2023: Every book I fought (and defeated)

[@BlueSpiritFire1]

"Nightbane is still in my house" Six word horror story, right there!

[@silverpelt14]

Crow Caller double feature! What a night ~!!

[@hatchet1013]

So I just finished Gideon the Ninth and Crow you've just ruined my life with that Homestuck comparison I'm deceased. And it makes so much sense. I loved Gideon, it was the most fun I've had reading a book in quite some time.

[@holisticVigilante]

I mean, it (like KSBD, one of the best webcomics I’ve ever read) started life as a Homestuck fanfic so

[@hatchet1013]

I had no idea lol. It makes sense though

[@teslashark]

Homestuck keeps being reinvented

[@pauieeepau]

I missed out on getting into Homestuck only because my computer couldn't handle Flash lol, so I feel neutral about TLT (or KSBD) being Homestuck adjacent. Is it particularly jarring?

[@hatchet1013]

@@pauieeepau I actually thought Gideon the Ninth was way more Warhammer coded than anything. The book stands on it's own though, so I don't think it would be jarring at all. I didn't even realize.

[@meltdownremix1996]

The nightbane bit spoke to me because I've been cleaning out the old shoujo manga I had as an elementary school child, and I'm stuck on wanting to sell them secondhand to get rid of them/make some cash but also don't feel good about releasing these on the hands of some unsuspecting child about to get brain poison from these things 💀

[@morganmcinroy4211]

Yeah I remember mentioning uglies to you because I remembered it not being bad during the post apocalyptic ya phase after the hunger games, but I know the sequels have problematic elements. Certain scenes in the books have held rent space in my brain for so long and I dont know why. Glad the first book held up okay, it was my favourite as a teen.

[@morticiax540]

As a dyslexic, reading has always been a rather unpleasant thing for me but your videos have been SO amazing in opening my eyes to the world of Weird and Inappropriate Fiction in ways that are easy to digest. So glad I found your channel~!

[@ReadyteddyGOGOGO]

The reveal of the bad bits of The Barbie Murders floored me! I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't that. Thanks for reading this stuff so we don't have to (Discworld rules though)

[@laurenl1088]

I’m a simple woman. I see Gideon the Ninth, and I flock to the video. I seriously adore it and will always defend that it was my favorite book of 2022 AND is not for everyone.

[@serenaschnepper6438]

I'm being hypnotized by your shelf decor, greatly enjoying the video so far

[@elithebicycle760]

oh my god i read 0.4 in middle school and i thought i hallucinated it because nobody ever knows what I'm talking about

[@lacyharness8444]

Oh my gosh 0.4! I completely forgot this book existed but I read it back in middle school (no idea where I got it) I remember thinking it was very weird, but also liking it. Your comparison to an episode of Doctor Who feels about right

[@definietlynotowl3607]

its pronounced EE-an-Thay or at least thats how it's pronounced in the audio book. The author actually did write homestuck fanfiction, and is fairly open about that well of inspiration. I think the serise on a whole comes together really well and a lot of the issues people tend to have with the first book, though I think are super valid, I found the setting and the slow reveal of the time period we were existing in really compelling overall. Kind of makes me think she read wheel of time low key, some parts felt like the time scale reveal in that serise. Also, as a filthy vegan, tender is the flesh is TRAAAAASH, if you want good deconsctruction of the commodification of animals and how we differentiate human from animal in society read Duncan the Wonderdog instead, that shit goes hard and the author released the whole thing for free once it went out of print.

[@dangerbunnyy]

As a fellow filthy vegan, I appreciate the rec!!

[@melonsaway3929]

You showed up on my recommended because of your Ables review, and while I don't follow basically any book specific content creators, your content was enough to keep me watching more of your videos. Your personality that was displayed in this video though is what's making me decide to subscribe.

[@shmel3689]

It's funny how I was bored with homestuck and thus hated the experience of reading it but LOVED the locked tomb books. I devoured gtn and htn in two days (ntn wasn't out back then) ...it is also the reason why it irks me when anyone compares the two pieces of media but, unfortunately, I cannot argue against it bc I see the reasoning and I am destroyed by facts and logic Anyways, I'm glad you liked it :)

[@merrittanimation7721]

I haven't read the Locked Tomb series but I assume they don't spend pages on gags that only make sense if you've played old school adventure games? I also assume that'd be an improvement.

[@rachelf5805]

the pacing was an issue i also had with gideon. to me it felt very shounen anime core, and like it was written with a young adult voice but the content was more geared toward adult readers. the dialogue saved the book imo. i have to say that you pointing out the extreme homestuckism of this book dealt me incomprehensible psychic damage that i will not recover from for a while. because when i was 13 i had a crush on dave strider… and when i read this book 11 years later i had a crush on gideon. i don’t know if i like this information but thank you for it anyway. time is a circle editing this to say harrow is sooooo karkat little ankle biter abandoned cat

[@larksmith629]

I didnt get notified about this ahhh! Excited to watch

[@tamahoshio]

2023 truly was a year for your reading list, ahh. I can't wait to see what happens in 2024! I need to read more novels again ahh, i read so much manga though lol. There's a book called "The School for Dangerous Girls" that i reread as an adult last year after reading at 16 lolz and lemme tell you it was such a weird little trip.

[@prokyono]

oh my god i read 0.4 !! completely forgot about it until now so thank you for the reminder lol. i remember finding it interesting but it didn't really stick with me, but I might've been a bit too old for it

[@Crowcaller]

Deeply lost to the world book but it was just simple fun. I could barely fault it for its errors, it's not high literature but it was a nice like 2 hours

[@junkin456]

this is embarrassing (for me personally) but m afraid hearing that gideon the ninth is dave from homestuck is what will finally make me read this book

[@kphnx]

it's been awesome watching your channel grow ever since your lightlark video! looking forward to seeing what you read in 2024 :)

[@existenceherself4271]

Two videos in one day- Today’s a work grind, I need something to listen to Thank you Crow

[@melowlw8638]

hell yeah!! a round-up!! also imin love with the cat and angel in the back, theyre adorable 🤧🤧

[@cornflakes-does-stuff]

the end photo with the pigeons!!! Cute!!!! also Thank you for the double treat of videos, I'm happy just whenever you upload something! :))

[@qwerkywriter7134]

0.4 is such a deep cut in my history of reading. I read it once when I was in middle school and I think I might have had a copy of it that I’ve since given away. I also got the impression that it was definitely for boys.

[@AceAutistic]

Your videos today helped get me through revising for alevel mocks

[@thepotatoqueen4290]

binging your channel has inspired me to write my own (somewhat) bad angel ya romance

[@mythicalcreaturecomforts]

I started with Monsterous Regiment of Sir Terry's work lol

[@corvidae_s]

WITH THAT IN MIND!!! Maybe I'll be able to read Gideon the Ninth!!

[@lenapawlek7295]

Happy new year!!! I loved the title lol

[@TheDimensionDweller]

That picture at the end is fantastic

[@OracleAndi2]

0.4. I read that in 5th grade and it gave me nightmares somehow. I don't remember what the nightmares were or why I was so upset by it, but I definitely did read it!

[@breenaj1095]

Have you ever read "Hell followed with us" by Andrew Joseph White? I highly recommend it. Though i would caution people to check the content warnings first. Gore and body horror are probably some of the most prevalent in it.

[@elizabaum]

Apparently Human.4 (as it was apparently renamed) was already on my goodreads list, added several years ago for idk what reason. Guess that means I should read it now.

[@alyk9379]

Crow please give us a homestuck video 😂 any topic, just as an ex homestuck and fan of your work, I’m so curious to know any of your thoughts or favorites about it. Also this video encouraged me to listen to Gideon the ninth

[@TheHearMeRoar]

Great recommendations and warnings! I hope you make a 2024 version, did you read more good books like you planned?

[@NadirEatsRocks]

Dang, I'm a bit surprised to find someone who has similar opinions of Gideon the Ninth to me! I enjoyed the first book, but I didn't adore it like so many seem to. And regarding the Homestuck thing: I'm pretty sure the author has said that she's a Homestuck fan and based the book on the comic

[@Crowcaller]

Oh no the author was once a Big Name Fan fanfic writer in the fandom! Even has some fabrics with similar religious themes but about you know. The sufferer. The connection is very real and there. I admire it really, ex homestucks really have now entered the phase of making all kinds of top interesting content

[@impalalord]

My mutual just convinced me to start reading Gideon the Ninth by sending me this and challenging me to find all the homestuck parallels

[@dabwiso784]

Had pretty much the same reaction to Gideon the Ninth. Love the sequel though for being super ambitious.

[@DrCornwater]

I had a really hard time getting through Gideon the 9th at first and thought it read like really solid fan fic. I say that kind of negatively as it took me out of it at times bc of the tone. There'll be this beautiful prose about the inward struggles with trauma and then suddenly a None Pizza Left Beef reference happens. That said, Harrow was one of the best reading experiences I've ever had. As an ex religious queer myself, it hit me to the absolute core at times. I've never read such a great depiction of that inner shame and brokenness you're made to feel. I think Gideon is a good setup for these very fun characters, but Harrow is the real reason I love these books. I'm about to start Nona and after the insanity of Harrow, I'm ready to hopefully have more fun with this one lmao.

[@NaRandall]

Have you looked at the cold awakening trilogy? I read some of it years ago and finally figured out what it was called it’s about a girl whose consciousness is put into a robot after she’s in a car crash? It’s possible I also read a different book with a similar premise as there seem to be a few others. I’d also recommend the Brokenhearted series (at least two books) which I genuinely think is good but it is definitely weird it’s like dystopian adjacent if that makes sense like as if it’s either post or pre dystopia but also it feels like it’s set in an alternate timeline of earth in the early 2000s like cell phones but also scientists make human animal heart transplants that are viable. I know I have some other bizarre ones in my mind so I hope either you cover them and I see it or if I find them and you haven’t I can send them your way

[@grindergears]

If Crow sees this for the copy of nightbane you could sign it and hold onto it until a subscriber mile stone you want and then give it away to your subscribers

[@andrewmathewson341]

Hey, idk if you accept recommendations from the comment section, but I suggest "XX" by Rian Hughes. It's an amazing debut book, very experimental with different forms of type and the themes are very interesting in a philosophical way. It's a thick book (over 1000 pages) but well worth the read. He wrote a second one called The Black Locomotive (not a sequel) but it weirdly abruptly ends on a cliffhanger with no indication of a sequel (the themes are still top-notch and the story-telling unique).

[@summerchild_]

Im open to hear a "what I X in a year" video at any point of the year, to be honest.

[@EldritchZoeArchive]

I know this is off topic, but I like your Very Normal Cat and your... Spiral.

[@Crowcaller]

Thank you!! I love my Spiral. We all love The Spiral. The Spiral is the best.

[@blue_lynch]

ideia for what to do with nightbane: paper mache

[@lgabymoran]

Regarding the Homestuck Gideon thing... I was never a Homestuck girlie so the referencing of it in Gideon reviews has held me back for a while. I never got along with HS's plot delivery or pace, and I'm afraid that could happen again with Gideon. Is the similarity more in the "vibe" and character callbacks or should I save myself a disappointment?

[@Ceruleansquid-lo3iv]

I also had Homestuck recommended to me, and I couldn't get into it, but I did enjoy Gideon. I have to say, Gideon is an interesting book, and you either love it or hate it. Either way, it's because you don't really understand it. I'd say, check Gideon out of the library if you can, and if you hate it, you definitely won't like the series and you can just read something you do like.

[@julietrosner9839]

I have returned to humbly ask if you might consider making a video about Angel Burn by L. A. Weatherly.

[@nostalgicsapphic8450]

i think you could get an mfa in early to mid 2000 ya novels at this point lmao

[@ensorceledd2080]

I am in LOVE with the eldritch cat plushie that ive somehow never noticed where did you get it??

[@Crowcaller]

EYEWHISKERS. they made several other plush you'll see in my video backgrounds, like the eyewheel angel and a goat devil. I'm a huge fan and own all their designs

[@ensorceledd2080]

@Crowcaller thanks!! I'll definately look them up!

[@KaiInMotion]

I like the idea of Hush Hush but I could never bring myself to read the second book. Unearthly by Cynthia Hand outsold imo. All the angelic teen paranormal romance vibes but like none of the aggressive stalker stuff.

[@snood4743]

I was similarly baffled and disgusted by The Barbie Murders. Unfortunately not before amassing his entire Gaia trilogy though. At least his fixation shifted to perfectly legal human/centaur sex, according to reviews.

[@isabelberlin907]

Dan Wells!!

[@junkin456]

can i ask what is that thing behind you? once i noticed it movinf i was hypnotized by it

[@Crowcaller]

A thing. We got it at an Xmas market, it's a handmade... Thing. It spins and is mesmerising. The guy's place was unhelpfully called like Nookingtons or something

[@junkin456]

@@Crowcaller somehow this amount of information feels appropriate to this mesmerizing thing.. I'm so jealous, I want it to, I'm suddenly convinced owning 10 of these would fix some of my problems

[@KaiInMotion]

The Blessed was SO FUCKING OUT OF LEFT FIELD. I bought it in like 2012 purely for the cover, and I kind of have a love-hate relationship with it. It's bad but at times it's so over the top it's so bad it's good, it feels like such bizarre outsider art. I think the general idea actually is so interesting and has promise, like, a YA urban fantasy about reincarnated saints could be so badass. But Blessed is so weirdly offensive and misogynistic and brutal? The slaughter scene at the end just had my jaw on the floor both times I read it. To be fair to the girls those guys were going to kill them and had threatened to gang-rape them first, but it was so unexpected and savage I just have trouble understanding what her intent was with the book or with those scenes in general. I genuinely think The Blessed is one of those books that sincerely feels like.....crackfic? Like the same way the movie Jupiter Ascending feels like self-insert wish fulfilment fanfic of a different series, in a good way, Blessed feels like an insane AU edgelord fic about a different series that the author wrote because she had some kind of hyper-obsession with saintly imagery or something. I think we should study Tonya Hurley's mind.

[@Crowcaller]

The blessed is a very mysterious crime of a book and I need to know it's full story but only from everyone around the author. I don't think I want to talk to her. But her editor? Please

[@Walmbat]

While I initially enjoyed Gideon the Ninth, I found that in retrospect I was disappointed by the series due to how it handles certain things that I normally enjoy.

[@moffey9889]

I honestly saw harrow more as a karkat

[@Crowcaller]

True true trueeeeeeeee. So....... Davekat comes for me again......... (Was never a davekat shipper)

[@ascontralto]

Came down into the comments to check if anyone else had already said it lmao, gideonxharrow is absolutely pickled in the same jar as fem!davekat

[@Moony1568]

26:45 ok so what is unwelcome bodies about? You went on this whole diatribe about reviewing indie books so that they can be noticed and you didn’t do it…

[@Crowcaller]

I ENTIRELY somehow forgot! I've talked about it before in more detail once and. Pretty ironic of me. It's a short story collection themed on bodies and body horror, it has a few stories I liked and overall I admire the author's efforts but overall I wanted more. Longer stories or stronger endings, a few of the stories didn't feel complete or more like drabbles.

[@kat8559]

i also have many problems lol

[@snortobortoowo]

Fucking homestuck. Ik what you are.

[@merrittanimation7721]

Oh my god someone who's read 0.4. Or has heard of it.

[@annapuhl6889]

comments

[@scumbagsteve1581]

💜💜💜