Its INCREDIBLY hilarious how Critical Drinker talks so much trash about "bad writing" and "tropes" in modern media, only to do all the bad writing and tropes in his own work.
I have been wondering as to when YTubers like CD and his gang, who are always criticizing movies, should make their own flick. (But i think CD had an action flick? I only saw a teaser it looked generic lol)
@@arvinjay336 The thing is making movies is hard, definitely harder than being a critic in RUclips 😅. Even Chris Stuckmann was trashed with his Batman V Superman rewrite. "Terrible Writing Advice" books have been reviewed to have the same problems he covers in his videos. But that's the thing, it's understandable if they're not great at it but it's how someone like Critical Drinker who speaks like a know-it-all and a horrible content creator is easy to hate.
It’s almost as if he doesn’t actually know how writing works and instead spends 99% of his time harping about the mysterious and vague “message” that bends to suit whatever minority he feels like attacking that particular day.
It’s nice to find an actual review of the book. I was immediately suspicious of his book when all the reviews on Amazon started with some version of “I’m a huge fan of critical drinker”.
@@optiquemusic6204 ah no. Majority of them are 5 star “I love drinker” reviews with no other text. You’ll only find a handful of reviews that aren’t 5 stars on any of his books.
@@optiquemusic6204 It's not about publicity (I've long since given up turning it into anything profitable anyway). Nearly all the feedback I have ever gotten on anything (what little there is) were either people who love it out of hand or hate it out of hand. It's fine to know that it is or isn't resonating with the reader, but it's far better to have them say WHY. A deep-dive video like this would give me so much introspection fodder. Although I probably do too much navel-gazing as it is.
I mean, why is Ben Shapiro writing an action book? He looked like he couldn't handle a handgun's recoil 😂. I guess action seems easy to write; I mean, they can't write fantasy because they don't have a magical imagination, not science because they don't know science enough to be able to bend it, and they can't write about romance because their partner's genitalia is as dry as sandpaper 😂. But even then they don't do enough research like how a foreigner is can work as a CIA agent 😅.
Well, as my late editor used to say: I only know how to pick books apart, If I would ever try to write a book myself it'll be garbage. This is very true in the drinkers case.
Damn, the way he "criticizes" so much modern media, I thought he'd be a genius writer or smth, but this story sounds worse than 95% of the stuff he calls bad
@SleightWryder The majority of criticisms he makes centers around stuff being woke and using the same meme. Even when I was conservative and watched his channel, it never felt like his criticisms were all that good. Efap is a better example of a right leaning actually half decent film critics.
His criticisms themselves are pretty surface level and ignorant imo. Like the other person said you dont need to be a chef to taste food but i think you should at the very least understand how the dish is made and how its *supposed* to taste. If my pasta tastes like cotton candy i may love cotton candy but its no longer pasta if you get what i mean.
It's crazy to hear how bad this book was and how it seems like it wasn't even interested in fully telling the story with it skipping the climax!!! Like I understand that sometimes authors make poor decisions that I don't like it as a reader but I agree skipping the entire climax is just disrespectful to readers who put time and money into a story.
Thanks for doing this. I despise The Critical Stinker (as I like to call him) and I'm glad to see more people calling him out every day. Also as an aspiring writer, this was helpful for me with what not to do.
It's funny how in his second channel, Critical Drinker After Hours, he made a video titled "How To Write A Book - The Drinker's Advice" yet this is the book from his own advice that he came up with?? 😂😂😂
I love how clowns like shad and drinker think they can criticise other peoples work, when their books are some of the most basic, boring, childish stories i’ve ever seen! 😂
I kinda like the idea of plot armor being a quantifiable thing in a story's world to the point that the military has weaponized it. "Alright men, this here is the Mark II MCPFG. This stands for Main Character Personal Field Generator. It will reduce any damage taken from a projectile to a small cut on the upper arm. This includes a direct hit from an RPG. It also nullifies any damage from falls greater than 50 feet. After which you may find you have a slight limp, but no other damage will be present. Any injuries sustained only last for as long as the author remembers you have them, so expect to be completely healed by morning."
The vision of escaflown has some eperiment to create soldier catgirls experiments with a luck factor. Idk, thats kinda trying that? Ok its a good story, but thats an actual military trying too, they die thou. Didnt wheel of time kinda? but more as power. The ring nevin , ok ther eare people bread by a lottery secretly to have a luck factor cultivated. I think luck powers might if they are experiments?
@@marocat4749 I don't know anything about _Vision of Escaflowne_ or _Wheel of Time_ , although luck or fortune factors that alter reality to suit the character such as Domino from Marvel Comics is pretty much weaponizing plot armor.
same. like, obviously there are bad female characters and sometimes shows are pandering. but bro gets mad every time a black person or gays or a "strong female character" shows up in a piece of media, no matter how well written or no matter how much it simply does not matter to the setting. like his criticism of Damsel complaining theres a black lady, as if they didn't exist in the medieval era and it would've been IMPOSSIBLE for one to get to europe (or a europe adjacent fantasy setting) lol
@@FrostFall0261 It also pisses me off when he’s like “she can’t swing that sword, she’s 90 lbs!” BRO. IT IS CALLED FANTASY. STFU. Is anyone moaning about how Skywalker can flip on the air or use force powers? NO. SHUT. UP.
@@steamboatwill3.367 like, Disney does this a lot for example. They’ll shout inclusivity and then show one second of a lesbian kiss or make their female character say “my wife”, but it’s so obvious it’s going to be cut or switched when they then market to overseas audiences. It’s not there to be meaningful, it’s not there to contribute at all to the story, it’s just there to try and draw in as big an audience as possible
My know it all grain of knowledge: If you find a mumified body with red hair it doesn't mean the person actualy had red hair. The pigments change with time.
IIRC, it depends on the way of mummification. Hair usually turns red in bog bodies, due to the specific chemical compounds in bogs. In dry conditions hair colour often persists.
We have hair samples from mammoths that still retain their original pigmentation. It just depends on how it is preserved. I understand this book isn’t good, you might dislike the author, but I think you’re wanting it to be even worse for personal reasons.
@@kolbywilliams7234 I didn't know that about mommoth hair, just what I learned in school. Thanks for letting me know. But enlighten me, what personal reasons might that be? Other than beeing salty because I expected a Dyatlov Pass book taking place in Russia and got something diffrent?
I absolutely lust over book rants regarding Author-tubers and critics who publish i.e. Jenna Moreci, Will Jordan, etc. I have no beef with them but watching their work get shredded is a guilty pleasure. Thank you for the great video!
Two prologues should not be happening in a single book. Hell, one prologue shouldn't given all that exposition and setup you could stick there (because that's what it is) could just be covered organically within the actual story.
I really like that people are questioning the drinker and shad. Both have been riding the “woke media” wave for years but bring nothing of relevance to the discussion. Anyone can point out mistakes and anyone can complain. What you can say about the Drinker's books... I tried reading two... I've never returned books so quickly or simply given them away. And Shad...urgh...Shad really has no talent. And since he opened up about some strange topics...I understand more and more why "serious" HEMA people avoid him. P.S. I hope this bubble around these people like Drinker bursts at some point. You can already see how the men and women in the background are tearing themselves apart, albeit very slowly. It's good to call out bad films and games, but otherwise the men and women have nothing on them. Typical RUclips drama entertainers.
You're just hate-watching people tear down something they probably never liked before they even opened the book. You claim CD and Shad are drama tubers, but the only thing you seem to derive out of live that brings you any satisfaction is tearing down someone better than you at something. That's toxic as frick, man. You need help.
Why do bad youtubers always make terrible books? Do they consider themselves "reneissance men" who can do it all or are they just chasing another revenue stream?
41:19 So, for a guy who loves to criticize the writing of Wanda Maximoff about painting her as a hero albeit she'd done horrific stuffs, he just somehow did the same thing to his main character. Pot calling a kettle black, I guess.
This isn't the first time I've listened to a review of one of critical drinkers books, and it isn't the first time my brain has glazed over and it's been almost impossible to retain the information. It's always everything I hate about bargain bin hollywood action cliche movies distilled into an amorphous blob. Crazy how these creatively bankrupt people always shit on everyone else's work, and can't see why their own is boring.
The supremely annoyed rant made my day. Respecting the art is super important. There is a large gap between being able to criticize art and being able to make coherent art. I also did not know Critical had written 19 books! That is something... especially considering the meandering "plot" of this book.
I stopped watching the guy's channel a while ago, it started becoming clear that he had settled in at the hatewatching trough and it turned me off. I knew he was writing books but had no idea he had NINETEEN titles. Seems he's pumping them out to capitalize of his YT audience. Jesus wept.
Drinker and the rest of his clique on youtube were interesting to begin with since the idiotic Left and their corrupt establishment media do indeed need to mocked and criticized. However, Drinker and his pals are not smart people. They have basic-b"tch takes. They have gotten comfortable with their internet niche and count their youtube bucks. They stopped making insightful critiques ages ago. Now their videos consist of a gaggle of arrested-development nerds whining over fantasies. I'm not a fan of Drinker or Shadversity, yet I still expected them to write books that were better than hot stinking garbage.
Not sure about the claim of him 'pumping them out to capitalize' on his audience - he had been writing for many years before he became known on YT. He probably makes far more on YT than book sales now anyway. The first two books in his Ryan Drake series were pretty good. I haven't read/listened to this one yet though.
Hm. On one hand, at least Southern Book Club had a climax (not a good one but it existed), but on the other hand, it also had a lazy as fuck timeskip right after the main character tried to kill herself because Hendrix cared that little about his story and characters.
Standing ovation from me for that in depth review. Thank God it’s not me. I’ve read one and a half of his “novels”. In fact, I read his first one. This one isn’t an improvement. Will is such a hypocrite with his reviews and what/how he writes. His first book, a special ops “”””thriller”””, it’s summed up like this. Imagine you’re in a Walmart or such, you see a bargain bin in the book section, you see a generic Special op mission style cover, now you imagine how generic and flat that would read like…well, it’s so much worse than that. He sucks. Thank you.
I'm reading multiple comments that claim their book is better but don't mention what their book is called. Comment here to tell me what the title of your book is so I can check it out 🙂
I did not want to mention it unless someone asked. I think it is a solid debut. It is not out yet; however, March 11th you will be able to check it out. :D It is titled The Starslayer Saga: The Edge of Space. ^_^ I just submitted chapter 1 to KirkpattieCake, as well, so maybe it will get some exposure before the release date.
@@xanderoswald297 I meant the name, The Amazing World Of Gumball famously has satirically over the top names for books and games like "Inverted Paradox: The Enemy Within"
I used to watch his videos here and there. I was never a die hard fan of his, nor have I ever bothered to look into his other stuff beyond his youtube reviews. One day, however, I actually decided to look into a slim few of his books and his little movie. Suffice to say, Drinker is such a joke to me now, lmao. The gall this dude had to shit on movies then produce his own share of generic muck and literally writing characters he himself would've trashed on, had it been written by another person.
28:36 This point about the boy who saw that Dyatlov's group was not right only now deciding to give an interview... is just... beyond dumb. Like I can see how a witness of some random hiker group being lost waiting for several years till he sees something that reminded him of it. But Dyatlov's group is highly investigated. Like there is no chance he would have been able to not get reminded of it till now.
I read a lot of technothrillers (as a kid I read Tom Clancy the same way other people read Tolkien) so I'm a bit curious to read this particular book myself just to see if the character skips are as jarring to me. In general that's a pretty common genre conceit and I've found it's a genre that tends to put people who aren't especially interested in it off. (I've run into people who don't read these complain about technology being described...which is exactly the point of the genre). it sounds like a trainwreck regardless and given Jordan's takes on other things (he thinks Amazon's Reacher is the epitome of masculinity, for instance) I'm absolutely willing to believe his central character is a massive, self-absorbed dickhead as well. I'm just curious about whether that's a genre convention, because, again, introducing minor characters midway through the book to service a specific plotline is pretty normal in these stories. Sum of All Fears, for instance, has a whole host of people whose entire character arcs revolve around the nuke being set off in Denver who only appear and exist for those scenes. Clancy was quite fond of introducing a minor character, giving them a brief biography, and letting them talk about what they do; it feels very much like (and may be) a reaction to the New Journalism movement from the 60s and 70s.
i'd sooner believe a Critical Drinker fan said that 'society is degenerate and millions must die' than a random KGB agent, to be completely honest with you great review and even greater room
I had no idea he'd written so many books. His channel was recommended to me awhile ago. I don't watch him often enough to subscribe. It sounds like he wrote a movie he would like to see? Frustrated screenwriters short change their stories with jump cuts and scenes that lack depth of emotion and characterization. 16:18 Is Becker a character that reoccurs in other books? Sounds like he might be. He's a mercenary. They are never the good guy except inside their own heads. 29:23 Yeah, that doesn't make sense. Isolated tribesmen don't trust anyone. 32:48 I laughed out loud over the ring. I kept hearing Gandalf say "Keep it secret! Keep it safe!" 35:11 Did he write this drunk? It sounds like he couldn't make up his mind how many bad guys the story needed. 37:52 Mr. Jordan wrote a Hallmark Movie for Mercenaries. The only author that could write a novel like a movie was Michael Crichton. (Congo is a great example of this done well.) It still frustrates me that his book was made into one of the worst movies I've ever seen. I don't know why authors keep doing this, other than they hope someone options it for a movie. That's not how it works. I don't think I can get through either book. (Jordan's or the Southern Vamps) I always try to read through the sample chapters on amazon and didn't make it through either of these. I've read up on Dyatlov Pass years ago and nothing you've discussed from this book has anything to do with what happened there. By the way, I love the purple 'I might be in Mortem' lighting. 'Meme Harvest'. I love that. Fantastic review as always. Oh, and let the Spice flow. LOL
It's funny because it's easy to be a critic constructive or otherwise pointing out other people's problems In storytelling but actually writing and constructing a story of you're own is a lot harder and more often than not show's their own failings 😅 *EDIT* I don't think tropes in your story are a problem necessarily, how it's handled though will make or break it
Wow I have looked a bit though youtube and all of you reviewers are ribbing critical drinker book apart with no mercy holy shit is this book that bad or what
When the book was recommended to me, it was the first I'd ever heard of this author. Imo, what hurts it through most is the action cuts written like it's for a movie, the 30% double prologue where Dyalov Pass means nothing, the forced Russian bad guys after spending most of the book on the middle east (felt like it was misrepresented), and the tropy ending of making an explosion and cutting scene and everyone is fine so you don't have to deal with the logistics of getting out of that situation. One of my favorite game series has done that same thing multiple times and I hate it every time to the point I don't think completing those games again is worth it, though I'd play up to the near end again. I think I was more surprised it was his 18th book, but even Stephen King has meh books 80+ novels in. It's not a big deal and the author can do better if he wants, but I didn't get a love for the artform from this. If you like action pulp that doesn't do anything and nothing really matters in it, you can enjoy this. I'm just not the audience for it.
HOW MANY book did he write? Gods. For this book to be such a mess, I'm afraid to imagine a quality of earlier books. Also mountain climbers on Dyatlov's trail... That says everything about the quality of the book, because Kholat Syakhl is basically a hill. If you want to write about mystical Russian mountains, take Altai Mountains, which have a shitload of legends about them.
I can say with certainty that I've run worse sessions than my first, as a DM. All's I'm saying is that work quality isn't exclusicely linear. Generally you get better, but there's also hits and fumbles.
I like Critical Drinker's videos but he's a movie critic. He almost never talks about his novels, never talks about books in general, so I'm not surprised. A little disappointed, but I've seen this play out on youtube too many times to be surprised. Edit: "Where does this voice come from?" In the words of Critical Drinker: "don't know!"
@@brokenentertainment327 Having sat through a bit of Open Bar over the summer, I think it's also a combination that, A, he's surrounded by a group of people who aren't really willing to challenge each other critically (I quite like Little Platoon, despite his slow upload schedule, for this reason), and B, a lot of the narrative issues are things he actually values. He unironically acts as if Amazon's Reacher is the pinnacle of masculinity, for instance, in spite of the show's titular character feeling like the Alpha Male fallacy described by an incel.
@Godzillafan93 there is a lot of that uncritical group think going around for sure. I think the same thing happened with Shadow of the Conqueror. A lot of his beta readers were fans of the channel. That book could have used some developmental criticism.
@@brokenentertainment327 I've not read it yet; I got it and Dead End Drive last year but I'm still working my way through Wheel of Time so I've not gotten to them yet. I think it's a shame because I genuinely like Shad on his own, but I tend to like him much less when he mixes with others.
it seems another instalment in the trend of creators who critisizce 'woke' media writing girlboss characters who are more woke than woke in order to prove a point that they don't hate women or strong female characters ...
Fun fact: I didnt even realize who wrote this book until I looked up the name… and then I saw “Critical Drinker” and then I was like “Oh. That makes sense. Gonna delete that from the wishlist, gonna buy The Living Dead.” Also, I read through Southern Book Club’s Guide to Vampire Slaying by Grady Hendrix and I wasnt too bothered by how it ended. But I will admit im a Grady Hendrix fan so I might be bias.
Another day in "RUclips conservative who pretends to be a media critic by ranting that "everything is woke and bad" turns out to be shit at writing"...
It's one thing to be a workman like hack because that takes effort, but for his books to not steer clear of the tropes that are supposedly on his mind every minute? Priceless.😂
@@vladdracul2379 💀 i've seen you say that like three times now. acting like no one can have an opinion on anything just because they're never done it is a really, REALLY bad mindset when you think about it for more than two seconds. "are you a holocaust survivor? no? well you dont get to say that the holocaust was bad!"
@11:11 Congrats, you're having just the emotional response that Will Jordan wanted you to have towards this character. His narrative manipulation tactics were rather hamfisted and obvious, but they can work in some circumstances. He put the character in the book because he wanted his readers mad at the womon who doesn't know her place... And it worked.
The irony of this is just overwhelming, geez. Drinker brags about his writing in several videos but this is what he delivers? Dude should just stick to using the same five reaction memes almost every video while whining about everything pandering to “THE MESSAGE”. He does make decent points from time to time but honestly his critiques are pretty much the same gripes repeated ad nauseum for different subjects.
@@lithosagymfan oh absolutely, and the decent points he makes are pretty low hanging fruit. Like “you can have a strong female character without making her an insufferable asshole”. I swear his fans worship him just for repeating the same things other critics do but adding the same four memes to each video. It gets painfully predictable and repetitive.
I love your insight, voice and presentation. The content is definitely enjoyable and worth people's time. Pacing the monologue a little and maybe cutting out a lot of details of the narrative would make this even better and worth even more people's time. (Says a guy who still likes Critical Drinker and shad though may be a little bit more critical about their writing) Also I am SO surprised about the girl boss thing, considering the numerous times CD has called that out in Marvel et. al. Maybe he's trying to be "balanced" about it and just getting it a little bit wrong?
The Critical Drinker certainly is... a character. I think he is simply grifting - being a shallow movie reviewer complaining about everything being woke earns him money, so that is what he does. I don't think he really cares about "wokeness" which is why he has no problem putting it in his books. EIther that or he's so incapable of introspection (like Shad) that he can't see it's part of his own writing. I do know he lies and deceptively edits his movie reviews to make his points. Pillar of Garbage has made some videos exposing him.
No fricking shite he edits his reviews. Are you fricking slow? Of course he edits the videos so they flow well before he puts them online. That's the dumbest critique I've ever seen. Hell, this video alone is insanely edited. She has hard edits all over the place. Does that make everything she said a lie? Seriously, dude. The editing outrage of mor-ons online is ridiculous.
My personal theory about why the army hasn't developped plot armor yet is because they're still trying to figure out how to make it work for people who aren't plot-critical :p
One of the first things I thought of the prologues was that you could not identify any one character's facial features and what they really looked like. The start, action descriptions and ending are formulaic, like it is a writing style based on Hemingway. Gunfire fight is not a real combination of words. I get an imagery of a bunch of cowboys shooting off their guns, finding the bullets, putting the guns and bullets into socks, and then using the socks to hit each other with. The book has some heavy tropes and uses a lot of 25 cent words.
I finished the book today. I think the issue with the parka and people's faces was because of the cover of the Thing book/movie and a reluctance to assign the parka a color and use it as a key in the description of the zombie to build up tension in the Davlatov Pass hiking party at the start. I found a lot of the descriptions in the book to be just good enough, without the scene settings going over the top. The way it was written could have been made more tense, and it seems to smoothly convey what is going on. It's a little too smooth, when a casual reading of Congo or Jurassic Park, or a King book like IT would have given the writer the feel for expressing horror and terror in some moments with a pendulum swing to lighter, funny moments between. It kind of has a Clive Cussler intensity and feel to it, without being over-wrought. The way the dialogue is set up is pretty good, after the prologues. The ice floor cavern at the end could have a better description, but it was good.
I used to devour novels and read a *lot* of fanfiction. "At length" usually means they're drawing the phrase out or showing some hesitation, from what I understand. The line you read in regards to movie scripts sounds like someone who doesn't know how to "show don't tell" or explain feelings and body language... Is the book dumb? Yes. Should authors better study the craft? 100% But these are the few cases I'm going to assume it's ignorance instead of malice
Wonder why people that preach better writing like Crit Drinker don't fn listen to their own advice's ... I mean his vids are good but his books aaaaa and aaaaa my eyes...
How tf are his vids good, he doesn't even use writing criticism, he just rants at politics that he doesn't agree with and this is coming from me a guy that doesn't even hate the right wing nor left, I'm just for common sense, something the drinker lacks 🤣🤣🤣
@@dimitryanyanwu7681 He might preach the obvious points. Same I can say for Robot Head vids his points are spot on in vids. But in case of crit. d. his books are well lets say he has a lot to learn.
25:33 exactly. It's patching characters with attributes to mimic a sense of depth. And indeed, overall it's painfully clear that Jordan is utterly ignorant to the nature of what he knows as the Middle East. Bringing the war in Syria into this, without realizing it's causes, is another shade of his one dimensional view of the region. To him, there is one type of people in the Middle East, who look and think the same. Which makes no sense, even in the lines of his book. 31:32 you're epic!
Wonderful review. I tried reading this book, but I trailed off and lost interest. By the way, you did fantastic at pronouncing, "Dyatlov," as many Western speakers have a difficult time with the y-glide. I just discovered your work yesterday, so I look forward to exploring your catalogue more.
the critical drinker? lol for some reason I'm not subscribed to him anymore 34:52 hahahahaha wtf???? xD Edit: That meme zombie book sounds so good... I want
Drinker is lazy and basic. I stopped listening to him years ago. Still, I expected him to do better than this. I don't understand how he and Shad can spend a career critiquing movies only to then fail miserably using the same cliches.
@@Red_Devil_2011because and I mean this with all malice and intent they are unremarkable men who managed to scrape together an audience. That audience willing to support them no matter what because they go against “the main stream”. Every review of their books online starts with some variation of “I’m a huge fan of____”. One is an alcoholic who says the funny swear with an accent the other is a creepy morman who knows way to much about antiquated weapons and armor.
While this book sounds bad, it may be just one of his duds. Lots of talented writers have some fails. I wouldn't use this review alone to condemn Drinker's entire catalogue of work like many in the comments are doing. Having said that, his other books might be bad too. But would need to read them or see more reviews to determine that.
A fricking laugh, that's what. The dude is hilarious. If his message didn't resonate, he wouldn't be pulling 1+ million views on a video in under 24 hours....
@@vladdracul2379 Listening to a person pretend to be drunk is such a tired form of comedy, listening to someone who is actually drunk and basing an entire channel off of it is the saddest f**king thing I've heard. You must be Gen Z if you think views = quality.
@@vladdracul2379 Say a video of a kick streamer harassing a couple in Vegas with a gun gets a million views in 8 hours... What message is resonating there?
@@vladdracul2379I did a course in youth media and celebrity culture at uni. The thing I learned that resonated with me the most is that popularity is no measure of talent.
This feels like that overrated movie The Empty Man where something violent happens on a mountain and then there’s this cop that I think was banging some girl while his wife and kid were being killed by a drunk driver, and then he became the empty man at the end. That movie tried to use trauma it teased the entire runtime to get me to care, and I kept nodding off and I wasn’t tired when I watched it. Anyway, it’s like Will hit the blunt and watched this movie and then fugue wrote this book. It’s not even the good fugue writing.
Yeah from what i hear the guys not a very good writer 😂 apparently even his fans are constantly just telling hin to stick to youtube 😂 and i think he writes girl bosses in like all of his books so he can be like "oh i can do it better than the wokies" and also i cant believe they pulled a pihranha 3D "oh they were sealed in a cave system since the jurassic era and they evolved in a spooky way" 😂😂
I don't like his show but agree about his findings but not on everything. I know what his opinion is as a exhochamber exists in which a group of critics share the same findings. Shat features on one channels chat and I can't watch that guy either for having dealings with Shat. So this one has written works? I didn't know weird
11:39 Dalton slaps Jacobson because he left her with the zombies to die while he saved his own skin. Maybe she's a girl boss that doesn't face consequences (though I think pretty compelling reasons are given as to why throughout) but in this case I think slapping him is complety justified. justified.
Yep, where are the zimbies, its just a usual virus thriller, no zombies. Not that will woulk dio fine in a genre where characters humanity is pretty important, to show the loss of it. His mc has zero qualms killing people.
I enjoyed your honest review. I don’t believe there to be any bias here based on who the author is as a RUclipsr. Thanks for the review. It was very good
It's funny, from the description already it sounds like a pretty standard cheesy horror-thriller novel. Honestly kinda mid, like a b-movie that would've been made in the 80s or something to that degree.
I'm gonna agree with just about everything except for the jump cuts in books. You're totally allowed to cut back and forth. Chuck palaniuk does it all them time and the movie fight club did it way way less. Not saying i like it that way, just bringing up that you can do it and still get critical acclaim for it.
I would argue Chuck Palaniuk does it with much more skill so it actually works in Fight Club where it becomes a technique that plays into the narrator having black out moments where Tyler takes over. Whereas in Dark Harvest, Will Jordan does not skillfully use jump cuts, using the them in the same scenes just to change camera angles to show a gunner up on a rock, and then someone back in a car, so it ends up feeling like a movie script more than a novel. Jump cuts aren't always bad. I like Fight Club, but I don't think Will Jordan knows how to write them and I don't think he skillfully employed them in this book.
@KirkpattieCake hard not to agree. And on that note, Chuck doesn't really describe cinematography unless it means something, like the shadow hand on the nude beach. But even so, he never went out of his way to describe Dutch angles and all that. Anyway, I appreciate your brain, and I'm glad to have discovered this channel.
Yeh, thank you. I'm about 1/2 way through the book, and I am...BORED! I can't be dragged to care about any of the characters. I'm half way through it, and they just got to the first action that actually affects the momentum of this bog slog. Thank you for confirming that I'm wasting my time trying to power through this thing. I can only read this thing in 20 minute increments before giving up. Gonna put it up on ebay and someone else can throw this thing in the trash. I'm ambivalent about Critical Drinker, but I don't think I'll be at any of his other works. Thanks for giving me the cliffs notes. You've saved me weeks of "who cares?".
Apologies upfront, if I'm commenting too much. Just found your channel yesterday, so I have the newbie-watch spree :) But yes, it pains me to see that many of the "big reviewers/critiques" on YT fail to listen to their own advice when they write. I grew to dislike Critical Drinker a great deal. It's mainly his patronizing intonation, in voicing rather shallow and simplistic points of view. As if "Commando", or "Predator", should be put into writing and be the golden standard. What really threw me off, was when he referred to The Lord of The Rings as "just a fuckn book", that you, "read for entertainment". This is an extremely narrow reading of Tolkien, it shows a profound lack of effort and understanding. Almost as if he was thinking of the Peter Jackson movies and not the novel itself, when he said it. The desecration of all the narratives and the depth of the work, all echoes from Drinker's mouth. Besides, he got every single JRRT/tlotr fact wrong in that video (and he was supposedly a "Tolkien fan"). This whole, "entertainment", and "do what fans want" rhetoric, reeks of blandness, laziness and lack of care for anything above the most linear way of thinking. It's barely art anymore, and more of a consumable product of the same flavors, for the same people, for the same reasons, with the same quality and price.
I'll be honest, if you're a book or media critic, that criticises other people's writing.. you best be a really good writer if you're going to try and publish or self publish a book. Because if all you do all day is pick apart other people's books expect yours to be under 10x the scrutiny. It's always kinda cringe to me. Good writers are rare, hell good published writers are rare. Just because you have an audience. Just because you're really good at being a critic even. Does not mean you know how to write a story. Most of these people delude themselves into thinking they are good writers because "I'm really good at picking apart a story and seeing what's wrong with it, finding all the plotholes, so I must be a good writer". And often they want author in their social media bios. I just .. I have never seen a youtuber book that was good. I enjoy them, in like "I watch other youtubers ridicule them". The same way I enjoy those weird YA love triangle / smut girl books I'd never read but I love having videos ridiculing them on the background. Also, I don't know you nor have I read or heard of your books. I imagine publishers nowadays put pressure on new writers to be active on social media and make youtube videos etc. But I think it's generally not a smart idea to make a channel reviewing other people's books if you're an author yourself. Because now you're also a critic, which automaticaly means people will be far more critical and less forgiving about what you write. On top of that, you run in to the issue where sometimes you'll criticize other people for doing something in their book, when you yourself might have done something similar. Now the way you've done or implemented the "thing" might be the right way and make sense/fit in the narrative or whatever. But you'll still constantly be reminded of that etc etc. Idk, just seems awkward to me. You know those authors who will passive agressively reply to negative reviews? Or constantly negatively review other author's books on goodread or something. It's very cringy. That's kinda how I see being a critic while being an author. P.s. the commentary on authors doing reviews isn't about you. As I said I don't know you. Your channel seems very small. Never heard of your book. But you do seem to be a pubslihed author. I'd advice caution on reviewing books, although reviewing garbage books by political youtubers won't get you in much trouble. Have you tried reading the book written by Ben Shapiro yet lol?
Watching your videos makes me want to submit some of my comics to be ripped apart by you in a 2 & 1/2 hour long video! 😂 But i do an extremely small press (printer paper) superhero comic. Probably not your thing exactly. And what would real life plot armor look like? 🤔
You're always free to, if you know what you're getting into. I currently working through a backlog, and all I can promise is I'll say what I see, but I give *most* things a chance to just do their own thing, and at the very least, I like talking about them and maybe the story will appeal to someone who hears about it even if in the end I didn't like it.
Wow! I am thunderstruck! I just watched this entire video. As you pointed out, many of the issues he regularly points out for being problematic are present in his book--and it's worse because, as you pointed out, he has no respect for the medium. I have listened to the Critical Drinker for years, and though I have never purchased a novel because they really aren't my genre, I am shocked that they are of this quality, especially at book 19. I am just about to release my debut, and I think it is better than this book. It is safe to say, I will never purchase a Will Jordan book. I thought he would have more pride in his work.
He's a Hypocrite lol, he just does his stupid rants for views and money, all geeks and gamers communities are the same lol, they just want your views/attention 🤣🤣🤣
Its INCREDIBLY hilarious how Critical Drinker talks so much trash about "bad writing" and "tropes" in modern media, only to do all the bad writing and tropes in his own work.
I have been wondering as to when YTubers like CD and his gang, who are always criticizing movies, should make their own flick. (But i think CD had an action flick? I only saw a teaser it looked generic lol)
@@arvinjay336 The thing is making movies is hard, definitely harder than being a critic in RUclips 😅. Even Chris Stuckmann was trashed with his Batman V Superman rewrite. "Terrible Writing Advice" books have been reviewed to have the same problems he covers in his videos.
But that's the thing, it's understandable if they're not great at it but it's how someone like Critical Drinker who speaks like a know-it-all and a horrible content creator is easy to hate.
Atleast Razorfist doesn't do that.
Oh wait.
He talks trash about *modern* tropes because he wants stories to go back to *old* tropes. 😜
It’s almost as if he doesn’t actually know how writing works and instead spends 99% of his time harping about the mysterious and vague “message” that bends to suit whatever minority he feels like attacking that particular day.
It’s nice to find an actual review of the book. I was immediately suspicious of his book when all the reviews on Amazon started with some version of “I’m a huge fan of critical drinker”.
"I'm a huge fan of critical drinker" means they didn't actually read the book.
@@PhillipCummingsUSA Ouch...
"He knows what he's talking about, he's published a lot of books with good reviews, you know how hard that is" 😂.
Did any of those reviews continue with: "...but his writing needs work."?
@@optiquemusic6204 ah no. Majority of them are 5 star “I love drinker” reviews with no other text. You’ll only find a handful of reviews that aren’t 5 stars on any of his books.
Someday I want to have one of my stories critiqued point by point in an hour long video format like this. I'd be able to die a happy man.
It would be shorter if edited to avoid repeated line reads. But it would still be something of an honour. Any publicity is good publicity.
@@optiquemusic6204 It's not about publicity (I've long since given up turning it into anything profitable anyway). Nearly all the feedback I have ever gotten on anything (what little there is) were either people who love it out of hand or hate it out of hand. It's fine to know that it is or isn't resonating with the reader, but it's far better to have them say WHY. A deep-dive video like this would give me so much introspection fodder.
Although I probably do too much navel-gazing as it is.
It's funny that Drinker and Shad both wrote invincible wish-fulfillment main characters with terrible morality.
Even though they both rail against Mary Sues lol
@@AN-jz3kf ...at nauseum
@@AN-jz3kfTurns out the only thing wrong with those Mary Sues was that they couldn't see themselves as those Mary Sues.
Yeah, but these characters are male, see? Completely different! /s
And spend their online careers complaining about the exact type of characters they created.
"Modern stories suck," says Will Jordan. "Write what you know," says conventional wisdom. "Eureka!" says Will Jordan, writing a story that sucks.
I mean, why is Ben Shapiro writing an action book? He looked like he couldn't handle a handgun's recoil 😂.
I guess action seems easy to write; I mean, they can't write fantasy because they don't have a magical imagination, not science because they don't know science enough to be able to bend it, and they can't write about romance because their partner's genitalia is as dry as sandpaper 😂.
But even then they don't do enough research like how a foreigner is can work as a CIA agent 😅.
This guy hates mary sues......when they aren't written by him
The US army has developed plot armor but its side effect is main character syndrome.
Well, as my late editor used to say: I only know how to pick books apart, If I would ever try to write a book myself it'll be garbage.
This is very true in the drinkers case.
Damn, the way he "criticizes" so much modern media, I thought he'd be a genius writer or smth, but this story sounds worse than 95% of the stuff he calls bad
You don't have to be a chef to know what shit food is, but I do appreciate this review. I hope he can take as good as he can dish out.
@SleightWryder The majority of criticisms he makes centers around stuff being woke and using the same meme. Even when I was conservative and watched his channel, it never felt like his criticisms were all that good. Efap is a better example of a right leaning actually half decent film critics.
His criticisms themselves are pretty surface level and ignorant imo. Like the other person said you dont need to be a chef to taste food but i think you should at the very least understand how the dish is made and how its *supposed* to taste. If my pasta tastes like cotton candy i may love cotton candy but its no longer pasta if you get what i mean.
@@pennygirl015 thanks for the take. I really appreciate it.
@@pennygirl015thanks for the info
this guy writes novels of Steven Segal movies.
*drunk texting an entire novel, and clicking "publish", intensifies
God-tier burn.
Will Jordon has never been in any military ever, has he? Has he ever read a book about it? Can't tell that either.
Ben Shapiro vibes
@@JohnnySplendid
Ease up on the antisemitism.
@@lucascoval828 We're hating on Benny boy because he is a dumbass, not because he is Jewish.
If this book made it into movie form without major changes Mauler would rip it to shreds.
Same with some drinker take.
I hope they actually cover his upcoming movie and criticise it fairly
@@olololo9206
Sure.
Fairly.
It's crazy to hear how bad this book was and how it seems like it wasn't even interested in fully telling the story with it skipping the climax!!! Like I understand that sometimes authors make poor decisions that I don't like it as a reader but I agree skipping the entire climax is just disrespectful to readers who put time and money into a story.
yeah, it's like he was "fuck this, this story makes no sense anyway" haha
@xChikyx "Ah, it will be fine"
Thanks for doing this. I despise The Critical Stinker (as I like to call him) and I'm glad to see more people calling him out every day. Also as an aspiring writer, this was helpful for me with what not to do.
If any of his fans actually read the drinker’s terrible book, they would call it woke and DEI and every buzzword they know
It's funny how in his second channel, Critical Drinker After Hours, he made a video titled "How To Write A Book - The Drinker's Advice" yet this is the book from his own advice that he came up with?? 😂😂😂
''A good question... for another time,'' is code for "we have no answer so you will never get one.'' The J. J. Abrams Mystery Box writing method.
I love how clowns like shad and drinker think they can criticise other peoples work, when their books are some of the most basic, boring, childish stories i’ve ever seen! 😂
“A bad guy…and possibly British!” 😂
I kinda like the idea of plot armor being a quantifiable thing in a story's world to the point that the military has weaponized it.
"Alright men, this here is the Mark II MCPFG. This stands for Main Character Personal Field Generator. It will reduce any damage taken from a projectile to a small cut on the upper arm. This includes a direct hit from an RPG. It also nullifies any damage from falls greater than 50 feet. After which you may find you have a slight limp, but no other damage will be present. Any injuries sustained only last for as long as the author remembers you have them, so expect to be completely healed by morning."
The vision of escaflown has some eperiment to create soldier catgirls experiments with a luck factor. Idk, thats kinda trying that? Ok its a good story, but thats an actual military trying too, they die thou.
Didnt wheel of time kinda? but more as power.
The ring nevin , ok ther eare people bread by a lottery secretly to have a luck factor cultivated.
I think luck powers might if they are experiments?
@@marocat4749 I don't know anything about _Vision of Escaflowne_ or _Wheel of Time_ , although luck or fortune factors that alter reality to suit the character such as Domino from Marvel Comics is pretty much weaponizing plot armor.
I liked watching Critical Drinker around the time of "Rise of Skywalker". Then I kept watching... now I don't
same. like, obviously there are bad female characters and sometimes shows are pandering. but bro gets mad every time a black person or gays or a "strong female character" shows up in a piece of media, no matter how well written or no matter how much it simply does not matter to the setting. like his criticism of Damsel complaining theres a black lady, as if they didn't exist in the medieval era and it would've been IMPOSSIBLE for one to get to europe (or a europe adjacent fantasy setting) lol
@@FrostFall0261
It also pisses me off when he’s like “she can’t swing that sword, she’s 90 lbs!”
BRO. IT IS CALLED FANTASY. STFU. Is anyone moaning about how Skywalker can flip on the air or use force powers? NO. SHUT. UP.
@@FrostFall0261) define "pandering"
because it seems to just mean being there.
@@steamboatwill3.367 like, Disney does this a lot for example. They’ll shout inclusivity and then show one second of a lesbian kiss or make their female character say “my wife”, but it’s so obvious it’s going to be cut or switched when they then market to overseas audiences. It’s not there to be meaningful, it’s not there to contribute at all to the story, it’s just there to try and draw in as big an audience as possible
So he wrote an annoying girl boss like the ones he always complains about?
Almost like he's a grifter who is apart of the problem he fights against.
My know it all grain of knowledge: If you find a mumified body with red hair it doesn't mean the person actualy had red hair. The pigments change with time.
IIRC, it depends on the way of mummification. Hair usually turns red in bog bodies, due to the specific chemical compounds in bogs. In dry conditions hair colour often persists.
We have hair samples from mammoths that still retain their original pigmentation. It just depends on how it is preserved. I understand this book isn’t good, you might dislike the author, but I think you’re wanting it to be even worse for personal reasons.
@@kolbywilliams7234 I didn't know that about mommoth hair, just what I learned in school. Thanks for letting me know. But enlighten me, what personal reasons might that be? Other than beeing salty because I expected a Dyatlov Pass book taking place in Russia and got something diffrent?
40:07 Being a killer that is good at everything, may apply to felines of any size :) they manage to make it look cool.
I absolutely lust over book rants regarding Author-tubers and critics who publish i.e. Jenna Moreci, Will Jordan, etc.
I have no beef with them but watching their work get shredded is a guilty pleasure.
Thank you for the great video!
I live and breathe guilty pleasures lmao they’re satisfying 😂
Two prologues should not be happening in a single book. Hell, one prologue shouldn't given all that exposition and setup you could stick there (because that's what it is) could just be covered organically within the actual story.
I really like that people are questioning the drinker and shad. Both have been riding the “woke media” wave for years but bring nothing of relevance to the discussion. Anyone can point out mistakes and anyone can complain.
What you can say about the Drinker's books... I tried reading two... I've never returned books so quickly or simply given them away.
And Shad...urgh...Shad really has no talent. And since he opened up about some strange topics...I understand more and more why "serious" HEMA people avoid him.
P.S. I hope this bubble around these people like Drinker bursts at some point. You can already see how the men and women in the background are tearing themselves apart, albeit very slowly.
It's good to call out bad films and games, but otherwise the men and women have nothing on them. Typical RUclips drama entertainers.
Have you written any books?
@@spenser9908You don't exactly need to write/make something to criticize it.
@@Lithosagymfan173 I was only asking a question.
@@spenser9908 Oh okay, sorry, I can't understand the tone someone is trying to through a comment.
You're just hate-watching people tear down something they probably never liked before they even opened the book. You claim CD and Shad are drama tubers, but the only thing you seem to derive out of live that brings you any satisfaction is tearing down someone better than you at something. That's toxic as frick, man. You need help.
Why do bad youtubers always make terrible books? Do they consider themselves "reneissance men" who can do it all or are they just chasing another revenue stream?
Both
@@Werewolf.with.Internet.Accessactually he was writing long before youtube i believe. He also doesnt really mention his books much
41:19 So, for a guy who loves to criticize the writing of Wanda Maximoff about painting her as a hero albeit she'd done horrific stuffs, he just somehow did the same thing to his main character.
Pot calling a kettle black, I guess.
This isn't the first time I've listened to a review of one of critical drinkers books, and it isn't the first time my brain has glazed over and it's been almost impossible to retain the information. It's always everything I hate about bargain bin hollywood action cliche movies distilled into an amorphous blob. Crazy how these creatively bankrupt people always shit on everyone else's work, and can't see why their own is boring.
The supremely annoyed rant made my day. Respecting the art is super important. There is a large gap between being able to criticize art and being able to make coherent art.
I also did not know Critical had written 19 books! That is something... especially considering the meandering "plot" of this book.
I stopped watching the guy's channel a while ago, it started becoming clear that he had settled in at the hatewatching trough and it turned me off. I knew he was writing books but had no idea he had NINETEEN titles. Seems he's pumping them out to capitalize of his YT audience. Jesus wept.
same, I don't even remember when I unsubscribed from him
Drinker and the rest of his clique on youtube were interesting to begin with since the idiotic Left and their corrupt establishment media do indeed need to mocked and criticized.
However, Drinker and his pals are not smart people. They have basic-b"tch takes. They have gotten comfortable with their internet niche and count their youtube bucks. They stopped making insightful critiques ages ago. Now their videos consist of a gaggle of arrested-development nerds whining over fantasies.
I'm not a fan of Drinker or Shadversity, yet I still expected them to write books that were better than hot stinking garbage.
Fax the man's a Hypocrite doing it for rhe views when he doesn't even practice what he preaches 🤣🤣🤣
Not sure about the claim of him 'pumping them out to capitalize' on his audience - he had been writing for many years before he became known on YT. He probably makes far more on YT than book sales now anyway. The first two books in his Ryan Drake series were pretty good. I haven't read/listened to this one yet though.
How come criticising bad movies is hate watching? Stop making crap and people will enjoy it....
Hm. On one hand, at least Southern Book Club had a climax (not a good one but it existed), but on the other hand, it also had a lazy as fuck timeskip right after the main character tried to kill herself because Hendrix cared that little about his story and characters.
Standing ovation from me for that in depth review. Thank God it’s not me. I’ve read one and a half of his “novels”. In fact, I read his first one. This one isn’t an improvement. Will is such a hypocrite with his reviews and what/how he writes. His first book, a special ops “”””thriller”””, it’s summed up like this. Imagine you’re in a Walmart or such, you see a bargain bin in the book section, you see a generic Special op mission style cover, now you imagine how generic and flat that would read like…well, it’s so much worse than that. He sucks. Thank you.
Making fun of Critical Drinker books is my new favourite type of video on youtube
I'm reading multiple comments that claim their book is better but don't mention what their book is called. Comment here to tell me what the title of your book is so I can check it out 🙂
I did not want to mention it unless someone asked. I think it is a solid debut. It is not out yet; however, March 11th you will be able to check it out. :D It is titled The Starslayer Saga: The Edge of Space. ^_^ I just submitted chapter 1 to KirkpattieCake, as well, so maybe it will get some exposure before the release date.
@@xanderoswald297 I hope she reads it. I submitted a chapter a while back but it's like 9,000 words so I think that might have been a bit much lol
@@xanderoswald297That sounds like a fictional knockoff book that you would see in the amazing world of gumball 💀
@@_yoshivolts_115 That's not what I've heard, but hey, everyone has their opinion. 🧜♂️
@@xanderoswald297 I meant the name, The Amazing World Of Gumball famously has satirically over the top names for books and games like "Inverted Paradox: The Enemy Within"
Nah, it'll be fine.
Anyway... (closes book) Go away naow.
I used to watch his videos here and there. I was never a die hard fan of his, nor have I ever bothered to look into his other stuff beyond his youtube reviews. One day, however, I actually decided to look into a slim few of his books and his little movie.
Suffice to say, Drinker is such a joke to me now, lmao. The gall this dude had to shit on movies then produce his own share of generic muck and literally writing characters he himself would've trashed on, had it been written by another person.
Nice to see Drinker's writing is just as poorly thought out and reactionary as his reviews.
As if you're capable of doing either one better
@@vladdracul2379to be fair anyone can cry woke when a woman or black guy shows up 😂
@@vladdracul2379I can and have. Already working on my second book
28:36
This point about the boy who saw that Dyatlov's group was not right only now deciding to give an interview... is just... beyond dumb.
Like I can see how a witness of some random hiker group being lost waiting for several years till he sees something that reminded him of it.
But Dyatlov's group is highly investigated. Like there is no chance he would have been able to not get reminded of it till now.
I read a lot of technothrillers (as a kid I read Tom Clancy the same way other people read Tolkien) so I'm a bit curious to read this particular book myself just to see if the character skips are as jarring to me. In general that's a pretty common genre conceit and I've found it's a genre that tends to put people who aren't especially interested in it off. (I've run into people who don't read these complain about technology being described...which is exactly the point of the genre).
it sounds like a trainwreck regardless and given Jordan's takes on other things (he thinks Amazon's Reacher is the epitome of masculinity, for instance) I'm absolutely willing to believe his central character is a massive, self-absorbed dickhead as well. I'm just curious about whether that's a genre convention, because, again, introducing minor characters midway through the book to service a specific plotline is pretty normal in these stories. Sum of All Fears, for instance, has a whole host of people whose entire character arcs revolve around the nuke being set off in Denver who only appear and exist for those scenes. Clancy was quite fond of introducing a minor character, giving them a brief biography, and letting them talk about what they do; it feels very much like (and may be) a reaction to the New Journalism movement from the 60s and 70s.
i'd sooner believe a Critical Drinker fan said that 'society is degenerate and millions must die' than a random KGB agent, to be completely honest with you
great review and even greater room
You sound like a hateful fella. You should get help for that.
I had no idea he'd written so many books. His channel was recommended to me awhile ago. I don't watch him often enough to subscribe.
It sounds like he wrote a movie he would like to see? Frustrated screenwriters short change their stories with jump cuts and scenes that lack depth of emotion and characterization.
16:18 Is Becker a character that reoccurs in other books? Sounds like he might be. He's a mercenary. They are never the good guy except inside their own heads.
29:23 Yeah, that doesn't make sense. Isolated tribesmen don't trust anyone.
32:48 I laughed out loud over the ring. I kept hearing Gandalf say "Keep it secret! Keep it safe!"
35:11 Did he write this drunk? It sounds like he couldn't make up his mind how many bad guys the story needed.
37:52 Mr. Jordan wrote a Hallmark Movie for Mercenaries.
The only author that could write a novel like a movie was Michael Crichton. (Congo is a great example of this done well.) It still frustrates me that his book was made into one of the worst movies I've ever seen. I don't know why authors keep doing this, other than they hope someone options it for a movie. That's not how it works.
I don't think I can get through either book. (Jordan's or the Southern Vamps) I always try to read through the sample chapters on amazon and didn't make it through either of these. I've read up on Dyatlov Pass years ago and nothing you've discussed from this book has anything to do with what happened there.
By the way, I love the purple 'I might be in Mortem' lighting. 'Meme Harvest'. I love that. Fantastic review as always.
Oh, and let the Spice flow. LOL
@@BarryKoostachin I can't get that Hallmark Movie thing out of my head, now. 🙃🤣
It's funny because it's easy to be a critic constructive or otherwise pointing out other people's problems In storytelling but actually writing and constructing a story of you're own is a lot harder and more often than not show's their own failings 😅
*EDIT* I don't think tropes in your story are a problem necessarily, how it's handled though will make or break it
Wow I have looked a bit though youtube and all of you reviewers are ribbing critical drinker book apart with no mercy holy shit is this book that bad or what
When the book was recommended to me, it was the first I'd ever heard of this author. Imo, what hurts it through most is the action cuts written like it's for a movie, the 30% double prologue where Dyalov Pass means nothing, the forced Russian bad guys after spending most of the book on the middle east (felt like it was misrepresented), and the tropy ending of making an explosion and cutting scene and everyone is fine so you don't have to deal with the logistics of getting out of that situation. One of my favorite game series has done that same thing multiple times and I hate it every time to the point I don't think completing those games again is worth it, though I'd play up to the near end again.
I think I was more surprised it was his 18th book, but even Stephen King has meh books 80+ novels in. It's not a big deal and the author can do better if he wants, but I didn't get a love for the artform from this.
If you like action pulp that doesn't do anything and nothing really matters in it, you can enjoy this. I'm just not the audience for it.
HOW MANY book did he write? Gods. For this book to be such a mess, I'm afraid to imagine a quality of earlier books.
Also mountain climbers on Dyatlov's trail... That says everything about the quality of the book, because Kholat Syakhl is basically a hill. If you want to write about mystical Russian mountains, take Altai Mountains, which have a shitload of legends about them.
Man did not care to research. He just thought "huh, I saw a Dyatlov Pass video onecd. What if it was zombies?" And left it at that.
with this level of commitment he should've just completely made his own story.@@abox7825
I can say with certainty that I've run worse sessions than my first, as a DM.
All's I'm saying is that work quality isn't exclusicely linear. Generally you get better, but there's also hits and fumbles.
They were only walking on it. You should read the book before you comment on it, ideally.
Why zombes, there are no zombies.
Or not even an excuse of "the bad guys want his dna , as part of, something virus, or something.
12:01 that part sounds the like most real part of the book
I like Critical Drinker's videos but he's a movie critic. He almost never talks about his novels, never talks about books in general, so I'm not surprised. A little disappointed, but I've seen this play out on youtube too many times to be surprised.
Edit: "Where does this voice come from?"
In the words of Critical Drinker: "don't know!"
It's...weird to hear him call out so much of this and yet fall into the same trap himself.
@@AJadedLizard The only thing I can figure is that he was too close to his own writing and didn't look at it critically enough to notice.
@@brokenentertainment327 Having sat through a bit of Open Bar over the summer, I think it's also a combination that, A, he's surrounded by a group of people who aren't really willing to challenge each other critically (I quite like Little Platoon, despite his slow upload schedule, for this reason), and B, a lot of the narrative issues are things he actually values. He unironically acts as if Amazon's Reacher is the pinnacle of masculinity, for instance, in spite of the show's titular character feeling like the Alpha Male fallacy described by an incel.
@Godzillafan93 there is a lot of that uncritical group think going around for sure. I think the same thing happened with Shadow of the Conqueror. A lot of his beta readers were fans of the channel. That book could have used some developmental criticism.
@@brokenentertainment327 I've not read it yet; I got it and Dead End Drive last year but I'm still working my way through Wheel of Time so I've not gotten to them yet.
I think it's a shame because I genuinely like Shad on his own, but I tend to like him much less when he mixes with others.
This would be perfect for Dom Noble to sink his teeth into during the WGA/SAG-AFTRA strikes.
it seems another instalment in the trend of creators who critisizce 'woke' media writing girlboss characters who are more woke than woke in order to prove a point that they don't hate women or strong female characters ...
Fun fact: I didnt even realize who wrote this book until I looked up the name… and then I saw “Critical Drinker” and then I was like “Oh. That makes sense. Gonna delete that from the wishlist, gonna buy The Living Dead.”
Also, I read through Southern Book Club’s Guide to Vampire Slaying by Grady Hendrix and I wasnt too bothered by how it ended. But I will admit im a Grady Hendrix fan so I might be bias.
Another day in "RUclips conservative who pretends to be a media critic by ranting that "everything is woke and bad" turns out to be shit at writing"...
As a conservative. I will tell you the guys a total hack and can't write to save his own life
It's one thing to be a workman like hack because that takes effort, but for his books to not steer clear of the tropes that are supposedly on his mind every minute?
Priceless.😂
Name anything you've done. Come on. Let's see what you've ever put forward in life. Come on. We're waiting.
@@vladdracul2379 💀 i've seen you say that like three times now. acting like no one can have an opinion on anything just because they're never done it is a really, REALLY bad mindset when you think about it for more than two seconds. "are you a holocaust survivor? no? well you dont get to say that the holocaust was bad!"
@@FrostFall0261
Because surviving the holocaust is equivalent to writing a story.... Moron.
I love your style. I'm thinking about translating my (yet unpublished) book into English only to get you to critique it 😂
Here fun fact drinker did co writer with James patterson
@11:11 Congrats, you're having just the emotional response that Will Jordan wanted you to have towards this character. His narrative manipulation tactics were rather hamfisted and obvious, but they can work in some circumstances. He put the character in the book because he wanted his readers mad at the womon who doesn't know her place... And it worked.
I used to be fearful of putting my own writing out there but after reading this terrible book i'm ready to go now
😂 don't let your dreams be dreams, you should dedicate it to Jordan😂
Thank you for reading this so I don't have too. I am feeling better about my own work (and its problems) now.
The irony of this is just overwhelming, geez. Drinker brags about his writing in several videos but this is what he delivers? Dude should just stick to using the same five reaction memes almost every video while whining about everything pandering to “THE MESSAGE”. He does make decent points from time to time but honestly his critiques are pretty much the same gripes repeated ad nauseum for different subjects.
@@lithosagymfan oh absolutely, and the decent points he makes are pretty low hanging fruit. Like “you can have a strong female character without making her an insufferable asshole”. I swear his fans worship him just for repeating the same things other critics do but adding the same four memes to each video. It gets painfully predictable and repetitive.
@@jtheconqueror121) yet he thinks "Sound of Freedom" is good because of it's "message"
I love your insight, voice and presentation. The content is definitely enjoyable and worth people's time. Pacing the monologue a little and maybe cutting out a lot of details of the narrative would make this even better and worth even more people's time.
(Says a guy who still likes Critical Drinker and shad though may be a little bit more critical about their writing)
Also I am SO surprised about the girl boss thing, considering the numerous times CD has called that out in Marvel et. al. Maybe he's trying to be "balanced" about it and just getting it a little bit wrong?
He have this in his Ryan drake series.
I remember in early review, some call Will a liberal. This was before he was a critical drinker
@@Melvinshermen He has more girl bosses in his other books?
@@LeordRedhammeryes read his Ryan drake series, in old review this before he was drinker. One review call Will a liberal
The Critical Drinker certainly is... a character. I think he is simply grifting - being a shallow movie reviewer complaining about everything being woke earns him money, so that is what he does. I don't think he really cares about "wokeness" which is why he has no problem putting it in his books. EIther that or he's so incapable of introspection (like Shad) that he can't see it's part of his own writing.
I do know he lies and deceptively edits his movie reviews to make his points. Pillar of Garbage has made some videos exposing him.
Whatever you think of Drinker, it was clear Pillar of Garbage was the one lying and deceptively editing in his video.
@@WigglyMcWigglyWell drinker is basic the Irate gamer of movie review.
No fricking shite he edits his reviews. Are you fricking slow? Of course he edits the videos so they flow well before he puts them online. That's the dumbest critique I've ever seen. Hell, this video alone is insanely edited. She has hard edits all over the place. Does that make everything she said a lie? Seriously, dude. The editing outrage of mor-ons online is ridiculous.
I am actually surprised there wasn't a wave of dislike like on other videos criticizing the CD. (Glad for you ! but still surprised)
My personal theory about why the army hasn't developped plot armor yet is because they're still trying to figure out how to make it work for people who aren't plot-critical :p
I've been meaning to read and comment/review on one of the Critical Drinker's Zombie books. I will buy it and review the book in a couple of weeks.
One of the first things I thought of the prologues was that you could not identify any one character's facial features and what they really looked like. The start, action descriptions and ending are formulaic, like it is a writing style based on Hemingway. Gunfire fight is not a real combination of words. I get an imagery of a bunch of cowboys shooting off their guns, finding the bullets, putting the guns and bullets into socks, and then using the socks to hit each other with. The book has some heavy tropes and uses a lot of 25 cent words.
I finished the book today. I think the issue with the parka and people's faces was because of the cover of the Thing book/movie and a reluctance to assign the parka a color and use it as a key in the description of the zombie to build up tension in the Davlatov Pass hiking party at the start.
I found a lot of the descriptions in the book to be just good enough, without the scene settings going over the top. The way it was written could have been made more tense, and it seems to smoothly convey what is going on. It's a little too smooth, when a casual reading of Congo or Jurassic Park, or a King book like IT would have given the writer the feel for expressing horror and terror in some moments with a pendulum swing to lighter, funny moments between. It kind of has a Clive Cussler intensity and feel to it, without being over-wrought. The way the dialogue is set up is pretty good, after the prologues. The ice floor cavern at the end could have a better description, but it was good.
Isn’t the Dark Harvest plot a knockoff of World War Z, Resident Evil, 28 Days Later etc.?
I used to devour novels and read a *lot* of fanfiction. "At length" usually means they're drawing the phrase out or showing some hesitation, from what I understand.
The line you read in regards to movie scripts sounds like someone who doesn't know how to "show don't tell" or explain feelings and body language... Is the book dumb? Yes. Should authors better study the craft? 100%
But these are the few cases I'm going to assume it's ignorance instead of malice
Damn, you really heated in this one!
I love this side of you. 🤓
Wonder why people that preach better writing like Crit Drinker don't fn listen to their own advice's ... I mean his vids are good but his books aaaaa and aaaaa my eyes...
How tf are his vids good, he doesn't even use writing criticism, he just rants at politics that he doesn't agree with and this is coming from me a guy that doesn't even hate the right wing nor left, I'm just for common sense, something the drinker lacks 🤣🤣🤣
@@dimitryanyanwu7681 He might preach the obvious points. Same I can say for Robot Head vids his points are spot on in vids. But in case of crit. d. his books are well lets say he has a lot to learn.
Thank you for doing this.
25:33 exactly. It's patching characters with attributes to mimic a sense of depth.
And indeed, overall it's painfully clear that Jordan is utterly ignorant to the nature of what he knows as the Middle East. Bringing the war in Syria into this, without realizing it's causes, is another shade of his one dimensional view of the region. To him, there is one type of people in the Middle East, who look and think the same. Which makes no sense, even in the lines of his book.
31:32 you're epic!
Wonderful review. I tried reading this book, but I trailed off and lost interest. By the way, you did fantastic at pronouncing, "Dyatlov," as many Western speakers have a difficult time with the y-glide. I just discovered your work yesterday, so I look forward to exploring your catalogue more.
I loved this video watched the whole thing 👍
the critical drinker? lol
for some reason I'm not subscribed to him anymore
34:52 hahahahaha wtf???? xD
Edit: That meme zombie book sounds so good... I want
Drinker is lazy and basic. I stopped listening to him years ago. Still, I expected him to do better than this. I don't understand how he and Shad can spend a career critiquing movies only to then fail miserably using the same cliches.
@@Red_Devil_2011what we're you expecting from a guy that calls himself a Critical drinker 🤣🤣🤣
@@Red_Devil_2011because and I mean this with all malice and intent they are unremarkable men who managed to scrape together an audience. That audience willing to support them no matter what because they go against “the main stream”. Every review of their books online starts with some variation of “I’m a huge fan of____”. One is an alcoholic who says the funny swear with an accent the other is a creepy morman who knows way to much about antiquated weapons and armor.
he is actually making a movie for his other books
Is more short film.
While this book sounds bad, it may be just one of his duds. Lots of talented writers have some fails. I wouldn't use this review alone to condemn Drinker's entire catalogue of work like many in the comments are doing. Having said that, his other books might be bad too. But would need to read them or see more reviews to determine that.
Nah, his books are awful I've read 5 of them, they're thought to read and the dude uses a ton of Deus Ex Machina 😭
its his 19th book, and he still promises zombies, and has no zombies, who would do that.
Thats terrible even for pulpy fanfic standards
@marocat4749
I mean, George RR Martin has been promising zombies for 20+ years and we still don't have them.
Life is too short to read everything you suspect of being bad just to confirm.
50:00 the "fecking" medium, Irish at heart I see.
Oh no this is Dyatlov Pass incident fan fic.
What the hell do you expect from a man who calls himself The Critical Drinker
A fricking laugh, that's what. The dude is hilarious. If his message didn't resonate, he wouldn't be pulling 1+ million views on a video in under 24 hours....
@@vladdracul2379 Listening to a person pretend to be drunk is such a tired form of comedy, listening to someone who is actually drunk and basing an entire channel off of it is the saddest f**king thing I've heard. You must be Gen Z if you think views = quality.
@@vladdracul2379 Say a video of a kick streamer harassing a couple in Vegas with a gun gets a million views in 8 hours... What message is resonating there?
@@vladdracul2379pretending to be drunk amd saying woke is so amazing.
@@vladdracul2379I did a course in youth media and celebrity culture at uni. The thing I learned that resonated with me the most is that popularity is no measure of talent.
This feels like that overrated movie The Empty Man where something violent happens on a mountain and then there’s this cop that I think was banging some girl while his wife and kid were being killed by a drunk driver, and then he became the empty man at the end. That movie tried to use trauma it teased the entire runtime to get me to care, and I kept nodding off and I wasn’t tired when I watched it. Anyway, it’s like Will hit the blunt and watched this movie and then fugue wrote this book. It’s not even the good fugue writing.
Yeah from what i hear the guys not a very good writer 😂 apparently even his fans are constantly just telling hin to stick to youtube 😂 and i think he writes girl bosses in like all of his books so he can be like "oh i can do it better than the wokies" and also i cant believe they pulled a pihranha 3D "oh they were sealed in a cave system since the jurassic era and they evolved in a spooky way" 😂😂
I don't like his show but agree about his findings but not on everything.
I know what his opinion is as a exhochamber exists in which a group of critics share the same findings.
Shat features on one channels chat and I can't watch that guy either for having dealings with Shat.
So this one has written works? I didn't know weird
This book is literally Jonathan Maberrys 'patient zero' book just WAAAAAAAAy worse 😂😅. Enjoyed the video crazy lady!
Great review. Kept having to check my own Discord when yours peeped lmao
11:39 Dalton slaps Jacobson because he left her with the zombies to die while he saved his own skin. Maybe she's a girl boss that doesn't face consequences (though I think pretty compelling reasons are given as to why throughout) but in this case I think slapping him is complety justified. justified.
His reasons for leaving were completely justifiable.
Do you read comic books?
Sometimes, I do. Depends on the comic.
@@KirkpattieCakeSandman?
Needed more zombies.
Yep, where are the zimbies, its just a usual virus thriller, no zombies.
Not that will woulk dio fine in a genre where characters humanity is pretty important, to show the loss of it. His mc has zero qualms killing people.
Just read "World War Z".
a what streamer?
I enjoyed your honest review. I don’t believe there to be any bias here based on who the author is as a RUclipsr. Thanks for the review. It was very good
It's funny, from the description already it sounds like a pretty standard cheesy horror-thriller novel. Honestly kinda mid, like a b-movie that would've been made in the 80s or something to that degree.
I'm gonna agree with just about everything except for the jump cuts in books. You're totally allowed to cut back and forth. Chuck palaniuk does it all them time and the movie fight club did it way way less.
Not saying i like it that way, just bringing up that you can do it and still get critical acclaim for it.
I would argue Chuck Palaniuk does it with much more skill so it actually works in Fight Club where it becomes a technique that plays into the narrator having black out moments where Tyler takes over. Whereas in Dark Harvest, Will Jordan does not skillfully use jump cuts, using the them in the same scenes just to change camera angles to show a gunner up on a rock, and then someone back in a car, so it ends up feeling like a movie script more than a novel.
Jump cuts aren't always bad. I like Fight Club, but I don't think Will Jordan knows how to write them and I don't think he skillfully employed them in this book.
@KirkpattieCake hard not to agree. And on that note, Chuck doesn't really describe cinematography unless it means something, like the shadow hand on the nude beach. But even so, he never went out of his way to describe Dutch angles and all that.
Anyway, I appreciate your brain, and I'm glad to have discovered this channel.
No salt to anyone but this book sounds like a worse version of wwz
There’s only like two scenes of zombie action in it. It’s kinda blah.
The wwz book is actually not bad. The audio book is great even.
Yeh, thank you. I'm about 1/2 way through the book, and I am...BORED!
I can't be dragged to care about any of the characters. I'm half way through it, and they just got to the first action that actually affects the momentum of this bog slog.
Thank you for confirming that I'm wasting my time trying to power through this thing. I can only read this thing in 20 minute increments before giving up. Gonna put it up on ebay and someone else can throw this thing in the trash.
I'm ambivalent about Critical Drinker, but I don't think I'll be at any of his other works.
Thanks for giving me the cliffs notes. You've saved me weeks of "who cares?".
The end XD
Love the chap's yt channel, but seeing the intro your review is going to be fun 😁
Apologies upfront, if I'm commenting too much. Just found your channel yesterday, so I have the newbie-watch spree :)
But yes, it pains me to see that many of the "big reviewers/critiques" on YT fail to listen to their own advice when they write.
I grew to dislike Critical Drinker a great deal. It's mainly his patronizing intonation, in voicing rather shallow and simplistic points of view. As if "Commando", or "Predator", should be put into writing and be the golden standard.
What really threw me off, was when he referred to The Lord of The Rings as "just a fuckn book", that you, "read for entertainment". This is an extremely narrow reading of Tolkien, it shows a profound lack of effort and understanding. Almost as if he was thinking of the Peter Jackson movies and not the novel itself, when he said it. The desecration of all the narratives and the depth of the work, all echoes from Drinker's mouth. Besides, he got every single JRRT/tlotr fact wrong in that video (and he was supposedly a "Tolkien fan").
This whole, "entertainment", and "do what fans want" rhetoric, reeks of blandness, laziness and lack of care for anything above the most linear way of thinking. It's barely art anymore, and more of a consumable product of the same flavors, for the same people, for the same reasons, with the same quality and price.
I'll be honest, if you're a book or media critic, that criticises other people's writing.. you best be a really good writer if you're going to try and publish or self publish a book. Because if all you do all day is pick apart other people's books expect yours to be under 10x the scrutiny. It's always kinda cringe to me. Good writers are rare, hell good published writers are rare. Just because you have an audience. Just because you're really good at being a critic even. Does not mean you know how to write a story. Most of these people delude themselves into thinking they are good writers because "I'm really good at picking apart a story and seeing what's wrong with it, finding all the plotholes, so I must be a good writer". And often they want author in their social media bios.
I just .. I have never seen a youtuber book that was good. I enjoy them, in like "I watch other youtubers ridicule them". The same way I enjoy those weird YA love triangle / smut girl books I'd never read but I love having videos ridiculing them on the background.
Also, I don't know you nor have I read or heard of your books. I imagine publishers nowadays put pressure on new writers to be active on social media and make youtube videos etc. But I think it's generally not a smart idea to make a channel reviewing other people's books if you're an author yourself. Because now you're also a critic, which automaticaly means people will be far more critical and less forgiving about what you write. On top of that, you run in to the issue where sometimes you'll criticize other people for doing something in their book, when you yourself might have done something similar. Now the way you've done or implemented the "thing" might be the right way and make sense/fit in the narrative or whatever. But you'll still constantly be reminded of that etc etc. Idk, just seems awkward to me.
You know those authors who will passive agressively reply to negative reviews? Or constantly negatively review other author's books on goodread or something. It's very cringy. That's kinda how I see being a critic while being an author.
P.s. the commentary on authors doing reviews isn't about you. As I said I don't know you. Your channel seems very small. Never heard of your book. But you do seem to be a pubslihed author. I'd advice caution on reviewing books, although reviewing garbage books by political youtubers won't get you in much trouble. Have you tried reading the book written by Ben Shapiro yet lol?
Glad I found this channel again, I love your videos!
At the concluding rant now. Well said. Straight.
Watching your videos makes me want to submit some of my comics to be ripped apart by you in a 2 & 1/2 hour long video! 😂
But i do an extremely small press (printer paper) superhero comic. Probably not your thing exactly.
And what would real life plot armor look like? 🤔
You're always free to, if you know what you're getting into. I currently working through a backlog, and all I can promise is I'll say what I see, but I give *most* things a chance to just do their own thing, and at the very least, I like talking about them and maybe the story will appeal to someone who hears about it even if in the end I didn't like it.
@@KirkpattieCake sweet! I may take you up on that. Thank you. 🙏
Wow!
I am thunderstruck! I just watched this entire video. As you pointed out, many of the issues he regularly points out for being problematic are present in his book--and it's worse because, as you pointed out, he has no respect for the medium.
I have listened to the Critical Drinker for years, and though I have never purchased a novel because they really aren't my genre, I am shocked that they are of this quality, especially at book 19.
I am just about to release my debut, and I think it is better than this book. It is safe to say, I will never purchase a Will Jordan book. I thought he would have more pride in his work.
He's a Hypocrite lol, he just does his stupid rants for views and money, all geeks and gamers communities are the same lol, they just want your views/attention 🤣🤣🤣