i read the zodiac academy so you don't have to 😳 booktok's fav fantasy romance is just After but fae

[@caricanread]

okay lol according to twitter people are deffo not listening to my disclaimer in the beginning so perhaps a pinned comment - this video (and all my other videos) are not shaming anyone for liking the books i choose to giggle at. if the bully/assault trope is your kink, own it. if the forced marriage trope gets you going, more power to you! people read AND write tropes to help them deal with things happening/have happened in their own lives. i have a lot of fun making these because its like talking about bad movies with friends. if you unironically like the movie, okay! we have different taste! i am just giving my reactions to popular books that people have heard of but dont have the time/interest to read and am having a fun time sharing the experience. until this particular series, it was all in good fun. for me though ZA was very much not fun lol. now, if you're upset because im telling people your favorite book series is about trying to make assault hot, i suggest working on self acceptance! we all have differing colors of freak flags - dont be scared to fly yours high. but shout out to the subtle racism tho, good work caroline and susanne 🥴 love always

[@Hjuvenoman]

Nice try, but people who want to be offended will not be reading pinned comments any more than they are listening to the actual content 🤷‍♀️ you just can't win with some.

[@dizzyella8204]

People: "I like the romanization of bullying/assault trope!" Cari: "This book romanticizes bullying/assault." People: "How dare you." Like???

[@matthewthepirate44]

People have a weird inability to accept they can like things that are bad instead of getting defensive lmao. I love The Room. It's literally one of the worst movies ever made, and I find it extremely amusing. But it's a terrible movie, Liking something doesn't make it suck less.

[@rixanoz]

Some people just want to be offended so they don’t have to look bad for what they did/said/supported (trying to make life threatening bullying/kidnapping/s.assault look like a good idea with no kink disclaimer in sight). This is just not a good series. There are way better options for a fun bad time.

[@cori24]

I think it’s real hard for some people to grasp that someone not liking something you like is not a personal attack but just a matter of taste. Like if everybody operated under the “it’s ok if people like different things than I do” umbrella then people wouldn’t feel so offended. I’m so confused why they’re offended in the first place but more power to them I guess lol

[@strawberry_silk3364]

Water, earth, fire, air. Long ago the four sex offenders lived in harmony, everything changed when the pick-mes arrived

[@chrissy3875]

HELPPPP

[@LoveofFunk]

😭😭😭

[@Elizas_Music_Relam]

Perfection!

[@billiep1603]

I SCREAMEDDDDD

[@YourTitaFromHyrule]

This made me cackle 😂

[@joepbuckley]

The book is basically: two girls are sent to a school full of magical sex offenders

[@simi5558]

real

[@danaeromero8586]

o.o;

[@jasperspearl2768]

HA!

[@AC8X]

I’m _really_ hoping the name “Tori Vega” is a coincidence, but it’s so funny to imagine this series as Victorious fanfic written by someone who was hot for the unhinged teacher

[@JanineKeyes]

I thought the exact same thing 😅😂

[@roux5021]

Not Sikowitz 😭

[@ps1hagridoufofcharacter]

oh my god i literally was scared of sikowitz, i cant imagine anyone being into that kind of character 😭😭😂😂

[@anothercub6958]

Idk, sikowitz isn't everyone's cup of tea, but he's gotta be at least someone's

[@asthmaticbee]

I was about to comment the same thing, it takes me out even more than the fucking Faebook lol

[@gracelee5536]

The whole plot feels like a weird spin on a Winx Club fanfiction. There’s so many elements of the world and backstory that feel like a worse version of Winx 💀

[@ilyuser]

yes!! the world is even called solaria ffs

[@katefresina832]

@@ilyuser Omg it is just a bad winx fanfiction

[@extrovertjellyfish6631]

Omg that exact thought jumped through my mind! With Solaria and as well with the girls being completely unharmed like Bloom in that fire, surely they watched Winx and then just keysmashed a story out

[@Jenny-vm3yu]

My thoughts exactly, it’s basically plagiarism.

[@BlackIceDragonSalome]

It's a magical crossover of Victorious and Winx. I just have to figure out where the name "Darcy" is coing from...

[@aurora.lis956]

it’s fascinating how they’re all called fae but none of them are actual fae. they’re all mythical creatures that don’t even fall under that umbrella. this sounds like something thirteen year old me would write. at least younger me knew what fae actually were

[@TheRealAmadeusMozart]

I'm doing some worldbuilding for a little series I plan on making that's primarily set in a fictionalized version of Ancient Greece [very original, I know],, and having their mythological beings being referred to as fae genuinely hurt my soul

[@paisleyseum4268]

Oh my god it annoys me to no end. I’m currently on the second draft of a book I’m writing where magical creatures are referred to as fae. The difference? THEY’RE ACTUAL FUCKING FAE! AND THE OTHER MAGICAL CREATURES THAT AREN’T FAE, AREN’T REFERRED TO AS FAE! Good grief.

[@chickenfoot2423]

i honestly think this happens a LOT when americans write about european mythology in general, esp in YA. american fantasy media thrives on premises that are clearly inspired by british faerie folklore but quite misinformed😭 i dont mean this as american hate at all, but it hurts my heart as someone who grew up obsessed with local folklore

[@lenaheitmann4500]

Leonie from the Book Leo actually made a video on the evolution of fae which I think is relevant here. Historically speaking Fae actually was an umbrella term for basically any type of magical being (Leonie explains it in much more detail so maybe watch that video if you’re interested) so yeah I think that is actually a part of the book that is okay

[@maevem316]

@@lenaheitmann4500 eh, it was an umbrella term for magical beings in certain places/times, I don't really think you could call greek mythological creatures "fae". It was probably more for marketing, as fae are very trendy in this sort of fantasy romance rn

[@ciannagarza1977]

“Bella where the hell have you been loca” is a better example of Spanglish than anything they wrote lmao

[@yourfavvperson]

BSUDNSHCNSHDJXID THANK YOU FOR THIS, I WAS ACTUALLY THINKING ABOUT READING THE SERIES BUT NOT ANYMORE-

[@Topdoggie7]

Brooo that's exactly what I thought!

[@z3ro.Qw1rtz]

If you want an Uruguayan/argentinian version add "de mierda" after loca (that means of shit/shitty)

[@baiaku.]

As a Brazilian Portuguese speaker, I'm thinking that my Portunhol isn't that bad anymore, certo galera?

[@blackmuzicluver35]

The moment I heard "muy clique-y", that "Bella, where have you been, loca" is the exact line that came to mind. It's giving the same energy😭

[@cursapear]

"It gets good at book 5" has "you need to play 100 hours of this game to review it" energy.

[@TheFatalcrest]

No No! come on man the game really picked up 150 hours in! you unlock the Third tier of the 5 tiers of skills! What? oh yeah and uh the story...is still still building up the intro.

[@karama5562]

One piece type shit

[@melleelizabeth2853]

​@Karama I'm a one piece fan and the 5 book shit is still ridiculous to me. At least the first few hundred chapters don't have Luffy getting SA'd the whole time

[@BooksToAshes]

Worst part is, I’m on book 6 and it’s getting worse. So much unnecessary drama and filler with POV’s of characters I don’t care about. It’s pointless to keep going. This series should have been maybe 6 books long max

[@Solanin0803]

"Please bro, please just keep watching! I know that you are like 20 episodes in but it gets really good in the 4th season. Just keep watching it, it gets so funny, bro"

[@emackenzie]

Between the weird interruptions of social media posts and the character literally being named _Tori Vega_ I can't get the thought of this being ridiculous Victorious fanfiction out of my mind

[@alexhika]

omg, absolutely 😆😆😆

[@leylacaliskan8892]

dude ive been waiting for this comment

[@excellent_boiled_potatoes]

Yes!!!!!!!

[@maiarasilva9546]

omg victorious hogwarts au

[@courtneypaige18]

omg this was my first thought!!

[@PokemonkaDub]

So the girls are suuuuper powerfull prodiges with all 4 elements but once someone is bullying them they just stand there...?

[@k.5425]

Yh. I kept wondering how they weren't using their powers...

[@martu7818]

@@k.5425 i mean, they are extremely powerful but have no practice with their powers, while the heirs have 5 years of training so it's basically no match. they do have moments where they manage to take the boys out with raw power, but they always end up getting the upper hand. as the books progress the twins become more in control and start actually fighting back. i thought that was actually one of the more realistic part of the series lol

[@yannieshrubs]

exactly-

[@Andreasuprema]

Didn’t one of them shoved one of the guy across the room like it was nothing ..?

[@IXScasualty]

Consistency is key

[@Nerpy_Nerp]

To everyone who tricked me into buying this book by calling it “adult Harry Potter” you have me crying, shaking, throwing up. I couldn’t get past the hazing because WTF I was so angry and triggered. Thank you Cari for making me feel not so alone in my opinions :)

[@holobookthief]

Honestly the biggest problem with this book is literally the way that BookTok presented it to me. If I had truly understood what I was getting into I never would have picked up the book in the first place. I spent the whole time reading going from concerned to disgusted to confused, and if people would just be straightforward about the content and not misadvertise it like this, I wouldn’t even care because I would still be in my own little fantasy corner

[@jarsofpaperstars]

Yeah if it wasn’t so disingenuously promoted to a YA audience, it’d still be a shit story but at least everyone would know what to expect. People who’d be taken off guard could avoid it altogether while the rest would know what they’re getting into

[@fehyndana7725]

Same. I was literally promised adult Harry Potter where Draco Malfoy gets the girl. I was so mad after reading. Not even close

[@valeriadgarcia]

omg yesI had to stop reading because everyone was an asshole

[@Xilaneda]

That Spanglish was terrible but … saying someone can’t be a native Spanish speaker because of they don’t look like a Spanish speaker is racist.

[@augha]

The whole concept of magic boarding schools did irreparable damage to YA romance and it’s hilarious

[@marocat4749]

Its not even that its new, the concept of "fill in something" special school. Ok the houses make it worse. But dont have to.

[@beedoesthings8037]

I know right? It’s like the lowest form of ya at this point. Like I think it could be done well, but the school and houses are used synonymously with world building, so anything that has them basically has a handful of stereotypes that make up the bulk of the world, and then empty space everywhere else. And it’s difficult to have interesting characters in a nothing world because characters are defined by their world.

[@ps1hagridoufofcharacter]

@@beedoesthings8037 dont forget the foreign magic users appearing in later books for diversity points whose clothes and practices are 'inspired' by stealing religious concepts of cultures the author knows nothing about!

[@Robin-ej7rn]

@@ps1hagridoufofcharacter OMG PS1 HAGRID I LOVE YOU

[@ps1hagridoufofcharacter]

@@Robin-ej7rn omg i'm so flattered, thank you

[@moose1277]

IF HARDIN WAS FOUR NEPO BABIES WITH SUPER POWERS I AM SCREAMING

[@caricanread]

tell me im wrong tho!!

[@jaginaiaelectrizs6341]

@@caricanread At least this series is a bit more intentional, as far as I understand it? Like..After was awful, even when it was trying not to be; or so I have e heard, anyhow. But in Zodiac Academy everyone is intentionally awful, because that the genre? (Dark/Bully Romance?) 👀 I haven't read either series myself though, so who knows how accurate what I've heard actually is or not though. Lol

[@sheesh1483]

@@jaginaiaelectrizs6341 yea well they're awful at being awful. If you're gonna write an unlikeable character then u need to atleast give them something, anything, to keep the reader interested and engaged with their story but these characters are just super annoying.

[@madisonmendez530]

LMFAOOOO no lie

[@blamejames0]

​@@jaginaiaelectrizs6341nah, I read the first book and Hardin is intentionally awful. After is 100% a "bully romance" where Hardin is a traumatized boy that has a 'soft side'. It's reinforced that Hardin is a damaged person that hurts Tessa.

[@blackhalo317]

These kinds of books give me hope. Not about literature, but hope that I’ll actually get published one day. 😂

[@lukewarmcoffee5743]

Omygod. I love this 🤣🤣

[@arabellacarter1482]

Honestly same. I feel WAY less self-conscious about my own writing knowing that sh* like this gets published and successful

[@LaurenPebble]

Right? If this is the shit that gets published then surely as soon as I get off my ass and put the work in, publishers should be falling at my feet???

[@krishnahemminger]

There self-published. But this is still really bad and gives a bad name to so many self-published authors. Does give me hope as a budding self-publishing author.

[@Kruhee]

YOU CAN DO IT! I bet it'll be great! :D If it makes you feel better, from what I've seenn if you're even 1/4th literate, it will get past the first few rounds of publishing criteria.

[@jackbudinich124]

The authors being sisters kind of makes this feel like a self insert story

[@serkanMKose]

It's so obvious that you don't need to say "feel like". It's a self insert abuse fetish porn. Nobody would write thousands and thousands of pages of abuse porn fantasy if they're not "enjoying" it.

[@zinkheroofyoutube8004]

@@serkanMKoseThat’s honestly not a problem if they had just been honest about it for the start

[@yasminemixon9340]

It reminds me of the house of night series. What's up with these family duos making horrible YA books??

[@phoney2627]

This whole series feels like the authors poorly disguised humiliation fetish

[@Mooju_]

Literally exactly what it is, imo that’s what the entire bully-victim trope is

[@mystik_owl]

I don't think it's trying to disguise that at all

[@pobbityboppity1110]

Why must fantasy and especially scifi just be a long string of fetish situations 😢

[@punishedwhispers1218]

​@@Mooju_Nah, don't forget the 10% being tsundere and the 5% being buff girl stans

[@NapaCat]

I think that's what it's supposed to be, honestly. I feel like it's MEANT to be kinky/humiliation fetish

[@duckie6218]

Sometimes I see books like this and I'm like...okay author, you have an unexplored humiliation kink. Why are you making me a part of this though

[@boyboss3322]

As an aspiring author with that kink, not even I would write something so grotesque

[@liljatupsu]

"Why are you making me a part of this though" You did it! You just summed up the way I feel about self-inserty fanfics in one sentence! Thank you!

[@zinkheroofyoutube8004]

It honestly wouldn't be a problem if they marketed it that way and made sure to put warnings on it, but no

[@khorrijones]

OH LMAO

[@silver8632]

I'm baffled at how the authors made their two leads simultaneously so overpowered while also disempowering them to the extent that they did. All the powers in the world and then some and they're assaulted every .5 seconds????

[@devinkerr5474]

Sadly this is something even big Fantasy Authors enjoy toying with. Sword of Truth's Richard is the most powerful magic user to ever live, only he constantly forgets to use his powers, they only work when he's in a blind rage, etc.. All this resulting in him constantly being held back, beaten, abused, or outwitted by people who should be able to handle in seconds -.-

[@abbywolffe4114]

I love how the authors took the concept of zodiac signs, a system known for having TWELVE different ways to categorize characters-- plus four if you add the elements, plus three if you add the whole Cardinal/Mutuable/Fixed thing, plus twenty-four if you add moon and rising signs-- and still decided "yeah this book is also about faeries and stuff" All the zodiac signs have Greek myths behind them, why didn't they retell those? A few of the stories are decently well known (Aquarius is the myth of Ganymede, Virgo is Pandora's Box, etc), so it would have been pretty interesting, and they mention the creatures offhand, like the Minotaur (Taurus) but that's it?The main characters are TWINS and they missed the opportunity to retell Castor and Pollux

[@sarawehbexx]

this is what I thought ! I feel like it was a pretty decent concept, but fell so, so flat

[@oddeyes9413]

The authors Maas-ified it.

[@strangevol5264]

They could have even made it Babylonian, like with the goat-fish creator god (Capricorn as we know it) and Ishtar!

[@eirinym]

Expecting the people who wrote this to know anything at all about ancient mythology is really asking too much.

[@NapaCat]

Taurus was any number of bulls, really. Zeus had so much bull symbolism in general.

[@courtneys119]

I saw a TikTok saying that said you have to “just wait until you get to book 5 and then it gets really good!” Girl, it’s not gonna happen if i have to get through 5 whole books for it to get good.

[@DixieLeann]

Right😂

[@Artbyhurricanyounot]

It shouldn’t even take one book to get good 😩 the first one should leave you EXCITED for more, not “well… maybe it gets better!”

[@Stonedandbookish]

If it doesn't get good by page 80 it's a dnf for me

[@Artbyhurricanyounot]

@@Stonedandbookish if it doesn’t get good and if it’s not written well, DNF

[@sin3358]

Also the fact that they read till book 5 means that they were already enjoying the story but know that others would not

[@ilyuser]

so they're faeries, in the world of *solaria* , where magic mixes with technology and one of the characters is named darcy. someone definitely watched a little too much winx club

[@heynotizzy7493]

And victorious, i mean. Tori vega?

[@jarsofpaperstars]

Threw in some Avatar for the hell of it too

[@moose1277]

I'm discovering new stages of grief the more I listen to this summary

[@caricanread]

:'''')

[@Shrilaraune]

I'm only 12 min in. God speed

[@nycoleleon713]

Somehow made it past 20 minutes

[@Justahumanexisting]

I’m an hour and two minutes in.. regretting my life choices :’)

[@-Nari-]

Hour and seven minutes in....I kinda feel like dying rn

[@A.H._]

no girl, you are spot on with the spanish being way off. as a bilingual whose first language is spanish and whose primary language at this point is spanglish, i’d never speak like that. we tend to say things in the other language when we don’t find a more accurrate equivalent, we forget the word or it’s the way something’s called. we don’t throw words in spanish while speaking english just cuz. this feels forced and stupid tbh

[@karls548]

Right!, latino Spanish native here, idk it made me feel so uncomfortable. Like even felt a bit offensive, idk 😐

[@A.H._]

@@karls548 agreed! It is kinda offensive. It feels more like a stereotyped caricature, but like with stereotypes that some white people created without ever actually interacting with bilingual hispanic people

[@dariaborisova7490]

as a bilingual myself it's so awkward when you forget a word and some people honestly start thinking that you're showing off.

[@A.H._]

@@dariaborisova7490 oh god, yes! I feel a little bad when people look at me with annoyance, but I seriously don’t do it on purpose. I find it frustrating to forget words, specially when they are really basic

[@itscjrodgers]

Learning this was a huge help as I started learning how to write bilingual characters. This is also easy to find when researching how to write a bilingual character these days so idk why they didn't know.

[@oh_hey_sarah]

(sees that Cari posted an hour long video about a book series I’ve never heard of that I will never ever read) alright it’s go time bitches 🏃‍♀️

[@caricanread]

😂😂😂

[@localbuzzkill1760]

MEEEE

[@nijohn12]

same now i have motivation to take on the world with my fave content

[@JKatniss]

I feel this in my BONES. Cari does the hard work for those of us who are too lazy to read a probably at least slightly trash book/book series. We appreciate you soooooo much, queen

[@caitlingill]

These books sounds like someone watched Victorious and Winx Club on Nickelodeon, came up with the other elements in half an hour, and thought “ok, this can all be combined into a novel series!”😂

[@frozendroplet8870]

on that note, why not add big time rush into it too to get some hunky dunky hot guys into the mix?? is what i honestly figure the writers must’ve thought because… really and boom, you get a fanfiction that is the perfect blend of nickelodeon shows - all in one!

[@brookiie]

The elemental bits are just avatar the last airbender and the twins are avatar

[@annejia5382]

​​​@@brookiie the connection is complete 😂 now we need to know where the zodiac idea came from

[@shiversivegotem]

The Pegasus stuff is particularly cracking me up. Crying at "it's embarrassing to be a horse"

[@Gayer_Mateo]

They're literally calling Pegasi embarrassing cause rainbow, lilac, pastel colours, etc. are emasculating.

[@lily.skylar]

it’s just the fact that the writing literally says “i jogged in my nike sneakers while listening to lizzo” LIKE HOW IS THIS CONSIDERED GOOD😭

[@justperpetuallybothered3474]

This is so funny PLEASEEE

[@rizzobeloved]

LMAO WHAT

[@GreiH]

That's the kind of sentence I'd expect to find on Ao3 or Wattpad fan fiction fr lol

[@elisebookwurm1217]

@@GreiH maybe wattpad lmao but even my extensive dives into ao3 have never yielded quite a cringy sentence from a fic/book trying to take itself seriously💀

[@sheesh1483]

@@elisebookwurm1217 the only way i can see a sentence like that on a AO3 fic is if it was a crackfic tbh lmao

[@thefairylibrarian3282]

Parent 1: How should we name our 2 daughters Parent 2: i like Gwendolin and Roxanne Parent 1: No, those aren't fancy and magical and "old-timey" enough. These are the two heirs of the faethrone after all. Parent 2: Ok, so how about we make it Gwendalina and Roxanya? Parent 1: Perfect!

[@mikaroni_and_cheez]

Oh my god they're the fae version of those suburban parents with their kids named "Jaxxon" and "Kaeightlynn"

[@zoainaiip]

The parents really wanted unique names but what they got was the nightmare fuel for a bunch of substitute teachers

[@isolemnlyswearthatimuptono5016]

@@mikaroni_and_cheez it's ✨Jaxx-yn✨

[@mon_moi]

fantasy authors saw Welsh names once and absolutely ran with it

[@sweetytweety1671]

​@@mon_moi 😂😂

[@chloerowitz7547]

I love that you previously got 50 pages into the book and then realized you could only read something so terrible if you were getting paid 🤣 boss move

[@yuenath]

as she should tbh LOLOL i’ll gladly help her get paid for it too 👏🏼😭

[@chloerowitz7547]

@@yuenath same!!! If I could I would 💁‍♀️

[@oddeyes9413]

Literally a *I don't get paid enough for this shit* moment.

[@daisywriteshere]

cari at the start of this video: full of hope, making jokes, expecting a fun time cari at the end of this video: suffering, embattled, trying to prevent others from making the same mistake

[@iri02802]

Totally true!

[@moleperson]

Every time Diego speaks Spanish I just imagine him speaking it in an American accent. Like full frat-boy. It makes his dialogue far more entertaining to be honest-

[@joselynsalazar2431]

Diego gives me american latino wanabe vibes every time he speaks spanglish

[@bottompercy]

I can't imagine him with any other accent bc of the misspelling and missing accent marks 😢 not to mention that he literally speaks in the textbook spanish in high school spanish classes and not realistic spanish

[@moleperson]

@@joselynsalazar2431 It’s giving “Bella, where the hell you been loca?”

[@gracelament]

Is it just me or is this book very 2012-core? Like every trope that was popular back in the day shoved into one book. It's got a magic school, chosen one(s), elemental magic, characters divided into houses, hot boys that feel pulled out of a one direction fan fiction... Edit: also justice for Capricorns, I love Capricorns! - From a fellow earth sign.

[@coraphoenix-price3270]

It’s like girls who read one of those books in high school got hyped on booktokand decided to write their own series not knowing what an editor is

[@rizzobeloved]

I honestly thought this book was like an old YA book from the early 2010s until I checked the publication date… It was published in 2019 😭

[@antonioscendrategattico2302]

I wouldn't even mind if they could bother to have interesting protagonists and plots. I seriously don't get this obsession for having bland protagonists because "uuh the audience has to be able to imagine themselves in their place!" As if a protagonist being bland, boring and spineless somehow makes that easier?

[@OkamiRose]

@@antonioscendrategattico2302 It’s for all the new readers who can’t empathize with any characters other than blank husks and to just fantasize being with those ‘hot’ guys

[@antonioscendrategattico2302]

@@OkamiRose It's the same thing with most shitty isekai tbh. I seriously don't get why audiences lap this up so much.

[@Lifeonasofa]

So glad someone else was as angry as me!!! This series was so hyped. I read the first book and was SO CONFUSED. Whyyyyy? I don’t know how it can possibly get any better. The bullying was…the whole plot.

[@caricanread]

yeah it was way too much :(

[@killerchels13]

It wasn't even bullying. It was assault.

[@avacairen]

that was me with Cruel Prince though too RIP

[@empressfreya9872]

@@avacairen Cruel Prince has the unfortunate disadvantage of being more political fantasy being published in a time where its main demographic cares mostly about romance. I can't count how many times I've seen it marketed as enemies to lovers romance and Jude being super badass when the point of the book is political intrigue and Jude not being a badass just yet

[@avacairen]

@@empressfreya9872 idk I didn't find the political intrigue convincing. Jude imo didn't fit into the plot at all, so that part couldn't save it for me either. Normally I do like some well written political intrigue

[@holybird0079]

I appreciate your pain tolerance. Also “Everything bien?” broke me and I accidentally threw my dog 😅. She’s fine

[@caricanread]

omg no! ahahaha

[@crabbydabby789]

Your dog: WE’RE SOARINNN WE’RE FLYINNN, THERE’S NOT A STAR IN HEAVEN THAT WE CAN’T REACH!

[@g996]

@@crabbydabby789 🌠

[@rx500android]

You could even say she's bien

[@marcelocapeljunior3579]

'Air, Water, Fire, Earth? Nobody has ever harnessed all four of them.' Of course, only the Avatar can master all four elements.

[@elladavids6124]

The vibe of the bullying and everything feels like, if you took the concept of “torture porn” but you made it high school bullying instead. I’m not sure how anyone could enjoy reading multiple books worth of two girls being treated like shit, harassed, assaulted, and abused by pretty much every single other character in the book.

[@TheLordDracula]

You'd think this would be an incel dude kink, but no it's (mostly) women readers loving it

[@ravent3016]

I could see this series being popular if the twins turned Carrie and rampaged. Revenge fantasy can be healthy and cathartic.

[@NapaCat]

Humiliation kink. These books are humiliation kink, I think...

[@rolanslide8509]

I've never heard of this series, but it sounds like a nightmare. I salute you

[@caricanread]

a memory i'd like to erase for sure hahaa

[@nawa73]

​@@caricanread I don't like to see someone suffer but I also like this kind of video. Thank you, Cari😁

[@cuddlewuffle]

i'm sorry i don't care who i upset by saying this but so many books like this are so obsessed with grossly misogynistic and predatory tropes that it's extremely hard for me to come to terms with the fact that they're not all written by dudes who write women in the "her breasts bounced boobily" way. please can fanfiction stop getting published 💀

[@roamoray]

literally for real !!!

[@b30574]

No but there are fanfiction better than this shot ok

[@strangevol5264]

pff, fanfiction actually explores the depths of the characters.

[@EnderHeart5911]

This an an insult to fanfiction

[@skb_skq]

@@EnderHeart5911 exactly

[@morgangreg353]

Super weird that Vampires are just included in the hierarchy with their weird lack of magic but Nymphs are The Enemy of the State for not having their own magic. Would have been much more interesting if vampires were also magical outcasts tbh.

[@Eloraurora]

Honestly, it feels like the vampires were the natural option for a villain race, but they didn't want to alienate the "vampires = sexy" demographic. So instead they offloaded some negative vampire traits onto nymphs, who ought logically to have plant/animal/nature magic.

[@teaismeowingatyou]

or even if the double standard was explored at all, it could be used as pretty apt social commentary

[@erikamae0416]

*trying to do this without spoiling anything* the nymphs became the bad guys because of their ability to harness the shadows "better" than other fae kind. (Only a little further than halfway through the series atm) and vampires don't have to kill to replenish their power and nymphs do.

[@r3giancy]

"I hope to god this isn't a teacher/student supernatural romance" The way I started laughing IMMEDIATELY when you said that. You were in for a ride man.

[@d.lan3y]

wait so tori's real surname is vega? man, the plot twists are crazy. i really hope at the end of all this she's...victorious.

[@Dojafish]

😂

[@sjhstrange]

this reads like a middle schooler’s wattpad work after just hitting puberty. like, i genuinely remember being ten and reading fanfics where the self insert main character was excessively bullied and the romance characters were creepy as hell- literally every time. brings back only painful memories LMAO

[@bunny_koo]

The amount of suffering you go through just for us 😂 your dedication is very much appreciated cari

[@caricanread]

🙏🙏🙏

[@raec.9308]

This series is the kind where you hope the tone makes a 180 and the MC(s) snap and start getting revenge on everyone who was torturing them. Because no way am I gonna root for a romance that started with massive amounts of assault.

[@snackpack3787]

Here's to hoping they take the throne and guillotine everyone who bullied them

[@jarsofpaperstars]

Yeah I’m listening to this and all I can think is “So when’s the massacre gonna start?” Like wtf someone please sock these guys in the face

[@wildandbrey]

The descriptions of what these girls went through made me ✨physically ill✨

[@jesusisbackintown5682]

Can we please appreciate the fact that in a book full of zodiac references all the surnames are names of the brightest stars from every constellation EXCEPT THE ONES IN THE ZODIAC?! Genius writing /s

[@cur1ouscatf1sh]

There’s so much to talk about but I can’t get over the terrible awful so very bad codeswitching. “Muy cliquey” and “Everything bien?” personally came into my room and beat me over the head with a baseball bat. I hate it here Edit: OH MY GOD THERES MATES. I need a drink Edit 2: okay there’s alphas and omegas now? I was joking about the drink but now I’m going through the liquor cabinet. What in the wattpad fanfic werewolf smut mom sold me to one direction is this??

[@jessycac6311]

“everything bien” LMAO it sounds so unnatural

[@marocat4749]

:( Th good thing about werewolf smut is that its pretty gay and mpreg. Actual things that are good to go against gender stuff. Thats the good thing about werwolf smut. If thts not there its just the orst of it :(

[@nixsharp9517]

this is definitely fanfiction, the way they write a character speaking spanish, the very obvious smut fan service, the fact you KNOW they are going to get together with one of them?? yeah idk what fandom but it’s most definitely fanfiction

[@LaurenPebble]

It’s like they had an idea for an original story, but all they know how to write is fanfiction so that’s how it came out sounding. Not a single professional editor touched this work. And if I found out one actually did… 😐🔫

[@Scottthespy13]

Oh! Maybe its Crave fanfiction? She points out many similarities.

[@AC8X]

I have a terrible sinking feeling that it’s Victorious from Nickelodeon

[@Cat-uo4vw]

@@AC8X Someone mentioned that it might be Victorious/Winx Club fanfiction. Solaria? Seriously? Burned down house and surprise royalty background? Definitely a published fanfiction

[@Jo-sv9io]

the book being fanfiction would explain the weird sex kink stuff like the mind control coercion stuff, the wolf guy pissing on one of the girls, the biting/licking and the general lack of consent. That kind of stuff tends to be present in a lot of smutty fanfics

[@upsetstudios1819]

I'm so suspicious of books labeled "dark romance". To me, that label connotes a level of maturity. This just reminds me of the "dark and edgy" Wattpad books where the mmc tries to kill the fmc a bunch of times because "dark magic"

[@renlish]

The hype around these books has been insane and I've been seeing people SWOON over them for months on Tiktok. There are way too many people who have rape and SA fantasy fixations and it makes me incredibly uncomfortable.

[@caricanread]

And the people swooning never seem to mention the SA in these books…

[@k.5425]

SA means?

[@caricanread]

@@k.5425 sexual assault

[@yasminemixon9340]

this is what bothers me so much. Like I've seen people recommend like the outlander series and refuse to mention just how SA heavy the series is, it's like they're trying to trick people into liking the books or something. It really makes me feel icky because it can be really triggering for a lot of people.

[@kgal1298]

Well to be fair Colleen Hoover got super popular with the same crowd and that's definitely writing that relies on SA for the plot. I draw the line at SA tropes because it's not good.

[@mocaxe]

this feels like someone read the cruel prince and was like "oh. people like it when fae are mean" and just went as far as they could with that

[@brendalima5292]

Any time you would mention something these boys did I was just so shocked the twins were still talking to them. And then it happens again. And again. And again.

[@dxmxrxsbxxckthxwxxdxlf3931]

It's like the twins are in a rut

[@barbara8009]

so if a siren transfers their powers through kisses that means that the other person technically becomes a siren for a second there? so that person could just kiss someone else and transfer it again and so on? the first fae pyramid scheme i've ever heard of love it

[@Rhaifha]

A siren chain. 😆

[@ShortyG1290]

Siren herpes tbh

[@MarqMortis]

I understand people like to read about abuse in fiction but--holy shit, the fact that this isn't an ultimate revenge story where the twins very painfully ruin those literal monsters is making me really upset.

[@ravent3016]

I could see this series being popular if the twins turned Carrie and rampaged. Revenge fantasy can be healthy and cathartic.

[@ashmusing6118]

For once, just for once, I'd love it if, when the Magically OP Heir(/s) rock up to the creepy school full of creeps and assault, they used their powers to level the place. Just. Nope! No more institutionalized abuse for you! It would be so cathartic.

[@anuradha52279]

highly recommend the scholomance series by naomi novik! you've got all of the messed-up school vibes, but with actual reasons for it and full acknowledgement of how horrible of a situation it is. and i haven't had the chance to read the third (and final) book yet, but the end of book two sets it up for the FMC to FINALLY start burning the system down - i can't tell you how much the scholomance series deserves to be touted as the "mature harry potter" series we deserve rather than series' like... this.

[@jarsofpaperstars]

@@anuradha52279 I read a summary and the author saying she wanted to “take the glaring flaws in school safety at Hogwarts a little too seriously” I was sold. I might actually check it out, thanks for the recommendation

[@renlish]

Hold my beer. Got a book to write.

[@nissanssa]

i feel like the author tried to pull a cardan from the folk of the air series except cardan wasn’t bullying her for shits and giggles and had actual character development.

[@xeniaylin]

I legitimately had this downloaded on my Kindle and was going to read it until you posted on your Instagram that you were. THANK YOU FOR SAVING ME FROM THIS HORROR. Also as someone who is Latina. I absolutely hated how they had Diego talk. The Spanglish was so bad and the few Spanish sentences you showed definetly looked as if someone put a sentence on Google Translate and threw it in there! I DEFINETLY DELETED IT FROM MY KINDLE.

[@elviralee8789]

RIGHT!!! I'm Latina too and have fam all over the world so we can all speak spanglish like the best of them but OMG that was BAD BAD

[@itsamebeca]

omg yes!!! even my portunhol is better than that lol

[@h.1199]

"because he's a pervert..or in Diego's words" and then the cut to pervertido I SCREAMEDNDKDNJD

[@Reverse_Cat_Cowgirl]

All the highly detailed bullying is giving me trauma-porn right off the bat. Also, I think bullying only works for me when the target makes good smart ass remarks and gets there underdog jabs every so often to show they aren't totally crushed and it's sort of cathartic for me the reader.

[@kikothesamurai]

Celestial heir or not, all of the shit they did should have earned them a spin kick to the face and a stomp to their balls.

[@gregjayonnaise8314]

It’s so obvious that the writer has a degradation and pain fetish lol. Like, the fact that the love interests are all so hot but humiliate the protagonists in public, bite them, do all sorts of awful stuff and the girls just… roll over and accept it despite being portrayed as supreme badasses really shows it And I’m not knocking it, I just think it’s SUPER obvious

[@Reverse_Cat_Cowgirl]

@@gregjayonnaise8314 oh yeah, I forget that kink exists sometimes. I can only read about degradation in a book if you sprinkle praise all over the place, and even then I need to be in the right mood lol. It's kind of weird to think about this going on in a school tho.

[@Samzillah]

Ive read a lot of enemies to lovers, bully trope, and even romanticized abuse books but god does this take the cake, the pie and the cookies as well.

[@venamotylek]

i choose to believe when authors say "designer clothes" that they mean heavily monogramed.

[@smry860]

every book of a series should be an enjoyable experience, it should not take 5 books for a story to get good thats just plein bad writing. thank you for putting yourself through this torture cari lol. also i feel in this series the authors liked too many things and didn’t know when to call it enough. definitely feels like a 2012 wattpad fanfic with the photoshopped collage of 3 different series that aren’t remotely related as a cover, brings back memories.

[@eitaklleyd7932]

If the bully trope is your thing that’s great, but I am with Cari on the fact that I don’t feel this series is talked about in a way that warns you what you’re actually about to read and I say this as a person who saw it recommended so many times on tik tok leading me to go into the first book blind which is not a very fun time when you don’t enjoy the bully trope

[@FreakBellSeven]

has anyone pointed out yet that Tori Vega is the main character of the nickelodeon tv series Victorious? it's a problem because i can only picture her as victoria justice now

[@brendalima5292]

And Solaria is Stella's home land from Winx Club 😂

[@katelynharrison3779]

@@brendalima5292 I KNEW I’d heard that somewhere before!

[@kmajak765]

And Seth is the name of a werewolf in twilight 💀

[@katelynharrison3779]

@@kmajak765 I’ve read twilight many times and didn’t even realize that😅 wow.

[@meghanshinn5966]

"give me a fuuuuUUUUcking break diego" slaughtered me

[@sailorwithjupiter]

the saddest part is some girls will really think that being mistreated/bullied/assaulted equals to romance. those books are a caricature of a wattpad fanfiction written by a 13 year old in the worst way possible. you're braver than the marines for reading all of those.

[@thejudgingtrash]

Those books are so overwritten, long and terrible and all of the characters are awful BUT the mystery and main story is actually… intriguing?? I’m only reading to get to the end of it at this point 😭😭

[@caricanread]

you'll have to share with the class because after 1500+ pages the 'mystery' is at the same place it was at page 10 lol

[@thejudgingtrash]

@@caricanread Mystery might be the wrong word but like the beef with the daddy dragon dude and the background of the family of the twins (aside from them being way too op and Mary Janeing through the books) is actually kinda interesting. Everything else… not so much.

[@blep9529]

@@thejudgingtrash I'm like halfway through the last book. I've read all the books in like the 3 series set in this world. We finally get some lore on the phoenixes, but i'm still trying to figure out the drama with the nymphs.

[@thejudgingtrash]

@@blep9529 ooh interesting. I’m still at the beginning, I’m currently reading other books but I defo have to get back into finishing the series

[@JuiceyBabs]

Same! But also team Dorion/Larcy (or whatever their couple name is) lol. That last book had no business being 1242 pages long. It pained me to skim read it 😖 I just need to know what the heck happens at the end.

[@roux5021]

The similarities between this series and The Winx Saga is WILD

[@Alisha_Seikh]

THANK YOU !!! I thought I was the only one who noticed

[@caitlingill]

And victorious 😂

[@mariavictorialugobrines3894]

As someone who speaks a lot of Spanglish, Diego infuriates me so much because literally no one who switches between the two ever does it like that !!

[@justperpetuallybothered3474]

Literally, people will slip in the most obscure random words of their mother tongue. His dialogue is too forced

[@lordzeffothepowerful3068]

Also, it rarely comes up when speaking to non-spanish speaking people unless we absolutely forget what it's called in English. Even then, we tend to describe what we're talking about immediately after saying the word (unless that's what i do). Like, I've only ever converse in spanglish with my Hispanic friends and sister and will actively avoid saying things in Spanish in front of people who don't speak the language

[@xXStarlite14Xx]

the beast boys imo are like if the author watched boys over flowers, took one look at the f4 and was like “oh i can make them worse”

[@honeysweet4804]

BABSHSHSH

[@cryforhelp7270]

RIGHT??? THIS IS VILE

[@kgal1298]

Hahahaha noooo I loved Boys Over Flowers.

[@Hosigie]

How does this get published but it took Sanderson like 14 novels to actually get published? And his writing is pretty darn good. While this is just a Winx fanfic.

[@Disgrace_917]

This was obviously self published

[@Safiyahalishah]

Everything else aside, there were pretty clear punctuation and capitalisation errors in the bits Cari showed in the video which would never get through the traditional publishing industry, so it's definitely self-published, probably without professional editing.

[@haleypham]

I wanna watch you read magnolia parks so bad

[@caricanread]

I read a few chapters and couldn’t get into it at all 😭

[@ReiyukaE]

Started watching this, thinking it would be a fun thing to fall asleep to... But hold up, wait, I need to be awake so I can embrace the full train wreck. Pausing this until tomorrow. 😂 Thanks for this as always, Cari! 🫡

[@caricanread]

oh yeah this will wake you up with rage, definitely save ahhhaha

[@aaronvaughan5506]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who does this

[@tobyw2u2348]

I'm a trans guy watching this while doing my T gel in the morning and I fucking lost it at "testosterone fuelled wall of muscle"

[@jackmcwilliam7541]

Hi there, I’m not sure if you know this but your KZbin username is your deadname if you weren’t aware xx

[@Eldridge-j2p]

If anyone ever called me a "testosterone fuelled wall of muscle" I'm actually going to just drop out

[@HallowIsSmol]

@@jackmcwilliam7541idk if he changed it but trans guy means girl to boy, his name is fine

[@k.5425]

So you're basically a girl who dresses as a boy lol. Sis, you're a girl, you can't change your gender

[@skeletized]

transition goals

[@Sapphykins]

i'm like 2 minutes in, but oh my days that campus map! The fact that isn't a screenshot of a free-to-play mobile game, one of those ones that puts timers on everything and tries to make you pay to speed up the game, is insane. Did they pay someone to make that?! Did their publisher pay?!

[@juliettfrell4460]

As a native Spanish speaker… that dialogue was KILLINGGGG MEE. Not even in a funny way, just painful😂

[@lilmeowmeow667]

"any time I say anything, you say yes Alpha" Yea, that'll do it, that's enough. Keep this book away from me.

[@caricanread]

indeed hahahaa

[@emmalijewski8302]

this set up literally sounds like the winx club, Solaria is the name one of the girls is a princess of, bloom the main girl was found in a fire by her adoptive dad and miraculously was fine, Bloom is also a long lost princess and her parents are dead (kinda), there are different kingdoms but all the kids get sent to an academy, the fae have a different type of magic

[@pauline_f328]

As a French person, that 'pan au chocolat' really hit the feels (in a 'so bad it's good' way lmfao) Maybe the authors confused it with the Spanish word? Or yeah, they might've just spelled it wrong

[@gallifrog6144]

Being Irish when I first heard 'Orion' I thought the name was 'O'Ryan' and it made me laugh- the only thing in this series summary that made me feel like that

[@daisywriteshere]

lol, i did exactly the same thing!

[@k.5425]

I'm not Irish & that's the exact same thought I had.

[@daweithisisdavidinmandarin6121]

I am head over heels with this channel. My relationships are now stronger because I dont have to read horrible book series. I just spend a couple of hours a day with you and I can jump into sharing time with my paranormal romance obsessed bf.

[@LaurenPebble]

Little note on the whole Sagittarius thing: it’s literally the sign under the ZA logo. The zodiac wheel on the cover is accurate, as in all the signs are in order. It wasn’t intentionally left out, it’s just that they put Gemini at the top (because of the characters) and so Sagittarius is at the bottom. Could the cover design be better so that none were covered up? Yes. But it’s not like they just randomly placed them all and oops for Sag.

[@No1PlutoSupporter]

As a sagi, this is what I assumed when I saw the cover

[@liatesta44]

praying for cari’s mental health with these horrid books

[@itss_starryy787]

Dawg imagine someone writes it so the main character actually hates their abuser (the teacher at first) and the end is killing them THAT WOULD BE SUCH A PLOT TWIST..

[@nany_quinha]

I specially love the fact that one of the fae types is medusa, just straight up medusa, not a gorgon, but THE Medusa... I dont want to live in this world anymore

[@luizapereira9188]

ok, the last name Vega CAN be just like Crave, but... Tori Vega?? Why won't Dan Schneider ever leave us alone

[@Sasu123456789x1]

Omg I know right

[@beauclausen441]

"faebook" sounds like the punchline of a pun I would appreciate the first time, but there is definitely a limit to the amount of time it's amusing

[@Aelanin]

I was debating wether I should read the series or not, so THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH FROM SAVING ME FROM READING A WHOLE SERIES 🤍

[@caricanread]

[@JZmatazz]

Just the thought of seeing recruits getting waterboarded like it's a normal Tuesday cracked me up. TBH, I would rather that than whatever the heck Seth was doing.

[@kylier404]

mentioning the cruel prince made me think of one of the big differences that feels similar: while both series revolve around twins getting bullied at school, Cardan actually had moments where he stopped Locke and Nicasia, and if you read it back he was always keeping an eye on Jude (even though he hated that he cared about her). additionally, Jude (and Taryn a bit, but not until later), always fought back, so at least the escalation from Cardans crew made sense? (like if Jude is going to insult and physically attack them, sure that makes sense that Cardan would through them in a river) but Tori and Darcy dont seem to be doing anything?? like the boys are just batting them around like cats and its just making them upset, like why are their actions getting progressively worse?? its just digging them deeper into the dislikeable bully trope instead of the "misunderstood love interests who are just like that because its their environment" (this is being said from someone who hasn't read the books and all of my info is from this video lol)

[@julesmerlo]

cari you deserve a nobel peace prize for enduring this, thank you for your service

[@lilmeowmeow667]

Omg I was literally thinking of reading these, you just saved me a lot of time, thank you our saviour Cari 🙏🙏🙏

[@caricanread]

i've got you :')

[@peytonmeinhart19]

9:40 Solaria, I automatically thought of “Winx Club” and now I envision the academy as “Alfea”

[@kayejk]

Literally SAME! I kept thinking about Winx throughout the entire video!

[@yeminchanna4662]

Exactly, also , like Tori Vega as in Victorious??? , The element scene assigning is very Winx saga !

[@moonglaze603]

These books sound, LITERALLY EXACTLY like the fantasy games me and my friends would play in primary school, we would literally play fantasy novels precisely like this.

[@viannesx]

This is the first video of yours that I watched, without ever getting into "booktok" and "dark academy" stuff before, and I have to say I didn't regret putting the autoplay on where it led me to this video. Thank you for putting yourself through all that, but also sorry that you had to go through that💀

[@melodykim5865]

Why am I so excited to watch this 1hr+ video about a book series I’ve never heard of and probably will never read 😂

[@caricanread]

😂😂😂

[@ninakheldar]

Maybe we like to watch someone's suffering :D

[@lime7121]

The queen returns! I love your book vlogs and plot summaries, so fun to listen to while crocheting!

[@caricanread]

thank you :'')

[@carowolff4702]

I'm not a Spanish speaker but Swedish is my first language and English my second, so I was hoping I could throw in my two cents. The only time I throw in random words of another language in my sentences is whenever I speak my native language and saying something in English that's relating to memes or just because it sounds cool. It's quite common in Europe to throw phrases like "so crazy" or "it is what it is" in our own languages. The times I say a Swedish word when speaking English is whenever I don't know or remember a specific name for a fish, bird, plant etc. Don't know if Spanish speakers agree, but if I were to speak English the way Diego does it it would sound oförståeligt and svårt att följa in my opinion.

[@janus4689]

the zodiac academy honestly sounds like wattpad fanfiction

[@sailor.neptxne]

and with the name “tori vega”.. they didnt even hide it

[@ChemicalPenguinn]

The "pan au chocolat" error is ridiculous -- they had an editor, right? Pain au chocolat has kind of been adopted as a word in the English language (obviously its origins are French). We don't call it "that pastry thing with chocolate inside." I don't know, maybe pain au chocolats aren't as popular in the US as they are in Britain, because a lot of coffee shops here sell them. Aside from my general knowledge of French, that error had me exhaling rather sharply through my nose. (Can't believe I've written an entire paragraph about pain au chocolats 🤪)

[@VoltageMarvel]

Here in Canada, we call them chocolatine because it's too cringe to hear non French speakers say pain au Chocolat loool

[@mikaroni_and_cheez]

English speaker here, yeah I call them chocolatines too it's just Quicker and it doesn't make me sound like I'm a tourist

[@LP-bi4vc]

It depends on where, but some stores in the US sell them as "Chocolate Croissant"

[@eirinym]

I mean, I definitely do see them as pain au chocolat in the US, but because they're croissants, many people will still call them a croissant. I don't know, I'm sure the editing for this book was quite minimal either way.