The Book of Azrael is Crescent City but worse

[@ReadswithRachel]

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[@Marie45610]

As somebody with three brothers, whenever I read the phrase "masculine scent"... it doesn't have the effect I think it's supposed to.

[@BelleChanson0717]

Just reminded of that bit from Tangled when Flynn says "overall it just smells like the color brown"

[@xRaiofSunshine]

Ah yes, the smell of unwashed ass 🤢

[@vaelia1203]

yep I can confirm when this is mentioned I just think of smelly socks and sweat which is probably not what authors think about when they write "masculine scent".

[@lulucool45]

STANK

[@katendress6142]

Axe body spray?

[@teaganrichichi]

With the Merda/Madre swap, you can say the author didn't doo-doo diligence

[@kk00au]

💀 omg is that a will & grace ref?

[@Air_Serpent]

... is that what it was? 😭

[@haggisa]

I genuinely do not understand how anyone can be so ignorant as to not know what “mierda” means. Good fucking god. Especially when you’re writing a book and don’t even think to double check a foreign word. The author must be incredibly lazy.

[@rainydayjules]

Unlike all you other Reads with Rachel Video Watchers, I am a Watcher of Reads with Rachel’s Videos. That means we’re different!

[@chavaira]

Rachel: “Can’t spell necromancer without romance!” 😂

[@lagggoat7170]

Reminded me of the Critical Role joke about a pair of villains being a necromancer and a neck-romancer (vampire)😆

[@charlesintune]

This is gonna be the title of my next romance novel 😂

[@thereptile4139]

Reminds me of that one touhou song with the really catchy chorus

[@michellecgb]

“Worldbuilding? A plot? Nah, I have to make sure this woman doesn’t have a bush, that would be unacceptable.” -the author, probably 😂

[@kbird6208]

I wonder if the author considered that after living for hundreds of years, she might not care about body hair so much

[@darkdream1469]

​@@kbird6208lol right?!

[@catinthe]

So I'm 98% sure this book is Destiel fanfiction but straight. I didn't even watch most of Supernatural because of the overwhelming Toxic Masculinity, but hear me out: Dianna = Dean (literally named after his grandmother Deanna); the older of two siblings who will do anything to protect the younger one; literally sacrificed himself/herself and became a monster; bamf killer involved in fighting supernatural beings; hella self-loathing. Gabby = Sam (who Dean calls Sammy); younger of the siblings; a constant motivator for the older sibling. Samkiel = Castiel; a celestial being who comes down to the mortal realm for the first time in an eternity and has no idea what's current or what dumb things like sunglasses are, but is immensely powerful; by-the-book but gets loosened up by Dean/Dianna. Also, robotic but sassy is a perfect description of how Cas talks. Willy nilly betrayals, bringing each other back from the dead when they totally shouldn't, apocalypse that is somehow made possible by the acquisition of random objects. AND THEY'RE ON A ROAD TRIP? This book actually sounds like it, too, was written by a group of writers who don't communicate enough. Like, in Supernatural, all the demons and supernatural beings on Earth somehow had no idea angels were still around because the writers straight-up had no idea angels were going to be part of the story until season 4. But there's actually no excuse for that to happen in the first book of a series. I will not be convinced I'm wrong about this.

[@MagicWithinStudios464]

Holy shit, you blew my mind!

[@thxwanderer]

Oh my God, this comment is gold and now I can't NOT see this as genderbent Destiel 😂😂😂

[@Archegone]

I cannot stop thinking about this you're so right

[@WhiteWolf-lm7gj]

First they made het Omegaverse, then they made het Destiel. What else will these monsters take from us?

[@mabimabi2952]

Even the connection between Diana and Alastair... like damn, now I can't see it any other way.

[@mariaaguadoball3407]

I can't believe they substituted "merda" for "madre"! It's also "shit" in Catalan and a number of other lesser-known (but equally valid) Romance languages.

[@HayleighPaige]

I can’t believe the author thought scrambling letters of real languages without making sure they didn’t accidentally land on another word was a good idea 😂

[@Aadira1987]

Every latin speaking person when the "mother" screenshot popped up😐🤨😮😂. The portuguese in me was like "If I called my mom that...I would not be having a good time....".

[@alisaurus4224]

20:47 “i was deadly, cruel & lethal”. Wow, deadly AND lethal at the same time!

[@rafaelsampaio5577]

We should start calling each other "shit (affectionate)"

[@nicoleneedschocolate]

lol the new, lowest patreon tier 😭

[@losj3020]

considering the hook of this book, I wished the sibling bond was written to be as complicated and messy as the romance :/ It would be interesting if they have a toxic relationship where Dianna keeps questioning if saving Gabby is even worth it, how could she love someone she doesn't even like, and if smth bad happen again in the future with Gabby, what would she do. Or go the opposite direction and make Dianna love Gabby in such an idealized way that it strained their relationship. Make her an unreliable narrator when it comes to how good Gabby (n their sisterhood) actually is. It would make the book more layered and Gabby's death more impactful in the end imo

[@ReadswithRachel]

omg i looooooove this idea

[@Dizzintegration]

That reminds me of a Facebook post where a girl had some wooden letters in her room that spelled "dream", but her maid didn't speak English and decided to rearrange the letters to form "merda". Super fun videos as always, Rachel, stay safe!

[@ReadswithRachel]

Omg WHAT lmaooooo

[@CommanderDarcy]

THAT'S SO ME

[@dakinayantv3245]

😅

[@jules-fd1vq]

What I heard listening while doing something else: “Diana gave up her life in the deserts of Areola”😳😅

[@sherrismith8874]

Same! I snickered.

[@hatchet1013]

OMG me too!!!

[@raesifers]

I had to rewind and read the excerpt cos I heard it as well!

[@xRaiofSunshine]

Girl, get some lotion! 😂

[@kir-is-here]

i came to the comments to see if anyone else misheard that 😂

[@FatherIimaginedyoutaller]

Not to be autistic on main but how do people forget their own world building and lore? You mean to tell me people don't write down pages and pages of docs with all the stuff to remember about their own stories' canons and never actually write the damn story??? Sounds fake but ok...

[@PinkCatsy]

I just can't imagine being that lazy with the worldbuilding. It's like why even bother? I've like freaked out because I wasn't consistent with characters' class schedules

[@Jess_talks_book]

I once wrote an elaborate back story for my dnd character. I think I put more effort into that than some authors put into their worldbuilding

[@mythicalcreaturecomforts]

As a pantser, yeah, I get it. But like... that's what the second etc draft is for. You fill in and fix all the plot holes the first draft had because you wrote it off the cuff. That being said, I do also keep notes? But again. They usually come after the first draft is written. There is no excuse for that shit to make it to the final draft of the book. Absolutely none. Did a editor not ask about that shit? Did she not have an editor? Did she not give the ms a second glance after writing it? Were there no beta or ARC readers? So many questions

[@ofthewilderwoods]

I know, I get so pissed off when authors contradict their own lore. Especially when names of people and places change between volumes. Like did you not reread your other book before finishing the next?

[@tannerjacobi3497]

Even if an author doesn't have pages and pages of lore, there's a huge difference between "inconsistent fantasy world that feels bland" and "writing as if it's the real world but remembering to change the names of things", which is so much more disappointing and pointless, because it's not even a fantasy anymore--e.g. this book and like Crown of Starlight.

[@lagggoat7170]

Reading the word "merda" in the thumbnail made me remember teen me, writing a FF set in the US and trying to find a strong swear word one character of latine background could call another. I used mjerda. A friend (half spanish) was very amused I tried to call someone a piece of shit and ended up using a word her mom would use if she dropped something accidentally.

[@palinurus]

I'm here for the misspelled biblioteca (the bibletocea, if you will)

[@ReadswithRachel]

Bible toes

[@ace..of..hearts_he-it]

​@@ReadswithRachel Would have made a better book

[@Klebkatt]

I saw the thumbnail and thought it was gonna be Bible erotica fanfic.

[@McTheOneAndOni]

God that makes my Brazilian bones itch

[@Meyliassa]

12:23 - The main reason that indie published books aren't listing the trigger/content warnings within the book and direct to a website is because Amazon will delist/dungeon a book based on keywords like that, and it has happened more than a few times. So authors are concerned about getting their books blackholed on Amazon due to the list but still want to provide warnings to readers that there will be potentially triggering content.

[@iphisnextdoor]

😔😔😔 Censorship hurts more than it helps, authors are trying to protect potential readers and there’s no room for context when it’s just a keyword list so they get punished and so do readers. Not talking about something doesn’t make it go away so the censorship does not protect anyone; authors are working hard enough without having to fight their works getting suppressed. 😤

[@Chinni_C888]

That's good to know. Thanks!

[@Meyliassa]

@@iphisnextdoor Yup. And authors who get too many books dungeoned risk have their author accounts banned entirely from Amazon and losing that whole reader/revenue source. Amazon's policy is that when an author account is banned, they can never get another one, and there are horror stories in indie author circles of authors trying to appeal account bans for months, if they can even ever get it reinstated. Unfortunately its just not safe to risk.

[@user-wm1oo4os7e]

Wait how does that work? It'll delist books just for containing certain keywords? How would you avoid getting delisted if a word was just part of your book? And how would it ban you for using certain words but not actual content involving those subjects? I'm confused

[@Vesperad0]

Once again good old amazon being much more detrimental than expected. Glad to see they care more on a surface level than to let readers and authors clearly see/explain possibly uncomfortable topics.

[@BOOcketMan]

im sure it wasnt done on purpose but im cracking up at the 'content warnings' chapter never ending XD it's like "nah this whole book is a content warning"

[@ReadswithRachel]

oh my god thank you for telling me WOW what a miss on my part but also, fair

[@Unikornshit]

“This is one of those books where it’s like cardboard cutouts of people and now I make them smooch.” Lmao 😂 that should’ve been a blurb

[@RoseRamblesYT]

Nearly done with the video, but I suppose one of the things that sticks out to me the most is the fact that immortal and generally Very Old beings are seemingly acting as if they're mere mortals in college. I don't know, but I can't see myself enjoying stories that focus around beings allegedly hundreds if not thousands of years old, and yet they too often act as if they're a human being still in or just fresh out of college. Especially when the book is for adults.

[@kbird6208]

Yeah, my thoughts exactly. We can't even imagine what it would be like to be around that long. What would you even care about by that point? You've seen everything, felt everything, and you'd have either gotten over things like jealousy or driven yourself insane.

[@Air_Serpent]

Reminds me of Hazbin Hotel. Love it but holy shit they do not act their age.

[@Vesperad0]

I think they could've also easily made some sort of comment about the ages. Like if a long lived species or whatever had different age stages like humans and dogs and turtles, where one is 21 and really old, the second is 21 and technically still developing into human adulthood, and the third is practically a toddler considering their lifespan. It's weird and lazy to just...have characters that are supposed to be abnormally old and yet they act like college kids. Or worse, teens. I get it wouldn't have that "YA feel" to it, but I'd say it's worth abandoning if it meant I could make really interesting personalities and dynamics based on age and species.

[@OverthinkingConde]

Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian and Romanian are the five *major* Romance languages. The small ones want some love too 😜

[@ReadswithRachel]

Sorry about that! I will take more care next time I mention this

[@weirdandproudofit1]

I was just super happy Romanian didn't get missed!

[@ghostoyster]

it’s frustrating as a wannabe writer because the thing that is making my book take FOREVER is the massive amount of research and world building it requires. but some writers are just like nah not for me 💅🏼 and mind is a fantasy romance as well but it still matters to me make sure things make sense in the story i’m writing

[@JulieTheReader]

Whenever you talk about authors using anachronistic or real-world language, I think about this twitter thread that Fonda Lee wrote about her dilemma over whether to use the phrase “manila envelope” in a couple scenes in Jade War. Manila as a place does not exist in her secondary world and could take readers out of the story. On the other hand, it could also be distracting and unnecessarily complicated to write around or come up with a secondary-world equivalent for an object which is not the focus of the scenes or add anything to the world. In the end, she used manila envelopes. It seems to have been worth the risk because I haven’t seen anyone complain about them. I’d guess it’s because they fit the tone of the setting (vaguely Cold War-ish) and Lee had established an otherwise very convincing and thought-out world so she got away with it. In this case “imported” would have easily worked if you didn’t feel like making up a place name (for this author that would be scrambling up a Spanish word to get something like “Anoliati suit”). My goodness.

[@pauieeepau]

I live in Manila and chose to forget I noticed that when i read the books. Growing up, I didn't even realize the said envelope was named after the city or the hemp that also had the city name. I thought it was a coincidence. If she had called it hemp envelope, the reader would probably picture something else lol. So I get what she meant.

[@HoHoMyLad]

If the guy’s dad IS named Onan or similar to try and sound like “Odin,” then that is an extremely funny accidental biblical reference to make…

[@tournesol5939]

Exactly 😂😂

[@jasminv8653]

Onan is a Choice™ for sure

[@katendress6142]

🎼🎵Onan, man that man was great! Onan, he loved to ...🎶

[@Cruizinelli12]

I read this and immediately thought of the phrase oynon from pathologic. Don’t know why.

[@Isa-Nascimento]

I thought there would be a character in this book just straight up named Merda, but the fact that Merda actually means "Mother" in this world is honestly a lot worse than that

[@McTheOneAndOni]

God that hurts my Brazilian bones

[@dancingshig]

Popping in regarding having trigger warnings on the author's website only: the Zon will not publish (and may delete and ban the author's account) if certain words are put in the description. It's a pain in the butt for everyone, especially since those words change all the time without warning or notification as to what words are "bad" and "acceptable" at any given time.

[@ReadswithRachel]

I thought about that but I thought that was only a concern for books written by like Nyla K and K Webster since they’re writing incest.

[@dancingshig]

@ReadswithRachel Amazon has been playing reindeer games, and it's never consistent. A lot of authors are directing people to their websites to be safe.

[@ReadswithRachel]

Would putting it at the end mitigate this? Trying to figure out what would help and what to recommend in case a reader has trouble accessing or navigating a website, so they could easily access the info.

[@Meyliassa]

​​@@ReadswithRachel at least among the authors I know, folks are scared to try because Amazon has wildly inconsistent responses to offenses and if an author account gets banned over it, it could easily be months before they're able to get it back, IF they can get it back, and none of their books will be available on Amazon in the mean time. Whereas having a comment directing to a webpage so far has proven to be the safest route. It definitely sucks for everyone. And Amazon's policy is that if an authors account is banned, they can never have another one. Which, since they store all their personal legal info, is nearly impossible to get around. And they make the whole process next to impossible to appeal.

[@dancingshig]

@ReadswithRachel some authors put it on the first page for the look inside feature, but if the formatting sees it as extraneous, then it's not shown until it's purchased. Unfortunately, authors and readers are held hostage by the whims of Amazon and the rules change all the time. I had one book I finally gave up on, unpublished and then republished with a new ISBN (because those are cheap 🤬) because the bots kept saying it didn't meant content guidelines. It was the tamest of everything I'd put out at that time, so who knows. At this point, if people bought less from kindle, the content warnings could be where they belong on the sales page, but until the stranglehold (and ease of Kindle Unlimited for voracious readers which I don't want to knock) is reduced, this will continue to be an issue and a barrier.

[@mikankitsune0440]

The Latin word *Mater* means mother and would have worked better than that whole mess.😮‍💨 In my work in progress, French and Latin are used heavily and while I speak Latin and a little French, I'm still gonna have someone check it when used. Because it matters to me for my readers.

[@Melissa-sx9vh]

I'm french if you want some help!

[@sentientstarz]

haven't read this book, but i think from the way you described it, there would've been so much potential/power in having a prologue of her & the sister near death in the desert so she summons the guy. and then chapter 1 she's like "yeah i hate him and im planning to escape"

[@PurpleManatees]

I DNFd this 50% bc I just couldn’t anymore! And once I heard u we’re reading it I knew u would give us a wonderful review

[@lamialenoire]

I only made it to 11% before I had to close it! 🙈

[@VariousAndSundryBee]

I’m actually really grateful for this review because I was starting to write a language that was “-ish” of the original language. I had a weird feeling about it, but since it’s the first draft, I wasn’t gonna worry about it, but now I can spare myself the embarrassment and just use the original language.

[@whocares5946]

'Forged in a fire that ended a world; The burning blade - Ablaze.' Sword should just be called Ablaze

[@smeastwest]

Could you do a video about trigger warnings? You're so good at explaining your experiences with triggers and what you'd like to see authors do to help others. I wrote out all of the potential trigger warnings in my book, and it made it look FAR darker than it is in reality. As an author, I am hugely confused about which ones to include and which ones don't need to be included. My goal is the same as readers, which is to have a book that is enjoyable to read!

[@the_sapphirerose]

Seconding what wormie said, but try looking at what Storygraph organises its trigger warnings for books and organise them in a similar way (and maybe include an extra category for stuff that's implied off-page)

[@smeastwest]

@wormie1312 Wow, that's super detailed! I like the idea of getting a little more specific. The generality of a complete trigger list was making my book look absolutely depraved.

[@DelilahDarling17]

@wormie1312 Hi! Fictional writer here. Could you give an example of what you mean by this? Such as how you organize the content/trigger warnings, and how you specify whether something is depicted on a page or not.

[@floreya67]

​@wormie1312 as a reader, authors who do this are awesome. Brief mention of SA does not trigger my PTSD, detailed description does. It's so good to know what kind to expect prior to reading!

[@phonty1]

Another great video, Rachel! I did a little research, because I wanted to see if the author ever publicly acknowledged the language snafu, and I discovered that she self-published this book, which probably means she didn't have the money (or didn't want to spend the money as an investment) to hire editors and beta readers. Her Twitter says she's using beta readers for her third book (!) which is coming out in May. So, at least that's positive change in their approach to the craft. It also helps she got a book deal with a publishing house, who will pay for editors/beta readers. I love your wit, as you made me laugh out loud multiple times. Your videos are always a light in my day. Thank you for doing this! :)

[@stephanie_1120]

Your transitions in and out of sponsored content has been chef’s kiss lately! It’s impressive, not an easy feat

[@SadieLewman]

I wish authors would put an ounce of thought into timelines before saying a character has lived 1,000 years. Like the difference between today and the literal Middle Ages? Did you think that through?

[@Biancaleigh693]

I did not believe you because I kept thinking "nah 1000 years ago was the 1800" and I actually searched it up. 1000 years ago was 1024. I literally can't comprehend it. So how authors don't think about it is shocking because that is almost beyond a time before we had written stuff of the times. This has messed me up for the day (I have dyscalclua that's why I didn't believe you)

[@SilverDragonJay]

ikr? I have a character that's 200 and while I've used much of that time to give him life experiences that you might struggle to fit into a normal lifespan, I still waffle on it. Might still end up chopping that down to a hundred or something, especially since it would make the scale of tech and social advancement easier to work out.

[@eincryptid]

When I struggled with disordered eating, sometimes novels featuring protagonists who either ate very little, never finished their plate, or had mentions of stress making their hunger disappear became a purposeful trigger for me and I'd read those books in an attempt to convince myself not to eat to mimic the main character. So while avoiding food due to stress isn't a symptom of ED, it can be a trigger to some of us so I'm glad you read out the content warnings before diving into the meat of the review. 100% agreed that more authors need to just put the damn triggers IN the book before the story starts

[@JuanRubinJD]

God, I don't know for other writers, but, when I'm making up words, I search for them and throw them into Google translate on auto-detection to see if there isn't any meaning to that word. However, as a Brazilian, from time to time my mother called me Merdinha (diminutive of merda), as a joke, but in an affectionate way. At that age I would laugh if anyone said something involving poop.

[@somenitrogenconsumer8859]

Omg it sounds exactly like how me and my sister call each other: bokçuğum (my little -lovable- shit, translated from Turkish) 😆

[@sagew1312]

I absolutely love how at the very beginning you straight up say "I don't like this". I literally asked myself if you were going to only to get the answer immediately

[@ReadswithRachel]

Figured I’d be very up front 😂

[@erebusmint]

21:16 I really just love any minuscule excuse to talk about it but THATS WHY I LOVE Seth Dickinson’s “The Masquerade” trilogy (as of now) so much!!!!!! The whole undercurrent is about a woman who works her way up the cruel, crawling chain of the empire from the inside, sacrificing her family, friends, old life, language, sense of SELF, just for the *possibility* of changing things and giving her people their old life and dignity and independence back. it’s a marvel.

[@ReadswithRachel]

Chapters: 0:00-01:35 Intro 01:36-03:41 Ad Glassesusa.com 03:42-04:40 Synopsis 04:41-11:01 Main issues 11:02-12:00 Reviews are for readers 12:01-13:23 Content warnings 13:24-01:03:29 What happens 01:03:30-01:07:29 Final Thoughts 01:07:30- End

[@uwu.it.u8837]

I'll be honest, I haven't read a book in a while. But your channel is encouraging me to read again and what books to avoid ❤

[@ReadswithRachel]

I’m so glad to hear you’re going to start reading again 🥹

[@sammijohnson6244]

The amount of times "oh! I forgot about this!". I don't blame you, I would want to forget about this too.... 😂

[@kymar4810]

Around 19 minutes, you talk about the weird gendered language, and I have to say, it always cracks me up when creatures from an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT WORLD have our exact same stupid adherence to the gender binary. 😂

[@floreya67]

Right? As a non-binary person, I beg of them to be more creative.

[@Vesperad0]

Unfortunately shows how limited some perspectives can be, even when writing fantasy of any kind. If we're talking species with intelligence equal or similar to a humans, then it's incredibly likely they'd have their own concepts based on their own experiences/non human/humanoid features. I refuse to believe some kind of high elder dragon monster would genuinely align themselves with human perception of gender at any point of history, except for interactions with humans. They'd probably wear different genders and races even like clothes, since those things are concepts...and animals are incapable of creating their own concepts. ....as far as I'm aware.

[@polkbritton]

It really seems like so many books of late are not getting properly edited or beta read. It's kind of shocking to see the quality of writing that still manages to make it to bookshelves.

[@saniwa655]

i am here because of the big and underlined "Merda" on the captcha... because in Italian "merda" means "shit" (and yes, it's just as offensive, if not more). i'm quite shook™ at the idea that any character may be/is named Shit in this book.

[@melowlw8638]

ive been looking for videos to watch and ive recently discovered and binged watched a big (??) part of your channel, and no i see this LONG video!! such a treat ill be making my origami while listening hihi

[@ReadswithRachel]

Omg origami! How fun! Thanks for being here

[@theresareads]

3:55 I had to do a double take because I heard the deserts of areola 😅

[@ReadswithRachel]

it took all my strength not to make an areola joke there

[@Fiberedfolios]

@@ReadswithRachelyour self control is far more than mine would be that’s for sure 🤣

[@cylexia]

I WASNT LOOKING AT THE SCREEN AND HEARD THAT TOO 😭😭😭 didnt even question it at first because i thought that if the author was capable of making a character consistently call his mother "shit" i wouldn't put it past them to accidentally name a place "areola" LMAOAO

[@leticiamaranhao412]

I just started the video, but I just gotta say, I'm Brazilian and I cannot get over how she actually had one of the characters refer to HIS MOM as the word for "shit", and NEVER caught that in edit 😂 Like, girl, you clearly are already Google Translating so much Spanish, a five second search would have prevented that. Even the frickin Disney princess ME-rida had the pronunciation changed to Me-RI-da in translation. And "Merda" doesn't sound even close to "Madre"! It's so obvious she just Google Translated "mother" and thought changing the letters around was good enough... I'm making two conlangs for my story, both based mostly on dead languages, so my characters have unusual names; accidentally calling someone a swear word is my worst fucking nightmare 😅 Also, the "World Ender" and "Ender of Worlds" thing would be so funny in Portuguese, since there's only one way of saying it (Destruidor de Mundos).

[@mmma5082]

hey a little correction here! or addition? "Merda" is used in Spain and it means 'shit' too in Catalan, which is one of the official languages!

[@ReadswithRachel]

Oh I didn’t realize! My apologies. Thanks for letting me know!

[@muerteporbibliografia6748]

Merda is also used in Galician, another of the official languages (it's VERY similar to Portuguese, so yeah)!

[@JMP-s2p]

And merde (the French) isn't even pronounced like Merda so the Spanish/Catalan pronunciations are more relevant here

[@sonjaf5744]

I think it's somewhat worth mentioning that 'The Hand' is also a villain organization in marvel comics.

[@SomeplaceScary]

This feels like the sort of rambling collection of ideas my friends and I would write in highschool bc we didnt know yet how to connect things into a whole coherent story, and also couldn't stand to cut any ideas out, even if it would have made the story flow better.

[@kbird6208]

Or one of those stories where you take turns writing sections so once someone gets a hankering to send them in a road trip you are all just stuck with it and keep wandering until everyone gets bored and agrees to end the book.

[@CleoTiana]

I know the whole Italian suit thing is probably an oversight, but I do like the idea that every world, fantasy or otherwise, has an italy. Just Italy. Italy is inevitable.

[@elizahamilton6265]

“Italy is inevitable” is such a raw line I need it on a t-shirt now

[@vibethecat4194]

@@elizahamilton6265 needs to be in like that one font thats on fire too lol

[@HuckleberryCyn]

10:26 Bruh, how can you write an original fantasy and not fact check that the word does not exist in our real world languages??? I’m a casual fantasy writer and I get night sweats about accidentally appropriating an existing word.

[@writermichelletoro]

So I usually wouldn’t self plug on a comment thread, but I published an urban fantasy-high fantasy mashup (not spicy) last year and I spent SO much time thinking over the worldbuilding and magic system and word usage…and mine takes place in our world!! It’s those kinds of details that really draw readers into a world, and just like you’re saying, if they aren’t paid attention to, it can really distract the reader and detract from a story (Not at all saying mine is better lol, but I hope it is a decent urban-epic mix. Into Infernal Paradise if anyone’s interested btw)

[@LaraStarrFyre]

I feel that! The lack of motivation to commit to that much research keeps my own stories forever locked in my head (aside from au fanfic because then I have a pre-established world that I don't have to rebuild or concentrate too hard on 😅). Mad respect to you and all the other authors who are able to (and do!) diligently commit blood, sweat, and tears to building their worlds. ❤

[@writermichelletoro]

⁠@@LaraStarrFyreah thank you! it just kills me when ideas are so cool but get bogged down by lack of research. Even more so that this author is using faux Spanish for their world-I used real Spanish and was constantly and repeatedly checking translations haha… oh well. No shade, just frustration venting 😅

[@LaraStarrFyre]

It's awesome that you do that! I'm the same way when it comes to using languages I'm not familiar with. I get the frustration, so great job on getting your stories out there in spite of it!

[@joanareads]

the gasp i gasped when you said this poor mother got called merda sent me into a coughing fit 😂

[@barbararowley6077]

Some of these are the types of simple errors that should be completely unacceptable in any traditionally published book. If we (or a library) are paying the price of traditional publishing then we deserve the editing WE HAVE PAID FOR. There is no good reason for books to be exempt from that basic consumer expectation - if you pay for a service, that service is provided. If publishers want a line of un/minimally edited novels then they need a seperate, cheaper, imprint IMO. As readers we excuse a lot of these issues in fanfic or KDP, because we understand the lack of proofreading and professional editing in those forms of story. And that lack is reflected in the price. As you can probably tell this is a problem that really gets under my skin! I think lack of editorial oversight is bad for new authors too, not just for readers. That professional feedback helps them develop their craft. I get really upset when I read a novel that has good bones and lots of potential but was published two or three drafts too soon.

[@ginnyo.9283]

This isn't traditionally published. Star & Rose Publishing is an Indie LLC of currently 4 authors. There's no Editor listed on the website (just a CEO and Acquisitions who also both happen to be authors.) This is pretty common for an Indie author to create a "publishing LLC" and then bring their friends in but there's no real benefit of a traditional publishing house like marketing and editors. They have a PR affiliation but nothing else seems listed unless you look at the copyright page. One editor listed, another indie author without an English Degree or lots of writing experience (either or is important, both is better.) One proofreader from Reedsy (a scammy author service.) And the cover artist is another indie author (who is actually not that bad I've seen worse.) I know most people won't go digging for this stuff. But I guess the more you know?

[@barbararowley6077]

Thanks!

[@ginnyo.9283]

@@barbararowley6077 you're welcome!

[@kandibug5303]

Nice to know the heroine is of the powerful and dangerous Iguana mythical being. They need more representation I say.

[@kbird6208]

Just as long as she doesn't get cold and find herself unable to move

[@TheDarkAgez]

1:05:12 Something that would have been interesting is if Gabby resented her for making her live forever, and they actually have an estranged relationship. And at some points in the story we see them start to find their way back to each other, JUST before he snaps her neck.

[@candyfloss462]

From the cover, the blurb and the game of thrones type map with castles at the front, I had literally no idea this was supposed to be an urban fantasy and the first mention of a car or a phone gave me whiplash.

[@chantristrammell6088]

I think I've figured the writing of some of these authors write. They write like they're doing a script for a WB TV show circa 1998-2003.

[@kbird6208]

That never makes it past pilot season

[@Tathareth]

You mentioned you liked the idea of rings turning into weapons, which reminded me of a series I really enjoyed that has rings that store magical power. Have you read the Bannon and Clare series by Lilith Saintcrow? It's a mix of high fantasy and steampunk in a Victorian era setting where magic and science clashing and eventually working in tandem is what drives the plot.

[@Pandachu123]

Oh, that sounds like something I'd read. 🤩

[@Tathareth]

@@Pandachu123 My only warning is that the authors writing style can be considered boring by some because it's kinda slow and wordy. I love that sort of writing style myself so I really got into the series, I even read the fantasy "western" that was part of the same world but with different characters.

[@polisemicbot]

¿dónde está la bi-ble-to-cea? doesn't have the same ring to it

[@bregowego]

this whole book is literally the meme of miley screaming "what does it mean"

[@Zis4Zorro]

So the thing that makes me laugh a lot is there's a reoccuring character in two Lord Huron albums called World Ender. I can't imagine his name being LIAM.😂

[@Jess_talks_book]

Maybe it's just a coincidence but in the October Daye series blood magic users also see the person's memories when they drink blood and the false queen of the mists was always transforming Toby's clothes without consent.

[@annalong9741]

The sister sounds like dollar store primrose Everdeen

[@hya102]

oba, um novo vídeo! adoro ver você reclamando sobre livros que eu nunca teria interesse de ler 😁 a maneira como você explica e destrincha todos os detalhes é tão interessante que eu mal vejo o tempo passando!! tenha um ótimo diaaaaa rachel!!!

[@Stephnbeans]

Someone kept recommending this book to me and after chapter three I couldn’t take it anymore and dnf’d the thing. I’m glad to see a video exploring this book!

[@cervanera2228]

I want to inform you all that Merda may be the almost spanish word for shit, BUT if you're italian (like me) IT IS the word for shit I'm dying help🤣

[@alexcox2481]

Every time you talk about how much you love necromancy I think about a specific plot point near the beginning of the web novel A Practical Guide to Evil that I absolutely love. Highly recommend reading it although fair warning; its long as fuck.

[@kay12]

I have watched your video THREE TIMES and either this edible hit harder than usual or NONE OF THIS MAKES ANY SENSE

[@kbird6208]

It wasn't the edible

[@achoquenao3719]

31:12 honestly if I had that power and someone asked to me where my clothes go it would give me the biggest crisis, I would no be able to go on without knowing

[@ghostoyster]

that was the smoothest ad transition in history

[@equinoxcrow]

This feels so much like a Wattpad story written by tween.

[@StephtheGD]

48:45 Are we certain that this was actually written by a woman, and not a man under a pen name? Because I’m pretty sure hair doesn’t grow IN my vajayjay. I’ve had it all my life, and it’s never done that.

[@katendress6142]

Could be just a lack of sex education, using "vagina" to refer to the whole area.

[@Haunted-doublewide]

1:43 I normally wait to the end to comment but that was a killer transition 😂👏👏👏

[@haski002]

Man I love these, they're excellent knitting background!

[@duckynoodles3560]

Seeing Rachel without her iconic bookshelf in the background is something I didn’t think I would see today but here we are 😅

[@thelexicon7294]

“I thought that there was nothing that could force me to break my vow. But the way these creatures had mocked Diana and her pain had proven me wrong. Diana was worth it and I would risk it all for her.” Genuinely can’t believe that I’m about to say this, but every now and then Sarah J Maas reads as the Queen Of Nuance compared to all the copycats that came after. Remember when Rhysand correctly clocks that Amarantha is about to kill Feyre no matter what anyone does, so he snaps, abandons all his carefully laid plans, and charges her? And gets bodied in a second? But keeps charging her anyway? And gets bodied some more? And then Feyre dies anyway? I am begging these authors to understand why that was even mildly effective. And if the answer they arrive at is “Because he stopped to tell is all about how in love he is” then that answer is incorrect, please put the pen down.

[@CommanderDarcy]

NÃO CREIO Q COLOCARAM "MERDA" COMO MÃE BAHAHAHAHAH

[@thasthar]

Tô passando mal 😂😂😂😂

[@MyBlackPumpkinSoup]

I'm brazilian and I just wanted to thank you for mentioning my language and how books are more expensive for us. Thank you so much!

[@NightOwlReader2790]

What?!! You don’t need to know about the vagina hair???!! 😂 That’s the most important detail of the book~!! 🙃

[@NanniClover]

I`m surprised she *has* vagina hair. That's some weird anatomy right there.

[@morganwentworth2041]

As always, Rachel is a master of smooth af ad transitions

[@HuckleberryCyn]

1:43 That ad pivot! 🫰🫰🫰

[@serafilirose6685]

I wonder if this particular author read Leliah Wendell’s book…called The Complete Books of Azrael/Our Name is Melancholy. That one was a New Age/Esoteric book that chronicled (er, well…I use the term loosely) the life-after-life romance of Azrael, the Angel of Death and a part of his angelic soul separated and sent to incarnate in mortal form and bring Azrael’s message to humanity. I’ve read Wendell’s book at least five times, and the book that bound together Atlantis, standing stones, stargates, reincarnation, angels, the ‘ancient astronaut’ theory, and it sounds more cohesive than this. Sadly, Wendell died a little over three years ago. For all of her claims, she was a talented poet, artist, and dedicated to her truth. TL;DR: It’s called ‘The Book of Azrael’ and talks about a gif and a monster. Wendell’s book told the story of Death and the living/mortal part of his soul. Could be coincidence. But…

[@roselover411]

Also can I just say that I really appreciate the way you don't shit on people that enjoy the books you don't? Like Sarah J Maas and her writing tends to be extremely divisive in the book community, and I get that. But a lot of reviewers I see that talk about books like hers really bash on her work and make me as someone who liked her books feel really terrible for it. So I really like that even though you really don't like her books, you make it clear that you are not disrespectful of people who have other opinions on the matter. It is possible to criticize the work without criticizing the readers, and it's nice to see that with you.

[@haruko827]

You're right, I 100% cackled on the "Merda" part. And cackled yet again as soon as you mentioned that Brazilians would laugh at this. I barely began the video, and I already can feel the shitshow that this story is XD

[@michellecgb]

I honestly don’t understand anything you’re saying about the plot of this book 😂

[@ReadswithRachel]

The urge to say “what plot” even though there technically is one 😩 basically it’s just a wild goose chase

[@miarowlinson6303]

She should just change it to Ma, it works as a shortened word for mother in so many different languages that it's believable for it to work for her made up language as well.

[@tomatha132]

Having all the trigger warnings on a website rather than printed on the page feels like the author wasn't fully certain about what all the trigger warnings would need to be, so put them on a website so they could be edited as required, just like the character affectionately calling his mum "shit" 😂

[@ezk05]

my name is ezekiel and sometimes i refer to myself as zekiel. i can never do this again! thank you book of azrael very cool

[@omgmo1962]

I've been in writing/rp communities with far too many men who have a character named Azrael to ever trust writing that uses that character at this point 😂

[@HillsB3]

“His Italian suite was tighter than the black dress I wore- and that was saying something.” The “and that was saying something” implies her black dress was exceptionally tight, and somehow his suite was tighter? So… he’s wearing a suite that doesn’t fit.

[@eettis]

you were right, i immediatly cackled upon seeing the use of "merda" as mother. a simple google translate you've told her all she needed to know about this word lmao

[@emackenzie]

Put this on to listen to while I work and just about lost it with the first review thinking they said the Desert of _Areola_

[@mouse-ib8wk]

and that's why you always google your fantasy words -

[@theevilonewholaughs]

I'm late but hearing "ender of worlds meets world ender" to me sounds like it should be some who intentionally breaks or hurts things meets some one who does it unintentionality but this feels like i put more thought into it than the author

[@amelia_mimi6153]

Your friend’s copy of the book makes me think of those dense college texts in small lettering that make you consider dropping out 😂

[@biihisme]

The way I audibly GASPED when I saw she used merda to mean mother of all things 🤣🤣 (I'm portuguese)