 If you hated every single one of these books, it is your right to be wrong. Well then you better not come and tell me that you like a song of ice and fire. And I cried like a baby. These are the good ones. Congratulations, I feel betrayed. Books that are worth the hype. This video might equally be called books that I have special editions of because of the books I'm going to show you, there's only two that are not special editions and of those two, one of them is a first edition, so it's basically a special edition. So yeah, this is part two of two. The first part was books that I felt are not worth the hype, but we're ending on a high note with books that I think are worth the hype as just like with the ones that are not worth the hype. This is my opinion. If you hated every single one of these books, it is your right to be wrong. Without further ado, these are the good ones. Let's start out with some obvious ones. So The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. I love The Name of the Wind. I have basically an entire shelf of books that are for the King Killer Chronicle, even though there's only like two and a half books published. I think that's excessive. Well, it's my life, you don't have to live it. Name of the Wind, I read long before I ever joined Booktube. I discovered it all on my own, just found it in a bookstore in a little corner, just a mass market paperback. I was like, hmm, this seems like something that I could read on my commute and missed my stop nearly every day that I was reading it on the bus. This book has remained one of my all-time favorites. Patrick Rothfuss's prose, chef's kiss, gorgeous, 10 out of 10, no notes. Just fantastic. Wise Men's Fear slight steps down, like in terms of the plot, but the prose still remains gorgeous. And I, you know, I'm not going to say I don't care that we don't have Booktube in The King Killer Chronicle, because obviously I would like more. But if all we ever get is The Name of the Wind on The Wise Men's Fear, I'm kind of fine with it, because The Name of the Wind is just so gorgeous that just rereading this for the rest of my life is pretty okay. Like better that than nothing. If my options were to never have The King Killer Chronicle or to only have it unfinished, like unfinished, I'll take it. Reasons people don't like this that are not just me being facetious and saying they're dumb and don't understand quality. The main character is kind of a twat. That's kind of built into the narrative, like that's acknowledged in the narrative, so it doesn't really bother me. But if you really don't like the main character, well, he's the main character. It's not multi-pov, so you're going to be in trouble. It's not heavy on plot. It's mostly a character-driven, like, coming-of-age story as being told by the character themselves. And the world-building is very well done, but it's not, like, groundbreaking. It's a pretty traditional fantasy world, but he's, like, fleshed it out really, really well and made it feel very lifelike and thought out all the details of it very well. So it feels like a living, breathing world that you kind of, like, step into when you read his beautiful prose. But if you, again, you don't like flowery prose, if you don't like more poetical prose, you're crazy. But also, you probably won't like this because some people just literally don't like Patrick Rothes' prose, which is crazy to me. But again, it's your right. So if you haven't read The King Killer Chronicle, who cares? It's not finished yet. Whatever. You read it anyway. It's—I promise you it's fine. I promise. Next up, I have Red Rising by Pirates Brown. Now, I—until recently would have said, well, the Red Rising series is worth the hype, not necessarily Red Rising itself. And I kind of still say that. My opinion of the first book has improved because we're doing a read-along for in anticipation of the release of the new book this summer. So I did reread Red Rising recently, and I did like it a lot better this third time through. So I do feel more kindly towards it. I gave it five stars this time, but I do still think that it's the weakest entry in the series. And it's just kind of like a familiarity thing. I've read these books so many times that when I see these familiar characters, when they're just introduced, I already know them from the next book. So the fact that they're not that well fleshed out and you don't really get to know them that well in the first book, but I already know them. So it's like I'm just seeing familiar friends, so to speak, or at least familiar faces. And I kind of know what it is going in because I've read it before. So I can take it on its own terms. The first book, he like rage wrote it for himself at 23. Like he didn't even really mean it to be like a book that would be a bestseller. So he didn't really like properly start. I don't want to say he wasn't like properly writing Red Rising because that's like disingenuous and not true. But like in essence, it's true. And that's how it is oftentimes. Like you try so hard at something that you think is going to be successful or popular. No one wants it. And then you kind of like say fuck it and just do whatever you want. And then that's the thing that's like really popular or really well really well received. That's kind of what happened with Red Rising. So like obviously like it was edited and gone through and everything. So it's not like it went from like his bedroom diary to the publishers. Like obviously not. But like it kind of reads like a young man kind of working through his own issues in a fiction book. And the next books don't really feel that way so much. But he does mature with the series. And just because I mean he got older as he wrote it and his writing craft got better and better and better with every book. So I do think Red Rising like it's still a strong debut. And the series just improved so much over time and it's very clear how much Pierce Brown himself really wants to improve. Like he wants to stretch his wings and strive for more strive for better try to grow as a writer. Not just kind of rest on his laurels which is great to see. So I'm so excited for the new book to come out. And yeah Red Rising it's the bomb diggity. Like if you don't like the first one I feel you I didn't love it. Just just get through it and read Golden Sun. And if you still hate it well then okay maybe you don't like Red Rising. But I didn't become a fan until I read Golden Sun. Stepping away from fantasy for a second actually for two seconds. I have The Secret History by Donna Tartte which is like the OG Dark Academia. And in my opinion basically almost no other book has actually been Dark Academia since then. They keep claiming to be. They keep trying to be. But it's like every retelling of Wuthering Heights that just doesn't understand Wuthering Heights because like Wuthering Heights is not supposed to be romantic. But people find that toxic story romantic. So then they write retellings of it that romanticize something that Emily Bronte was not romanticizing. Similarly people find the darkness of the academia this kind of like darkly romantic idea. So when people write their versions of this they're writing it because they like this and so they're romanticizing it which is not what Donna Tartte was trying to do. Which is why one of the many many reasons I think most Dark Academia books just are not good and certainly fail at being Dark Academia. So Donna Tartte did it first and Donna Tartte did it best. This is a book about people being selfish, people being self-absorbed, people being narrow-minded, people being bigoted, and people just following obsession to the no good place that obsession leads. And it's it's dark, it's interesting, it's pretentious, but the pretension is like is a feature and not a bug because the characters themselves are kind of like destroyed by their own pretension. So I think it's just an absolute masterpiece. Her prose is incredible. It's just velvety and rich and decadent to read. So I kind of get why people get like swept up in the kind of like romance of this Dark Academia story. But like guys, we're not supposed to aspire to this. That's not the point of this. But I do recommend reading it. Another not fantasy is The Seven Husbands of Evil and Hugo. I'm kind of regretting choosing all my special editions for this video because they were very shiny and it's kind of tricky to navigate that while filming. The Seven Husbands of Evil and Hugo I probably wouldn't have read if not for the hype. And usually when I pick up hyped books I'm like, it can't be all that great. And Nine Hems out of 10 I'm like, that was overhyped. Like it was fine, but like it wasn't that good. I don't think it was worth all that hype. Evelyn Hugo. I went in going like I would never really want to read that. It's a like historical fiction litfic book about an old Hollywood starlet. There's like zero percent interest for me in something like that just like based on the description. But everybody and their mother every genre reader was like Evelyn Hugo is amazing. Fantasy readers, litfig readers, mystery readers. Everybody was like Evelyn Hugo though. So I was like, all right, Evelyn Hugo though. Let's let's find out. So I read it and I cried like a baby. I was like, okay, you were right. You were all right. Evelyn Hugo is amazing. I think that Taylor Jenkins reads ability to like write this fictional story that feels so real and not just in like, you know, well written characters because they are very well written characters. I mean, like this is like the life story of a supposed famous Hollywood actress. So the way that this feels like an authentic history where when I finished this book, I was like, now I want to go and rent all of these old Evelyn Hugo classic Hollywood films that were discussed here, those famous scenes with the famous dress or whatever. And like none of that's real. She didn't exist. Like it's inspired by a lot of real Hollywood actresses. Really real Hollywood films. But none of this existed but it feels like it did the way she writes it which is just so impressive to me. And then yeah, just the character story is really compelling. Like I said, I cried like a baby. Even if this is not your kind of thing, I didn't think it would be my kind of thing. Maybe it won't be your kind of thing. I cannot guarantee it. But I'm just saying it seems like this is like low key everybody's cup of tea. I don't know how, but it is. Back to fantasy and next time The Lies of La Clamora by Scott Lynch. So this is not a special edition but this is a first edition. So it's basically a special edition. The Lies of La Clamora was another like commute book that I read long before booktube. I think I read it before name of the wind or after. But like around the same time because I was just going to like the used bookstore and picking out mass market fantasy paperbacks based on their covers just to read on my commute. And there was a lot of hits and like these weren't like featured on shelves. I was just randomly picking them. So I'm just saying I had a sixth sense for classics. Modern classics. The Lies of La Clamora is it's so good. This series also I think improves as it goes. But I do love the first book. Like I was blown away to begin with. And I just think that his writing craft improves. The humor improves. The characterization improves. Everything does get better. Unlike Kinkular Chronicle the third book ends on a massive I'm not sure cliffhanger is the right word. I guess cliffhanger. It's more of like a massive bombshell like massively like world altering information is delivered to you at the end of that book. And then you're just like bam okay bye. And you're like wait wait. You can't just tell me that. And then just leave and then not read another book for years and years. So like yeah like that's not great. So you could just read Lies of La Clamora's standalone. It does work pretty well as a standalone if you're worried about being left hanging like that. But so this is a very sort of like Italian feeling world and it's about this sort of like heisty group. It's like Robin Hood meets Ocean's Eleven in Italy mixed with Oliver Twist. It's magical. It's immersive. It's lush. The city of Camor feels very Venetian. This like group of thieves that you follow. It's just such a like incredibly dynamic group with amazing humor and amazing character beats and just great chemistry. And we have these two timelines. So you see Little La Clamora which is a very kind of like Oliver Twist feeling storyline. The present day where there are adults and they're combining forces to pull off elaborate heists which are filled with tricks and double blinds. And again the way the food is described the way the city is described the way the magic is described is just so lush that you like want to picture and you want to be in that world. And the story keeps throwing out twists and bombshells and reveals at you and it's quite a ride and it's an amazing ride and I highly, highly recommend it. Speaking of heists the book that constantly gets mentioned as a read-alike for Lies of La Clamora which I don't think it does either book any favors but I do think it's worth a hype is Six of Crows by Lee Barzy to go. This is Young Adult but it is quite mature for Young Adult. This likewise follows a band of thieves criminals as they pull together to pull off a heist but while heisting and the heist and the elaborateness of the heist is kind of like one of the major appeals of the Lies of La Clamora Six of Crows while there is at the heart of the story a fairly elaborate heist the book isn't really about that like the heist is like a reason to bring these characters together and to follow these characters and what's going on with them and their lives and their stories which is interesting and it is filled with twists and secrets and it's an engrossing plot. If you're coming to this book expecting like an extremely clever heist where the focus of the story is on the heist you'll probably be disappointed there is a heist but it's very it's much more character driven like that's the point of this book and I think that's done so so so so well Kaz Brecker is my favorite I love Kaz so much but I also love the other characters as well it's a great group dynamic it's just so well done so well done it's so worth the hype and even if you don't predominantly read YA if you if you're like I only read adult fantasy well first of all like get over yourself but second of all this is on the more mature side of YA so you know give it a go and if you're gonna tell me that oh I couldn't read Dix of Crows because I just couldn't take it seriously that these characters are supposed to be 17 years old like police well then you better not come and tell me that you like A Song of Ice and Fire because Jon Snow is 14 so don't before we move on from YA I have one more YA book to share with you which is also much more on the mature side and could easily be sold as adult fantasy in my opinion and that is Strange the Dreamer by Lainey Taylor now this special edition cover looks extremely different from the normal cover so just in case you don't recognize this and you don't know what I'm talking about the way it normally looks is like this but Strange the Dreamer it's a Lainey Taylor book so it's pretty much impossible to explain what it's about because to tell you what it's about or what the majority of the plot is about is to spoil something that happens quite early on in the story this is a big problem with Lainey Taylor books what I can tell you is that her writing is lush and evocative similar to Patrick Rothfuss the first time I read Strange the Dreamer when I read the first page it was the first time in my life since reading Name of the Wind that I was like oh this is like Rothfuss like I hadn't experienced that since finishing Name of the Wind and I was like okay the world again is like so evocatively described the characters in this book are very emotionally described it is quite character driven a somewhat important note about the kind of project of this book or this duology is that Lainey Taylor had written a trilogy before this the daughter of spoken bone trilogy which has a lot of like war and battle and a lot of violence and there's a lot of darkness in Strange the Dreamer it's actually not that light of read even though it's kind of I mean I kind of think of it as kind of fluffy and beautiful but it has actually at its core a lot of darkness and trauma but what I'm the point I'm getting at is that Lainey Taylor after writing a series it's very war centric wanted to write a series where war can't solve your problems violence can't solve your problems if that's not the answer if that cannot be the answer what do you do so this isn't going to be like battle centric this isn't going to be like that but it's very interesting the magic is very interesting it's so well done it's so such an emotional read and I cannot recommend it highly enough oh but I do have to mention that the first and second and as many times as I've ever read it there's something that she does at the end which uh is necessary for the story she eventually wanted to tell in the second book that made me feel betrayed as a reader and most people don't feel this way the only person that I know of that felt exactly the same way that I did is Hilary from Bookporten because I made her read this book and she was like how could she do this to me and I was like because I needed someone else to feel the way that I do at the end of this book betrayed and she was like well congratulations I feel betrayed so just a quick warning about that but it's still amazing and I think Hilary would second that next up is the only book that's not a special or first edition although I do or I will eventually have a special edition because I did recently order like a mega super duper special edition of it but I won't have that for some time and there is a tragic lack in this department you can't even get hard covers and that is the fifth season by N.K. Jemisin and the entire broken earth trilogy but the fifth season of the three I think is like the whole thing as a project the entire trilogy is a masterpiece but the fifth season would I would say is my favorite of the three this is not for the faint of heart it's an extremely harrowing story I guess it's sigh fantasy it's unclear exactly where and when this is taking place it seems kind of like a futuristic earth but again it's very unclear where and when this is taking place and it definitely has things in it that would be very difficult to explain as like sci-fi it definitely feels more like magic but it's hard to pin that down so this is a let's say a far future earth or it gives that feeling and the the very earth itself has kind of become the enemy the earth itself is pretty unhospitable to life to human life in particular and so we follow three characters as they navigate this world in very sort of different parts of the world different parts of society different parts of the kind of like social infrastructure so you get eyes on kind of different ways human beings have reorganized themselves in order to respond to the world being the way that it is and it's so insanely well done first of all the inventiveness of the world building in the story is amazing but also the way that the culture and the people have responded to this is so authentically done I often refer to it as being quite anthropologically done this imagining of how humans would respond to not just the physical environmental threats but how they would also turn on each other in such circumstances and how they would harm each other in those circumstances but also how they would band together in those circumstances how society would change how culture would change how social and cultural norms would change how social strata would change how all of this would kind of like reform itself in response to the environment because if we're going to talk about anthropology culture is as much a product of the environment that it is placed in as it is of like the minds of the people it is often formed around biological and an environmental necessity that then becomes a part of cultural practice as a response to that so the way that she has invented this world and the people's response to it I've never read anything like it before in my life it is incredible I am still gobsmacked about this book next up I have The Assassin's Apprentice or just Assassin's Apprentice I hate when people add that to titles that doesn't have the and I did it now myself by Robin Hobb The Farsier Trilogy is I have not yet finished Fits in the Fool I'm like more than halfway through the last book and Fits in the Fool and then I'll be done with all of The Realm of the Elderlings and I think I will still maintain that The Farsier Trilogy the original trilogy is my favorite in The Realm of the Elderlings which is not to say that the other books are not good they are but if I have to choose a favorite I think it's still the original first trilogy The Farsier Trilogy and the first installment is good but it's not what sort of like blows me away so a little bit like Red Rising a little bit like Lives of Black Lamora the first book is probably the weakest installment certainly in that trilogy and it is a weaker installment in The Realm of the Elderlings though I still love it to bits and it is very cozy and engrossing and heartfelt and heartbreaking but I do think that the second and third books in The Farsier Trilogy are what kind of like shoot it to the moon as like chef's kiss 10 out of 10 it feels like a very cozy familiar fantasy world whereas it's kind of like with Rothfuss where it's not that this world is like so crazy new fangled and ground breaking in its invention it's a very traditional feeling world it's very cozy and familiar feeling it's just that it's so well done it's so like authentically realized it feels like a living breathing world there's a lot of little details about it's not just like oh we've got Castle we've got knights we've got King whatever don't need to be more specific than that she has thought through everything about this like fantasy culture so even though it feels familiar it's so thorough in its execution that it feels like this authentic real place that you could visit and has its own history and lore and people and culture and then the characters in it are so well written heartbreakingly so most of the time she does love the torch of her characters so FYI there is also Animal Cruelty which is extremely hard to read I'm not gonna lie it's one of the main reasons the series is so heartbreaking to read so FYI on that as well but it's so well done so so well done Robin Hobb next to Jabra Kambi and George RR Martin is like one of the absolute best in terms of world building and character building and like doing both at the same time so yeah I highly recommend second to last I've got The Greenbone Saga by Fondly now I have not yet read Jade Legacy don't at me about this I'm gonna read it I am because I love Jade City and I loved Jade War it is 1,000% worth of hype I was so nervous to read Jade City because a little bit like Evelyn Hugo like I went into this having heard the hype this wasn't like Name of the Wind where I just like randomly found it no pressure, no expectations and was wowed everyone on the fantasy bookish internet was losing their minds over The Greenbone Saga so when I finally picked up Jade City I was like God I hope I like this because I'm so tired of having the hot take that whatever it is that everyone loves I hate so when I started reading Jade City and was like oh I'm into this I am very into this I was simultaneously excited just to have a book that I'm enjoying and also relieved to not be hating it so this is again very different from what we normally get in fantasy in some respects this is more like urban fantasy and yet it's urban fantasy as written by like a high fantasy author so urban fantasy like I don't really like I never read it but I really love this and it's not just that oh this is urban fantasy done well it's not written like urban fantasy this feels like the way that like high fantasy is written usually but we've placed it in a modern setting so if Patrick Rothes had written Name of the Wind but had like made his world have like a more modern idea of technology and society which like is an option and that's not really I don't think the approach when people write urban fantasy urban fantasy is like let's take our actual real world and add some magic to it versus being like well in theory if all these fantasy worlds are like oh this is like medieval Europe this is like the renaissance like in theory if we kept telling stories in those worlds that if progress is made in technology etc that eventually they might come to look like something more like our modern world and still be this entirely fantasy world so that's kind of what Greenbone feels like so that's why I don't really feel like it's like urban fantasy and it doesn't have the tropes and trappings and like narrative expectations that anyone who reads urban fantasy would go in expecting so it doesn't really belong with urban fantasy even though it's I guess urban fantasy so anyway this feels like Piki Blinders in magical modern-ish Asia-ish so we've got these sort of like Yakuza-esque inspired clans that are very mafia in vibe although they are sanctioned by the government the magic system is based on jade stone being used by people who have a sensitivity to it to increase their power and strength etc and the way that she's built this world and all of the beliefs and practices and traditions surrounding the use of jade and the way these clans work and the really messy gray world she's painted where like the people you're rooting for you're like I don't know that I should be rooting for this because like they are pretty violent and I don't know that this is the best way to organize your society but they are our main characters so I guess I'm rooting for it and then there's introduction of of drug abuse and things like that that is again invented for the world and it doesn't feel like just a lazy analog of something in our real world while still being very like you recognize some of the issues that we have in our real world but it doesn't just feel like what's the word for a story that's just telling a different story in a mask oh my gosh there's a word for it that's what Narnia is allegory it's not an allegory but it's just so complex and it gets even more complex in Jade War the characters themselves are well written even if they're difficult to read about or difficult to root for I love this to bits so much it's so good it was 100% worth the hype and I do want to reach a legacy but also when I reach a legacy then it'll be over although I do have the jades that are jam lit as well but then it'll be over I'm not ready for it to be over so I'll get there I'll get there and never fear last but certainly not least is the blade itself for the entirety of the first law by Joe Abercrombie I don't know how much I really need to say because if you're here and you're at my channel then you probably already know that we stan first law on this channel it is like my entire personality when I have completed every collection that I'm in the process of collecting for first law so like these this is the broken binding edition broken binding is doing more books so like when I have all of those and every other like series of editions that I'm like getting all of the editions for once I have all of those I think I legitimately will have enough first law books to fill an entire bookcase with just first law books which isn't why it's worth the hype but I'm just saying so yeah I love love love love love the first law I didn't love the first time I read it though the first time I read the blade itself I had no idea that it was grimdark I didn't really even know that grimdark fantasy existed I was a lot lot younger I picked it up expecting you know a hero and a quest and some wizards and whatnot and I got sand and glock to and I was like what this is the protagonist what why would anyone want to read this what would anyone want to be reading about this who's rooting for this I did some growing and some changing and some some darkening and I returned to the world of the first law and was like oh okay I get it now this is my cup of tea so if you're not one for violence if you're not one for gallows humor if you're not one for lots of politics and intrigue and a very character driven story that's not that focused on like a quick plot where like lots is happening or lots and lots of magic and world building it's pretty stripped down in that sense but it's very political and very complex from a character perspective again very dark most of the characters are pretty like terrible people in one way or another it's incredible the variety of terrible this on offer but it has excellent wit and humor again mostly gallows humor which is my favorite kind of humor so these are my comfort reads sand and glock to is my comfort character so I love these books they feel cozy to me to return to over and over and over again even though it's admittedly dark and violent and gritty and I guess unpleasant but I never feel that depressed by it I've read grim dark that's depressing I never find first law depressing it's just darkly hilarious and at times tragic and at times emotional but I mostly am grinning from ear to ear when I read first law maybe that says more about me than it does about anything else if any of that sounds great to you then what are you doing? read first law those are all the books well I shouldn't say all the books there are certainly other books that have been hyped that I have also enjoyed that are not here today on this list for whatever reason so it is not an exhaustive list but it is um a pretty good list I think let me know in the comments down below if you've read these already if you've never read these if I've convinced you to read them if I've convinced you not to read them would everyone let me know I post videos on Saturdays other random times as well definitely Saturdays so like and subscribe turn on my patreon if you feel so inclined and I'll see you when I see you