Why are the titles banging but the stories crap. If I give my book a crappy title will it be a bestseller? It seems like everything is Acotar and I’m tired of the same story over and over again.
the cover of this book has drawn my attention multiple times but i don't know if i'll ever trust a recent dragon book until i hear you say it's passable at the very least.
I also love a glossary! I prefer it being in the back rather than the front though. A glossary in the front kind of feels like a spoiler? Like, I would rather be introduced to these things organically in the narrative. Encylcopedia-like explanations of these terms, creatures, types of magic, etc don't compare to actually seeing how the characters interact with or view these things.
I've seen When the Moon Hatched every time I go to Walmart and at first I was intrigued, but seeing SEVERAL pages of worldbuilding which, I believe, leads to a creation myth (i.e., more worldbuilding) before actually getting to the story and the main characters was such a turn-off. Also, some of the names for things in the glossary were just silly lol
"Glossary's aren't essential" "But why else would it be so many pages?!" As someone who has published to KDP.. I wonder if its considered "reading" if you skip between page 40 and 680 to check the glossary.
@@alldolledupinstraps They.. what?... I was not aware of that insanity. What I meant was more regarding the Amazon/Kindle back-end where you as an author are paid per "page read". If the last 20 pages are 'glossary' and people constantly skip 400 pages forward and back again, couldn't that inflate the numbers a smidge?
I think i know what stones smell like, but it's more wet stone than a freshly-split stone. There's an iron and dirt smell. But that might vary with what minerals are inside.
Only 8 minutes in and I feel like I exactly know what a freshly split stone smells like. Maybe it’s because I’ve mined for opals before and go rock hounding a lot but it smells really dusty 🤔 rocks do kinda have a smell to them but that analogy doesn’t work very well for people who aren’t really into rocks!
i'm really into rocks but even i don't know what that smells like haha. maybe i would if i was able-bodied enough to go breaking some open though, cause that sounds fun as heck (childhood dream was to become a paleo person digging for dinos, but alas). descriptions like that sound neat in concept, but will only resonate with the most niche fraction of readers, like yourself, but there's something fun knowing that it does, in fact, resonate with SOMEONE out there. goes to show just how wide ranging human experiences can be!
As a geologist, I too can confirm that rocks smell like dust. Unless the rock is saturated in oil, then it smells like, well, oil. ;) Hello fellow rock hounds! edit: typo
I feel like I can smell rocks when they're wet, coz there's always an dust-and-iron-like smell when I walk over rock/gravel paths when it rains or when I'm near wet river stones. And big boulders smell dusty to me too.
I'm not sure if I've read anything with the amnesia trope specifically! The closest is probably Sorcerers and Saints by Amy Kuivalainen, where no one remembers the main character after meeting her (until they do!)
Wait, hold on? That message bird sounds exactly like a "paper bird" from the Dungeons and Dragons adventure I'm running called Waterdeep Dragon Heist. The name of the secret rebel group sounds like "Bregan D'aerthe" which is a secret faction in the same adventure. You'd have heard of them if you've read the Drizzt Do'Urden books. Are we just reading someone's D&D game? Also, if you're interested in characters with "amnesia" in your fantasy stories, try The Bitterbynde Trilogy by Cecilia Dart-Thornton.
when i hear "split stone" i think the smell is the dust that it can kick up into your face, so....gritty, dusty, sandy smell? a beach without the ocean maybe? the sensation of getting sand thrown into your face? literally none of that sounds enticing in the slightest! i remember reading Eragon as a kid and even then i barely needed the glossary, and i'd argue they're similarly well-built worlds.
That's what I thought too. My brother split stones when I was a kid, and it smelled like more of what was around us (sand, rocks, dust). Weird, but I remember the taste in the air.
it sounds like there's so many cool concepts in this book, but it really would've benefited from parker talking back and forth with a couple people to hash out plot and the long-windedness. that's such a shame because i LOVE when authors develop entirely separate, complete worlds down to the most minute detail. at the very least, i hope parker looks back on this book and some of the valid criticism and uses it to get better because it sounds like she's got a TON of potential that i would hate to see squandered!!
I feel like I have a hazy memory as a kid of hitting a rock repeatedly with a hammer or something and it started to chip a tiny bit and it had this kind of hot powdery smell? Not sure if that's a real memory or a random dream I had but that's what I imagined when you said the fresh split stone thing lol
i keep seeing this at my local target and am just stunned at the size, especially when compared to the plot, which seems so simple. favorite book with the amnesia plot is probably Nona the Ninth!
This feels very much like a D&D campaign that never happened, source: I'm at that stage of my ttrpg adventure rn lmao. Not saying the author is in the same situation, but damn, does it hits home the way things happen. Also! Rachel, seu português tá ótimo, sempre me choca um pouco quando ouço. Parabéns, e se prepare pra gírias e modo de falar quando visitar, confunde muitos gringos que tentam conversar por aqui djsjsjsj
Weathered stones will smell like whatever they are surrounded by; dust, soil, moss, algae, etc. So freshly split stones do have a distinct smell, they kinda smell like clean sand. It's hard to describe. A field trip to a rock quarry may be necessary.
The repressed memories, the amnesia - the fact that you like that idea in a book reminds me that I would love to hear your thoughts on the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy by Laini Taylor! One of my favourite series, but I feel like it is really underrated!
I could not read this book. I listened to it on audio and I have no idea what happened the first 5 or 7 hours of the book. Honestly it got to the point where I would have cried if I had to listen to anymore of it. I could not finish it and it put me in a massive reading slump.
I've read plenty of books where a whole different world is the environment, Dune comes to mind. I didn't need a damn glossary to figure it out. I would prefer the development of the "environment" and world as part of the damn story. God I DNF'd this one at about 50 pages. I couldn't read it any further. I give you great props for actually reading this. This story just wasn't for me.
Yeah it's interesting because this has a very similar world as The Never Tilting World by Rin Chupeco (in that book we have a world separated into segments due to lack of turning, a bit similar to this one) but it was explained organically throughout the text. No glossary. So I think it could have been done without the glossary being necessary, which i maintain the glossary was SUPER needed for me to understand wtf was happening here.
Having a glossary can totally work, but also, readers tend to (in my experience as a reader at least, because I totally do this) replace concepts they have never heard of with things they already understand. Like the "fleshthread" description, my brain went "oh, so a doctor, got it". I don't know if it is helpful for a book to use fancy words for concepts that the brain will automatically replace with a familiar concept anyway.
When the moon hatched is a book I heard a ton about when it released then it I heard nothing. I was really curious why so I’m excited for this video! Not far into the video but I’m guessing the intense world building really turned people off.
I love when you speak portuguese!! its amazing to see you getting better every time. you should try reading a brazilian cozy romance something, i have a few recommendations that are available in kindle unlimited!
This is the first fantasy book I read since I was a teenager purely by chance. Had no idea it was a book tok hit. To say I was confused was an understatement. I’m so excited to watch this lol
Fugue state. That is what you were looking for. This might make it on my list. I've been reading a lot of dragon rider fiction because its my jam. This comes off as fantasy with dragons. Great video.
It wasn't made super clear in the book (spoiler alert) but the Other is supposed to be the consciousness of her dragon I think. I think it's implied when her dragon took her up to turn into stone, she also kind of healed her? but since they were fused together I guess somehow her dragon's mind went into her and takes over sometimes
ok i've only just started, but the description of this "female" (which also like... couldn't say "woman", i guess??) whose loss made her hard to the world gave me quite a different impression. it sounded to ME like this metaphor was a double entendre for her emotional state AND how she murdered the other person. like... idk if it's just the order of the words, but when it starts going into tying stuff and chucking it into a lake i thought she'd frickin' drowned the poor woman. idk it was just confusing to meee lmao
Interestingly enough a freshly split stone does have a smell. It basically smells like burning and dirt, but the author could’ve just said that and it wouldn’t have been so confusing. Lol
I knew it! I knew from the summary this wouldn't be good even though title is awesome. And aargh the glossary is in theory good but especially if it's not explaining stuff in text and it makes reader flipping back to glossary like looking up a dictionary is what I hate! I couldn't even start We hunt the Flame because of it.
I just read Awakening in Sapphire by Jonathan Hawker. Has the amnesia trope Rachel mentioned. It's a gay retelling of Arthurian myth set in a future world that sort of runs on magic rune technology. It's so cute---I highly recommend!!!
seeing this video got me so excited, i got this book because i saw a dragon and got excited for some good fantasy but i literally could not force myself to read past like 1/10 of the book! haven’t watched the video yet but i went on a huge rant to my friends about how some of the word changes make absolutely no sense- i really hate that mom/dad were changed to a phonetic spelling of mommy and poppy, it felt stupid and like the fantasy aesthetic mattered more than readability
I don't mind glossaries usually. Since I read translated works (mostly manga), these are helpful in explaining cultural context and references, especially in a historical work. But meanings of fantastical or untranslated words ought to be inferred though context in a non-translated work. That is, I might not know what the word means at first, but the more it's used, the more I understand what it means, whether explicitly or implicitly. In visual media, they can hold the fantasy item while referring to it, giving me an explanation without the characters or narrator explaining. Sometimes, there's a diagram. In textual media, I usually don't have the problem of learning new words, because skilled authors will have you learn those words as they're used. I didn't need the glossaries of The Priory of the Orange Tree and A Day of Fallen Night, but I just read them just to refresh on characters I know and extra info on their history.
I feel you on the whole “learn the words as you go” thing. I prefer that in written media. I love graphic novels and I am totally fine understanding this visually but in written, I really want it explained in a way that feels fluidly built into the text and not dumped on me like a textbook. I do love a glossary for reference though.
Oh hey, I was wondering whether or not this book was worth reading! The premise sounded really intriguing but I don't trust anything that's popular on booktok, so I was waiting to see if you'd give your thoughts, lol. Can't wait to watch the video!
Ever since I read Priory and was very disappointed by it, I’m suspicious of super popular tomes. If something’s going to take so much time and energy from me, it better be good.
I soft DNF’d it at page 450. I got really annoyed with the drawn out cave/dragon husk dwelling kidnapping-fight-to-the-death-for-me chapters. Hated that section!! I stopped shortly after she was taken to Kann’s home with his siblings. I’m pretty sure I’ll finish because I actually was getting into it after the cave rescue and she’s discovering who she is via her diary. So I know I’ll pick it back up before the end of year. But 100 pages could’ve been cut out of the middle. What a shame. But the world does feel fresh, so I’m here for that! I just needed a break 😊
I made the grave mistake of taking this book with me on a flight and I read up to where there were maybe 50 pages left, and I had a good two hours left of my flight but I didn’t care. I put the book down out of frustration because I couldn’t comprehend anything and nothing made sense. This felt like a wannabe Brandon Sanderson novel meshed with Sarah J. Maas or literally any “fantasy” book trending on TikTok right now. Needless to say, do not take a book like this one on a plane ride. Unless you want to just look at mixture of words that should not be together.
I have been WAITING for this review!!! I absolutely loved this book but knew it had many, MANY flaws. I know I’m the target audience, and am so thrilled to see a critical review given my opinion is skewed.
Your review was dead on. I hated referring to the glossary and the writing, oh God, where did she get those repeated weird metaphors? The second half was torture. I am too old for this book and frankly have read too many well written books and only picked this up at a recommendation from an enthusiastic 20 year old. I read this 700 page tome in August and can barely remember the plot. I'm pretty much done with the romantasy genre.
I bought this book recently at Target and my best friend side-eyed me because of how long it was lol. I'll be back to finish this video after I read it and hope I like it? But judging by your reaction and others, it's not looking good😅
The sheer amount of superfluous information, scenes, chapters, etc really does prove that tradpub has barely done any editing for this. My theory stands (about how tradpub acquires selfpub books assuming that the author has already shelled out their own money for freelancers so that the tradpub doesn't have to do any editing itself. There's rumors going around that tradpub hardly does any developmental editing anymore, and relies almost entirely on just copyediting and proofreading for the books they produce. And as a freelance editor myself, that's....................pretty shit.)
I’m BEGGING for a romantasy that actually does plot, worldbuilding and romance well but they never seem to do so. They just seem to focus on the romance and then do the worldbuilding and plot as an after thought, and most of the time the romance isn’t even a redeeming quality, it’s just a bunch of romance tropes smashed together.
I'm only about 15 minutes in but I have to ask, since you're reading dragon books, if you've read The Last Dragon of the East by Katrina Kwan. I just read it a week ago and it was everything I wanted it to be.
I love a good glossary (I read a lot of translated books) and even have one in my own book, but I think they serve the book better in the back and not the front. It feels like it bloats everything and is lss organic. I was also looking forward to reading this, but now I'm... very skeptical of if I should give it a read.
Start speaking a new language in 3 weeks with Babbel 🎉. Get up to 60% OFF your subscription ➡ Here: bit.ly/ReadswithRachelOct
Rachel: "Boy do I have thoughts!"
"Yup. You suuuure do."
I have never gotten to the point quickly in my ENTIRE LIFE lol
The way i did the same thing lol
@@ReadswithRachel and we thank you for it!
Thanks for watching the feature film length content lmao
Omg i dint see the time I thought it was like 30 minutes, we got a movie 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
Why are the titles banging but the stories crap. If I give my book a crappy title will it be a bestseller? It seems like everything is Acotar and I’m tired of the same story over and over again.
I suspect publishers are spending less time on structural edits in order to capitalize on trends but idk
I'll never forgive the Love Hypothesis for being so bad
May I interest you in a retelling of Besuty and the Beast that is gender flipped and Gothic and pretty good
That’s how I feel about ‘Draw down the moon’ or whatever it’s called (in my opinion! If you like it, that’s awesome
@@sciencefantasticI'm interested? Please tell me?
I've never heard of this book, but I love the imagery the title gives me of a moon cracking like an egg.
What's fun is, even the "moon" in this scenario is not a moon at all
@@ReadswithRachel Oh, Thats disappointing.
Sounds like a case of "I need a story for all my worldbuilding but idk how to do that."
Whenever Rachel has Thoughts™️, I know I'm in for a good time.
And certainly at least two hours of it 😂
the cover of this book has drawn my attention multiple times but i don't know if i'll ever trust a recent dragon book until i hear you say it's passable at the very least.
Fair!!
I also love a glossary! I prefer it being in the back rather than the front though. A glossary in the front kind of feels like a spoiler? Like, I would rather be introduced to these things organically in the narrative. Encylcopedia-like explanations of these terms, creatures, types of magic, etc don't compare to actually seeing how the characters interact with or view these things.
Totally, I think it depends on the book but I prefer to have it at the back.
I've seen When the Moon Hatched every time I go to Walmart and at first I was intrigued, but seeing SEVERAL pages of worldbuilding which, I believe, leads to a creation myth (i.e., more worldbuilding) before actually getting to the story and the main characters was such a turn-off. Also, some of the names for things in the glossary were just silly lol
i was bewildered by the choice to use the glossary to explain that "mah" and "pah" were mother and father. It's implied! We understand!
100%
This books with zero plot or sense but with gorgeous covers remind me of that Aretha Franklin meme: "Uh.... Great gowns, beautiful gowns"
"Glossary's aren't essential"
"But why else would it be so many pages?!"
As someone who has published to KDP.. I wonder if its considered "reading" if you skip between page 40 and 680 to check the glossary.
Good question!
Well, since some people on booktok think it's okay to only read dialogue and nothing else, to some people, probably.
@@alldolledupinstraps They.. what?... I was not aware of that insanity. What I meant was more regarding the Amazon/Kindle back-end where you as an author are paid per "page read". If the last 20 pages are 'glossary' and people constantly skip 400 pages forward and back again, couldn't that inflate the numbers a smidge?
I think i know what stones smell like, but it's more wet stone than a freshly-split stone. There's an iron and dirt smell. But that might vary with what minerals are inside.
"Fans of witty banter and strong, sassy protagonists"
So is it the authors or the publishers killing originality with the same MCs in different fonts?
It is both imo
Only 8 minutes in and I feel like I exactly know what a freshly split stone smells like. Maybe it’s because I’ve mined for opals before and go rock hounding a lot but it smells really dusty 🤔 rocks do kinda have a smell to them but that analogy doesn’t work very well for people who aren’t really into rocks!
i'm really into rocks but even i don't know what that smells like haha. maybe i would if i was able-bodied enough to go breaking some open though, cause that sounds fun as heck (childhood dream was to become a paleo person digging for dinos, but alas). descriptions like that sound neat in concept, but will only resonate with the most niche fraction of readers, like yourself, but there's something fun knowing that it does, in fact, resonate with SOMEONE out there. goes to show just how wide ranging human experiences can be!
As a geologist, I too can confirm that rocks smell like dust. Unless the rock is saturated in oil, then it smells like, well, oil. ;)
Hello fellow rock hounds!
edit: typo
I feel like I can smell rocks when they're wet, coz there's always an dust-and-iron-like smell when I walk over rock/gravel paths when it rains or when I'm near wet river stones. And big boulders smell dusty to me too.
🙋🏼♀️ i vote for Rachel to do one of those Trope Teir Lists bc I'm genuinely interested in hearing her justify her guilty pleasures
If you're here early sound off in the comments and also tell me your favorite book with the amnesia trope!
I love me some percy jackson on calypso's island slowly forgetting everything.
I'm not sure if I've read anything with the amnesia trope specifically! The closest is probably Sorcerers and Saints by Amy Kuivalainen, where no one remembers the main character after meeting her (until they do!)
I dont have any example but i wanted to sound off in the comments regardless woo
Oh thats like Addie Larue!!
@Beerambling I was going to say Percy Jackson The Son of Neptune 😅
700 page romantasy
Sarah...
Where have I seen this before?
rings a bell FOR SURE
Wait, hold on? That message bird sounds exactly like a "paper bird" from the Dungeons and Dragons adventure I'm running called Waterdeep Dragon Heist. The name of the secret rebel group sounds like "Bregan D'aerthe" which is a secret faction in the same adventure. You'd have heard of them if you've read the Drizzt Do'Urden books. Are we just reading someone's D&D game?
Also, if you're interested in characters with "amnesia" in your fantasy stories, try The Bitterbynde Trilogy by Cecilia Dart-Thornton.
when i hear "split stone" i think the smell is the dust that it can kick up into your face, so....gritty, dusty, sandy smell? a beach without the ocean maybe? the sensation of getting sand thrown into your face?
literally none of that sounds enticing in the slightest!
i remember reading Eragon as a kid and even then i barely needed the glossary, and i'd argue they're similarly well-built worlds.
That's what I thought too. My brother split stones when I was a kid, and it smelled like more of what was around us (sand, rocks, dust). Weird, but I remember the taste in the air.
The moon has hatched? That makes since. I've had issues with moon ants for weeks!
it sounds like there's so many cool concepts in this book, but it really would've benefited from parker talking back and forth with a couple people to hash out plot and the long-windedness. that's such a shame because i LOVE when authors develop entirely separate, complete worlds down to the most minute detail. at the very least, i hope parker looks back on this book and some of the valid criticism and uses it to get better because it sounds like she's got a TON of potential that i would hate to see squandered!!
i was walking my dog when i got the notification and i cackled in excitement. my dog was so concerned lol
Tell your dog i said hi friend
@@ReadswithRachel sure thing! We are both watching the video. My dog has to be well educated.
I feel like I have a hazy memory as a kid of hitting a rock repeatedly with a hammer or something and it started to chip a tiny bit and it had this kind of hot powdery smell? Not sure if that's a real memory or a random dream I had but that's what I imagined when you said the fresh split stone thing lol
Yay! Two hour video from Rachel to study to ❤
i keep seeing this at my local target and am just stunned at the size, especially when compared to the plot, which seems so simple. favorite book with the amnesia plot is probably Nona the Ninth!
I still need to continue that series!
YES Nona the Ninth!
This feels very much like a D&D campaign that never happened, source: I'm at that stage of my ttrpg adventure rn lmao. Not saying the author is in the same situation, but damn, does it hits home the way things happen.
Also! Rachel, seu português tá ótimo, sempre me choca um pouco quando ouço. Parabéns, e se prepare pra gírias e modo de falar quando visitar, confunde muitos gringos que tentam conversar por aqui djsjsjsj
Girl, I just added this to my TBR earlier 😭 The cover art is so pretty. I do like worldbuilding-heavy stories so I might still enjoy this but... oof.
The cover is gorgeous, isn't it? One of the best I've seen in a while.
A whole-ass glossary of lore and made-up words for everyday objects, but we’re still using the g-slur?? Make it make sense.
The g slur???!!
Weathered stones will smell like whatever they are surrounded by; dust, soil, moss, algae, etc. So freshly split stones do have a distinct smell, they kinda smell like clean sand. It's hard to describe. A field trip to a rock quarry may be necessary.
The repressed memories, the amnesia - the fact that you like that idea in a book reminds me that I would love to hear your thoughts on the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy by Laini Taylor! One of my favourite series, but I feel like it is really underrated!
I own it! I need to read it
I could not read this book. I listened to it on audio and I have no idea what happened the first 5 or 7 hours of the book. Honestly it got to the point where I would have cried if I had to listen to anymore of it. I could not finish it and it put me in a massive reading slump.
Always so happy to see the 2 hour mark in my subscription tab !!! Its gonna be good
Glad everyone enjoys the longer videos!
new reads with Rachel! wooo!
Omg Rachel that sentence with all the mixed metaphors
I've read plenty of books where a whole different world is the environment, Dune comes to mind. I didn't need a damn glossary to figure it out. I would prefer the development of the "environment" and world as part of the damn story. God I DNF'd this one at about 50 pages. I couldn't read it any further. I give you great props for actually reading this. This story just wasn't for me.
Yeah it's interesting because this has a very similar world as The Never Tilting World by Rin Chupeco (in that book we have a world separated into segments due to lack of turning, a bit similar to this one) but it was explained organically throughout the text. No glossary. So I think it could have been done without the glossary being necessary, which i maintain the glossary was SUPER needed for me to understand wtf was happening here.
@@ReadswithRachel Now if she had a way with words like you do, she'd have had a winning book!!!
a way with words LOL thats a nice way to say that i never know when to STOP TALKING
@@ReadswithRachel It works for me!!! HAHAHA
Omg, my Sunday night treat ❤
im here after 9 minute upload and i im not gonna lie, i fuck with a good glossary
the early bird special is you get to see how empty the comments is before everyone shows up lol
Having a glossary can totally work, but also, readers tend to (in my experience as a reader at least, because I totally do this) replace concepts they have never heard of with things they already understand. Like the "fleshthread" description, my brain went "oh, so a doctor, got it". I don't know if it is helpful for a book to use fancy words for concepts that the brain will automatically replace with a familiar concept anyway.
i was solidly on the "its not my thing but i can see why someone would be into this" camp until "*split you like an egg*"??!!!!! girl no 😭
When the moon hatched is a book I heard a ton about when it released then it I heard nothing. I was really curious why so I’m excited for this video! Not far into the video but I’m guessing the intense world building really turned people off.
I love when you speak portuguese!! its amazing to see you getting better every time. you should try reading a brazilian cozy romance something, i have a few recommendations that are available in kindle unlimited!
I feel like female authors named Sarah love to yap. We got this Sarah. Sarah Janet Maas. I'm sure there's other Sarahs out there that are yappers.
why the hell does this author keep referring to women as “females”…makes me think it’s actually a male author wtf
I searched my brain for a reference of what stone smells like and it seems that I don’t have it. We should really spend more time smelling stones.
Oh no. I am one of those people that quit half way through the glossary 😂 Thank you for this video . I was not strong enough to go on . Hehehe ❤
This is the first fantasy book I read since I was a teenager purely by chance. Had no idea it was a book tok hit. To say I was confused was an understatement. I’m so excited to watch this lol
i love when she fancasts like she's just throwing celebrities up and im just going "ah yes the evil virgin princess dove cameron"
this was on my tbr and now it is not LMAOOO good lord 700 pages
Fugue state. That is what you were looking for. This might make it on my list. I've been reading a lot of dragon rider fiction because its my jam. This comes off as fantasy with dragons. Great video.
Glad you’ll try it out! I think it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but those who love it are REALLY going to love it
So nice to see someone learning portuguese! Hope you enjoy Brazil if you ever visit us ❤
Obrigada! I am trying! There are several of us trying to meet up in BH so getting everyone’s schedules to align has been rough
It wasn't made super clear in the book (spoiler alert) but the Other is supposed to be the consciousness of her dragon I think. I think it's implied when her dragon took her up to turn into stone, she also kind of healed her? but since they were fused together I guess somehow her dragon's mind went into her and takes over sometimes
OH MY GOD I can’t believe I didn’t even consider this
Bruh I kept staring at the girl she used for the fmc cuz she seemed so pretty and familiar.
She's CLEO from h2o. Oml
Aur naur!
Oh I’m so glad you read this. I couldn’t get past the first couple of chapters.
That seems to have happened to a lot of people!
It had potential. I loved the glossary. But holy sh*t.. the first 5 chapters were rough. I couldn’t get through it.
I feel you! I think that's the general consensus lol
While you were talking about that second other chapter, i had a thought
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Is this other her dragon????????????????
ok i've only just started, but the description of this "female" (which also like... couldn't say "woman", i guess??) whose loss made her hard to the world gave me quite a different impression. it sounded to ME like this metaphor was a double entendre for her emotional state AND how she murdered the other person. like... idk if it's just the order of the words, but when it starts going into tying stuff and chucking it into a lake i thought she'd frickin' drowned the poor woman. idk it was just confusing to meee lmao
I read the book title in the thumbnail as "When There Is No Plot" 😂
Interestingly enough a freshly split stone does have a smell. It basically smells like burning and dirt, but the author could’ve just said that and it wouldn’t have been so confusing. Lol
I knew it! I knew from the summary this wouldn't be good even though title is awesome. And aargh the glossary is in theory good but especially if it's not explaining stuff in text and it makes reader flipping back to glossary like looking up a dictionary is what I hate! I couldn't even start We hunt the Flame because of it.
Oh! I thinking about reading this one but then all the reviews said it wasn’t good so I didn’t. Good to know I dodged a bullet
14:47 If you're into games and star wars you should play KOTOR cause that was the first thing that came to my mind
And the movie Anastasia I guess😂
I feel like the Other is her dragon's soul or something. Maybe part of it resurrecting her put its soul in her?
Your hair and makeup look amazing in this video, it’s mesmorizing
That's very kind of you!
I'm so glad you reviewed this because it's been on my TBR, but I've put it off forever because I've been so badly burned by BookTok 😂
Same here! I've been burned a few times too.
Cannot express how excited I am to see this!! (And seeing it 3 minutes after it published lol)
It was supposed to be up two hours ago but I have been through the ringer with TH-cam over this video lmaooo
4 minutes for me.. something is wrong with us 🤣
@@ReadswithRachelI never keep up w peoples posting schedules so I’m always pleasantly surprised 😊
OH NO NOT AN INVOLUNTARY NICKNAME FROM THE MMC
What if the other is her dragon?
I just read Awakening in Sapphire by Jonathan Hawker. Has the amnesia trope Rachel mentioned. It's a gay retelling of Arthurian myth set in a future world that sort of runs on magic rune technology. It's so cute---I highly recommend!!!
Oh noooooo my daughters name is elowyn 💀
seeing this video got me so excited, i got this book because i saw a dragon and got excited for some good fantasy but i literally could not force myself to read past like 1/10 of the book! haven’t watched the video yet but i went on a huge rant to my friends about how some of the word changes make absolutely no sense- i really hate that mom/dad were changed to a phonetic spelling of mommy and poppy, it felt stupid and like the fantasy aesthetic mattered more than readability
I don't mind glossaries usually. Since I read translated works (mostly manga), these are helpful in explaining cultural context and references, especially in a historical work. But meanings of fantastical or untranslated words ought to be inferred though context in a non-translated work. That is, I might not know what the word means at first, but the more it's used, the more I understand what it means, whether explicitly or implicitly. In visual media, they can hold the fantasy item while referring to it, giving me an explanation without the characters or narrator explaining. Sometimes, there's a diagram. In textual media, I usually don't have the problem of learning new words, because skilled authors will have you learn those words as they're used. I didn't need the glossaries of The Priory of the Orange Tree and A Day of Fallen Night, but I just read them just to refresh on characters I know and extra info on their history.
I feel you on the whole “learn the words as you go” thing. I prefer that in written media. I love graphic novels and I am totally fine understanding this visually but in written, I really want it explained in a way that feels fluidly built into the text and not dumped on me like a textbook. I do love a glossary for reference though.
Damn it’s sounds like a cool book but like it just needed a few more rounds of developmental and line editing love a long video though!! ❤
I’m nearly halfway through, and I have no idea who anyone is so nothing makes sense lololol
There’s just… a lot of things here. Many things. Too many things. Even with your pictures and diagrams I’m lost.
Oh hey, I was wondering whether or not this book was worth reading! The premise sounded really intriguing but I don't trust anything that's popular on booktok, so I was waiting to see if you'd give your thoughts, lol. Can't wait to watch the video!
I am so excited to listen to this while I make soup
I love soup 🥹
Me too girl
“Sleepless slumbers?” Really? Omg
Ever since I read Priory and was very disappointed by it, I’m suspicious of super popular tomes. If something’s going to take so much time and energy from me, it better be good.
Weeeee new video 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
I soft DNF’d it at page 450. I got really annoyed with the drawn out cave/dragon husk dwelling kidnapping-fight-to-the-death-for-me chapters. Hated that section!! I stopped shortly after she was taken to Kann’s home with his siblings. I’m pretty sure I’ll finish because I actually was getting into it after the cave rescue and she’s discovering who she is via her diary. So I know I’ll pick it back up before the end of year. But 100 pages could’ve been cut out of the middle. What a shame. But the world does feel fresh, so I’m here for that! I just needed a break 😊
31:20 catch me in the Magical Target
I wanna go to the magical target I won’t lie
I made the grave mistake of taking this book with me on a flight and I read up to where there were maybe 50 pages left, and I had a good two hours left of my flight but I didn’t care. I put the book down out of frustration because I couldn’t comprehend anything and nothing made sense. This felt like a wannabe Brandon Sanderson novel meshed with Sarah J. Maas or literally any “fantasy” book trending on TikTok right now.
Needless to say, do not take a book like this one on a plane ride. Unless you want to just look at mixture of words that should not be together.
For a second, I was MORTIFIED thinking Elowyn was his mother’s name and I was about to have a LOT of questions for the author. 😅
I have been WAITING for this review!!! I absolutely loved this book but knew it had many, MANY flaws. I know I’m the target audience, and am so thrilled to see a critical review given my opinion is skewed.
Your review was dead on. I hated referring to the glossary and the writing, oh God, where did she get those repeated weird metaphors? The second half was torture. I am too old for this book and frankly have read too many well written books and only picked this up at a recommendation from an enthusiastic 20 year old. I read this 700 page tome in August and can barely remember the plot. I'm pretty much done with the romantasy genre.
picked this up during b&n's buy 1 get one half off and let's just say.... it went in the donation bin
"When the Moon Hatched"? That was a Doctor Who episode. Best watch that instead.
I'm absolutely begging these romantasy authors to just stop describing peoples' scents, it's getting ridiculous at this point
Oooh I almost read this one xD
I bought this book recently at Target and my best friend side-eyed me because of how long it was lol. I'll be back to finish this video after I read it and hope I like it? But judging by your reaction and others, it's not looking good😅
The sheer amount of superfluous information, scenes, chapters, etc really does prove that tradpub has barely done any editing for this. My theory stands (about how tradpub acquires selfpub books assuming that the author has already shelled out their own money for freelancers so that the tradpub doesn't have to do any editing itself. There's rumors going around that tradpub hardly does any developmental editing anymore, and relies almost entirely on just copyediting and proofreading for the books they produce. And as a freelance editor myself, that's....................pretty shit.)
I’m BEGGING for a romantasy that actually does plot, worldbuilding and romance well but they never seem to do so. They just seem to focus on the romance and then do the worldbuilding and plot as an after thought, and most of the time the romance isn’t even a redeeming quality, it’s just a bunch of romance tropes smashed together.
If you're looking for dragon fantasy, you should check out The Fireborne Blade series. The two novellas are short but packed with excellent content.
I gotta say, I love that you always choose hot people for your casts 😂😂😂
I'm only about 15 minutes in but I have to ask, since you're reading dragon books, if you've read The Last Dragon of the East by Katrina Kwan. I just read it a week ago and it was everything I wanted it to be.
Putting it on the list!!
I love a glossary, but it always makes me think of xkcd 483. If you're just switching out 'slumber' for 'night', whats the point
Unfortunately it technically counts as a spoiler to recommend the amnesia book I want to recommend, RIP
Not relevant, but you talking about characters that can't remember their past lives made me want to rewatch witches of east end.
YES I started this and hated it so much, I was so disappointed 😭
Edit: it was SUCH a cool concept too, so so SO disappointed
I tried listening to the audio book. The beginning with the lore was super interesting but completely fell off with the MC
Raeve is REALLY not my cup of tea
I love a good glossary (I read a lot of translated books) and even have one in my own book, but I think they serve the book better in the back and not the front. It feels like it bloats everything and is lss organic. I was also looking forward to reading this, but now I'm... very skeptical of if I should give it a read.