In fairness, Xiran Jay Zhao is only incidentally a TH-camr. Their main goal was always becoming an author; Iron Widow just happened to be their first novel, and they just happened to get popular on TH-cam before it came out.
yeah! i thought they were a booktuber at first (idk that end of youtube too well, but most of them who get work published seem to write YA dystopia?), but i looked into their channel after i first heard of their book and was surprised on the content! soo good though, v informative and funny
yep. They have the skills and the craft, so it is not surprising that she did better in comparison to all other "influencers", who do it like a side hustle.
yep. the only reason they started their channel was to shit on the new mulan movie lol, that is one of the most hilarious start to a career i have seen. highly recommend their channel to anyone interested in Chinese culture and history edit: pronouns
I think it's safe to say this being Xiran's debut novel (so publishers were less likely to accept something super long from them) is literally the only thing holding it back because they've said themselves they would've made it longer if they could afford to
i would full heartedly recommend jeanette mccurdy’s book for anyone looking for anything to read. it’s definitely something you need to be in a good headspace to read or listen to (if you’re an audiobook person, which i recommend because she’s reading her own book). her book and elton john’s me are the only autobiography books i’ve ever really enjoyed. i just like the feel of theyre talking to you directly about their experiences instead of just blandly explaining things to you like a robot.
Normally I can't stand autobiographies, but her book was definitely one where I had to finish in one sitting on how good it was. It definitely hit me as someone who grew up with my parent acting very similar with pushing all their hopes and dreams on to me with micromanaging my appearance to the point I ended up with an eating disorder at a young age
I listened to the audiobook and it was one of the best memoirs I've read, her delivery in the reading was outstanding as well. Definitely not an easy listen, but a good one. Jenette's an outlier in having a lot to say despite being so young, though. Most TH-camrs are far to young to justify a memoir and really, they're much harder to do well than people think.
Isekai where some guy with an ok but nothing special life getting isekai-ed and with horror realizes he’s in a dystopia not a fantasy harem that was promised
@@vespernight4236 Not completely your description but that reminds me of Saga of Tanya the Evil. Regular businessman dude challenged God when he died and got transported to be stuck in a magical version of the World Wars while God keeps manipulating his/her life to get even worse.
Big agree on the McCurdy book- I’m going through reading it now, and I’ve had to put it down multiple times because I wanted to resurrect her mom in order to kill her again. she’s a surprisingly good writer
You really need to reevaluate what kind of parent you are when your response to your child bringing actual problems and concerns to your attention boil down to "Get over it, you ungrateful bitch!"
In defense of the Hunger Games, I'd argue Katniss not having a specific strong ideology is kind of the point. Politics being background radiation to her more present concerns of protecting her little sister and putting food on the table feels, to me, like a really grounded and non-romanticized depiction of a person living under a longstanding fascist regime. It's not that Katniss never cared about the system, but she's this really pragmatic kid who's been forced to mature and take on the role of a caregiver way too young, so of course her brain is going to be hyper focused on making sure Prim goes to school and eats dinner. Especially in the context of the time, Katniss really felt like she stood out as a grounded and consistent character in contemporary YA.
Plus I’d argue it’s a good show of how authoritarian powers keep themselves in power via lack of info. Katniss knows the Capitol taught history of her country, I’d imagine it’s designed in a way to make the new generations unquestioning of the government
When you read the Hunger Games, you really have to remember that Katniss is 17-18 the entire time, 19 at the oldest, and her primary goal for most of her teenage years was keeping her younger sister alive, fed, and healthy. She's a very well written character, and you can see how she stumbles when she suddenly becomes the face of a rebellion when all she wanted was to go back home to keep making sure her sister stayed alive, fed, and healthy
@@Ross516 Yes!! I think Katniss is very, very thoughtfully written. Suzanne Collins is actually really good at writing kids, especially kids that make sense within their contexts. A great comparison would be to Gregor from Collins' middle grade series. He's also in this archetype of 'reluctant hero who stumbles into it mostly because they're trying to look out for their kid sibling'. I think he's just as well characterized as Katniss, though they're really different characters in really different stories, and Gregor, I think, is much less cynical than Katniss in a way that makes him able to more genuinely accept his role as a hero.
I agree! it very much felt like Collins was examining the perspective of someone who is on ice too thin to be able to risk even thinking about revolution--the focus is on survival and on the sphere of what she, personally, can control. and the consequences of having become a political figure against her will are presented in ways that don't seem unrealistic--and at the end, the revolution takes the one thing she was AVOIDING participating in a revolution to protect away from her. ultimately I think it all comes together to tell a story that examines the effect of getting swept up into revolution--especially violent revolution--on the average person who is just trying to get by in a system that has no love for them.
Yeah, I would argue most people living under dictatorships today don’t have a running monologue about their situation from a sociological perspective. Like even in a political situation, not everyone thinks in explicitly political terms - in any case, it WOULD have to be taught (the language, if not the sentiment)
Frankenstein’s monster is quite literally the opposite of slow. In the original version created by Mary Shelley in the early 1800s, Frankenstein’s monster was described as a beast who coil run frozen arctic plains and swim across large bodies of water, faster than a boat. It took Victor Frankenstein, the creator, a sled of dogs to even reach the monster’s running speed.
Se existe uma grande verdade na Internet é que se você ousar a falar de qualquer coisa mesmo que remotamente relacionada ao Brasil, nós vamos aparecer, para comentar a respeito.
IRON WIDOW IS BECOMING A FILM TOO!! I cannot wait to see Xiran’s vision as a movie. They’ve been given a lot of creative control too, I hope they have fun working with the studio :,0
WHAT REALLY?! I find it hard to read novels (brain wonders when I see big blocks of text without audio) but I've been really wanting to know the story after a friend of mine was praising it (and I also was excited watching their vids). If this is true, I'll definitely have to watch it when it comes out lolol
Every video Kappa hits us with a new clothing style, famous for looking like a depressed librarian, now he looks like a GTA III character. Absolutely wonderful.
I was surprised to see Xiran’s book here! And very happy that he enjoyed it enough to recommend it. I recommend the book also, but their TH-cam channel is also really great! They do interesting breakdowns/analysis on things like Mulan and ATLA from (one) Chinese perspective.
the series of videos on raya feature more perspectives if you wanna see more :) and there's a multitude of video essays by chinese people on kung fu panda that i love
Im glad you included the Jeanette McCurdy book in here. I was actually pleasantly surprised by how well it was written as well as introspective of her relationship with her mother and the healing that comes from after the death of a close yet not so great family member. To be fair though its the only one of the books listed that I did read and even then I started it off reluctantly. Was definitely a surprise for me
You're right that length would have been a benefit, and Xiran has said it on their blog. The publisher made them cut it down so a lot was lost :( I hope some can make it into 2 though.
kappa read Xiran's book? What is this a crossover episode? Oh I'm so ready hear him talk about a book he likes. I am prepared and ready for some spicy hot verbal war crimes.
I honestly think that hunger games is worth a reread. i think that the movies of it did an injustice by pulling out the fangs of the actual themes of the book, turning it from a book with pretty explicit theming to sort of a vaguely revolutionary hollywood appropriate film script. katniss ends up coming off as having a lot more force of personality in the books than the movies portrayed
Honestly, I don't care for YA Dystopia, but THG is my ride or die. I definitely didn't hate the movies (the first two anyway, I didn't see the Mockingjay ones lmao) but I definitely saw them as more ... bonus features/supplementary material than the definitive experience. It is wild how accurate yet also incredibly inaccurate they were to the books.
I wouldn't really put Xiran as a TH-camr first. They kinda incidentally did one video and went viral, while they were trying to get book deals for a while lol
I adore Iron Widow and would just like to point out that Xiran Jay Zhao became a successful TH-camr entirely by accident Edit: Iron Widow was also supposed to be longer than it is, but scenes and stuff had to be cut because of restrictions from the publisher.
I LOVED Iron Widow, was such a fantastic ride of a book. Zachary Ying (the authors second book) was absolutely amazing and I reccomend it to everyone just for the chapter titles alone lmfaoo. Also lol, "The" Iron Widow. Cannot wait for book 2 though the ending of IW was just, absolutely batshit insane lmao. Please do a second video though and include Zachary Ying, I would love to see your reactions to the chaos in it lmao
Your criticisms of Iron Widow are very fair and I almost hope Xiran can implement some of that feedback because I think with a bit of polishing it could be something really special. Please do a part two!
I haven’t personally read Iron Widow, but I wanted to mention something about the spirit energy & Qi system! In regards to the elements system as well as the whole concept of Qi they are prevalent in Chinese culture (as mentioned by the author). I think the world building may make more sense from Chinese perspective because the concepts are already familiar. The best way I can equate it is like knowledge of star signs in the western world, even if you don’t know much you’re familiar with the basics (I.e. names like Gemini or Aquarius, that they are linked to periods of time through the year, and that they link to personality traits). I think what may have happened, was the author wrote subconsciously under the assumption of: “oh everyone knows about this right??” & for a lot of non-Chinese audience members that sadly didn’t line up quite right. Anyways! Glad to see you still making content!
A friend talked me into reading Iron Widow, when both the genre and the premise aren't usually for me. She described it as, "I don't know what the fuck is going on, but this shit is wild." and that's pretty much what I took away from it too - after reading it as a whole in two days because I couldn't put it down until I absolutely had to! I wholeheartedly agree with your stance on it needing some more descriptive elements and that the sci-fi was somewhat underdeveloped, but overall I really, really enjoyed this book, and I'll be getting the sequel to yell about it with my friend as well. Glad to see it getting some good representation!
Legit I dodged buying a white noise machine for my sleep disorder by playing Kappa’s onion book reviews and the child assassination sim critiques every night. This man’s voice is in my dreams and I look forward to hundreds of replays of this new video.
to be fair to the YA protagonists, they're teenagers. I feel like being the incidental face of a revolution due to merely trying to survive their circumstances makes their motivations and character way more believable and approachable to their target audience. It personalizes their story in a way that readers can connect to. I don't think that their characters would resonate otherwise
Hi. I’m an anime fan and an English major- so the part where he goes “the young adult dystopian novel where the main girl has to save the world from an oppressing society while picking between 2 or more cute boys is the western equivalence of the isekai anime” spoke to a part of me who wasn’t expecting to be seen 😂
Something I realised that would be super cool is seeing a memoir of an already established/successful writer and/or TH-camr going over a lot of their previous failed attempts at writing when they were younger, kind of like a cringe-along-with-me vibe, especially with today's era of internet. Targeting that as a way to demystify and make writing stuff like fantasy worlds more approachable and encouraging others to do stupid things as well while starting out their journey while encouraging them to look at what could be improved upon would be really, really cool as a book.
Damn I was watching some of your old videos the other day like “it’s been about two months now, I wonder when he will be resurrected”. My prayers have been answered
I love the way you described it at 16:17 "young adult dystopia books with a teenage female lead placed in the chosen one position to overthrow some kind of oppressing force while also having to choose between two if not more cute boys..." I looked over at my books and realized how many I have fitting that description minus the multiple love interests; there is usually just one. I love the concept (though I haven't read one in a while); it sucks that you hate it. As someone who likes isekai, I watch it for different reasons. I mainly love the mediocrity and laugh while watching. Though that refers to the ones that feel like they were made to be made. Some are amazing.
Some are amazing, but it’s not far from the truth that these novels types are usually cut and dry with the same general set up and theme with a love story sprinkled in to keep it from falling into some form of super political leaning.
While I don’t watch anime really at all, the isekai’s I’ve seen are fun to watch, but from all that I’ve seen… It is a cope genre of the maximum degree, it’s narrative usually centered on being overpowered, becoming unconditionally loved, and becoming renowned. All of this place on a main character whose personality is mostly with little depth in order to allow the viewer to self-insert.
I am so excited to read Jeanette mccurdy's book. I saw it on your list and thought "oh no he's going to tear it apart and I already bought it, now what" and to hear you actually Suggest A Book says a lot
So on iron widow, I think some of the reason that you and I struggle to figure out what the Mecca's look like on the outside has to do with them being based on Chinese mythology figures that we aren't like super familiar with. From what she has said on her various social medias, they are based off of long-standing Chinese visuals. Also unfortunately I do know what the inside looks like because she based them partially off of a anime that had good bones and terrible execution. That being said I am obligated to defend this book to the death in general just for letting the characters be Poly. It's the first time I've seen that and they did a solid job. Like I'm not blown away by it but I also don't have any real complaints either, and if that's where we're starting from I'm thrilled. Very excited to see if the second book can do better.
I actually read Iron Widow some time ago and really enjoyed it for the most part (although the chi system was a bit confusing and I felt like I had to go back to that schema every time it was mentioned which tbh doesn't tell you a lot either) Otherwise it's pretty well written and I was surprised to become invested in the main characters to the extent that I did. I'd rate it like a 4/5
They've discussed on their blog (i follow them on tumblr XD) Iron Widow was 1) supposed to be longer and 2) they fought very hard for mulitple explatory illustrations but only got to keep the one :[ their publisher had strict limits since they were a debut author
the evolution of kappa's outfits give me whiplash in the best way- yet the disappointment present on his face will always be the same the fact that this man appears on my recommended every few months makes it better
Although I agree on Divergent, I disagree on that presentation of The Hunger Games. Katniss doesn’t have the power to overthrow people when her father dies. She’s got no love for the system and would like it to change, but she’s got personal responsibility to her loved ones and knows fighting for change is unrealistic. Katniss’s focus on protecting her family and loved ones also makes sense for someone whose father died and left them the only one capable of providing for the family. Katniss doesn’t first act because her own body is threatened. Her major act of bravery was standing up to protect her sister, Prim, by sacrificing herself to almost certain death. And she’s determined to do what she can to survive for the sake of her sister. What happens with Rue is especially impactful because she reminded Katniss of Prim (despite their physical differences). Katniss unintentionally winds up the symbol of the rebellion as things continue. She’s used for propaganda by the rebels and the Capitol without her consent. She is always fighting for her personal relationships, not the world. Not because she doesn’t care about broader societal issues (she clearly does), but because those aren’t her priority. Her worldview is I’d argue deliberately contrasted with Gale’s. He wanted to run off at the start of the series, and he joins the soldiers fighting back for their freedom (and is himself used for atrocities). What Katniss wants is to be with her family in safety, and those who’ve used her for their larger goals throughout the narrative know this when they deliberately go after those she loves (eg, Peter and Prim). The somewhat happy ending she gets is with family and separate from the broader world because that’s reflective of what she was truely fighting for. You might not have liked it, but Katniss’s disinterest in sacrificing herself for “the greater good” was a significant part of the story that informed Katniss’s actions and how others actively tried to manipulate and hurt her. It wasn’t a poorly-written passive protagonist as could be inferred from your description. She acts in alignment with values she’s deliberately written to hold, and I think she is written with complexity and agency (in a world actively trying to strip her of her agency). I think she was a fully developed character with clear depth and motivations, even if those motivations weren’t standard for a hero of a rebellion. I particularly dislike your suggestion that she only cared when things harmed herself because that couldn’t be further from the reality of her character. Despite her obvious survival skills, Katniss has almost no regard for her own safety compared to her desire to protect others. She declined to run away with Gale, she volunteered as tribute, she’s willing to take poison. Sacrificing her own safety for the benefit of others isn’t something she needs to think about, but she’s just sacrificing herself for her loved ones instead of for the world. Her motivations also appeal more to the target demographic of girls/women because we’re on average raised to more highly value caring for and making sacrifices for loved ones, whereas boys/men are often taught that they should more highly value contributing to and making sacrifices for broader society; perhaps this is part of why you read her as lacking motivation when her motivations and constant self-sacrifice were so obvious to me by contrast. It’s worth noting that villains like Coin seemingly saw themselves as heroes making sacrifices for the greater good, despite being obviously evil to Katniss. Yet Katniss empathises with individuals, eg recognising the cruelty toward her stylists for their selfishness was unjustified because they too were victims of the system and weren’t born like that. Katniss’s focus on individuals allows its own important commentary on the societal issues.
from what I can tell I think Qi in Iron Widow is written with the expectation that the reader knows about the Chinese Elements and their interactions in Feng Shui going in, which a general Chinese audience would have but isn't exactly common knowledge outside of China. I know a little bit about them because I have a passing interest in Xianxia novels so like the "man has a shellfish allergy because he has a high earth Qi" makes sense to me but I can see how that wouldn't make sense to a general international audience without the necessary cultural background info.
I loved the resolution of the love triangle in Iron Widow because so many of them could be resolved by a polycule and for once, this one does! And it works out for everyone! Is it perfect? No, but it's satisfying. I loved Iron Widow for a lot of reasons (GIANT ROBOTS) and I can't wait for the sequel.
honestly super glad you liked iron widow i read it a while ago and i totally get your critsims this was her first book and im really looking forward to her second book i just wish her female characters had more dimenson i dont think she meant to but felt very 1d and rude glad you liked it hope you like the last one
I recently got back into reading again because I'd heard of the Three Body Problem series. I highly recommend this book series for anyone who's a fan of sci-fi with extisential dread as a main theme. It's nerve wracking to think the Dark Forest theory could be true haha
holy shit same!!! i love sci fi but felt like there were no new ideas (in what i was reading) so i just kind of... stopped for several years. cut to me realizing that Chinese sci fi has its own collective history that influences it, and just by virtue of me Not being familiar with any of it - feels completely new. tbf the three-body problem is just dang good despite any of that, but yeah. heavily seconding your rec
I'm not sure "The protagonist of the dystopian novel is just fighting for survival, not to overthrow the evil ideology" is really a flaw, considering that's how most revolutions work in real life. Like, France was ruled by repressive kings for centuries, but the French Revolution only happened once the price of bread got too high. Most people care way more about whether they can eat for a day than how evil their governments are.
I am not sure if they'd be on your list, but I got really into the Axiom's End series by Lindsay Ellis a while back. It's a little goofy but I'd highly recommend it for an interesting first contact/science fiction book.
Would seriously recommend the audio book of janette reading over the book itself Her reading it just hits different yknow Totally agree that it’s a great book
I really enjoyed this, would definitely like to see a part 2 and what other books you've been reading! I like hearing about books you DID like, too. I'll check out your recommendations for sure. :)
I'm putting off reading Iron Widow for the most petty reason: Di Renjie, a historically high ranking official under Wu Zetian, who she had a very deep respect for, and the reason why I got into the history of her time, wasn't in the book. I just want my platonic deep M/F friendship dammit
Awhile ago, I had heard about the Iron Widow through tiktok and decided to use my free audio token to listen to it just for kicks. It had me pleasantly surprised the entire time. Not my top fave but something I would go back and listen to. It was nice to hear your opinion on it and it made me relieved to hear the same/similar thoughts about it.
I'd love to see a part 2 it was interesting to see your takes on TH-camr books, will say hearing Iron widow mentioned was a slap in the face I really loved the book and the second has been announced yesterday so very excited
28:11 correct me if i'm wrong but this looks like feng-shuwe basically a sort of rock paper scissors of elements but some elements improve others (like water helps wood grow and wood helps fire exist) the goal of feng-shuwe is to have your house to be vibing with the elements so you would avoid putting a metal table on a woodden floor it's an already existing concept that i feel you have to know before reading it
The goat returns with another installation of crackhead content. Somehow you’ve gone from looking like a librarian to a hipster bootleg hozier and I love that for you homie haha lmao. Love the content and keep up the good work yeah homie?
Most YA dystopian novels I've read always seem to be the sort to have worlds I'd rather explore in a video game setting. Hell, they are just as obsessed as sectioning off locations into different boxes and archetypes, just like classic games Edit: Wait, oh god, Kappa Kaiju's Isekai comparison makes even more sense to me now -
I'm glad you liked at least 1 of the books you forced yourself to read! I really enjoyed Iron Widow. I can easily follow the flow even when I don't get a perfectly clear picture of things anyway, but in this case I feel like some of the "I need more descriptions and explanations to understand" parts were mostly due to me not knowing Chinese culture/history/art enough.
Def getting the vibe that you actually enjoy reading and reviewing so I just wanna say I would love it if you did a video on James Patterson. Not just his books, but his business practices and ghostwriters too. I work in a library and his popularity is honestly astounding, especially with older patrons, but I haven't actually read anything he's "written" since maybe middle school so I can't even fathom why he's so popular. You seem like the right guy to look into this!
If you do another one of these, I'd love to see your take on Shadow of the Conqueror by Shad Brooks, AKA Shadiversity. Personally, I really enjoyed both the unique fantasy setting and the difficult and very morally ambiguous central thesis of "who better to rid the world of evil than the one responsible for most of it?"
With Xiran, they just happened to upload a breakdown of all the awful BS in the live action Mulan from the perspective of an actual Chinese person, and it took off. It was not their intention or goal to become a TH-camr, and their story of how they got published and the struggles of trying to get their book picked up is actually really fascinating. I haven't read their books yet (my to-read list is a mile long, and my job is demanding too much illegal unpaid labor from me), but I know some of their plots are drawn from actual Chinese historical figures to certain degrees. I also wonder how much of the confusion comes from engaging in a world based in actual Chinese lore and history without having the 'insider's knowledge,' if you will. In some of their breakdowns of media, Xiran talks about qi, historical context, mythology, and cultural practices that likely appear in the books. Not that it shouldn't be explained anyway, just that I could see these being blind spots as a writer. Someone raised in Christianity, for example, likely never thinks to explain the context for crossing oneself, but to an outsider with little knowledge of the customs, it's pretty heckin' weird and might take some explainin'. That's a the best analogy my tired brain could come up with rn, I'm exhausted... Anyway... I'll have to bump their books up my list and give 'em a whirl.
Great video again Kappa! I always look forward to these. I do have some constructive criticism though, in case you end up doing that follow-up video. In my opinion, your praise for Iron Widow came across as kind of back-handed from time to time. You are so adamant about telling us that you normally don't like YA novels that you often default to saying: "[This part] was pretty good, or at least not as bad as other YA books", it comes across like you just wanted to throw in that negative because you think the video would be (god forbid) too positive otherwise. Anyway, looking forward to the follow-up! Also I'm definitely planning on getting Jenette McCurdy's book, it seems really interesting.
Hey Kappa! It's been a while I know, and I'm glad you're taking the time you need to. It's nice to see/hear from you again. Yes do a second part, we'd love to see it! Also... I know it sure is late after the fact to mention this, but as usual there's flack about YandereDev and why he couldn't complete his game in the fullest, but he completed 80s mode in a short time. Consider checking it out. His content production and any end goal that concerns it has become a hearty joke at this point, maybe you'll get a kick out of it.
I'd love to see more of you talking about things you've actually enjoyed honestly. Your dry delivery and sense of humor makes the negative more palatable, so props to you for that, however too much negativity without reprieve can often suck the soul out of your audience. If you were to make this a series, (books in general more-so than ones from TH-camrs specifically) I'd say that this, '2 bad stories followed by 1 good one' format works quite well. Were you to stick to that sort of format or at least have something positive to talk about with regards to some of the books in question, I'd be happy to see more of this.
Fr the only TH-cam books I could enjoy were Dan and Phil’s. While the first one was in a way an autobiography, and included content mentioned or told in detail in their videos, it tried its best to be creative in format and it was. Lots of interesting structure and creative color choices to make things stand out instead of just a typical book filled with words. Their second was more of a travel journal, but provided lots of content that wasn’t in their videos and that was nice. They did audiobook voicing for their first one, and even uploaded themselves reading content out of the book for videos for those that couldn’t buy it. Also included lots of fanart (WITH credit!) in their own short stories they wrote and uploaded as voice overs. I’m biased in this, but out of every other TH-camr book I’ve seen (only ever read nigahigas besides Dan and Phil’s and didn’t like it cuz it was so basic lmao idk why I bought it) they did the best.
I will say, I don’t think it’s necessarily a problem that Katniss is driven more by survival and her own personal sense of justice than by political goals. I mean a lot of the books are about how she’s used as a political pawn by those around her. I just don’t think it’s necessarily a problem, more something some people might find less interesting? I personally find it just as interesting to follow a character who’s more concerned with surviving and protecting her family/people she loves.
Also Katniss was sooorta thrown into the plot by chance but she wasn’t chosen. She specifically volunteered, something that was extremely rare for anyone to do and not at all expected of her.
17:09 "I'm implying the threat of poverty and starvation is forcing me to do my job; as it turns out, the oppressing dystopian force was inside of us the whole time" is usually how I respond when an interviewer asks "why do you want this job?"
What a delightful surprise, our good hipster boy actually enjoying himself for half of the video. I fully anticipate his next 4 uploads will be nothing but self-inflicted torture to counterbalance this
If I had to guess, The Iron Window probably was written with a target demographic in mind that you don't fit, specifically people familiar with Cultivation and Wuxia fiction, or to some degree their concepts. I say this because those are fairly big fictional genres, based on very long standing cultural mythology and concepts. I feel like just from hearing you talking about it I have a fairly decent idea of how Chi works in it, just based on having read fiction within those genres, and it lining up rather well. TL;DR he probably didn't really explain chi all that much because he assumed his target demographic didn't need it explained once again.
I love your book reviews and even though a lot of them tend to be on things that are barely passable as literature they did start off the snowball effect that ended in me being an English major now so like. Cool video!
In fairness, Xiran Jay Zhao is only incidentally a TH-camr. Their main goal was always becoming an author; Iron Widow just happened to be their first novel, and they just happened to get popular on TH-cam before it came out.
yeah! i thought they were a booktuber at first (idk that end of youtube too well, but most of them who get work published seem to write YA dystopia?), but i looked into their channel after i first heard of their book and was surprised on the content! soo good though, v informative and funny
@@aud7593 does xiran use they/them pronouns??
edit: yes
yep. They have the skills and the craft, so it is not surprising that she did better in comparison to all other "influencers", who do it like a side hustle.
yep. the only reason they started their channel was to shit on the new mulan movie lol, that is one of the most hilarious start to a career i have seen. highly recommend their channel to anyone interested in Chinese culture and history
edit: pronouns
@@deadbeatarpan5755 and @maria paz, Xiran uses they/them! :)
I think it's safe to say this being Xiran's debut novel (so publishers were less likely to accept something super long from them) is literally the only thing holding it back because they've said themselves they would've made it longer if they could afford to
Excited to see the sequel book that’s coming out!!
I would've killed for the scene of yizhi reading to shimin that they commissioned art of
I had to look up who that is, I didn't realize she was an author.
@@JenIsHungryXiran uses They/Them pronouns! ^^
My expectations on kappa's upload schedule are at the point where I cannot tell old videos from new ones
Me too. Whenever I see a kappa video on my feed, my first assumption is it's just an old one I forgot about
I saw the upload time and had to double take.
Saaaaaame
I would have sworn I saw this thumbnail before😅, just happy kappa hasn't forsaken us
Sometimes I forget he exists and then I see him on my feed and I'm like "oh yeah this guy"
24:30 you know a genre has hit rock bottom when "She *is* a character" is a sentiment of praise.
i would full heartedly recommend jeanette mccurdy’s book for anyone looking for anything to read. it’s definitely something you need to be in a good headspace to read or listen to (if you’re an audiobook person, which i recommend because she’s reading her own book). her book and elton john’s me are the only autobiography books i’ve ever really enjoyed. i just like the feel of theyre talking to you directly about their experiences instead of just blandly explaining things to you like a robot.
The book is so good, audiobook really brings it to life too
As someone who hasn't read a full book in like 5 years after a level burnout
This book was amazing and got me back into reading
Normally I can't stand autobiographies, but her book was definitely one where I had to finish in one sitting on how good it was. It definitely hit me as someone who grew up with my parent acting very similar with pushing all their hopes and dreams on to me with micromanaging my appearance to the point I ended up with an eating disorder at a young age
I listened to the audiobook and it was one of the best memoirs I've read, her delivery in the reading was outstanding as well. Definitely not an easy listen, but a good one. Jenette's an outlier in having a lot to say despite being so young, though. Most TH-camrs are far to young to justify a memoir and really, they're much harder to do well than people think.
I’m about 13 chapters into it, holy fuck. It hasn’t gotten fucked up yet, but my stomach dropped as I was reading.
My favourite synopsis of Metamorphosis is just Kappa saying “bug”
Comparing Isekai to YA dystopian novels is such a big brain move and I'm someone who actually likes both YA books and Isekai. Please make a sequel
Isekai where some guy with an ok but nothing special life getting isekai-ed and with horror realizes he’s in a dystopia not a fantasy harem that was promised
@@vespernight4236 Not completely your description but that reminds me of Saga of Tanya the Evil. Regular businessman dude challenged God when he died and got transported to be stuck in a magical version of the World Wars while God keeps manipulating his/her life to get even worse.
Big agree on the McCurdy book- I’m going through reading it now, and I’ve had to put it down multiple times because I wanted to resurrect her mom in order to kill her again. she’s a surprisingly good writer
You really need to reevaluate what kind of parent you are when your response to your child bringing actual problems and concerns to your attention boil down to "Get over it, you ungrateful bitch!"
I also wanted to kill the grandmother and the “creator”.
The grandmother for being an ass to both Jeanette and creating Jeanette’s mother
In defense of the Hunger Games, I'd argue Katniss not having a specific strong ideology is kind of the point. Politics being background radiation to her more present concerns of protecting her little sister and putting food on the table feels, to me, like a really grounded and non-romanticized depiction of a person living under a longstanding fascist regime. It's not that Katniss never cared about the system, but she's this really pragmatic kid who's been forced to mature and take on the role of a caregiver way too young, so of course her brain is going to be hyper focused on making sure Prim goes to school and eats dinner. Especially in the context of the time, Katniss really felt like she stood out as a grounded and consistent character in contemporary YA.
Plus I’d argue it’s a good show of how authoritarian powers keep themselves in power via lack of info. Katniss knows the Capitol taught history of her country, I’d imagine it’s designed in a way to make the new generations unquestioning of the government
When you read the Hunger Games, you really have to remember that Katniss is 17-18 the entire time, 19 at the oldest, and her primary goal for most of her teenage years was keeping her younger sister alive, fed, and healthy. She's a very well written character, and you can see how she stumbles when she suddenly becomes the face of a rebellion when all she wanted was to go back home to keep making sure her sister stayed alive, fed, and healthy
@@Ross516 Yes!! I think Katniss is very, very thoughtfully written. Suzanne Collins is actually really good at writing kids, especially kids that make sense within their contexts. A great comparison would be to Gregor from Collins' middle grade series. He's also in this archetype of 'reluctant hero who stumbles into it mostly because they're trying to look out for their kid sibling'. I think he's just as well characterized as Katniss, though they're really different characters in really different stories, and Gregor, I think, is much less cynical than Katniss in a way that makes him able to more genuinely accept his role as a hero.
I agree! it very much felt like Collins was examining the perspective of someone who is on ice too thin to be able to risk even thinking about revolution--the focus is on survival and on the sphere of what she, personally, can control. and the consequences of having become a political figure against her will are presented in ways that don't seem unrealistic--and at the end, the revolution takes the one thing she was AVOIDING participating in a revolution to protect away from her. ultimately I think it all comes together to tell a story that examines the effect of getting swept up into revolution--especially violent revolution--on the average person who is just trying to get by in a system that has no love for them.
Yeah, I would argue most people living under dictatorships today don’t have a running monologue about their situation from a sociological perspective. Like even in a political situation, not everyone thinks in explicitly political terms - in any case, it WOULD have to be taught (the language, if not the sentiment)
I'd love to see part 2 in 6-8 months!
omg it's james 😳
you did this to us James
@@thegoodfaithflowy💀
The fact that this comment’s from 3 days ago tho-
This aged like wine
Frankenstein’s monster is quite literally the opposite of slow. In the original version created by Mary Shelley in the early 1800s, Frankenstein’s monster was described as a beast who coil run frozen arctic plains and swim across large bodies of water, faster than a boat. It took Victor Frankenstein, the creator, a sled of dogs to even reach the monster’s running speed.
Tbf Victor also kept fainting when he saw the monster
@@moonflower5553 Why? He built the thing!
He is not exactly a good father/creator@@finalfroggitapproaches6418
@@finalfroggitapproaches6418The monster was too horrifying to look at in Frankenstein's eye. 😅
im brazilian, when i heard "tapioca is the devil's snack" i felt like gabi insulted me on a personal level
Se existe uma grande verdade na Internet é que se você ousar a falar de qualquer coisa mesmo que remotamente relacionada ao Brasil, nós vamos aparecer, para comentar a respeito.
tava esperando um comentário desses kkkkkkkk
mas tbm quem CARALHOS fala q tapioca é ruim plmr
i’m asian and i felt so attacked like “who SAYS THAT??”
eu também
eu te amo, tapioca
Mal gosto é livre e choro também. Tapioca my beloved ✨✨
IRON WIDOW IS BECOMING A FILM TOO!! I cannot wait to see Xiran’s vision as a movie. They’ve been given a lot of creative control too, I hope they have fun working with the studio :,0
WHAT REALLY?! I find it hard to read novels (brain wonders when I see big blocks of text without audio) but I've been really wanting to know the story after a friend of mine was praising it (and I also was excited watching their vids). If this is true, I'll definitely have to watch it when it comes out lolol
Kappa updating his librarian looks, but still sticking to reading sounds like humbled character development
Every video Kappa hits us with a new clothing style, famous for looking like a depressed librarian, now he looks like a GTA III character. Absolutely wonderful.
I was surprised to see Xiran’s book here! And very happy that he enjoyed it enough to recommend it.
I recommend the book also, but their TH-cam channel is also really great! They do interesting breakdowns/analysis on things like Mulan and ATLA from (one) Chinese perspective.
xiran uses they/them btw but you're so right their videos are super interesting
@@catgirl2379 thank you for reminding me, I’ll fix it!
the series of videos on raya feature more perspectives if you wanna see more :) and there's a multitude of video essays by chinese people on kung fu panda that i love
@@achewy7700 Yes, I love all those videos!! Their series on Raya is definitely one of my favorites.
Kappa is a different brand of hipster librarian in every video he makes, its incredible
I swear, every moderately sized german minecraft TH-camr has published at least one book.
ON GOD, paluten has like 1028
And they're all cringeworthy at best.
Moderate like, politically?
@@hazavair5755 If you're being serious, they mean size. Moderate means, like, a middle ground between large and small.
Dragonlord?
Im glad you included the Jeanette McCurdy book in here. I was actually pleasantly surprised by how well it was written as well as introspective of her relationship with her mother and the healing that comes from after the death of a close yet not so great family member. To be fair though its the only one of the books listed that I did read and even then I started it off reluctantly. Was definitely a surprise for me
You're right that length would have been a benefit, and Xiran has said it on their blog. The publisher made them cut it down so a lot was lost :( I hope some can make it into 2 though.
kappa read Xiran's book? What is this a crossover episode? Oh I'm so ready hear him talk about a book he likes. I am prepared and ready for some spicy hot verbal war crimes.
I honestly think that hunger games is worth a reread. i think that the movies of it did an injustice by pulling out the fangs of the actual themes of the book, turning it from a book with pretty explicit theming to sort of a vaguely revolutionary hollywood appropriate film script. katniss ends up coming off as having a lot more force of personality in the books than the movies portrayed
YOU. YOU GET IT. THOSE MOVIES DID THE THEMES SO DIRTY.
I think a big reason Katniss seems less interesting in the movies is we lose her internal monologue
Honestly, I don't care for YA Dystopia, but THG is my ride or die.
I definitely didn't hate the movies (the first two anyway, I didn't see the Mockingjay ones lmao) but I definitely saw them as more ... bonus features/supplementary material than the definitive experience. It is wild how accurate yet also incredibly inaccurate they were to the books.
The most hilarious and accurate thing about this video is the comparison between YA dystopian novels and isekai’s
I wouldn't really put Xiran as a TH-camr first. They kinda incidentally did one video and went viral, while they were trying to get book deals for a while lol
"being bisexual is not a pro, but being straight is definitely a flaw" wise words to go by
Haha get it guys straight bad now laugh
@@fataliecatalie899 you’re just mad you get no genitalia, so yeah you’re straight *plays exit sandman*
@@fataliecatalie899 exactly! This guy gets it
@@fataliecatalie899 yeah you didn't know?
Whoa there, you better watch out! Making jokes is a big no no on TH-cam! What if you hurt someone's feelings? :(
I adore Iron Widow and would just like to point out that Xiran Jay Zhao became a successful TH-camr entirely by accident
Edit: Iron Widow was also supposed to be longer than it is, but scenes and stuff had to be cut because of restrictions from the publisher.
Everyone got so angry with Disney they had to hear from a Native Chinese on her thoughts of the live adaptation.
I LOVED Iron Widow, was such a fantastic ride of a book. Zachary Ying (the authors second book) was absolutely amazing and I reccomend it to everyone just for the chapter titles alone lmfaoo. Also lol, "The" Iron Widow. Cannot wait for book 2 though the ending of IW was just, absolutely batshit insane lmao.
Please do a second video though and include Zachary Ying, I would love to see your reactions to the chaos in it lmao
Your criticisms of Iron Widow are very fair and I almost hope Xiran can implement some of that feedback because I think with a bit of polishing it could be something really special. Please do a part two!
I came for a slam dunk on YandereDev, I stayed for the Australian book club.
I always appreciate when my favorite otter TH-camr takes psychic damage from poorly written books and then tells us about it.
I'm impressed, this is the first comment I've seen to describe Kappa without "Hipster", "librarian", or "Jesus", or any mix of the three. Well done!
Holy shit he is an otter
I haven’t personally read Iron Widow, but I wanted to mention something about the spirit energy & Qi system!
In regards to the elements system as well as the whole concept of Qi they are prevalent in Chinese culture (as mentioned by the author). I think the world building may make more sense from Chinese perspective because the concepts are already familiar.
The best way I can equate it is like knowledge of star signs in the western world, even if you don’t know much you’re familiar with the basics (I.e. names like Gemini or Aquarius, that they are linked to periods of time through the year, and that they link to personality traits).
I think what may have happened, was the author wrote subconsciously under the assumption of: “oh everyone knows about this right??”
& for a lot of non-Chinese audience members that sadly didn’t line up quite right.
Anyways! Glad to see you still making content!
A friend talked me into reading Iron Widow, when both the genre and the premise aren't usually for me. She described it as, "I don't know what the fuck is going on, but this shit is wild." and that's pretty much what I took away from it too - after reading it as a whole in two days because I couldn't put it down until I absolutely had to! I wholeheartedly agree with your stance on it needing some more descriptive elements and that the sci-fi was somewhat underdeveloped, but overall I really, really enjoyed this book, and I'll be getting the sequel to yell about it with my friend as well. Glad to see it getting some good representation!
Legit I dodged buying a white noise machine for my sleep disorder by playing Kappa’s onion book reviews and the child assassination sim critiques every night. This man’s voice is in my dreams and I look forward to hundreds of replays of this new video.
I do the exact same thing, have a playlist with his book reviews and yandere simulator videos that I go through like every night.
to be fair to the YA protagonists, they're teenagers. I feel like being the incidental face of a revolution due to merely trying to survive their circumstances makes their motivations and character way more believable and approachable to their target audience. It personalizes their story in a way that readers can connect to. I don't think that their characters would resonate otherwise
I’m so glad to see my favorite depressed Aussie librarian TH-camr is back
Hi. I’m an anime fan and an English major- so the part where he goes “the young adult dystopian novel where the main girl has to save the world from an oppressing society while picking between 2 or more cute boys is the western equivalence of the isekai anime” spoke to a part of me who wasn’t expecting to be seen 😂
"being bisexual is not a pro, but being straight is definitely a flaw" - Kappa Kaiju, 2022
this dude evolves each time i see him
now hes the Keeper of Words
i will be back to observe ur evolution
Something I realised that would be super cool is seeing a memoir of an already established/successful writer and/or TH-camr going over a lot of their previous failed attempts at writing when they were younger, kind of like a cringe-along-with-me vibe, especially with today's era of internet. Targeting that as a way to demystify and make writing stuff like fantasy worlds more approachable and encouraging others to do stupid things as well while starting out their journey while encouraging them to look at what could be improved upon would be really, really cool as a book.
Always glad to see my favorite librarian and archivist of TH-camr trainwreck media
Damn I was watching some of your old videos the other day like “it’s been about two months now, I wonder when he will be resurrected”. My prayers have been answered
Librarian jesus has risen again
@@Aetharn He truly must be the Jesus of librarians if he rises this often from the death.
I love the way you described it at 16:17
"young adult dystopia books with a teenage female lead placed in the chosen one position to overthrow some kind of oppressing force while also having to choose between two if not more cute boys..."
I looked over at my books and realized how many I have fitting that description minus the multiple love interests; there is usually just one. I love the concept (though I haven't read one in a while); it sucks that you hate it.
As someone who likes isekai, I watch it for different reasons. I mainly love the mediocrity and laugh while watching. Though that refers to the ones that feel like they were made to be made. Some are amazing.
Some are amazing, but it’s not far from the truth that these novels types are usually cut and dry with the same general set up and theme with a love story sprinkled in to keep it from falling into some form of super political leaning.
While I don’t watch anime really at all, the isekai’s I’ve seen are fun to watch, but from all that I’ve seen… It is a cope genre of the maximum degree, it’s narrative usually centered on being overpowered, becoming unconditionally loved, and becoming renowned. All of this place on a main character whose personality is mostly with little depth in order to allow the viewer to self-insert.
It's a good day when kappa uploads.
The surprise Wei Wuxian/Xiao Zhan cameo in this Kappa video felt like worlds colliding
Xiran is definitely an author before they’re a youtuber, imo
I am so excited to read Jeanette mccurdy's book. I saw it on your list and thought "oh no he's going to tear it apart and I already bought it, now what" and to hear you actually Suggest A Book says a lot
So on iron widow, I think some of the reason that you and I struggle to figure out what the Mecca's look like on the outside has to do with them being based on Chinese mythology figures that we aren't like super familiar with. From what she has said on her various social medias, they are based off of long-standing Chinese visuals. Also unfortunately I do know what the inside looks like because she based them partially off of a anime that had good bones and terrible execution.
That being said I am obligated to defend this book to the death in general just for letting the characters be Poly. It's the first time I've seen that and they did a solid job. Like I'm not blown away by it but I also don't have any real complaints either, and if that's where we're starting from I'm thrilled. Very excited to see if the second book can do better.
I actually read Iron Widow some time ago and really enjoyed it for the most part (although the chi system was a bit confusing and I felt like I had to go back to that schema every time it was mentioned which tbh doesn't tell you a lot either) Otherwise it's pretty well written and I was surprised to become invested in the main characters to the extent that I did.
I'd rate it like a 4/5
They've discussed on their blog (i follow them on tumblr XD) Iron Widow was 1) supposed to be longer and 2) they fought very hard for mulitple explatory illustrations but only got to keep the one :[ their publisher had strict limits since they were a debut author
@@grimmgoosegoose216 I wasn't aware of that, thank u for telling me :3 Maybe they'll get to put more in the sequel?
I really hope so! It would be neat to actually get some more techincal breakdowns about how the world works!
"are you an idiot or do you think I am?"
Golden line. I'm absolutely using that
the evolution of kappa's outfits give me whiplash in the best way- yet the disappointment present on his face will always be the same
the fact that this man appears on my recommended every few months makes it better
Although I agree on Divergent, I disagree on that presentation of The Hunger Games. Katniss doesn’t have the power to overthrow people when her father dies. She’s got no love for the system and would like it to change, but she’s got personal responsibility to her loved ones and knows fighting for change is unrealistic. Katniss’s focus on protecting her family and loved ones also makes sense for someone whose father died and left them the only one capable of providing for the family. Katniss doesn’t first act because her own body is threatened. Her major act of bravery was standing up to protect her sister, Prim, by sacrificing herself to almost certain death. And she’s determined to do what she can to survive for the sake of her sister. What happens with Rue is especially impactful because she reminded Katniss of Prim (despite their physical differences).
Katniss unintentionally winds up the symbol of the rebellion as things continue. She’s used for propaganda by the rebels and the Capitol without her consent. She is always fighting for her personal relationships, not the world. Not because she doesn’t care about broader societal issues (she clearly does), but because those aren’t her priority. Her worldview is I’d argue deliberately contrasted with Gale’s. He wanted to run off at the start of the series, and he joins the soldiers fighting back for their freedom (and is himself used for atrocities).
What Katniss wants is to be with her family in safety, and those who’ve used her for their larger goals throughout the narrative know this when they deliberately go after those she loves (eg, Peter and Prim). The somewhat happy ending she gets is with family and separate from the broader world because that’s reflective of what she was truely fighting for.
You might not have liked it, but Katniss’s disinterest in sacrificing herself for “the greater good” was a significant part of the story that informed Katniss’s actions and how others actively tried to manipulate and hurt her. It wasn’t a poorly-written passive protagonist as could be inferred from your description. She acts in alignment with values she’s deliberately written to hold, and I think she is written with complexity and agency (in a world actively trying to strip her of her agency). I think she was a fully developed character with clear depth and motivations, even if those motivations weren’t standard for a hero of a rebellion.
I particularly dislike your suggestion that she only cared when things harmed herself because that couldn’t be further from the reality of her character. Despite her obvious survival skills, Katniss has almost no regard for her own safety compared to her desire to protect others. She declined to run away with Gale, she volunteered as tribute, she’s willing to take poison. Sacrificing her own safety for the benefit of others isn’t something she needs to think about, but she’s just sacrificing herself for her loved ones instead of for the world.
Her motivations also appeal more to the target demographic of girls/women because we’re on average raised to more highly value caring for and making sacrifices for loved ones, whereas boys/men are often taught that they should more highly value contributing to and making sacrifices for broader society; perhaps this is part of why you read her as lacking motivation when her motivations and constant self-sacrifice were so obvious to me by contrast.
It’s worth noting that villains like Coin seemingly saw themselves as heroes making sacrifices for the greater good, despite being obviously evil to Katniss. Yet Katniss empathises with individuals, eg recognising the cruelty toward her stylists for their selfishness was unjustified because they too were victims of the system and weren’t born like that. Katniss’s focus on individuals allows its own important commentary on the societal issues.
from what I can tell I think Qi in Iron Widow is written with the expectation that the reader knows about the Chinese Elements and their interactions in Feng Shui going in, which a general Chinese audience would have but isn't exactly common knowledge outside of China. I know a little bit about them because I have a passing interest in Xianxia novels so like the "man has a shellfish allergy because he has a high earth Qi" makes sense to me but I can see how that wouldn't make sense to a general international audience without the necessary cultural background info.
I loved the resolution of the love triangle in Iron Widow because so many of them could be resolved by a polycule and for once, this one does! And it works out for everyone! Is it perfect? No, but it's satisfying. I loved Iron Widow for a lot of reasons (GIANT ROBOTS) and I can't wait for the sequel.
honestly super glad you liked iron widow i read it a while ago and i totally get your critsims this was her first book and im really looking forward to her second book i just wish her female characters had more dimenson i dont think she meant to but felt very 1d and rude glad you liked it hope you like the last one
I recently got back into reading again because I'd heard of the Three Body Problem series. I highly recommend this book series for anyone who's a fan of sci-fi with extisential dread as a main theme. It's nerve wracking to think the Dark Forest theory could be true haha
holy shit same!!! i love sci fi but felt like there were no new ideas (in what i was reading) so i just kind of... stopped for several years. cut to me realizing that Chinese sci fi has its own collective history that influences it, and just by virtue of me Not being familiar with any of it - feels completely new. tbf the three-body problem is just dang good despite any of that, but yeah. heavily seconding your rec
@@botcore God yeah. And I'm just always a sucker for cosmic horror and existential dread, and this series is so good!
I'm not sure "The protagonist of the dystopian novel is just fighting for survival, not to overthrow the evil ideology" is really a flaw, considering that's how most revolutions work in real life. Like, France was ruled by repressive kings for centuries, but the French Revolution only happened once the price of bread got too high. Most people care way more about whether they can eat for a day than how evil their governments are.
Kappa uploading is like chirstmas, you always forget about it but by god are you glad when it comes around
h
you forget about christmas?
20:20 Wait... isn't that just Evangalion?
I am not sure if they'd be on your list, but I got really into the Axiom's End series by Lindsay Ellis a while back. It's a little goofy but I'd highly recommend it for an interesting first contact/science fiction book.
Yes please more book reviews! In all seriousness though, every upload you do is a little treat I thoroughly enjoy. Thank you Kappa!
Would seriously recommend the audio book of janette reading over the book itself
Her reading it just hits different yknow
Totally agree that it’s a great book
I really enjoyed this, would definitely like to see a part 2 and what other books you've been reading! I like hearing about books you DID like, too. I'll check out your recommendations for sure. :)
I literally just picked up Iron Widow a day before you uploaded this, are you reading my mind or am I reading yours?
I'm putting off reading Iron Widow for the most petty reason: Di Renjie, a historically high ranking official under Wu Zetian, who she had a very deep respect for, and the reason why I got into the history of her time, wasn't in the book. I just want my platonic deep M/F friendship dammit
loved this format! expecting a part 2 now ty
Awhile ago, I had heard about the Iron Widow through tiktok and decided to use my free audio token to listen to it just for kicks. It had me pleasantly surprised the entire time. Not my top fave but something I would go back and listen to. It was nice to hear your opinion on it and it made me relieved to hear the same/similar thoughts about it.
I'd love to see a part 2 it was interesting to see your takes on TH-camr books, will say hearing Iron widow mentioned was a slap in the face I really loved the book and the second has been announced yesterday so very excited
"Young adult dystopian novels are the western equivalent of isekai anime" was not something I saw coming
28:11 correct me if i'm wrong but this looks like feng-shuwe
basically a sort of rock paper scissors of elements but some elements improve others (like water helps wood grow and wood helps fire exist)
the goal of feng-shuwe is to have your house to be vibing with the elements so you would avoid putting a metal table on a woodden floor
it's an already existing concept that i feel you have to know before reading it
Going to binge watch this 10 times in the next 3 days
Studying for my exam can wait. Kappa requires my attention.
Sequel when? This was great and Im probably going to read Iron Widow thanks to this. More please ^^
The goat returns with another installation of crackhead content. Somehow you’ve gone from looking like a librarian to a hipster bootleg hozier and I love that for you homie haha lmao. Love the content and keep up the good work yeah homie?
10:33 that was the most surprising part of the video. penguin being a publisher for ... that book
Plot twist: kappa is a shape changing alien and he’s gradually just turning into Hozier
Kappa is from the same species as Hozier; it’s why there’s so long between uploads and albums for both of them
Most YA dystopian novels I've read always seem to be the sort to have worlds I'd rather explore in a video game setting. Hell, they are just as obsessed as sectioning off locations into different boxes and archetypes, just like classic games
Edit: Wait, oh god, Kappa Kaiju's Isekai comparison makes even more sense to me now -
I would love to see this continued! Your reviews are incredibly entertaining
I know Yandere Simulator doesn't need anymore videos but I'd like another one! they are so good! especially with the new "progress" alex made.
I'm glad you liked at least 1 of the books you forced yourself to read!
I really enjoyed Iron Widow. I can easily follow the flow even when I don't get a perfectly clear picture of things anyway, but in this case I feel like some of the "I need more descriptions and explanations to understand" parts were mostly due to me not knowing Chinese culture/history/art enough.
oh lord this is exactly what I needed today, thank you
I WAS LITERALLY LOOKING AT YOUR CHANNEL LAST NIGHT CHECKING FOR ANOTHER UPLOAD! your timing couldn't be better
This was a really fun watch! I had no idea there was so many TH-camr books floating out on the internet.
Def getting the vibe that you actually enjoy reading and reviewing so I just wanna say I would love it if you did a video on James Patterson. Not just his books, but his business practices and ghostwriters too. I work in a library and his popularity is honestly astounding, especially with older patrons, but I haven't actually read anything he's "written" since maybe middle school so I can't even fathom why he's so popular. You seem like the right guy to look into this!
If you do another one of these, I'd love to see your take on Shadow of the Conqueror by Shad Brooks, AKA Shadiversity. Personally, I really enjoyed both the unique fantasy setting and the difficult and very morally ambiguous central thesis of "who better to rid the world of evil than the one responsible for most of it?"
once every random segment of time god chooses to bless me with kappa’s video, and the intrigue of when it’s gonna drop in me just makes it better
With Xiran, they just happened to upload a breakdown of all the awful BS in the live action Mulan from the perspective of an actual Chinese person, and it took off. It was not their intention or goal to become a TH-camr, and their story of how they got published and the struggles of trying to get their book picked up is actually really fascinating.
I haven't read their books yet (my to-read list is a mile long, and my job is demanding too much illegal unpaid labor from me), but I know some of their plots are drawn from actual Chinese historical figures to certain degrees. I also wonder how much of the confusion comes from engaging in a world based in actual Chinese lore and history without having the 'insider's knowledge,' if you will. In some of their breakdowns of media, Xiran talks about qi, historical context, mythology, and cultural practices that likely appear in the books. Not that it shouldn't be explained anyway, just that I could see these being blind spots as a writer. Someone raised in Christianity, for example, likely never thinks to explain the context for crossing oneself, but to an outsider with little knowledge of the customs, it's pretty heckin' weird and might take some explainin'. That's a the best analogy my tired brain could come up with rn, I'm exhausted... Anyway... I'll have to bump their books up my list and give 'em a whirl.
Mainly subscribed for the unspoken fashion tips tbh.
On point, as usual.
"the gun is loaded with metaphors for capitalism" is such a good line
Great video again Kappa! I always look forward to these. I do have some constructive criticism though, in case you end up doing that follow-up video.
In my opinion, your praise for Iron Widow came across as kind of back-handed from time to time. You are so adamant about telling us that you normally don't like YA novels that you often default to saying:
"[This part] was pretty good, or at least not as bad as other YA books",
it comes across like you just wanted to throw in that negative because you think the video would be (god forbid) too positive otherwise.
Anyway, looking forward to the follow-up! Also I'm definitely planning on getting Jenette McCurdy's book, it seems really interesting.
You may find this hard to believe but I actually use you as an inspiration for fashion.
Hey Kappa! It's been a while I know, and I'm glad you're taking the time you need to. It's nice to see/hear from you again. Yes do a second part, we'd love to see it!
Also... I know it sure is late after the fact to mention this, but as usual there's flack about YandereDev and why he couldn't complete his game in the fullest, but he completed 80s mode in a short time. Consider checking it out. His content production and any end goal that concerns it has become a hearty joke at this point, maybe you'll get a kick out of it.
I'd love to see more of you talking about things you've actually enjoyed honestly.
Your dry delivery and sense of humor makes the negative more palatable, so props to you for that, however too much negativity without reprieve can often suck the soul out of your audience.
If you were to make this a series, (books in general more-so than ones from TH-camrs specifically) I'd say that this, '2 bad stories followed by 1 good one' format works quite well.
Were you to stick to that sort of format or at least have something positive to talk about with regards to some of the books in question, I'd be happy to see more of this.
Fr the only TH-cam books I could enjoy were Dan and Phil’s. While the first one was in a way an autobiography, and included content mentioned or told in detail in their videos, it tried its best to be creative in format and it was. Lots of interesting structure and creative color choices to make things stand out instead of just a typical book filled with words. Their second was more of a travel journal, but provided lots of content that wasn’t in their videos and that was nice. They did audiobook voicing for their first one, and even uploaded themselves reading content out of the book for videos for those that couldn’t buy it. Also included lots of fanart (WITH credit!) in their own short stories they wrote and uploaded as voice overs.
I’m biased in this, but out of every other TH-camr book I’ve seen (only ever read nigahigas besides Dan and Phil’s and didn’t like it cuz it was so basic lmao idk why I bought it) they did the best.
I will say, I don’t think it’s necessarily a problem that Katniss is driven more by survival and her own personal sense of justice than by political goals. I mean a lot of the books are about how she’s used as a political pawn by those around her. I just don’t think it’s necessarily a problem, more something some people might find less interesting? I personally find it just as interesting to follow a character who’s more concerned with surviving and protecting her family/people she loves.
Also Katniss was sooorta thrown into the plot by chance but she wasn’t chosen. She specifically volunteered, something that was extremely rare for anyone to do and not at all expected of her.
17:09 "I'm implying the threat of poverty and starvation is forcing me to do my job; as it turns out, the oppressing dystopian force was inside of us the whole time" is usually how I respond when an interviewer asks "why do you want this job?"
kappa book review time i am crying of relief
What a delightful surprise, our good hipster boy actually enjoying himself for half of the video.
I fully anticipate his next 4 uploads will be nothing but self-inflicted torture to counterbalance this
Please do a second part! I'm too much of a smooth brain to read but I do enjoy watching your content, sober or otherwise. Keep making videos!
If I had to guess, The Iron Window probably was written with a target demographic in mind that you don't fit, specifically people familiar with Cultivation and Wuxia fiction, or to some degree their concepts. I say this because those are fairly big fictional genres, based on very long standing cultural mythology and concepts. I feel like just from hearing you talking about it I have a fairly decent idea of how Chi works in it, just based on having read fiction within those genres, and it lining up rather well.
TL;DR he probably didn't really explain chi all that much because he assumed his target demographic didn't need it explained once again.
I love your book reviews and even though a lot of them tend to be on things that are barely passable as literature they did start off the snowball effect that ended in me being an English major now so like. Cool video!