👎🏾
Love your sweater!! I still have Daughters' War on my TBR - am nervous that I will not love it as much as I did The Blacktongue Theif so I have been dragging my feet 😅
Annie Bot has been one of my favorite books this year. Think feminist scifi. It’s so good. I have gotten a couple of friends to read it and they also loved it. Read the blurb, it’s so good. I have never felt so angry through so much of a book before.
The bright sword is actually really good, it’s set after the fall of Camelot and the representation of the surviving knight is good. It’s more character study than Camelot retelling, I read it because I thought it would be here and this and book of doors are the 2 I would not have picked up that I loved, I was hoping the lost story and the fox wife would be in another category coz I want to read them all but hopefully they will surprise me too
I just finished Fox Wife! The audiobook is read by the author and she's actually good at it, which is a rarity. It's historical fantasy that's heavy on the history, entertaining and skilfully written, with some light mystery elements.
I have been low key irritated since last night that Ministry of Time is in the Sci-Fi category. It has some elements, but it also has historical fiction elements, and like a spy thriller thing. And it was so bad.
It’s so frustrating 😩 I feel like that’s the vibe, though, with a lot of the sf nominees. The scifi elements are there but they could easily fit in other categories 🥲
@ToriMorrow I still can't decide if the first one or the new one. Heard the new one is not represantative of the story but just flashy. What is your opinion?
I’m predominantly a fantasy reader but have only read 3 on the fantasy list. EOTD (Great) The Book of Doors (Good) and Voyage of the Damned (ok). Seems like another lack lustre selection!
I haven’t read any of the nominees in any category this year, but I’ll have a closer look at some of the nominees. Maybe I can find some new books to add to my TBR.
I've heard very good things about In Ascension--even bought it, though I haven't actually gotten around to reading it yet, oops. A Sweet Sting of Salt surprised me--I really enjoyed it, though I'm surprised to see it in fantasy when it's a romance fantasy. Hoping for Absolution to win in SF!
I haven't read any T. Kingfisher myself, but I've seen multiple videos from a variety of other people who *have* and were unimpressed/indifferent before but liked-to-loved A Sorceress Comes to Call. Doesn't mean you will, doesn't mean you have to read it -- obviously -- just something to keep in mind. Maybe. Or not. 😂
I actually stopped after shorefall and idk yet if I’m gonna read book 3. I like it fine enough, but the way the magic kept expanding was becoming too much for me 😂 I think I described the series as “too smart for its own good”, and I just found it annoying after a while lol
So if I understand this correctly, these selections are simply based on an algorithm which factors number of ratings and average rating. There isn't like a mind or committee behind these lists. It's strictly a popularity contest aggregated by Amazon through GR and Kindle etc. Which, candidly, makes it even weirder, as yeah, I haven't heard of half of these books either. There still seems to be a massive disconnect between what is popular on booktok/booktube vs what is actually out in the world, shipping units. I almost feel like there are these underground book communities I've never heard of propping up some of these titles because like you, I hadn't heard of half of them before seeing them on these lists. Where are they coming from!!
I’m happy to see “the dead cattail assassins” but for some reason I feel that this book is more “light horror” than fantasy …same with “An academy for Liars” . I also feel like the fantasy section does not highlight high or epic fantasy very often which is a bummer ☹️ I’m always side eyeing the GR choice awards but this year I think I’m extra confused 😂 Thanks for uploading your reactions, I love seeing people react to nominees & winners ❤
I agree with dead cat tail and light horror! I thought it was a great blend of both fantasy & horror elements overall. Academy for liars was really surprising, though, since that’s labeled as gothic horror 😩 And I’m bummed too. The awards use to include high/epic fantasy a couple years ago and I wish they’d get back to that again 😞
I just feel like Goodreads fantasy and scifi lists never reflect the type of books I like and read...it's all cosy stuff and not really the epic series that we generally associate with the genre...😕
I'm a big SF reader and I am quite surprised by some of the nominations, but whatever. I generally consider SF to be more open and broad as a category, so that includes speculative fiction (like The Saint of Bright Doors) and dystopian novels. I hated Service Model--it felt like a side project that Tchaikovsky's publisher should have rejected. In Ascension got my vote, I loved it, it's experimental and goes beyond what some people think strict genre fiction ought to do, but I'd rather see SF that takes risks and is well-written than rehashed tropes and cliches. I'm a little annoyed that Absolution is on there,. It was released like last week or so lol, hardly anyone's had the chance to read it unless they got an ARC, but VanderMeer's publisher is pushing it hard.
I swear I get digitally slapped in the face every day by Quicksilver, and I’m just thinking “WHAT is in this book??” 🤣 I’ve just put The Dead Cat Tail Assassins on hold 🤩
I’ve fallen victim of the trap of reading all the popular, over hyped books this year and I honestly can’t tell you what my favorite book was because they were all “just okay” a lot of the times it felt like reading the same book over and over with a slightly different plot line. It was either last year or the year before that I didn’t care about popular books and ended up stumbling upon The Broken Earth trilogy by NK Jemisin and those books really blew it out of the water for me and I just need more of that in my life 😅 I’m tired of “just okay” books
Aw I'm sorry that happened to you and hope 2025 is a better reading year! 😢 Broken Earth trilogy is incredible! If you're looking for more great series and haven't read the Green Bone saga or Empire of the Wolf trilogy yet, I can't recommend those enough. And also Dandelion Dynasty! I've only read book 1 so far, but it's one of the best fantasy books I've ever read 😃
@@ReadLitWithBritThe Green Bone Saga is so good!! I also really love the Gael Song trilogy by Shauna Lawless. It’s less well-known but it’s historical fantasy based on Irish mythology!
I felt the same going through this years nominees - it was very meh for my reading taste. I just wished it was a high/epic fantasy category for the Goodreads Choice Awards!
I could not get through Quicksilver for the life of me despite all the raving reviews. This is why I have trust issues 😂. But I get it, we all have different taste.
The nominees *never* make sense to me... I feel like half of them must be paid to be on the list by publishers or something--one of those books in sci-fi has less than 4 average rating, and less than 1k ratings!! I havent even read Suneater, but I knew immediately that Disquiet Gods would have much more than that... But it isn't profitable to push as a contender, since it's book 6 in a series, so even if it were popular it would never make the cut. Just kills me, because I know sci-fi and fantasy hardcore readers are never going to be fully represented... Gotta have them literary picks to appeal to the masses and try to drive book sales. 🙃
I was thinking last year we needed a spec fiction category! But if they don’t want to do that, some of these could easily just fit in lit fic 😩 That’s really great to hear you enjoyed sky full of elephants though!
I'm disappointed Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang didn't make it for fantasy. It was just traditionally published and the entire fantasy category is so underwhelming
The list is 100% going by shelf adds, I predicted 17 of the fantasy plus 2 that were in romantasy, definitely not my favourites but they are now saying most popular not best so…
What a weird comment. All booktubers read what they like and talk about it. Showing disappointment for nominees on an annual awards list doesn’t change that lol
I’m feeling the same. I’ve read a lot of front-list fantasy this year but very little of what I’ve read and very few of my favourites are included! (Although I just wasn’t interested in some of the big releases!). Sci-fi is def getting more and more literary and less for genre readers. Would love to see more space opera on there! At least Adrian Tchaikovsky made it on with a nom.
I literally can’t believe we’re already here. This year has FLOWN
Ikr! It’s actually scary how fast this year has gone by. I remember filming the ‘23 GR video like it was yesterday😭
Underwhelmed is definitely the way I feel about this list as well
Yeah I’m so bummed about it 😭
I'm so out of the loop that I barely recognized anything on most of the genre lists this year. It was so neat that Dead Cat Tail Assassins made the list, though!
Some of the picks for YA fantasy & fantasy were book subscriptions picks (5 Broken Blades, The Night Ends with Fire, Voyage of the Damned, A Sorceress Comes to Call, Of Jade & Dragons) so they get a lot more eyes on them than more releases nowadays. You have a much higher chance of knowing what’ll be on those lists if you’re in the special edition book side of the internet.
Oh that’s interesting, but now that you mention it, it makes a lot of sense 😄 Thanks for sharing!
I agree with this.
I agree as well
I laughed so much when you said "What do I know? Forget it." Very me looking at these lists 😂
I was so outdone lol. These noms were something else 🤣
Underwhelmed is a great way to describe my reaction... I read mostly sci-fi/fantasy and I've only read 5 between the nominees and maybe only another 4 or 5 are on my TBR.
Ikr, it’s a bummer 😭 After I finished filming, I actually went through the descriptions of all the scifi/fantasy noms I hadn’t read and none of them really caught my interest 😞
I find scifi and speculative fiction often get lunped together and it makes for a weird list. The difference is not major but awards will usually go for the more "soupe du jour" kind of themes. I don't know what parameters they have for selecting books, but they invariably remind me that what I read is very niche. Feels starks because my feed is filled with people who read the same things so it looks popular than the reality of it.
I feel like so many of the picks are "lite" versions of the genre and appeal to people who do not typically read that genre.
I’m feeling the same. I’ve read a lot of front-list fantasy this year but very little of what I’ve read and very few of my favourites are included! (Although I just wasn’t interested in some of the big releases!). Sci-fi is def getting more and more literary and less for genre readers. Would love to see more space opera on there! At least Adrian Tchaikovsky made it on with a nom.
I’m a big reader of literary sci-fi - which always makes up such a big chunk of the science fiction category. But even has a fan I wish they separated it out - maybe into a speculative fiction, or just into regular fiction, because some of the ‘sci-fi’ elements are so barely there. Orbital, for instance, is set on the ISS from the perspective of astronauts - I don’t think that has any speculative elements at all!!
i felt like i was doing so well reading and staying up to date with new releases then i look at these lists and im like oh dang nvm 😂😂
Same 😂😅
I agree with you about the SCI FI category. Where are the space opera books?!?!? (m)
Ikr, I was so hopeful some would be nominated 😞
I personally dnf’d the Foundryside trilogy but looooved “the tainted cup”.
I think I’m headed that way too with the foundryside books tbh Shorefall may have just ruined it for me 😄
"I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom" is by Jason Pargin (fka David Wong) and is the author of the John Dies at the End series and the Zoey Ashe series.
Where is the epic, high fantasy?!? You are so right when you said "they don't really care about the genre..." I feel like both scifi and fantasy are leaning more literary or more light fantasy rather hard scifi/high fantasy. Very underwhelmed. Great video though!!! Love your scifi recs.
Yeah it’s been such a heavy literary lean the last couple years 😞 I keep hoping they’ll get back to including more genre fantasy & sf like they did before. And thank you! I appreciate you watching 🥹🫶🏼
I've read over 300 books so far this year. I've read none of these, heard of only a handful, and those I have no desire to read.
These awards have about as much relationship to my tastes as the Oscars.
I hope the people who care about these books see an award for a book they like.
Had the exact same reaction as you to the fantasy and sci-fi lists and also voted for the same exact books you did for fantasy and sci-fi so love that!! 😌
I made a spreadsheet to predict the sci-fi nominees and I got 16 of the 20 correct. The only reason I didn't get the other four is because I thought they might not be considered sci-fi first. For example, I thought Moon of the Turning Leaves would be considered horror before sci-fi. What I've found is that other than the general requirements of being published in the correct time frame and above a 3.5 rating, it is 100% just the total number of people that have shelved the book (read, want to read, or any other shelf they've made) and if the Goodreads' employee ends up counting it as sci-fi first. For example, Playground by Richard Powers had better numbers than more than half the sci-fi nominees, but it was put in the Fiction category.
Also, all but two of the nominated books were ones that were included in Goodreads' recommendation articles over the last year (e.g. "The Most Anticipated Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror Books of 2024"). So I assume most of the shelving that happened were just users browsing those lists and adding books to their want to read shelf. So while Disquiet Gods, part of a popular space opera series, had over 3,000 ratings by the nominee announcement date, it had less than 11,000 people who had shelved it total, never appearing on any Goodreads recommendation lists. Whereas The Blueprint, a debut literary sci-fi, had less than 1,000 ratings at the time of the nominee release date, but it had over 20,000 people who had shelved it total, which was probably boosted by the fact that it was on five different Goodreads recommendations articles this year. For reference, The Blueprint was the least shelved book of the twenty nominees, just bumping out Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky from making the list. The two nominated books not included on any recommendation articles were John Marrs and Jasper Ffordes' books.
So in one way Goodreads does just follow the numbers (or at least they did for the sci-fi category this year). But it also affects those numbers by recommending books to their users throughout the year. And those recommendations seem to lean more literary sci-fi than genre sci-fi.
Great analysis! It seems like the employees in charge of the articles are mainly litfic readers. The periodic articles about Goodreads editors’ most anticipated releases are always majority literary with a few lite genre fic. It would be nice if Goodreads added more genre readers to their team!
For blood and ash spinoff ..."This is too much!" 😂😂 I feel the same!
I was so stressed out seeing that prequel series lol 🤣
Your reaction to the sci-fi category has me cackling hahaha I feel your confusion 🤣
I am also very very whelmed by this year's awards. Like, how have I read 130+ books published in 2024, and yet I can barely vote? Clearly I am not reading the popular stuff lol
Opening that scifi list had me speechless for a second 🤣 I’m holding onto hope they’ll start mixing in more genre sf with the literary picks 😭 And 130+ is incredible, love that for you!
@@ToriMorrow we can dream hahah. Also, I knew Asunder was never going to make it because it is so criminally underrated but it still hurts to have it not get the love it deserves lol 🥲🤣
I expected sci-fi to be a hot mess in my predictions, but it still managed to surprise me. A hot damn mess.
Right, idk what’s going on in scifi anymore 😭 I want to see more than just literary speculative/climate fiction picks
Hi Tori!! Always love these videos. Five Broken Blades was more heist/quick adventure to me with subplot of romance.
Oh thanks for sharing that! That actually sounds a little more up my alley, so I may have to give it a try 🙌🏽
I just finished On Vicious Worlds!!!! Exceptional book and series. Loved it immensely cannot wait for the finale.
The Tainted Cup and The Bright Sword are my 2 favorite books so far this year! It was hard to choose but I ended up voting for The Bright Sword, it really surprised me how much I ended up loving it!
This video just solidified to me that I need to get off the book tok hype books half of these books I have never heard of but they are right up my alley!!! Next year I will do better
So we’re not gonna talk about the new The Will of the Many edition just sitting in the background casually.
It’s now my new prized possession nbd 💁🏽♀️
As a prolific fantasy reader, I’ve read exactly none of the nominations 😂
This is the realest comment 🤣
Tori! I have a question: I remember you mentioning that China Mieville x Keanu Reeves novel months ago. The other week, I spotted it in a bookstore and thought, I’m curious BUT I won’t buy this unless Tori gives it a thumbs up. Have you read it?
Hi Tori! I hope you've been well. 🤗🖤
I just had to pop in here and say that I agree with you and I'm underwhelmed by ALL of the categories in the Goodreads Choice Awards this year. What the heck happened?! 👎🏾
The fact they didn't put Disquiet Gods the latest entry of Sun Eater in Sci-fi is wild to me
Yeah it’s unfortunate but I already knew not to expect it. GR rarely nominates sequels in the scifi category unless it’s red rising 🥲
@ToriMorrow I see.
Love your sweater!! I still have Daughters' War on my TBR - am nervous that I will not love it as much as I did The Blacktongue Theif so I have been dragging my feet 😅
Thank you! And I hope you love daughters' war. I get the sense people actually love it more than blacktongue thief!
Annie Bot has been one of my favorite books this year. Think feminist scifi. It’s so good. I have gotten a couple of friends to read it and they also loved it. Read the blurb, it’s so good. I have never felt so angry through so much of a book before.
So underwhelmed. I really wish they would leave the 'literary fiction with small sci fi elements' out of the sci fi category.
Same! Just let them compete in the fiction category 😩
love your videos even if i dont read that much fantasy or scifi (usually like 2 or 3 books a year in that genre) i still enjoy your content so much
I appreciate that, thank you! 🥹
The bright sword is actually really good, it’s set after the fall of Camelot and the representation of the surviving knight is good. It’s more character study than Camelot retelling, I read it because I thought it would be here and this and book of doors are the 2 I would not have picked up that I loved, I was hoping the lost story and the fox wife would be in another category coz I want to read them all but hopefully they will surprise me too
I did recognize most in these lists but I work at a bookstore so I see them as they come out lol! When Among Crows and Absolution were my picks!!
That’s so lovely you work in a bookstore! 🥰 I can’t wait to continue with the Southern Reach so I can get to Absolution!
I just finished Fox Wife! The audiobook is read by the author and she's actually good at it, which is a rarity. It's historical fantasy that's heavy on the history, entertaining and skilfully written, with some light mystery elements.
I have been low key irritated since last night that Ministry of Time is in the Sci-Fi category. It has some elements, but it also has historical fiction elements, and like a spy thriller thing. And it was so bad.
It’s so frustrating 😩 I feel like that’s the vibe, though, with a lot of the sf nominees. The scifi elements are there but they could easily fit in other categories 🥲
You have the new edition of Will of The Many!!? Wow.
Yes! Got it over the weekend 🥰
@ToriMorrow I still can't decide if the first one or the new one. Heard the new one is not represantative of the story but just flashy. What is your opinion?
I’m predominantly a fantasy reader but have only read 3 on the fantasy list. EOTD (Great) The Book of Doors (Good) and Voyage of the Damned (ok). Seems like another lack lustre selection!
I haven’t read any of the nominees in any category this year, but I’ll have a closer look at some of the nominees. Maybe I can find some new books to add to my TBR.
I'm sure you will! There's probably some hidden gems in every category ❤️
I've heard very good things about In Ascension--even bought it, though I haven't actually gotten around to reading it yet, oops. A Sweet Sting of Salt surprised me--I really enjoyed it, though I'm surprised to see it in fantasy when it's a romance fantasy. Hoping for Absolution to win in SF!
If you reserve books from the library, get your reservations in before folks see this Good Reads favorites list. The wait list will grow! Cooper 😘🐈
Love the cat judge appearance! ❤
Haha thank you! She’s always my little helper 😄
I haven't read any T. Kingfisher myself, but I've seen multiple videos from a variety of other people who *have* and were unimpressed/indifferent before but liked-to-loved A Sorceress Comes to Call. Doesn't mean you will, doesn't mean you have to read it -- obviously -- just something to keep in mind. Maybe. Or not. 😂
I didn't understand about the founder's trilogy. 😅 You liked it or was it not good?
I actually stopped after shorefall and idk yet if I’m gonna read book 3. I like it fine enough, but the way the magic kept expanding was becoming too much for me 😂 I think I described the series as “too smart for its own good”, and I just found it annoying after a while lol
You going through romantasy is exactly as hilarious as I was hoping 😂❤❤❤ in the best way
Lol! I was so unprepared when I opened that category 😄
I will say I also didn't vibe that much with the Foundryside books, but The Tainted Cup is by far my favorite book I've read this year!
Oh that’s good to know, and it gives me hope! 😄 I can’t wait to see what I think of the tainted cup when I finally pick it up
So if I understand this correctly, these selections are simply based on an algorithm which factors number of ratings and average rating. There isn't like a mind or committee behind these lists. It's strictly a popularity contest aggregated by Amazon through GR and Kindle etc. Which, candidly, makes it even weirder, as yeah, I haven't heard of half of these books either. There still seems to be a massive disconnect between what is popular on booktok/booktube vs what is actually out in the world, shipping units. I almost feel like there are these underground book communities I've never heard of propping up some of these titles because like you, I hadn't heard of half of them before seeing them on these lists. Where are they coming from!!
Your braids are gorgeous
Love the your videos
Thanks so much! 🫶🏼
I really loved Voyage of the Damned! It is one of my favorite reads of the year.
Aw that's great to hear! I'm so glad you loved it ❤️
I’m happy to see “the dead cattail assassins” but for some reason I feel that this book is more “light horror” than fantasy …same with “An academy for Liars” .
I also feel like the fantasy section does not highlight high or epic fantasy very often which is a bummer ☹️
I’m always side eyeing the GR choice awards but this year I think I’m extra confused 😂
Thanks for uploading your reactions, I love seeing people react to nominees & winners ❤
I agree with dead cat tail and light horror! I thought it was a great blend of both fantasy & horror elements overall. Academy for liars was really surprising, though, since that’s labeled as gothic horror 😩 And I’m bummed too. The awards use to include high/epic fantasy a couple years ago and I wish they’d get back to that again 😞
Had the exact same reaction to the sci fi category 👀 Also a little disappointed that the other Tchaikovsky, Alien Clay, didn't make it.
This sf category has let me down 2 years in a row now 😅 And I’ll have to check out Alien Clay!
I just feel like Goodreads fantasy and scifi lists never reflect the type of books I like and read...it's all cosy stuff and not really the epic series that we generally associate with the genre...😕
I'm a big SF reader and I am quite surprised by some of the nominations, but whatever. I generally consider SF to be more open and broad as a category, so that includes speculative fiction (like The Saint of Bright Doors) and dystopian novels. I hated Service Model--it felt like a side project that Tchaikovsky's publisher should have rejected. In Ascension got my vote, I loved it, it's experimental and goes beyond what some people think strict genre fiction ought to do, but I'd rather see SF that takes risks and is well-written than rehashed tropes and cliches. I'm a little annoyed that Absolution is on there,. It was released like last week or so lol, hardly anyone's had the chance to read it unless they got an ARC, but VanderMeer's publisher is pushing it hard.
I swear I get digitally slapped in the face every day by Quicksilver, and I’m just thinking “WHAT is in this book??” 🤣 I’ve just put The Dead Cat Tail Assassins on hold 🤩
Right! Idk why we can’t get away from that book 🤣 And I hope you love Cat Tail! Such a good read 🙌🏽
Sky full of Elephants was actually really good.
Oh that’s good to know! Glad to hear you enjoyed it
I’ve fallen victim of the trap of reading all the popular, over hyped books this year and I honestly can’t tell you what my favorite book was because they were all “just okay” a lot of the times it felt like reading the same book over and over with a slightly different plot line. It was either last year or the year before that I didn’t care about popular books and ended up stumbling upon The Broken Earth trilogy by NK Jemisin and those books really blew it out of the water for me and I just need more of that in my life 😅 I’m tired of “just okay” books
Aw I'm sorry that happened to you and hope 2025 is a better reading year! 😢 Broken Earth trilogy is incredible! If you're looking for more great series and haven't read the Green Bone saga or Empire of the Wolf trilogy yet, I can't recommend those enough. And also Dandelion Dynasty! I've only read book 1 so far, but it's one of the best fantasy books I've ever read 😃
@@ToriMorrow I am adding all of those to my list!! Thank you so much for your recommendations!
@@ReadLitWithBritThe Green Bone Saga is so good!! I also really love the Gael Song trilogy by Shauna Lawless. It’s less well-known but it’s historical fantasy based on Irish mythology!
@ I just got the first book in the green bone saga last night! I will check the other one out, it sounds super interesting! Thank you! 😊
I felt the same going through this years nominees - it was very meh for my reading taste. I just wished it was a high/epic fantasy category for the Goodreads Choice Awards!
I would love this tbh! They used to be so good about including high/epic fantasy in the noms but it's been really lacking the last couple years 🥲
The scifi section is always so sad. Like space opera is not a dirty sub genre
Half of the scifi books were literary scifi with mixed reception lol, and also truly unbelievable that fury of the gods wasn't nominated in fantasy
Yeah the fury snub is so wild to me!
I could not get through Quicksilver for the life of me despite all the raving reviews. This is why I have trust issues 😂. But I get it, we all have different taste.
Yeah it’s crazy how much hype quicksilver has gotten this year! I don’t even read romantasy and I couldn’t get away from that book 🤣
Reaction 1: OMG THE LOST STORY AND WHEN AMONG CROWS GOT NOMINATED
Reaction 2: how tf did the night ends with fire get nominated :/ 😒
The nominees *never* make sense to me... I feel like half of them must be paid to be on the list by publishers or something--one of those books in sci-fi has less than 4 average rating, and less than 1k ratings!! I havent even read Suneater, but I knew immediately that Disquiet Gods would have much more than that... But it isn't profitable to push as a contender, since it's book 6 in a series, so even if it were popular it would never make the cut. Just kills me, because I know sci-fi and fantasy hardcore readers are never going to be fully represented... Gotta have them literary picks to appeal to the masses and try to drive book sales. 🙃
Sky full of elephants was great but I’m confused as what it’s doing there
! It’s more of speculative fiction to me
I was thinking last year we needed a spec fiction category! But if they don’t want to do that, some of these could easily just fit in lit fic 😩 That’s really great to hear you enjoyed sky full of elephants though!
Goodreads pretending hard sci-fi doesn’t exist
Ikr, it’s a bummer 😞
I'm disappointed Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang didn't make it for fantasy. It was just traditionally published and the entire fantasy category is so underwhelming
Your fantasy predictions were leaning to epic fantasy, the list is far more historical / literary / lite fantasy
The list is 100% going by shelf adds, I predicted 17 of the fantasy plus 2 that were in romantasy, definitely not my favourites but they are now saying most popular not best so…
this list was a MESS
It’s gotten out of hand atp 😭
First..
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Booktube is so trash, there's only 30 Booktubers who actually read what they like and talk about it.
What a weird comment. All booktubers read what they like and talk about it. Showing disappointment for nominees on an annual awards list doesn’t change that lol
I’m feeling the same. I’ve read a lot of front-list fantasy this year but very little of what I’ve read and very few of my favourites are included! (Although I just wasn’t interested in some of the big releases!). Sci-fi is def getting more and more literary and less for genre readers. Would love to see more space opera on there! At least Adrian Tchaikovsky made it on with a nom.