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Your face expressions in this video killed me LOL

I finished Realm of the Elderlings a few days ago, and this is probably the book I look forward to rereading the most because so much pays off from what Quest sets up. Its an oddity of the wider series and easily the weirdest paced of all. Ah Starling. As a character I like her, as a person not so much 😂 Slight correction, Fitz and Starling don't have a kid together but he adopts the child she found and very much views him as a son. I admit I didn't care for The White Prophet / Catalyst stuff initially but I really came around to it later in the series. The Fool ❤ One of my favourite characters in all of Fantasy (read and find out for more). You're gonna love Liveship Traders and Tawny Man.

I have also just finished reading Assassin’s Quest two days ago! Really can’t wait to get into the Liveship Traders trilogy as I heard amazing things about it, however, I’m taking a little break and gonna start reading The Spear Cuts Through water which I only picked up because of your high praise- then seeing other reviews that praised the book highly. Very excited to read it!

Not gonna lie, I have never laughed harder at a book in my life than at 36:15 the moment when Fitz was forced to see Burrich and Molly get together 😂😂 It was so over the top and comically cruel of the author to do that to her MC that I couldn't take the moment seriously lol. It took me out of the story because it just felt to me like such a forced moment of what I imagine Hobb being like, "what's the worst thing that I could do to Fitz?" and then making it happen 🤣🤣Don't get me wrong, Burrich is a 1,000 times better for Molly than Fitz could ever hope to be, and I'm glad she ended up with someone who loves her rather than the idea of her, but still, the way Hobb implemented it was not how I would have gone about it just because it seemed like hand of the author being cruel to MC just for the sake of being cruel.

I just finished re-reading the Farseer trilogy. OMG, I'd forgotten how horrible King Shrewd is! This guy is the worst and the way he treats Fitz is awful! He treats Fitz like a tool to be used up and discarded, like when he sends Fitz to be a living battery for Verity. He tolerates all of the abuse that Regal, Galen, and their cronies heap onto Fitz and does nothing about it. It reminds me of the setup in Cinderella. If Regal and his entourage are like the stepsisters, then Shrewd is essentially the evil stepmother, passively observing the abuse and not interfering. He makes it clear, more than once, that if Fitz hadn't accepted their "bargain" (as if a ten-year-old boy had any real say in the matter), he would have had Fitz killed. It's strongly implied that Shrewd was in on Regal's plot to murder Ketricken's brother and was content to let Fitz serve as the fall guy. It's also implied that Shrewd used the Skill to mess with Fitz's head. Perhaps Fitz's "devotion" towards his king wasn't what he thought it was. In a way, Shrewd reminds me a lot of Christopher Plummer’s character from Knives Out. At first, he looks like this jolly old man who is a victim of his spoiled family. But then you think about it and it's like "Wait a minute. He raised these people!" Shrewd's eventual fate felt less like a tragedy and more like a case of karmic justice.

Agreed about certain parts being repetitive but I still loved it! Farseer was a wonderful reading experience but I think that the Liveship Traders and Tawny Man trilogies are among the best of fantasy 😊❤

Trust your initial instincts about Starling 😉 The Fool is so many things. His own story line is crazy and wonderful.

I’m rereading this trilogy and am almost done with Assassin’s Quest. I absolutely adore Hobb’s writing and character work. BTW - The illustrated anniversary additions have several colored drawings in each book, including one of the dragon statues. The Liveship Traders trilogy is just as good if not better. I’ll be surprised if you don’t love them.

❤🎉

Great video and I'm glad you've covered this issue, which I thought you handled really well. There's a reason why books get banned and it's because writing is an inherently political creative act. It's impossible to separate the author from the book from that perspective.

George Orwell wrote an essay on Dickens in which he wrote that, "All art is propaganda...On the other hand, not all propaganda is art." What he meant by this is that artists imbue their art consciously and unconsciously with political content, with "message". However, the corollary does not hold; political messaging on its own is not art. There are people who dislike the political message they interpret in a work of art. For them I agree with your stance: if you don't like it, don't read it. However, there are people who object to being fed propaganda, to have the pop culture around them overriden artlessly by hamfisted activists. Responding with "All art is political." doesn't address the problem when what's presented is not art but propaganda.

Trying to get into reading again, this sold me on the book. Just picked it up and going to start reading it!

I was really happy to see this. I'm completely puzzled by the popularity of her books. They are sewage. The writing is boring, sloppyy, filled with clichés, and so stilted that I can't finish them. I tried to read Iron Flame just to see what all of the hype was about and I just couldn't do it. It made me cringe so hard I felt a bit ill. They are embarrassing. There is some amazing YA fiction out there, truly gorgeous and engaging that don't get nearly enough attention...and yet, this woman sells books hand over fist. Why?

100% agree. I love this type of video; keep them coming 😊

Very well articulated, as always. I agree with everything you said, and you hit the nail on the head with what makes reading such an exceptionally fun yet educational hobby. I think I have learned more from the books I have read than the majority of my classes in school, and I will always continue to seek out stories that challenge me intellectually and emotionally. That said, I do save some books for specific moods and I always love a good pure braincandy book as well. Thanks for sharing!

You've hit the nail on the head with it being more about silencing a politics they don't agree with. Censoring these books is itself a political act. And I really hear and argument otherwise that isn't just disingenuous talking points dancing around their real agenda.

You’re conflating “political” with politically dogmatic. Books can be political, but they shouldn’t be dogmatic, ideologically prescriptive, or reductive. At least, not if they want to be good.

If books are not political they would be BORING 😮‍💨

So not just books but stories in general that are told nowadays that are accused of being "political" are simultaneously poorly told/written and people conflate bad storytelling with "being political" lmao. Arcane on Netflix is a great recent example of a show that hardly anybody complains about (at least for season 1, I believe season 2 has been a little more divisive lol). I see a lot of people complain about "woke" this and that, but the same people who complain about wokeness are also huge fans of S1 Arcane despite the fact that Arcane is the most "woke" show ever lol and the reason why is because Arcane is a really well told story. For me, I see the problem fundamentally is that we have a problem nowadays with bad stories being published as books, film, video games, etc. but everyone just interprets it as "shoving politics down our throat" when in fact literally every story good or bad has politics front and center. The moment two characters interact in a story, a political statement is being made by the author. It might be subtle, it might be metaphorical, it might not even be the authorial intent to make such a statement, but the politics is there nonetheless. Is the hero of your story a righteous hero-king? Congrats, your story is pro-monarchy (even if that wasn't your intention lol). Is the big bad of your story the evil emperor obsessed with power? Congrats, your story is an indictment against imperialism (again, that's true even if it was not your intention when writing the story in the first place lol)

What poisons the conversation is that, so often, the people saying books 'shouldn't be political' are really saying they're tired of books containing politics they don't agree with. They're really quite happy for books to be political but there's too much left (or right) politics in the things they like to read for them. I have no patience for that particular position.

Your voice is so lovely. If you recorded audiobooks, I'd listen to em all! And the content of this video is essential and well articulated. Subbing as I type 🫶🏻

I think some people use the word political to describe hamfisted references to modern controversies. Others just want escapism. I guess it depends on who is saying it. And As usual, the discussion lacks conceptual clarity.

As long as the politics and ideologies don't precede the story and writing it's fine. I think putting all that stuff first cancels the human part of the story. Even in nonfiction, unless you're writing a statement, but otherwise politics should be sitting in the background drinking some beer at a party where it was reluctantly invited. D'you know what I mean?

All for a of art is inherently political whether people choose to use it as escapism as not. I think people are getting mad at other readers pointing out how the books they used to escape from the world are indeed political as well. Even romance is political women didn’t always have choice on who they date, marry or had intimacy with. Let alone were they able to read literature about sexual/romantic relationships. Even now in the US with women bodily autonomy and no fault divorce on the front of political issues, many women are choosing to not engage in romantic relationships. So much more is political than a lot of booktok is aware of and hopefully one day they will realize that.

I don't think fiction should be overtly political...unless that's the whole point of the book. A great example of political views/themes was Ursula Le Guin's The Dispossessed; I went into that book knowing that she was left leaning but it was a very balanced book that left it to the reader to think about the two different societies without making any judgemental claims - contrast this with some of Stephen King's more recent offerings where he uses his novels as a vehicle to spout his political opinions as facts which takes the reader out of the story and shows him to be an angry old man with an axe to grind...I can understand some people saying books shouldn't be political when someone like King delivers his 'points' with all the deftness of a chainsaw; but it can be done well and as you alluded to politics is a fact of life and part of the human experience.

Enjoyed listening to this. One thing I see a lot is people conflating a character's perspective or politics with that of the author, which is not always the case.

Excellent video. Agree with you on every point. If books weren’t political, they wouldn’t get banned.

This is one of the best books I've ever read. I'm too lazy to go into detail but ill leave it at this, because Its the type of book that leaves a lifelong impression. There are some quotes that I didn't necessarily stand to memorize, but that I know I'll remember for as long as my memory remains intact (no reference intended)

I think Jay Kristoff really likes Gladiator. One of his other books, Illuminae, has the rogue AI quote the "Are you not entertained?" line if I remember correctly

Never reading this. Thank you for the review!

I'm genuinely happy that you had the reaction to this book that you did Zara. The fact that people enjoyed this book made me lose faith in humanity. People like you who realize how icky this book is restore my faith in humanity just a little 😂😂😭😭

I mean Jay kristoff literally stole the line “Am I not merciful” from Gladiator for his other book, illuminae, so we know he’s a mega fan 😅 I’m sorry you didn’t like this one. I think Stormdancer was the worst book I read by him.

I'm fine with dark and edgy but Kristoff tries so hard it becomes cringey from my experience. I'm open to giving Empire of the Vampire another go as I was mostly liking it even though it was a bit too much like Witcher meets Name of the Wind fanfic at times for me.

The intentionally edgy thing is so tiring and inauthentic. It can be done, but only in the right, deft hands.

At least this was fun to watch! 😆😄

Just hearing you read these snippets from scenes is making my stomach hurt.

27:47 - I had to pause the video for a long time and attempt to wrap my head around what I'd just heard. As a paramedic with diagnosed PTSD, I can guarantee that Jay Edgelord Kristoff has never attempted to resuscitate a 17 year old who was found hanging in his bedroom while his shattered parents looked on (to give one of many personal experiences). I have no words to describe why this is one of the more upsetting sentences I've heard come out of a book.

Thanks for reading this so I don't have to 😂 Also, why are you still reading 4th Wing books?! I read a banger the other day, The Way of Renegades. And it's a debut! 😳

Lol, great video. A lot of what you had issues with are among the common issues I hear about this. Its part of why I just haven't been motivated enough to get to EoTV even though you mention you had a way better experience at least with the first book - from what I've heard of this, I'm struggling to imagine that will be much better.

I have not counted how often you sad dumm 🤣 but I get the message and same feeling based on presented "facts"

Maybe 🤔🤔 because she is a girl but in situations of a person expected to be 18 or 20 is fact that should making book DARK from a get go. I never read and don't intend to read that series. If than I will try the vampire book. Lets see what else you explain...having fun so far. Also to me it is fascinating how factual and serious you present the book🙀...while I would very very emotionaly dislike the book and being vocal about it ☺️ . . . Edit: this book😮‍💨 ...I was thinking it is like grown up person being ISEKAI-ed in a body of a baby but keeping his memory...so being fed breast milk is shown from that male perspective as "sucking on tits" while being in a body of an infant ...I dropped anime Mushoku Tensei ep 1 at a half point sooo fast 🤢

You have me so intrigued to try all of these!

Wonderful video, Zara! I think you gave me language on how to describe go I felt reading Josiah Bancroft and currently Guns of the Dawn by Adrian Tchaikovsky, their writing is so beautiful and layered. I will have to look further into the ones on your list!😊

I will add China Mountain Zhang to my tbr. I have the audio for The Spear Cuts Through Water, but it's a bit complex for me to listen to while doing other stuff so I need to get a physical copy

Just found your channel and subscribed. I read The Lathe of Heaven earlier this year and really liked it. Have you read The Word for World is Forest by any chance? Loved that one too

Wolfe and Bakker are probably the only authors where you are swept away by the writing almost distracting from what is being written about. Lathe is my favorite LeGuinn. She has a point, makes it, and moves on. I had to check when it was written after several scenes as they were so topical for today.

The Lathe of Heaven is one of my favorite books!! I haven't heard of any of the others. Have you read Viriconium by M. John Harrison or Dying Inside by Robert Silverberg? I think they're literary

I very highly recommend Perdido Street Station by China Mieville and Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny. You should also definitely read The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez. You might not like it more than Spear Cuts Through Water, but it's still incredibly beautiful. I really think you will love all three of these books.

Stone Boatmen by Sarah Tolmie and Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny come to mind. I think fans of BOTNS would like Olondria and Lord of Light. I think fans of Hobb would like Stone Boatmen. The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle and the books of Patricia Mckillip for more of a fairy tale vibe. Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake is kind of pseudo fantasy, but everyone includes it. John Crowley is a little more like magical realism. Ka Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymir is probably his most accessible to fantasy fans. That Lathe of Heaven excerpt is so astute and lines up with my own personal feelings. 🔥

Great recommendations! I need check that Jimenez book out