 So I had a series last year when I had a big goal to like finish as many series as possible and to get to a really low amount of currently reading series. I had a series called the video series called series wife howl where I tried to finish loads of book series in that video. And I haven't bought it back this year because my series goal this year is just to get to a net negative. So just be currently reading one less series than I was at the start of the year. How's that going Megan? Not great. So I figured it's time to bring back series wife howl, okay? It's time. We need this. This is essential. This is a crisis. So what I thought we'd do this time is finish the highest rated series on my TBR. So what I did was I went to my own shelf on Goodreads. I sorted it by highest rating and I scrolled until I saw a book that was in a series. It didn't matter whether it was the third book in the series, second mega series, whatever. I scrolled until I found the highest rated book on my TBR that was in the series and the idea was I was going to finish that series. The only thing I excluded from the count was graphic novels because A, that would mean this video would be really short because graphic novels don't take long to read and B, I find that graphic novels are rated higher. They're kind of people more generous. I feel like with a graphic novel rating. So it had to be a novel and guys, I wanted to guess what the book was because I was actually really surprised. I was not expecting it to be this book. So my thinking going into this was that it was going to be like a long series where maybe it's like the fourth book in a series because series, as a rule, this doesn't always work because you know last book in a series can suck but usually as a series goes on it gets a higher rating on Goodreads because by the time you're on like the fourth book in a series the people reading that are the people who have enjoyed the previous books. So they're likely to like the writing style of the author. I thought it'd be like the fourth book in a series but it's actually the second book in a duology and that is Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo. This is the sequel to King of Scars. Now technically I guess this is a duology but if you think about it this is like the seventh book in the whole Grishaverse world and the more you think about it I guess it doesn't make sense. Like first I was like what? It's a skit mate. The more you think about it it makes sense because if you're reading this book you are likely to have read the um what are they called? Shadow of Barring Trilogy and the Six of Crows duology. You may have only read like maybe one of them. Do you know what I mean? You may have just read Six of Crows then got into this but this does spoil both of those series so I feel like actually the people who are reading this or the people who have read all the Grishaverse books before it and know that they like Leigh Bardugo's writing style like this world what have you. Okay so we're gonna be finishing off Rule of Wolves and finishing off this duology. How do I feel about this? I don't know. I didn't love King of Scars. I think I gave it like a 3.5 I want to say. We're following now this is difficult because I don't want to spoil anything from the previous two series. I'll try hard not to. We're following three characters. We're following Nina from Six of Crows and we're following Nikolai and Zoya from the Shadow of Barring Trilogy. Nina is from Six of Crows which if you know is like a group of friends on this heist or whatever this is set after that duology and Nina is a what is she? She's like one I can't remember. She's like one of the Grishaverse powers. There's like different levels of magic. I don't remember. I don't remember love. I don't remember at all. There's like all these different powers. I can never remember the names of them and which ones are which I'm going to be honest. I love the Six of Crows duology but like Shadow of Bone isn't my favorite and this feels a little bit more leaning Shadow of Bone because then you got Nikolai and Zoya from that. What should we say? Nikolai the Prince? I don't think that's a spoiler. You don't meet him to the second book in the series sorry but I don't think that's a pretty spoiler. Nikolai the Prince and Zoya is like a member of the army. I guess can we say that? I don't know. I never know who's like just another character in the book actually and who's like a member of the army like I never you know we're all if you're on the team in Grishaverse and Shadow of Bone you're like in the army in my opinion you know. So yeah we're going to be reading Roar of Wolves and I don't know how to feel about it but I'm going to try and enjoy it. I'm going to keep this vlog non-spoilery for both Shadow of Bone and Six of Crows in Cookingdom. I would be talking more about how I feel about the book, the writing, etc. So I'm going to read like maybe the first 100 pages and then check in with you. I think I'm probably going to have to reread a recap of King of Scars as well just to resituate myself as to where we are but yeah I'm nervous because this does feel this geology feels more like the Shadow of Bone series which I don't love as much but I have heard good things about the ending of this and where it leaves the whole Grishaverse so I'm excited for that. I prefer really not to not to speak. I am 100 pages into Roar of Wolves and um I was reading this in the garden right having a lovely time relaxing the garden but I was bored and I was so bored that I decided that the best course of action was just to go to sleep instead so I just slept for an hour outside in the garden because it was more interesting than reading this. Here's the thing right I shouldn't be feeling that with a book that is essentially a seventh book in a series right where I should be really attached to these characters and this world building but there's something about this book that feels very similar to the Shadow and Bone trilogy where it just feels like I don't think Grisha world stuff actually is something that interests me and I've been reading it for a long time at this point. Six of Crows and Creekingdom I feel like are much more focused on the plot and focused on those characters rather than like you could take it out of the Grisha world really apart from some of them having powers like you can take it out of that world whereas this is much more about like political machinations and like world building and like characters from the first trilogy I just don't care about. You've been very very harsh. Nice to meet you Kelly. I'm not that interested I don't want to DNF because I know that this book I think is gonna have important things happen in it particularly maybe towards the end if you ever want to read a third Six of Crows I believe this may set it up from whispers I've heard which I do want to read a third Six of Crows so like dear god I'm gonna have to read all this back but I'm not loving it I'm not loving it I just I don't know if Nina is the character from the Six of Crows trilogy that I want to follow more on her own or if this I don't think this feels like the right and I said this with King of Scars I don't feel like this feels like the right way for her story to go I feel like so much happens to her no one can spot anything when Six of Crows in Cook Kingdom especially you know towards the end Cook Kingdom all the characters go through stuff but Nina does in particular and I just don't know if I vibe with like the direction her story and her character go in this book that's all I'll say if you've read them maybe you get what I'm saying but I just don't know if I enjoy that and I love Nina as a character but I'm not sure I love her as much outside of that group the group in Six of Crows is such a strong group they all bring great different stuff to the table and her out of that just feels wrong it feels wrong I don't like it I don't like it and I should care more like already big stuff is happening and I should care more but I don't I'm just gonna listen to your book and read this quickly because I can already tell I don't think I'm gonna love it who knows maybe it'll turn around and I won't fall asleep in the next 100 pages if I don't fall asleep it's already a wind okay I got to page 250 tonight which isn't bad you know like that's not terrible I'm I'm proud of myself um it it um I'm enjoying it a bit more now a little bit more not a lot more but a little bit more I'm like the direction that is going in kind of I've got a bit more interested in some of the storylines I mean here's the thing right this is always my problem with split storylines split perspective where they're not following the same storyline books where like we've got these two different storylines going on one with Nicholeine's all his perspectives and then one with Nina's perspective kind of on her own and like I don't like it as we know but it's not like a broken record but I have discovered that's not something I love but like if it's from an author that I enjoy a lot like I do tend to like Lea Bardugo I've given her probably like a one and a half star I've given her many five stars you know we we have a turbulent relationship but it's one I can't quit like I'm gonna read all of her shit I'm gonna read everything Lea Bardugo puts out she's one of those authors for me so like I'm you know willing to just experience it here's the thing right also I feel like when I'm excited for a book so many books could have a split timeline in them and I just like wouldn't know from it they're being pitched to me like so many books you don't know this like I can say oh I can avoid them but unless someone says to me oh Megan that book has a split timeline I don't know to avoid it okay that's a separate issue like I was saying before I went on my tangent I know my tangents are bad guys I just went on another tangent to talk about tangent and then another one like I was saying when you have this split timeline it takes me double the time to get invested in the storylines because we're spending half the time that we would in a normal story arc with each of the timelines and I just don't like it it's just not for me you know and it just always nine times out of 10 19 times out of 20 it hampers my enjoyment of a book you know so I'm starting to get more invested in the storyline something terrible just happened that I was hoping would never happen in this series but it happened but I think I'm not gonna cry like I'm not that invested with these characters and they are there are so many characters particularly on like the Grisha verse like Shadow and Bone side of the storyline there's just too many people and I still don't know who any of them are like I couldn't picture any of these people really and I've watched part of the show if you guys don't know I watched like the first three episodes of Shadow and Bone and then I stopped because I thought it was cringe so I haven't watched any of the rest of it I didn't like it yeah it's fine I'm gonna continue on and then we finish another series and it's like the best day of my life to finish on the series but I'm kind of at this point just reading this so that I can read future Grisha verse books particularly if they focus on the Six Crows characters and I know all of the other like kind of context and factors at play that could influence that book good morning I have just woken up no I haven't just woken up but it is the morning but I did tell a bit of a lie there I've been reading a little bit this morning and I thought I would chat you whilst I do my skincare so where is the book hang on my fingers are wet now I am about 450 pages so I've only got about 130 pages left can you see where my bookmark is there we go that's how much I've got left yeah I'm 450 pages in and my just like overwhelming feeling is I'm not like not enjoying it like I'm enjoying it but I'm also bored do you know what I mean because it just feels like fine I feel like we have developed the plot has got a bit too convoluted hang on I'm running out of this serum I'm gonna have to dig it out I feel like the plot has got a little bit too convoluted for its own good we've now got like kind of like four or five different storylines going on and I just feel like it is struggling to keep all of them in check a little bit do you know what I mean I think it just could be a bit more streamlined and I think this is a problem that does happen when an author becomes as successful as the Bardugo has so I'm also this if anyone has this eye cream from Glow Recipe the packaging is stupid because once it was like half empty like you can't the pump doesn't get it out because it just hollows out within the middle so I always have to try and like every day try and get more into the video and you can't like dig it out because the thing isn't long enough it's stupid it's really bad packaging I like the eye cream but I'm never repurchasing it because the packaging sucks ass guys there's so much product left in there there's like a quarter of the product left and I can never get any out yeah I think this is a problem that does happen when an author becomes as successful as the Bardugo has because publishing just kind of lets authors do their own thing and maybe doesn't edit them as much I feel like this all could have just been streamlined a bit and made for easier understanding you know there's also scenes right they're like if you know if you're a fan of the books you're gonna enjoy there's stuff happening now with kind of like characters reappearing that's been happening throughout the book like we get a scene or two with like some favorite characters who are now currently out of the store but then popping up and appearing and like I get it but it feels a bit fan-servicing it reminds me of like the Avengers you know like I don't know I don't watch Marvel films anymore really but I feel like you know you have certain scenes now in those films and like the Marvel films that are dressed to like please the fans versus actually that being what's good for the plot like I enjoy it but it kind of is like I don't know fan favorites popping up just because the Bardugo knows it will make the girlies happy not because it actually makes sense in the plot so that's kind of how I'm feeling now I guess I don't know I'm not not enjoying it but I'm also bored again I fell asleep at like eight o'clock last night because I was bored I didn't want to read anymore even though I have to read it in order to like go all the reading done I have to I need to read this and another book this weekend but yeah Tom was like you fell asleep like eight o'clock like on top of the covers I was just feeling so bored I was like you know what I would just rather roll over and go to sleep right now so that's what I did I probably give it a three at the moment and I reckon it is gonna be a three so anyways I'm gonna go finish it and I will yeah check in with you once I'm done okay so I finished it and I actually finished this yesterday and I held off on coming up with what my opinions are because I here's the thing right the ending there's simultaneously things happen at the ending that I liked there were a little bit gag that made me laugh there were moments I think you saw me laughing in the clip like there were moments at the end of this that I enjoyed so part of me was like oh I'm gonna give it a 3.5 and round up to a 4 in Goodreads but the more I think about it um it's a 3 it's the truth because also at the end some pretty momentous things happen so like something really big happens and it's really it's really rushed right so something at the end after the big kind of climax of the book something happens and you're like okay that's pretty momentous it's pretty rushed and then at the end they're deciding to like undo that thing or try to undo that thing and I'm like that literally happened 10 pages ago why that's too rushed so I'm gonna end up giving this a three I didn't love it do I think that this should be the highest rate series on my tv art no no but it is because like if you're reading this you're deep in the Grishaverse you're a deep Grishaverse girly like there's no getting out at this point so I understand why like I understand the reasoning behind why it is so highly rated but I just thought it was convoluted I know I think about it I'm annoyed at some of the like character reappearances because they didn't feel like they were doing those characters and their respective storylines justice it was more just like whoa look who's here gag you know what I mean I didn't think it did them justice I don't think it's bad listen me and Lee have an interesting relationship but also there's just certain characters that are brought into this particularly with like okay shadow and bone characters six of crows characters right this geology does mix them up a bit and especially this book does make them more intertwined I don't want that because I am just a six of crows girly I'm not a shadow and bone girly I don't really care about a lot of these characters no that sounds bad guys and forgive me for saying but that's how I feel I'm popular opinion but I don't really like I'm not as attached them and I so I don't want the walls to become super conjoined I can deal with a bit of crossover but like I want them to be fairly separate and I'm worried for what certain events in this means for the next six of crows so we're probably gonna get at some point it might be years and years to come but like I think the next coronavirus book is gonna be at six of crows three I'm pretty sure so I don't know how I feel about how some things are left off with certain characters left off I'm nervous and I'm not happy about it it's gonna get a three but let's take it off of my series spreadsheet this is always a momentous occasion when I get to do this it's like everything in my life has led up to this moment okay we got to scroll down where is she where is she all the ones in bold are the ones where I only have to read one more book oh shit I did the wrong thing one more book to finish the series and the ones underlined are the ones I own so let's fill that with the color and then cut that go down here to completed series listen I'm not doing too bad guys four series finished this year and one DNF'd is that right like one that I was planning on continuing DNF'd I don't count the ones that I started this year because that doesn't affect our overall number but I did decide to DNF one series that I had been currently reading so that's like we're minus five and how many have we started one two three four five six okay at the moment we're only plus one series that's not bad that's not bad I can live with being only plus one series in terms of net change so far this year the middle of the year because I feel like we can undo that yes I am gonna start more this year but being only plus one is a positive and I feel like I could finish a few more series in the next few days not a few days few months yeah I hope you guys enjoyed this video and me reading the highest rated finishing the highest rated series on my tbr listen another series ticked off and we must be grateful we must be grateful for that so I hope you guys enjoyed it let me know what you think of rule of walls and the whole Grisha verse wild if you have read them I'm sure many of you have if you've gone to the end comment a wolf emoji because it was rule of wolves you know rule of wolves so comment the wolf emoji down below if you got to the end thank you guys so much for watching I'll see you very soon in another video bye