- "But because I'm pretty sure"-- uh-oh. W-wait. Wo-wow.
"Because I'm pretty sure I'm naked, and there is a mouth between"--
oh, give me strength. - Okay.
- (React) Tell me what you see here. - A novel?
- (React) Mm-hmm. - Wow. (whistles)
- Ice Planet Barbarians! I see sexual innuendo.
- I see a blue man being erotic. - (React) Mm-hmm.
- An erotic scene. And what's with her nails?
- She looks like she's feeling
some kind of sexual desire or feeling.
- A science fiction romance. I've had some of those.
- I did not know that was a thing. I know there's plenty of erotica
in science fiction, but I haven't heard it specifically
labeled science fiction romance. "A brilliant and extremely
addictive story," says SM Book Obsessions.
- S&M? What's that? - (React) Uhh, hmm...
- S&M, is that-- - (React) Who wants to take that one?
So, this is a book that recently went viral on TikTok,
or in this case, BookTok, which is a community of people
who share and discuss books on the social media platform.
It's basically a giant book club, more or less.
- Yes, I do know what that is because my daughter's one of them.
- (React) Really?! - Yup.
- (React) So, I'm gonna have you read some of this book
in just a minute to see what you think.
But first, we're gonna learn a little bit more about it.
- Good. - Let me adjust my Johnson here.
- (React chuckles) Jesus. - (Amanda) So, there's these ice alien
romance books that are blowing up on TikTok...
- Wow. - (Amanda) ...because, obviously.
I'm not remotely surprised. I'm sure there's a lot
of alien romance books out there. So, it was really
only a matter of time. The series is called
Ice Planet Barbarians. - Oh, it's a series!
- (Amanda) ...its own issues title-wise alone.
And the series, or I suppose, phenomenon, was written by Ruby Dixon,
which is a pen name. - Of course it is.
- (Amanda) People have been losing their minds over these,
making fun of the covers... - Oh my gosh!
- (Amanda) Overall, having a great time.
But yeah, say what you will about TikTok, but this app
can change careers.
This story was fairly... - Oh, yes. I believe it.
- (Amanda) ...notorious already. And they've been getting churned out
pretty regularly since 2015. So, even before TikTok,
they were already pretty popular... - Wow.
- (Amanda) ...and well-regarded romance novels.
- Oh, it's been around for a long time.
- (Amanda) Ruby Dixon is getting a very nice little pay bump
over the past few months. - Yeah, I bet.
- (Amanda) ...flocking to these stories,
'cause there are like 20 of these,
including some add-on, like, .5s that go in between some of the books.
And I just can't do that to myself. - How do you keep up
with all that? (chuckles) - Right. I got it: Sex, drugs,
and rock and roll. Whatever sells.
- (Amanda) "And you'd be wrong, because now, the aliens
are having ship trouble, and they've left their cargo
of human women, including me, on an ice planet.
And the only native inhabitant I've met? He's big, horned, blue,
and really, really has a thing for me."
- Wow, it sounds terrible! - (Amanda) That's putting it lightly!
She wakes up with his face buried in her nether region.
But other than being horned,
he is blue, has a tail... - Wow.
- (Amanda) ...and is about seven feet tall.
- (chuckles) Oh my god. - Wow.
Mr. Johnson, I presume! - (React) All right.
So, Ice Planet Barbarians is just the first book
in a larger 22-book series by Ruby Dixon.
There are also short stories that fall into this world
on top of those 22 books. - Well, it seems--
it sounds very popular. - (React) All right.
So, now that you're kind of getting a sense at least
of what the book is kind of about, let's see how people
are reacting to it on TikTok before we have you read some of it.
- (Saide) I read Ice Planet Barbarian as a joke. But bro...
- Uh-huh. But? - (Saide) I don't think
it's a joke anymore. - Uh-uh, uh-huh.
- (Saide) I saw the series all over TikTok.
Some of you were laughing. Some of you were saying it was great.
- I now love stalagmites! - (Saide) But here's the kicker
that really got me... It was about aliens.
- She's good. - Anything that promotes reading,
I'm all for. - (Jeanette) So, I decided to go look
at the reviews on Goodreads... (laughs)
- Uh-oh. - (Jeanette) ...for Ice Planet
Barbarians!
"Five stars. I'm not even kidding. I've read some pretty out there books,
but this one, I don't even have words."
"So, two words: one, parasites.
Two, horns. And, well, yeah.
Review to come, off the binge the next one."
"10 out of 10..." - She looks a little alien herself.
- (Jeanette) "So, I [censored] love this.
Apparently, big blue alien bastards
with horns and a tail..." - She's really promoting it, too.
- She's strange. - "Enjoying peaceful Wednesday morning
in a bookstore." - She works in a paint store!
Right? Are those cans of paint behind her?
- (Molly) I read a whole book today. - Wow. That's kind of weird.
- (Molly) A whole book in one day. I'm a scholar.
- (laughs) I don't know what this is. Oh my god.
- (Molly) She is a learned-ed woman! - What in the world is that?
There's no face. - (React) Now that you seem
to know how everybody else feels about this book...
- Yes? - (React) ...let's see what you think.
- Okay. - "How did one so weak as her
find their way to the outer hunting grounds?"
(whispers) Oh, god. "It's a mystery,
almost as much as one as the fact that she's making
any khui resonate hard in my chest." What the hell is that?
- "Is thrumming with the call, and the need to mate
slams through my body as her"--
oh, lord. "As her soft..."
- "Rounded thighs part and her scent fills my nostrils."
- "A groan escapes me as my [censored] grows hard,
the ridges on it swelling.
I bury my face, but"-- hello!
- Oh. Ooh. Ahh. - "I have just been stuck
in the bad part of my head for a while.
And now, I'm getting to the wet part of the dream."
- Well, now, this sounds better. Yeah.
"But because I'm pretty sure"-- uh-oh. W-wait. Wo-wow.
"Because I'm pretty sure I'm naked, and there's a mouth between"--
oh, give me strength. - "Because I'm pretty sure
I'm naked, and there's a [censored] like there's no tomorrow."
And there is no tomorrow, especially when he melts.
- "Something slick with hard nubbed bumps
runs up and down my [censored]." - "Soft rumbling sounds
come from the nearby, almost like language
except I can't understand a word of it.
This guy's [censored] like a champ!"
- "Hung like a horse really never had much of a meaning
until now. I try not to stare and fail.
It's size appropriate. I'm almost prepared
for that, though the sight of it growing"-- hoo!
Gotta pause there. - (React) Yup.
- (whistles softly) Give me my Bible. I don't think I can read that.
- (React) You can stop there. You can stop there.
- What kind of-- well, to each his own.
- Ah! Ah! Ah! - Man, I'm drooling
and everything. It's just so riveting,
so exciting. - (React) So excited.
- I'm thinking about those ridges. - (React) Yeah.
- I lost it there. I lost it at ridges.
- (React) So, now that you maybe understand or don't understand
what everyone is talking about, why do you think so many people
are so obsessed with these books?
- Well, pretty expressive as far as the scene goes.
- Because it's just delightful fantasy
rooted in reality. - (React) Mm-hmm.
- Mm-hmm. - It's erotica.
And I'm all for erotica. - What ever happened to Mark Twain?
Tell me that. What happened to Mark Twain?
Gone! - (React) I know.
- In replace of this. - (React) Mm-hmm.
So, Rhoda, would you read this book?
- I would read this book. (ding)
- (React) Yeah? - I happen to be a speed reader,
so yeah. - (React) Would you read this book?
- No! - Nooo!
- Yeah! (ding)
- No, that's okay. (buzzer)
You know, what you have to remember is that young people have a lot
of time ahead of them. And I don't.
So, I tend to be very much more selective
in how I choose to spend my time.
- Thanks for watching this icy episode.
- Have you read these books? If you have, let us know
in the comments. - Subscribe for more videos.
- Thanks for watching. Bye. - Bye.
- Bye. - Bye-bye. (laughs)