Honestly a book even considering that periods exist is super refreshing. It's not pointless either, since the point of showing Celaena having her period is to show that she isn't malnourished anymore now that she's staying at the castle.
I thought the same! I don’t think I’ve ever encountered it in a fantasy book before so it was a very nice change of pace. And like I can see it from both perspectives, but again it’s nice to have it appear in a popular fantasy book (and in a way that isn’t like. Super traumatizing)
my biggest beef in books (especially when i read the first two books then dnfed this series in high school) is when a character is set up as smart and incredibly competent and then is written as chronically stupid and oblivious for plot reveals... there were so many times where she drew conclusions and i was like 'girl... what is this'. there is nothing wrong with a main character being oblivious and dumb just be honest about it!!! its ok to be dumb about things!
For me that was highlighting just how young she was. She’s incredibly talented and gifted but she’s also just barely an adult and so traumatized. I 100% acted the same way when I was her age with all these expectations and working hard to get to where I am but also never really getting a chance to properly grow. Either too smart for my own good or too oblivious
Yeah I definitely get that, and I think that would have come across more for me if it was written in the first person. I guess it being written in the 3rd person automatically puts up a wall for me as the reader because, even if I don't expect the narrator to be objective, I think it could have done a better job in highlighting the difference in how: Celaena perceives herself, is perceived by others, and then how she actually is. It might get better throughout the series, but it fell too hard into tell not show and sometimes tell then show the contrary -without acknowledgement or effect- for my taste. I tried reading them when I was 17, so luckily the adult brain rational didn't effect my perception of Celaena and teen decision making in the way it can when trying to read younger characters as an adult.@@maddiemainer
ok i made this exact point when i was reading the first couple books but the main character goes through a coming into power thing in the 3rd and she actually is genuinely smart and witty i promise she’s a just deeply traumatized/closed off/paranoid in the first few.
As a fantasy lover, I tried to read TOG when I was 16 and just *couldn’t* 😭 teen me swore off of SJM in that very moment and I’ve never looked back I love your energy btw, giving ‘I’ve invited you over just to rant for the next three hours’ in the best way possible
First of all, you’re so valid for that cause TOG is about to make me swear off reading forever (not just fantasy but like ANYTHING it was *that* bad) second of all that is literally the hugest compliment it’s exactly what I want the vibes to be 🫶🫶
Omg same. I've read tog like two years ago after my friend hyped me.. and I have never been more disappointed xd The main character is just a lots of talking but no actions and overall so annoying that I almost couldn't finish it :D Anyway, I heard that books get better from third or fourth one, but can't say for myself
currently 16, and i hard agree with this sentiment. so many YA fantasy books have quite nearly thrown me off of reading fantasy and in general YA because of how horribly they are written...but SJM took the cake. i could not get through the first two chapters without cringing and screaming inside...DNFd it immediately lmao
SJM is genuinely so delusional she just makes up complicated names, romance that escalates unnecessarily fast and has no semblance of a plot and she genuinely believes her writing style and characters are good. I'll admit she wrote like, 3 - 4 characters that intrigued me
In defense of her having a period and reading erotica, when I read this book at like 15 ish those facts made me feel more proud of my female body and more secure in beginning to explore my sexuality so I think those are good additions to a book of this genre
Her: "18 and 22 is a bit of an icky age gap, there's a lot of life that happens between those ages" Me: *laughs maniacally in has-read-the-entire-series*
Her: "and that means Dorian and Celaena would be related. And that would be incest. And if it's not incest, it's incest-adjacent" Me: laughs extra maniacally in has-read-the-entire-series
@@PPBbunno I pronounced it as Selena most of the time, there is no need to give her a super unique name to make a memorizeable and well written character😭😭
@@nanizet’her name is fairy because she’s dating a fairy. Too obvious? Uhhh, fair…uh. Fairuh. Sure.” (Also the fact that she has a character named eris but it’s a dude makes me so mad)
I feel really stupid for having unironically enjoyed Throne of Glass. It’s been years since I read it, but I remember liking Celaena because she was cool and confident instead of being your typical, “I’m just an ordinary girl with no self-confidence, and even though I’m secretly special, I always see myself as nothing special” YA protag. I also thought it was cool that she liked fashion and spent her money from the competition on looking pretty, because that’s a trait that’s usually vilified and it was neat seeing a hero who liked to look good with being shamed by the narrative for it. I also remember finding the competition itself entertaining because even though I knew Celaena was going to be one of the finalists, it was still interesting to see *what* they would be competing in and *how* she would win. I know these are all stupid arguments, but it might explain why this trash book got so popular.
it's not stupid, and although the story is very well written and can be very silly at times, do not feel stupid for having liked it, because it has many redeeming qualities since not many young adult fantasy romance novels in this style were popular, and i believe we all grow taste from overcoming the things we liked and learning what was positive and what was simply not great about it. You should be glad that even though you liked it a lot one day, now you know you deserve better as a reader lol. as someone who read this quite young and deeply loved it, i believe i have long outgrown it, and that's okay. if anything, you have that.
Everyone enjoys different things in books! You don't have to feel bad for liking a book whose worst crime is being mostly exposition for the next ones (from what I've gathered). Besides the reasons you stated for enjoying this book are pretty neat! (I too don't care if it's too obvious who's going to be in the finale because even when they try to hide it it's rather obvious and I'd rather they develop the character than try to hide them and making them bland and boring in the process and her not being shamed for liking looking pretty and stuff was indeed a breath of fresh air in the period the book came out)
I personally enjoyed the series and I only recently read everything (except tower of dawn) like 6 months ago. I don’t think it’s bad to enjoy these books, you can outgrow them and find other series that you enjoy more but it’s the first ones that sometimes stick with you :)
i had an idea for a mermaid love story today (lesbian) and you triggered my spite by saying you didn’t like fantasy. cant thank you enough. the book should be done by the end of the month
Everyone is going to tell you that the series gets better. As a devoted high fantasy lover, I assure you they do not. I'd enjoy hearing your thoughts on the later books because they just get increasingly ridiculous, but I totally get it if you don't want to put yourself through that
Also, to be clear: good fantasy has names that make sense within the pronunciation of whatever language they're supposed to be from. Ms. Maas loves to shove random names and/or random letters together and hope it works out
For anyone who really wanted to like Throne of Glass but couldn't (or who really liked Throne of Glass and deserves better): the Witchlands series by Susan Dennard does basically everything this series wishes it could and 1000% more
Witchland series is so good! Also yeah, I skimmed most of ToG series. I think there were good parts but those were few and far between for 7 slash 8 books and it didn't ever seem to get better, just more.
I read tog when I was 15 and I was hooked from the beginning, until I read Heir of Fire and wanted to throw my book at a wall. If Rowan has 100 haters, I'm one of them, if he has 10 haters, one of them is me, if he has 0 haters, that means I am dead.
EXACTLY!!! Chaol and Dorian are not the best written love interests but Rowan is barely even a character 😭 that man has 0 personality apart from being good looking and annoying
omg the pronunciation guide lol. My friend used to call Chaol "Mr. Smoothie Man" since I was pronouncing his name as Kale with the help of the pronunciation guide. :3 Honestly wish more people talked about TOG since it killed my love of high fantasy and novels. I read the whole thing and by the end was just hate reading it to find out the end. It truly devolved into something terrible and unexplainable 🥲 There were so many individual elements that were so cool, but when they all came together it was horrible, like the only way SJM could unify concepts was to throw them all into bed together literally??? Manon and the witch coven was so cool; Dorian's later arch was interesting; Nehemiah was done so dirty; and Chaol was my favorite despite the inexplicable character assassination later on (I liked him since he really didn't like Celaena for a lot of the story lol). I hated Celaena. Somehow she was so one dimensional and had a strange effect of making every other character that interacted with her just as flat and boring, no matter how complicated their background and side stories were. Away from Celaena, they were well rounded, interesting characters, but next to her all they could do was be flat like her, maybe so it wasn't obvious that she sucked as a character, idk
I haven’t read the rest of the series but if they’re as much of a mess as you’re saying they are I might just have to suffer through them lol the thing is, it’s not bad in a fun way, it’s just bad in a “I literally don’t give a shit” way which makes for boring reading
Honestly I read all of it and the ending was like stupid in my opinion. I read it when I was 13 so I loved it and I'm still sentimental about it, but even then there were so many things that didn't make sense. And I pronounced Chaol in different ways - like Cole, Haol, Hal. And about his arc, like I still don't get why he changed so much when she was gone on the other continent. Before he even wanted to go with her and saw it as a good thing, and then just straight up hated her. And honestly if Dorian and Manon weren't there I would stop reading this series, I still somewhat like them
@@ainsleesbookclub I put myself through 5 of the books so far and I can't stress enough how much I'm struggling because I do want to finish the series, but still I have two books to go and I literally don't give a shit!!!!AAAA
7:13 if you hate the 4 year age gap between Chaol and Celaena, you're gonna hate who she actually ends up with (a 300+ year old elf who emotionally, physically, and mentally abuses her but it's okay cuz they're ♡mates♡)
@@iheartstars333no they’re talking about the main relationship in throne of glass not a court of thorns and roses, now I can’t tell you if they’re being accurate or not because I only read the first throne of glass book
As someone who is also not a huge fan of fantasy, one of the only fantasy series I found myself really enjoying was Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows. I highly recommend it. (Good Omens is also a good fantasy book for those who aren't really into the genre!)
I came here to also suggest the Grishaverse, so I second the suggestion for Shadow and Six of Crows. The books also have great queer rep, especially in the later books ❤
@@mittag983 as an also queer non-binary, that’s true especially in the first books, however, in the King of Scars books I was pleasantly surprised with parts of the plot and how well it was portrayed. Far from being a queer centered book series though, you’re right. The rep that is there though feels well rounded to me (and my experiences with my own identity)
Honestly, her writing does get better, but not a lot. I’ve read every single one of her books and they are tiktok tropes shoved into a dust jacket. Like they slay as fun mindless reading but anyone saying ToG gets better is lyingggg 😭
I actually have read every book out at the time in this series when I was around 17 and when I tell you I remember almost nothing about it. Please read all of them I'm obsessed with the fact it had a net 0 impact
Sarah J Maas is crazy because she's by far one of the biggest authors in the game, spends weeks at #1 on the bestsellers list, crushes every Goodreads Choice award, her books always have giant waitlists at my library even if they've been out for years, but no one except the 10% of the country who reads for fun knows who she is. So many times I have mentioned how much I hate her writing to people I know in real life and they're like "Who? What's ACOTAR?"
I got like... five books in? I tried to get back into it after a year or so and genuinely couldn't remember enough about the plot to figure out where I'd left off so I just gave up
I don’t mind the inclusion of her being on her period and being debilitated by it. There’s an ongoing joke about how women in fantasy settings deal with periods bc it’s so rarely addressed, and I think SJM tries. Bad bitches get cramps too! What annoys me is that’s it’s clearly just there so Dorian can go into her room and further play up the love triangle, rather than explore A) periods or B) Endovier’s effect on Celaena
I think less is more in fantasy. When it starts to have too many characters, too many names, too much description, too many love interests, I can't be bothered. And I have read plenty of literary fiction, so I can understand what I'm reading. But it's like in some of those books they want to throw too much at it so they can make like 10 books in the same world.
omg you should totally do the red queen series,,,, idek who the author is but i remember reading them when i was younger and going crazy over them😭😭😭 i love ur videos!!! im bingeing and we NEED more
Terry Pratchett (my favorite fantasy writer) even made fun of unpronounceable names in fantasy, there are some weird names in his books but they are usually easy to pronounce because they are puns or hard to pronounce on purpose and the joke is that no one gets it right. My favorite character from his books is named "Sam"
I'm a big SJM fan but if I hadn't been told countless times just how good the series got I would have stopped after ToG. I know she was young when she wrote it, and it's very obvious, but it was just...ok. BUT her writing just got better and better. Queen of Shadows is incredible.
@@tehelea I read the whole series and no, it doesn’t get any better, it gets worse. The last book is disgustingly terrible and a waste of paper. In fact, none of it was ever good. Save your money for a better book series and stay away from SJM because she’s not a good writer.
queen of shadows was actually when my enjoyment started to wane. after liking heir of fire so much, it was disappointing. i wasnt a fan of celaena being romantically involved w rowan. she needed someone more experienced to advise her and help her back in erilia yes but did he have to be her boyfriend too 💀 also maeve changing the nature of his relationship w his dead ex.... can you say retcon? cuz yea i finished the series obviously. call it stockholm syndrome or wtv, but i was 12 when i started them and refuse to account for taste. i read any and everything my mom got for me
@@nao-bo4yz the "it gets better in book 3+!!" phenomenon in books is honestly just a way to hook readers in with the sunk cost fallacy. Like-you've already spent all that time and money getting this far, you may as well finish the series to see it improve and conclude!
I only read this book as a teen because I was deep in my Assassin’s Creed phase…. I thought it would satisfy my assassin tooth, it didn’t. And I did try to read the prequel book but I couldn’t… I just couldn’t. It failed as a killer fantasy, and is just SJM, in a nutshell. Read one of her stuff, you’ve read all of her books. 🎤⏬
thats why I cant read this book. I read the first 3 books in ACOTAR, like 5 years ago. I liked them, but I feel like there's no point of reading the rest.
I first thought you meant the Farseer Trilogy, first book Assassin's Apprentice but you were talking about the games right? If you still read fantasy, Robin Hobbs first two trilogies - The Farseer Trilogy and Liveship Trader Trilogy are some of my favorite. Either could be read first but because of the lore I think Farseer should be read first. These aren't romance novels although there is romance. It just isn't the focus. I wish I could read these for the first time again.
@@kirielbranson4843 I heard of the Assassin’s apprentice trilogy, not the other one, but it’s on my to read list. And yes I was talking about the games, loved them! But my gaming love has gone down a lot because of work, school, and being an adult. But it’s like reading now, relaxing free time activity.
@@zoebrugg7594 I am still big time into gaming but I have no children. And am a few years from retirement so don't have any big career drives anymore beyond pulling my weight and supporting my projects. Reading became audiobooks for me about 20 years ago. It used to be that I was reading every chance I got but after almost everything got an audiobook I can now read while walking, doing housework, driving, etc. I have no idea how I managed to read the mountains of books I used to read. How did I find the time? I hope you never completely give up either. And definitely take up Robin Hobbs when you have the time.
@@ainsleesbookclub I have to join in. I'm forcing myself to finish the series solely because of how funny the negative reviews are. I don't want to suffer for nothing. xD I'll even give you a cookie, girl.🍪
Why?... just why guys? I enjoyed the whole series... A LOT! I don't understand why most of the people in the comments say that they were disappointed or bored...
I just found and binged your channel and have subscribed- your vibes are IMMACULATE, truly just, drunk bestie going off on a rant no one could stop if they wanted to but why would they ever want to vibes. one time my marine biologist friend got drunk with me, decided to watch finding dori, would pause the movie to draw diagrams to illustrate the different efficiency levels of different fish/shark tails, and then unpause the movie. same energy, I love it, I can’t wait for more of your videos
girl how come you dont have millions of subs?! you're hilarious and i love the way you talk thru these books! i found your channel yesterday and ur one of my new fav booktubers. i hated this series so much HAHA i made it to maybe the 4th or 5th one before i dropped it because i just /couldn't deal anymore/ y'know? i feel like if you have to read 1000 or some pages in a series for it to get good, it ain't worth my time 😭 excellent video!!
The only thing that stopped me from forcing myself through this series was the fact that I forgot what book I was on and eventually forgot the entire plot. Accidentally mind-wiped myself and saved so much time and money lmao
heWOOO just found ur channel last night and am returning to say watching this made me feel like a friend you asked to vent to and i had the honor of patiently sitting and nodding and agreeing with u and giggling the whole way through, was very fun to tune in to and i am eagerly awaiting your next literature rants/reviews 😌😌
I'm obsessed with your reviews and your vibes because they are exactly like what I send to my friends in voice notes, and it's so good to have someone else who just enters a manic state of "wtf did I just read" after consuming a bad book.
just discovered your channel today and i'm obsessed!! the throne of glass series are my guilty pleasure books lol... i do a lot of scientific and legal reading for my degree so shitty fantasy is a nice break. i started reading them when i was eleven and would constantly re-read the books that were out while waiting for the new ones. re-reading them now as a nineteen year old, i can see why people wouldn't like them lmao but the nostalgia is great
i DESPERATELY need you to read and summarize the whole saga. I've only read acotar and i would never go near another sjm book BUT PLEASE QUEEN also this has such a girl sleepover energy i love it somehow its comforting
the 47k subscribers makes this feel so personal and extra comfy!! i hope you get mainstream too, but for now it reeeeally feels like having a friend rant to you. automatically my comfort channel for sleeping
Ok, admittedly, I read this book over a decade ago now BUT. I loved it. You see, I am HERE for slow burn plot, and what was being set up here was ever so intriguing to me. The fucking ridderack was my shit. I was like !!! super creepy monster thing being summoned to kill ppl??? LETS GOOO! And also just all the hints at the lore and the banned magic and what the royal family might have done to become the royal family (I didn't interpret the situation as the main character being related to the prince, but rather that perhaps the current royal line is not the legitimate one and they are possibly a line of usurpers). Anyway, maybe it sucks in the pacing and everything, I haven't read it in so long I have no idea what I would think of it if I reread it now. But I definitely want you to continue. I hope you are peer pressured into it XD
I read it only shy of a year ago at 18 and LOVED IT. For all the reasons you just listed, I will die on the hill that throne of glass is good , I can't bring myself to see people criticize it 😅
If you ever want to read a really excellent fantasy book, i highly recommend Graceling by Kristin cashore (im not totally sure about the spelling) not to long, action-y, girlbossy in a way that actually makes sense and it fun and good, and an actual fun romance that makes you feel more connected to each person. There are three books (graceling, fire, and bitterblue) , but they are three separate stories in the same universe, so you dont have to read all three if you dont vibe. Love your videos btw, thank you so much for sharing all of your opinions
As much as I tried to get into Maas' books at one point (got super FOMO essentially) it was her writing style that drove me up a wall and I just couldn't read past a few chapters. Plus all the straight romance drama gets boring after a while.
I also received Throne of Glass as a birthday present and refused to read it. However, it shall forever remain collecting dust at the bottom of my bookshelf 😭
Your channel is literally giving me LIFE. I just found you yesterday and have binged all your videos. Love shitty books and I also love anything told to me from the perspective of a fellow gay (hey gurl, hey). Thank you for your service!
The casual rant vibes of your videos are exactly what I’m looking for on this website, I need your takes on the Red Queen series, I think it matches the style of your videos very well
As someone who has and will continue to reread throne of glass over and over, this is a heartfelt recommendation to keep reading. At least until heir of fire. I found this series almost 10 years ago when I was very lonely and sad and since then it has been a constant source of comfort. The protagonist goes through so much and the way she manages to come back from it and be the hero she needs to be has given me strength to recover from my trauma. Sarah J Maas was 16 when she wrote the first book. He writing matured quickly. If this series were food, it wouldn’t be organic whole food nutritional balance gourmet. It would be buttery, salty soul food. And every once in a while, it feels good to indulge.
Yes! There are definitely tropey, ridiculous, problematic things in SJM's books, but I really enjoy them AND enjoy laughing at them, and I just skip the first couple books of the series when I reread to get the slightly more filler books out of the way! I love the way she represents mental health issues and the importance of art and community and healing
@@andaluciaprendes8813 that’s what I love about the series too. People give SJM Flack for having her protagonists solve their depression by training, but i love it. I was a ballerina that had to retire early because I broke my back and I came out of it with a really messed up relationship with fitness and so much emotional dysfunction, but the main factor in my recovery was going through a really physically and spiritually intensive yoga journey that was very similar to Aelin’s heir of fire training. And I get some serious vicarious vindication when Aelin and Lysandra and Fenrys get their vengeance. Without over sharing, I had an Arobynn and a Maeve in my life and it was all I could to get away from them, and I never got justice. It’s why queen of shadows is my fav.
@@missanthropy6174 the issue isn't that she has a protagonist get through their depression with training, it's that she has EVERYONE get through their depression with training. The 'trope' itself is perfectly fine on its own and works for some people irl, but she absolutely beats it to death as if it's the _only_ way to recover
@@emackenzie the claim that ALL of her characters recover from trauma through training is an unfounded one. Of the three series, only two of her protagonists go through an intense training transformation to recover from trauma- Nesta and Aelin. Feyre’s main avenues of recovery are through her art and building a found family to support her. Yes, she trains a lot, but it’s never about healing for her. She has a desire and a responsibility to learn how to fight and use her powers so that she can protect her loved ones and her country. In CC, Bryce doesn’t train at all. She has fighting skills, but they were something she worked at as a kid with her step dad, not a coping mechanism after Danika died. Her mental health journey starts with a two year period of emotional isolation and self punishment (never drinking or clubbing or dancing, denying herself the things she enjoyed before) before she and Hunt become friends and learn to forgive themselves. She also uses dance for therapy, which is exercise, but dance therapy is a thing, and dancing is clearly therapeutic for Bryce. None of the male characters in either series use training as trauma recovery. Even with Aelin and Nesta, working out wasn’t the ONLY thing they did to recover. In fact, the training was more of a vehicle through which they made connections with people, learned to trust them, and talked to them about their trauma. It’s the love and support that they receive that allows them to succeed physically and mentally. Aelin was already an elite fighter when she meets Rowen, the training isn’t what heals her. And with Nesta, she was completely out of control of herself and benefited from the structure training provided (much like many recipients of 12-step treatment). I know that Gwyn and Emerie also get the “training treatment” but they’re also the supporting cast in Nesta’s story. And again, training isn’t the only thing they do to recover. It just provides a vehicle for them to meet each other and form the support group that they need to heal. Emerie is a social outcast who doesn’t like going outside her comfort zone. But she does so that she could hang out and train with Nesta. Gwyn has hardly left the library in years but she’s the first to sign up for training because she wants hang out with her friend and learn how to defend herself. And furthermore, when Nesta is in crisis over a conflict with Cassian, Gwyn leaves the House of Wind for the first time since her trauma because she wants to support her friend. During the blood rite, all three women do astounding things in order to support and protect each other. None of their trauma is magically fixed afterward, Gwyn goes right back to the library and only leaves again to go to Nesta’s wedding. My point is that while training to heal from trauma is a frequently used trope by SJM, it’s not the only one she uses, and even when she does use it, it’s never the one perfect solution. There are always other elements present.
I read this once like, six years ago in high school. While I knew at the time it was Bad (I thought the rest of the series was an improvement but tbh that's not hard) but. Holy shit I forgot it was THIS bad
@@ainsleesbookclub I mean it’s fun as hell! Is it good? No, not at all beyond some good ideas, but it’s kinda fun to see all the unhinged directions the story goes, because god, does it go places.
Girl I live for your videos! You have no idea how distraught I was when I found out you only have like 5 videos 😢 Can not wait for more, your hilarious ❤
After all the SJM hype I have been waaaiting for someone to cover TOG so this is amazing- I hate-read all the books in the series and they are all SO bad, but also selfishly I am begging you to cover them all
i found this channel yesterday and i am LIVING for your recaps and thoughts, you should try 'the school for good and evil' for some absolutely wild and crazy shitty but amazing books
Fart scene was so wild in that book, I read that book when I was 9 with my cousin. It was so entertaining, although I hate Tedros I hope he gets character development since these charming prince characters irritate me.
0:24 “I have not read a fantasy book that I’ve enjoyed.” If that’s the case, then please please PLEASE try The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir. It’s a science fantasy series with lesbian necromancers in space! Lots of gay tension, lots of mysterious intrigue, lots of “what the FUCK” moments. What else could you possibly want?
im obsessed with your channel, so happy the yt algorithm recced your channel to me!! you're so charming and funny and somehow it's so so easy to listen to u rant despite my adhd sgshdhsj
hey girlie, just wanted to remind you that no one should have to suffer through menstruation pains, and just because you have decided to "suck it up" doesn't mean everyone else has to. loved the video!
binge watching your videos on my tablet while playing royal march on my phone. i feel like ive absorbed so much knowledge 😭 (the most worthless knowledge since it’s these crazy books 💀). love these videos tho. i really do feel like im in a bookclub (but with someone hogging the mic every meeting ❤)
I know it’s been a year but like, this series is kind of ehh for me but, ACOTAR is actually good (in my opinion) and SJM has had time as an author to adjust her writing style and make it so that it doesn’t feel like, y’know, three book of just world building (four if you count the prequel) so I do recommend that series
I understand all the criticism ToG gets but I read this when it was published and it helped me through my teen years. It basically kept me alive and I happily reread the ehole series once a year😂 this series lives rentfree in my heart.
I am so glad you have these videos so I can satisfy my curiosity without having to read them, which, dodging a bullet so it would seem I feel like I really enjoy fantasy except for the way that most books about fantasy are written, I just have been completely unable to get into any Brandon Sanderson even with how much people go on and on about him. But like my favorite comics are fantasy, and I love creating fantasy stories, and I loved fantasy stuff as a kid. I don't really know what else I'm saying, but I think Sarah J Maas might have written a mostly bland fantasy world with a boring magic system. The summoned monster is neat, but the other stuff makes me think it won't be a good magic system in a not great book series
I love fantasy in general, and I tried to read this because I have a friend who loves it... I could not, it was EXHAUSTING. I read Brandon Sanderson and love his books, though I don't read it for the writing style, I mostly just read for the plot and worldbuilding, which for me is what makes a good book. The writing itself isn't anything incredible imo, it's more the world and story and events, so I can put up with a writing style that doesn't interest me particularly. But SJM never did any of that for me, the worldbuilding felt flat and I just wasn't engaged, haven't finished any of her books. I'm trying to write a fantasy novel myself now, and am putting a lot of effort into worldbuilding and also improving my writing style lmao. I think the first thing I want to do with my book is to write something that I would want to read, and the most important part of that, to me, is to be interesting. Edit: I know you also find worldbuilding important and may have forgot that part of your comment a little when writing lol I don't want to make it seem like I haven't considered that. For me personally I'm so thirsty for good worldbuilding I don't care as much about the actual writing 😂 that being said I'm sure SJM could probably make a fascinatingly constructed world sound boring.
I borrow TOG from a friend 6 or 7 years ago but could NOT get past the second chapter. Shortly after, that friend stopped talking to me so her copy is still collecting dust at my parents' house 😂
I am a certified OBSESSED fan of fantasy, all of my favorite books are in the genre, most of my favorite games are in the genre, etc etc. I mean, I even play Dungeons and Dragons weekly, I’m *kind of* of a fan of the whole fantasy thing. But when my best friend bought me this book for my birthday a few years back, I literally fell asleep reading it within the first 30 pages because of how boring and utterly incomprehensible it is. Also, don’t worry- it’s not a matter of you reading the map wrong and having no idea what the societal structure is because you’re stupid. It’s just that this book entirely comprised of exposition can’t be bothered to talk about it at all. Also also, a 400 page book can’t have a thousand POVs. A Song of Ice and Fire can get away with it because it’s actually written well (not to mention each book has 800+ pages).This mess is not. Lastly yes I never want to read the word “erect” in anything ever All that aside, I just discovered your content but I love it! I also like that this is sort of akin to a podcast where I can just set my phone down and listen to this while I do other stuff. The blend of text pictures on screen and just talking is great for what this is about! Keep up the lovely work. Have you read the “Red Queen” series? It’s the perfect blend of this monstrosity and the “The Selection” series.
my partner is 9 years younger than me and we met when i was 31. but we were in very similar phases of our lives and you can judge me all you want, but it‘s the best relationship we both ever had and i was very aware of the potential power imbalance and consent and equality has been the most important thing for both of us and we‘re gonna get married and we lived together for over 5 years now and it‘s the best thing ever. just wanted to say that age difference has inherent risks, but doesn‘t have to necessarily be an issue. but it often can be. ♥️
throne of glass is Sarah j Maas first book, she wrote it at 16 years old on a fan fiction website and it got published. Please, continue reading ! The series gets way way way way better. I promise you it’s so worth it . Ur missing out on so much
There are books, that you eat up, if they meet you in the right time in your life. Later you are disgusted by it, but at the time it is what you need. And it is a blast!
Agree!! I actually love fantasy but I could not get to the end of a court of thrones and roses because I felt like the same thing was happening for 2-3 chapters. Idk I think I’m getting exhausted with an enemies to lovers trope
i read ToG when i was literally like 12 or 13 and enjoyed my time with it okay. it wasn’t a good book, and i read a lot more agatha christie than sjm , but it was fun and that was what mattered. looking back though, wow. it is a book, it’s got that going. also i feel like i’m the only one who got less interested in the series the more i read it??? i got a few books in but as soon as romance became as much of a plot point as the actual, well, plot, i was out. i was there for magic, and that was it.
NO YOU HAVE TO IT DOES GET GOOD! (honestly it's an ok series but the books do get a lot more fun and i think you'd enjoy them. plus i want to watch your reactions to the later books)
I started reading ACOTAR, but when I learned what happens to Tamlin in the latter parts of the series, I put the book down and never picked it up again. I think I dodged a bullet but god was I disappointed 😭
oh my goodness ACOTAR is so bad. I read the first book, then started the second, then put down the second and I haven't read it since. I hate how popular it is because it's really shitty but everyone on booktok is eating up the fae porn
@@spntageous5249 SERIOUSLY. like I’ve rarely come across a romance book that was genuinely appealing and TAMLIN I ACTUALLY LIKED 😭 I don’t understand his sudden shift in character and I hate how Sarah J Maas’s writing spiraled so terribly plot-wise throughout the series
Love the video!!! Been binging all of them haha. So much fun. Love the ranting. Very relatable. It's been making me look back at my YA fantasy phase and I'm so glad I never got into these books.... Not that I can really talk. Glads houses and all that :| If you want something REALLY unhinged with all the relationships, you should do Shadowhunters. I went nuts over those but I still read parts and just thought "huh?? What??? Huh???"
I would like her books if she didn’t even confuse me, and her books were so long. I write books, but I don’t even like writing long books, let alone reading them.
I read these series a while ago and your complaint on the pronunciation guide being at the end and the names not being spelled well to get said pronunciation makes me feel very validated (I had the exact same names ideas… to learn they were wrong)
we wanted ours to be the biggest party we'd ever throw, and obviously everyone would be there to agree that we are the most awesome couple of all time. We still occasionally get messages that someone went to a wedding but it "wasn't as good as a lesbian dinosaur karaoke wedding" I like having things be official, and it has helped in several circumstances. I've yet to encounter a situation where it's worse being wives than being girlfriends. When you add in the potential tax benefits, there's no reason not to get married when you've got a decent person you want to spend a long chunk of time with. It's not like you couldn't get out of it if it needed to be ended.
Okay I love your channel and these vids but I have to disagree on the age thing. I think it’s fine for a 22 year old to date an 18 year old. Especially in this universe
the pronunciation guide being at the back made me mad too!! i was thinking se-lee-enna was a silly name but i was thirteen (eek) so i was like okay vibe. it's refreshing to listen to critical reviews now, i had no reading comprehension ten years ago! i remember being won over by the character of celaena but being really confused why she was suddenly making out with chaol. p.s. your channel is so bingeable i love it!!
I love this series and no one can change my mind. It was my first YA fantasy on the upper young adult side. The first book was boring in retrospect but the audiobook reader is really good. Book 4 is my favorite in the series! But things really did start to pick up in Book 3 for me
I only pronounced Chaol correctly in my mind because it's one letter off from Chaos, which is what this series is. I love fantasy but I am not a SJM girlie
Tbh I feel like the 18/22 age gap would’ve been a great opportunity for world building. Like if it’s historical fantasy where you’re expected to have a job, spouse, & kids by 16, then 18/22 is a much more similar life stage than say, something with more modern lifestyle expectations
Can I ask if you are American? Because in my country you're an adult at 18, and pairing with 18/21 or 22 y.o. are fairly normal. I know just because something is normal, doesn't mean it's okay - but it made me curious. I for example was also in a relationship with a guy that was 3 years older than me when I was 18/19. The relationship ended because he wanted to start a family and I wanted to go to university - so I wouldn't say you guys are wrong. I am just curious that this is already considered an age gap and would like to know more about why. (Btw: I think he married a woman around 5 years older than him? I only know this because his bestie was complaining about him and his partner to me... Like wtf dude, wrong address)
honestly, the mention of periods don't bother me much in fantasy. When I read Tamora Pierce's Alanna-series back in the day, I was around 11-12 years old, so when the maincharacter started having periods it felt special to me because it was something I had yet to experience. I think it can be a good addition to literature for young women because it reflects the natural changes you'll go through. Obviously, it can be done poorly and suck, but if done right I think it works well.
I read the prequel to TOG “The Assassin’s Blade” before any of the other books in the series and then promptly decided I wouldn’t be reading any more of them because of how angry the character death in that book made me (iykyk) lmao
with the pronounciation i had the opposite reaction where I listened to the audiobook first and then when i looked at the book i was like "who the heck is Celaena"
Omg Ive found my people. I swear every book toker, instagrammer and yter love these books but I never NEVER understood it. Im so glad Im not alone in my distaste for them!!!!!
I really wish I'd seen this before I bought the entire series. Had to listen to the 3rd book as an audiobook at 2x speed just to get it over with so I can get to the next book ( HoF). I hope it's better.
sjm has really lowered the standard for fantasy - I'm a huge fantasy fan and even I wasn't able to stomach them - it wasn't just the poor writing and really messy plotlines, but the underlying themes just felt really icky. (also why did her books keep getting longer and longer? like there's no plot and yet her possibly nonexistent editor greenlit 900 pages of the main character blinking????)
i love watching reviews where people hate the books when i really like them cause i'm amazed we came out at completely different conclusions. ultimately i'm not reading with a critical lense ever, unless it's the most gaping plot hole concocted, i'm just vibing to the end. that being said i would love for you to continue reading them and giving your feedback, i enjoyed the second book more than the first (i haven't read the rest). i will continue to read the character names as i had imagined them in my head too. kah-ol is laughable, he's chaol with a ch to me.
My love for fantasy is THE REASON I stay away from Sarah J. Maas like a vampire with garlic, so maybe it's not an ideal starting point🤣 (No shade to her fans, I have personal beaf with her since that retelling of beauty and the beast who has nothing to do with beauty and the beast, you know the one)
This is why I loved reading and will ALWAYS recommend reading Assassin’s Blade first! You get a much better understanding of the world and just who Celaena is and a lot of her motive or at least the reasoning behind it and you get to see why she’s so infamous all over the continent. It also lets you form a bond to her and get used to the writing style of TOG especially if you’re not fond of fantasy. All in all, I understand that you didn’t like as I am a personal fan of DNFing something just because it doesn’t fit my vibe but if you’re hearts open I beg that AB is what you read next
I feel like you have to be a very certain age/time in your life in order to enjoy ya books like this and if you try and go back to read them everything just falls flat on its face. Like I tried to get into tmi but I just couldn't get past the first book but if I had read it when I was younger I know I would be absolutely obsessed with it
I think the names are complicated because they're supposed to be somewhat Gaelic/Celtic? Because most fae folklore is Irish/Scottish? But she assembled the names without understanding that Gaelic is a different language, so instead of the spelling having a different linguistic purpose it's just like... dumb Actually I just googled it for funsies and "ch" is a hard "h" sound (like a cat hissing) and "ao" should sound like "ee" so pronounced in Gaelic "Chaol" would be "hhheel" 😂 and nothing has brought me laugh harder
![Megan Thee Stallion - Neva Play (feat. RM) [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/TpYTyAaTRts/mqdefault.jpg)
Binging all your content. Unhinged rants abour dumb books is my favorite niche. You have a sleepover energy that I am so here for 😆
Omg thank youuuuuu!! That is literally the biggest compliment cause that’s exactly the vibe I hope to have 🫶🫶
Exactly what I'm working on rn
Samesies lol
omg literally same, do u have recs for similar channels ?? i’m desperate 😩 i’ve resorted to rewatching these vids bc i’ve seen all of her vids already
@@mayafingerle2080you can check lexi aka newlynova or withcindy
Honestly a book even considering that periods exist is super refreshing. It's not pointless either, since the point of showing Celaena having her period is to show that she isn't malnourished anymore now that she's staying at the castle.
I thought the same! I don’t think I’ve ever encountered it in a fantasy book before so it was a very nice change of pace. And like I can see it from both perspectives, but again it’s nice to have it appear in a popular fantasy book (and in a way that isn’t like. Super traumatizing)
:)
my biggest beef in books (especially when i read the first two books then dnfed this series in high school) is when a character is set up as smart and incredibly competent and then is written as chronically stupid and oblivious for plot reveals... there were so many times where she drew conclusions and i was like 'girl... what is this'. there is nothing wrong with a main character being oblivious and dumb just be honest about it!!! its ok to be dumb about things!
I NEED to read a book where the main characters an idiot, KNOWS theyre an idiot, and relishes in the fact that they’re an idiot
EXACTLY! THAT'S WHAT I KEEP SAYING! She's all bark and no bite
For me that was highlighting just how young she was. She’s incredibly talented and gifted but she’s also just barely an adult and so traumatized. I 100% acted the same way when I was her age with all these expectations and working hard to get to where I am but also never really getting a chance to properly grow. Either too smart for my own good or too oblivious
Yeah I definitely get that, and I think that would have come across more for me if it was written in the first person. I guess it being written in the 3rd person automatically puts up a wall for me as the reader because, even if I don't expect the narrator to be objective, I think it could have done a better job in highlighting the difference in how: Celaena perceives herself, is perceived by others, and then how she actually is. It might get better throughout the series, but it fell too hard into tell not show and sometimes tell then show the contrary -without acknowledgement or effect- for my taste. I tried reading them when I was 17, so luckily the adult brain rational didn't effect my perception of Celaena and teen decision making in the way it can when trying to read younger characters as an adult.@@maddiemainer
ok i made this exact point when i was reading the first couple books but the main character goes through a coming into power thing in the 3rd and she actually is genuinely smart and witty i promise she’s a just deeply traumatized/closed off/paranoid in the first few.
"I think this is meant to be flirting, but I have no idea." is an accurate summary of my experience reading any romance content.
Being a badass assassin and never assassinating anyone. Love that for you, girly
Am a assassin for the social credit not for the work 🤣
As a fantasy lover, I tried to read TOG when I was 16 and just *couldn’t* 😭 teen me swore off of SJM in that very moment and I’ve never looked back
I love your energy btw, giving ‘I’ve invited you over just to rant for the next three hours’ in the best way possible
First of all, you’re so valid for that cause TOG is about to make me swear off reading forever (not just fantasy but like ANYTHING it was *that* bad)
second of all that is literally the hugest compliment it’s exactly what I want the vibes to be 🫶🫶
Omg same. I've read tog like two years ago after my friend hyped me.. and I have never been more disappointed xd The main character is just a lots of talking but no actions and overall so annoying that I almost couldn't finish it :D Anyway, I heard that books get better from third or fourth one, but can't say for myself
currently 16, and i hard agree with this sentiment. so many YA fantasy books have quite nearly thrown me off of reading fantasy and in general YA because of how horribly they are written...but SJM took the cake. i could not get through the first two chapters without cringing and screaming inside...DNFd it immediately lmao
SJM is genuinely so delusional she just makes up complicated names, romance that escalates unnecessarily fast and has no semblance of a plot and she genuinely believes her writing style and characters are good. I'll admit she wrote like, 3 - 4 characters that intrigued me
@@aahana4931I so agree but like also I’m literally addicted to her writing😬💀
In defense of her having a period and reading erotica, when I read this book at like 15 ish those facts made me feel more proud of my female body and more secure in beginning to explore my sexuality so I think those are good additions to a book of this genre
Her: "18 and 22 is a bit of an icky age gap, there's a lot of life that happens between those ages"
Me: *laughs maniacally in has-read-the-entire-series*
Yesssss! Best comment
😂😂
Honestly exactly what I thought
Her: "and that means Dorian and Celaena would be related. And that would be incest. And if it's not incest, it's incest-adjacent"
Me: laughs extra maniacally in has-read-the-entire-series
Then what is it?
ngl as someone who LOVES fantasy, the naming conventions (or lack thereof 🥴) in this book also make me wanna die. i cringed all the way through it
exactlyyyyyyy!! I wouldn’t be so mad if it all made sense together but it doesn’t 😡 I’m sad cause I really want to like fantasy but this was not it
her name is spelled celaena. _celaena._ spell it selana - or sulena, if you wanna be quirky - but not fucking _celaena._
@@PPBbunno I pronounced it as Selena most of the time, there is no need to give her a super unique name to make a memorizeable and well written character😭😭
i feel like sjm is PARTICULARLY egregious with the silly fantasy names
@@nanizet’her name is fairy because she’s dating a fairy. Too obvious? Uhhh, fair…uh. Fairuh. Sure.”
(Also the fact that she has a character named eris but it’s a dude makes me so mad)
I feel really stupid for having unironically enjoyed Throne of Glass. It’s been years since I read it, but I remember liking Celaena because she was cool and confident instead of being your typical, “I’m just an ordinary girl with no self-confidence, and even though I’m secretly special, I always see myself as nothing special” YA protag. I also thought it was cool that she liked fashion and spent her money from the competition on looking pretty, because that’s a trait that’s usually vilified and it was neat seeing a hero who liked to look good with being shamed by the narrative for it. I also remember finding the competition itself entertaining because even though I knew Celaena was going to be one of the finalists, it was still interesting to see *what* they would be competing in and *how* she would win. I know these are all stupid arguments, but it might explain why this trash book got so popular.
it's not stupid, and although the story is very well written and can be very silly at times, do not feel stupid for having liked it, because it has many redeeming qualities since not many young adult fantasy romance novels in this style were popular, and i believe we all grow taste from overcoming the things we liked and learning what was positive and what was simply not great about it. You should be glad that even though you liked it a lot one day, now you know you deserve better as a reader lol. as someone who read this quite young and deeply loved it, i believe i have long outgrown it, and that's okay. if anything, you have that.
@annabeatrizzimmermann7708 couldn't have said this better myself!
Everyone enjoys different things in books! You don't have to feel bad for liking a book whose worst crime is being mostly exposition for the next ones (from what I've gathered). Besides the reasons you stated for enjoying this book are pretty neat! (I too don't care if it's too obvious who's going to be in the finale because even when they try to hide it it's rather obvious and I'd rather they develop the character than try to hide them and making them bland and boring in the process and her not being shamed for liking looking pretty and stuff was indeed a breath of fresh air in the period the book came out)
I personally enjoyed the series and I only recently read everything (except tower of dawn) like 6 months ago. I don’t think it’s bad to enjoy these books, you can outgrow them and find other series that you enjoy more but it’s the first ones that sometimes stick with you :)
Don't feel stupid if you enjoyed it! I'm enjoying this series quite a bit. Not everything you read has to be highbrow award winning literature!
NEVER stop the shitty book grind
bahaha never!! its too much fun to read awful books
i had an idea for a mermaid love story today (lesbian) and you triggered my spite by saying you didn’t like fantasy. cant thank you enough. the book should be done by the end of the month
babe let's us know when it's done
Facts
please tell us when you finished it lesbian mermaid romance sounds exactly like the stuff I want to readddddd
sameee like im gonna slay my fantasy novel just so channels like this can say it was ok and didn't have anything egregious lol
❤ I'm here for mermaid WLW 😅
Everyone is going to tell you that the series gets better. As a devoted high fantasy lover, I assure you they do not. I'd enjoy hearing your thoughts on the later books because they just get increasingly ridiculous, but I totally get it if you don't want to put yourself through that
Also, to be clear: good fantasy has names that make sense within the pronunciation of whatever language they're supposed to be from. Ms. Maas loves to shove random names and/or random letters together and hope it works out
For anyone who really wanted to like Throne of Glass but couldn't (or who really liked Throne of Glass and deserves better): the Witchlands series by Susan Dennard does basically everything this series wishes it could and 1000% more
Witchland series is so good!
Also yeah, I skimmed most of ToG series. I think there were good parts but those were few and far between for 7 slash 8 books and it didn't ever seem to get better, just more.
I read tog when I was 15 and I was hooked from the beginning, until I read Heir of Fire and wanted to throw my book at a wall. If Rowan has 100 haters, I'm one of them, if he has 10 haters, one of them is me, if he has 0 haters, that means I am dead.
Omg I feel the same! That was terrible, and I haven't read a word of her work since. 😂
SAME SAME SAME ISNT HE HER COUSIN!!! AND SHE NEVER ACTUALLY BROKE UP WITH CHAOL.
EXACTLY!!! Chaol and Dorian are not the best written love interests but Rowan is barely even a character 😭 that man has 0 personality apart from being good looking and annoying
me too
@@Moonsnailthegreatyess
omg the pronunciation guide lol. My friend used to call Chaol "Mr. Smoothie Man" since I was pronouncing his name as Kale with the help of the pronunciation guide. :3 Honestly wish more people talked about TOG since it killed my love of high fantasy and novels. I read the whole thing and by the end was just hate reading it to find out the end. It truly devolved into something terrible and unexplainable 🥲
There were so many individual elements that were so cool, but when they all came together it was horrible, like the only way SJM could unify concepts was to throw them all into bed together literally??? Manon and the witch coven was so cool; Dorian's later arch was interesting; Nehemiah was done so dirty; and Chaol was my favorite despite the inexplicable character assassination later on (I liked him since he really didn't like Celaena for a lot of the story lol). I hated Celaena. Somehow she was so one dimensional and had a strange effect of making every other character that interacted with her just as flat and boring, no matter how complicated their background and side stories were. Away from Celaena, they were well rounded, interesting characters, but next to her all they could do was be flat like her, maybe so it wasn't obvious that she sucked as a character, idk
I haven’t read the rest of the series but if they’re as much of a mess as you’re saying they are I might just have to suffer through them lol the thing is, it’s not bad in a fun way, it’s just bad in a “I literally don’t give a shit” way which makes for boring reading
Honestly I read all of it and the ending was like stupid in my opinion. I read it when I was 13 so I loved it and I'm still sentimental about it, but even then there were so many things that didn't make sense. And I pronounced Chaol in different ways - like Cole, Haol, Hal. And about his arc, like I still don't get why he changed so much when she was gone on the other continent. Before he even wanted to go with her and saw it as a good thing, and then just straight up hated her. And honestly if Dorian and Manon weren't there I would stop reading this series, I still somewhat like them
@@ainsleesbookclub I put myself through 5 of the books so far and I can't stress enough how much I'm struggling because I do want to finish the series, but still I have two books to go and I literally don't give a shit!!!!AAAA
@@Annalisa814201 might rewrite my own ending to this series atp
7:13 if you hate the 4 year age gap between Chaol and Celaena, you're gonna hate who she actually ends up with (a 300+ year old elf who emotionally, physically, and mentally abuses her but it's okay cuz they're ♡mates♡)
What
Mmm okay once you said that way looks creepy
Excuse me
bro when does Rhys "abuse" feyre?? literally what are you on about?
@@iheartstars333no they’re talking about the main relationship in throne of glass not a court of thorns and roses, now I can’t tell you if they’re being accurate or not because I only read the first throne of glass book
As someone who is also not a huge fan of fantasy, one of the only fantasy series I found myself really enjoying was Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows. I highly recommend it. (Good Omens is also a good fantasy book for those who aren't really into the genre!)
I haven’t read any of those, so I’ll have to check them out. Thanks!!
@@ainsleesbookclub You're welcome! :)
I came here to also suggest the Grishaverse, so I second the suggestion for Shadow and Six of Crows. The books also have great queer rep, especially in the later books ❤
@@HaselnuthAs a queer woman no they don't Leighs gays have almost no screentime and get pushed aside for her straight characters
@@mittag983 as an also queer non-binary, that’s true especially in the first books, however, in the King of Scars books I was pleasantly surprised with parts of the plot and how well it was portrayed. Far from being a queer centered book series though, you’re right. The rep that is there though feels well rounded to me (and my experiences with my own identity)
Honestly, her writing does get better, but not a lot. I’ve read every single one of her books and they are tiktok tropes shoved into a dust jacket. Like they slay as fun mindless reading but anyone saying ToG gets better is lyingggg 😭
literally the reason I shredded up my acotar books
@@saa.ra181whoa you actually shredded them? Slay queen
I actually have read every book out at the time in this series when I was around 17 and when I tell you I remember almost nothing about it. Please read all of them I'm obsessed with the fact it had a net 0 impact
Literally same 💀
Sarah J Maas is crazy because she's by far one of the biggest authors in the game, spends weeks at #1 on the bestsellers list, crushes every Goodreads Choice award, her books always have giant waitlists at my library even if they've been out for years, but no one except the 10% of the country who reads for fun knows who she is. So many times I have mentioned how much I hate her writing to people I know in real life and they're like "Who? What's ACOTAR?"
I got like... five books in? I tried to get back into it after a year or so and genuinely couldn't remember enough about the plot to figure out where I'd left off so I just gave up
I don’t mind the inclusion of her being on her period and being debilitated by it. There’s an ongoing joke about how women in fantasy settings deal with periods bc it’s so rarely addressed, and I think SJM tries. Bad bitches get cramps too! What annoys me is that’s it’s clearly just there so Dorian can go into her room and further play up the love triangle, rather than explore A) periods or B) Endovier’s effect on Celaena
I think less is more in fantasy. When it starts to have too many characters, too many names, too much description, too many love interests, I can't be bothered. And I have read plenty of literary fiction, so I can understand what I'm reading. But it's like in some of those books they want to throw too much at it so they can make like 10 books in the same world.
omg you should totally do the red queen series,,,, idek who the author is but i remember reading them when i was younger and going crazy over them😭😭😭 i love ur videos!!! im bingeing and we NEED more
a few people have suggested it, so it’s going on the list!!
omg im so exciteddddd
(This is an old ass comments so insert apology lmao) I so cannot wait for it because I hated that series and I want vindication
Terry Pratchett (my favorite fantasy writer) even made fun of unpronounceable names in fantasy, there are some weird names in his books but they are usually easy to pronounce because they are puns or hard to pronounce on purpose and the joke is that no one gets it right. My favorite character from his books is named "Sam"
Samewise Gamgee...Sam was the most normal in LOTR too!
I was gonna comment about Pratchett too! You get Sam (also my fave) and Susan and then you get Moist and Vetinari and Teatime ("tee-AH-tim-ee").
You make me think of @uncarley !! In personality and you literally sound the same ! 😂
dudeeeeee that’s actually so sweet i love her channel that’s a massive compliment :)
I'm a big SJM fan but if I hadn't been told countless times just how good the series got I would have stopped after ToG. I know she was young when she wrote it, and it's very obvious, but it was just...ok. BUT her writing just got better and better. Queen of Shadows is incredible.
yeah that's what's keeping me reading, books 1 & 2 were very average to me but i'm hoping it gets better bc everyone says it will 😭
@@tehelea I read the whole series and no, it doesn’t get any better, it gets worse. The last book is disgustingly terrible and a waste of paper. In fact, none of it was ever good. Save your money for a better book series and stay away from SJM because she’s not a good writer.
damn hate harder@@brooke9446 i almost cant see the steam coming out of your ears
queen of shadows was actually when my enjoyment started to wane. after liking heir of fire so much, it was disappointing. i wasnt a fan of celaena being romantically involved w rowan. she needed someone more experienced to advise her and help her back in erilia yes but did he have to be her boyfriend too 💀 also maeve changing the nature of his relationship w his dead ex.... can you say retcon? cuz yea i finished the series obviously. call it stockholm syndrome or wtv, but i was 12 when i started them and refuse to account for taste. i read any and everything my mom got for me
@@nao-bo4yz the "it gets better in book 3+!!" phenomenon in books is honestly just a way to hook readers in with the sunk cost fallacy. Like-you've already spent all that time and money getting this far, you may as well finish the series to see it improve and conclude!
I only read this book as a teen because I was deep in my Assassin’s Creed phase…. I thought it would satisfy my assassin tooth, it didn’t. And I did try to read the prequel book but I couldn’t… I just couldn’t. It failed as a killer fantasy, and is just SJM, in a nutshell. Read one of her stuff, you’ve read all of her books. 🎤⏬
thats why I cant read this book. I read the first 3 books in ACOTAR, like 5 years ago. I liked them, but I feel like there's no point of reading the rest.
I first thought you meant the Farseer Trilogy, first book Assassin's Apprentice but you were talking about the games right? If you still read fantasy, Robin Hobbs first two trilogies - The Farseer Trilogy and Liveship Trader Trilogy are some of my favorite. Either could be read first but because of the lore I think Farseer should be read first.
These aren't romance novels although there is romance. It just isn't the focus. I wish I could read these for the first time again.
@@kirielbranson4843 I heard of the Assassin’s apprentice trilogy, not the other one, but it’s on my to read list. And yes I was talking about the games, loved them! But my gaming love has gone down a lot because of work, school, and being an adult. But it’s like reading now, relaxing free time activity.
@@zoebrugg7594 I am still big time into gaming but I have no children. And am a few years from retirement so don't have any big career drives anymore beyond pulling my weight and supporting my projects. Reading became audiobooks for me about 20 years ago. It used to be that I was reading every chance I got but after almost everything got an audiobook I can now read while walking, doing housework, driving, etc. I have no idea how I managed to read the mountains of books I used to read. How did I find the time? I hope you never completely give up either. And definitely take up Robin Hobbs when you have the time.
Please please I need you to finish this so I don’t have to read it alone!!!
you know what, since you asked so nicely…I’ll continue to put myself through it 🫶🫶
@@ainsleesbookclub I have to join in. I'm forcing myself to finish the series solely because of how funny the negative reviews are. I don't want to suffer for nothing. xD I'll even give you a cookie, girl.🍪
Why?... just why guys? I enjoyed the whole series... A LOT! I don't understand why most of the people in the comments say that they were disappointed or bored...
I just found and binged your channel and have subscribed- your vibes are IMMACULATE, truly just, drunk bestie going off on a rant no one could stop if they wanted to but why would they ever want to vibes.
one time my marine biologist friend got drunk with me, decided to watch finding dori, would pause the movie to draw diagrams to illustrate the different efficiency levels of different fish/shark tails, and then unpause the movie. same energy, I love it, I can’t wait for more of your videos
girl how come you dont have millions of subs?! you're hilarious and i love the way you talk thru these books! i found your channel yesterday and ur one of my new fav booktubers.
i hated this series so much HAHA i made it to maybe the 4th or 5th one before i dropped it because i just /couldn't deal anymore/ y'know? i feel like if you have to read 1000 or some pages in a series for it to get good, it ain't worth my time 😭 excellent video!!
i COMPLETELY understand the need to finish a series. i don’t think i’ve ever left a series unfinished, i just have to see it through
The only thing that stopped me from forcing myself through this series was the fact that I forgot what book I was on and eventually forgot the entire plot. Accidentally mind-wiped myself and saved so much time and money lmao
heWOOO just found ur channel last night and am returning to say watching this made me feel like a friend you asked to vent to and i had the honor of patiently sitting and nodding and agreeing with u and giggling the whole way through, was very fun to tune in to and i am eagerly awaiting your next literature rants/reviews 😌😌
oh my gosh thank you!! That’s so kind :)
I'm obsessed with your reviews and your vibes because they are exactly like what I send to my friends in voice notes, and it's so good to have someone else who just enters a manic state of "wtf did I just read" after consuming a bad book.
just discovered your channel today and i'm obsessed!!
the throne of glass series are my guilty pleasure books lol... i do a lot of scientific and legal reading for my degree so shitty fantasy is a nice break. i started reading them when i was eleven and would constantly re-read the books that were out while waiting for the new ones. re-reading them now as a nineteen year old, i can see why people wouldn't like them lmao but the nostalgia is great
i DESPERATELY need you to read and summarize the whole saga. I've only read acotar and i would never go near another sjm book BUT PLEASE QUEEN
also this has such a girl sleepover energy i love it somehow its comforting
the 47k subscribers makes this feel so personal and extra comfy!! i hope you get mainstream too, but for now it reeeeally feels like having a friend rant to you. automatically my comfort channel for sleeping
Ok, admittedly, I read this book over a decade ago now BUT. I loved it. You see, I am HERE for slow burn plot, and what was being set up here was ever so intriguing to me. The fucking ridderack was my shit. I was like !!! super creepy monster thing being summoned to kill ppl??? LETS GOOO! And also just all the hints at the lore and the banned magic and what the royal family might have done to become the royal family (I didn't interpret the situation as the main character being related to the prince, but rather that perhaps the current royal line is not the legitimate one and they are possibly a line of usurpers). Anyway, maybe it sucks in the pacing and everything, I haven't read it in so long I have no idea what I would think of it if I reread it now. But I definitely want you to continue. I hope you are peer pressured into it XD
I read it only shy of a year ago at 18 and LOVED IT. For all the reasons you just listed, I will die on the hill that throne of glass is good , I can't bring myself to see people criticize it 😅
If you ever want to read a really excellent fantasy book, i highly recommend Graceling by Kristin cashore (im not totally sure about the spelling) not to long, action-y, girlbossy in a way that actually makes sense and it fun and good, and an actual fun romance that makes you feel more connected to each person. There are three books (graceling, fire, and bitterblue) , but they are three separate stories in the same universe, so you dont have to read all three if you dont vibe. Love your videos btw, thank you so much for sharing all of your opinions
As much as I tried to get into Maas' books at one point (got super FOMO essentially) it was her writing style that drove me up a wall and I just couldn't read past a few chapters. Plus all the straight romance drama gets boring after a while.
I also received Throne of Glass as a birthday present and refused to read it. However, it shall forever remain collecting dust at the bottom of my bookshelf 😭
Your videos are endlessly entertaining, thanks for keeping me company while I avoid my responsibilities!
Your channel is literally giving me LIFE. I just found you yesterday and have binged all your videos.
Love shitty books and I also love anything told to me from the perspective of a fellow gay (hey gurl, hey). Thank you for your service!
The casual rant vibes of your videos are exactly what I’m looking for on this website, I need your takes on the Red Queen series, I think it matches the style of your videos very well
As someone who has and will continue to reread throne of glass over and over, this is a heartfelt recommendation to keep reading. At least until heir of fire. I found this series almost 10 years ago when I was very lonely and sad and since then it has been a constant source of comfort. The protagonist goes through so much and the way she manages to come back from it and be the hero she needs to be has given me strength to recover from my trauma. Sarah J Maas was 16 when she wrote the first book. He writing matured quickly. If this series were food, it wouldn’t be organic whole food nutritional balance gourmet. It would be buttery, salty soul food. And every once in a while, it feels good to indulge.
Yes! There are definitely tropey, ridiculous, problematic things in SJM's books, but I really enjoy them AND enjoy laughing at them, and I just skip the first couple books of the series when I reread to get the slightly more filler books out of the way! I love the way she represents mental health issues and the importance of art and community and healing
@@andaluciaprendes8813 that’s what I love about the series too. People give SJM Flack for having her protagonists solve their depression by training, but i love it. I was a ballerina that had to retire early because I broke my back and I came out of it with a really messed up relationship with fitness and so much emotional dysfunction, but the main factor in my recovery was going through a really physically and spiritually intensive yoga journey that was very similar to Aelin’s heir of fire training. And I get some serious vicarious vindication when Aelin and Lysandra and Fenrys get their vengeance. Without over sharing, I had an Arobynn and a Maeve in my life and it was all I could to get away from them, and I never got justice. It’s why queen of shadows is my fav.
@@missanthropy6174 the issue isn't that she has a protagonist get through their depression with training, it's that she has EVERYONE get through their depression with training. The 'trope' itself is perfectly fine on its own and works for some people irl, but she absolutely beats it to death as if it's the _only_ way to recover
@@emackenzie the claim that ALL of her characters recover from trauma through training is an unfounded one. Of the three series, only two of her protagonists go through an intense training transformation to recover from trauma- Nesta and Aelin.
Feyre’s main avenues of recovery are through her art and building a found family to support her. Yes, she trains a lot, but it’s never about healing for her. She has a desire and a responsibility to learn how to fight and use her powers so that she can protect her loved ones and her country. In CC, Bryce doesn’t train at all. She has fighting skills, but they were something she worked at as a kid with her step dad, not a coping mechanism after Danika died. Her mental health journey starts with a two year period of emotional isolation and self punishment (never drinking or clubbing or dancing, denying herself the things she enjoyed before) before she and Hunt become friends and learn to forgive themselves. She also uses dance for therapy, which is exercise, but dance therapy is a thing, and dancing is clearly therapeutic for Bryce. None of the male characters in either series use training as trauma recovery.
Even with Aelin and Nesta, working out wasn’t the ONLY thing they did to recover. In fact, the training was more of a vehicle through which they made connections with people, learned to trust them, and talked to them about their trauma. It’s the love and support that they receive that allows them to succeed physically and mentally. Aelin was already an elite fighter when she meets Rowen, the training isn’t what heals her. And with Nesta, she was completely out of control of herself and benefited from the structure training provided (much like many recipients of 12-step treatment). I know that Gwyn and Emerie also get the “training treatment” but they’re also the supporting cast in Nesta’s story. And again, training isn’t the only thing they do to recover. It just provides a vehicle for them to meet each other and form the support group that they need to heal. Emerie is a social outcast who doesn’t like going outside her comfort zone. But she does so that she could hang out and train with Nesta. Gwyn has hardly left the library in years but she’s the first to sign up for training because she wants hang out with her friend and learn how to defend herself. And furthermore, when Nesta is in crisis over a conflict with Cassian, Gwyn leaves the House of Wind for the first time since her trauma because she wants to support her friend. During the blood rite, all three women do astounding things in order to support and protect each other. None of their trauma is magically fixed afterward, Gwyn goes right back to the library and only leaves again to go to Nesta’s wedding.
My point is that while training to heal from trauma is a frequently used trope by SJM, it’s not the only one she uses, and even when she does use it, it’s never the one perfect solution. There are always other elements present.
I read this once like, six years ago in high school. While I knew at the time it was Bad (I thought the rest of the series was an improvement but tbh that's not hard) but. Holy shit I forgot it was THIS bad
I’m strongly flirting with the idea of reading the next few books 👀👀 just to see the hype
@@ainsleesbookclub I mean it’s fun as hell! Is it good? No, not at all beyond some good ideas, but it’s kinda fun to see all the unhinged directions the story goes, because god, does it go places.
YOU ARE THE ONLY PERSON I’VE EVER SEEN THAT PRONOUNCED CHAOL LIKE I DID 💀 I THOUGHT I WAS JUST CRAZY
Girl I live for your videos! You have no idea how distraught I was when I found out you only have like 5 videos 😢
Can not wait for more, your hilarious ❤
After all the SJM hype I have been waaaiting for someone to cover TOG so this is amazing- I hate-read all the books in the series and they are all SO bad, but also selfishly I am begging you to cover them all
i found this channel yesterday and i am LIVING for your recaps and thoughts, you should try 'the school for good and evil' for some absolutely wild and crazy shitty but amazing books
Fart scene was so wild in that book, I read that book when I was 9 with my cousin. It was so entertaining, although I hate Tedros I hope he gets character development since these charming prince characters irritate me.
0:24 “I have not read a fantasy book that I’ve enjoyed.” If that’s the case, then please please PLEASE try The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir. It’s a science fantasy series with lesbian necromancers in space! Lots of gay tension, lots of mysterious intrigue, lots of “what the FUCK” moments. What else could you possibly want?
Thanks for the suggestion!! I’ll check it out :)
Or read Brandon Sandersons Mistborn series! Idk if you've read it but I loved it.
currently reading the second book!
This is the only way I want books to be recapped or summarized from now on lol I love these videos so much
This is peer pressure, please do every book this video was golden.
im obsessed with your channel, so happy the yt algorithm recced your channel to me!! you're so charming and funny and somehow it's so so easy to listen to u rant despite my adhd sgshdhsj
Just got recommended your vids today but damn this is exactly the content I adore. I'm thrilled
I’m so obsessed with this girl 😂😭😭 more videoooos ASAP pls
hey girlie, just wanted to remind you that no one should have to suffer through menstruation pains, and just because you have decided to "suck it up" doesn't mean everyone else has to. loved the video!
Very true!!
binge watching your videos on my tablet while playing royal march on my phone. i feel like ive absorbed so much knowledge 😭 (the most worthless knowledge since it’s these crazy books 💀). love these videos tho. i really do feel like im in a bookclub (but with someone hogging the mic every meeting ❤)
“Is opium…heroin?!” 🤣🤣🤣
I know it’s been a year but like, this series is kind of ehh for me but, ACOTAR is actually good (in my opinion) and SJM has had time as an author to adjust her writing style and make it so that it doesn’t feel like, y’know, three book of just world building (four if you count the prequel) so I do recommend that series
I understand all the criticism ToG gets but I read this when it was published and it helped me through my teen years. It basically kept me alive and I happily reread the ehole series once a year😂 this series lives rentfree in my heart.
your not going to believe this but later in the series she gets ANOTHER name
I just got to that part and I’m
LIVID
I am so glad you have these videos so I can satisfy my curiosity without having to read them, which, dodging a bullet so it would seem
I feel like I really enjoy fantasy except for the way that most books about fantasy are written, I just have been completely unable to get into any Brandon Sanderson even with how much people go on and on about him. But like my favorite comics are fantasy, and I love creating fantasy stories, and I loved fantasy stuff as a kid.
I don't really know what else I'm saying, but I think Sarah J Maas might have written a mostly bland fantasy world with a boring magic system. The summoned monster is neat, but the other stuff makes me think it won't be a good magic system in a not great book series
I love fantasy in general, and I tried to read this because I have a friend who loves it... I could not, it was EXHAUSTING.
I read Brandon Sanderson and love his books, though I don't read it for the writing style, I mostly just read for the plot and worldbuilding, which for me is what makes a good book. The writing itself isn't anything incredible imo, it's more the world and story and events, so I can put up with a writing style that doesn't interest me particularly.
But SJM never did any of that for me, the worldbuilding felt flat and I just wasn't engaged, haven't finished any of her books. I'm trying to write a fantasy novel myself now, and am putting a lot of effort into worldbuilding and also improving my writing style lmao. I think the first thing I want to do with my book is to write something that I would want to read, and the most important part of that, to me, is to be interesting.
Edit: I know you also find worldbuilding important and may have forgot that part of your comment a little when writing lol I don't want to make it seem like I haven't considered that. For me personally I'm so thirsty for good worldbuilding I don't care as much about the actual writing 😂 that being said I'm sure SJM could probably make a fascinatingly constructed world sound boring.
I borrow TOG from a friend 6 or 7 years ago but could NOT get past the second chapter. Shortly after, that friend stopped talking to me so her copy is still collecting dust at my parents' house 😂
I am a certified OBSESSED fan of fantasy, all of my favorite books are in the genre, most of my favorite games are in the genre, etc etc. I mean, I even play Dungeons and Dragons weekly, I’m *kind of* of a fan of the whole fantasy thing.
But when my best friend bought me this book for my birthday a few years back, I literally fell asleep reading it within the first 30 pages because of how boring and utterly incomprehensible it is.
Also, don’t worry- it’s not a matter of you reading the map wrong and having no idea what the societal structure is because you’re stupid. It’s just that this book entirely comprised of exposition can’t be bothered to talk about it at all.
Also also, a 400 page book can’t have a thousand POVs. A Song of Ice and Fire can get away with it because it’s actually written well (not to mention each book has 800+ pages).This mess is not.
Lastly yes I never want to read the word “erect” in anything ever
All that aside, I just discovered your content but I love it! I also like that this is sort of akin to a podcast where I can just set my phone down and listen to this while I do other stuff. The blend of text pictures on screen and just talking is great for what this is about! Keep up the lovely work.
Have you read the “Red Queen” series? It’s the perfect blend of this monstrosity and the “The Selection” series.
currently binging all your content, i love the way you articulate your opinions on these awful books.
my partner is 9 years younger than me and we met when i was 31. but we were in very similar phases of our lives and you can judge me all you want, but it‘s the best relationship we both ever had and i was very aware of the potential power imbalance and consent and equality has been the most important thing for both of us and we‘re gonna get married and we lived together for over 5 years now and it‘s the best thing ever. just wanted to say that age difference has inherent risks, but doesn‘t have to necessarily be an issue. but it often can be. ♥️
I'm on the last book currently. It's SO fun to see the first book through your eyes as a fresh take 😂 I love this channel.
throne of glass is Sarah j Maas first book, she wrote it at 16 years old on a fan fiction website and it got published. Please, continue reading ! The series gets way way way way better. I promise you it’s so worth it . Ur missing out on so much
Listen girl publishers should still ensure some quality lol but YA sells even without any quality control so here we are.
It really doesn't.
better off reading a court of series instead. still not a masterpiece but at least its entertaining
Thank you for mentioning the too many povs cause that was sooo stressful and I agree that I didn’t get invested in any of the characters because of it
There are books, that you eat up, if they meet you in the right time in your life. Later you are disgusted by it, but at the time it is what you need. And it is a blast!
Agree!! I actually love fantasy but I could not get to the end of a court of thrones and roses because I felt like the same thing was happening for 2-3 chapters. Idk I think I’m getting exhausted with an enemies to lovers trope
i read ToG when i was literally like 12 or 13 and enjoyed my time with it okay. it wasn’t a good book, and i read a lot more agatha christie than sjm , but it was fun and that was what mattered. looking back though, wow. it is a book, it’s got that going. also i feel like i’m the only one who got less interested in the series the more i read it??? i got a few books in but as soon as romance became as much of a plot point as the actual, well, plot, i was out. i was there for magic, and that was it.
NO YOU HAVE TO IT DOES GET GOOD! (honestly it's an ok series but the books do get a lot more fun and i think you'd enjoy them. plus i want to watch your reactions to the later books)
That’s what everyone keeps saying, so I have no choice but to keep reading 👀
It does not ever get good 😅
@@contrarian9999don't say that please 😭 I'm 3 books in waiting for it to get good.
@@jess1131 If you're expecting anything more than self-insert wish fulfillment and slightly more than mediocre writing, you may as well quit now lol.
Given your anti-fantasy energy, I would love to hear your thoughts on game of thrones, a series actually considered good fantasy.
I started reading ACOTAR, but when I learned what happens to Tamlin in the latter parts of the series, I put the book down and never picked it up again. I think I dodged a bullet but god was I disappointed 😭
oh my goodness ACOTAR is so bad. I read the first book, then started the second, then put down the second and I haven't read it since. I hate how popular it is because it's really shitty but everyone on booktok is eating up the fae porn
@@spntageous5249 SERIOUSLY. like I’ve rarely come across a romance book that was genuinely appealing and TAMLIN I ACTUALLY LIKED 😭 I don’t understand his sudden shift in character and I hate how Sarah J Maas’s writing spiraled so terribly plot-wise throughout the series
ive never interacted with this series but "they all feel like cardboard cutouts of people" is the best thing I've ever heard
Love the video!!! Been binging all of them haha. So much fun. Love the ranting. Very relatable. It's been making me look back at my YA fantasy phase and I'm so glad I never got into these books.... Not that I can really talk. Glads houses and all that :| If you want something REALLY unhinged with all the relationships, you should do Shadowhunters. I went nuts over those but I still read parts and just thought "huh?? What??? Huh???"
I would like her books if she didn’t even confuse me, and her books were so long. I write books, but I don’t even like writing long books, let alone reading them.
that’s so real cause the books are sooooo long and like half of it is unnecessary
"A 22 year old should not be romantically involved with a 18 year old" I don't want to spoil anything, BUT. 😬
nooooo please I can’t do this anymore 😭
I read these series a while ago and your complaint on the pronunciation guide being at the end and the names not being spelled well to get said pronunciation makes me feel very validated (I had the exact same names ideas… to learn they were wrong)
Caelena is RIGHT about marriage!!! the only reason I would get married is for citizenship/tax benefits and also because weddings sound fun!!!
we wanted ours to be the biggest party we'd ever throw, and obviously everyone would be there to agree that we are the most awesome couple of all time. We still occasionally get messages that someone went to a wedding but it "wasn't as good as a lesbian dinosaur karaoke wedding"
I like having things be official, and it has helped in several circumstances. I've yet to encounter a situation where it's worse being wives than being girlfriends. When you add in the potential tax benefits, there's no reason not to get married when you've got a decent person you want to spend a long chunk of time with. It's not like you couldn't get out of it if it needed to be ended.
I tried to read this book like 6 times before I just accepted it wasn’t meant to be and I’m so glad now lol
As a gorgeous gorgeous girlie who hates SJM's writing, i feel seen
Okay I love your channel and these vids but I have to disagree on the age thing. I think it’s fine for a 22 year old to date an 18 year old. Especially in this universe
"soo much happened but also like nothing happened" that was basically how my goodreads review for this started
the pronunciation guide being at the back made me mad too!! i was thinking se-lee-enna was a silly name but i was thirteen (eek) so i was like okay vibe. it's refreshing to listen to critical reviews now, i had no reading comprehension ten years ago! i remember being won over by the character of celaena but being really confused why she was suddenly making out with chaol.
p.s. your channel is so bingeable i love it!!
I love this series and no one can change my mind. It was my first YA fantasy on the upper young adult side. The first book was boring in retrospect but the audiobook reader is really good. Book 4 is my favorite in the series! But things really did start to pick up in Book 3 for me
I only pronounced Chaol correctly in my mind because it's one letter off from Chaos, which is what this series is. I love fantasy but I am not a SJM girlie
Honestly fantasy by bipoc authors are doing it soooo much better I really reccomend black sun!
Tbh I feel like the 18/22 age gap would’ve been a great opportunity for world building. Like if it’s historical fantasy where you’re expected to have a job, spouse, & kids by 16, then 18/22 is a much more similar life stage than say, something with more modern lifestyle expectations
Can I ask if you are American? Because in my country you're an adult at 18, and pairing with 18/21 or 22 y.o. are fairly normal. I know just because something is normal, doesn't mean it's okay - but it made me curious. I for example was also in a relationship with a guy that was 3 years older than me when I was 18/19. The relationship ended because he wanted to start a family and I wanted to go to university - so I wouldn't say you guys are wrong. I am just curious that this is already considered an age gap and would like to know more about why.
(Btw: I think he married a woman around 5 years older than him? I only know this because his bestie was complaining about him and his partner to me... Like wtf dude, wrong address)
honestly, the mention of periods don't bother me much in fantasy. When I read Tamora Pierce's Alanna-series back in the day, I was around 11-12 years old, so when the maincharacter started having periods it felt special to me because it was something I had yet to experience. I think it can be a good addition to literature for young women because it reflects the natural changes you'll go through. Obviously, it can be done poorly and suck, but if done right I think it works well.
I read the prequel to TOG “The Assassin’s Blade” before any of the other books in the series and then promptly decided I wouldn’t be reading any more of them because of how angry the character death in that book made me (iykyk) lmao
with the pronounciation i had the opposite reaction where I listened to the audiobook first and then when i looked at the book i was like "who the heck is Celaena"
Omg Ive found my people.
I swear every book toker, instagrammer and yter love these books but I never NEVER understood it.
Im so glad Im not alone in my distaste for them!!!!!
I really wish I'd seen this before I bought the entire series. Had to listen to the 3rd book as an audiobook at 2x speed just to get it over with so I can get to the next book ( HoF). I hope it's better.
sjm has really lowered the standard for fantasy - I'm a huge fantasy fan and even I wasn't able to stomach them - it wasn't just the poor writing and really messy plotlines, but the underlying themes just felt really icky. (also why did her books keep getting longer and longer? like there's no plot and yet her possibly nonexistent editor greenlit 900 pages of the main character blinking????)
Honestly as a fantasy lover, i absolutely despite this series and anything SJM writes 💀💀
i love watching reviews where people hate the books when i really like them cause i'm amazed we came out at completely different conclusions. ultimately i'm not reading with a critical lense ever, unless it's the most gaping plot hole concocted, i'm just vibing to the end. that being said i would love for you to continue reading them and giving your feedback, i enjoyed the second book more than the first (i haven't read the rest). i will continue to read the character names as i had imagined them in my head too. kah-ol is laughable, he's chaol with a ch to me.
Like what you like. Sometimes what someone else disliked about a book is the thing I liked most.
My love for fantasy is THE REASON I stay away from Sarah J. Maas like a vampire with garlic, so maybe it's not an ideal starting point🤣
(No shade to her fans, I have personal beaf with her since that retelling of beauty and the beast who has nothing to do with beauty and the beast, you know the one)
This is why I loved reading and will ALWAYS recommend reading Assassin’s Blade first! You get a much better understanding of the world and just who Celaena is and a lot of her motive or at least the reasoning behind it and you get to see why she’s so infamous all over the continent. It also lets you form a bond to her and get used to the writing style of TOG especially if you’re not fond of fantasy. All in all, I understand that you didn’t like as I am a personal fan of DNFing something just because it doesn’t fit my vibe but if you’re hearts open I beg that AB is what you read next
I feel like you have to be a very certain age/time in your life in order to enjoy ya books like this and if you try and go back to read them everything just falls flat on its face. Like I tried to get into tmi but I just couldn't get past the first book but if I had read it when I was younger I know I would be absolutely obsessed with it
I think the names are complicated because they're supposed to be somewhat Gaelic/Celtic? Because most fae folklore is Irish/Scottish? But she assembled the names without understanding that Gaelic is a different language, so instead of the spelling having a different linguistic purpose it's just like... dumb
Actually I just googled it for funsies and "ch" is a hard "h" sound (like a cat hissing) and "ao" should sound like "ee" so pronounced in Gaelic "Chaol" would be "hhheel" 😂 and nothing has brought me laugh harder