First rant of 2023: Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros is the worst book I’ve read in a while (SPOILERS)

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[@ToriTalks2]

"Her personality in this was ... her hair?" I'm rolling. Love it. I had no interest in this book but I'm thoroughly enjoying your review on it 😆

[@bookswithzara]

Yep, she went there! I'm glad you enjoyed it haha :)

[@kefinkamed]

The sheer amount of hype and the Maas-like feral fandom behaviour instantly put me off reading this book. You have basically confirmed all my suspicions but I am still grateful because I may have given it a go at some point merely to see whether it has any potential. So you´ve saved me a lot of time and frustration, thank you! ❤ So basically, the author took ACOTAR, Eragon, Hunger Games and Daenerys Targaryen dragon trope, the hippogriff trope from Harry Potter, and threw it in a broken blender on the highest setting, right?

[@bookswithzara]

You're welcome! Hope you're able to find something else that is actually good haha. If you do, let me know!

[@kefinkamed]

@@bookswithzara I am actually reading Will of the Many at the moment. I haven´t yet decided whether I agree with the popular opinion, which is very favourable, but I am enjoying the book quite a bit.

[@bookswithzara]

@@kefinkamed I’ve heard pretty mixed reviews. Curious to hear where you land once you’ve finished it.

[@kefinkamed]

@@bookswithzara I´ll let you know once I´ve finished :)

[@raradinevali]

This! It reminds me of how coleen hover suddenly became insanely popular

[@ninninin656]

I agree with your rant, what irks me so much is that the book isn't just fluffy fun mediocre reading, it is BAD. This is objectively awful, the plot is nonsensical, the characters shallow and bland, the writing is cringe. Why do people like this?! I do not understand, and it makes me mad because there is so much fun stuff out there that also is an easy read but at least the plot is well done. Even SJM at least can tell a story! She can draw me in with some interesting twists and cool side characters. Here, the side characters all die and no one even cares. Awful book!

[@bookswithzara]

Couldn’t agree more! It genuinely makes me a bit worried for society lol.

[@jim-bob3093]

Yarros desperately trying to slide her omegaverse heat fettish in under the radar. But we found it, people will always find it

[@bookswithzara]

😂😂 so true

[@starflash8346]

As an author of a fantasy romance, these kinds of books give me hope and make me sad. I'm putting so much hard work into my novel to ensure it all is done objectively well but sometimes I feel like the effort isn't worth it because books like this do so well. I dont want to do my readers a disservice so I'm putting my all into it.

[@bookswithzara]

I really hope that when you release your book it goes well 🤞🏽

[@starflash8346]

@@bookswithzara I'm currently looking for betas if you're interested!

[@bookswithzara]

@@starflash8346 I’d have loved to but I’m afraid I just don’t have the time. I’m also still in a bit of reading slump so my feedback would be tarred by that. Best of luck 🙏🏽

[@starflash8346]

@@bookswithzara understandable. Thanks😊

[@yelena86]

Totally if these shitty books can blow up on Tiktok and make a killing, you can too. Please continue what you’re doing. Wishing you the best of luck on your book👍✌️🙏✨

[@zhisu2665]

It feels so "written as she goes" and nothing was planned or edited. it's very much surface level fantasy that anyone can write without trying.

[@bookswithzara]

Couldn’t agree more! It’s so flat.

[@Leannegtl90]

That's EXACTLY what it feels like!

[@BlindTruths]

Holy shit. This is what I was trying to think of why nothing is constant through the book. Because she literally just wrote it & doesn’t even have notes to keep things straight.

[@M_A_X...]

What. An. Entertaining. Rant!

[@bookswithzara]

Noooooooooooooooooooo. DON'T. DO. THIS. TO. MEEEEEEEE.

[@Paromita_M]

When a review says "At least in ACOTAR..." 🤣 Popcorn time 🍿 😎

[@bookswithzara]

Times are bad, Paromita.

[@yelena86]

I really do blame Tiktok for this. So many awful terrible books blow up and earn so much money, really sad in a way, but if you want to write a book go for it, if these poorly written dumb books can blow up, yours can too. Go forth and publish! 👍✌️🙏❤️✨

[@bookswithzara]

Yeah whenever I see ‘TikTok favourite’ I run in the other direction now lol.

[@mikachuthunderboltz1298]

Thank you for giving me the encouragement 🥹🥹🥹. I’m so nervous to put mines out because of this horrible book that has so much hype behind it.

[@Moony1568]

You should blame Booktube for doing the exact same thing years ago and now. This phenomenon of “bad book gets popular through online hype” has existed for decades. Its just a trend cycle. wish people would stop pretending like booktok started this.

[@yelena86]

@@Moony1568 Yeah I agree with you, it’s just easier to blame TikTok for anything and everything because videos can blow up overnight whereas KZbin videos take longer to gain traction imo.

[@jessmddn]

THANK YOU. I knew I didn't want to read it but all the gals at work and social media were screaming about it and I fell for it. After it ended... I continued to get more and more pissed it's so popular. Dragons.. WHERE? World building? Don't know a thing about it (mage lights... not one mention of mages..?) For someone supposedly so smart, the character was dense as heck. I was so pissed I wasted time on this story. I felt it was a lazy story and excuse for smut. Glad I'm not alone!

[@bookswithzara]

You're not alone! I'm also relieved you had the same experience, it feels good haha.

[@miyayume_eclectic_dream]

I don't want to read this book. This has not changed. I thank you for confirming that it would be waist of my time as I was expecting. . . . Btw I am curious about if you have maybe read The Deal with Elf King. Is hyped & pretty cover...I am disapointed still 😮‍💨

[@Ghaziabadpoonch]

refreshing! Most Booktubers censor their views so much, that it seems very disingenuous.

[@bookswithzara]

Nah, that's just not who I am. I will always be honest (and hopefully, fair) about the books I read. None of us have time for that!

[@blacknbluecollarreader]

THIS. WAS. PERFECT. I keep telling myself that I need to read a bad book so I can give better reviews. However, reviews such as these do give me examples on what to look for. If that makes sense. So. THANK. YOU. ZARA.

[@bookswithzara]

Hahahaha, this made me laugh. Totally get what you're saying!

[@vincenzofromwiisports3993]

i hate it so much when random side characters die for the purpose of adding tension when they didn’t even do anything for the story before or after their death + this book was painfully unfunny too i genuinely did not enjoy any of it lmao

[@bookswithzara]

Same! It makes no sense!! It worries me that so many people thought this was good.

[@annbechtel7113]

I will admit I got some popcorn to watch this “review / rant”. I loved every second of this video. I knew before I cracked the spin of this book what I would get considering the two author who blurbed it (Armetrout & Wolfe as it’s 1million% their book styles lol). Your review, SPOT ON, and I would have listened to more of what you had on your list of criticisms ❤️❤️🤣😂

[@bookswithzara]

Hahahaha, I'm glad you enjoyed it Ann! I didn't actually see the author blurbs and now I wish I had. I'm planning to do a 'reacting to 5 star reviews' of this book so watch this space!

[@xlanila]

I laughed when you said that everything will get solved in the next book because the author appeared on my ForYou page on TikTok a few days ago and when asked how long this series will be, she said there are 5 confimed books (so four more sequels), but "there might be more". And I said "Damn, is it that serious?". When the first book is this weak in worldbuilding, characters and even plot, the series basically has a very weak foundation, I have no idea how she'll try to make it work. I assume she'll go on a full political route and that would be pretty exciting, to me at least, but... again, there's no solid basis to build upon. And with romance being such a big part, the politics, world and everything will occasionally have to be thrown out of the way and completely forgotten about. I genuinely believe Mrs. Yarros wants to write a compelling, immersive story. She clearly has a vision, proof being the fact that she has ideas for at least four more books, but the romance always takes over and everything else has to be less developed. This will affect the rest of the books immensely. Romance fans won't be upset about it, but those who expect more will definitely be disappointed. My two cents on this: she should've given up on writing a series. Just take the politics out, create a small interesting world with dragons, make your main couple rivals in a dragon riding school (maybe they're both extremely ambitious and eager to make their parents proud so they're always in a competition with one another) and give them a slow burn love story. Make it a novel. There's literally nothing wrong with it being pure romance. No need for (not)dead brothers, dead fathers and dead kids. Well, I wish her good luck with the rest of the series. Thank you for this video! I hope you have a great day!

[@bookswithzara]

Noooo I don't think everything will get solves in the next book. I know for a fact she's going to drag it out as much as she can. I'm hoping we will get a few answers but I doubt it. I think if she took your route it would be more interesting. The problem is that she's probably trying to go after romance fans AND fantasy fans, and so is failing to do both aspects well. Have a great one!

[@subroy7123]

"Please can someone tell me why this book is so highly rated on Goodreads" Me about every hyped YA book on every social media platform.

[@bookswithzara]

So true

[@Leannegtl90]

I'm so glad I'm not alone. I'm only reading this because a friend insisted. I tried the sample and found it very blah. But because she really wants me to read it, I tried again now, months later. I hated it so much the first time around that I was actually annoyed I had to reread the first part so I was up to speed again. I'm almost 150 pages in now and all I can say is the 'smut' people say is in this book must be the kicker, because NONE of the characters are interesting enough to be invested in, the MC herself couldn't be picked from a crowd because of how little attention is given to her own personality, the one liners are incredibly weak and downright cringy, the number of times the MC's heart was "beating too hard from fear" makes it seem unbelievable and her internal dialogue is so poor it feels like a teenager wrote this. That's just 135 pages in of almost 500 pages. How much worse can it get?

[@bookswithzara]

You’re definitely not! And I’m sorry to say that not only does it not get better, it gets worse. I agree with everything you’ve said above and believe it or not, it doesn’t improve in the second book, at all.

[@faeryeclair]

hey, my name is zara too! and i absolutely HATED this book. i did NOT understand the hype and the characters were so one-dimensional. there were many plot holes and horrible world building, and a very trashy representation of a disability. i didnt understand why people were raving about it, and i very much was mislead-im a minor, but i didn't hear that it was NA from tiktok, and assumed it was another YA book. boy was i surprised.. highly wished i was able to DNF books (it always bothers me too much so im unable to do it) because i would've.

[@bookswithzara]

Hey Zara! Great name ;) haha. Yes yes yes! Agreed on everything! I talk about the trashy rep of disability in my Iron Flame review more. And omg! That is not good re it being pushed as YA. The thing is, the writing reads like bad YA but because the author adds in a few swear swords and gross intimate scenes, it’s all of a sudden classified as NA. I am so sorry you had to read this trash!

[@v3rmilli0nair3]

A rant video from Zara? Sign me up! 😍😍 I heard about this book, and I'm just not interested. The premise is straight up bad IMO. I read the synopsis on GR and I was not impressed by the world building at all whatsoever. So these fools have to kill each other become a dragon rider, right? That works great if say, they were killing each other in order to entertain people in gladiatorial style games. That’s why the premise of The Hunger Games works so well. However, Fourth Wing is not about gladiators. They are at a war college and there is an active war going on. Omfg if your military compels recruits to off each other to advance within that military WHILE THERE IS AN ACTIVE WAR going on, then that military deserves to lose the war SMH. The enemy doesn’t need to kill you because you are already killing yourself. That’s why the premise and world building is so fundamentally silly. No realistic military in an war would ever just waste manpower like that. Okay, so I get that this is fantasy world with dragons that won’t bond with just anybody. That’s fine. You don’t need to do a nonsensical competition to the death that result in a waste of personnel. Psychological evaluations are a thing. Figure out what sorts of people dragons are willing to bond with and then give all dragon rider applicants some (non-lethal) tests that determine high or low potential compatibility. Those who are least likely to bond based on results can have their skills and talents applied elsewhere to help with the war effort where they are best suited. Again, if the premise of Fourth Wing was based on gladiatorial entertainment for the masses the way The Hunger Games is, I’d be all for it, but since these cadets are competing for a position in a real military during a real war, it just gives the impression that the author didn't really think things through. The worldbuilding and premise alone is just bad in that regard based on the synopsis I read and I don’t think I’d be able to ignore it and it would ruin my suspension of disbelief. And if I cannot even buy into the premise, that worries me for the rest of the book. It absolutely baffles me how popular this book is because premise alone is so nonsensical. As of me writing this comment, Fourth Wing has 4.69 average star rating on GR (added context, that's with roughly 125,000+ ratings and 27,000+ reviews) LMFAO that just screams "OVERHYPED" to me. My gut just tells me the author really did not put much thought into the story, but she got lucky that most people who read this decided to turn their brains off while reading it and had a good time with it lol. I know this is a harsh critique coming from me considering that I haven’t even read the damn book, but that’s how I feel and why I am not interested in picking it up 😂🤣

[@bookswithzara]

I knew you'd watch and comment on this haha. Glad you enjoyed it! That is so true about the plot, I didn't even think of that hahahahaha. Like why are you killing off people who need to be fighting in a war. I can't believe it has almost 4.7 stars. That is absurd and genuinely makes me worried lol. I definitely think she got lucky, and that just sums up BookTok for you.

[@epiphoney]

Its popularity is interesting though. I keep looking at new reviews on goodreads, and most of them are very positive. I guess people are getting used to non-sensical movie logic, and some parts of the book are enough for them emotionally. The pretty hardcover is completely sold-out in America. The second book is already coming out 6 months later, with three more books to go. I feel like these things are rushed.

[@bookswithzara]

I agree. I call it 'popcorn fiction', addictive and can get through it in a short amount of time and it still keeps you feeling hungry afterwards. Wild to me that it's sold out everywhere.

[@faeryeclair]

the fact that the second book is already out pretty much assures the fact that they dont care about quality, because if they did, it would NOT be out this quickly.

[@KatieColson]

YES! Thank you for posting this. Such a good review

[@bookswithzara]

Thank you, Katie!

[@Harley24986]

I've said it so many times now. I DNF'd this, twice. I tried so hard because so many said it was so good. It screams "paid promo" lol It was just so bad.

[@bookswithzara]

Totally agree. Don’t blame you for DNFing.

[@jessicasmith1766]

I’m on a loop of watching negative reviews of this book as I struuuuuggle to finish reading it. I was out in the very first chapter when I realized we were going to a military school where they kill off 80% of their recruits before they fight a single battle. Like, it just fails at the most basic world-building level.

[@bookswithzara]

Totally agree. It’s mind-boggling isn’t it??

[@billybilodeau1991]

I like a good rant review because we can’t possibly like every book read. I see it as a stoke/streak of good luck when I read good book after good book but especially from “ram scoop” speed readers. This is the first time I’ve heard of this book, I do agree the premise sounds interesting. One thing this reminds me of is of course “Rick and Morty”….there’s a dragon episode where they lampoon all those adolescent tropes in the most cringy way possible.

[@bookswithzara]

Oh definitely. I've been quite lucky that a lot of the books I've read recently have been really good so I think I felt the pain even more. I really need to get back to Rick and Morty at some point.

[@SykarDaera]

Hi I have a couple of things to say in addition to your review. My ears perked up when you said that Violet does not seem to know basic history and I wanted to touch upon that. This is definitely a new form in fantasy writing, Im not used to it. I grew up with the precision of Anne McCaffrey, Ursula K. Le Guin, Tolkein, Richard Addams, Michael Moorcock and TANITH LEE. This world building...what little there is of it, is more like a child's daydream where they mix and match elements of this world with things they completely make up. There is no cohesion or reason for these incompatible elements...so when you say this character knows nothing of history...well there is no history for her to know. This is not a book set on earth. If you were going to compare this book to well written fantasy such as George R.R. Martins work , or Moorcock...yes, Yarros absolutely does not know how to write a fantasy. Hands down. And now I hear there's going to be more than five books? Yes the publishing industry is broken.

[@bookswithzara]

Thanks for your comment! I agree with a lot of what you've said. Unfortunately, I think publishing is favouring volume and hype over quality. It's a very sad state of affairs.

[@mattkean1128]

The urge I have to just send you more bad books now lol. The rants. must. flow. 😐

[@bookswithzara]

Hahahaha, oh no

[@percy888ferry]

I agree! I could not even make it to chaoter 3. The dialogue is cheesy, the characters are paper thin. The whole thing reads like bad young adult fiction!

[@bookswithzara]

Smart move! ‘Paper thin’ is the perfect way to describe it.

[@BlindTruths]

I am only an hour into the audiobook and it’s one of the worst books I’ve ever read/listened to. And I have been reading for 35y.

[@bookswithzara]

Please stop for your sanity 🙏🏽

[@esmayrosalyne]

The number of disappointed deep sighs in this video is highly amusing to me 🤣I mean, I feel sorry for you that this was such a painfully bad read... but I am also selfishly happy with this entertaining rant review 🤣🤣 100% agree with every single thing you said, and yet I enjoyed this a loooot more than you did, haha. I think it helped that I did it on audio, because that way the poor writing wasn't *as* obvious if that makes sense? All the other stuff I just went along with, because I needed this type of braincandy at that moment, lol. Hearing you describe her dragon as a posh British man is so hilarious and so accurate hahahah I love it!! Your suffering has been appreciated, this was delightful to watch 😛

[@bookswithzara]

Hahahaha, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I can see how audio would help!

[@SykarDaera]

I would have scrapped that audiobook performance if I would have been charge of the project...but going further than that I simply would not have had this manuscript published at all because the voice actor deserves better.

[@jdmitchellwriter]

I was joking when I said "her braid" right before you revealed her "personality" trait. Lol, no!

[@bookswithzara]

Hahahaha

[@platedlizard]

so much of you're "why" questions relating to the dragons can be answered by "because that's in The Dragonriders of Pern", except Anne McCaffery did it better.. Why do the riders get horny when the dragons have sex? because in Pern the riders have to basically meld their minds with the dragons when they mate to keep them from fighting or teleporting randomly to nowhere during a mating flight. Why do the riders wear leather? because in Pern the riders wear leather (which also has insulation like fur/wool lining it, it's not JUST leather) because it protects them from the intense cold of *between* (the dimension dragons teleport through) as well as providing protection from Thread or the odd wayward blast of flame from another dragon while they fight Thread. There's a lot of things she's included about dragons that makes sense in the context of Pern, but this isn't Pern, this is her own world and it's just baffling. Even the thing about what happens when a dragon or rider dies is straight from Pern, except reversed. In Pern dragons always commit suicide when their riders die because the psychic bond between them is so strong. Their riders are often mentally destroyed by the trauma of losing a dragon, but some do recover enough to go on to lead full lives. Again, that makes sense in regards to Pern, the dragons were genetically engineered by the Pernese colonists and they probably didn't want these giant intelligent predators to lack any human controller, but it makes no sense here. At least the Pernese dragonrider candidates don't off each other, in fact fighting is very much discouraged for obvious reasons! I'd honestly be surprised if they didn't end up having some eldritch horror from another dimension/outer space appear to threaten the entire world in later books, said horror, of course, could only be defeated with dragon or gryphon magic. You know, just like Pern.

[@bookswithzara]

Thanks for this, I’d really like to read DoP. It’s a shame I have to read that series to understand so many things in this book. Sounds like it’s a poor attempt at imitation.

[@storiesnstoneware]

Yes! This! What a wonderful way to put it. I strongly disliked the book for those reasons too!

[@MFDOOOOM]

I haven't read this because I avoid over hyped stuff just on principle but my gf was ranting about these exact things in this book lmao

[@bookswithzara]

Hahaha, your girlfriend has good taste 🫡

[@carlymacgowan8753]

Completely agree with all of this- also if you want to avoid the haze in your videos in the future just put the windows in front of you and we will be able to see you better!

[@bookswithzara]

I didn’t realise there is a haze! There’s windows on both sides 😂

[@EpicTalez]

Did you just say that her personality is her hair? 😆. "One of the things I that I really hated about the authors writing... ". No punches held back. 😂. I had no plan to read this book but If I ever see it, i'd run in the opposite direction. This was very entertaining to watch. Nice video.

[@bookswithzara]

Yep yep, hard to believe, right? Yet, she went there. Glad you enjoyed it Epic!

[@dopex89]

Her mother treating her badly doesn't make sense, but also Violet is so unbothered about it. It could have been interesting if she was resenful or rebellious or took it out on herself... and that goes for most of what happens to her. She's just so passive and boring...

[@bookswithzara]

Exactly! So dull!

[@karenroberson9811]

When a book is as measurably badly written as this I absolutely do judge and question people who like it. But I am not trying to have a channel and platform so I get the need of disclaimer as no one can actually handle criticism.

[@unitedkibbles4580]

I thought I was crazy when I read and hated this book 😭 I will always wonder, why don’t the dragons wear saddles?? Is it explained? It makes no sense!

[@bookswithzara]

Nope, not crazy! Completely sane and rational, in fact!

[@Ellie_2007]

I had also wondered that as well 😭 you'd think is a society in need of dragon riders would at least try to keep them alive- like cmon 😭

[@Thecatladybooknook_PennyD]

Oh and i heard today that book 2 is out in September. 🎉😅

[@bookswithzara]

Nice, I heard it was coming out in November but I guess one or two months doesn't really make a difference.

[@jcmberne]

But how did you REALLY feel about it, Zara?

[@bookswithzara]

Honestly, I really loved it.

[@jcmberne]

@@bookswithzara 😂😂😂!

[@Thecatladybooknook_PennyD]

Ohhhh i need to get a cup of coffee for this one. 😂😂😂 One booktuber i follow says she thinks people who don't like it have forgotten how to have fun. 😅 Brain candy.... but I'll pass. 😂❤

[@bookswithzara]

"people who don't like it have forgotten how to have fun." this is just a way to excuse a book that has shit writing, poor plot execution and terrible characters lol.

[@Thecatladybooknook_PennyD]

My feelings exactly. Lol

[@yelena86]

Her mum wants one of each in order to give prestige to the family but it’s so dumb, give them roles that fit their personality, skills and capabilities, not make up a quota to make family look good 🙄 Anyway I really enjoyed this video, liked your thoughts opinions and breakdown of this book. You’ve got a sub from me and looking forward to watch more of your content. Stay safe and well. Sending love from Australia 🐨🦘👍✌️🙏❤️✨

[@bookswithzara]

Right?! Glad you enjoyed the video and welcome to the channel :) stay safe!

[@AuthorJohnADouglas]

Your neighborhood just did not want to cooperate with your taping, did it? I’ll happily miss this one based on what you and others are saying.

[@bookswithzara]

I think Yarros paid them off.

[@thatsci-firogue]

Wait what? She gets TWO dragons!?! That's sssssoooo bloody lame. The author wrote a novel length telegram? 😂

[@bookswithzara]

Rogue, it's sooooo bad.

[@jarltrippin]

You didn't like it because you skipped the first three Wings smh. But for real, this video is golden. This bit got me good 28:21. I'm sorry you had to suffer but we got a very entertaining video out of it. It's always a shame when a story has a cool, fun premise and turns out to be neither cool nor fun. Unfulfilled potential always stings much more than something that never had any hope of being good to begin with. This book sounds like what happens when you listen to too much advice about making your characters "likeable" and "relatable" and forget about making them characters that suit the story and world they inhabit, so they incidentally become the opposite of those two things. And I hope 18:41 is a challenge you accept. I reckon you'd be a pretty kick-ass writer. Any plans in the future?

[@bookswithzara]

Hahahaha, I wish that was actually true. I'm glad you enjoyed it! I agree, so much promise and yet it failed to deliver on every front. As for being a writer, I started writing a book about some stuff that's happened in my life so it's very much autobiographical. I've been writing it sporadically, as and when inspiration strikes, but that's about it. As for fiction, never really crossed my mind tbh.

[@jarltrippin]

@@bookswithzara That's interesting. Usually someone who reads as much has you has tried their hand at writing their own fiction haha. But if anything is done with that autobiography, I'm sure a good many viewers would be interested, unless it's a private thing. Good luck with it, Zara.

[@bookswithzara]

@@jarltrippin I’ll be sure to update everyone when it’s ready (who knows when that’ll be). Maybe it might help someone, who knows 🤷🏽‍♀️

[@Whitney.DawnYT]

I actually enjoyed the book but I like fantasy. Also the lighting is horrible

[@bookswithzara]

Liking fantasy isn’t a condition to liking this awful book. 95% of what I review is fantasy. Do your research. Supposed bad lighting doesn’t make my comments any less valid. Well done.

[@boomerbyll3004]

I think your criticism is a little heavy handed. I wonder if you mostly skimmed the book. You missed some very big plot points and didn’t get some of the themes. It’s easy to turn your brain off and not hear what’s going on that’s deeper than the teen level romance story. I think there are some valid criticisms of the story but somewhere in hating it I think you stopped paying attention to it. It’s really fashionable for KZbinrs to hate the book but so frequently it feels like all the hate reviews are from people who didn’t read it but skimmed it. Anyway I don’t care if you hate it but I read it after watching these hate reviews and found that they are exaggerated hate reviews mostly as an attempt to show how much deeper the reviewer is. I’m willing to go point by point discussing why I think your review is exaggerated but that would go on and on and I don’t think anyone is looking for that in your comment section.

[@bookswithzara]

Thank you for your comment. No I did not skim read the book. I said in the video, multiple times, that I highlighted throughout this book. I personally can't skim and highlight a book. 'It's really fashionable for KZbinrs to hate the book'. I'm pretty sure I said at the beginning and end of this video that I liked the premise. I wasn't coming into this review (and this goes for any book) with the intent of doing a rant video. If you actually look at any of my reviews, they are very balanced and I'm very transparent on the types of things I like and what doesn't work for me but what might work for others. Have a great day.

[@boomerbyll3004]

@@bookswithzara well I wonder why you didn’t get some of the simple answers that are given to your questions? For example, violet is a volunteer because the government didn’t force her to enter the program even though her mother did. Her mother forced her to volunteer just like my mother forced me to play football in high school. I didn’t want to, I couldn’t get the couch to cut me, and I felt trapped while doing it. However it could be said the school did not force me and only accepted volunteers. Similarly I didn’t feel there was any foreshadowing about her brother beyond the idea that he was dead. Lots of riders were dead and I thought it was a way to explain the hate for the rebels children. She didn’t feel on his death for any other reason. I feel like in hindsight I can say that it makes sense that he is alive if we are going to split the family on two sides of a war. Also, dad was most likely killed by mom. That’s why violet was pushed into dragon riding and kept out of the scribes. Dad was an original rebel. Anyway, you do not have to like it but saying the plot makes no sense is why I wonder if you payed attention while reading it. The answers are there even if they obviously do not hit you over the head. Maybe the author needed to be more explicit in her writing and not assume the reader would get the ideas? Im sorry if it seems like I’m accusing you of not reading the book but I just don’t get the disconnect where on one hand we blame the book for being too obvious and on the other we miss the clear implications of the plot. Maybe I have just seen too many reviews that are missing answered that seem so obvious to me. Fantasy romance is a rough sub genre for me. I have my own criticisms of the book but I thought it was a fun read. Nothing too ground breaking and it feels like stuff I’ve read before but it was fun. I think it’s good and I recommend the book to my friends all the time.

[@bookswithzara]

@@boomerbyll3004 If you liked it then good for you. You're entitled to your opinion as I am entitled to mine. It seems like you're offended by it, so I wonder why you even bother to watch these videos in the first place. Keep recommending the books you like and I'll keep doing the same.

[@boomerbyll3004]

@@bookswithzara clearly I’ve upset you. Sorry it’s hard to get my complete thoughts out in text this late at night. It wasn’t my intention to upset you. I think KZbin would be better as a platform if everyone was talking about what they liked and avoided the urge to make hate videos. You are right I will skip hate videos going forward. I can just block channels that are posting hate and look for KZbin channels with more professional styled reviews. Thanks for the reality check. Sometimes we all need that kind of honesty and I am thankful for your insight. I shouldn’t indulge in hate videos.

[@bookswithzara]

@@boomerbyll3004 I’m not upset. I just don’t understand why people who like a book engage with a video that is clearly an opposite opinion. I’m all for discussion but to accuse someone of skim reading a book because they had a different opinion is just bad form. And to clarify, this is not a hate video. This is a video explaining why I disliked the book, which is my subjective experience. I respect your positive opinion on the book but I’m not going to spend time here proving that I read the book to you. For example, I love Joe Abercrombie’s books. So I know to stay away from negative Abercrombie reviews. It’s really that simple. Best of luck. Edit: typo and clarification.