“It’s written like a ya novel but then there will be random smutty moment” Yes 👏👏👏 you understand it. Also you’re so much stronger than me cause I could not even finish this book.
exactly my thoughts!! although at first i was okay with the romance and honestly giggled and kicked my feet in the air when it was little interactions between them (like all those eye contact and cheesy comments), when i reached the actual sex scenes i was like “okay whatever skipping the next ten pages” because it was so out of place and it pissed me off that the focus was completely shifted from all the adventures to pointless out-of-nowhere sheer romantic obsession
I felt the same way. I expected more dragons and powers and world building, but their relationship kind of took center stage while the dragons took the backseat during the later parts of the book. It wasn't necessarily a bad read, overall, but it just wasn't what I was expecting. Thank you for this refresher, btw. I feel like I can read the second book now 😂
i so agree!! the turn from fantasy/dragon to smut was kind of really frustrating to read like there can be a more even split between the two it doesn't have to be just smut or just dragons :(
Not sure if you’ve read Six of Crows yet but if not, I highly recommend! If you like fantasy novels and these kinds of world building without the cringe🙂↕️
26:18, I was the same way Chris! There's so many books that I think that could be good but with fourth wing it was just off for me, although I'm sure a lot of people do like it, it reminded me a lot of what I would read on wattpad back in the day (I'm sure there's a better way to explain it lol), but it just had that kind of vibe. I would love to dig more into the powers and a story line that involved that, into the magic itself would have been so cool.
I’m not young in anyway but I have a problem with authors putting too much explicit sex in books for young readers. I’ve talked to book store owners who don’t know how to shelve these books either. She moved The Fourth Wing to the adult books.
YES!!! My husband and I read Fourth Wing together, and my opinion is very similar to yours while he enjoyed it all very much. I don't typically read series' back to back, I break it up with other books - but my husband has started and finished Iron Flame and enjoyed it too. I'm hoping the second book will redeem it for me somehow.
Thank you so much for your service - I went back and forth for a long time and decided not to read it, thinking I wouldn't like that YA/smutty combination. That, and that it's not queer lol. I've been on a queer book binge and feel like I can't go back to reading straight literature anymore (at least for now). My first question whenever anyone recommends a book to me is "How gay is it?" LOL I've started reading To Catch a Firefly by Emmy Sanders - you might like it? It's a coming of age friends-to-lovers romance, and low-to-no spice to my knowledge. It's cute, along the lines of Heartstopper.
There are queer elements to it, and from what I understand following an interview with the author I saw the brother had/will have a gay romance story. I also very much enjoyed "All That's Left in the World" by Erik J. Brown if you haven't read it before.
I liked the book and I think you should read the second one, Iron Flame 🔥 More of the story is explained and the characters mature. Of course, there is a bit more smut, but there’s more action and best of all, more dragons! In my opinion, the love scenes in this series are pretty mild compared to other fantasy books. I like Violet’s tenacity and her thoughts to herself. I really like her posse and how they all grow up together. Can you even imagine facing the challenges like they do? Good thing there are healers!
I’m currently reading this book. I only looked at the rating and bought it so I didn’t know it was high romance which I don’t care for. And it does read like YA but it’s actually in the new category NA. New Adult. So older teens? Idk. My daughter looked all this up for me cuz I too was very confused by the sexiness
I really like listening to you. The major difference is that your kind of reading is not in my category at all. I’m 88, and pretty standard in my literary tastes.
My dad got me this book for the holidays last year not realizing there was explicit content in it. I was grateful for the thought put in because of the fantasy elements, but it was an awkward conversation to have when explaining why I wouldn’t read it 😭
I get the disappointment you felt. Story started like a dragon battle. But the writer seemingly got lost writing porn scenes. And worse, ended with that. I don’t think I would be reading the second book. I don’t mind the smut, but too much is just that, too much. There doesn’t seem to be anything slightly transformative to make me feel like a continuation of the story is worth it. And if there is something to continue, it seemingly should have been added in the first book. There’s just too much time wasted when I could be reading something a lot more interesting and not hoping that would get good enough going forward. At least, this is what I got from you describing the story.
Also - if you haven't yet, as an fantasy obsessed ecologist myself, I am near the end of the series "Memoirs of Lady Trent" by Marie Brennan, and I cannot recommend this series enough! The story follows the life of Isabella, a dragon natutalist set in an alternate Victorian-era world. If you've read it, I'd love to hear your opinions on it! Maybe a review of dragon-centered books?
I followed your exact journey, I loved the first half and couldn't wait to pick it back up, then slowly liked Violet less and less especially her pouty childish lack of understanding of why he couldn't tell her the full truth. It was just pages and pages of the same old dialogue and I ended up fast forwarding to the end and after reading the plot of the next one - am not going to bother!
I’ve just started temeraire by Naomi novik, a world of talking dragons set during the napoleonic war. And I’ve heard that Lois McMaster Bujold and her dragon riders of pern books are great. So, lots of options for dragon human friendship and political intrigue
i've been waiting for a reading vlog omg! for the book, i really enjoyed it, but some smut scenes are unnecessary and cringe lol it made me stop and not continue with the sequel :(
I've been reading some of the reviews of this book on Goodreads, and a major complaint seems to be how unoriginal it is. It seems most every character and plot element has been lifted from another book, sometimes almost verbatim. One reviewer went so far as to suggest it was written by an AI (albeit without citations) and that Violet basically sounded like a 14 year old valley girl through the entire book. I'm beginning to feel a little wary of BookTok recommendations and think I'll give it a pass. Thanks, though, for the review, Chris. I like everything you do.
My main complaint was that the characters aren't well developed, and the world-building is done in very uninteresting ways. I don't think the book is the most original, but tropes exist and at some point it's about how you combine these familiar elements vs coming up with something wholly new. I don't think it's an egregious rip-off. But that's just my opinion after reading it almost a year ago.
I had the "audiobook ick" with ACOTAR, I couldn't get through it. Now I'm halfway through the physical book and it's really not as bad as I was thinking! It's interesting how the different mediums can affect your experience of a story.
Oh, this sounds like a different version of The Priory of the Orange Tree (2019) by Samantha Shannon Is this possible ? The book you are reviewing sounds more like a romantic saga though ... Rather liked the "The Priory .." , due to all the references to japanese mythology (and the fact that its very adventure - based)
Bonjour Chris, j'espère que tu vas bien. Je suis intrigué par le fait que tu as écrit la présentation du clip en français. Tu parles cette langue? Merci pour le compte-rendu du livre.
I usually don't mind the smut but the interactions really border on that Alpha/Omega fetish. Which often ends up being too cringe for me. Plus pretty done with the bad boy type that usually doesn't come with any redeeming quality beyond being strong and hot. Especially he is selectively nice and considerate when he's trying to get it on
Glasses, e-reader, cats, vibez. Periodt!
“It’s written like a ya novel but then there will be random smutty moment”
Yes 👏👏👏 you understand it. Also you’re so much stronger than me cause I could not even finish this book.
“I’m just mourning what I thought this book would be” -> my exact thoughts. Loved the first half. Can we get a dragon spin off, please??
exactly my thoughts!! although at first i was okay with the romance and honestly giggled and kicked my feet in the air when it was little interactions between them (like all those eye contact and cheesy comments), when i reached the actual sex scenes i was like “okay whatever skipping the next ten pages” because it was so out of place and it pissed me off that the focus was completely shifted from all the adventures to pointless out-of-nowhere sheer romantic obsession
I felt the same way. I expected more dragons and powers and world building, but their relationship kind of took center stage while the dragons took the backseat during the later parts of the book. It wasn't necessarily a bad read, overall, but it just wasn't what I was expecting. Thank you for this refresher, btw. I feel like I can read the second book now 😂
i so agree!! the turn from fantasy/dragon to smut was kind of really frustrating to read like there can be a more even split between the two it doesn't have to be just smut or just dragons :(
Bless this video for being 28 minutes long omg 💖💖
I loved this video format!
thank you!!! i tried something new🥹
I really loved the longer video and also love the theater kid acting of Violet at the end. Happy Holidays!!!🎄⭐☃
Not sure if you’ve read Six of Crows yet but if not, I highly recommend! If you like fantasy novels and these kinds of world building without the cringe🙂↕️
i have! i enjoyed it 🐦⬛
Omo my fav fantasy 📕 read the second part too🤩 can’t wait for next part “ onyx storm”
Chris will forever be my favorite youtuber
This was a lot of fun to watch.
the same thing happened to me when I switched from the physical to the audio. I started to get the ick almost immediately 🤣
dat ending was a mood for real XD
26:18, I was the same way Chris! There's so many books that I think that could be good but with fourth wing it was just off for me, although I'm sure a lot of people do like it, it reminded me a lot of what I would read on wattpad back in the day (I'm sure there's a better way to explain it lol), but it just had that kind of vibe. I would love to dig more into the powers and a story line that involved that, into the magic itself would have been so cool.
I’m not young in anyway but I have a problem with authors putting too much explicit sex in books for young readers. I’ve talked to book store owners who don’t know how to shelve these books either. She moved The Fourth Wing to the adult books.
Ahhh I really loved this book but can understand why you didn’t!! Thanks for the video - I always look forward to watching them 😊
He looks handsome in every angle 😭
I opened my RUclips and saw you uploaded a reading vlog!!!watched it immediately and loved it❤ so many good vibes and such a cool book
it sounds like 2014 crawling back to our time
YES!!! My husband and I read Fourth Wing together, and my opinion is very similar to yours while he enjoyed it all very much. I don't typically read series' back to back, I break it up with other books - but my husband has started and finished Iron Flame and enjoyed it too. I'm hoping the second book will redeem it for me somehow.
Thank you so much for your service - I went back and forth for a long time and decided not to read it, thinking I wouldn't like that YA/smutty combination. That, and that it's not queer lol. I've been on a queer book binge and feel like I can't go back to reading straight literature anymore (at least for now). My first question whenever anyone recommends a book to me is "How gay is it?" LOL
I've started reading To Catch a Firefly by Emmy Sanders - you might like it? It's a coming of age friends-to-lovers romance, and low-to-no spice to my knowledge. It's cute, along the lines of Heartstopper.
There are queer elements to it, and from what I understand following an interview with the author I saw the brother had/will have a gay romance story. I also very much enjoyed "All That's Left in the World" by Erik J. Brown if you haven't read it before.
I can finally eat !!!!
I liked the book and I think you should read the second one, Iron Flame 🔥 More of the story is explained and the characters mature. Of course, there is a bit more smut, but there’s more action and best of all, more dragons! In my opinion, the love scenes in this series are pretty mild compared to other fantasy books. I like Violet’s tenacity and her thoughts to herself. I really like her posse and how they all grow up together. Can you even imagine facing the challenges like they do? Good thing there are healers!
Love your videos…….thank you ❤
So glad you read this book… so I don’t have to. 🙃 Love the longer form of this video. Benji’s candid shots of you reading are so cute. 🥰
I’m currently reading this book. I only looked at the rating and bought it so I didn’t know it was high romance which I don’t care for. And it does read like YA but it’s actually in the new category NA. New Adult. So older teens? Idk. My daughter looked all this up for me cuz I too was very confused by the sexiness
this categorization makes so much more sense!!
New Adult is around college age
We had very similar thoughts! I enjoy spoiler videos as much as non-spoilers :)
The third book in the series, "Onyx Storm" by Rebecca Yarros is coming out on 21 Jan 2025
I really like listening to you. The major difference is that your kind of reading is not in my category at all. I’m 88, and pretty standard in my literary tastes.
My dad got me this book for the holidays last year not realizing there was explicit content in it. I was grateful for the thought put in because of the fantasy elements, but it was an awkward conversation to have when explaining why I wouldn’t read it 😭
I get the disappointment you felt. Story started like a dragon battle. But the writer seemingly got lost writing porn scenes. And worse, ended with that.
I don’t think I would be reading the second book. I don’t mind the smut, but too much is just that, too much. There doesn’t seem to be anything slightly transformative to make me feel like a continuation of the story is worth it.
And if there is something to continue, it seemingly should have been added in the first book. There’s just too much time wasted when I could be reading something a lot more interesting and not hoping that would get good enough going forward. At least, this is what I got from you describing the story.
Also - if you haven't yet, as an fantasy obsessed ecologist myself, I am near the end of the series "Memoirs of Lady Trent" by Marie Brennan, and I cannot recommend this series enough! The story follows the life of Isabella, a dragon natutalist set in an alternate Victorian-era world. If you've read it, I'd love to hear your opinions on it! Maybe a review of dragon-centered books?
I followed your exact journey, I loved the first half and couldn't wait to pick it back up, then slowly liked Violet less and less especially her pouty childish lack of understanding of why he couldn't tell her the full truth. It was just pages and pages of the same old dialogue and I ended up fast forwarding to the end and after reading the plot of the next one - am not going to bother!
I’ve just started temeraire by Naomi novik, a world of talking dragons set during the napoleonic war. And I’ve heard that Lois McMaster Bujold and her dragon riders of pern books are great.
So, lots of options for dragon human friendship and political intrigue
i've been waiting for a reading vlog omg! for the book, i really enjoyed it, but some smut scenes are unnecessary and cringe lol it made me stop and not continue with the sequel :(
I've been reading some of the reviews of this book on Goodreads, and a major complaint seems to be how unoriginal it is. It seems most every character and plot element has been lifted from another book, sometimes almost verbatim. One reviewer went so far as to suggest it was written by an AI (albeit without citations) and that Violet basically sounded like a 14 year old valley girl through the entire book. I'm beginning to feel a little wary of BookTok recommendations and think I'll give it a pass. Thanks, though, for the review, Chris. I like everything you do.
My main complaint was that the characters aren't well developed, and the world-building is done in very uninteresting ways. I don't think the book is the most original, but tropes exist and at some point it's about how you combine these familiar elements vs coming up with something wholly new. I don't think it's an egregious rip-off. But that's just my opinion after reading it almost a year ago.
I had the "audiobook ick" with ACOTAR, I couldn't get through it. Now I'm halfway through the physical book and it's really not as bad as I was thinking! It's interesting how the different mediums can affect your experience of a story.
my thoughts exactly, sometimes hearing it out loud is… a very different experience😭
felt the same way and also decided on reading the second book!! i don’t regret it but i can’t get myself to finish book 2 and it’s been months…
The ending hahahaha
Oh, this sounds like a different version of The Priory of the Orange Tree (2019) by Samantha Shannon
Is this possible ? The book you are reviewing sounds more like a romantic saga though ...
Rather liked the "The Priory .." , due to all the references to japanese mythology (and the fact that its very adventure - based)
I love that you don’t like sex.
It was sooo good until you get to the unnecessary smutt phase and it gets really old :(
Nooo 😭😭I just started reading it 🥲
❤❤❤❤❤
I can't read books where I don't like the characters and this book didn't have a single person i liked.
💙💙💙
Very nice video! Which camera/microphone you're using?
thank you :’) this one was all iphone! the mic was a DJI mic 2
Love it lol
Bonjour Chris, j'espère que tu vas bien. Je suis intrigué par le fait que tu as écrit la présentation du clip en français. Tu parles cette langue? Merci pour le compte-rendu du livre.
Your marina tweet sweatshirt
Yeah... this book is a def no for me... this video confirmed it
So much of Romantacy content seem to boil down to "This life or death situation sure is making me h%rny"
Are you listening to Takashi Kokubo? I love his music, put it on every time I read or can’t sleep.
call me prude idc but putting smut in YA books is irresponsible 😊
I usually don't mind the smut but the interactions really border on that Alpha/Omega fetish. Which often ends up being too cringe for me.
Plus pretty done with the bad boy type that usually doesn't come with any redeeming quality beyond being strong and hot. Especially he is selectively nice and considerate when he's trying to get it on
Do you ever read the classics of English literature (or American) ? Well know famous a authors dealing with real life human stories?