Reacting to 1 Star reviews of my favorite books

This is probably the most painful video I ever made, and it could have been worse lol. Reading is subjective though so this is a reminder of that. Still painful though.

Timestamps
0:00 Intro
2:08 Words of Radiance
7:35 The Sword of Kaigen
13:11 The Will of the Many
17:05 The Hero of Ages
21:05 Project Hail Mary
24:00 Reading is Subjective

#booktube #bookreview #readingcommunity #bookratings

[Teijinh]

HONESTLY, I can sleep with 1 star reviews of books I loved, but IMMEDIATELY i see a 5-star review of a book I absolutely hated, I genuinely feel like tearing my guts out. Speaking of, i think that'd be a good video idea: Reacting to 5star reviews of books I hated

[ryanhickman]

Feels like some people hate things just because they’re popular

[charlesburge]

No stakes for the sword of Kaigen is an objectively insane take

[KaylasBestie]

Recently subscribed to your channel. When you said that 'reading is subjective, ' that was a lesson that I had to learn and one that I have to keep reminding myself of. Thanks for reminding me of that and to not put myself down when someone doesn't enjoy what I like.

Take care!!

[Mgranadosv]

I remember reading a Goodreads review of "The blade itself" that was more of a "People told me Abercrombie was great and I don't like it, so here I am gonna trash people's taste" and it had a lot of comments agreeing that I wondered if I had read the book wrong. Then realized the author just wasn't into grimdark, cause he kept calling Joe "Mr. Grimdark" and he got really defensive on my comment when I replied to his review "seems more of a you problem with what you expected out of this book and not the book itself".

[Alex-xddf]

Wow, I was surprised to see a PHM review saying the ending ruined everything for them. For me personally, the ending was what made me rate this book 5 star, although I really struggled with it in some parts and I believe even wanted to DNF at some point around 20-30%.

But the ending! One — would have never EVER in the world expected the book to end with something like this, two —it was unbelievable wholesome and filled with warmth and kindness. Damn it makes me smile even now although I read the book about a year ago.

So, quoting one of the reviewers from the video, we are lucky enough to come across something that reminds us of how beautiful the diversity of the human experience is :)

Thanks for the vid, Smitty!

[JibberJabberJapan]

Reading is subjective but sometimes I feel that people give 1 star reviews to get attention and go against the popular opinion. Could be wrong in my thinking though. haha

[ocean_]

The first comment on Project Hail Mary was honestly hilarious, genuinely made me laugh out loud.

[ellias]

omg the way i also uploaded the same video today too
i just recently JUST finished WOR a few days ago and it was phenomal!! my favs are shallan, pattern, lift & wyndle, and kaladin. growing on me lol.
im reading oathbringer now actually.
no waayyy SWORD OF KAIGEN IS THE GOAT so fuckingg good

[LibrariesandLattes]

I love these kinds of videos 😂 The things that people say on the internet never ceases to amaze me!! That second Words of Radiance review is unhinged hahaha

[joshuahan]

For me the Dandelion Dynasty by Ken Liu is a 6 star series, maybe my favorite one next to Mistborn but it has a lot of 1 star reviews that hurt my soul - most notably for the first book, The Grace of Kings.

Just recently discovered you and have been really enjoying your videos!

[janetgriffin]

Honestly I think most people who don’t normally read high fantasy or SF can’t get through “info dumps” because it requires them to ingest a lot of details. It’s amazing to me how many readers skip over paragraphs while reading because why??

[wilsons]

Jeez, those Sword of Kaigen reviews hurt me.

[johnfinnie]

When I find out that most people rate the "GONE" series by Michael Grant and the "Lorien Legacies" series by Pittacus Lore as anything lower than 4 stars, I feel that pain in my chest. Like how could you not love it as much as I did? Admittedly, i was in middle/high school when I read these books, so perhaps upon a revisit I may view them in a different light. But as of now, they are integral to my interest in fantasy and writing in general. I'll never forget them.

[DPagan]

thanks for suffering through that to bring us some entertainment hahaha I LOVE PHM and thought the 1 star reviews were hilarious. But the SoK reviews did sting for sure.

[williamloria]

1-star reviews vs 5-star are not a problem or issue. As you said people have different tastes and as long as civil discourse can happen, it’s all good.

I typically discount all 5 and 1 star reviews, especially when they do not justify why they rated it as they did, when I am researching whether I will enjoy a story or not

[sazerye]

this would just make me defend my 5 star reads even more vehemently haha

[tatienna]

Imagine all those trees is a crazy insult☠️☠️☠️😂 . And the person who read 1200 + pages and Dnf is insane if I read all those pages I’m finishing the book whether I like it or not

[judycarrasco]

You may have suffered through this video, but on the bright side: I found this video and you gained a new subscriber!

I understand how you feel. I recommended The Poppy War and Jade City to a friend, and they didn't like/read either one. It hurt a little!

[carlosocasio]

We have the same taste in a lot of books so this cut deep😅 Saying Misaki is overrated hurt like a bullet to the heart😂