I will say, I really didn’t care much for Fourth wing (and even less for iron flame) but it gets me so excited, when there’s a proper hype again around a book, and people are celebrating the release date! We don’t really see this too often, and even if it might not be the most profound of literary pieces, it gets people excited and into reading and connecting with each other. And for that I appreciate that series a lot 😊
Honestly that is what I love about it too. It makes me happy to see so many people excited about the new book coming out. I plan on trying to read them but I don’t think I will like it and that’s okay
That was actually my thread. Crazy to see it being mentioned on TH-cam lol. I would love to see your opinion on "An Unkindness of Magicians" (it actually gets a sequel) though I doubt you'll like it
Same experience. I think honestly 1 and 2 were the best. The first was hype and the 2nd was shocking. 3rd wasn't bad but some parts just didn't have impact. like Ragnars death. But the beginning was horrifying and interesting.
To this day, I don't get why so many well read people rave about The Poppy war. I get liking it because it's personal taste. But it's underwritten, feels like a second draft and the plot should have been divided in two books to be properly developed. Not to mention that the scene at 17% is one of the most anti women things I've ever read...but I have to hear this is a strong female character and a feminist story? Nope.
If you buy books on other people's recommendations, some of them won't work for you. I have absolutely had this experience: Empire of Silence, Jade City, Wheel of Time, Mistborn, Pratchett, and many others don't really work (or in some cases really don't work) for me. That says nothing particular about whether the book or series is overhyped. If millions of people like a book (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, for instance), then it's not overhyped, even if I hate it. This also doesn't mean my negative review is invalid, just that it doesn't reflect the experience that many others have had. De gustibus non est disputandum.
Reminder to some of these commentors: just because you don't like something doesn't mean it isn't good. I would never hang the Mona Lisa in my house, but that doesn't mean it is "bad". Juding any form of art objectively is impossible; Art is always subjective. While popularity can occasionally hint at the quality of something, even then there are going to be those that disagree. While it's fun to call certain things "overhyped" and get excited to see people agree with us, I think it's important to remember that there are those who think your favorite story is "overhyped" as well.
Also repeat after me: Having an opinion doesn't mean you're immune to have it criticized. If you have a shitty take, it deserves to be criticized. It's part of joining a discussion. You should always respect people. You're not obligated to respect their opinion. For example, someone saying they didn't like The Blade Itself because it was too slow for them or the characters were not compelling enough to carry the novel for you, that's understandable. Calling them clichéd characters? That's just flat out wrong.
@@LightningRaven42 Of course they might be seen as cliched characters if that person was more widely read or read outside the narrow genre. So the opinion might be valid, because they have different experiences to compare them to.
The problem is that many reviews are supported by gut feels and not by detailed reasons, comparisons, and reasoning. Without the evidence, it's hard to judge.
Morningstar is my favorite of the trilogy. Finish it! Also, Grace of Kings may be my favorite book I've read. So many amazing characters and profound quotes. Thank you for the recommendation!
Red Rising was a disappointment for me. I found the second and third books to be slightly better, but I did not generally click with the author’s writing style. Brown tends to use a lot of sentence fragments, whose tone is more akin to a point-form screenplay synopsis, rather than a carefully written novel. And. Relentless action. Too many ‘shocks’. Not enough tension build-up. Thin character work. And fragments. So. Many. Fragments. The general premise of the first volume was interesting, and I got hooked by the start (helldivers, class system, etc), but then I was put off a bit by the Hunger Games cum Throne of Glass tournament plot line in the middle… and that’s the part where I really struggled to keep track of what was going on and why I should care for any of the many, difficult to distinguish, characters. These issues are related to personal preference; I understand many feel differently, but this was one rec that did not work well for me.
I still don't get the love for Poppy War. Made it through 2 books and just couldn't do it anymore. And I'll always be a pariah for my Name of the Wind takes ha ha!
Thanks for the video. I like and respect your book reviews. I'm really looking forward to your honest thoughts about the Sun Eater series b/c I'm seriously considering launching into it.
I feel like The Sword of Kaigen has two climaxes. The one in the middle that you mentioned, and the one that's featured on the cover art of some editions - which happens very near the end of the book. But less huge and bombastic, but it's the culmination of everything the main character has gone through.
Jade City is quite nice, but it does share the same issue with The Blade Itself, but with less funny and compelling characters. The ending of Jade City is quite nice though. Book two is a s tep up and book three is also quite good. But I will be honest, the worldbuilding carried the fuck out of this trilogy. The modern setting is such a refreshing take on an entirely original world. Most of the time, you only see medieval and adjacent fantastical worlds. Having a setting with guns and cars offers quite a different flavor.
@@LightningRaven42 Yes, I did like the worldbuilding. For me it was a mobstory that to make it fantasy had jade as drugs and since I wanted fantasy it didn't work. I think that if I hadn't been sold the fantasy part so hard I would have had fun at least. And thank you for what I see as a warning about The Blade Itself!
@ The fantastical aspects mainly pop up during the fights. Most of the time, Jade is basically just a drug in the story and combat trophy, so I agree on that. But, the characters in Jade City are compelling enough. Specially Shae. However, the difference between Jade City and The Blade Itself is in the characters, Glokta, Logan, West, Ferro and Jezal are all incredibly fun and compelling characters. Some you begin hating and end up loving, others it's the opposite. It's one of the strongest character works in the genre and unlike Jade City, the prose is stellar. Definitely among the best in fantasy. Sharp, funny and beautiful when it needs to be.
@@absinthereader2683 I loooove Green Bone Saga but I think the marketing its fans give it as a "fantasy" book do it a disservice and lead people to false expectations. It's like 90% political/action organized crime thriller with 10% fantastical elements in the form of jade.
Yeah, only read the first one as I bought the while moving and I don't have room for bookshelves so all my books are boxed still. I am however getting more and more tempted to try and find them so I can catch up for the next release.
Wow I'm shocked by the trolling on Red Rising 😂 I'm not a sci-fi fan but I love that it leans more towards dystopian fantasy vibes. One of the best I've read so far.
Anybody who cares at all about skillful prose/dialogue should avoid Red Rising. The writing is weak (young author still learning his craft), but it's action-packed if that's what you're looking for.
I normally don’t get along well with really hyped books. It honestly turns me off to reading a book and I think it just has to do with my expectations being so high and then the book not living up to it. Hated Legends and Lattes, The Poppy War, Fourth Wing. There are plenty more!
I’m a big fan of the LOTR and would like recommendations for Epic/high fantasy preferably not grim dark (read up to book 2 of mistborn but had to take a break) Thank you !
Hyperion Cantos though not fantasy is an awesome series to get into. Now, epic fantasy that I felt was similar to LotR -> Wizard of Earthsea books (these are just pure amazing!), The Hobbit, The Sword of Shannara (almost a ripoff but still awesome), The Kingkiller Chronicles (be warned, this is not yet complete and will most likely never be completed), the Licanius Trilogy...
I haven't read it yet, but whenever I look for similar recommendations, Tad Williams The Dragonbone Chair seems to always be mentioned. I will be reading it this year. Edit: Per the other comment, The Sword of Shannara certainly fits, so well in fact it has been accused of being a direct copy. I didn't care for it and felt it was very much a YA series.
100% agree on Poppy War and Rage of Dragons, both annoyed the hell out of me as they were certainly NOT deserving of the hype (especially RoD). The writing of both was acceptable but the characters were just so unlikeable. Dragon Republic at least was somewhat better, i don't know if i want to put myself through the sequel to RoD. As for The Blade Itself, the first half was definitely a challenge and I thought I'd made a mistake picking it up. Sooo glad I pushed through.
i like to read web novels but don't see a lot of booktubers or youtubers compare them to normal books. so i would like to ask you if you would read the first act of my favorite web novel and give your comments on it the web novel is lord of mysteries (it can be found officially on WebNovel but if you just look online you can also find a pdf to print or a epub). lord of mysteries is a fantasy novel placed in world in the industrial revolution with a special and very interesting magic system but the novel is +8000 pages so i only ask you to read the first act but if you read it and like it feel free to read the rest. i didn't want to take up to much of your time. hope you or anyone in the comments read it and have as much fun as me.
Great to see another webnovel reader, still finishing LOTM but i like it so far, i starter reading it because i liked Throne of magic arcana by the same author and loved it.
Much to my surprise *Nettle and Bone* is the one I have to disagree with. I remember reading online how it was the one decent novel that somehow snuck into otherwise useless Hugo awards, and actually won the Best Novel of 2023. I liked it well enough myself.
Empire of silence is a pretty slow book, it mostly doing setup for the later books in the series and kinda suffers because of that. Book two, the howling dark, is one of the best in the series though. I’m currently on book six and while I enjoy the series I do have reservations and critiques, for one the first person narration and writing style mean that things are incredibly focused on Hadrian, to the detriment of all other characters, another thing is that while the series focuses on him it does feel like the wider world sort of simply lurches around without much direction. At this point in the books the war has been raging for well over a thousand years and still feels somewhat vague and ill defined. Battles simply happen occasionally and planets are destroyed but it rarely feels targeted. With that said book five is probably my favourite as it feels a lot more visceral and impactful.
The Night Circus was one of my favorite reads last year, but I'll be the first to admit that it's not for everyone. Come for the vibes and nothing elsem
Personally, I think the radical shift in Poppy War works because of the themes of the book and the foreshadowing is there from the beginning (also the title of the book). I don't think the book is perfect, but I enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to read the rest of the trilogy.
Red rising was the one for me. I was very excited but the first book was just decent,3 stars for me. Golden Son is the one really disliked and dnf'ed the series
I am a huge sci-fi / fantasy reader and have only read one of these. I think part of it is that many of these have a too modern writing style. I also think I have an aversion to highly hyped books; when I have read them in the past, they never work for me. The difficulty, I think, is to find those booktubers who are reading and talking about what they enjoy vs. those that are following the crowd and the fear of missing out. I worry that the creators and those consuming videos only want the newest thing. And might avoid older titles because they fear they are stale or "boomer-ish" or whatever. But the revival of authors such as Tad Williams -- the fad that came out of nowhere recently -- shows that there's more to exciting reading than the book that came out last month.
The Jade series by Fonda Lee . I got through the first book and it was alright nothing spectacular . I tried the second book and didn’t finish it . I guess there was nothing inherently wrong with the books. They Just got a lot of hype and they didn’t live up to.
I put down The Blade Itself around 200 pages into it. It just didn't grab my attention and I wanted to read other stuff at the time. I'll probably get back to it eventually. Red Rising the original trilogy was okay. Iron gold was ROUGH, the change in tone, everything. Had to try hard to push through that one. Dark age gets hate, but It's one of my favorite books of all time. It felt like 5 action movies in one book. I also enjoyed Lightbringer. Can't wait for Red God, hopefully coming this year. Oh and the voice actor for the audiobooks is also extremely talented!
My wife read Fourth Wing and fell in love with romantasy. Prior to that all she read was Harry Potter/some crime novels. Like a lot of similar novels it's not just for me, and that's okay.
Same! I DNF'D early in Dark Age. I heard most people (me included) didn't enjoy Iron Gold, so I pushed through to DA, but it was so bad. I felt there was zero character development from Morning Star to Iron Gold. And the short choppy sentences worked for me when the characters were younger, I didnt mind the YA feel, but that writing style really didn't work for me when dealing with adult characters.
I'd go back to it I have read everything and I can tell you we get some of the best moments in the saga in those last 2 books and how it was set up I can imagine Red God will be the best book in the saga
I picked up The Poppy War because of a girl I liked at the time and even that couldn't get me to finish it, I got seriously weird vibes around halfway through and had to stop
Not related to this video's topic, but I highly recommend the Summoner series by Taran Matharu. Though I will say to definitely read them in order of release and not chronology. Another series I genuinely love is the Band of Four novels by Ed Greenwood. I will admit many of the ones you disagreed with I did agree with disliking but for other reasons. Some people's writing just bores me even if their ideas are good. The summoner books are the fastest I've ever read a book, much less a series and kept my attention the whole time. They have their downsides but are currently set as my favorites I've ever read.
Rage of dragons was my biggest disappointment tbh. Don't advertise your book as a southern african fantasy then use no mythology or folklore from southern africa. Its literally a basic euro fantasy but with black people. Its not a bad book, but its not what was advertised
If there's one book that I hate... It's "The Night Circus". Overhyped for no reason! The most shallow and boring characters I've ever read. (It made sense when I heard the author herself say in an interview that the female MC wasn't in the first draft of the manuscript 🤦🏼♀️) But the thing that annoyed me the most was the complete lack of plot and the fact that many questions were left unanswered after 500+ pages. Just no.
Thanks so much for your content, always ! Would you make a video on your favourite books before going into Fantasy? Do you presently read also books which are not Fantasy? Saludos desde México.
The Blade Itself was my only DNF of 2024. I gave in to the hype and I hated it. I hated the characters, the lack of plot, and the paper thin world building. I gave it a 1.5/5 (the .5 was because the audiobook was very well done)
The problem with the Blade Itself is that gets much better after reading before they are hanged and I always say to people is it’s more like one book split into 3. So I get why people struggle with it tbh. I loved it. If you ever decide to give it a chance, I suggest doing so and finishing the series. Once you get to BTAH, the story and characters develop and you start to get a lot of hints and can piece together stuff from BI. It’s very subtle and a slow burn but it’s definitely worth it and amazingly well written. Not only that - the combat is some of the most visceral I’ve ever read in a book.
I DNFed The Blade Itself twice, once I got to 20% mark, second time I got to 50% mark. Gave it 2 stars on Goodreads. I just wasn't feeling it. I kept asking what is the point, who the hell is Glokta, why is Logen roaming around, why is Jezal so ass. What are these characters. What the hell are these word choices. The writing was so great though that I gave it a 3rd chance. I've read around 200 books and The Blade Itself became the only book ever that kept me up at night on that 3rd round. I'd suggest you give up on the audio book. What I realized was that it's a very subtle book and I was accustomed to being spoon fed in the modern style. Characters are too realistic that it becomes weird. The plot, worldbuilding, and humor is there, the whole point of the book is there, just in a very subtle way that it's so easy to bypass it without noticing. A line a charcter says in one chapter is repeated in one or two chapters later by another character and it's so fascinating to see it from different angles. Their reaction to something as simple as height is genius. I'm on The Last Argument of Kings now and they all are 5/5 for me
@@SevaineEmiya I may try again and probably in printed word. But it wont be anytime soon, there are too many other things that are in my list before circling back.
I am one of those that did not like the sword of Kaigen I found it was too long and needed a better edit, with too many elements being added in late in the book and there was stuff that didn't need to be there. It did though have some great elements
for people of this generation (20/30) they start reading when all of the troopes have been created by books in the 60/70/80/90/00... Per example grimdark, yes Abercrombie is probably one of the most famous but if you have read warhammer stuff or glen cook you already knew what grimdark is. Telling Abercrombie is the father of grimdark is an affront to all people that cme before. Even the term grimdark comes from warhammer. Read Dead Men Walking by steve lyons (40K universe) and the world of Abercrombie would be a happy place in comparison. There are plenty more examples of depressing and grimdark all over the place in 40K universe of fantasy for that matter. Read Word Bearers Trilogy by Anthony Reynolds also on 40K. You will get a depression just reading the book. IT's grimdark to extreme. Sorry I got sidetrack. What I mean is, people reading sci-fi\fantasy nowadays and reading classics and telling this is a trope or ripoff it's shows idiocy of people. lol
Honestly “A day of fallen night” isn’t worth the time- I found the underlying plotline to be a carbon copy of “The Priory of the orange tree” in the sense that the queen was being forced to produce an heir.. The characters were slightly more developed but that’s the only pro for me 😂
Ok, I'm just going to stand up for the Romantasy genre for a second - Fourth Wing is not even good in that sphere. I am a YA fantasy reader who loves romance and there are only a few "adult fantasy" books that I like and I get frustrated that people write off disliking Forth Wing because Romantasy is just not their genre. It's not that simple. I prefer to think of Fourth Wing as fantasy for readers who prefer contemporary romance but have been getting a little bored of the same old. Fourth Wing, and other romantasy books like it, are contemporary romance cosplaying as fantasy and that has an audience who loves it, but authors like Brandon Sanderson and Heather Fawcett have shown that Romantasy can be just as clever and immersive and epic as any other fantasy we love ❤️
"I didn't love the prose" in a Joe Abercrombie book? The guy writes in the pocket. He's as tight with his prose as any other writer living today. I would be very interested to see what people made of Malazan. I assume most people give up on GOTM.
You recommend me The Last War Series.... I enjoyed it a lot. You recommend as well Dandelion Dynasty.. so it was okay.... its like mythology retelling... not great but just fine. You said that you did not recommend Children of Time series... it was the best reading of my life... What I am saying is our taste is different but we love reading nonetheless
I liked the First Law trilogy but still seem to be an outlier because I actually think the first book is the best one. The others are ok but I don't think I would have bought the rest of the series if The Blade itself had been like them
I'm halfway through "Before They Are Hanged" and, um, the funny bits are funny, but otherwise - it still feels pointless...wandering around in the middle of nowhere. The only thing I liked in "The Blade Itself" was when they went into the House of the Maker -- now, I admit, I'm an architect, so biased regarding buildings and cities, but really. The House was intriguing. Anyway, I've gotten side-tracked with a China Mieville book... "The City & The CIty - which could be considered catnip for architects... sigh.
I feel like for me it has to be the Licanius books. Mike hyped them up so much, and I was sorely disappointed. They weren't that bad, they're just painfully mediocre.
Could not agree more with that take on Empire of Silence. I saw it everywhere, picked it up a month ago, and expected to love it. I barely made it through the book and DNF'd Howling Dark. Hadrian is one of the worst written and most unlikeable main characters I've ever read in a book. I'm probably in the minority of readers with that opinion, but I don't get the hype around that series.
The Faithful and the Fallen series by John Gwynne is way overrated for me. I don’t even need to name drop any Booktubers because practically ALL of them love this series LOL. But I DNF’d midway through the second book.
I ADORED The Faithful and the Fallen when I read it. However, I can imagine if I read it now I would be a tad more sceptical! Sorry it didn't work for you.
I'm currently finishing the last book, I've bought them all on a pack offer that I found and I'm with you. The books are fine but highly overrated. The story is mediocre, and while some characters are well-written, what really bothers me is the author’s repeated use of the same tropes, often without much sense, seemingly just to create cheap drama. It got to the point where I had to push myself to keep reading. I enjoyed the Bloodsworn Saga far more.
This is an awesome thread, thanks for sharing! I feel so vindicated going through it and seeing people call out some of the dearly beloveds like Gwynne, Pierce Brown and Cahill. I recently read FATF and its the single most overhyped series I've seen in our sphere of Booktube to date, a real waste of time, and I've heard nothing about Brown or Cahill that makes them any more interesting than FATF was. The praise for these books is so uniform and unequivocal it's bonkers.
One book I wish I saw more critique of is The Shadow of The Gods. Don't care about almost any of the characters, the plot lines from different POVs are way too similar, too much action, stereotypical villains with no complexity, overall just a total miss for me. Stopped halfway through book 2
I adore the Sun Eater series and the First Law World -and Red Rising. Whatever criticism one can level against first law-it’s not cliched characters!!!
The Will of the Many was the only book I read off a Booktube recommendation and likely the last. A book with plain, repetitive writing and a protagonist who quickly masters everything and a story that does nothing with its main subjects. I dnf'd it halfway through. Another book that uses a magic system to replace theming, therefore making for a story that has nothing interesting to say. The Stormlight Archive I was thinking of reading, but seeing the poor reception to the last book has me rethinking that.
I too read Will of the Many after practically every Booktuber I've ever watched couldn't stop talking about it, best book of the year, etc. etc. It was... fine. I did finish it, I liked parts, I disliked parts, I'll pick up the sequel eventually... It was disappointing because I definitely went into it with too many expectations. Your comment about it using the magic system instead of theme is an interesting take. I don't have anything to say in response, but I'll definitely be mulling that idea over...
Atlas Six was the biggest load of garbage I've ever read, I probably wasn't the target audience but man, what a boring book. One of the few books I DNFed in the last few years.
The amount of people that only read part of Blade Itself and then never read the rest of the books then decide the whole thing is bad, is crazy. Like I just don’t get it. It’s like watching 20 minutes of a 3 hour long movie and going “This is crap” and leaving.
You are one of the people that Brandon Sanderson was talking about turning your nose up at the FanRo genre. You've literally talked about Fourth Wing in SO many videos now because you want clicks, just like everyone else that's discussed Fourth Wing. I'm beginning to think you're low-key obsessed with it. For someone who "disliked" the book as much as you claim to. Why don't you just move on? You could learn a lot from Captured In Words' channel. He may not read FanRo, but he recognizes how important the sub-genre has become to the world of Fantasy. Maybe you should try it. Unsubscribed.
The hype Brandon Sanderson receives can only be explained by a lack of exposure the readers have had to well written prose. I wasn't anal about prose a decade ago, but I think I am now. Sanderson's writing is intentionally designed to be baby's first book. It doesn't try to do too much and targets the lowest common denominator. The books are easy to read in English and hence easy to translate as well most likely. Not throwing shade at anyone as most people read for entertainment. Personally, I prefer his books that are light on magic and Warbreaker is an all-timer for me and Skyward (1st book only) is the best YA I've read
The blade itself was good but it's difficult to read a book that doesn't really have much of a plot or crescendo. I understand he's building something with the first law trilogy but the first book really doesn't grip you and really make you want to rebook two. I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed with it after all of the hype around it. Couldn't agree more with Red Rising. Very cliché and I do see where they refer to the world building is a week. I DNF'd it. sorry
Red rising is hot garbage. Worst 1st person ive ever read. Ive read the first three so its not like i didnt give it a chance. On the upside i really enjoyed the 3rd book
I can read maybe a single book in 1st person but not a whole series. Don't know why this isn't a problem for more people. 1st person is just bad. No change of perspective, always the same guy/girl in focus
@SaveEuropethe worst part of 1st person perspective in Red Rising is that the autor has to artificially hide information that the character knows but is not convenient for the audience to know before it is necesary to create tension and plot twists. Is very cheap, and it gets worse and worse as the series go on.
Whoever reads the Red Rising series and describes it as "shallow" and "unimaginative" should not be allowed to comment on these types of posts or Sci-fi books in general.
While I really enjoyed the first 3, and will wait for 7 to have a firm date before continuing, it is borderline YA... which might also be described as shallow and/or heavily action driven. It also heavily borrows from other scifi works... heavily...
Look, I hate when people who have only read Empire of Silence say: I don't get the hype guys! I always make this Wheel of Time comparison: It's like somebody who has only read The Eye of the World and say, I don't get the hype guys. You know, this is just the beginning, you only get a glimpse of what's to come. And I'm not saying you have to read the whole series to have a valid opinion, but at the same time, it's that thing of: People who say Sun Eater is derivative of Dune and Name of the Wind, have only read Empire of Silence. Again, just like The Eye of World - Lord of the Rings and Dune. It's about starting somewhere familiar and then going somewhere new. And, while i'm on this - addressing critism tangent: Many people say that they found Hadrian annoying and insufferable... Uhm, have we forgotten what a character journey is? It's like people assume he is like that for the rest of the story, but it's actually the opposite - It is the promise that he will change, for you to be able to look back and see just how far he's come. The annoying privileged kid is someone who brought me to tears later on in the story. To quote Austin from 2ToRamble, someone who was very dissapointed by Empire of Silence and then when he read Howling Dark: "5 stars" "absolutely floored" "Hadrian has the potential to become one of my favorite characters in fiction". My point is: Sun Eater is my favorite series of all time, it has everything that an epic fantasy fan is looking for and then some, the hype is that big for a reason. Read Howling Dark before you form your opinion because I always say: Finishing Howling Dark is the moment where Sun Eater gets from having your attention, to becoming your obsession! PS to Johan: Just finish whatever you are reading right now and hop on the Sun Eater train, because if there is a series the deserves, you to put everything else on hold, its Sun Eater. I believe you will love it.
After seeing videos hyping up Sun Eater I read all of the released books and was disappointed. I finished the released books because I find it hard to DNF series, but I can't recommend the books to anyone. I think what Ruocchio does best is intrigue. He draws you in with an interesting idea and doesn't reveal too much all at once and extrapolates over the series in a non predictable way. The reason I can't recommend the series to anyone is because the character work for anyone other than Hadrian is nearly non-existent. Rather than showing us how relationships develop and making us feel it Ruocchio just tells us. There are one or two exceptions that I won't name in order to not spoil it for anyone who will still read it. The battle/fight scenes feel like they are meant to be epic but instead feel plodding and drawn out. I couldn't wait for them to be finished. Overall I would give the series so far a C+, hopefully the ending makes the juice worth the squeeze. Intrigue = A, Characters = D, Worldbuilding = B-, Prose = C-, Fight Scenes = D-.
Honestly I don't agree with that if someone doesn't like a series from the first book it's fine. It just means they don't vibe with what the series is providing. Empire of silence is arriving soon for me really excited to read it. Saw so many vids about it and it sounds like everything I love about epic stories, it just sounds right up my alley. I hope I love it
@ the writing is meandering and needed heavy editing. The dialogue is cringe at best - take a shot every time someone responds with, “What?” There is no real ending to speak of; writing just stops. The worldbuilding is ok? And the MC throws away any type of growth she might have had with a braindead decision that sends a horrible message. But people seem hellbent on telling you this is great because it’s a standalone. I do not get it.
For me, Red Rising has been way overhyped. I have the read the 1st 4 books hoping that it would get better. I did find that book 1 was the weakest of the series but the following 3 were not very good. It would have been much better if the author decided to go full fantasy but even then the characters were lacking. It seemed that it was a continuing cycle of Darrow trusting people only to be betrayed and then trusting them again. I also found that when the author writes 1st person narrative then keeps the "plan" secret from the reader it indicates to me either the author is being disingenuous with the reader or the main character is making up the "plan" on the fly which I would not want in a leader. I have not been this disappointed in a series in a very long time. I have books 5 and 6 but doubt I'll be reading them anytime soon. Since there has been so many comparisons between Red Rising and the Sun Eater series, I'm not sure if will read Sun Eater. I did start the ebook sample of it and found it a bit lacking but maybe it'll pick up. The Blade Itself was good. I enjoyed how the author switched points of view so each character had very distinct "voice" when reading different characters. I do plan on reading more from this author. The Stormlight Archive. I have only read book 1. I did find it pretty good but overly long and pretty repeatative. It was more of a comfort read but near the end I just wanted to finish the book and read something else. Since I bought the 3 book boxset, I probably will read at least the next book at some point. If I don't enjoy it more than book 1, I'm not sure I'll read anything more by this author. My taste in books is very broad. I do enjoy hard SF, Fantasy, horror, espionage, classics. Some series I did enjoy recently are The Expanse, books by Alistair Reynolds, The Blade Itself trilogy, Mary Stewart's Merlin Trilogy, Jack Whyte Excalibur series.
I will say, I really didn’t care much for Fourth wing (and even less for iron flame) but it gets me so excited, when there’s a proper hype again around a book, and people are celebrating the release date! We don’t really see this too often, and even if it might not be the most profound of literary pieces, it gets people excited and into reading and connecting with each other. And for that I appreciate that series a lot 😊
Honestly that is what I love about it too. It makes me happy to see so many people excited about the new book coming out. I plan on trying to read them but I don’t think I will like it and that’s okay
That was actually my thread. Crazy to see it being mentioned on TH-cam lol. I would love to see your opinion on "An Unkindness of Magicians" (it actually gets a sequel) though I doubt you'll like it
Red Rising is definitely one of the best trilogy i have read, especially book 2 was incredible. I would say it definitely is not overrated.
Same experience. I think honestly 1 and 2 were the best. The first was hype and the 2nd was shocking. 3rd wasn't bad but some parts just didn't have impact. like Ragnars death. But the beginning was horrifying and interesting.
@@thegorillabeast4500 i agree. I kinda gave it a similar review. Definitely a great trilogy but book 3 falls a bit short.
I went in with low expectations for book 1 and it was way better than I expected.
To this day, I don't get why so many well read people rave about The Poppy war. I get liking it because it's personal taste. But it's underwritten, feels like a second draft and the plot should have been divided in two books to be properly developed. Not to mention that the scene at 17% is one of the most anti women things I've ever read...but I have to hear this is a strong female character and a feminist story? Nope.
the only thing I've learned is that every single person is different
If you buy books on other people's recommendations, some of them won't work for you. I have absolutely had this experience: Empire of Silence, Jade City, Wheel of Time, Mistborn, Pratchett, and many others don't really work (or in some cases really don't work) for me.
That says nothing particular about whether the book or series is overhyped. If millions of people like a book (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, for instance), then it's not overhyped, even if I hate it. This also doesn't mean my negative review is invalid, just that it doesn't reflect the experience that many others have had.
De gustibus non est disputandum.
Reminder to some of these commentors: just because you don't like something doesn't mean it isn't good. I would never hang the Mona Lisa in my house, but that doesn't mean it is "bad".
Juding any form of art objectively is impossible; Art is always subjective. While popularity can occasionally hint at the quality of something, even then there are going to be those that disagree. While it's fun to call certain things "overhyped" and get excited to see people agree with us, I think it's important to remember that there are those who think your favorite story is "overhyped" as well.
*To some people in the comments, repeat after me... slowely:*
Gatekeeping makes all Fandoms toxic. Everyone can and should be able to have an opinion.
No. That's how you get furies and woke bullies corrupting our fandoms.
wrong. Gatekeeping keeps your fandom safe from tourists who seek to insert themselves into the hobby because they are narcissistic parasites.
Also repeat after me:
Having an opinion doesn't mean you're immune to have it criticized. If you have a shitty take, it deserves to be criticized. It's part of joining a discussion. You should always respect people. You're not obligated to respect their opinion.
For example, someone saying they didn't like The Blade Itself because it was too slow for them or the characters were not compelling enough to carry the novel for you, that's understandable. Calling them clichéd characters? That's just flat out wrong.
@@LightningRaven42 Of course they might be seen as cliched characters if that person was more widely read or read outside the narrow genre. So the opinion might be valid, because they have different experiences to compare them to.
The problem is that many reviews are supported by gut feels and not by detailed reasons, comparisons, and reasoning. Without the evidence, it's hard to judge.
Morningstar is my favorite of the trilogy. Finish it!
Also, Grace of Kings may be my favorite book I've read. So many amazing characters and profound quotes. Thank you for the recommendation!
Red Rising was a disappointment for me. I found the second and third books to be slightly better, but I did not generally click with the author’s writing style. Brown tends to use a lot of sentence fragments, whose tone is more akin to a point-form screenplay synopsis, rather than a carefully written novel. And. Relentless action. Too many ‘shocks’. Not enough tension build-up. Thin character work. And fragments. So. Many. Fragments.
The general premise of the first volume was interesting, and I got hooked by the start (helldivers, class system, etc), but then I was put off a bit by the Hunger Games cum Throne of Glass tournament plot line in the middle… and that’s the part where I really struggled to keep track of what was going on and why I should care for any of the many, difficult to distinguish, characters.
These issues are related to personal preference; I understand many feel differently, but this was one rec that did not work well for me.
I still don't get the love for Poppy War. Made it through 2 books and just couldn't do it anymore. And I'll always be a pariah for my Name of the Wind takes ha ha!
Thanks for the video. I like and respect your book reviews. I'm really looking forward to your honest thoughts about the Sun Eater series b/c I'm seriously considering launching into it.
I feel like The Sword of Kaigen has two climaxes. The one in the middle that you mentioned, and the one that's featured on the cover art of some editions - which happens very near the end of the book. But less huge and bombastic, but it's the culmination of everything the main character has gone through.
Jade City. DNFed about halfway in.
Would recommend Terminal Alliance by Jim C Hines, need to finish the last book but love that trilogy!
Jade City is quite nice, but it does share the same issue with The Blade Itself, but with less funny and compelling characters. The ending of Jade City is quite nice though. Book two is a s
tep up and book three is also quite good.
But I will be honest, the worldbuilding carried the fuck out of this trilogy. The modern setting is such a refreshing take on an entirely original world. Most of the time, you only see medieval and adjacent fantastical worlds. Having a setting with guns and cars offers quite a different flavor.
@@LightningRaven42 Yes, I did like the worldbuilding. For me it was a mobstory that to make it fantasy had jade as drugs and since I wanted fantasy it didn't work. I think that if I hadn't been sold the fantasy part so hard I would have had fun at least.
And thank you for what I see as a warning about The Blade Itself!
@ The fantastical aspects mainly pop up during the fights. Most of the time, Jade is basically just a drug in the story and combat trophy, so I agree on that. But, the characters in Jade City are compelling enough. Specially Shae.
However, the difference between Jade City and The Blade Itself is in the characters, Glokta, Logan, West, Ferro and Jezal are all incredibly fun and compelling characters. Some you begin hating and end up loving, others it's the opposite. It's one of the strongest character works in the genre and unlike Jade City, the prose is stellar. Definitely among the best in fantasy. Sharp, funny and beautiful when it needs to be.
@@absinthereader2683 I loooove Green Bone Saga but I think the marketing its fans give it as a "fantasy" book do it a disservice and lead people to false expectations. It's like 90% political/action organized crime thriller with 10% fantastical elements in the form of jade.
You should read the bound and the broken by ryan cahill its really good
Picked up book 1 last week and I’m excited to see how this will go. Still haven’t started it yet tho
Yeah, only read the first one as I bought the while moving and I don't have room for bookshelves so all my books are boxed still. I am however getting more and more tempted to try and find them so I can catch up for the next release.
Wow I'm shocked by the trolling on Red Rising 😂 I'm not a sci-fi fan but I love that it leans more towards dystopian fantasy vibes. One of the best I've read so far.
Anybody who cares at all about skillful prose/dialogue should avoid Red Rising. The writing is weak (young author still learning his craft), but it's action-packed if that's what you're looking for.
I normally don’t get along well with really hyped books. It honestly turns me off to reading a book and I think it just has to do with my expectations being so high and then the book not living up to it. Hated Legends and Lattes, The Poppy War, Fourth Wing. There are plenty more!
I’m a big fan of the LOTR and would like recommendations for Epic/high fantasy preferably not grim dark (read up to book 2 of mistborn but had to take a break) Thank you !
Hyperion Cantos though not fantasy is an awesome series to get into.
Now, epic fantasy that I felt was similar to LotR -> Wizard of Earthsea books (these are just pure amazing!), The Hobbit, The Sword of Shannara (almost a ripoff but still awesome), The Kingkiller Chronicles (be warned, this is not yet complete and will most likely never be completed), the Licanius Trilogy...
@ thank you so much!
I haven't read it yet, but whenever I look for similar recommendations, Tad Williams The Dragonbone Chair seems to always be mentioned.
I will be reading it this year.
Edit: Per the other comment, The Sword of Shannara certainly fits, so well in fact it has been accused of being a direct copy. I didn't care for it and felt it was very much a YA series.
The Belgariad and Wheel of Time are also great
@ wheel of time is my next book series I will be starting
Thankful for reading WoT? I'm only thankful that it's over and I never have to touch it again 😂
100% agree on Poppy War and Rage of Dragons, both annoyed the hell out of me as they were certainly NOT deserving of the hype (especially RoD). The writing of both was acceptable but the characters were just so unlikeable. Dragon Republic at least was somewhat better, i don't know if i want to put myself through the sequel to RoD.
As for The Blade Itself, the first half was definitely a challenge and I thought I'd made a mistake picking it up. Sooo glad I pushed through.
i like to read web novels but don't see a lot of booktubers or youtubers compare them to normal books. so i would like to ask you if you would read the first act of my favorite web novel and give your comments on it the web novel is lord of mysteries (it can be found officially on WebNovel but if you just look online you can also find a pdf to print or a epub).
lord of mysteries is a fantasy novel placed in world in the industrial revolution with a special and very interesting magic system but the novel is +8000 pages so i only ask you to read the first act but if you read it and like it feel free to read the rest. i didn't want to take up to much of your time.
hope you or anyone in the comments read it and have as much fun as me.
Great to see another webnovel reader, still finishing LOTM but i like it so far, i starter reading it because i liked Throne of magic arcana by the same author and loved it.
Much to my surprise *Nettle and Bone* is the one I have to disagree with. I remember reading online how it was the one decent novel that somehow snuck into otherwise useless Hugo awards, and actually won the Best Novel of 2023. I liked it well enough myself.
Empire of silence is a pretty slow book, it mostly doing setup for the later books in the series and kinda suffers because of that. Book two, the howling dark, is one of the best in the series though. I’m currently on book six and while I enjoy the series I do have reservations and critiques, for one the first person narration and writing style mean that things are incredibly focused on Hadrian, to the detriment of all other characters, another thing is that while the series focuses on him it does feel like the wider world sort of simply lurches around without much direction. At this point in the books the war has been raging for well over a thousand years and still feels somewhat vague and ill defined. Battles simply happen occasionally and planets are destroyed but it rarely feels targeted.
With that said book five is probably my favourite as it feels a lot more visceral and impactful.
The Night Circus was one of my favorite reads last year, but I'll be the first to admit that it's not for everyone. Come for the vibes and nothing elsem
what’s that clear cover on the sword of kaigen i want to protect my books like that everyone knows where to get it?
Personally, I think the radical shift in Poppy War works because of the themes of the book and the foreshadowing is there from the beginning (also the title of the book). I don't think the book is perfect, but I enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to read the rest of the trilogy.
Agreed. IMHO the shift in tone is kinda essential to the theme.
Red rising was the one for me. I was very excited but the first book was just decent,3 stars for me. Golden Son is the one really disliked and dnf'ed the series
Problem with fourth wing is that the writing is bad, and corny. But I will say the story was good
I am a huge sci-fi / fantasy reader and have only read one of these. I think part of it is that many of these have a too modern writing style. I also think I have an aversion to highly hyped books; when I have read them in the past, they never work for me.
The difficulty, I think, is to find those booktubers who are reading and talking about what they enjoy vs. those that are following the crowd and the fear of missing out. I worry that the creators and those consuming videos only want the newest thing. And might avoid older titles because they fear they are stale or "boomer-ish" or whatever.
But the revival of authors such as Tad Williams -- the fad that came out of nowhere recently -- shows that there's more to exciting reading than the book that came out last month.
What is everyone's obsession with Daniel Greene?
He is the biggest SciFi/Fantasy TH-camr on the platform.
I don't know... he is actually overrated. He is just a book reviewer.
@@aliceDarts Is he though. He talks about things & news related to books but he seldom makes actual reviews. I wouldn't call him a reviewer.
He is one of the biggest twats on YT
idk about obsession, but he's good at what he does
Empire of the Vampire blew me away. Currently reading book 2. Amazing grim dark with awesome vampire lore.
Loved name of the wind
The Jade series by Fonda Lee . I got through the first book and it was alright nothing spectacular . I tried the second book and didn’t finish it . I guess there was nothing inherently wrong with the books. They Just got a lot of hype and they didn’t live up to.
I put down The Blade Itself around 200 pages into it. It just didn't grab my attention and I wanted to read other stuff at the time. I'll probably get back to it eventually.
Red Rising the original trilogy was okay. Iron gold was ROUGH, the change in tone, everything. Had to try hard to push through that one. Dark age gets hate, but It's one of my favorite books of all time. It felt like 5 action movies in one book. I also enjoyed Lightbringer. Can't wait for Red God, hopefully coming this year. Oh and the voice actor for the audiobooks is also extremely talented!
My wife read Fourth Wing and fell in love with romantasy. Prior to that all she read was Harry Potter/some crime novels. Like a lot of similar novels it's not just for me, and that's okay.
Original red Rising trilogy is amazing. I should have stopped reading after book three as it just goes to crap after that.
Same! I DNF'D early in Dark Age. I heard most people (me included) didn't enjoy Iron Gold, so I pushed through to DA, but it was so bad. I felt there was zero character development from Morning Star to Iron Gold. And the short choppy sentences worked for me when the characters were younger, I didnt mind the YA feel, but that writing style really didn't work for me when dealing with adult characters.
Wouldn’t go as far to say “crap” lol. Iron gold was pretty mediocre but dark age and Lightbringer are for sure solid books.
I'd go back to it I have read everything and I can tell you we get some of the best moments in the saga in those last 2 books and how it was set up I can imagine Red God will be the best book in the saga
I didn’t connect with Priory of the Orange Tree but I loved Day of Fallen Night.
Romantasy? Can't go wrong with Wurtering Heights. Bonus it has a killer soundtrack, too.
Poppy war feels like YA written for adult audiences.
If you finish the trilogy you wouldn't say that at all.
@Stumblingthroughlife I did. It reads like YA but the tropes are very adult.
Not my all time favorite series but I rated all of the books 4-5 stars
I picked up The Poppy War because of a girl I liked at the time and even that couldn't get me to finish it, I got seriously weird vibes around halfway through and had to stop
Not related to this video's topic, but I highly recommend the Summoner series by Taran Matharu. Though I will say to definitely read them in order of release and not chronology. Another series I genuinely love is the Band of Four novels by Ed Greenwood.
I will admit many of the ones you disagreed with I did agree with disliking but for other reasons. Some people's writing just bores me even if their ideas are good. The summoner books are the fastest I've ever read a book, much less a series and kept my attention the whole time. They have their downsides but are currently set as my favorites I've ever read.
Rage of dragons was my biggest disappointment tbh. Don't advertise your book as a southern african fantasy then use no mythology or folklore from southern africa. Its literally a basic euro fantasy but with black people. Its not a bad book, but its not what was advertised
If there's one book that I hate... It's "The Night Circus". Overhyped for no reason! The most shallow and boring characters I've ever read. (It made sense when I heard the author herself say in an interview that the female MC wasn't in the first draft of the manuscript 🤦🏼♀️)
But the thing that annoyed me the most was the complete lack of plot and the fact that many questions were left unanswered after 500+ pages. Just no.
I didn’t enjoy If We We Villains very much but everyone else seems to love it
Thanks so much for your content, always ! Would you make a video on your favourite books before going into Fantasy? Do you presently read also books which are not Fantasy? Saludos desde México.
The Blade Itself was my only DNF of 2024. I gave in to the hype and I hated it. I hated the characters, the lack of plot, and the paper thin world building. I gave it a 1.5/5 (the .5 was because the audiobook was very well done)
The problem with the Blade Itself is that gets much better after reading before they are hanged and I always say to people is it’s more like one book split into 3. So I get why people struggle with it tbh. I loved it.
If you ever decide to give it a chance, I suggest doing so and finishing the series. Once you get to BTAH, the story and characters develop and you start to get a lot of hints and can piece together stuff from BI. It’s very subtle and a slow burn but it’s definitely worth it and amazingly well written.
Not only that - the combat is some of the most visceral I’ve ever read in a book.
I DNFed The Blade Itself twice, once I got to 20% mark, second time I got to 50% mark. Gave it 2 stars on Goodreads. I just wasn't feeling it. I kept asking what is the point, who the hell is Glokta, why is Logen roaming around, why is Jezal so ass. What are these characters. What the hell are these word choices. The writing was so great though that I gave it a 3rd chance. I've read around 200 books and The Blade Itself became the only book ever that kept me up at night on that 3rd round. I'd suggest you give up on the audio book. What I realized was that it's a very subtle book and I was accustomed to being spoon fed in the modern style. Characters are too realistic that it becomes weird. The plot, worldbuilding, and humor is there, the whole point of the book is there, just in a very subtle way that it's so easy to bypass it without noticing. A line a charcter says in one chapter is repeated in one or two chapters later by another character and it's so fascinating to see it from different angles. Their reaction to something as simple as height is genius. I'm on The Last Argument of Kings now and they all are 5/5 for me
@@SevaineEmiya I may try again and probably in printed word. But it wont be anytime soon, there are too many other things that are in my list before circling back.
@@alexanderlavoie5461 Yeah it'd also help you see different paragraph and sentence structures for different characters. Goodluck
I am one of those that did not like the sword of Kaigen I found it was too long and needed a better edit, with too many elements being added in late in the book and there was stuff that didn't need to be there. It did though have some great elements
for people of this generation (20/30) they start reading when all of the troopes have been created by books in the 60/70/80/90/00... Per example grimdark, yes Abercrombie is probably one of the most famous but if you have read warhammer stuff or glen cook you already knew what grimdark is. Telling Abercrombie is the father of grimdark is an affront to all people that cme before. Even the term grimdark comes from warhammer. Read Dead Men Walking by steve lyons (40K universe) and the world of Abercrombie would be a happy place in comparison. There are plenty more examples of depressing and grimdark all over the place in 40K universe of fantasy for that matter. Read Word Bearers Trilogy by Anthony Reynolds also on 40K. You will get a depression just reading the book. IT's grimdark to extreme. Sorry I got sidetrack. What I mean is, people reading sci-fi\fantasy nowadays and reading classics and telling this is a trope or ripoff it's shows idiocy of people. lol
The Mockingbird by Kristin Hannah is one of the most boring books I made the mistake of buying. Amazing this book has such stellar reviews on Amazon.
I wonder if you've read Glen Cook's work. Particularly The Black Company, Instrumentalities of the Night and, closer to YA, Garrett P.I.
Honestly “A day of fallen night” isn’t worth the time- I found the underlying plotline to be a carbon copy of “The Priory of the orange tree” in the sense that the queen was being forced to produce an heir.. The characters were slightly more developed but that’s the only pro for me 😂
Ok, I'm just going to stand up for the Romantasy genre for a second - Fourth Wing is not even good in that sphere. I am a YA fantasy reader who loves romance and there are only a few "adult fantasy" books that I like and I get frustrated that people write off disliking Forth Wing because Romantasy is just not their genre. It's not that simple. I prefer to think of Fourth Wing as fantasy for readers who prefer contemporary romance but have been getting a little bored of the same old. Fourth Wing, and other romantasy books like it, are contemporary romance cosplaying as fantasy and that has an audience who loves it, but authors like Brandon Sanderson and Heather Fawcett have shown that Romantasy can be just as clever and immersive and epic as any other fantasy we love ❤️
"I didn't love the prose" in a Joe Abercrombie book? The guy writes in the pocket. He's as tight with his prose as any other writer living today. I would be very interested to see what people made of Malazan. I assume most people give up on GOTM.
Sanderson from incredible good writer became the boring one. Rhytm of war is essence of it.
The blade itself is best via audiobook narrator is top notch
You recommend me The Last War Series.... I enjoyed it a lot. You recommend as well Dandelion Dynasty.. so it was okay.... its like mythology retelling... not great but just fine. You said that you did not recommend Children of Time series... it was the best reading of my life... What I am saying is our taste is different but we love reading nonetheless
I liked the First Law trilogy but still seem to be an outlier because I actually think the first book is the best one. The others are ok but I don't think I would have bought the rest of the series if The Blade itself had been like them
I liked fourth wing but I also did skim/skip all of the romancy sex shit so I guess that helped.
Red Rising is like a Zack Snyder film (derogatory)
Very action packed but shallow and excesive overall
I'm halfway through "Before They Are Hanged" and, um, the funny bits are funny, but otherwise - it still feels pointless...wandering around in the middle of nowhere. The only thing I liked in "The Blade Itself" was when they went into the House of the Maker -- now, I admit, I'm an architect, so biased regarding buildings and cities, but really. The House was intriguing. Anyway, I've gotten side-tracked with a China Mieville book... "The City & The CIty - which could be considered catnip for architects... sigh.
I feel like for me it has to be the Licanius books. Mike hyped them up so much, and I was sorely disappointed. They weren't that bad, they're just painfully mediocre.
Could not agree more with that take on Empire of Silence. I saw it everywhere, picked it up a month ago, and expected to love it.
I barely made it through the book and DNF'd Howling Dark. Hadrian is one of the worst written and most unlikeable main characters I've ever read in a book. I'm probably in the minority of readers with that opinion, but I don't get the hype around that series.
Sword of kaigen would be top tier if it wasn't written like there would be a sequel
Iron gold to lightbringer is 100% better than the og red rising trilogy and you should read it asap
The Will of the Many was my favorite book of 2024! Hey-Rome!
The Faithful and the Fallen series by John Gwynne is way overrated for me. I don’t even need to name drop any Booktubers because practically ALL of them love this series LOL. But I DNF’d midway through the second book.
I ADORED The Faithful and the Fallen when I read it. However, I can imagine if I read it now I would be a tad more sceptical! Sorry it didn't work for you.
I'm currently finishing the last book, I've bought them all on a pack offer that I found and I'm with you. The books are fine but highly overrated. The story is mediocre, and while some characters are well-written, what really bothers me is the author’s repeated use of the same tropes, often without much sense, seemingly just to create cheap drama. It got to the point where I had to push myself to keep reading. I enjoyed the Bloodsworn Saga far more.
@@marcgm7917 Thanks! I need to check out Bloodsworn Saga then. Hopefully I’ll enjoy it more.
Calling First Law's characters cliche is blasphemy to be honest!!
This is an awesome thread, thanks for sharing! I feel so vindicated going through it and seeing people call out some of the dearly beloveds like Gwynne, Pierce Brown and Cahill. I recently read FATF and its the single most overhyped series I've seen in our sphere of Booktube to date, a real waste of time, and I've heard nothing about Brown or Cahill that makes them any more interesting than FATF was. The praise for these books is so uniform and unequivocal it's bonkers.
Haha love this comment. I love TBATB and TFATF but definitely understand where you are coming from!
I tried reading FATF back in the day and gave up after 200 pages. Decided to take another shot at Gwynne and sampled Bloodsworn. It's better for sure
@libraryofaviking I know, it's one of the rare cases I think I disagree with your take on a book/series. You're still cool though, no worries 😂😂
One book I wish I saw more critique of is The Shadow of The Gods. Don't care about almost any of the characters, the plot lines from different POVs are way too similar, too much action, stereotypical villains with no complexity, overall just a total miss for me. Stopped halfway through book 2
See now, I continued past The Blade Itself (which I also felt was meh) and I HATED the rest of the series. 😂
Tress of the Emerald Sea, unfortunately. Turns out I really hate sci-fantasy. And Hoid.
Yeah, Red Rising. Dnf'ed by page 100. Didn't like the writing, and the main character got on my nerves.
I adore the Sun Eater series and the First Law World -and Red Rising. Whatever criticism one can level against first law-it’s not cliched characters!!!
The Will of the Many was the only book I read off a Booktube recommendation and likely the last. A book with plain, repetitive writing and a protagonist who quickly masters everything and a story that does nothing with its main subjects. I dnf'd it halfway through. Another book that uses a magic system to replace theming, therefore making for a story that has nothing interesting to say.
The Stormlight Archive I was thinking of reading, but seeing the poor reception to the last book has me rethinking that.
I too read Will of the Many after practically every Booktuber I've ever watched couldn't stop talking about it, best book of the year, etc. etc. It was... fine. I did finish it, I liked parts, I disliked parts, I'll pick up the sequel eventually...
It was disappointing because I definitely went into it with too many expectations.
Your comment about it using the magic system instead of theme is an interesting take. I don't have anything to say in response, but I'll definitely be mulling that idea over...
Frankenstein. Recommended by just about everyone, but so ridiculous.
Why has fourthwing 2 million ratings on goodreads..its just a normal story
Atlas Six was the biggest load of garbage I've ever read, I probably wasn't the target audience but man, what a boring book. One of the few books I DNFed in the last few years.
The amount of people that only read part of Blade Itself and then never read the rest of the books then decide the whole thing is bad, is crazy.
Like I just don’t get it. It’s like watching 20 minutes of a 3 hour long movie and going “This is crap” and leaving.
The forgetting moon
Empire of silence
ROTE
You are one of the people that Brandon Sanderson was talking about turning your nose up at the FanRo genre. You've literally talked about Fourth Wing in SO many videos now because you want clicks, just like everyone else that's discussed Fourth Wing. I'm beginning to think you're low-key obsessed with it. For someone who "disliked" the book as much as you claim to. Why don't you just move on? You could learn a lot from Captured In Words' channel. He may not read FanRo, but he recognizes how important the sub-genre has become to the world of Fantasy. Maybe you should try it. Unsubscribed.
Booktok is not the answer to all the world's problems?
I really hated reading Atlus Six.. !
Legendborn - I was so disappointed.
The hype Brandon Sanderson receives can only be explained by a lack of exposure the readers have had to well written prose. I wasn't anal about prose a decade ago, but I think I am now. Sanderson's writing is intentionally designed to be baby's first book. It doesn't try to do too much and targets the lowest common denominator. The books are easy to read in English and hence easy to translate as well most likely. Not throwing shade at anyone as most people read for entertainment. Personally, I prefer his books that are light on magic and Warbreaker is an all-timer for me and Skyward (1st book only) is the best YA I've read
Sure, Jan.
Using this opportunity to recommend The Locked Tomb series. Thank me later to anyone who sees this
Red risings definitely overhyped
The blade itself was good but it's difficult to read a book that doesn't really have much of a plot or crescendo. I understand he's building something with the first law trilogy but the first book really doesn't grip you and really make you want to rebook two. I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed with it after all of the hype around it. Couldn't agree more with Red Rising. Very cliché and I do see where they refer to the world building is a week. I DNF'd it. sorry
Day of Fallen Night is underwhelming as fuck. It's just Priory again with less interesting characters.
Red rising is hot garbage. Worst 1st person ive ever read. Ive read the first three so its not like i didnt give it a chance. On the upside i really enjoyed the 3rd book
I can read maybe a single book in 1st person but not a whole series. Don't know why this isn't a problem for more people. 1st person is just bad. No change of perspective, always the same guy/girl in focus
@SaveEuropethe worst part of 1st person perspective in Red Rising is that the autor has to artificially hide information that the character knows but is not convenient for the audience to know before it is necesary to create tension and plot twists. Is very cheap, and it gets worse and worse as the series go on.
Whoever reads the Red Rising series and describes it as "shallow" and "unimaginative" should not be allowed to comment on these types of posts or Sci-fi books in general.
Or you know people just have different opinions.
@@cup1966wowOpinions can be wrong
*Repeat after me... slowely:* gatekeeping makes all Fandoms toxic.
While I really enjoyed the first 3, and will wait for 7 to have a firm date before continuing, it is borderline YA... which might also be described as shallow and/or heavily action driven. It also heavily borrows from other scifi works... heavily...
@@dansaunders6761 Just so you know I wouldn't describe the books after as YA, the tone gets a lot more serious as well.
Have you read Fall of Hyperion as of yet? Really looking forward to you finishing that series and seeing your thoughts on it!
I’m in the minority as Endymion and rise of Endymion I enjoyed more. Not that the first two were bad but man I love the last two. 😂
Read the rage of dragons and it was okay. Enjoyed book 2 better.
Cosmere in general is pretty overrated
I agree that theRed Rising trilogy was pretty disappointing for me. 6/10 on a good day.
But have you seen the author shirtless? He knew what he was doing, since most Booktubers are pleasingly plump nerd girls
I found The Blacktongue Theif a funny read. Different. As for Jade City? DNF
Look, I hate when people who have only read Empire of Silence say: I don't get the hype guys! I always make this Wheel of Time comparison: It's like somebody who has only read The Eye of the World and say, I don't get the hype guys. You know, this is just the beginning, you only get a glimpse of what's to come. And I'm not saying you have to read the whole series to have a valid opinion, but at the same time, it's that thing of: People who say Sun Eater is derivative of Dune and Name of the Wind, have only read Empire of Silence. Again, just like The Eye of World - Lord of the Rings and Dune. It's about starting somewhere familiar and then going somewhere new. And, while i'm on this - addressing critism tangent: Many people say that they found Hadrian annoying and insufferable... Uhm, have we forgotten what a character journey is? It's like people assume he is like that for the rest of the story, but it's actually the opposite - It is the promise that he will change, for you to be able to look back and see just how far he's come. The annoying privileged kid is someone who brought me to tears later on in the story. To quote Austin from 2ToRamble, someone who was very dissapointed by Empire of Silence and then when he read Howling Dark: "5 stars" "absolutely floored" "Hadrian has the potential to become one of my favorite characters in fiction". My point is: Sun Eater is my favorite series of all time, it has everything that an epic fantasy fan is looking for and then some, the hype is that big for a reason. Read Howling Dark before you form your opinion because I always say: Finishing Howling Dark is the moment where Sun Eater gets from having your attention, to becoming your obsession!
PS to Johan: Just finish whatever you are reading right now and hop on the Sun Eater train, because if there is a series the deserves, you to put everything else on hold, its Sun Eater. I believe you will love it.
After seeing videos hyping up Sun Eater I read all of the released books and was disappointed. I finished the released books because I find it hard to DNF series, but I can't recommend the books to anyone. I think what Ruocchio does best is intrigue. He draws you in with an interesting idea and doesn't reveal too much all at once and extrapolates over the series in a non predictable way. The reason I can't recommend the series to anyone is because the character work for anyone other than Hadrian is nearly non-existent. Rather than showing us how relationships develop and making us feel it Ruocchio just tells us. There are one or two exceptions that I won't name in order to not spoil it for anyone who will still read it. The battle/fight scenes feel like they are meant to be epic but instead feel plodding and drawn out. I couldn't wait for them to be finished.
Overall I would give the series so far a C+, hopefully the ending makes the juice worth the squeeze. Intrigue = A, Characters = D, Worldbuilding = B-, Prose = C-, Fight Scenes = D-.
Honestly I don't agree with that if someone doesn't like a series from the first book it's fine. It just means they don't vibe with what the series is providing.
Empire of silence is arriving soon for me really excited to read it. Saw so many vids about it and it sounds like everything I love about epic stories, it just sounds right up my alley. I hope I love it
The Sword of Kaigen is god awful. It’s objectively bad. We are all being gaslit.
Interesting. Never heard this take, never read it. Wanna know why you think that, genuinely lol
@ the writing is meandering and needed heavy editing. The dialogue is cringe at best - take a shot every time someone responds with, “What?” There is no real ending to speak of; writing just stops. The worldbuilding is ok? And the MC throws away any type of growth she might have had with a braindead decision that sends a horrible message. But people seem hellbent on telling you this is great because it’s a standalone. I do not get it.
For me, Red Rising has been way overhyped. I have the read the 1st 4 books hoping that it would get better. I did find that book 1 was the weakest of the series but the following 3 were not very good. It would have been much better if the author decided to go full fantasy but even then the characters were lacking. It seemed that it was a continuing cycle of Darrow trusting people only to be betrayed and then trusting them again. I also found that when the author writes 1st person narrative then keeps the "plan" secret from the reader it indicates to me either the author is being disingenuous with the reader or the main character is making up the "plan" on the fly which I would not want in a leader. I have not been this disappointed in a series in a very long time. I have books 5 and 6 but doubt I'll be reading them anytime soon.
Since there has been so many comparisons between Red Rising and the Sun Eater series, I'm not sure if will read Sun Eater. I did start the ebook sample of it and found it a bit lacking but maybe it'll pick up.
The Blade Itself was good. I enjoyed how the author switched points of view so each character had very distinct "voice" when reading different characters. I do plan on reading more from this author.
The Stormlight Archive. I have only read book 1. I did find it pretty good but overly long and pretty repeatative. It was more of a comfort read but near the end I just wanted to finish the book and read something else. Since I bought the 3 book boxset, I probably will read at least the next book at some point. If I don't enjoy it more than book 1, I'm not sure I'll read anything more by this author.
My taste in books is very broad. I do enjoy hard SF, Fantasy, horror, espionage, classics. Some series I did enjoy recently are The Expanse, books by Alistair Reynolds, The Blade Itself trilogy, Mary Stewart's Merlin Trilogy, Jack Whyte Excalibur series.
Biggest BookTube hype, Stoner. Don't read it.