Okay since reddit is apparently going to keep this post at the top of my home page for 2 days, I guess I’ll add my thoughts…

Declaring something fully feminist or misogynist is just like. Not a useful way to do anything. For these purposes, feminism would be a critical lens through which to examine the work - one which should probably also work hand-in-hand with a historical lens for a book 100 years old. There’s going to be elements of both. It was written by a man a hundred years ago. Just by that alone there’s going to be problematic stuff in it, never mind the actual contents of he story. However, as any of the dracula daily tumblr girlies will tell you, there’s also plenty of character work that resonates strongly with a modern feminist audience that has good points to take away, especially depending on your interpretation.

​

Edit: Skimming some of the other comments has made me realize some of the words I want to use for this- I would say that judging dracula through a modern lens is probably misguided (though ngl I do thoroughly judge the twists several adaptations have made ever since that do make it MORE misogynistic imo), however I think analyzing it through a modern lens gives you all sorts of complicated answers to your question!

Stardust.

The book was fine, but the movie was better.

JSYK

Rule 3.4: “What’s that book called?” posts are not allowed. Post instead to /r/whatsthatbook or /r/tipofmytongue.

They were still a thing in the 2010’s, at least, I remember the Pacific Rim novelization. And I know they do novelizations of a lot of Disney stuff, even the Disney Channel movies, if they have good brand tie-ins/merch…

THINGS I ASK MYSELF EVERY TIME HE COMES UP

Not this absent divorcee of a father with several daughters by different women.

And regardless, it was a super inappropriate gift for her age.

You’re having me flash back to the Glenn Beck book someone got me as a kid. Same outcome lol.

Oh! Actually I do have some. Someone got me a series of books by an author that had the same name as me one year as a kid. They did not pay attention to the fact that these were steamy romance novels.

(Or possibly they did, and that was part of the joke. It might have been a fellow kid that got them for me, I forget.)

Not me, but my friend’s terrible father bought her a book about STD’s and a book about how to be a Proper Lady one year when she was like 10. Gag.

You sound like the guy I met in Japan who insisted this alphabet had too many letters because letters like X and Z weren’t needed. You don’t need the words Zebra when ‘striped horse’ supposedly “works just as well!”

I have to assume you’re a troll or something.

Edit: You posted this exact post to like 5 different subs, so like. Def a troll and/or spammer.

The stuff I like in romance novels is, for the most part, WILDLY different from what I like IRL, so it’s really easy for me. Thought I will admit I struggle a bit with determining how much that level of passionate love is realistic vs. how much real relationships are actually more tame and dependable. But that’s okay. I have time to figure that out yet.

Different languages

Depends on what you like about Fourth Wing.

There’s dozens of rec/discussions threads on this topic, especially in the fantasy romance sub, if you’re genuinely asking.

They didn’t say it wasn’t fantasy (which I would take issue with - people are way too willing to call soemthign not fantasy just because it’s also a romance).

They said it was a bad fantasy.

Which honestly I think is true.

Yeah booktok seems especially bad at Romantasy specifically. I’m 0/3 liking the books that got super popular there in that genre.

nothing in the book works,

This was my biggest take away. It was trying to do 3 major things and failed at at least 2.5 of them, and had no idea why any of the tropes and aesthetics they were peeling from each genre work on their own, much less how to mash them together.

First off, you should probably ask this on like. The fantasy romance sub or something. Most of the people on this sub are not the audience for that book (or for fantasy romance in general), so you’re gonna get a higher proportion of people who don’t like it responding. But that aside…

I mean, I don’t think either ACOTAR or Fourth Wing are good (and by this, I mean, I don’t even think they’re good at what they’re trying to do by being fantasy romance). I DNF’d ACOTAR like 90% of the way through when I realized the ending was not going to improve the slog I’d gone through and that the series was only going to get more frustrating to me. So I wouldn’t personally encourage you to continue, I’d suggest asking for more recs on the fantasy romance subs.

If you liked Fourth Wing, a lot of those people seem to like ACOTAR too. Though also a lot of ACOTAR fans seem to say it doesn’t really get good until like the second or even third book? Idk. That might be useful information to you if you’re deciding whether to continue or not.

The Stranger/L’Etranger by Camus

…Because sparknotes already fills that niche? As does wikipedia?

JYSK

Rule 3.3: Requests for personalized recommendations or suggestions are not allowed. Post instead to our Weekly Recommendation Thread (always CSS stickied at the top of any /r/books page), /r/suggestmeabook or /r/whattoreadwhen. Also try /r/booklists or our Suggested Reading list wiki page. Posts asking users to list their favorite/the best book of a genre, style, etc that don’t include an answer and why in the body will be assumed to be recommendation requests and removed.

For your specific case, I’d probably check the romance sub. There’s plenty of good romance novels that aren’t spicy.