 Hey friends, welcome back to my channel and welcome to February's episode of Year of Wrex, which is a series that I'm doing where every month I get personalised book recommendations from one place, one source, in order to try and have my best reading year ever. One of my big goals this year is to have a 3.8 or higher average rating for the year which I've never achieved. My average rating every year is a 3.7. So that is the aim of the game this year and the aim of this series is to hopefully by getting personalised book recommendations test out the different ways of getting book recommendations but also try and have some really good books. And for today's episode I am going to some of the people who I trust most, you. I don't know, I just don't think this is like great for me. I don't want to do it. I want to go home. Like I can't take the pressure of it. I don't think any job interview... I put out a community post a little while ago asking you for book recommendations that you think I'm definitely going to give five stars. Not necessarily your favourite book of all time but books you really think I am going to give five stars and I'm going to pick some of them. I'm going to pick three because we do three books for each episode in this and I'm going to read them and we're going to see how well can I trust you. No, if this doesn't go well I'm not going to... I'm not going to ever trust you again but I feel like out of anyone in the world you guys should kind of know my reading tastes the best, you know? Like you watch me, you see what I read, you see what I like. I feel like you'll know what I like the best. So shall we switch to me picking what we're going to read for this vlog? Oh my god I'm so nervous. Let's go. Let's find out what books you guys recommended and see what we're going to be reading. Okay everyone it's time to decide what books we're going to be reading in this vlog. There's 216 comments. How am I supposed to decide? I'm feeling so much pressure. Thank you all for taking the time to give me recommendations. I am going to read through every single comment. I probably won't show me reading through every single comment. I haven't read through them yet. We're going to read through these together and we're going to decide what three books I'm going to be reading from your recommendations. I feel a lot of pressure because you guys have given me these amazing recommendations and then I'm like oh I have to choose. And I was thinking about how I want to structure this and I've decided that I am going to from you guys take one recommendation of a book that is on my TBR that I own. Take one recommendation of a book I have never heard of. I have never heard of that book. Your recommendation is the first time I've ever heard of it and I'm going to take one recommendation of a book that I've heard of for whatever reason have not added to my TBR. So I've heard of it but for whatever reason maybe didn't think it was like super for me. The synopsis didn't super intrigue me but your recommendation convinces me. Okay shall we begin now? For the book that is on my TBR I obviously I haven't read through all of these but I saw the comments. I got notifications for the comments coming up. There were two books that are on my TBR that you guys said a lot. A lot. I saw them a lot so I think it's between this is like the easiest choice. It's between these two and they were everyone in my family has killed someone and love theoretically. Now I literally just gave Allie Hayswood another five star with check and mate. So I think we're going to choose one of these two. Let's search. Can I search? Okay love theoretically there. Love theoretically. Okay no actually only four people have said it. I thought more had said it but apparently not. Oh more people said everyone in my family has killed someone. Everyone in my family has killed someone. They're really cool who done it. I read it towards the start of the month and really think that's a good chance to love it. Oh gosh that's one two three four a six people have said that one. So by the numbers I should go over there with everyone in my family has killed someone. I'm just so scared. I feel like I feel absolutely petrified. I feel absolutely petrified at the thought of reading that book. Are you comfortable? Are you scared? You should be. But I guess I should just do it. It doesn't make me feel so nervous. Okay okay we're we're reading everyone in my family has killed someone. At the moment I'm not looking forward to reading it because I just feel so much pressure. I feel so much pressure that I like have to love this book. I am so excited for it. Okay so now we're looking for a book I've never heard of and a book I have heard of but isn't on my tbr. So it's sorted by top comments. So this is interesting because these are the ones that have got a lot of likes. Okay Piranesi. Super lyrical and atmospheric and written as diary entries. Interesting. Low pot so many vibes I think right up your alley. So I don't own Piranesi but I have always been kind like semi intrigued by it. I think there's a few times I almost bought it. So that's a possibility. Oh this one I have heard of the paper man urging other short stories by Ken Lou. They're different genres in this collection but most endure the race, immigration, humanity, parental relationships and even if you don't resonate with every story it's incredibly thought-of-breaking and beautifully written. I've had so many people talk about how much they love Ken Lou's writing. That is an option as well. For my favorite last year the spirit bears its teeth by Andrew Joseph White. It transcends genres, has strong themes and for an art YA book it actually has me on edge. Okay that's interesting. I haven't heard of that. The feast by Margaret Kennedy is a classic British mystery with an unique premise. Wow. Seven guests have perished but brought this strange assembly for a moonlit feast. Oh that sounds interesting. Wait am I like obsessed already? Interesting. Okay we're gonna think about that one. That one kind of did get me a little bit but is picking a classic crazy. I just think she's very delusional and made me possibly insane. Never let me go. Oh I don't know if I'm down for that yet. I have heard of it. It's a book I've thought obviously I've heard of it. It's a book I've thought a lot of a lot. Questions what it means to be human in a profound beautiful manner. Oh murderous spindle manner. Haven't heard of this. It's a funny Chrissy type locked room murder mystery set at a spooky haunted manor in a fantasy gas lip. Wait where monsters roam about outside and it's rainy all the time. The female emcee is a monster hunter but gets roped into due detective work. Did I mention the melodrama? There's so many good recommendations. I'm dead body gunshots. I don't know if I'm still leaning towards that classic though but that's absolutely diabolical of me. Brandon Sanderson will we're tackling Brandon Sanderson soon but not yet. Or another Piranesi and I've got a lot of likes as well. You guys really want me to read Piranesi. Oh this is how I use a time war is another one that I've been interested in but haven't. Some people have recommended that to me. I can't get that classic out of my head. Let me look at it's Goodreads writing. This is a problem. What's this Goodreads writing? 3.94 that's pretty high. Especially for a classic. Oh it does sound really interesting. Has anyone I've even friends with read it? Oh my gosh. Okay there's something about that that is sticking in my mind. I feel like I remember. Oh what is that book? I remember seeing a lot of comments come through about a book. Lonely Mirror. Lonely Castle in the Mirror. Let's see how many people have said that because I feel like I remember seeing a lot of people say that. Lonely Castle in the Mirror. There's there's quite okay there's like four people. It has some slow abyss by no means I was born. The book all over broke and healed me in so many ways. I think you enjoy this one because of the magical and book related elements. I think based on the way we're children series you might really care for the kids and their stories. How it all unfolds is extraordinary in my opinion. Lonely Castle in the Mirror. It ticked me by surprise. I read it last year. I think it has a lot of elements you enjoy. It liked portal fanciful mystery elements and made me cry. So that would go in her. Oh okay. Let me read a few more comments but I feel like in my brain I'm kind of making my decision a little bit. Oh there's loads of people. Oh I found one of the Lonely Castle in the Mirror comments. There's loads of people seconding it. Oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god. This is how you these are more people saying this is how you need a time war. I think I've got to go with this classic for Never Heard of. Some reason it's just like lodged itself in my brain and I can't I can't get rid of it. So I know going with a classic is a little bit of a risk guys but I think I could love it. For the Heard of I'm gonna go through and read through all the comments quickly the rb and then i'll be back and then we'll make our final decision okay i've come back there were no more that like super jumped out of me so other than people re-recommending ones we've already recommended so with the herd of i would say it's between piranesi this is how you lose a time war and lonely castle in the mirror on the mirror in the mirror in the mirror um okay it's not this is how you lose a time war it's piranesi or lonely castle in the mirror oh my god i don't know this got loads of five cells as well holy shit no no i'm choosing lonely castle in the mirror you guys can paint it to where we're trodden series with mystery elements making me cry i think i'm gonna go for this i think i'm gonna go for lonely castle in the mirror so our tbr is everyone in my family has killed someone the feast lonely castle in the mirror for your guys's recommendations why does this make me feel sick okay i've been filming for 16 minutes i don't know how i'm gonna edit this down into like i'm probably gonna have to cut out a lot of me like reading through the ones i do now i'm picking and deliberating just know i spent a lot of time reading all so i stopped filming just know i've been here for like 40 minutes because i like spent like 20 minutes reading through every comment um i don't know how i'm gonna edit this down but i will try we have to cut out me delivering a lot but just know i read all the comments and deliberate a lot of them i don't know what i'm gonna read first i assume actually i'll probably start everyone in my family is killed someone today which i don't like that i don't like that i feel like i want to build up to that but i think i have to start that today so yes i'll see you all in a bit once i've started reading okay bye oh my god been a couple days since i figured out what books i was gonna read and i could have started this straight away i've only started it today because i have been like doing everything in my power to avoid reading this book i am petrified i have been like paralyzed with fear absolutely paralyzed with fear of what i'm gonna think of this book because i feel so much pressure because so many people have told me not just like in the comments of me asking for a book recommendation but like so many people have told me i'm gonna love this and so many people who whose book recommendations i trust have loved this i'm just like stressing out but i have started this evening and i've got a hundred pages in i set the mood i got under my cozy blanket and i found this really cute um like bookstore cafe cozy jazz ambiance um ambiance room but like it's animated animal crossing characters and it was so cute i'll try and link it down below but it really i got the vibes going so i'm a hundred pages in i'm still i'm only feeling like i'm getting over that paralysis like i can't explain to you even when i started reading it i'm like is this funny is this funny is this funny is this funny there's not many books i've felt pressure like this do you know what i mean there's not many books because when it's a book for example like the new thursday manna club yes there's like oh my god i'm hoping i love that and it's a five star but i know rachel's was writing star i know the characters when it's a lucy foley like you know there's pressure but i i know i like lucy foley stuff i'm just thinking of like other murder mystery authors that i enjoy whereas i've never read anything from benjamin stevenson so with any new author i find it takes me a little while to get used to the writing style and i only just i'm feeling like i'm getting over that but let me tell you the plot so basically this is a very meta book where it opens up with the rules of a murder mystery a quote from the detection club which i love that it's like a murder mystery author club that i think christie was part of and then it opens up with our main character being like every one of my family has killed someone murders are gonna happen on the in this book on these pages here are the rules of murder mysteries i'm adhering to like it is so meta i i am obsessed like it is perfect everything that we work for is right here right in this moment it is just amazing it's so cool and then basically he's telling us partly the stories of how people in his family have killed people but also partly present day there is a family reunion happening like this ski resort and someone a body is found a body is found that's what i'm gonna say i'm enjoying it it's taking me a second to get into the writing style i tried out the audio book i don't think the audio book is for me i don't think i'm vibing with the audio book so i've put that down for now i'm just reading it physically i love the metaness i feel like i'm growing into the story now and i feel like we've met all the cast of characters now really in the last chapter we've only really met the all the family and it took me a while to like remember all these people like there's quite a lot of them i was like one two three four it was like eight of them but like they i got them a little bit confused yeah i'm getting over the fear now i honestly i have nothing to say to you other than like this whole first hundred pages of me making myself like jump that hurdle did any of you guys feel like this when it's a book you really think you're gonna love that it's like so hard to read it's so difficult i just did not want to do it but otherwise this video is never gonna happen so like i have to just get over it but i'm enjoying it now i'm just scared that the writing style isn't 100 percent 100 percent for me do you know what i mean like there's sometimes parts where i kind of read it and then i have to reread it just to like fully take in what happened but i mean i'm really enjoying it my expectations are just sky high my expectations are beyond realistic so i'm enjoying it i'm gonna continue reading tonight it's like eight o'clock i think so i'm just gonna keep reading tonight and get as much red as i can and in good news our other two books for the vlog have arrived that we hold them up how cute is that cover i love it the feast i'm really excited for this one the miniature charm of a baby austin what does that even mean what does that have to do with anything i really love the covers as well i feel like they've both got like they kind of like go well together anyway it's also an even better news this was my reward i had to reward myself i had to bribe myself to read a hundred pages back i was like right Megan you're gonna film once you've i haven't really hit page 100 i hit page 98 but like you know close enough i had to bribe myself and so i've got two book parcels i haven't opened one i think is a gift from my amazon wish list from you guys and one is one is a publisher a publisher sent me a book so i know what this is but i need to look at it more closely you guys but i don't know what this is so we're gonna open it together this was my reward i've been so excited all day to open these and i did not allow myself to open until i could check in with you so let's see what this is oh my god is there a note i have had it officially i've had it up to here what is it with me living i've never had this problem like this before where back when i was living at home in Essex of there not being amazon notes but since i've been here in Wales like over half of the packages you guys sent me i hasn't had a note in it but thank you so much to whoever got me a wizards guide to defensive baking by teaking fish i think it's gonna be five stars to me this is one of teaking fish's cozy fantasy ones just the font just the cover excuse me look at the gingerbread man without a sword i think maybe this one is like young adult or middle grade as well we've got Mona who's familiar is a sourdough starter had a magic only works on bread oh my god and the dead body is found on the bakery floor the assassin is stalking the streets of mona city praying on magic folk oh absolutely oh absolutely live your wild none at the end of the day right i live your wild none i am so excited to read this thank you to everyone give this to me i am still looking for a teaking fish a five star could this be it we've had like multiple four point five stars i think but no five star yet okay and then let's open this poisele from a publisher oh my gosh there's loads of things what the hell is that there's a little chocolate it's chocolate oh we've got the book and it's in a ribbon okay so this book this is an arc i've been sent oh my goodness cozy crime is dead so is lucy haig this is an arc of all the hidden monsters a grizzly murder a detective warlock with a dangerous past a girl out of her depths can they solve the case sage is an ordinary girl on a werewolf moving between worlds desperate to make sense of her life when her supernatural friend lucy is found murdered in the human domain sage is determined to be part of the investigation headed up by the attractive but arrogant warlock oren rin rinolas rinolas sage is either magical not immortal but she knows right from wrong and consent a killer like no other oh fun so this is like a ya fantasy murder mystery i'm really excited to give this one a go and there's also gonna be a romance in it okay i'm really excited there's also other stuff in here oh we got a book mark i actually need a book mark because i've lost the one i bought here in wales we've got an author's letter as well it's a modern take on traditional murder mystery don't need to tell me twice oh get out we've got a case file for one of these backs to it they know me it's almost like they know me get out oh my god i don't know if i should be looking at this there's like victim case files with photo oh my god how cool is this what is going on and it's like descriptions of them this isn't this is impeccable this may be like one of the best like publisher scent boxes i've ever received oh my goodness oh you're having a laugh said fudge finally a giant rat has been awarded a gold medal if you don't know me fudge i don't know why i'm whispering this feels like a very intimate moment fudge is my favorite thing in the world fudge is my favorite food on is that oh my goodness this is crazy and we've got a newspaper article so that's too many s's i had to go to speech therapy for s's when i was a kid i couldn't say s's okay silver serial killer strikes again oh my god this is so cool when does this book come out so i can tell you guys about it also there's more chocolates they know me so this book comes out in may so i'll definitely try and read it before that but oh my goodness god i'm just thinking about the fudge can you believe it this is so exciting okay i'm gonna go cozy up probably eat some of my fudge very kindly sent to me by chickenhouse thank you so much i'll leave a link to all the hidden monsters like waterstones page or something down below i'm very excited to read this and thank you so much for this very kind package this is like like i said one of the best packages i've ever received so i'm gonna go cozy up and i will let you know we're going for a walk tomorrow i don't know if i'll see you before then but um i'll let you know when i've read some more of everyone in my family has killed someone and what i thought okay okay we went for our walk yesterday i don't know what clips we got of it but i remember on one part we were on this boggy part we got unlost and we were like we have to just walk this way because we know that's the vague direction of where we are parked is and i thought it was gonna die and tom starts filming me he's like it's so picturesque and i'm like fucking if you don't stop filming right now i'm going to murder you i'm going to murder you so that's like murder you saw in my eyes there i remember thinking i'm about to beat this bitch up i'm now 250 pages into everyone in my family has killed someone i'm i'm enjoying it but i the moment don't feel like it's gonna be a five star but i'm gonna say it's not without it's not out the realm of possibility it's not impossible that i guess because i can't even speak i'm overwhelmed this book makes me feel very overwhelmed it's not out the realm of possibility it could get a five star depending on how this ends i've i've discovered what the problem is the writing style is not 100% for me in that kind of non the way you can't pin down where you're just like i'm not reading this easily i'm not falling into this book like there is a bit of friction between me and the writing style so that's not me saying the writing style is bad there's certain writing styles we all vibe with and there's certain writing styles we don't all vibe with i've spoken about this a hundred times but writing style is the first barrier to me enjoying a book so even if i can say the plot in this is five star potential the meta-ness the kind of taking apart and breaking the murder mystery genre is absolutely five star potential if i'm not easily it's all i'm not enjoying the writing style i'm finding it friction i'm finding it difficult i'm finding it difficult to read at times i'm not finding like i i read it smoothly does that make sense and so that is causing a bit of friction between me and the book but i am still really enjoying it i'm loving and i knew i'd love it i'd love i'm loving the meta-ness of it like the way we know on what pages murders occur and he like reminds us of it he's like girly remember a murder's gonna happen in three pages like oh you know or there's this thing about a plot hole that he said at the start and there was a point in the book i was kind of like feeling like things weren't making sense i was like this isn't all adding up and i was doing a little bit confused but then a couple pages later he was like you might ever remember i said there was a plot hole that i could drive a truck through that was in the last section so even though i don't know what the plot hole was my spidey senses were tingling that something wasn't right here but now i know it's what the book's for it was like intentional i'm really really enjoying it i'm gonna continue on this series i already know but there's something about the writing style that just me and air on getting along we're not besties do you know what i mean i'm not saying it's bad i'm saying for me personally we're not vibing so i'm definitely gonna try and finish this tonight and probably start our next book tonight as well i've got like 120 pages left so i am going to gonna close it up and try and finish this now and i'll let you know my thoughts when i'm done okay i've gotta be honest i think this is a 3.5 for me and that makes me so sad to say i feel completely crushed right now i'm gonna cry like this is such an anticipate release for me and it's going to be a 3.5 i'm really disappointed in this now here's the thing a 3.5 is not a terrible rating but obviously i'm going to be talking about it through my disappointed lens the real issue for me here is the writing i don't think there's an issue with the plot i don't think there's an issue with the characters i don't think there's an issue with the murder mystery i don't think there's an issue with the metanus what is going on with this hair by the way can you calm down yeah i don't think there's any of that there's just something about the writing it didn't work for me and not the parts where he's being humorous or like playing into the metanus of it i liked the humor i liked the metanus it was the bits in between that didn't do it for me it just felt clunky it felt like it was stumbling over itself i don't know how to explain it but there's just certain writing styles that just don't it needs to flow smoothly that is the first port of call for me i know it's not for everyone i've spoken about this so many times where i think there's writing plot and characters and they all fall on different orders for us in terms of what is important i'm not saying for me the writing is like the thing i'm looking out for the most but i think it is the thing that impacts my enjoyment of a book most if i don't vibe with the writing style so that was really the problem with this and it also reminded me a lot of the seven deaths of evlyn hard castle with by steward turton which i think i gave like a three similarly which is another very meta murder mystery and i think this is a trap some of these fall into where they get a bit too like clever for themselves like there were just moments in this where i felt like okay you're you're trying to do too many layers here that it's not quite working you're getting a bit too clever you're getting a bit too convoluted for the reader but it doesn't really feel positive because i know then that's not a death sentence for a book for me i gave seven deaths in the hard castle like a three but then i gave death in the dark water by steward turton the five so like you know that's a positive correlation that we can hope to get but yeah i liked the reveal i liked i'm gonna continue with the series i am gonna add this to my series spreadsheet my first series i'm continuing so far this year but it's a tentative one where if i don't like the second one i probably won't continue but i liked this i enjoyed elements of it but it took me too long to read i just the writing and me were just like we're butting heads you know i mean it we weren't getting along so i'm so sad i really thought i was gonna love this i really thought i was gonna love this alas i'm gonna start this evening i'm gonna read as much as i can of lonely castle in the mirror to break up the two murder mysteries that we have so i'm going to get into this one i don't really know what to expect from this other than you guys said it's kind of magical realismy and it's gonna make me cry and it's like kids at a school i think or like it's about some young children i'm really excited i'll check in with you when i'm about halfway through because i think this is one where i'm gonna have to have some time to figure out i'm thinking of it but i love the cover and i think this is something a little bit different for me it feels like something based on what you guys have said based on things i already enjoyed but like pushing me out of my comfort zone a little bit so i'll chat with you tomorrow morning when i'm hopefully a little bit of the way through but i'm very excited i'm very excited to begin this i'm gonna dive into it this evening and see what i think okay i'm halfway through lonely castle in the mirror and i'm enjoying it but i'm not loving it oh my god what is happening i'm a little bit concerned you guys should know me better than anyone there should be 35 stars there should be 35 stars no i like i like the book i like the book i'm saying i don't like us not getting 35 stars because i don't think this is gonna be a five star either i mean there is the element of i chose from your suggestions but i tried to pick suggestions i mean the feast only one of you said but these are the ones quite a few of you said and it's okay so basically you've got these seven children who go through mirrors we're following one in particular what's her name i forgot her name i'm so sorry co-croy we're following co-croy in particular but there's seven children who've gone through mirrors in their rooms to this castle in the mirror where they get to live for a year and there's this wolf queen who's like this little child with a wolf mask on who tells them that if they find the secret key they a wish of theirs can be granted and then the castle will close but they've all kind of decided not to look for the key and it's more them going there every day and getting to know each other and co-croy doesn't go to school she's got a lot of trauma around being bullied at school and so she's kind of like she hasn't gone to school for a long time and she's got a lot of fear around that and we're getting to know these kids and they've all got issues they've all got things that they're struggling with and the stories that kind of gained to know them now his thing i am enjoying the writing i am enjoying the writing i think it's so interesting this is translated from japanese and i think it's so interesting how different how how the cadence of different languages have and the writing styles of different languages have oh the sun is really doing me a favor right now oh my goodness when they're translated into english i was speaking about in my series series i need to finish video that i posted the other week how i really like the way that swedish is translated or the kind of inherent writing style that sweet the swedish language has when it's translated english obviously doesn't different authors have different writing styles but i do think there's the certain similarities when translators translate the books and i think japanese definitely has a writing style where it's kind of like a little bit detached i think that's a bad thing i think i often enjoy that writing styles a little bit detached it's a little bit more matter of fact it doesn't often like have as many descriptors as some other languages or like flowery languages more to the point there's moments where i think this writing is really beautiful and there's moments where i feel like the detachness is hampering me from getting more attached to these characters does that make sense i mean some of my favorite books like The Traveling Cat Chronicles is one of my favorite books because that's translated from japanese but there's just something about the way that this book is told there's like no plot and i can tell we're gearing up to an emotional ending but it doesn't travel in cat chronicles i felt like emotionally attached throughout the whole thing this i feel like it's just the ending is gonna make me cry like i'm pretty sure i'm gonna cry at this book but like you know i cry i really know it's not hard to make me cry if that's what your intention is but there are elements of it that i'm really enjoying i'm really enjoying following kokoro i'm really enjoying the characters or meeting i'm really enjoying the weirdness of it like the kind of weird setting that we're in but there is no plot and i don't know if i'm attached to the characters enough to care about that but i am really enjoying it i can see why so many people have loved it but i'm really enjoying it maybe strong i'm enjoying it but i also don't feel excited to pick it up right when i've read some books this year that i've really enjoyed i feel excited to read them this feels like a chore it feels like work you know to get this video up i'm not like reading this i'm like wow like this is really doing it for me you know but i think i've figured out at this halfway mark i think you kind of are meant to figure out what's going on here i've connected the two dots you didn't connect shit but i've connected them so i don't know it's okay the feast better fucking pull out the stops because remember in order to be deemed a success this vlog has to have an average rating of 3.8 and i think the feast is going to have to get quite a high rating in order for that to happen because this is feeling again like a 3.5 so yes it would have to get a 4.5 or a 5 the feast if that is the right thing i give this we'll see we'll see it could be higher it could be lower we'll see it but i'll check with you once i finished it i'm just gonna knuckle down and try and read it all but right now it's okay it's okay right i have to make a confession i'm giving this three stars i just really don't know how much more i can take taking the front of so much please don't be mad please don't be mad this just didn't do it for me in the way it seems to done it for so many people i did not cry i will say i think the last third is the strongest part of the book but by that point i was just disconnected like i love what it does i love what it's saying about mental health in children particularly in Japan i think it's very relevant to society in Japan there's kind of an author's note about that at the end and that means i think this is an incredibly important book to be written and i think it's probably opening up a lot of really important discussions but as a book for my personal enjoyment it's a three i'm so guys what is happening so for the videos i've done this year that aren't like year of rex where i'm really trying to get my best books have been the ones where i've done better rating wise ha oh dear obviously a lot of people love this book right so many of you recommend this so many people have enjoyed this so like i think i would still recommend it to you guys to try out but it just wasn't for me the kind of slow i think at first i love a slow no plot book but i have to love the writing and i just did not love the writing in this i'm so sorry i don't really want to talk about it i don't really want to talk about it it's just a three i can understand what it's doing and i can admire it i think if this was a novella it could have been a four star maybe even higher like genuinely i think it is how long it is and that last third is really the strongest part you really don't need a ton of the rest of the book like it does it goes around in circles and tells us like very much the same things again and again and it's so slow i think if this had been 150 pages shorter i would have enjoyed it so much more personally i think yeah i think i needed to be shorter for my personal enjoyment but so many people enjoyed it i don't want to talk about anymore i don't have anything else to say to you i'm just really sad and embarrassed that i even love this like i'm i'm really and i'm sad about this video like you guys shouldn't be better than anyone what what's going on also sorry i know i've cut this head awkwardly but i'm just about to go live and do the games i'm a patrons oh can you focus thank you but did anyone else know from the halfway mark exactly what the big twist was because i did like exactly and i think we should have that conversation and i've read some i've read quite a lot of these i thought it was like obvious like everyone would know what the big twist was like that you kind of know reading it but loads people like oh i had no idea what the twist kept me guessing until the last moment i think it's incredibly obvious from the chapter the last chapter i'd read and i checked in with you for the first time i knew what the twist was so that kind of affected my enjoyment as well like it wasn't a surprise so i didn't feel on the edge of my seat to continue reading anyways okay and now we have to get into the last book which is one only one of you had recommended to me from what i can see and i'd never heard of before so really we've gone down in chances have you ever watched pointless those of you watch pointless which is the show that i first got introduced introduced Richard Osman to because he was like the expert on it because he's very clever in the final round they have like a category that they this is a very much tangent but in the final round they have a category where they have to try and find a pointless answer if you have not seen pointless they've asked a hundred people they've given a hundred people a hundred seconds to name and then it's like footballers who played in this wild cup final or something whatever and you're looking for the answer that no one said and like in in the final round they they say okay which which answers you think is most likely pointless and they put that at the at the end right and then they like they go up in most likely right so they start with the ones that's least likely i've flipped on his head so i started with the one that was most likely to be a five star then this one because i'd heard of it and a lot of recommended and now we're like down to the least likely to be a five star or like even anything above a three by five and um we need it we need it this is essential this is a crisis i've got a i've got a games night of my patrons in like 20 minutes so i'm gonna start the audiobook before that and just start to get the initial vibes and then hopefully get about halfway through tonight and check with him with you first thing in the morning but i'm a little bit concerned right i'll see you in the morning everyone please cross your fingers your toes that i enjoy this book how has this happened you guys need to answer for your crimes i know i was in a similar filming situ yesterday but uh i just the idea of taking all my camera equipment downstairs was too much i've been lying there for like 30 minutes trying to make myself do it when i should just film and talk to you i'm feeling like i'm coming down with something i'm feeling very burnout i don't know no burnout is the right thing i get like often pains in my neck or my glands when i'm kind of like overtired and that's just how i'm feeling there's been a lot going on behind the scenes i haven't really spoken to you about um in life anyways let's talk about this i'm halfway through the feast it's okay oh no i don't want to even upload this video can i like redo it can i pick three other books and like pretend it's never existed it's been the worst week of my life actually oh i'm so sorry because it's fine it's probably gonna be somewhere between a three and a four again like a three or three point five maybe a four if it picks up but it's okay listen i'm going to classic which is something so basically the first chapter we find out that this hotel by the seaside on the cornish cliffs fell into the sea and i think there's at least seven bodies trapped underneath the sea underneath all the rubble basically and then we go back in time and we're kind of going through each day i think in the week leading up to the hotel morning to see meeting these characters and we've been told that like it talks about in the opening how each of the characters i think who end up falling into sea representing one of the seven deadly sins and so the mystery is kind of figuring out who is going to end up being the people who fall into the sea who is going to end up being what deadly sin and what have you and it's fine it's one of you some other stuff i've read sometimes christie does this to a lesser degree but like there's certain stuff in classics and books of this era where like it doesn't have the same hook that a lot of our mysteries now do even christie would sometimes do this like you'd have like the it would sometimes take you a while to get around to the hook the hook wouldn't be at the beginning and so i'm halfway through and i'm just feeling a little bit meandering i'm enjoying the writing i think it's got a very funny witty style of writing that is very also poignant for the kind of characters that still exist today with this being written like what 70 years ago it has a certain charm to it but i think it's different than what i expected when i read the synopsis i thought it was gonna be much more mystery it's much more classic with like a hint of mystery do you understand what i'm saying i was really excited for this one like i saw it and i was like absolutely i'm reading that but i just don't know if i care oh i'm so upset i don't want to talk about it let me pretend i care okay i'm done yeah i don't know if i care about what's happening and what happens okay i don't have many opinions i'm gonna finish it and hopefully because i'm fed up of this vlog where you guys are some of the people i trust the most not being successful i feel like it's my fault i'm feeling guilt over the books that i chose um but hopefully if i finish it i will have different things to say so i'm gonna try and finish it maybe this evening maybe tomorrow morning and yeah i'll let you know but everyone fingers crossed that it it starts to pick up a bit hey friends i finished the feast by margaret kennedy and i'm gonna be giving this a 3.5 there was a lot that i admired about this right i think by the end the story that it's told and the kind of cast of characters is portrayed and their stories have been told is very effective and kind of the idea of the seven deadly sins by the end it does really all come together i was just a bit bored it's the truth this should not be classed as a mystery this is like a classic i wouldn't say it has a particular genre it's more like literary classic with a hint of a mystery to it as an objective book i can say i think this is a good classic right i think the writing is witty it's fun i think the cast of characters by the time i got to know one of them i think a good character there was a few too many i think there was a few children i was like who are you like when they mentioned that didn't need to be part of the story there's a few too many characters we could have whittled it down a bit because it's not just the seven who pass away in the hotel when the hotel collapses it's like loads more there's so many characters so i think there was a bit too many but yeah i can admire what this book does i was just bored reading it and the part of that is maybe like you know i'm not the biggest classics reader i but i don't know if that is it i don't know if that is it so the back it compares it to jane austin don't see that sorry and then on the faba website who publishes this it says perfect for act of the christie fans with a dash of richard osman that is not correct i don't see that comparison i can see the christie comparison but it's like the christie the parts of christie i don't really enjoy as much it's it's like it's from the same era i thought that's really the only the only similarity and there's certain i guess conventions of books that existed then that don't exist now that feel a bit different to us and thus we think it's like the style of the author but really it's the style of the period so i can see the comparisons there but yeah i can objectively say i think this is a good book but and i enjoyed it by the end i was like okay yeah but am i gonna remember this no am i gonna think about this by the end of the year no am i gonna you know have any lasting attachment to this book no so at the end of this vlog having read these three books that means that your episode your greatest episode of year of x has an average rating of 3.33 which does put you at the top of the leaderboard that is better than what paying a professional got me but alas it's not deemed a success because you have to get a 3.8 or above to be deemed a success in terms of the goals of this vlog i don't know what happened guys did i pick the wrong books is it on me i tried to pick ones that were popular i mean this one only one person said but these two were popular a lot of you guys recommended them so i don't know what went wrong it's my fault i want to take responsibility but i don't want to thank you guys for all your recommendations i'm sure there were many of five star amongst the list i just did not end up picking them but let me know if there are any that you thought i should have picked should i have picked piranesi instead should i have picked love theoretically instead maybe this whole vlog would be entirely different and i made those choices but um yeah thank you guys for watching this vlog i hope it wasn't too painful um don't worry i still love you if you feel like this has happened and yeah i'll see you guys soon in another video bye