What popular books didn't end up living up to the hype for you?

You should do this video with spoilers.

If I was to name one book that is overrated IMO, it would be Song of Achilles. Like, it's not a bad book, but it's quite a mediocre read, quite a boring one actually for something rated as high as it is. Big pet peeve of mine actually is people judging books highly just because they're sad. Humans have very varied sense of humour, but we do have fairly consistent sense of tragedy, so it's easier for us to feel down about a sad/shocking event in the book than it is to feel amused by an excerpt meant to be funny. If the book describes a sad event, there are huge chances that you'll be at least a little bummed out, depending on how empathetic you tend to be towards literary characters. It's relatively easy to make you feel sad. I feel like some authors know that and use it to their advantage. IMO, A Little Life is perfect example of that - it's just one sad thing after the other, so you never stop feeling down. And if you're feeling down, you might not notice that the book is not that great. I feel like when it comes to fiction, there's something like too much misery. If author describes a lot of bad stuff happening to the characters, that does not automatically make the book good. I mean all the above in relation to the fiction. Non-fiction is a completely different topic.

Emily: giving her standard disclaimers Me who usually aligns with Emily in like 99% cases: Go, get them! Emily not really liking And then there were none Me: How dare you!!!!!

I think an interesting video idea would be for you to read the books that have the highest (excluding sequels) and lowest goodreads ratings on your tbr and see if they deserve their ratings! Sequels always have higher ratings that they should because usually only people who already like the series are reading them.

I appreciate that you approached this video in such a non judgemental way. Not everyone is going to like the same books and that should be ok. I personally don't read a lot of super popular books....I am always searching for those hidden gems!

i absolutely love how you’re never letting that atrocious quote from leviathan wakes go 😂 19:17

You should do “books i wish I could erase from my memory”

I really feel you with sometimes feeling like a monster when I read a book that is supposed to make me feel a certain way and then it doesn't 😅 I also think sometimes people are likely to rate a book highly simply because of the tragic subject matter so I go into books like that with caution at this point in my life So no judgements here, love the content ❤

Speaking of Agatha Christie 21:45 I am in the process of reading everything by her in chronological order so I am interested to hear your opinions. 'A Mysterious Affair at Styles' was a great beginner.

As a Casting Director of The Expanse, I recommend watching it! 😁

So crazy what you said about the Becky Chambers Book, because that’s literally how I described it to my book club! I read the Cixin Liu trilogy before this and the drop from hard sci-fi to Becky Chambers was just too hard haha

I totally agree with you! It's OK not to like a book(s) that is really popular or rated highly. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. I think you would really love The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, I gave it 5 stars. I really enjoyed it! It is historical fiction, but is written very well. I recently read The Great Alone, and gave it 3.5 stars. The Four Winds is next on my list. ☺

Ok I will say, I have given The Book Thief two chances because so many people in my life love it, but BOTH TIMES I gave up around 150 pages (physically reading one time and audiobook the other) and just couldn’t do it. I got so bored. :/ so I totally get it.

Me being all chill “it’s cool we all like different things. No worries.” Emily says she didn’t like all of Murderbot. Me “how dare you!” 😂 I didn’t love The Invisible Life of Addie Larue. It was just fine.

I love these types of videos. Also I used to read a lot of fantasy and sci-fi but my tastes have changed. Considering a lot of Booktube is about fantasy books, I'm not a fan of a lot of popular books lol

I agree with so many of these. Thank you for making me feel better about my decisions. Especially about the 10 chapters of Wise Man's Fear, the fourth Murderbot book and the Richard Osman books. I think cosy just isn't for me.

Emily: "We won't talk about spoilers in this video" Me remembering all those previous reading vlogs where she elaborated on every spoiler possible of the same books: 👀👀👀⁉️

For the count of Monte Cristo, i feel like he was only a casual observer in the second part. The first part is much better for shoz.

hiya that will be fun u solving agatha x love to see it x

I loved Project Hail Mary! I listened to it on Audible, and it was great! The narration was really good!

i agree with what you're saying about 'And Then There Were None' - I read a lot of Christie but somehow her most popular works aren't usually the ones I like a lot.. same with 'Murder on the Orient Express' - I think they're both more about the reveal than they are about a good story. thanks for the video, it was very interesting.

Ohh this is a fun idea for a video!! The one that makes me personally feel like the Grinch most is The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune. It's so popular (4.4 on goodreads) but it just didn't work for me.

Recenty read the first Murderbot diaries book and really enjoyed it, read the second book and give it 3⭐ and it took me a week to listen to a 4hr audiobook 😭 I love Murderbots humour but there isn't enough of it in the books, it's so so info heavy in its narrative that I kept zoning out and losing the plot if the book lmao

Great video! I hate that moment when I'm reading a book and realize I don't get the hype. DNF's or 1/2-stars for me that are popular: First Law/Blade Itself and Name of the Wind (twinsies!), Assassin's Apprentice, Lightbringer Series, Powder Mage, Jonathon Strange & Mr. Norell, Babel, Malice, Dandelion Dynasty and Rage of Dragons. Always interesting to see some people connect with, and others repelled by, the same art.

I enjoy your videos, and often agree with your opinions. I LOVED LOVED LOVED Project Hail Mary! I loved it so much! It’s my #1 book that I wish I could read for the 1st time again. I liked it more than I liked The Martian, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Like you, I did not like The Book Thief, and 2 books I didn’t like enough to finish were A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, and Levianthan Wakes. Another very highly rated book I could not finish because I didn’t care about or didn’t like any of the characters was The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Seeing Wayfarers and Murderbot included hurt!! 😩 The Galaxy, and the Ground Within is actually my favorite of Wayfarers 🥺

The painnn I felt when And Then There Were None was on the screen 😅😅😅 still love these vids naturally 🤗 I have nostalgia for it lol, the first mystery I read that made me realize I didn’t hate mysteries like I thought. Also the first classic I read on my own (not for school) so special place in my heart for that book 😇

I'm having a lot of issues finishing Project Hail Mary. It feels too detailed with the science and I find I'm just uninterested in following along. The longer the story goes the less I want to see what happens next....and I'm only halfway through! I also tried Becky Chambers, the book you really liked (something angry planet) and found I couldn't do that one either. Anyway, everyone has different tastes and that's 100% great and expected!! Thanks for the video!

While I can agree with pretty much all of these as either being books I didn't enjoy or ones I've already decided to never read... I _do_ feel like a personal attack was committed against me by including *The Man Who Died Twice* on this list. 😂

I really loved The Man Who Died Twice, but I think it's one of those books that is greatly enchanced by audio. Can understand not feeling the series, but I do think it's worth the high rating. It's definitely a much better than average mystery because the characters are so memorable. A lot of mysteries have very forgettable characters and this series excels at characterization.

The Nightingale is historically iffy, but it does a good job of playing on your emotions, and not in a bad way. The more books I read, the harder it is to give me the feels. It was successful in that way. I have the same reservations you did about The Great Alone, so maybe we're on the same page. Nope, erase that, I looove the Murderbot series lol.

And Then There Were None has a special place in my heart lol. It’s a vibe thing though. My sister read that book to the family back when we were teens, coming home from visiting relatives. It was about a 10 hour drive, packed in a car, and she read it aloud to us to pass the time (pre-cellphone era lol). I remember the last few chapters were read by flashlight with a wild thunderstorm going on all around us, and I loved it! I’m scared to reread it now though because I know it will never be as good as it was in my memory.

my coworker read the tattooist of auschwitz and she said it felt like they were at summer camp 🤣

For me I hated the Night Circus. I couldn’t care less about the characters and the love story is so forced.

The mini series for And then there were none was great (I'm an AC fan, so that may not mean much). I'm not sure if her books are ideal for a "solve the crime" type of video. Which, by the way, is a phenomenal idea; I wonder if there are books designed with booktubers in mind, like, there is a point in the book that when you reach it you're suppossed evaluate all the evidence you gathered so far and then build a theory about who the killer is. Again, sounds fun, must be a looooot of effort.

Could I make a couple of suggestions.. you could try and read the series of Peter Robbinson. He is a great author and he keeps you going and you could try Victoria Hislop's book the island. I think you would like that one.

Oh yes I read The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie last week and made a whole board with all the notes and suspects and it was really fun to do. The book was 3⭐ but the fun and experience with the notes and trying to solve the murder was 5⭐😁

I so agree with Crooked Kingdom. I read it and I had to look up the synposis because I don't remember anything from that book. I also agree with you that you need to read Shadow and Bone because I was so lost in the begining

I agree. All the Lights who cannot see and The Book thief…I didn’t understand the hype around those two books, at all. I have unhauled both of them.

Bonus points for the HBC blanket!!

tbh i think because the magic system was underutilized in soc/crk it really didn't matter if you understood it or not 😭 they weren't using any magic for most of it anyways

I read the Six of Crows first and had no problems with the magic system

I agree with And Then There Were None… it was tough to finish, didn’t care for it. However I LOVED Book Thief.

I'd recommend The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie! Definitely her best Poirot book

The only ones I don't agree are the Weir and the Wells books which I liked but you are probably right about a lot of the others here.

I think most of these I haven't picked up because I was so wary of the high ratings, lol. But the only one I would disagree with here would be The Expanse, because Miller sucked but there are so many great POVs that pop up later (although I do admit that scientist or teenage characters were always unlikeable). For me it was a 4 star series across the board, however, I also read it with a bunch of friends as books were being released, so I have a big emotional attachment.

I love the MurderBot series. Last year I flew through all the books because I loved them so much. The full length novel is Network Effect not Exit Strategy. With And Then There Were None I loved it until the epilogue. It was the perfect murder mystery imo until the bad guy did a monologue explaining everything in detail. The epilogue ruined the entire book for me honestly.

Opinion only - Skip The Four Winds and read The Nightingale. I hope you like that one. Thanks for your honest opinions always. Love your videos!

Love your thoughts as always; but I strongly disagree with your take on Leviathan Wakes. Yes I struggled with book one of the series and almost put it down a few times, but for some reason I was drawn in to the story, and I am so glad that I continued on. I'm currently on book six of the series, and hands down this is the best sci-fi series I have read, and I have read many. Strong female characters, strong plot lines, and multiple vantage points make this series a deep and rich study of the human condition. Plus the humor actually makes me laugh out loud.

I just finished The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah and I enjoyed a lot of it but tbh if you are going to read one Dust Bowl book, read Whose Names are Unknown by Sanora Babb. It was written contemporaneously and the Kristin Hannah book quotes it! But both are good…Just hella sad.

I really didn’t like the name in the wind, it was my worst book of the year the year that a read it. I just couldn’t stand the main character or how flat the love internet was, the story was forgettable in my opinion. I almost read the second one to see if it gets better or if the story grew on me (everyone seemed to love it so I felt crazy for disliking it so much), you make me glad I didn’t try to continue 😂

Hi Emily! So glad I stumbled across your channel, I've been enjoying your videos 🙂. I had some random questions for you that are actually unrelated to this video LOL, but here goes...you had a snippet where you talked about The Tattooist of Auschwitz and said it was really offensive, I was just curious why you felt that way? I think it was based on a true story, at the end, the author mentions having interviewed the man whom the book was about (I think!! unless I'm thinking of another book!) When I read it, I liked it for the most part, but after reflecting more, I had problems with it, so just wanting to compare and see if our opinions might be the same. Where the crawdads sing, you said you had found out something shady about the author and was just curious what you found out (guess I'm in the mood for a little juicy gossip 😺)! Just out of curiosity, what other authors have you found out something shady about, it would be nice to know what weirdo authors to avoid? Also, just curious, since I'm new to your channel, just wondering how old you are and what do you do for a career, hopefully that's not too personal, feel free to ignore these questions, I'm just nosy, but I feel like maybe you have addressed these questions in much earlier videos that I have missed! 💜 Also curious why it seems like you don't enjoy reading romance in books, although I have heard you mention enjoying sapphic romances sometimes? I have some other comments/questions on books you've reviewed and maybe even some book recs for you I think you'd like, but this is getting way long, so I'll leave it here for now and see if you even respond haha!!

The only Andy Weir things I've read are The Martian, Project Hail Mary, and the egg short story, so Andy Weir is a 10/10 author for me 🤣 The friendship in Project Hail Mary and the way the flashbacks helped build up the story REALLY worked for me, so I gave it a 5/5 stars

i.e. The Book Thief..... you're not alone. I actually dnf'd it. Not even on purpose...I just was so blah on it that I put it down and forgot to pick it back up.

Anything by Becky Chambers, Leigh Bardugo and Legends & Lattes. *ducks away* They just don’t work for me and I really tried with reading different novels by them. But it helped me realize in terms of BC that I generally do not like cozy fantasy/scifi so anytime one is recommended somewhere I can immediately take them off my list. lol Also agreed on Murderbot. I barely made it through the first book. 🙈

I agree with the book thief and i read it physically. I DNFed it 😂😂😂 i couldnt get through it, everything annoyed me or i didnt feel anything. I hoped it would get better by the end and then i get up thinking "why should i torture myself, ill just read something i actually like" 😅

I generally agree with everything you said in this video. And I did not care for The Book Thief at. all. Tried to read it two separate times, got pretty far, and finally accepted that I didn’t care about what was going to happen to anyone in the story and DNF’d. Also- you made me LOL and I love you for that! ❤

Same experience with the Rothfuss books. Liked the first one, then the Wise Man's Fear made me want to launch myself into the sun, mainly because of Those Chapters. They just didn't stop. 😭

How did the surgery go? I know you glanced over it… but hope you’re okay

I agree with you on The Great Alone. I was very much invested in the first half and then it kinda dwindled for me but I actually like it better than Four Winds, which again great beginning. More depressing than TGA. The Nightingale was the first one I read and it was good but not as good as All the Light We Cannot See which was what I was looking for when I read it but then you didn'ove that one either. I did like all the female characters on it though. I guess if I were you I would skip both.

I DNFed All The Light. I finished The Book Thief but was so-so with it. I did like Project Hail Mary AND I LOVE MURDERBOT but as an audio book and I think that made the difference. I don’t think I would have loved reading them.

you started booktube when you were 16! I’m impressed

Historical fiction book I really think you should try: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See.

Please read th Ferryman by Justin Cornin. I was so confused with that book. Help explain it to me.

I feel similarly to you with The Galaxy and the Ground Within. It was lovely but definitely not a fave of mine either. But she's still an auto-buy author for me! :)

I have yet to finish The Book Thief and I’ve been trying to read it for years. I loved the movie, but the book. . .

Wow we have so many similarities! I did not like Tattooist of Auschwitz, DNFd Project Hail Mary, and HATED Happy Place for all the same reasons you mentioned. It’s fun when someone agrees with your unpopular opinions.

I have somewhat similar opinions on Project Hail Mary. I hadn't read any of Weir's other books, but multiple friends and the internet at large were raving about PHM, so I decided to check it out. I thought it was fine, but I didn't love it, nor did I think it was as amazing as everyone else seems to think. The protagonist was a little _too_ perfect, and I'm also just not a big fan of Weir's writing style in general. On the other hand, I disagree about Leviathan Wakes - I thought it was great. Haven't read the entire series yet, but I'm looking forward to continuing it. (Although book 3 was pretty meh to me.)

Agree about CoMC, Book Thief, First Law and expance (Some of) My hot takes are"You" "ready Player one" and most of "dark tower"

Becky Chambers might be considered "too wholesome" but that's exactly what I need sometimes. So her books will never be overrated to me. The Book Thief I think was better reading it in print, cause that's the kind of audiobook I'm not sure I'd enjoy, so your opinion is fair based on audiobook. (Also, the author is a super nice guy, if that's ever something that matters to you.) Exit Strategy was my least favorite of the Murderbot books, UNTIL, I read it again. Now it's right up there. I definitely liked it better as a book and as part of the series when I re-read it. And the most recent novella occurs before the events of the novel, so it's absolutely worth picking that novella up. (The novel is the last book in the chronology, as far as I'm aware.)

You DNF'd so many of the same books as I did. Our similsr taste is uncanny! Recommendation: Burn-In by P.W. Singer & August Cole (sci fi, audiobook better)

My unpopular opinion is Fredrik Backman. I suffered through the Grandmother that apologizes and hated it (luckily it was an audio, I remember vividly just staring out of the window of a tram and wishing I had anything else to listen to). I felt OK about Britt-Marie. And that's it, no interest in trying Ove or anything else.

Whenever I see people rave about Murderbot I have to roll my eyes. So I'll go with Murderbot :)) and then the one that I'm TERRIFIED to say out loud is ..Discworld. I really tried, I swear! But I just don't seem to vibe with it.

I felt the same way about "The Book Thief"! I definitely thought it would be more action packed. The ending did make me sad, and I enjoyed the movie as well, but I was bored for the majority of it, unfortunately. I listened to "The Nightingale" years ago, but honestly it wasn't that memorable for me. The characters felt unrealistic and flat. A book I like to recommend instead, which I also listened to around the same time, was "The Women in the Castle". That book really scarred me, but I felt like it taught me something as well. I still think about it today.

I saw you showed the cover of All the Light You Cannot See. I really liked the premise of it but after a few chapters it did nothing for me. I DNFd it.

I didn’t like Wonder either. I got done with it and felt unmoved. I felt guilty. I felt for the older sister too

I'm in the middle of Lies of Locke Lamora right now. It is my ebook and it is taking forever to get through. I like it but not loving it so far.

Project Hail Mary is my favorite all time book.

I found Agatha christie boring so that's my opinion. Kristin Hannah's nightingale is the one I think everyone myself included love. The four winds is well written but damn is it sad like gut wrenching! I would rate wonder down now that I have had time to think about it. And I think its so interesting that people are afraid to say what they feel on books that are hyped if its bad I want to know.

Also feel meh about First Law... I was so surprised because I really thought I'd love it after hearing the pitch...

I have read so many over hyped books and I appreciate hearing and seeing that I’m not alone in my opinion of said books. That being said I loved The Book Thief. Very emotional for me. One of my favorite reads. Enjoy your channel and recs and reviews

Dang I also loved Wonder :) But I can handle some middle grade - not most but some - and it just worked for me :)

I completly agree with you for The Book Theif. I never care for the character and it was boring. I also didn't really like All The Light You Cannot See, the first thirst was bad, then to the half it was ok and I like the second half, but it wasn't worth it in my opinion. On the other had, I really like Ken Follet historical fiction, both The Pillar of the Earth and The Century Trilogy are worth it in my opinion. Both serie are really easy to find in used bookstore, so I encourage you to try one out. I do believe this is historical fiction at it best.

This might make a good follow-up video with authors in general that consistently are overhyped. I just finished (& gave a generous 2 ⭐️) to The One by John Marrs. It was so pathetic & unbelievable from cover to cover, but it was 4.1 on GR.

I loved six of crows and crooked kingdom and never read the grisha book (not interested) and had no issues reading them at least🤷‍♀️ Gave project hail mary 2 stars and people get so heated but I really didn't think it was good (never read the martian so I didn't have the need to compare either)

I agree with you on all of these except for Six of Crows 😄

Same with Locke Lamora. It was fine and had some interesting parts but the writing was so slow and depressing. Literally felt blues after finishing it. Cool ideas though, I liked second one better and the third one had some interesting ideas. Such a downers these are…

The Tattooist of Auschwitz I still have yet to read I have yet to see a good review of it so I been putting it off now I understand why.

Interesting takes. Okay, I completely agree with you about Project Hail Mary (very meh) and Lies of Locke Lamora. That one was so bad that I couldn't finish it. I disagree (completely again!) on your take of The Book Thief. And though I really liked Tattooist of Auschwitz (maybe I'm a sucker for WWII fiction), you make good points about it. Another stinker is a modern novel, Remarkably Bright Creatures. If you haven't read it, don't bother.

Omg same about book thief, all the lights we cannot see & and then there were none...😅 i never know with good reads so i usually see why people disliked the book in the reviews

The EarthSea Cycle. To be completely fair I only read the first book but… I wanted to DNF it almost immediately. I just couldn’t connect to it at all. I tried so hard to look past the writing style but the complete lack of resolution just killed any interest I had in the series.

I checked my list, too and what a surprise The Wise Man's Fear was there. I want to know who enjoyed it, especially that spoiler part.

Yes also gave up on the locke lamora series after I ploughed through the third book and felt nothing but dismay , disappointment, devastation etc

Re your Happy Place question “why would you be with someone for years and years and years and not communicate?” That’s a fair question but I suspect you’ve never been married (at least not for a long time). Sadly, poor communication inevitably creeps into most marriages and is often a partial cause of most break ups. Couples simply stop making the effort, especially if they have a lot going on with children and careers and other issues. Marriage therapists are always (and correctly) promoting better communication. And, sometimes, with improved communication, a long-term marriage can be saved. Happy Place lives in that world.

Thank you , I thought I was the only one who hated the Tatooist of Aushwidz The writing was so bad . I was also disappointed by The Book Thief. I would have been fine within it if it's popularity hadn't built it up so much

Maybe don't go for the first book in the Poirot series, it's not the most interesting imo. I would potentially go for "murder on the orient express". My personal favorite is "five little pigs".

So glad to hear someone say they weren't moved by the book thief, I was so underwelmed when I finished it...

Maybe for Agatha Christie you could try the first Miss Marple and the first Hercule Poirot. As I get older I've decided I like Miss Marple better than Poirot.

Lol totally feel what you say about A good girls guide 😂