Immediately reserved it from my library once you mentioned Katherine Arden's winternight trilogy. I've been searching for something like it for a few years now! Thank you!!🎉

Wait, this is an adult standalone?? Why did I think it was a YA series?! 😅 I recently found the hardback secondhand so definitely going to pick it up soon

I love your recommendations and is that Bulbasaur in the background? 😍 so cute!

I think I read all the books with the same vibes too. But this is new one I haven't heard of before! I would recommend Daughter of the forest. I think you would like it very much

anything ‘winternight’ adjacent is an immediate pickup, thank you for this review sam!

I’ve been going back and forth on picking this up-so excited to see you recommend it!

Hey Sam!!! I absolutely enjoyed this too! The plot was fast paced, the characters were interesting, and the world building was intriguing and immersive!! I also agree with you that there wasn’t enough time for the bond to establish between them especially with Dmityr and Niko!! I was confused and wondered where that came from but it was great!!!

When i finishes the books the first thing that I thiought was that they would work great as movies, they had amazing plot, good twists, and perfect opportunities for awesome shots on those different planets, but they DIDNT MAKE THE MOVIE AND THIS VIDEO WAS FOR NOTHING

um wheres the unearthed movie?!?

Malice is like a bone stuck in my throat, ive picked it up twice before and never gotten more then 100/150 pages in.. Last try in 2025, if I dont manage to get through it, then it's getting deleted off my tbr for good. As for tbr reduction, Im going to try tackling my physical tbr, maybe in 2025, but given how I usually dont read new releases still no way am i making a dent in my GR tbr , too many on there.

Just finished this series. I agree it was rushed and the writing could have been stronger. I felt like scenes moved too quickly so there was no time to feel the impact of things. On another note, I went into this expecting to not like Sylah but….i loved her? Like from the very beginning. I’m not sure why but I adored her. The first book was a lot funnier than I was expecting too.

I actually DNF’d the first book by Katherine Arden a few years ago, my mood wasn’t aligning with it at the time, but I’m actually going to try again this month! I have a good feeling this time.

I’m intrigued! I want to get to it before the end of the year. I have family in Chicago so I’m looking forward to seeing some familiar sights in this.

NO Fifth Season?

Listened to the tenth anniversary version! It was another Neil classic

I also just finished this book, but I was a bit conflicted, lol. It took me like a week to read for some reason! I actually didn't have an issue with sudden depth of connection between characters, but reading the Polish with no translation and getting descriptions of all the supernatural creatures kept taking me out of it. I wanted the book to be either shorter with all that info in a glossary or something, or twice as long so I could get more time with the characters. But I still gave it a 3.75 and I'm excited to hear that more books are coming!

I’m hopeful based on your review that this will start working for me. However, right now I’m just kind of struggling through it. Maybe the problem is my own fault because I’m reading it in the car only? I’m gonna finish it on my drive today, so maybe I’ll try and reread it again before the end of the year to see if it does work for me.

I enjoyed When Among Crows and how Veronica Roth used several elements of Slavic folklore to bring this story to life. However, I did feel like it could/should have been longer, as the story itself suffered from being condensed into a short story. There were too many elements and characters in a book consisting of a mere 169 pages, making the pacing feel off to me. You've also mentioned that the bond between the three main characters in this book seems to be too close considering all of this happens in the span of 48 hours or so, and I completely agree with that. I think that made me enjoy the book less than it potentially could. The idea behind this story, and the characters, were great but the execution for me was off, especially when I compare it to other short stories I've read. Interesting to see that this might turn into a series, because in my opinion if the story was a bit longer and more fleshed out it would have probably gotten 4-5 stars easily.

Did I miss a live show?

I want to re-read the first two Bloodsworn Saga books before I start The Fury of the Gods and also re-read the Daevabad Trilogy.

I would love to reread Sawkill Girls next fall. :) The next book I have firm plans of rereading -hopefully still this year- is Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng.

Rereading Hogfather right now. So so good!!

What other books do you find that are in the same vein as Uprooted? It also has ton of tropes I love.

I really didn’t like Kaikeyi so I probably won’t read more from this author, but your videos are so soothing that I watch them all anyway! ❤

I really liked Masquerade but it has almost no fantasy, just so you know! I also loved The Deep Sky :)

Really interesting commentary, it is hard to disentangle the political leader trauma previous from the lockdown, I think probably it was indeed the combo of the two that led to a lot of the cozy vibe growing massively post 2020. Basically agree with everything you said on that and genre being very politically topical over time, decades ago we had the Stragutskys subversive my critiquing an oppressive regime they lived within, or LeGuin lashing out on the Vietnam War. I think we will see more of both the escape and the response. The one thing you didn't mention I would add is Horror specifically, I think its apparent the genre has seen a boost in popularity. Personally I consider myself a massive horror weenie, but over the lockdown I found myself turning to exploring and enjoying horror (mainly in the psychological/social commentary types) reading and watching for the first time - and really getting into it. I've seen quite a bit of commentary about that cathartic nature of horror in times of stress, that I think really plays into the genre's boost, and I only think we will see it keep going now.

If you’re a big fan of the forest in Uprooted, I would recommend Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock. It’s a much darker book, as a whole; it includes some male gaze, but I feel like it’s deliberately used and interrogated as part of the horror of the story.

i really appreciate how your channel remains with the "old booktube flavor. Nowadays I can only find 40 minutes long reading vlogs and don't get me wrong, they're nice, but sometimes I am really craving for a 6 minutes long video where there's a theme and someone is hyping some books up and I can hardly find videos like this anymore. I really really enjoy this type of content

I hope you read it because I would NOT compare Hugo to Hades AT ALL! Heheh ☺️ it’s a sweet book and I can credit it for single-handedly sparking my love and appreciation for tea

Kinda late to the party here but it’s so funny how Sam mentioned that this book sounded like a fanfic alt universe at times, and that’s probably because that’s how it started.. I believe Pacat herself confirmed that this started as a AO3 fic that she later turned to a book due to the attention and love it received on there. 😅

"What would I have been if I had never seen the birds" has been in my head for years. I gave it three and a half, but have long suspected I just wasn't ready for it. I should probably try that again sometime.

I just started re-reading books this year and it has brought me so much joy 🥹

I always have books I want to reread but I feel like I have to get to a lot of books I haven't read.

I read Uprooted a few years back and sorta kinda liked it, but back then I was mostly a YA reader. Now I think my tastes have matured enough for me to appreciate it more. Kinda wish I didn't unhaul it 😅

Such a great list! Although I haven't read Thistlefoot or Sawkill girls yet... they are on my winter TBR..which I'm extending thru the end of April. I would also like to re-read Circe this next Spring 👍😁

Time riders by alex scarrow..reread for me

I’ve definitely been the mood to reread Spinning Silver and the Winternight Trilogy. Planning to revisit Nettle & Bone. Like you and Winter of Witch, I’m tempted to just reread The Empire of Gold.

Omg same.. i have an urge to reread starless sea And this winter is a good time for it I think

I’ve really been feeling like rereading Howl’s Moving Castle recently. I read it for the first time years ago and I remember SO MUCH happened in the book that I’m positive I’ll get something new from it.

Both of those Naomi Novik novels are massive faves of mine!! Love both of them so much 😍

I have long had a theory (as in, since sometime in the '90s) that fantasy becomes more popular when people are nostalgic about the past, while science fiction becomes more popular when people are optimistic about the future. It feels like it's been a really long time since people have been optimistic about the future. . . .

I’m worried because Moms For Liberty has been such strong supporters of Trump that he might throw them a censorship bone that might massively sanitize what authors feel safe to write about or what publishers feel safe to publish. I don’t think it might change all that much outside of that but I think the political climate is such that we might see something like a Hayes Code for books at least proposed at the federal level if not implemented. Book bans are running rampant in republican controlled states and I see plenty of people online who think we need a Hayes Code or an MPAA for books which would massively sanitize what is currently published if implemented in order to not violate the code or to get a “safer” rating. It would be hard to imagine something like the Hunger Games being published, especially for a teen audience, in an environment where it has to get an MPAA rating before publication. I mean the movie was already a massive challenge to make to not have it wind up with an R rating and Hollywood was willing to take the challenge because it had the massive popularity of the book all but guaranteeing the success of the movie, which the book would not have had if it had been held to the same standard as the movie.

This is just my prediction, but monster romance might see a boom, as who wants to read about human males in romance novels.

I work at an indie bookstore so here’s my two cents: since the election, we have had multiple special orders for nonfiction books like Surviving Autocracy and On Tyranny, and an uptick in sales of the classics as you mentioned like 1984, the Handmaid’s Tale, Parable of the Sower, and Fahrenheit 451. But most of my customers right now want recommendations for books that are hopeful-ish. It seems like a lot of people want escapism right now (myself included).

Do you think there was any correlation with the cozy fantasy genre really taking hold again after Trump's first presidency, leading into Biden's where he had to basically react to everything that Trump established? I remember hearing a lot of conversations of people basically saying 'things are tough right now so I tried to make something safe' or something to that effect. I'm Canadian, so I didn't experience it all the same way, but I do actively remember those conversations popping up

Such an interesting video. Thanksf or putting this together

The handmaids tail tv show came out in 2017 which nay have had an effect on the sales.

This video was oddly calming. Thanx, Sam

One thing I noticed was that immediately after the election, Hachette announced a new imprint called Basic Liberty for conservative books, as if they don't publish enough 🙃 For example, they published Don Jr's book in 2019 under the Center Street imprint, and other HBG authors include Ben Carson, Newt Gingrich, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Jeanine Pirro. And of course, HBG has other imprints that publish wildly diverse and inclusive authors, but it really feels like publishers in general keep pumping out the extremely conservative vitriolic authors under the guise of wanting "represent all voices." As for actual genre book trends, during his first presidency I found myself falling back on comfort fantasy rereads, which led me to getting into romance, and then got me into cozy books during the pandemic outbreak. And I personally haven't broken out of that because I don't find comfort in dystopian any more even though I can see the ongoing popularity of those picks.

I figured it wouldn't have too big of an impact tbh -- Like you said, when that dystopian thing is happening irl, reading becomes even more of an escape, so it makes sense that writers would want the same escapism. That being said, I'm sure we will see fluctuations in the market when books become more widely banned. If banning becomes more prevalent I wonder if publishing houses will be less inclined to publish some things and we may see a leaning away from the romance novels that have become more mainstream, even when they don't feature explicit sexual content. It'll be interesting to see how it all unfolds.