 So the year 2021 is just about over and this year went by pretty fast, you know, and Certainly, certainly it did have its ups and downs, you know The the plague is continuing even though at first it seemed like the vaccine rollout was doing pretty well Especially in the US it seemed like yeah, we're doing great But it just hit a wall at some point and now we're still stuck here the Ukraine crisis is getting worse The rising tide of fascism is continuing to well rise You know, etc. There's plenty ups and downs and I don't really have a segue into that But you know what? Let's talk about some books and keep in mind When I talk about the best and worst that I read this year I'm talking about things I read this year not things that came out this year So just please keep that in mind as we go ahead. This is the introduction song. It's not very good But it's not too long so the weirdest book I read this year was easily the act of marriage the beauty of sexual love and Well, I mean I say the title and that doesn't sound too awful But then I tell you it was written by one of the authors of the left behind books and you realize oh okay, yeah, this is this is gonna get odd isn't it and The thing is for the most part, it's not too awful. It's just it's obviously told by an extreme Christian person so It's talking specifically about how sex should work between a husband and wife but it also has like Charts for tracking your kegel exercises and it has rants about how going down on your wife is the path to Satanism and Also about how anal sex is just Homosexuality for people who don't want to admit that they're homosexuals and I'll admit there were a lot of parts of this book that I just straight up skipped over and maybe I missed out on some Of the weirdest bits there, but even though this wasn't exactly fiction. It was still the Strangest thing I read this year. I guess if I had to do a runner-up, it would be the Across the Street series which I Mentioned was actually written by one of my old English teachers and In that it just I'm not even going into that one. It's it's too much for now But basically yeah, if somebody seems strange Then they actually are strange and you should you should stay away from them because obviously they're possessed by a demon The biggest drop-in quality across a series that I read this year was easily the Lightbringer series now Man, this one was disappointing because the first two books were really really solid Like I think those are really great modern fantasy like they introduced some really neat characters They have fantastic action scenes. The story is not typical fantasy fair Like you it's not immediately obvious where it'll go or what it's about But I'm still interested in it. The world is kind of neat like There's a lot of good stuff here and then after the second book the third book dips in quality a bit It's still not awful like especially the climax is really good And I think Kip's storyline overall, you know, it is stretched out is good It's just the Gavin storyline of shit And then you get to book four it dips even more because Kip's storyline is shit Which is weird because he's leading a guerrilla war. You'd think that would be interesting, but no But at the same time Gavin storyline is really good So I was still interested in it and I still I'd hope that the series would get better and Book five just drops off a cliff like it drags on forever. I Honestly hardly remember a lot of what happened the There's two main villains or kind of three but really really two and they both go out like little bitches Like they're just too easy to defeat and I Don't know. I I hated it I hated the whole chosen one like who is the light bringer is the light bringer prophecy even real type thing I wasn't a fan of that and The Christian allegory was just It was too on the nose, you know, like if you're gonna do something like that Have it be at least a little subtle or if you can't do it subtly at least have it Be fun while you're doing it like Chronicles of Narnia is a good example of that and I don't know light bringer Just the biggest drop-in quality I've seen in quite some time the runner-up for the biggest drop-in quality Across the series would be the Wreck-n-Ros trilogy. Now this series is Basically just Mistborn, you know, and I'm not complaining But that's what it is. It's Mistborn and the first book is really really good I mean, we have this fantastic villain in Steelheart and The main character is like really focused just on killing him and that's his whole goal in life but then after he's gone the second and third books just feel like they don't really have anywhere to go from there and Then at the end it's like, okay, we got to save the world and It's kind of a neat idea at the very least. It's like, okay we're gonna save the world from all these evil people who have superpowers, but It just It just didn't work for me, you know It didn't have a solid villain the way the first book did and the main character stopped being interesting after that So I just I wasn't into it. It was not as big a drop-in quality as light bringer But it was still a pretty steep decline. The best sci-fi I read this year was Children of Time and Admittedly I didn't read a whole lot of sci-fi this year, but Children of Time is still really good And I can explain the plot very simply. It's about a planet of sentient spiders Developing a society, you know, like it shows them from when they're still animals basically And then they evolve very quickly into things with Browned human intelligence and then they develop their society and learn about the world around them and then come into conflict with humans It is really really fascinating. I don't think it will appeal to a large audience But those of you who are interested in that sort of thing I I think you would love this as much as I did. The best book I read that no one else has ever heard of was Dark Energy by Robinson Wells and This one also pretty simple this massive alien ship crashes on earth And I mean massive this thing is several kilometers long several kilometers wide and when it hits the ground It skids across several states in the Midwest in the US before coming to a stop and then it just You know it just stops It's like no signals or anything come from it for a while and the government fences it off and there's like okay what's gonna come out of there and then something does come out of there and I don't want to give it away, but it is extremely surprising and extremely weird and you're sitting there wondering like Well, how is this even possible and then other crazy stuff happens and Honestly, my biggest issues with this book are that one it's too short Uh and granted I did read it in one day, which I don't do very often anymore But still it it was too short. I would have liked some more exploration of things like the alien's culture and their history but then at the same time Having it be so quick and fast paced or so short and fast paced was Probably a benefit and I also didn't like how It was young adult honestly like uh because the main character in this is just A girl who gets to go to school near where the crash was while her dad works on it and Then she becomes involved in the story But it feels like a bit of a stretch to get her involved and so I wasn't a fan of that I think it would have been better if this was aimed at an older audience And the main character was just like us an adult like a scientist or someone who was working on it But you know overall still really good really solid book the best series that I started before this year that I finished this year was Attack on Titan No, I'm just kidding. I I did like the ending of Attack on Titan overall But you know, that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the expanse, you know What what else could it be like? I recently reviewed Leviathan Falls and that book was A fantastic ending, you know, it keeps with all of the themes and everything that the books have been Leading up to so far it still has all the same great world building all the same great characters all the same great space opera stuff and It leans even harder into the cosmic horror stuff, which I love then the series had been doing up until this point so I I think it was fantastic, you know, the authors at one point said that Uh, there's plenty of sci-fi about like the very near future when humans are still on earth and there's a lot of sci-fi about Way far in the future when we've already Colonized the whole galaxy or whatever and they wanted to do something that was Taking place in between those two time periods where humanity was still learning their way And I think they did a fantastic job of that like we got to see humanity learn their way If you haven't read the expanse do it now, please The best pleasant surprise that I read this year was the Reigns duology now again already did a review on this It is a zombie story. Yes, but it's a different take on it at the very least because The zombie virus is basically just an alien invasion And the ways people get infected and everything are quite a bit different and the actual threat level is significantly higher than any Zombie story I've ever come across in my life. So You know, I I do have criticisms of it You know, I I feel that the main character is too good at too many things Like they probably should have cut back on that a little bit made him more vulnerable I think some of the things about how the zombies work is kind of weird because Like okay, you have to get them in the head to kill them, which is pretty standard as far as this goes But then the weapons that the characters use to kill them Realistically could not break through a human skull Like the main character often uses bailing hooks to do that and like you could kill a person with bailing hooks I think like if you got them in the neck or across the belly or something Like yeah, you could make them bleed out with that But I don't think you're gonna break through anyone's skull with that and so You know things like that like mostly little things But they do add up but at the end of the day the climax to this series is just So incredible and so intense genuinely one of the most intense things I've ever read like I when I got to the last um I don't know 150 or 160 pages of the last book I read that all in one sitting because I could not put it down like every time you think things can't get worse and There's no hope left to crush More if your hope gets crushed like things just get worse and worse and worse until the very end and then I'm not gonna give away what happens, but Man, it is Incredible like just absolutely incredible if I wanted to sound pretentious I would call it a flawed masterpiece, but you know, I've mentioned before that to me five stars Doesn't mean that there's no flaws. It means that the good parts just blow the flaws out of the water So to me the best pleasant surprise this year was the rains the worst attempt at comedy I read this year was harry stiles in the new york new york apocalypse now This one I heard about it and I thought that either the author was Doing this in a self-aware way like they were aware that okay Yeah, this is stupid and I'm just gonna have fun with it and make a nice little comedy Or it was going to be serious and in that case it would just be so inept that it would be Hilarious, you know and it wound up being neither You know, it's a story all about how all the electricity around the world just stops working one day And then this girl goes to new york to find harry stiles and try and save him And I mean that that sounds funny at first, but it isn't see the reason things like the room are so funny is because Yes, they are terrible But they still have energy and passion put into them. It's just very incompetent whereas Harry Styles in the new york apocalypse feels more lazy than anything You know, like there's not even very many jokes or anything. So it definitely wasn't on purpose Funny, but at the same time the whole storyline and plot just feels I don't know. It's like it wasn't slapped together I don't think is a good word Especially because I gave up like a third of the way through this one So I couldn't tell you what happens after that, but It just felt like most of the story was the main characters were upset No longer having all these luxuries and they rode their bicycles for a little while and they got closer to New york and then they slept and then they rode their bicycles for a while like You know, just nothing interesting happens Either in a comedic way or dramatic way and like the only funny thing I remember from it was when They come across these girls who decided they could no longer live without Justin Bieber music So they hanged themselves from a highway overpass like That's just so over the top that it was darkly hilarious and So I loved that moment, but other than that is just the worst attempt at comedy I've ever seen The best fantasy I read this year was the black prism, which was the first book in the lightbringer series and I mean, I already went over my issues with that series But again, the first book is really really good really solid like it's a fantastic opener to a fantasy series And I don't think I have anything new to add The boringest book series I read this year was the halo trilogy Now this one sounds passable on paper You know, it's about a group of angels including a very young one named Bethany who is the main character And they're sent down from heaven to earth in order to help people out and the thing is They just help out a town that has no real problems You know, and so the biggest conflict in the story winds up being Bethany her her boyfriend her human boyfriend remember because She falls in love with a human and that's like forbidden, but it doesn't become a big deal until much later but Her boyfriend can't go to prom with her because he's in the hospital And I do sympathize with that I really do because that exact thing happened to me when I was 18, but You have to have something happen in your story You know, you can't just have them putter around this small town forever. It it just doesn't work that way I think You could keep the plot of this series more or less the same And it would be made 10 times better if instead of just going to a town that had no real problems They went to go help people who were dealing with a War or famine or a plague or something like that, you know Like if this same thing had happened except Bethany helped out and fell in love with a boy during the Yugoslav wars or something then I think this series would have been a lot better, you know, even not even changing the plot very much I think you genuinely could have made something good here, but It just didn't work the best romance. I read this year and by that I don't mean romance book I mean romance between characters in any type of book was a mark and eve from invincible and This one. I don't know What to say really like they start off They grow up together. I think is a good way of putting it like they start off as Teenagers, you know mark is still new to being a superhero and eve has more experience but she's still really young and doesn't know all that much about life and they Like each other and then they start dating and from there They deal with a lot of the shit that life has to throw at them, you know, they they grow older They fight in multiple wars. They have to deal with the the various troubles of being superheroes. They start a family like just all kinds of really really neat stuff which real couples have to go through and Even though they do have rough patches and they fight a lot and sometimes they drive each other nuts You know the whole time that they do love each other and that they will Put a sacrifice and put up with a lot to help each other. So It's just really good maturely written romance, which I just loved and To contrast that the worst romance I read this year was between protagonist Kuhn and his harem in the dragon conjurer now I don't know. There's not much I can say here like I already mentioned That story is basically just an anime where the main character gets to have super Strong magic powers and go to a magic school and there's a bunch of girls hanging off his dick You know the the only difference here is that they're a bit older like college aged and so they can actually have sex which I mean if that's what you're into then sure that's fine, but Eh, it was it was bad. Yeah, nothing else to add. I didn't like it The most forgettable book I read this year was slayers now This one is from what I can remember about it It's basically in the vein of like Percy Jackson or Harry Potter where like kids learn about Hidden magical world. Of course in this case, they're a bit older. They're like 16 or 17 And then they have to try and help Prevent that magical world from destroying the real one and in this case it's about dragons, you know dragons are real And I'm actually not sure if the world at large knows about dragons or not. It's kind of vague I don't think they do or by the end of the book. I didn't think they did but at the beginning I thought that they definitely did. I'm still not sure. It's confusing as hell and I don't know. It's just kids with special powers do stuff and It doesn't really do anything Well, it certainly certainly doesn't do anything new with that idea But it also just doesn't do anything cool with that idea You know, like if you're gonna do something like that at least have it be fun But they they failed at that and Another small thing that annoyed me But at least I remember this is that the main villain was a human who was just using dragons to try and take over the world Which was kind of lame because I personally wish that it had been Like an ancient dragon queen or something You know who'd been around for thousands of years and was very smart and very powerful Like I don't know that just sounds cool to me But quite frankly, I could not tell you anything else about this book I forgot everything about it as soon as I closed it closed it for the last time The best climax I read this year was for angel fall Now I mentioned before that this book was also a pleasant surprise for me Not quite as good as the reins, but still really good It's about angels coming down from heaven and just destroying the whole world and Now kids are trying to survive in the apocalypse or not just kids But everybody's trying to survive in the apocalypse and then the main characters kid sister is kidnapped and she has to go help Try and save her with the help of an angel who is Kind of an exile or something. It's it's a little hard to explain, but You know the climax to the first book I don't even really know how I can get into it, but We just see evidence of some absolutely insane experiments on humans. We realize that Nobody knows why the angels came to earth and why they're trying to fight and kill everybody like Even the angels themselves don't know because there was only one of them who actually talked to god And he was dead. He was killed very early on in the war. So the the rest of them don't even know why they're there And that just leaves so many questions And it just also plenty of you know action explosions just all the fun stuff you want in a climax is Genuinely the best one I read this year and there was some stiff competition But angel fall overall was the the number one the worst series that I read not the worst individual book But the worst series I read was the testing I Not there's there's not much here I can say that I didn't already say in my two hour long review of it like It's just soulless You know it's soulless and dull and it was trying to cash in on the hunger games craze without understanding Anything about what made the hunger games work and what made people actually like that series so it just took the aesthetic of it and It didn't even have like interesting characters or a neat storyline right or a fun world or anything like that, you know Like sometimes those crappy YA dystopias could save themselves Even if they didn't do anything different they could still save themselves by at least having good characters or something Like I think the the legend series is a decent example of that like not a great series But it's okay because the characters and the story and the actual world they live in are a bit better defined But the testing has nothing about that like Yeah, I have nothing to add but just the testing I if you want to know more my thoughts go watch my video on it is Is bad is bad The most average series that I read this year was configured Now this one was also trying to cash in on the hunger games craze. It was also just a pretty standard YA dystopia story, but It was actually done You know, like there there's a few bits which are kind of dumb Like I don't think the world makes all that much sense and the reason for this The dystopia being all like oh humans can't have emotions anymore was just just kind of stupid But at the same time there were some good bits like I enjoyed The main character watching her grow and develop over the course of the story like she Becomes a pretty good one by the end even if she's not all that strong at the beginning But for the most part it's just pretty standard. You know what what you would expect from this It's not really all that great, but I didn't hate it while reading it. It entertained me for a little while. So You know calling it the most average series I read this year isn't really an insult So it's just not a compliment the best book I read this year If you follow me, this shouldn't be too surprising. It was Leviathan Falls. Yeah, like Already talked about it. It is a perfect ending to a really great series It leaned really really hard into the cosmic horror aspect, which I loved It was a tragic ending Uh, but still it made total sense and it wasn't entirely depressing or anything It wasn't trying to be dark and edgy just for the sake of being realistic or whatever It was just like yeah, this is sometimes how life works out. So Yeah, I don't have much else to say just Leviathan Falls best book I read this year Once more if you have not read the expanse go and do that, please and of course Finally the worst book I read this year Should also come as no shock to anybody. It was The Way of the Shadow Wolves by Steven Seagal Yeah, again, like if you want to know all my thoughts on this I spent more than two hours going over it a while ago There's just nothing good here. You know, like the prose is awful Absolutely awful like it's funny once in a while and that was the only enjoyment I got from this whole book, but It's just awful and Bland and confusing There's tons of plot holes all over the place Most of the characters are somehow Less than one dimensional. I I don't even know how they pull that off, but they do but the main thing which just Really irks me and gets my goat and really makes me hate it so much because this is the worst book I've ever read bar none not just this year just ever Uh, it's just how full of bigotry it is, you know Like just so many different groups get attacked and demeaned by seagal and his co-authors like we're talking american indians muslims jews catholics latinos black people a little bit arabs like just everybody gets shit all over like and The the whole thing is just about how it's a massive conspiracy out to get them specifically like these wealthy white ass holes and I don't know I It was barely even funny, but at the very least I got a few chuckles out of it and I did get the opportunity to tell all of you about What an insane asshole steven seagal is so That was fun at least i'm i hope you enjoyed it if nothing else and that's it for this year's list so You know like I said this year has had ups and downs Uh I've had pretty good time on youtube, you know, I reached 100 000 subscribers and all that I have the plaque up there now That was pretty great But at the same time some of you probably know my father did die earlier this year and He and I weren't exactly close, but that was still uh Bit of an ordeal to work through and more recently my grandmother just died which also was not fun and I don't know that's just I don't want to sound dismissive of it, but That's kind of just things that happen in life, you know like Shit gets bad sometimes the light life has ups and downs, you know, it wasn't just this year Like while I did lose those two and that sucks, uh, my brother also got married this year so in that sense my family got bigger and I got to Spend a lot more time with my friends and with my nieces and nephews I get to watch watch them grow up a bunch. I get to spend time with you guys I've made new friends and acquaintances both in real life and on the internet through This whole youtube thing that for whatever reason you support, but and I don't know young me would have had a hard time believing this was even possible and Granted i'm probably gonna have to get a real job next year at some point But I don't see myself stopping doing this even if I have to slow it down. I I like doing this, you know, even without the money. I just enjoy Being with you guys. I enjoy reading books and talking about them and complaining about them as I get older I realized that You you lose a lot of things, but you also gain a lot of things as life goes on, you know You lose friends, but you make new ones. Yeah, you lose jobs, but you find better ones and I hope all of you in the audience Even if you didn't have a great year, some of you probably had some great things happen this year You know, some of you probably got married or had kids And some of you probably got a new job and got to leave your shitty old one Some of you got to move into your own house like away from your parents or whatever There's a lot of good things that probably happened and Some of you might feel like guilty enjoying that or celebrating that While the rest of the world is having problems, but I mean the rest of the world's always going to have problems I'm not saying you should give up on trying to fix that or anything, but You know take take take the wins where you get them if you're enjoying something don't let others Denigrate that for you. Even if it's something as simple as talking about stupid books on the internet and I don't know that this is already getting too sappy and going on too long, but I hope you all had a good 2021 and I hope next year is even better for you That's all. Bye