love that they made a new category for romantasy bc it always frustrated me when they mixed romantasy with typical fantasy books even though the target audience is not always the same. Also now I know what books to avoid lol.

Romantasy has been winning in the fantasy category for the past few years, I'm happy they add that one so we could have more variety of winners in fantasy. However, I'm sad they removed middle grade, children's, poetry and comics.

Girl I'm with you on the sci fi category. I think they could benefit from a "Speculative fiction" category for the lit fic leftovers we keep getting

I loved seeing the romantasy category because that means the most popular romantic fantasy won't sweep the fantasy category anymore! So wasn't expecting that! But then it was weird because they also removed some categories, like graphic novels and middle grade. Huh. That Weyward book you said someone mentioned was nominated in the Best Debut category, btw.

We definitely need a meeting, lol! I work at Barnes & Noble and I can say that Chain Gang All-Stars, The Light Pirate, The Great Migration, and The Deluge are all shelved in fiction and In the Lives of Puppets is fantasy. John Marrs is in mystery/thriller and Justin Cronin is in horror. Very interesting list for sure… I like the romantacy category as it’s becoming its own beast. Although Fourth Wing will take it. As it should, lol!

The sci-fi category got me like 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

No graphic novels category, no middle grade ... criminal! For some reason they remove categories so they can add new ones, I don't see a reason why we can't have 20 categories...

I'm so happy they finally did a Romantasy category. 😍 It should have been done years ago. 😊 But I'm happy with the Fantasy category.

Seeing that Romantasy category shocked me when I woke up this morning to see the nominees. Fantasy gave me some hope (I loved The Last Tale of the Flower Bride), but Science Fiction disappointed me. There wasn’t enough hardcore sci-fi books (in my honest opinion), just more speculative and literary sci-fi. I think it is cases like these that Goodreads needs more categories for blended genres, especially when literary fiction touch speculative fiction (horror, fantasy, science fiction, etc.)

The Will of the Many 😍😍 YES, YES! I really hope it gets to the final round. Phenomenal book.

I was so excited to see a separate category for romantasy! Woohoo! Glad there’s two separate categories

The romantasy category is an EXCELLENT idea! I approve wildly!

Romantasy is strong in Kindle Unlimited. 😂

I think that romantasy category threw us all for a loop 😂but I like that they did that and I wasn’t surprised to see Fourth Wing there. I’m so behind on sci-fi fantasy reads that I had no clue what be there this year. Great video as always!!

Hi Tori! I was certain Sanderson’s YUMI and the Night Painter would be on the list. I am currently reading, Sword Catcher. As for the Sci-Fi list, I have never even heard of half those books. Finally, I agree WE NEED A MEETING! 🤣

Im so glad we have a separate romantasy category. I finally recognise the fantasy books this year.

I’m glad I wasn’t the only one disappointed with the Sci-fi selection 😭 some I added to my tbr others I was like “what is thissssssss?!”

I feel the same way about mystery thriller that you do about sci-fi! So many odd choices! And Weyward did make it in, but they shelved it as another genre (historical fiction, I think?). Thanks for reacting, so fun to see what you think!

That Romantasy category is a plot twist...but also, what could make more sense for Goodreads? 😆 This is really fun to watch because it's the first year I've been familiar with most of fantasy titles!

I was just waiting for you to spot the romantasy category 😂. I do like that it made more room for other fantasy in the fantasy category! And agree that Sci-fi always seems a bit weird. I normally have heard of hardly any.

I'm happy they made a Romantasy category, but eliminating Middle Grade & Children's, Graphic Novels & Comics and POETRY why???

Always happy to see a new video of you!☺

I was up late and saw the lists open in real time. As you were going over your fantasy predictions, I immediately said to myself, "wait until she sees that they added a new category for fantasy." Thank goodness they did because that will help me avoid certain books that are not my jam. LOL

You were actually right about Weyward being in the Choice Awards 2023. It was just in the historical fiction category. I think it won that too

If you peek at the "Debut Novel" category you'll see some familiar titles :)

I loved your reaction on discovering the Romantasy category! 🤣🤣🤣 Made my day!

Weyward by Emilia Hart that I think was on your list or recommended from TikTok at the beginning is also on the Debut category and Historical Fiction category. Great video! ☺️

I was just waiting for the moment when you discovered the romantasy category 😅

It does seem like this scifi list is getting somewhat invaded by litfic via the "cli-fi" angle. But I don't really have a problem with that -- I think splitting those out would feel unnecessarily arbitrary and contentious. IDK, it's always tricky trying to draw useful category boundaries!

It's nice to see I Keep My Exoskeleton to Myself made the list for Best Sci Fi.

does anyone know the reason they give for nominating books? it's crazy to me that books like system collapse, which literally came out today and doesn't have a lot of ratings or reviews yet, can be nominated

Ohh I was waiting for this ❤

Chain Gang All Stars is SO GOOD and I'm so happy to see it nominated in so many categories!

The Hanging City is really good.

I have loved seeing everyones reaction to the 'romantasy' category hahaha

You: Talking about Fourth Wing or Sarah J Mass winning fantasy against all the other great fantasy that doesn't center romance. Me: Waiting for your reaction to the new Romantasy category, which would reduce the issue you describe. I was not disappointed. I'm not even on Goodreads and it's always still interesting to see the nominees. I am disappointed that Patrick Stewart's memoir wasn't in the awards, but maybe it was released too recently to be on this current list and might end up on next year's list.

your iced coffee always looks so good!

Yeah, there were so many books I had never heard of on the sci-fi list this year. I didn't actually have any books in fantasy or sci-fi this year that I'd read and loved enough to vote for. I had some in a few other categories, though!

I thought I knew SFF very well and kept up with new books but then I saw the GRCA list and didn't know 50%+ of them.. I feel like there's a lot that's either super light/literary SFF or feels mis-categorised (i.e. John Mars) because what I expect SFF to be is much harder than what we got on these lists.

Your reaction to the Romantasy category was amazing 😂♥️

Yeah I would’ve loved it if Tyranny of Faith was in the best fantasy category. It was one of my favorite books of the year.

Light Bringer best book

I appreciate your videos I want to get more into Sci-Fi and Fantasy books. I still haven’t read Fourth Wing maybe I’ll start with that ❤

My two favorite genres are sci-fi and horror, and both become dumping grounds in the goodreads choice awards. It makes me sad that random books from other genres take spots from books that are really popular among the readers of those genres.

Ahh fantastic ! Your joy at seeing the Romantasy category was fantastic ! It's one of those I've been asking for especially because it is so different from general fantasy that it rightfully deserves its own space. I do kinda wish however it was a speculative romance one so we could have had the horrror romance and the scifi romances also get some rep. Im really excited to see who wins fantasy this year, Im assuming it'll be Hellbent or Tress, although Cassie Clare could take it.

The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz should have been on the Science Fiction list. 😢

Lemme get my hot chocolate, it's finna go down.

Loved The Light Pirate & rarely hear it mentioned on KZfaq. I suppose it fits the genre, but that’s not what I would’ve called it…. It’s realistic future fiction w a tiny sprinkle of magical realism ….. I guess they dumped it in there like you said they do w ones they don’t know what to do w

I find it interesting what they throw in the Scifi category. I read Chain Gang All Stars and I would call it speculative fiction or literary fiction. I also thought that the Lives of Puppets was fantasy?

Just a bit note, English is my second language but I think, it sounds wrong as in "Blind reacting...", I'd say it should be "Blind reaction..." especially because, my first instinct was that you are a booktuber with blindness disability, I still love the video ofc, just something I got a bit confused by sooo thought to bring to your notice!! Agree with most of the reaction, awesome Video! 💙👍😇

as much as i despise the word 'romantasy,' its nice they split it into its own category for the sake of the fantasy category hah.

I haven’t gotten to it yet but I was honestly pretty shocked not to see Godkiller.

I also was fooled with Weyward being in Fantasy and then it turned out to go into Historical! I definitely am very glad about the new romantasy category but very sad about the loss of some of the other categories like Graphic Novel and Middle Grade :(

Yeah. I was hoping to get some good scifi recs off the list and I was very confused

Totally agree with the new romantasy category

Sci-Fi needs a "Morrow Makeover"!

I hate to see the speculative fiction books I love not find a home in either lit fic or sci-fi, it really needs its own category, but I'm definitely biased since it's my favorite genre/sub-genre

I'm happy to see Emily Wilde and Amina al-Sirafi on the list. Both were favorites this year. As for myth retelling fatique, I could not agree more. Someone please make them stop, lol. I do want to read The Will of the Many, though :)

I actually didn't vote in the sci-fi category because I didn't feel strongly enough about any of the books that were nominated. Lightbringer is going to win, though. I'm happy with the fantasy nominees, especially with the long overdue creation of the romantasy category. I don't think it's obvious which one is going to win and I think the vote could be really close this year. I'm mystified by the mystery/thriller category. Some left field choices there, but the obvious ones were still nominated. I hope the Housemaid sequel doesn't win.

I almost made myself late for work over how shocked I was over the romantasy category lol. I never thought they'd do it but I'm so happy they did. Everything feels a bit more balanced now. I'm feeling like I need to make Amina al-Sirafi my first read of 2024 👀😁

I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself was such an out there pick for scifi and it also has less than 700 reviews...but all that to say, it was probably my favourite book of the year. It was impeccable and weird and cool and fantastic. But not so much scifi. I still deeply hope a lot of people check it out.

I never vote for Goodreads choice awards because I don't think I can give good ratings given that I almost only read backlist titles. 😅

I saw romantasy and yelled out loud FINALLY!!!!! we are free

i came here just to see your reaction to the new romantasy category 😂

This is unrelated but I’m sad they removed the Middle Grade and Graphic Novels and Comic Books. And I agree: so many mythology retellings on the list!

Where’s my grimancacy section !?

I thought Ascension was an interesting story. It was a pretty fast read as it had mystery/thriller vibes along with the sci fi elements. I loved The Light Pirate though I think that one leans a bit more literary. There are so many on the sci fi and fantasy lists I still need to get to....I was glad to see they separated romantasy. But it's unfortunate that they eliminated the middlegrade/kids books and poetry categories.

Most of the weird books in scifi come from being in book boxes like Book Of the month and Aardwark

wayward was put in fiction which then starter villain could also be fiction. All of it felt lacking

im glad the light pirate got nominated bc its really good but it feels way more like literary fiction with light scifi elements to me whack

Second comment. Woo!

Are John Scalzi books even good

They put Weyward in Historical Fiction.

No Comics or Graphic Novel listings. Kids literature and book bans: Good reads drops this category when it's needed most. Poetry: Nope.

Weyward did get nominated, but it was in Historical Fiction fyi. The SciFi category is low key disappointing!

Agreed, it is a CRIME to not have These Burning Stars on the sci-fi list!! The list is mostly cli-fi/dystopians, mostly written by white men… I feel like there should be a separate speculative category to put those into so we can have a real sci-fi list.

That SciFi list. What?? It looks like literary fiction leftovers. That’s really disappointing.

I guess I'm a "romantasy" reader (Grace Draven) but seeing it as an actual category is just embarrassing. So many of those books are absolute garbage😬 Nobody's reading those for any other reason than the sex scenes, the "fantasy" elements do not matter whatsoever.

Every year the Goodreads team confirms that they have no idea what sci-fi actually is. It's always filled with climate thrillers or whatever instead of actual sci-fi books, it's absurd. I'm so relieved they made a romantasy section because I've been so sick of SJM and JLA winning "Fantasy" every year and I was dreading Fourth Wing winning this year. But maybe we will get an actual fantasy book winning the fantasy section this year! Don't think they should have removed comics/graphic novels, and middle grade/children's books though.

The only good thing Goodreads did was adding the romantasy category but they completely eliminated middle-grade, graphic novels and poetry?! Middle-grade always makes 30% of my reading so I'm pretty sad. And also in YA Fantasy there are a lot of books that should have been in there: Painted Devils, Bonesmith, or even Her Radiant Curse. And I know you don't focus on romance but there's only one POC auhtor, all the other books are by white authors and there's not even one queer romance :(

Every romatasy book is “court, queen, throne or king” in the title. They seem so generic with the titles.

Forth wing is trash 😢

Loved Chain Gang Allstars too, but the only sci fi aspect to me is some of the technology they use . I have trouble deciphering though, bc hella dystopian to me just seems like realistic future fiction it’s so plausible. Blahdiggityblah 📖🪱💚