peak fantasy, fun sci-fi, commentary on publishing, and more 📚 reading wrap up

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:00]Hello friends. For today's video, I wanted to go through all the books that I've picked up over the last couple of months. I am going to break this apart based off of genre. The genres that we'll be going through today would be thriller, mystery, manga, non-fiction, science fiction, fantasy, romance, romance, and then the one that has the most books within it would be fantasy. I am going to have the science fiction and fantasy books at the end. There will be timestamps, so if you want to just skip straight to that, cuz I know for some of you that's your bread and butter. That's the thing that you care about the most.

[00:00:26]But there will be timestamps for all the genres. That way you can bounce between them, you can revisit them and there's ease of access to that. Also, if you're interested in checking the books out for yourself, I'll have them and their audiobooks linked. And then I will also have any reviews or discussions I've done in a pinned comment. But all that aside, jumping straight into it, I'm actually going to start with the non-fiction book that I picked up, and that would be Half American. This is one of the best, in my opinion, non-fiction books that I have picked up. The subject matter is incredibly important. It's also really devastating. It's extremely informative. Plus, if you are somebody who likes audiobooks or maybe you have reasons why audiobooks are really your only option, I do think that the audio book was very well done. What the topic is for this book, I'm sure that the cover and just the general idea of it is pretty clear. But within the United States during World War II, while there are a lot of conversations about does the US enter the war, do we bother fighting against the Nazis? While these conversations are happening, simultaneously, there are black Americans who are fighting for the right to not only also serve within the military because there are in the US a lot of perks to joining the military, but on top of that, if they are able to join, then trying to fight segregation within the military and also try to have some of the better positions so that even if you are accepted into it and even if it's not segregated, you aren't just handed the absolute worst of the positions and treated once again as though you are a secondass citizen if they even think of you as a person because oftent times they don't.

[00:02:06]Something that I think this book did a great job of is it shows that a lot of Americans in the time in which World War II was happening. They didn't necessarily think like we're fighting fascists, we're fighting white supremacy. They didn't really think of Germany, Nazi Germany as that. They were like, "We're defending America's way of life." And it's interesting because if you are a fellow American, of course, everybody gets taught different things and they're told different things about history and whatnot, but something that I heard a lot growing up was that there was like this moral reason to fight against them.

[00:02:44]It was like in hindsight, we made it so that the Americans of that time viewed World War II as a fight of good versus evil. And then they would define good versus evil through hindsight as like, oh, the fascists and and Nazi Germany versus democracy and freedom. But that wasn't really how a lot of Americans viewed it. So a lot of the black Americans who were fighting for the right to be in the military, they had this mindset of a double V, a double victory. We want to fight white supremacy afar and at home. And that rhetoric was labeled as violent rhetoric. It was seen as instigating and trying to cause violence in America. And also, I think there are some extremely cutting moments, not just the fight to be allowed to have these desegregated portions of the military and also being treated decently. Beyond just all that, there's also the when they return home and the fight that happens when they've come back. So, it's kind of a mix of things and also this leadup to World War II also and actually having people deployed. But one of the most cutting and awful representations of a lot of what's transpiring is that after the European portion of the war had been finished, there were a lot of individuals who they put up Confederate flags in Germany and also when German some of the German soldiers after the war had ended and they were being taken to other places and they were being guarded by Americans, some American soldiers treated treated the German soldiers better than they treated their fellow black soldiers. things like that where you're like I feel like there are some people that just that do believe in the like whoever is beside me that is my that's my family that's my brother that's my sister that person are we have a common goal and maybe some people feel that way but there are other people that are like I like this person that's on the other side more than this person over here and then another number of quotes this happened several times that I felt were representing the kind of core feelings of this book alongside of course there's a lot of literal facts that are within this but one of the overall feelings that is portrayed is that at one point somebody is talking about how some Americans would rather lose the war than actually fight alongside a black person and then later there are people some of which are politicians that literally just say that they're just like I'd rather lose the war than fight with them or or have them be treated the same as me. And you're like, okay, I mean, we know. All of us are aware that blatant racism has always existed. I'm not acting I'm not trying to be like, I had no idea. It's not that. It's just that this really highlights just how severe it was. If if you don't know, there's also a lot of accounts and this book talks about it at the end and it's devastating of when black soldiers returned home, especially if they were returning to the south, if they were wearing their military uniforms, they would be lynched and they would be killed. So just recognizing history for what it is and also not having this kind of hunky dory we beat the bad guys and then we had the civil rights movement not that long after. And then also racism has just always been fixed ever since then. If you if you read things like this, not only does it highlight what the reality actually has been and was, but also it shows something that many of us are aware of, but the idea of a lot of those people, a lot of the soldiers that came home were able to have access to certain benefits, but then other people who fought who were black when they came back, then there was benefits denied to them or they were given the runaround, which actually happened similarly. in World War I. So, we see it again in World War II. But the people who were able to benefit, they were able to go on to extend those benefits to their families or they were able to start businesses and they were able to acquire a little bit more, whether it be a home or a job or just general wealth. And then that could be passed on to their families who could build from there. But then you look at over here, not only are they still facing violence and lynching and death, but they also are denied even some of those more basic things that others were afforded. And as a result, those sorts of things impact again the civil rights movement and why there was such a push for that. But also the difference in just from that time period alone, which wasn't that long ago, we're talking about the ' 40s. Of course, you could go further and further back and look at even more how people were to establish things and then that built and built and built and that was denied over here. But even if you just are looking at the starting point being the ' 40s, for a lot of people that sacrificed their safety, they sometimes lost parts of their body. They were injured. They suffered. Even still, they were denied in a lot of instances. And it just goes to show how these sorts of things inform even present day cuz that is not that long ago. Book, I'm not really doing it justice. It really outlined so many of these things incredibly. It had a lot of discussions about the fight here at home versus the fight abroad. And I would actually say it was more so focused at the the idea of like the fight at home and many of the individuals who were sort of leading that and some really truly inspiring people. It was fantastic. Highly highly highly recommend. And it's one of those non-fiction books that especially for Americans cuz of course I know a lot of you are international but especially for Americans. I'm like ah this is one of those books that I feel like everybody should read. this book. I do think the book Evicted is another great non-fiction and The Devil in the Grove is great. Killers of Flower Moon, not about this topic, but Killers of the Flower Moon is another great non-fiction book. Many of these are fantastic, fantastic non-fiction books, and it's not, I think, that well-known. So, if you haven't picked up Half American, highly recommend it. That was a very serious serious subject matter. We'll go ahead and transition now into something that's not quite so serious. We'll talk about some of the manga that I've picked up recently. So, I'm probably going to be a little bit on repeat because with the manga I've been picking up, I read them by chapter currently because I've caught up with them. I read whatever little breadcrumbs are given to me. And that has been true for witch hatilier and also spy family. Um, spy family. I really need more people to get caught up in spy family. Thankfully, one of my friends, thank you to this friend of mine. I that's the only person I've had to talk to about Spy Family because I was like, "Oh man, I need someone." And she's like, "I don't want to get spoiled." Not by me, but just the general internet. She's like, "I don't want to get spoiled, so I'll go ahead and get caught up." And it was great being able to talk to her. No one else, though. So, I need people to get caught up. There's a lot of really fantastic things. Everything to do with Henderson's backstory is fantastic, which that was a little bit ago, but that was some of my favorite stuff. We also get some characters processing things, I'll say. And then um you get an arc that also maybe allows for another character to question things. And it's great and I've had a wonderful time with this. It is it is a little bit challenging to read it chapter by chapter but I feel like this story continuously just puts a smile on my face and it's fun and you kind of love these characters. It's just a good time.

[00:10:38]It's a good time. And then witch hatilier. So I am once again reading things by chapter. So I'm caught up with the manga which is currently up through chapter 96. I mean I can't recommend the series enough. It is I was thinking about it. I'm like I think it's my favorite ongoing series of any medium.

[00:10:55]So if you haven't checked out which hatilier it's so good but I've talked about on repeat many a time. So chapter 96 the chapters themselves they take a while to come out because the art is so so detailed and so good. So Spy Family's chapters come out every other week pretty much and the witch hat chapters come out about once a month. So, you don't really get a whole lot at a time, but the most recent chapters, it does feel like we're kind of leading into a new arc and some of the implications of what that might be are really exciting and also not a direction I thought we were going to go in, but I'm certainly not opposed to it. But anytime something starts to go in a direction you don't expect, I think having reread this several times now, when something starts to go in a direction you don't expect, you're like, "Okay, before I used to think like, oh, we're just doing this now. Now I know better. Now I know like actually they've probably been hinting at this for a while and I just wasn't realizing it. So now that it's here, what could it possibly be in reference to or what could it possibly be building upon?" And I have some ideas as to what that might be. And I'm very excited.

[00:12:06]It's so good. And because I wasn't getting enough witch hat, I went ahead and picked up Witch Hat Ailia Kitchen.

[00:12:13]And feel free to make fun of me for getting into Witch Hatilia Kitchen. I don't care. So if you don't know what Witch Hatilia Kitchen is, it's also a manga. It's a spin-off series. And it's basically just these characters making food. That's basically it. And there's little recipes so you can try to make it yourself if you want. and they're just being all cute and basically being one big happy family with Olly and Kefrey and the apprentices. And it is the most wholesome, precious thing. And I really I didn't actually think I would want or care that much for this. And I do I I'm like happy to pick it up now. And if something's exporting and it's only going to be like a few minutes or something, not enough time to start a new task, but enough time to read a chapter of which Kitchen, I'm like, time for this. And this is the dumbest thing ever. But it actually makes me excited to cook and to try to make food cuz I am not I'm not even a little bit good at that. I'm not I'm not like a chef. I'm not somebody who dabbles in cooking. I'm not that person. I wish I was. I'm not.

[00:13:16]But this makes me excited about it. As stupid as that sounds, it's so wholesome. So, if you do check out Witch Hat, the actual regular series and you are falling in love with it and you need more Witch Hat Tilia Kitchen is very sweet. It's very cute and it makes me very happy. Switching now to thrillers and mysteries. I do want to get more into these. Some of you gave me some recommendations. I did take screenshots of your comments. I did find one at my local bookstore and I have a few others that I want to try out, but I did happen to pick up the ending rights itself because this is a co-written book and one of the writers is V. E. Schwab, who I am a big fan of V. Schwab's works. So, I was very curious to see what this one had in store and also to just kind of continuously dip my toes in different genres. The setup for this one is that you have this kind of knives out situation. So, you have all these writers from all these different genres who go to this author, this famous author's house, and it's kind of this almost like castle in the middle of the Scottish countryside and it's very isolated. As soon as they get there, all these authors are kind of like, what's exactly going on? They're told that they have a potential unique career opportunity and then you find out what that career opportunity is when you're there. And I don't want to say what it is, but they are kind of pitted against each other and then things start happening with all of them. That's when the kind of more thriller mystery dynamics start to come out. However, I wouldn't say that this book was ever scary or frightening or that I was on the edge of my seat in the fear motivated way. It was more of just I think the satire almost of it or at the very least the commentary on uh the book industry in a lot of ways. Sorry Luna crumbled if you heard that. So, I know that it's not for everyone, but I think the closest thing I can think of that this reminded me of was a little bit just a little bit Yellowface by RF Kuang, where nobody's really that good of a person in this. And everybody has, for a lack of better term, kind of a stick up their butt about something. And most of the time that something is about their own personal sense of entitlement or the way that the publishing industry is run, the way that people treat their genre. And so at first you're just like, "Man, all these people are so unlikable." And then you start to get some of their backstories and why they are the way they are, and you're kind of like, "Oh, now I kind of feel bad for them." And then you're like, "I hope they don't die." And then you're like, "But it's a thriller mystery. I think they're going to get murdered." So, I I found myself not necessarily caring for them where I was like, "Oh, no. I'm going to be devastated the same way maybe some of our favorite characters die in epic fantasy series or something like that." I didn't necessarily care about the characters in that way, but I was kind of like, "Oh, man. Well, I now want them to have a chance to like course correct and maybe just once be loved by somebody or to have their work appreciated." And and I I think my favorite parts of the book were the parts that were providing commentary on the just how much publishing is a business and how they will prop you up when you are serving them and then they will chew you up and spit you out when you are not or they will frame it as though you are the problem when in actuality they didn't fund you, back you up or market you. And then there's also just the like the individual factors of how they choose to market you and how that can be very dehumanizing. There's a lot of commentary about that. And so in those ways, I really really liked the story. I don't know if the almost knives out style of thriller mystery is for me though as far as just in general. I don't know if it's a bookish buzzword that when I hear it, I think, "Oh my gosh, I can't wait. That's right up my alley." Whereas if you say political intrigue, I'm like, "Hm, what's that?"

[00:17:05]It's likely just not really going to be my go-to. However, I had a good time with this. I appreciated the commentary and I'll be curious to see if these two write more together. I did end up reading three different romance books. I had two that were from the same author and they're kind of in the same series and then one that was not, but was a download from Libro FM. I've talked about before Libro FM, this is not an ad, just letting you know that Libro FM, if you are somebody who does reviews and whatnot, you can join their influencer program. And if you do, there are audio books available to you at the beginning of every single month. These are brand new audio books and you can get 10 of them for free. So, one of them that I read, I I just was figuring while I'm like walking or watering my plants or whatever, doing chores around the house.

[00:17:47]I was like, I kind of just want like a contemporary romance book to listen to.

[00:17:51]So, I decided to pick up one of these.

[00:17:53]And it was called Clean Girl Spring.

[00:17:55]Also seemed fitting for the season. And uh this one was fine for me. So the setup is that the character right at the beginning of the story finds out that her partner has been cheating on her. So she cuts things off immediately. She's like, "I'm done." And also in the process of ending their relationship, she realizes that that moment while awful and painful, in a way it was also kind of a I mean I hate to say it was a good thing, but like the character sort of views it as it allowed for her to actually take a close look at their relationship, which was not exactly healthy and she was very much losing herself, her passions, and what she actually cares about in life through this relationship. So she goes back home to this small town that she grew up in.

[00:18:38]She's kind of just trying to get back on her feet. Also, she's dealing with having not so long ago lost her father.

[00:18:44]So, there is a grief component to the story. And when she returns home, she's back with her mom and her brother. And the stuff with the mom who's trying to move on after having lost her husband.

[00:18:55]That stuff was really sad. I did really appreciate her brother was really supportive. Their relationship was really cute. Her friends are like, I think appropriately young and chaotic and fun and supportive. And I thought their dynamic was um also kind of it was a little much, but it was also fun. And then the love interest is her academic rival from her school days and he still lives in town and he actually is friends with her brother. He still visits his parents and helps take care of them. He actually does come by and check on her mom from time to time. and she's having a hard time squaring away some of these nicer acts with this guy that she was always in competition with before who because they were always in competition they had this like banter all the time and they were competitive and kind of rude to each other and as a result she is like I don't feel like this is the same person and she's discovering that maybe actually the two of them are quite attracted to each other so I liked the setup I liked a lot of the little pieces that we were looking at and I did feel like the themes that were present. I I do think that sometimes there's a, you know, there's a debate as to how deep do you want to go when you're dissecting certain themes because sometimes you want there to be just enough where it adds a little bit of substance. It adds to the characters. Other times you want to dig really deep. I do feel like this one never went as deep maybe as I would have liked, especially because some of these themes are ones that I care about, but it was just enough to kind of provide that additional layer to the story. Um, I just I didn't really like her dynamic with the love interest. And I should rephrase and say I didn't really like the love interest cuz some of his behavior was a little creepy. So, there's a part like at the very beginning of the story where she goes outside. I I'm so sorry. I can't remember what she's getting, but she goes outside to grab something and it's the first time that she sees him again.

[00:20:40]He's like, "Oh, hello." And they talk for half a second and then he just like grabs her face and you're like, "What the heck is he doing?" And then he like moves his I think he even like touches her mouth and then he like licks his his finger and he's like oh you had jam on your face or something like that and I'm just like uh just tell her don't you don't need to like touch her face. That was the first introduction we got to this guy and I immediately was like gross. No, I don't like this at all. I don't care I never care. Just to be clear I never care how hot the character is. Okay, some of the behavior is weird and it's not I'm I don't like it. So I didn't like that. And then, you know, him being like nice to her mom and caring about his parents and liking his dog and all that. I'm like, well, that all right. I if she can get over the weird jam thing, then I suppose I can get over it, too. But I just I don't know. I Sometimes the way that like the sexiness is portrayed just gives me the ick and that kind of gave me the ick.

[00:21:40]And then there were other things he would do or like some of their banter.

[00:21:44]It just wasn't necessarily my favorite that I've seen within a contemporary romance. So, it was fine. I I think that it was uh it it was what I was looking for when it comes to just something to listen to while you're doing chores and, you know, that kind of stuff. But, um I don't know if I necessarily loved it. As for the other two, uh and now back to you and first-time caller. So, First Time Caller came first. And the setup for this one is that there's this radio station. That's kind of the thing that links the books in this series together.

[00:22:16]There's this little radio station. And one of the characters in First Time Caller, he is somebody who listens to people complain or ask for advice when it comes to their relationships. And then he gives them his thoughts. And one day, this young girl calls on behalf of her mom who is lonely apparently according to this little girl. And then the mom finds out while the daughter is actively on this phone call and is like, "Oh my gosh, what are you doing?" And then these two talk, this woman and the guy, and she is just talking about dating is just hard and it sucks and I'm tired of all these very basic interactions. I want something deep. I I want to fall in love. I want all that stuff, but I don't want to settle. And it resonates with a bunch of people. And her clip goes viral, and she's like, "Oh my gosh, this is so embarrassing." But then they're like, "Well, why don't you come on and we'll kind of like help you find Mr. Wright?" And then you can see how things transpire after that where the guy that is at the radio station and her in like working together kind of sort of end up maybe realizing that like Mr. Wright's right there in front of her, you know, it's that kind of thing.

[00:23:25]I once again didn't love the love interest, like the dynamic actually between them. I I didn't necessarily I wasn't the biggest fan of it. I I liked the woman's relationship with her daughter. I thought that was lovely. I also like the dynamic between her and the daughter's father. They have this kind of found family, even though romantically it didn't work for the mom and the dad. Their dynamic with each other and also her dynamic with his partner and all of that I thought was like really nice and it was kind of a different approach, but it was really sweet and everybody's very protective of her, which is nice. But I did feel like some of the behavior of the guy that works at the radio station, the love interest guy, I do think that it appropriately showed how his mom having been sick a lot throughout his life. He saw how that affected her, how it affected his dad, and it has inevitably affected him. And I felt like everything it was portraying with him was really realistic.

[00:24:22]But I do think that maybe a little bit more time for him to have some realizations about himself and process a lot of his feelings. How it would have served not only his character but the relationship in the story a little bit more had he had more time once certain realizations start to happen. Maybe taken more time to figure out things for himself so that he could show up even in a way that's better for him and his partner. I feel like that would have maybe worked a little bit better because there's some some of his behavior in the book is just like, man, you're asking so much patience of her. Well, I should rephrase. She is willing to give a level of patience with him that I almost feel like bordered on unfair to her. And of course, real life sometimes there are those situations where people in relationships are like, I love you so much. I'm willing to to be there with you through this, which is beautiful.

[00:25:18]But of course, there's there's a line between being supportive through the love that you have for another person versus giving up so much of yourself and you give so much of yourself before you've really been shown that this other person is willing to do the work. And I feel like we hadn't seen him do the work just yet. So, I think maybe that would have added a little bit more to the security of them. And also given that she has other people in her life, especially a child, this is a person that you might be bringing in as a father figure to the child, and that's a whole other dynamic that I do think was explored in the story, which is good.

[00:25:56]But I I just really would have liked to have seen him maybe. I I don't know if I would say I needed the book to be longer, but there have been other contemporary romance stories where characters that are going through a lot in these ways. They do take that time and they do try to figure things out for themselves. And it's I think ultimately maybe it hits a little bit harder or it shows just what it takes and the resilience you have to have and the level of sacrifice in order to continue to show up for yourself and for the people that you love. And this one, I guess what I'm trying to say is it felt like it was in such a hurry to be like, well, he figured out his problems and then they're going to be together now that I'm like, I don't mind if we had elongated some things so that we could have shown those trials. Maybe that's a a better way to put it, but I still ultimately had fun with it enough where I was like, "Okay, I'd like to see the the next one and see how things play out in that." And this other one follows a guy who's like the weather guy at this radio station and then the weather girl from a TV station and the two of them end up having to work together on this storm that's coming in and you know close proximity to each other and also there's a little bit of initially they don't really like each other cuz they're polar opposites but then you know maybe they actually are attracted to each other all that stuff. So all that is present with them. I I liked this one more. I really liked the I like both the main characters. So, her backstory, her grandfather is losing his memories and he is the one that raised her. So, they're very very close and every day she has vivid memories as a child of every day watching the local news with her grandfather and it's part of his daily routine. And so she is she one actually genuinely has a passion for like things to do with weather. And I I liked how that part was shown in the story, but she also really wanted to get into working at this local station, this local TV station, because then her grandpa could see her every day when he sat down to watch the news. But now that he is dealing with memory issues, it's even more important to her that she keep this job. Even though she's not being very she's not being treated well at her place of work and she's putting up with it because it is more important to her to try to as much as possible allow that sense of normaly for her grandfather and have that routine for him and you're like oh man that's it's beautiful and it's so sad and anytime he has any kind of like hiccup or accident you're like no this is awful. the other character, he always had certain impressions of her based off of some things that actually have to do with the basically workplace abuse that she's dealing with. And then when he finds out more about her situation, he he softens a little bit and he starts to really admire and respect her. He is somebody who has raised his two sisters due to having a mother that's not really present in their lives. So he from a young age has had to have a lot of responsibilities on his shoulders. So, I liked the two characters individually and I liked them together. So, I liked this one a lot more, I would say, than First Time Caller. And I liked it, I would say, more maybe for my personal taste than Clean Girl Spring. Switching now to some of the fantasy romance books I picked up. We have two, those being Dire Bound and Half City. I won't go as in-depth with these as I just recently did a video where I go through a lot of the fancy romance books I've picked up this year, these two being among them. But I'll still of course give a general idea of my thoughts about these. I did find that both of them leaned into some familiar territories for their I guess you could say subg genres. If you think of fantasy romance as its own genre now then direbound was kind of like action adventure and half city was more of like urban fantasy. Obviously urban fantasy you could even think of as its own thing but you can think of it as its own thing under fantasy or its own thing under a fantasy romance. Regardless though, as a result of these things utilizing a lot of the familiar tropes and frameworks of these other genres, I I did find them to both be pretty predictable, I would say, especially Direbound. So, I liked Dire Bound's world. I liked the way in which the motivations for the character were laid out. However, I did feel that even though it was fast-paced, even though it was action-packed and high stakes, and it was generally speaking a pretty fun time, I wasn't necessarily particularly invested. And also, I predicted everything that was going to happen in the story because it was so similar to a lot of the other works that have come out. So this one to me if you like fourthwing but you would prefer first off for some of the stakes to because one thing even if you like fourth wing I think that something that a lot of people feel is some of the stakes are perhaps a little bit forced or some of the rationale of some of the people in power is a little ridiculous and I feel like there was a little less of that and it was when it was a little over the top it was at least maybe explained or thought out a little bit more I would say in Direbound. So, if you like Fourth Wing though, but you wouldn't mind some of those things tweaked slightly, and instead of having dragons, they have these cool direwolves, then maybe there's a chance that you will really like this one. The setup is that you follow this young woman who sister has been taken by the people that her country has been at war with for a really long time. These people seeming to be basically like vampires. So, in an effort to try and get her sister back, the only way that she knows to be able to cross into that territory is through joining the military. However, right when she joins the military is when they start doing these trials to become bonded to these direwolves and you can kind of figure out the inevitability of what would transpire from there. And when I say the inevitability of what transpires, that's not the part that I am referring to when I say that the story was predictable. I felt the story was predictable just based off of some of the ways in which characters were written, the character archetypes themselves that were utilized and how they tend to be utilized in the genre.

[00:31:57]It made it so that I kind of could tell where things were going to go. I might still pick up the sequel just to see maybe if the author has a chance to kind of really dive into her own world and really have more time to expand on some of these other things that are present just within her own creativity and her own imagination. I feel like that would really enhance the story. Currently though, where it sits, while again it was fast-paced, action-packed, adventurous, all those things, I I would like to see a little bit of the uniqueness of this story shine a little bit more. Half city had the uh different issue of I I had fun with the world. It was kind of I actually feel like we haven't gotten as much urban fantasy over the last few years. And urban fantasy, I feel like, is kind of like the old school fantasy romance in a lot of ways. not always, but that is where you would find sometimes more of the romances. Regardless though, this one kind of had like bits and pieces of those things, and so it felt a little bit different than a lot of what's popular right now. However, the main character was very frustrating. And I think that the book acknowledged that she's frustrating. That didn't really change that she is frustrating. But the setup for the story, uh, Viv is her name, and Viv is a monster hunter in what is basically our own world.

[00:33:16]However, the rest of society doesn't know that monsters exist. So, she has to keep her identity a secret. She doesn't really know any other monster hunters, but one day, she discovers that there's this whole university that trains people in this area. And so, she decides, you know what? My father died. He was the only other monster hunter I knew. And it turned out maybe he actually had some association with the school. Maybe I'll find out more about him, what happened to him because he was murdered. And she's trying to figure out who was involved in that, why they went after him. So, she's more so going there to see if she can find things out about her father. But while there, she's also getting kind of caught up in a lot of the school politics, we'll say, which maybe are broader than just the school.

[00:33:57]There's a lot of mysteries a foot. and she is forming connections with some of the other students at the school, including an individual who is also at the school that she might have some romantic feelings toward. So, it had this kind of return to something that we don't see as often. So, I do think it still stands to say that it had some familiarity to it, but because it's not as in the fantasy romance side right now, it didn't feel as much like the same old same old. I I wish Viv wasn't so irritating. They do kind of pass it off as she's a specific kind of monster hunter known as an aon. And aons have heightened emotions all the time. And sometimes I'm like cuz she have like heightened I don't know compassion or heightened patience. But no. And that wouldn't have really made sense anyway cuz it's not like all emotions are heightened. It's the ones that are specifically related to usually like the hunt. So I'm like okay. So like yeah, I get why it's more so like the anger and the um being rash, you know? I get why those would be the things that would get dialed up, but sometimes it was like, nah, come on, stop it. Transitioning on over to science fiction, I did pick up two science fiction books. They are both part of the same series. And I finished the series, which would be The Protectorate. The first book being Velocity Weapon, book two is Chaos Factor and book three is Catalyst Gate.

[00:35:14]And this series is that perfect summer blockbuster action-packed. So many twists and turns. so many. Oh my gosh, what's the one movie where they just like keep pulling off masks and it keeps being this like new reveal? It kind of had that feel to it. It's not a science fiction series necessarily where it's really deep and you're reflecting a lot and it's saying the most. It's not pretentious at all. It doesn't necessarily mean that there isn't interesting commentary on, for example, the people in power and how they they try to keep the general population maybe in the dark about certain things and also that they sometimes take it upon themselves to make decisions that might harm other people, but they decide it's for the greater good and you're like, I think more people would like a say in this. So, there's definitely things in it that add that substance, but I wouldn't say it's one where the main focus is dissecting what is it to be a person. That's not necessarily the main thing that it's dwelling on. And it doesn't have the time for it because people are after the characters. They're constantly in danger. They're having to engage in space battles or like individual fist fight type of battles.

[00:36:24]And it is just constantly constantly moving. They're pretty big books. And there's a level of political intrigue also because while one of the characters is, you could say trying to survive slash on the run at times, another character is involved in their politics.

[00:36:37]These two characters are siblings, so you kind of go back and forth between their perspectives. The perspectives do build from that first book. So in books two and three, we expand. We really expand in some ways. I did enjoy the characters so much. The dialogue is great. the amount of snark these characters have. It feels like realistic quippy banter with the characters and sometimes they have lines that are kind of cool and kind of awesome and other times their lines like kind of fall flat and they know it too and it it's just a level of camp that I enjoyed within it.

[00:37:07]It's not the campiest of campy science fiction fantasy. It's somewhere in the middle and it it just accomplishes that classic as I said and started this all with summer blockbuster feel. So, I was really glad to have read through this entire trilogy. I am really excited to see what else this author writes and I could see this being adapted. I think it would be a really fun miniseries. That would be an absolute blast. Getting now to our fantasy books. I have a list of them. I'm going to read off to you what we're going to be talking about. We have Daughter of the Forest, Empires of Dust, Wolf, The Phoenix King, The River Has Roots, and Agnes Albear's Mystical Cat Shelter. Similar to Dire and Half City, I did do videos for Daughter of the Forest and Mystical Cat Shelter, so I won't talk about them too much. Mystical cat shelter. What I will say is it's basically How's Moving Castle but with cats and the main character is also a widow.

[00:37:56]Other than that, it's very similar to Howal's Moving Castle, which maybe that's a pro for you. For me, I would say typically it's a pro. It just was so similar that I'm going to borrow what I was saying about Dire Bound because it was so similar. It made the story extremely extremely predictable for me. what I would say normally would be a standout thing for this, which would be a sense of whimsy and almost like a what's going to happen next cuz the magic truly is so magical. I think it almost dampened that. It lost some of that because of how strong the parallels were to House Moving Castle. So instead of being wowed by the whimsy, the whimsy just felt like it was uh like stamping the same thing.

[00:38:40]And then I was like, "Ah, you could have done something here. you could have really gone in your own direction and I think I would have liked it a lot more.

[00:38:48]I did like the cats. The cats were adorable and sassy appropriately as cats are. And I also felt like some of the parts about the character going through the grieving process of losing her husband. That part I appreciated and I was glad it was present. I actually would have liked even more of it. But the plot progression and some of the world building details, I wish they had maybe done a little bit more to distinguish themselves. Daughter of the Forest, one of my favorite things I've picked up this year. One of my favorite things I've just picked up. I thought it was beautifully written. It was absolutely gorgeous. I think how a lot of people feel about Robin Hobbs works is how I feel about Daughter of the Forest. There is some very, very serious content in this. So, a heads up to probably look into that before you give it a try. But this is a and I didn't know this when I went into it. It is actually a grim fairy tale retelling.

[00:39:41]And nowadays when we think of retellings, especially fairy tale retellings, there's a certain thing that comes to mind. And I don't feel like this necessarily was perfectly placed into that. I compared this to how people feel about Hob. I would say the writing itself is actually kind of similar to Robin Hob. And you can decide for yourself if you think Robin Hobb feels fairy taleesque. I personally don't think so. It's much more kind of grounded and there's this sense of realism to it, but also there is this wonder with the magic. And this one felt very nature oriented, too, which was very true to the character. It was it was gorgeous. It was very beautifully written. A very hard read because of the serious subject matters that are showcased within this, but I can't wait to read more by this author. Also, it just makes me bummed out on another level because you know when you read something so for example which hatilier that I am cons consistently bringing up to all of you and bombarding you and being like hey I don't know if you know but I think this series is great when you find something that you absolutely adore and you think is just on another level. It spoils you a little bit for everything else. And that's kind of how I felt about the writing in Daughter of the Forest where it was just so gorgeous and so lush. not purple prosy, but just beautiful. A beautiful utilization of language that now I'm just sitting here like, why are more things not written like this? I want more like this, which is very entitled because it's totally fine that there's different writing styles that are showcased. And also, I don't want everything to be exactly the same, but I just feel like there's not as much fantasy that is written quite like how this book is written, and I wouldn't mind more of it. Next up, we have Wolfworm by Tekkenfisher. I'm putting this in fantasy. I think it'd be fair if you were to want to categorize this as horror as well, but this is probably one of my favorite Tekken Fishers I've read.

[00:41:34]I always find myself when I talk about her works saying that your mileage will vary, but there probably is a Tea Kingfisher out there for you because she's written in a lot of different genres, a lot of different subg genres, and some are campier than others, some are more light-hearted than others.

[00:41:52]there's just always a little bit of differences. And one thing she maintains always though is that she does have a pretty distinct authoral voice. And I feel like she can't resist being kind of funny in her books and at the same time just a teeny bit morbid, just a tiny bit. And um Wolf Form for me was among one of the ones I liked more. So a recent one that had come out not so long ago would be Hemlock and Silver. I liked the sort of fairy tale feel of that one, but it was the first time I felt a little bit worried about Tekken Fischer's works because she does write a lot and there have been a lot of conversations over the years about the level of editing, especially really wellknown authors are getting because it's like once they become a household name, it can feel anyway to us as readers like maybe not as much as being putting into the editing. and Hemlock and Silver just there was a little bit of repetition in ways that I thought like another round or two of edits would have cleaned up. Not even two, just like one round of edits in addition to whatever else had been done. I feel like would have really cleaned it up, tightened it, and it would have been probably among one of my favorites. I still liked it, but I I didn't think it was as strong. And then Snake Eater, I liked Snake Eater. It wasn't my favorite necessarily, but I was like, "Oh, I hope that magic that I have found present in Tekking Fisher's works. I hope that spark that I have with it doesn't get lost." And wolf for me brought it back.

[00:43:11]And that's the beauty of Teing Fisher's works is that maybe other people will hate Wolfworm and they'll be like, I love Snake Eater. I loved Hemlock and Silver. Or you like certain ones that I've read that I thought were okay and then you didn't like ones that I thought were amazing. Regardless, Wolfworm is one of my favorites. You follow this character who because of the current time that she is living in, there aren't a lot of options for women if they don't have some kind of association with a man, whether that man be her husband or her father. And she and her father got along great. He was a seemed very loving father, very supportive father, but he unfortunately had a lot of health complications and he died. And even though she has a lot of skills associated with her father's field specifically, she's a great artist and in the natural sciences, this is a valued skill because then you can help the scientists and the researchers when they are looking at things to do with nature. So she has this skill and she knows she can be an illustrator, but she also doesn't really know anybody super well. So she ends up getting a job where she has to move in with this cranky, strange man. But at least she has somewhere to live. She has a roof over her head and she will be an illustrator for him. He does a lot of research to do with bugs which are gross and some of the bug stuff in this is like it's really awful and disgusting. But there's a lot of emphasis on parasitic bugs kerrion type of things. And that's where you start to get some of the horror elements going on. And there's sort of like this mystery as to some of the things that have happened in the past in this area and the community overall.

[00:44:48]And I I really enjoyed it. I liked the main character a lot. I I found the horror elements appropriately creepy and also you think about some of them and you're like, "Oh my gosh, that just sounds like like I I really feel like she wrote the ick factor." Even thinking about some of it right now just like, "Oh no." So, it wasn't like I was terrified. I don't I don't think I can flip the page. It wasn't that level. It was just like gh no like it was like no you feel like something's on you or like you can feel and that just speaks to the descriptive writing in this. I thought I really liked Wolf Form, but just no. It's disgusting. After that, we have The Phoenix King. And this one had been on my TBR for a while. I do think that the Phoenix King was improperly marketed or at the very least the things I had seen about it I don't think were correct. So in the past it was like Dune meets the Poppy War, throw that in the trash. That is a terrible way to describe this. And then I think some some people were under the impression this was going to be more romance driven and while there is a romantic subplot, it is not the focus of the story. So if you were looking for a romance then this wouldn't work. if you were looking for the Dune Poppy War comp titles being accurate, that wasn't really what this was. So, I do feel like this one had a marketing problem. I will say that I still thought that certain character things were repeated too often, and it ended up making it not feel quite as mature as maybe what it was going for. However, I still enjoyed this one, and I do still plan to pick up the sequel. So, in it, you follow this young woman named Elena who is the heir to a kingdom that is barely holding on to its power. There are a lot of other kingdoms where there's a lot of political unrest. Some of which is because of enemies waiting for them to be weakened, but then also internally because they have such a strong firm hold on their people. Any little bit of resistance, they squash. But that causes of course a lot of innocent people to be harmed along the way and then those innocent people want to rise up and it's this constant like you just feel all this friction and like something is going to burst at some point and this is what Elena is going to inherit on top of everything. Part of how they've maintained peace or at the very least maintained a hold on everything is through their command of this eternal fire. And they have a lot of religious reasons why this is notable, not just within the population, but also the ruling class. And through her father, who has his own perspective, Leo, you get some of the details about what it takes to command the eternal fire. She's a little bit in the dark. Her father seems to want to keep her in the dark, but at the same time, he's still propping her up to become the next ruler, and she's like, I don't know how I'm going to do this if I can't control the fire. So, she's trying to figure this out. And then because of some of the threats from within and without, they bring in this one guard. His name is Yasen. He was previously an assassin and he's a very dangerous person. She is very opposed to him being present. She also is now betrothed to this other powerful person. And you kind of are wondering if you can trust either of those young men. They seem to know each other also. And you're like, "Ah, it just seems like there's a lot of moving pieces." I'm a big fan of political intrigue. I liked a lot of those pieces.

[00:48:07]Also, you will notice that in how I'm describing it, you're probably visualizing something more fantasy leaning. This is very firmly sigh fantasy. I do think it could have been trimmed a little bit due to the repetition of character motivations. So, Elena, you you gather right away. Oh, I can't control the fire and I'm going to need to be able to do this because I'm going to be ascending the throne soon and this is vital for me to rule.

[00:48:33]the amount of times that she thinks this, it's like every one of her perspectives, every time you come back to her, she's like, "What am I gonna do if I can't control the fire? I have to be able to control the fire." And you're like, "I know. I know." And I'm glad that she didn't forget because that's a problem in some stories, too. Characters have motivations and then you might as well have never had that motivation for them because it seems like as soon as something else happens and it's like, "Oh, this is my story now." So, I'm glad that she would think back on it. It's just it was it was constant. It was constant and I was like, we could just trim some of this. We could trim some of it. I also feel like that was true though for the other characters. Her father too. I mean, I found him to be a pretty horrible person, but also at times you'd be like, "Oh, you're clearly terrible, but I do feel at the very least intrigued by you." And some of his monologues and other such things I felt like were similar also. So, I think it could have been trimmed up a little bit, but I do plan to keep going and I do want to see what happens in the sequel.

[00:49:37]I think that there's a chance the sequel could take it in a really cool direction. We will find out where that one was sci fantasy. This next one was grim dark and that would be Empires of Dust. The first book is the one that I picked up. And this is definitely very grim. I don't have a lot of experience with grim dark. And what little experience I do have, like many people, I do have an association of grim dark to joy. And in that, there's a level of snark and dryness and bleakness. And it's not as grim and it's not as grotesque and just constant awful things happening necessarily. It's more realistic and realism is sometimes grim.

[00:50:19]The difference though between that and something like for example Prince of Thorns where the opening pages if you've ever picked up Prince of Thorns you're like oh yeah I know why this is grim dark because it's violent and terrible immediately. So Empires of Dust I would say leans more in that direction. It is very bloody and some of the descriptions of some of the action scenes you're like gheez like it's really it's a lot. I do plan to keep going with the series just to be clear, but it's not like there isn't a level of fun also baked in to the grim. It's uh it's it's no fun.

[00:50:57]There's like this is not fun at all. It is very grim dark. The setup for the story, it really does not tell you like this is my plot. You just follow characters for a while. And I actually feel like when people say the phrase like oh it doesn't hold your hand, which we can all probably guess where do we hear that the most often? Malazin.

[00:51:16]People say that about measin all the time. Oh, it really doesn't hold your hand. And the thing that people are often referring to is that it doesn't try to explain everything to you. It figures, hey, you will pick up on what's happening as you keep going. There are other books that do this, of course, but it was very true of this one. So, for a while, you're just following these mercenaries as they're going through the desert, and it seems like their journey is awful and and they're exhausted, and they're tired and hungry, and they're getting attacked, and you just are like, I don't know why they're doing this. I don't know where they're going. Who are these people? You don't have any indication. And then you'll start getting these what seem to be like politicians in this other area and they're talking about unrest and how they have to consider deposing of this other person and you're like, okay. And then you get this priestess woman and you're like, I think the other people mentioned her. Whoa, they uh do some interesting things in this church. uh the pretty horrifying things that they do here in order to maintain balance, I guess. And then you're watching as all these pieces come together. And there is no one in this story that you can be like, I root for this character. No, it's not one of those. If you like grim dark where you are just looking at a collection of horrible people and watching as they outdo each other in who can be more powerful, who can be more terrible, who can be more oppressive, that is going to be the story for you. I have not read a lot of grim dark. I want to read more grim dark just like with a lot of not just genres overall but even subg genres. I want to broaden my horizons and grim dark is one that I haven't read as much of. And I was at times finding myself like really intrigued by a lot of things. Do I like any of them? Not even a little bit.

[00:53:03]There the one of I'll say the main characters. I'm just like when are they going to get this person? When are they going to I need them to end this person or get rid of them in some fashion because um they seem bad to put it lightly. They they they seem like a terrible person.

[00:53:23]And I'm curious if other people feel that way. It is not a book where I could say the plot was the most fascinating.

[00:53:33]The world is kind of interesting certainly, but I wouldn't say it's like, oh, the most elaborate, fascinating magic system you've ever come across.

[00:53:40]It's not really like that. Definitely the characters are not rootable. But I'm intrigued and so I will keep going. Last for today, The River Has Roots. This might be for me the new go-to author if I want a It just feels like a new fairy tale. The writing in this was exquisite.

[00:54:03]The writing is beautiful. The opening lines of this I just I knew immediately.

[00:54:09]I was like, "Okay, I'm going to really like this." And some of you had recommended you should read the physical and listen to the audio book, which is what I did. And I can see why because there's kind of like sound effects and stuff also. and I liked the narration, but the physical has little illustrations and whatnot, too. So, I do recommend it. It's very, very, very short, which I think served that fairy tale feel especially well. I can't say that I loved these characters or that I loved the plot. I loved the writing. The only other book that I've read recently where I can say that about is probably The Everlasting. And I think that one had a almost fairy tale quality to it as well. But there are some authors that are starting to emerge as like reinventing what we think of when we think of fairy tale. And I think this author is among them. The opening lines are something like I mean I could just go grab my copy and read it, but it was something like um what is a river if not an open throat and what is water if not a voice? And I was like, "Wow." The imagery of that from the start and then the the grounding us and and transporting us to not only the feeling of this place, but the way in which nature has such a hold of it and this river specifically and then also establishing this sense of wonder and tying it to this singing that these two sisters do. I was hooked from those opening words. I was so excited. and the full page you get after that just I was like wow gosh what a wordssmith I really it's one of those that you're just taken aback by the beauty of the writing the setup for the story it is kind of a classic fairy tale where you have these people that live right on the edge of what is basically like the fa lands and one of the characters has a love for this fa person and then this jealous man is upset about this because he wants to marry her And then he takes action as a result of his anger. And then these two sisters are trying to find ways to come back together and have a happily ever after. And you really hope that they get that and that the bad guy is dealt with.

[00:56:12]And it's it's got all the makings, all the ingredients of a fairy tale. It was beautiful. It was really really gorgeous. And the way that it kind of expressed the ties between like nature and art and language was fantastic. I would definitely sit down and just read this again, even though I just read it, just to be wowed all over again with the writing. I can't wait to read more by this author. I thought it was fantastic.

[00:56:38]If you have any recommendations for books that are written like this, please feel free to leave them because I had a great time. I I absolutely love this.

[00:56:45]one of my favorite things that I've picked up this year. I think this and Daughter of the Forest and um and the non-fiction of course that I mean a lot of the stuff. What am I Who am I kidding? Witch hat tillier gray continues to be great. There's just so much. But anyway, that's it for some things I have picked up over the last couple months. I will have everything linked in a pinned comment. The audiobooks linked in case you'd like to check those out. If you have thoughts, feel free to expand. If you have recommendations, feel free to leave those. But thanks so much for watching.

[00:57:09]I hope you have a great rest of your day and I'll see you later. Bye.