These Books Dominated BookTube… Now No One Talks About Them

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]What happened to these series that everyone used to be obsessed with? I've been watching book for 7 years now and there's still some series that were recommended back then that are still being recommended on a frequent basis like Lord of the Rings or the first thought trilogy and obviously the Storm Archive of Brandon Sanderson. But when I created this channel 5 years ago, there were 10 fantasy series that a lot of creators were hyping up that I don't really see anyone talking about anymore.

[00:00:22]So, let's go down memory lane to talk about these 10 series. What happened to them? And are they still worth picking up? And I would love to know how many of these have you actually read. All right, the first one and probably also the most obvious one is without a doubt The Poppy War by RF Kuang. Obviously, some creators still talk about this series.

[00:00:38]All of these series, you'll find at least one creator that will still be hyping it up. It's just that this series here when I started my channel, so book two, I think had rec come out. At least The Burning God, the last book, had not come out. And the hype for this trilogy was immense. And it's been quite astounding to see just the development this series has gone through, especially when it comes to its public perception and what people think about it. Because when I started my channel, this was hyped up to be one of the new great things in fantasy. But today, I don't really see anyone talk about it. And actually, if you go to Reddit, you will find hundreds of posts and Reddit threads talking about how they hate this series. And I think there's lots of reason for that. One is that I think the series series probably was marketed wrong. It kind of reads like a YA in the first third of the first book, but then it turns extremely bleak. A lot of people find the protagonist written incredibly furating. A lot of people hate the ending. There are so many things that people had issues with this trilogy. And it was also Arf Kuang's first published work, which also means that it probably wasn't as good as some of her later books. But is it still picking up in 2026? So, I read the whole trilogy and I actually loved it. When I read it, I was blown away. So, I hadn't read that many much fantasy at that point. But for me, this was the first Asian inspired fantasy I'd ever read.

[00:01:48]And I'm just such a huge sucker for an underdog. And this is a total underdog story with like training montages, training school, and I loved it. I absolutely loved it, but I do imagine now that if I picked it up today, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it as much. That being said, I don't think The Poppy War deserves the bad rep, especially gets on Reddit. I think in a lot of other forums, it still holds off a lot. But at the end of the day, there are so many fantasy series, and I just don't think that this series had the longevity that a lot of the classics we know and love. So, the real question is, is this series still worth picking up today? And I will say yes for most readers. If you don't mind following an incredibly infuriating protagonist, then you should definitely give the series a try. It's not as bad as some people say.

[00:02:29]All right, series number two that everyone was obsessed about that I don't really see many people talk about anymore. The Burning by Evan Witzer. So, the first book is called The Rage of Dragons. And you might never have seen this cover because this is the self-published edition. Yes, this series here was originally self-published and then it was picked up by Orbit. If you don't know anything about the series, and this is an African inspired epic fantasy, I do believe that this was originally planned to be a four book series. Now, there's only two books in the series with the last one being published 6 years ago, and we don't still to this day don't really have any news about book three and definitely not book four. I might be wrong, but I think there were supposed to be four books in this universe. I read the first book. I thought it was fine. So, a lot of people said that if you love The Faithful and the Fallen by John Quinn, this will be the thing for you. And I was so excited to pick this up because I haven't read many African inspired fantasies. So for me, this was incredibly exciting, unique, and appealing to me. The thing that just pulled it down is that I found our protagonist just not to be compelling enough. We have this ragefilled protagonist, a bit like Ren from the Poppy War, just not as compelling in my opinion, that is consumed by anger, is consumed by revenge. And I just found that that was the only thing that this character was driven for. That immense intense rage that our protagonist has just never stops. It keeps being as intense enough.

[00:03:43]Like I don't know anyone that keeps being this angry for this long. The setting is unique. The pacing is definitely there. There's a lot of action. Definitely do understand why people love the series. But what happened to the series? Everyone was obsessed about it. It was on so many top 10's list and people's favorites of the year. Today you don't really see people talking about it. So I think there's some things going on here. So obviously in my personal experience I just didn't find compelling. So that might be one reason, but it is still unfinished and we've been waiting for 6 years now for book three. Still no news and that is a great way to kill the momentum for a series. Such a shame. Evan Winter is clearly a talented author and also think that he is an important voice in our community. So I just hope three of comes out and this series actually picks up steam, but until then I think this series will slowly be forgotten online unless we have news about book three.

[00:04:31]All right, let's talk about series number three. in. Sorry, I had to change my mic cuz there's no battery on my other one. The band series by Nicholas Emmes. The first book is called Kings of the Wild. When I started watching book, this was getting so much hype and now I almost never hear anyone talk about the series anymore. What happened? If you don't know anything about this series, it's actually planned to be three standalones in the same universe. So, this is book one. There's a book two.

[00:04:55]And guess what? Very similar to The Burning. There hasn't been used of book three for 6 years maybe. And if there's one way to kill momentum, hype, excitement of a series, it is to promise a book three and then not publish it at all. I don't even know what writer's block feels like cuz I'm not an author.

[00:05:13]But this series here had so much hype and now no one talks about it. Now for me, I thought this was a fun series. Um, I've only read the first book actually.

[00:05:21]I thought it was fun and I even recommended this series very recently, but it's not really my type of fantasy.

[00:05:25]It's very much like a quest type D and D rock and roll kind of fantasy and it's a great palent cleanser. So, I would recommend it for anyone out there that hasn't heard about the series or just is looking for something light and fun. But yeah, it's a shame. I really, really hope Nicholas Emmes gets back to writing and he finds his groove back cuz he's definitely talented author. But as of now, I can definitely see the series falling more and more into obscurity cuz I don't see anyone talking about this series anymore and it's a shame. The fourth series that I don't really see anyone talking about anymore is The Drowning by Andrea Stewart. So, the first book is called The Boneshard Daughter. I do again see a bit more people talk about this just because the broken binding has also made a special edition and these cars are so so stunning. Now I read this book quite shortly after it came out. So the book three had definitely not come out at that point and there was so much hype for it and I don't know why I just did not connect with it which is really strange cuz I love the setting. I love the mystery. I love when you have a plot where someone doesn't really know what's going on trying to slowly remember different things. It basically had all the elements that I would love in a fantasy, but for some reason I just did not connect with this book at all. I do have a theory, and sometimes this happens to all of us. I might not just have been in the right headsp space. So, this is actually a series I really want to give another try. It's been one I've been wanting to pick up back for years actually cuz it has all the elements I love in a series. But yeah, let me know if you think I should pick up this series. This series here had a lot of hype. I remember when Goldber started making special editions of this. This was before the special edition market exploded. The Goldber edition of this book here, which was just a quite a plain special edition, was selling for hundreds of pounds online cuz people just were so excited and hyped for it.

[00:07:00]Now, Andrew Stewart has published several books since, which I haven't either, but mate, I thought this was going to be one of the new great modern series of all time. And today, I don't really see that many people talking about anymore. But that does not mean that it's not a great read. Let me know if I should give this another try. Maybe you could read this for the book club.

[00:07:18]That could be quite fun. Book series number five is Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett. Now I'm not going to state that this series was everywhere on book but it was really really popular when it came out. A lot of the booktubers that I still love and you know enjoy today we're reading the series as it was coming out and we're just talking about how great it was. So I actually read the first book with the book club last year. I was so excited cuz the series came out in 2018. That's when the first book came out in 2022. I think it concluded. So, it's been concluded for 4 years, and it sounded like it was going to have all the elements in it to make it one of my favorite series of all time. I read last year, and basically how I've described my reading experience reading the first book in this series is that if I had actually read it when it came out, it probably would have become one of my favorite series of all time. If you know anything about me, Misborn by Ben Sanderson is one of my favorite series of all time. The series that made me a fantasy reader. And this series here reminded me so much of Misborn. very hard magic system, a great underdog female protagonist, a heist element. It has all the elements that I was a huge sucker for. I'm still a sucker for those, but even more 5 years ago, reading it last year, it just felt a bit too familiar after having read more than 300 fantasy books. And that's why I never continued with this series. Now, does this series here deserve still to be remembered and loved and talked about lots on book? Maybe. Who am I to say yes or no about such a question? For me personally, I will probably almost always recommend Misborn first and foremost. And then if someone is looking for a very similar stories and is hungering for something I like that, I'll recommend Founders Side. But for me personally, I definitely think it has its time and place when it came out. But I also do kind of understand, if I'm being honest, why it hasn't had the same longevity as some of the other series we know and love on book. All right, next up, and this is a fun one. Does anyone remember The Books of Babel by Josiah Braftoft? This is a quartet. I read all four books and I don't even know where to start with this series. I actually love and hate it. But over time, my respect for this series has grown and grown and grown and I actually feel like this series here deserves more credit.

[00:09:21]Even though I made a video absolutely hammering the last book in this quartet.

[00:09:26]You can go on my channel and find a spoiler-free and spoilerfilled review of the fourth last book, which I gave one out of five stars. I hate that book, but it's been quite a while now. There's something in this universe, this trilogy, sorry, this quartet, this series. I just feel like it deserves more respect. So, let's talk about it.

[00:09:42]So, the reason why I say it deserves more respect is just because Josiah Brandcraft has done something this universe here, this series that I've never seen in fantasy. It is astoundingly unique and beautiful in some ways. This whole series here takes place in the Tower of Babel. Whole epic fantasy takes place inside a single tower that has different levels to it.

[00:10:01]at every single different level kind of works like a new nation with different cultures, different norms and ethics and all those things. And we follow our character here who loses his wife and goes on an adventure to find her in the Tower of Babel. And it is wild. It is unique. It is crazy. It is genuinely to this day one of the most unique concepts I've seen when it comes to fantasy. Now, what makes the series great, but also the downfall is that Josiah Braftoft, in my opinion, sometimes gets so creative that it is really frustrating. It takes the quality of the story down. So, in the first book here, we follow Senland who lose his wife Mariah. He goes on adventure. He tries to find her. But the thing is, every single book does something different. We follow some new characters, go on some side quests, different things happened. And I just remember when I read it, every single book I was like, I love it, but I also hate it. Going back and forth with it.

[00:10:51]And then came the last book where the author instead of actually giving us more of Sen, he decides to just focus on a character, kind of a side character for a whole book. And then the ending is just so ridiculously, I would even say, controversial. I just hated it. But Josiah Bankraftoft has balls. He does not care about any expectations. He just keeps going in wild wild directions. and my favorite series of all time, Dark Tower. Stephen King does that. He constantly changes what the story is.

[00:11:20]And I just had such huge respect for Stephen King for doing that. In the books of Babel, for some reason, it just didn't work in the same way. But it's a wacky, crazy series, a bit like Dark Tower. Even though I struggle with it, even though I hated the last book, this series here deserves more respect. It needs more people to talk about it, to experience it, because there's nothing like it. So, does it deserve to be talked about in 2026? Controversially, I would say yes. Next up, we have the powder mage trilogy by Brian Mlennon. I genuinely thought that when I discovered book that this was probably one of the greatest series of all time. I don't know why, but I just had an impression that everyone just loved this series on the level similar to Liza Lamora, Name of the Wind, all the series that wasn't the case. So, this series here had wrapped up I think around 5 years before I really started watching book and then the author wrote a sequel trilogy in the same universe. So, that's probably why people were still talking about it. This is a steampunk fantasy. So there's guns in there, for example, which is really fun. I actually love fantasy set in the industrial area, I mean era, cuz it just adds something. So this universe has like proper crazy magic system, but there's also guns and that creates some interesting and fascinating worldbuilding elements. And I remember when I read this series, I read it around 3 years ago. I had a wonderful time with it. It's fast-paced. It's action-packed. It has plot twist. It has heartbreaking moments, interesting world building. I loved it when I read it. I probably gave all the books four stars out of five. Really, really enjoyable.

[00:12:40]But when it came to that emotional impact, a series that stays with you for years and years and years, it just didn't stay with me in the same way.

[00:12:48]Now, I remember when I started book, there were some rumors that someone was working on adaptation for this universe as well. I don't think that's going to happen cuz it's been six or seven years.

[00:12:56]I haven't heard any news, but steampunk is such a underutilized subgenre in epic fantasy and I haven't read many. So, actually, Books of Babel is steampunk.

[00:13:04]Ped Mage is also steampunk. We have Age of Madness by Joe Abcrombie, which is also steampunk. But I think that if you want to explore this sub genre, then the powder mage trilogy is the series you need to read. It is so enjoyable. It is great. Now, do I understand why it is not talked much about book anymore? I think yes. As I already mentioned, that emotional impact and the thing that just makes the greatest series stand out. I don't really know what it was, but it just wasn't there in the same way as some of the other universes. Still very much a great series, and I hope some of you will actually pick it up after watching this video, cuz it is a great read. All right, let's talk about one of the bestelling grim dark series of all time that I don't really see anyone talking about book anymore. The Broken Empire by Mark Lawrence. The first book being Prince of Thorns, which is the only book I read, mate. I was so hyped when I picked up this book. I was like, "Okay, I'm finally reading The Broken Empire. It has sold hundreds of thousands of copies quite early on. It was so so popular." And it's also in that era where Grim Dark really started to pick off. And I read the first book and I kind of hated it. I did not understand at all why people were talking about this series in such high regards and I never even read book two or three. My issue is our protagonist George when we get introduced to him he's 9 years old or maybe he's like 12.

[00:14:19]He's a kid and he's basically the leader of this war band which is filled with like thugs that are adults. He seems to be cleverer than his dad who's a king at least when it comes to words and stuff like that. And it just totally took me out of the immersion. I did not find having a kid in a gritty, grim, dark setting to be that resilient, that smart to make any sense. Granted, the author might explain this in book two or three, I don't know, but book one did not give me satisfactory answers at all. Oh, I just I did not enjoy it at all. Also, in a lot of ways, this is more almost just like dark fantasy rather than grim dark.

[00:14:52]So, I often feel like a lot of grim dark still has a bit of hope. I didn't find the hope here at all. It was just bleak and depressing and dark. And unfortunately, for being a single point of view kind of story where you only follow one character, I didn't find our protagonist compelling at all. And guess what? I've actually seen other booktubers like Patrick Leo hasn't enjoyed it. I remember Daniel Green. I don't think he enjoyed it either. So, the Berg Empire is a series that I feel like still deserves to be talked about on book. It still deserves to be talked about in the sense of it was really influential when it came out, but not a series that I enjoyed and I would not shed a tear if I don't really see it on many top 10 series of all time list. All right, we only have two more series left that I want to talk about that I feel like have been forgotten on book tube.

[00:15:35]Next up, The Winninging Flame Trilogy by Jen Williams. I would say without a doubt one of the best and at least most underrated trilogies I've ever read. The way I described the series was that Elliot Brooks and Patrick Leo hyped up this universe so much. This trilogy, at least the first book, won also the best British fantasy book award in 2019 or 18 and stuff like that. Now, hopefully you remember that early in this video, I said I still want to read the Bone Shard Daughter eventually because maybe I wasn't in the right headsp space. When it came to this trilogy here, I read the Ninth Rain right when I was writing my dissertation. I was super stressed. I hated it. I hated reading the first book, but I was like, why did I hate it?

[00:16:10]I made no sense. I waited 2 months, picked it back up. I loved it on my second read. So that's my hope for Burnhard after. But this book here just blew me away. It is so incredibly unique. How do we even explain the world? We have witches. We have people that are able to ride on giant bats. We have this alien race. We have this huge huge animal companions. We then have the like these weird UFOs, alien ships scattered across the world. The world is dying. We don't really know why. It is just incredibly wacky, weird, and just the things I love about modern fantasy.

[00:16:40]I love when you step into a world and you're just like, "This feels unique, different, and also, who doesn't love a good animal companion?" This certainly has one of the best animal companions out there. And this series is just enjoyable. It has great action, great plot twist, really great world building, and the pacing is amazing. And yeah, the third book, for me personally, wasn't the greatest, but it wasn't bad at all.

[00:17:00]It has a satisfactory conclusion. And still to this date, I just don't really know why it just kind of slipped out of everyone's minds. No, it's not going to break into my top 10 favorite series of all time. and maybe I'll just miss my honorable mentions. But it's really good. It's really, really good. If I made it a criminally underrated video, this series will be on there. And I hope some of you out there looking for some unique, interesting, and British fantasy, pick up this one. Yes, we don't talk much about it anymore on book, but it definitely deserves so. And lastly, the series I don't see anyone talk about anymore, but maybe that's because my algorithm is more male focused or something. I don't know. Dabad by SA Chakraorti. The first book called City of Brass when I started watching book made this series was everywhere and I already mentioned the Goldsboro hype when it came to the bench daughter.

[00:17:45]People were selling the first book of the Goldsboro edition which is just like a plain straight edge and a sign.

[00:17:49]Nothing special about the book for like £500 if you had the whole trilogy. It's like thousands of pounds. It was crazy because that was the only special edition out there and people were just like absolutely eating it up. I read the first book with my book club years ago.

[00:18:01]I thought it was fine. The thing that's really cool about this one is it's like Middle Eastern inspired, which is not something I've seen a lot, but for some reason, I struggled to connect with it.

[00:18:09]I think it's just because there was maybe a tad too much romance for my personal taste. I found the politics a bit too confusing. And yeah, I thought the first book was fine, but just nothing mind-blowing by any means. A lot of people had tried to convince me to read book two or three and told me, "Oh, it's really, really great." But I find this one here interesting. If you go on Goodreads, this series here has 160,000 ratings with a an average of 4.14. That is a lot and you would certainly expect a lot more people to still be talking about this. Like I'm sure you still find people talking about it, but it's just not the same. Like the hype died quite quickly down. It might just be because it's been like a decade almost since this series started. Maybe there's other things more popular, but if you read the whole trilogy, let me know what you think about David about trilogy. Should I read book two and three? And also, do you think it's a series that deserves the longevity to still be talked about highly on book? Now, obviously, there's loads of other series here I haven't mentioned, but those were the 10 that kind of stood out to me. I saw so many people talk about those 10 series when I started my book journey, and now I very rarely see anyone talk about them anymore. Now, do you want a video where I talk about the series that has stood the test of time on book? Let me know.