"I'm glad so many people love it, I'm a bit sad that I do not" -- you have such a generous mindset in all the videos of you that I've watched, it's really lovely, and I really appreciate how nuanced you are about what you didn't like in those books but what was still good about them
Me: This analogy about building a new house and just checking in on the neighbors/old main characters is absolutely brilliant 😃 You: I know this analogy is stupid... Me: Girl, I JUST said it was brilliant!!
I discovered your channel this morning and subscribed during the first video. I just started reading in the Fantasy genre this year so am always on the lookout for new recommendations. Thank you for your channel!
My “booktube darling” that I was led astray on… Six of Crows. It was… fine. After all the hype I was expecting a 5 star read but I just couldn’t connect with it. By no means did I hate it but I didn’t love it either. I came away feeling meh about it. 3 stars
I adore it, but no book will be a bullseye for everyone! I've felt that way about other reads, and I felt crazy for not liking them, but you're never truly alone in disliking or "meh"-ing a book 😁
You described precisely how I feel about … I just felt I read a different book and unable to see the great things so many readers were able to see in the stoy😂, and a lot of us share the similar taste!
It is somewhat gratifying for me to hear you say this about Jade City. I only ever hear "best book/series ever!" but I hated it from the jump and had to DNF it before finishing the first book.
I felt the same. I keep hearing about how amazing the series is, but I gave up half way through the second book. No shade to anyone who loves it, but I guess this one just isn't for me!
I'd agree on Jade City. Similarly I felt like I was the only person who didn't really enjoy The Three Body Problem. I think it just comes down to the things authors want to focus their story on. The concept, setting, and characters may check all my boxes, but if the author is more interested in exploring astrophysics and a fictional video game in depth, they are just going to lose me. I'm glad they didn't lose everyone, just me 😂
Guns of the Dawn is a Pride & Prejudice retelling, which is kind of a youthful story, so maybe that’s why it felt more youthful than you were expecting. I didn’t know that going in, so I was surprised when I started reading it. But I ended up loving it.
I've recently finished "The Final Architecture" sci-fi series by Tchaikovsky, and loved it so much!!! I highly reccomend it, "Shards of Earth" is the first book. Basically, Earth was destroyed by moon-sized creatures (Architects), reshaped into a gigantic flower and now humanity is trying to survive among stars, settle on different planets but those Achitects hunt humanity across space and reshape other planets. We have a crew of salvage ship, a sort-of space-Amazon society, AI instances which are a colony of bugs in a walking frame, a lot of aliens, (divine clams) and more and more
1:05-1:09 that's weird bc it usually just makes me feel like everyone else are fucking bonkers for enjoying something i hate lol. never question your own taste, especially not over some tiktok sensations
I liked the will of the many but I didn’t love it. I really enjoyed the authors first trilogy but the first book was my least favorite in that one because he really built up the series as it went on imo. I’m hoping that’s the case here as well. I don’t think it helped that my expectations were set so high after seeing everyone else’s reviews that when they weren’t met I was a tad bit disappointed
Totally agree about Jade City. I think the second half was more enjoyable than the first due a to a certain unexpected event, but ultimately I have no desire to finish the series.
The only one is Dowry of Blood. I tried. I dnf-ed after the second bride starts to be "abused" . I didn't believe it much. I did love the writting very much. I did read the epiloge but 😮💨...
I know this is a fantasy channel, but my UA-cam darling that led me astray was/is Sally Rooney. I've only read "Beautiful World Where Are You?" And I felt so so so frustrated with it. Its not that I don't like pretentious navel gazing - I loved "Cleopatra and Frankenstein". Its not that I don't like Irish fiction - I loved "Small Things Like These". But Sally Rooney is not for me. I just can't motivate myself to try "Normal People". On the flip side of the coin, UA-cam hype made me avoid reading the ACOTAR series for YEARS. I binged it all last month. I loved it. No apologies 😅
I am not a Sally Rooney girl either. I read Normal People and her writing style just didn’t work for me. Plus the no quotations thing as a stylistic choice was pretentious AF and only made the book that much more annoying to read.
I read the first book and a half of Faithful and the Fallen by Gwynne and DNFed them. Worst written fantasy books I have ever tried to read. Felt like it was written by an angry tween that was trying to imitate Martin and Tolkien but doing a terrible job on both counts. He kills people like Martin but doesn’t develop them first and had clearly introduced them just to kill them. He combines Christianity and Celtic mythology like Tolkien but does it so poorly I can’t even compare it to anything else. The birds had more personality than any of the people. He clearly knows nothing about wolves. His battle scenes seem like the best part unless you actually stop and think about them. I also wasn’t a big fan of the 5th Season. Interesting writing style but all the characters were terrible unlikable people.
We have a lot of similar dislikes!😅 I actually DNFed the whole Red Rising series after reading Iron Gold lol. It just felt like Brown was throwing horrendous violence in there for the sake of violence (and I'm no stranger to violent books, but that one really got me). I HATED the protagonist in Will of the Many and felt like he was an insufferable Gary Stu. And I also felt deceived about the magic school setting!
*Spoilers* A Spear cuts through water. I watched book tube and read SO many reviews about it and not one mentioned the cannibalism. Serpent and Dove. I couldn’t connect with the relationship. And then there was big titty Lindy… roll the eyes now. The Sword of Kaigen. So much about this book is excellent, but the final chapters felt like a let down. The magic system was unique and impressive. Misaki is one of the best written and complex female characters out there. Following her character development was fascinating. The family roles and dynamics before the invasion are well established. The duel with Takeru after the invasion is just amazing, but the rest felt like a let down. In the last quarter of the book so much more could have been done with the complex relationship between Misaki and Takeru. Takeru’s character had so much unfulfilled potential for growth and redemption. I really wish there was a second book exploring the evolution of their relationship as well as Misaki’s family ability to manipulate blood.
I understand Jade city , while I did love the series . I truly feel at parts certain things were expanded on that didn’t need to be expanded on. Furthermore, by the end . Contrary to how I usually will feel after finishing a series I loved, I felt no true connection with half the characters, maybe even 75 percent of them. Odd for me.
I never got the hype for Red Rising. I read the first book and thought it was okay, but I found the protagonist very annoying and the world rather flat. So I never continued. Also, sadly I didn't like Tress of the Emerald Sea, because I hate the narrator. It's a cool concept, but the narrative voice did not work for me at all.
Yeah it’s Will of the Many. I enjoyed it but i wasn’t wowed by it and the fact that the main character always had an answer for everything wasn’t the most compelling for me at all.
Booktube darlings that were not for me were House on the Cerulean Sea and Legends and Lattes. They were fine. I didn't hate either but I also didn't like them much.
A science fiction darling that I ended up DNF'ing is Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I know it's not fantasy, but you do mention a book of his so I thought I'd comment anyway. I was so excited to read it, and I got a third of the way through and thought meh. I also ended putting down another series of his....I'm thinking he's not for me.
My disliked booktube darling is Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Fairies. 😬 I think I'm just not a cozy fantasy fan. I know so so many people love it but it just wasn't for me
Right now everyone is going crazy for When the Moon Hatched. I think overall the story was good but I had to look past the writing style to feel that way. I really disliked all the italics and stunted sentences. It's not a favorite for me like everyone else is feeling.
Guns of the Dawn doesn’t seem to know what is wants to be. On one hand it had graphic and violent imagery yet it seems to repeatedly return to a very young youth level. Not fond of it the story.
For me it's fourth wing, i'm really not sure how it did well, like, i went into it thinking the concepts cool, and i can let a romance slide if the plots good, but for me, neither asked worked, at all.
The love for The Dowry of Blood had me wondering if there was something wrong with me. 😉 I read it a second time to see what I missed and still it didn’t hit the way it did for others.
Currently reading The Will of the Many and feel the same way. It just seems...fine. Another I didn't love that's quite a favorite in book spaces is The Poppy War.
I felt kinda blah about Dowry of Blood. And I feel bad about why, since the theme of the book was mainly escaping a abusive relationship...but i just kinda lost faith in the honesty of the narrator. I really started to feel as it went on that the protagonist was more willing to admit to Dracula's faults, but unable to admit to her own. I just didn't believe she was as innocent in all these horrible situations as they were portrayed to us. I think is she had been willing to see her own faults in this book i would have enjoyed it more.
Damn. I've read literally nothing on this list except Jade City, and that's a brave one - in some circles going after that is on par with taking a run at HP or LoTR 😂
I think for me, Jade City kinda felt like an entire book of set up. Then I started into book 2 thinking this is where the set up would pay off, but it just felt like more set up. So I dnf that one. I'm glad people love it, but it just didn't give what I am looking for.
Haven't read any of the books on your list, though Jade City is on my tbr, so hopefully I'll like it. The only book that comes to mind for booktube loves it, I didn't, is The Blade Itself, by Joe Abercrombie. I tried, twice, and just could not get into it. I suspect he's not an author for me.
I listened to the audiobook for Red Rising recently, and I never really got into it. I don't know if it was a book thing or the way the audiobook narrator spoke, but something was just too tiring about it for me
You're not alone with Iron Gold - I DNF'd that one for many of the same reasons you alluded to. I saw zero reason for the author to revisit a story that had finished so well and I just found myself halfway through the book thinking "I really don't care about any of these characters or world any more," so I had a rare DNF.
I love your analogy about continuation series and often feel the same way! And I also disliked Guns of the Dawn. It’s made me hesitant to pick up his other books, so I’ll be interested to hear your thoughts if you give him another shot!
For me it is First Law. I found it a Meh, ok, average-minus read. I generally like nearly all of the books when someone in booktube says "If you liked First Law, you'll like X" and I'm like I really liked X, but not First Law so much for me. I know that's an unpopular opinion. For Adrian Tchaikovsky, Children of Time is really, really good (and unusual) and worth considering. I didn't read Iron Gold either because I liked, but not loved, Red Rising so haven't bothered to go back to that series.
I was meh on The Blade Itself, loved the second, had conflicted feelings about the third, but reading further books by JA has made me enjoy his works a lot more. You of course don’t have to, but I’d recommend still giving A Little Hatred a try! I was way more invested than with The Blade Itself (but also, it might not be your thing, and that’s ok too! ☺️)
A booktube darling that absolutely doesn’t work for me is Sword of Kaigen. Hands down this was the most boring book that I’ve ever tried to read. I can’t even remember the main characters names anymore. The only thing that I remember is that I instantly disliked them. I could not get past the 25% mark. DNFd the book twice! Totally overhyped in my opinion. Didn’t get why literally everyone was raving about the book.
Thank you! It is hard to say I don't like a book so many are finding is fine or good. I also have a series or two I get very angry because it was bad for me. But, I just got this book. Special Edition 🥺 you know. I hope I will like it. Because it will otherwise be a 😭 for all that money that could have gone to a new favorite book of mine... You know what I mean👍
It's "Evelyn Hugo" and "An Enchantment of Ravens" for me. The first had terrible, juvenile prose, the latter had such a boring male lead, forced romance, and undercooked world-building.
Hey, at least I can appreciate the honesty. Not every book is for everyone. In fact, there are ZERO books that are for everyone. It's good to be transparent and honest about what you do and do not like and explain why. And that's why I keep coming back for your updates ☺
I also didn't love Jade City. It was awkward for me living somewhere where organized crime is a real threat and permeates everything in life, too real yet not nuanced enough. It just felt like Fonda Lee was only glamorizing gangs without delving into the actual crime and dark stuff there. (Watch Peaky Blinders instead!) And I also didn't really care for any of the characters. I soft DNFed it, hopefully I will read it and finish it this summer.
I know this is going to be controversial, but having just finished Mistborn Era 1 for the first time, it's just left me feeling a bit indifferent, considering how many people love it. There's a lot to applaud in the series, but far too much of the final book and in the others, I felt what's the purpose of this storyline? The final 100-200 pages don't make amends for the other 500 or so...
I agree with you with the Will of the Many, I picked it up because everyone was raving about it and I found it so boring and struggled to get through it. Felt meandering and boring, I should have DNF it but I forced myself to finish it and regretting that decision.
I have a couple that aren't for me that everyone praises and no doubt no one will agree with me, which is fine. I did not like ACOTAR - I read the first two books and declined to read anymore. The characters made my teeth hurt which was the same thing that I experienced with Cassandra Clare's Shadow Hunters series. I barely made it through Rage of Dragons, which I started to like about two-thirds through the book, but I completely disliked Fire of Vengeance and stopped reading at 50%. Name of the Wind was so annoying, it was hard to finish and please never make me read anything written by Naomi Novik unless torture is the plan of the day. Suddenly, I hear Heath Ledger's Joker in my head... why so serious? Love your videos.
Ahh! The “booktube darlings.”🎉 I finished Jade City bc I kept hoping the fantasy aspects would become more prominent. Nothing wrong with the way it’s written, I am just not interested in the daily entanglements of gangsters. This is great for someone who likes The Godfather type crime stories. I have no interest in continuing the series. I appreciate you doing this. Nice to hear a different perspective
With jade city, I kept waiting for the story to get good, waiting for the characters to become likable (apart from the younger cousin), and it just never happened for me 😢
I'm rather disappointed to hear that about "Guns of the Dawn." I was looking forward to reading that one. One book that all my friends and all my favorite reviewers seemed to adore that I did not was C.L. Polk's "The Midnight Bargain." Polk's prose is strong, and the two female leads are both sympathetic and interesting, but at the end, a character who has done something absolutely, utterly, and completely unforgivable is forgiven, and his heinous act is just hand-waved away because the character he meant to injure managed to escape. I was appalled by this, and it ruined the book for me. A shame, because I was enjoying it so much up till that point.
Not so sure it was a Booktube Darling, but it definitely had hype for many many years, and for me, that is Interview With The Vampire. It was just...okay? I guess? It was generally interesting, and certain moments were thought provoking. But overall I was left feeling very...meh. Like, I have no desire to ever read it again and I have no interest in continuing the series or seeing the super bloody TV adaptation.
I enjoyed the first two in the Jade trilogy. I still have a bookmark in Legacy, but I doubt I'll make time for it - the constant time-hopping left the story untethered for me. I struggled to invest as a result.
I actually like the house analogy. I also did not like Iron Gold. I hear that the rest of the books in that trilogy will make me like it again. Maybe, someday.
I may feel the same about Joe Abercrombie. I tried reading The First Law trilogy. I DNF'd halfway through second book. I have to sort of like the main characters. I really disliked reading through the perspective of a torturer. Also, if characters are gray or antiheroes, I want some sort of redemption arc or I want character development in which characters change or are transformed. I'm afraid to read anymore Joe Abercrombie now.
He isn’t for you unfortunately. There is no redemption for the dipshit main characters(I love them all), even though they get good character development. First Law is peak grimdark for me because of the absolute hopelessness that becomes your only constant companion as you read the books. Currently reading The Heroes, maybe he brings some hope later on in the next books? I don’t know yet. I hope he doesn’t.
I was stuck in an Air B&B due to an event being rain postponed to the following day. The owner had some few books on the shelves, probably for the beauty of the covers more than the continent of the pages, was my guess. I looked them over and found a title that I was intrigued by and the dust jacket made me think, "Well, Okay, not my thing but . . ." I loved the book enough that I bought my own copy to decorate my shelf as a gem waiting for discovery on someone else's rainy day. The book was a multi-generational tale of the women of one family in the village of Versailles. The book is To Dance with Kings by Rosalind Laker. It is historical fiction and as a dude I'm probably not the target audience, but I loved it and the settling was terrific for a visit.
See, I'm conflicted...I don't think Red Rising needed to be continued (and I say that as a huge Red Rising fan...it's one of my favorite series)...but I'm glad that Pierce Brown decided to continue it. Iron Gold definitely isn't my favorite book in the series, but I think it did a good job at establishing the foundation for the other books in the second half of the series.
I’m with ya girl. I did not enjoy Jade City either. I didn’t continue the series either, due to that. I LOVED Untethered Sky though, so I’m glad I didn’t quit this author due to first impressions.
I haven't read Red Rising, so I can't comment on that series specifically, but I do completely agree in general with hating when a sequel or continuation takes the satisfying ending from before and just guts it. I hate that so much, it makes my blood boil. It lessens the impact of the first part of the story because now it feels like it didn't really matter because it was so quickly undone, and it seriously kills my investment in the new entries because why would I let myself get tricked into thinking this matters again? Also, these types of stories often take the old characters and completely destroy their personalities, frequently making them worse in ways that don't make any sense for them in order to bolster a new generation of protagonists or something, which is just more infuriating than I can take. Not sure if that would apply in this case though.
One of the ones for me that I didn't like was Spinning Silver. I just found it so so boring and hard to get into. But it seems like no one else has that opinion lol 😅
i don't mind when people don't like things, what i don't like is when people phrase things as a statement of fact rather than an opinion. i wasn't a fan of A Dowery of Blood,[ i liked that the vampire was a vampire and not human like] i saw the end coming from a mile away.
I dnf'd it at around 20% cause I wasn't enjoying it and then read spoiler reviews to see what the twist ending was that a lot of people were talking about and imho it wasn't as interesting of a twist as a lot of people were making it out to be. Definitely not worth reading a 600 page book that you're not enjoying just for that.
Hi what you said at the beginning of your video about different series in the same world you should read tamora pierce books it starts with the song of the lioness series and continues into the immortals series, then the protector of the small series all three series take place in the same world but time movies on characters from the first book series show up some in the later series but older and wisher.
Mine would be Strange the Dreamer, it wasn't even the story itself i just couldn't with the lyrical writing style. I even tried to read the second book because i was curious but i dnfed it ( yess the writing bothered me that much) 😭 And what's funny is that I do really love the author's DOSAB series!!! One thing i did figure out was lyrical writing was not it for me 😂
I completely agree with you on continuation series. I haven't even read the Abercrombie Age of Madness books because I'm scared I won't like them. John Gwynne's continuation series worked, but I think that was unique to the world he built.
I agree with you about Jade City, but for different reasons. For a book about gangsters with magic powers, it felt like most of the book centers around conversations happening at meals and business meetings. Too much time spent in the heads of the characters and not enough doing things with cool magical gangsters. I tried again with the sequel, which was more of the same and gave up on the series. Yes there were a handful of shocking moments, but it was a slog to get to them. I have enjoyed other Booktube favs like Murderbot and the Bloodsworn saga, but this one was a miss.
I feel so similar about Jade City!! I probably will read the sequel eventually to see if it improves but I felt so "meh" about it, after hearing so many rave reviews!
This makes me feel better because I did not care for Jade City or Red Rising (which I tried to read 3 times and each time DNF) and I wondered what I was not getting.
I didn’t even bother with Iron Gold because I knew I would feel exactly what you described. Like, I know Darrow is your baby, but maybe let his character arc rest and create new characters?
Really liked this video. You're not the only person who happens to dislike a book everyone raves about, and I'm glad Booktubers like yourself is discussing it, so people know they're not alone.
I feel the same about reading sequel or additional series, like it dont always get into it and usually bc the original characters are no longer the there or i just wasnt up to commiting for abother arc
Our likes usually mesh 90 percent of the time. But, I absolutely loved Jade City. Did you like the Godfather, most people I know who dont like the Godfather, don't like Jade City.
I just bought this book for my husband for Father's Day because of his love for The Godfather and The Sopranos. I hope he likes this book and I'm not steering him wrong.
I feel the same for Jade City as well. I was so hiped, but then I read it and it draged on for me. I only could finisched it because of the audiobook. I'm willing to give Jade War a chance. In fact I'm currently reading it now. I kinda like it better but it also took me way to long. I just don't want to pick up, but when I'm picking it up I like it.
Books no one (or few people) like but me, or that aren't as popular as I wish they were: Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend The Bear & The Nightingale (Winternight Trilogy) by Katherine Arden And anything by Margaret Rogerson (Sorcery of Thorns, Vespertine, and Enchantment of Ravens) These all click so well for me but I seem to be in the minority when loving these books 😢
I’m in Iron Gold right now. I actually really love it but I hate the Quad POV. I do agree about your stance, but honestly right now it’ll probably be 5 stars for me lol
I hate the realm of the elderlings. I read SIX of them before I quit in an attempt to convince myself to love them like everyone else on the planet. Did not learn to love them lol. It’s clearly just me. But I tried valiantly!
I read all of them, but I started really disliking them since that stupid and convinient ending of Ship's trilogy... I have no idea why I continued with series... :(
"I'm glad so many people love it, I'm a bit sad that I do not" -- you have such a generous mindset in all the videos of you that I've watched, it's really lovely, and I really appreciate how nuanced you are about what you didn't like in those books but what was still good about them
Me: This analogy about building a new house and just checking in on the neighbors/old main characters is absolutely brilliant 😃
You: I know this analogy is stupid...
Me: Girl, I JUST said it was brilliant!!
I agree! I loved that analogy
It made me want to read this non-existent house next door tale set beside my favorite stories.
I discovered your channel this morning and subscribed during the first video. I just started reading in the Fantasy genre this year so am always on the lookout for new recommendations. Thank you for your channel!
My “booktube darling” that I was led astray on… Six of Crows. It was… fine. After all the hype I was expecting a 5 star read but I just couldn’t connect with it. By no means did I hate it but I didn’t love it either. I came away feeling meh about it. 3 stars
100% aligned. I have even re read it, convinced that I might have missed something the first time and...nope still meh
I agree
Yes, I agree
I am completely with you on this one.
I adore it, but no book will be a bullseye for everyone! I've felt that way about other reads, and I felt crazy for not liking them, but you're never truly alone in disliking or "meh"-ing a book 😁
You described precisely how I feel about … I just felt I read a different book and unable to see the great things so many readers were able to see in the stoy😂, and a lot of us share the similar taste!
I actually loved the analogy you used about neighbors. It made so much sense
It is somewhat gratifying for me to hear you say this about Jade City. I only ever hear "best book/series ever!" but I hated it from the jump and had to DNF it before finishing the first book.
I forced myself to finish it-you didn’t miss out on much. I felt crazy for a while for not liking it though 😅
I felt the same. I keep hearing about how amazing the series is, but I gave up half way through the second book.
No shade to anyone who loves it, but I guess this one just isn't for me!
I forced myself to finish Jade City and in the end I was sorry I wasted my time. I just never connected to the story or the characters.
I'd agree on Jade City. Similarly I felt like I was the only person who didn't really enjoy The Three Body Problem.
I think it just comes down to the things authors want to focus their story on. The concept, setting, and characters may check all my boxes, but if the author is more interested in exploring astrophysics and a fictional video game in depth, they are just going to lose me. I'm glad they didn't lose everyone, just me 😂
Both were misses for me, although for very different reasons.
Guns of the Dawn is a Pride & Prejudice retelling, which is kind of a youthful story, so maybe that’s why it felt more youthful than you were expecting. I didn’t know that going in, so I was surprised when I started reading it. But I ended up loving it.
Whoaaa I'm so glad to hear you say that about Jade City. It checked all my boxes too, and I couldn't figure out why I didn't care.
I love the house neighbor analogy 😂
I've recently finished "The Final Architecture" sci-fi series by Tchaikovsky, and loved it so much!!! I highly reccomend it, "Shards of Earth" is the first book. Basically, Earth was destroyed by moon-sized creatures (Architects), reshaped into a gigantic flower and now humanity is trying to survive among stars, settle on different planets but those Achitects hunt humanity across space and reshape other planets. We have a crew of salvage ship, a sort-of space-Amazon society, AI instances which are a colony of bugs in a walking frame, a lot of aliens, (divine clams) and more and more
1:05-1:09 that's weird bc it usually just makes me feel like everyone else are fucking bonkers for enjoying something i hate lol. never question your own taste, especially not over some tiktok sensations
I liked the will of the many but I didn’t love it. I really enjoyed the authors first trilogy but the first book was my least favorite in that one because he really built up the series as it went on imo. I’m hoping that’s the case here as well. I don’t think it helped that my expectations were set so high after seeing everyone else’s reviews that when they weren’t met I was a tad bit disappointed
Totally agree about Jade City. I think the second half was more enjoyable than the first due a to a certain unexpected event, but ultimately I have no desire to finish the series.
I felt the same i thought the family drama was a lot of forced tension, it felt like being gaslit with everyone giving it 10/10s
The only one is Dowry of Blood. I tried. I dnf-ed after the second bride starts to be "abused" . I didn't believe it much.
I did love the writting very much.
I did read the epiloge but 😮💨...
I know this is a fantasy channel, but my UA-cam darling that led me astray was/is Sally Rooney. I've only read "Beautiful World Where Are You?" And I felt so so so frustrated with it. Its not that I don't like pretentious navel gazing - I loved "Cleopatra and Frankenstein". Its not that I don't like Irish fiction - I loved "Small Things Like These". But Sally Rooney is not for me. I just can't motivate myself to try "Normal People".
On the flip side of the coin, UA-cam hype made me avoid reading the ACOTAR series for YEARS. I binged it all last month. I loved it. No apologies 😅
I am not a Sally Rooney girl either. I read Normal People and her writing style just didn’t work for me. Plus the no quotations thing as a stylistic choice was pretentious AF and only made the book that much more annoying to read.
I didn't like The Fifth Season... Sounded like it had everything I would like but it didn't do it for me and everyone seems to love it!
I read the first book and a half of Faithful and the Fallen by Gwynne and DNFed them. Worst written fantasy books I have ever tried to read. Felt like it was written by an angry tween that was trying to imitate Martin and Tolkien but doing a terrible job on both counts. He kills people like Martin but doesn’t develop them first and had clearly introduced them just to kill them. He combines Christianity and Celtic mythology like Tolkien but does it so poorly I can’t even compare it to anything else.
The birds had more personality than any of the people. He clearly knows nothing about wolves.
His battle scenes seem like the best part unless you actually stop and think about them.
I also wasn’t a big fan of the 5th Season. Interesting writing style but all the characters were terrible unlikable people.
We have a lot of similar dislikes!😅
I actually DNFed the whole Red Rising series after reading Iron Gold lol. It just felt like Brown was throwing horrendous violence in there for the sake of violence (and I'm no stranger to violent books, but that one really got me).
I HATED the protagonist in Will of the Many and felt like he was an insufferable Gary Stu. And I also felt deceived about the magic school setting!
*Spoilers*
A Spear cuts through water. I watched book tube and read SO many reviews about it and not one mentioned the cannibalism.
Serpent and Dove. I couldn’t connect with the relationship. And then there was big titty Lindy… roll the eyes now.
The Sword of Kaigen. So much about this book is excellent, but the final chapters felt like a let down. The magic system was unique and impressive. Misaki is one of the best written and complex female characters out there. Following her character development was fascinating. The family roles and dynamics before the invasion are well established. The duel with Takeru after the invasion is just amazing, but the rest felt like a let down. In the last quarter of the book so much more could have been done with the complex relationship between Misaki and Takeru. Takeru’s character had so much unfulfilled potential for growth and redemption. I really wish there was a second book exploring the evolution of their relationship as well as Misaki’s family ability to manipulate blood.
I understand Jade city , while I did love the series . I truly feel at parts certain things were expanded on that didn’t need to be expanded on. Furthermore, by the end . Contrary to how I usually will feel after finishing a series I loved, I felt no true connection with half the characters, maybe even 75 percent of them. Odd for me.
I never got the hype for Red Rising. I read the first book and thought it was okay, but I found the protagonist very annoying and the world rather flat. So I never continued. Also, sadly I didn't like Tress of the Emerald Sea, because I hate the narrator. It's a cool concept, but the narrative voice did not work for me at all.
Yeah it’s Will of the Many. I enjoyed it but i wasn’t wowed by it and the fact that the main character always had an answer for everything wasn’t the most compelling for me at all.
Booktube darlings that were not for me were House on the Cerulean Sea and Legends and Lattes. They were fine. I didn't hate either but I also didn't like them much.
A science fiction darling that I ended up DNF'ing is Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I know it's not fantasy, but you do mention a book of his so I thought I'd comment anyway. I was so excited to read it, and I got a third of the way through and thought meh. I also ended putting down another series of his....I'm thinking he's not for me.
huh. must not be at all caught up with books in this niche, I don't recognize any of the titles
My disliked booktube darling is Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Fairies. 😬 I think I'm just not a cozy fantasy fan. I know so so many people love it but it just wasn't for me
I loved it except for the “relationship” which felt forced and inconsistent.
I DNF'd it lol
I hated Guns of the Dawn 😅 Basically everything about it. Dogs of War is my favourite by him so far
Right now everyone is going crazy for When the Moon Hatched. I think overall the story was good but I had to look past the writing style to feel that way. I really disliked all the italics and stunted sentences. It's not a favorite for me like everyone else is feeling.
Guns of the Dawn doesn’t seem to know what is wants to be. On one hand it had graphic and violent imagery yet it seems to repeatedly return to a very young youth level. Not fond of it the story.
For me it's fourth wing, i'm really not sure how it did well, like, i went into it thinking the concepts cool, and i can let a romance slide if the plots good, but for me, neither asked worked, at all.
The love for The Dowry of Blood had me wondering if there was something wrong with me. 😉 I read it a second time to see what I missed and still it didn’t hit the way it did for others.
I enjoyed Jade City but I didn’t think it was great a solid three and a half star in my view.
I'm on the third Children of Time novel by Adrian Tchaikovsky, and definitely planning on reading more from him, his way of thinking is so good.
Currently reading The Will of the Many and feel the same way. It just seems...fine. Another I didn't love that's quite a favorite in book spaces is The Poppy War.
Quite a few don't like that.
I felt kinda blah about Dowry of Blood. And I feel bad about why, since the theme of the book was mainly escaping a abusive relationship...but i just kinda lost faith in the honesty of the narrator. I really started to feel as it went on that the protagonist was more willing to admit to Dracula's faults, but unable to admit to her own. I just didn't believe she was as innocent in all these horrible situations as they were portrayed to us. I think is she had been willing to see her own faults in this book i would have enjoyed it more.
I have left The Will of the Many unrated because I can't work out how I feel about it!
I also really disliked iron gold. The next 3 books after it have been better. Just not a huge fan of the way the story went.
Damn. I've read literally nothing on this list except Jade City, and that's a brave one - in some circles going after that is on par with taking a run at HP or LoTR 😂
Yeesh. I forced myself not to dnf jade city but didn’t continue on with the series. It was merely okay to me.
I think for me, Jade City kinda felt like an entire book of set up. Then I started into book 2 thinking this is where the set up would pay off, but it just felt like more set up. So I dnf that one.
I'm glad people love it, but it just didn't give what I am looking for.
While I love LOTR, I can understand if some people don't enjoy it. Jade City seemed like a book I'd like, but I just never connected with it
Haven't read any of the books on your list, though Jade City is on my tbr, so hopefully I'll like it.
The only book that comes to mind for booktube loves it, I didn't, is The Blade Itself, by Joe Abercrombie.
I tried, twice, and just could not get into it. I suspect he's not an author for me.
I listened to the audiobook for Red Rising recently, and I never really got into it. I don't know if it was a book thing or the way the audiobook narrator spoke, but something was just too tiring about it for me
The audiobook was not very good at all lol
@@maceanglin That makes me feel a lot better tbh
Is it the Tim Gerard Reynolds one? Because that’s the best way to read Red Rising for me! He is my Darrow!
You're not alone with Iron Gold - I DNF'd that one for many of the same reasons you alluded to. I saw zero reason for the author to revisit a story that had finished so well and I just found myself halfway through the book thinking "I really don't care about any of these characters or world any more," so I had a rare DNF.
I love your analogy about continuation series and often feel the same way!
And I also disliked Guns of the Dawn. It’s made me hesitant to pick up his other books, so I’ll be interested to hear your thoughts if you give him another shot!
For me it is First Law. I found it a Meh, ok, average-minus read. I generally like nearly all of the books when someone in booktube says "If you liked First Law, you'll like X" and I'm like I really liked X, but not First Law so much for me. I know that's an unpopular opinion.
For Adrian Tchaikovsky, Children of Time is really, really good (and unusual) and worth considering.
I didn't read Iron Gold either because I liked, but not loved, Red Rising so haven't bothered to go back to that series.
I was meh on The Blade Itself, loved the second, had conflicted feelings about the third, but reading further books by JA has made me enjoy his works a lot more. You of course don’t have to, but I’d recommend still giving A Little Hatred a try! I was way more invested than with The Blade Itself (but also, it might not be your thing, and that’s ok too! ☺️)
A booktube darling that absolutely doesn’t work for me is Sword of Kaigen. Hands down this was the most boring book that I’ve ever tried to read. I can’t even remember the main characters names anymore. The only thing that I remember is that I instantly disliked them. I could not get past the 25% mark. DNFd the book twice! Totally overhyped in my opinion. Didn’t get why literally everyone was raving about the book.
Thank you! It is hard to say I don't like a book so many are finding is fine or good. I also have a series or two I get very angry because it was bad for me.
But, I just got this book. Special Edition 🥺 you know. I hope I will like it. Because it will otherwise be a 😭 for all that money that could have gone to a new favorite book of mine... You know what I mean👍
Would Elliot read a book about Unicorns?
It's "Evelyn Hugo" and "An Enchantment of Ravens" for me. The first had terrible, juvenile prose, the latter had such a boring male lead, forced romance, and undercooked world-building.
Hey, at least I can appreciate the honesty. Not every book is for everyone. In fact, there are ZERO books that are for everyone. It's good to be transparent and honest about what you do and do not like and explain why. And that's why I keep coming back for your updates ☺
I also didn't love Jade City. It was awkward for me living somewhere where organized crime is a real threat and permeates everything in life, too real yet not nuanced enough. It just felt like Fonda Lee was only glamorizing gangs without delving into the actual crime and dark stuff there. (Watch Peaky Blinders instead!)
And I also didn't really care for any of the characters. I soft DNFed it, hopefully I will read it and finish it this summer.
I know this is going to be controversial, but having just finished Mistborn Era 1 for the first time, it's just left me feeling a bit indifferent, considering how many people love it. There's a lot to applaud in the series, but far too much of the final book and in the others, I felt what's the purpose of this storyline? The final 100-200 pages don't make amends for the other 500 or so...
I agree with you with the Will of the Many, I picked it up because everyone was raving about it and I found it so boring and struggled to get through it. Felt meandering and boring, I should have DNF it but I forced myself to finish it and regretting that decision.
I have a couple that aren't for me that everyone praises and no doubt no one will agree with me, which is fine. I did not like ACOTAR - I read the first two books and declined to read anymore. The characters made my teeth hurt which was the same thing that I experienced with Cassandra Clare's Shadow Hunters series. I barely made it through Rage of Dragons, which I started to like about two-thirds through the book, but I completely disliked Fire of Vengeance and stopped reading at 50%. Name of the Wind was so annoying, it was hard to finish and please never make me read anything written by Naomi Novik unless torture is the plan of the day. Suddenly, I hear Heath Ledger's Joker in my head... why so serious? Love your videos.
Oh yeah, I’ve paused Iron Gold on my Kindle. I just can’t stay in the story…maybe if I switch to the audiobook?
Ahh! The “booktube darlings.”🎉
I finished Jade City bc I kept hoping the fantasy aspects would become more prominent. Nothing wrong with the way it’s written, I am just not interested in the daily entanglements of gangsters.
This is great for someone who likes The Godfather type crime stories. I have no interest in continuing the series.
I appreciate you doing this. Nice to hear a different perspective
With jade city, I kept waiting for the story to get good, waiting for the characters to become likable (apart from the younger cousin), and it just never happened for me 😢
I'm rather disappointed to hear that about "Guns of the Dawn." I was looking forward to reading that one.
One book that all my friends and all my favorite reviewers seemed to adore that I did not was C.L. Polk's "The Midnight Bargain." Polk's prose is strong, and the two female leads are both sympathetic and interesting, but at the end, a character who has done something absolutely, utterly, and completely unforgivable is forgiven, and his heinous act is just hand-waved away because the character he meant to injure managed to escape. I was appalled by this, and it ruined the book for me. A shame, because I was enjoying it so much up till that point.
Not so sure it was a Booktube Darling, but it definitely had hype for many many years, and for me, that is Interview With The Vampire. It was just...okay? I guess? It was generally interesting, and certain moments were thought provoking. But overall I was left feeling very...meh. Like, I have no desire to ever read it again and I have no interest in continuing the series or seeing the super bloody TV adaptation.
I enjoyed the first two in the Jade trilogy. I still have a bookmark in Legacy, but I doubt I'll make time for it - the constant time-hopping left the story untethered for me. I struggled to invest as a result.
Loved Jade City series such an amazing wonderful series! 🪻🪻❣️📚📖📖❣️📚🫶🏻💐💚🌼💛💛🩵💛❤️🌸🩷💞💙💖🌷🌷💓💓🤎🌼💚📖📚❣️📙📙❣️🫶🏻🫶🏻💐💚🌼🌼💐💐💐💖❤️💛💙💙💙💞🤎🤎📚📚📚📚📚📚📙📙📙🪻📚📖📚🪻🪻🌼❤️❤️💛💛
I actually like the house analogy. I also did not like Iron Gold. I hear that the rest of the books in that trilogy will make me like it again. Maybe, someday.
I may feel the same about Joe Abercrombie. I tried reading The First Law trilogy. I DNF'd halfway through second book. I have to sort of like the main characters. I really disliked reading through the perspective of a torturer. Also, if characters are gray or antiheroes, I want some sort of redemption arc or I want character development in which characters change or are transformed. I'm afraid to read anymore Joe Abercrombie now.
He isn’t for you unfortunately. There is no redemption for the dipshit main characters(I love them all), even though they get good character development. First Law is peak grimdark for me because of the absolute hopelessness that becomes your only constant companion as you read the books. Currently reading The Heroes, maybe he brings some hope later on in the next books? I don’t know yet. I hope he doesn’t.
@@neerajcherukuri4052Happy endings are joy isn’t on the cards😂
I was stuck in an Air B&B due to an event being rain postponed to the following day. The owner had some few books on the shelves, probably for the beauty of the covers more than the continent of the pages, was my guess. I looked them over and found a title that I was intrigued by and the dust jacket made me think, "Well, Okay, not my thing but . . ." I loved the book enough that I bought my own copy to decorate my shelf as a gem waiting for discovery on someone else's rainy day. The book was a multi-generational tale of the women of one family in the village of Versailles. The book is To Dance with Kings by Rosalind Laker. It is historical fiction and as a dude I'm probably not the target audience, but I loved it and the settling was terrific for a visit.
See, I'm conflicted...I don't think Red Rising needed to be continued (and I say that as a huge Red Rising fan...it's one of my favorite series)...but I'm glad that Pierce Brown decided to continue it. Iron Gold definitely isn't my favorite book in the series, but I think it did a good job at establishing the foundation for the other books in the second half of the series.
I’m with ya girl. I did not enjoy Jade City either. I didn’t continue the series either, due to that. I LOVED Untethered Sky though, so I’m glad I didn’t quit this author due to first impressions.
I haven't read Red Rising, so I can't comment on that series specifically, but I do completely agree in general with hating when a sequel or continuation takes the satisfying ending from before and just guts it. I hate that so much, it makes my blood boil. It lessens the impact of the first part of the story because now it feels like it didn't really matter because it was so quickly undone, and it seriously kills my investment in the new entries because why would I let myself get tricked into thinking this matters again? Also, these types of stories often take the old characters and completely destroy their personalities, frequently making them worse in ways that don't make any sense for them in order to bolster a new generation of protagonists or something, which is just more infuriating than I can take. Not sure if that would apply in this case though.
One of the ones for me that I didn't like was Spinning Silver. I just found it so so boring and hard to get into. But it seems like no one else has that opinion lol 😅
Jade City, I was expecting magic kung-fu. I got gangsters. DNF.
Agree on Jade City. The characters where just terrible. Hated it
i don't mind when people don't like things, what i don't like is when people phrase things as a statement of fact rather than an opinion. i wasn't a fan of A Dowery of Blood,[ i liked that the vampire was a vampire and not human like] i saw the end coming from a mile away.
Ouuuchhh- first Piranesi and now The Will of the Many 😭😭😭😭
❤Still love you though- thanks for the honesty and explanation!!
i read 113 pages of Will of the Many and couldn't really get into it... should i push through?
I loved it but it may not be for everyone.
Yes. The ending.... the real ending makes it so much more interesting.
Where are you exactly in the book exactly?
I dnf'd it at around 20% cause I wasn't enjoying it and then read spoiler reviews to see what the twist ending was that a lot of people were talking about and imho it wasn't as interesting of a twist as a lot of people were making it out to be. Definitely not worth reading a 600 page book that you're not enjoying just for that.
Hi what you said at the beginning of your video about different series in the same world you should read tamora pierce books it starts with the song of the lioness series and continues into the immortals series, then the protector of the small series all three series take place in the same world but time movies on characters from the first book series show up some in the later series but older and wisher.
Mine would be Strange the Dreamer, it wasn't even the story itself i just couldn't with the lyrical writing style.
I even tried to read the second book because i was curious but i dnfed it ( yess the writing bothered me that much) 😭
And what's funny is that I do really love the author's DOSAB series!!!
One thing i did figure out was lyrical writing was not it for me 😂
I completely agree with you on continuation series. I haven't even read the Abercrombie Age of Madness books because I'm scared I won't like them. John Gwynne's continuation series worked, but I think that was unique to the world he built.
I agree with you about Jade City, but for different reasons. For a book about gangsters with magic powers, it felt like most of the book centers around conversations happening at meals and business meetings. Too much time spent in the heads of the characters and not enough doing things with cool magical gangsters. I tried again with the sequel, which was more of the same and gave up on the series. Yes there were a handful of shocking moments, but it was a slog to get to them. I have enjoyed other Booktube favs like Murderbot and the Bloodsworn saga, but this one was a miss.
Literally the only other person I’ve heard say that Jade City wasn’t for them! You make me want to try Untethered Sky though.
I was so ready to love Jade City and The Will of the Many but both left me feeling…meh.
I feel so similar about Jade City!! I probably will read the sequel eventually to see if it improves but I felt so "meh" about it, after hearing so many rave reviews!
Acotar, strange the dreamer, anything Stephanie Garber, I could go on and on
for me the 'darlings' that just don't work for me - Piranesi, The last cuentista, and recently The two towers
This makes me feel better because I did not care for Jade City or Red Rising (which I tried to read 3 times and each time DNF) and I wondered what I was not getting.
I didn’t even bother with Iron Gold because I knew I would feel exactly what you described. Like, I know Darrow is your baby, but maybe let his character arc rest and create new characters?
I finished Untethered Sky yesterday and I loved it!!!
Really liked this video. You're not the only person who happens to dislike a book everyone raves about, and I'm glad Booktubers like yourself is discussing it, so people know they're not alone.
I actually really like your 'nextdoor' analogy!
I still haven’t read dowry of blood ☹️
All that glitters is not gold. Best wishes with what you choose to read. I hope you get some great stories.
I feel the same about reading sequel or additional series, like it dont always get into it and usually bc the original characters are no longer the there or i just wasnt up to commiting for abother arc
I agree with you on red rising and I stopped after the first three books and refuse to read the books after.
I really liked Untethered Sky too! More than the Green Bone saga 🙈
Our likes usually mesh 90 percent of the time. But, I absolutely loved Jade City. Did you like the Godfather, most people I know who dont like the Godfather, don't like Jade City.
I just bought this book for my husband for Father's Day because of his love for The Godfather and The Sopranos. I hope he likes this book and I'm not steering him wrong.
You plan on reading Sun eater series??
I feel the same for Jade City as well. I was so hiped, but then I read it and it draged on for me. I only could finisched it because of the audiobook. I'm willing to give Jade War a chance. In fact I'm currently reading it now. I kinda like it better but it also took me way to long. I just don't want to pick up, but when I'm picking it up I like it.
Ohh, at least you’re enjoying book two! That’s good 😄
Books no one (or few people) like but me, or that aren't as popular as I wish they were:
Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend
The Bear & The Nightingale (Winternight Trilogy) by Katherine Arden
And anything by Margaret Rogerson (Sorcery of Thorns, Vespertine, and Enchantment of Ravens)
These all click so well for me but I seem to be in the minority when loving these books 😢
hey, I like Sorcery of Thorns, you are not alone ! and I hope to read Nevermoor this summer :)
I love ur content!! thanks for another amazing video :3
I’m in Iron Gold right now. I actually really love it but I hate the Quad POV. I do agree about your stance, but honestly right now it’ll probably be 5 stars for me lol
Story only gets better with Dark Age and Light Bringer!
I hate the realm of the elderlings. I read SIX of them before I quit in an attempt to convince myself to love them like everyone else on the planet. Did not learn to love them lol. It’s clearly just me. But I tried valiantly!
I read all of them, but I started really disliking them since that stupid and convinient ending of Ship's trilogy... I have no idea why I continued with series... :(
Great Video and some bold picks!
Shadow. of. the Gods. What the hell was that. It's become a barometer for me in judging the tastes of others.
Same here! I appreciated some elements but I can't understand the overall hype surrounding the book.