A Childhood Reading Shame: Exploring Unread Fantasy Books

As I sit down to record this video, I'm filled with a mix of emotions - embarrassment, excitement, and a hint of fear. Embarrassment comes from admitting that I haven't read some popular fantasy books that were a part of my childhood reading list. Excitement comes from the prospect of finally tackling these unread books and discovering new worlds and characters. And fear... well, fear of being judged by fellow book enthusiasts who might have devoured these series years ago.

One of the first books on my list is "Aragorn" by Christopher Paolini. I've always been fascinated by Middle Grade fantasy, but for some reason, this particular series never resonated with me when I was younger. Despite feeling like it's a classic in the genre, I've never mustered up the courage to read it. However, as an adult, I'm eager to give it a try. Perhaps my perspective on dragon fantasy has changed over time, or maybe I just need to find my footing with this particular series.

Another book that has been lingering on my list is "The Earthsea Quartet" by Ursula K. Le Guin. This series was always shrouded in mystery for me as a child. Although I've seen the movie adaptation, which didn't exactly impress me, I'm intrigued by the premise of this fantasy world and its young dragon lord protagonist. As an adult, I feel like I'd love to immerse myself in this classic quest fantasy story.

My next stop is "The Blade Itself" by Joe Abercrombie. This series has been on my TBR list for quite some time now, and I'm excited to finally start reading it. I've heard great things about Abercrombie's writing style and the complexity of his characters. As someone who loves character-driven fiction, I'm eager to dive into this grimdark fantasy world and meet its dynamic and often morally ambiguous characters.

Last but not least, there's "The Grace of Kings" by Ken Liu. This series has been on my radar for a while now, and despite having read many of Liu's other works, I've yet to tackle this particular series. The premise seems intriguing - an unlikely encounter between two individuals from different backgrounds that sets off a chain of events involving politics, rebellion, and, of course, dragons. Although I've heard mixed reviews about the series, I'm curious to form my own opinion.

As I reflect on these unread books, I wonder if I'm not alone in having some fantasy novels or series lingering on their TBR lists without being tackled yet. Am I a commoner among book enthusiasts who just haven't gotten around to reading them? Let's hear from you - what are the books that have been on your list for ages, and how did you finally decide to read them?

For those of us who struggle with the daunting task of revisiting our childhood favorites or tackling new series, I'd like to offer a little motivation: sometimes it takes time, and patience is key. Don't be too hard on yourself if you haven't gotten around to reading that one book yet. Instead, treat yourself to discovering something new, even if it's not exactly what you expected.

In the meantime, I invite you to join me in exploring these unread fantasy books and sharing your own experiences with fellow enthusiasts. Let's create a supportive community where we can discuss our reading journeys, offer recommendations, and learn from each other's perspectives. Happy reading!

A special thank you to my video sponsor, Karma, for providing this wonderful tool that allows us to seamlessly navigate and engage with our content. If you're interested in trying it out, be sure to check out their link below.

And that's all for today's article - I hope you enjoyed this little peek into my unread fantasy book shame. Until next time, when I'll likely be diving into another unread series or two...

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhi guys it's regan and welcome back to another video today i am putting myself on blast a bit because we are going to be chatting through all of the popular fantasy books i have not read but before we dive into that list first a word from this video sponsor which is karma i'm so excited to be partnering up with karma again previously known as shop tagger they changed their name to represent all the good karma they bring you when you're doing your shopping but if you're not familiar karma uses their clever technology to ensure that you never miss a price drop or coupon code when you're shopping online as an avid online shopper myself i have been using karma for many many months and it has helped me save so much money i use it to track not only clothing items but book items as well specifically i just picked up the witch's heart a few weeks ago and i was able to score this at 22 off which for a new release hardcover i think is quite a good steal i'll have a link down below for you guys to be able to download the karma chrome extension but it's super easy all you have to do is download it from the chrome store onto your chrome browser and then from there you're able to track and save a bunch of different items across all of your favorite online stores to ensure that you never miss when they inevitably go on sale and when they do you will receive a push notification or an email directly from karma another one of my favorite features of the karma extension is that i'm actually able to organize and filter all of the items i'm actually saving i love to make lists seasonally for both clothes and home items but i also have a miscellaneous section for all of my books as you can see i'm currently tracking all of robin hobb's back catalog because i'm slowly filling up my bookshelf with all of these particular editions and i want to make sure i grab them at the best price i love this feature to make wishlist and in general i would say i'm just shopping a lot smarter and cutting down on impulse buying on top of being able to track when items go on sale karma also uses their clever technology to source coupon codes from across the web it's super easy essentially at checkout they basically automatically scan the web for coupon codes and automatically apply to again save you that extra dollar note that the coupon feature is only available on the chrome extension so be sure to download to not miss out on top of that they also have a cashback feature integrated with paypal allowing you to save even more money while you're shopping online there's just so many different ways with this particular extension to track and save with all of your online shopping it's truly a must download again i'll have a link down below for you guys to be able to download this extension it's truly a lifesaver big shout out to karma for working with me for another video as i am a big fan without further ado let's dive back into the video so as i said i am going to be chatting through a bunch of different popular fantasy books i have not read yet i will say there's probably going to be a few shocking additions to this list so please try not to judge me too much i already know i need to read them and i will say i have both short-term and long-term plans to get to all of these books all of these books i am interested in reading just for one reason or another i haven't picked up yet so without further ado let's go ahead and start with the first series which is probably the most shocking and that is the lord of the rings i have not read the lord of the rings i know i know take a minute sit with that judge me it's fine i don't know why i haven't read this i'm very surprised just as surprised as you are probably i will say it if it helps a little bit i have read the hobbit so you know i've started the journey i'm obviously a huge fan of the series from a cultural perspective i have seen the movies if that counts for anything probably a hundred times throughout my entire life growing up so i mean in terms of the actual story it's very near and dear to my heart and obviously i have a lot of appreciation and understanding of what this series has done to the fantasy genre throughout its entire existence obviously it's kind of a very foundational trilogy that a lot of people still swear by and love very very much i can't really point to why exactly i haven't picked this book up i think growing up i was always worried i would be a little bored while reading it as an adult i think i've just kind of put it off to read newer flashier releases but this is definitely one i hope to get to one day um i don't even believe it's that long as it was just one book kind of broken up into three books from like a marketing perspective but i'm curious i'm also kind of curious to read and maybe watch the movies to kind of do a compare and contrast to see how similar if there's any major differences between the narrative tale and obviously the cinematic interpretation but yeah this is probably the one i'm most embarrassed about especially because i am such a fantasy focused channel i haven't read the lord of the rings it feels almost a little sacrilegious but yeah i thought i would just start here set the bar nice and low before we dive into the rest of the titles on this particular book list next are just a couple of very long fantasy series i just haven't started the first is malazan book of the fallen i recently featured this series on the most intimidating books on my tbr and honestly i would say this fantasy series is the one that probably intimidates me most it's that way for a variety of reasons yes it's long in both the number of books and the page length but it's more about how people describe the series to you people really go out of their way to describe how confusing it is how it's kind of not for everyone how it's kind of disorienting and there's not a lot of character building on the flip side people also really like the plot development as well as the world building a lot of people say malazan is one of the most ambitious fantasy worlds ever created and that really intrigues me but i'm still on the fence as i do really appreciate strong character building in all of my fantasy worlds that's why i love robin hobb so much so i just don't know if this particular fantasy series is for me and given that it's such a huge commitment it's one i just want to be sure about before i try to undertake it the next series i have not read or even started is the wheel of time by robert jordan this is one i hope to rectify at least start to rectify this year i plan to start reading this series in the second half of this year after i finish my stormlight archives reread this is obviously a beloved series by so many people in the fantasy space my brother who's a big fantasy reader this is his favorite series of all time i grew up around these books they've been in my house like my entire life but for one reason or another i just haven't picked it up i do really feel like this might be one i enjoy i hear it's a classic fantasy tale housing a lot of fun fantasy tropes and something i also hear which i actually find to be a bit appealing is that this particular series is a little cheesy a little kitschy which honestly i find to be endearing and actually calls out to me and something i'm looking forward to especially because i do think that contrasts the other very well-known recently adapted fantasy series game of thrones i'm kind of curious to see vibe-wise how these might be very different and i'm also curious to see how that vibe is interpreted into the upcoming adaptation that's coming out i want to say this year or next year for the wheel of time but yeah i'm very late to this fandom but it's one that i've been wanting to read for most of my life and finally i feel like it's time step i have american gods by neil gaiman i have read quite a few neil gaiman books i want to say four or five but i have not read this particular novel which a lot of people tend to say is his most critically acclaimed and ambitious novel and also one that has been adapted and i'm really curious about the tv show and i have not watched because i want to read it before i do so basically follows a character whose wife has died at the beginning of this book right when he's released from prison and so he begins his journey home and he runs into a god i think this is a story of like god's come to earth and god's kind of ruling the american domain again this is one that a lot of people love and a lot of people have read and in general i just feel like this is a book i would really enjoy reading as this relationship between humans and gods kind of explored within a fantasy setting is one of my favorite things to encounter it's always kind of a immediate pickup for me when i encounter that in a synopsis next up i have the night circus by erin morgenstern i read the starless c by this author last year and really really liked it aaron morgenstern is known for her beautiful lyrical writing and the night circus is one of the most beloved books out there i feel like and this as you can probably surmise off the title is about a dark circus of some kind but really what appeals to me is the writing and likely the romance i really loved erin morgenstern's first novel this is one of her most lauded works out there i feel like everyone every book club on earth has read to this and i just have not picked it up i also feel like as a fantasy novel it is generally speaking much less of a commitment than say like the wheel of time so i feel like this is one i can easily fit in and hopefully read soon but yeah i feel like a lot of people might be surprised that i haven't read this just given how popular it is next up is an author i have read none of her books which i personally find to be very embarrassing and that is juliette morellier particularly i want to start with the daughter of the forest julia merle is one of the most well-known historical fantasy writers which on the surface those are my two favorite things to me is actually shocking i have not read a book by her because i feel like once i do she will quickly become a favorite daughter of the forest series is also one that really speaks to me basically follows a girl who is the only daughter and seventh child to a rich lord she's very close to all of her brothers at the beginning of the story he remarries to another woman and she basically curses her entire family and the only way to save her brothers and her father is to go on this quest but she cannot utter a single word and i think she gets kind of wrapped up in a variety of politics and she is trying to save her family but i also think there's a love interest kind of introduced this seems to center both magical forest and fae magic which again say no more i love both of those things this author also has a huge backlist of books for me to check out but i do feel like i want to start with the daughter of the forest series but yeah i've not read a single book by juliette mourillier which again just feels criminal next up i have two children's fantasy series i just never read when i was a kid the first one is aragorn by christopher paolini i have his sci-fi book on my tbr for this month but i have never read a book by this author i never read the aragorn quartet personally feel like it stems from my general lack of interest in dragons i've just never really been that particularly interested in dragon fantasy at any point in my life and that includes now for the most part i do feel like this is a series i want to eventually pick up given that it is kind of a classic at this point and i personally do love middle grade fantasy but there is a lot of dragon fantasy i just have not read and probably will not read but there are a few i feel like at this point i need to begin to make exceptions for does anyone else not like dragon fantasy i feel like that's kind of a controversial opinion i feel like dragons are very very popular creature based fantasy in general is not necessarily my fave that being said i can't always be convinced to check anything out as long as reviews are strong enough but i'm just curious anyone else out there not like a huge dragon person just me and then the other children series i have not read is the earth c quartet i have seen the movie which i think we can all objectively say was not that great but this is a fantasy series that i just didn't think i even really knew about when i was a kid but i will say as an adult this particular series really calls out to me i haven't actually read anything by ursula leguin which i do find to be very embarrassing as well but i will say this seems like a series i would really enjoy as an adult and what i actually hope to read relatively soon i feel like it's going to have kind of that nostalgic classic quest fantasy vibe to it i do believe the premise of this particular fantasy story is a young dragon lord is sent to some remote island to learn a secret type of magic to save you know the world or something along those lines another classic dragon based fantasy story i just skipped as a child but i'm curious to possibly read as an adult next up is joe abercrombie specifically the blade itself this is another series that's actually on my tbr for the year to at least start i have the first book ready to go but in general i still do have a few open fantasy series i want to wrap up before i start a new long series joe abercrombie is an author i feel like i'm going to really love when i do inevitably pick up his books i hear they're dark and grim but full of so many amazing characters that you will fall in love with again as i already mentioned character based fantasy is always some of my favorite i love really imaginative worlds and obviously world building is fantastic but i really love when a story is rooted on a very dynamic and kind of gray main character that just you feel for i feel like robin hobb is a master at that and i feel like joe abercrombie might be an author that i quickly fall in love with just because of how much great things i've heard about his character writing but yeah i love grimdark fantasy this is definitely one i'm interested in reading soon but i have not read any of his books yet which again i know i'm sorry here we are this video is me really just embarrassing myself for the internet and then the last book that is on my list of shame is the grace of kings by ken liu i've actually not read any books by this author which i find to be very surprising he has so many works out there that are all very well received this particular series is the first installment to an epic fantasy series it basically follows two people that have an unlikely encounter as they come from very very different backgrounds they form a strong friendship that i think inevitably spirals out of control they become rivals and also there's this sort of political overthrow happening at the same time i've heard kind of actually mixed things about this series so i'm curious to see how i feel about it but in general i want to pick up and check out some of ken liu's works but this is one that i feel like might be a good place to start given what i've heard about this particular series but yeah i haven't read any books by this author either alrighty guys those are all of the popular fantasy books i have not read please let me know below some books you are embarrassed that you have not picked up yet big shout out to this video sponsor karma again i'll have a link to download the extension below in my description but thank you guys so much for watching this video and i will see you soon with another one soon goodbyehi guys it's regan and welcome back to another video today i am putting myself on blast a bit because we are going to be chatting through all of the popular fantasy books i have not read but before we dive into that list first a word from this video sponsor which is karma i'm so excited to be partnering up with karma again previously known as shop tagger they changed their name to represent all the good karma they bring you when you're doing your shopping but if you're not familiar karma uses their clever technology to ensure that you never miss a price drop or coupon code when you're shopping online as an avid online shopper myself i have been using karma for many many months and it has helped me save so much money i use it to track not only clothing items but book items as well specifically i just picked up the witch's heart a few weeks ago and i was able to score this at 22 off which for a new release hardcover i think is quite a good steal i'll have a link down below for you guys to be able to download the karma chrome extension but it's super easy all you have to do is download it from the chrome store onto your chrome browser and then from there you're able to track and save a bunch of different items across all of your favorite online stores to ensure that you never miss when they inevitably go on sale and when they do you will receive a push notification or an email directly from karma another one of my favorite features of the karma extension is that i'm actually able to organize and filter all of the items i'm actually saving i love to make lists seasonally for both clothes and home items but i also have a miscellaneous section for all of my books as you can see i'm currently tracking all of robin hobb's back catalog because i'm slowly filling up my bookshelf with all of these particular editions and i want to make sure i grab them at the best price i love this feature to make wishlist and in general i would say i'm just shopping a lot smarter and cutting down on impulse buying on top of being able to track when items go on sale karma also uses their clever technology to source coupon codes from across the web it's super easy essentially at checkout they basically automatically scan the web for coupon codes and automatically apply to again save you that extra dollar note that the coupon feature is only available on the chrome extension so be sure to download to not miss out on top of that they also have a cashback feature integrated with paypal allowing you to save even more money while you're shopping online there's just so many different ways with this particular extension to track and save with all of your online shopping it's truly a must download again i'll have a link down below for you guys to be able to download this extension it's truly a lifesaver big shout out to karma for working with me for another video as i am a big fan without further ado let's dive back into the video so as i said i am going to be chatting through a bunch of different popular fantasy books i have not read yet i will say there's probably going to be a few shocking additions to this list so please try not to judge me too much i already know i need to read them and i will say i have both short-term and long-term plans to get to all of these books all of these books i am interested in reading just for one reason or another i haven't picked up yet so without further ado let's go ahead and start with the first series which is probably the most shocking and that is the lord of the rings i have not read the lord of the rings i know i know take a minute sit with that judge me it's fine i don't know why i haven't read this i'm very surprised just as surprised as you are probably i will say it if it helps a little bit i have read the hobbit so you know i've started the journey i'm obviously a huge fan of the series from a cultural perspective i have seen the movies if that counts for anything probably a hundred times throughout my entire life growing up so i mean in terms of the actual story it's very near and dear to my heart and obviously i have a lot of appreciation and understanding of what this series has done to the fantasy genre throughout its entire existence obviously it's kind of a very foundational trilogy that a lot of people still swear by and love very very much i can't really point to why exactly i haven't picked this book up i think growing up i was always worried i would be a little bored while reading it as an adult i think i've just kind of put it off to read newer flashier releases but this is definitely one i hope to get to one day um i don't even believe it's that long as it was just one book kind of broken up into three books from like a marketing perspective but i'm curious i'm also kind of curious to read and maybe watch the movies to kind of do a compare and contrast to see how similar if there's any major differences between the narrative tale and obviously the cinematic interpretation but yeah this is probably the one i'm most embarrassed about especially because i am such a fantasy focused channel i haven't read the lord of the rings it feels almost a little sacrilegious but yeah i thought i would just start here set the bar nice and low before we dive into the rest of the titles on this particular book list next are just a couple of very long fantasy series i just haven't started the first is malazan book of the fallen i recently featured this series on the most intimidating books on my tbr and honestly i would say this fantasy series is the one that probably intimidates me most it's that way for a variety of reasons yes it's long in both the number of books and the page length but it's more about how people describe the series to you people really go out of their way to describe how confusing it is how it's kind of not for everyone how it's kind of disorienting and there's not a lot of character building on the flip side people also really like the plot development as well as the world building a lot of people say malazan is one of the most ambitious fantasy worlds ever created and that really intrigues me but i'm still on the fence as i do really appreciate strong character building in all of my fantasy worlds that's why i love robin hobb so much so i just don't know if this particular fantasy series is for me and given that it's such a huge commitment it's one i just want to be sure about before i try to undertake it the next series i have not read or even started is the wheel of time by robert jordan this is one i hope to rectify at least start to rectify this year i plan to start reading this series in the second half of this year after i finish my stormlight archives reread this is obviously a beloved series by so many people in the fantasy space my brother who's a big fantasy reader this is his favorite series of all time i grew up around these books they've been in my house like my entire life but for one reason or another i just haven't picked it up i do really feel like this might be one i enjoy i hear it's a classic fantasy tale housing a lot of fun fantasy tropes and something i also hear which i actually find to be a bit appealing is that this particular series is a little cheesy a little kitschy which honestly i find to be endearing and actually calls out to me and something i'm looking forward to especially because i do think that contrasts the other very well-known recently adapted fantasy series game of thrones i'm kind of curious to see vibe-wise how these might be very different and i'm also curious to see how that vibe is interpreted into the upcoming adaptation that's coming out i want to say this year or next year for the wheel of time but yeah i'm very late to this fandom but it's one that i've been wanting to read for most of my life and finally i feel like it's time step i have american gods by neil gaiman i have read quite a few neil gaiman books i want to say four or five but i have not read this particular novel which a lot of people tend to say is his most critically acclaimed and ambitious novel and also one that has been adapted and i'm really curious about the tv show and i have not watched because i want to read it before i do so basically follows a character whose wife has died at the beginning of this book right when he's released from prison and so he begins his journey home and he runs into a god i think this is a story of like god's come to earth and god's kind of ruling the american domain again this is one that a lot of people love and a lot of people have read and in general i just feel like this is a book i would really enjoy reading as this relationship between humans and gods kind of explored within a fantasy setting is one of my favorite things to encounter it's always kind of a immediate pickup for me when i encounter that in a synopsis next up i have the night circus by erin morgenstern i read the starless c by this author last year and really really liked it aaron morgenstern is known for her beautiful lyrical writing and the night circus is one of the most beloved books out there i feel like and this as you can probably surmise off the title is about a dark circus of some kind but really what appeals to me is the writing and likely the romance i really loved erin morgenstern's first novel this is one of her most lauded works out there i feel like everyone every book club on earth has read to this and i just have not picked it up i also feel like as a fantasy novel it is generally speaking much less of a commitment than say like the wheel of time so i feel like this is one i can easily fit in and hopefully read soon but yeah i feel like a lot of people might be surprised that i haven't read this just given how popular it is next up is an author i have read none of her books which i personally find to be very embarrassing and that is juliette morellier particularly i want to start with the daughter of the forest julia merle is one of the most well-known historical fantasy writers which on the surface those are my two favorite things to me is actually shocking i have not read a book by her because i feel like once i do she will quickly become a favorite daughter of the forest series is also one that really speaks to me basically follows a girl who is the only daughter and seventh child to a rich lord she's very close to all of her brothers at the beginning of the story he remarries to another woman and she basically curses her entire family and the only way to save her brothers and her father is to go on this quest but she cannot utter a single word and i think she gets kind of wrapped up in a variety of politics and she is trying to save her family but i also think there's a love interest kind of introduced this seems to center both magical forest and fae magic which again say no more i love both of those things this author also has a huge backlist of books for me to check out but i do feel like i want to start with the daughter of the forest series but yeah i've not read a single book by juliette mourillier which again just feels criminal next up i have two children's fantasy series i just never read when i was a kid the first one is aragorn by christopher paolini i have his sci-fi book on my tbr for this month but i have never read a book by this author i never read the aragorn quartet personally feel like it stems from my general lack of interest in dragons i've just never really been that particularly interested in dragon fantasy at any point in my life and that includes now for the most part i do feel like this is a series i want to eventually pick up given that it is kind of a classic at this point and i personally do love middle grade fantasy but there is a lot of dragon fantasy i just have not read and probably will not read but there are a few i feel like at this point i need to begin to make exceptions for does anyone else not like dragon fantasy i feel like that's kind of a controversial opinion i feel like dragons are very very popular creature based fantasy in general is not necessarily my fave that being said i can't always be convinced to check anything out as long as reviews are strong enough but i'm just curious anyone else out there not like a huge dragon person just me and then the other children series i have not read is the earth c quartet i have seen the movie which i think we can all objectively say was not that great but this is a fantasy series that i just didn't think i even really knew about when i was a kid but i will say as an adult this particular series really calls out to me i haven't actually read anything by ursula leguin which i do find to be very embarrassing as well but i will say this seems like a series i would really enjoy as an adult and what i actually hope to read relatively soon i feel like it's going to have kind of that nostalgic classic quest fantasy vibe to it i do believe the premise of this particular fantasy story is a young dragon lord is sent to some remote island to learn a secret type of magic to save you know the world or something along those lines another classic dragon based fantasy story i just skipped as a child but i'm curious to possibly read as an adult next up is joe abercrombie specifically the blade itself this is another series that's actually on my tbr for the year to at least start i have the first book ready to go but in general i still do have a few open fantasy series i want to wrap up before i start a new long series joe abercrombie is an author i feel like i'm going to really love when i do inevitably pick up his books i hear they're dark and grim but full of so many amazing characters that you will fall in love with again as i already mentioned character based fantasy is always some of my favorite i love really imaginative worlds and obviously world building is fantastic but i really love when a story is rooted on a very dynamic and kind of gray main character that just you feel for i feel like robin hobb is a master at that and i feel like joe abercrombie might be an author that i quickly fall in love with just because of how much great things i've heard about his character writing but yeah i love grimdark fantasy this is definitely one i'm interested in reading soon but i have not read any of his books yet which again i know i'm sorry here we are this video is me really just embarrassing myself for the internet and then the last book that is on my list of shame is the grace of kings by ken liu i've actually not read any books by this author which i find to be very surprising he has so many works out there that are all very well received this particular series is the first installment to an epic fantasy series it basically follows two people that have an unlikely encounter as they come from very very different backgrounds they form a strong friendship that i think inevitably spirals out of control they become rivals and also there's this sort of political overthrow happening at the same time i've heard kind of actually mixed things about this series so i'm curious to see how i feel about it but in general i want to pick up and check out some of ken liu's works but this is one that i feel like might be a good place to start given what i've heard about this particular series but yeah i haven't read any books by this author either alrighty guys those are all of the popular fantasy books i have not read please let me know below some books you are embarrassed that you have not picked up yet big shout out to this video sponsor karma again i'll have a link to download the extension below in my description but thank you guys so much for watching this video and i will see you soon with another one soon goodbye\n"