I just read it a few days ago & I loved it too. It was not what I expected, but I was still engaged the whole time! I listened to it and sometimes I’ll find my mind wandering, but I was so into the whole time!
I find your book reviews so interesting because they are pretty diverse and unpredictable. I like that. People often give similar reviews to everything they read, especially their niche genres, but I see your reviews on goodreads pop up and I’ll caught off by your negative and sometimes positive reviews. Keeps things interesting 😅
I'll add "The Mermaid the Witch and the Sea" by Maggie Tokuda‐Hall, "The Witch's Heart" by Genevieve Gornichec, and "A Thousand Steps Into Night" by Traci Chee. All are beginner friendly standalones and great! Into the Drowning Deep does have a prequel called Rolling in the Deep
I read Mistborn after that and The Way of Kings but that one took me a very long time to finish. I am on the waitlist at my library for book two of Mistborn.
Hi Emily! Thank you for this video❤ This is a little unrelated but i wanted to let you know that I Who Have Never Known Men just got translated to italian, and when i saw it in the bookshop I immediately thought of you 😂. I cannot wait to read it!!😊
Highly recommend The Green Rider series. It’s medieval as a setting but has a great female protagonist and I liked the writing. There are quite a few books in the series ❤ Also loooove The Bear and the Nightingale series! It’s like a Russian fairy tale. So unique - again a female protagonist and fabulous writing.
Great list! :D I read a lot of low fantasy and quite beginner friendly high fantasy, so here's some I've loved :) - The undertaking of hart and mercy (easy high fantasy, romcom) - The ex hex (low fantasy, romcom) - Sorcery of thorns (YA high fantasy, feels historical) - The invisible life of addie larue (low fantasy, partly historical) - Evocation (low fantasy, witchy) - The book of doors (low fantasy, time stuff) - The invocations (YA fantasy with horror elements) - A far wilder magic (YA high fantasy, feels historical) - The nature of witches (YA low fantasy) - This poison heart (YA low fantasy)
Thank you for saying Blood Over Bright Haven already grips you in the beginning of the book, I have been getting so frustrated with picking up only books that take forever to get good. I will probably read that one :) And I appreciate you explaining why you think its good to start with Warbreaker rather than Mistborn, I did want to start with Mistborn but am intimidated by the sizes of the books and I’m more in the mood for shorter fast paced books.
just wanted to say i went for warbreaker first based on her rec to start with it, and i have to say it was the best decision to make (for me at least), and i'm currently on mistborn 3 so i finally feel qualified to compare them as starting points. particularly loved getting a fully contained story arc and one of his famed endings without waiting for a whole series to get an idea of his climaxes and how everything ties in. also just flat out one of my favorite books now, imo super underrated
I would like to recommend A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan. Female Darwin going around the world studying dragons, do I need to say more? For people who want a strong female main character that isn't a warrior. Completed series of 5 books and one companion novel (do NOT read Turning Darkness Into Light first, it will spoil everything).
I loved A Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, one of my favorites of the year so far. The romance wasn't the best but I loved the found family aspect and witchy vibes. Emily, don't know if you've read it, but I think you'll love Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries! I love cosy fantasy but didn't like Legends and Lattes, it bored me to tears lol. Also felt lukewarm about Piranesi. The writing was gorgeous but didn't care about the characters or plot.
I loved the His Dark Materials trilogy and I remember all the controversy at the the time. I heard people saying the books were "killing God" and thought it was typical moral panic hyperbole and then I read them and was like ohhhh....oh. Love them.
I’m not a big fantasy reader. I found the Green Rider series by Kristen Britain to be very approachable. My library didn’t have all the books so I’m not sure about the later books, but the first few are good.
1. I gave TSSOIW a 3 star. It was cute but the constant trauma dumping/bonding was so much. It would have been better as one scene rather than like the 6 scenes they had. But otherwise cute. 2. I feel like i'm the only one who didn't really like Legends and Lattes. Which is fine! I'd never fault anyone from loving it! It's cute. But it felt somehow lacking to me. 3. I listened to Piranesi as an audiobook narrated by Ejiofor Chiwetel and it was SO good. Loved it. It's such a weird combination of sinister/eerie and comforting. 4. His Dark Material had a profound effect on me growing up. Still an absolute favourite of mine. I've ready so many amazing books because of you. So I always look forward to your recommendations. I will be checking out some of the ones you mentioned here.
I read Blood Over Bright Haven at the end of April and absolutely loved everything about it. Easiest 5 star in a long time. It put me in a book slump though bc nothing else is as good! 😂 I’ve read and loved most of the rest you mentioned, but the ones I haven’t are on my tbr.
My husband always recommends the novella The Emperor's Soul for starting Sanderson, and while it's not my personal recommendation, I see how that could also hook people! PS - yet another commenter whp got hooked on Sanderson through Warbreaker via your videos!
I think I'll give Blood Over Bright Haven a try, even though I'm one of the few that didn't care for The Sword of Kaigen after the second half of the book turned into a lifetime drama.
Piranesi is such a strange book in a good way. I like that it can have different interpretations and I'm sure we all see different things in it. Adding The goblin emperor to my list! Thanks for the recommendations!
Did you happen to see the HBO/BBC series His Dark Materials with James McAvoy? I liked it a lot. I'm not sure how closely it followed each book but there is a season per book. 😊
I sooooo wanna read ML Wang, both of hers! They sound great tbh but havent been able to find it. Hope now they are more easily available, sounds like a lot of us were looking for them lol Also i'm reading The sparrow & geniunly invested but wandering pros & cons of attempting book 2 & i think you've read it?
@@BookswithEmilyFox thanks. I clicked on the one you highlighted so I wasn’t sure if you’d done one. I was looking to see if you had included Matha Wells’ Murderbot series. The books are short, sweet and to the point. They’re some of my faves.
@@BookswithEmilyFox lol confession: the last two were kinda ho hum. I get it. Thanks for always putting up suggestions and options that are not the norm. It helps to branch out.
I adore Into the Drowning Deep, it has become a comfort read for me ( not sure what that says about me) I’ve read it at least 8 times lol Try…..Guns of the Dawn (Adrian Tchaikovsky) I’m bummed I’ll never be able to read this book the first time again.
Loved both Piranesi and The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, the latter one similar with the vibes given by The House of the Cerulean Sea 😊 I find the cover of Legends & Lattes awful and didn't try reading 😅 but I'll give it a try now. I'm saving your list for later ❤
The Goblin Emperor is my favorite, like 6✨️ out of 5...While character orientated and slice of life like with some small action ....I beliebe a beginer will want to engage with story and not take a language class that the excelent prose feels like when you start reading. The book is highly wort your time but I do worry the prose will make beginner dnf it.
Nobody includes this beautiful Fantasy book. PeruseProject talks a little about it, but likes the second book more. I didn't. The first is definitely the best. Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater. Also the third book is really good, but still the first is my favorite. It can be read as a stand alone and it makes me so sad that nobody is talking about it.
@@maika0395 that might be a good call. I've also enjoyed some Asian inspired YA fantasy, so I can enjoy historical settings as long as it's something different than the usual.
I read His Dark Materials after seeing it on a BBC list of top 100 books. I read it in my early 20s and loved it especially after the first book. I didn't like the goblin emperor could be it's not to my taste but I found the terminology off putting. Also I didn't like their depiction of what goblins are
Hmm I don't like ,,Legends & latte" 😢 and yes I feel bad about that. I don't like ,, A very secret society of irregular witches" as well. This book was.... ok, but not as entartaining and amazing I thought it will be. Ohh ,,Piranesi" is book which surprised me by the ending and tropes. I never read book like that. ,,Warbreaker" was my first Sanderson book, and NOTHING before destroy me as much as the ending does (ok maybe The Hobbit). When I think about standalone fantasy books goods at the begining ... I have no recomendation. I read series mostly. ,,Jonathan Strange and mr Norrell" is standalone, but this book is .... specific, and strange, and not really plot driven(still one of my favourites). But if somebody like humor and historical books oh and classics I guess it could be good option.
Into the drowning deep OMG! One of my favorite books so good especially well written and love the story 🧡🩷❤️❤️❤️🩷💚💚💚🩷🍄🟫🍄🟫🪷🫶🏻🫶🏻🌼🌼🌹🌻💛❣️💛💕📙📖🌈🌈🌺🌞🌞💞🍄🩵💖💖🧡❤️❤️🧡💚📚📚📚📚📚📚📖📖📙💙🩵🌻🌷🌷💘💘🫶🏻💜🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷💛💛💙💙
What beginner friendly books would you recommend?
The Witch and the wardrobe series ❤😊❤
Elven Alliance by Tara Grayce
Neverending Story by Michael Ende
Something upstairs by Avi
You didn't mention Becky chambers, monk and robot. Is that fantasy? I don't read fantasy but I did read the duology
Written in Red by Anne Bishop, although it might be more urban paranormal
Piranesi was excellent, unique and so engaging for me. Definitely one of my best reads of 2024 !!
I just read it a few days ago & I loved it too. It was not what I expected, but I was still engaged the whole time! I listened to it and sometimes I’ll find my mind wandering, but I was so into the whole time!
I agree! Piranesi has become one of my all time favorite books 💙 so enigmatic and beautiful 🌊🐚
Piranesi one of my tbr's .
it was a ride i wasn’t expecting but did enjoy lol
I find your book reviews so interesting because they are pretty diverse and unpredictable. I like that. People often give similar reviews to everything they read, especially their niche genres, but I see your reviews on goodreads pop up and I’ll caught off by your negative and sometimes positive reviews. Keeps things interesting 😅
Totally agree!
That is such a good compliment! I feel like I sometimes struggle explaining things in English so it’s so nice to hear ❤️
I'll add "The Mermaid the Witch and the Sea" by Maggie Tokuda‐Hall, "The Witch's Heart" by Genevieve Gornichec, and "A Thousand Steps Into Night" by Traci Chee. All are beginner friendly standalones and great!
Into the Drowning Deep does have a prequel called Rolling in the Deep
Warbreaker was my first Brandy Sandy book and I read it because of you. Loved it, so good!
Which one are you planning on reading next?
I read Mistborn after that and The Way of Kings but that one took me a very long time to finish. I am on the waitlist at my library for book two of Mistborn.
Hi Emily! Thank you for this video❤ This is a little unrelated but i wanted to let you know that I Who Have Never Known Men just got translated to italian, and when i saw it in the bookshop I immediately thought of you 😂. I cannot wait to read it!!😊
That’s awesome! I’m glad it’s getting so much love ❤️
I would also add, the Graphic AUDIObook for Warbreaker is FANTASTIC!!!
Highly recommend The Green Rider series. It’s medieval as a setting but has a great female protagonist and I liked the writing. There are quite a few books in the series ❤
Also loooove The Bear and the Nightingale series! It’s like a Russian fairy tale. So unique - again a female protagonist and fabulous writing.
Great list! :D I read a lot of low fantasy and quite beginner friendly high fantasy, so here's some I've loved :)
- The undertaking of hart and mercy (easy high fantasy, romcom)
- The ex hex (low fantasy, romcom)
- Sorcery of thorns (YA high fantasy, feels historical)
- The invisible life of addie larue (low fantasy, partly historical)
- Evocation (low fantasy, witchy)
- The book of doors (low fantasy, time stuff)
- The invocations (YA fantasy with horror elements)
- A far wilder magic (YA high fantasy, feels historical)
- The nature of witches (YA low fantasy)
- This poison heart (YA low fantasy)
Thank you for saying Blood Over Bright Haven already grips you in the beginning of the book, I have been getting so frustrated with picking up only books that take forever to get good. I will probably read that one :) And I appreciate you explaining why you think its good to start with Warbreaker rather than Mistborn, I did want to start with Mistborn but am intimidated by the sizes of the books and I’m more in the mood for shorter fast paced books.
just wanted to say i went for warbreaker first based on her rec to start with it, and i have to say it was the best decision to make (for me at least), and i'm currently on mistborn 3 so i finally feel qualified to compare them as starting points. particularly loved getting a fully contained story arc and one of his famed endings without waiting for a whole series to get an idea of his climaxes and how everything ties in. also just flat out one of my favorite books now, imo super underrated
@@gracesull78756 oh nice :). Thank for letting me know!
I would like to recommend A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan. Female Darwin going around the world studying dragons, do I need to say more? For people who want a strong female main character that isn't a warrior. Completed series of 5 books and one companion novel (do NOT read Turning Darkness Into Light first, it will spoil everything).
Excellent recommendations! Though, I fondly remember reading "The Hobbit" as a pre-teen.🧡
I loved A Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, one of my favorites of the year so far. The romance wasn't the best but I loved the found family aspect and witchy vibes. Emily, don't know if you've read it, but I think you'll love Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries!
I love cosy fantasy but didn't like Legends and Lattes, it bored me to tears lol. Also felt lukewarm about Piranesi. The writing was gorgeous but didn't care about the characters or plot.
I loved the His Dark Materials trilogy and I remember all the controversy at the the time. I heard people saying the books were "killing God" and thought it was typical moral panic hyperbole and then I read them and was like ohhhh....oh. Love them.
I’m not a big fantasy reader. I found the Green Rider series by Kristen Britain to be very approachable. My library didn’t have all the books so I’m not sure about the later books, but the first few are good.
1. I gave TSSOIW a 3 star. It was cute but the constant trauma dumping/bonding was so much. It would have been better as one scene rather than like the 6 scenes they had. But otherwise cute.
2. I feel like i'm the only one who didn't really like Legends and Lattes. Which is fine! I'd never fault anyone from loving it! It's cute. But it felt somehow lacking to me.
3. I listened to Piranesi as an audiobook narrated by Ejiofor Chiwetel and it was SO good. Loved it. It's such a weird combination of sinister/eerie and comforting.
4. His Dark Material had a profound effect on me growing up. Still an absolute favourite of mine.
I've ready so many amazing books because of you. So I always look forward to your recommendations. I will be checking out some of the ones you mentioned here.
I’ve been reading fantasy for years but I’ve added lots of these to my TBR, thanks for the wonderful video 💕
I'm thinking maybe the hobbit. would be a good one, also the lion the witch and the wardrobe.
The Hobbit is definitely a popular beginner friendly one… personally didn’t like it but it’s popular 😂
The Lion , the witch and the wardrobe. Excellent choice for beginners to fantasy .
Thanks Emily. I’d recommend The Monsters We Defy (Leslye Penelope), Kindred and Wild Seed (Octavia E Butler) for people interested in fantasy.
I read Blood Over Bright Haven at the end of April and absolutely loved everything about it. Easiest 5 star in a long time. It put me in a book slump though bc nothing else is as good! 😂 I’ve read and loved most of the rest you mentioned, but the ones I haven’t are on my tbr.
My husband always recommends the novella The Emperor's Soul for starting Sanderson, and while it's not my personal recommendation, I see how that could also hook people! PS - yet another commenter whp got hooked on Sanderson through Warbreaker via your videos!
I think I'll give Blood Over Bright Haven a try, even though I'm one of the few that didn't care for The Sword of Kaigen after the second half of the book turned into a lifetime drama.
Piranesi is such a strange book in a good way. I like that it can have different interpretations and I'm sure we all see different things in it.
Adding The goblin emperor to my list! Thanks for the recommendations!
The Goblin Emperor . Same !
Did you happen to see the HBO/BBC series His Dark Materials with James McAvoy? I liked it a lot. I'm not sure how closely it followed each book but there is a season per book. 😊
I did! Nothing can beat the books but I enjoyed it
Added some more books to my tbr 😌📚 Piranesi is a beautiful book, I will never stop recommending it 💙🌊🐚
I sooooo wanna read ML Wang, both of hers! They sound great tbh but havent been able to find it. Hope now they are more easily available, sounds like a lot of us were looking for them lol
Also i'm reading The sparrow & geniunly invested but wandering pros & cons of attempting book 2 & i think you've read it?
Night Circus is a good book if you like literary fiction, the more lyrical one. It is very vibes and low stakes and a stand alone.
This is great. I love so many of these books. I was wondering what you would update/add/substitute in the Sci-fi video since it was made 6 years ago.
I’ve definitely done more like: ua-cam.com/video/jqJeLKP7zMM/v-deo.html
Or ua-cam.com/video/U69WMvccwpk/v-deo.html
@@BookswithEmilyFox thanks. I clicked on the one you highlighted so I wasn’t sure if you’d done one. I was looking to see if you had included Matha Wells’ Murderbot series. The books are short, sweet and to the point. They’re some of my faves.
I enjoyed the first one but lost interest after (I stopped at 4 or 5?)
@@BookswithEmilyFox lol confession: the last two were kinda ho hum. I get it. Thanks for always putting up suggestions and options that are not the norm. It helps to branch out.
What edition of his dark materials do you own? It’s gorgeous!
I adore Into the Drowning Deep, it has become a comfort read for me ( not sure what that says about me) I’ve read it at least 8 times lol
Try…..Guns of the Dawn (Adrian Tchaikovsky) I’m bummed I’ll never be able to read this book the first time again.
That is not a sentence I ever expected 😂
I need to read more books by him. He has so many!
This was great! Thank you!
Loved both Piranesi and The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, the latter one similar with the vibes given by The House of the Cerulean Sea 😊 I find the cover of Legends & Lattes awful and didn't try reading 😅 but I'll give it a try now. I'm saving your list for later ❤
It is ugly!! Fantasy books have the worst covers and they should be the best 😭
I’ve read these all!!!
I loved The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches and am looking forward to A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by the same author. 🧙🏼♀️🧹🪄
I’m looking forward to it too!
Definitely ''The Witcher'' - come on ! 🤩
I'm currently reading Piranesi and so far it's pretty confusing, but the reviews are so good so I keep going. 😅
I hope it gets better for you, I think it’s worth pushing through!
tbh i think game of thrones are pretty beginner, BUT like you said, there are 6 books and 1,000 pages each lol but epic!
The Goblin Emperor is my favorite, like 6✨️ out of 5...While character orientated and slice of life like with some small action ....I beliebe a beginer will want to engage with story and not take a language class that the excelent prose feels like when you start reading. The book is highly wort your time but I do worry the prose will make beginner dnf it.
Wizard of Earthsea!
Thanks for that video!
Book has a thousand pages and it's part of a 10 book series . LOL . That is so true about this genre .
Merci beaucoup Émily❤
Good suggestions I did read piranesi on your suggestion but was lost. I plan to re read it and hope to comprehend d better than first time.
Hope you’ll like it more this time!
I love that you keep saying "attaching" when you mean endearing because in French it’s "attachant" 😂 I do the same, franglais all the time
I’ve achieved my limit. This is as good as my English will get 😂
It will have to be endearing 😅
Nobody includes this beautiful Fantasy book. PeruseProject talks a little about it, but likes the second book more. I didn't. The first is definitely the best. Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater. Also the third book is really good, but still the first is my favorite. It can be read as a stand alone and it makes me so sad that nobody is talking about it.
Do you think WarBreaker is better then Elantris?
I'd lean towards yes! I think Elantris was his first novel so it's not his strongest but it has great concepts
Love this list! ❤
I want to read Piranesi eventually. I haven't read much fantasy because the usual European medieval setting doesn't do it for me.
It does get boring and overdone! That will is definitely different!
@@maika0395 that might be a good call. I've also enjoyed some Asian inspired YA fantasy, so I can enjoy historical settings as long as it's something different than the usual.
I read His Dark Materials after seeing it on a BBC list of top 100 books. I read it in my early 20s and loved it especially after the first book. I didn't like the goblin emperor could be it's not to my taste but I found the terminology off putting. Also I didn't like their depiction of what goblins are
Howl's Moving Castle !!!
Love legends & lattes 🥹
Infernal devices!
Thank you!!! 💜
Hmm I don't like ,,Legends & latte" 😢 and yes I feel bad about that.
I don't like ,, A very secret society of irregular witches" as well. This book was.... ok, but not as entartaining and amazing I thought it will be.
Ohh ,,Piranesi" is book which surprised me by the ending and tropes. I never read book like that.
,,Warbreaker" was my first Sanderson book, and NOTHING before destroy me as much as the ending does (ok maybe The Hobbit).
When I think about standalone fantasy books goods at the begining ... I have no recomendation. I read series mostly.
,,Jonathan Strange and mr Norrell" is standalone, but this book is .... specific, and strange, and not really plot driven(still one of my favourites). But if somebody like humor and historical books oh and classics I guess it could be good option.
❤
IM EARLYYYYYYYYYYYYY ♥
so beautiful ❤
And we'll read .
❤📚🐱
Into the drowning deep OMG! One of my favorite books so good especially well written and love the story 🧡🩷❤️❤️❤️🩷💚💚💚🩷🍄🟫🍄🟫🪷🫶🏻🫶🏻🌼🌼🌹🌻💛❣️💛💕📙📖🌈🌈🌺🌞🌞💞🍄🩵💖💖🧡❤️❤️🧡💚📚📚📚📚📚📚📖📖📙💙🩵🌻🌷🌷💘💘🫶🏻💜🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷💛💛💙💙