Get To Know My Book Taste

Saw a number of Booktubers doing this 15 Question Tag thing over on Youtube a short while back, so thought I'd write up my responses on the blog once everything was up and functional. This Tag was originally created by @mynameismarines and @ThoughtsOnTomes as a way to collaborate with like-minded readers and content creators. So here I am: sharing my book vibes fashionably late as ever.

1. How do you rate books? Give a quick rundown of how you do your star ratings (or if you don’t use star ratings, how you evaluate books).

I use a simple 1-5 star rating, as I do with all of the media I rate over the course of the year. My Top 4 of the year (started over on Twitter, but now an annual thread on Bluesky) is usually derived from the absolute favourites of my 5-star ratings.

1⭐ is for books I can't stand/DNF out of anger/were objectionable from an ethical or purely shit writing standpoint (admittedly next to none get this rating).

2⭐ is for books that just don't feel like my sort of thing, they might be decently written but I just didn't vibe with them for whatever reason.

3⭐ is an average but good book, which I could happily recommend but doesn't really have that X-factor to get me hyped about it.

4⭐ is a book I can heartily recommend to other readers and was highly enjoyable to read (I tend to be quite positive, so a lot of stuff ends up with this rating).

5⭐ are for my absolute favourites, which I'm buzzing with excitement by the end of reading and desperately want to share with other people so we can squee about them together.

I also tend to share my ratings on Goodreads; so if a book is self-published or has a next to non-existent star rating, I'll likely hold off giving it a panning (as that will immediately tank the rating, and as long as it's not blatant hatemongering or AI plagiarism, most books at least deserves a chance at wider readership - even if they're sloppily written or not stellar literature.)

2. How do you approach reviewing books? What’s your review style? Are you analytical, emotional, casual, or structured?

I do relatively few full book reviews - probably because I usually read a lot and have a tendency to make my reviews really long (be they positive or negative). I've dropped a few reviews over on Goodreads, but now I have my blog, I can use this space to do extended reviews: specifically of the TTRPG core books I read and minorly playtest. There might also be some mixed-media reviews which include books that revolve around a post's key theme. I've always really liked comparative reviews which focus on key storytelling elements and the successes/contrasts created between works - after all, my university thesis was on book adaptation for television and fandom engagement & reaction within the epic fantasy genre. Unsurprisingly, I also like discussing wider critique of a work and the merits of being able to dissect and analyse media you love without getting overly possessive or defensive (and how it is perfectly fine to have problematic faves, as long as you're able to acknowledge them as such). I always try to be balanced in my reviews and share both good and bad elements, but on rare occasions I will utterly pan a work that I feel deserves it.

3. What’s the book that made you a reader? Whether it was your first favourite or the one that got you hooked, what book started it all?

Honestly, this is really hard to pinpoint? I was brought to the library and encouraged to read for myself as a toddler, as well as voraciously consuming audiobooks from a really young age too. Much as it's cliche, adventure mysteries were some of my faves as a kid, so Enid Blyton's "Five on Finneston Farm" and "The Secret Island" are defo contenders for early converters - though I properly obsessed over Fiona Kelly's 'The Mystery Club' series as a pre-teen (to the extent I strong-armed my friends group into reading the books and LARPing the characters). Also prominent are the secret Furry classics: Kenneth Grahame's "Wind In The Willows", John R. Erickson's "Hank the Cowdog" (ooft, some hella problematic stereotypes in this one thinking back), Richard Adam's "Watership Down", Colin Dann's "Animals of Farthing Wood", Robin Jarvis's "The Deptford Mice", Brian Jacque's "Redwall" and Stephen Moore's "Tooth & Claw"... as I clearly liked my talking animal stories as traumatic as possible. Of course, a lot of these are also SFF, so I'd hesitate not to also include C.S. Lewis's "Narnia" series ('The Magician's Nephew' and 'The Silver Chair' in particular, despite all the thinly veiled Christian allegory), J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" and the original radio production of Douglas Adam's "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" as truly formative literature. The first long-running series that had me obsessively collecting the books was Anne McCaffrey's "Dragons of Pern" though, and 'Dragonsdawn' was definitively inspirational in my love of lost colony tropes in my own writing (though I've always been a sucker for heritage and subterranean histories).

4. Do you have a genre niche? Are there certain genres you gravitate toward? Or do you read widely across genres?

As you can probably tell from the above formative literature, SFF has always been my go-to. I am generally a bit more comfortable reading outwith my niche nowadays, especially since book clubs have actively pushed me out of my comfort zone (with mixed results). I integrated a lot of Horror as a teen (which I still read extensively), have really enjoyed Crime and Noir Trillers in recent years, and have always dabbled in Mysteries and Romance (though am super picky as I get bored with mysteries I can solve miles ahead of the protagonist and find a lot of mainstream bodice-rippers glorify problematic relationships without acknowledging their flaws). Much as I keep flinging myself at Literature, it rarely agrees with me. Lit Fic has a tendency to centre the utterly mundane, obsess over infidelity and often writes from a viewpoint of privilege without understanding it's doing so. Some rare Contemporary Lit Fic books (often from writers of diverse, extensively non-white backgrounds) have surprised me and become fave reads of recent years; but the vast majority of the genre is oversaturated with stories that are uninteresting, achingly elitist and simply ain't my thing.

5. Do you generally prefer character-driven or plot-driven stories?

Oh, character by far! Don't get me wrong - I love a well put-together tale steeped in its setting, time and genre that is structured gloriously and written expressively. But it needs to be the characters who capture my heart! It honestly doesn't matter if your main character is an awful, terrible POS person or the most honourable cinnamon-roll. If they're written convincingly in a way that sells me on why they are they way they are, then I am immersed. If you write a bunch of varied characters who are flat and lifeless, lacking in aims or just blatant stereotypes to fit into your worldbuilding, then honestly I'm going to hate them. I wanna know what's going on in your character's minds, what motivates them, what their hopes and dreams are (even if those are twisted or a fucked-up way of seeing the world). If your characters live, then your story lives!

6. What’s a book you love so much that you don’t care if others don’t like it? What’s that one book you love enough for everyone?

S.A. Chakraborty's 'The Empire of Gold', final volume in the "Daevabad Trilogy". I read this all in one sitting and legit bawled my eyes out into the early hours of the morning. The relief and heartbreak were so cathartically strong. I'm very aware a lot of readers were disappointed with the lack of happy ending for Dara as his backstory is fraught with a history of being a child soldier, committing war crimes, being enslaved for centuries, and generally being a disaster sad lad who ends up hurting those he cares for. Like - y'all can clearly tell who's my fave best boi in this story! Yeah, sometimes I wish Dara would get cut a break too, and I can defo see what people are struggling with in his portrayal. But please let messy men be messy and problematic - it doesn't need to end in a neat redemption arc or a complete fall from grace punishment. It can be compromise, without a need for 'happily ever after' (and honestly this trilogy ended more positively than the fates of the majority of my fave characters). I will always stand by this book as having a strong and arguably hopeful ending, even whilst understanding why other fans were heartbroken.

7. What’s a book you love so much that if someone doesn’t like it, you know your reading tastes don’t align? The book or books where a difference of opinion is a strong indicator of different reading preferences.

Also probably more of a problematic one nowadays, but Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman's "Good Omens" was and always will be defining for me as a reader. It was technically the first piece of media I read queer fic for, so is legitimately my gateway into fandom. I've always had a soft spot for humorous takes on theology, though I had certainly distanced myself from Christianity by this point in my teens. Crowley & Aziraphale will always be one of my favourite subversive couples. Obviously with Gaiman turning out to be a far worse person than anyone ever suspected, I fully understand why folks will no longer venerate the work (making the decision to no longer monetarily support creators in this way is the best approach to ensuring they don't benefit from fan encouragement anymore), but it does make me decidedly sad. Good Omens will always remain one of my core texts, even though it is good art partially made by a bad artist (and at least Terry Pratchett will always be immortalised as a decent guy gone before his time).

8. What’s in your “trash pocket”? What books, tropes, or themes that you know are bad but you love them anyway?

Uhm... I have an unhealthy hyperfocus on Lee Child's "Reacher" series at the moment. As with any other serialised thriller series, the quality of individual books varies greatly, with a few being meh, others being enjoyable reads and a few being absolutely stellar (like 'The Enemy', 'Echo Burning', 'Die Trying', 'Nothing to Lose' and 'Never Go Back'). Admittedly, it was the Amazon Prime series that peaked my interest and the inspired casting of Alan Ritchson as the titular character (because he is perfect for Reacher as described, plays up the character's strongly indicated neurodivergent eccentricities and is fuckin' pretty to boot). Going in, a story about a 6'5" ex-military drifter taking the law into his own hands as he wanders America, enacting vigilante justice and sleeping with many fine ladies seems potentially... uh... problematic at first glace? But honestly, there's an honest wholesomeness to Reacher which keeps him empathetic throughout. Sure he deals with the world through violence and is unable to hold down a romantic relationship to save himself, but he's also one of the most sincere, ethical lads you'll ever meet. A tale of an good boy!

9. Do you have any dealbreakers in books? Something that, if present, immediately turns you off from a book.

I put up with a lot of really dark shit in my media, provided it feels justified being there. Sure, there are perhaps a few extreme kinks that I'd prefer didn't show up in a story out of the blue, but I'll generally stick with most things if I know what I'm getting myself into. I think I just don't like stories that try to pass themselves off as one thing whilst selling a twisted worldview of acceptable hatred (rape scenarios played up as super romantic, explicitly ignoring the exploitation of naïve love in abusive relationships, or trying to write off character's genocidal actions as justified as part of inherently colonialist worldbuilding). Honestly, you don't need to obsess about interrogating truly shitty behaviours in your writing, but you need to at least acknowledge the damage it causes. For example, you can write a book from the perspective of a truly despicable villain, interrogate how they get to the depths of their depravity and even justify it to themselves - but it needs to contrast with the way the world usually works. Evil is only casually banal when it stands in stark contrast to an ideal - once it is normalised, when everything is suffering and there is no hope of progress or survival, a story becomes pointless. Like, what are stories like that trying to say beyond wallowing in their own pathetic nihilism? Strangely, I am quite the fan of the 'Grimdark' genre which sets up worlds of very little hope where doom is inevitable - but hope is still there in the parody and inherent absurdism of the entire situation. It is gleaned from the sparks of familiar solidarity in even the most cursed characters.

10. What’s a strong opinion you have about a book released within the last year? Whether it’s overrated, underrated, or just a take you need to share.

Honestly, I was a little worried about this question. For the longest time I hadn't read anything I properly hated, and whilst I've had favourite reads, they've not necessarily been current releases? However, just this last month I finished reading Stephen Graham Jones' "The Buffalo Hunter Hunter" (which came out in late March this year), and hell yeah this book is racing into my Top 4 this year! 2025 has really been THE year for truly subversive Vampire media, and this book is amongst the best. If you're fed-up of the same tired tropes in your Vampire media, then this a breath of fresh, irony, blood-soaked air! It doesn't shy away from the darkness of the vampire curse, the horrific realities of colonialism, or the intricacies of generational trauma. In fact, this book alongside the movies "Sinners" and "Sister Midnight" really deserve their own standalone blog deep-dive. I'm a sucker (hah!) for a strong bit of vampire lore, and these stories are redefining the genre! "The Buffalo Hunter Hunter" is luckily getting a good bit of word-of-mouth hype right now, so I genuinely hope it becomes a huge success!

11. What do you look for in writing? What makes a book stand out to you? Is it prose style, themes, voice, structure, or something else?

I love me some nice strong themes because this makes for wonderful critique and discussion. However, what's most important to me is a writer's grasp of character interiority. Probably because this is often what I concentrate on a lot in my own writing (inner monologue, asides, visualising and actualising emotions is my vibe). Much as I can appreciate a uniquely structured tale, and eloquent prose, these are often secondary to whether I'm able to immerse myself in the characters and their world. Voice often plays a big part in this for building character individuality, though the writing of accents can either enhance a piece or completely break a reader's sense of belief (if accent suddenly changes mid-series, or the dialect happens to be shoddily written). I've always had a very auditory/visual imagination, so what I read or hear on an audiobook plays out like a fully realised film or interactive videogame in my head, almost dream-sequence style. I'm looking for descriptive writing that blocks out the real world and drops me into the book's imagined setting.

12. How do you decide what to read next? Do you plan ahead, mood read, or follow external factors (hype, recommendations, ARCs)?

This varies a good bit as not only do I keep a brain-achingly long TBR (physical copies, digital audiobooks, library holds, and two separate e-book readers), but I have a regular monthly book club and participate in occasional reading challenges. My book club is with a bunch of colleagues from work. We ran a book-based Secret Santa for our first Xmas event, and ever since our reading list has been comprised of those books we give each other every year. It does mean that what tentatively started as a reading list of general Literary fic and "book club picks" swiftly turned into one filled with many Fantasy (Romantic, Epic & Cosy) & Historic books (Fiction & Non-fiction), and the odd Thriller (Crime, Skandi Noir & Contemporary Mystery) or Sci-fi reads (Novellas, Classics & Genre-fusion). The reading challenges don't happen often, but are often suggested by folks online and I then have a lot of fun cramming in a heap of themed reading over the chosen months. Admittedly, these are mostly Autumnal/Halloween challenges, so many of these have been strongly horror-themed. Otherwise, it's usually just a matter of reading books when they become available on Libby from my local library or nabbing something off my TBR trolley/my e-book backlog.

13. Where do you get inspiration for your BookTube content? What sparks your video ideas — other creators, trends, personal reading experiences?

I... uh... don't actually make videos myself, as I am incredibly awkward and camera-shy (and allergic to the formality of trying to visually maintain professionalism in front of an audience). But I do write reviews in social media and blog form, and I do end up watching a good deal of Booktube content and conversing with other creators. My blog post ideas arise from a number of sources; mostly my style of casual commentary blog posting on LiveJournal back in the day. Some posts (like this one in fact) are semi-inspired by other media critics, shared social media challenges, creator tags and community discussions. Others just come about because I end up having a strong opinion on a piece of media and need to squee or rant about it, or because I need to psychologically dissect some major event going down.

14. If you could make any book go viral right now, what would it be? A book you think deserves more attention and why.

This gives me a good opportunity to big-up a slightly older title. So to highlight a particularly good grimdark series which deserves to have a dedicated fandom of its own, I'm gonna say Peter Newman's "Vagrant Trilogy". It's a compelling take on the silent protagonist walking a broken world with a sword and a baby, allying with a proper scrappy lad, mutant fren and a most important goat (well, the goat's been there the whole time, but she and her offspring are certainly of vital importance - praise Satlucha!) Watch as they search for sanctuary, form what I can only call queer found family, and eventually find a way to kill the gods. It's gritty, dark and heart-breaking at times, but it's also really freakin' compelling.

15. Who are some BookTubers with reading tastes similar to yours?

@KathyTrithardt: Kathy's monthly round-ups delight & challenges abound.
@fictionalfates: Joel always makes fab book content & also streams games now.
@thepetitepunk: Elise sadly doesn't Booktube now, but has great music taste.
@Dominic-Noble: Dom concentrates on books and their Film/TV adaptations.
@StitchsMediaMix: Stitch writes excellent critiques & appreciates spicy content.
@LoreByNightVtM: Jack does excellent WoD roleplaying deep-dives & reviews.
@withcindy: Cindy's acerbic reviews of questionable book content amuses me.

Actually, I first found this Tag over on Kathy's channel, so extra props to her for highlighting this and encouraging other creators to get involved. 💕