 So it's the time of year where people's Christmas end of year book hauls are starting to come out. But I want to know, what were people hauling last year? I'm like Scooby and Shaggy, I'm solving a mystery. So if you remember a while ago I started a series called Booktube Rewind on my channel where I read what people had read a year prior. This time we're not doing what people have read, we're going to do what people bought last Christmas. I love Christmas, I love Christmas book hauls and I think it's always really fun to see what people get for Christmas, what people in their lives get them or subscribers get them. I think it's always really interesting to see the kind of books that people want to buy for others. What makes people gift a certain book? So what I'm going to do is I'm going to go back and watch like 20, 30 Booktubers Christmas book hauls from last year and whatever the most popular books are I'm going to read them in this reading vlog. I have no idea how this is going to go, I'm quite nervous. But my guess is that it's going to be new releases that were kind of coming out towards the end of last year but also we've seen this year especially, that kind of can mean nothing. Like look at the Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, look at so many books that have had so much success on TikTok or Booktube has a sudden wave for a book and everyone starts reading it because a few big Booktubers have been reading it, that can happen. So actually it could be anything, I don't really know what we're in for but let's cut to Megan finding out what we're going to be reading in this reading vlog. I think when I did the last Booktube Rewind where it was People's Wrap-Ups, I think I watched about 40 but Christmas book hauls are going to be bigger I assume than People's Wrap-Ups. So I'm thinking somewhere between 20 or 30 will probably give us our answer because that was a lot last time. I've been working on this for five weeks. That was a lot. I've handwrote everything, like all the lists, all the books, I'm doing it on a spreadsheet this time. It was too much for my hand but I thought we would start together by watching my Christmas book haul from last year and seeing how many of them I have read and you know some of these may possibly be in this video of other people hauled them. I'm not going to like talk about them in depth because otherwise this video would be like 20 years long. This is essentially a video in itself, this idea but I'm literally just going to say if I've read it or if I haven't read it, I don't, I don't think I've read a lot of these. My books from last Christmas. I got a lot of great books for Christmas and birthday last year and they're very close together for me and I feel like I actually have not read a ton of them. My goal would be half. I don't think I'm actually going to count. Well I'll put a counter up here but I haven't got anything to write this down. So we're just going to watch it and then we'll go and watch other People's Book Hauls. But I was looking like on, on YouTube, like Mel's, Mel's Christmas Book Haul is an hour long. Why are you doing that to me? How many books are you hauling anyway? They put me through purgatory. They put me through hell on this earth. So I feel like because they're longer, we won't have to watch as many tweets that it will probably give us a good representation. So. Ooh! So first is Mexican Gothic. Oh, haven't read that. Have not read Mexican Gothic. Want to. It's been a video idea for a year but I don't have any other books for the video idea. So that video idea may get scrapped and it may just read another book. Okay. So next we've got the King of Crows by Libba, Brian. Haven't read it? I will be reading that in January. So I will not be reading it for this video. I've already got a planned video for it. I was supposed to read it this month but I didn't get around to it. Next is the Gilded Wolves by Roshani Trotsky. Oh my God. Haven't read it. Have not read Gilded Wolves. Oh my God. We're not after a very good start. This is The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie. I... Oh, our first one. I've read Mystery of the Train. First one that I've read. I love it but I have read it. We've got Hunting for Instracula. I've read it. I've read Hunting for Instracula. Go me. So this is Disfigured on Fairy Tale. I have not read Disfigured. Really want to. It's probably like the non-fiction book I want to read the most but I haven't read a lot of non-fiction this year. It's a book I would really like to blog reading it but again I've just struggled to fit it into a video. It's The Strange Case or The Alchemist Bones. Okay. I have read Strange Case and The Mystery of the Midsimist. I've read both of them. This is When the Tiger Came Down. Oh, I have read When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain. I read that like that was the first book I read in 2021 so I read that very quickly after getting it. Forgotten Room in the Ritis by Jingxiu. I have not read Forgotten Room in the Ritis. I would love to but I don't think anyone else is going to haul this book so we're not going to be ready to get this video. So it got me The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones. Oh, yes. I've read that. Wahoo. The Year of the Witching by Alex Henderson. Oh, I have read The Year of the Witching. Another one I read early this year. Very early this year. First we've got King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo. I have not read that. I have not read King of Scars. I do want to start that duology. Come Tumbling Down by Sean LaFayette. Oh, I have read Come Tumbling Down. This is Wahoo. This is The See Over the Woodward Wall by A. Deborah Baker. But it is Have Not Read Over the Woodward Wall yet which is, it's so short. Look at it. It's tiny. Why have I not read that? It's embarrassing. I've read The Hand on the Wall by Maureen Johnson in The Themis Files by Have Not Read. I have not read either of the next books in the way, in the, whatever it's called, Themis Files. This is The Hand on the Wall. I have not read The Cat, Right? I have not read The Novel. The Deep by River Solomon. I have not read The Deep. Oh my God. Again. A short one I own. I own the audiobook and the physical of this. I hate myself. Okay. This is the worst. This is the worst. This is the worst. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Anyway. This is Supernava. I have read Supernava. Yes. I wanted to finish that series, so I'm glad I finished it. I didn't like it though. I didn't like Supernava. Is The Weight of the Stars by Kate Ankrem? I've read The Weight of the Stars by Kate Ankrem. I've read The Weight of the Stars by Kate Ankrem. Ah! Okay. Good. I have not read The New Jim Crow by Nisha. Nonfiction to me, I haven't read a lot this year, but that's okay. But this is The Thursday Murder Club. Oh, I have read The Thursday Murder Club. Yes. I've read that one. I loved that. One of my favorite books I've read this year. Very excited to read the next one. Hopefully soon. Okay. So that is all the books I got for Christmas last year. I feel like I've read half. I've at least read 10. You'll know more than me. Of the ones that I haven't read, the ones I feel like are most likely to come up. Maybe King of Scars. That's like quite a popular book. Maybe Mexican Gothic might come up, but I feel like a little bit niche. So we're going to see. I don't know if any of these will actually be anything we read in this video. But now I'm going to go start watching loads of other Christmas book hauls. And I'll come back to you once we've got our first double up. So our first book that two people have read essentially. It's Christmas book hauls so far. It's taken me about now. I'm getting duplicates. Up until the last one I watched, we hadn't had any duplicates. And I was like, I was going to throw myself out the window. I thought we weren't going to get any. Well, that's a lie. Actually, I tell a lie. We'd gotten lots of duplicates for books that I had already read. So far, I've watched my book haul. Mel's, Ashley's, Jody's, Mina's. And then just I just watched Maya from Ocean Reads one. And Mel had hauled Strange Case of the Alchemist daughter. And after researching it and seeing that she just grabs tales and puts it in like a gothic ambiance and then twists it in a way to fit her own story. I just was really intrigued by that. And yeah, she'd hauled the only good Indians. Seamlessly blending classic horror and a dramatic narrative with sharp social commentary. Mel was hauling a lot of the ones I'd already read. But with Maya, Maya has pulled through. And we started getting duplicates. So we have got one I'm very excited for and actually hope continues into the top echelons of what we're going to read in this video. These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong. Mel and Maya have hauled these Violent Delights. It is a Romeo and Juliet retelling set in the 1920s. And it's supposed to be a retelling of Romeo and Juliet. It follows these two types of gangs, I think. Days of Blood and Starlight and Dreams of Gods and Monsters. Ashley and Maya have hauled. So we have Days of Blood and Starlight, which is book two. And also Dreams of Gods and Monsters, which that cover, that cover is beautiful. First of all, I got the box set for Daughter of Smokin' Bone. And Mina and Maya have hauled Red Rising. And this is Red Rising by Pierce Brown. It is the Red Rising trilogy. I've heard nothing but good reviews about this. Which I didn't, I didn't predict being on this list. I didn't think I'd be reading that and I'm a bit intimidated by it. I just wasn't expecting that. But I'm up for it if it ends up being in the final selection. So I'm going to go watch maybe like six or seven more and then check in with you again. Okay, so we're up to 13 videos watched. I have watched 13 Christmas book hauls from last year. And we now have 22 books that two people hauled. Two different people hauled. Two different booktubers hauled. But we have none that three people have hauled. Me to all the booktubers because they haven't hauled the same books. You ruined it. Laugh for you won't. There's going to be a lot of people out there tonight that can't eat. Which is what we need. We need this for a book to be featured in this video. We need at least three booktubers to have hauled it in their Christmas book haul. So that's what we're going to work towards. I'm going to do at least 21 videos. We're going to do at least eight more. This is taking me so much longer than the last episode did because book hauls are so much bigger than wrap-ups. Particularly Christmas book hauls like so many more books mentioned. But none of you are fucking more in the same books. So yeah, we're going to do at least 21. But if there is not three books that have at least three people having read them, we will continue until we do have that essentially. Some notable ones that we have had since I last spoke to you. If you remember, I hauled Mexican Gothic, Nicole from Bon Bon Books, I think. It also has read that. I've been hearing so much about this book on Bookstagram, Booktube and Booktalk. Fucking Becca and Mel can fuck right off because they have both hauled all the Sarah J. Mass new covers. Like A Court of Thoughts and Roses, A Court of Mist and Fury, A Court of Frostens, whatever. I don't fucking care. I don't want to read them. I bought myself the first and the second book because I just had to have them physically. One of you got me the last two books that I needed in the A Court of Thoughts and Roses series. A Court of Thoughts and Roses... Rowan? What? A Court of Thoughts and Roses? Oh my God. It's A Court of Wings and Rowan and A Court of Frostens Starlight by Sarah J. Mass. I don't want to do that. Sarah J. Mass is not a can of worms I'm willing to open yet. Ray Bearer is one I'd be very happy to read. Mina and Hayley from Hayley and Bookgrunt hauled that. I've heard nothing but amazing things about this YA fantasy series. And I have heard some amazing reviews for it. Like Sun, another one. Kayla from Books and La La. Oh, Mel hauled that as well. So I can't completely be mad at Mel. So many of my friends have been reading this recently and talking about it non-stop. This cover though. The cover of this book is just the foiling. Look at that. Ooh, when the light hits. And then surprisingly, one I was not expecting, Wuthering Heights. I think I'll be up for it. Hayley from Hayley and Bookgrunt again hauled that and Ray again from Ray Ray Reads hauled that. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. I've always wanted to read a couple classics and this is one of the ones on the list. You guys know I love romance. So there's some like notable mentions of what we have so far. I'm hoping, I really love Mexican Gothic to be up there. Ray Bearer, Black Sun, other ones I would like to be up there. So we're just gonna do at least eight more. Hopefully in that three books will win supremacy. Okay, I have done all that I can. I can't take any more. I have watched 21 Christmas book hauls from last year. And from this, we have our TBR, which is very exciting. Out of all of the TBRs, there was one book that appeared on four TBRs. So this was the first book I knew I was gonna be reading. And it is The Ravens by Cass Morgan and Danielle Page. So the people that hold this were Maya from Ocean Reads, Kayla from Books and La La, Brooks Books, and Maddie from Book Browsing Blog. This is about a sorority of witches. Magical witch stuff. This is the Illuma Crate copy and it's beautiful. But I'm definitely intrigued to give it a go because I can kind of vibe with Dark Academia sorority and witches. That sounds kind of fun. This is on here predominantly because it was in the December Illuma Crate box. That's why I have it. So that's why it's made onto this list. People who, you know, receive a Illuma Crate or buy a Illuma Crate, hold it. But I think there was only three of them. Kayla, as far as I know, doesn't and bought it. So that's why it ended up being four. Now, then I did something rogue, right? I don't think I'm allowed. No, I don't... I don't... No. I'm not allowed. I know I'm not allowed. We have a lot of books tied on three people having read them a lot. We'll get into that in a second. But I noticed a trend, right? I noticed a trend. This is something that four different booktubers hauled and there were eight copies of hauled. The Saga comic book graphic novel series. Okay. So usually I wouldn't do this for series, right? There was eight different Saga volumes hauled. So a lot of different Saga volumes. That's why I've decided to include it because it was kind of abundant. I kept noticing it. But different volumes. I don't think volume one was actually hauled. We had Mel hauling volume three. Ashley from Product through Fiction hauling volume five and six. Jade from JD-Ray Reads hauling volume eight and nine. And Maddie again hauling volumes four, five and six. The second volume ends in a cliffhanger and I was so very desperate to get to this one. Saga volume six and seven. This is probably my favorite graphic novel series. I stopped volume seven and never continued and really, really want to. It's Saga volume four and five. And this follows two people from warring races where like their races completely hate each other and they are in love and have actually got married and had a child. And so they are trying to flee because not only do their races hate each other, both of their races then hate their relationship because they're considered traitors. So volume one was never hauled. And usually I have not made this rule in other ones for novels where like multiple books and series have been hauled. I'm not counting as one thing. But this was something that really surprised me. I wasn't expecting to see this on here. I didn't know it was so successful, so popular. And so I just thought, you know what? We should read this. It's something a bit different. It's something I wouldn't have picked up if not for this video. And because it felt like I was constantly seeing different volumes of it, I felt like we should give it a go. And also it's a bit different than like a novel series because it doesn't take as long to read so people are going to get through it quicker. I think the dynamics and like the context behind is a bit different. So I feel good about including it in this vlog. And I'm excited to see what I think. It's like a comic book style graphic novel. Oh, I just realized I didn't give you synopsis of this. Have I given you that already? I can't remember. A level of unprofessionalism far too much. This is a sorority of witches, basically. I think we have one new one who's entering the college, one who's been in it for a while and something goes wrong and they have to kind of save their sisterhood. Essentially is why I know about this. All I know about this is that it's set in a fantasy world and it were following a young family, a new family with a baby. That's all I know, but I'm excited to get into it. And then how many books did we have that had three people having hauled it? Hold up. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven. We had eleven different books that people, that three people had hauled, right? I'm just going to tell you them all quickly and then I'm going to tell you which one I decided to end up including in this vlog. So we had The Cousins by Karen M. McManus, A Dark Ship of Magic, A Gathering of Shadows and A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab, Days of Blood and Starlight and Dreams of Godamonses by Laini Taylor, Deal with the Elf King by Elise Kova, Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Mass, A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Mass, Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse and These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong. So I immediately got rid of The Cousins by Karen M. McManus because that was in the same on the Immacrate box that the Ravens was in. I feel like that would be like an unfair bias into a Luma Crate basically picking what I read. Then I made the controversial decision to get rid of all of the E. Schwab books, all Laini Taylor books and all of the Sarah J. Mass books because the purpose of this video and this series in general is to find out what was having a moment. Like a moment in time a year ago. Like it was having a little surge, a little moment in the sun and I feel like those authors always have a moment in the sun. So I felt like that wasn't really in keeping in the concept and the kind of idea behind the series. I felt like it wouldn't be very exciting. So that leaves us with deal with the Elf King, Black Sun and These Violent Delights. And the one that I felt like was having a real moment back then has continued to have a real moment and the one that I really just felt like you guys be most interested in seeing me read and that's why I picked it is These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong. Again another book to favorite another book to favorite this book has been just blowing up. I know this is set in 1926, Shanghai. It is a Romero and Juliet retelling where they are members of different like gangs, family gangs exist within Shanghai and this has just been so popular. So many people have loved this book and I'm really intrigued to see what I'm gonna think of it. A lot of you are wanting me to read this so it's finally happening. So that is our TBR for this video in what people were hauling last Christmas. I'm gonna start with the most popular one that was The Ravens and yeah, I'll check back in with you when I've read a little bit of this. Halfway through The Ravens and listen, I'm really enjoying it. Yes! Yes! I think this is one of like the kind of YA fantasy. It's fantastic, it's got magic in it. Books that I have enjoyed most in recent times which I wasn't expecting from this. I really was not I was kind of going into this with like very low expectations not because I thought the book was gonna be bad but just because I hadn't really heard anyone actually review it I'd heard a lot of people buy it but I'm actually really enjoying it. Like it's a really good time. I think this is such a solid YA fantasy book. So essentially, oh! Also, hang on, hang on, hang on. The author's a Kaz-Morgan and Danielle Page, right? I, for some reason, thought this was like a debut writing duo or something. No, Kaz-Morgan wrote the 100 and Danielle Page wrote is it Dorothy Must Die or something? So like these are two super successful authors, right? We're not talking like unknowns here. These are very successful authors. It's set at college or university which I really love. I love YA set at university. I don't buy into the argument that once you get to university, it's adult. Uh-uh, no! You're looking at me and you're gonna tell me that I'm wrong? Am I wrong? No, no, no, no. As someone who's experienced university, I did not feel like an adult. Especially when you're just, like, starting uni. Like, you still feel the same person you did when you were 16. I don't, I don't think you're that different. So I don't buy into that argument. I want more YA written with characters at uni. So we're following two characters, one who is just starting and one who has been within this sorority for years. She'll think she's like, American uni has four years, right? And she's third, yeah. It's essentially a sorority of witches. The sorority protects these witches so they can learn their magic together and become stronger together. And the one who's entering doesn't have any idea whether she's a witch or not. Has no idea of this and the other one is, like, deeply within the sorority. I'm really enjoying both of their perspectives. There's kind of a bit of, like, unwanted for both parties' rivalry between the older ones' boyfriend. Like, they're both kind of like, the younger ones, like, unintentionally kind of getting involved with him. And she, like, doesn't want that. But she's like, it's just, listen, it's just happening. But I'm loving the kind of sisterhood element of this. I think that's really fun. I fucking love reading about witches. We're discovering this. I like witches. I never knew this about myself until this year. But, like, I really like witchy books. I read The Year of the Witching, Once a Future Witches, This, I can't think of any other ones. But, like, I love that. I love spooky girls. Um, that was weird. I said that word. Spooky girls. I also just think it's written really well. I can't really tell a difference in writing between the two perspectives. I assume they each wrote one of them. And to me, it seems very, very cohesive between the two. And I just think it's written so well. The plot is moving along really well. Our characters are really unique. They both have interesting family dynamics. They both have interesting friendship dynamics. The whole kind of culture of sorority and these girls supporting one another, but also the elder ones testing out the younger ones to see if they are up to scratch. I just think it's really interesting. I'm listening to the audiobook and I'm really enjoying it. So, I'm having a great time. I was not expecting this from this book. But I'm glad that this video has finally gotten me to read it because I don't think I've read it for ages otherwise. Okay, I haven't read any more of The Ravens yet, but I'm popping out because Waterstones are doing 50% off all hardbacks. Every single hardback. Every single hardback, they're doing 50% off. So, listen, I don't need more books. I just got loads for Christmas and I'm going to get loads for my birthday. But I want to go have a look and I think I'm going to aim for three books. Three? I feel like that's not too much. Sure, Jan. So that's what I'm going to aim for. I'm going to go out and have a look. I don't know if the shelves will be depleted. I might get some more Penguin Costume classics. I don't know. I don't know. Okay, let's go see what they have. When I stay at home, I need you on my fire. I want you to know that every time you're along for you so much I can find my way. We got everything here. At least to stay alive and make time not be shared. Okay, so Waterstones Mini Hall, quickly. I didn't spend too long in there. A, it was so busy. It was so busy. So I didn't film a lot. Any time, oh my God, it was so embarrassing. Any time I was trying to get B roll for you guys, like I'd finished filming and then someone who'd obviously been waiting to like look at a book or get a book, like ducked in and was like, sorry. And I was like, yeah. And also my like Waterstones piss poor. I'm sorry. Smell. Did you hear me, shall we? David. Smell. Let me sleep in that room tonight. Smell. The demographic that they're coming for, not me. They're YA section, shit. They're like a thriller and crime section, shit. So I didn't have a lot of options open to me. So I didn't get a lot. I didn't get, say, if I had gone into my favourite place ever, the Leeds Waterstones, which I miss dearly, the only thing I miss about Leeds, I think I would have come out with a very different selection of books. But hey ho, I got books that I am excited about. So I got two of the Penguin at Coffman Classics. I'm slowly kind of collecting them. So I picked up two that I really want to read. I picked up Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre is one of the classics I've probably always wanted to read the most. Mara from Books Like Woe loves it. And I love her. I've always just been very intrigued by the plot of Jane Eyre. There's a lot of like Jane Eyre retellings I want to read. So I feel like I would appreciate them more if I read this. Then I'm collecting all of my Jane Austen books in these editions. I don't know. These are the vintage classic editions, which I love. But they don't have this book in it. So that's why I got it in the Coffman Classic. And I love this edition. It's so pretty. Look at it. It's yellow. This is Sanditan. You sound rather stupid to me, you know. You know, you're sort of person. You had a brain. You'd be dangerous there. Sanditan by Jane Austen. So this Sanditan was the book that she started writing and never finished. It was the last book that she was writing. This also has Lady Susan and the Watson's in it, which I'm going to be honest. I don't know much about what they are. I really want to read the introduction at the start of the book. But it says, New readers are advised this introduction makes details of the plots explicit. So I can't read that. I want to read more about what these things are. They're in this book before I read the book. But like the instructions like spoilers. So what am I supposed to do? If anyone has this copy, tell me like how bad it doesn't spoil it. Because I want to learn about the context surrounding it. Anyway, then quickly, I've been speaking too long. I got Cloud Cuckoo Learned by Anthony Doher. This is the author of All Like We Cannot See, which is one of my favorite historical fictions ever. I cried. This is one of the only books. That was one of the only books I stayed up so late to read. I was staying up till like 2 a.m. to read that book. I'd had my eye on this for a while, but it was quite expensive. But other than that, it was half price. The Watson's half price. So not three pound off. It was half price. So that's why I picked it up. I actually don't know what this is about. Oh yeah, it's about the Siege of Constantinople in 1453. So I'm very intrigued because I think a lot of the historical fiction I read is like Victorian, Edwardian, that kind of era. So I'm excited to read something different. And I also bowed to Tipper of Pressure and I got The Sondre of Achilles by Madeleine Miller. This is 20 pounds. Like this is what it retails for. I would never... Can you imagine? I would never pick that up for 20 pounds. However, for 10, I will. I will pick it up. Obviously, this has been like one of the kind of really popular books that has had a resurgence and everyone seems to love it. My own Cersei haven't read it and I told myself I wasn't going to buy this until I read Cersei, but like I did it because it was half price. So that is my little mini Waterstones haul. I think it's a pretty good one. Let's talk about the Ravens now. So I finished the Ravens finally. It took me a little bit longer than I expected to read it, but I really enjoyed it. I'm going to give it four stars. I think the sisterhood in this is amazing. I think it reads so fast-paced. You know, it's kind of got these magical elements. It's got like a thriller-esque mystery subplot, which I love when books have this kind of tension that's going on between it. Do I think that this is doing anything that hasn't been done before? No, I don't. I think it's like a pretty standard YA fantasy, but I think it's well done. I love witches apparently. Witches? Oh my God, like apparently I love witches. No, I don't think you understand. I'm up fast. I can't remember any time I've read a sorority book. I really struggled to say that word. Sorority. My mouth does not want to bend around that word. I can't remember I read a book set in a sorority that I actually really enjoyed. Sometimes I find them a bit cliche and like I went, meh. But I found the sisterhood that these characters had really lovely, but as a group, I would say it's such a big group. It's such a big cast of characters. Sometimes you like don't know who these people are. So that is a weakness of it. Like Vivi and Scarlet, the two perspectives we read from, are the important ones. And I really loved them. I really loved the arc that they went on throughout the book, particularly Scarlet. I thought her character development and the story that she went on was so, so brilliant. I will say there was quite a lot of repetition in this. You know when you start a book, the next book in a series, they'll have to subtly remind you of what happened in the previous book. It's like never very well done. Like they're trying to remind you of what happened and like you need to know it, otherwise you forget little things. But like it's always a bit like shoved in. They would do that every time we went back to a perspective. Like Vivi would keep talking about how she'd never had friends before and never had a sister like this before. Like every time we went back to her and I'm like, girl, we get it. We get it. You don't need to keep repeating it. So I don't know if that's maybe something to do with having two writers. If that's something that kind of gets lost in translation. But I felt like whenever we went back to a perspective, it was like reminding us of like what they were thinking and feeling when we last were with them. Like I was literally just with you like 15 pages ago. It's not that deep. But I just really loved the way that the story progressed. And oh my God, you guys, I kept thinking I had it and I didn't. See, I'm telling you I have the mind of a master master. I have the mind of a master. Like I kept thinking I knew where the story was going, what was happening and kind of that like the really plot sub part that was going on towards the second half of the book. I kept thinking I fucking had it and I did not. And like it kept surprising me. I kept thinking, oh, I know what's going on. And I mean like, like what? I think it's a really solid YA fantasy. I felt a bit disillusioned with YA fantasy towards the latter half of this year. I felt like it's not quite for me, but I really enjoyed the age of these characters were. But how, you know, it's a very suitable YA book, but the characters are a little bit older. I felt like that worked really well. So I really enjoyed it. I really, really enjoyed it and I'd recommend it. However, it is a duology and I will pick up the second book. But it kind of ends in a way that I'd be happy if this was a standalone. Like I don't feel a great urge to read the second book because I like where our characters ended up and how the stories ended up. I feel like it almost doesn't need it. It has been clearly set up for a sequel. So I'm not saying it's not been a set up for that. Like there's obviously routes we can go down in the sequel. But I've never really felt like this about a book before where I'm like, although I really enjoyed you, I could quite happily leave you as a standalone. Do you know what I mean? I would really recommend it. I really enjoyed it. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I kind of went into it with no like very low expectations and I was pleasantly surprised. So now I'm going to quickly read Saga Volume 1. I have not read. I don't think like this is like a comic book. Like it's not like a graphic novel. It's like a, what's the word, comic, comic, volume, whatever. Well, I know it's about this young family in this fantastical world. I don't really know much more than that. But I'm just going to go ahead and read the whole thing and then tell you what I think of it. I have not read anything like this before, but I'm very intrigued. I'm very intrigued. So let's go read this quickly. I don't think this will take me much longer than like half an hour. So I just finished Saga Volume 1 and I really enjoyed it. I actually, I don't know what I was expecting from this. I think it's pretty similar to what I was expecting, like funny humorous sci-fi. But I really enjoyed the humor in this. I really enjoyed the art style. I really, really enjoyed the kind of like found, not found family, like they're an actual family. The family dynamics in this of you know these two young lovers like just trying to protect their baby that they literally have like on the first page. Like she gives birth on the first page and then the rest is them just trying to survive and look after their kid. And I think it's just like a really imaginative, fun, vivid fantasy world. It's hard to have a lot to say about it because it's like just a short graphic novel. But I really enjoyed like a lot of the kind of world building in this. I think I wasn't expecting it to have as many like little elements of world building that it had. Like I think that makes it feel so vivid is when there's so many different elements to the world and you feel like you've only just scratched the surface. I love the art style. And that is by Fiona Staples. The family is kind of caught in the middle of this intergalactic war. And there's a lot of people that want them dead and they kind of just surviving against all odds. And I don't know, I just really loved their dynamic. I really loved the characters. I think I am going to continue on with this. And at first I kind of thought it might be something that I enjoy but don't pursue, like don't carry on with. But I felt like this would be a really fun thing to read, like not to vlog but to just kind of enjoy reading once in a while. So I think I do want to continue on. I really enjoyed the dynamics of this. I'm going to give it four stars. It wasn't like a five star. I very rarely give graphic novels five stars or comics if they're not cute. In order to get five stars you have to be cute and wholesome. Whereas stuff like this I enjoy but it's like a four star. You get me? But now we're going to start what I think a lot of you have been waiting for. Violent Delights by Khloe Gong. The thing is the Ravens was four stars then this was four stars. And if you had to ask me my prediction for going into this, I would predict this would be four stars. Like I think it's been widely loved. I think it's going to be very good in terms of writing quality but I don't think it's going to be like an all time favourite for me. I can't really see it being that. So I don't like that in vlogs when like I read three things and they're all the same rating. I like to have a little bit of light and shade. A little variation in what we're feeling because I had so many four stars in December. Like I think I've only had one five star and the rest of them were four stars. Like predominantly I've had a few lower ratings but almost all four stars where their books I've enjoyed I've enjoyed the reading experience but nothing set my world alight and if this could set my world alight that would be great but I almost, I don't see it. But anyway, I'm going to probably read the first half of this and then check in with you on my thoughts. But yeah, not 100% what short to expect but I feel like it's just going to be another four star. Okay, many hours later. Hi. Listen, me and this book, we're going on a journey. Don't be alarmed. You don't need to be alarmed but we're going on a journey. So the first 50 pages of this, I was obsessed. I was like, this is so good. Like we're meeting all these characters. We're meeting Juliet and Roma who we know. You know, they have a little bit of a past and the two opposing gangs that they represent, they're from two big families and they each represent a different one of them. They're both heirs to the throne of the gangs. I thought it was so well written. This is very clever. It's very mature YA which we'll get into. I have a few points. And I really love Juliet's character. She's a very headstrong person. Roma is more like quiet, like a quiet power that I also find very interesting. So I'm really enjoying the characters. I think the world building is great. This immediately reminded me of Jade City by Fonda Lee because that is about like multiple mafia run families and we're following kind of the heirs who are about to take over the families and kind of turf wars and stuff. And so I think they're very, very similar. So I would recommend if you've read either of these and enjoyed them, like read the other one. Maybe you'll typically read YA and you wanna try adult fantasy for the first time. And you really love like all the political maneuverings and the meetings between people and having to be like sly and get one up on each other. From this, I would recommend Jade City because they're very, very similar to me. Okay, let's talk about some things. This is something I've been thinking about a lot. I've been watching a lot of people talk about it. About YA that is trying to target adult audiences, right? Trying to target audience, I guess, like myself. I mean, am I an adult? Sometimes I don't feel like it. But anyway, trying to target adults who still read YA and who have read it since they were teens but have aged out of it versus actually trying to target young people. Now, the point is kind of mute, mute, not mute, mute because this has been so successful, right? It's been so, so successful within young people. On TikTok, it's been so successful. But I question what proportion is teenagers and what proportion is adults. I don't know. Sometimes I'm reading this and I'm like, this is old. Like this is like, this does not read like YA to me. It reads like New Adult. And I feel like it is a full, I guess, of the publishing world that New Adult doesn't exist. Now publishers and naysayers would like say that the success of this disputes my claims. But I just think we could see more stuff of this level of this nature if that kind of space existed within publishing. And I think the success of this only shows a need for that because it just reads so old to me, you know? Like that's not a bad thing. Like I've been complaining sometimes when I read YA and I'm like, oh, it reads so young. Like there's no one can win. But this isn't YA to me. This is not YA. I'm also, you know, I mentioned I love the first 50 pages. That's waning a bit. I don't feel like the pacing in this is the best. Like I'm a bit bored. Like not a lot has happened. Not a lot is happening. I feel like we could have cut this down a bit. It's quite long. It's about 440 pages. It doesn't need to be that long. It could be about 350, I think. We could have cut some stuff out because the pacing doesn't feel quite right. I'm not attached to many of the side characters. I enjoy them when we're reading about them. But I'm struggling to remember who all these different people are and all the different families. I really like, is it Kathleen, Juliet's cousin? Yeah, Kathleen. And I really like Benedict, who's Roma's, I don't know what relation. See that's the kind of thing. I wish this had a family tree or something in it because I'm getting a bit confused on that level. So we have pros and cons. People who really wanted me to love this don't panic. It's like, it's sitting at a 3.5 to 4. Something in that ballpark for me right now. I've got reading sprints right now with my patrons. So hopefully that will mean that we can speed through it and get through it. And I will check in with you in the morning on my final thoughts. But it's good. But like I'm not obsessed. I'm not obsessed. Okay, so guys. This is totally unacceptable. I'm on my way. I didn't love it. I'm really sorry. I'm going to give it three stars. For me, the biggest problem with this was the plot. I was doing so many reviews when I wasn't feeling it and all the reviews were like the ending. The ending is amazing. The ending is brilliant. And I read the ending and I was like, it just didn't work for me. Firstly, let's say the writing, gorgeous, beautiful. The fact that Chloe Gong wrote this as a university student, I could never. Well, I can never because I've been to uni and I didn't do that. It's pathetic. You are pathetic. It's amazing, right? She's an amazing writer. She has beautiful prose. Her way with language is gorgeous. And that's usually the most important thing for me about the plot. Like it was just, I was bored. I was so bored. It felt like we were kind of going in circles throughout the plot. Like the beats would be the same. We'd be doing the same things. It didn't feel like enough variety. It felt like Chloe Gong is a gorgeous writer but struggled with the plot. And like, listen, I know I'm a hypocrite, right? The Star of Sea probably doesn't have a lot of plot in it. But this book, it wasn't that it didn't have a lot of plot. It felt like it was trying to be this really fast-paced YA fantasy with so much going on, but it just didn't put it off. I just wasn't interested. That really led it down for me. Also going into this, because it is a Romeo and Juliet retelling, I thought it would be them like falling in love. But they fell in love four years ago and this is them like coming back together. Which did not work for me. Because you barely had any, you had no flashbacks, barely any information about what they were like together four years ago, apart from the fact that they played cards at the dock or some shit. Like, I don't know. So it just didn't work for me because like I am not attached to this relationship at all. You're not giving me flashbacks. You're not like falling in love now. I would have much preferred it if it was them having this kind of forbidden romance for the first time. But it wasn't. I didn't understand that decision. So it just felt like insta-lovy. Like, I didn't see them as a romance, right? I never rooted for them as a romance. I like them as rivals who are forced to work together to kind of save the town. I don't know. I haven't said this. There's like this plague going on where there's these bugs that like are causing people to like tear at their own throats, essentially. And they have to kind of work together to try and fix this situation. But yeah, I like them as rivals having to work together but not as a romance. Like that just didn't work for me. I will say the themes in this are great. You know, it does focus a lot on like colonialism and like white people trying to overtake certain cultures and trying to infiltrate them and kind of your sense of self when you are not no longer living at your original country. You kind of the sense of self when you enter like a Western society and trying to retain your sense of identity. Those are all really, really interesting themes and I thought they were done brilliantly. The themes and the writing, great. The plot and the romance, not so great in my opinion. How do you know what's good for me? That's my opinion! Yeah, I am sad. This is the last book I'm reading in 2021 and it wasn't great. I don't think I'm going to continue on with the series. I'm not going to continue on because I don't think it would be fair. I don't think I would like it. I know I said I was going to but I just as I thought more about it I was like, A, I don't need more series to read and B, you know, I don't want to read it like rate it low and then everyone else is loving it and it'd be a bit unfair. So I think I'm just going to leave it at this. I'm not going to continue on. Bit of a sad note to end the video on but at least we had a bit of a variety. So yeah, I really enjoyed this video. I really enjoyed figuring out what people were hauling last Christmas. If you liked the video please make sure you leave a like down below. I know it's been very long so thank you for getting to this point and if you've gotten to the end comment a rose emoji or the flowers on these violent delights. Comment that down below if you've gotten to the end. Thank you so much again for watching and I'll see you very soon in another video. Bye!