I don't mind a reviewer giving an honest review. What I don't like is when a reviewer reads a book they know they will not like just to review and trash it, or to throw their hateful two cents in with all the other negative reviews. In my opinion, if you are wasting your time to read a book just to make a RUclips video with clicks and likes, why do you read, again? You never do this, so you are alright.
Malazan was just so hard for me to read period. I really wanted to get into it but just couldn't. But my husband adores the whole series so I just let him tell me all the stories in his own words and I grew to love it without reading it. Sometimes hearing someone else's passion helps. 🥰
I appreciate the honest review! It is hard to give a negative review, knowing that the author did put blood, sweat, and tears into their work. However, it is nice to see different reviews of a book you're interested in reading. Not everyone will have the same response to a book. It is refreshing to hear your thoughts! Honestly, I'm dealing with similar thoughts about Silver in the Bone by Bracken. The concept is quite interesting, and I WANT to enjoy it. However . . . The writing feels quite surface level and elementary. She also relies heavily on popular tropes (enemies to friends/lovers, etc.). After 200+pgs, I had to put it down in favor of something else. I might end up returning to it, but the book made reading feel like a chore.
I can completely understand about Malazan. BTW, I stopped when I was almost at the end of Toll the Hounds. That is book no. 8. I felt that there is something wrong with me that I don’t like it and that too when I am about to finish book 8. But in my opinion, I found it very difficult to understand and I often had to read the fandom wiki to supplement my understanding. In my opinion, it’s not worth it. May be some die hard fan of Malazan can do some handholding for mortals like us so that we can comprehend it better.
@@84tand I believe that an author of a book is your most trusted advisor and friend who leads you gently to the mazes of his thoughts and keeps nudging you gently in the right direction leaving enough room for the reader to introspect and drive own conclusions. Malazan is overly puzzling and a difficult read exactly because of the same reasons which are completely missing from the narrative. Can an average reader understand it, sure, I don’t see any reason against this rational however, it’s a personal choice at the end of day on how much effort you want to put against your passion. On the lighter side, I am so thankful that this book was not in my grade curriculum else I would have remained in the same grade till the end of time.
That's interesting about The Goblin Emperor. I loved the prose. It had an old fashioned English charm. I liked the pacing. I gobbled it down. The main character was one of my favorites ive ever come across. He made me want to root for him the whole time. He was such a cinnamon roll. I did want to see more of the main female characters though.
I finished malazan last year and re reading some of it this year. The second read of Gardens of the Moon and Deadhouse gates are a lot smoother. Might be best to endure the series since a second read brings more interesting concepts to each book. I enjoy it more now that last year. lol
I totally agree with you on the three books I've read from this list. Read Nettle & Bone, The Fall of Babel and Kings of Wyld, because of the hype surrounding them. But sadly enough, I didn't like any of these.
I think I read about 60 books last year from about 20 different authors. Only disappointments were 3 authors. 3. A Conjuring of Light by Schwab. Not nearly as well written as the first two books. Solidly a third of the book should have been cut. It also felt like a departure from the previous books. 2 Jemisin’s trilogy. The writing style was interesting but it felt like an anime in book form where each season/book doesn’t fit well with the previous entries. Also all the characters were terrible people, so I didn’t care what hardships they went through. 1 Valor and Malice by Gwynne. DNF halfway through the second book. I can’t even remember the last time a book was so bad I couldn’t finish it. Only positive thing I could say is the duels are well written.
Yea I can see how Kings of the Wyld would be a miss for a lot of people. I personally loved it. Thought it had a surprising amount of heart. But it’s goofy as all hell, filled with anachronisms, and the characters just sort of slapstick their way to victory. I can see how that won’t be for everyone
Waiting for Philip to comment.... lol I dont think you need to apologize for not connecting to a particular book/s. We all have different tastes. Its all cool. I enjoy your videos and thoughts on books. Always quality. I read the first half of Goblin Emperor with a physical book and the last half on audiobook. I enjoyed the audiobook a lot more... the names were killing me .
I totally agree with you about Nettle and Bone. I saw so much praise for this book and I was dead sure I'll love it. But I finished it only because it was the only book I had on an 8 hour bus drive. I still can't decide if T. Kingfisher is an author for me. I really didn't like Nettle and Bone, I loved What Moves the Dead, and I felt very meh about The Seventh Bride. Have no idea what and if should I try any other of her works
I agree on the Malazan. I just took a break midway through Memories of Ice. Like you, I want to like it. I really do. The prose is, objectively speaking, well written, and the complexity of it all is awe inspiring, so at first I couldn't wrap my head around why I'm struggling so much to enjoy it. Then I realized that my problem with it is two-fold: The pacing is far too slow, and the magic is extremely overblown. I like a bit of subtlety in that department, so when someone smashes a magic hammer into ground, and it literally cracks the earth, and creates a new mountain chain, it's just too over the top for me. Sequences like that don't really match the gritty political realism of the rest of the story. I might pick it up again, but for now I'm having a break with Elizabeth Bear's Ancestral Night.
Im with you on Gunmetal. I tried so hard to like it for the sake of that beautiful Kickstarter Hardcover Edition, but man it was just so bleak and the ending was....a bit to be desired. Very unique setting though.
The last 200-250 (whatever the last "subbook" inside the book was) of Deadhouse Gates is what sold me on the entire series. I still think it's the best conclusion to any book I've ever read. I get being burned out in the middle but I don't think you can go through that book and feel like the same person on the other side.
I totally agree with you on all three of the books I read from this list. Malazan -- I really wanted to like it and made it all the way to book 5 until I finally gave up. The series just keeps adding more and more characters, which I was struggling to care about, and then book 5 focused on yet another group of entirely new characters and locations. It was too much for me, it was like it overloaded my brain. And I love other epic fantasy series like ASOIAF and Stormlight which also have a lot of characters, so I think I just wasn't connecting with them in this case. I appreciate the scope and ambition of the series but it wasn't for me. Nettle and Bone -- I read this recently because it won the Hugo award for 2023, but I didn't enjoy it too much. Everything felt so arbitrary, like the author was making the story up as she went along. I like a lot of character development and I prefer magic systems with logic and rules so the fairy tale style of this story definitely wasn't to my taste. Children of Ruin -- This was very disappointing to me too, after enjoying the first book. The octopodes (?) were not compelling characters and it felt frustrating that none of the characters were able to communicate with each other. It also didn't make sense to me that the octopodes could create advanced technology with such a non-focused way of thinking. I don't plan to continue this series.
Aw Midnight Nights is the best book in the series lol. If you ever get back into the series, I wouldn't start at the beginning, just start with Midnight Tides. It's the most focused and consistently awesome book in the series.
11:10 the 3rd book they say is great as the First one, and second is bad! Give it a try at least 30-100 pages for the 3rd book. Btw Did You read Isaac Asimov foundation series? Great!
Loved Goblin Emperor (both the protagonist and the plot were top notch for me) and liked Kings of the Wyld (not great, but quite good). My biggest fails in F&SF this year were: Annabel Chase's Warden of the West series: Picked up the first three volumes on an Audible sale, and the best of them struggled to get 2 stars. Robert Kroese's Starship Grifters: Just terrible. Will Wight's Waybound: The whole series is weak, but the ending was the weakest of the lot. Andrew Rowe's Soulbrand: I love his Arcane Ascension series, but the Weapons & Wielders series (set in the same world) is almost entirely combat scenes with little connective tissue. And I didn't care about the protagonist even after three volumes. Very disappointing. Dave Willmarth's Dungeon Master: The first three books in the Battleborne series were very good. This one felt mailed in. Aaron Oster's The Rules series: Again three books from an Audible sale, and they were all weak at best. Dakota Krout's Dungeon Eternium: I liked the first three books, but then the series went downhill fast. This book was ... not good. I just wanted it to end.
I'm not gonna be one of those guys that keeps trying to push you to pick Malazan back up. But, since you mentioned kinda wanting to try again, I'd recommend just picking up form where you left off if you do. If you need a refresher, just use the wiki. The back half of DG is so much better, and it would be a shame if you didn't get to experience if after trying for a third time.
I count myself as being quite lucky this year with only one genuine disappointing novel (not all of the «Elric» novellas lived up to the legendary status of it’s character, but those were weighted up by others) for me this year, but it might be a hot take Booktube in general it seems: «Enemy of God» by Bernard Cornwell. I loved «The Winter King» (it easy made my Top 5 of 2023) and «Excalibur» was a very satisfying end, but the hype for «Enemy of God» and «The Warlord Chronicle» as the «Best Historical Take» on King Arthur is in my mind undeserved, as I read TWO novels this year that have a better claim on that title in my books: Sean Poage’s «The Retreat to Avalon» is a better «A Historical King Arthur» story, while Alfred Duggan’s «Conscience of the King» does a better «Multiple Historical Characters Made Into The Myth Of King Arthur» story. No Riothamus? Paperthin villains (especially after the vivid villains of «The Winter King)? Fridging? The Prose is good and the Battles are good (but better in the previous book and the sequel), but it is barely a 4 Star (compared to the easy 5 Star for «The Winter King» and 4 1/2 Star for «Excalibur») for me.
The worst fantasy book I read in 2023 was "The Councillor" by E.J. Beaton. I had such high hopes for it based on the premise and the Machiavellian politics, but it disappointed in all areas: the writing, the pacing (and I like slow paced books), and the main character. So disappointed. I forced myself to finish it, but in normal circumstances I would have DNFd it after about 50 pages. I did give The Goblin Emperor 4 stars. But I hated hated hated the unnecessary overuse of foreign language words. It was relentless and made the reading harder work than it should have been.
Thank the fates! At last! Someone else who didn’t like Kings of the Wyld! I thought it was stupid, nonsensical and well, basically, awful! There I have said my true feelings at last! I feel better now!
Don't give in to that Malazan itch just yet! How much have you changed as a reader in eight months? Give it, and yourself, some time. Read books you like. Maybe pick up the Iliad. Sooner or later the itch WILL return.
For me it's fascinating that "Nettle & Bone" picked up this year's Hugo for best novel. Granted that's there's lots of controversy about this year's World Science Fiction Convention held in China, it won the vote fairly convincingly.
Could not watch beyond the first book!! Sorry ( not ) sorry you have put down one of the best Series ever written in fantasy besides Lord of the Rings the Malazan series is not for those who want things spelled out for them. It's for people who like to read between the lines.
I'm pretty good at reading in between the lines. I mean, I understood the theme of The Last Jedi, and that seems to be above 90% of people. And so far, as far as Malazan goes, I'm not confused or anything. I'm just really bored.
I don't mind a reviewer giving an honest review. What I don't like is when a reviewer reads a book they know they will not like just to review and trash it, or to throw their hateful two cents in with all the other negative reviews. In my opinion, if you are wasting your time to read a book just to make a RUclips video with clicks and likes, why do you read, again? You never do this, so you are alright.
Thank you for the nice comment!
exactly what Matt's Fantasy Book Reviews does when he reads Sarah J Maas
Wasnt it picked for him to read by his patrons?@@ronniefranco512
I watched your review of Fourth Wing and was 100% certain that it would figure prominently here. Extremely surprised that you didn't mention it.
I honestly forgot!!
Malazan was just so hard for me to read period. I really wanted to get into it but just couldn't. But my husband adores the whole series so I just let him tell me all the stories in his own words and I grew to love it without reading it. Sometimes hearing someone else's passion helps. 🥰
This is beautiful
I appreciate the honest review! It is hard to give a negative review, knowing that the author did put blood, sweat, and tears into their work. However, it is nice to see different reviews of a book you're interested in reading. Not everyone will have the same response to a book. It is refreshing to hear your thoughts! Honestly, I'm dealing with similar thoughts about Silver in the Bone by Bracken. The concept is quite interesting, and I WANT to enjoy it. However . . . The writing feels quite surface level and elementary. She also relies heavily on popular tropes (enemies to friends/lovers, etc.). After 200+pgs, I had to put it down in favor of something else. I might end up returning to it, but the book made reading feel like a chore.
I can completely understand about Malazan. BTW, I stopped when I was almost at the end of Toll the Hounds. That is book no. 8. I felt that there is something wrong with me that I don’t like it and that too when I am about to finish book 8. But in my opinion, I found it very difficult to understand and I often had to read the fandom wiki to supplement my understanding. In my opinion, it’s not worth it. May be some die hard fan of Malazan can do some handholding for mortals like us so that we can comprehend it better.
It’s a series I’ll probably never get into myself. It just seems so dense and time consuming, and there’s so many other books I want to get to.
@@84tand I believe that an author of a book is your most trusted advisor and friend who leads you gently to the mazes of his thoughts and keeps nudging you gently in the right direction leaving enough room for the reader to introspect and drive own conclusions. Malazan is overly puzzling and a difficult read exactly because of the same reasons which are completely missing from the narrative. Can an average reader understand it, sure, I don’t see any reason against this rational however, it’s a personal choice at the end of day on how much effort you want to put against your passion. On the lighter side, I am so thankful that this book was not in my grade curriculum else I would have remained in the same grade till the end of time.
Toll the Hounds is a tough one.
That's interesting about The Goblin Emperor. I loved the prose. It had an old fashioned English charm. I liked the pacing. I gobbled it down. The main character was one of my favorites ive ever come across. He made me want to root for him the whole time. He was such a cinnamon roll. I did want to see more of the main female characters though.
I finished malazan last year and re reading some of it this year.
The second read of Gardens of the Moon and Deadhouse gates are a lot smoother.
Might be best to endure the series since a second read brings more interesting concepts to each book.
I enjoy it more now that last year. lol
Anna Smith Spark. It looks like her initials also described the book you read.
I totally agree with you on the three books I've read from this list. Read Nettle & Bone, The Fall of Babel and Kings of Wyld, because of the hype surrounding them. But sadly enough, I didn't like any of these.
I couldn't help but like The Goblin Emperor. I thought it was sweet.
I think I read about 60 books last year from about 20 different authors. Only disappointments were 3 authors.
3. A Conjuring of Light by Schwab. Not nearly as well written as the first two books. Solidly a third of the book should have been cut. It also felt like a departure from the previous books.
2 Jemisin’s trilogy. The writing style was interesting but it felt like an anime in book form where each season/book doesn’t fit well with the previous entries. Also all the characters were terrible people, so I didn’t care what hardships they went through.
1 Valor and Malice by Gwynne. DNF halfway through the second book. I can’t even remember the last time a book was so bad I couldn’t finish it. Only positive thing I could say is the duels are well written.
Yea I can see how Kings of the Wyld would be a miss for a lot of people. I personally loved it. Thought it had a surprising amount of heart. But it’s goofy as all hell, filled with anachronisms, and the characters just sort of slapstick their way to victory. I can see how that won’t be for everyone
Waiting for Philip to comment.... lol
I dont think you need to apologize for not connecting to a particular book/s. We all have different tastes. Its all cool.
I enjoy your videos and thoughts on books. Always quality.
I read the first half of Goblin Emperor with a physical book and the last half on audiobook. I enjoyed the audiobook a lot more... the names were killing me .
I totally agree with you about Nettle and Bone. I saw so much praise for this book and I was dead sure I'll love it. But I finished it only because it was the only book I had on an 8 hour bus drive. I still can't decide if T. Kingfisher is an author for me. I really didn't like Nettle and Bone, I loved What Moves the Dead, and I felt very meh about The Seventh Bride. Have no idea what and if should I try any other of her works
DNF Deadhouse Gates as well. Malazan is ok. Just feels like an overpowered D&D campaign. I know that is what it is based on but…
I feel you on Children of Ruin! I did enjoy it, but I think if I hadn’t gone the audiobook route, it would have felt like a slog at points…
I agree on the Malazan. I just took a break midway through Memories of Ice. Like you, I want to like it. I really do. The prose is, objectively speaking, well written, and the complexity of it all is awe inspiring, so at first I couldn't wrap my head around why I'm struggling so much to enjoy it. Then I realized that my problem with it is two-fold: The pacing is far too slow, and the magic is extremely overblown. I like a bit of subtlety in that department, so when someone smashes a magic hammer into ground, and it literally cracks the earth, and creates a new mountain chain, it's just too over the top for me. Sequences like that don't really match the gritty political realism of the rest of the story. I might pick it up again, but for now I'm having a break with Elizabeth Bear's Ancestral Night.
Im with you on Gunmetal. I tried so hard to like it for the sake of that beautiful Kickstarter Hardcover Edition, but man it was just so bleak and the ending was....a bit to be desired. Very unique setting though.
The last 200-250 (whatever the last "subbook" inside the book was) of Deadhouse Gates is what sold me on the entire series. I still think it's the best conclusion to any book I've ever read. I get being burned out in the middle but I don't think you can go through that book and feel like the same person on the other side.
Fully agree! That ending is absolutely gut wrenching. It left me so drained and in stunned disbelief I still think about it 2 years later.
I had a lot worse book in 2023….. I totally understand. Happy reading to you!! 🎉
This might be a dumb question but what accent do you have?
I totally agree with you on all three of the books I read from this list.
Malazan -- I really wanted to like it and made it all the way to book 5 until I finally gave up. The series just keeps adding more and more characters, which I was struggling to care about, and then book 5 focused on yet another group of entirely new characters and locations. It was too much for me, it was like it overloaded my brain. And I love other epic fantasy series like ASOIAF and Stormlight which also have a lot of characters, so I think I just wasn't connecting with them in this case. I appreciate the scope and ambition of the series but it wasn't for me.
Nettle and Bone -- I read this recently because it won the Hugo award for 2023, but I didn't enjoy it too much. Everything felt so arbitrary, like the author was making the story up as she went along. I like a lot of character development and I prefer magic systems with logic and rules so the fairy tale style of this story definitely wasn't to my taste.
Children of Ruin -- This was very disappointing to me too, after enjoying the first book. The octopodes (?) were not compelling characters and it felt frustrating that none of the characters were able to communicate with each other. It also didn't make sense to me that the octopodes could create advanced technology with such a non-focused way of thinking. I don't plan to continue this series.
Aw Midnight Nights is the best book in the series lol. If you ever get back into the series, I wouldn't start at the beginning, just start with Midnight Tides. It's the most focused and consistently awesome book in the series.
I DFT nettle & bone so I agree with you on that
I DNF Children of Ruin about half way through. I just found it so boring. Children of Time, was great.
11:10 the 3rd book they say is great as the First one, and second is bad! Give it a try at least 30-100 pages for the 3rd book.
Btw Did You read Isaac Asimov foundation series? Great!
Yeah,im not prepared for Malazan 😂
Loved Goblin Emperor (both the protagonist and the plot were top notch for me) and liked Kings of the Wyld (not great, but quite good).
My biggest fails in F&SF this year were:
Annabel Chase's Warden of the West series: Picked up the first three volumes on an Audible sale, and the best of them struggled to get 2 stars.
Robert Kroese's Starship Grifters: Just terrible.
Will Wight's Waybound: The whole series is weak, but the ending was the weakest of the lot.
Andrew Rowe's Soulbrand: I love his Arcane Ascension series, but the Weapons & Wielders series (set in the same world) is almost entirely combat scenes with little connective tissue. And I didn't care about the protagonist even after three volumes. Very disappointing.
Dave Willmarth's Dungeon Master: The first three books in the Battleborne series were very good. This one felt mailed in.
Aaron Oster's The Rules series: Again three books from an Audible sale, and they were all weak at best.
Dakota Krout's Dungeon Eternium: I liked the first three books, but then the series went downhill fast. This book was ... not good. I just wanted it to end.
I'm not gonna be one of those guys that keeps trying to push you to pick Malazan back up. But, since you mentioned kinda wanting to try again, I'd recommend just picking up form where you left off if you do. If you need a refresher, just use the wiki. The back half of DG is so much better, and it would be a shame if you didn't get to experience if after trying for a third time.
Malazan doesn’t really get going until Memories of Ice.
I count myself as being quite lucky this year with only one genuine disappointing novel (not all of the «Elric» novellas lived up to the legendary status of it’s character, but those were weighted up by others) for me this year, but it might be a hot take Booktube in general it seems: «Enemy of God» by Bernard Cornwell. I loved «The Winter King» (it easy made my Top 5 of 2023) and «Excalibur» was a very satisfying end, but the hype for «Enemy of God» and «The Warlord Chronicle» as the «Best Historical Take» on King Arthur is in my mind undeserved, as I read TWO novels this year that have a better claim on that title in my books: Sean Poage’s «The Retreat to Avalon» is a better «A Historical King Arthur» story, while Alfred Duggan’s «Conscience of the King» does a better «Multiple Historical Characters Made Into The Myth Of King Arthur» story.
No Riothamus? Paperthin villains (especially after the vivid villains of «The Winter King)? Fridging? The Prose is good and the Battles are good (but better in the previous book and the sequel), but it is barely a 4 Star (compared to the easy 5 Star for «The Winter King» and 4 1/2 Star for «Excalibur») for me.
The worst fantasy book I read in 2023 was "The Councillor" by E.J. Beaton. I had such high hopes for it based on the premise and the Machiavellian politics, but it disappointed in all areas: the writing, the pacing (and I like slow paced books), and the main character. So disappointed. I forced myself to finish it, but in normal circumstances I would have DNFd it after about 50 pages.
I did give The Goblin Emperor 4 stars. But I hated hated hated the unnecessary overuse of foreign language words. It was relentless and made the reading harder work than it should have been.
Thank the fates! At last! Someone else who didn’t like Kings of the Wyld! I thought it was stupid, nonsensical and well, basically, awful! There I have said my true feelings at last! I feel better now!
Don't give in to that Malazan itch just yet! How much have you changed as a reader in eight months? Give it, and yourself, some time. Read books you like. Maybe pick up the Iliad. Sooner or later the itch WILL return.
I DNFed Gunmetal Gods too.
For me it's fascinating that "Nettle & Bone" picked up this year's Hugo for best novel. Granted that's there's lots of controversy about this year's World Science Fiction Convention held in China, it won the vote fairly convincingly.
Hugos and Nebula awards are gifted, not won. I won’t say more because I don’t want to be negative about those people.
People can only vote on what makes the final list...I'm very interested on what what got withdrawn.@@alexvaldiers9788
I also didn't really enjoy Kings of the Wyld.
I agree with you about Malazan. But The Grace of Kings book 1 was a DNF for me 😅
Some biggees here that you didn't connect with. Love the way art hits us all in different ways.
I love your fleece
Haha thank you :)
I think you’re just too young to care about the music references in Kings of the Wyld.
Could not watch beyond the first book!! Sorry ( not ) sorry you have put down one of the best Series ever written in fantasy besides Lord of the Rings the Malazan series is not for those who want things spelled out for them. It's for people who like to read between the lines.
I'm pretty good at reading in between the lines. I mean, I understood the theme of The Last Jedi, and that seems to be above 90% of people. And so far, as far as Malazan goes, I'm not confused or anything. I'm just really bored.