The title is so relatable I've read and watched so many stories that did this and the feeling of disappointment and waste of potential they left is just depressing
Knowing Octavia Butler's other works, she is probably using the vampires as a metaphor to explore something that should make you feel deeply uncomfortable. Of course, not enjoying the reading experience is a perfectly good reason to have it as a worst of the year book, but I'm sure Butler was trying to explore some concept, not actually excusing or indulging in immoral fetishes. Several of her other works explore consent and age-gap issues through a lens of sci-fi/fantasy.
Yeah, this was my first thought. I'm like 99% certain that she wrote it as an allegory about the infantilization of black women and sexualization of black girls.
Full disclosure I have not read Small Game, but your commentary on this video and the many reviews of the book on Goodreads really make me wonder what goes through the author's heads when they write endings like this. How do editors and publishers read this and not want more from it. It sounds like an incredibly gripping premise to start. I wish there could be a way to have a constructive dialogue with authors so they can talk about why they did this or that etc. that isn't toxic social media.
I finished Light from Uncommon Stars the other day and that author occasionally had characters doing stuff that actively undermined the message that the book was trying to send, and at other points the author caused events to occur that also undermined the point of the novel. I definitely wasn't the target audience for the book but it seemed interesting in the first half which was why i kept reading, the author just couldn't deliver in the end. or i completely missed the point of the book and it indeed actually was a revenge fantasy taking pot shots at people who had been mean to either the author or people the author knew growing up. the above is pretty cynical and i'd be interested in knowing authorial answers to my issues with the book, but not interested enough to do some googling. and before people rip me apart, there were a lot of good parts to the book, but I felt they were constantly undermined by other messages being delivered. thanks for being an outlet for my rant I guess
Well thank you. I was gonna buy small game, but now I don't want to 😂. Also you just described an ordinary book club. Middle aged women get together to drink and gossip and NOT talk about the book. 😂
Even if she didn't add in the part about 50 years old still basically being a child in vampire terms - even if she was truly a mature vampire, I still don't understand the whole obsession with putting sexually active vampires in children's bodies. Even if they are mature in the mind, it's still the body of a child and I just don't quite understand what is supposed to be titillating about that. I try VERY hard to not judge the people that are "into" that in their vampire books but...
@@arshaghazie ...not really. There's so much anime that doesn't have anything like that. That'd be like saying "well this is just the kind of stuff that's in books."
@@Theoneandonlytek I agree...especially when it is essentially pedophilia but aren't women typically the readers of this genre (and more often than not, the writers are usually women as well)? So in a situation where the female character is a child and the male character is an adult, what reason would a female reader have to want to read that? It's probably not usually a pedophilia-based reason....so it just really throws me for a loop to try to make sense of.
@@Goomyx1492 I mean, women can be pedophiles, it's not just men. That'd be like saying the scene in It by Stephen King would be less disturbing if it was written by a woman, it's screwed up, one way or another. And, yeah, that is most definitely a. . . questionable writing and (intentional) reading decision to me.
Honestly, while listening to you describing Small Game, I thought that the twist was going to be that the crew and the director came every day by boat or something and once they stopped comming because of a zombie apocalypse or something. And that would have been so much better than the end result, because even if you do not like books about zombies or it might be too much of a trope for you, at least they had a reason to disappear!
Small Game sounds so frustrating to me as an author, because I can see so many cool ways that story could have gone. It really feels like the author abandoned the story right when it was getting good.
Here’s my thought about the vampire book (to be clear I did not read it.) I don’t think it’s supposed to be palatable. I think the disgust response was intended by the author (like you said it was intentional) But the author intended the audience to be mostly people who are into the kind of vampire love non-consenty stories of which there are so many. The point was to kind of show them in a very visceral way how the kinds of relationships these books romanticize are unhealthy and often damaging. In a way getting all the vampire book people to read this book that goes out of its way to make the vampire relationship kind of gross is contemporary art to me.
So many great videos at the end of the year, it’s great! Also I hope you enjoy your Christmas with your family, your kids will love it! I’m very excited for next year and don’t feel bad about taking a break since it’s very important and we don’t want you to burn out… Soon we will get your discussion with Philip (?) about other manga and there are some that I haven’t read yet that you’ll read and I’m very excited to discover these stories with you!
Haven't read Small Game, but from what you said about the crew leaving, I thought the twist would be them pretending to leave and see how the players react when they think they are stranded for real. Oh well haha
If you'd like a Vampire book series without a major focus on romance you may like P.N. Elrod's Vampire Files. It's about a reporter turned vampire set in 1930's Chicago as he tries to solve both his own murder & who turned him into a vampire in the first place. It's a long series of short-ish stories that has some of my favorite depictions of vampires ever.
I liked Fledging and even more when I read more analysts of the book and why she made her ten. Even with the reasoning - it is absolutely not for everyone. I will say - I recently learned this was published posthumously so who knows what Butler was going to adjust pre-publishing before her fairly young death.
Thank you so much for your spoilers. Small game sounds so interesting and I would have HATED it. You did pique my interest in Fledgling though. I wonder if the whole fascination of the vampire's lover with her prepubescent body was part of the topic. I'm curious to read discussions about the predatory sexualization women's body from a young age so I might give that one a chance.
I believe 'Fledgling' has more to do with the overt sexualization of black girls in US society. The themes seem to speak to a greater political commentary on such a subject where black women are denied their innocence due to systemic and institutionalized racism.
@Chris Smoot oh that sounds like a book I definitely will try to read then. Thank you so much. I'm just now getting to know Buttler's work, and I've got BookTube to thank for that
I would love to see the alternate ending of Small Game where the contestants sue the pants off of everyone involved in basically leaving them for dead.
Yeah, that bothered me a lot when I read Fledgling, and I like vampires. You also didn't miss anything by skipping the ending. It was really rushed and some stuff felt like it came out of nowhere. I believe she died pretty much right after she'd finished writing it, so maybe the squickiness of their relationship and the ending would have been improved if she'd had more time.
I haven't read any of these but listening to you talk about Small Game confuses me. People pay the main character to "survive" for ONE DAY on her property? Unless her property is an actively deadly place, it'd be extremely hard NOT to survive for one day. You'd have to try to die. I'm so confused. 😅
The only passable explanation as to why Shori was made to be in a 10 year old body is that it is supposed to be commentary on how black children are not allowed to actually have a childhood and black girls in particular are sexualized from a young age
I remember when I first heard your review for your Fledgling on your vlog channel, I was really disturbed by the story due to the obvious moral issues that go along with it. I almost did pick up that book at one point and I am so glad I did not … man!!
I made the mistake of getting a whole series for 99 cents. I overpaid. The first book is Daisy's Run. I kept telling myself to finish it in case there was an explanation of why everyone was so bad at communication and why the main character was so unsympathetic. The explanation? We decided not to communicate. Ugh.
I have never seen you so wound up for a book so bad but i totally understand and agree with you 100 percent prayers and thoughts for you and your amazing family and Merry Christmas 🎄 to you all love your family friend and Aussie fan John ❤❤❤
I think my worst read of the year was Uncle Silas. (not counting short stories and novellas) Which honestly wasn't that bad. The beginning was incredibly boring, but I enjoyed the middle. Not a fan of the main character, but I liked her friendships, particularly one side character who was fun and very different from any other character I've read in a Victorian novel. I liked the villains: they were a good mix of over the top (which suits the Gothic genre) and realistic (which makes them scarier, because they behave like actual toxic people might, just a little more eccentric). I also liked the build-up of the mystery. What I did NOT like was the ending. So underwhelming, not enough subversion of expectations, and most of the smaller mysteries and earlier plot threads are never explained. Why? Still not too terrible for a worst book.
cannot wait for reaction video to the 5 star reviews of these 3 books, I was tempted to pickup Fledgling until your vlogs, now not sure if worth the read
The end of Small Game sounds so stupid. I am glad I did not waste my time on it. I hate the plots that only work if everybody is incredibly stupid and is working to make the plot tick.
Great content. This was fun to watch. I see a number of readers have Malice, by John Gwynne on their bookshelves. Worst book I've read in 2023. High schooler takes every worn out troupe (Chosen one who has a Friend blinded by friendship, questionable guy that is bad but wants to do good in the end, a Boy and his dog *wolf*, young girl that wants to train and fight but is a girl, Warrior (maybe) that has a past (?) but is now a gardener *stable hand*, a kind King and his "I'm really just like you" daughter, Spinster that weaves magical spells and is ornery yet wise.) and writes a book. Adds "Ho There!", " As you were", "Are you not loyal!!" every 5 pages.
I don't know if Fledgling was supposed to be palatable. It sounds like an exploration of what that type of relationship would be like and that it wouldn't be any kind of healthy by anyone's standards. Sounds like it was trying to take the 'romantic intrigue' out of the child vampire trope. I won't be reading it to find out. I have my own problems with picking up something like this but I kind of wish I could, to see if reading it would support that supposition.
If that were true, then the author would not write explicit sex scenes with a child. Somehow it's okay for this to be done in a book, but if this were a movie it would be criminal. It's as if books are more artistic, so it's okay to explore pedophilia? It's disturbing to say the least.
@@gwenjulianna2372 As I said, I can't read the book for personal reasons so I can't comment on the actual content. However, loathsome as I might personally find it, books are fiction and there are no real people in them. No real person is being asked to portray the roles presented. This may have been the author's way of exploring and purging their own personal demons concerning the topic. We don't know and it's not our business. This is the reason I'm a strong advocate for trigger and content warnings on books as well as movies.
@@gwenjulianna2372 This is Octavia Butler, her books are full of social criticism with commentary on, among many other issues, the treatment of women by people with power over them from a feminist perspective. Her work often portrayed straight up terrible dynamics, but didn't endorse them - her goal was to dismantle them.While I won't be reading this book, I'd be surprised if it was any different. (also side note, but I'm pretty sure that Merphy said that the book would "fade to black" instead of showing any explicit scenes, it just made sure to frequently acknowledge and address the negative aspects of the situation)
@@gwenjulianna2372 You couldn't do that in a movie because that would involve actually actors come on it isn't even near the same and isn't a like for like comparison
@@gwenjulianna2372 Book and movie and cartoons are all different mediums you can explore things in cartoons that wouldn't be as easy ti explore in a movie or TV show it all differs
Thank you for justifying my thoughts on Small Game, at the end of the book I closed it and threw it across the room in anger 😅 I *think* the author's intention was to make the ending unfulfilling and the reality of the situation was boring and bleak. I get that, but it's definitely not what I wanted. I wanted something deeper. But that's the fun with books, I guess!
I just fail to see how vampires automatically fall into sexy category? I've watched enough Buffy to know they all live in sewers, don't shower and wear the same clothes for decades 😂
I had a DNF with *Stardoc* recently, which is a really fascinating look at a frontier setting in a space opera, wherein a doctor has to treat thousands of species besides human, and simultaneously is a very blunt critique of racism and xenophobia (to the point of not accurately representing what it critiques, which I found frustrating) and also a very bland, stale romance. It was my first real experience with an unnecessary romance subplot and I was so miserable I couldn't finish the otherwise-interesting medical drama.
*spoilers for Small Game* When you said that the camera man and everybody disappeared I immediately went "ohhh! So they want to make them believe that they really are abandoned on this island to see how they function and survive and then at the end of the book the camera man and everybody will come back and be like ha ha gotach' it was all just a trick too. But boy! that book really went the other way huh!
The funding ran out and they just left? What? That makes no logical sense. They apparently make drama happen, which would require an ability to interact with the people. So why not just notify the participants and get them out safely? And the "rescuers" hung out for like 5 minutes and then split? That makes no logical sense. Not even the most incompetent person would do this. Not sure how this book seems to have an average 4* rating...
Hi Merphy! This year, I want to read more books, especially adult fantasy. I love your channel and personality. Would you happen to have a book list that I can take a cue from? Lots of love to your family for the holidays!
Most of the books I've read this year I've enjoyed but there's one that really made me hate it. Spoilers below about The Au Pair by Emma Rous. I'll do my best to explain the plot without too much confusion because it's so convoluted and unbelievable. The nanny had an affair with the husband, got pregnant with twins and didn't realize it (NOBODY else realized she was pregnant, either, except for a midwife who said nothing to anyone about it), then nine months later she gave birth to twins. Now the wife was also pregnant during the same time, but from a family friend, not the husband. They both gave birth the same day at home, and very shortly after the wife gave birth, the husband walked in to find the nanny on the bathroom floor just having also given birth and knows that the baby is his, then took the first baby (left before the second one came, basically saying to the girl, "Take a shower. You'll be fine." so he had no idea about baby twin #2) and kept the baby, while the wife's lover came to collect the baby that was his and talk things over, but everyone was gone out (the wife had gone a little hysterical thinking that her lover would reveal everything and take her baby and ended up falling off a cliff) so the nanny was alone with Baby Twin #2, whom he took with him assuming the child was his. The main story takes place some twenty+ years later where the three children piece all of it together. I hope that summary makes sense. Or at least as much as it can. I wouldn't have finished it if it wasn't for a bookclub with two of my friends. It was real fun to discuss it with them, though!
My least favourite books of the year have been the Acotar series. Book 3 in particular. Look, I started this series out to connect with a friend. Over 2600 pages later I'm not sure it was worth it. The books weren't my cup of tea from the get go, but 1 & 2 were mostly fine with some eye rolling. However in 3 the eye rolling got so bad I was afraid they would get stuck. The romance sucks because they are unable to have a conversation other than "I love you baby-boo" "Sex, now." and "I'm such a brooding guy omg". The world building is so lazy it makes me wonder why Sarah made it a fantasy story, the actual war and conflict reads like it was designed by a fifth grader. Everything has to be sexual (and not in a very sexy way in my opinion) and even other worldly magical undefined creatures need a bf to show that they've learnt to love (like having close friends wasn't enough, she has to randombly fuck some dude that is the love of her life). The family dinamics are embarrassing. The characters are flat, stupid, annoying and think they are much much cooler than they are. It is written in a very boring way. Nothing happens for most of the book. They use the resurrection trope in outrageous ways. They worship a bathtub! Caldroun, I guess, but whatever its an appliance. (And I know they have a godess too but I don't have time to explain why the mythology is so weird and poorly constructed). The worst thing is that the books believe they are the coolest, wokest, bestest thing ever. Did I mention it's over 600 pages. It's ecological terrorism to print that. If you liked them, I mean no disrespect, please. There are redimable qualities that I just don't feel like ponting out right now. And yes, I read books 4 and 5. Book 4 is dumb, short, boring and very poorly narrated for some reason. Enjoyed the last 150 pages of book 5, and some of it's themes and characters. But all of tte classic problems are still there. That and a very weird pregnancy subplot that violated common logic, consent and the own characters personality.
I'm late in watching this, but my least favorite book of 2022 was The Essex Serpent. The little grabber/blurb on the dust jacket led me to believe it was going to be a mystery about a supernatural creature being discovered, but it was essentially a historical drama with *some* mentions of the creature that gave the book its title. I did push through to the end, but I really wish I'd dropped it well before then. It just wasn't what its description led me to believe it to be.
Small Game sounds like one of those books that clings to viewpoint at the cost of story. Of the 69 books I've finished reading this year so far, none failed me. This is likely due to a policy of DNF-ing any book that's not working. Sometimes I circle back to them and find it was probably my mood, not their flaws, but often it's just how poorly-written or wonkily-plotted they are. Your choices and commentary are sharp and dead smack on target. Brava.
So... you said you didn't like vampires, so here's a manga that could maybe change your mind, if you are into psychology horror, "Happiness" from Oshimi Shuzo. I didn't finish it yet, because didn't want to distract myself when I had too many tests coming up, so I can't say if the endind is good, but it was pretty good until volume 4, and is mostly about a human becoming a vampire and having to deal with it's consequences. And Oshimi Shuzo is a mangaka that chooses to tell emotions more with it's drawing than with words, and he is pretty good at it
I don't know if you've ever read Hamlet, but when I first read it (and, even though I love the play, I will die on this hill), the ending felt exactly like what you said about Small Game. It felt like Shakespeare wrote a really cool story, and then he got tired and just wanted to end it quickly, so he killed EVERYBODY. I was like "this is it? Everyone just DIES in ONE SCENE?" I can laugh it off because it's still a great story and I really enjoyed it, but I don't think anyone can change my mind about how terrible the ending to Hamlet is.
The Fledgling sounds like a poorer version of the very creepy relationship of Let the Right One in, which is both a great book and a great movie (not the American remake, the original Swedish film).
Fledgling sounds horrendous. Ick. Maybe it's because of past trauma but I do NOT understand why this 'old vampire in a child body' trope is enough of a thing that it's a trope. It's gross. It always made me uncomfortable with Interview With A Vampire too.
Merry Christmas. My worst book this year has to be Moon Witch Spider King. It was a sequel to Black Leopard Red Wolf where we were supposed to get the moon witch's perspective of events which we only get in the last hundred pages and the other five hundred was her background of complaining and being taken from one place/situation to another. I would bite my tongue cause I wanted to scream "at least do something instead of complaining and talking in circles, please" A reviewer said it best the character had no agency. IDK a disappointing sequel to what I think was a good first book of a series. Concerned what the final book will come out as.
I know that if I was one of those ladies in that book club in Never Have I Ever, I would be the one who would be trying to get everyone else back onto the topic of reading the book!!
i recently dnfed fledgling because i absolutely could not read about that relationship and i was only like 20% in this really makes me think i made the right choice
I read Fledgling a few years ago. It was also one of my least favorite books. It was actually the last book Octavia Butler wrote so maybe that has something to do with why it was so unpalatable.
I read a book last month that I just got bored with and quit reading it. I don't think Dan Simmons is for me, at least for this book. I like Sherlock Holmes but, this didn't hit for me.
I was so hopeful to read my first Octavia E Butler book and didn't even make it a chapter into Fledgling. Nope, could not do it lol, I read Kindred instead.
Oh, I haven’t hated a book more than The Lost Apothecary. Boring, dumb characters, all convenience, no substance. Read it in the beginning of the year and I still actively despise it.
This video is super fun to watch. Love it! My least favorite of the year: Babel by RF Kuang. What a let down and an absolute waste of time, pages and prose. Talk about over-hyping a book with so many good reviews. I will never look for one of her books ever again.
This year I DNFd Mexican Gothic. I hated everything about it and stopped halfway through. The very popular books I didn’t like were The Nightingale and Where The Crawdads Sing. To this day I really don’t understand what people like about those books.
It would be great to have a story were the sexual relation of an adult being transformed into a child would be approached as problematic. So whoever the partner is of the person transformed has no desire to have sex with a child, while still wanting to be physically close with their partner. Show the mental anguish that will come from that, and how they will deal with it.
Blair Braverman had another (nonfiction) book, centered vaguely on cold weather survival, called Welcome To the Goddamn Ice Cube. I was reading survivalism books at the time for research on a novel, and ended up DNFing it when it turned out to be more about oddballs who live in the far north.
I'm curious if you disliked Stephen King's Salem's Lot -- it's not at all like Twilight, and all I can say is it gave me nightmares the first SEVEN (7) times I read it. Even in foreign languages.
“Small Game” sounds a bit like the show “Siberia.” It started out interesting but, oddly enough, also got abandoned before any real explanation was forthcoming.
The First AD would be in charge of the cast and crew call times so... i dunno why they thought the director would be responsible for it. Thats just production 101
Fledgling was the first book by Octavia Butler that I tried to read and since then I haven’t trusted her. I hated fledgling so much and thought that it was just disgusting and weird to read. I dnfed it at less than halfway through.
