I worry that our love of beautiful book binding (foiling, painted edges, etc.) could become just another element of an aggressive marketing campaign.

Im so happy I found your channel. I love the way you speak and your choice in books❤

The Blighted Stars was amazing! On the third book now soo good so far!

I started watching your videos a few months and I just wanted to let you know...I LOVE YOUR VIDEOS!!😊

I’ve had a couple of favorites so far this month and they’re actually a bit of a surprise - The Dragonbone Chair and Untethered Sky. I wasn’t planning on getting invested in another long, epic fantasy series and Untethered Sky pushed Jade City way up the TBR. I really liked Fonda Lee’s writing.

You nailed my thoughts on Fourth Wing. Of course, there’s something for everyone, but cannot believe this book has the hype and rating that it has. It felt so basic to me. Not to mention the manner that the dragons “spoke.” Like there is no way ancient, all-powerful beings are using flippant telepathic sarcasm. Immediate subscribe! Your eloquence and delivery have me sold 🥰

Though I enjoyed Fourth Wing (gave it a 3.5) I completely agree with the dialogue not matching the setting. I was so shocked that they were using quills instead of pens! I was like wait …the setting is suppose to be historical 🤨🤨

you're making me add so much books to my tbr

My hot take is that New Adult Fiction is just YA with smut🙃 Thanks for the great reviews, I've picked up a few books you've mentioned and haven't been steered wrong! I recently read The Test by Sylvain Neuvel and really enjoyed it

The stars undying sounds intriguing and I've added it to my TBR. The Helm of Midnight ✅ The fourth wing I was sceptical about picking it up, now after hearing your thoughts, I will not pick it up. I’ll place my attention on the books that I know for sure I will enjoy😊 I'm having a great reading month so far 🙌

I am currently on hold for Rubicon at my library right now. So looking forward to that one! 😁

Love to see that you're enjoying your current reads 😍 Well, Fourth Wing sounds nice, but I can feel I won't enjoy it too. Such main characters annoy me too much. I've just DNFed a book, called Lovely war by Julie Berry, because it was immature and weirdly executed. Right now I'm in a slump, having too many options but just don't want what I want, because everything sounds interesting and instead I'm not reading at all... Hope to get out of it soon.

I'm so happy you're enjoying The Stars Undying. I was curious about it when it came out but then I heard no one talk about it! Loving this scifi moment you are having!

Your recommendations haven't steered me wrong yet so Ima pass on Fourth Wing for now. I just read Strange the Dreamer and just started Muse of Nightmares today. I am IN LOVE with these books. My eyeballs can't read fast enough!

I'm currently binging Megan O'Keefe's Protectorate series - just starting the third book & having so much fun with it. So I'm really excited you're liking The Blighted Stars!

I'm about 85% of the way into Fourth Wing, and I am really enjoying it, but I also totally hear you. I honestly thought all her thoughts about how into him she was was just me being like....not straight enough to understand lol! And I'm listening to it on audiobook, which is maybe making a difference in how the quality of the writing is coming across. Over explaining is a huge pet peeve of mine, but I haven't felt that way while listening. The narrator is really good though, so she might be elevating the book a bit. The dragons are by far my favorite part of this. I would take a bullet for these dragons.

I keep finding that I'm not picking up as much sci-fi as I want as well. Awesome that you've found so many good ones to read right now! I completely hear you with being frustrated when you feel like an author doesn't trust you as a reader and goes so heavy-handed on things. I like things with a little more subtlety.

As always, love watching your videos! When you brought up "The Blood Gift", I kinda geeked out because I also enjoyed "The Blood Trials" and I'm ready to see what happens next with Ikenna and her obsessive need for revenge. :) I look forward to hearing your thoughts about it after you read it.

I read Blood Trials last month and loved it. I'm so excited for the next book.

I love hearing your opinions on everything. I dont even read that much anymore, but i think i get a byproxy feeling of it by watching these reviews lol

I finally read an adult SciFi book that was good and not just meh! I'm hoping to continue that trend with your recs here. Hope the rest of your reading month is great!

I wonder if Ciarran is inspired by Ciaran Hinds who played Caesar at one time? If it is, it would be super cool!!!

You have officially sold me on Wayward Pines! I just got Fourth Wing (the book was so pretty I couldn’t pass it up) but I have started to hear people haven’t really been enjoying it despite the ratings on Goodreads, so I appreciate the honest review!! This has been bumped a little further down on my TBR.

I think I quit tiktok right before the Fourth Wing hype started so now I'm really glad I found it since it's one of my fave reads this year. Really liked your review and agree about the writing feeling immature at the most inconvenient times. Crossing my fingers it's more elevated in the 2nd book. That said, the chronic pain rep was really good and the dragons! Love their personalities. Also, Xaden Riorson's character development is one of my favorite parts. ok let me stop gushing over this book lol.

I’m so happy you’re back to reading SF! 🙌 Can’t wait to hear more of your reviews. 😎

I really want to read the Blighted Stars when it comes out next week!!

Thanks Tori, for some great recs. Any Blake Crouch month is a good month - :)

I've been reading some outside the box classics this month, Ali and Nino by Kurban Said and the haiku of Basho, but I'm also hoping to get to Upgrade by the end of the month. The Stars Undying sounds fabulous!

I'm currently listening to Fourth Wing because of all the freaking hype, but I def agree with you about the tone of the book. I find it a bit ridicilous because of the tone of the book, it feels like nothing is at stake even though it is training where the main character thinks she's about to die etc

The dragons were definitely the best part of Fourth Wing! But I completely agree with you about Violet's inner monologue. The way she narrated things is what held me back from fully connecting with her or the romance. Still a very fun, addictive read though.

I definitely want to read Fourth Wing. I’m really loving the adult fantasy genre.

I've finally read Red Sister and it's the best book of the year so far for me, so I'm happy :) Hopefully the rest of the series will be as good!

Just discovered your channel cause I was mad no other booktubers were talking about The Blighted Stars. I love it so much! Hey if you like A Memory Called Empire you 1000% need to check out The Traitor Baru Cormorant. No shade, but AMCE seems to me almost like Arkady Martine wrote a scifi fanfic of Baru's story and then filed off the serial numbers, because so many of the plot points and setup are exactly the same. Im not saying she plagiarized it or anything and I love her book too, but its just extremely similar. Baru Cormorant is just soooo good. The titles are The Traitor/Monster/Tyrant Baru Cormorant and we're waiting on the final book which I'm guessing will be called The Martyr Baru Cormorant. This is actually an anti-hero story kinda similar to something like The Fifth Season or Poppy War in terms of character arc. The series is fascinating on so many levels and I love how the author tackles the themes of politics, colonialism, empire, power, economics, racism, ideology, community, etc.

I really liked Fourth Wing! But I also knew exactly what I was getting into when I found out the author is a prolific contemporary romance writer, so that helped a lot 😊

I’m currently reading Legendborn and I’m loving the store and the main character Bree.

Oooh The Stars Undying intrigued me! I loved A Memory Called Empire. I put a hold on Libby real quick. :) Let’s see if I actually read it.

Isn't it curious how sometimes you just wanna read SF and other times you want to read pure fantasy? I'm like that too.

Fourth Wing just didn't work for me. I couldn't get through the first chapter.

Have you ever read Gormenghast?

I feel the same exact way about Fourth Wing. So much good about it but also so much that didn’t work for me.

The review star system from an indie authored perspective: 5 - fantastic with very few issues. 4. Good. 3. Mediocre but no DNF. 2. Bad and DNF. 1. Insulting to the reader. I say this because once a book drops below 4, sales drop to non existent. Now that I listened to your review of 4th wing, maybe a 2.5 was realistic. However, I see 29,000 reviews, with a 4.9 ave rating. I’ll try the sample, but I do hear your gripes, and if what you say is true, I probably won’t like it. I like to write, poetic license free, realistic plot lines that don’t insult the reader. Toss in some mystery, and some dopamine inducing scenes, and I think you have something. By the way, nice job doing the booktuber thing.

I'm tryna get more into sci-fi and my poor tbr is crying 😅😂

I think I'm even more mad at the book for being overhyped. Because I had high expectations and they were just dashed to the wind. It was definitely written more in a YA contemporary style. One of my biggest ticks is when authors don't trust their readers and over explain things multiple time. And with Fourth Wing the things that needed explaining... wasn't. They had teachers yet no one told them what to expect with the bond or instruct them on powers they might have and how not to kill yourself and everyone else. Ugh i shouldn't be angry but i am. Booktok failed me.

Tori I don't know if you follow Mike's Book Reviews but he just released an interview with Richard Swan 👀

👋🏽

Hey Tori 👋🏾👋🏾. I am currently reading Fourth Wing...chapter 13...and it is sooooo good! Liked the character diversity, physical challenge aspect, female leadership and dragons!!!!! Violet is an immature, sheltered child of privilege that lacks life experiences but is book brilliant. Give her a break 😘.

Consider Fourth SOOOOO OVERRRRR RATED.

I really didn't vibe with Fourth Wing. To sum it up it felt like kids having their first crushes and sexual experiences, because those characters read like they were 14-16 years old not in their 20's. I also think the abundance of cursing just got annoying. Did the readers really need every other sentence to be emphasized with the F bomb? There was no purpose. It made the book feel very immature, like kids trying to act grown but failing at it. I know a lot of people loved it but it was a hard no for me. You were spot on when you talked about something traumatic would happen and then two seconds later Violet would be daydreaming and lusting about Xayden. Oh man this book gave me a headache lol.