I agree it's far better to have some people guess the twist than to fail to foreshadow it. Most of the time, people LOVE being proven right. and for those who didn't see it, it's important that they can look back and see the evidence that it was coming.
Same, I don't like the phrase "brutally honest" or the like. Yes, the true can and sometimes will hurt, but there's no need to go out of your way to be cruel about it.
I think its just called that to empathize that if you have something to say, say it and donr have false uuh what if i hurt you concerns, why the brutally etragated to not hold back (through there is no reason to be cruel, just be state what you have to say)
That’s not what being brutally honest means. It’s not going out of your way to be cruel about your opinions, it’s prefacing someone that you’re not going to sugarcoat your thoughts and it might hurt to hear. It’s not reveling in the brutal part of the term. It’s more like a warning you might hurt the person’s feelings by being unabashedly honest. But sometimes you have to tell someone what you feel is true to give them a picture of what someone who isn’t their friend and has no incentive to protect their feelings might see what they’ve done or made. It can be a kindness when applied appropriately. You’re only really being cruel when every single situation becomes a “I’m gonna be brutally honest” scenario because 9 times out of 10 it’s better to just lie and be nice than constantly splash someone’s face with cold water.
This was really well done. Daniel Greene was my first BookTuber and was my favortie for a long time (newest favorite being you). If it was not for him I would not have gotten back into reading I don't think. But I have also read his books and would have to agree with your points. I think there is a lot of potential in his worlds but this is him starting to ride his bike without the training wheels. I remember watching a video where he does state that he released the Breach of Peace novella first to get experience under his belt and shake off the jitters. I love that you always critique with respect and decorum. Keep up the amazing work dude! Can't wait to read your books.
Has anyone read the re-released/re-edited or whatever version of his Lawful Times books yet? The ones being bound together in a singular volume rather than as two separate books? I'm curious if people think it actually has or hasn't improved at all from their initial releases. ^-^ (I don't remember if it's actually been released yet or not though.)
ey man, ty for the review. Because Mr Goblin here is really popular, finding honest reviews is really difficult. He has a lot of fans, so, the majority of the reviews are kind and not critical. I was thinking about reading Neon Ghost, but you convince me otherwise. And that's ok!
@camologeek thank you! I found so many reviews that were all positive, or all negative, depending on what they thought of him. So few actually talked about the books! And yes, it's OK if you don't read Neon Ghosts. Not every book is for every person.
@@shanembaileyI think it’s because most people don’t consider it as such. A three star, in most people’s minds, seems to be something along the lines of a book that didn’t offend them with how bad it was- but didn’t view it as good, either. In a lot of cases- people won’t give a book two or more stars unless they despised it. Three stars is a safer, less harsh feeling “I didn’t like it.” Of course I may be wrong, this is all just guesswork based on what I’ve seen.
Personally, I tend to like three star reviews the best because I feel they are the most honest, 5 stars tend to give no cons, while 1 stars are almost all bad with no pros to the book at all. Whereas the three stars tend to give a good blend of both.
You managed to make the reviews interesting with your personality and take without trashing on another’s work for views sake and I appreciate that! It’s very refreshing! ❤
I would hold this up as a perfect example of how to critique a work while being both honest and kind, letting the author or creator know what was done right and what was done wrong and why you thought so on both sides! thank you for this.
This was my first of your videos! You're very thoughtful but very fair and kind which I really appreciate. There's a real sense of mutual respect in your video. Also just on a video comfort level I was really impressed. With smaller channels I often get frustrated with audio quality or video pace but I was very comfortable here which made for a great viewing experience. I've seen bigger channels who dont get this technical stuff right and it makes their videos a chore. You're doing great!
Found this video based on your guest appearance on FN. Great commentary, enough to make me subscribe to your channel. Very kind, very well thought out, but still quite critical. Hard to get the balance right and I appreciate it. I've followed Daniel since he was under 20k subscribers and so I was very excited when he actually released these books. The books show a lot of promise and I agree that Neon Ghosts really felt like an echoed, more refined plot of the previous two novellas. I find that's true of a lot of artists in their early works. A good example of this is I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love by MCR. If you listen to that now, you can hear a lot of things (even directly repeated lyrics) that later on became Three Cheers, The Black Parade, etc. You can hear Way trying to write those albums years before he actually would. So while his books so far aren't my favorites (but by no means bad), I'm hoping they're just the musings of what will become his great series that really shines. Excited to check out your series as well! Congratulations on writing three books that are going to get made!
There's so much good writing advice here. I took a bunch of mental notes. Like how a quirk can make a character more memorable, but it's not a replacement for the character themselves. And wrap up 90% of your story/plot etc. And make a stronger plot for the next book/story/whatever.
I like your philosophy of affirmative honesty for your reviews, especially for new and newish authors, as it's a lot more likely to both encourage people to read review subjects, as well as encourage authors in their writing endeavors, than the usual default internet review settings of "aggressive hate-bombing", "hyperfocused nitpicking", and "assuming personal character flaws for an author for any perceived writing flaws or stylistic dislikes of that author".
I really hope Daniel sees this because it's a really well put explanation of what went right and what went wrong with the books. When I read Breach of Peace, I knew I wasn't going to read his books again for a while because while he definitely has potential, there's just a bit of polish lacking. I remember thinking that what was desperately needed was an editor. I think trad publishing is likely to do a world of good in providing the resources for Daniel to really hone his craft and I may be willing to try his work again soon.
What a great video breakdown. Love your personality as well! Will be subbing (and hoping we can collab in the future)! I really disliked Neon Ghosts personally and had a tough time placing why. I think your points on the “mid-story genre shift” shed a lot of light on it.
I loved this review. One gripe I have with Booktube is the number of creators who seem to exist solely to hate read indie authors and post rant reviews. As an amateur writer, I know how hard it is to put your work out there and have it ripped to shreds. Heck, even constructive criticism can be tough to take in. Anyway, I thought this review was thoughtful and balanced and I enjoyed hearing your take on Green's work.
Thank you for another great video. Your understanding of what entails a great novel just raises my excitement factor for your own forthcoming books. Really looking forward to reading them!
Excellent review(s)! I read the lawful times books and enjoyed them well enough that I bought Neon Ghosts. The criticism of Lawful Times is fair and constructive in nature.
The genre shift doesn't have to be gradual, but there has to be an impactful reason why. Predator has two genre shifts, action war film, to horror, to survival. The two shifts work because of impactful moments that force the shift.
Agreed. My favourite example of genre change is Hot Fuzz going from small town thriller to buddy cop pure action film. It's fantastically done, very intentional, and very sudden.
@@lily-_- the Agatha Christie detective breakdown at the end of Hot Fuzz was some of the best comedy writing ever. A brilliant subversion of expectations.
The ending note about the difference between knowing good writing versus actually perfecting writing yourself was also appreciated!🤭🤭😂😊💖💖💖 It's kinda like recognizing how you like the taste of something when you eat or drink it, versus actually being able to make the dish or beverage yourself!! It's not really that difficult a concept or distinction to grasp, it is???😅😁😁💖
Thanks for a great video and such thoughtful reviews / points for thought and discussion and analysis, and all! I always have a good time, here, every time I tune in to your channel!! 💖 And thank you for the PSA stressing the importance of distinguishing the artist or creator or craftsman and what-have-you from their art/creation/work/etcetera, too-it's kinda sad that it doesn't just go without saying, but still is so important to acknowledgethighlight, I think; so I really appreciate you for that, so much. 😊 💖
I have his books, but haven't yet read them.. But this is a really great, thorough review, thanks! Now I know what to expect, I'll likely appreciate them a lot more. :)
I own A Witch's Sin, but have been putting off reading it. This review actually made me look forward to picking it up, with my expectations set at the right place. This was my first video of yours -- looking forward to seeing more. Thanks!
Jules Pelarski said it best on good reads when they said this about A Witch's Sin getting published: Boutique presses are not new and many great authors have started within them, but what gives me pause is said presses accepting authors knowing they have an audience to sell to, rather than a book they really believed in. Not to say Wraithmarked doesn't believe in Ghosts, or Greene - they certainly do - but my own hope for the industry would be they get some real powerhouse editors who are not afraid to bruise creator egos and tear books apart. While on some level I agree that the big 5 could use some rivalry, it hurts my bookish heart to think the market is selling books the same way some would sell a novelty t-shirt. I have no issues with Daniel as a person, he seems like a genuinely nice guy. But...I couldn't make it past the first page. The choice to give that character that accent on page and in full was indeed a choice. If any editor had one look at that they would throw it in the garbage pile for rewrites. All it it would take to fix this is to provide a brief description of the characters accent and remind the reader every so often when this character is on the page that they have a thick accent. This has to be definitive evidence that no real editing took place here, perhaps due to ego or because of time pressure, who knows.
Really, really, really love this video, for a number of reasons. I'm a big fan of Daniel Greene- he's basically responsible for getting me into some of my favorite series and he does a ton for the community- and while I certainly don't want to see anyone trashing his work in bad faith, I feel like most of the videos I see about his books start with the presenter talking about their respect for Daniel personally, and/or their relationship. That's great that he's got work out there now, but I want to hear an honest opinion about it. Maybe part of the problem is how, as you mentioned, people find it hard to separate the art from the creator, especially when that creator is VERY public-facing. But you handled the whole thing very delicately. My respect.
Loved the video. Got a nice structured set of reviews and good advice for writing in general. Very valuable. Thank you and subbed. Also loved your point on when to provide worldbuilding information. The advice (like you mentioned) to provide information only when it is relevant can be difficult. Sometimes you need it earlier to set it up for later. I guess it just depends on rereading and making sure it feels right but many readers will have differing opinions on the "right" moment or how early. I try to avoid providing worldbuilding through books the characters read and talking too much in the story.
I totally agree that more critics should write their own stories. Some complaints are prefectly justified, others are only made by people who haven't done it themselves.
First video I’m seeing of yours and I love your take and approach to being honest, kind and critical. Although I never intended on reading DG’s books, this review solidified that. DG is an amazing booktuber with a wealth of knowledge from reading so much, but as the saying goes, it’s easier said than done-to actually write a great book. As a writer myself, this actually made me feel good about getting my MFA in creative writing rather than trying to be any kind of RUclipsr because I’m grateful for how much studying of the craft I did even though I’m not published.. yet.
Good video. Liked the overall positive tone and helped set an expectation for Daniel’s books, which I fully intend to read… someday. Waiting for the revised deluxe version of the Lawful Times from Kickstarter. I’ve always kind of worried they would be too violent for my tastes, but I think going in expecting it will help. He did read my first book, so I kind of “owe him”. 😀 Looking forward to exploring more of your content!!
the skill of being able to criticize a work and being able to produce a work are two completely different skillsets. i think it is a heck of a bit of courage to actually put your money where your mouth is and try to make what you've learned to criticize, especially when you know that you will be judged not just on the work, but on your previous criticism of other works. excellent video and you did a great job maintaining a nuanced and clear criticism. cheers.
These are fair reviews. Especially your point regarding the "lack" of pay-off due to none of Daniel's books having a real ending is pretty on-point. Also, I enjoyed the two novellas way more than A Witch's Sin because I felt Taya(?) wasn't a strong enough character to keep me invested through a single PoV book that is supposed to be character-driven. I liked some of the ideas in that book way more than I liked their execution. The tonal shifts were too jarring, even though I usually love being "surprised" by horror plots developing out of 'mundane' stories - Sunshine is a perfect example of this and so is the more recent Longlegs. I'll probably pick up another title in the Lawful Times series to see where it is heading, but I'm good on Neon Ghosts for now, I think.
Congrats on getting your books out there! Really enjoyed this video. I listened to Breach of Peace and had very similar opinions as you. I did think conceptually that Neon Ghosts seemed interesting. Maybe I'll still check it out. It is a little upsetting to know there isn't really a payoff though.
A very fair review. I think this was indeed kind. I tried to be kind with my goodreads reviews as well (since it's Indie and debut material). When I read the Lawful times books, but they also made me decide not to read anything from Daniel until he has improved a lot. In Lawful times I found all character voices very similar, hard-boiledly swearing and with similar snarkiness to Daniel's YT videos. The latter probably made my experience worse than it already was. I can totally respect that Daniel used his platform to sell his books and published earlier than other indie authors would. I did have the feeling that both times I was kind of reading unfinished products. So a bit more struggling (and editing) might've helped.
I only read the preview of A Witch’s Sin on Goodreads but from that, the dynamic between Taya and her partner (I forget his name) reminded me a lot of V and Jackie in Cyberpunk 2077 but it didn’t really feel like cyberpunk, the genre (based on what I know about it through the game) Do people have cyberware to make them stronger, faster, weapons that come out of their arms? Cosmetic cyberware? I just didn’t get it unfortunately but I’d probably give it a real shot if I could get my hands on it lol
I love watching Daniel Greene (and my romantic side is super happy for him as well.) I watched this whole video knowing full well I was not going to read his books. Mostly because of the too much violence you mentioned. I want to add onto your talk about plot twists. Because a lot of the plot twists in the book I'm writing I almost feel like I wasn't the one who came up with them, they just randomly pop into my head and then I think about them and am surprised at how well they work and how I didn't see it earlier, so there's a lot of unintentional foreshadowing that now looks very intentional. This also happened with a character death which I am super sad about and might try to find a way for it not to happen, but on the other hand it makes a lot of sense for the story and would open a new plot thread that I really want to explore.
I have Kindle Unlimited and come across a lot of poorly written fiction. Daniel's books are decent especially for a new author. I do think he suffers a lot from pressure due to the size of his audience though
Thank you for the video. I loved this review and how you went at it. Not tearing them down but being honest with your feedback while still being kind. I've read all 3 books. I enjoyed the Lawful times ones. They were not my favorite and I've basically forgotten everything about them at this point but they were the first books and so short so I think I was kinder. I expected a lot more for Neon Ghosts. He was working with Wraithmarked and I bought the Kickstarter to get the gorgeous book. I hated that book. When the twist came about the vampires and stuff, I was completely lost for the rest of the book. It made no sense. I also totally agree about the ads! They could have been utilized better as world building tools. I still enjoy Daniel Green as a content creator and I do still watch his videos. But, I was just disappointed so much in Neon Ghosts that I don't think I'll pick up his other books. That's just where I am at
I listened to his Unlawful Times audiobooks and I owned his first book. I liked the first one, but the others are a mess to me. I prefer sticking to characters I like, especially the MC. But Daniel is still starting out and that is a good thing.
2:25 I don't think you can accurately label ACOTAR or Fourth Wing as "Young Adult," as they're both full of explicit language and sex, the target audience being adult women
Young adult books often have a higher level of explicit language and sex. The 'young adult' genre was created for teenagers who are rebelling against the idea of being a child, and want to explore things adults want to keep from them. As a piece of media, that emotional outlet appeals to people whose vulgarity and sexuality are repressed, including a wide, adult demographic even if it's not the genre they're "supposed" to read.
@@jessesharp974 YA books are marketed for 12 and up... so no, they do not have more "explicit" language and sex. New Adult does, and those sometimes get mistaken for YA. New Adult is a newer genre that also tends to have a lot of cheesy and corny writing.
Of the three, Neon Ghosts is the only one I've read and I generally concur with your criticism. I enjoyed the book but my main problem with it was that the pacing was all over the place, it was a little bloated and some of the characters were a bit cardboard. However I liked the concept enough that I'll definitely read the next one if it ever gets written. Also, for me, the genre shifts weren't that grating, although it was a little uncomfortable.
Funny you mention genre mashing. I thought I was a horror/mystery reader until I tried The Dark Tower and I just fell in whole hearted love with it, it remains my all time favorite series but when I didn’t realize till about 2 years after reading it for the first time was it was the fantasy elements that I loved about the series so much. My doctor I worked with at the time got me Mistborn for my birthday and I just devoured that series so fast and then realized it was the fantasy that I really needed where before those two series I had no interest in fantasy because all my exposure to that point had been Eragon which for whatever reason is not for me.
That is so cool! It's like you wouldn't have discovered a new genre unless it was blended with one you already liked. Yeah Mistborn is such a good starting point for new fantasy fans. Your doctor went really above and beyond! 😁
At one point you talked about grimdark being an aesthetic choice and giving the world a certain feeling, whereas the grimdark here is bloody and violent and hardcore. Any chance I could ask you to talk more about other books that you feel go toward the aesthetic choice and less toward the bloody and violent? I would love to some of the less hardcore grimdark but I don't know which books fall into these categories.
I think that 90% rule is pretty good rule of thumb. I also think that endings should be used to help tie up the story you just read in a bow, rather than to hint at greater things in future books or movies-looking at you post credit scenes of hands emerging from rubble. Kinda feel like that’s how the lawful times books ended. It’s a little disappointing for an ending to be, the next book is the one you want to read.
Audio tip: you don't need to use both the foam wind screen and the flat "plosive" screen unless you are singing or shouting into the mic. The foam wind screen is enough
Interesting (and cool) that you wrote your own subtitles for this video. I'm used to seeing gobbledygook, but instead I noted impromptu sentence changes. Good analysis. I may check Neon Ghosts out sometime just because the setting sounds incredibly intriguing. Though his characters don't quite sound my speed.
I read his first book and I thought it was fine. Didn’t make me want to read the rest. They are much better than the typical cash grab book pooped out by RUclipsrs looking for a quick payout. He clearly wrote them because he wants to write.
I know this is completly off topic but I saw a Rivers of London cover in the back and would love to see your opinions on the series as someone who loves the series. It's a series rarley talked about on the internet (probably cause it was launched horribly stateside) so I would love to see your opinion.
I don't quite know how to articulate exactly what I'm thinking/feeling right now.... I just know there is something I'd like to say, I'm just not quite sure exactly how to put it.😅 But, like, I kinda feel as if a midpoint reversal or whatever the exact terminology for it is (I'm currently not sure if I'm remembering it right) is a little different from other plot twists....or from just having multiple possible options from the start and then over the course of the book eventually uncovering which option it really was with or without a red herring or so causing hiccups along the way. The midpoint reversal, or whatever it's called, is actually supposed to be more out of the blue-it's supposed to be when everything the characters and the audience alike thought they knew or believed to be true about the goal or direction of the story is made actually almost completely irrelevant because actually there is something else far more true and pressing and important or whatever that completely overturns and/or replaces anything that came before that moment, if not even if completely erases it as having actually been absolutely wrong or incorrect or just a lie / enormous mistake or misbelief. Almost like starting over, as if the entire first half was completely for nothing. It actually IS supposed to hit quite differently than other more typical reveals or smaller twists or red herrings / mysteries / whatever. 🤔🤔 Like, the entire point of them actually is to blindside or overturn the story and set it on a completely new or totally different direction entirely from not only where it started but literally anywhere it seemed to have been going before that very moment. I'm not sure it's entirely fair to judge that kind of a switch-up or how it should/shouldn't be set up for within a story in completely the same way as you would judge any other type of reveal or twist or set up, even if of course it might naturally not be the story for everyone to have put all this time and investment in one story/plotline/etcetera only to learn either partway through or at the very last minute that what they're actually getting is something completely different than initially thought or previously expected. (Since, yes; naturally, that can make it feel like where the story started was basically just a giant waste of time...or had just lured you in with false promises never ever to be delivered on. But..that was kind if the point?) At least so long as the new event or information that happens or is discovered at that point which was previously unknown is actually demonstrated on page and does make sense or have logic enough at that point and moving on-I still don't think it's necessary a bad writing problem just because there was little if any advance warning. (And that kind of a story device or plot turn or what-have-you could occur even without it necessarily switching the genre up at all, too.) But, I dunno, maybe that's just me. Lol ((Sorry, if those thoughts are a bit muddled or stream of consciousness and difficult to follow or parse apart.😅 🙏Forgive me 🙂)) I'm actually kinda more curious to read Neon Ghost for myself now and see what I think or not. Thanks! 😊💖 I really appreciate how you always try to be fair and as objective or impartial as you can, even whilst still being wholly honest about your true thoughts/feelings/opinions and such. This is why you're one of my most enjoyed channels and I should really tune in to more of your videos more often than I have so far!!!!! (I'm gonna turn in the notification bell for all notifications now rather than personalized...since the personalized notifications option these days basically just seems to act the same as having no notifications, sadly.!💖💖)
First video of yours that has shown up for me (yay algorithm) and I almost totally agree with what you said. I watched and read quite a few reviews of Lawful Times before I bought the first one and seriously could not believe what I was reading. I think Daniel's success as a youtuber unfortunately undermined his writing in that it led to a lack of sincere feedback, and allowed him to get a larger audience than the writing deserves (sorry, I am not the nicest). There are some good ideas but the execution is not there. I like his youtube content, but was too burnt on Lawful Times to even think about subjecting myself to Neon Ghosts. Now off the watch the Lindsay Ellis video, she's a youtuber who I think did the author thing the right way, and I thoroughly enjoyed her books while acknowledging they aren't perfect.
This helps articulate my struggles with the books. Some of the things that were really interesting own their own were also the things that didn't work overall. It's like a bunch of really cool seeds thrown together into books that don't bring them together.
Daniel Green has balls to write his own book. It’s worth trying. I stopped watching him when he did reviews of Kobo after doing paid promotions for them.
I only read the first book and liked it well enough, but the violence was just a little too much for me. It's like he read Wheel of TIme and thought, this needs more guns and gore, especially gore. I did plan on continuing The Lawful times series, but I was planning on waiting till more was out. I'm a little disappointed that he never came out with any more after those first two, I feel like that was a long time ago,
Daniel has lots of fans due to his RUclips channel. I've also bought his books. Sadly the Goodreads review averages don't lie. Reading them turned into an slog filled with annoyance very quickly.
And now his Neon Ghost will be rewritten because he won an official publication contract also with that his 4th book is under writing as we know from his video with strong reviews of the publisher.
For me the genre shift couldn’t come soon enough. I’m far more into fantasy than sci-fi/cyberpunk so the entire first half of the book I was like “can we get to the vampires please?”
Honesty is definitely kind. How else would we as writers learn if not by our failures. The dopamine hit of a win masks our ability to see through all the craziness to weed out the failures we made and address them in the future if not pointed out. (Nice run-on there, eh?) Great review, Michael. I appreciated Daniel's dark tone in Breach of Peace, but could not get myself to finish Rebel's Creed because of some of the inconsistencies with changing characters. He should have left Breach as a flat single.
In regards to the end bit about “Daniel makes the same mistakes he criticizes others for, but that’s alright because art is hard”: I think it’s important to remember that before he was an author, he was a reviewer. But after crossing the line of making the same type of art he criticize, now Daniel is judging his peers. And since he is arguably the largest reviewer we have in the book-reviewing game, i think it is fair to say his reviews have a non zero effective on the sales and opinions of a book he reviews. For instances like this, I like to draw comparisons across industries to see if the point works in general and not just in relation to writing. For this example, let’s look at runners. Having run myself and knowing the tools needed for running, I can criticize certain actions of other runners. I can even watch Usain Bolt run and talk about what I would’ve done differently. But then you watch me run, and you see I am maybe 1/10th the speed of Mr Bolt. So are you going to keep taking me seriously on my thoughts and opinions on running? Or would you prefer to listen to the actual professionals in that industry? Of course I could only be saying correct things about running, and no one could prove I was wrong, but the things I would be saying would be surface-level and simple because I can only relate Mr Bolts work to what I myself can understand. And imagine if I charged you money to watch me run.
Green was one of my first book reviewers but he quickly became boring with how he stuck with the most basic mainstream fantasy series and how he talked about them
Are the characters too shallow? Or are these simply more plot focused / plot driven - rather than character focus or character driven - type stories(Which happens to be a writing convention that is currently not so in-vogue right now but is actually entirely optional and down to individual writer/reader choices or preferences but not necessarily some actual mandatory requirement or marker of poor storytelling or bad writing)? 🤔 ((Similarly, while books in a series do need a stopping point....they actually don't necessarily NEED to have a definitive conclusion, prior to the series' ender. Whether or not to style a series as if each volume is its own separate book or as if each volume is really just Chapter 1 in a much larger overarching whole actually IS entirely optional, and very much down to individual writer/reader choices or preferences. And the tendency to give individual books in a series a more conclusive ending, either wrapped-up completely and self-contained almost entirely within its own self or with more of an episodic / cliffhanger or some unresolved threads left still or open and or new elements introduced just to set up the next installment, is again just the current or most popular convention right now....not necessarily inherently bad writing or poor storytelling at all. Especially for something that is self/indie rather than traditionally pubbed, and therefore actually has more freedom to exercise the liberty to craft stories outside of just more typical/traditional story beats or structures. So... was it actually done weakly, or was it simply just more unconventionally done? 🤔)) I will probably read all of his books now, just to contemplate these questions for myself now. 😂
I love your section on being quick to criticize a book or an IP in general. This is especially bad in the manga sphere. People think they know how to write a good manga because they know writing best practices when they don't know the industry that's being operated in. Harsh working conditions really limits creativity especially if you have ADHD. but the RUclipsrs always say "X anime is garbage because X part of the plot sucks!" when they know damn well that these mangaka are amazing writers for even creating a coherent story under said conditions.
Nice review. I got the sense that you overall weren't the biggest fan, but it came across like a sincere attempt to not play down flaws for potential readers while not trying to tear the story apart. I will fight you on the First and Last videos though. Having read the original ACOTAR trilogy and liked it well enough. I had a blast watching him do his best to cobble together a guess at the plot from only a couple chapters. And between Fourth Wing having always been adult and ACOTAR getting re-branded as adult, neither of the examples you showed when saying he makes furn of YA were YA.
Yeah… Writing is hard. Someone could be really great at giving reviews and doing analysis and know all of the things that they need to include in a story to make it good but it’s really hard to actually execute it. Put that into action. I always do better at reviewing and analysis then I do it creative writing.
Let's face it, every author and every book has weaknesses and strengths. Being entertained is the key. Even with weak prose and a plot with holes in it, was I entertained? I've given up on books early and tossed them aside. In some way, the author has succeeded if I remain interested enough to get to the end of the book. Then another question arises. Was I satisfied with the ending? Readers ask for a lot from authors. It's a damned hard thing to do. Credit goes to anyone who has the heart to write a book and put it out there for people to read. If the book fails, that's okay. There is always the next book.
20:17 Honestly same. One reason I don’t really enjoy Sanderson is I feel like he telegraphs his plot twists so hard. I’m not the type of reader to try and predict what happens either, I just feel like he leads me right to it. There was one in Stormlight that I didn’t even know it was supposed to be a twist until it was “revealed.”
I really admire your commitment to positivity, but I must be honest that Daniel Greene completely burned up my good faith by whole heartedly recommending Shadow of the Conqueror by Shad M. Brooks without so much as a content warning. And, woof, as a queer girl that one really hurts. I don't think people knew about Shad's homophobia at that time, but even the content that is in Shadow of the Conqueror just crosses so many lines, especially for women. (And I don't think it would be okay to list them out in a comment section without a spoiler warning or something to hide that kind of content.) I know Daniel Greene isn't responsible for that book existing, but his strong support did push me in the direction of a book I am very glad I ended up hearing enough excerpts from to know I never want to touch.
@@kristienwhitney-johns5863 It digs to the heart of the media literacy abilities of someone who made their name off of media literacy. I don't think that is unfair or irrelevant.
@@glory4645 Sadly those people do exist, but I am afraid I am the polar opposite of them hahah. I can get the confusion since I avoided elaborating on how bad the things are that made me revolted. But honestly I am totally good with and in favor of hardcore subject matters. It is more how it is handled that made me go, "How can anyone in their right minds support this?" Honestly, zero interest in cancelling Daniel Greene. I just don't think he is at all worthy of being called King of BookTube and I found him forgettable besides the video that made me go, "no just no." Bad analysis and bad recommendations are bad.
First time seeing your channel and I just wanted to say you're doing great. I'm no fan of these books and nevertheless I had no problem spending the 33 minutes with you talking about them. Greene is a goblin, and as an elf, I can't support their kind. (joking...or am I?)
One small(ish) issue I had with Breach of Peace, is had the book not explicitly told us the two characters were married, I would not have been able to tell. They more-so talked to and reacted to each other like people who were just having sex. At least that was my interpretation of the characters.
@@AthEE_One they’re just not YA. they are not for young adult audiences. They are straight up adult books. There are no teen characters and the themes are all adult themes.
@@insertname2035 still an adult. Acotar constantly gets shelved YA even thought it’s adult because a woman wrote it who previously published YA. There are plenty of books that this happens to even when the characters are younger than 20. It depends on the themes and content. Just because acotar focuses on romance and love triangles it gets Put into YA when it’s simply not. If you want to really argue than it’s New Adult but that’s still an age group not fully recognized in publishing as much yet.
In defense of what you are saying Fourth Wing is listed as being a New Adult book since the characters are college age. Acotar on the other hand doesn't specify it is New Adult or college age and gets put into the YA section when it shouldn't be. At the thrift stores I see those books shoved in the YA section typically because honestly they look too much like YA books and the book titles are that style as well.
I agree it's far better to have some people guess the twist than to fail to foreshadow it. Most of the time, people LOVE being proven right. and for those who didn't see it, it's important that they can look back and see the evidence that it was coming.
Same, I don't like the phrase "brutally honest" or the like. Yes, the true can and sometimes will hurt, but there's no need to go out of your way to be cruel about it.
Thank you somebody said it!!
I think its just called that to empathize that if you have something to say, say it and donr have false uuh what if i hurt you concerns, why the brutally etragated to not hold back (through there is no reason to be cruel, just be state what you have to say)
It's an aussie thing. People say it all the time
That’s not what being brutally honest means. It’s not going out of your way to be cruel about your opinions, it’s prefacing someone that you’re not going to sugarcoat your thoughts and it might hurt to hear. It’s not reveling in the brutal part of the term. It’s more like a warning you might hurt the person’s feelings by being unabashedly honest. But sometimes you have to tell someone what you feel is true to give them a picture of what someone who isn’t their friend and has no incentive to protect their feelings might see what they’ve done or made. It can be a kindness when applied appropriately. You’re only really being cruel when every single situation becomes a “I’m gonna be brutally honest” scenario because 9 times out of 10 it’s better to just lie and be nice than constantly splash someone’s face with cold water.
Thank you. People use honesty as an excuse to be cruel!
This was really well done. Daniel Greene was my first BookTuber and was my favortie for a long time (newest favorite being you). If it was not for him I would not have gotten back into reading I don't think. But I have also read his books and would have to agree with your points. I think there is a lot of potential in his worlds but this is him starting to ride his bike without the training wheels. I remember watching a video where he does state that he released the Breach of Peace novella first to get experience under his belt and shake off the jitters. I love that you always critique with respect and decorum. Keep up the amazing work dude! Can't wait to read your books.
"This is him starting to ride his bike without the training wheels" is the best description of Daniel Greene's writing I think I've ever heard.
Has anyone read the re-released/re-edited or whatever version of his Lawful Times books yet? The ones being bound together in a singular volume rather than as two separate books?
I'm curious if people think it actually has or hasn't improved at all from their initial releases. ^-^ (I don't remember if it's actually been released yet or not though.)
ey man, ty for the review. Because Mr Goblin here is really popular, finding honest reviews is really difficult. He has a lot of fans, so, the majority of the reviews are kind and not critical. I was thinking about reading Neon Ghost, but you convince me otherwise. And that's ok!
@camologeek thank you! I found so many reviews that were all positive, or all negative, depending on what they thought of him. So few actually talked about the books!
And yes, it's OK if you don't read Neon Ghosts. Not every book is for every person.
Just look at his Goodreads reviews. An average of 3.5/3.6 is really low.
@@Murcatto-hu1ym I never understood why 3's are considered really low. It's technically a high average book when it's out of 5.
@@shanembaileyI think it’s because most people don’t consider it as such. A three star, in most people’s minds, seems to be something along the lines of a book that didn’t offend them with how bad it was- but didn’t view it as good, either. In a lot of cases- people won’t give a book two or more stars unless they despised it. Three stars is a safer, less harsh feeling “I didn’t like it.” Of course I may be wrong, this is all just guesswork based on what I’ve seen.
Personally, I tend to like three star reviews the best because I feel they are the most honest, 5 stars tend to give no cons, while 1 stars are almost all bad with no pros to the book at all. Whereas the three stars tend to give a good blend of both.
You managed to make the reviews interesting with your personality and take without trashing on another’s work for views sake and I appreciate that! It’s very refreshing! ❤
I would hold this up as a perfect example of how to critique a work while being both honest and kind, letting the author or creator know what was done right and what was done wrong and why you thought so on both sides! thank you for this.
This was my first of your videos! You're very thoughtful but very fair and kind which I really appreciate. There's a real sense of mutual respect in your video. Also just on a video comfort level I was really impressed. With smaller channels I often get frustrated with audio quality or video pace but I was very comfortable here which made for a great viewing experience. I've seen bigger channels who dont get this technical stuff right and it makes their videos a chore. You're doing great!
Found this video based on your guest appearance on FN. Great commentary, enough to make me subscribe to your channel. Very kind, very well thought out, but still quite critical. Hard to get the balance right and I appreciate it.
I've followed Daniel since he was under 20k subscribers and so I was very excited when he actually released these books. The books show a lot of promise and I agree that Neon Ghosts really felt like an echoed, more refined plot of the previous two novellas.
I find that's true of a lot of artists in their early works. A good example of this is I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love by MCR. If you listen to that now, you can hear a lot of things (even directly repeated lyrics) that later on became Three Cheers, The Black Parade, etc. You can hear Way trying to write those albums years before he actually would.
So while his books so far aren't my favorites (but by no means bad), I'm hoping they're just the musings of what will become his great series that really shines.
Excited to check out your series as well! Congratulations on writing three books that are going to get made!
Wait.. is this the best intro on RUclips?
Yes, yes it is 😂
The car bit killed me 😂
@@LC-gw7tp haha thumbs up there was improvised but I’m glad it made the final edit. And glad you liked the intro :D
A great video. A really fantastic way to give an honest review without being a jerk about it.
There's so much good writing advice here. I took a bunch of mental notes. Like how a quirk can make a character more memorable, but it's not a replacement for the character themselves. And wrap up 90% of your story/plot etc. And make a stronger plot for the next book/story/whatever.
I like your philosophy of affirmative honesty for your reviews, especially for new and newish authors, as it's a lot more likely to both encourage people to read review subjects, as well as encourage authors in their writing endeavors, than the usual default internet review settings of "aggressive hate-bombing", "hyperfocused nitpicking", and "assuming personal character flaws for an author for any perceived writing flaws or stylistic dislikes of that author".
I really hope Daniel sees this because it's a really well put explanation of what went right and what went wrong with the books. When I read Breach of Peace, I knew I wasn't going to read his books again for a while because while he definitely has potential, there's just a bit of polish lacking. I remember thinking that what was desperately needed was an editor. I think trad publishing is likely to do a world of good in providing the resources for Daniel to really hone his craft and I may be willing to try his work again soon.
this is the first video I’ve seen of yours and I flippin’ loved it. Your energy, thoughts and ethics are wonderful. You have a new subscriber.
What a great video breakdown. Love your personality as well! Will be subbing (and hoping we can collab in the future)!
I really disliked Neon Ghosts personally and had a tough time placing why. I think your points on the “mid-story genre shift” shed a lot of light on it.
I loved this review. One gripe I have with Booktube is the number of creators who seem to exist solely to hate read indie authors and post rant reviews. As an amateur writer, I know how hard it is to put your work out there and have it ripped to shreds. Heck, even constructive criticism can be tough to take in. Anyway, I thought this review was thoughtful and balanced and I enjoyed hearing your take on Green's work.
Thank you for another great video.
Your understanding of what entails a great novel just raises my excitement factor for your own forthcoming books. Really looking forward to reading them!
Excellent review(s)! I read the lawful times books and enjoyed them well enough that I bought Neon Ghosts. The criticism of Lawful Times is fair and constructive in nature.
“We don’t get any description of the train. We just get-“
*RUclips plays an ad*
“Ads”
Or you could download adblock. There, I just solved your problem.
Great critique! Really enjoyed this video, you had a lot of interesting things to say throughout.
The genre shift doesn't have to be gradual, but there has to be an impactful reason why. Predator has two genre shifts, action war film, to horror, to survival. The two shifts work because of impactful moments that force the shift.
@kredonystus7768 that's an excellent point! And good example of genre shift.
Agreed. My favourite example of genre change is Hot Fuzz going from small town thriller to buddy cop pure action film. It's fantastically done, very intentional, and very sudden.
@@lily-_- the Agatha Christie detective breakdown at the end of Hot Fuzz was some of the best comedy writing ever. A brilliant subversion of expectations.
The ending note about the difference between knowing good writing versus actually perfecting writing yourself was also appreciated!🤭🤭😂😊💖💖💖
It's kinda like recognizing how you like the taste of something when you eat or drink it, versus actually being able to make the dish or beverage yourself!! It's not really that difficult a concept or distinction to grasp, it is???😅😁😁💖
Thanks for a great video and such thoughtful reviews / points for thought and discussion and analysis, and all! I always have a good time, here, every time I tune in to your channel!! 💖
And thank you for the PSA stressing the importance of distinguishing the artist or creator or craftsman and what-have-you from their art/creation/work/etcetera, too-it's kinda sad that it doesn't just go without saying, but still is so important to acknowledgethighlight, I think; so I really appreciate you for that, so much. 😊 💖
he's ok, he's still just starting out. He's not bad just new and needs more craftsmanship and that comes with time.
I have his books, but haven't yet read them.. But this is a really great, thorough review, thanks! Now I know what to expect, I'll likely appreciate them a lot more. :)
I own A Witch's Sin, but have been putting off reading it. This review actually made me look forward to picking it up, with my expectations set at the right place. This was my first video of yours -- looking forward to seeing more. Thanks!
Great video! You explained your thoughts extremely well and were very fair. Excellently done.
Jules Pelarski said it best on good reads when they said this about A Witch's Sin getting published: Boutique presses are not new and many great authors have started within them, but what gives me pause is said presses accepting authors knowing they have an audience to sell to, rather than a book they really believed in. Not to say Wraithmarked doesn't believe in Ghosts, or Greene - they certainly do - but my own hope for the industry would be they get some real powerhouse editors who are not afraid to bruise creator egos and tear books apart. While on some level I agree that the big 5 could use some rivalry, it hurts my bookish heart to think the market is selling books the same way some would sell a novelty t-shirt.
I have no issues with Daniel as a person, he seems like a genuinely nice guy. But...I couldn't make it past the first page. The choice to give that character that accent on page and in full was indeed a choice. If any editor had one look at that they would throw it in the garbage pile for rewrites. All it it would take to fix this is to provide a brief description of the characters accent and remind the reader every so often when this character is on the page that they have a thick accent. This has to be definitive evidence that no real editing took place here, perhaps due to ego or because of time pressure, who knows.
Really, really, really love this video, for a number of reasons. I'm a big fan of Daniel Greene- he's basically responsible for getting me into some of my favorite series and he does a ton for the community- and while I certainly don't want to see anyone trashing his work in bad faith, I feel like most of the videos I see about his books start with the presenter talking about their respect for Daniel personally, and/or their relationship. That's great that he's got work out there now, but I want to hear an honest opinion about it. Maybe part of the problem is how, as you mentioned, people find it hard to separate the art from the creator, especially when that creator is VERY public-facing. But you handled the whole thing very delicately. My respect.
Loved the video. Got a nice structured set of reviews and good advice for writing in general. Very valuable. Thank you and subbed.
Also loved your point on when to provide worldbuilding information. The advice (like you mentioned) to provide information only when it is relevant can be difficult. Sometimes you need it earlier to set it up for later. I guess it just depends on rereading and making sure it feels right but many readers will have differing opinions on the "right" moment or how early. I try to avoid providing worldbuilding through books the characters read and talking too much in the story.
Sounds like Lawful Times was essentially a precursor for how he wanted to tell a specific kind of story. I definitely wanna give them all a read. 😊
I totally agree that more critics should write their own stories. Some complaints are prefectly justified, others are only made by people who haven't done it themselves.
First video I’m seeing of yours and I love your take and approach to being honest, kind and critical. Although I never intended on reading DG’s books, this review solidified that. DG is an amazing booktuber with a wealth of knowledge from reading so much, but as the saying goes, it’s easier said than done-to actually write a great book. As a writer myself, this actually made me feel good about getting my MFA in creative writing rather than trying to be any kind of RUclipsr because I’m grateful for how much studying of the craft I did even though I’m not published.. yet.
Great review sir. I have read the first 2 and i can agree with your analysis. Oddly enough this made me want to read the third. Thank you.
Good video. Liked the overall positive tone and helped set an expectation for Daniel’s books, which I fully intend to read… someday. Waiting for the revised deluxe version of the Lawful Times from Kickstarter. I’ve always kind of worried they would be too violent for my tastes, but I think going in expecting it will help. He did read my first book, so I kind of “owe him”. 😀
Looking forward to exploring more of your content!!
First time here. That intro is FIRE lol. Good work.
I clicked out of curiousity, but I subbed for that intro.
This was a great analysis!
the skill of being able to criticize a work and being able to produce a work are two completely different skillsets. i think it is a heck of a bit of courage to actually put your money where your mouth is and try to make what you've learned to criticize, especially when you know that you will be judged not just on the work, but on your previous criticism of other works.
excellent video and you did a great job maintaining a nuanced and clear criticism. cheers.
These are fair reviews. Especially your point regarding the "lack" of pay-off due to none of Daniel's books having a real ending is pretty on-point. Also, I enjoyed the two novellas way more than A Witch's Sin because I felt Taya(?) wasn't a strong enough character to keep me invested through a single PoV book that is supposed to be character-driven. I liked some of the ideas in that book way more than I liked their execution. The tonal shifts were too jarring, even though I usually love being "surprised" by horror plots developing out of 'mundane' stories - Sunshine is a perfect example of this and so is the more recent Longlegs. I'll probably pick up another title in the Lawful Times series to see where it is heading, but I'm good on Neon Ghosts for now, I think.
Congrats on getting your books out there! Really enjoyed this video. I listened to Breach of Peace and had very similar opinions as you. I did think conceptually that Neon Ghosts seemed interesting. Maybe I'll still check it out. It is a little upsetting to know there isn't really a payoff though.
A very fair review. I think this was indeed kind. I tried to be kind with my goodreads reviews as well (since it's Indie and debut material). When I read the Lawful times books, but they also made me decide not to read anything from Daniel until he has improved a lot. In Lawful times I found all character voices very similar, hard-boiledly swearing and with similar snarkiness to Daniel's YT videos. The latter probably made my experience worse than it already was.
I can totally respect that Daniel used his platform to sell his books and published earlier than other indie authors would. I did have the feeling that both times I was kind of reading unfinished products. So a bit more struggling (and editing) might've helped.
I only read the preview of A Witch’s Sin on Goodreads but from that, the dynamic between Taya and her partner (I forget his name) reminded me a lot of V and Jackie in Cyberpunk 2077 but it didn’t really feel like cyberpunk, the genre (based on what I know about it through the game) Do people have cyberware to make them stronger, faster, weapons that come out of their arms? Cosmetic cyberware? I just didn’t get it unfortunately but I’d probably give it a real shot if I could get my hands on it lol
You made valid points. I dont see this as being mean more like i believe in you but you still have so much to learn.
Subscribed! Loved your style and content, look forward to more.
I love watching Daniel Greene (and my romantic side is super happy for him as well.)
I watched this whole video knowing full well I was not going to read his books. Mostly because of the too much violence you mentioned.
I want to add onto your talk about plot twists.
Because a lot of the plot twists in the book I'm writing I almost feel like I wasn't the one who came up with them, they just randomly pop into my head and then I think about them and am surprised at how well they work and how I didn't see it earlier, so there's a lot of unintentional foreshadowing that now looks very intentional.
This also happened with a character death which I am super sad about and might try to find a way for it not to happen, but on the other hand it makes a lot of sense for the story and would open a new plot thread that I really want to explore.
I have Kindle Unlimited and come across a lot of poorly written fiction. Daniel's books are decent especially for a new author. I do think he suffers a lot from pressure due to the size of his audience though
Thank you for the video. I loved this review and how you went at it. Not tearing them down but being honest with your feedback while still being kind.
I've read all 3 books. I enjoyed the Lawful times ones. They were not my favorite and I've basically forgotten everything about them at this point but they were the first books and so short so I think I was kinder.
I expected a lot more for Neon Ghosts. He was working with Wraithmarked and I bought the Kickstarter to get the gorgeous book. I hated that book. When the twist came about the vampires and stuff, I was completely lost for the rest of the book. It made no sense. I also totally agree about the ads! They could have been utilized better as world building tools.
I still enjoy Daniel Green as a content creator and I do still watch his videos. But, I was just disappointed so much in Neon Ghosts that I don't think I'll pick up his other books. That's just where I am at
Is this the Greene Bone Saga everyone keeps talking about?
Amazing! 🤣🤣🤣
😂😂 Well… almost. Almost.
Great video! Glad you popped on my feed. :)
I listened to his Unlawful Times audiobooks and I owned his first book. I liked the first one, but the others are a mess to me. I prefer sticking to characters I like, especially the MC. But Daniel is still starting out and that is a good thing.
2:25 I don't think you can accurately label ACOTAR or Fourth Wing as "Young Adult," as they're both full of explicit language and sex, the target audience being adult women
Young adult books often have a higher level of explicit language and sex. The 'young adult' genre was created for teenagers who are rebelling against the idea of being a child, and want to explore things adults want to keep from them. As a piece of media, that emotional outlet appeals to people whose vulgarity and sexuality are repressed, including a wide, adult demographic even if it's not the genre they're "supposed" to read.
@@jessesharp974 YA books are marketed for 12 and up... so no, they do not have more "explicit" language and sex. New Adult does, and those sometimes get mistaken for YA. New Adult is a newer genre that also tends to have a lot of cheesy and corny writing.
ACOTAR 100% started as YA
Librarian here. Acotar started as ya and aged with the audience. Unfortunately, that audience refuses to read anything that isnt young adult.
Dude you're fantastic.... how do I get you to review my ya/na hybrid fantasy Heroes of the Line series?
Of the three, Neon Ghosts is the only one I've read and I generally concur with your criticism.
I enjoyed the book but my main problem with it was that the pacing was all over the place, it was a little bloated and some of the characters were a bit cardboard.
However I liked the concept enough that I'll definitely read the next one if it ever gets written. Also, for me, the genre shifts weren't that grating, although it was a little uncomfortable.
I think Daniel just found his most valuable Alpha reader
Funny you mention genre mashing. I thought I was a horror/mystery reader until I tried The Dark Tower and I just fell in whole hearted love with it, it remains my all time favorite series but when I didn’t realize till about 2 years after reading it for the first time was it was the fantasy elements that I loved about the series so much. My doctor I worked with at the time got me Mistborn for my birthday and I just devoured that series so fast and then realized it was the fantasy that I really needed where before those two series I had no interest in fantasy because all my exposure to that point had been Eragon which for whatever reason is not for me.
That is so cool! It's like you wouldn't have discovered a new genre unless it was blended with one you already liked. Yeah Mistborn is such a good starting point for new fantasy fans. Your doctor went really above and beyond! 😁
At one point you talked about grimdark being an aesthetic choice and giving the world a certain feeling, whereas the grimdark here is bloody and violent and hardcore. Any chance I could ask you to talk more about other books that you feel go toward the aesthetic choice and less toward the bloody and violent? I would love to some of the less hardcore grimdark but I don't know which books fall into these categories.
I think that 90% rule is pretty good rule of thumb. I also think that endings should be used to help tie up the story you just read in a bow, rather than to hint at greater things in future books or movies-looking at you post credit scenes of hands emerging from rubble. Kinda feel like that’s how the lawful times books ended.
It’s a little disappointing for an ending to be, the next book is the one you want to read.
Audio tip: you don't need to use both the foam wind screen and the flat "plosive" screen unless you are singing or shouting into the mic. The foam wind screen is enough
Interesting (and cool) that you wrote your own subtitles for this video. I'm used to seeing gobbledygook, but instead I noted impromptu sentence changes. Good analysis. I may check Neon Ghosts out sometime just because the setting sounds incredibly intriguing. Though his characters don't quite sound my speed.
I think the best word to describe Daniel's writing is "sophomoric."
Just backed your kickstarter and am excited to start reading your books! Thank you for always being happy and kind ☺️
Awesome! Thank you!!!
I read his first book and I thought it was fine. Didn’t make me want to read the rest. They are much better than the typical cash grab book pooped out by RUclipsrs looking for a quick payout. He clearly wrote them because he wants to write.
Came here from Fantasy News!
I know this is completly off topic but I saw a Rivers of London cover in the back and would love to see your opinions on the series as someone who loves the series. It's a series rarley talked about on the internet (probably cause it was launched horribly stateside) so I would love to see your opinion.
I don't quite know how to articulate exactly what I'm thinking/feeling right now.... I just know there is something I'd like to say, I'm just not quite sure exactly how to put it.😅 But, like, I kinda feel as if a midpoint reversal or whatever the exact terminology for it is (I'm currently not sure if I'm remembering it right) is a little different from other plot twists....or from just having multiple possible options from the start and then over the course of the book eventually uncovering which option it really was with or without a red herring or so causing hiccups along the way. The midpoint reversal, or whatever it's called, is actually supposed to be more out of the blue-it's supposed to be when everything the characters and the audience alike thought they knew or believed to be true about the goal or direction of the story is made actually almost completely irrelevant because actually there is something else far more true and pressing and important or whatever that completely overturns and/or replaces anything that came before that moment, if not even if completely erases it as having actually been absolutely wrong or incorrect or just a lie / enormous mistake or misbelief. Almost like starting over, as if the entire first half was completely for nothing. It actually IS supposed to hit quite differently than other more typical reveals or smaller twists or red herrings / mysteries / whatever. 🤔🤔 Like, the entire point of them actually is to blindside or overturn the story and set it on a completely new or totally different direction entirely from not only where it started but literally anywhere it seemed to have been going before that very moment. I'm not sure it's entirely fair to judge that kind of a switch-up or how it should/shouldn't be set up for within a story in completely the same way as you would judge any other type of reveal or twist or set up, even if of course it might naturally not be the story for everyone to have put all this time and investment in one story/plotline/etcetera only to learn either partway through or at the very last minute that what they're actually getting is something completely different than initially thought or previously expected. (Since, yes; naturally, that can make it feel like where the story started was basically just a giant waste of time...or had just lured you in with false promises never ever to be delivered on. But..that was kind if the point?) At least so long as the new event or information that happens or is discovered at that point which was previously unknown is actually demonstrated on page and does make sense or have logic enough at that point and moving on-I still don't think it's necessary a bad writing problem just because there was little if any advance warning. (And that kind of a story device or plot turn or what-have-you could occur even without it necessarily switching the genre up at all, too.) But, I dunno, maybe that's just me. Lol
((Sorry, if those thoughts are a bit muddled or stream of consciousness and difficult to follow or parse apart.😅 🙏Forgive me 🙂))
I'm actually kinda more curious to read Neon Ghost for myself now and see what I think or not. Thanks! 😊💖
I really appreciate how you always try to be fair and as objective or impartial as you can, even whilst still being wholly honest about your true thoughts/feelings/opinions and such. This is why you're one of my most enjoyed channels and I should really tune in to more of your videos more often than I have so far!!!!! (I'm gonna turn in the notification bell for all notifications now rather than personalized...since the personalized notifications option these days basically just seems to act the same as having no notifications, sadly.!💖💖)
First video of yours that has shown up for me (yay algorithm) and I almost totally agree with what you said. I watched and read quite a few reviews of Lawful Times before I bought the first one and seriously could not believe what I was reading. I think Daniel's success as a youtuber unfortunately undermined his writing in that it led to a lack of sincere feedback, and allowed him to get a larger audience than the writing deserves (sorry, I am not the nicest). There are some good ideas but the execution is not there. I like his youtube content, but was too burnt on Lawful Times to even think about subjecting myself to Neon Ghosts.
Now off the watch the Lindsay Ellis video, she's a youtuber who I think did the author thing the right way, and I thoroughly enjoyed her books while acknowledging they aren't perfect.
This helps articulate my struggles with the books. Some of the things that were really interesting own their own were also the things that didn't work overall. It's like a bunch of really cool seeds thrown together into books that don't bring them together.
Fire opening
I actually liked neon ghosts quite a bit. The lawful times not so much
Daniel Green has balls to write his own book. It’s worth trying.
I stopped watching him when he did reviews of Kobo after doing paid promotions for them.
I only read the first book and liked it well enough, but the violence was just a little too much for me.
It's like he read Wheel of TIme and thought, this needs more guns and gore, especially gore.
I did plan on continuing The Lawful times series, but I was planning on waiting till more was out. I'm a little disappointed that he never came out with any more after those first two, I feel like that was a long time ago,
Have you considered a light novel (ranobe) month?
Daniel has lots of fans due to his RUclips channel. I've also bought his books. Sadly the Goodreads review averages don't lie. Reading them turned into an slog filled with annoyance very quickly.
And now his Neon Ghost will be rewritten because he won an official publication contract also with that his 4th book is under writing as we know from his video with strong reviews of the publisher.
That is why I did not like Sunshine, I was onboard for the sci-fi movie and felt let down by not getting to see how that plot would have played out
What is that drop at 21:33 xd
For me the genre shift couldn’t come soon enough. I’m far more into fantasy than sci-fi/cyberpunk so the entire first half of the book I was like “can we get to the vampires please?”
Why are those beautiful bookshelves in your garage??
Honesty is definitely kind. How else would we as writers learn if not by our failures. The dopamine hit of a win masks our ability to see through all the craziness to weed out the failures we made and address them in the future if not pointed out. (Nice run-on there, eh?) Great review, Michael. I appreciated Daniel's dark tone in Breach of Peace, but could not get myself to finish Rebel's Creed because of some of the inconsistencies with changing characters. He should have left Breach as a flat single.
In regards to the end bit about “Daniel makes the same mistakes he criticizes others for, but that’s alright because art is hard”:
I think it’s important to remember that before he was an author, he was a reviewer. But after crossing the line of making the same type of art he criticize, now Daniel is judging his peers. And since he is arguably the largest reviewer we have in the book-reviewing game, i think it is fair to say his reviews have a non zero effective on the sales and opinions of a book he reviews.
For instances like this, I like to draw comparisons across industries to see if the point works in general and not just in relation to writing.
For this example, let’s look at runners. Having run myself and knowing the tools needed for running, I can criticize certain actions of other runners. I can even watch Usain Bolt run and talk about what I would’ve done differently. But then you watch me run, and you see I am maybe 1/10th the speed of Mr Bolt.
So are you going to keep taking me seriously on my thoughts and opinions on running? Or would you prefer to listen to the actual professionals in that industry? Of course I could only be saying correct things about running, and no one could prove I was wrong, but the things I would be saying would be surface-level and simple because I can only relate Mr Bolts work to what I myself can understand.
And imagine if I charged you money to watch me run.
Green was one of my first book reviewers but he quickly became boring with how he stuck with the most basic mainstream fantasy series and how he talked about them
Are the characters too shallow? Or are these simply more plot focused / plot driven - rather than character focus or character driven - type stories(Which happens to be a writing convention that is currently not so in-vogue right now but is actually entirely optional and down to individual writer/reader choices or preferences but not necessarily some actual mandatory requirement or marker of poor storytelling or bad writing)? 🤔
((Similarly, while books in a series do need a stopping point....they actually don't necessarily NEED to have a definitive conclusion, prior to the series' ender. Whether or not to style a series as if each volume is its own separate book or as if each volume is really just Chapter 1 in a much larger overarching whole actually IS entirely optional, and very much down to individual writer/reader choices or preferences. And the tendency to give individual books in a series a more conclusive ending, either wrapped-up completely and self-contained almost entirely within its own self or with more of an episodic / cliffhanger or some unresolved threads left still or open and or new elements introduced just to set up the next installment, is again just the current or most popular convention right now....not necessarily inherently bad writing or poor storytelling at all. Especially for something that is self/indie rather than traditionally pubbed, and therefore actually has more freedom to exercise the liberty to craft stories outside of just more typical/traditional story beats or structures. So... was it actually done weakly, or was it simply just more unconventionally done? 🤔))
I will probably read all of his books now, just to contemplate these questions for myself now. 😂
How fast do you read, man?
The secret is, I have zero kids and like, 2 friends. 😅
@@cronkthebookguyBut thousands of fans!
@@cronkthebookguy are the two friends our two cats 😂
I love your section on being quick to criticize a book or an IP in general. This is especially bad in the manga sphere. People think they know how to write a good manga because they know writing best practices when they don't know the industry that's being operated in. Harsh working conditions really limits creativity especially if you have ADHD. but the RUclipsrs always say "X anime is garbage because X part of the plot sucks!" when they know damn well that these mangaka are amazing writers for even creating a coherent story under said conditions.
Nice review. I got the sense that you overall weren't the biggest fan, but it came across like a sincere attempt to not play down flaws for potential readers while not trying to tear the story apart.
I will fight you on the First and Last videos though. Having read the original ACOTAR trilogy and liked it well enough. I had a blast watching him do his best to cobble together a guess at the plot from only a couple chapters. And between Fourth Wing having always been adult and ACOTAR getting re-branded as adult, neither of the examples you showed when saying he makes furn of YA were YA.
3:30
Yeah… Writing is hard. Someone could be really great at giving reviews and doing analysis and know all of the things that they need to include in a story to make it good but it’s really hard to actually execute it. Put that into action.
I always do better at reviewing and analysis then I do it creative writing.
Let's face it, every author and every book has weaknesses and strengths. Being entertained is the key. Even with weak prose and a plot with holes in it, was I entertained? I've given up on books early and tossed them aside. In some way, the author has succeeded if I remain interested enough to get to the end of the book. Then another question arises. Was I satisfied with the ending? Readers ask for a lot from authors. It's a damned hard thing to do. Credit goes to anyone who has the heart to write a book and put it out there for people to read. If the book fails, that's okay. There is always the next book.
20:17 Honestly same. One reason I don’t really enjoy Sanderson is I feel like he telegraphs his plot twists so hard. I’m not the type of reader to try and predict what happens either, I just feel like he leads me right to it. There was one in Stormlight that I didn’t even know it was supposed to be a twist until it was “revealed.”
I really admire your commitment to positivity, but I must be honest that Daniel Greene completely burned up my good faith by whole heartedly recommending Shadow of the Conqueror by Shad M. Brooks without so much as a content warning. And, woof, as a queer girl that one really hurts. I don't think people knew about Shad's homophobia at that time, but even the content that is in Shadow of the Conqueror just crosses so many lines, especially for women. (And I don't think it would be okay to list them out in a comment section without a spoiler warning or something to hide that kind of content.)
I know Daniel Greene isn't responsible for that book existing, but his strong support did push me in the direction of a book I am very glad I ended up hearing enough excerpts from to know I never want to touch.
This is really childish and honestly very mean spirited.
@@kristienwhitney-johns5863 It digs to the heart of the media literacy abilities of someone who made their name off of media literacy. I don't think that is unfair or irrelevant.
@@BlakeFaeMorton what?
I'm speechless you people really exist, and I'm not talking about queer girls but people offended by everything.
@@glory4645 Sadly those people do exist, but I am afraid I am the polar opposite of them hahah. I can get the confusion since I avoided elaborating on how bad the things are that made me revolted. But honestly I am totally good with and in favor of hardcore subject matters. It is more how it is handled that made me go, "How can anyone in their right minds support this?"
Honestly, zero interest in cancelling Daniel Greene. I just don't think he is at all worthy of being called King of BookTube and I found him forgettable besides the video that made me go, "no just no." Bad analysis and bad recommendations are bad.
First time seeing your channel and I just wanted to say you're doing great. I'm no fan of these books and nevertheless I had no problem spending the 33 minutes with you talking about them.
Greene is a goblin, and as an elf, I can't support their kind. (joking...or am I?)
Neon Plots 😅
One small(ish) issue I had with Breach of Peace, is had the book not explicitly told us the two characters were married, I would not have been able to tell. They more-so talked to and reacted to each other like people who were just having sex.
At least that was my interpretation of the characters.
Heya Book Guy! Would you be willing to review my novel? Could I send you a copy?
Had to stop at 20:00 because I’m only in the second book of Mistborn, will someone tell me if he says the actual spoiler?
he doesn't
you good
one thing you said he makes fun of YA and then proceeded to show his reviews of two Adult books...Acotar and Fourth Wing are NOT YA at all lol
They're the most YA edgy smut'n'gore thing I've considered and reconsidered reading in a while, from what I know of them.
@@AthEE_One they’re just not YA. they are not for young adult audiences. They are straight up adult books. There are no teen characters and the themes are all adult themes.
@@Qwordyfeyre is 19
@@insertname2035 still an adult. Acotar constantly gets shelved YA even thought it’s adult because a woman wrote it who previously published YA. There are plenty of books that this happens to even when the characters are younger than 20. It depends on the themes and content. Just because acotar focuses on romance and love triangles it gets Put into YA when it’s simply not. If you want to really argue than it’s New Adult but that’s still an age group not fully recognized in publishing as much yet.
In defense of what you are saying Fourth Wing is listed as being a New Adult book since the characters are college age. Acotar on the other hand doesn't specify it is New Adult or college age and gets put into the YA section when it shouldn't be. At the thrift stores I see those books shoved in the YA section typically because honestly they look too much like YA books and the book titles are that style as well.
they are mid
there, I saved everybody's time
📚📚📚
_"...a midstory..."_ what was that I can't hear you over the ad that just started, the irony.