 Hello there, I am here today to talk about some of the stuff. I've read recently and my co-host here today is gonna be Oscar Say hello Oscar This is the introduction song. It's not very good, but it's not too long So first up is the Reckoners trilogy by Brandon Sanderson now I'm a big fan of Sanderson and I've been meaning to read this one for a while Even though I haven't read much of his young adult stuff before like I read skyward and that one was Fine, I suppose, but I wasn't that into it and the Reckoners It sounded neat to me and it is kind of neat. It's basically this idea of okay one day this meteor came and Suddenly after that a bunch of people started getting superpowers and they call them epics, which is kind of a dumb name But like in a lot of these deconstructing the superhero mythos genre things that have come out recently These superheroes are not nice people. They're terrible people. They're tyrants. They Destroy governments. They basically take over the entire world and our main character is a guy named David who lives in Chicago What used to be Chicago which is ruled over by this seemingly unkillable epic by the name of Steelheart now Steelheart killed David's father so David wants him dead and in fact the first Sentence of the book is I've seen Steelheart bleed because David saw something which Gives him a clue as to what the weakness of Steelheart is and how they can kill him and then he Spends years and years training and he runs into this group of people called the Reckoners who are normal humans who go around fighting and killing epics and He just brings to their attention. Hey, I have a plan to kill Steelheart. Let's do it and I Like to this series. I'll start off by saying that but by the time I got to the end I realized it was basically just Mistborn like the first book we have heroes trying to overthrow some sort of tyrannical ruler and After that, I this is gonna get spoilery. So skip ahead if you don't want to Hear it, but after that that what what you don't like Mistborn I like Mistborn whatever and then after that they have a second book where they try to deal with the aftermath of Overthrowing that dictator and trying to put the world back together and then at the end of it there's some sort of big twist about the nature of the world and how it works and it sets up some much bigger more powerful foe that they fight in the third book and For the first two and a half. I thought that was fine Because at the end of the second book They're former leader of the reckoners. They just call him proff which is short for professor but I think that sounds stupid, so I'm gonna call him professor and He goes evil like it turns out that he had been an epic the whole time But he was only using his powers very sparingly Because the more you use your powers the more evil you become that's why there aren't any good superheroes out there No, just by process of having powers you become evil but He you know he becomes evil and they spend most of the third book saying okay, we're gonna Take him down, but we're not gonna kill him. We're gonna try and fix him We're gonna bring him back to the light basically and I thought that was fine But then I realized We're like 85% of the way through this book and we still haven't gotten to the real villain who is calamity Because it turns out that the meteor that came and was constantly orbiting the earth was not at a meteor it was a person or rather it was an epic and he was giving people all these powers and I know this sounds crazy but that's basically all the explanation we get because at the very end of the third book David goes up into space and he gets to talk to Calamity a little bit and we don't know exactly what he is he seems like some sort of God or God like being I don't know we get no information about this and then they Defeat him and the day is saved and people still have Powers there are still epics around, but they're no longer evil by default So the day is saved, but there's still a lot of work to do It's not a particularly good ending because you know It spends the vast majority of the final book just trying to fight professor and then out of nowhere Oh, there's this other guy and You have to fight him, but he's way too powerful and You know now he's dead and you win it just it really comes out of nowhere And we don't get an explanation as to what he is like in Mistborn it worked okay because ruin While he is Still kind of a mysterious figure and they don't know you don't know all that much about who he is and what he's all about If you only read Mistborn you have to read the rest of the Cosmere to find more about that but you still get the idea he's just an evil God of destruction and You don't get that with this. So while I really love the series up until that point, you know David is a pretty solid character. Most of the rest of the cast is pretty solid There's a romance between David and the girl named Megan who? It's not amazing, but I've seen worse. There's some really really good action scenes there's a lot of good twists regarding how you kill epics because Basically in order to kill him you have to find Whatever their weakness is and sometimes they're really bizarre and esoteric So it can be difficult, but the main character David is really analytical and he's really good at noticing those small details So he can find their weaknesses, and that's one thing I liked about him You know he never gets powers and just becomes someone who? Steamrolls all his opponents. He has to think his way out of stuff most of the time like The reckoners in the first two books have to like lay traps and really prepare for thing. Excuse you. Oh I'm sorry Am I bothering you? Given you pets and attention. That's bothering you They have to lay traps and such to Make sure that they don't immediately die And in fact the climax of the first book where they kill Steelheart is a lot like that And it's only because David figures out at the last second how to kill Steelheart that they succeed but The third book they just don't have that so while I don't think the third book was terrible It was definitely a huge drop down now that said While this is basically just the plot of Mistborn in a different that let's call it a re-skinned plot of Mistborn Mistborn is part of an expanded universe and while I love the Cosmere. I think that that does hold it back in some ways Oscar has left to hang out with other people, but I don't want to change the background So I'll just I'll just keep going Mistborn, I love the Cosmere. I love that Mistborn is in an expanded universe But even before you really learn about all this other stuff Because Mistborn is a solid standalone series, but even before you you learn about all those other stuff It does feel like it's just a small part of a much bigger whole and you never learn all that much about Ruin and preservation and all that whereas The Reckoners is not in an expanded universe and so I think that it does benefit from that in some ways like it can just be its own thing You don't need to connect. It's anything else. It's just yeah Here's what would happen if crazy things happen on earth And so there's like there's no status quo that has to be maintained like really anything could happen The earth could be destroyed so overall what I recommend the Reckoners Sure if you know if you're looking for an introduction to Sanderson This is definitely his style if you're looking for something that's a young adult But still a little bit smarter than most other young adult stuff and go ahead check it out Next up is the Black Prism which is the first book in the Lightbringer series which people have been telling me to read this forever and I just never got around to it But I finally read the first book and it was really really good, you know I actually read most of it in over the course of like three days which were spread out over a week because I had to go To somewhere else. I was on an airplane airport, you know, I read most of it during that time This basically this is a world where magic works on colors and Unlike Warbreaker where magic is kind of based on colors But it's just not that interesting in this one It's if you see green and you are a Drafter is what they call them who can draft green then you can pull that out and you can create stuff out of green Luxin is what they call it like the green light can be solidified and all of these kind of have different Uses for one another because there are seven different ones. There's subred, which is what we call infrared and red orange yellow green blue and Subviolet which we would call ultraviolet and they do have some different uses But honestly, they're a little too similar to one another for me And maybe that'll change in the later books, but it just feels like oh, okay You can create a shield or a sword or something out of yellow luxin and that's the strongest one and You can do it out of blue as well Which is not a lot different, but it's just not quite as strong and the only one that really stands out Or the only two that really stand out are red because that one's flammable you can make it explode and you know fireballs and all that and Subviolet which is pretty much invisible so you can do a lot with that and from there It is at least a little bit different than what you usually expect from an epic fantasy You know, it's not just a farm kid gets caught up and something goes on adventure. That's that's sort of Part of it like there is a farm kid character who gets pulled into this and he discovers He's the bastard son of the just someone important It's like look there there are some cliches here, but at least it does them in a different way and the Farm care character kid does not instantly become the most amazing drafter of all time He does have to work at learning his powers and while he's a little annoying at first He gets better by the end which is that that's pretty cool and all and there is a lot of hints that like Oh, there's a bigger story that's coming that you haven't heard about which is obviously pretty cool But it's difficult to get into like all the subtleties of the black prism without standing here and going through the whole plot I will say it's a lot better than at least a better start than Brent weeks as other series, which I've read which was The night angel trilogy. I I'm not a fan of that series. I've talked about it a little bit in the past, but I just I Don't know this isn't grim dark. This isn't trying to be super edgy or anything. It's just It's a fun fantasy series. It gets dark at times. Don't get me wrong but at least there's a reason for most of the darkness and You know, I I do like the magic like I said, I wish it would be I hope in the future We can differentiate the colors a little bit more so they have different uses and all that but For now, I do still really like the magic system. It works in a neat way I like the main character a guy named Gavin who I'm not gonna give away this the twist about his identity, but it's really weird and I like all the directions that could go in the future Basically, and there's a lot of fun action scenes in this too. Like the series is It takes place after the invention of gunpowder in their world But they don't actually use it all that often so I kept being surprised when in like battle scenes they go And then they fired cannons. I'll be like, oh, yeah, they have cannons but the battle and fight scenes are all a lot of fun Brent weeks has a talent for that and It ends on a crazy cliffhanger There's a lot of mystery as to what's going on and it does make me want to read what comes next So the black prism if you're a fantasy fan check it out Partials is another young adult thing and it's written by Dan Wells who I've heard good things about I haven't read any of his work before this, but I've just I've been meaning to check out partials for a while It's basically Sometime far in the future humans created these genetically engineered Like artificial humans, I guess called partials there I guess they're kind of like replicants from Blade Runner if you ever seen that and The partials released some sort of virus which killed off the vast vast majority of the human population and there's only a Couple of thousand people left and they're all living on Long Island And enter this girl named Kira who is training to become a doctor She wants to you know try and find a cure for this virus and she obviously wants to Well, it's it's young adult. It's not a crappy young adult book, but it is young adult So obviously she has a boy that she's into it's just if it it's a whole thing It's it doesn't take up that much of the story, but it is there and then she decides Okay, we're gonna go capture a partial and we're gonna do tests on him to try and figure out a cure for this And from there the story goes in some really neat directions like I was expecting this to be Well kind of just a journey, you know, they go off to find the partial They get him they have to bring him back and along that way. They discover a bunch of stuff And it's really not that there are sequences in the book that are journeys, but a lot of it is actually spent on well Medical tests, I suppose you would say, you know, it's just people doing tests and trying to figure out how this virus works because it's very Unusual is the right word and they're also trying to figure out like why would the partials do this? And once you meet the partial that Kira Be kind of becomes friends with that's not a huge spoiler. It's pretty obvious from the setup of the story But once you get to meet him you start learning more about the partials and like why they did what they did and what exactly is going on And yet they also learn more stuff about their government where they live Like I know it's a cliche for young adult stuff that takes place in the future to have just an authoritarian government who just kind of Exists and oppresses people just because in this one it feels almost like we're seeing that authoritarian government when it first rises Because you know, it's an emergency there. The world has basically ended at this point And we're seeing them slowly take more and more power and have more and more control over people's lives And so I uh, I did like that There is plenty of action and stuff in this book for people who are into that sort of thing which Obviously, I am not everyone is but obviously I am and If you feel that the story is a little dull I would encourage you to hold out until near the end because near the end There are some crazy crazy twists in this one like I hate telling people that there are twists and stuff because you're kind of expecting them and that doesn't surprise you as much but there's like 12 in this and That they're all done, you know what they're all done pretty much perfectly And and like it sets up mystery for the next books. It ends on a Massive cliffhanger like this is another one where like yes, I need to read the next book right away And if it weren't for the fact that I keep having to read other stuff for like this you know, I would probably have already gotten through the entire series in like less than a month because This first book is really really good now. There are some issues like I feel the prose could use a little more detail when it's describing characters for instance like Kira It's a little ways into the book before it says that she is Indian or of Indian descent I guess so, you know, she's pretty dark-skinned and based on the cover model on the book I didn't really expect that and and then I realized like oh, yeah, I guess it didn't really Describe her in any way. So I just kind of imagined generic teenage white girl in my head. So it's a little it could use some work in that regard and There are a few points where if you feel like it dragged on just a bit too long Especially with the medical tests and the explanations and all that like it's it's not as bad as it could be It's nowhere new it doesn't have anywhere near as much detail as say like Michael Crichton books If you ever read those but it is a little obnoxious and basically I recommend partials to anyone who Likes near-future sci-fi stuff anyone who likes Stuff where the world is like on the verge of ending or it's already ended like post apocalyptic stuff, whatever And people who like young adult stuff that is a little bit more mature kind of like the reckoners You know, this is a little bit more mature and a little bit better done than you might expect it to be So if you're into any of that then partials really check this one out because that one's really good And the last one I have today is Salem's lot. Now. This is a classic by Stephen King It's all about vampires, but it's not like modern vampires in like the strain where it's a virus and they're basically zombies I like the strain, but you know, that's what it is And it's not something where like they're sparkly and they fall in love with teenage girls or anything like that This is like really old-school vampires who are hurt by crosses. They can't enter your house without permission They have human familiars to do stuff, you know, that sort of thing and it's you know done in the style of Stephen King So we have this entire town which in the prologue. We learned the entire town gets wiped out at some point and there's very few survivors left and so He also goes around introduces us to all these people and their lives and yada yada And then finally the action starts and then vampires are going around and people have to hunt the vampires They have to fight the vampires and you kind of know from the beginning that it's not going to have a happy ending and it's just It's a it's a nutty story and I like it overall I don't have a whole lot to say about it because it is pretty standard as far as Stephen King stuff goes like if you've read One Stephen King book. I'm not gonna say you've read them all but you they all have a very similar flow and a very similar style to them And so you kind of know Already if you're going to enjoy them or not like if you haven't read any Stephen King books I think this is a good place to start because it's not super long and It was earlier in his career. So some stuff is not as polished But he was also still doing cocaine at the time. So some stuff is much more polished and if you like vampires when they were like a horror icon, then You'd probably like this one. My main complaint is how Well in classic Stephen King style It does go on about stuff that no one gives a shit about for way too long Like there's parts where it describes what characters had for lunch In excruciating detail and it's like not even main characters It's tertiary characters that we don't give a shit about so that's just no But I will say the core cast of this one like all the main main characters are really solid They'll have a lot of personality to them and they they feel like real people for the most part the vampires themselves are Terrifying as they should be, you know, it's a horror novel. They should be terrifying the plot gets bogged down about Maybe 60% of the way through and it took me a really long time to finally get through that chunk because I was just really really bored with it but I did eventually get through it and Well, yeah, it's just I don't know how much else I can say about it It's a classic vampire tale where an entire town gets attacked and basically destroyed It's like 30 days of night almost in that sense, but it came out before 30 days of night and it's also Less violent. It's a little more traditional vampire stuff, whatever But yes, if you if that sounds good to you at all I'd recommend checking this one out because you know Stephen King they call him the master of horror for a reason and that's all I was hoping to Have you say goodbye to Oscar, but he kind of fucked off did his own thing So I guess in your prayers say goodbye Oscar and I'll say goodbye to you. Bye Special thanks to all the names you see here. 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