This. When I see that a new book is coming out soon and it's super pretty, nice cover, foiling, etc etc I'm suspicious, so I'd rather read it first from the library. It has saved me quite a bit of money.😅 I love special editions and beautiful books but lately it feels like it's to try and make up for a meh book or bad writing. 🤷
I’ve had a couple of favorites so far this month and they’re actually a bit of a surprise - The Dragonbone Chair and Untethered Sky. I wasn’t planning on getting invested in another long, epic fantasy series and Untethered Sky pushed Jade City way up the TBR. I really liked Fonda Lee’s writing.
You nailed my thoughts on Fourth Wing. Of course, there’s something for everyone, but cannot believe this book has the hype and rating that it has. It felt so basic to me. Not to mention the manner that the dragons “spoke.” Like there is no way ancient, all-powerful beings are using flippant telepathic sarcasm. Immediate subscribe! Your eloquence and delivery have me sold 🥰
Though I enjoyed Fourth Wing (gave it a 3.5) I completely agree with the dialogue not matching the setting. I was so shocked that they were using quills instead of pens! I was like wait …the setting is suppose to be historical 🤨🤨
My hot take is that New Adult Fiction is just YA with smut🙃 Thanks for the great reviews, I've picked up a few books you've mentioned and haven't been steered wrong! I recently read The Test by Sylvain Neuvel and really enjoyed it
Love to see that you're enjoying your current reads 😍 Well, Fourth Wing sounds nice, but I can feel I won't enjoy it too. Such main characters annoy me too much. I've just DNFed a book, called Lovely war by Julie Berry, because it was immature and weirdly executed. Right now I'm in a slump, having too many options but just don't want what I want, because everything sounds interesting and instead I'm not reading at all... Hope to get out of it soon.
The stars undying sounds intriguing and I've added it to my TBR. The Helm of Midnight ✅ The fourth wing I was sceptical about picking it up, now after hearing your thoughts, I will not pick it up. I’ll place my attention on the books that I know for sure I will enjoy😊 I'm having a great reading month so far 🙌
Your recommendations haven't steered me wrong yet so Ima pass on Fourth Wing for now. I just read Strange the Dreamer and just started Muse of Nightmares today. I am IN LOVE with these books. My eyeballs can't read fast enough!
I finally read an adult SciFi book that was good and not just meh! I'm hoping to continue that trend with your recs here. Hope the rest of your reading month is great!
I'm so happy you're enjoying The Stars Undying. I was curious about it when it came out but then I heard no one talk about it! Loving this scifi moment you are having!
Just discovered your channel cause I was mad no other booktubers were talking about The Blighted Stars. I love it so much! Hey if you like A Memory Called Empire you 1000% need to check out The Traitor Baru Cormorant. No shade, but AMCE seems to me almost like Arkady Martine wrote a scifi fanfic of Baru's story and then filed off the serial numbers, because so many of the plot points and setup are exactly the same. Im not saying she plagiarized it or anything and I love her book too, but its just extremely similar. Baru Cormorant is just soooo good. The titles are The Traitor/Monster/Tyrant Baru Cormorant and we're waiting on the final book which I'm guessing will be called The Martyr Baru Cormorant. This is actually an anti-hero story kinda similar to something like The Fifth Season or Poppy War in terms of character arc. The series is fascinating on so many levels and I love how the author tackles the themes of politics, colonialism, empire, power, economics, racism, ideology, community, etc.
Glad you found me! Blighted stars was a fun read! Have you gotten to the sequel yet? 🥰 I read the first Baru cormorant book a few years ago and loved it. I have the others on my shelf but still haven’t continued the series yet lol 🤦🏽♀️
@@ToriMorrow the sequel was great! I got an ARC of it and devoured it right after the first book! The Baru sequels are absolutely incredible. Things get really crazy
I'm about 85% of the way into Fourth Wing, and I am really enjoying it, but I also totally hear you. I honestly thought all her thoughts about how into him she was was just me being like....not straight enough to understand lol! And I'm listening to it on audiobook, which is maybe making a difference in how the quality of the writing is coming across. Over explaining is a huge pet peeve of mine, but I haven't felt that way while listening. The narrator is really good though, so she might be elevating the book a bit. The dragons are by far my favorite part of this. I would take a bullet for these dragons.
As always, love watching your videos! When you brought up "The Blood Gift", I kinda geeked out because I also enjoyed "The Blood Trials" and I'm ready to see what happens next with Ikenna and her obsessive need for revenge. :) I look forward to hearing your thoughts about it after you read it.
I keep finding that I'm not picking up as much sci-fi as I want as well. Awesome that you've found so many good ones to read right now! I completely hear you with being frustrated when you feel like an author doesn't trust you as a reader and goes so heavy-handed on things. I like things with a little more subtlety.
We have to get back on our sci-fi game soon 😄 I’m happy that both sf reads are going so well right now though! And yeah, I’m not fan of having my hand held while I’m reading and fouth wing was complete overkill lol
I'm currently binging Megan O'Keefe's Protectorate series - just starting the third book & having so much fun with it. So I'm really excited you're liking The Blighted Stars!
I love hearing your opinions on everything. I dont even read that much anymore, but i think i get a byproxy feeling of it by watching these reviews lol
I think I quit tiktok right before the Fourth Wing hype started so now I'm really glad I found it since it's one of my fave reads this year. Really liked your review and agree about the writing feeling immature at the most inconvenient times. Crossing my fingers it's more elevated in the 2nd book. That said, the chronic pain rep was really good and the dragons! Love their personalities. Also, Xaden Riorson's character development is one of my favorite parts. ok let me stop gushing over this book lol.
You have officially sold me on Wayward Pines! I just got Fourth Wing (the book was so pretty I couldn’t pass it up) but I have started to hear people haven’t really been enjoying it despite the ratings on Goodreads, so I appreciate the honest review!! This has been bumped a little further down on my TBR.
That cover of Fourth Wing will get you! It attracted me to it too 😂 It's an entertaining book, but I recommend just going along with the prose and not thinking too much about it lol. I think you'd really love Wayward Pines!! I can't wait for you to read it
The dragons were definitely the best part of Fourth Wing! But I completely agree with you about Violet's inner monologue. The way she narrated things is what held me back from fully connecting with her or the romance. Still a very fun, addictive read though.
Lol every time Violet was going off on her inner monologue, I was thinking...'please stop'. The dragons were awesome though! I'm honestly debating whether I should read book 2 just for them 😂
The review star system from an indie authored perspective: 5 - fantastic with very few issues. 4. Good. 3. Mediocre but no DNF. 2. Bad and DNF. 1. Insulting to the reader. I say this because once a book drops below 4, sales drop to non existent. Now that I listened to your review of 4th wing, maybe a 2.5 was realistic. However, I see 29,000 reviews, with a 4.9 ave rating. I’ll try the sample, but I do hear your gripes, and if what you say is true, I probably won’t like it. I like to write, poetic license free, realistic plot lines that don’t insult the reader. Toss in some mystery, and some dopamine inducing scenes, and I think you have something. By the way, nice job doing the booktuber thing.
I've been reading some outside the box classics this month, Ali and Nino by Kurban Said and the haiku of Basho, but I'm also hoping to get to Upgrade by the end of the month. The Stars Undying sounds fabulous!
Oh nice! This series has caught my eye a few times but have been wondering if I should add it to the tbr. I hope you continue to enjoy the rest of the books!
I'm currently listening to Fourth Wing because of all the freaking hype, but I def agree with you about the tone of the book. I find it a bit ridicilous because of the tone of the book, it feels like nothing is at stake even though it is training where the main character thinks she's about to die etc
I really liked Fourth Wing! But I also knew exactly what I was getting into when I found out the author is a prolific contemporary romance writer, so that helped a lot 😊
I think I'm even more mad at the book for being overhyped. Because I had high expectations and they were just dashed to the wind. It was definitely written more in a YA contemporary style. One of my biggest ticks is when authors don't trust their readers and over explain things multiple time. And with Fourth Wing the things that needed explaining... wasn't. They had teachers yet no one told them what to expect with the bond or instruct them on powers they might have and how not to kill yourself and everyone else. Ugh i shouldn't be angry but i am. Booktok failed me.
Hey Tori 👋🏾👋🏾. I am currently reading Fourth Wing...chapter 13...and it is sooooo good! Liked the character diversity, physical challenge aspect, female leadership and dragons!!!!! Violet is an immature, sheltered child of privilege that lacks life experiences but is book brilliant. Give her a break 😘.
I really didn't vibe with Fourth Wing. To sum it up it felt like kids having their first crushes and sexual experiences, because those characters read like they were 14-16 years old not in their 20's. I also think the abundance of cursing just got annoying. Did the readers really need every other sentence to be emphasized with the F bomb? There was no purpose. It made the book feel very immature, like kids trying to act grown but failing at it. I know a lot of people loved it but it was a hard no for me. You were spot on when you talked about something traumatic would happen and then two seconds later Violet would be daydreaming and lusting about Xayden. Oh man this book gave me a headache lol.
I worry that our love of beautiful book binding (foiling, painted edges, etc.) could become just another element of an aggressive marketing campaign.
100% - especially when the special editions look beautiful, but the actual binding itself isn’t super high quality. 😬
This. When I see that a new book is coming out soon and it's super pretty, nice cover, foiling, etc etc I'm suspicious, so I'd rather read it first from the library. It has saved me quite a bit of money.😅 I love special editions and beautiful books but lately it feels like it's to try and make up for a meh book or bad writing. 🤷
I completely agree w/this!
@@elyse49 You're so real for this 🤣 "this book is a little too beautiful...better hold off" lmao! I think I need to start doing this
@@darcyreadssometimes3904 💯!
Im so happy I found your channel. I love the way you speak and your choice in books❤
Welcome!! I’m happy you found me too 🥰
I started watching your videos a few months and I just wanted to let you know...I LOVE YOUR VIDEOS!!😊
That’s so kind, thank you! ❤️
The Blighted Stars was amazing! On the third book now soo good so far!
I’ve had a couple of favorites so far this month and they’re actually a bit of a surprise - The Dragonbone Chair and Untethered Sky. I wasn’t planning on getting invested in another long, epic fantasy series and Untethered Sky pushed Jade City way up the TBR. I really liked Fonda Lee’s writing.
You nailed my thoughts on Fourth Wing. Of course, there’s something for everyone, but cannot believe this book has the hype and rating that it has. It felt so basic to me. Not to mention the manner that the dragons “spoke.” Like there is no way ancient, all-powerful beings are using flippant telepathic sarcasm.
Immediate subscribe! Your eloquence and delivery have me sold 🥰
you're making me add so much books to my tbr
Though I enjoyed Fourth Wing (gave it a 3.5) I completely agree with the dialogue not matching the setting. I was so shocked that they were using quills instead of pens! I was like wait …the setting is suppose to be historical 🤨🤨
My hot take is that New Adult Fiction is just YA with smut🙃 Thanks for the great reviews, I've picked up a few books you've mentioned and haven't been steered wrong! I recently read The Test by Sylvain Neuvel and really enjoyed it
Love to see that you're enjoying your current reads 😍
Well, Fourth Wing sounds nice, but I can feel I won't enjoy it too. Such main characters annoy me too much.
I've just DNFed a book, called Lovely war by Julie Berry, because it was immature and weirdly executed. Right now I'm in a slump, having too many options but just don't want what I want, because everything sounds interesting and instead I'm not reading at all...
Hope to get out of it soon.
I am currently on hold for Rubicon at my library right now. So looking forward to that one! 😁
The stars undying sounds intriguing and I've added it to my TBR. The Helm of Midnight ✅ The fourth wing I was sceptical about picking it up, now after hearing your thoughts, I will not pick it up. I’ll place my attention on the books that I know for sure I will enjoy😊 I'm having a great reading month so far 🙌
Your recommendations haven't steered me wrong yet so Ima pass on Fourth Wing for now. I just read Strange the Dreamer and just started Muse of Nightmares today. I am IN LOVE with these books. My eyeballs can't read fast enough!
That’s such a good feeling when you’re loving a book so much you can’t read fast enough 😅 I hope you keep having a great reading month!
I finally read an adult SciFi book that was good and not just meh! I'm hoping to continue that trend with your recs here. Hope the rest of your reading month is great!
Don’t leave us hangin! What book was it?
@@severianthefool7233 I wanna know too!
Sorry! Didn't mean to leave you hanging. 😂 It was Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke.
It was so weird and wild. I absolutely recommend!
I'm so happy you're enjoying The Stars Undying. I was curious about it when it came out but then I heard no one talk about it! Loving this scifi moment you are having!
Just discovered your channel cause I was mad no other booktubers were talking about The Blighted Stars. I love it so much!
Hey if you like A Memory Called Empire you 1000% need to check out The Traitor Baru Cormorant. No shade, but AMCE seems to me almost like Arkady Martine wrote a scifi fanfic of Baru's story and then filed off the serial numbers, because so many of the plot points and setup are exactly the same. Im not saying she plagiarized it or anything and I love her book too, but its just extremely similar. Baru Cormorant is just soooo good. The titles are The Traitor/Monster/Tyrant Baru Cormorant and we're waiting on the final book which I'm guessing will be called The Martyr Baru Cormorant.
This is actually an anti-hero story kinda similar to something like The Fifth Season or Poppy War in terms of character arc.
The series is fascinating on so many levels and I love how the author tackles the themes of politics, colonialism, empire, power, economics, racism, ideology, community, etc.
Glad you found me! Blighted stars was a fun read! Have you gotten to the sequel yet? 🥰 I read the first Baru cormorant book a few years ago and loved it. I have the others on my shelf but still haven’t continued the series yet lol 🤦🏽♀️
@@ToriMorrow the sequel was great! I got an ARC of it and devoured it right after the first book! The Baru sequels are absolutely incredible. Things get really crazy
I'm about 85% of the way into Fourth Wing, and I am really enjoying it, but I also totally hear you. I honestly thought all her thoughts about how into him she was was just me being like....not straight enough to understand lol! And I'm listening to it on audiobook, which is maybe making a difference in how the quality of the writing is coming across. Over explaining is a huge pet peeve of mine, but I haven't felt that way while listening. The narrator is really good though, so she might be elevating the book a bit. The dragons are by far my favorite part of this. I would take a bullet for these dragons.
As always, love watching your videos! When you brought up "The Blood Gift", I kinda geeked out because I also enjoyed "The Blood Trials" and I'm ready to see what happens next with Ikenna and her obsessive need for revenge. :) I look forward to hearing your thoughts about it after you read it.
I keep finding that I'm not picking up as much sci-fi as I want as well. Awesome that you've found so many good ones to read right now! I completely hear you with being frustrated when you feel like an author doesn't trust you as a reader and goes so heavy-handed on things. I like things with a little more subtlety.
We have to get back on our sci-fi game soon 😄 I’m happy that both sf reads are going so well right now though! And yeah, I’m not fan of having my hand held while I’m reading and fouth wing was complete overkill lol
I'm currently binging Megan O'Keefe's Protectorate series - just starting the third book & having so much fun with it. So I'm really excited you're liking The Blighted Stars!
I love hearing your opinions on everything. I dont even read that much anymore, but i think i get a byproxy feeling of it by watching these reviews lol
I think I quit tiktok right before the Fourth Wing hype started so now I'm really glad I found it since it's one of my fave reads this year. Really liked your review and agree about the writing feeling immature at the most inconvenient times. Crossing my fingers it's more elevated in the 2nd book. That said, the chronic pain rep was really good and the dragons! Love their personalities. Also, Xaden Riorson's character development is one of my favorite parts. ok let me stop gushing over this book lol.
You have officially sold me on Wayward Pines! I just got Fourth Wing (the book was so pretty I couldn’t pass it up) but I have started to hear people haven’t really been enjoying it despite the ratings on Goodreads, so I appreciate the honest review!! This has been bumped a little further down on my TBR.
That cover of Fourth Wing will get you! It attracted me to it too 😂 It's an entertaining book, but I recommend just going along with the prose and not thinking too much about it lol. I think you'd really love Wayward Pines!! I can't wait for you to read it
I’m so happy you’re back to reading SF! 🙌
Can’t wait to hear more of your reviews. 😎
Same! And I got so lucky that I’m really enjoying both reads 😄
I read Blood Trials last month and loved it. I'm so excited for the next book.
The dragons were definitely the best part of Fourth Wing! But I completely agree with you about Violet's inner monologue. The way she narrated things is what held me back from fully connecting with her or the romance. Still a very fun, addictive read though.
Lol every time Violet was going off on her inner monologue, I was thinking...'please stop'. The dragons were awesome though! I'm honestly debating whether I should read book 2 just for them 😂
The review star system from an indie authored perspective: 5 - fantastic with very few issues. 4. Good. 3. Mediocre but no DNF. 2. Bad and DNF. 1. Insulting to the reader. I say this because once a book drops below 4, sales drop to non existent. Now that I listened to your review of 4th wing, maybe a 2.5 was realistic. However, I see 29,000 reviews, with a 4.9 ave rating. I’ll try the sample, but I do hear your gripes, and if what you say is true, I probably won’t like it. I like to write, poetic license free, realistic plot lines that don’t insult the reader. Toss in some mystery, and some dopamine inducing scenes, and I think you have something. By the way, nice job doing the booktuber thing.
I wonder if Ciarran is inspired by Ciaran Hinds who played Caesar at one time? If it is, it would be super cool!!!
I've been reading some outside the box classics this month, Ali and Nino by Kurban Said and the haiku of Basho, but I'm also hoping to get to Upgrade by the end of the month. The Stars Undying sounds fabulous!
I've finally read Red Sister and it's the best book of the year so far for me, so I'm happy :) Hopefully the rest of the series will be as good!
Oh nice! This series has caught my eye a few times but have been wondering if I should add it to the tbr. I hope you continue to enjoy the rest of the books!
I really want to read the Blighted Stars when it comes out next week!!
I’m currently reading Legendborn and I’m loving the store and the main character Bree.
Legendborn was so good, and Bree was such a great mc!! Hope you continue to enjoy the book :D
I'm currently listening to Fourth Wing because of all the freaking hype, but I def agree with you about the tone of the book. I find it a bit ridicilous because of the tone of the book, it feels like nothing is at stake even though it is training where the main character thinks she's about to die etc
I definitely want to read Fourth Wing. I’m really loving the adult fantasy genre.
Thanks Tori, for some great recs. Any Blake Crouch month is a good month - :)
Thanks, Paul! I agree- Blake crouch hasn't let me down yet 😄
I really liked Fourth Wing! But I also knew exactly what I was getting into when I found out the author is a prolific contemporary romance writer, so that helped a lot 😊
I’m so happy you enjoyed it! And that makes a lot of sense because I can defintely see that contemporary romance influence in this book 😄
Oooh The Stars Undying intrigued me! I loved A Memory Called Empire. I put a hold on Libby real quick. :) Let’s see if I actually read it.
It’s defintely worth checking out! It’s been such a great read so far
I think I'm even more mad at the book for being overhyped. Because I had high expectations and they were just dashed to the wind. It was definitely written more in a YA contemporary style. One of my biggest ticks is when authors don't trust their readers and over explain things multiple time. And with Fourth Wing the things that needed explaining... wasn't. They had teachers yet no one told them what to expect with the bond or instruct them on powers they might have and how not to kill yourself and everyone else. Ugh i shouldn't be angry but i am. Booktok failed me.
Fourth Wing just didn't work for me. I couldn't get through the first chapter.
Isn't it curious how sometimes you just wanna read SF and other times you want to read pure fantasy? I'm like that too.
I'm tryna get more into sci-fi and my poor tbr is crying 😅😂
Lol! The tbr is never ending so I feel you 🤣 I hope you pick up some good sci-fi!
@@ToriMorrow thanks, I hope so too!
Tori I don't know if you follow Mike's Book Reviews but he just released an interview with Richard Swan 👀
I do follow Mike’s channel but haven’t seen the interview yet. That’s so exciting! I’ll be checking it out 😁
I feel the same exact way about Fourth Wing. So much good about it but also so much that didn’t work for me.
Yeah it had some parts I really enjoyed like the dragons & Xaden, but I really couldn’t get past Violet’s inner thoughts 🤦🏽♀️
Hey Tori 👋🏾👋🏾. I am currently reading Fourth Wing...chapter 13...and it is sooooo good! Liked the character diversity, physical challenge aspect, female leadership and dragons!!!!! Violet is an immature, sheltered child of privilege that lacks life experiences but is book brilliant. Give her a break 😘.
I’ll try to go easier on her lol😅 I’m really glad to hear you’re enjoying it, though! The dragons were great in the book and so unexpectedly funny
Have you ever read Gormenghast?
👋🏽
👋🏽❤️
I really didn't vibe with Fourth Wing. To sum it up it felt like kids having their first crushes and sexual experiences, because those characters read like they were 14-16 years old not in their 20's. I also think the abundance of cursing just got annoying. Did the readers really need every other sentence to be emphasized with the F bomb? There was no purpose. It made the book feel very immature, like kids trying to act grown but failing at it. I know a lot of people loved it but it was a hard no for me. You were spot on when you talked about something traumatic would happen and then two seconds later Violet would be daydreaming and lusting about Xayden. Oh man this book gave me a headache lol.
Consider Fourth SOOOOO OVERRRRR RATED.