looking back, hate is way too strong a word for the thirteenth child so i took it out of the thumbnail! that was more of a case of a book not meeting my expectations but metal slinger and bristol? actually bad. metal slinger was genuinely unreadable. i will never get over her multiple uses of 'in complete juxtaposition" - is this why reading comprehension is going down? because we're being written to as if we're actually stupid?
Not to be all tinfoil hat theory but I do wonder if the rise of ChatGPT and unnecessary AI features in software that spell things out for people like they're stupid and can't make judgements for themselves (the AI generated summary feature under TH-cam videos?? Hello??) has a trickle down effect in media. The "show don't tell" principle is especially glaring in movies and TV when it's ignored and you get a big exposition dump instead of moving plot scenes (looking at you, D+ Percy Jackson series). Technology is meant to enrich our lives, but not when it assumes everyone is stupid to begin with. When it's used so often to the point this mentality makes its way into a book, a good editor would point this out and reject the manuscript straight off the bat, but knowing how cutthroat the publishing industry has become in the age of social media I can bet they're willing to forego editors as long as they can get some slop out to drive up competition.
The real conspirscy theory is maybe publishers dont want to pay editors so theyre using chatgpt of making editors use it to then overload them with work
Your discussion about craft really resonates with me! I'm a writing teacher and I teach people how to show, not tell in writing. There's actually a fantastic video on TH-cam that I use that also references what you mentioned with Chuck Palahniuk! Telling can be okay but I dislike when the writer writes as if the audience can't understand anything. Trust your reader -- it makes the writing much better.
I absolutely loved Metal Slinger. I’m glad I’m not super critical because Metal Slinger grabbed me from chapter 1 and didn’t let go. Didn’t see the twist coming, which hardly ever happens, and the cliffhanger has me wanting to read the second book. It was an easy and entertaining read.
Omg the heavy judgment on grammatical/spelling mistakes is soooo real!! I open a published book and there’s a glaring error!?? Immediate close for me tbh
Say no more, I've been getting those constantly lately I read the first two books of the Zodiac Academy - horrible grammar, same grammatical mistakes repeated throughout both books Now I'm reading Say You Swear because everyone has been recommending it; lots of spelling errors and weird mistakes such as "We road in silence" (instead of rode) and I'm there like 🥴🥴🥴
@@myweakness1883this!! How do these even happen?! Even flippin' google docs would notice stuff like "We road in silence". What, did all editors get wiped out like the Jedi??
This is my pet peeve. One or two errors? Stuff happens. I read a trilogy last year where errors were consistent across the books, and every time, it took me out of the story and made me wonder about the writer's skill and editing process, because to me, if you are so serious that you want to publish, you should probably know the difference between homonyms, how to write a verb in the correct tense, and have things edited by someone who has those skills if you do not. It was a popular trilogy. I could not find any other people who mentioned it. They must have listened to the audiobook.
I went to school for book arts and design and the cut throat critiques of my professors didn’t prepare me for the seemingly lax af world of current publishing! I always feel like I’m not “good enough” to publish and then see books like this getting good reads awards and hyped on social media. Like honestly thanks for the confidence boost I really should be a writer tbh
I taught middle school English for 20 years. What you’re sharing about Metal Slinger literally reminds me of my students’ writing - weird time jumps, tell don’t show, unexpected reveals without any foreshadowing. It was a little too close to reality for me! There was nothing to like about what you showed us, so it’s no wonder you hated it! KU at its best! 😂
I feel like you’re thinking of Little Thieves by Margaret Owen! The fmc is the 13th child of a 13th child and her mom thinks she’s bad luck and brings her to the crossroads and gives her to Death and Fortune to raise.
@@capercaillieskye Yes I believe I said it was a Grimm fairytale in the video but I was asking what the other retelling I had read was called and the answer is Little Thieves :)
Commented this and then saw someone beat me to it, haha. Little Thieves is based on The Goose Girl, which is probably why it didn't come up when Cari was googling.
I hated the thirteenth child sm - the main love interest called her a wh*re in front of a bunch of people then later said “my bad” and she’s like “there’s no way he could like ME! Poor ol’ me” 🤮
There is nothing more satisfying than finding a small group of people who hate a book for the exact same reasons as you do, except for finding a large group of course.
YES, i totally agree with what you said about successful YA fantasy writers failing at writing Adult fantasy! it makes no sense, i can’t imagine what the difference between the two is IN THEIR MINDS that makes the quality sooo different.
You’re a lot kinder than me. If a “twist” (especially in first person) involves hiding information from the reader that would give it away, it’s not a good twist. It’s a cheap twist.
Girl, we turn to YOU when WE'RE down ❤ And you're just in time for me because I spent 2 hours today explaining to my boss that we are going wayyy over budget 🙃
«also difficult to explain but they’re having ghost sex» absolutely sent me lol I also love it when romantasy/fantasy authors try to come up with quirky names but end up (maybe accidentally) using foreign language words, cause ’Acker‘ straight up just means ’farmland‘ in German, a very sexy name indeed.
I work as a bookseller and writer and the majority of the romantasy that comes into the store is SO poorly written, paced, edited, etc that I genuinely don't know what publishers are thinking. There ARE good authors out there! And fantasy with a subplot of romance is one of my favorite things to read, but these books read like poorly written romances with the fantasy made into paper-thin window dressing. Also, the fanfic-->original work pipeline is a curse and needs to stop. Attempting to retroactively create characters and worldbuilding for a story that is already written will always feel clunky and flat. The fanfic is always better! Anyways I will stop ranting in your comments lol
Thank you SO MUCH for doing a review of The Courting of Bristol Keats. I finished it a few days ago and had no one to scream to about how I do not understand how it made it past an editor. In the middle of the book I literally stopped and was like.. wait what are we even doing? What are we training for?? I’ve lost the plot completely… and you’re so right about how all the plot twists and betrayals were just in Bristol’s eyes and not the readers so the stakes are exceedingly low and nothing keeps you engaged. I was so devastated, this was truly an instance where I judged a book by its cover and it came back to bite me
b/c romantasy is so high demand and popular it’s quantity over quality rn. I tread carefully with what I pick up. I can’t take anymore three star at best reads.
your thoughts on the twist at the end of metal slinger is exactly how i felt when i read the prison healer back when it came out. the twist at the end makes no sense based on the main character's thoughts and there's like no foreshadowing that i can remember lol
I absolutely love your long videos. I like to watch while I shower or doing something that's about to take me forever to do and I'm dreading lol. I find so much joy in listening to you talk about books. I love that you don't give star ratings and love how honest you are. I also love your other channel. It's so inspiring seeing you traveling all around Korea (or anywhere really) by yourself! I'm so anxious doing things on my own in places I've never been. You have such a lovely energy that I find so comforting to watch/listen to. You are awesome🫶🏼
NEVER been this early. Literally saw the countdown on Insta stories when there were 20 seconds left and immediately headed over here to watch. This kind of video is the exact thing I need right now, so thank YOU Cari for providing us with amazing content.
You're videos are such a comfort watch so in fact, THANK YOU for all that you do! I skipped the Mary E Pearson section of this video as I'm just starting it now but seeing the title of this video.. lol
I started Metal Slinger a couple of days ago and know exactly what you’re talking about. I have so many notes on how poorly it was written. It defiantly could have used a couple of additional editing phases. I’m going to finish it (yes I am a masochist) and I do feel like the writing gets a bit better as the story goes on. I’m 44% of the way through and there aren’t as many parts that make cringe now as there were in the first quarter. Maybe my mind is starting to adapt and ignore the issues now.
Girl I am so GLAD you agree with me on Bristol Keats. I was so so so excited about the release that I would go to a bookstore daily that had the pre-release just to read it before it actually got released. I had left it at 73% on my kindle and was planning on going back to it but you basically told us what happens so I was like phew, don’t have to suffer through that anymore 😂. What annoyed me so much about the book was that 1) it straight up tried to copy cruel prince (Stephanie Garber apparently called Pearson the new “faerie queen”) I mean, hello, Elphame??? 2) The romance was so non-sensical and stupid. When he said he loved her I was beyond confused. Like why? What’d she do that was so loveable? Hella odd. 3) if the chapters weren’t titled with the POVs I genuinely would not know who’s POV I was reading because it all read exactly the same. 4) The sex scene was awful 😶 something about bjs in books gives me an ick so intense I can’t help myself. That was my breaking point tbh 😂
I can feel your frustration through the screen, I've been in a reading slump these days and things I find are just "not it", I'm sorry you had a bad book experience, but why is it healing to see someone express their emotions like I'm finding an outlet. Decided to comment right after watching you commenting on Metal Slinger plot twist and how it doesn't logically lead to it. When it comes to twists and turns nowadays I always remember specific scene from the Glass Onion movie, when we see Janelle Monae for the first time, she's sitting in front of the puzzle box and her head is wrapped in a towel. Then she smashes the box with a hammer. This is one of those finest moments I think that are so small but also smart, showing, but also concealing, because before you find out that (spoiler warning for those who haven't watched) this is not who we think, but a twin sister, looking back it immediately starts to make sense the way it was presented, towel doesn't show her hair color, maybe her smart twin would find amusing solving the puzzle but she is did not bother. And it's full of nice small details that are simple, but they're working. Now, I'm off finishing the video.
You read the Metal Slinger synopsis and the words “that sounds dumb” came out of my mouth. Then you were reading and said, “oh there is boats!” And I thought that was part of the book for a second hahaha
totally felt the disappointment with metal slinger, i dnfed like 50 pages in. i’m in college and do NOT have time to read things that aren’t executed properly or with care
I actually had to go back and relisten and still have no idea what you were talking about when reading the synopsis for metal slinger 😅😅 my brain had no idea if that was separate sentences or one really long run on
First time watching your content, and I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did. I stayed throughout the whole video and subscribed as well! As someone who’s usually quite picky about fantasy, I really appreciate the pain you went through for us. Looking forward to more of your amazing content! ❤
i cant wait to see your review for hollow and the haunted!! the author is working on the second one now and im so excited😭 the ending had me in a daze for like a week!!
Your videos introduced me to Erin A. Craig's books. I was about to get The Thirteenth Child but flipped to a random page and saw the phrase "your authentic self," which just took me right out of any semblance of a fairy-tale retelling setting. "Your true self" would not have but had such a sharp "nope" reaction. I enjoyed watching you talk about your experience with it.
I can’t explain why, but your book videos are just so comforting to watch. I was so excited when I got the new video notification. Thank you for making them. These are scary times, and it makes life a little bit easier ❤ ps I think a lot of your views on your long videos are me watching them a million times because I love falling asleep to them and I start where I fell asleep last lol
THANK YOU for breaking down telling v showing. I feel like Sarah j Maas often falls into the over telling v showing trap…it’s a real pet peeve of mine.
This video is pure gold! I always love your reading vlogs and especially enjoyed the crave series because of your commentary and I seeing you rant is just the best! I WAS CACKLING the whole way through
Agreed on Metal Slinger. I struggled through to the end because it was so hyped and people said it had an amazing twist at the end but you can't have an unreliable narrator in first person pov. And yes, I was also thinking 'what about the people in the cages, are you just going to accept that without digging further?" and I also thought it was wrong of her to go to Acker's kingdom without seeing her mother and being in a position of power/equality derived from her position as a Princess. Surely you should think to learn about your people and your responsiblities to them.
Hey Cari, going to graduate my M.D program in a month - just wanted to say thanks for having brought me so much comfort throughout the years, and helping me find good books for the limited time I have had for reading! ❤ (Also, I love your inclusivity and strong moral values - thank you for being a force of good!)
i primarily read sapphic/wlw books or continue through my reread of a childhood series i enjoyed and still care about a ton, so i heavily rely on other people's vids about books they've read to keep me in the loop when i'm too busy reading books wayy below my current reading level. i'm sorry that these reads were all misses! it happens, so hopefully the next three will be more enjoyable!
Thank you for your service Cari ! 😂 I was considering adding Metal Slinger to my TBR so you saved me from a very painful read ! Looooved your very thourough rant about it, it's all I'll ever need to know about this book ! However... I read One for My Enemy based on your recommandation and other booktubers and I feel like I'm alone in this opinion but I really did NOT enjoy this book. I loved the first 100 pages but then people died and came back to life and we were never told how that was possible, there were no consequences even though it's like the most extreme magic out there to bring someone back. So I just stopped caring... All the characters made terrible choices and I felt like the author really disrespected some of her characters : the sisters that aren't protagonist all literally described in one paragraph - so she can tell us the relevant bit of magic we need to know about to further the plot - and that's it ! she moves on ! That's not how you introduce characters. The writing is very lyrical which is why I loved the beginning of the book but the plot was not plotting, the characters motivations didn't work and the magic system made no sense. please does anyone out there share my opinion on this book ?!
I 100% agree. I enjoyed the first half of One for My Enemy and had to force myself to finish the rest. Too many useless characters, the feud didn't make sense, too little action, magic system was messy, and there was no pay off. It was a case of so many (flowery) words yet saying so little. Overall, very boring.
I'm suffering exactly the same issues you had with Metal Slinger right now. Alex Aster is also guilty of many of the writing issues you found and for some reason I've decided it is my duty to read the entire Lightlark series (and the third book just came out). There is a typo on page one of it for crying out loud, and god forbid anyone teach her what a page break is. So, in solidarity: I feel you.
"Respectfully - There's a war going on." is the line that broke me into giggles during my lunch break.. And as I typed this: Ghost sex. We salute you for being the one to brave the ridiculous at times.
I'm currently reading Bristol Keats with a group of people who all got send a review copy and in German it's even 700+ pages in total, and I'm also liking it less and less. I didn't really have expectations (only the hope that it would be similar to Cruel Prince) because I didn't know Pearson's work before, but I'm so sad and disappointed as well. Not fully through the book yet (still 25% to go), but I just ... I so hoped for this to be as emotional and with strong characters as Cruel Prince, and instead it's just ... this. But your video does help motivate me for the last 25% now, even though I know it won't get better, so thank you for that! :)
I remember you raving about “Six of Crows” and I ended up picking it up. I have to say what an amazing read, the characters, the story line, everything. The second book fell apart once or twice in certain spots but kept to the strength of the first book. I ended up reading the Grisha Verse right after and I hate to say it but it was so predictable, its main plot line. Some things happening around it were fantastic. I have to say in my opinion I would skip the main storyline and stay in Ketterdam.
i just finished daughter of the forest (which i added to my tbr after your autumn recs video) and oh my goodness i’ll never be the same. this book changed my brain chemistry thank u for the recommendation 🥰 excited(and slightly scared) to continue the series
Spoilery thoughts on The Thirteenth Child . . . . . . . I think that more than death itself, the book was discussing more of what you do with your life, and the gifts you have. There were some passages where Hazel asked how do people fill their years of life, or how she was the catalyst for Leo to do something with his life, and his influence and reach. It was also seen in the epilogue, how she recounts her life. How at the moment of death, all one thinks about is they want more of life, whether to live more or just a moment to recount and remember everything. I agree with you that the last chapter and epilogue was so good. And that it was episodic, but it could be because we're sort of following her from the time she was born. Honestly, i thought i was done with it at 30 to 50 pages to the end because why are there still a lot of things happening? We could've gone through with this 50 pages earlier. LOL. I'm not sure i LIKED it, but i quite liked it, especially some passages, and i really liked the epilogue.
21:29 the library system I work for buys a copy for about every 5 holds! I work for a big city library so we have lots to work with but many libraries have systems like this, which is why the copy numbers can be a bit deceptive sometimes!
I am feeling your pain! I hate when I get not-great books in a row. 😢 Some books I recommend are The Marriage Bureau for Rich People and Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling are some recent faves of mine.
Last weekend I watched the first Terminator movie for the first time and liked it a lot, and decided to watch the rest of the franchise... So I had some similar thoughts to what you´re saying here about the "show, dont tell". In the first movie all dialogs are very effective and serve a purpose. All whats happening we´re shown first. And because of this effectiveness all lines are so memorable. I can quote it although I´ve watched it once. And the rest of the franchise, well, I hardly can remember what happened there although I watched them lake 2 days ago because it´s overloaded with information, action, etc...
i hate making accusations based on just vibes - but metal slinger felt... kinda like ai was involved 😅😅😅😅 and like i seriously hate making accusations like that but it just read so inhuman to me and i had to dnf because it just made me feel dumb when i know for a fact it wasnt me , it was the book itself
I feel your pain. When you were reading Metal Slinger. I haven't read it yet, but I am one of those ppl who will have a really hard time enjoying a story -- even if it has a decent plot -- if it's very poorly edited. It just gets all up and in the way of my ability to immerse myself. I can ignore the occasional typo if the actual wording of the story is decent.
In themes of Faerie doors, I recommend The Scholar and the last faerie door very very much! I've read it recently and it's at the top of my favorite reads from this year!
On a completely irrelevant note to this amazing video your hair looks beautiful, I had to rewind in parts to hear what you were saying and not just look at you in awe (I refer you to an example 59:52)
How you talked about the ende of Metal Slinger is giving the "Kim there's people that are dying" video. Also I'm begging romantasy to have a magic bond that doesn't strip the character of all agency. I believe it can be done
I’m so glad you made this video 😅 I DNFed Metal Slinger and felt so disappointed that I didn’t like it and couldn’t figure out what the hype was about lol
Not me screaming 'Not the Fated Mate trope!' in the middle of my kitchen while I'm making dinner. Loved getting to listen to rants about 2 convoluted books to get me through my chores.
looking back, hate is way too strong a word for the thirteenth child so i took it out of the thumbnail! that was more of a case of a book not meeting my expectations but metal slinger and bristol? actually bad.
metal slinger was genuinely unreadable. i will never get over her multiple uses of 'in complete juxtaposition" - is this why reading comprehension is going down? because we're being written to as if we're actually stupid?
Not to be all tinfoil hat theory but I do wonder if the rise of ChatGPT and unnecessary AI features in software that spell things out for people like they're stupid and can't make judgements for themselves (the AI generated summary feature under TH-cam videos?? Hello??) has a trickle down effect in media. The "show don't tell" principle is especially glaring in movies and TV when it's ignored and you get a big exposition dump instead of moving plot scenes (looking at you, D+ Percy Jackson series). Technology is meant to enrich our lives, but not when it assumes everyone is stupid to begin with. When it's used so often to the point this mentality makes its way into a book, a good editor would point this out and reject the manuscript straight off the bat, but knowing how cutthroat the publishing industry has become in the age of social media I can bet they're willing to forego editors as long as they can get some slop out to drive up competition.
The real conspirscy theory is maybe publishers dont want to pay editors so theyre using chatgpt of making editors use it to then overload them with work
Your discussion about craft really resonates with me! I'm a writing teacher and I teach people how to show, not tell in writing. There's actually a fantastic video on TH-cam that I use that also references what you mentioned with Chuck Palahniuk! Telling can be okay but I dislike when the writer writes as if the audience can't understand anything. Trust your reader -- it makes the writing much better.
The way you describe Metal Slinger sounds like the book has been written by AI 😂
I absolutely loved Metal Slinger. I’m glad I’m not super critical because Metal Slinger grabbed me from chapter 1 and didn’t let go. Didn’t see the twist coming, which hardly ever happens, and the cliffhanger has me wanting to read the second book. It was an easy and entertaining read.
Omg the heavy judgment on grammatical/spelling mistakes is soooo real!! I open a published book and there’s a glaring error!?? Immediate close for me tbh
On the first page too 🥲😮💨
Say no more, I've been getting those constantly lately
I read the first two books of the Zodiac Academy - horrible grammar, same grammatical mistakes repeated throughout both books
Now I'm reading Say You Swear because everyone has been recommending it; lots of spelling errors and weird mistakes such as "We road in silence" (instead of rode) and I'm there like 🥴🥴🥴
@@myweakness1883this!! How do these even happen?! Even flippin' google docs would notice stuff like "We road in silence". What, did all editors get wiped out like the Jedi??
This is my pet peeve. One or two errors? Stuff happens. I read a trilogy last year where errors were consistent across the books, and every time, it took me out of the story and made me wonder about the writer's skill and editing process, because to me, if you are so serious that you want to publish, you should probably know the difference between homonyms, how to write a verb in the correct tense, and have things edited by someone who has those skills if you do not. It was a popular trilogy. I could not find any other people who mentioned it. They must have listened to the audiobook.
I went to school for book arts and design and the cut throat critiques of my professors didn’t prepare me for the seemingly lax af world of current publishing! I always feel like I’m not “good enough” to publish and then see books like this getting good reads awards and hyped on social media. Like honestly thanks for the confidence boost I really should be a writer tbh
Nothing like creating a literal magic bond to make sure your mc falls in the love with the love interest because there’s no chemistry between them.
“i need to rant” I NEED TO CLICK
THANK YOU!
cutting from the complete despair that something will be a duology, and thus, continue to happy Cari excited to read books is deeply funny
i was so innocent
“Get off my kindle” 😂 the way I waste no time removing terrible books too
“Im plenty hungry enough” killed me, it sounds like a sentence from a childrens book thats trying to teach synonyms
41:13 🎶Keep a little dirt under my pillow for the dirt man 🎶
I was waiting for this, thank you 😂
I taught middle school English for 20 years. What you’re sharing about Metal Slinger literally reminds me of my students’ writing - weird time jumps, tell don’t show, unexpected reveals without any foreshadowing. It was a little too close to reality for me! There was nothing to like about what you showed us, so it’s no wonder you hated it! KU at its best! 😂
I feel like you’re thinking of Little Thieves by Margaret Owen! The fmc is the 13th child of a 13th child and her mom thinks she’s bad luck and brings her to the crossroads and gives her to Death and Fortune to raise.
YES OMG THANK YOU
oh my gosh i loooove that book
@@capercaillieskye Yes I believe I said it was a Grimm fairytale in the video but I was asking what the other retelling I had read was called and the answer is Little Thieves :)
Commented this and then saw someone beat me to it, haha. Little Thieves is based on The Goose Girl, which is probably why it didn't come up when Cari was googling.
I hated the thirteenth child sm - the main love interest called her a wh*re in front of a bunch of people then later said “my bad” and she’s like “there’s no way he could like ME! Poor ol’ me” 🤮
For real, the kindle popular highlights make me roll my eyes SO HARD sometimes.
There is nothing more satisfying than finding a small group of people who hate a book for the exact same reasons as you do, except for finding a large group of course.
i listen to your videos while making dinner and i think i’ve pavloved myself into being hungry as soon as i hear your voice
And when I needed her most, she posted. Curled up watching after taking a stressful exam. Thank you!
hope it went well!!!
YES, i totally agree with what you said about successful YA fantasy writers failing at writing Adult fantasy! it makes no sense, i can’t imagine what the difference between the two is IN THEIR MINDS that makes the quality sooo different.
Even miss holly black couldnt do it 😭😭😭
lighting up my candles, lying in my bed, and watching Cari, yessss
omg :'''')
You’re a lot kinder than me. If a “twist” (especially in first person) involves hiding information from the reader that would give it away, it’s not a good twist. It’s a cheap twist.
this is why jeneva rose and I have the biggest freaking beef
'I TOLD YOU THERE WERE BOATS' the enthusiasm, the vindication, I love it
Girl, we turn to YOU when WE'RE down ❤ And you're just in time for me because I spent 2 hours today explaining to my boss that we are going wayyy over budget 🙃
noooo omg good luck to you :'''''')
«also difficult to explain but they’re having ghost sex» absolutely sent me lol
I also love it when romantasy/fantasy authors try to come up with quirky names but end up (maybe accidentally) using foreign language words, cause ’Acker‘ straight up just means ’farmland‘ in German, a very sexy name indeed.
Hey, the ladies love large tracts of land.
He do be tilling
if you watch Anime you are so used to this lol
I work as a bookseller and writer and the majority of the romantasy that comes into the store is SO poorly written, paced, edited, etc that I genuinely don't know what publishers are thinking. There ARE good authors out there! And fantasy with a subplot of romance is one of my favorite things to read, but these books read like poorly written romances with the fantasy made into paper-thin window dressing. Also, the fanfic-->original work pipeline is a curse and needs to stop. Attempting to retroactively create characters and worldbuilding for a story that is already written will always feel clunky and flat. The fanfic is always better! Anyways I will stop ranting in your comments lol
Could you please recommend some of tbe good ones please? Help a girl out 😩😭🙏🏻
Literally. It’s not fantasy with a romance subplot anymore, it’s romance with a fantasy subplot.
You: kai has a little stash of dirt
My brain immedietly: I have a jar of diiirt😂😂
personally, i thought of dale from king of the hill's "pocket sand!" attack
Thank you SO MUCH for doing a review of The Courting of Bristol Keats. I finished it a few days ago and had no one to scream to about how I do not understand how it made it past an editor. In the middle of the book I literally stopped and was like.. wait what are we even doing? What are we training for?? I’ve lost the plot completely… and you’re so right about how all the plot twists and betrayals were just in Bristol’s eyes and not the readers so the stakes are exceedingly low and nothing keeps you engaged. I was so devastated, this was truly an instance where I judged a book by its cover and it came back to bite me
b/c romantasy is so high demand and popular it’s quantity over quality rn. I tread carefully with what I pick up. I can’t take anymore three star at best reads.
Reminds me of the time everyone and their uncle was publishing YA dystopian novels. The quality got progressively more atrocious 😢
I knowwwwww I've been reading fantasy books released before the romantasy boom to combat this. I cannot trust reviews right now
I'm normally more pro DNF, but everything after 59:28 just made my night.
your thoughts on the twist at the end of metal slinger is exactly how i felt when i read the prison healer back when it came out. the twist at the end makes no sense based on the main character's thoughts and there's like no foreshadowing that i can remember lol
Omg yes EXACTLY
i feel like when cari retells the story it's actually good
I absolutely love your long videos. I like to watch while I shower or doing something that's about to take me forever to do and I'm dreading lol. I find so much joy in listening to you talk about books. I love that you don't give star ratings and love how honest you are. I also love your other channel. It's so inspiring seeing you traveling all around Korea (or anywhere really) by yourself! I'm so anxious doing things on my own in places I've never been. You have such a lovely energy that I find so comforting to watch/listen to. You are awesome🫶🏼
This was so painful to witness cari 😭😭😭😭 i kept thinking "just dnf the book!!!!! Stop torturing yourself!!!"
Everyone say "Thank you Cari for this scrumptious food 🥰🥰"
hahahhah 🥰
THANK YOU CARI FOR THIS SCRUMPTIOUS FOOD
NEVER been this early. Literally saw the countdown on Insta stories when there were 20 seconds left and immediately headed over here to watch. This kind of video is the exact thing I need right now, so thank YOU Cari for providing us with amazing content.
wahhhhh thank YOU!!
I love watching your longer vlogs while I crochet 💙💙💙
yeeee thank you!
I do too 🌟
Please do another christmas romcom reading vlog this year!! Its one of my favourite videos of yours hahahd
You're videos are such a comfort watch so in fact, THANK YOU for all that you do! I skipped the Mary E Pearson section of this video as I'm just starting it now but seeing the title of this video.. lol
good luck to you hahahha
three in a row is crazy i’m so sorry. i hope you found better reads😭💔
I SUPER appreciate the commentary on, as a writer, trusting that your reader is smart enough
whispers * i can't spell * hearing that as I procrastinate writing my book made me feel very seen, thank you
the sigh while looking at “dang rabbits” got me 😂😂😂
i refuse to believe women sleep with a man named "messer". suspension of disbelief shattered
It being the German word for “knife” (or “measurer” but I find that less plausible when it comes to intentionality) makes it even more cheesy.
@@sandraschafskaese8471 it's giving the villain in 50 Shades being named "Jack Hyde"
@@sandraschafskaese8471oohhhhh so he’s definitely the real real love interest considering the title
I started Metal Slinger a couple of days ago and know exactly what you’re talking about. I have so many notes on how poorly it was written. It defiantly could have used a couple of additional editing phases. I’m going to finish it (yes I am a masochist) and I do feel like the writing gets a bit better as the story goes on. I’m 44% of the way through and there aren’t as many parts that make cringe now as there were in the first quarter. Maybe my mind is starting to adapt and ignore the issues now.
AN HOUR long cari reading vlog I AM SO HAPPY
Girl I am so GLAD you agree with me on Bristol Keats. I was so so so excited about the release that I would go to a bookstore daily that had the pre-release just to read it before it actually got released. I had left it at 73% on my kindle and was planning on going back to it but you basically told us what happens so I was like phew, don’t have to suffer through that anymore 😂. What annoyed me so much about the book was that 1) it straight up tried to copy cruel prince (Stephanie Garber apparently called Pearson the new “faerie queen”) I mean, hello, Elphame??? 2) The romance was so non-sensical and stupid. When he said he loved her I was beyond confused. Like why? What’d she do that was so loveable? Hella odd. 3) if the chapters weren’t titled with the POVs I genuinely would not know who’s POV I was reading because it all read exactly the same. 4) The sex scene was awful 😶 something about bjs in books gives me an ick so intense I can’t help myself. That was my breaking point tbh 😂
I can feel your frustration through the screen, I've been in a reading slump these days and things I find are just "not it", I'm sorry you had a bad book experience, but why is it healing to see someone express their emotions like I'm finding an outlet.
Decided to comment right after watching you commenting on Metal Slinger plot twist and how it doesn't logically lead to it.
When it comes to twists and turns nowadays I always remember specific scene from the Glass Onion movie, when we see Janelle Monae for the first time, she's sitting in front of the puzzle box and her head is wrapped in a towel. Then she smashes the box with a hammer. This is one of those finest moments I think that are so small but also smart, showing, but also concealing, because before you find out that (spoiler warning for those who haven't watched) this is not who we think, but a twin sister, looking back it immediately starts to make sense the way it was presented, towel doesn't show her hair color, maybe her smart twin would find amusing solving the puzzle but she is did not bother. And it's full of nice small details that are simple, but they're working.
Now, I'm off finishing the video.
Acker and Messer are like random german words. It's so funny to call your love interest "field" 😂
You read the Metal Slinger synopsis and the words “that sounds dumb” came out of my mouth. Then you were reading and said, “oh there is boats!” And I thought that was part of the book for a second hahaha
totally felt the disappointment with metal slinger, i dnfed like 50 pages in. i’m in college and do NOT have time to read things that aren’t executed properly or with care
to me, it felt like a book that was written to recreate every other book already on the market
I actually had to go back and relisten and still have no idea what you were talking about when reading the synopsis for metal slinger 😅😅 my brain had no idea if that was separate sentences or one really long run on
Cari can u start a side career reading audiobooks I love when you read the parts out loud
First time watching your content, and I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did. I stayed throughout the whole video and subscribed as well!
As someone who’s usually quite picky about fantasy, I really appreciate the pain you went through for us. Looking forward to more of your amazing content! ❤
WAKE UP EVERYBODY!!!! NEW CARI VIDEO JUST DROPPED!!!! I have never heard of these books so I’m excited to get into all the juicy details.
i cant wait to see your review for hollow and the haunted!! the author is working on the second one now and im so excited😭 the ending had me in a daze for like a week!!
spoiler but i looooved!
Your videos introduced me to Erin A. Craig's books. I was about to get The Thirteenth Child but flipped to a random page and saw the phrase "your authentic self," which just took me right out of any semblance of a fairy-tale retelling setting. "Your true self" would not have but had such a sharp "nope" reaction. I enjoyed watching you talk about your experience with it.
I can’t explain why, but your book videos are just so comforting to watch. I was so excited when I got the new video notification. Thank you for making them. These are scary times, and it makes life a little bit easier ❤ ps I think a lot of your views on your long videos are me watching them a million times because I love falling asleep to them and I start where I fell asleep last lol
THANK YOU for breaking down telling v showing. I feel like Sarah j Maas often falls into the over telling v showing trap…it’s a real pet peeve of mine.
This video is pure gold! I always love your reading vlogs and especially enjoyed the crave series because of your commentary and I seeing you rant is just the best! I WAS CACKLING the whole way through
Making soup rn and watching Cari is the perfect fall night like !?
perfect cari video for a chilly fall night!! so excited to watch this
The need for more book recommendations is always high!
sadly this is a vid of anti-recommendations lol
Agreed on Metal Slinger. I struggled through to the end because it was so hyped and people said it had an amazing twist at the end but you can't have an unreliable narrator in first person pov. And yes, I was also thinking 'what about the people in the cages, are you just going to accept that without digging further?" and I also thought it was wrong of her to go to Acker's kingdom without seeing her mother and being in a position of power/equality derived from her position as a Princess. Surely you should think to learn about your people and your responsiblities to them.
Your voice talking about books in the background is the thing driving my studies forward at the moment, I have so much to thank you for!
I can't tell you how much I appreciate your reviews. You always put so much thought into your feedback!!
I am SO excited for you to read Vita Nostra! Dyachenko's books are very intense and deep, they drag you in and don't let go, I hope you'll love them!
I love your channel so much! Your plot breakdowns are AMAZING❤❤❤❤❤
thank you so much!!!
Hey Cari, going to graduate my M.D program in a month - just wanted to say thanks for having brought me so much comfort throughout the years, and helping me find good books for the limited time I have had for reading! ❤
(Also, I love your inclusivity and strong moral values - thank you for being a force of good!)
Congrats on your graduation!!! 🎉🎉🎉
As a German the question on the bread is very valid
this is like watching documentary footage when you know the story ends in tragedy
i primarily read sapphic/wlw books or continue through my reread of a childhood series i enjoyed and still care about a ton, so i heavily rely on other people's vids about books they've read to keep me in the loop when i'm too busy reading books wayy below my current reading level. i'm sorry that these reads were all misses! it happens, so hopefully the next three will be more enjoyable!
“Screw the boats!”
“I told you there were boats!”
😂😂😂
Thank you for your service Cari ! 😂 I was considering adding Metal Slinger to my TBR so you saved me from a very painful read ! Looooved your very thourough rant about it, it's all I'll ever need to know about this book !
However... I read One for My Enemy based on your recommandation and other booktubers and I feel like I'm alone in this opinion but I really did NOT enjoy this book.
I loved the first 100 pages but then people died and came back to life and we were never told how that was possible, there were no consequences even though it's like the most extreme magic out there to bring someone back. So I just stopped caring... All the characters made terrible choices and I felt like the author really disrespected some of her characters : the sisters that aren't protagonist all literally described in one paragraph - so she can tell us the relevant bit of magic we need to know about to further the plot - and that's it ! she moves on ! That's not how you introduce characters. The writing is very lyrical which is why I loved the beginning of the book but the plot was not plotting, the characters motivations didn't work and the magic system made no sense.
please does anyone out there share my opinion on this book ?!
I 100% agree. I enjoyed the first half of One for My Enemy and had to force myself to finish the rest. Too many useless characters, the feud didn't make sense, too little action, magic system was messy, and there was no pay off. It was a case of so many (flowery) words yet saying so little. Overall, very boring.
I'm suffering exactly the same issues you had with Metal Slinger right now. Alex Aster is also guilty of many of the writing issues you found and for some reason I've decided it is my duty to read the entire Lightlark series (and the third book just came out). There is a typo on page one of it for crying out loud, and god forbid anyone teach her what a page break is. So, in solidarity: I feel you.
"Respectfully - There's a war going on." is the line that broke me into giggles during my lunch break..
And as I typed this: Ghost sex.
We salute you for being the one to brave the ridiculous at times.
I am a simple woman, cari posts a video and that make me happy
Oh man, Cari took another one for the team! ❤🎉
The view out cari's window at night is so gorgeous 🌃
I found The Courting of Bristol Keats to be so good! I loved the omniscient view point and I got to hear Mary E Pearson talk about the book tonight!
I'm currently reading Bristol Keats with a group of people who all got send a review copy and in German it's even 700+ pages in total, and I'm also liking it less and less. I didn't really have expectations (only the hope that it would be similar to Cruel Prince) because I didn't know Pearson's work before, but I'm so sad and disappointed as well. Not fully through the book yet (still 25% to go), but I just ... I so hoped for this to be as emotional and with strong characters as Cruel Prince, and instead it's just ... this. But your video does help motivate me for the last 25% now, even though I know it won't get better, so thank you for that! :)
CARIIIIII….you were dearly missed ❤❤
thank you :''')
I remember you raving about “Six of Crows” and I ended up picking it up. I have to say what an amazing read, the characters, the story line, everything. The second book fell apart once or twice in certain spots but kept to the strength of the first book.
I ended up reading the Grisha Verse right after and I hate to say it but it was so predictable, its main plot line. Some things happening around it were fantastic.
I have to say in my opinion I would skip the main storyline and stay in Ketterdam.
books u wanted to love being bad is soooo much worse than a book you expected to be mid being bad 😭😭😭 the disappointment truly enhances the bad
i just finished daughter of the forest (which i added to my tbr after your autumn recs video) and oh my goodness i’ll never be the same. this book changed my brain chemistry thank u for the recommendation 🥰 excited(and slightly scared) to continue the series
Watching your videos is risking my wallet (courtesy of the bookstore) but I love it so much
not this one hopefully lol
@@caricanreadno lol but now I want to read Little Thieves
Spoilery thoughts on The Thirteenth Child
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I think that more than death itself, the book was discussing more of what you do with your life, and the gifts you have. There were some passages where Hazel asked how do people fill their years of life, or how she was the catalyst for Leo to do something with his life, and his influence and reach. It was also seen in the epilogue, how she recounts her life. How at the moment of death, all one thinks about is they want more of life, whether to live more or just a moment to recount and remember everything.
I agree with you that the last chapter and epilogue was so good. And that it was episodic, but it could be because we're sort of following her from the time she was born. Honestly, i thought i was done with it at 30 to 50 pages to the end because why are there still a lot of things happening? We could've gone through with this 50 pages earlier. LOL. I'm not sure i LIKED it, but i quite liked it, especially some passages, and i really liked the epilogue.
Omg! The Blighted Stars was soooo good, I'm so glad a booktuber mentioned it. It deserves some recognition.
I devoured it in 2 days!! It went at such a break-neck pace and the twists were so 🤯🤯🤯
21:29 the library system I work for buys a copy for about every 5 holds! I work for a big city library so we have lots to work with but many libraries have systems like this, which is why the copy numbers can be a bit deceptive sometimes!
SO EXCITED FOR YOU TO READ ANCILLARY JUSTICE!! Ann Leckie is my favorite sci fi author of our current era.
I am feeling your pain! I hate when I get not-great books in a row. 😢
Some books I recommend are The Marriage Bureau for Rich People and Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling are some recent faves of mine.
Every book that you read "so we don't have to" is immediately added to my tbr.
Last weekend I watched the first Terminator movie for the first time and liked it a lot, and decided to watch the rest of the franchise... So I had some similar thoughts to what you´re saying here about the "show, dont tell". In the first movie all dialogs are very effective and serve a purpose. All whats happening we´re shown first. And because of this effectiveness all lines are so memorable. I can quote it although I´ve watched it once. And the rest of the franchise, well, I hardly can remember what happened there although I watched them lake 2 days ago because it´s overloaded with information, action, etc...
The only 13th child of a 13th child I care about is my neighbor, the Jersey Devil.
I'm never gonna read any of these books, but I love hearing you describe them
i hate making accusations based on just vibes - but metal slinger felt... kinda like ai was involved 😅😅😅😅 and like i seriously hate making accusations like that but it just read so inhuman to me and i had to dnf because it just made me feel dumb when i know for a fact it wasnt me , it was the book itself
I feel your pain. When you were reading Metal Slinger. I haven't read it yet, but I am one of those ppl who will have a really hard time enjoying a story -- even if it has a decent plot -- if it's very poorly edited. It just gets all up and in the way of my ability to immerse myself. I can ignore the occasional typo if the actual wording of the story is decent.
In themes of Faerie doors, I recommend The Scholar and the last faerie door very very much! I've read it recently and it's at the top of my favorite reads from this year!
On a completely irrelevant note to this amazing video your hair looks beautiful, I had to rewind in parts to hear what you were saying and not just look at you in awe (I refer you to an example 59:52)
How you talked about the ende of Metal Slinger is giving the "Kim there's people that are dying" video. Also I'm begging romantasy to have a magic bond that doesn't strip the character of all agency. I believe it can be done
Listennnn, my sweet spot for book ratings is between 3.25 and 3.8 ish. IDK why.....It just happens that way.
If I see a 3.7 something, I am STOKED!
You’re videos actually make my day! Your my comfort channel and you got me back into reading ❤ you’re awesome and I can’t wait to see more videos
I’m so glad you made this video 😅 I DNFed Metal Slinger and felt so disappointed that I didn’t like it and couldn’t figure out what the hype was about lol
Not me screaming 'Not the Fated Mate trope!' in the middle of my kitchen while I'm making dinner. Loved getting to listen to rants about 2 convoluted books to get me through my chores.