@@moviefan968lol someone is pissed cause world doesn't like his fav author collen Hoover's book *cough* Wattpad shity story books. Womp womp. Stop projecting weird creature ☺️
@@moviefan968aww someone is pissed cause half of the world doesn't like her fav author's book which are basically Wattpad stories with red flag male leads. Another high schooler with no sense here. Stop projecting weird creature ☺️😏
It's a decently common trope in sort of magic school/assassin school type books and it NEVER makes sense. Why is anybody going to a school where there's a 70% chance of dying? Are the lower performing students really so low value to the faculty that they're better off dead? And, like, what if you've got a really promising student who just kinda gets unlucky in a life-or-death situation? It's just lazy worldbuilding tbh
what's weirder is that yarros is familiar with the military and knows people in the military (i think her husband is in the military?) so she should have had all the sources and references she needed to make a functional dragon military but just decided not to?
IMO the issue with R. F. Kuang's books is that she is very, very heavy-handed in her themes, to the point where the characters voices are often lost, and what is left is purely the author's voice moralising directly to the reader. And it breaks immersion, or at least it did for me, specifically with Babel. I think this "style" may be effective to some people but for me I like a more subtle approach, exploring the themes entirely through the characters themselves. Edit: You mentioned she "doubted the intelligence of the reader" and I agree, I think Kuang needs to have a little more trust in the intelligence of her readers to make their own conclusions on the "moral of the story" indirectly through her characters and the situation they are in, instead of spelling it out as she tends to do. With that said, I saw an interview she did in Daniel Green's channel with Evan Winter and it was utterly fascinating, Highly recommend.
this exactly! I loved parts of Babel and thought the premise was so interesting, but the characters felt less like fleshed out people and more just vessels for R.F Kuang’s message. I haven’t read yellowface yet but I just don’t think her writing is for me from the reviews i’ve seen
I've never read RF Kuang before but I've seen a couple of people say that they think she should be writing non fiction instead of fiction and your comment reminded me of that. It sounds like she has great potential and just needs to hone her craft more or else give nonfiction a go instead
This. I decided against Yellowface after reading The Poppy War and Babel because I need good characters to enjoy a story and I just don't think she's a good character writer (yet).
Litchrally. His voice and articulation is so soothing to me. We have very different tastes in books but I don’t ever miss a video because this whole channel is like a warm hug.
I'm so sorry you got death threats from fellow readers 😢 a lot of book reviewers I watch often have different opinions on books I enjoyed but I still enjoy hearing them talk about it!
For real. I love that he is being honest and gives valuable criticism! I do share a pretty similar book taste with Jack and I know that if he likes a book I'll probably like it as well.
Critique is IMPORTANT and VALUABLE! Especially educated and constructive critique. If art only ever receives praise, then authors and the industry will never improve! Besides, people are allowed to have different opinions and preferences. I don't understand why some people don't get this. 😬
I'm so relieved you loved Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. Every time I hear someone talk about it, I get nervous because it feels so precious to me! I just want everyone to have an equally precious experience with it
Sameeeeee, I loved it so much I couldn't even think about the title of the book for days without feeling like crying. It is by far my favourite read of the year
truly one of my BIGGEST gripe with reading the fourth wing was the way the students were allowed to die even when it was stressed in the first few chapters that there was a shortage of fighters 😭 all sense just completely out the window my god. the only redeeming quality of the book was the relationship of the riders with their dragons. tairn singlehandedly got me through that novel
1:19 Yellowface by R.F. Kuang 7:09 Happy Place by Emily Henry 10:54 Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin 14:47 Fourth Wing/Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros
The way that I KNEW you wouldn’t let me down with your opinion on Fourth Wing. If nobody else, Jack Edwards Will Not let me down. The ENTIRE time I was thinking “why is this book’s pacing so odd? Why is every moment treated like a climax?” It was like that Incredibles quote: if every moment is a climax, then no moment is
okay I'm an Emily Henry girlie and I loved Book Lovers but never ever would I think it's okay to send someone death threats over not liking a book I liked?! These people are actually insane and don't deserve to call themselves real fans 🙄
Having read Babel... yeah, Rebecca Kuang has a real problem with subtlety and trusting her readers. Her prose is so didactic it comes off preachy even when you agree with the points.
I like the fact you always try different genres and don’t judge them. You see the skill of writing no matter the genre! Plus I like when you don’t like a book you don’t make people who do like it feel stupid for liking it ❤️
THAT PART in T & T & T was truly devastating, but it was so so beautiful. i was so heartbroken but there was an odd comfort there as well. even in the face of the worst possible things, we move forward. it feels impossible, but man, somehow we continue 🩵
I feel like emily henry is so skilled at writing different personalities and story arcs that relate to people - but specific people. I loved book lovers because i understood the MC, where i didnt feel connected to happy place because i didnt fully understand Harriet. Idk ill be interested to see what she does with funny story, because i cant help but notice a trend in her books where most people either die for it or feel mediocre about it
I’m so glad that you loved tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, it was the book that got me out of of a reading reading slump at the start of the year because for the first time in a while i felt like i was hooked from the first pages, it’s just so well written.
me too!! i just finished reading it and before that, hadn't read books all that much but reading Tx3 made me feel all sorts of emotions (everything from passion to devastation, iykyk) but somehow felt therapeutic at the end of it all. if the worlds and characters in books are this real, raw, and riveting then off to book worlds it is to meet a myriad of characters where even the most mundane of moments feel like soul-catching adventures.
I might have to finally read Happy Place after being on a bit of an Emily Henry hiatus. I absolutely LOVED Beach Read, then enjoyed Vacation, then wasn't impressed by Book Lovers (for some reason I just didn't care about the characters or the plot and it didn't stick with me at all). But maybe Happy Place will hit the spot again.
Jack Edwards is probably the only Booktuber whose recommendations I take seriously. That said, we're all different, and I DNF'd Happy Place while loving Beach Reads. Looking forward to trying out the #1 from this vid, Tomorrow and Tomorrow etc. Jack, how about a Matt Haig review? You could do a time travel video. There are several upmarket ones around now.
i am soooooooo happy you liked Happy Place cause it was my most favourite book of last year, and it just makes me sooo happyy that other people see how special the book is bsjsjsjs
i wholeheartedly agree with your analysis of fourth wing and iron flame. i felt like iron flame was an even more dramatic example of an extremely high paced story line with no lulls which basically diminished the impact of every high stakes scene! the writing is so sloppy and i was hopeful that it would improve from book one to book two but apparently not. i still enjoyed the overall reading experience because the plot is interesting to me but it could have been executed much more skillfully. i want to keep reading the series purely to see where the story goes lol it’s the fomo for me
Jack was absolutely not held on gun pint to say he liked the Happy place. Really happy that he could get over the bump in their relationship. But I gotta say I was struggling with eating disorders but along with my family and therapist books have been my desired distraction .You have played a great role in this journey with me jack. Thanks for helping!
I really wanted to love Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow but I just felt like I was missing something. The main characters were horrible to each other. I understand it is supposed to be depicting friendship in a more “real” way, and not all light and fluffy. But if I had someone in my life that acted the way Sam and Sadie acted toward each other, I most certainly wouldn’t consider them a friend.
Totally agree. And somehow despite all the intricacies of their relationships, the characters feel so static, they barely grow in the 15 years we spend with them. I liked how messy and flawed they were because it gave them the potential to feel *real* but then somehow they were never fleshed out enough for that to happen.
love tomorrow(x3) to death. read it twice already. this book is my roman empire. i love how jack ACCURATELY described why this book appeals to everyone. it’s such a beautifully crafted piece of literature yet it does cater to our deranged dopamine-addicted escapist reading trend. it’s a classic.
I mean, I'd say people in the 15th century were also obsessed with dopamine and pretty stoked with the invention of print books so they too could escape the plague ;)
I hated the characters and don't get me started on her misuse of German. It's so bad and so totally unnecessary because these words don't need to be in the story and one look in the dictionary would have told her the meaning of words like "Ersatz" or the use of gendered pronouns ... and apparently, there are mistakes in her use of Korean and Japanese too. I really don't understand how this book got published by a major publisher, are editors not a thing anymore?
Every video on Jack's channel hold me LITERALLY spellbound. I mean, I absolutely enjoy every single moment of them as they are both beneficial and entertaining. I just love them!
My favourite creator on You tube is A Clockwork reader. I love that channel because she (the creator) has an impeccable taste and also, my favourite books has come from her recommendations.
I’m glad I’m not the only one! My friend also read the book and didn’t like it and my favorite part was just ranting about everything that didn’t make sense 💀
I study English literature at uni and I loooved Fourth Wing and Iron Flame. It just felt like a nice summer vacation in comparison to all the super serious classics and got me into reading "fun" books again. I get what you're saying but I skillfully ignored all of the plotholes and just focused on having fun while reading. Reading such a fast paced and exciting book was such a gamechanger for me, I fell in love with reading all over again 🥰
Another lit student here! And damn I really agree. I think i just needed the fun as well so therefore didnt feel too mad at the plotholes and at times cringey scenes. The fast pace and high stakes made it like a movie more than a book lol. It made me both laugh and cry and i needed a simple fix like that!
When you're studying literature everything is fair game. I solely reread (okay slight exaggeration) the same two book series while studying English Lit, I did not have the energy to read new stuff, and certainly not very literary stuff.
Hahaha same and I was a lit major. It's also nice to just read something for fun and not think about it for once. I spend all day at work thinking and strategizing I don't need my books to be complicated and a lot of the most popular books are just uncomplicated and easy to follow.
I love your sincere opinions about those books. Sometimes it seems like you have to like what everybody is reading but in truth, the most important is enjoying what you read. I'll get these recommendations, thanks!
tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow literally changed my life and i must have lost half my body weight in tears over "that scene", one of my favourite books of all time
I’m so sorry you got death threats. For a community that can be so wonderful, that is truly appalling. How ridiculously insecure in your opinion do you need to be that you attack someone for having a different opinion in such a horrible way? Disgusting. But I’m so sorry Jack! And we still absolutely love your content x
8:41 I love introducing people to to the Emily Henry universe and seeing which is their fave because it’s different for everyone! Happy Place was my least favourite and I ADORED Book Lovers 😂 one of the joys of reading ❤
Ideas for next videos: -Zendaya Book recs -Books that made me have faith that my literature degree was worth it -Visiting locations of favourite books that take place in Manhattan Vlog
You’re point on a book needing peaks and troughs was so perfect, I felt that so much with a lot of authors but def IF but also the atlas 6 like after a while I get bored and I don’t care about the drama anymore
i'm SO HAPPY you enjoyed tomorrow tomorrow and tomorrow. this was my last read of 2023 and i was desperate to end it just so i could say it was the last one lol, i ended up rushing through it, giving it 3.5 stars and then becoming obsessed with it only months later, when i realized the themes or specific moments just wouldn't come off my mind. i too have a deep connection with ms. pacman now...
i loved tomorrow (3x) and i remember not being able to stop thinking about it. the characters and these relationships are insanely entertaining and so real. the plot is not led by love nor the friendship or games, it's a beautiful combination of how to love tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow and the urge to view "love" as a verbe and TO love rather than a lone word. honestly considering it's big popularity, sooooo worth it!
I totally agree with Fourth Wing. Im in the middle of it now-the audible version. Its so intense and the narrator is overly dramatic so i just feel exhausted after a short session of listening. Like how many times can the main character almost d1e?
I was so curious to read about your thought on the Fourth wing, and I am so happy about everything you said that I felt so much!!!! Could be amazing, Fourth wing is good but Iron flame was major crash, felt that it was rushed, I have even read that they used IA to be faster to publish the book. There are so many things they could have done, to make it great. This were you realise that world building is major!!! Really sad though, because this is a book series that I wish I would follow and love. It's like a very cheap version of an SJM sagas.
I actually prefer yarros over sjm, idk why I just haven't been able to get into sjm books. Although I do agree with your statement on iron flame. It just felt so rushed and the writing quality was worse than fourth wing unfortunately :/
This and the last video are examples of why I love your content. You go into every book with good faith, even those that are controversial and get a lot of hate, like Fourth Wing. I personally didn’t mind FW, although I can see the criticisms. And it’s not shocking to me that Iron Flame has been a miss even for others who liked FW. But I’m glad you had a few wins…I knew you’d like Yellowface, and I’m surprised to hear that Happy Place worked so well, given that one was quite polarizing with others I follow.
for fourth wing the reason they are allowed to die is because they arent meant to be just "canon fodder" if they cant keep up. They are meant to have control of really powerful abilities and you wouldnt want someone not built for that to have that power. She mentions there is another branch of the military thats for people who didn't exceed at the testing and they are thrown in the front lines. they make the bulk of the military.
I think the most compelling thing about Forth Wing is the intentional erasure of history, how “big government” in their world controls the narrative of the history of their rise to power. If she continues exploring that in some capacity I think the third book could be okay. I also think her dragon lore is quite good, as well as the inclusion of Violet’s health issues in relation to the world she’s living in. But you are so correct about Iron Flame 🙃 and TTT in an INCREDIBLE book, so happy that was included.
Yellowface was just mid. Kinda boring. Utterly annoying. I’m not a fan of unlikeable characters because I get annoyed for the whole time and that’s not what I want from an entire book
Tuttle!! For that stack alone I love your bookshelf (Also, my favourite job I've ever had was working at a used bookstore and my FAVOURITE thing was when the alphabet aligned for me to shelve a bunch of Oxford and Penguin spines together. Aesthetic dream!)
I'm guessing you haven't tried Emily Henry's Beach Read? That's the first one I read and I really enjoyed it. On the surface, it's about two authors who end up in summer lake homes next door to each other - one a woman who writes romance and the other a man who writes "serious" fiction. The thing is ... they have history and ultimately decide to creatively trade places. However, it's about so much more, especially in regard to the woman writer, January. She's mourning a parent who was hiding secrets. I've also read her People We Meet On Vacation and that's the one I didn't care as much for. I have Book Lovers and Happy Place and hope to read them soon.
i was mostly a romance reader since highschool and get recommendations from creators like Haley, Steph Bohrer, Larry, Sunny Kim, Sara Carolli. now im sort of exploring other genres and tbh just get inspired by your recs.
I do love fourth wing and iron flame though, at first I thought that maybe I was influenced by the hype or that I was just in the right mood when I first read it but after rereading fourth wing, it was just as good, if not better than the first time reading it
I agree, whether I was in the right mood, I just get lost in these stories which is all that matters to the people that love these books. Whether I look past the plot holes and how well it's written or not, we're allowed to imagine this fucked up world whether it makes sense or not. Even if killing off the weak wouldn't be a good battle strategy in real life, it is explained in Fourth Wing that allowing weaker riders to be saved and continue into battle means they'll be jeopardizing the stronger riders as they'll be having to look out for them if they get into trouble which is always dangerous. That's just my view anyway.
Your literary analysis of Iron flame is so spot on for me. Especially since I am halfway through it. I have wanted to DNF since the moment I started reading, but you become so vested in the characters from fourth wing, you just have to finish. I won’t be reading a 3rd.
i tried to read tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow but the sheer amount of isr*eli sympathising physically forced me to stop reading. i later found out that the author's a z*onist so😬 honestly no regrets. i usually can separate the art from the artist, but such a terrible ideology in this case was so deeply rooted in the "art" by so many references to z*onism that it simply wasn't possible for me to carry on. loved the video tho as always!
this comments makes you understand how the germans did it the dehumanization you need to inhale for a group of people you do not even know nor did you care about until yesterday
I loved fourth wing! But I agree with you thoughts on Iron Flame. I felt like Iron Flame should have been two books with more detail. Part one and two should have been two different books. I felt it was sloppy and rushed as well and thrown together.
I’d never heard that about Jane Austen, but that makes so much sense, I freaking hated Emma with a passion that I have not felt since 😂 There wasn’t a single character I liked or cared to find out what happened with. I had to read it for a college class, I read until I could answer all our online discussion questions and DNF’ed it, literally the only time I’ve read 75-80% of a book and had no desire to find out how it ended. So she definitely succeeded I’d she wanted her to be unlikable 😂 As for the actual point of the video, it’s wild how people act just because someone shared an option. I personally loved Book Lovers, but to each their own and I’m glad you gave her another go and enjoyed Happy Place (I haven’t gotten around to it yet, but it’s on the list.) Soooo happy to hear you liked Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, that’s one of my favorites I’ve read recently. And agree, I’m a huge gamer, so I loved all the game related things and references, but I’ve had several friends who couldn’t care less about video games and still loved it. I loved Fourth Wing and Iron Flame (although definitely enjoyed Fourth Wing more, but some of that could be because I listened to the audiobook of Iron Flame and I usually find those harder to get into, may have felt differently if I’d read it as well), but again, to each their own.
hearing your thoughts on Yellowface I think it all just comes down to Rebecca's writing because I had the same thoughts with Babel? I loved Babel so much but I think the book could've been 200 pages shorter if she had just trusted her readers rather than drill her message and repeat it over and over. I still want to read Yellowface but I think at this point we just have to accept that she's going to write this way and have to mentally prepare ourselves for possible redundancy esp if that's not your cup of tea
Agreed. I loved Babel but the last 100 pages were unnecessary and made me fall out of love with the characters and the plot. I don’t even remember how it ended, which is sad.
Totally agree with your points on Yellowface. I felt the same about Babel by the same author - the ideas RF Kuang wanted to portray were obvious through the plot, but she spoonfed the reader and hammered home the point so much, as though we wouldn't understand. A shame because the premises are always so good!
I've really enjoyed hearing other peoples thoughts on Fourth Wing and Iron Flame. My own thoughts were that it had a sense of high paced action, multiple plot twists, dragons, and a really cool story line. I didn't need all of the romance between Violet and Xaden but I appreciated the "enemy's to lovers" trope. I've found that hearing other peoples perspective on the story to be quite interesting, finding things that they didn't like that I've found I didn't enjoy but didn't know how to phrase it. I honestly think that we need more action/fantasy books without the lovey dovey stuff
Unrelated but for a week I've been reading some parts of the books from 'The song of ice and fire' and started reading 'Fire and blood' today and I was just thinking what will be his take on these books. Hope he reviews it in the future! And as always great content!!! (He's literally now my unpaid therapist)
![Blox Fruits Dragon Rework Update [Full Stream]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EqDAp8udhm0/mqdefault.jpg)
Words cannot describe bow happy I am that there wasn't a Colleen Hoover book on this list
nature is healing
@@jack_edwards King of proving his bad book taste
@@moviefan968😭😭😭
@@moviefan968lol someone is pissed cause world doesn't like his fav author collen Hoover's book *cough* Wattpad shity story books. Womp womp. Stop projecting weird creature ☺️
@@moviefan968aww someone is pissed cause half of the world doesn't like her fav author's book which are basically Wattpad stories with red flag male leads. Another high schooler with no sense here. Stop projecting weird creature ☺️😏
I had the EXACT same thought reading Fourth Wing: WHY ARE THEY ALLOWED TO KILL EACH OTHER? HOW IS THIS AT ALL EFFECTIVE IN WAR??
I think if there was a little more logic, they wouldn't have lethal force in the challenges. Just get demoted to the infantry quadrant or something.
At worst, if they are not cut out for military couldn’t they be of use somewhere else in society??? Like they are doing the enemies job for them lol
It's a decently common trope in sort of magic school/assassin school type books and it NEVER makes sense. Why is anybody going to a school where there's a 70% chance of dying? Are the lower performing students really so low value to the faculty that they're better off dead? And, like, what if you've got a really promising student who just kinda gets unlucky in a life-or-death situation? It's just lazy worldbuilding tbh
what's weirder is that yarros is familiar with the military and knows people in the military (i think her husband is in the military?) so she should have had all the sources and references she needed to make a functional dragon military but just decided not to?
Thank you! That premise never made sense to me
Fourth wing got me out of a reading slump and Iron Flame put me back in one. 😂
It goes to show some books shouldn't be a sequel.
It goes to show some books shouldn't be a sequel.
I couldn´t put it into words before I read this, but yep!
Yeah honestly … like what WAS iron flame😭 it was so poorly constructed
omg same
IMO the issue with R. F. Kuang's books is that she is very, very heavy-handed in her themes, to the point where the characters voices are often lost, and what is left is purely the author's voice moralising directly to the reader. And it breaks immersion, or at least it did for me, specifically with Babel. I think this "style" may be effective to some people but for me I like a more subtle approach, exploring the themes entirely through the characters themselves.
Edit: You mentioned she "doubted the intelligence of the reader" and I agree, I think Kuang needs to have a little more trust in the intelligence of her readers to make their own conclusions on the "moral of the story" indirectly through her characters and the situation they are in, instead of spelling it out as she tends to do.
With that said, I saw an interview she did in Daniel Green's channel with Evan Winter and it was utterly fascinating, Highly recommend.
this exactly! I loved parts of Babel and thought the premise was so interesting, but the characters felt less like fleshed out people and more just vessels for R.F Kuang’s message. I haven’t read yellowface yet but I just don’t think her writing is for me from the reviews i’ve seen
Agreed, that’s exactly how I felt about Babel. Brilliant premise, so much potential, overly heavy-handed in its execution.
I agree 100%
I've never read RF Kuang before but I've seen a couple of people say that they think she should be writing non fiction instead of fiction and your comment reminded me of that. It sounds like she has great potential and just needs to hone her craft more or else give nonfiction a go instead
This. I decided against Yellowface after reading The Poppy War and Babel because I need good characters to enjoy a story and I just don't think she's a good character writer (yet).
"all that work and where did it get me?" 😭😭 the reference
why did I do it?
When Jack is your comfort human >>>>
I felt this on a mitochondrial levl
Yes!❤
He is ❤
Litchrally.
His voice and articulation is so soothing to me. We have very different tastes in books but I don’t ever miss a video because this whole channel is like a warm hug.
I'm so sorry you got death threats from fellow readers 😢 a lot of book reviewers I watch often have different opinions on books I enjoyed but I still enjoy hearing them talk about it!
For real. I love that he is being honest and gives valuable criticism!
I do share a pretty similar book taste with Jack and I know that if he likes a book I'll probably like it as well.
@@yousername16right? like if jack gives a book 5 stars, i’ll KNOW it’s good and add it to my tbr right away 🤣 i always agree with him somehow!
@@hannahrepollosame 😭
Exactly, we all have different book tastes.
Critique is IMPORTANT and VALUABLE! Especially educated and constructive critique. If art only ever receives praise, then authors and the industry will never improve! Besides, people are allowed to have different opinions and preferences. I don't understand why some people don't get this. 😬
"All the subtlety of a reversing dump-truck."
Jack Edwards with the one-liners, everybody.
He took this quote from a fantastically British scene from come dine with me…look up come dine with me you won Jane for the whole fantastic monologue
A reference only British people understand
I'm so relieved you loved Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. Every time I hear someone talk about it, I get nervous because it feels so precious to me! I just want everyone to have an equally precious experience with it
Sameeeeee, I loved it so much I couldn't even think about the title of the book for days without feeling like crying. It is by far my favourite read of the year
Same! Got gifted this book and gosh im still reeling over how beautiful this story is!
Please don’t read my comments on this book… I would feel bad 😢
i feel just the same way, i just finished it and cant stop thinking about it
I just finished it, and i feel the first half was perfect. And the second half was lost on me. Overall it was okay
1:56 Love how the book is looking at Jack while he is talking about it 😄
This is the cutest observation 😭
Lol nice
truly one of my BIGGEST gripe with reading the fourth wing was the way the students were allowed to die even when it was stressed in the first few chapters that there was a shortage of fighters 😭 all sense just completely out the window my god. the only redeeming quality of the book was the relationship of the riders with their dragons. tairn singlehandedly got me through that novel
If you don't take it too seriously it's a really fun read though 🤷♀️
Tairn and Andarna were hands down the only interesting characters in that book!!!
1:19 Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
7:09 Happy Place by Emily Henry
10:54 Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
14:47 Fourth Wing/Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros
you're a savior!
The way that I KNEW you wouldn’t let me down with your opinion on Fourth Wing. If nobody else, Jack Edwards Will Not let me down. The ENTIRE time I was thinking “why is this book’s pacing so odd? Why is every moment treated like a climax?” It was like that Incredibles quote: if every moment is a climax, then no moment is
okay I'm an Emily Henry girlie and I loved Book Lovers but never ever would I think it's okay to send someone death threats over not liking a book I liked?! These people are actually insane and don't deserve to call themselves real fans 🙄
booktok recommendation survivor
“i actually wouldn’t mind if she fell off that dragon” *chuckles*
I LOVE YOU HAHAHAHAHAHAH
god must protect our strongest soldier
Having read Babel... yeah, Rebecca Kuang has a real problem with subtlety and trusting her readers. Her prose is so didactic it comes off preachy even when you agree with the points.
I like the fact you always try different genres and don’t judge them. You see the skill of writing no matter the genre! Plus I like when you don’t like a book you don’t make people who do like it feel stupid for liking it ❤️
Girl Dinner 👐🏻📚
THAT PART in T & T & T was truly devastating, but it was so so beautiful. i was so heartbroken but there was an odd comfort there as well. even in the face of the worst possible things, we move forward. it feels impossible, but man, somehow we continue 🩵
RIP TOH
So true 🐦🍓🌞
I feel like emily henry is so skilled at writing different personalities and story arcs that relate to people - but specific people. I loved book lovers because i understood the MC, where i didnt feel connected to happy place because i didnt fully understand Harriet. Idk ill be interested to see what she does with funny story, because i cant help but notice a trend in her books where most people either die for it or feel mediocre about it
I agree, I loved Book Lovers and found Happy Place’s MC was not my cup of tea.
Agree!!! I lovee lovee Book Lovers so much but I feel pretty mediocre about Happy Place
omg i felt the opposite, i think i liked the chemistry and dynamic between the main characters in Happy Place a lot more than in Book Lovers
Interesting take, I really connected to Beach Read characters but not Book Lovers (only two I've read so far...)
Agreed !
comparing RF Kuang to Beyonce is EXACTLY why im subscribed to you. 🤝 you get us gals.
I agree! Iron Flame felt so so rushed. I did ADORE Tomorrow x3 and Happy Place
I like how the first two books rhyme
Took the words out of my mouth!😅
watching jack talk about reading while reading and watching a show is superior
I’m so glad that you loved tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, it was the book that got me out of of a reading reading slump at the start of the year because for the first time in a while i felt like i was hooked from the first pages, it’s just so well written.
me too!! i just finished reading it and before that, hadn't read books all that much but reading Tx3 made me feel all sorts of emotions (everything from passion to devastation, iykyk) but somehow felt therapeutic at the end of it all. if the worlds and characters in books are this real, raw, and riveting then off to book worlds it is to meet a myriad of characters where even the most mundane of moments feel like soul-catching adventures.
@@rburns1182 Incredibly well said, this book is just amazing!
finally, someone who didn't vibe with BookLovers and loved Happy Place! i was starting to feel that i was alone on
that one.
I dnf'd book lovers as my first Emily Henry and I'm scared to try others 😂
me too!!!
Yes! @sacid1 Me too! I thought I was alone on that!!
I might have to finally read Happy Place after being on a bit of an Emily Henry hiatus.
I absolutely LOVED Beach Read, then enjoyed Vacation, then wasn't impressed by Book Lovers (for some reason I just didn't care about the characters or the plot and it didn't stick with me at all).
But maybe Happy Place will hit the spot again.
@@charlottesreadingwebI recommend Beach Read. It was my first Emily Henry book and became one of my all time faves.
I didn't like Book Lovers either.
Jack Edwards is probably the only Booktuber whose recommendations I take seriously. That said, we're all different, and I DNF'd Happy Place while loving Beach Reads. Looking forward to trying out the #1 from this vid, Tomorrow and Tomorrow etc. Jack, how about a Matt Haig review? You could do a time travel video. There are several upmarket ones around now.
Thank you Jack. I was eyeing up Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow… the synopsis didn’t convince me but you review has. I’ll be starting it today ❤
The NPC Chapter in t&t&t literally had me sobbing😯
Its been a year since I’ve read it and I still tear up if I think about it
I love your video’s because i discover so many new books i’ve never heard about. But your commentary on hyped books is also so funny 🥰
i am soooooooo happy you liked Happy Place cause it was my most favourite book of last year, and it just makes me sooo happyy that other people see how special the book is bsjsjsjs
i wholeheartedly agree with your analysis of fourth wing and iron flame. i felt like iron flame was an even more dramatic example of an extremely high paced story line with no lulls which basically diminished the impact of every high stakes scene! the writing is so sloppy and i was hopeful that it would improve from book one to book two but apparently not. i still enjoyed the overall reading experience because the plot is interesting to me but it could have been executed much more skillfully. i want to keep reading the series purely to see where the story goes lol it’s the fomo for me
jack posts. i happy ☺️
Jack was absolutely not held on gun pint to say he liked the Happy place.
Really happy that he could get over the bump in their relationship. But I gotta say I was struggling with eating disorders but along with my family and therapist books have been my desired distraction .You have played a great role in this journey with me jack. Thanks for helping!
I really wanted to love Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow but I just felt like I was missing something. The main characters were horrible to each other. I understand it is supposed to be depicting friendship in a more “real” way, and not all light and fluffy. But if I had someone in my life that acted the way Sam and Sadie acted toward each other, I most certainly wouldn’t consider them a friend.
Totally agree. And somehow despite all the intricacies of their relationships, the characters feel so static, they barely grow in the 15 years we spend with them. I liked how messy and flawed they were because it gave them the potential to feel *real* but then somehow they were never fleshed out enough for that to happen.
Totally agree and don’t get me started on all the stereotypes written into Sadie’s character.
love tomorrow(x3) to death. read it twice already. this book is my roman empire. i love how jack ACCURATELY described why this book appeals to everyone. it’s such a beautifully crafted piece of literature yet it does cater to our deranged dopamine-addicted escapist reading trend.
it’s a classic.
It's far from a classic. I thought it was pretty awful.
I mean, I'd say people in the 15th century were also obsessed with dopamine and pretty stoked with the invention of print books so they too could escape the plague ;)
I hate that books so boring
I hated the characters and don't get me started on her misuse of German. It's so bad and so totally unnecessary because these words don't need to be in the story and one look in the dictionary would have told her the meaning of words like "Ersatz" or the use of gendered pronouns ... and apparently, there are mistakes in her use of Korean and Japanese too. I really don't understand how this book got published by a major publisher, are editors not a thing anymore?
@@madzmado Agreed. I thought I was the only one who struggled through this book. I did NOT love it.
Fourth wing was so fast paced for me and hence has my heart
Every video on Jack's channel hold me LITERALLY spellbound.
I mean, I absolutely enjoy every single moment of them as they are both beneficial and entertaining.
I just love them!
My favourite creator on You tube is A Clockwork reader. I love that channel because she (the creator) has an impeccable taste and also, my favourite books has come from her recommendations.
You're so brave for your review on Fourth Wing (i completely agree with you)
“I actually wouldn’t mind if you fell off that dragon.” SPILLING FACTS 👏
I’m glad I’m not the only one! My friend also read the book and didn’t like it and my favorite part was just ranting about everything that didn’t make sense 💀
Fourth wing is one of my favorite books of all time 😅 read it if you’re curious ! I absolutely LOVED it
YESS THIS TYPE OF VIDEO IS BACK
I study English literature at uni and I loooved Fourth Wing and Iron Flame. It just felt like a nice summer vacation in comparison to all the super serious classics and got me into reading "fun" books again. I get what you're saying but I skillfully ignored all of the plotholes and just focused on having fun while reading.
Reading such a fast paced and exciting book was such a gamechanger for me, I fell in love with reading all over again 🥰
Another lit student here! And damn I really agree. I think i just needed the fun as well so therefore didnt feel too mad at the plotholes and at times cringey scenes. The fast pace and high stakes made it like a movie more than a book lol. It made me both laugh and cry and i needed a simple fix like that!
@@emmapanvil i love how you put it, it was just like a movie! Couldn't agree more
When you're studying literature everything is fair game. I solely reread (okay slight exaggeration) the same two book series while studying English Lit, I did not have the energy to read new stuff, and certainly not very literary stuff.
Hahaha same and I was a lit major. It's also nice to just read something for fun and not think about it for once. I spend all day at work thinking and strategizing I don't need my books to be complicated and a lot of the most popular books are just uncomplicated and easy to follow.
@@emmapanvil Also i generally think it'll make a good tv show lol
I love the Bookleo and her second channel ❤
Also i am glad that i am not the only one having trouble with the fourth wing saga
I 100% agree on Fourth Wing. And with all the other reads :) for me it is Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, Yellowface, Happy place. Loved all three.
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow made me feel all possible feelings following the main characters.
I love your sincere opinions about those books. Sometimes it seems like you have to like what everybody is reading but in truth, the most important is enjoying what you read. I'll get these recommendations, thanks!
tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow literally changed my life and i must have lost half my body weight in tears over "that scene", one of my favourite books of all time
“That scene“ put me in shock for several days, I couldn’t believe it was happening
It literally changed mine, too (helped me get done with a 'toxic' situationship)
Oh and that scene broke my little heart to pieces
i literally still get triggered just thinking of it even though i read it long ago
I’m so sorry you got death threats. For a community that can be so wonderful, that is truly appalling. How ridiculously insecure in your opinion do you need to be that you attack someone for having a different opinion in such a horrible way? Disgusting. But I’m so sorry Jack! And we still absolutely love your content x
Sorry to hear that people send you death threats it's horrible that you can't have your own opinion without being hated on or recieving threats
Yellowface 1:20
Happy place 7:09
Tomorrow and Tom. 10:56
Fourth wing 14:48
Ranking 19:00
Enjoy!
tomorrow, tomorrow and tomorrow was easily one of the best books i read last year. one of the only books that really hit that were booktok recommended
8:41 I love introducing people to to the Emily Henry universe and seeing which is their fave because it’s different for everyone! Happy Place was my least favourite and I ADORED Book Lovers 😂 one of the joys of reading ❤
Ideas for next videos:
-Zendaya Book recs
-Books that made me have faith that my literature degree was worth it
-Visiting locations of favourite books that take place in Manhattan Vlog
The heavy-handedness and lack of subtlety was what I really disliked about Babel, and the reason I didn't pick up Yellowface
I completely agree. I couldn't stand Fourth Wing so I won't be trying Iron Flame
I loved Happy Place! I know it's pretty divisive but it's definitely one of my all time faves!
god i miss this forma of this book so much . jack is really back .
You’re point on a book needing peaks and troughs was so perfect, I felt that so much with a lot of authors but def IF but also the atlas 6 like after a while I get bored and I don’t care about the drama anymore
Thank you for all the empirical research you do!
i'm SO HAPPY you enjoyed tomorrow tomorrow and tomorrow. this was my last read of 2023 and i was desperate to end it just so i could say it was the last one lol, i ended up rushing through it, giving it 3.5 stars and then becoming obsessed with it only months later, when i realized the themes or specific moments just wouldn't come off my mind. i too have a deep connection with ms. pacman now...
yayyy i’ve been waiting for this video 🤭did not disappoint 👏🏾
i loved tomorrow (3x) and i remember not being able to stop thinking about it. the characters and these relationships are insanely entertaining and so real. the plot is not led by love nor the friendship or games, it's a beautiful combination of how to love tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow and the urge to view "love" as a verbe and TO love rather than a lone word. honestly considering it's big popularity, sooooo worth it!
bro's sense of humour istg
is brilliant (if you didn't get it)
@@pastacoffeeandbooksbruh🥲😂😂
Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow is such a good book!! I'm at the middle and I love it ❤
I totally agree with Fourth Wing. Im in the middle of it now-the audible version. Its so intense and the narrator is overly dramatic so i just feel exhausted after a short session of listening. Like how many times can the main character almost d1e?
I'm SO happy that you liked Happy Place 😭
I was so curious to read about your thought on the Fourth wing, and I am so happy about everything you said that I felt so much!!!! Could be amazing, Fourth wing is good but Iron flame was major crash, felt that it was rushed, I have even read that they used IA to be faster to publish the book. There are so many things they could have done, to make it great. This were you realise that world building is major!!! Really sad though, because this is a book series that I wish I would follow and love.
It's like a very cheap version of an SJM sagas.
I actually prefer yarros over sjm, idk why I just haven't been able to get into sjm books. Although I do agree with your statement on iron flame. It just felt so rushed and the writing quality was worse than fourth wing unfortunately :/
You can really see the extra effort that went into editing this video! Amazing
This and the last video are examples of why I love your content. You go into every book with good faith, even those that are controversial and get a lot of hate, like Fourth Wing. I personally didn’t mind FW, although I can see the criticisms. And it’s not shocking to me that Iron Flame has been a miss even for others who liked FW. But I’m glad you had a few wins…I knew you’d like Yellowface, and I’m surprised to hear that Happy Place worked so well, given that one was quite polarizing with others I follow.
for fourth wing the reason they are allowed to die is because they arent meant to be just "canon fodder" if they cant keep up. They are meant to have control of really powerful abilities and you wouldnt want someone not built for that to have that power. She mentions there is another branch of the military thats for people who didn't exceed at the testing and they are thrown in the front lines. they make the bulk of the military.
On RUclips i really love The Hexed Library, shes constantly giving me new spooky / witchy books to check out XD 🎃
I think the most compelling thing about Forth Wing is the intentional erasure of history, how “big government” in their world controls the narrative of the history of their rise to power. If she continues exploring that in some capacity I think the third book could be okay. I also think her dragon lore is quite good, as well as the inclusion of Violet’s health issues in relation to the world she’s living in. But you are so correct about Iron Flame 🙃 and TTT in an INCREDIBLE book, so happy that was included.
Yellowface was just mid. Kinda boring. Utterly annoying. I’m not a fan of unlikeable characters because I get annoyed for the whole time and that’s not what I want from an entire book
Tuttle!! For that stack alone I love your bookshelf
(Also, my favourite job I've ever had was working at a used bookstore and my FAVOURITE thing was when the alphabet aligned for me to shelve a bunch of Oxford and Penguin spines together. Aesthetic dream!)
1:26 R.F. Kuang will forever be associated with Beyoncé in my mind now lol 🤣😂
I'm guessing you haven't tried Emily Henry's Beach Read? That's the first one I read and I really enjoyed it. On the surface, it's about two authors who end up in summer lake homes next door to each other - one a woman who writes romance and the other a man who writes "serious" fiction. The thing is ... they have history and ultimately decide to creatively trade places. However, it's about so much more, especially in regard to the woman writer, January. She's mourning a parent who was hiding secrets.
I've also read her People We Meet On Vacation and that's the one I didn't care as much for. I have Book Lovers and Happy Place and hope to read them soon.
I didn’t enjoy reading TTT but I do think it would be great as a movie!!
I agree! The main characters are very unlikeable but also fascinating. It’s very dark and theatrical.
i was mostly a romance reader since highschool and get recommendations from creators like Haley, Steph Bohrer, Larry, Sunny Kim, Sara Carolli. now im sort of exploring other genres and tbh just get inspired by your recs.
I do love fourth wing and iron flame though, at first I thought that maybe I was influenced by the hype or that I was just in the right mood when I first read it but after rereading fourth wing, it was just as good, if not better than the first time reading it
I agree, whether I was in the right mood, I just get lost in these stories which is all that matters to the people that love these books. Whether I look past the plot holes and how well it's written or not, we're allowed to imagine this fucked up world whether it makes sense or not. Even if killing off the weak wouldn't be a good battle strategy in real life, it is explained in Fourth Wing that allowing weaker riders to be saved and continue into battle means they'll be jeopardizing the stronger riders as they'll be having to look out for them if they get into trouble which is always dangerous. That's just my view anyway.
Your literary analysis of Iron flame is so spot on for me. Especially since I am halfway through it. I have wanted to DNF since the moment I started reading, but you become so vested in the characters from fourth wing, you just have to finish. I won’t be reading a 3rd.
i tried to read tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow but the sheer amount of isr*eli sympathising physically forced me to stop reading. i later found out that the author's a z*onist so😬 honestly no regrets. i usually can separate the art from the artist, but such a terrible ideology in this case was so deeply rooted in the "art" by so many references to z*onism that it simply wasn't possible for me to carry on. loved the video tho as always!
this comments makes you understand how the germans did it
the dehumanization you need to inhale for a group of people you do not even know nor did you care about until yesterday
@@hurremhightower the dehumanisation of who, exactly?
yellow face is suuuuuuch a good discussion book. agree with your thoughts on it !
I loved fourth wing! But I agree with you thoughts on Iron Flame. I felt like Iron Flame should have been two books with more detail. Part one and two should have been two different books. I felt it was sloppy and rushed as well and thrown together.
thank you for making this video, it really helped me decide which books are worth it :)
I’d never heard that about Jane Austen, but that makes so much sense, I freaking hated Emma with a passion that I have not felt since 😂 There wasn’t a single character I liked or cared to find out what happened with. I had to read it for a college class, I read until I could answer all our online discussion questions and DNF’ed it, literally the only time I’ve read 75-80% of a book and had no desire to find out how it ended. So she definitely succeeded I’d she wanted her to be unlikable 😂
As for the actual point of the video, it’s wild how people act just because someone shared an option. I personally loved Book Lovers, but to each their own and I’m glad you gave her another go and enjoyed Happy Place (I haven’t gotten around to it yet, but it’s on the list.)
Soooo happy to hear you liked Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, that’s one of my favorites I’ve read recently. And agree, I’m a huge gamer, so I loved all the game related things and references, but I’ve had several friends who couldn’t care less about video games and still loved it.
I loved Fourth Wing and Iron Flame (although definitely enjoyed Fourth Wing more, but some of that could be because I listened to the audiobook of Iron Flame and I usually find those harder to get into, may have felt differently if I’d read it as well), but again, to each their own.
the madame webb reference got me so baddd lmaoooo😂😭😭
Watching Jack Edwards' review's is therapy
tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow is incredible love it so much
Very good points. I enjoy these reviews :)
hearing your thoughts on Yellowface I think it all just comes down to Rebecca's writing because I had the same thoughts with Babel? I loved Babel so much but I think the book could've been 200 pages shorter if she had just trusted her readers rather than drill her message and repeat it over and over. I still want to read Yellowface but I think at this point we just have to accept that she's going to write this way and have to mentally prepare ourselves for possible redundancy esp if that's not your cup of tea
reallll babel was way too long
Agreed. I loved Babel but the last 100 pages were unnecessary and made me fall out of love with the characters and the plot. I don’t even remember how it ended, which is sad.
@@siiss3688 it was the 200 pages before they went to China that I personally struggled with hahahahahaha
@@p.quezon haha love that.
Totally agree with your points on Yellowface. I felt the same about Babel by the same author - the ideas RF Kuang wanted to portray were obvious through the plot, but she spoonfed the reader and hammered home the point so much, as though we wouldn't understand. A shame because the premises are always so good!
Loved yellowface so much! 🫶🏻💛🫶🏻
I've really enjoyed hearing other peoples thoughts on Fourth Wing and Iron Flame. My own thoughts were that it had a sense of high paced action, multiple plot twists, dragons, and a really cool story line. I didn't need all of the romance between Violet and Xaden but I appreciated the "enemy's to lovers" trope. I've found that hearing other peoples perspective on the story to be quite interesting, finding things that they didn't like that I've found I didn't enjoy but didn't know how to phrase it. I honestly think that we need more action/fantasy books without the lovey dovey stuff
Unrelated but for a week I've been reading some parts of the books from 'The song of ice and fire' and started reading 'Fire and blood' today and I was just thinking what will be his take on these books.
Hope he reviews it in the future!
And as always great content!!! (He's literally now my unpaid therapist)
Unfortunately Jack’s not much of a fantasy reader so I don’t think he would ever take on something like ASOIAF
I'm happy you five your honest opinion. Many are afraid to do so to not loose audience or be judged. More power to you !
Beach Read is my favourite Emily Henry 🤷🏻♀️ ❤
And the adaptation is gonna have Ayo Edebiri and Paul Mescal.