Read The Exorcist once when I was a junior in HS, even though my mother warned me about it. I had to sleep with the light on for the next three months while sharing a room with my younger sister! Over 50 years later and it's still the scariest, most unsettling book I've ever read.

Ghost Story is a masterpiece.

I'm going to be honest and say that when I hear a fantasy book is built on "themes and philosophy," that's a huge red flag for me. Without a modern understanding of science, which fantasy can't give. Most philosophy is just intellectual materbation. This is why sci-fi works better if that's your interest. I don't care what you have to say about human nature if you're frequently ignorant of the forces that shaped it. There are concepts you can explore from philosophy in fantasy worlds. But too often, it's way outside the scope of the genre.

“Run.” This book is an absolute masterpiece. On par with Iain M. Banks’ Culture novels for sure.

Pet Cemetary is my favorite.

Great reviews of this series! Wish you had a spoiler review of this one.

Thanks for your recs!

100% correct on Salem's Lot being Kings best and thanks for recognizing Robert McCammon. He is such an amazing author. Only wish you added Clive Barker somewhere on your list.

This was very complete. Thanks!!

lol 20 years ago I had just finished all the song of ice and fire books… first time I had read fantasy since Tolkien as a teenager. I was living in Denmark for the year and saw the Malazan books in the English section of the city library… I was drawn in by the cover art and read a couple of chapters while sitting there and thought wow this is epic! But I didn’t read them then… flash forward 20 years to now and I started watching these booktuber vids for the first time… and here are ppl talking how it is the most complicated, hard to read series and I was like “Yes! I’m in!” Just finished Gardens of the Moon and loved it, but it’s great because I already know it’s a huge complete series and I need to finish it to really get it… and also there are vids like this to really examine it and discuss it! Good stuff, thanks 😊

Howling dark is really good i finally got a chance to read it this month

Always happy to see NOS4A2/Joe Hill love, I'm reading Heart Shaped Box currently and really liking it. Great list!

Do I see Brian Lee Durfee's books on your shelf?

I just finished salems lot and I’m a big Stephen king fan but I was quite disappointed with the ending which was annoying since the rest of the book was amazing

The sample wasn't interesting to read. Also, does it not bother you that he lifted sentences from other books?

Great video! Subscribed to see where you’re going next.

Great collection. How do you cover/laminate your hardcovers?

You and I both agree. For me it's Well of Ascension as the best (incredible ending), The Hero of Ages as second best, and the Final Empire as the third.

Super cliché, but my absolute favourite book of all times is IT by Stephen King. What an incredible adventure, it will stay with me for my whole life.

I quit reading book 2 halfway through. Pretty much unreadable just like The Wheel of Time book 1. Who writes a chapter with 167 pages? Perhaps it was Ken Liu’s translation, but I just couldn’t push forward at the halfway point.

I think its biggest issue is...people making it past Empire of Silence, nto that is is a bad book at all...i personally enjoyed it But its like a 'small' stepping stone in to something that expands sooooo much and gets way better as the books go along it does feel like appreciation for the series is growing though as the last few books have been amazing. And in turn its picking up a lot of recommendations across various formats.

I found book 1 underwhelming and boring. I hope it really gets better. So far I liked Red Rising better.

I honestly thought I was the only person who thought (and still thinks) that "'Salem's Lot" was Stephen King's best novel. I think "The Shining" is the scariest one he ever wrote, "The Stand" is epic, and "The Talisman" is a true masterpiece. And I have all of his books and obviously enjoy his writing. But "'Salem's Lot" combined a page-turning plot and a genius idea - a vampire moves to a small town in Maine - with dozens of memorable characters that all come across as human and complex and real. Stephen King's greatest gift has always been understanding that no story or idea is going to be compelling unless his constant readers feel emotionally attached to the characters involved. The only fault I have with the book (and it's a very minor one) is with its reliance on the tropes Bram Stoker made famous. It's always seemed odd to me that stories about vampires and demon possessions are often reliant on a very specific religious mythology. But so many of the characters in the book still live with me now, some 45 years after I read it for the first time (damn, I'm old, LOL).

gotta get the 2nd half of book of the new sun man :)

Thank you totally agree

Why does everyone praise the haunting of Hill House? It's the worst book I've ever read. Anyone else feel this way? I feel like people pretend to like it because they think they're supposed to. It's crap, nothing happens and the writing is pretentious.

Richard MATHESON.

Lets be real guya we all know pannion domin was a sidest quest there can ever be Moreover the number of characters was unnecessary the hype of some characters was unnecessary The war in deadhoise gates was more better than this one All in all memories of ice was my least favourite from top 3 In terms of fun i had reading Rakes part was so loonish it wasnt even needed Tlan imass's army was totally neutralized And so called dinosaurs( kchains chemelle's felt like kids jirassic park) This is too weird its highly contrasting the sorcery is too dark while some elements are ttoo toooo childish Erickson needs to understand right editing not every character needs to be there if they arent making impact or lowering the books general reading experience, sometimes you need to realize that even if you created the world( fantasy, malazan in this case) ultimately it becomes bigger than you and make sure that when you giving it to the world thers no personal attachment there, the product ( needs to be rounded up) I am in no hurry or excited to figure what happens in malazan as i was or rather am for ASOIF and i was crazy hooked even for harry potter I dont give two damns to know about the fate of Characters or story of this series so far so i will take time to get through this series in no hurry at all Quick bens sorcery was so hyped up with talamandas it was eventually a let down i was hoping for them to push more limits since he mentioned thats what he wanted to do with talamandas as his support He could ve pushed quick ben more in my opinion That moon spawn sequence was so lunaticish very childish Kollars betrayal was something, tayschrenns involvement well ok. But reallu after seige of capustan the book just dips down Unlike deadhouse gates So far my ranking 1. Dead house gates 2. Gardens of the moon 3. Memories of ice Mind yoi i wasnt so impressed by dead hoise gates either But it was fun Gardens ending was very filmsy last 30% didnt feel mature at all

great list! What's really amazing is when you notice that Straub's Ghost Story is an almost chapter by chapter parody of King's Salem's Lot. Compare the opening sections: both have a man with a child on a road trip going south. In both books the sheriff guesses that something supernatural is happening and decides to leave town before it gets worse. Straub eventually admitted in an interview he was purposefully using Salem's Lot as a template! So it's fun to notice it...

Legion was so good! Definitely a need to read.

great review my man thank you

References in «Howling Dark» (2/3): Hadrian’s possible ancestor Prince Faustinus: Christopher Marlowe wrote the play «Dr. Faustus», where the Devil (the Marlowe sigil) tempts Doctor Faust Lady Harfleur: Harfleur is a city in Normandie, France, famous for it’s seige during the Hundred Years War by English King Henry V, which not only was the first English use of gunpowder artillery during a siege, but also became immortalized in Shakespeare’s play «Henry V» when the King rally his men with the line: «Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more»! Domitia: Female variant of Domitian (Roman Emperor) The Golem (Robot) Yume: Yume is Japanese for «Dream», and is the Japanese title of Akira Kurasawa’s movie «Dreams» (maybe also a reference to the story «Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep» by Philip K Dick, which was the basis for the movie «Blade Runner») Golem: Jewish Mythology, a clay men serving a Rabbi to protect the Ghetto Historian Impatian: Of Latin «Impatiens» («Impatient») and also the name of the Impatiens flower, also known as «touch-me-not» in North America. Playwright Bastien: Inspired by the Roman Comedy writer Terence? Panormo: Panormo(s) is a village on Crete Merenhor: Possible 8th Dynasty Pharaoh (only mentioned in one source) Anunna: Also known as the Anunnaki, pantheon of Ancient Mestopamian Deities, often espoused by Pseudo-Archaeologists as proof of Ancient Astronauts/Ancient Aliens! The Statue at Kharn Sagara’s Table: Jesus and Mother Mary! «Sat gray-hair'd Saturn, quiet as a stone»: John Keats’ poem «Hyperion» Dis: Dis Pater, another name of/conflation with Pluto, the Roman God of the Underworld Kharn calling out Hadrian that in Dante’s «Inferno», the 9th circle is frozen! Anaxander: Greek, «King/Ruler of men», Spartan King, Great-Great-Grandfather of the famous King Leonidas Cyrus the Golden: Cyrus Gold, aka Salomon Grundy from DC! The Pretender Boniface: Multiple saints and popes (interestingly also an antipope!), as well as a leader of the 4th Crusade Sunless Sea, Gardens and Domes: Xanadu in the poem «Kubla Khan» by Samuel Taylor Coleridge Eternal Youth: Shangri-La in «Lost Horizon» by James Hilton «Thatched Cottages at Cordeville»: Van Gogh painting! Hadrian compare Naia to the brides of Dracula! Holographic clothes: «Blade Runner 2049» Consent Kharn! Former Emperor Victor Sebastos: Latin «The Victorious» & «The Venerable» Dual helix snake biting a man from a tree: Garden of Eden , St. Paul biten by a snake on Malta (first accused being a criminal by the locals, and then declared a god surviving it) and DNA Twisted Horn: A Saxophone? Kharn as «The King-in-Yellow»: Story by Robert Chambers, later part of the Lovecraftian Cthulhu Mythos as the Great Old One Hestur «Sibylla ti theleis»: From the Epigraph of T.S. Elliot’s Poem «The Waste Land» (which has a loosely narrative deal with death and rejuvenation, faith and post-war depression, with multiple allusions and references to Ancient Literature, Religious Texts and Arthurian Myth), lifted from Petronius’ «Satyricon», being spoken to in Greek «Sibyl, what do you want?» (The Sibyl being a Roman Oracle, this one being specifically the Cumaean Sibyl who in «The Aeneid» had guided the Trojan Hero and Roman Ancestor Aeneas through Hades and who had been granted immortality (though without eternal youth) by the god Apollo), to which she replies «apothanein thelo»: «I want to die» Sword of Mars: The legendary weapon of Attila the Hun, worshiped by the Huns (and given Ruocchio is a fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs, also likely a nod to his «John Carter of Mars»/«Barsoom» Novel «Swords of Mars»), here mixed with King Arthurs’s Sword in the Stone/Excalibur Gibson: The Force Ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi appearing to Luke Skywalker Titania and Oberon: Queen and King of the Faerie in Shakespeare’s «A Midsummer Night’s Dream» «London Bridge is Falling Down»! Father Calvert: Possible reference to the English Calvert Noble Family with the title Lord Baltimore (of which the US State has it name from) or the Calvert Half-Brothers in Peter F. Hamilton’s «The Night’s Dawn» Trilogy Child of Clay: In Jewish Mythology, Adam was made out of clay «You are a lever pulled your genes. Nothing More.»: Genetic Determinism «I think, therefore I am»: Descartes’ «Cogito, ergo sum», a Classic Quote/Principle of Continental Rationalist Philosophy and Western Philosophy in general, also quoted by AM, the villainous and sadistic AI/Sentient Master Computer from Harlan Ellison’s «I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream» AI using Humans as bio-electricity: «The Matrix» Brethren as a form of «Grey Goo»: Out of control self-replicating machines «Bound by laws Isaac Asimov would have approved of»: Asimov’s three laws of Robotics (The First Law: A robot may not injure a human being (through action or inaction), The Second Law: A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings (as long as it does not conflict with the first law) & The Third Law: A robot must protect its own existence (as long as it does not conflict with the first or second law) A man «like Pallino» hanging from a Tree: In Norse Myth Odin gave one of his eyes and hanged from a Tree to gain Wisdom Zeno: Ancient Greek Philosopher, founder of Stoicism Hypatia: Female Neoplatonist Philosopher, often cited as a Martyr of Science and Feminisim Lovelace: Ada Lovelace, daughter of the Poet Lord Byron, known for recognizing the potential beyond simple calculations of Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine, a proposed mechanical computer (also a character in William Gibson and Bruce Sterling’s Steampunk/Alt. History Novel «The Difference Engine») Peterson: Jordan Peterson The «Other Gibson»: William Gibson? («Neuromancer») The Deep: The Deep Ones from Lovecraft’s Chtulhu Mythos

Here are all the references I caught in «Howling Dark» (1/3) Vorgossos: Tartaros (the Abyss serving as prison for the Titans in Ancient Greek Myth), Tartessos (a «lost» Iron Age Civilization in South Western Spain, by some tied to the Myth of Atlantis, being beyond the «Pillars of Hercules»/The Gibraltar Strait), the Atlantic Sargasso Sea (famous for its seaweed) and the «Vorkosigan Saga» Sci-Fi Series by Lois McMaster Bujold Admiral Marius Whent: House Whent of Harrenhal from George RR Martin’s «A Song of Ice & Fire», Catelyn Stark’s Mother was a Whent The Planet of Pharos: The Lighthouse of Pharos in Alexandria, Egypt. One of the Seven Wonders of Antiquity. The Space Destroyer «Balmung»: The name given to the Sword of Sigurd/Siegfried the Dragonslayer in the Medieval German Epic Poem «Die Nibelungenlied», «Gram(r)» in Norse Sagas and «Nothung» in Wagner’s «Der Ring des Nibelungen»/«Ring Cycle» The Space Interceptor «Mistral»: Famous Wind in Southern France, giving name to several cars, aircraft and ships, including a class of French Amphibious Assault Ship/Helicopter Carriers The Planet of Trieste: Italian City on the Adriatic Coast Soisson: French City, Capital of the Post-Roman Kingdom of Soisson before conquered by the Franks Prisca: Roman Empress, wife of Diocletian Durand: Surname of Multiple French, British, American and Canadian Politicians, Scholars and Artists, as well as the Durand Line (the international recognized border between Afghanistan and Pakistan) Corvo: Italian «Crow» Shara: Mesopotamian God of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Irrigation & Divine Warrior, and a Nation in Robert Jordan’s «Wheel of Time» Fantasy Series Eidhin: Aidhne, a Irish Petty Kingdom, in myth settled by the legendary Fir Bolg Bordelon: Surname, including a French Utopian polygraph Playwright and Abbot, an American Korean War Flying Ace and an US Marine awarded posthumously the Medal of Honor during the Pacific Campaign The Painted Man: Novel by Peter V. Brett (The Mule from Isaac Asmiov’s «Foundation»? The Finn from «Neuromancer»? The Joker?) Andernach: German City along the Rhine River, founded by the Romans and site of the Archepiscopal Castle of the Archbishop/Electorate of Cologne during the Holy Roman Empire Aptuca: Archaeological Site of an Roman City in Modern Day Tunisia, with a titular Catholic Bishopric from Antiquity to this very day Ardistama: Ancient City in Cappadocia (Modern Day Turkey) inhabited by the Hittites, the Hellenistic Greeks, the Romans and the Byzantines Athyras: Greek Colony in Ancient Thrace (today near the European side of Istanbul, Turkey), a titular Catholic and Orthodox Bishopric Bannatia: One of the Settlements of the Pictish Tribe Vacomagi in Modern Day Scotland mentioned by the Geographer Ptolemy Coritani: Britonic Celtic Tribe before the Roman Conquest, located in the Midlands, with Modern Day Leicester as their Capital Epidamnos: Greek Colony in Illyrium (Modern Day Durres in Albania). Their governmental structure is mentioned in Aristotle’s «Politics» and their internal political strife between Oligarchs and Democrats served as an ignition for the Peloponnesian War, between Sparta and Athens and their respective allies. Later renamed Dyrrhachium by the Romans and was the site of a battle between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great Gibeah: Several settlements in the Old Testament, including the first capital of a Unified Israel under King Saul Kremnoi: Greek colony on the Black Sea Coast (Modern Day Taganrog, Russia, famous from many of the works by Anton Chekhov) Lycia: Ancient Region of Anatolia in Modern Day Turkey Milinda: Milinda Panha/Milindapanha, Ancient Indian Buddhist Text, written as a dialogue between the Buddhist Sage Nagasena and the Indo-Greek King Menander I Soter the Great of Bactria («Milinda» in Pali), who converted and became a great patron to Buddhism Nessus: Centaur in Greek Mythology Rostam: Persian/Iranian Mythical Hero, famous from the Persian Epic «Shahnameh» Sarmatia: The Sarmatians, Iranian-languaged Nomadic Equestrian Confederation related to the Scythians on the Pontic Steppe, who fought the Romans numerous times, famous for their Armored Cataphract Cavalry which later served as Roman Foederati Soldiers Senussa: Senussi, a Sufi Order and Clan in Libya, claimant Kings of Libya Ubar: Mythical Kingdom in Southern Arabia («Atlantis of the Sands»), sometimes tied to «Iram/Irem of the Pillars» famous from «1001 Nights» and HP Lovecraft’s «Call of Cthulhu» & «The Nameless City» Tyras: Archeological Site of an Ancient Greek colony on the Black Sea Coast, near Modern Day Odessa, Ukraine Tanais: Archeological Site of an Ancient Greek colony on the Black Sea Coast, in the Don River Delta of Modern Day Russia. The Refugee Camp/City of Arslan: Persian, «Brave»/«Lion-Hunter»/«Gladiator» The Downed Space Carrier «Murakami»: Japanese «Village Superior», the name of an ancient Clan and Fiefdom, as well as of an 10th Century Emperor during the Heian Period and the famous modern writer Haruki Murakami Suren, the Destroyed Capital of Rostram: The Parthian Noble House of Suren, which including the General Surena who defeated and executed the Roman Statesman Crassus (once the richest man in Rome, who had defeated the Slave Rebellion led by Spartacus, and been part of the First Triumvirate together with Ceasar and Pompey the Great) at the Battle of Carrhae Stygian Ropes: Stygia, «Evil Egyptian Wizard Land» in Conan the Cimmerian Orestes: Son of King Agamemnon and Clytemnestra of the Iliad, whose murder of his Mother (for murdering his Father) and trial was the subject of multiple Ancient Greek Poems and Plays Tristan: Arthurian Knight of the Round Table, famous for his tragic romance with the Princess Isolde Ram: Rama, avatar of Vishnu and hero of the Indian Epic «Ramayana», Arthur C. Clarke’s «Rendezvous with Rama» and a character in the Sci Fi movie «Tron» Idun: Norse Goddess, Guardian of the Apples of Eternal Youthfulness Kingu & Marduk: Mesopotamian Gods Panopticon: Prison design by the Utilitarian philosopher Jeremey Bentham, allowing one guard to watch over all prisoners at all times Catwalk sword-fights and cut hands: Humming the Imperial Theme here! March Station: «Ringworld» by Larry Niven and the «Halo» Video Games! Lothrian Cyrillic! Name: The Ides of March? Therevada bhikkhu: Buddhist munk (Theravada is the oldest and strictest interpretation of the main branches of Buddhism) Holographic Geisha: «Blade Runner» and «Ghost in the Shell»! The Raven Hrothgar: King Hrothgar of Denmark built Heorot Hall that is plagued by attacks by Grendel in «Beowulf», and the raven is a symbol of Odin in Norse Myth Hellenic Pharaoh: The Ptolemaic Dynasty of Egypt, and Percey Shelley’s «Ozimandias»(Ozimandias is the Greek name of Ramses) Ossulum Vaccine: «Osculum infame» «kiss of shame», alledged witch ritual involving the witch kissing the Devil’s…«end»… The Spaceship «Enigma of the Hours»: «The Enigma of the Hour», Italian early 20th Century Painting by metaphysical painter Giorgio de Chirico The Old Florentine & Lions, Leopards & Wolves: Dante, «The Divine Comedy» Artifical Owl: «Blade Runner» Nuncius: Latin «Messenger», «Sidereus Nuncius» («Starry/Sidereal Message/Messenger») was Galileo Galilei’s first treatise on his celestial observations using a telescope Jayavarman: Multiple Khmer Kings, including Jayavarman VII, who converted to Buddhism and invested heavily in infrastructure and welfare for his people The hightower: The Hightower(s) of Oldtown in «A Song of Ice & Fire»?

legion is amazing! you probably have read it by now lol.

Only Cielcin have Pronouns

Will post my full thoughts on the spoiler discussion video, but to give you a sample: You might have caught in «Howling Dark» that Kharn Sagara says to Hadrian «Sibylla ti theleis». I am 100% sure that is a reference to the Epigraph of T.S. Elliot’s famous poem «The Waste Land» (which in a loose narrative deal with death and rejuvenation, faith and post-war depression, with multiple allusions and references to Ancient Literature, Religious Texts and Arthurian Myth), itself lifted from Petronius’ «Satyricon», meaning «Sibyl, what do you want?» (The Sibyl being a Roman Oracle, this specifically being the Cumaean Sibyl who in «The Aeneid» guides the Trojan Hero and Roman Ancestor Aeneas through Hades and who had been granted immortality (though importantly without eternal youth) by the god Apollo, being spoken to in Greek, to which she replies «apothanein thelo»: «I want to die»)!

HIlo is in no way form or shape a psychopath....

Ghost Story by Peter Straub

12:20 They're called "teachers."

The funniest thing was when Sorry said Kalam was a old friend of hers.

I really love Harry Dresden 😊😁😎

This is completely unlikely. We know exactly from biology, things diverge and this means: everything will happen to do collaboration. This happened with genes and it happened with humans. Why would humans have started trading. We know exactly that fire was something you could sell for other goods and this again pushed trading. We are still in this world of trading. The dark forest thing is dark... YES, but meaningless. The reason to live is way deeper. It was never about the unfolded creature of any kind of gene. There is still Richard Dawkings SELFISH GENE. It is way more fundamental, everything depends on this. No gene will ever risk it's own extinction it will always sooner or later invent some kind of "could be better not to fight" instead of "better them than me" mentality. And this happened a million times in evolution. Evolution is the fundamental idea behind all this. So forget this idea. But it's a nice idea. Not realistic, but funny and some idea for the Fermi Question. But this certainly is not the answer.

I felt the same way after finishing the Dark Forest. Invigorated & ready to jump into book 3 to see what was next for human & Trisolaran-kind alike.

Wait but you only have 1, 4, and 12???

I just finished this book!!