This book is an absolute disappointment... Here are some reasons why: The relic stone is given away so easily, it's ridiculous. Who gives slaves riches and a priceless stone in an arena type vibe? When they saw how powerful the stone was, who leaves them with it? Rubbish. Next, which mercenary have you ever heard of, risks their life for no money? How many useless characters does one book have? Mama yaga, the monk by the temple, the fire wielder, her brother etd, none of these characters have any depth or use. The book is so predictable, when you saw arena fighting, you could tell right away they'd be fighting. You knew frm before hand, Inan would betray her. Have you ever seen black people turn red? Have you ever seen dark skin people flush? We literally cannot get red in the face. I cannot trust a reviewer who gives this book five out of five.

YES I JUST finished the book but I really ship amari and Zélie

I was told to read this before The Fox wife so I am waiting for it to arrive in the mail. It sounds intriguing

You should also watch the BBC adaptation of Fingersmith, released in 2005. Personally the BBC adaptation to the book is way closer to the original book and I find the chemistry between Sue and Maud super convincing between the two actresses compared to the Handmaiden. Personally I find no chemistry between the actress in the Handmaiden.. also the love scenes shot are more exploitative rather than feeling like there’s any romance happening between the two Korean actresses.

I actually LOVE the Citra/Rowan romance because at the heart of this story about these two character, it's just a loyal and beautiful love story of two people who could never seem to be together because of where their differing lives took them. I almost cried at the end when Rowan had to live 100+ years waiting!

the characters are soooo one dimensional its wild people have " favourites". oh i like cardboard cutout # 1 the most!

it felt very mediocre, very cliche. the writing was nothing special. i couldnt believe how hyped up this book was. the " magic" power jewelry was lame

She should do a video about Extraterrestrial Disclosure!

If you're looking for African inspired fantasy check out Imaro. Classic fantasy. Really enjoyable. Didn't care for this series because the writing was pretty amateur. It reads like YA. Kind of disappointing bc African inspired fantasy is really under utilized.

I loved the entire series. The Vagrant The Malice The Seven. The last two are definitely worth reading. His deathless series is well worth reading aswell He has a similar world setting and an anthropomorphized animal companion. I just love his writing style and how he always fills in plotholes at some point.

Do people even know that there is a movie(s? It got two parts) that came before handmaiden? Surprisingly it's called fingersmith and it's placed in UK.

Her: she's hast to be the most annoying mc Me: Me:edalyn

The prints are bold but also much more grown up and tasteful that some of the others I've seen In my search

Just discovered your channel, I'm lovin' it

I love how honest you were! it validates my feelings of disappointment. The mediation moment fell flat for me as well and i hate that we didn't get shaes fury at him next instead he is rewarded by the story. I couldn't care enough about the characters, right when i decided i like lan best because i had hope he would prove people wrong about himself as pillar, he died in a ridiculous way somehow going on such an important political day to get laid without his bodyguards or telling anyone where he is. Even though he knew he needed to be immediately accessible to his horn and what happened the last time he was at the same place. Although his death did kick the story into action and made hilo grow a brain and shae get to show she's smart enough to excel as a weatherman but stupid with someone like doru ofc someone who reminded her before she spared him how he has been imprisoned without jade and escaped before in his life. It seemed so obvious the author made her nonsensically spare him despite her personal resentment against him just to do the unsurprising escape. The fights were cool but the anden trick thing at the end barely made sense to me that it fit in the less than second got swung down his blade. I guess I liked ayt mada and in her one conversation with shae she made me see her perspective better than a POV could. I think I feel the same as trying to read wheel of time where the setup part of the story killed me getting through and then I couldn't care enough about the characters

This book is Amazing

You're a conspiracy theorist and a 1st world victim!

Just finished the first book and it blew my mind. Haven't read anything else quite like this before. Masterpiece!

Fingersmith is my favorite book. Rereading it for me is so excellent because there are all these heightened moments for me knowing not just only the twist, but the reveals!!!! Like Ms Sucksby is the real power of the book. Handmaiden actually made me uncomfortable due to it being so overly sexualized. I don’t hate it, I get why people love it, but compared to Fingersmith I think Handmadien is style over substance. Great styles, Great performances, but just really sitting in these glamorized gross scenes. I agree the start of the book and BBC film feels slow-ish but establishing Ms Sucksby is important, which I realize on reread and rewatch of the BBC Fingersmith movie. But to me the BBC Fingersmith movie is just pure poetry on film.

I love the series!

Nope. Can’t trust your taste in books.

That make-up is on point

Loved your review!! Such great thoughts and insights!! I agree about the romance thing as well. I don't think it was necessary that much at all - plenty of other good relationships and connections to play on already without that, too. I will say that re Saran and Inan, those characters did come across as plausible to me, partially because I've unfortunately met and known people like that - Inan moreso than Saran, I think. With Inan, I was also banging my head against a wall > . < But it was more the character versus thinking it was poor writing, because I have absolutely known people who will rationalize sh*t like that, where they'll do mental gymnastics just like he did where you're just sitting there like "ok what the f*ck are you doing?!!? You should absolutely know better by now!!!" - . - I actually thought she captured the nonsensical pseudo-logic people like that use to rationalize their stances and tolerances, too. It's so frustrating to watch (in both fiction and real life - . -) Totally agree with you on the potential arc thing, too. I was wondering about that as well!! (And omg!! I hadn't even thought about the Airbender parallels!!) And Saran I agree more with you - I didn't feel quite so strongly about the 2D-ness per se, but I do agree I kind of wish he could have been more fleshed out. I think it would have made things a lot more complicated (in a good way) and interesting if that had been done a bit more.

wow 😍 i Love ur look in This video! Lucky bf 😉

as i was reading, i kept thinking “amari and zelié would be perfect together. they should date!” and i’m so happy to know everyone agrees with me

Needed this!

Ane, is there a reason why, when you edited this you didn't put any paused between sentences? It just a 11 minute dialogue.......

I actually quite enjoyed Hili as a character especially with the way he builds relationships and protects his clan and family. He could be a meathead sometimes but I guess In an overall perspective he wasn't bad for me. Lan was my favourite character though and when he died I was so not ready for it

Great breakdown! Found this book a while back and fell in love with it. Big recommendation.

My favs Coral Sahara Pumpkin

Love the review. I don’t think I’ll be reading book 3. I’m so confused with the slave ship situation. Too much trauma with no wins.

Unlikable women? I think that's more of a you thing than the characters. I found all the women compelling. Developing each character in detail would be so tedious. The Queen isn't interesting? The twins weren't given any personality? A Daenerys arc? I think we read different books.

It took me a week - i ADORE It

The Binding was such false advertising. It was definitely a love story and not a fantasy novel. I was as disappointed as you, and yes, the surprise was very obvious.

Do you have any with closures? Or do you find the books stay in the sleeve okay without a closure? Especially when traveling, do they slip out or stay put?

Loved your review, helped me remember some plot details since I'm only reading the second book now and also agree with everything you said. Great review Looking forward to watching your review on the second book

Thank you for the video! I am renting this book on Libby right now and super excited to read this!

I also liked it better after the ending. However, I liked the beginning. It was actually the middle that bored me, and I almost stopped reading, but I was already too far into the book that I continued. I was not disappointed.

I hope you watch the drama series on Netflix too. :)

I loved this book so so much! I feel like I’m slightly confused with the ending though and what exactly happened with the twins. I reread it a few times and no one else seems confused 🤷🏻‍♀️👩🏾‍🚀🚀💗

The first half of Jade City, the "setup" was a bit of a slog, but I believe it paid of in the second half. I hope you went on to read the next two books, because the next two are really, really good...you become very invested in some of these characters...even Hilo.

Great review! I know this video is a year old, but I've just read the book and found this. Can't wait to start book two tonight.

You know the main character is really unlikable when you find yourself rooting for the villain))

@5:30 ice cream truck???

Yes! I am so happy to hear your thoughts because I feel the same and see this opinion underrepresented within the reading/fantasy community.

None about this for like 2 years or something and I'm procrastinating. I'm Igbo myself and so I wanna grab it. I think imma get that on audible though!

I think the big demon who killed Tau in Isihogo was Ukufa

I just read these books and I LOVE them. So thank you for teaching me more about it and letting us hear your opinions on this story. It's an amazing journey that Tomi has brought to our world!!

@Ane Adores Do you think this book can be classified as Afrofuturism? Thanks for your review.