 the video. This is the brilliant one. Wow. No, absolutely not. Clearly not for me. I have probably pissed off every single person watching this video. Books that are not worth the hype. This video is part one of two. In part two I will talk about books that are worth the hype. It's not all negativity around here all the time. I thought we'd start negative and end positive. So today is books that I feel were not worth the hype. This is of course a reflection of my personal opinions, tastes, and feelings. This is not universal. I do often like to say that it is because I feel in my heart that it is. I do not promise that I won't use words such as this is objectively bad but you know these are my thoughts and feelings. So it's also this list is in no particular order so I'm not going from like worst to best or best to worst or anything like that. This is by no means an exhaustive list. This is not every hyped book that I feel is not worth the hype. There are certainly many hyped books that I disliked that are not on this list. These are 10 books that most came to mind when I wanted to put together a list of books that I felt were not worth the hype. So number one is The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. If you're new to my channel it's been actually a little while now since I took down the video. If you don't know this the entire reason that I started a Patreon was because of my two Sanderson videos. They were getting so much hate and I was like joking with friends and I think one of my friends suggested it that basically to put a paywall up to make those videos patron only videos so that if you wanted to come and yell at me you'd have to pay for the privilege and that's why I started a Patreon. So if yeah if you've never seen those videos the only way to see them now is to be a patron. The Way of Kings like I said if you're new to my channel then you may genuinely not know about my infamous hot take that The Way of Kings sucks although I feel that people have brought it up enough to where it's in a common collective memory at this point. One of my most famous hot takes. Yeah I thought Way of Kings sucked and over the years there's been many a time when I've had so much FOMO because like man the Sanderson fandom they are they are mighty and anytime Sanderson does anything they are there for him. It's kind of cool to see and it makes me always go oh I wish I could be a part of that and it makes me go maybe I should maybe I should give it another chance maybe I should try to read words of radiance but then I remember about all the stuff that was in Way of Kings and I thought was so dumb and I'm like there's just no way that any of that's gonna be any different in the rest of the series so yeah no I I do not understand why people like Way of Kings. Even if the next one is better which most people say that it is I like I said I'm fairly certain and I also believe people have confirmed for me when I've asked that the things that I am aggravated by are not fixed so it's like pacing better um things like I guess maybe character development is better or something like that but like it's like world building stuff which is supposed to be Brandon Sanderson's big claim to fame like he's the world building guy I think his world building genuinely sucks I think it's so bad and it just baffles me that people think it's brilliant I read Mistborn and I thought the world building was like pretty cool I quite liked the world building in Mistborn and people were like Mistborn you ain't seen nothing yet his true like the pinnacle of what Brandon Sanderson can do is the Stormlight archive so I was like all right let's go and I read the Way of Kings and I was like what this is the brilliant one this is the one that's the end all and be all of fantasy world building I have so many questions and problems and criticisms like my video was like an hour long admittedly it was an hour long because a lot of it was me just kind of like being frustrated so it's not a straight hour of listing points I'm not gonna claim that but there were so many things that I thought were badly done made no sense were not coherent did not make sense when combined with other things were just baffling decisions and then I also thought it was paced terribly I thought the characterization was like pretty poor there was just like no upside like I couldn't reading it I wasn't like well this isn't my cup of tea but like I get what it is that people are getting out of this genuinely years years later someone finally explained to me at least for them what they were getting out of it and I finally kind of understood what someone might be getting out of it that is definitely not something I would ever get out of it and it's like the way that he makes certain parts of his magic be kind of like a reflection of real world like principles in physics or something like that and my dad loves the stormlight archive he didn't pass that gene on to me and he's uh he was an aerospace engineer so if that's what he's getting out of it I kind of understand and if that's what people are getting out of it like I kind of understand but I also just feel like the average person is not going to pick up on that or be aware of that so like truly I can't say that I understand why people like it because I don't think people are getting you know physics out of the stormlight archive maybe they are maybe I'm wrong but real building and characterization and pacing and storytelling like oh atrocious in my opinion um clearly not the majority opinion and I to this day do not understand when people are getting out of this so yeah definitely not worth the hype you know how I said the sanderson fandom does show up for sanderson while my camera overheated conveniently uh just after I finished talking about sanderson so they were too late to stop me but we're back in business now and I'm ready to talk about the next book on my list which is the forgetting moon by brian lee derpy this book is not I wouldn't say like widely hyped like in the greater book reading universe but in my corner of booktube the fan of the adult fantasy corner of booktube it's quite hyped and a lot of creators that I respect admire follow regardless friends all love the forgetting moon and generally the five warrior angel series because of that because of how much they love it even though I was not liking the first book really at all I was like well they all seem to love it there's got to be a reason so I like gave it a hopeful three stars hoping slash expecting that the second book in the series would would justify that would reward the faith I had placed in it and oh boy that series well I have not and will not read the third book but the first two of the three books are just everything that I hate the characterization is terrible the royal building was not very good and the way it was delivered was through info dimson expository dialogue the themes and like the message of the book was delivered to the most ham-fisted aggressive here's the message guys way that beggared belief in terms of like what's going on in the story the way characters stop the story to tell you the message and also it's just insulting to me as a reader I'm like yes your message is so painfully obvious just in a way you're telling the story and then you also have characters stop and tell me the message because you were afraid I still didn't get it like sir sir we get it's not a very original message it's not a very clever message it's not a brilliantly nuanced message it's um it's just it's not it's not good and it has the tone of like the author being like I have it's like um like a kid that's gone to college and taken you know intro to philosophy and come home for Christmas break and it's like I have some deep thoughts that no one has ever had before let me tell you the let me share my wisdom with you and it's like these are not deep thoughts um or at least they're not very original thoughts like I'm glad you're discovering these thoughts but this isn't new this isn't groundbreaking you're not really doing anything here and then the handling of women was just egregious offensive and just bad where again it's like there were these moments where I was like I think you think you're being feminist and oh boy you are not so just just yikes basically just yikes wow no absolutely not next up I have legends and lattes by Travis Baldry I believe I would not have picked this up I kind of feel bad putting on this list because like I tried in making this list to not put books that are like just so absolutely not my kind of thing to where like there was just never a chance that I was going to like it for example like ice planet barbarians if you're expecting to see it on this list wait did I put it on the list no I didn't put it on the list and that was why I thought about it but I was like because it's really hyped and I hated it but also like I wouldn't have read it if I hadn't been made to read it because I knew that I wouldn't like it and that's just kind of not fair because I don't do that I don't pick up books that I think I'm gonna hate on purpose just or rant about them people seem to think that I do that and I really don't if I'm reading a book and I'm choosing to read it it's because I hope and expect to like it if I'm reading a book with the expectation of hating it it's because someone's making me do it like for a book club or something like that but anyway um back to the book I'm actually here to talk about uh even though it does kind of fall into this category so legends and latte is it's cozy fantasy which is like the new the new buzzword and that's just like not a thing that I'm interested in at all whatsoever if you tell me that a book is a cozy fantasy book I'm like yeah nope no thank you not for me my patrons chose it for me to read in vlog so so I did I was like I'm not gonna like it and I didn't but I mean I didn't go into it being like determined to hate it I was like I mean I hope I like it I don't want to spend time reading a book that I hate um that that's not a good time so I was like hopefully I get something out of it maybe you know even if it's not my cup of tea I'll find something you know charming about it or whatever and I just didn't it was just the most boring and unamusing waste of my time I truly do not understand people are getting out of this I'm told people find it like do find it funny and that they do really like the characters and that they really enjoy reading about cinnamon rolls I don't like sweets and I don't like saccharine stories and I don't think it was like sweetly cute and like aw so cute like I didn't think it was that cute really and I definitely didn't think it was funny like the humor and it was definitely not my my humor I was just so I cannot overstate how bored I was I truly was like what is the point of this I I do not understand um if I meant to like feel good reading this I do not I mean in fairness my comfort character is sand and glock yeah um so this is why I would not choose to read that but like I have read books that like I mean I always talk about linking radiance by Grace Draven which is a romance book and I don't typically read romance but I really like the characters and that's how I always describe rereading it is like I just like hanging out with brishon and il dico like I just like spending time with those characters and that I can almost like kind of feel like oh that's just like cozy to me like just being with them and like I like their humor and I like their dynamic and just being around them as I read it is pleasant so like if that's what people mean with with legends a lot to is like I guess I understand that as a concept but I don't get how you're getting that out of this book because it was just so boring like these are not characters like I wish I could meet like these are characters that are like I would have polite conversations with at work over the water cooler because because you do that because they are in your proximity but I would have no desire to have any more than polite conversation as needed when necessary to coexist in an office like you're like so boring so uninteresting so unamusing I don't understand how people are getting out of it I don't cinnamon rolls like if that's truly what you're getting out of this like just just watch some recipe videos number four is an oldie traders blade by Sebastian de Castel one of uh not my first rant review but it's an early rant review on my channel I was reminded recently of it because someone commented on it which like people do comment on like old videos from time to time and usually it's not a comment that makes me like want to go back and look at that video because it's usually like oh good point thanks for the video or like I don't need something like that I'm just like cool but they said something in my in the comments of the of that video that made me go what did I say in that video it's been so long like I don't even remember so I did rewatch my own video to be like what did I say about this book and I was reminded of how horrible that book is oh that book is so dumb so like a lot of the stuff in it that happens that's really really dumb is quite spoilery and I'm not here to spoil books even if I don't think you should read them so if you want to hear um my full spoilery ranty thoughts about it um there is that old video of mine um I can't vouch for like the video quality and the editing quality it's it's old oh my god I forgot how stupid that book was so like I remembered that I didn't like it but the specifics I hadn't forgotten about and as I was like rewatching my video I was like oh yeah I forgot about that so bad oh and it's so bizarre too and it's so gross and so it's gross because like these are like characters painted as being virtuous and they do some pretty icky things and but like the the weird stupid parts I cannot overstate how bizarre those choices are while also being off-putting it's just one of the most baffling reading experiences I've ever had I don't understand the the mindset of the author in writing that book like what were you thinking sir did did your editor never stop and go are you sure are you sure about that I kind of recommend looking up spoilers if you haven't read it because like I trigger warnings probably I think yeah I don't think that's overstating it it's like oh it's like everything that you shouldn't do in a book it does it's like it it had been challenged to do to write a book where you break every rule of like what you're supposed to do in a book it's kind of impressive yeah I've heard the rest of the series is better but I was not gonna give it a chance after that first installment because I owe it nothing number five is uh Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff there is a live show with me and Alex from last Halloween where uh I wore the obligatory black lipstick Alex did not we did have um a good time chatting about that book reading it no I mean Alex didn't even finish it he he dnf'd it I read the whole thing and it was 800 pages of nonsense the way I described it um in that live chat in my worst books of the year video wherever else I've talked about it um is that it's like misogyny and homophobia met up at hot topic it's just the most ridiculous offensive over the top edgelord bs that I've ever read I just oh it's it's once again kind of baffling and it's also baffling to me how many people love it I don't understand how like people look this is Jay Kristoff's best book yet I'm like how I truly do not understand like that that book is a joke and like not on purpose like it's it's like I'm laughing at it not with it and I'm still to this day traumatized by the number of times it used the expression truth be told or if truth were told or to speak truth literally to this day when books do this I flinch because it did it so many times an empire the vampire that it I can't I can't handle that phrase anymore it's a perfectly valid phrase I cannot hear it anymore and if I find myself saying it I also flinch like oh it's it's not good guys it's not good it's very violent it's very graphic it's very again misogynistic worldbuilding is stupid the narrative device of the character telling his own story is just that's already a format that like kind of beggars belief you have to have quite an immense amount of going with itness to have that be the sort of like framing device but this person is under duress does not wish to be sharing his own story but nevertheless he shares his own story in the most elaborate time-skippy jumpy um detailed 800 page telling and we keep checking in with the present day of him being like I'm going to tell my own story in my own way if I have to tell it at all and it's like stop reminding me that this is the premise because that's so unbelievable um anyway yeah so check out the live show with Alex if you're interested it was again it was a spoilery so if you're worried about that um then don't but I don't recommend reading the book so wouldn't worry about it next is a book um which uh probably shouldn't put on the list for the same reason that I was talking about for like a um oh what's it called I explain a barbarians but from blood and ash by Jennifer L. Armand Trout because again like I probably wouldn't have pitched this although I can't say that I would never have read it like I might have been curious to read it because like I read and enjoyed the cruel print um I read it and enjoyed shatter me so it's so hyped that like I might have been curious to pick it up because it's a fantasy book um even though like romance is clearly central to it so it was so hyped I might have picked it up I'm not going to say that that would not have happened at all probably wouldn't have finished it though if it hadn't been a book club pick that was also a situation where the world building and character development is just like non-existent what is there is bad and offensive and very questionable and really cringe and I was told that oh well even though this is like a swords and sorcery like old olden day kind of fantasy um that the the reason it feels so like weirdly modern is because the author typically before writing that had written urban fantasy I was like that makes zero difference that's fine that she wrote urban fantasy before that's not what this is so if you're not willing to adjust your style to this other kind of a story then don't write a different kind of story like if Ken Follett suddenly decided to write like a present day story but everyone talked like they were in the olden days you wouldn't be like well he typically writes historical fiction that's why everyone talks in this completely unnatural way you'd be like no if you've decided to write a story on the modern day then you need to change what you've typically done those that I'm not I'm sorry that's just how it works like you can't be like well I usually write this other thing so I'm just not going to try to be good at writing this other type of thing I'm just going to do what I always do like what how is that a valid explanation for why it is the way that it is I I don't understand I don't know what is appealing about the story or the characters or the fantasy of it I don't understand what's appealing about the romance of it it's just so long and cringy it's clearly not for me number seven I have Babel by RF Guang I have a very long review of this book which I'll leave link down below if you're interested where I went in depth unpacking and analyzing it from multiple perspectives I've been kind of like jokey throughout this video that's kind of the fun of this kind of video but with Babel like I don't even really want to joke because like I it hurt me that I hated it I wanted to like it and it remains a project that like a book that has that as its project is something that I vastly approve of and would want to love like the product that is the result of this project and the fact that it was executed in my opinion so badly really like hurts and bothers me because I think it's a very worthy project and it was very easy to identify so many things that could be fixed about it to not make it perfect but like to immediately improve it it wasn't fun to rant about that book it was very upsetting how bad it was and I had kind of had a suspicion that I would feel that way about it I had very much hoped to be wrong about that but to find that it was even worse than I thought it would be was genuinely painful and the way that people talk about it being so so so so brilliant is also concerning to me because like if people think that that is the best version of that I just I guess I can never hope for a genuinely good version of that because people think that what we got was brilliant and it wasn't so I don't know what to tell but that that wasn't it next I have the shadow what was lost by the islington islington first name escapes me I have that on my want to read for ages and ages mostly because of the cover very orange cover we love an orange cover and you know a chunky adventure fantasy book like it looked like very traditional fantasy I think it was um it like came into my awareness or was on my radar around the same time that I picked up dawn of wonder by um don't remember the author's name dawn of wonder I highly highly highly recommend and that's a self-published book it is really good and dawn of wonder was kind of being shown to me at the same time on amazon as shadow what was lost and so like because that was like linked in my mind and I kind of expected shadow what was lost to be like that and in some respects it is because like it is a traditional fantasy there is like questing and chosen ones and like it feels very familiar in that sense so yes I guess like I would say if you like shadow what was lost you'd probably like dawn of wonder but if you like dawn of wonder you wouldn't necessarily like shadow what was lost because I love dawn of wonder and I did not like shadow what was lost because like dawn of wonder is like the rothfuss version where it's like beautifully told and emotionally told and very like character driven and character centric and shadow what was lost was more like wheel of time which there's a lot of people to like that but I don't because it's not that way the prose isn't very good the characterization isn't very good um so then like with something like rothfuss or dawn of wonder the fact of the world being fairly derivative and kind of cookie-cutter and just very traditional fantasy not groundbreaking in any way doesn't really bother me when I'm so engrossed in the characters and the story and I feel that that is being told so well that I'm like okay well the world is like it's whatever it's a fantasy world but I'm I'm so here for the story and these characters that it's taking place in it but when it's like the shadow of what was lost and everything is like paint by number including the characters and their conversations and the prose is like just just barely serviceable that's just not gonna work for me it's not it's not my cup of tea especially when it's so freaking long because it's not giving me anything that's like if you're not gonna wow me with your prose or your character work then I better be really impressed with your world building and I definitely wasn't so I kind of get why that's hyped because like I don't understand why people like wheel of time but they do and because they do then I get why shadow of what was lost would also work for you because people are liking these things that I do not like but if you like the one I can see why you'd like the other in a similar vein number nine is malice by John Gwynne pretty much just like copy paste what I just said because people love malice uh the way they talk about the faithful and the fallen I was so hyped I bought all four books before reading it and then read malice and was like nope and got rid of full four it also felt very like derivative and cringy the character work was not good people say that what they love about that series is the characters which is like where why I decided there was no point in reading on because if it was like yeah if people said that it's the character work isn't what's great about the series there's something else about it I'd be like well okay maybe read and find out but if they're like oh yeah the weaknesses you cite like those are that's true but it's the characters and I'm like no no the characters are not good they're not well written they're not fully fleshed out they feel so derivative and or like plot convenience and the dialogue was so bad and there was so many of them and I couldn't tell any of them apart and the plot the way out of it was just felt so amateurish so incredibly amateurish and not in a way that's hopeful not in a way that's like this is a little rough but I see the potential it was just rough and the way people praise it where they're like oh it's a little slow to start but once you get into it I was like no at no point was I into it so yeah I don't get it I really don't and lastly is red sister by Mark Lawrence which is a book that started out strong when I first started reading it like the first couple chapters I was like I think this is gonna be a new favorite and then it took me like two years to finish it uh yeah I don't like that I have an old review of that as well um it's for a while I think that was like a darling a book I haven't seen people talk about it recently partly because you know the books all came out already so people were talking about it as it was coming out um but I never read past the first book it also felt very much like a dude writing a fantasy book where like he thinks he's being super feminist and it's like just because there's a bunch of women in this story doesn't mean you're being feminist that's not what that means it was yeah it's a little hard to explain because it's a little more nuanced it wasn't so like immediately and obviously bad it wasn't like now I saw or to the forgetting moon like I think the prose is pretty good and I think the royal building is decently interesting which is why at first I was like I think I'm gonna be into this it quickly fizzled and the plot seemed to go nowhere and the main character became not just it's okay if your main character is unlikable but unlikeable in a way that felt very like not necessarily intended by by the author it's it's unlikeable in a way that like the way that they're structuring the character and the way they're having the character respond to things in the world and like what it is where they're expecting you to buy into this that's just like not working at all so it's like very hard to to root for or sympathize or understand or even be interested in the main character um and then a lot of stuff like kind of like building off of that and the world building started to feel less and less impressive and less and less logical as we went and I just was less and less impressed with it and I was getting really bored with it and not loving the women how they were being handled by this male author yeah so in the end when people are like oh this is such a good series I was like no it's not though I mean I guess maybe books two and three like are really amazing but when I talk to people like the people who loved the series liked the first book as well and didn't really have my problems with it so once again I really don't get it but I'm glad I'm really happy for y'all if you love those books you know nothing I say can really diminish your joy in them which is um pretty much what I have to say about all these books I have probably pissed off every single person watching this video it's unlikely that you watch this and there wasn't at least one book here that you like so I'm sorry but again just because I hate it doesn't mean you like it any less so really it doesn't affect you at all I hope you found this interesting or entertaining or helpful or something but whatever you want to let me know I post videos on Saturdays other random times as well but I think Saturdays like and subscribe join my patreon if you feel so inclined and I'll see you when I see you bye