I have read Uprooted and Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik and you are right, these are reimaginings of classic fairy tales and if you have not like Uprooted then you'll probably not care for Spinning Silver either. I have read and loved A Deadly Education, I thought it was YA though. And she has a fantasy series Temerarie, I have read the first three novels and loved them. I love her writing and she is one of those authors whose work I'll purchase right away. Not everyone has to like her though and it will be a very dull world if everyone liked the same things. I read The Final Girls and enjoyed it then I read The Last Time I Lied and did not like it at all. So I'm on the fence :) To me all rodents are the same, so I give same reaction to a bunny and a rat. Nothing against them, they just all make me very uncomfortable.
I have read spinning silver by Naomi novik and loved it so much ❤️ * Yes Spinning silver and Uprooted are stand alones and as far as I know not connected at all.
I'm from an Eastern European country and I really enjoy Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik. It's done very well in my opinion. And I thought it was YA and I rarely like YA books.
I hated A Deadly Education, only the last 1/4 of the book was okay. Not sure if I'll pick up the next one or try one of her other books, but it will be the last chance to impress me.
I agree so hard about Riley Sager! I decided to stop reading his books after noticing the pattern of him using an ambiguously androgynous pen name and clearly targeting female readers with his underdeveloped female protagonists. It seriously irks me!
@@BookswithEmilyFox yes, exactly! At least put the effort in to give us some good representation if you’re going to target us, y’a know? It feels like he doesn’t care about the complexity and humanity of his characters, only the money they can make him by nature of appealing to female readers.
Last summer my boyfriend started feeding the pigeons that would land on our windowsill (we live on the 4th floor). One day we had our window open and I hear rustling and tiny tap tap sounds. I turn around and see a pigeon walking around our living room... it slowly waddled it’s way to our bedroom and then flew out the bedroom window. I was dying from laughter.
There may be a problem in the summer when you open windows for fresh air. Or worse, the squirrel will start learning how to open the window on its own.
You should watch Cindy's in depth review of A Deadly Education. It mostly dealt with the issue of POC characters but also what more can you get from the plot, right? 😅
I like starting at the beginning of an author's works. I enjoy seeing what it was about the early books that got them contracts/deals for further books. Obviously, this doesn't work with self-pub books. I really enjoyed Uprooted, but saw flaws in it. For me, seeing an author's growth is part of the enjoyment of reading. Hopefully, that answers your question.
@@JesusGonzalez-pg9mp Oh right, that. It seemed to come out of nowhere, didn't it. I just ignored it. I think if the author had wanted a romance element, she should have built up the relationship between those two characters. Hmmm, I wonder if it was an editor/agent/publisher demand or something. Many times authors are told to "spice things up." It's annoying when it happens, especially with the kidnapping aspect in the beginning. That sort of 'love story' will always smack of Stockholm Syndrome to me.
I forget if you like historical fiction.... but if you do and like talking smart dragons and a human/dragon friendship... you might want to give Naomi Novik another try with her Temeraire (His Majesty’s Dragon) book 1.
I'm so happy you mentioned about A Deadly Education definitely feeling more YA that's exactly what I thought. Also that squirrel looks a little too buff he's going to knock the door down for sure 😅
You are about to have the same problem that a friend of mine had with the squirrels. She was feeding a squirrel and the squirrel started coming to the window. Then the squirrel had babies, and one of the babies started to visit. Then another squirrel saw what was going on, and suddenly one day she had this squirrel she’d never seen before knocking on her window.
We had a squirrel coming to our window too, we got the redheads. She even sat on the window board inside eating her walnut while I've took some photos. My mum called her "Zuzia", then she vanished, one of her kids kept comming after for a little while, than it vanished too. We miss them.
Your reaction to Survive The Night was the same reation that I had when I read Final Girls 😂 IT MADE ME SO ANGRY. This just confirms for me that the man just follows this formula for the books and ruins good plot ideas 🥴 Now I don’t feel bad for not liking his books because everyone seems to love him for some reason 😗
I don’t read a lot of mystery/thrillers but THANK YOU for spoiling it at the end lol. I’m always curious! Reminds me of the podcast Ruined (which ruins horror movies for people that get scared too much to watch them).
Lock Every Door was also a turning point for me, after that one I didn’t want to continue reading his newer books and I still haven’t. Glad I’m not the only one that feels this way!
I don't think I ever removed a book from my tbr this fast 😅 I keep picking up Riley Sager's books thinking he's going to try something new and it's always the same pattern in every book
Honestly, I ended up removing all of Riley Sager's books from my TBR after this video - I don't want to come anywhere near the author which writes stuff like that.
I gave Brandon Sanderson a first chance and I will continue. The way of kings was a 3,5 stars for me, not bad, but I was bored sometimes. Funny I read it on E-book and was about 1240 pages (I read in Hungarian) and I checked the book version which consisted of two books (because it would have been too big to hold) and they were altogether 1500 pages so English speakers please don't say 500 pages are big books :D Sorry, I'm just mad that Hungarian books are so much longer :D BTW that squirrel looks buffed!
I think this pretty much puts the nail in Riley Sager ever being on my TBR again. I still rant about Lock Every Door. It had so much potential then it just went so wrong so very quickly.
@@tayagordon2485 The story itself is alright but the MC is just so clichéd dumb and very poor caricature of a human being. Done by another author it could be a solid thriller.
From Naomi Novik i only read the Temeraire books (not all of them, just the first three books). I liked them. Napoleonic wars with dragons, it is the premise.
Oh wow, I wasn't going to watch the spoilers for survive the night but you have just saved me SO much time because that story sounds RIDICULOUS SO THANK YOU😂 It's like Twilight Until Dawn Part 2 all over again
The squirrel at the window is killing me 😂😂 I stopped with A Deadly Education at 100 pages because I was having problems with it. I don't know if I will ever get back to it. But I will be reading her other stuff as I'm intrigued by those and I think I could like them more.
So surprised people like Riley Sager still, his pen name is infuriating and his plots are definitely not that original. They all seem to be inspired by what’s popular at the moment without much else put into them. (Like lock every door and home before dark)
I've read all of Naomi Novik's work, I've been following her since back in '06. I've liked all her work, but I think the early Temeraire books were the most fun.
Sorry that you had such a bad time with these books. Hope you read something good soon! You should try some Japanese mystery thriller authors such as Keigo Higashino and Kanea Minato.
@@srideepta Kanea Minato has 2 books translated into English: Penance and Confessions. I’ve only read Confessions but I loved it. And I recommend anything by Keigo Higashino. He does have one literary book called The Miracles of the Namiya General Store, but as far as I’m aware the rest are mysteries. I like Japanese mysteries because they are very much like a puzzle you are solving along with the main character.
@@natcommon I'm not sure how well they are translated, but they are my favorite two Japanese mystery authors! Especially love Higashino Keigo's Gallileo series, since the science used in it isn't too crazy (probably from his engineering background)
In order for me to enjoy Riley Sager books I have to go in with a REALLY open mind; and suspend my disbelief entirely. I just take the books for what they are, and try not to judge them from the perspective of writing quality. Same applies for Lucy Foley thrillers. They're just fun fluff and I enjoy them as such. :D
omg I really disliked Final Girls by Riley Sager because I didn't like how the female characters were written but I see people raving about him all the time so I was tempted to give his newer books a go, but this video saved me, thank you
I read 3 books by Riley Sager and I wasn't really impressed. They were all middle of the road books, so I decided he was not for me. I do believe that A deadly education is YA. It was my first book by her and I didn't mind it. I intend to continue with the series for now. But I do read more YA fantasy than adult, so there's that.
I started with Spinning Silver which I had to stop reading around 75% because words... there were so many words saying the same thing over and over and over. Then I attempted Uprooted and yeah, Naomi Novik isn't going to be an author for me. I put A Deadly Education on my, give it one more shot list, but I think I am just going to not read anything else. I haven't read anything by Riley Sager and I don't think I will after hearing so many meh reviews. I did just finish The Conductors by Nicole Glover. Loved it. Highly recommend.
Well, I'm officially removing A Deadly Education from my TBR now. Just cancelled my reservation at the library, haha. I've read 3 of Riley Sager's books to date. I've found all of them average or worse.
noooooo survive the night sounds awful. XD i've never read a riley sager book and wanted to try at least one, but now i've lost interest completely lmao (especially if the female character is That Dumb in all of them) i still recommend that you try spinning silver!! it's the only naomi novik book i've enjoyed and i had similar thoughts to you about uprooted (had to force myself to finish that one). but spinning silver is actually really great, all 3 female POVs are interesting to read from. pls give it a try once you've recovered from a deadly education :') i hope your reading week is much better next week!
Spinning Silver and Uprooted are both retellings of a fairytale, but not related in anyway. I liked both of them, but personally loved Uprooted more. Also, in the beginning of the video I had my suspicions about who might be the killer in the Riley Sager books. Turns out I was right, just from watching you talk about it. I hate it when "mystery" books are so predictable.
Riley Sager: no (I read only Lock Every Door and it was not good). Naomi Novik: yes, please read Spinning Silver, it is her best novel in my opinion, very different from Deadly Education and better than Uprooted.
Yessss, I was so irritated when I read A Deadly Education. The main was so unlikeable that it became boring and I desperately was hoping for a pov switch at some point since that's what Novik typically does (at least in her last two books). I didn't care for El, her not friends, Orion, his not friends,,,, I don't think I even care to continue the series. It was such a disappointment.
I absolutely loved A Deadly Education and the moment I heard you say you were gonna listen to the audiobook I was like 'aw nooo, she's gonna hate it'. I don't think it translates to audiobook well at all.
I enjoyed a Deadly Education but have no earthly idea why. I found it pretty boring, but also weirdly enjoyed it. Not sure if the setting saved it for me, or what. I'm also not super picky about liking characters. I definitely didn't love it but also I feel like I liked it more than I should have XD
I honestly feel the same about Riley Sager’s books. Only one of his books I liked, I plan on reading Survive the Night. Don’t know if I’ll ever read Final Girls since from what I’ve heard I probably wouldn’t like it lol if I don’t like Survive the Night, I probably won’t read another one of his books again 😅
It's interesting how I love all of Sager's books except for The Last Time I Lied (I mean, the ending was pretty great, but it was suuuch a slog for me) and my fave by him is Lock Every Door. So since our tastes differ on his other books, I'm interested to see how I'll like his newest one.
I really enjoyed The Last Time I Lied, liked Final Girls (but hated the ending), and disliked his other two books. I think the most satisfying thriller I've read in a long time is Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough. It wasn't THE BEST EVER but it was compelling and I liked the ending and thought it fit.
Always glad to find that there are some authors I will never have to read. Over cliqued and badly written female characters are often a complete no for me when reading a book. There are numerous well-written books out there so I am glad to know I can stay away from both of these authors.
When you try so hard to give them a fair shot you're negative reviews are always so funny lmao I hope you have some more magic related book reviews coming! Have a good weekend :)
I have similar feelings as you regarding Riley Sager’s female characters. I’ve only read Lock Every Door and hated it, but I was excited by the premise of this. Sad to hear you didn’t enjoy it.
I read "Home Before Dark" by Riley Sager and thought it was only ok. The premise sounded v enticing, basically a retelling of "Amityville Horror" but as a fixer-upper! However, the main female character was ridiculous. Thankfully, no stupid ending but still not a great read. I much prefer "Sundown Motel" by Simone St. James. And do give Naomi another try by reading "Spinning Silver", especially if you're in need of a strong female character! Cheers!
If the Riley Sager book was written by a woman, I doubt the female character would've gone anywhere near the car... Hmmm, lol (Also that headband / bandana looks lovely on you!)
I've yet to read Spinning Silver, but I am part way through Novik's Temeraire series which has been pretty enjoyable. It's historical fantasy (imagine a country's Air Force utilizing dragons).
Have you read the one by John marrs?? I loved that thriller! & it became a Netflix show which I haven’t seen yet so can’t comment but I loved that book & the audiobook has a full cast!
That's so interesting cause I always thought of Riley as a typical "male" name, so I didn't have the same reaction to the pen name! Though more recently I've considered it unisex as I've met a couple women named Riley this past year.
Hi!! I am at chapter 11 of More than this, just because you recommended it. I am really enjoying it. Actually I stop listening to watch your video!! So far loving it. Thank you!!!! ❤❤🤗
I read that one Riley Sager you like best(?) With the summer camp. And my enthusiasm basically faded as soon as I found out the author is male. EDIT after I finished the video:D :you cannot frustrate your authors for 300+ pages and then come out with that cheap ending for it to be OK.
limit the amount of nuts you give the squirrel a day, and ignore him after you reach the limit, he'll still come, not sure if it solves the problem, but it is what I would do! Edit: or better yet, just put a bird feeder out there that squirrels can reach, put peanuts and maybe other stuff in there and let that be it xD that is what we do
I loved home before dark. I did not like final girls or lock every door. I thought the last time I lied was okay. As his most recent was the one I liked the best, I’m super excited to try survive the night. Just request
This is so helpful. I was on the fence about reading both of these and I've knocked off the Sager. He's just not my vibe after reading three of the earlier books. This plot sounded awesome but like you, I'm just not into the female protagonists he writes. Feeling very stale in his portrayal. PS love your head wrap, so pretty!!
I read Home Before Dark based off your review/rec and while enjoyable I'm getting an impression that I might not get much more out of his other works aside from maybe The Last Time I Lied, if I ever do get around to reading it I suspect I might call it quits for him too. Oh how far you've come with the squirrel feeding; from harmless fun feeding Steve to now being bullied and harassed for peanuts 🤣 Remember to keep confident when throwing them nuts just in case squirrels can smell fear! Also, calling it now, you'll hit a 100k subs before your next scheduled video goes up!
I feel the same way about Riley Sager, it seems like his characters get flatter with every book. I stopped trying to like his books after "Home after dark"....
I read the first 40 pages of Uprooted and then tossed it away. I also read Deadly Education and definitely get the mixed reviews. It's not the best. I finished it a while ago and can't remember much but I think not much happens? I'm so sad that this book turned out meh since its premise sounded great.
Well that is really disappointing to hear about Survive The Night. It would have been my first RS book, but everyone who has gotten an arc that I follow has been saying very similar things. Looks like I will have to cancel my preorder 😢😅
Love the squirrel it's so cute❤ Thank you for your revieuw I wasn't sure if I should read Survive the Night because I hated Lock Every Door. Now I know I won't have to bother reading it. 🙈And I also first thought the writer was a woman. 😝
Riley Sager books are so frustrating- the premise always sounds good, but the actual book is never good lol. A thriller I recently enjoyed was Every Vow You Break by Peter Swanson. also- you might have an indoor squirrel pretty soon 😂😂
I DNFed A Deadly Education. I just could not get myself to care about the characters or the fact that just everything is out to kill her. 🙄 I also could not find a storyline so I was done.
I read spinning silver by naomi novik and didn't really enjoy it and was thinking I might give her one more chance with deadly education but reviews have been sub par so idk if I will
I really appreciate your bluntness and your reviews! You and I pretty much have the same taste in books ;) so I always look at your reviews before deciding to read something (disappointed about the new Riley Sager but glad I won't waste my time with it). Merci ma belle! Any books set in college that you (or anyone) recommends?
