I mean in that scene there were a few people naked.. many nipples and boobs were mentioned... I don't think any penises or balls were so... It gets annoying when all the women are described for the physical appearances and the men for their position in the government/army or their abilities :/
Love how honest you are with your reviews! During my time in the Book community I've always felt weird because I've rarely loved the (over) hyped books that all the other book tubers seem to overly enjoy, now I know that I'm not alone! Thank you
You're absolutely right about sexism not being talked about in reviews of books. I'm just like wow that could have been mentioned through the praise it received when I'm reading. Awesome video as always stay woke 👀
Mentioning how beautiful a woman is fine. Mentioning boobs when relevant is fine. The scene where I'm mentioning the man balls, they were naked so yeah it could have been mentioned! It's just so unnecessary to always mention how firm a character's boobs are or her nipples. It's the contrast between how women are described compare to men that is frustrating. If you can't comprehend this on your own, no explanation from me will convince you otherwise.
See no I disagree there. Women are perfectly able to create well rounded male characters so it shouldn't be this hard for so many men to do the same for female characters. It's the same thing when guys say they can't relate to the main character because it's a woman but women have no issues relating to male characters! There are books written from the perspective of aliens, animals or overall things that don't exist and authors are able to write them properly. It's such a cop out to only think they can write about things they know. I'm not going to stop reading books written by men but instead, I will continue to call them out when there's sexism.
I see you're not really interested in opening your mind to other opinions. These big vague statements are silly and you know it. Telling me to not read any more books written by men is condescending and we all know there are some shitty female writers too. The sexism in certain books is very obvious. You might not see it but trying to understand why it bothers others is a good thing. It's fine to have different opinions but to deny other people's experience just because it doesn't affect you is ridiculous. I won't say racism isn't that bad and that others are exaggerating just because I'm not affected by it. It's even a bit sad that you think men authors don't have the ability to put themselves in other people's shoes. Anyway, this discussion isn't going anywhere so have a nice day!
Haven't read this but really liked this quote. "Teach her that if you criticize X in women but do not criticize X in men, then you do not have a problem with X, you have a problem with women. For X please insert words like “anger,” “ambition,” “loudness,” “stubbornness,” “coldness,” “ruthlessness.” ― Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions
Emily, I really recommend you read "The lies of Locke Lamora" it's a wonderful fantasy book. It doesn't have the sexism other fantasy books have and the author even got call out by a fan because of one of his female characters been "unrealistic" because she was a middle age badass pirate captain with two kids and the answer of the author was kind of "my fantasy world, my rules."
I loved when you said 'We're humans, there's more to us than our boobs'. I feel like not enough people talk about the underlying sexism in books so I'm happy that you did!!
"What about the balls of the guy stood next to her?..." 😂😂😂😂😂😂 Well said Emily and sexism needs to be tackled in most books especially if they are being written now.. Xx
I'm so glad someone else was disappointed with When Dimple Met Rishi, because the premise sounded interesting, especially because I've worked in the web development industry for about two years now, but man did it fall flat. The story was pretty boring, the competition was really predictable, and I had problems with Dimple's attitude as well. Glad to see not everyone was head over heals in love with this one :\
If you liked Packing for Mars read Chris Hadfield! An Astronaut's Guide to life. It's basically on Chris life and how he became an astronaut! I gave it 5 starts on Goodreads.
I love book reviews and hauls because I love reading over summer. This is a great video, well done!! I love book reviews so much that I have started making some myself!! :)
"I am angry about racism. I am angry about sexism. But I recently came to the realization that I am angrier about sexism than I am about racism. Because in my anger about sexism, I often feel lonely. Because I love, and live among, many people who easily acknowledge race injustice but not gender injustice." -Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche I love the LIghtbringer series, but your review brought up a problematic issue with many books, particularly by male authors, but not always. Why are women rated by looks and not by their worth as human beings? Sexism is so ingrained in society that we often overlook it completely, and things like what you were describing in this book are so common that I completely overlook them in order to enjoy certain books. You are always honest and open about your opinions of books, and I very much appreciate that you are unafraid to voice your opinions. Thank you for the video!
I feel the same. The worst part is that I'll usually let a few ridiculous scenes slide or not notice them too much. It's when it's non stop that I feel the need to talk about it and sadly it was the case in this book :/
I just finished When Dimple Met Rishi and I do agree with your comments. The story focused too much on the romance, which worked out too conveniently, and too little on the camp competition. I stopped reading it for two weeks and finally picked it up again. I just appreciated the lightheartedness of it.
I really loved this video. I think in general negative points in books are too rarely mentioned in the booktube community. I like to hear positive and negative opinions on books and for me personnel negative opinions help me much more to decide if i wanna read a book and it doesnt automatically mean i dont wanna read it anymore. Because some might have a problem with a specific trope or writing style and some dont. And i loved that you talked about sexism. It is sad that people still react so negative to this topic but thanks to people like you this topic is heard and talked about. Just loving your channel more and more 😍
Packing for Mars is one of my fave non fiction books ever. I laughed out lout several times, and found myself rushing over to my husband to say, "did you know..." all the time. I do own Bonk, Stiff, and Spook but haven't read them yet. I have yet to have anyone read Megan Abbott and enjoy her. I read The Fever and was so disgusted I decided that I would never read her again. I couldn't get over the intense girl on girl hate, the sexism, etc. I was just left feeling icky. I am actually staring at The Black Prism right now on my bookshelf. I am SO GLAD that you spoke about it. I know exactly what you mean about the rampant sexism. I recently tried to read all the Wheel of Time books by Robert Jordan, and gave up after 4 books (although, each book is pretty massive, so that's actually quite a lot.) He does the same thing! His female characters are whiny, bitchy, mean, petty and rude. Every single one. And just like you mentioned, it doesn't seem to matter her level of power. For example, there is one lady that is an ancient demigod, and Jordan makes her appear naked in a dream to the main character, a 16 yo boy, for no reason at all. Even in the dream, one of the other demigods appears and is all, really lady? You're super powerful and can kill this boy with no effort, and you're stooping to this level? And she's all, but I'm so pretty! Look at me! Ugh. I will be donating my copy of The Black Prism and won't even bother, thank you for saving me the time and anger!
Oh damn, I started The Black Prism a few days ago but I set it aside and now I'm not so sure I want to back to it if it's sexist. I'm soooo incredibly sick of sexism in high fantasy series written by men too, what really aggravates me is that in a totally 100% made-up world, these authors still think it's ok to have women be second class citizens. It's completely imaginary and yet they can't fathom a land without sexism. How do they not get what the feels like to read as a woman? Ughhhhh...
It seems to me that you can have as legitimate a point as you like (in this case annoyance at constant mentions of boobs and comments on the appearance of every woman in the book but none of the men) which surely nobody can argue with as it's right there in the text, but as soon as you use the word 'sexism' to describe that some of these guys just see red and lose the ability to produce any kind of coherent argument. Maybe someone could devise less threatening nomenclature for the poor things. Definitely put off reading any Brent Weeks now, so thanks for pointing this out because I'm currently on a big fantasy book hauling spree and I'd hate to waste my money on something I'd not only DNF but probably also throw across the room 👊
Wow that's the first negative thought on when dimple met fishing that I've heard. I appreciate your differing view on it though! I have yet to read it. Your sexism thoughts were on point and I completely agree!
Hey Emily! You should try reading The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, I feel like he portrayed the main character, Hazel, really well as a teenage girl
Share your opinion with the whole love thing in When Dimple met Rishi, she went from like not wanting a relationship to sleeping with him in such little time, the point of the book was lost for me.
I totally agree with When Rishi met Dimple! And I'm so glad you didn't like it either, I felt so alone! I finished it, and it really didn't improve.... :)
BookswithEmilyFox I found it really sad how the story obsessed so much over the romance and how quickly dimple was like "Maybe I SHOULD date Rishi!" Despite having vowed to hate him. I wanted to know more about the app process but it was all just a flat and fluffy abusive "romance". Everyone is loving it because it's Indian representation, but I feel like it doesn't justify it being a not-so-good book. If you're interested, I recommend reading What to Say Next by Julie Buxbaum (she's got a half Indian protagonist and a much better story.)
Sarah Hagerman If u like romance go for various types of YA contemporary they are good slump-killers or maybe try to find a book I've been interested and u know its good so it doesn't make u stop in the middle of it.
I read the first one and then 1/3 of the second one.. I was starting to skip chapters to only read the ones I was interested so I DNFed the series for now
BookswithEmilyFox I hope you go back and try them again sometime! It can be hard to follow, but maybe having the tv series helps kind of. I'm going to re read the series soon!
I'm so glad you talk about sexism in books! So many people seem scared to point it out in reviews. I haven't read The Black Prism yet but I read The Way of Shadows (first book in his other series) and I didn't really like the portrayal women in that either :/ Literally all the female characters were sex workers except the love interest who was pure and virginal and bland and it was so frustrating.
Unpopular opinions are how humans progress thinking!! Please never be afraid to speak your mind! I didn't like when Dimple meet Rishi either, it was so bad I fought hard to finish it.
If you're bothered by the sexism in the black prism and in most sci-fi/fantasy novels then you should read the aeronaut's windlass by Jim butcher!! It has a cast full of men as well as strong female characters and I think you may find it refreshing to read. I read it a while ago and absolutely loved it !!
Thank god someone else had these thoughts about Black Prism! I really hated it, but I feel like I'm the only one, glad to know someone else thought it was problematic! There's also a scene where Kip is like fighting a woman and then he fell into her boobs and it was this weird awkward moment and it was so cringey! The fat rep was also really weird to me, made me really uncomfortable 👎🏽👎🏽
Haven't read the book with all the controversy 😉 but we share a lot of opinions and I for one am thankful that I can cross it off my list. Brandon Sanderson and Terry Goodkind are two fantastic fantasy authors who don't write sexist threads into their plot, so I'm sure there are more to choose from. Good job Emily and keep on keeping on
Wait the Black Prism as a 15 year old as the protagonist ? Do you know if he ages a lot in the series ? I thought this was an adult novel. I don't mind redeading from a POV of a kid but I,m not in the mood for it with this serie ahah.
See, I know a lot of people didn't like Mark Watney but it kinda worked for me and didn't feel as forced (with a few exceptions). Here, it really felt like Andy Weir tried to make the book as funny and it felt completely flat :S
You're the first person I've heard to criticize The Black Prism and I'm so glad you did. I was planning on reading it soon but from your review I can tell it'll drive me crazy, now I won't waste my time. Thank you :)
I agree with you on How Dimple Met Rishi. I was pretty excited for it but found Dimple really annoying, and the setting wasn't developed or even set up in the first place. It was just used as an excuse to get Rishi and Dimple together without adults hanging around. It's nice to see someone else agree with me, as on booktube I've only seen glowing praise so far.
Omg, finally someone said what I feel about Weeks' writing! I read two books in his other trilogy (or was there four books?) and I just couldn't stand the way he was writing female characters, which is why I probably won't finish the rest of the series. I wanted to give him one more chance with "Black Prism", but it seems like there's no point>
Ahh I loved this, so refreshing! I felt the same way about The Black Prism and for some reason felt guilty about it... Thanks for always speaking your mind.
I too am reading "and then there were none" ! And thanks for the head up about black prism..it was on my list but was wondering if it was worth the time..
Do you plan on making a bookshelf tour? I always try to be aware of authors' viewpoints regarding race and sex before I decide I truly like them, but at thr same time I've learned to separate the art from the artist. If I don't see racism or sexism in their books, I'd still like the books while abhorring the authors as people (e.g. Ender's Game). But if the sexism is just too obvious, it's hard to like either :( Good thing I didn't splurge for The Black Prism. Is it the same with the Night Angel Trilogy?
I usually separate them too! I don't think Brent Weeks is a 'sexy pig" in real life. I think he just includes a lot of sexism in his books not realizing it is the case! Apparently it is since it was written before!
Lovely wrap up! Thanks for sharing. P.S. For me, Agatha Christie is a good writer, but a lot of times she doesn't come to the optimal conclusion. I remember reading her and thinking REALLY? This is how they decided to cover up the murder, you based it on assumption? And I could think of ways that were more logical. I prefer the Ocamm's razor kind of mystery. :) Same reason I didn't quite enjoy The Night Film.
Emily you never fail to SPILL 👏🏻 THAT 👏🏻HONES👏🏻TEA👏🏻🐸🍵 Seriously, thank you for your honest opinions and giving us another perspective on very hyped books! One of the many reasons I love your channel! 😁💜
I've owned the black prism for a year but still haven't read it... Arghhhhh wtf I'm so annoyed right now. I'll obviously still read it because I bought it but Jesus I'm not looking forward to it anymore. At least I know what to expect tho
What has been frustrating for me when reading or critiquing books like The Black Prism isn't merely the portrayal of women as sexist--they are portrayed through the lens of youth and attractiveness to the male gaze, etc.--but as ageist, too. It's a problem that is especially underrepresented on booktube. Yes, many popular booktubers are regarded as young people who read YA, middle grade, NA, or other books targeted to younger audiences, but the narratives of elderly people, especially elderly women of color, and even characters who are as young as in their thirties are not given much awareness or credence. Popular portrayals of older women in particular either note their potential attractiveness (i.e. The Black Prism's narrative of wrinkled skin that could still be attractive), or their roles as matrons, grandmothers, spiritual advisers, and only rarely as dynamic individuals with plot agency. It's extremely aggravating.
I've seen so many reviews about Black Prism and none mention the childish humour and sexism. I agree, those things bothered me too. Not enough to give up on the series but you are right, it needs to be talked about. Summer Dragon by Todd Lockwood had some of that, the childish humour about farts and such. It did annoy me but not enough to ruin the fun story. It one one of the few cases where a male author wrote a young lady as a believable character. I do get tired of, what feels like, every single book containing a female main has to mention in some form that she is pretty. It often feels awkward and forced. If an author is good enough, they should be able to describe a character so that you can make your own opinion if they are attractive are not. Let's face it personality plays a huge role in if someone is deemed attractive. How many people feel in love with the phantom of the opera even though he was supposed to be not physically attractive. They fell for his passion and love of music.
I noticed the description of women in Brent Weeks's other series, The Night Angel trilogy. I couldn't even finish the first book because the plot didn't seem well constructed and every woman's breasts was described in detail and typically with the phrase, "she had miles of cleavage." I got so annoyed with it that I just stopped reading and unhauled the book. I wanted to try the Lightbringer series by him; but based on your review, I don't know if I want to anymore if that way he describes women continues in the Lightbringer series as well. Anyways, this was a great video!
I don't understand the need, when you are making up your whole entire world, to put sexism in it... you can easily just not do it. It is their world, especially with fantasy, they are creating a whole world so I don't get putting shitty things from our world in it. Not just male authors, but women like Sarah J. Maas is also pretty good at putting sexism and shit like that in her books, and I just don't get it, why do they want to have it there?
Have you continued on with The Black Prism series by Brent Weeks? LIke you, I bought them all so that I could just read from book to book, but aftet hearing your thoughts, I am kind of sorry I bought them.
I luckily bought the first 3 used but no so far I haven't read the next two... I'm hoping to do that in 2018! There's potential for the plot and magic system... I'm hoping the next books won't be as problematic :/
I checked my bookshelf, and I also have the first three books! I look forward to hearing your review for the next book in 2018. Thanks for your quick response! :)
I have read 2 (they were both not good) and DNF'd 1 book by Meagan Abbot and after hearing your review on this one I won't be picking it up either. Her plots always seem interesting but her writing is just not for me.
Ha, I'm reading and then there were none at the moment - I'm almost finished and I have to say I'm disappointed. Even though there are "only" ten characters I keep mixing them up! Also, I feel the storyline is really predictable. You can sense who will die from a mile off. I don't know whodunit yet though, so I can't wait to find out if that will change my mind!
I have about 50ish pages left in A Closed and Common Orbit and it is totally pulling on my heartstrings! Picked up A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet on your recommendation and loved it! And why is it so hard for men to write women characters?!? I know my boobs aren't constantly in the forefront of my mind, they're just there as I go about my day.
BookswithEmilyFox it *might* be possible the author gets better in later books, realizes their errors and that's influencing some of the nay comments. That's one of the reasons I stopped reading a lot of male sci-fi writers because of their inability to write females in a believable capacity rather than to just push along the males storyline.
Could you possibly do a video on when you read (or listen to) books please? I love reading and I read often but when university starts again I find myself having to cut back on reading a bit and I would love to know how you fit in so much reading with how busy you are (considering you are a student and you have two channels - pretty insane ngl :D) I'm only asking since in some of your wrap ups you read as many as ten books (despite saying you're in a bit of a slump :o I can not read that many books in a good month!! xD) and I'd love to do that!! Love you so much ❤️❤️❤️
No, while I completely see Emily's perspective, most of it didn't bother me because I didn't really see overarching attitudes towards women or inappropriate actions against them.
Thanks for the heads up about the Black Prism book. I wouldn't be able to stomach it so I won't waste my time. I'm disappointed in Andy Weir. Women spend very little time thinking about how sexy we are or aren't, especially when our lives are in peril. Thank you for pointing these things out.
Wow I hadn't heard of the sexism that is in the book... Not I am a bit apprehensive to read it, but I will since I own the first book. I bought A Long Way To A Small And Angry Planet because of you :) and I am planning on reading it soon.
Perfect review on Artemis. I also felt the humor was forced, and the way he wrote Jazz made me laugh at times-like not in a good way though-but just how he thinks women actually talk/think.
When Dimple Met Rishi is one of the worst books I've read all year. I felt the same as you about Dimple, and while she does grow, I still found her to be completely unlikeable. I also hated all of the side characters and was bored to death during the whole thing...and then all the sex came in and I was completely over it at the point. I blame BookTube-A-Thon for me not DNF'ing it lol.
I have all of Megan Abbott's books but there are so many mixed reviews on each one. I have them all but never feel compelled to go for it. I already had no interest in When Dimple Met Rishi, but now that I keep hearing about how shitty she is towards him during the story it makes me wonder why so many people rated that book 5 stars.
I really appreciate your reviews because they're so honest! I had never heard your qualms with The Black Prism voiced before but I'm so glad that I have now because I'll avoid reading it. Also I read And Then There Were None in both 7th and 9th grade and the different characters were discussed often in class so I never had the problem you did, but I completely understand how anyone could get a little confused with all the different characters in such a small setting!
Oh, I am super glad someone else is calling out Brent Weeks. I read his Night Angel trilogy a number of years ago and wish I could forget the experience. It was so misogynistic. People have tried to convince me that his writing has improved since then and isn't as sexist but I've been hesitant to believe them. Looks like while the former may be true, the latter certainly isn't. Disappointing that Andy Weir is falling into the same traps, though.
I haven't read it yet but I don't think the writing was great in this book (sexism aside). Weir's book is definitely not as bad. It's more of a "I don't know how women think" than sexism! He was trying really hard to be funny though and unfortunately it wasn't for me!
I had a similar issue with The Magicians by Lev Grossman. The main character makes a comment in his head about every female character's looks/boobs. I get that he's a twenty something guy but it was so over the top. I don't usually pick up on stuff like that but it was ridicukous. Interesting story but I ended up not reading the next books because it was so annoying. I think I will probably skip the dark prism too.
Finally someone understand me with "When Dimple Met Rishi". I'm a web developer and was very happy because of the story, but it was just awful. As you said it was about a web competition and we just read about some X-factor competition. And she was at first all about her career and studying but 50 pages after she only thinks about Rishi ... Ahggg very very bad book, it doesn't deserve the hype at all.
You Will Know Me is my least favorite book by Megan Abbott. The Fever and Dare Me are sooooooo much better in my opinion! I think you'd like those more if you ever get around to them! (: Also, on the subject of When Dimple Met Rishi---I've not read it mostly because SO MANY booktubers were sponsored to talk about it and I'm always suspicious of books people are being paid to talk about lol.
I totally agree about the sexism. I felt the same reading Old Man's War, which I enjoyed. But I was annoyed by the female characters, and with the lack of non-white characters (which is weird considering they colonies should consist of more than just white ppl) . Totes random but I recommend The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin. IMO if you like good, well-written female characters... written by a female. Go read. It's def one of my fave SFF right now. The universe is very interesting. There was even a trans character and a polyamorous relationship but it wasn't gross, or read like it was written by a horny guy... XD
Good for you in pointing out sexism in books! These fantasy books area read by young girls and it´s sad that they get this contradictory message "oh, yeah, she¨s a badass, she´s strong BUT of course she´s also VERY PRETTY!
Honestly, I think the worst part is having to justify my review in the comments! I gave 4 examples, there's plenty more but every time women mention sexism, discussions derail!
YEEEES make a video about sexism in litterature and call out anyone who did it in their books! It should be talked about openly so we can resolve and show authors that it doesn't go unnoticed!
It would be really awesome if you did a video (or a series 😍😍😍) about 10 of the worst misogynistic books/authors you've come across!!! (by genre??) I love your feminism and girl, I was making those same faces with you (Real talk though, I love how your feminism is literary and mature, but always super approachable and funny)
"What about the balls?" Loved that! I think the problem with fantasy is that male authors forget that they have a female audience too.
I died laughing!! And yeah I completely agree.
I mean in that scene there were a few people naked.. many nipples and boobs were mentioned... I don't think any penises or balls were so...
It gets annoying when all the women are described for the physical appearances and the men for their position in the government/army or their abilities :/
Love how honest you are with your reviews! During my time in the Book community I've always felt weird because I've rarely loved the (over) hyped books that all the other book tubers seem to overly enjoy, now I know that I'm not alone! Thank you
There's no point in reviewing books if I'm not sharing my real opinion! :)
You're absolutely right about sexism not being talked about in reviews of books. I'm just like wow that could have been mentioned through the praise it received when I'm reading. Awesome video as always stay woke 👀
Mentioning how beautiful a woman is fine. Mentioning boobs when relevant is fine. The scene where I'm mentioning the man balls, they were naked so yeah it could have been mentioned!
It's just so unnecessary to always mention how firm a character's boobs are or her nipples. It's the contrast between how women are described compare to men that is frustrating. If you can't comprehend this on your own, no explanation from me will convince you otherwise.
BookswithEmilyFox we've just been mansplained on our opinions i believe lol
See no I disagree there. Women are perfectly able to create well rounded male characters so it shouldn't be this hard for so many men to do the same for female characters. It's the same thing when guys say they can't relate to the main character because it's a woman but women have no issues relating to male characters!
There are books written from the perspective of aliens, animals or overall things that don't exist and authors are able to write them properly. It's such a cop out to only think they can write about things they know.
I'm not going to stop reading books written by men but instead, I will continue to call them out when there's sexism.
I see you're not really interested in opening your mind to other opinions. These big vague statements are silly and you know it. Telling me to not read any more books written by men is condescending and we all know there are some shitty female writers too.
The sexism in certain books is very obvious. You might not see it but trying to understand why it bothers others is a good thing. It's fine to have different opinions but to deny other people's experience just because it doesn't affect you is ridiculous. I won't say racism isn't that bad and that others are exaggerating just because I'm not affected by it. It's even a bit sad that you think men authors don't have the ability to put themselves in other people's shoes.
Anyway, this discussion isn't going anywhere so have a nice day!
Clouded Vision you're basically justifying sexism as natural. Huh.
Haven't read this but really liked this quote. "Teach her that if you criticize X in women but do not criticize X in men, then you do not have a problem with X, you have a problem with women. For X please insert words like “anger,” “ambition,” “loudness,” “stubbornness,” “coldness,” “ruthlessness.”
― Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions
I love these kind of videos because it shows distinctive opinions/perspectives in this community. Love your channel!
Emily, I really recommend you read "The lies of Locke Lamora" it's a wonderful fantasy book. It doesn't have the sexism other fantasy books have and the author even got call out by a fan because of one of his female characters been "unrealistic" because she was a middle age badass pirate captain with two kids and the answer of the author was kind of "my fantasy world, my rules."
I have the first book and I've been meaning to read it! I'm glad to hear he's able to create complex female characters!
This has been on my TBR list for ages. Thanks for the reminder to finally get it read!
I'm almost finished with the first book. There are no female characters in sight...when do they show up? That's a huge problem for me right now.
I looove your videos and I ESPECIALLY LOVED this one because of your review on The Black Prism 👏🏻 PREACH GIRL!!
I loved when you said 'We're humans, there's more to us than our boobs'. I feel like not enough people talk about the underlying sexism in books so I'm happy that you did!!
And sadly when people do, others love to contradict us! I find it sad that I've had to justify my opinion when I already gave 4 examples :/
"What about the balls of the guy stood next to her?..." 😂😂😂😂😂😂
Well said Emily and sexism needs to be tackled in most books especially if they are being written now.. Xx
I'm so glad someone else was disappointed with When Dimple Met Rishi, because the premise sounded interesting, especially because I've worked in the web development industry for about two years now, but man did it fall flat. The story was pretty boring, the competition was really predictable, and I had problems with Dimple's attitude as well. Glad to see not everyone was head over heals in love with this one :\
It started with an interesting premise and got derailed... No idea how it finishes but I knew I wouldn't be happy with it haha
Emma Oben Yes!!! I thought i was the only one disappointed with When Dimple Met Rishi!!!! I couldn't stand the characters!
Emma Oben totally agree!
If you liked Packing for Mars read Chris Hadfield! An Astronaut's Guide to life. It's basically on Chris life and how he became an astronaut! I gave it 5 starts on Goodreads.
*adds to ridiculous TBR pile*
The Nerdy Bookaholic My thoughts exactly! 😊
Oh, I'm so happy you didn't like "The Black Prism". I thought it was just me that found it boring.
Appreciate the Honest opinions 👏🏾👏🏾
I love book reviews and hauls because I love reading over summer. This is a great video, well done!! I love book reviews so much that I have started making some myself!! :)
"I am angry about racism. I am angry about sexism. But I recently came to the realization that I am angrier about sexism than I am about racism. Because in my anger about sexism, I often feel lonely. Because I love, and live among, many people who easily acknowledge race injustice but not gender injustice."
-Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche
I love the LIghtbringer series, but your review brought up a problematic issue with many books, particularly by male authors, but not always. Why are women rated by looks and not by their worth as human beings? Sexism is so ingrained in society that we often overlook it completely, and things like what you were describing in this book are so common that I completely overlook them in order to enjoy certain books. You are always honest and open about your opinions of books, and I very much appreciate that you are unafraid to voice your opinions. Thank you for the video!
I am very bumped about Black Prism....Peruseproject never mentioned it....
I feel the same. The worst part is that I'll usually let a few ridiculous scenes slide or not notice them too much. It's when it's non stop that I feel the need to talk about it and sadly it was the case in this book :/
I just finished When Dimple Met Rishi and I do agree with your comments. The story focused too much on the romance, which worked out too conveniently, and too little on the camp competition. I stopped reading it for two weeks and finally picked it up again. I just appreciated the lightheartedness of it.
When Dimple met Rishi was quite instalovey. It got a little better towards the end.
I really loved this video. I think in general negative points in books are too rarely mentioned in the booktube community. I like to hear positive and negative opinions on books and for me personnel negative opinions help me much more to decide if i wanna read a book and it doesnt automatically mean i dont wanna read it anymore. Because some might have a problem with a specific trope or writing style and some dont. And i loved that you talked about sexism. It is sad that people still react so negative to this topic but thanks to people like you this topic is heard and talked about.
Just loving your channel more and more 😍
Packing for Mars is one of my fave non fiction books ever. I laughed out lout several times, and found myself rushing over to my husband to say, "did you know..." all the time. I do own Bonk, Stiff, and Spook but haven't read them yet.
I have yet to have anyone read Megan Abbott and enjoy her. I read The Fever and was so disgusted I decided that I would never read her again. I couldn't get over the intense girl on girl hate, the sexism, etc. I was just left feeling icky.
I am actually staring at The Black Prism right now on my bookshelf. I am SO GLAD that you spoke about it. I know exactly what you mean about the rampant sexism. I recently tried to read all the Wheel of Time books by Robert Jordan, and gave up after 4 books (although, each book is pretty massive, so that's actually quite a lot.) He does the same thing! His female characters are whiny, bitchy, mean, petty and rude. Every single one. And just like you mentioned, it doesn't seem to matter her level of power. For example, there is one lady that is an ancient demigod, and Jordan makes her appear naked in a dream to the main character, a 16 yo boy, for no reason at all. Even in the dream, one of the other demigods appears and is all, really lady? You're super powerful and can kill this boy with no effort, and you're stooping to this level? And she's all, but I'm so pretty! Look at me! Ugh. I will be donating my copy of The Black Prism and won't even bother, thank you for saving me the time and anger!
I'm also in doubt about reading "Down Among the Sticks and Bones (Wayward Children #2)".
Oh damn, I started The Black Prism a few days ago but I set it aside and now I'm not so sure I want to back to it if it's sexist. I'm soooo incredibly sick of sexism in high fantasy series written by men too, what really aggravates me is that in a totally 100% made-up world, these authors still think it's ok to have women be second class citizens. It's completely imaginary and yet they can't fathom a land without sexism. How do they not get what the feels like to read as a woman? Ughhhhh...
It seems to me that you can have as legitimate a point as you like (in this case annoyance at constant mentions of boobs and comments on the appearance of every woman in the book but none of the men) which surely nobody can argue with as it's right there in the text, but as soon as you use the word 'sexism' to describe that some of these guys just see red and lose the ability to produce any kind of coherent argument. Maybe someone could devise less threatening nomenclature for the poor things.
Definitely put off reading any Brent Weeks now, so thanks for pointing this out because I'm currently on a big fantasy book hauling spree and I'd hate to waste my money on something I'd not only DNF but probably also throw across the room 👊
I did use the word "world building" at one point to see if it would help but apparently not :P
I only made it to page 200 in the Black Prism and then DNF'd it. You are so on point with your review.
Wow that's the first negative thought on when dimple met fishing that I've heard. I appreciate your differing view on it though! I have yet to read it. Your sexism thoughts were on point and I completely agree!
You always give me such good ideas in terms of what to read next. Packing for Mars sounds absolutely brilliant!
Hey Emily! You should try reading The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, I feel like he portrayed the main character, Hazel, really well as a teenage girl
Share your opinion with the whole love thing in When Dimple met Rishi, she went from like not wanting a relationship to sleeping with him in such little time, the point of the book was lost for me.
I stopped just before that apparently haha
If you haven't already read it, read Godblind. Just a brilliant book with strong female characters.
I totally agree with When Rishi met Dimple! And I'm so glad you didn't like it either, I felt so alone! I finished it, and it really didn't improve.... :)
I'm SO HAPPY I'm not the only one who didn't like When Dimple Met Rishi!! I'm so surprised so many people liked it.
I'm surprised nobody mentioned how quickly Dimple changed her mind! She wasn't mad at her parents for more than 5s -_-
BookswithEmilyFox I found it really sad how the story obsessed so much over the romance and how quickly dimple was like "Maybe I SHOULD date Rishi!" Despite having vowed to hate him. I wanted to know more about the app process but it was all just a flat and fluffy abusive "romance". Everyone is loving it because it's Indian representation, but I feel like it doesn't justify it being a not-so-good book. If you're interested, I recommend reading What to Say Next by Julie Buxbaum (she's got a half Indian protagonist and a much better story.)
The coincidence of Callie and Kayden by Jessica Sorensen you should read it, would love to hear your review
I am having a rough time finishing books. Any suggestions?
Sarah Hagerman If u like romance go for various types of YA contemporary they are good slump-killers or maybe try to find a book I've been interested and u know its good so it doesn't make u stop in the middle of it.
Emily, did you ever get into the Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) series?
I read the first one and then 1/3 of the second one.. I was starting to skip chapters to only read the ones I was interested so I DNFed the series for now
BookswithEmilyFox I hope you go back and try them again sometime! It can be hard to follow, but maybe having the tv series helps kind of. I'm going to re read the series soon!
I'm so glad you talk about sexism in books! So many people seem scared to point it out in reviews. I haven't read The Black Prism yet but I read The Way of Shadows (first book in his other series) and I didn't really like the portrayal women in that either :/ Literally all the female characters were sex workers except the love interest who was pure and virginal and bland and it was so frustrating.
The childish comments I've been getting are probably the reason why! I have that trilogy and was looking forward to reading it but not anymore :S
Unpopular opinions are how humans progress thinking!! Please never be afraid to speak your mind! I didn't like when Dimple meet Rishi either, it was so bad I fought hard to finish it.
If you're bothered by the sexism in the black prism and in most sci-fi/fantasy novels then you should read the aeronaut's windlass by Jim butcher!! It has a cast full of men as well as strong female characters and I think you may find it refreshing to read. I read it a while ago and absolutely loved it !!
Thank god someone else had these thoughts about Black Prism! I really hated it, but I feel like I'm the only one, glad to know someone else thought it was problematic! There's also a scene where Kip is like fighting a woman and then he fell into her boobs and it was this weird awkward moment and it was so cringey! The fat rep was also really weird to me, made me really uncomfortable 👎🏽👎🏽
Right? It was always in weird moments and so awkward...
Haven't read the book with all the controversy 😉 but we share a lot of opinions and I for one am thankful that I can cross it off my list. Brandon Sanderson and Terry Goodkind are two fantastic fantasy authors who don't write sexist threads into their plot, so I'm sure there are more to choose from. Good job Emily and keep on keeping on
Wait the Black Prism as a 15 year old as the protagonist ? Do you know if he ages a lot in the series ? I thought this was an adult novel. I don't mind redeading from a POV of a kid but I,m not in the mood for it with this serie ahah.
One of them is! The other is in his 30s!
BookswithEmilyFox Kk thanks!
Such a shame about "Artemis". I was impressed with what Weir did to "The Martian", but this new book sounds annoying as fuck.
books by leynes well... Mark Watney was also annoying, that was his shtick. The author probably tried to recreate the magic
See, I know a lot of people didn't like Mark Watney but it kinda worked for me and didn't feel as forced (with a few exceptions).
Here, it really felt like Andy Weir tried to make the book as funny and it felt completely flat :S
You're the first person I've heard to criticize The Black Prism and I'm so glad you did. I was planning on reading it soon but from your review I can tell it'll drive me crazy, now I won't waste my time. Thank you :)
I agree with you on How Dimple Met Rishi. I was pretty excited for it but found Dimple really annoying, and the setting wasn't developed or even set up in the first place. It was just used as an excuse to get Rishi and Dimple together without adults hanging around. It's nice to see someone else agree with me, as on booktube I've only seen glowing praise so far.
I totally get what you're talking about in The Black Prism!! I didn't notice it too much while reading but looking back on it I'm annoyed with you lol
Omg, finally someone said what I feel about Weeks' writing! I read two books in his other trilogy (or was there four books?) and I just couldn't stand the way he was writing female characters, which is why I probably won't finish the rest of the series. I wanted to give him one more chance with "Black Prism", but it seems like there's no point>
What is your lip stick Colour?
Yessss the sexism!!! I'm so bad you mentioned that!
Ahh I loved this, so refreshing! I felt the same way about The Black Prism and for some reason felt guilty about it... Thanks for always speaking your mind.
I too am reading "and then there were none" ! And thanks for the head up about black prism..it was on my list but was wondering if it was worth the time..
Do you plan on making a bookshelf tour?
I always try to be aware of authors' viewpoints regarding race and sex before I decide I truly like them, but at thr same time I've learned to separate the art from the artist. If I don't see racism or sexism in their books, I'd still like the books while abhorring the authors as people (e.g. Ender's Game). But if the sexism is just too obvious, it's hard to like either :( Good thing I didn't splurge for The Black Prism. Is it the same with the Night Angel Trilogy?
I usually separate them too! I don't think Brent Weeks is a 'sexy pig" in real life. I think he just includes a lot of sexism in his books not realizing it is the case!
Apparently it is since it was written before!
I love how honest your reviews are.
Lovely wrap up! Thanks for sharing. P.S. For me, Agatha Christie is a good writer, but a lot of times she doesn't come to the optimal conclusion. I remember reading her and thinking REALLY? This is how they decided to cover up the murder, you based it on assumption? And I could think of ways that were more logical. I prefer the Ocamm's razor kind of mystery. :) Same reason I didn't quite enjoy The Night Film.
I'm reading Packing for Mars now and it's really interesting! A little slow at times. I'm excited to read Stiff
Emily you never fail to SPILL 👏🏻 THAT 👏🏻HONES👏🏻TEA👏🏻🐸🍵
Seriously, thank you for your honest opinions and giving us another perspective on very hyped books! One of the many reasons I love your channel! 😁💜
I've owned the black prism for a year but still haven't read it... Arghhhhh wtf I'm so annoyed right now. I'll obviously still read it because I bought it but Jesus I'm not looking forward to it anymore. At least I know what to expect tho
Love the beautiful hair-thing you're wearing! Amazing video as always, thanks so much
Stiff was really interesting!
What has been frustrating for me when reading or critiquing books like The Black Prism isn't merely the portrayal of women as sexist--they are portrayed through the lens of youth and attractiveness to the male gaze, etc.--but as ageist, too. It's a problem that is especially underrepresented on booktube. Yes, many popular booktubers are regarded as young people who read YA, middle grade, NA, or other books targeted to younger audiences, but the narratives of elderly people, especially elderly women of color, and even characters who are as young as in their thirties are not given much awareness or credence. Popular portrayals of older women in particular either note their potential attractiveness (i.e. The Black Prism's narrative of wrinkled skin that could still be attractive), or their roles as matrons, grandmothers, spiritual advisers, and only rarely as dynamic individuals with plot agency. It's extremely aggravating.
This is why I love you so much, the HONESTY. ♡♡♡
I've seen so many reviews about Black Prism and none mention the childish humour and sexism. I agree, those things bothered me too. Not enough to give up on the series but you are right, it needs to be talked about. Summer Dragon by Todd Lockwood had some of that, the childish humour about farts and such. It did annoy me but not enough to ruin the fun story. It one one of the few cases where a male author wrote a young lady as a believable character. I do get tired of, what feels like, every single book containing a female main has to mention in some form that she is pretty. It often feels awkward and forced. If an author is good enough, they should be able to describe a character so that you can make your own opinion if they are attractive are not. Let's face it personality plays a huge role in if someone is deemed attractive. How many people feel in love with the phantom of the opera even though he was supposed to be not physically attractive. They fell for his passion and love of music.
I noticed the description of women in Brent Weeks's other series, The Night Angel trilogy. I couldn't even finish the first book because the plot didn't seem well constructed and every woman's breasts was described in detail and typically with the phrase, "she had miles of cleavage." I got so annoyed with it that I just stopped reading and unhauled the book. I wanted to try the Lightbringer series by him; but based on your review, I don't know if I want to anymore if that way he describes women continues in the Lightbringer series as well. Anyways, this was a great video!
You mentioned that you were considering Stiff by Mary Roach. I highly recommend the audiobook for this. It was excellent.
I love these wrap ups!
So happy to hear it :)
I don't understand the need, when you are making up your whole entire world, to put sexism in it... you can easily just not do it. It is their world, especially with fantasy, they are creating a whole world so I don't get putting shitty things from our world in it. Not just male authors, but women like Sarah J. Maas is also pretty good at putting sexism and shit like that in her books, and I just don't get it, why do they want to have it there?
EXACTLY! I hate that others are justifying it as "a natural occurrence". No.
The thing about not enjoying the humor ruining the story is how I felt about Stiff by Mary Roach. 😕
Have you continued on with The Black Prism series by Brent Weeks? LIke you, I bought them all so that I could just read from book to book, but aftet hearing your thoughts, I am kind of sorry I bought them.
I luckily bought the first 3 used but no so far I haven't read the next two... I'm hoping to do that in 2018!
There's potential for the plot and magic system... I'm hoping the next books won't be as problematic :/
I checked my bookshelf, and I also have the first three books! I look forward to hearing your review for the next book in 2018. Thanks for your quick response! :)
I have read 2 (they were both not good) and DNF'd 1 book by Meagan Abbot and after hearing your review on this one I won't be picking it up either. Her plots always seem interesting but her writing is just not for me.
Ha, I'm reading and then there were none at the moment - I'm almost finished and I have to say I'm disappointed. Even though there are "only" ten characters I keep mixing them up! Also, I feel the storyline is really predictable. You can sense who will die from a mile off. I don't know whodunit yet though, so I can't wait to find out if that will change my mind!
I'm so glad I'm not the only one that got them mixed up! Let me know how you feel after but I was also expecting more!
I have about 50ish pages left in A Closed and Common Orbit and it is totally pulling on my heartstrings! Picked up A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet on your recommendation and loved it!
And why is it so hard for men to write women characters?!? I know my boobs aren't constantly in the forefront of my mind, they're just there as I go about my day.
Honestly, I don't even think they realize it's sexism.
There's plenty of people denying it just in the comment section of this video!
BookswithEmilyFox it *might* be possible the author gets better in later books, realizes their errors and that's influencing some of the nay comments. That's one of the reasons I stopped reading a lot of male sci-fi writers because of their inability to write females in a believable capacity rather than to just push along the males storyline.
Could you possibly do a video on when you read (or listen to) books please? I love reading and I read often but when university starts again I find myself having to cut back on reading a bit and I would love to know how you fit in so much reading with how busy you are (considering you are a student and you have two channels - pretty insane ngl :D) I'm only asking since in some of your wrap ups you read as many as ten books (despite saying you're in a bit of a slump :o I can not read that many books in a good month!! xD) and I'd love to do that!! Love you so much ❤️❤️❤️
Is it sad that I didn't notice the sexism in the black prism? 😬
AlyssLysie no, everyone's experience reading a book is different.
No, while I completely see Emily's perspective, most of it didn't bother me because I didn't really see overarching attitudes towards women or inappropriate actions against them.
still waiting for you to read Anthem by Ayn Rand. Short and a dystopian society. You would enjoy it! give it a chance! have you read it already? 📚🎭
I need to read Every Heart a Doorway and Down Among the Sticks and Bones.
Thanks for the heads up about the Black Prism book. I wouldn't be able to stomach it so I won't waste my time. I'm disappointed in Andy Weir. Women spend very little time thinking about how sexy we are or aren't, especially when our lives are in peril. Thank you for pointing these things out.
Wow I hadn't heard of the sexism that is in the book... Not I am a bit apprehensive to read it, but I will since I own the first book.
I bought A Long Way To A Small And Angry Planet because of you :) and I am planning on reading it soon.
You might be able to look past it since the magic system is very interesting!
I really hope you'll love it!!
Perfect review on Artemis. I also felt the humor was forced, and the way he wrote Jazz made me laugh at times-like not in a good way though-but just how he thinks women actually talk/think.
I'm so glad I'm not alone! I felt apprehensive about reviewing it!
That's too bad for Artemis! The Martian was one of the best books I read in 2017.
I felt the same way about Down Among the Sticks and Bones! I loved Jack from the first book, but I felt kind of meh about her story. - Julie
Love love love your channel girl💕📚
When Dimple Met Rishi is one of the worst books I've read all year. I felt the same as you about Dimple, and while she does grow, I still found her to be completely unlikeable. I also hated all of the side characters and was bored to death during the whole thing...and then all the sex came in and I was completely over it at the point. I blame BookTube-A-Thon for me not DNF'ing it lol.
I have all of Megan Abbott's books but there are so many mixed reviews on each one. I have them all but never feel compelled to go for it.
I already had no interest in When Dimple Met Rishi, but now that I keep hearing about how shitty she is towards him during the story it makes me wonder why so many people rated that book 5 stars.
I love your honest reviews! The guy next to her might have saggy balls cracked me up! Thank you for the honesty!
Preach girl!!
I really appreciate your reviews because they're so honest! I had never heard your qualms with The Black Prism voiced before but I'm so glad that I have now because I'll avoid reading it. Also I read And Then There Were None in both 7th and 9th grade and the different characters were discussed often in class so I never had the problem you did, but I completely understand how anyone could get a little confused with all the different characters in such a small setting!
Oh, I am super glad someone else is calling out Brent Weeks. I read his Night Angel trilogy a number of years ago and wish I could forget the experience. It was so misogynistic. People have tried to convince me that his writing has improved since then and isn't as sexist but I've been hesitant to believe them. Looks like while the former may be true, the latter certainly isn't. Disappointing that Andy Weir is falling into the same traps, though.
I haven't read it yet but I don't think the writing was great in this book (sexism aside).
Weir's book is definitely not as bad. It's more of a "I don't know how women think" than sexism! He was trying really hard to be funny though and unfortunately it wasn't for me!
I had a similar issue with The Magicians by Lev Grossman. The main character makes a comment in his head about every female character's looks/boobs. I get that he's a twenty something guy but it was so over the top. I don't usually pick up on stuff like that but it was ridicukous. Interesting story but I ended up not reading the next books because it was so annoying. I think I will probably skip the dark prism too.
Excellent wrap up!
Finally someone understand me with "When Dimple Met Rishi". I'm a web developer and was very happy because of the story, but it was just awful. As you said it was about a web competition and we just read about some X-factor competition. And she was at first all about her career and studying but 50 pages after she only thinks about Rishi ...
Ahggg very very bad book, it doesn't deserve the hype at all.
You Will Know Me is my least favorite book by Megan Abbott. The Fever and Dare Me are sooooooo much better in my opinion! I think you'd like those more if you ever get around to them! (: Also, on the subject of When Dimple Met Rishi---I've not read it mostly because SO MANY booktubers were sponsored to talk about it and I'm always suspicious of books people are being paid to talk about lol.
Brandon Sanderson has the best female characters.
I totally agree about the sexism. I felt the same reading Old Man's War, which I enjoyed. But I was annoyed by the female characters, and with the lack of non-white characters (which is weird considering they colonies should consist of more than just white ppl)
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Totes random but I recommend The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin.
IMO if you like good, well-written female characters... written by a female. Go read. It's def one of my fave SFF right now. The universe is very interesting. There was even a trans character and a polyamorous relationship but it wasn't gross, or read like it was written by a horny guy... XD
I really don't want to read The Black Prism now! I really don't put up with sexism in books
It's so frustrating because it's hard to support the book and author after reading all these things... :S
Really love your honest wrap ups!
Good for you in pointing out sexism in books! These fantasy books area read by young girls and it´s sad that they get this contradictory message "oh, yeah, she¨s a badass, she´s strong BUT of course she´s also VERY PRETTY!
Honestly, I think the worst part is having to justify my review in the comments! I gave 4 examples, there's plenty more but every time women mention sexism, discussions derail!
Anyone else noticed, she said it's her "June Wrap Up"? :P
I was waiting for someone to call me out on it haha
BookswithEmilyFox Does it really matter, tho? I don't think so ;)
❤️❤️❤️
Geez you've been having a really unlucky year when it comes to books!
YEEEES make a video about sexism in litterature and call out anyone who did it in their books! It should be talked about openly so we can resolve and show authors that it doesn't go unnoticed!
It would be really awesome if you did a video (or a series 😍😍😍) about 10 of the worst misogynistic books/authors you've come across!!! (by genre??) I love your feminism and girl, I was making those same faces with you
(Real talk though, I love how your feminism is literary and mature, but always super approachable and funny)
This sexism by male authors really bothers me =/