Xaden is a character of colour??? i didnt even know

there was so much wrong with this book that i wouldnt even know where to start. how is it possible for the books to get worse??

20:38 I am not 100% sure about it because I only read Fourth Wing but I think it was mentioned there that when someone dies all their stuff gets burned?? And that’s why it was problematic that she also kept the book from her brother???

27:58 so I have narcolepsy. My brain doesn’t make the chemical that keeps me awake (or maybe it’s autoimmune and my brain attacks that chemical, we don’t know yet). I cannot simply “stay awake”. I cannot just make myself stay awake. And if I somehow manage to do that, my brain will think I’m sleeping, and start dreaming while my body is awake. I used to have “hallucinations” and got tested for a whole bunch of things before a doc took me seriously and was like “oh damn, you can’t keep yourself awake?”. Yeah. There isn’t a box. Or if there is a box - my box is full of hallucinatory shadow people.

32:28 Floyd Henderson from the show Smart Guy. I caught that reference, and appreciated it. Not enough people talk about Smart Guy.

27:30 I literally know exactly what you're talking about! My 22 year old brother ate my Special K when I was dieting, and I'll never forget it.

acting as if you can't be or produce bad representation just because you are part of that specific marginalized group is like acting as if Candice Owens don't exist smh. the facts are that when you put a character in a marginalized group unless you are doing something or saying something or shaping something with that marginalization, it's just set dressing.

new adult is supposed to be characters between the ages of 19-25 with yes, spicier content, it is supposed to tackle more complex issues that require more nuance than ya. however. I find this book to be almost a waste of paper and that is so obnoxious to me. Evie is absolutely incompetent except at being a secretary, and I hate the someone is so hot your brain goes empty trope. I constantly wanna shake her and be like "stand up girl you got shit to do." the fake out of the only black character being evil also pissed me tf off tbh. a character I didn't know was supposed to be black, despite her being a b character, until almost the end of the book. I dislike this book, and I only finished it because I was reading it with friends. my bestie dnf'd.

First time watching your videos and subbed after the intro, I’m CACKLING 😂

Thank you for your service

I write fantasy. I hope my books aren’t this bad…. Never finished editing them or the series I’m working on but I hope mine aren’t this bad

so glad my favorite authors are dead so they can't say dumb shit.

im so glad you wont be putting yourself through a sjm book. i had so many people tell me id like acotar and it was slaver redemption porn, yes that is an over simplification, but it is there and somehow my friends thought that as a descendant of the slave trade I'd like that?? 😩 protect yourself king, these ✋🏻 tryna take us out.

as someone who is also biracial this echoed a lot of my feelings towards white authors using mixed characters. another issue i tend to have is in them being biracial, like why did they need to be biracial to experience this, why arent they just black? or asian? or whatever. why do you need them to still be half way white when youre making a point of talking about racism and other intersectional oppression. it just ends up playing into tragic mulatto narratives. idk its uncomf.

What irks me about these types of books with classism and segregation etc., is the lack of nuance. I’m a lot more knowledgeable on the german nationalism, because it is still palpable in both germany and poland (especially Lower Silesia which still 'looks' poorer), but it can still apply here. Not everyone was on the side of the oppressor, but rarely did people do anything against the governing powers. Out of fear to be killed or be captured as a political prisoner (who also died in the death and work camps). Political opponents and 'traitors' were the ones paraded on the streets first, the killing happened in a side alley or outside of the country (Auschwitz being in poland instead of germany). Only when the war ended, where there mass hangings etc. in the streets (not that it never happened before, just less to keep a front). Still there were people secretly working against the government. For example Schindler, who officially 'bought' jews from the camps to employ them in his factory. In actuality they tried to sabotage the munitions, so not one of their produced goods ever worked in the war to hurt anybody. People in his factory could ask him to save one of their family members and he did, if they were still alive. At the end of the war, his saved employees returned the favor by clothing him and his wife in camp uniform and sending them off before the (I think it was the) soviets arrived at the factory which ultimately saved Oskar and Emilie Schindler’s lives. He died poor (having exhausted all his funds to save people…) and still felt extremely guilty that he couldn’t save more people. His psychological trauma and guilt might be a reason why he didn’t succeed in working normally after the war. His former employees again coming to his rescue to pay for necessities. He was buried in Jerusalem on Mount Zion, acknowledged by the Israeli government and Yad Vashem; and has a room with a book, where all the names of the saved people are noted. He saved around 1200 jews, one of whom came in contact with an author whose book was the base for the movie Schindler’s list. Before that Schindler’s actions were unknown to the public. People opposing these types of governments would have to fly under the radar. They can’t be known by anyone or they would be dead!

the only thing that makes me question your bias here is that when you've talked about FMC's out for revenge is that you don't like them, but somehow it's okay here, and you nod towards this, but I think this might be a bias you may want to be more aware of. Why is it you don't resonate with women who want revenge, but it's okay for MMC? but! sometimes it do be like that. we all have bias and you give such thorough reviews talking about books that I can sort of separate your bias from the rest. as to why there are still oppressive systems in "progressive" world states, it's because these are unrelated. being rules by a matriarch doesn't mean that Patriarchy as a system does not exist. England is a great example of that, as well as Judaism, the Masou and Gabo. Matriarchal society ≠ an absence of patriarchy, classism, racism, etc. the same as how colorism & featurism can still exist in monoethnic states.

I cant get over the fact that the mc doesnt read the greats because she doesnt want to be accused of stealing ideas when one of piper cj's biggest controversies is being accused of plagiarizing the witcher

Here are the thoughts I’ve been struggling with: • This ending was just IF on steroids but with even more of a chaotic plot. Driving me absolutely bonkers. We finally get a battle where Violet’s not letting emotions rule and Xaden is doing his own thing and suddenly we get Xaden channeling - just like IF. Rhiannon’s chapter was so pointless, it would of been better served to have a more explained Xaden chapter earlier in the battle to have us aware of what was going on with Pancheck in a way that gave us more betrayal and time to process. Then back to him at the end. Also on Pancheck, it would have been so much better for a Papa Aetos being venin reveal instead. • Andarna’s loss was so big for me as a reader that has liked the books, but her coming back in the same book immediately voids those emotions. She should have stayed gone and not come back until next book. Every time we get something to really feel and care about in this book something counters it or it’s not referenced in the same emotional way again because of Violet’s magic ability to never process pain or emotions past what she wants to. • I enjoyed the world building of this book and the gods but I agree we needed way more lore of each god and how they work. Are they real gods that just watch and don’t participate? Are they gods that once participated? What is the lore? • Imogen was vital to this book’s end but barely present for the entire book. It felt like whiplash to suddenly care for her again. She was important in IF but now she’s way more front and center for the ending… I just wish we’d gotten more of her and Quinn or her and Vi if it was going to be such a big deal.

The fact that this has been compared to fanfic is an insult to 95% of the fanfic I’ve ever read.

(I'm just ranting here, sorry). Ugh as someone who studies writing and fantasy...books like this series just make me go 🙄. I hate how they're in the fantasy section placed next to actual fantasy and good books. I cannot wait for the Romantasy trend to be over and I hope it gets absorbed back into romance or for it to just have its own section. Romantasy tries too hard to stand next to fantasy when the fantasy elements of them fall apart when you think about it for more than 2 seconds. They are poorly written like a 14 year olds first fanfiction, and I can find better and FREE fanfiction on Wattpad and AO3 than whatever books like these are. It's like a massive amount of people are having a fanfiction awakening that the rest of us had in middle school. And don't even get me started on how Yarros uses Scots Gaelic. How she went on an interview and mispronounced and misrepresented everything because she couldn't be bothered to do the proper research or have a care with anything. Or how she did such an atrocious job with disability representation, it shows that even when someone has said disability that it doesn't automatically mean that they're the best ones to write about it. And I hate how this fandom just excuses everything (nothing new, but still hate it because they try to silence critics or go let people enjoy things...um, no. Let people talk about things including what's bad about it). (I don't care if someone gets mad at my comment. If you think I'm personally attacking you because you like this series then that's your problem and not mine).

thank goodness. i unfortuantely read fourth wing and couldnt bear to read the rest of the series but i have to know bad how the dumpster fire continues to burn. and all the other recaps i found i could not stomach. so this is much appreciated lol it had me literally chuckling out loud

Not you literally sating your white girl in cable knit sweater hyping the book and the next short I see is exactly that😂😂😂 i almosy dropped my phone laughing.

Agreed

I agree with everything you said. I didn't like this book, I liked the 2nd book and had high hopes, especially as I saw so many good reviews, but I was let down. I hated from chapter one. I dont like the main characters or the Violet dragon, the decision making is stupid, everything just works out for them. Like it was upsetting and a letdown. I mercifully gave it 2 stars.

That dedication is honestly insulting. This is THE mainstream book. It does not represent POC or trans people or any type of minority 🙄

42:56 Sabaa Tahir's An ember in the ashes, is a great example of YA having actual significant characters who die, also awesome world building 🎉

Love the keffiyeh on the chair 💕🇵🇸

Would you do a book review of Immortal Dark or a book from The Legacy of Orisha series?

I wasn't even remotely into these stories. I've seen them on tik tok, and other places, but never had interest in reading them. Well, last week the audiobook for Fourth Wing popped up here on my main page for youtube. I was like- It's free let me give it a whirl and someone can read to me. I cringed at the narrator alone. Her sinus issues, etc made it abundantly clear she was sick and they didn't bother to re-record the first half of the book???? So, I pushed through attempting to keep my growing disgust at her noises in check. Guess what? I didn't like the book. But I was still curious. I mean I felt no emotion for any of the characters. I didn't care if they lived or died. I couldn't keep half of them in perspective of who was who because they were that forgettable. And I b*tched to my hubby about how much I hated all three books once I finished Onyx Storm. But I bitched a little about Fourth Wing before starting Iron Flame. I explained that she started the book off at like from a level of 1-10 like an 11 for me in heightened action in the book just from first chapter. And there wasn't much of a lull to just come to terms or maybe understand the characters it was just something of high anxiety happening scene after scene after scene. It numbed me to caring about what happened with any character especially Violet. There was only one emotional response from me and it was for a different character though can't remember which one and at the very end of the book that made me chuckle a little. That's it. The ONLY EMOTIONAL RESPONSE. I explained to him that as a writer and reader myself I couldn't connect because no down time between high anxiety scenes. And when you have a story like that where you don't get a moments peace really it's just yeah... Iron Flame was worse and made me just hate the series that much more. And these long books of no development really is just annoying and frustrating. Half the time I couldn't even keep the rules of the world straight because they seemed to change in the moment to fit whatever was happening in scene. I get it she's human we're all human and sometimes things shift while writing, but just... And I'm not a perfect writer by NO MEANS. Heck, I didn't even know Xaden has brown skin because it just must have gone in one ear and out the other. But these books are also predictable as all hell. Come on every time they are about to achieve a goal the goal post is drastically moved way down the line. And there's two more books? Will I read them or listen, yes. I want my total despise of Violet to be complete because she's just going to get worse. And with her memories zapped my guess is Xaden left a little present in Violet that they both didn't plan on. And there will be some weird hybrid venin baby by end of the fourth book or into the fifth. But that is just a guess on the spot. The only character I kind of like is Tarin her dragon. He's just a grumpy bastard that is never near her when she needs him and always a few minutes away. Like what!? LOL Ok my rant is done. This was a good review though.

"You lack critical or regular thinking skills" an excellent way of putting it!

What a tumblr ass dedication 😭

I’m still waiting for this effing book to stop showing up all over bookstagram 😒 I never comment on the posts, people can enjoy whatever they want, but I’m just on there silently hoping the craze dies down soon.

15:13 no but this actually made me realise what I'm missing in a lot of (mostly newer) adult content. The every day troubles and the struggles that arent cussing and sex. My favourite example is still Lord of the rings. It is so honest and filled with real struggles and real emotions and love and friendship. No irony or marvel-esque one-liners. It wasnt afraid to show true severity and hope and depth without being ironic or 'self aware'. I really miss that honesty in new media.

2:50 - 3:07 THIS THIS THIS 💯

liked simply because in less than a minute you showed you GET luffy and zoro. also this review was funny

“Oh neat, a fantasy book series centering a wlw couple” Finds out about the racism, the lack of a plot, the author being a real dick… “Well guess it’s back to the search”

You calling Tairn “Terrance” made me cackle 😭 this was a great review and I agree with every point you made!

The way I liked this video before you even got into the review because your intro was perfect ❤

Thank you. I was looking for man who read and can say something about the book. Because for some reason I have too many booktube ladies. Let hear it.

That sigh at the top of the vid 😸

You know, the fact that he went on a full political rant at the beginning tells a lot about this book. Personally, I have never been able to get through even one third of the first book cause it was dumb, so... Just here for the roast I guess

3:12 if everyone agreed on every issue the world would be a very dull and bleak place. So I will stay and I doubt imma like the book anyways. 😂

I was recommended to read Fourth Wing & Iron Flame because I enjoyed ACOTAR. It was painful to read these two books, I almost DNF’d Iron Flame. The only reason why I finished the book was because of the dragons, they were the best part & carried the story on their backs. Violet is supposed to be extremely physically weak & fragile, which I don’t think is really reflected in the story. She & Xaden have no chemistry, they just find each other attractive. Calling her “Violent” is so, so cringy. Jack Barlow coming back to life felt like a cop out. It’s pretty forgettable, I can’t even remember what the threat was.

I've written a bunch of dragon rider fiction. Some of the ideas might be cool in this series if it ever felt intentional. One. I have a character in one series that whenever one of his lovers says the word but, he replies with you have a nice one. It's cringe, but it's meant to be. That's the purpose. It's meant to be that way. Two. The whole horny on main. I wrote a book where every dragon rider and their support staff are horny all the time. But, this is intentional. Dragons when they bond with the riders break down a lot of those built up mental and social barriers. The staff that supports the dragon riders feel free to behave naturally because dragon riders aren't judgmental. Once again, this is on purpose since I believe the only reason we aren't as open is centuries of repression. So it reflects in the way the riders deal with their issues, they can use violence or sex or talking it out. I'll say it again, her worst parts is the world building. It's just weak. And it all starts with the war college and the society that seems to have formed around it because this is a government too stupid to succeed. Let's ignore the rebellion twenty years ago and focus on the rest of the world. This government has known for a couple of generations the real enemy is the vennin, so why are they focused on the griffon riders? They know the vennin are the ones attacking their outposts, so why aren't they training to fight them properly? Because hand to hand combat isn't going to cut it. Why do they have an entire year basically dedicated to resisting torture when they know nothing? Because the riders know nothing since they are intentionally kept in the dark. (Side note: that is one of the things that 'Need to Know' from non-military folk get wrong. The entire army fails because they are expecting to fight a completely different enemy.) But here is a fun idea the third book should have been focused on, is the empire afraid of revealing the truth about the vennin? If you want to rein in the scope of the overall story for a book, do it about that. You could have kept the interpersonal drama between Violet and Xaden, Violet and Dain's Father, Violet and the riders, and so forth. But now that we readjust our eyes to something important, the people of the kingdom, we can see the seeds of a new rebellion. Might some of those people accidentally turn into vennin now because their anger overwhelms them. Violet, the Mary Sue she is (in my opinion and there are reasons), could be the one to broker peace because the rising rebels and the kingdom. She uses the prince to talk to the king on her behalf and now Xaden has a real reason to be jealous because now she is spending all this extra time with her ex-boyfriend. That is what continues to fuel Xaden's slow turn into a mad vennin. Wouldn't it be interesting to find out that deranged kind of vennin aren't young, but they are older people who tried to hold on to their lives first and things like petty jealousy is what causes them to tip over the edge. There is a better story here. I really believe there is. In the next one, maybe that is what happens. Maybe if she writes another romantasy series, we will see a better world.

Regarding the whitewashing of Xaden: I wonder if he's whitewashed because of the genre of Romantasy having this issue with male leads being racially ambiguously but still with eurocentric facial features. For example, the vast majority of people reading Fourth Wing came over from reading ACOTR where all the main male leads in the Night Court are described with language that makes them ambiguously tan/brown but the only official illustrations from the publisher make these men very tan but with very prominent euro/white facial features. So, maybe the audience superimposed the pretty prominent description of male leads in this genre onto this book just because it's so prominent.

Hi, D fretter, I'm a white nerd who was teased growing up who is also trans and neurodivergent. I've learned a lot from my black and Asian friends and from working in some very diverse workplaces with diverse client populations, so i completely agree that being bullied in school does not equal understanding race based oppression and i have actually seen the same phenomenon for many years of this sort of glib misunderstanding where they think they don't need to interrogate that more. However, i did want to inject a little more nuance on the topic of nerds and that's that nerds in school often are being targeted for poor social skills, neurodiversity, or social isolation, or some combination of the three and going in on their interests is actually secondary. Yes there are nerds who are very privileged but it's more common in my experience for nerds to be people who follow the best of a different drum and children don't tolerate that well. Also, nerd interests appeal to those who dissociate because of abuse within the home. Abuse in the home being another risk factor for bullying since that child isn't securely attached, doesn't know how to safely assert themselves, and lacks backing if they are targeted. It's easy to think all nerds are just spoiled single sons who glided intimate high paying technical jobs and spent thousands on Warhammer or MTG and just not see all the other people on the periphery who are and have been living in much more desperate situations, have poor mental health, little support, and struggle with income and employment. Many nerd social hobbies are pay to play. So again even that situation doesn't mean you magically understand what it's like to not be white, all difficulties are not the same experience, and it's ignorance to pretend that they are. I just winced a bit when you characterized nerds as simply people stigmatized for their interests since broadly in that demographic so many of them never had a chance from kindergarten, long before the lines get drawn around jocks, so it's clearly more complex and profound in terms of the impact on that person's psychological development.

I'm going through all the books too and I'm like what the fuck is this dog shit. Incoherent plot, two dimentional characters. Seems like she wanted to write porn and decided to write a shitty plot around it.

I mean the first book was dumb enough for me