 Hello, hello, everyone. My name is Laura. This is my channel, Laura's Little Library, and welcome to today's video, which is an updated mythology recommendations slash mythology-based books that I've been reading recently. This is a video that I have made before of all the mythology that I had read recently, and my thoughts about it. Most of them were recommendations, so I thought I'd make an updated version of this video. Or really, I guess it's more of a than an update because there's more. And so this is a kind of video series I would like to continue doing because I love reading mythology and culture-inspired fantasy, so let's dive right into the books. So the first book I would like to talk about is Spice Road by Maya Ibrahim. This is an Arab-inspired fantasy. It uses the mythological element of Jinn from a lot of Middle Eastern mythology as one of the main characters, as well as a heavy emphasis on cultural aspects such as tea. This is the first book. It's a trilogy, I think, but I very much enjoyed this one. There's a lot of really good family relationships. I really cannot wait to dive into more world building and more information on the magic system in the coming books and so many twists and turns. This was a really good one about, you know, just a girl who is going to find her brother. You know, everyone thinks that her brother stole a bunch of their magical tea, and so she is tasked to go bring him back to their people, and she discovers that there's so much more in the world than she ever knew there was. And a lot of things about her brother and everything like that, so it's a very fun read here. Then I've got a trilogy here. The entire trilogy is out. That is The Bear and the Nightingale, and this is by Katherine Arden. This is a Russian folklore-inspired trilogy, so we have our first book, The Bear and the Nightingale, The Girl in the Tower, and The Winter of the Witch. So this all follows one main character who loves Russian folklore, and she meets some characters and some elements from folklore as she kind of defies all expectations of her being a woman in, like, old Russia. So, or growing up, she starts off young. It's kind of like her life, so this definitely is a really good embodiment of how Russian storytelling goes with the pacing and the lyrical and the writing style. It's very Russian, so. The next one I'm going to talk about, I have actually talked about the first one I believe in that previous video, but now the second book is out, and I definitely want to recommend the second one slash both of them if you haven't read them already. So that is Curse of the Spectre Queen, but more importantly, Rise of the Snake Goddess by Jenny Elder Moke. So Curse of the Spectre Queen is the first book. It uses Celtic mythology, kind of Irish mythology, and I would say it's definitely worth reading this one because the characters are amazing in this one. And then in the second one, the plot is so good, and the events and the writing is so much better. So, and you have the same cast of characters. It's very much a female Indiana Jones 1920s genderbent, like treasure hunt kind of thing, but for the sake of knowledge and archaeology. So, it does tie a lot of different mythology. This one, for example, is the Minoan mythology, and they go to the island of Crete in Greece, and that's where most of the book takes place. So, I am so excited to see what other books this author is going to come out with in the Samantha Knox series and just dive into more mythologies, especially like some of the not quite as popular ones. Next up, I did also read a duology recently of Chinese mythology, and that is Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Min Tan. The second book is The Heart of the Sun Warrior. So, this follows our main character who is the daughter of the Moon Goddess who has been banished there for stealing a potion that made her immortal and basically made her a goddess. Her daughter wants to try and free her from the moon, and so in order to do so, she leaves the moon and enters in a competition to study magic with the son of the emperor to try and figure out a way to set her mother free. So, I loved how much was pulled from mythology and how the storytelling unfolded and everything, and just there are so many different elements in this. If you are looking for a good East Asian Chinese mythology, give this one a try. If you have read that book and you're still looking for another Chinese based mythology, I would recommend Strike the Zither by Joan He. This is a very interesting take on mythology, and I don't want to say too much of why it really dips into mythology too much because I don't want to spoil any of it. It is really part of a big twist ending. So, I will just say that our main character is a war strategist, and she works for this warlord that she is loyal to, and she gets sent on a mission to infiltrate another warlord and try and like take the land for her and her own group. If that sounds fun or interesting, again, it is also a duology. I've only read the first book. I haven't quite read the second book yet, but Strike the Zither would be another one to check out. Then the final mythology book that I've read recently that I would recommend is The Witch's Heart, and this is by Genevieve. And this uses Norse mythology, so you are following our witch who has a relationship with Loki, and it's a lot of like, it deals into, it plays into Ragnarok, and like her and Loki's relationship brings about certain events that could bring about Ragnarok, and like it is a mythological story of its own right. It is based, it is using mythology to create a story rather than being inspired by mythology to write a story. So if you are a fan of Norse mythology, or if you like even Loki the TV show, if you're a Marvel fan, and you need more Loki content, this is where I went, and I think it's where you should go to. Anyway, so those are all of the recent mythology based books that I've been reading. Thank you so much. If you liked this short little video, then let me know by giving it a thumbs up. Comment down below if you have any recommendations, or if you have a specific mythology you are looking to read about. I would love to try and help you out, otherwise feel free to subscribe. I am posting videos once a week while I am super busy, so make sure you hit the bell to be notified when those videos go up. Otherwise, I have bookish social media, links down below if you can follow me and all my adventures down there. And yeah, that's everything. So until I see you all in the next video, I wish you happy reading.