Ranking All of the Books I've Read (Since I Started Reviewing Books)
In the video I posted last Friday, I noted that it has been six months since I started my YouTube channel and that a lot has happened during that six-month period. Additionally, I noted that I have never niched down on my channel—I have been all over the place ever since I started creating content on my channel and website. Now that I’ve hit one hundred videos and six months of content, it’s time to niche down and get focused. I’ve decided that the best way to start doing that is to give you something of a “clean slate” when it comes to all of the books I have reviewed since I started this whole project. If you’re new to my content and want a rapid-fire overview of all the books I have read since starting this, this is the stop for you. Hello. Greetings. Welcome.
This is going to be pretty quick and will be in the order in which I read the book, not ascending or descending order in terms of enjoyment. Additionally, my star ratings are my critical rating of the books while my tier rankings (the point of this post), are my fondness and enjoyability of the books overall. With those caveats out of the way, let’s get into it.
The Burning by Evan Winter
The Rage of Dragons
Evan Winter’s The Rage of Dragons was the first fantasy novel I had read in a while and was a great way to break me out of my reading slump. It was unlike anything I’d read in recent memory and his world is simply mesmerizing. I adore his characters and his writing, but most of all I love the all-out nature of this revenge story (my favorite kind of story). What dragged the rating down for Rage was the amount of exposition present in the book (particularly in one scene) and then the rather slow pacing of the first quarter or so of the story.
I gave The Rage of Dragons 4 stars and I’m going to put it in my A Tier.
The Fires of Vengeance
Immediately after finishing The Rage of Dragons, I followed it up with the sequel, The Fires of Vengeance. This book was, in my opinion, quite a step above its predecessor. Evan Winter’s writing improved greatly, the exposition was delivered in a more believable and natural fashion, and we got more interesting perspectives than just Tau’s, which honestly helped to put into perspective all the problems with our main character. I know some reviewers hated The Rage of Dragons because they hated Tau, even though that was kind of the point—he’s a reckless, revenge-driven man with little regard for others or even himself. The First of Vengeance cleared up a lot of issues and I absolutely burned (pun intended) through this book.
I gave The Fires of Vengeance 5 stars and I’m going to put it in the S Tier.
Red Rising by Pierce Brown (Trilogy 1)
Red Rising
Once I was finished with the amazing fantasy world of The Burning Saga (at least for now, I’m keeping my ears and eyes out for The Lord of Demons, book number three), I picked up some Sci-Fi, specifically Red Rising. This first book was a significant step down for me from The Fires of Vengeance. The only redeeming quality in it was the compelling action and the promise of a better story to come. Otherwise, Red Rising would have gotten one star from me and I would have put it down immediately. I’m glad I didn’t because the story does improve with the second trilogy, but the first book was just bad. So many eye-roll-worthy moments, cringe-tier writing, and just overall a lackluster plot that was far too convenient (and riddled with some of my least-favorite tropes). Even if I find myself rereading the series someday, I’ll probably either skip this one or skim it really quickly.
It likely isn’t going to be surprising to hear me say that this was my least favorite of all of the books I read in the last six months (though it may be disappointing for some fans to hear). I gave Red Rising 2 stars and I’m going to put it in the E Tier.
Golden Son
Enter Golden Son, the sequel to Red Rising. This is a completely different book from its predecessor and that is wholly a good thing. This actually wound up being my favorite of the original trilogy. It introduces new, compelling characters (and refines old ones), shows us more of the world, and expands the story considerably into something more interesting than the battle royale that the first book featured. It felt like it was written by a totally different author and is the first significant jump in quality I noticed in Pierce Brown’s ability to write. There are some shortcomings in this book and a few bad habits that Pierce Brown continues to hold in it, but overall it was a solid read.
I gave Golden Son 4 stars and I’m going to put it in the C Tier.
Morning Star
The third and final book in the first trilogy is Morning Star, which concludes the storyline focusing entirely on Darrow, the Reaper. This book was… okay, in my opinion. It wasn’t the strongest ending and it continued some of the bad habits that Pierce Brown exhibited throughout the series. In particular, the unreliable narrator (though that isn’t exactly what Darrow is, it’s the best way I can think to put it) that Darrow represents became tiring. His successful plots felt a lot more like deus ex machinas due to the way they were executed and delivered to the reader, which left the ending unsatisfying.
I gave Morning Star 3 stars and I’m going to put it in the D Tier.
Red Rising by Pierce Brown (Trilogy 2)
Iron Gold
Against my better judgment, I went right from the first trilogy of Red Rising into the second. Seriously, it was immediate. I should have read something fantastical between them, as this had been a lot of sci-fi for me, but I didn’t, I just dove right into Iron Gold, the beginning of Red Rising’s sequel trilogy. However, it wound up being perfectly fine because Iron Gold was staunchly better than any of the prior three books. It is everything I’d wanted the prior trilogy to become and it deals with the consequences of the first trilogy extraordinarily well. I enjoyed this book enough that I told readers who disliked the first trilogy to give the second trilogy a chance because it’s extremely different (in a great way).
I gave Iron Gold four stars and I’m going to put it in the B Tier.
Dark Age
Now comes one of my favorite science fiction books I have read in some time. Dark Age, the followup to Iron Gold, is a nigh-on Game of Thrones in terms of scale, but it is set in a science-fiction world. The consequences of Darrow’s rebellion and war are catching up to him and we are falling in love with entirely new characters, all of whom become far more fleshed out and interesting in this second book of the sequel trilogy. Given the content of this book, I also cannot think of a more apt title for it than the one it was given. Dark Age is riveting, intense, and fast-paced science-fiction that I absolutely loved. The only reason it took me two weeks to read is that it is dense, and I’m not complaining. I’m so excited for the conclusion to this trilogy.
I gave Dark Age five stars and I’m going to put it in the A Tier, just behind The Rage of Dragons. As I said, these tier rankings are about enjoyment, not critical reviews.
The Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee
Jade City
Once I finished reading Pierce Brown’s Red Rising story, I was ready to move into something more fantastical and I went with the urban fantasy story by Fonda Lee: The Green Bone Saga. This is one I was interested in reading because it’s one that’s so divisive, I’ve found. Tons of people swear by this book and absolutely love it. Many others despise it, call it slow and dull, and just did not have a good time reading the book. I was surprised to find myself in the latter category. Jade City felt slow, dully, and predictable. I thought the setting was cool, I liked the characters, and the magic system was fascinating, but all of these attributes of the story were underutilized. I continued on with the trilogy after this book, but I did not really like my time with Jade City.
However, while I knew it wasn’t for me, I did know that Jade City was well-written and certainly has its own appeal to certain audiences. While I’m not the audience for this book, I totally get why many others love the book and I recommend it to a select few people. Because I appreciate the book but didn’t personally enjoy it, I gave it 3 stars and I’m going to put it in the D Tier, behind Morning Star.
Jade War
Jade War, the sequel to Jade City, was unfortunately the same story as its predecessor in terms of my thoughts. If anything, I was more disappointed by Jade War because my expectations were in a reasonable place (I thought). And then, Jade War just let me down much as its predecessor had. I simply didn’t like it and I felt like it was severely lacking in several key areas. The content that I did read in it was great, but it’s the content that was missing that left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I just wanted more from the book and I didn’t get it. Fonda Lee pulled her punches in both of the first books.
Jade War received the same score from me that Jade City did and I enjoyed it about as much. So again, it’s a 3-star read and I’m putting it in the D Tier.
Jade Legacy
Because I was already nearly done with the trilogy, I decided to give Jade Legacy a chance but told myself that if I didn’t feel more confident in the book after the first hundred pages or so, I would DNF it and move on to something else. And boy, am I glad that I stuck with the trilogy. Jade Legacy wound up being one of my favorite reads of the last six months (yeah, shocking given how much I panned the previous two books). This book had everything I wanted and more. There were so many heartfelt moments in this story, as well as action-packed ones. It was filled with twists, turns, and tears. The payoff in this book is excellent, too! I absolutely loved it and it made reading the prior to books totally worth it.
I gave Jade Legacy a much-deserved 5 stars and I’m going to put it in the A Tier, just behind The Rage of Dragons.
The Faithful and the Fallen by John Gwynne
Malice
With the urban fantasy world of Fonda Lee’s Green Bone Saga behind me, I moved on to the fantastical works of John Gwynne, beginning with The Faithful and the Fallen, a quartet. The first book in this series is Malice and it was… not great. Even after finishing the series and reflecting back on it, I still feel like it was largely an unnecessary and poorly-paced prologue that could have been better served as the beginning to the second book, which is substantially better than the first book. Of course, fixing the problems with Malice is more nuanced than how simply I make it sound. There’s plenty of important stuff in the book, I just don’t think there was enough important stuff to justify the book’s existence, is the best way I can put it.
Originally, I was going to give Malice two stars, but it had an ending that absolutely stunned me and blew me away. It was fantastically written and I really enjoyed it—it’s the reason I was so excited to pick up the second book. John Gwynne really did a great job of pulling me along to the next part of the story. So I wound up giving John Gwynne’s Malice 3 stars. However, it is going to end up in the E Tier, just above Red Rising.
Valour
Following Malice is Valour (or Valor—I just happened to get the European version), and it is a substantial improvement over Malice. While the story is still tropey and predictable (and there are a few plot conveniences), it was still well-written and I found the characters to be compelling and interesting to follow. The animal companions throughout the story greatly help, too, I’m not going to lie—that’s a sure-fire way to my heart. I have a soft spot, and it’s animals.
The tropes and predictability of the story dragged my rating down a bit for this one. I gave Valour 4 stars and I’m going to be bumping it up to B Tier, behind Iron Gold.
Ruin
Undoubtedly my favorite book from John Gwynne’s The Faithful and the Fallen, this third book finally met (and then exceeded) my expectations. The characters and combat are extraordinarily well-written, the story is compelling and interesting, and the tropes finally get turned on their heads, allowing John Gwynne to drop the formula of the story. This book had me laughing and crying, it got me attached to several different characters, and it got me excited for Wrath (enough that I immediately picked it up even though it was well past my bedtime when I finished Ruin).
Ruin is one of my favorite reads of the year so far; I gave it 5 stars and I’m going to put it just behind Dark Age in the A Tier.
Wrath
Sadly, Wrath didn’t quite live up to my expectations. I found it to be lackluster and predictable compared to Ruin, and there were several plot points that didn’t make sense. In particular, the behavior of the enemy was pretty unstrategic, particularly compared to what we’d seen before. I just found them to be inconsistent, which made any victory on the part of our hero’s feel cheap and unearned. The conclusion of the book was far too neat and tidy for my liking. Most of the characters had typical, predictable endings… all except for one. My favorite character had an absolutely beautiful, wonderful, and tear-jerking ending and that alone bumped the star rating for Wrath up a bit in my mind.
I gave the conclusion to John Gwynne’s The Faithful and the Fallen 4 stars and I’m going to put it at the head of the B Tier.
The Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne
I left The Faithful and the Fallen and immediately picked up yet another book by John Gwynne: The Shadow of the Gods. This is the last book that I’ll be ranking in this post, but don’t worry: I’m going to be reading and reviewing The Hunger of the Gods not too long from now. I’ve already started reading it, it’s just been slow going with everything else in my life. Believe me, it’s not because I don’t want to read the book, because the first book in The Bloodsworn Saga is absolutely amazing, as you’ll see when I rank it.
The Shadow of the Gods is an inspired, magical, riveting Norse fantasy novel by John Gwynne that focuses wholly on three unique viewpoint characters. Each character has their own history, drives, and goals that are equally compelling. I genuinely could not pick a favorite character in this book. Each and every character (including side characters) is loveable in their own way (even the evil ones, honestly; they’re just so well-written that you can’t truly hate them). I flew through The Shadow of the Gods faster than I have with any other book in recent memory and I was so glad that the sequel was on the cusp of release once I finished the first book. This is an amazing book and I recommend it to veteran and inexperienced fantasy readers alike.
I gave The Shadow of the Gods 5 stars (of course) and I’m going to put it at the top of the S Tier, above The Fires of Vengeance, making it my favorite book that I have read since I started my YouTube channel!
Conclusion
Phew, that’s my ranking for all of the books I’ve read in the last six months! You’re now caught up on my reading. I’m probably going to do posts like this a little more often because this turned out to be quite a bit of work due to all the catch-up I needed to do. It’s done now, though, and you’ve got a reference point for my book enjoyment thus far!