 Well, it's not what I was expecting. It left zero immersion on me, but they are neither mercenaries nor librarians It's succeeded in the endeavor of being a Western of Gandalf fame Hey guys, it's Leanna, and I'm here today with my June wrap-up. I have nearly done it I'm filming this a little bit early, but I have filmed... filmed? What am I saying? I've read every book that was on my TBR except for Dark Age which I have started and Dark Age is a reread anyway, which I'm rereading or freshening up on for the Red Rising Read Along chat on Alan's channel So uh, he's finally made it to Dark Age and invited me to talk about it So I wanted to refresh myself, but I have read it already So that's all I've left to do and as I said, I'm filming this a little bit early So I will be spending the rest of June what's left of it refreshing myself on Dark Age So I felt that I could film this now So here we go The first book that I read in June was The Black Tongue Thief by Christopher Buhlman I do a full review of this on my channel, so if you want my full thoughts, go ahead and check that out Briefly, um, I really enjoyed this I only gave it three stars though because I didn't think it was all that amazing but I think it was great I just had a fun time with it So again, if you want to know more about what was fun or why I liked it or didn't love it That full review is up But again, I would... if you're interested in this I would say go ahead and definitely, definitely, definitely if you're gonna read this Do it on audio. The audio is Chef's Kiss The next book that I read was Empire of Silence by Christopher Rocchio And this is a buddy read. I read it with Alex from Alex Nieves And he and I chatted about this live on my channel So the replay of that is available for you to view Suffice to say, though, he and I loved this book so much And he and I will be buddy reading the second book, which is The Howling Dark in July And the review... the discussion will be on Alex's channel But yeah, this is a space opera The cover didn't already clue you into that And it is such a strong debut And it is one of the best books that I've read for sure this year And just also generally one of the best books that I've ever read Highly, highly recommend if you enjoy an epic space opera I do think if you like Red Rising, then you will love Empire of Silence Because as the debuts go, this is way stronger than Red Rising was The series Red Rising ended up has become one of my favorites But we've heard me and Alex that the rest of the series is even better The Empire is the weak one So, and this book was 5 out of 5 stars, 10 out of 10 Chef's Kiss would recommend So if this is the weak one, I mean... I'm very, very excited The next book that I read was The Tempest by William Shakespeare This is obviously a play And as I mentioned in the TBR video, my friend Heather and I Will be chatting about The Tempest as well as Hangseed, which is my stack Which is a retelling of The Tempest Because I have, for a long time, I've wanted to read The Play And they're retelling The Play and they're retelling For all of the Hogarth Shakespeare retellings of Shakespeare plays I discovered that she is a huge Shakespeare nut Which, having known her for a long time, I did not know So having discovered that, then she and I were like, let's do this thing However, she is in the middle of moving So we haven't quite figured out yet when we are going to have this chat But it will be soon But anyway, so I read The Tempest for aforementioned reasons And I did also watch the Royal Shakespeare Company production of this Which is an excellent production, I highly recommend If you're looking for a production to watch Royal Shakespeare Company, I mean it doesn't get better than that This has never been one of my favorite Shakespeare plays But I did really enjoy kind of delving into some of the nuances of it Now like reading it more closely rather than sort of casually consuming it And so the best of my knowledge, this is the last play that Shakespeare ever wrote Which is, it colors your experience with it I think it at least does with me Some of the kind of, the way that the arguably main character, Prospero Kind of his, the way that he kind of reflects on his legacy And how at the end, how he kind of asks the audience to judge him kindly Because it's kind of up to them, his fate is up to them And it's Prospero, the character, saying this But it kind of almost feels like William Shakespeare saying it Anyway, it's an interesting play Like as with almost, not almost, as with all Shakespeare There's a lot to pick apart and unpack So it was fun to pick apart and unpack Still not one of my favorite, favorite plays But I had a good time with this and I did enjoy it Also on Audible, there's a dramatization of it Or a dramatic reading of it that has a full cast And Sir Ian McKellen of Gandalf fame is Prospero And actually, and Benedict Cumberbatch is Herdynand So if you're into audiobooks, the tips The next book that I read was Ariadne by Jennifer St This book I read because as mentioned many times I'm trying to keep up with my book of the month club books And therefore I am reading each month's book of the month In the subsequent month This was my May book of the month, so I read it in June And I didn't love it I didn't hate it, but I feel a whole bunch of nothing I gave it three stars for that reason Because I was like, there's nothing wrong with it I just, I don't, I don't, it left zero impression on me It hasn't been compared to Cersei And I, I'm not surprised at all There is definitely a comparison to be made to Cersei But Cersei is really, really good This is fine By setting up expectations, by making, by setting the bar that high By saying this is like Cersei I mean, I don't think that if that comparison had not been made That I would not myself have gone Hmm, this is kind of like Cersei, except not nearly as good Like, I think I would have thought that anyway But yeah, basically if you're, if you're looking for a Greek, a feminist Greek mythology retelling to read Read Cersei, not this If you're, if you've read them all And you're just like trash for that as a concept And as a genre, if that can be called a genre And you just want more This isn't bad So it's sure Like if you're gagging for that, sure But I, I, I just felt nothing the whole time For her, the character And for any of the characters And, and Greek mythology just does not And interest me that much anyway Ariadne herself is not a figure from Greek mythology That I would really want to know more about But I, I wasn't especially interested in Cersei The figure before reading Cersei by Madeleine Miller But I really liked Cersei by Madeleine Miller Because Madeleine Miller made me interested in Cersei So, yeah, I, I didn't hate this by any means But I have already mostly forgotten about this So, next up I read Deal with the Devil by Kit Rocha Rocha This was the Blaze and Bodice River's book club Pick for June And I hated it This is an urban fantasy that I think was wildly mis-marketed Because it is called the Mercenary Librarian series But they are neither mercenaries nor librarians The back of the book says Orphan Black meets Avengers And it is not like Orphan Black or Avengers It's just an urban fantasy And I don't really like urban fantasy And I don't like that Mainly just like a romance with some like Urban gizmos and Like some action scenes I, I didn't like the characters Didn't like the romance Up the world building was nigh on non-existent It was not my jam Next up I read Hagsied by Margaret Atwood Which as alluded to before This is the retelling of The Tempest The Hogarth Shakespeare retelling I really, really enjoyed this I gave it four stars Because I didn't think it was perfect And I definitely think that you have to have read Or seen The Tempest To really get anything out of this Like you, you could follow the plot And understand what was happening more or less Without having really any knowledge of The Tempest But I don't think it, I think you would feel Very much kind of like Uh, what do I though? If you didn't know anything about The Tempest Because it heavily relies on you knowing The Tempest And so you recognizing the parallels to The Tempest Or the ways in which it's Moments become significant because of the way In which they mirror The Tempest Or things in the plot are foreshadowed in a way That is only, that foreshadowing only Is apparent to you if you know The Tempest So if you're interested in this book Definitely familiarize yourself with The Tempest You don't have to like be an expert on The Tempest But just, just generally be like Watch an adaptation of it Or quickly skim the play or whatever Because I don't think you're gonna really enjoy this You can understand it but I don't think you're gonna enjoy it If you don't know The Tempest But as a retelling I think it's pretty successful The main reason that I docked at a start Was because I didn't really like the ending I kind of, I had a feeling of Where I kind of thought this ending might go Or what type of ending we would get Not any specifics per se But a general sense of the type of ending That we would get And that was not actually the type of ending that we got I don't know if it's because it wasn't my expectation Or because my version would be better But when it didn't end kind of Where the direction or tone that I thought That it would, I didn't like It wasn't what I expected and I didn't really like The way that it did end It wasn't me going oh I wasn't expecting that But you know that really works It was more like oh Well it's not what I was expecting So overall I still think it was really excellent And very thought provoking And a really fascinating way to play with The Tempest But yeah I didn't love how it ended And I definitely don't think it stands on its own Without The Tempest The next book I read was a reread And that was A Red Country by Joe Abercrombie Because as mentioned many times on my channel I am rereading all the first law books In anticipation of the release of the Third and final book in the Age of Madness trilogy The Wisdom of Chronicles which comes out in September We're nearly there guys I can almost taste it Red Country was never my favorite And I actually docked at a star Even docked at another star upon a reread now I gave it four stars originally back when I first read it And now I gave it three Unlike the heroes which I gave three stars through the first time I know I bumped it up to four This reread thing has gone well for some And not so well for others In general I still love all the first law books Because it's a first law book I enjoy it I enjoy these characters I enjoy Abercrombie's writing I enjoy a lot about this And I don't even know if it is like structurally In any way weaker than the others But I'm not a huge fan of westerns In the best of times And this is very, I mean this is a western So it's kind of like the situation with the urban fantasies Like I just, I don't, I'm not into urban fantasy So the odds of me liking your work if it's an urban fantasy Are slim to none If I like it it's usually despite it being that So similarly I don't hate westerns There are some westerns that are like I've never read a western actually Outside of this and Is Blood Meridian a western? Yeah that's a western Blood Meridian Like I love the movie Tombstone I quite liked 310 de Yuma I like the Wyatt Earp with Kevin Cosner I like the Hatfields and the McCoys What's it called? Is it just called Hatfield and McCoy? Well anyway that was also with Kevin Cosner So I mean I can like a western But it's not my favorite genre And this is a western I think in terms of like evoking a western vibe It absolutely knocks me out of the park Like this is a western It's succeeded in the endeavor of being a western I'm just not a fan of westerns And I like the characters I like a lot of the banter Like by far the thing that I love the most About Red Country is the banter And some of my favorite quotes actually In all of the first law Are actually in Red Country There are some excellent quotable quotes In Red Country And Red Country remains the reason That we have my favorite short story From Sharpen's Like that short story is not possible Without the context of Red Country Yeah gotta read Red Country So that you can read that short story At Sharpen's But in any case Yeah it was it was fine I had a great time being with Stephen Pasey In the world of the first law But it's not my favorite In the world of the first law And no you cannot skip it You cannot skip any of the books The last book that I have finished Is a I'm gonna be working on Dark Age Now for the rest of the month Dreams of the dying I finished it one in the morning last night And this is one of the worst books That I've ever read in my entire life I went in detail In the vlog that I was filming while reading it And I've already filmed a best and worst of the year video And I don't know if it's going up before this or after this But either you're already able to see My longer thoughts about it in that video Or you will very shortly see My longer thoughts in that video But this book is just Style over substance Exhibit It's a gorgeous gorgeous hardback book And clearly a lot of attention and money Was devoted to the aesthetic of this thing I wish more time and attention had been paid to The construction of the plot And the checking of the grammar I granted it length already So don't want to do it again I don't want to beat a dead horse And yeah so all that remains for me to do is read Dark Age But you already know how I feel about Dark Age I doubt that will change very much in this In this reread this re-skim This re-familiarizing myself with it But in any case you'll hear Some more of my thoughts on Ellen's channel When we talk about it live I think it's still called Fabrizing even though that was only in February I don't know what the red rising read along Is culminating in Dark Age at the end of this month Or technically beginning of July I think Anyway those are all the books that I read in June Let me know in the comments down below Your thoughts and feelings about what I read in June If I have inspired you to pick up any of these books If I've discouraged you from picking up any of these books If you agree or disagree with me Whatever you want to let me know I post videos on Saturdays Other random times as well but definitely Saturdays So like and subscribe Join my Patreon if you feel so inclined Or don't And I'll see you when I see you Bye