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For those who really liked Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Fairies, I would recommend "A Natural History of Dragons: a memoir by Lady Trent" by Marie Brennan. It has similar vibes in the sense that it's the autobiography of a scientist, this time in this Victorian-esq fantasy land where it just so happen that dragons exist, in all sorts of places, different species of them in different environments with different cultural connections to the people who live near them. We start of with Lady Trent as a young child, see her become a dragon naturalist and eventually converge into her older self by the end of the series, the foremost expert on dragons in the land. To be clear it's more science focused than Emily Wilde's book, which I personally loved, but some people found it boring. I think if you really enjoy biology and anthropology, you'll enjoy it a lot. It's amazing to see the scientific method applied to dragons of all things. There's romance but it's not at all the focus. And it's not as cosy as Emily Wilde's, there's plenty of politics, plenty of exploration of different lands and cultures, all sorts of adventures as well. Nonetheless, Emily really reminded me of Lady Trent. She's not perfect by any means but she's passionate and brilliant and headstrong and pragmatic and rational to a fault and in many ways, she felt very real. Also, there's drawings scattered throughout this book, beautifully drawn by Todd Lockwood. They are cleverly integrated within the story so as to serve as plot devices, help to visualise a lot of the fantastical sights described, and simultaneously serve as a beautiful surprise for when you turn the page and come across gorgeous rendition of the anatomy of a dragon, in the old Victorian naturalism style. I love it to bits really. Highly recommend it.

Thanks for posting this. I needed to hear another person process this book, too lol. There are so many frustrating and gross moments, especially in book 3. You summed up what I was feeling pretty well. I'm definitely taking a very long vacation from this series after that. Even understanding why he's like this, I almost couldn't stand reading Fitz especially with this book.

Dont forget to mention to mention the anticlimactic ending

I literally JUST finished both of these, I CANNOT wait for the third! 2/11/2025!!!!

What the author was trying to do, in my mind, is to retell the story of Palancar the Mad King through a different character. Both Roran nad Palancar cross to the other side of their respective "worlds" by dragging as mamy people they can to further thier cause of saving their beloved. That way we know that if Roran failed he would literally go crazy. It hit me esspecially hard since Paolini has confirmed that Roran is the Mad King's direct descendant. Love the clip, thanks!

Hmmm, yes. "Vein" occurs, in various forms, 106 times in the text, and that figure does not include the list of characters or the summary of the first book. That's over seven times the number of Apt's in "The Eyes of the Dragon." I think that sometimes an author just stumbles upon a turn of phrase that is so good, to them, that they can't help but re-use it throughout the story. I also really enjoyed the action-packed introduction with the book leaping into your hands. Very dynamic.

You look very vikingy with this hairstyle! Love it! 🤭

My opinion of the book: If Inheritance cycle is like the game Skyrim, and Murtagh is like the DLC Dragonborn. Suddenly there is a "bigger" threat then Galbatorix who enslaved the whole continent for a 100 years and nobody until now heard of it. It just feels unreal and unbelievable. Murtagh is like a different person in these books then he was before. Reading his thoughts feels like reading Eragons. He was never this noble, never this selfless, never this hesitant when it came to doing something. He was a selfish man of action, which contrasted well with Eragon. Murtagh's powers jump all over the place. Sometimes he is stronger then Galbatorix, other times he can't defeat a single foe. His knowledge of the ancient language is described as much more proficient in the Inheritance cycle then he has here.

One of the most infuriating things is that so many characters motivations involve them wanting to control Rand and thinking they know best. I do love the series and think the last book makes the series worth it.

I've finished 3 books. I love epic fantasy and this is a prime example of one. Despite that there are many things I don't like about these books: - I don't feel genuine friendship between any characters that are supposed to be friends - It's too wordy - The endings are godawful. Partially because I know exactly what will happen: Rand will go super-saiyan and kill one of the Forsaken. And partially due to the fact that the magic in this series feels more like a plot device than an actual natural part of the world. The author uses magic as a deus ex machina whenever he feels like it. I really hate any character that doesn't do anything 'magical' throughout the book, doesn't go through any training to wield their power, and then just goes super-saiyan for no reason. It completely destroys immersion for me. Funny thing is I've finished the first 3 books for the second time, but I still find it hard to force myself to continue. These endings feel so anticlimactic that I have no desire to pick up the next book. Speaking about Sanderson, the one thing that I adore about his books is that the endings are the exact opposite of those in Wheel of Time. They always deliver and I always get excited about starting the next book.

whats the point of this video? i dont have time to read to but i have time to talk about it and record it then edition etc wtf??? you cant see a man doing this kind of bullshit, you dont have time to read because you do stupid things like creating this....

Rand is literally one of the most infuriating main characters ever… he’s so bullheaded lol

I’m on book 10! Hoping to finish the series this month!

WOT is a fantastic reread, where the pressure of WHAT HAPPENS NEXT??? is off. You will revel in each scene with your faves and perhaps skip the excessive description. And you get numb to Naeneve pulling her hair and endless neckline length measurement. TAISHAR MANETHEREN!

Great video. I love how you were changing tea cups throughout the video, which I haven't noticed until you raised the beer glass hahah I especially loved the one with a ship and a seagull inside

Oathbringer is my least favorite and Dalinar is my favorite character. While Oathbringer had easily the best moments in the series (so far) the overall book required uneventful world/character building to get you to those moments. Oath and RoW are the only ones that could have used some cutting.

You're doing better than me. In July I read one novel and all of the fanfiction, and nothing else.

Darkblade was just sent to me too!!

I finished a crown of swords yesterday!

I'm so sorry you didn't enjoy Mistress of Dragons. We all know how much you love dragon stories, and I thought this one would've brought more enjoyment for you. Hopefully you will get to read Dragonlance at some point, they are way better! Also, great job with sticking in there with The Wheel of Time! As of now, I am on book 3 so I haven't made it to the slog yet. I can't wait to see what your thoughts are once you get to the last book!

Just like you, my first introduction to the fantasy genre was The Hobbit. It was a required read for me in 7th grade. I remember till this day how I felt while reading it, how it took me away and I just never wanted to come back. Once I finished reading that, I was on a never-ending quest to find more books like it. Before I read LOTR, I discovered Terry Brooks' world of Shanarra. I was 13 at the time back in 1984 and I was on vacation in Florida with my grandparents. I went to the beach every day and that book was stapled to me (not literally🤣). I have never been the same since! Great videos Tiffany! And congratulations on 300!!! I really hope we get to see so many more!!! Happy reading!

I read 10 books in july including fourth wing by rebecca yarros it was good Unfortunately im going to have to put a big brake on the wheel of time series because the library doesn't have two of the final books in the series i can't afford to buy books right now plus i know i wont reread the series

Th ewheel of time slogg was do real I could never reread that series

August sounds like it’ll be a good reading month! Also planning on jumping back into Hobb soon. Very interested in your thoughts on her majesty’s dragon. I’ve heard great things about that book and the author, but the setting doesn’t interest me much. Also, I don’t think you read slow! I’m convinced the people reading 10+ books a month are skimming or listening to audiobooks on 3x speed 😂 I read about the same, so comparing to book tube I read slow. But my friends and some of my coworkers like to read too, and they all think I read so fast lol!

I too used to do that thing where I didn’t like things because they were popular. I think I’ve retained a little of it in adulthood haha. I like a lot of really popular series, but there’s a few books I’ve tried that are insanely popular that I think are just poorly written and bad. That still annoys me 😅 but people are going to like what they’re going to like. When I meet people who like some of those books I try to kindly slide in recommendations for books of similar nature that I think are way better haha.

I think I got into fantasy through Star Wars. I ended up reading kid's books that had to do with it in addition to watching the movies. I'm not that into Star Wars now, but it was fun then. I also liked Eragon.

Congratulations! I've never read Tolkien. I should, someday.

I'm not sure about books, but the books that gets turned into movies (the movies in particular) and the serieses/film serieses that get supper popular here are basically very horney but not horney enough to get censored stuff... yes Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings... even StarWars, didn't gain that much popularity here as much as Twilight, 50 shades of grey, True Blood and Vampire Diaries did! ...I might be a little biased cos I love Vampires and three of those are Vampire stories that are over sexualized and that's not what I look for in Vampire movies but oh well, that's why I never even tried to look into Game of Thrones hehehe

I have always “tried” to be alternative, once I realized that I have the innate tendency to like “less popular” things, including hobbies, people and character traits, not just things. Or at least I surfed the wave of my nerdy side, without forcing to like popular things that I would have never liked. And at the same time, it’s nice to admit that sometimes I luckily fit into some of the “boxes of popular interests”. Despite this last thing, I have always felt lonely in this hobby that I share that is reading, so once a book became (or becomes) popular and the plot met/meets my tastebuds (or the anticipation I had on my liking of it) I was/am more than happy to have somebody to finally discuss books with! That’s why I am here on booktube/other social media to discuss bookish stuff 🤭 anyway sometimes I just feel annoyed by “popular books” not actually because I think they’re automatically bad or great titles, but rather because I feel like there’s a bit less diversity. And that’s when I have to be my own good-books-scout 😬

I told a friend of mine that doesn't read to just read the appendices and watch the movie again afterwards. He got hooked and had to read the entire lord of the rings 😆

Music is the same way. Many of the early figures in jazz, including Scott Joplin, James P. Johnson, and George Gershwin, aspired to be serious composers of operas and symphonies, and didn’t like being famous for popular stuff. Several chairs of big university music departments who you’ve never heard of started as band leaders, and worked their way into academia because they thought it was more legitimate. Mozart wanted to be known for his masses and not the Magic Flute. Tchaikovsky hated how popular the Nutcracker was. Saint-Saens thought it was silly how popular the Carnival of Animals was. I think this line of thinking goes pretty deep.

I can only recall 2 cases of people calling book series overrated. One was Lord of the Rings by some author that I dont like. The others were some people that say Eragon is overrated because the movie sucks.

Of course! The movies are excellent, but nothing compares to the books. And that goes for just about everything!

This all reminds me of a quotation allegedly by Yogi Berra (Note: not a real bear), who said, speaking of a restaurant that he once liked, "Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded." There is a third dimension to this though: I like a lot of books that were popular, just not in my lifetime, or at least not in my (literary) generation. I find myself not liking very modern books, but I'm quite willing to believe that I'm missing out on some real treasures. One small note: When you said, near the end "... look how close I am." I couldn't see how close you were; the card for the other video got in the way. Maybe have a talk with your editor.

Congratulations on 300 vids. Now do 300 more, specifically Tolkien, Eragon, Brandon Sanderson and Doom- I mean Dune

I may have mentioned this earlier but my first experience with "serious" fantasy was my second (or maybe third) grade teacher reading The Chronicles of Narnia. I can still remember being in a mental state that would today be described as having my mind "blown," as the hep kids say. It's probably what touched off my love of "Portal Fiction." Thanks, by the way, for introducing me to that phrase. Congratulations on 300 excellent, insightful, heartfelt and informative videos. Do you watch any Tolkien content on RUclips? I ask because there is a channel I'd like to recommend, but I'm not sure if that's an appropriate thing to do (RUclips, and society in general, seems to have a lot of rules and protocols and customs about these things.)

Congrats on 300 videos!!! This was such a great video and I am very jealous of your illustrated editions of LOTR! I also have kind of a story about the books that got me into reading and the Hobbit. Harry Potter, unsurprisingly, was the book series that did it for me. A teacher read the first four chapters of Sorcerer’s Stone to us in my fourth grade class, and afterwords I grabbed the book off of the blackboard to read it. I can remember staying up all night when I finished the last few chapters. I didn’t really own any books of my own at this point. I borrowed Chamber of Secrets from my friend to bring with on a camping trip. Shortly after coming back from this trip, I walked into my room to find two books on my bed: A hardcover of Prisoner of Azkaban and a paperback of the Hobbit. The Hobbit was my dad’s favorite book, he always talked about it. At that time I was unfortunately too young to care about Hobbits; Harry Potter felt more exciting to me. But when I was in high school I read the book and found that I really loved it! I held onto that paperback for a long time, and read it a few more times. My dad died a few years ago, and at one time he was staying in a hospital. At this point we had a pretty complicated relationship, but I had been sitting down and reading the Hobbit to him chapter by chapter, because he couldn’t read very well anymore. They moved his rooms and that copy he gave me as a kid got lost. It wasn’t even a particularly special copy, it was the same paperback in your husband’s movie cover boxset. I could probably find it again at any thrift store, but it just wouldn’t be the same. I’ve mentioned in the discord how much I’ve struggled to read LOTR for a large chunk of my life, and it feels so significant to be nearing the end of Return of the King after all of this. I’m considering getting a tattoo for my dad in elvish script once I finish the book. Anyway sorry to get all sappy and long winded! I just thought I’d share my little hobbit story, as that book will always make me think of my dad, and it’s such a wonderful book. The scene where Bilbo confronts Smaug always gives me goosebumps.

Congr on your 300!!! That's some consistency 😅 I believe I speak for a lot of people here that we'd love to see an hour long video about maps and all things nerdy about LOTR 🪄✨ this year I bought the hobbit and read it for the first time, I have the same edition as you and bought it on vacation when I went to Brazil. Let me tell you I had the most fun with that book. It made me smile the whole time and I think it's the epitome of cozy ❤ Bug hug Tiffany and for 300 more 😊😊

I have enjoyed all your videos! Congrats on number 300, and I look forward to more of your content! The best way to celebrate is with Tolkien. :)

I have high hopes for epic fantasy then ✨

I feel like there is more romantasy books than epic fantasy atm but idk if it's popularity (the former) or just something else

👏🏼

I love this conversation & I love that you brought romance into it as well! I love both genres but “romantasy” is (arguably) much more palatable to the masses & with BookTok? It’s exploded. Not a bad thing! Just a thing! (But I also think that the quality of things coming out on that front has gone way down😬)

Finally the video I was looking for! Thank you very much for the recs! I also recommend The Timekeeper's Secret by iLana Markarov and The Water Walls (it has romance but the good slow building type, and mainly focuses on the plot which makes these books masterpieces)

I read this series a few years ago and certainly enjoyed it and am surprised that not that many people read it

This has been one of my favorite reads of the year. I loved the slice of life feeling, loved the magic, loved the characters. And we had the same thought, I drank the same mead while reading the book!

I’ve been eyeing it!!

I am a book nerd, because every time I buy a book, I have to print out the cover at exactly 4.9"x2.5" to use as a bookmarker... no other bookmarker can be used for that book!

You look so relieved and happy in the thumbnail - being able to wholly endorse a book. It does sound like a combination of "The Neverending Story", "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen", and "Time Bandits"; three works that I enjoyed very much. I'll have to hunt up a copy. Is the title deliberately redundant/contradictory (like someone saying, of a restaurant "oh no one goes to that joint anymore, it's too popular"), or am I just being picky?

Ok I'm curious