Like Jenna Moreci, this book got popular on false marketing. Jenna marketed her book as dark fantasy, when the actual story is a fantasy romance. Meg is marketing The Cyborg Tinkerer as steampunk when there is literally no steampunk. It's a sci-fi romance. In both stories, the worlds are a backdrop for the romance. And both books use swearing and sex to seem adult, when the unnecessary drama and shallowness of the characters reek of YA. Swearing and sex do not make a book mature. You need to go deeper than that. These books were surface level at best.
@@crystaleefyffe1230 Seriously! Moreci talks about how senseless gore and swearing doesn't make something dark fiction but that's literally what her books are.
You know. The idea of a character with no medical training winding up the doctor in a blood sport is actually pretty interesting. Imagine how a more grounded person would react to that situation.
totally! She could have really focused on how changing that situation would be. Having to learn as she goes. Maybe having to keep up with a demanding mentor.
After your thorough review, I kinda feel bad for this author, kinda. If she wants to write erotica, she should simply go for it. Every genre has its crowd, and erotica has a big audience. The biggest error is to market books as something they're not. I have no opinion about sex scenes. I'm asexual and I am the avoidant type. So...yeah, the girl should just write her erotica without being ashamed of the genre.
Just coming back to share this comment I read on Goodreads in which someone described The Cyborg Tinkerer as The Room of books and Meg LaTorre as the Tommy Wiseau of authors lmao
I agree 1000% with your complaints about token marketing. I'm genderfluid but as soon as I see something like "an epic scifi with a nonbinary character" or "this trans character goes on an adventure" I immediately click off because I can already tell that story is not doing these characters justice. Like they want cool points for mentioning it, so instead of waiting for people to just read the story and spread it by word of mouth, they fall all over themselves giving us these lines and marketing it as lgbt friendly or whatever. It's kind of insulting.
I write a bunch of hetero characters, because that's what I know and stick to it. I am not going to put a token character just to be inclusive, if I don't know first thing about being gay., for example. Also, my cast is ethnically one group, because homogenous countries exist. So screw the imposed diversity. But I did include disability, although not visible one at the first sight...
@@marikothecheetah9342 bro same. When it comes to my writing. The only thing I do is to have different skin tones buuuuut they be monsters and fantasy creatures so ya know a green fae pale ass vampire, grey and orange mermaids lol
Forced inclusivity aside, has anyone noticed that we're all (supposedly) fine here, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, etc? Oops, there's just one pesky thing that's not okay. Cyborgs. Cyborgs aren't okay. They're illegal, implanting stuff in people is illegal. Let's have a whole thing with dystopian games and ripping out cyborg implants because Cyborgs are the only thing we're not cool with in this universe. Riiiggghhhtt. (And, yes, I am late to the party; thanks for noticing.)
The only "RUclipsr-novel" that got primarily (not exclusively) positive reviews I'm aware of is the one made by Shadiversity, whose channel, ironically, is not about books, literature or tropes. Can't personally judge that one in any capacity because opinions seem to vary widely. It's almost like being good at marketing or even a solid entertainer doesn't make you a good author.
@@jans.g6033 Medieval(ish) weapons, armour and martial arts. If he rants about a movie it's usually because they screwed up one or all of these things (or he particularly liked something). He is, of course, not a perfectly neutral individual without any bias or opinions and I often disagree with his takes as well but he at least tends to bring up relevant points of discussion. Booktube lacks history buffs, so...
@@whosaidthat84 Checked it, it's at a 3.5ish rating, which makes it still one star better than the other stuff. Not really good though I admit. I mean I consider a 3/5-star rating from a reviewer mildly positive, in the sense of "there was an attempt".
@@whosaidthat84 No it wasn't. I enjoyed the book. I think it is a solid 3 or 3.5. It is decent. Great world building, especially, but it definitely was not a bad book. Not even close.
The reason the plot doesn’t make sense is because the book isn’t about the plot...the plot is just a flimsy backdrop for the sex scenes. It’s not sci-fi, it’s a badly written romance and Gwen, in my opinion, is a self insert.
The book is a wink and nod to the woke LGBTQ culture, but it written like a tween would write. Immature descriptions of sexual scenes that aren’t romantic or erotic. The sexuality in the book isn’t sensual or intense, it’s just gross. It’s like a little boy giggling while saying boobies. I honestly feel bad for the author…she has given some great advice on her videos. Apparently she didn’t apply much to her own writing, and I’m not trying to knock her, I’m just calling a spade a spade.
I feel like a lot of authors are more interested in the sex and romance aspects than actually having a plot in their books. Like the plot is an excuse to put attractive people together and make them bang, rather than sex and romance serving the plot.
I struggle with plots. I have amazing stories but the main plot is difficult. (I turn to AI for help sometimes 🤭) and people turning to sex is understandable but it’s really annoying
It's not really steampunk, it's not really sci-fi, it's a YA space fantasy romance. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you! This is why I was so mad and frustrated. I'm a huge fan of sci-fi and this was false advertisment. Thank you!
I DNF'd the cyborg tinkerer - got through the first chapter and had to put it down. I think it's made worse because LaTorre advertised herself as an authority, as someone knowledgeable on writing, publishing and storytelling.
Think about it like this; her operating system doesn't know how to use the information well. It's good information, but SHE is the one lacking. NOW, realize that the good reviews on Cyborg Tinkerer...might be sincere. Just imagine what the ones who made them are like to write such glowing reviews.
I recently read "The Cyborg Tinkerer" and I totally agree with your review. I actually like Meg LaTorres writing advice youtube videos but the book was such a huge disappointment.
It's because the book is not a steampunk Romance, it's a YA romance with a steampunk theme. All the YA things that I strongly dislike are in it, such as narcissistic author self-inserts where the protagonist is either a disgruntled bullied victim or a 'stunning and brave' Mary Sue... coz these authors never actually met a human being outside twitter, which is some hellish Neo-marxist monotone dimension. (hence why I'm not on twitter), some prom or likewise scenes coz these predominantly female authors can't talk about anything in the actual real world as they never lived in it, so everything needs to be school or university campus related or a derivative of it, hence prom. The progressive marxist checkbox ideology that was clear from the get-go when the author described it as a 'LGBQT protagonist in space fantasy'; I immediately though 'oof'... the entire thing is gonna be full of all this weird ID/diversity and victimhood Paralympics politics..... and to no-one's surprise it indeed was. I also don't really like how the author practically glorifies twitter/tumbler people where if you step 1 toe out of line from the progressive narrative it's excommunicato... and no forgiveness for you, ever. It's a freak'n Jonestown. It has the same structure as a sect or a cult like Jehovah Witnesses.
@@stijnvdv2 Listening to her describe the process for getting something published makes it sound like you have these woke gatekeepers wearing their ceremonial robes. You either sacrifice the goat like they tell you to or you don't get published. So instead of writing your story that you came up with, you first need to squish it though the Play-Doh fuzzy pumper of wokeism and put all the identity politics and Mary Sue characters in there. If you don't they tell you your writing sucks. "I'm writing a story about this guy who's the last survivor on the planet." "Can you make it LGBT?" "He's the LAST survivor on the planet." "But who's his love interest?" "He's the LAST... are you even listening?" "OK but who's the protagonist and who's the antagonist?" "He's. The. Last. Survivor. On. The. Planet." "Is it a gay planet or a trans planet?" "Self-publishing it is. Got it."
It's so surprising to see someone make videos about overused tropes and then find out that this person has a book with a hunger games styled circus and a love triangle.
12:40 she could have always marketed it as “swords and planets”. That’s what Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Venus series is marketed as, and the genre itself is pretty much an untapped goldmine. It would have made more sense with all the fantasy elements in space.
6:52 My god. That was painful. More painful than Shad and Andrzej Sapkowski (The Witcher) paragraphs combined. I have no idea how you survived it, but you managed to put out a truly informative review, as always!
As another Booktuber myself, I really liked this review! Your logic was spot-on when it came to the points that didn’t make sense. I especially like the idea of the tumor stopping the mind-control. What I would’ve also like to see (based on your summary/points) would’ve been Gwen implanted/upgrading the losers of the competition with more cyborg parts to help unknowingly build-up the army. As a result though, the newer cyborgs would be less human in terms of emotions (motivation for the others to win) and some could end up dying on the table because the upgrade was too complex. Plus, what kind of MC willingly agrees to potentially kill their coworkers? :/
Thank you! Your suggestion would've been super interesting to see play out too! There was definitely some unexplored territory with Gwen. If Meg continues with this series, it'll be interesting to see if she looks into how going through this situation affected Gwen emotionally/mentally.
I'm so tempted to get a copy of this. The weird juxtaposition of ideas/genres, the hit the wall-with-spaghetti plotting, the paddling pool shallowness of the characters, the potty-mouth one-liners - it all makes me salivate. I think it's going to be a classic 'so bad, it's good novel' - N.B. the new cover without the sail for tits (it hurts me writing that last bit). Splendid review - extremely thorough. I feel as though I've been through every nuance of this wonderful stinker. Many thanks. I hope you'll be able to review book two for us. Do you think we could crowd fund the movie?
I got a copy earlier today (less than ten bucks for the paperback on Amazon!) because I've been hearing these intensely negative reviews, and I want to find out if it's really as bad as all that.
@@kateworkman921 I did actually buy a copy myself. Now taking pride of place on my bookshelf. It is without doubt, a testament to how someone can gleefully walk into making a massive career destroying error. Poor Ms LaTorre. I hope she comes back fighting at some point, older and wiser. Thankfully, there is a book much worse than hers. Vox by Christina Dalcher. A tumbling mess of missed opportunities. So many ideas, so little cohesion. Enjoy. Expletive yeah!
@@andycrosby5556 I seriously wonder if she'd be able to come back. I saw another video that talked about people accusing her of buying five star reviews and that a while bunch suddenly appeared for TCT on February 28th last year. She claimed that it must be because of "Steamathon," but she actually mentioned Steamathon in her last video, and said that it was talking place from March 1st-31st. So why would anyone rate the book as anything, bad or good, before the Steamathon month began, (and this, logically, before they'd read the book?)
No consequences for disobedience, that would be all children's television. Maybe this author was raised on Disney. Love hearing your critiques, because it helps me think about what I need to fix in my novel.
Gotta love how Gwen agrees to this job she knows nothing about and then goes off on Bastian for recruiting her when he also knew she didn't have the right skills. As if it was his fault that she agreed.
You actually put into words what didn't work with TCT very well. I personally think the book succeeds best as a way to interact with the author herself, rather than a serious work. I don't mean that as an insult, I just think she published far too early. She had a world there, and the makings of a story. But everyone's first novel (from what I've seen) is just never great. It can be good but rarely is it a 5 star effort. I think we just need to learn so much by writing that first book to actually see why books work at all, what resolutions require, why characters need to develop etc. I think she was just very excited to share something personal, and didn't want to wait any longer than she did. There is another famous case of this: The Last Jedi. The writer/director of that film famously was given the OK to shoot the movie with one draft. No revisions. No writers room. No edits. His stream-of-concious first draft was filmed and made into a multimillion dollar movie. And so, characters aren't consistent, powers shown don't make sense, worldbuilding is negatively affected. And that director makes good movies!! Yet this still happened and it's sad to think what could have been had he taken another few months on the story. I loved the directors next film, so Meg just needs to take more passes at her story next time and she'll get it.
I'm currently reading the book and I agree with you so far. I've no finished it yet, but so far I'm getting the impression the "plot" is not really something the author thought about, it seems more like things that happen just to push first Gwen and Rora together (even if the way their 'relationship' has developed is way too quick to be believable and is based on the fact that Rora simply wants to seduce Gwen to basically work for her while she gets jealous for no reason) and then introduce the third side of the triangle. There is also the fact that there is way more telling than showing which is really frustrating and most of the times we are told something about a character only to have it disproved later on by what the characters do. Also, every single character is described as hormonal teenager, and that's supposed to be an adult book?!?! Let's just say I've questions, A LOT of quesitons.
Plus all the characters are adults. I think. I suggest to Meg to make her characters act their age. I’m literally in Secondary School. I’m a teenager and I appear to have more writing skills than an adult.
Fair and insightful review. You got a new subscriber. I've followed Meg's channel and still value her writing advice. I listened to the first audio book chapter that she released on her channel. Not impressed.
Funny, I felt the exact same way after listening to that chapter. My impression is she started with an interesting concept, but rather than turn it into a compelling narrative she focused instead on trying to include every "diversity", fantasy, and sci-fi ingredient she could find into massive literary stew sprinkled with a heavy layer of foul language, which I guess is what counts for "edgy" among some readers these days. Most of the "good" reviews laud her use of various characters of sexual persuasions and sexual situations, rather than, good, well-developed, logical, and compelling character arcs, plot, and world. In other words, a lot of "what" was written rather than "how" it was written. It doesn't take a genius to turn Sherlock Holmes into a homosexual. It takes a genius to turn Sherlock Holmes into a great detective.
Yes. It was NOT steampunk. This was not an adult novel. To me it read like the YA/NA gap - like 16-18. It also should not be marketed as romance(which Meg Latore herself says it is). There was lust and seduction but no actual romance. This book needed better editors. She listed all the editors she used and I suggest aspiring writers looking to self-publish memorize those names so they don’t use them. The book needed a better developmental and line editor. Better editors could have helped with the character issues, the repetition issues and the poorly. done POV shifts early in the novel. What I wish is the story focused more on was the Mistress because that could have been a great revenge story cause her motive was valid but she went about it in a Pinky and the Brain style so obviously it failed. Honestly it was like the author decided to write a Disney story with some cursing and sex. All the tech, cyborgs, and even the ships and taverns were straight out of Treasure Planet. The masquerade ball was a way to squeeze princess dresses in the story and the end was like Disney fanfiction with them choosing new names - all Disney characters (Aurora, Belle, Beast or Bieste as they spelled it and Adam - which is the fan theory name for the Beast, but not canon however it spread so widely people think his real name is Adam now) The sex scene was awkwardly forced that made no sense for 2 reasons. The chapter right before this happens, Rora talks to herself about accepting Gwen and Bastian are good for each other and they love each other. So we went straight from acceptance to “Hey, let’s share her”. Bastian said earlier in the book he doesn’t like sharing partners because he felt it took away from the intimacy and then he did a total 180 and says He doesn’t mind sharing his partner when that is the exact opposite of what he previously said. Gwen never loved Rora she just lusted after her and then got pissed after her betrayal but forgave her because she was hot. Right before they all have sex Gwen says to Rora she doesn’t trust her and then repeats to herself during that scene she doesn’t trust Rora but she still wants her sexually. So now who’s using whom lol. I know polyamory is a thing in the real world and it was established it exists regularly in this world, but it didn’t make sense with THESE characters.
Iwriterly....she gave good advice, but never followed it. When people hated it, and gave her critique, she disappeared. Yet, your supposed to take it, because it helps you to grow. I noticed loads of authortube gives good advice, but thier own stories are terrible. It is a shame that happened.
@@marcomoreno6748 Yeah, she was having a bad time anyway as she shaved her hair and argued with everyone just because. She lost her job as well. I am pretty sure a book didn't do this.... and even if it did, it is way worse than just general chit-chat
I haven’t read this, but it sounds very similar to Gideon the Ninth, which I had basically all the same criticisms of minus the sxual things. That book also had a lot of angsty teenage voicy-ness in the narration that were inserted in ways that I found jarring and made me wonder why the book was marketed as adult when it felt very YA. I guess the gore towards the end was too edgy for YA? That’s the only thing I could figure, because the rest felt like it was for teenagers. Like the Cyborg Tinkerer, also had a lot of ideas that could have been interesting concepts, but the worldbuilding was very shallow and nothing was really explained or developed enough to work for me. It felt like the author just threw a bunch of things she thought were cool into a blender. Like, a necromantic empire and magic system based on necromancy was a really cool concept. I wanted to know more details about how/why the empire was founded, why necromancy, what’s are the rules/how does it work, what is the technology level of this world, what did the religion believe and what did the Ninth house believed that was different/why were they seen as a cvlt, etc.. but I didn’t get answers to ANY of that, at least not in the first book (and I shouldn’t need to read the sequels for answers to such basic world building questions). And did it have to be in space? The space thing did virtually nothing for the plot except confuse me on why they would train people to duel with swords in a universe where they were traveling between different planets as easily as a traveling to a different state via airplane. It could have taken place in just a single-planet fantasy world and I think it actually would have made it instantly better because there would have been less unanswered questions and inconsistencies. ..But getting back to something that might apply to this particular book… I think these kind of Ya-ish ‘adult’ books are meant for a certain audience: adult women who still have the maturity of a 15 year old and love to read YA. Basically kid-dults. Mental teenagers that are unfortunately legally old enough to have sx and are still immature enough to think that makes them mature. Granted, Gideon the Ninth didn’t have any sx scenes, but it definitely gave me ‘this is aimed at immature adults who never grew out of their edgy goth phase’ vibes. As someone who DID grow out of my edgy goth phase, I could see the appeal but felt like I would have enjoyed it more back when I had been a teenager. I guess there is a market for this type of thing since a lot of people did like Gideon the Ninth, but I’m definitely not that target audience.
@@KirkpattieCake Some authortubers will slam you for that... stupidly. Reviews are not only for readers, but many think they are. Most writers are readers, too. We can all learn writing tips from reviewing other stories.
@@simgingergirl Yes. After a few reviews I was disappointed. I expected much given her channel. Instead you end up with your average cliche lefty book that could have been written by any woke person out there. There is nothing that sets LaTorre apart as a writer, that defines her. Instead it's like you read 'just another YA book from the progressive hive mind'.
I scratch my head everyday and wonder why these books always out run mine. It's depressing. But I continue to push on. I am always looking for readers and fans. I have a RUclips channel in case you all want to see what I do. Thank you for the video
I'm facing the same but that depression has two different heads. First one is that maybe craft doesn't matter; maybe there's a huge readership flocking to things that just punch the right buttons. Buttons that they know how to hit, but I was in the wrong clique in high school or whatever and I'll never know. The other, even more depressing head, is that there are writers who have enough of an audience, enough feedback, to have learned how bad they are (and still didn't). That means I, with my tiny readership, could be vastly, vastly worse...and not know it.
So... what makes a story cyberpunk? I'd say the science has to be integral to functions in your day-to-day life. E.g. cybernetics are pervasive and necessary to do your job. Ditto on synthetic drugs. Or nanites. Or drones. Tech. There must be tech, it must make sense, the 'haves' have the best tech, the 'have-nots' fight each other for access to it. There should be some exploration of how this tech is maybe not a good thing. Corporations rule, rather than centralized government, a sort of Wild West where capitalism has been extrapolated to its very worst ends.
In fact, a better description of cyberpunk would be engineer fiction, if you define engineering as applied science (the original description for engineering back in the late 19th century). While science fiction plays around with the limits of science, cyberpunk explores the settled-in effect of technology once it is adopted by an entire society.
Re: cyberpunk themes: I'd say transcendental consciousness and trans-humanism are core themes in a cyberpunk story e.g.: finding a higher order emerging from the confluence of tech, and exploring the meaning of being human. A solid spin on the technological component would be how the science could be beneficial to the individual, but when the society controls it (i.e. an all-powerful corporation), it warps into malignancy.
One popular definition is Bruce Sterling's high tech and low life (criminal underworld). Steampunk is something else. That's Victorian-era steam engine technology but more advanced while excluding electronics and internal combustion engines. Charles Babbage mechanical computers are ok. One example is the Will Smith movie Wild Wild West. There's also Bruce Sterling's Difference Engine.
Thank you so much! I just checked out your video Booktube is Problematic and you're so well-spoken and thoughtful, dude, I can't wait to hear your thoughts when you finish Borg Tinkerer.
I was ready to come to megs defense about the F word thing and you saying it was immaturely used … and I just couldn’t believe that of Meg (from watching I writerly ) BUT when you read the Quotes … OMG! Meg ! What ! I completely agree with the critique! Very oddly placed swear language! Very odd.
I can definitely understand and appreciate swearing (and even lots of swearing) as a character trait. Thinking about it, I think I had expected Gwen to have a slightly more mature narrative voice than she did, so the way the swearing ended up being used felt jarring. It's been a while since I posted this review and thinking on it, what stands out to me is it's sold as an adult book, has adult elements, but has a younger voice and younger audience tropes. and IMO, that mixture sort of messed up the character voices in whether this was for adults or teens. lol
LMAO!!! Timecode 25:25 when you read the most preposterous narrative....Realizing that the plot grid for this must've been a cluster...Did Meg plot this or did she pants this???? Oh god, just realized this is BOOK ONE!!!
There are other swearwords than f***. I'm not anoyed by cursing. I'm anoyed if a word is overused. There is no impact since you get desensitized. Also it's Megs world. Invent some new cursewords instead.
While I agree that it's a weird mishmash of genres that leaves me wondering what its audience was supposed to be, I've always rejected this "it's not got scientific ideas, so it's not scifi" thing. It just sort of creates this very arbitrary line of "well what's a scientific idea?". It has cyborgs in it, and spaceships. People are very determined to stick things in boxes, but this IMO is just marketing bs. The boundaries between genres of speculative fiction are fuzzy and get crossed all of the time and that's fine. The problem here is that you've still got to know who you're trying to reach with your book, and with this I have no idea who I'd recommend this to.
Well, it either has to dive into the philosophical/ideological aspects of future technology/society (soft Sci-Fi) or really dive into the tech/logistics (hard Sci-Fi). If it does neither and could be set in a medieval fantasy setting without losing anything significant then it's mostly an aesthetic. We call it Space Opera, Sci-Fantasy or in some cases simply Erotica. That's not gatekeeping, that's just being honest.
If I read a sci-fi, I want to read a sci-fi. science must be simply a huge part of it. If I read a rime story. the crime must happen and be rather big. Labelling helps with choosing the stuff you like and separate them from those you don't. Like a full throttle romance.
I knew you were going to say YA lol. I'm thinking from what I've seen most Authortube authors all seem to do only YA and doing all the cheesy tropes which they tell others are no no's lol.
I must say, I saw a post from Meg the other day that she regrets this book. She called it ''cursed'' because she lost her job and her marriage failed over it. She is in hiding, feeling self conflicted. She tried to laugh it off, and said she would come back when she felt better, but you never know.
That's unfortunate. It was just a bad book. She shouldn't have suffered so much from it. At the very least, you could tell she had fun writing it, but it sucks that it hit her so hard and people affected her so hard. I hope she finds a way to recover herself and her confidence some day.
@@KirkpattieCake To be honest, she did have a problem before it came out. Two weeks before, she just shaved her head off and went through a bad mental state...everything else just got worse. I am not sure why she blames her book though.
So basically Star Wars meets The Borg who meets Vampire Assistant, while crossing Dune.....yeah I didn't like it when she told us about it on her channel, but to hear it , like this,, it is even worse. She should have listened to her own advice, since she worked as a Lit agent. I not even read it, to realise this is bad.
Not just a scene, isn’t that literally the poster? Edit: just looked it up, yeah it’s basically just the poster for treasure planet without Jim hanging off the rope in the corner.
Imho most authortubers are pretenders. I've never heard of a content creator/book reviewer ALSO writing a book, and people liking it overall. She didn't fall so much as prove that nobody is good at everything.
@@cliffhamrickwrites2378lol I should clarify I don't mean all writers, just those who primarily excel at on camera entertainment, especially YT. If they suddenly decide, eh, I review books all day, I bet I can write one too, those guys generally don't have the ability to write a novel that seems to work for a larger audience. If they were always artistic, or cared about writing, then it shows
@@billy.bandit Yeah I can agree with that. I think some authortubers are really just RUclipsrs who happen to have written a book or two. I like to think of myself as a writer (beginning) who happens to have a RUclips channel. Which reminds me, I really need to make a new video some time. Got any ideas?
@@cliffhamrickwrites2378 if you want views: author controversies, book hauls, top 10s. If you want to be unique: how you wrote your first book from idea to ISBN, as those seem to all be different
I enjoyed many of Meg’s videos but you’ll notice a hard turn in her image prior to release. She did as much as possible to throw everything into marketing this book yet failed to heed her own advice and know WHO was her actual intended audience. And using f words for adjectives and adverbs is just “f-ing lazy”
I think if Meg was an author with the image that she was really whacked out kind of off the wall and bizarre or that she was someone from the booktube community who people kind of didn't really take too seriously from the start...someone who didn't really take herself as seriously... in her videos she seems like a very thorough, very informed type of person who knows what she's doing. She gives the impression that she knows a lot about writing then suddenly she comes out and drops this stinker of a book lol it's kind of hilarious, sad, frustrating and disappointing all at once you know. She didn't take herself seriously as a writer, but maybe she did and she just sucks ass as a writer. Not every teacher can write. I hear she has a small child now. Maybe she'll write books about taking care of children. Who knows. I hope she takes that role as a mom seriously. I wish you all the best.
Meg's RUclips channel is about writing advice and she specifically brings up how she worked at a literary agency, so I wanted to see what her writing looked like in application.
"it doesnt realy follow any rules of science, so it cant be sci-fi" Im sorry, what? Lets say i write a story about a group of brave fartstronauts who in their great Flatulenser farts their way to new worlds in faster than light ways, that are all made of different cheese, and in their travels they meet the emperor of the galaxy, they watch the big battle between the emperors armada of Flatulensers and the rebels riding Freedom Birds or whatever, fight of Bree-worms of Mozzarella 3, then thats not sci-fi? Bad sci-fi maybe, absurdist sci-fi for sure. But still very much sci-fi. She is a cyborg, they travel in space. Its sci-fi. Very few things in Star Wars is scientificly accurate. Are you gonna convince me that Star Wars is not Sci-Fi? Yes, its "Fantasy in space", or "Science fantasy", but thats just saying its BOTH sci-fi and fantasy. Edit: Clarketech: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." So even if i write about teleporting wizards in space, throwing fireballs and conjure dragons to fight each other, it is STILL sci-fi. There, done. Rant over.
No, Star Wars is not sci-fi. It's a space fantasy. Even the analogy to the knights and wise men are too big to miss. Not to mention Darth Vader, who has a stylised samurai armour...
@@marikothecheetah9342 and what, pray tell, is a Sci-Fi? Was Flash Gordon Sci-fi? It gets its science about as right as Star Wars. What about Dune? It has its swordfighting nobles and space-sorceresses. Is that not sci-fi? Speaking of sci-fi and Fantasy, where do you place Yor, the hunter from the future? Its caveman fantasy very alike Conan the barbarian, but turns out to be in the distant Future? What if we take a story about elves and retell Renezvous with Rama? Will that be Fantasy, Sci-Fi or "Science fantasy"? Or could it possibly be that Fantasy and Sci-fi are rather general descriptions rather than bonehard definitions, made for easy categorization and are not mutually exclusive? Have you read the Barsoom series? A Princess of Mars? That reads very much like a classic fantasy but is set at the early 20s century. Realy, it buggs the hell out of me when i hear people being stupid and say stuff like this. Star wars, the most successfull space opera of all time, is not Sci-Fi, because You reccognize elements in it that you also have seen in disney movies. "But but it has wizards in it..." (oh im sorry, you called them Wise Men) So did Babylon 5. Star Trek had greek gods. Hari Seldon very much takes on a Merlin-like role in the Foundation trilogy. What about Warhammer 40k? Spaceships and elves and psycic powers and demons and power armors? How about Dr. Who? By now it has touched upon most myths and stories in western mythology, and it usually turned out to be aliens. So tell me, what is Sci-Fi, and how come the most sucessfull story about spaceships and galactic empires does not qualify.
@@KamiRecca first. Chill the fork out. Second. I am not going to explain things one can find via Google when clearly you made up your mind. Also, you freely mix everything just to make your point. And stick to it. Stubborness is allowed.
@@marikothecheetah9342 I asked how You define Sci-fi. This is the quick wikipedia summary: "Science fiction (sometimes shortened to sci-fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universes, and extraterrestrial life" Star Wars clearly has futuristic concepts of advaznced science and technology. I also didnt "freely mix everything just to make my point" I tried to show that Sci-Fi is more of a broad umbrella term than a specific descriptor. Thus, Star Wars are by all definitions still Sci-fi. See? Edit: Flash Gordon, Dune, Yor, Barsoom series, Babylon 5, Star Trek, Foundation, Warhammer 40k universe and Dr. Who are all concidered Sci-Fi. So i want to hear your reason why Star Wars should not be concidered Sci-fi but rather "Space Fantasy", when those things you pointed out "Swordfighting heroes and wise men" are pressent in the other works. Make your argument, or be disgarded without any. Its as easy as that.
@@KamiRecca Star Wars never discusses science. ST, Babylon 5 Doctor Who etc. do. Star Wars has something close to a magic system. while other have at best augmented cognitive skills. It may be considered space opera but for me just because it features spaceship does not automatically makes it sci-fi in its main sense. Star Wars have sci-fi setting, nothing else, but take that out and you an easily turn Star Wars into a fantasy which with Doctor Who or Star Trek would be much more difficult, as science discussion and technology usage is heavily accentuated. Just because there are cars in the movie does not mean it is a car movie. The same with Star Wars. And I watched all of them.
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
Like Jenna Moreci, this book got popular on false marketing. Jenna marketed her book as dark fantasy, when the actual story is a fantasy romance. Meg is marketing The Cyborg Tinkerer as steampunk when there is literally no steampunk. It's a sci-fi romance. In both stories, the worlds are a backdrop for the romance. And both books use swearing and sex to seem adult, when the unnecessary drama and shallowness of the characters reek of YA. Swearing and sex do not make a book mature. You need to go deeper than that. These books were surface level at best.
As a former Literary Agent you would think they wouldn't mess up the genre of their own books when they chastise authors for the same thing.
@@crystaleefyffe1230 Seriously! Moreci talks about how senseless gore and swearing doesn't make something dark fiction but that's literally what her books are.
As someone who has a steampunk character, I can confirm this book isn’t steampunk. Cyborgs are more sci-fi, and it didnt even manage to reach sci-fi
You know. The idea of a character with no medical training winding up the doctor in a blood sport is actually pretty interesting. Imagine how a more grounded person would react to that situation.
I have to agree.
That's just bad writing.
totally! She could have really focused on how changing that situation would be. Having to learn as she goes. Maybe having to keep up with a demanding mentor.
@@tepoztlitlacatl634 badly done yes, well done with mostly failing despite desperatly trying it could be very good
After your thorough review, I kinda feel bad for this author, kinda.
If she wants to write erotica, she should simply go for it. Every genre has its crowd, and erotica has a big audience.
The biggest error is to market books as something they're not.
I have no opinion about sex scenes. I'm asexual and I am the avoidant type. So...yeah, the girl should just write her erotica without being ashamed of the genre.
Couldn't agree more
Agreed
The erotica is the least of its problems.
Just coming back to share this comment I read on Goodreads in which someone described The Cyborg Tinkerer as The Room of books and Meg LaTorre as the Tommy Wiseau of authors lmao
Lmao nooo 😆 😆
Don't diss my boy Wiseau like that 😤
I agree 1000% with your complaints about token marketing. I'm genderfluid but as soon as I see something like "an epic scifi with a nonbinary character" or "this trans character goes on an adventure" I immediately click off because I can already tell that story is not doing these characters justice. Like they want cool points for mentioning it, so instead of waiting for people to just read the story and spread it by word of mouth, they fall all over themselves giving us these lines and marketing it as lgbt friendly or whatever. It's kind of insulting.
Same! Riordan's books are popular and diverse, but the diversity was never marketed as far as I know.
I write a bunch of hetero characters, because that's what I know and stick to it. I am not going to put a token character just to be inclusive, if I don't know first thing about being gay., for example. Also, my cast is ethnically one group, because homogenous countries exist. So screw the imposed diversity. But I did include disability, although not visible one at the first sight...
@@marikothecheetah9342 bro same. When it comes to my writing. The only thing I do is to have different skin tones buuuuut they be monsters and fantasy creatures so ya know a green fae pale ass vampire, grey and orange mermaids lol
@@ladyofnoxus6733 exactly. forced diversity is so much worse than no diversity at all.
Forced inclusivity aside, has anyone noticed that we're all (supposedly) fine here, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, etc? Oops, there's just one pesky thing that's not okay. Cyborgs. Cyborgs aren't okay. They're illegal, implanting stuff in people is illegal. Let's have a whole thing with dystopian games and ripping out cyborg implants because Cyborgs are the only thing we're not cool with in this universe. Riiiggghhhtt. (And, yes, I am late to the party; thanks for noticing.)
The only "RUclipsr-novel" that got primarily (not exclusively) positive reviews I'm aware of is the one made by Shadiversity, whose channel, ironically, is not about books, literature or tropes. Can't personally judge that one in any capacity because opinions seem to vary widely.
It's almost like being good at marketing or even a solid entertainer doesn't make you a good author.
I've occasionally seen his videos recommended (especially the Mulan 2020 and Arcane one). I thought his channel was about medieval weapons before?
@@jans.g6033
Medieval(ish) weapons, armour and martial arts. If he rants about a movie it's usually because they screwed up one or all of these things (or he particularly liked something).
He is, of course, not a perfectly neutral individual without any bias or opinions and I often disagree with his takes as well but he at least tends to bring up relevant points of discussion. Booktube lacks history buffs, so...
His book Shadow of the Conqueror has a lot of negative reviews. Try reading the sample. It was really bad.
@@whosaidthat84
Checked it, it's at a 3.5ish rating, which makes it still one star better than the other stuff. Not really good though I admit.
I mean I consider a 3/5-star rating from a reviewer mildly positive, in the sense of "there was an attempt".
@@whosaidthat84 No it wasn't. I enjoyed the book. I think it is a solid 3 or 3.5. It is decent. Great world building, especially, but it definitely was not a bad book. Not even close.
The reason the plot doesn’t make sense is because the book isn’t about the plot...the plot is just a flimsy backdrop for the sex scenes. It’s not sci-fi, it’s a badly written romance and Gwen, in my opinion, is a self insert.
@Ego Master well "self" publishing used to actually be called vanity publishing for a reason
The book is a wink and nod to the woke LGBTQ culture, but it written like a tween would write. Immature descriptions of sexual scenes that aren’t romantic or erotic. The sexuality in the book isn’t sensual or intense, it’s just gross. It’s like a little boy giggling while saying boobies.
I honestly feel bad for the author…she has given some great advice on her videos. Apparently she didn’t apply much to her own writing, and I’m not trying to knock her, I’m just calling a spade a spade.
Plot? What plot?
I feel like a lot of authors are more interested in the sex and romance aspects than actually having a plot in their books. Like the plot is an excuse to put attractive people together and make them bang, rather than sex and romance serving the plot.
I struggle with plots. I have amazing stories but the main plot is difficult. (I turn to AI for help sometimes 🤭) and people turning to sex is understandable but it’s really annoying
tbh there’s nothing wrong with that. just be honest with what you’re making.
It's not really steampunk, it's not really sci-fi, it's a YA space fantasy romance. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!
This is why I was so mad and frustrated. I'm a huge fan of sci-fi and this was false advertisment. Thank you!
Oh wow, hello again! haha!
@@platoniczombie lol! Hi! Good to see ya.
@@DalCecilRuno haha! Good to "see" you too!
At least they should research steampunks and sci-fi. Like I did bcs I have a steampunk character
I DNF'd the cyborg tinkerer - got through the first chapter and had to put it down. I think it's made worse because LaTorre advertised herself as an authority, as someone knowledgeable on writing, publishing and storytelling.
Think about it like this; her operating system doesn't know how to use the information well. It's good information, but SHE is the one lacking. NOW, realize that the good reviews on Cyborg Tinkerer...might be sincere. Just imagine what the ones who made them are like to write such glowing reviews.
I recently read "The Cyborg Tinkerer" and I totally agree with your review. I actually like Meg LaTorres writing advice youtube videos but the book was such a huge disappointment.
just like jenna moreci, they share advice they find in google and don't apply them in their writing
@@xChikyx so true! I was just thinking about Jenna when reading this comment.
It's because the book is not a steampunk Romance, it's a YA romance with a steampunk theme. All the YA things that I strongly dislike are in it, such as narcissistic author self-inserts where the protagonist is either a disgruntled bullied victim or a 'stunning and brave' Mary Sue... coz these authors never actually met a human being outside twitter, which is some hellish Neo-marxist monotone dimension. (hence why I'm not on twitter), some prom or likewise scenes coz these predominantly female authors can't talk about anything in the actual real world as they never lived in it, so everything needs to be school or university campus related or a derivative of it, hence prom. The progressive marxist checkbox ideology that was clear from the get-go when the author described it as a 'LGBQT protagonist in space fantasy'; I immediately though 'oof'... the entire thing is gonna be full of all this weird ID/diversity and victimhood Paralympics politics..... and to no-one's surprise it indeed was. I also don't really like how the author practically glorifies twitter/tumbler people where if you step 1 toe out of line from the progressive narrative it's excommunicato... and no forgiveness for you, ever. It's a freak'n Jonestown. It has the same structure as a sect or a cult like Jehovah Witnesses.
@@stijnvdv2 They are not a cult
@@stijnvdv2 Listening to her describe the process for getting something published makes it sound like you have these woke gatekeepers wearing their ceremonial robes. You either sacrifice the goat like they tell you to or you don't get published.
So instead of writing your story that you came up with, you first need to squish it though the Play-Doh fuzzy pumper of wokeism and put all the identity politics and Mary Sue characters in there. If you don't they tell you your writing sucks.
"I'm writing a story about this guy who's the last survivor on the planet."
"Can you make it LGBT?"
"He's the LAST survivor on the planet."
"But who's his love interest?"
"He's the LAST... are you even listening?"
"OK but who's the protagonist and who's the antagonist?"
"He's. The. Last. Survivor. On. The. Planet."
"Is it a gay planet or a trans planet?"
"Self-publishing it is. Got it."
15:45 You just outlined a plot infinitely better than the original in a matter of minutes. Wow. I'd actually read that book.
It's so surprising to see someone make videos about overused tropes and then find out that this person has a book with a hunger games styled circus and a love triangle.
12:40 she could have always marketed it as “swords and planets”. That’s what Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Venus series is marketed as, and the genre itself is pretty much an untapped goldmine. It would have made more sense with all the fantasy elements in space.
6:52 My god. That was painful. More painful than Shad and Andrzej Sapkowski (The Witcher) paragraphs combined.
I have no idea how you survived it, but you managed to put out a truly informative review, as always!
Ooh. I liked your idea about Gwen's tumor being the thing that subverts the Mistress' cyborg implant. I want to read that one.
As another Booktuber myself, I really liked this review! Your logic was spot-on when it came to the points that didn’t make sense. I especially like the idea of the tumor stopping the mind-control.
What I would’ve also like to see (based on your summary/points) would’ve been Gwen implanted/upgrading the losers of the competition with more cyborg parts to help unknowingly build-up the army. As a result though, the newer cyborgs would be less human in terms of emotions (motivation for the others to win) and some could end up dying on the table because the upgrade was too complex.
Plus, what kind of MC willingly agrees to potentially kill their coworkers? :/
Thank you!
Your suggestion would've been super interesting to see play out too! There was definitely some unexplored territory with Gwen. If Meg continues with this series, it'll be interesting to see if she looks into how going through this situation affected Gwen emotionally/mentally.
I do feel bad for Meg LaTorre. Her writing advice is actually pretty good. I hope she releases new videos in the near future.
I'm so tempted to get a copy of this. The weird juxtaposition of ideas/genres, the hit the wall-with-spaghetti plotting, the paddling pool shallowness of the characters, the potty-mouth one-liners - it all makes me salivate. I think it's going to be a classic 'so bad, it's good novel' - N.B. the new cover without the sail for tits (it hurts me writing that last bit). Splendid review - extremely thorough. I feel as though I've been through every nuance of this wonderful stinker. Many thanks. I hope you'll be able to review book two for us. Do you think we could crowd fund the movie?
I got a copy earlier today (less than ten bucks for the paperback on Amazon!) because I've been hearing these intensely negative reviews, and I want to find out if it's really as bad as all that.
@@kateworkman921 I did actually buy a copy myself. Now taking pride of place on my bookshelf. It is without doubt, a testament to how someone can gleefully walk into making a massive career destroying error. Poor Ms LaTorre. I hope she comes back fighting at some point, older and wiser. Thankfully, there is a book much worse than hers. Vox by Christina Dalcher. A tumbling mess of missed opportunities. So many ideas, so little cohesion. Enjoy. Expletive yeah!
@@andycrosby5556 I seriously wonder if she'd be able to come back. I saw another video that talked about people accusing her of buying five star reviews and that a while bunch suddenly appeared for TCT on February 28th last year. She claimed that it must be because of "Steamathon," but she actually mentioned Steamathon in her last video, and said that it was talking place from March 1st-31st.
So why would anyone rate the book as anything, bad or good, before the Steamathon month began, (and this, logically, before they'd read the book?)
No consequences for disobedience, that would be all children's television. Maybe this author was raised on Disney. Love hearing your critiques, because it helps me think about what I need to fix in my novel.
Gotta love how Gwen agrees to this job she knows nothing about and then goes off on Bastian for recruiting her when he also knew she didn't have the right skills. As if it was his fault that she agreed.
Correct me if i'm wrong, but isnt Gwen a self insert of Meg?
Probably.
Your re-imagining of the plot is spot on.
You actually put into words what didn't work with TCT very well. I personally think the book succeeds best as a way to interact with the author herself, rather than a serious work. I don't mean that as an insult, I just think she published far too early. She had a world there, and the makings of a story. But everyone's first novel (from what I've seen) is just never great. It can be good but rarely is it a 5 star effort. I think we just need to learn so much by writing that first book to actually see why books work at all, what resolutions require, why characters need to develop etc. I think she was just very excited to share something personal, and didn't want to wait any longer than she did. There is another famous case of this: The Last Jedi. The writer/director of that film famously was given the OK to shoot the movie with one draft. No revisions. No writers room. No edits. His stream-of-concious first draft was filmed and made into a multimillion dollar movie. And so, characters aren't consistent, powers shown don't make sense, worldbuilding is negatively affected. And that director makes good movies!! Yet this still happened and it's sad to think what could have been had he taken another few months on the story. I loved the directors next film, so Meg just needs to take more passes at her story next time and she'll get it.
I'm currently reading the book and I agree with you so far. I've no finished it yet, but so far I'm getting the impression the "plot" is not really something the author thought about, it seems more like things that happen just to push first Gwen and Rora together (even if the way their 'relationship' has developed is way too quick to be believable and is based on the fact that Rora simply wants to seduce Gwen to basically work for her while she gets jealous for no reason) and then introduce the third side of the triangle.
There is also the fact that there is way more telling than showing which is really frustrating and most of the times we are told something about a character only to have it disproved later on by what the characters do.
Also, every single character is described as hormonal teenager, and that's supposed to be an adult book?!?!
Let's just say I've questions, A LOT of quesitons.
Plus all the characters are adults. I think. I suggest to Meg to make her characters act their age. I’m literally in Secondary School. I’m a teenager and I appear to have more writing skills than an adult.
I haven't read this book but I absolutely love the reviews
LOL That cursing passage you read sounded like these horrible comic books I wrote in middle school. I had next to no dialogue, just constant swearing.
Fair and insightful review. You got a new subscriber.
I've followed Meg's channel and still value her writing advice. I listened to the first audio book chapter that she released on her channel. Not impressed.
Funny, I felt the exact same way after listening to that chapter. My impression is she started with an interesting concept, but rather than turn it into a compelling narrative she focused instead on trying to include every "diversity", fantasy, and sci-fi ingredient she could find into massive literary stew sprinkled with a heavy layer of foul language, which I guess is what counts for "edgy" among some readers these days. Most of the "good" reviews laud her use of various characters of sexual persuasions and sexual situations, rather than, good, well-developed, logical, and compelling character arcs, plot, and world.
In other words, a lot of "what" was written rather than "how" it was written. It doesn't take a genius to turn Sherlock Holmes into a homosexual. It takes a genius to turn Sherlock Holmes into a great detective.
Yes. It was NOT steampunk. This was not an adult novel. To me it read like the YA/NA gap - like 16-18. It also should not be marketed as romance(which Meg Latore herself says it is). There was lust and seduction but no actual romance. This book needed better editors. She listed all the editors she used and I suggest aspiring writers looking to self-publish memorize those names so they don’t use them. The book needed a better developmental and line editor. Better editors could have helped with the character issues, the repetition issues and the poorly. done POV shifts early in the novel.
What I wish is the story focused more on was the Mistress because that could have been a great revenge story cause her motive was valid but she went about it in a Pinky and the Brain style so obviously it failed.
Honestly it was like the author decided to write a Disney story with some cursing and sex. All the tech, cyborgs, and even the ships and taverns were straight out of Treasure Planet. The masquerade ball was a way to squeeze princess dresses in the story and the end was like Disney fanfiction with them choosing new names - all Disney characters (Aurora, Belle, Beast or Bieste as they spelled it and Adam - which is the fan theory name for the Beast, but not canon however it spread so widely people think his real name is Adam now)
The sex scene was awkwardly forced that made no sense for 2 reasons. The chapter right before this happens, Rora talks to herself about accepting Gwen and Bastian are good for each other and they love each other. So we went straight from acceptance to “Hey, let’s share her”. Bastian said earlier in the book he doesn’t like sharing partners because he felt it took away from the intimacy and then he did a total 180 and says He doesn’t mind sharing his partner when that is the exact opposite of what he previously said. Gwen never loved Rora she just lusted after her and then got pissed after her betrayal but forgave her because she was hot. Right before they all have sex Gwen says to Rora she doesn’t trust her and then repeats to herself during that scene she doesn’t trust Rora but she still wants her sexually. So now who’s using whom lol. I know polyamory is a thing in the real world and it was established it exists regularly in this world, but it didn’t make sense with THESE characters.
I was expecting the book to be a big sci-fi/steampunk Adventure story.
Iwriterly....she gave good advice, but never followed it. When people hated it, and gave her critique, she disappeared. Yet, your supposed to take it, because it helps you to grow. I noticed loads of authortube gives good advice, but thier own stories are terrible. It is a shame that happened.
In her comeback video she claimed it was because of her divorce.
@@marcomoreno6748 Yeah, she was having a bad time anyway as she shaved her hair and argued with everyone just because. She lost her job as well. I am pretty sure a book didn't do this.... and even if it did, it is way worse than just general chit-chat
I haven’t read this, but it sounds very similar to Gideon the Ninth, which I had basically all the same criticisms of minus the sxual things. That book also had a lot of angsty teenage voicy-ness in the narration that were inserted in ways that I found jarring and made me wonder why the book was marketed as adult when it felt very YA. I guess the gore towards the end was too edgy for YA? That’s the only thing I could figure, because the rest felt like it was for teenagers. Like the Cyborg Tinkerer, also had a lot of ideas that could have been interesting concepts, but the worldbuilding was very shallow and nothing was really explained or developed enough to work for me. It felt like the author just threw a bunch of things she thought were cool into a blender.
Like, a necromantic empire and magic system based on necromancy was a really cool concept. I wanted to know more details about how/why the empire was founded, why necromancy, what’s are the rules/how does it work, what is the technology level of this world, what did the religion believe and what did the Ninth house believed that was different/why were they seen as a cvlt, etc.. but I didn’t get answers to ANY of that, at least not in the first book (and I shouldn’t need to read the sequels for answers to such basic world building questions). And did it have to be in space? The space thing did virtually nothing for the plot except confuse me on why they would train people to duel with swords in a universe where they were traveling between different planets as easily as a traveling to a different state via airplane. It could have taken place in just a single-planet fantasy world and I think it actually would have made it instantly better because there would have been less unanswered questions and inconsistencies.
..But getting back to something that might apply to this particular book…
I think these kind of Ya-ish ‘adult’ books are meant for a certain audience: adult women who still have the maturity of a 15 year old and love to read YA. Basically kid-dults. Mental teenagers that are unfortunately legally old enough to have sx and are still immature enough to think that makes them mature. Granted, Gideon the Ninth didn’t have any sx scenes, but it definitely gave me ‘this is aimed at immature adults who never grew out of their edgy goth phase’ vibes. As someone who DID grow out of my edgy goth phase, I could see the appeal but felt like I would have enjoyed it more back when I had been a teenager. I guess there is a market for this type of thing since a lot of people did like Gideon the Ninth, but I’m definitely not that target audience.
Nah but fr, the title sounds cool, but the quality of the book was terrible. It had so much potential
"Gwen" is a bad self-insert. That's why there were never any consequences.
@@KirkpattieCake Some authortubers will slam you for that... stupidly. Reviews are not only for readers, but many think they are. Most writers are readers, too. We can all learn writing tips from reviewing other stories.
@@simgingergirl Yes. After a few reviews I was disappointed. I expected much given her channel. Instead you end up with your average cliche lefty book that could have been written by any woke person out there. There is nothing that sets LaTorre apart as a writer, that defines her. Instead it's like you read 'just another YA book from the progressive hive mind'.
I scratch my head everyday and wonder why these books always out run mine. It's depressing. But I continue to push on. I am always looking for readers and fans. I have a RUclips channel in case you all want to see what I do. Thank you for the video
I'm facing the same but that depression has two different heads. First one is that maybe craft doesn't matter; maybe there's a huge readership flocking to things that just punch the right buttons. Buttons that they know how to hit, but I was in the wrong clique in high school or whatever and I'll never know. The other, even more depressing head, is that there are writers who have enough of an audience, enough feedback, to have learned how bad they are (and still didn't). That means I, with my tiny readership, could be vastly, vastly worse...and not know it.
@@notthemusewere yup... They played their cards and pulled a fast one.
So... what makes a story cyberpunk? I'd say the science has to be integral to functions in your day-to-day life. E.g. cybernetics are pervasive and necessary to do your job. Ditto on synthetic drugs. Or nanites. Or drones. Tech. There must be tech, it must make sense, the 'haves' have the best tech, the 'have-nots' fight each other for access to it. There should be some exploration of how this tech is maybe not a good thing. Corporations rule, rather than centralized government, a sort of Wild West where capitalism has been extrapolated to its very worst ends.
In fact, a better description of cyberpunk would be engineer fiction, if you define engineering as applied science (the original description for engineering back in the late 19th century). While science fiction plays around with the limits of science, cyberpunk explores the settled-in effect of technology once it is adopted by an entire society.
Re: cyberpunk themes: I'd say transcendental consciousness and trans-humanism are core themes in a cyberpunk story e.g.: finding a higher order emerging from the confluence of tech, and exploring the meaning of being human. A solid spin on the technological component would be how the science could be beneficial to the individual, but when the society controls it (i.e. an all-powerful corporation), it warps into malignancy.
@Ruth Alessi I couldn't have said it better myself...
One popular definition is Bruce Sterling's high tech and low life (criminal underworld). Steampunk is something else. That's Victorian-era steam engine technology but more advanced while excluding electronics and internal combustion engines. Charles Babbage mechanical computers are ok. One example is the Will Smith movie Wild Wild West. There's also Bruce Sterling's Difference Engine.
thank you for this comment! i always wondered how one would define cyberpunk
All that _"fucking"_ and no one is satisfied. :^/
Love your vid. I'm currently reading the cyborg tinkerer for my own channel. It's beginning to sound really immature
Thank you so much! I just checked out your video Booktube is Problematic and you're so well-spoken and thoughtful, dude, I can't wait to hear your thoughts when you finish Borg Tinkerer.
@@KirkpattieCake thank you so much! I'm also looking forward to checking out your other reviews
What's sad is Meg La Torre can write. Just the first page of chapter 1 has some impressive prose. But her execution smacks of someone trying too hard.
Ah yes, a recap of the pain...so much pain...
Wow. I am in awe of your fortitude.
Maybe it should have been called The F**king Cyborg Tinkerer instead. I will say the cover art is very nice so... there's that. 🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️
Very interesting review, subbed!
I would call this Science Fantasy
More like Smut Fantasy...
Wow. This story is insane.
My only question: why ... cyborgs to begin with!?!
That passage you read is very unfortunate. That's me being kind.
I was ready to come to megs defense about the F word thing and you saying it was immaturely used … and I just couldn’t believe that of Meg (from watching I writerly ) BUT when you read the Quotes … OMG! Meg ! What ! I completely agree with the critique! Very oddly placed swear language! Very odd.
I can definitely understand and appreciate swearing (and even lots of swearing) as a character trait. Thinking about it, I think I had expected Gwen to have a slightly more mature narrative voice than she did, so the way the swearing ended up being used felt jarring. It's been a while since I posted this review and thinking on it, what stands out to me is it's sold as an adult book, has adult elements, but has a younger voice and younger audience tropes. and IMO, that mixture sort of messed up the character voices in whether this was for adults or teens. lol
"What is the point of any of this?" - 100% summation of the novel and Meg.
This book was another example of how AuthorTube writers seem incapable of following their own advice to others.
Lol
If authortube was any good at writing they would be writing books not making videos.
LMAO!!! Timecode 25:25 when you read the most preposterous narrative....Realizing that the plot grid for this must've been a cluster...Did Meg plot this or did she pants this???? Oh god, just realized this is BOOK ONE!!!
@Ego Master LMFAO 🤣
There are other swearwords than f***. I'm not anoyed by cursing. I'm anoyed if a word is overused. There is no impact since you get desensitized. Also it's Megs world. Invent some new cursewords instead.
While I agree that it's a weird mishmash of genres that leaves me wondering what its audience was supposed to be, I've always rejected this "it's not got scientific ideas, so it's not scifi" thing. It just sort of creates this very arbitrary line of "well what's a scientific idea?". It has cyborgs in it, and spaceships. People are very determined to stick things in boxes, but this IMO is just marketing bs. The boundaries between genres of speculative fiction are fuzzy and get crossed all of the time and that's fine. The problem here is that you've still got to know who you're trying to reach with your book, and with this I have no idea who I'd recommend this to.
Well, it either has to dive into the philosophical/ideological aspects of future technology/society (soft Sci-Fi) or really dive into the tech/logistics (hard Sci-Fi).
If it does neither and could be set in a medieval fantasy setting without losing anything significant then it's mostly an aesthetic.
We call it Space Opera, Sci-Fantasy or in some cases simply Erotica. That's not gatekeeping, that's just being honest.
If I read a sci-fi, I want to read a sci-fi. science must be simply a huge part of it. If I read a rime story. the crime must happen and be rather big. Labelling helps with choosing the stuff you like and separate them from those you don't. Like a full throttle romance.
I knew you were going to say YA lol. I'm thinking from what I've seen most Authortube authors all seem to do only YA and doing all the cheesy tropes which they tell others are no no's lol.
I must say, I saw a post from Meg the other day that she regrets this book. She called it ''cursed'' because she lost her job and her marriage failed over it. She is in hiding, feeling self conflicted. She tried to laugh it off, and said she would come back when she felt better, but you never know.
That's unfortunate. It was just a bad book. She shouldn't have suffered so much from it. At the very least, you could tell she had fun writing it, but it sucks that it hit her so hard and people affected her so hard. I hope she finds a way to recover herself and her confidence some day.
@@KirkpattieCake To be honest, she did have a problem before it came out. Two weeks before, she just shaved her head off and went through a bad mental state...everything else just got worse. I am not sure why she blames her book though.
So basically Star Wars meets The Borg who meets Vampire Assistant, while crossing Dune.....yeah I didn't like it when she told us about it on her channel, but to hear it , like this,, it is even worse. She should have listened to her own advice, since she worked as a Lit agent. I not even read it, to realise this is bad.
The cover looks like a rip off of Disney's Treasure Planet. Like there's a scene in the movie that looks scarily similar to the cover.
Not just a scene, isn’t that literally the poster?
Edit: just looked it up, yeah it’s basically just the poster for treasure planet without Jim hanging off the rope in the corner.
As a teacher, the fall of Meg LaTorre makes me very happy.
Imho most authortubers are pretenders. I've never heard of a content creator/book reviewer ALSO writing a book, and people liking it overall. She didn't fall so much as prove that nobody is good at everything.
@@billy.bandit I hear Saga of the Scout is really good... :)
@@cliffhamrickwrites2378lol I should clarify I don't mean all writers, just those who primarily excel at on camera entertainment, especially YT. If they suddenly decide, eh, I review books all day, I bet I can write one too, those guys generally don't have the ability to write a novel that seems to work for a larger audience. If they were always artistic, or cared about writing, then it shows
@@billy.bandit Yeah I can agree with that. I think some authortubers are really just RUclipsrs who happen to have written a book or two. I like to think of myself as a writer (beginning) who happens to have a RUclips channel. Which reminds me, I really need to make a new video some time. Got any ideas?
@@cliffhamrickwrites2378 if you want views: author controversies, book hauls, top 10s. If you want to be unique: how you wrote your first book from idea to ISBN, as those seem to all be different
I need you to review mine. I love truthful RUclips reviews, and I know my fails, but I really need more reviews for mine. HA
I enjoyed many of Meg’s videos but you’ll notice a hard turn in her image prior to release. She did as much as possible to throw everything into marketing this book yet failed to heed her own advice and know WHO was her actual intended audience.
And using f words for adjectives and adverbs is just “f-ing lazy”
Even I know how to use the f word and I’m a teenager.
I think if Meg was an author with the image that she was really whacked out kind of off the wall and bizarre or that she was someone from the booktube community who people kind of didn't really take too seriously from the start...someone who didn't really take herself as seriously... in her videos she seems like a very thorough, very informed type of person who knows what she's doing. She gives the impression that she knows a lot about writing then suddenly she comes out and drops this stinker of a book lol it's kind of hilarious, sad, frustrating and disappointing all at once you know. She didn't take herself seriously as a writer, but maybe she did and she just sucks ass as a writer. Not every teacher can write. I hear she has a small child now. Maybe she'll write books about taking care of children. Who knows. I hope she takes that role as a mom seriously. I wish you all the best.
The setup reminds me of Marissa Mayer's Cinder. However, that's a great novel. This one sounds stupid.
What made you even want to read this? Haha!
Meg's RUclips channel is about writing advice and she specifically brings up how she worked at a literary agency, so I wanted to see what her writing looked like in application.
She's also big on telling people what they are allowed to write or not. So, I like to see if she lives up to her own dictates.
She doesn't...
I just checked Meg Latore's book ranking and it ranks 59,564 place in the list....she is doing bad, considering
Hi-
Was all of that fucking swearing on the same fucking page?
I agree with your review. This book was so disappointing.
I almost picked this book up….sounds like I dodged a bullet
The F Word is a book character at this point. *facepalms*
Sounds like you enjoyed this book lol
I feel like everythings being YA'ified recently, wonder if that's just due to all the YA authors trying to become 'serious authors'.
why is there so much cussing!! Jesus! Like the way she uses it is so terrible
Blame it on Microsoft Word. Today any asshole with typing skills can add to the electronic slush pile we call adult literature.
"it doesnt realy follow any rules of science, so it cant be sci-fi" Im sorry, what?
Lets say i write a story about a group of brave fartstronauts who in their great Flatulenser farts their way to new worlds in faster than light ways, that are all made of different cheese, and in their travels they meet the emperor of the galaxy, they watch the big battle between the emperors armada of Flatulensers and the rebels riding Freedom Birds or whatever, fight of Bree-worms of Mozzarella 3, then thats not sci-fi?
Bad sci-fi maybe, absurdist sci-fi for sure. But still very much sci-fi.
She is a cyborg, they travel in space. Its sci-fi.
Very few things in Star Wars is scientificly accurate. Are you gonna convince me that Star Wars is not Sci-Fi?
Yes, its "Fantasy in space", or "Science fantasy", but thats just saying its BOTH sci-fi and fantasy.
Edit:
Clarketech: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
So even if i write about teleporting wizards in space, throwing fireballs and conjure dragons to fight each other, it is STILL sci-fi.
There, done. Rant over.
No, Star Wars is not sci-fi. It's a space fantasy. Even the analogy to the knights and wise men are too big to miss. Not to mention Darth Vader, who has a stylised samurai armour...
@@marikothecheetah9342 and what, pray tell, is a Sci-Fi?
Was Flash Gordon Sci-fi?
It gets its science about as right as Star Wars.
What about Dune? It has its swordfighting nobles and space-sorceresses. Is that not sci-fi?
Speaking of sci-fi and Fantasy, where do you place Yor, the hunter from the future? Its caveman fantasy very alike Conan the barbarian, but turns out to be in the distant Future?
What if we take a story about elves and retell Renezvous with Rama? Will that be Fantasy, Sci-Fi or "Science fantasy"?
Or could it possibly be that Fantasy and Sci-fi are rather general descriptions rather than bonehard definitions, made for easy categorization and are not mutually exclusive?
Have you read the Barsoom series? A Princess of Mars? That reads very much like a classic fantasy but is set at the early 20s century.
Realy, it buggs the hell out of me when i hear people being stupid and say stuff like this.
Star wars, the most successfull space opera of all time, is not Sci-Fi, because You reccognize elements in it that you also have seen in disney movies.
"But but it has wizards in it..." (oh im sorry, you called them Wise Men)
So did Babylon 5.
Star Trek had greek gods.
Hari Seldon very much takes on a Merlin-like role in the Foundation trilogy.
What about Warhammer 40k? Spaceships and elves and psycic powers and demons and power armors?
How about Dr. Who? By now it has touched upon most myths and stories in western mythology, and it usually turned out to be aliens.
So tell me, what is Sci-Fi, and how come the most sucessfull story about spaceships and galactic empires does not qualify.
@@KamiRecca first. Chill the fork out. Second. I am not going to explain things one can find via Google when clearly you made up your mind. Also, you freely mix everything just to make your point. And stick to it. Stubborness is allowed.
@@marikothecheetah9342 I asked how You define Sci-fi.
This is the quick wikipedia summary:
"Science fiction (sometimes shortened to sci-fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universes, and extraterrestrial life"
Star Wars clearly has futuristic concepts of advaznced science and technology.
I also didnt "freely mix everything just to make my point"
I tried to show that Sci-Fi is more of a broad umbrella term than a specific descriptor.
Thus, Star Wars are by all definitions still Sci-fi. See?
Edit:
Flash Gordon, Dune, Yor, Barsoom series, Babylon 5, Star Trek, Foundation, Warhammer 40k universe and Dr. Who are all concidered Sci-Fi.
So i want to hear your reason why Star Wars should not be concidered Sci-fi but rather "Space Fantasy", when those things you pointed out "Swordfighting heroes and wise men" are pressent in the other works.
Make your argument, or be disgarded without any. Its as easy as that.
@@KamiRecca Star Wars never discusses science. ST, Babylon 5 Doctor Who etc. do. Star Wars has something close to a magic system. while other have at best augmented cognitive skills. It may be considered space opera but for me just because it features spaceship does not automatically makes it sci-fi in its main sense. Star Wars have sci-fi setting, nothing else, but take that out and you an easily turn Star Wars into a fantasy which with Doctor Who or Star Trek would be much more difficult, as science discussion and technology usage is heavily accentuated. Just because there are cars in the movie does not mean it is a car movie. The same with Star Wars. And I watched all of them.