 keep wanting to see June wrap up. it's not even June today. no no no no no hey guys it's Liana and I'm here today with my May wrap up. so the first book that I read in May was the heroes by Joaba Cromby. I have a full non-spoiler review for this on my channel already so if you want to know what I think of it that is available to you. if you don't want to know what I think of it, Loki don't know why you're watching my wrap up. I don't want to talk about it too much again. if you want to know my full thoughts watch the review but briefly in a nutshell I liked it a whole heck of a lot more the second time around. if you want to know why then check out the review which again is known spoiler. the next book that I read was Assassin's Quest by Robin Hobb. this book I also have a full non-spoiler review for on my channel. if you want to know what I think of it go watch the review. if you don't want to know what I think of it then don't watch the review. but once again briefly I did really enjoy this. I do think I like Royal Assassin better. I say I think I gave Royal Assassin 5 stars I gave this for but I still thought it was a solid conclusion to this trilogy. Robin Hobb continues to blow me away. I am so stoked to be reading the live-ship traders series this summer with Lara. I don't know if we'll read the whole trilogy this summer but we're starting it for sure. I love Fitz's story and I keep hearing about how live-ship traders out of all of the series within the realm of the elderlings is the one that really expands the world so like as much as I love Fitz being in Fitz's head for many many many pages I am looking forward to being not in Fitz's head for a bit and seeing some more of the realm of the elderlings beyond just you know bucky but whatever. Fitzy Fitz decided to go. anyway I really did enjoy this. I'm having a great time reading Hobb and yeah. The next book I read was Thirteen Fancy by Jared Diamond. Didn't do that coming. It wasn't on my TBR. I mean I obviously could have read Sword of Gaia again which spoilers I didn't read but not spoilers because I low key foreshadowed that I would not be reading Sword of Gaia again this month or last month or whatever in my vlog. Anyway I did pick this up which has been on my TBR longer because my roommate slash friend in college was also sitting at their apology just like me and she gave me a copy of this book for a birthday. I forget if it was like during college or right after college but she gave it to me and I did start reading it then but I never finished it and this isn't actually the copy she gave me. I don't know what happened with the copy she gave me. It's probably on my parents house somewhere but I bought it myself another copy of it because I was like oh yeah that book I really do want to read that book. So I did now and this was written in 1992 so it was old even when she gave it to me so some like stuff in here is outdated like we have since learned new things or the numbers have changed or whatever so if you were to read this you'd want to double check any like facts that are cited here because they may have changed but overall I still think it's a really worthwhile read even now like even though a few details have changed because overall the project of it is to kind of look at what makes humans human or what is it that makes people that makes humans think that there's something different about humans that makes them human and therefore different from or better than animals. So there's various ways that he approaches this various lenses through which you can kind of discuss this or come to some kind of understanding biologically, linguistically, historically, culturally etc etc and again some things have changed since when he wrote this either like information we have learned things that this is no longer like they thought that was true and they've learned that it's not true or also some things have just changed like especially if it's like numbers about people today like just you know stuff like that just changes it's not like it was correct at the time but it has since changed. So again anything that's like a straight like statistic or something you'd want to double check but overall again the thought exercise of how we think of our place in our in history of the world in the world today how the human animal is is not an animal at least in the way that we think of it and why that is and is that even true. I mean I said it in the apologies this is just kind of my jam anyway but I do think it's a thought provoking read I think Jared Diamond has the writing style that is very approachable and easily digestible so it's not like these concepts are really difficult to like it's not really dense he doesn't write it in a way where you're like I don't know what you're talking about it's very easy to read if you are interested in it so I do still recommend it again it's 90 it's from 1992 so like know that but I still think it's worth reading. Next I read Blue Lily Lily Blue by Maggie Steve Otter this is the third book in the Raven Cycle this has been a long time coming keep putting it on TBRs and then not reading it or wanting to read it but it's not on my TBR so I did finally put it on my TBR and wanted to read it. The thing's converged and had a great great time reading it. I love Maggie Steve Otter's writing style I'm so pumped to read the Raven King it is not on officially on my June TBR. When I tried to keep my June TBR I said this before I tried to keep it slightly less books to leave me a little bit of wiggle room for mood reading then there's still a fucking lot on my June TBR. I still need to read sort of cry again so in theory I should I should read that too. Anyway Blue Lily Lily Blue third book can't say too much because it's the third book but I really really enjoyed it and I love these characters this world this the kind of magic that is here I love the writing style I love it so much. Highly recommend like the series I guess I can say the series keeps staying good. Like I love the first book love the second book love the third one too and I can't wait to read the fourth one and then to read the new spin-off series. Anyway yeah I've had a great time just great atmosphere grading. Then I read Shadow and Claw by Jane Wolf these are the this is actually a bind up of the first two books in the Book of the New Sun which is a quartet but there is actually a fifth book also. It's a Shadow and Claw is a bind up of Shadow of the Torchware and Claw of the Consiliator. This was my pick for Blades and Vitas Rippers so the live show for it is on my channel. We talked about it at length in depth pros and cons so if you want to know about it like you're on the fence about it you're curious about it we talked about it a lot it's not the kind of book you can like give a two sentence tag line for. I mean Neil Gaiman did he said best SF novel of the last century which may or may not be one of the reasons I picked it up. I enjoyed this, Bethany enjoyed this, Mara and Amanda did not enjoy this. There's a variety of opinion for you to hear from I guess. This is a kind of a seminal text in the sff space which is another reason why I wanted to pick it up and I enjoyed it both as a sort of student of the genre wanting to kind of get in touch with the roots of the genre where people writing today got their inspiration from much in the way that you know you read Dune and then after you read Dune you realize that everything came after Dune it's a little bit Dune. I didn't actually enjoy Dune very much but I felt like it was worth reading to kind of see where a lot of this came from. So it's interesting to see this sort of the kind of one of the original dying earth books. It is true science fantasy. Pierce Brown is heavily influenced by this so being a red rising fan it was interesting to read. Fun fact, Severo is named after Severian the main character. Although Severo could not be more there's so many other characters in red rising that are more like Severian than Severo. I just I don't understand the choice specifically to name Severo after Severian when he's nothing like Severian but whatever. It is a strange book. It is a dated book. It is a dense book. It is a book that on paper I should not enjoy but I enjoyed it both again as a student of the genre and as the reading experience. I did actually enjoy the book. I recommend but more than anything I recommend you digging a bit before you picking it up to see if it's something that you would actually go for because it's a weird one. It's a dense one. It's not a casual read so I would either watch our live show. There's a lot of other you know content on YouTube and a lot written about this whole cycle the book of the new son. I would recommend kind of checking it out. It's really hard to get spoiled for this because it's just not the kind of book series that you really get spoiled for so you don't have to worry too much about that. Do a little digging before picking it up. Again I enjoyed it but this is very much not for everyone. Next up I picked up a book that unlike Shadow and Claw Mara would vastly approve of and that is Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie. I've read two Agatha Christie books before this. Before that before that I had read Agatha Christie nonfiction because I studied anthropology. We did read some nonfiction of hers that are just accounts of her experiences on archaeological digs because her husband was an archaeologist. But yeah I read Murder on the Archie Express hated it. I read and then there were none. Loved it. Secret of Chimneys falls. Smack in the middle of those two. Didn't hate it. Didn't love it. Thought it was fine. I'm a big big fan of Agatha Christie adaptations. I've seen nearly everyone that there is. It's such a comfort watch for me. I love watching mysteries but I rarely read them and again having read Murder on the Archie Express I was like oh I guess I better just watch them and not read them. But then I loved and there were none so I'm willing to give her more chances. And I had seen a Marple adaptation that was the Secret of Chimneys. This isn't a Marple book but a lot of the adaptations because Marple and Poirot are sort of known figures. They'll take other random Agatha Christie stories and just kind of rewrite them a bit to make them a Poirot or make them a Marple. So I've seen the Marple-ized version of the Secret of Chimneys but this is a available the audiobook is available on Audible Plus and I just kind of wanted like I've seen every adaptation there is so I was like I guess I'll comfort read instead of comfort watch. Oh who done it? So hands me picking this up and again it was it was fine. It was interesting I did keep comparing them in my head between what I knew from the Marple-ized version to this one and it's it's not mind-blowing. Even the the Marple one isn't one of my favorite Marples. It's fine and then this book was fine. It didn't blow my mind. The reveal didn't blow my mind. Some of it seemed kind of contrived and unbelievable which is you know that's just I kind of expect that when I read A Who Done It and if you have Audible Plus the narrator is good so if you wanted to just kind of casually enjoy a quick Who Done It it's on Audible Plus so have that. Next up I read People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry. I was very excited to pick this up because I loved, loved, loved Beatrice which I read from her last year and it was kind of the first contemporary romance that possibly I had ever read but definitely the one that made me consider this as a genre to pick up at all because Beatrice was really good and Beatrice was more on the lit-ficky side of things and everyone said this is even more on the lit-ficky side of things. I was like all right let's do it. People We Meet on Vacation felt way short for me. I definitely like Beatrice way way better but mainly it's to do, I mean I guess it's to do with everything. The plot is more interesting in Beatrice. There's more tension, there's more it feels, I mean a love story never really has stakes. It's not you know the world's not ending but it felt like it had higher stakes and the the people were more interesting and complex and fascinating just humans that I wanted to know more about. People We Meet on Vacation I felt very little tension, very little stakes. The thing that's in their past that kind of keeps getting foreshadowed or hinted at had very little payoff. The two people that this is about, her I kind of hated. Him I liked and I definitely identified more with him but I also didn't, I couldn't understand what he saw in her and I hope for that reason I couldn't really even root for them. I was rooting for them because it's sold from her perspective and you know you want the POV you're in to do well or to get happiness. She kind of infuriated me. I didn't hate her the way I've hated some characters but I didn't care for her and I just kind of felt like the whole thing was very forgettable. So I was pretty let down by this. The ending was quite adorable so I bumped it up. I would have given it three so I gave it 3.5 because the ending and I'm going to read that round up so I gave it four but really a 3.5 and a 3.5 only because the ending was was a nice ending but the middle in the beginning was next up I run Winter of the Witch by Catherine Arden. This is the third and final book in the Winter Night trilogy. I was technically buddy reading this with Bethany. She was ahead of me for a while but then I jumped ahead of her and we haven't actually discussed it very much. Yeah I enjoyed this. I overall I enjoyed the trilogy and I'm glad to have you know completed a trilogy that always feels like an achievement. I definitely liked Girl in the Tower better. That's the second one. I think as is typical with me the second book in the trilogy is my favorite as it is often my favorite. It was good though. It was a good conclusion. It was a good book. I love the main character of Asya. Continue to love her. The Russian folklore vibes are to the max as they have been for the first and second books. It's a lush, evocative, beautiful writing style that is it's very very tale-esque, very poetic. They're beautiful books inside and out and it's a joy to read them and it's very immersive as a reading experience but I I like Girl in the Tower better. That's just the truth. Next up I read Six of Crows by Lee Bardugo. This is my third time reading this. It is on my top 10 books of all time. What is there to say? I love Kaz Bricker. I love the Dregs. I love this world Ketterdam. I just love everything about this book. I have read it thrice but I will undoubtedly read it a fourth, this, six, seven, eight, nine, tenth time in my lifetime. It was a delightful reread especially because the show recently you know came out. It was fun also imagining how they're gonna be adapting this or incorporating this plotline into the second season. It's just it's so good. It's so good. If you haven't read Six of Crows, why? Why? Next up I read The Shadow of What Was Lost by James is LinkedIn and I feel intensely meh about this. There will not be a rant review from me for this or that very reason. I don't feel any rage about this. I don't feel enough of anything to really talk about it which is great news for my patrons. We're still gonna have our buddy read chat but what is there to say about this? It's not so bad that I want to scream about how bad it is but it's it's not good and it isn't a situation where there's something good about it and something bad about it and it evens out to meh. It's not like the pros is mediocre but the plot is really good or the plot is sort of cookie-cutter and predictable but the pros is truly artful and excellent. Neither is true. The pros is bad. The plot is predictable and contrived and filled with tropes. The characters are two-dimensional but it doesn't enrage me. Nothing about this exasperated me to the point where I'm like why does anyone like this? I was just like I can barely remember even reading this. It's so intensely mediocre so utterly forgettable. I just I feel nothing. I feel nothing. So no I do not recommend. If you love this I'm really happy for you. However it says on it love the wheel of time this is about to become your favorite. Rottrow we are in trouble eye of the world and last but absolutely not least is freedom is the constant struggle by Angela Davis. This is a really short book and it is required reading in my opinion. It is really a collection of essays and speeches. It's not just sort of one contiguous book. So there's some repetition but it is an unintentionally thought-provoking read. It has a lot to do with the harm that the individualistic attitude that is promoted particularly in America but elsewhere in the world as well. This sort of western individualism that really harms the collective struggle for greater rights, greater freedom, greater liberty, greater prosperity and really illustrates how as citizens of the world the various struggles that are undergone by people in the world affect one another. They do not happen in isolation. They do not happen separately that the individual human is connected to the humans around them but also groups of humans are connected to each other and it is this interconnectivity of both individual humans and groups of people be they communities, nations, continents that it is not none of this is isolated. None of this is you can't just say oh that's over there and we have our thing here. That what happens in Ferguson is not disconnected from what is happening in Palestine. That the way that the world responded to apartheid is an example of how the world is affected by and has the power to affect change in situations where the world does recognize their own identities and struggles in other peoples and in other situations and that in order for there to be change, large-scale change for people to actually gain the liberties they are fighting for you cannot think of things only in terms of the individual and you cannot think of things only in terms of the local because that is just simply untrue and if you think of things in such isolation then you will never see the change that you hope to affect and it is just such uh she puts it so simply but in a way that is very eye opening and I that's why I say this is required reading because even people with the best of intentions have perhaps the the blindness that people have to things that they think do not affect them. The way that Angela Davis shines a light on the way that you think this doesn't affect you but it does and until you recognize that it does you will fail in your endeavors so highly highly recommend this book cannot recommend enough it is short you have no excuse read it. So yeah those are all the books that I read in May almost at June. Let me know in the comments down below if you've read any of these books if you plan to read any of these books if you did and you agreed with me or disagreed with me whatever you want to let me know. I post videos on Saturdays other random times as well but definitely Saturdays so like and subscribe, join my patreon if you feel so inclined and I'll see you when I see