@@saxbend I believe she's mentioned she was a literary agent (or an associate agent.) It's not like she was the admin assistant in charge of the doughnuts for the morning meetings. :)
@@JonRowlison nope, she was a slush pile reader. Anyone who has researched agencies with the intention of being published would be able to decode what her job was even though she never specifically admits it.
I think a big fault in this book is that it's advertised as a "sci-fi fantasy steampunk romance with fairy tale elements" and yet NONE of those elements were explored with any depth. I think Meg should have narrowed her scope for this one and worked hard on executing one or two elements successfully. Five different genres is hard to tackle, especially for a debut. Though honestly, I lost faith in this book as soon as the character descriptions were dropped, where we learned that the main character is nicknamed "the Grimm Reaper" and has "an affinity for the word 'fuck.'" Bad YA vibes, anyone?
That's the problem with book enthusiasts turned "writers" who have no other passion in their life than reading, mostly mediocre young adult books. It's why virtually all author tube books are garbage. Great writers bring something to the table other than having a passion for reading. The know their genres and themes deeply. They also study other subjects like science, mythology, history, politics etc. Meg knows books and marketing but is not an expert on thematic elements in any of the sub-genres she attempted to mash up. The writing itself is also atrocious. Saying the sentences were fine was generous of the reviewer.
Super leery of the booktube /authortube writers who use their platform to give advice then turn around and self publish and I always look for the thorough reviews that talk about their prose & plot - and its always just poorly written romance novels marketed as “fantasy” or “sci-fi.” Hence the reason I stopped watching their videos and subscribe to Brandon Sanderson for actual authorial advice. Also leery of authors that push an “inclusivity” narrative but it seems a little virtue signally to me.
I second the leery. Where the reviewer says ‘the sentences are all fine’, this is an extremely generous comment. I tried the sample chapters, didn’t see anything I liked. I’ve read a lot of steampunk, cyberpunk, fantasy, pure SF, and I don’t have a problem with romance in novels, but I just couldn’t find anything here to entertain me. Congrats to the author on a stellar marketing strategy.
Having gay characters =/= pushing "inclusivity" narrative. Also considering the author herself is part of the community, maybe it has less to do with some bullshit narrative and more to do with her writing what she relates with. Something a lot of authors do.
Ouch. I think that the knowledge of doing and teaching are separate. Some can do both. Some are better at one or the other. I cannot picture late Terry Goodkind ever to teach the art of Fantasy to anyone. Personally I enjoy videos from Authortube. What most authortube writers always admit to is that they are constantly learning. They are humble too. They are proud of their work too, and they selfpublish. But, more an more we see that Authortube is its own thing: It's like Illustrators who share their drawings as they become better at it, and teach what they know and have learnt along their path. See Jazza's drawing of Kvothe. It's good, but he has improved. If people bullied him for doing drawing vids, he'd never be the great person he is now. We follow authortube just as much for their journey as the published work of art. Art is also in progress, and thanks to authortube we can be along for the ride. Imagine being us priveleged viewers, allowed to follow people on their improvement path. That's like allowing us to see unrefined thoughts before they have built the final facade. Many authortube authors are embarassed by the first books they share. But we as viewers appreciate being a part of the adventure. Now look at publish author's platforms, they have few subscribers. Few do teaching content, and noone except Brandon has ever uploaded unfinished versions and unpolished raw content so that we can see the "real" behind the finalized (absolutely revised by many people's additional input) polish. They keep the fasade, dont they? I dont want authortube to read comments like yours and stop sharing, feel ashamed and feel like hacks. That's unfair to them. If they stop I cannot dream with them, or follow them on their path to greater achievement. I love the grind. I love the underdog. I am sorry you dont
Most modern day fantasy writers are just sex crazed narcissists that over use pop references to look cool. I miss old fantasy writers who mocked the flaws of the world and used their fantasy worlds to criticize the system. People that told life learning revelations to enlighten others. Or fantasy writers like Tolkien that showed everyone through middle earth how much a fantasy world could be expanded without eroticizing it. I'm not a big fan of the authortube community either, because it just encourages all that entertains and takes away the elements of story telling that makes a book last forever.
0:07 "I don't know about you, but I'm so frickin' over summer." Finally, someone who understands my pain! It's the middle of winter here as I write this (current temperature: -24°C), but I can still remember the misery of last summer's muggy days and nights. Oh, the sleepless nights... Just found your channel, which is why I'm just now commenting on a one-year-old video. I'm twenty-one seconds in and clicking that sub button. This has to be some kind of world record. Well done.
I enjoyed the breakdown and the clear way the faults were brought to light. I missed character voice and the world-building here. Even if one or the other would have kept me engaged.
I tried reading the cyborg tinkerer out of curiousity, especially since I'm writing SciFi with cyborg too. But I was sorely disappointed. Victoria is right, the world building is severely lacking. And character motivations are superficial at best. There are good things like the voice of the MC, but it was lost within ok prose and exposition and boring 'banter' that is only obviously only there to move the plot. I can't comment on the plot in general since I was never able to finish the whole book.
I feel like this book had so much potential, but it fell flat or me because it just had too much going on without actually building toward anything. Solid review! 😊
Me looking @ the title "Are AuthorTube Books good?" Me, an authortube author with many books: "...oh man i hope so!!" hahaha i just subscribed! I think it's awesome that you review children's & YA primarily. I have the ARC for this book too and I can't wait to read and review it!
In my opinion, there are so few queer books because the genre feels ruined by sub par authors who like to just slap it on like a badge, like LGBTQ+ or BIPOC certification. It's more like they do it because it's popular and not because they geniuenly are good at it or have a talent for it. Forcing representation in fiction can't possibly be a good thing if it isn't grass roots and doesn't happen naturally. Or else you get stuff like this which are mediocre at best. And a joke at worst.
That could be one of the worst plots i had ever heard of, but again haven't read it so i don't know but based on what uve said up till the first quarter of the video
Meg Latore 'clearly competent'.... oooffff..... swearing every 5 sentences does not equal good writing. Also it's the same woke YA story as the rest. Dystopian world, narcissistic writer Mary Sue self insert, stereotype characters, checkboxes, superficial rather childish love interest that's more akin to a girl of 8 years old, explicit sex scenes that arouse nobody except maybe some escapies from the loony bin, but I guess that's also the audience where this book is written for, grammer and spelling mistakes, no idea how to write a story and to come back at the swearing.... it can be an excellent writing tool to intensify conflict scenes if done correctly... however it loses all it's power as a tool when you swear like every 5 sentences, comes over as trying way too hard to sound adult, at least more adult then the brain-development of the writer can be credited for, but actually sounds more like a 12 year old Justin Bieber having a temper tantrum meltdown. What is it with 30 year old millennial women that have the brain of a 12 year old.... to me THAT reality is far more dystopian then the garbage they gobble up.
With Meg having a career resume, at a publishing house and a literary agency, one would expect a more solid performance.
She never says what she did at those places though.
@@saxbend I believe she's mentioned she was a literary agent (or an associate agent.) It's not like she was the admin assistant in charge of the doughnuts for the morning meetings. :)
@@JonRowlison nope, she was a slush pile reader. Anyone who has researched agencies with the intention of being published would be able to decode what her job was even though she never specifically admits it.
I enjoyed the cover art and that's where it ended for me.
It ended for me when I heard the word diversity.
When people put diversity first, they end up with diversity only.
My experience.
I think a big fault in this book is that it's advertised as a "sci-fi fantasy steampunk romance with fairy tale elements" and yet NONE of those elements were explored with any depth. I think Meg should have narrowed her scope for this one and worked hard on executing one or two elements successfully. Five different genres is hard to tackle, especially for a debut.
Though honestly, I lost faith in this book as soon as the character descriptions were dropped, where we learned that the main character is nicknamed "the Grimm Reaper" and has "an affinity for the word 'fuck.'" Bad YA vibes, anyone?
That's the problem with book enthusiasts turned "writers" who have no other passion in their life than reading, mostly mediocre young adult books. It's why virtually all author tube books are garbage. Great writers bring something to the table other than having a passion for reading. The know their genres and themes deeply. They also study other subjects like science, mythology, history, politics etc. Meg knows books and marketing but is not an expert on thematic elements in any of the sub-genres she attempted to mash up. The writing itself is also atrocious. Saying the sentences were fine was generous of the reviewer.
@@Gna_d54 a mix of both is perfect.
Meg makes a point of saying that you should not try to go too many different ways at the same time, or you end up with nothing.
The cover art feels like a rip off of the poster for *Disney's Treasure Planet*
Wow it looks almost identical it seems like they took the treasure planet Art and just tweaked the color and details a bit. That’s hilarious!
Super leery of the booktube /authortube writers who use their platform to give advice then turn around and self publish and I always look for the thorough reviews that talk about their prose & plot - and its always just poorly written romance novels marketed as “fantasy” or “sci-fi.” Hence the reason I stopped watching their videos and subscribe to Brandon Sanderson for actual authorial advice.
Also leery of authors that push an “inclusivity” narrative but it seems a little virtue signally to me.
I second the leery. Where the reviewer says ‘the sentences are all fine’, this is an extremely generous comment. I tried the sample chapters, didn’t see anything I liked. I’ve read a lot of steampunk, cyberpunk, fantasy, pure SF, and I don’t have a problem with romance in novels, but I just couldn’t find anything here to entertain me. Congrats to the author on a stellar marketing strategy.
Having gay characters =/= pushing "inclusivity" narrative.
Also considering the author herself is part of the community, maybe it has less to do with some bullshit narrative and more to do with her writing what she relates with. Something a lot of authors do.
Ouch. I think that the knowledge of doing and teaching are separate. Some can do both. Some are better at one or the other. I cannot picture late Terry Goodkind ever to teach the art of Fantasy to anyone. Personally I enjoy videos from Authortube. What most authortube writers always admit to is that they are constantly learning. They are humble too. They are proud of their work too, and they selfpublish. But, more an more we see that Authortube is its own thing: It's like Illustrators who share their drawings as they become better at it, and teach what they know and have learnt along their path. See Jazza's drawing of Kvothe. It's good, but he has improved. If people bullied him for doing drawing vids, he'd never be the great person he is now. We follow authortube just as much for their journey as the published work of art. Art is also in progress, and thanks to authortube we can be along for the ride. Imagine being us priveleged viewers, allowed to follow people on their improvement path. That's like allowing us to see unrefined thoughts before they have built the final facade. Many authortube authors are embarassed by the first books they share. But we as viewers appreciate being a part of the adventure. Now look at publish author's platforms, they have few subscribers. Few do teaching content, and noone except Brandon has ever uploaded unfinished versions and unpolished raw content so that we can see the "real" behind the finalized (absolutely revised by many people's additional input) polish. They keep the fasade, dont they? I dont want authortube to read comments like yours and stop sharing, feel ashamed and feel like hacks. That's unfair to them. If they stop I cannot dream with them, or follow them on their path to greater achievement. I love the grind. I love the underdog. I am sorry you dont
Most modern day fantasy writers are just sex crazed narcissists that over use pop references to look cool. I miss old fantasy writers who mocked the flaws of the world and used their fantasy worlds to criticize the system. People that told life learning revelations to enlighten others. Or fantasy writers like Tolkien that showed everyone through middle earth how much a fantasy world could be expanded without eroticizing it. I'm not a big fan of the authortube community either, because it just encourages all that entertains and takes away the elements of story telling that makes a book last forever.
@@samuelwright7270 I hear you, but in this case the book is classified as a sci-fi romance, so a little steam comes with the territory!
0:07 "I don't know about you, but I'm so frickin' over summer." Finally, someone who understands my pain! It's the middle of winter here as I write this (current temperature: -24°C), but I can still remember the misery of last summer's muggy days and nights. Oh, the sleepless nights...
Just found your channel, which is why I'm just now commenting on a one-year-old video. I'm twenty-one seconds in and clicking that sub button. This has to be some kind of world record. Well done.
I enjoyed the breakdown and the clear way the faults were brought to light. I missed character voice and the world-building here. Even if one or the other would have kept me engaged.
I tried reading the cyborg tinkerer out of curiousity, especially since I'm writing SciFi with cyborg too. But I was sorely disappointed.
Victoria is right, the world building is severely lacking. And character motivations are superficial at best. There are good things like the voice of the MC, but it was lost within ok prose and exposition and boring 'banter' that is only obviously only there to move the plot. I can't comment on the plot in general since I was never able to finish the whole book.
I disagree that this book is adult. This is YA. The tone and characters are straight out of a YA novel.
Other reviews found it not to be good. There seems to be a lot of 1 & 2-star reviews on Goodreads.
So . . . it's Cyborg Hunger games?
I feel like this book had so much potential, but it fell flat or me because it just had too much going on without actually building toward anything. Solid review! 😊
Me looking @ the title "Are AuthorTube Books good?"
Me, an authortube author with many books: "...oh man i hope so!!"
hahaha i just subscribed! I think it's awesome that you review children's & YA primarily. I have the ARC for this book too and I can't wait to read and review it!
Great content. Just discovered your channel and really like what you are doing! Subscribed!
In my opinion, there are so few queer books because the genre feels ruined by sub par authors who like to just slap it on like a badge, like LGBTQ+ or BIPOC certification. It's more like they do it because it's popular and not because they geniuenly are good at it or have a talent for it. Forcing representation in fiction can't possibly be a good thing if it isn't grass roots and doesn't happen naturally. Or else you get stuff like this which are mediocre at best. And a joke at worst.
Oh I'm dreading the impending winter. I'm absorbing all the summer heat while I can XD
HEY FRIEND!
@@GetWriteOnIn its my BEST FRIEND!!!!
I feel challenged, would you accept an arc from me when I publish?
You can submit a proposal to me via my email. Make sure it has a blurb so I can get a sense for what the story is about! :)
This book sounds good.
Authortube only proves the old adage -- THOSE WHO CAN'T DO TEACH!
Einstein was a teacher too... and in art, you have Matthew McConaughey teaching an acting class at a college
@@v44n7 It’s a joke, but my brother actually had McConaughey as a professor at UT. He said he was nice.
@@simgingergirl omg, incredible! haha
@@simgingergirl btw when are more sims playthroughs coming?
You start your own ethical circus. Goodness. No man is worth fighting over, can't speak to a cyborg but, I'd branch out.
Az is awesome.
That could be one of the worst plots i had ever heard of, but again haven't read it so i don't know but based on what uve said up till the first quarter of the video
Sex and language doesnt make it adult
Meg Latore 'clearly competent'.... oooffff..... swearing every 5 sentences does not equal good writing. Also it's the same woke YA story as the rest. Dystopian world, narcissistic writer Mary Sue self insert, stereotype characters, checkboxes, superficial rather childish love interest that's more akin to a girl of 8 years old, explicit sex scenes that arouse nobody except maybe some escapies from the loony bin, but I guess that's also the audience where this book is written for, grammer and spelling mistakes, no idea how to write a story and to come back at the swearing.... it can be an excellent writing tool to intensify conflict scenes if done correctly... however it loses all it's power as a tool when you swear like every 5 sentences, comes over as trying way too hard to sound adult, at least more adult then the brain-development of the writer can be credited for, but actually sounds more like a 12 year old Justin Bieber having a temper tantrum meltdown. What is it with 30 year old millennial women that have the brain of a 12 year old.... to me THAT reality is far more dystopian then the garbage they gobble up.
😍