Tier-ranking popular booktube books (maybe avoid these?) 

I just finished the third book in the Malazan series and I have to say that Erikson just may become one of my favorite authors

I read The eye of the world several years ago and didn't appreciate it at all. But recently I've started to see this series everywhere so I decide to give it another chance. I've just finished the book and I love it. I don't know how it works but now I'm so into the story!

Great list! Nice to see the Green Bone Saga right at the top. I’m halfway through the final book right now, and I am completely blown away.

Thank you for the list. Btw, I suggested the Malazan to a friend of mine exactly because of the complexity of it and she loves it. But it's definitely not for everyone.

Nice tier list! I've read Dune and The Murderbot Diaries and absolutely loved them! Though, I understand why some might not like Dune right off the bat...it does take some time getting used to the writing and story.

Just got here. Loved this video, I agree with many things you said. Just finished reading The Shadow Of The Gods, want to read the next one, but it's not in spanish yet... I have The Blade Itself and Project Hail Mary on my shelves right now. I will pick one up this afternoon. I added so many books in my TBR list. New sub! 😊

Solid List, I personally would’ve added hitchhiker on everyone needs to read this. I also definitely need to check out the Sword of Kaigen.

Great video! I had to look away at times 🤣, but it's always interesting to hear your thoughts!

Hola soy de Argentina, me gusta mucho tu canal! Sigo tus recomendaciones, anote varios de esta lista para leer en el futuro, ahora estoy leyendo "El Nombre del Viento" muy recomendable también. Éxitos con tus videos! Saludos desde Buenos Aires

The shade thrown at Murderbot, I love it 🤣 Also, I find it so surprising that Nevernight and EotV ended up being such wildly different reading experiences for you, because I always got the idea that if you clicked with Kristoff's quirky writing style in one of his works, you'd be good for all his other works as well. Guess I was wrong there, haha. Also, I personally don't think you'd get much out of continuing The Broken Empire. I reluctantly finished the trilogy out, but it never got better for me, oops. Loved this video! 🤩

One of the better ranking videos! I appreciate the honest incorporation of the variable of personal taste. Sometimes I feel guilty for not enjoying a popular series. I couldn't do the Fifth Season (I pushed halfway through book two and it still became my first DNF). I'm trying to get through The Blade Itself Trilogy and struggling. There are moments I enjoy and plenty to appreciate but it is just not my style. This video pushes me towards giving Lies of LL and Jade City a go (having read most of the others)!

I got The Sword of Kaigen today! So excited to read it. Someday I'll read Thr Greenbone Saga as well. Really enjoying Assasins Quest right now.❤❤

Just finished Jade City, I actually feel like this is a little overhyped, I gave it 3/5 stars. I didn't find many characters interesting and found it a bit of a slow read. I am still going to continue in hopes it picks up a bit more in the second book

So, I just purchased and downloaded Lies of Locke Lamora from my browsing list, on the verge of a slump, and am into it right away. Thank you.

Another fantastic video; thank you!

Like ur video! Happy reading to you!! 📖

I've veered away from Hitchhiker's and Discworld just becuase I am not so focused on humor, but you HAVE to read The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England (sanderson's secret project #2). It was not his best work, but it was a cozy and humorous standalone

I couldn’t agree more with where you placed Jade city. I am currently around 450 pages into Jade legacy and I have to say it has become my favorite book and overall series of all time though I am relatively new to the genre

Malazan, Piranesi, and Dune (???) in "hard to recommend," but *The Poppy War * in "SFF fans need to read it"? My brain hurts.

In my opinion, Piranesi is something that should be read by everyone. Its simple and inviting prose and equally mesmerizing world can be enjoyed by new fantasy readers also. BTW, great list, you just increased my TBR list.

Fun take on book-tier rating! I enjoyed hearing what you thought about these. Nettle and Bone was good but much overrated and not worth re-reading. I also thought the Sword of Kaigen was good until the middle when it changes to a different kind of story and then I just couldn't read it anymore. (As a parent, it's a difficult read.)

Need to add A Song for Arbonne on this list. Every booktuber sleeps on Guy Gavriel Kay.

Also not a big Dune or Warbreaker fan and it’s nice to see someone who agrees

As a fan of Prince of Thorns, I find it interesting that you get hung on Jorg's age. Many other fantasy novels have unusual ages (GRRM) for the characters. This is actually not that uncommon throughout history, many kings have led armies at young ages. I just accepted it as an element of fantasy and moved on. I love Lawrence's style of writing and his way of writing characters. If you can, try the red sister trilogy, although it does feature another young protagonist, but that is part of the magic ;)

I will say the first time I read Warbreaker I didn’t really like it. But I just barely reread it again (like 10 years after the first read) and thought it was so good. Hopefully you like it better the second time

I thought Babel was very well done in the themes and linguistic principles, but the MC fell short for me at the end. It felt like he grew to be a revolutionary, then fell to bitter hatred that tossed his heroism out the window.

i really don't understand why people don't talk about the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, it is a fun universe to explore

I respect your opinion, but I can't see how Lies of Locke Lamora is a better introduction to fantasy than Wheel of Time or Stormlight Archive. That book does have its charm but it can't be considered a "must read".

HOLD YOUR TONGUE! everyone should read the blade itself!

Isn't The Lies of Locke Lamora also Grimdark? I was confused that you put that up top, after what you said about grimdark not being for everyone.

Yep, my thoughts exactly about Nettle and Bone. A real stinker.

I love the Stormlight Archive but the middle chunk of books 2 and 3 are almost unbearably slow. Something you just gotta grind through to get back to the good stuff

Piranesi is amazing one of my absolute favourite books ❤

I’m reading Empire of the Vampire now. There are a handful of things that I don’t like about it it. The worst one being that the language he uses sometimes doesn’t match the setting..AT ALL. No one was riding horses with multiple names and also saying “fuck my face.” It just didn’t happen like that lol. Kinda wish that part of it was consistent as well.

Argh, the poppy war. I have the whole series but hear such conflicting things about it I’ve not picked it up

Ah I loved Nettle & Bone - funny how peoples taste differ! And you haven’t heard much about Babel!?!? It’s been everywhere haha

It’s quite interesting to see you doing a more god’s eye view of your overall thoughts about these books. For me, I would say Piranesi and maybe even Robin Hobb are excellent “gateway drugs” for litfic readers considering fantasy so I would probably have rated them higher but that’s me and not you. 😉 Also, do read Dune again. There is an enormous amount of detail that is easy to gloss over on a first pass when you are just trying to hang on to the plot by your fingernails. And, as I suspect you have heard, reading deeper into the series changes the perspective on what was going on in the first book. It’s not like Dresden where many books are necessary before it gets good. Herbert intentionally wrote things into the first book that are invisible until much later. He did plot payoff very differently than modern scifi authors but still packing a massive punch once you get there.

Hitchhiker's and Dune definitely belong on the top tier. Malazan should absolutely be on the 2nd tier.

To fully experience Dune you need to at least read the second book, which is the counterpart and explanation of what the first one was really about. (Herbert then continued his reflections in other novels, but the first two really form a whole, like on another level the 3rd and fourth ones form a whole). It’s easy to see Dune as Fantasy but set in a space Empire, with fantasy tropes like a central hero’s journey, but at its core it’s pure sci-fi where the Fantasy tropes aren’t real, they’re … fantasy, the rather cynical creation of an Order that has spent millennia manipulating religions, creating entirely false ones, implanting beLiefs, all to better manipulate humanity to accept their own genetic “Super Man”, their “male Bene Gesserit”, culmination of their scientific program, through whom they intend to “guide” humanity, that is, control. Book 1 sees Paul grow to understand all that and use those false prophecies and false beliefs in a messianic figure to his advantage, to seize power and establish a theocracy. The book ends very darkly on the start of a devastating holy war. It’s a reflection on the dangers of letting religion invade politics and vice versa. Book 2 unravels all this, and is in a way the story of Paul’s downfall, his destruction as a heroic figure. A devout Catholic like Tolkien for example really disliked Dune and how it presented mythology and religion as mere political inventions to control masses. In many ways, Dune is like an anti LOTR, or even more an anti Narnia. The writing style of Dune was meant to be an imitation of the tone and style of classic Greek tragedies, with Irulan serving as the choir.

Iike my main character to be morally grey....any recommendations

I didn't like dune at all either. I couldn't even really see why so many people think it's great. Usually I can see what other people like about something even if I don't happen to like it but with dune I was left wondering what the big deal was.

Please give a read to the river enchanted

Everyone focuses on The First Law being SO grim dark. It put me off from reading it because that didn't sound like my thing. After having read them I can say it is gritty and real, but not over the top. Just my opinion. If you, like me, were waiting to try it due to people making it sound extra dark, try it. They aren't too dark at all, only have characters that are all grey. No clear good or bad guys.

Help... no more books for my TBR, too many already!

Got to agree with Prince of Thorns. I found it lacking depth. The writing is pedestrian, and I don't understand the glowing reviews it receives. I did enjoy Empire of the Vampire, though. Different strokes...

Oh man, hitchhikers guide is BRILLIANT. I can't disagree with you more, and warbreaker being a 3 star?!?!?!? You must've read a different book Johan, because that's one of the best standalone (for now) fantasy novels. If you had swapped out warbreaker for elantris, and said the same stuff, I wouldn't be as shocked. Even that is a great book, one of a handful I've given 4 stars in the cosmere. I think if I had read it before reading mistborn, part of stormlight, some novellas and warbreaker I'd have loved it more. His writing was much more clunky in 2004, but on an originality scale, as usual, he knocks it out of the park.

Of the books I’ve read on this list I pretty much agree with your rankings. But…The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue…. that’s a hard no from me. I appreciate the concept, but I did not vibe with it at all. That would be hard to recommend for me.

I skipped to the end to see the results and now I shall watch it properly so I can judge how offended I should be by some of your choices. Weirdly, Prince of Thorns is the one I'm most upset about despite nearly DNFing it because of the first few chapters. Definitely a book I'd put in Hard to Recommend because while I can kind of understand why you'd start off showing Jorg at his absolutely worse, I think it was both unnecessary and goes way too far. The world building is very cool, though. If I hadn't noticed how weird it was that they were talking about Plato, I definitely wouldn't have kept reading it even if I did come to like Jorg better as the story went on. He almost immediately stops being the monster he is in the first few chapters and becomes the more standard grimdark character There's a few other choices you made that I'm curious about, too

Gonna be honest, I read Jade City and absolutely did not like it. Do not understand why so many youtubers are listing it so high... Urban magic-mafia/cartel fantasy is imo very niche.

Not sure what it says about me that the only one i've read of this list is WoT. I don't think i have that niche of a taste in books. 😂

Piranesi is definitely love/hate and I fall on the hate side. I hated the characters and thought the plot was not interesting. The atmosphere was the best part. I don't agree with the take that you should go in blind with this book. It's too weird to not give some details. And don't say it has a cool magic system. I've watched a lot of reviews and people mention magic. There is absolutely no magic in this book except for one very specific thing. Expect a guy walking down very atmospheric hallways. But it's so atmospheric that I feel like there is no substance.

My name is Warbreaker

Good list, however I’m confused how you could put First Law and The Poppy Wars in the tier for every fantasy reader should read, but then put Empire of The Vampire in hard to recommend because it’s got a lot of swearing in it. TFL is by far my favourite series, but if we’re putting things in hard to recommend because of swearing it would make sense to put TFL there as well. As for The Poppy War, I haven’t read it but doesn’t it have realistic descriptions of sexual violence throughout it and stuff? Obviously it’s your list so your rules, but for me the logic isn’t there in regard to those choices. To clarify, this comment isn’t meant in anyway to be rude or snarky so I’m sorry if it comes off that way. I enjoy your videos and will continue watching them 😄😊

Why is Warbreaker on the list but Mistborn not? Seems like a weird list.

you are missing out on book 2 and 3 on the broken world!!!

I can't believe you hated Nevernight, that's instantly one of my favorite fantasy series. You only got to page 100, trust me it gets so much better later in the book, also the latter two books are actually way better. Understandable you don't like the swearing, but it has great character development, worldbuilding, and Mia is actually one of the best literary heroines you'll ever read about.

I think if the best you can say about a book is "themes of translation " it might be too high in your ranking 😂

Agree with most of the tierlist(barring the sci fi ,since you're more of a fantasy guy), except for The Poppy War. Probably the most overrated/overhyped series of recent times. I generally don't go on hate rants when it comes to books but man, that series was a clusterfuck.

I stopped watching when you put EOTV in the hard to recommend. Lies of lock I DnF'ed it, I found it boring. Even though we both love fantasy, I think your taste is polar opposite to mine lol.

I love audiobooks and the sword of kaigen narrator makes it horrible. He sounds like a belligerent child and I could not get past 2 hours of the book. I’m very surprised stormlight doesn’t get top tier. In my opinion it’s the best fanstasy series being written currently. I’m also surprised that first law is not top tier as it’s considered by many to be better than game of thrones and asoiaf was something that every adult I know has read.

Excellent list. After 2 books read i just cant see how Malazan gets so much hype. 😅

Fifth Season is trash. Don’t be afraid.

The Invisible Life of Addie Larue: would never recommend.

Why am I subscribed to you? These are some of the worst booktube takes I've come across. Hitchhiker is for everyone. EotV is for SFF fans. Same with Dune. I haven't read some of these but there's so little I agree with. Most importantly I agree that Prince of Thorns is shit and Project Hail Mary is amazing and for everyone. Sure Malazan is hard to recommend but that doesn't stop me from recommending it to literally everyone if we talk about books. :P

Tier lists are incredibly subjective but very helpful when trying to find a booktuber/booktoker/bookstagrammer that clicks with you. This guy is clearly not for me. A lot of his favorites, I hate. Most of my favorites are mid to bottom for him. What I would do to find someone my tastes align with…

Thought Addie Larue, Hail Mary were both super bland books, though I could see how each would draw a specific audience. Also really disliked poppy war series but if someone was new to fantasy it wouldnt be a terrible start. I think Jade City is a great read for anyone even outside of fantasy readers.