Hot Take Books

Description City of Stone by K.T. Holder | Fantasy Every so often the boys find a book that isn't all over BookTok yet, and they feel like they're in on a secret. City of Stone is that book. K.T. Holder's series opener lives inside its characters' heads, torn between the people they love and the thing they want. It does politics well, and its magic system won't make you sweat....

Breaking news: Red Rising is officially headed to the big screen. Paramount picked it up, Francis Lawrence (The Hunger Games) is directing, and Pierce Brown is an executive producer. Rich is furious. Ryan is thrilled. Both of these things are true. In this bonus episode, Rich asks the question every Howler is asking: where is Red God? It’s his first time waiting on an author to finish a series, an...

Carl's Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman | Dungeon Crawler Carl, Book 2 | LitRPG Is a sitcom ever the best show of all time? Rich doesn't think so. He still says this is the Office of books. Book two picks up the second book one ends, and the politics inside and outside the dungeon start creeping in. Rich likes how much commentary Dinniman sneaks in without ever getting pretentious about...

Indie author Anderson W. Frost joins Rich and Ryan to talk Thorns, Feathers & Bones, his latest gothic romance novella Montclair, and what's coming next in his world of giants, elves, gods, and men. In the spoiler-free first half, Anderson talks about growing up on Star Trek and Star Wars, the book that gave him the writing bug, why he chose to self-publish, and how a story that came to hi...

Demon in White by Christopher Ruocchio | Sun Eater, Book 3 | Sci-Fi Everyone says get through book three and you're in. The boys got through book three. Ryan is still annoyed he had to commit to three long-ass books to find out, and Rich isn't, he fell in love with the whole series right here. The first 15 minutes are spoiler-free with the read-or-skip call, so you can sample before the sp...

Montclair by Anderson W. Frost | Thorns, Feathers, and Bones Saga Anderson W. Frost doesn't hold your hand, he puts you in the cart and sends you flying down the mountain. Montclair, his 300-page side-quest novella, is the whole ride: new town, new cast, and a mystery you piece together click by click. The boys keep the first 15 minutes spoiler-free with scores and verdict up front, so you can...

NEW ACHIEVEMENT: Ryan and Rich (finally) entered the Dungeon, and it did not disappoint! Earth gets invaded, the survivors get shoved into an 18-floor alien reality show/dungeon crawl, and a disgruntled ex-Coast Guard guy named Carl and a foul-mouthed show cat named Princess Donut have to fight, charm, and rage-bait their way through it. The first part of the episode is SPOILER FREE, so if you hav...

Howling Dark: Much More SufferableDescription Howling Dark by Christopher Ruocchio | Sun Eater, Book 2 | Sci-Fi Rich showed up sunburnt, drinking the Kool-Aid, and claiming he got bullied out of a 9....... Ryan stands on business. A year after the boys shrugged off Empire of Silence, the internet finally wore them down, and Howling Dark delivered. The first 15-ish minutes stay spoiler-free with sc...

Wax and Wayne's story comes to an end — and Rich and Ryan are finally, officially, all the way through Mistborn. On this episode, the guys dig into Brandon Sanderson's The Lost Metal , the fourth and final book in the Wax and Wayne era. Inside: a new Shard, autonomy, throwing its weight around Scadrial. Wayne finally gets his moment in the spotlight (turns out he's been secretly loaded this whole...

The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson | Mistborn Era 2, Book 3 | Epic Fantasy First 15 minutes stay spoiler-free for anyone still deciding — after that, the whole book's on the table (which includes the rest of these notes). Give Steris prep time and she'll out-plan a Shard. The boys crown her the Adolin of Scadrial: she carries Wax through a wedding he hates, vomits on cue to buy a d...

Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson | Mistborn Era 2, Book 2 | Epic Fantasy The boys keep the first 15 spoiler-free for the undecided — after that, all bets are off. Rich swears he coined "Brandy Sandy" with zero evidence and full confidence. Ryan files it as fact anyway. Shadows of Self is the lowest-rated Cosmere book the boys have ever covered. Rich's line of the night — a lot of...

The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson | Mistborn Era 2, Book 1 | Fantasy | SpoilerTake The boys keep the first 15 minutes spoiler-free for the undecided, after that, all bets are off. Ryan swore this would be a short episode because it's a short book. It was not. Rich came in Cosmere-burnt and didn't want to read it at all .... that changed around pg 10. Same planet, new century, completely differ...

Cold Wind by Andrew Givler is out — and Hot Take Books has thoughts. A lot of them. In this episode, Rich and Ryan dive deep into book two of the Ironbound series, just days after its release. Castor is back, the stakes are higher, and the world has gotten a whole lot bigger. The guys break down what makes Cold Wind one of their highest-rated books to date — and why this series still isn't getting...

Cold Wind by Andrew Givler | Ironbound, Book 2 | Fantasy | FastTake Picture this: you're on the treadmill, just walking, minding your business — then chapter 10 cranks the speed and suddenly the whole gym is watching. That's Cold Wind. Rich is at 50% and already comparing Andrew Givler to Sanderson. Ryan's finished, loaded with theories, and currently on trial for sending cover art that — and we q...

Rich and Ryan are back with a book that might just scratch that Red Rising itch — Andrew Givler's Ironbound . Set in a Roman-inspired world where mythical metals bind warriors to elemental symbols, this progression fantasy follows Castor, a young man whose world gets ripped apart before he ever gets a chance to fight for it. The guys break down why this book is really three stories in one — a comi...

Spoiler wall's up — you've been warned. Hot Take Movies is officially a thing, and the boys are kicking it off with their Book of 2025 now on the big screen. Rich gives Ryan Gosling high marks for the Stratt scene but draws a line between playing Rylan Grace and playing Ryan Gosling-as-Rylan-Grace. Ryan counters by handing out a 10 for cinematography and refusing to apologize for it. They...

Celaena Sardothien is supposed to be the most feared assassin in the world. So why does it feel like the tournament, the romance, and the royal drama are all happening around her while she watches from the sidelines? Rich and Ryan dive into Sarah J. Maas's Throne of Glass — the BookTok darling that gets compared to everything from Red Rising to Fourth Wing. Spoiler: it's neither of those t...

Spoilers hit around 15 minutes in — the boys keep it clean up front if you haven't read it yet. (The rest of this description has spoilers — come back once you've read it.) Rich makes the case for Lightsong the Bold. Ryan files a formal complaint about Vasher's page count. And somewhere in there, Rich drops his hottest take of the season — this book had no business being in the Cosmere...

Rich and Ryan close out Mistborn Era 1 with  Hero of Ages  — and their verdict lands somewhere between a standing ovation and a deeply loving complaint. Ryan went in riding the high of a book he couldn't put down, while Rich arrives with the hottest take of the series: Well of Ascension is the better book, and Hero of Ages is history's most well-executed victory lap. They break down the ma...

Full spoilers ahead — if you haven't read Well of Ascension, Ryan will personally escort you to the nearest bookstore. The boys cover everything: Zane and Vin burning through 300 guards at Hastings Manor, the Tensoon reveal, Straff Venture's deeply satisfying exit via Coloss sword, and the Elland problem — a polisci major who got a kingdom and couldn't just hold the election after the...

No cold open. No fluff. Just a straight shot of enthusiasm for a book the boys clearly had to talk themselves down from. Well of Ascension — Book 2 of Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn Era 1 — picks up after the revolution and immediately asks a harder question: now what? It's Sanderson at his most focused, and the result is a massive leap from Book 1. Rich has a 500-page rule. Books over that...

Rich and Ryan go full spoilers on Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn and somehow still find time to argue about buffet etiquette and cast the movie nobody asked them to produce. They dig into Vin's transformation from street urchin to ball-attendee, Mistborn-fighting force of nature, debate whether Kelsier's wife subplot earned its page count, and geek out over a magic system that turned Ric...

Rich and Ryan tackle Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn a fantasy heist story where metal-burning outlaws plot to topple a thousand-year-old tyrant. They break down the magic system, debate whether "the bad guys already won" is the right pitch, argue about Star Wars power structures, and explain why an 8 out of 10 is basically a standing ovation from two hosts who've been called "...

Rich and Ryan have a new obsession, and they're not being subtle about it. Thorns, Feathers, and Bones by Anderson W. Frost, affectionately known as "Snowman" by the boys, has officially entered the chat. This isn't just a recommendation. This is a declaration. Rich says if Frost drops new content, he's putting down whatever he's reading (Pierce Brown excluded). Ryan want...

No notes. No structure. Just vibes. Welcome to the first-ever Hot Take Books Riff Sesh. Rich and Ryan just finished Thorns, Feathers, and Bones by Anderson W. Frost and they need to talk about it immediately—completely spoiler-free. This is the book they can't believe nobody's talking about. An indie debut that feels like the next Middle Earth: giants, elves, dwarves, humans, and a world w...