 I'm here today with my February wrap up. Before I get into all the books that I read in February, which I promise I will do, a little bit of housekeeping, two announcements I guess. First, just wanted to let you know that I did decide to start a Patreon, so that is linked down below. Nothing will change about what I do on YouTube just generally. It's just if you feel like you wanted more of me for some reason, God knows why. That's a thing that I am now doing. J.S.Y.K., when I set it all up, it's all just a bunch of references and jokes to my favorite things, so I apologize in advance for that. Pretty sure only I find it amusing, interesting, or funny. Like the tears that I created, the names for them, how I described what they are, the notes that you get if you sign up for a particular tier, it's all just like dad level nerd jokes about the fandoms that they're referencing. So again, apologies in advance for subjecting you to that, but if you're wanting to support me, you can't possibly be shocked at what you will find there because it is me to the max. So anything that's easy, just wanted to let you know. That's a thing. So there you go. Second announcement is that spur of the moment last minute, upon watching the Shadow and Bone trailer, me, Jesse from Jesse May and Jashanna, fellow booktubers of mine. If you don't know them already, please check them out. I'll have their channels linked down below. The three of us were like, we want to reread the Grisha Trails G because we watched that trailer and we were like, I want to be in the Grishaverse again. I can't wait until this drops. I need to be there now. So we were like, well, why don't we reread the books? So we are like spur of the moment last minute kind of doing like a Grisha Long reading thing. So we've got about six weeks, at least when we decided this, we had about six weeks between then and the show dropping. So we figured three books, six weeks, one book every two weeks. So that's what we're doing. It's not on my TBR because that's how last minute was we decided it after I'd already filmed my TBR. So in addition to what I said was on my TBR, I'll also now have Shadow and Bone and Siege and Storm, which are the first two books. And then we're going to read Rude and Rising in April because the schedule will be like end of March beginning, no, mid-March, end of March, middle of April. And that puts us like right on target for having finished all the books before the show drops. So there will be live shows accompanying this. The first live show to talk about Shadow and Bone will be on my channel, mid-March. Oh fuck, please don't I'll leave in the description like specifics about like dates and times. We're still kind of like 100% pinning that down. But it will be like the second weekend of March, the last weekend of March, the second weekend of April like thereabouts. So again, I'll leave that in the description. So the first live show will be on my channel. The second live show will be on Joshana's channel and the third live show will be on Jesse's channel. So please join us. If you've never read the series, now's a great time. If you have then join us in rereading it because we're super pumped and we know we can't be the only ones that are super pumped. So let's read some Grisha books. Cool. Now let's do what y'all are here for and that is to wrap up what I read in the month of February. This seems like it was forever ago. First book that I read was Infernal by Mark D. Ager. This was sent to me by the publisher and it was actually a rerelease. Like I believe it originally came out like four years ago or something. But it was newly sold to Solaris slash Rebellion. I believe is what happened like with the new cover and everything. This book started out really strong and I thought I was like oh this is going to be like a four star I think and then it fizzled. So the opening, the premise is like this guy wakes up and he doesn't know who he is. It's like it's like the born identity except fantasy. So he wakes up, he does not know who he is. He doesn't know that he has powers and then when he finds that he does have powers he doesn't know where they come from, what they are. He seems to be possessed by like a demon like entity. But he's not totally clear on that either. Like is he possessed or is that just like has he always been this way? Like do his powers come from this? Like he's like very not sure about anything. And so he doesn't, he also doesn't know really anything about the world he's in. He's just like kind of there and he's like I don't know. And the way people are reacting to him he's like learning who he is based on that. So like it's a super cool premise and I honestly think the author handled it so well. Like having the reader be in the head of somebody who doesn't know who they are, like that that could be really bad. Like you as the reader might have a great deal of difficulty latching onto a character like that or you're already struggling to understand new fantasy world and if your own like the main character you're following also doesn't know even who they are like you as the reader would be like totally in the dark. So I feel like the opening and the premise was executed very well. But then when the plot started to get going and we started to like learn about this world and become embroiled in the politics of this world and become involved and like meeting the powers that be and like all of that once that began to shake out it felt quite cliche and trite and boring and it totally lost me. So I felt very mixed about it. I think I gave it either two or three stars. I because like again pulling off the premise in the beginning I was it was impressive. I thought it I was like wow that's solid but by the end I was so so bored with it. So I don't know. I mean it is the first book in a series I really don't care about where this is going now. I might read on because like there there's clearly promise in the author's style because of their ability to execute something so tricky in the beginning. So I don't know. I might give the next book a chance. I don't know. I don't know. I feel mixed about this. I had a very similar reaction to the next book I read which was Outlawed by Anna North. Once again it started out really strong and I was sucked into it immediately. I was not sure if I was going to be into this because it's sort of like feminist western thing and I'm not the biggest fan of westerns at the best of times. This cover is the worst cover I've seen in my life and I was worried I would find it boring and the beginning I loved. I immediately felt invested in the character. I thought generally speaking the character work was really authentic and really fun to follow. It felt kind of like some of my favorite memoirs where it's like it's very like mundane things going on but this is the life of this character and like you're really like sinking into the life of this character and their experience and their understanding of the world. So I was very into it in the beginning. But then like a third halfway through the book it began to just be a bunch of soap boxing about feminism. Like all of the situations all of the characters that were introduced, all of the dialogue, everything was just like an excuse orchestrated to have an opportunity to soap box. A lot of the themes explored here are really great themes that could have been explored really well and even the things that happened in this book could have happened but this was so short that it felt like we just like rushed to the next soap box. And I feel like if this was a longer book and we really spent more time with these characters and developing the life the lives of these outlaws and the hardships facing them and along the way we had some kind of like feminist things happening or feminist points being made. They wouldn't feel so in your face yelling at you about it because it wouldn't be the only thing that's going on. It would be a thing that happens sporadically when it feels natural for it to and authentically springs up. It just felt like it rushed right to the message and I mean then it's not a book anymore. So the beginning character was so good but nobody else really got that kind of character work and then we end up with a whole bunch of characters and I honestly with all the outlaw characters I kind of couldn't tell them apart some of them. A couple stood out because they were slightly more like unique and had a more important role in the story so they were a little more fleshed out but a lot of the outlaws I was like I can't tell you apart and we're just like a rational one through and I don't care. So it started strong and then fizzled so I think I also gave this one two or three stars because I was originally I liked this, originally I liked the writing style. In theory I like what you're doing but I don't think you did it well because you were in a hurry. Slow down and tell a story. Don't just skip right to the bombastic soap boxing. The next book that I read was The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin. This is the third and final book in The Broken Earth Trilogy. I posted a non-spoiler discussion about The Broken Earth Trilogy after I finished this. Needless to say I highly recommend The Broken Earth Trilogy. It is like nothing I've ever read before and as I said approximately one billion times in my discussion video this is the kind of series that defies synopsis or review because it's just so unlike anything else out there that it's not a thing you can really like compared other things you can't really pick it apart the same way. It's just such a unique project that it's just a category unto itself and all I can say is that like what the best I could do in terms of explaining the kind of experience that you're signing up for when you pick up these books like I did my best in that discussion but it's not a thing that's easy to like pin down so I would highly recommend the series but like with some asterisks those asterisks being laid out more in depth in my discussion video so if you really are wondering whether or not you should pick up this series I would recommend that video because it's the best I could do to try to explain what you're gonna get out of these and like why I absolutely recommend it if that would appeal to you. Oh my god so good chef's kiss incredible. The next book was These Violent Delights and I DNF'd it. This is the first book that I DNF'd this year and probably the only one because I very rarely DNF books. I usually finish everything that I start because if it's bad I want to discuss why it's bad so that we can all learn or if it's great then I want to review it but in either case like I kind of feel like it's a bigger waste of my time if I read a book only part way because I don't review books that I have DNF'd. So just mentioning it because it was on my TBR and I did not get to it I DNF'd it. I will not be reading this book ever. Why? Because it was badly written and everything that I could find because again I did look up some reviews when I was like I think I'm gonna DNF this but if I found a bunch of reviews that were like oh it starts bad it starts tropey it starts slow but it really gets going um and it's really worth it then I would have persevered and carried on but most of the reviews I saw led me to believe that it would not be getting any better. The writing feels very like first draft debut and it needs way too much polishing for me to be willing to go through this so that's just a big fat no from me. The next book that I read was Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie this is the second book in the first law trilogy this is my third time reading it. I think I'm posting this video first but I have filmed a review for this as I have said now a couple times I am reviewing all of the first law books this year finally so that will be coming your way. I love Joe Abercrombie's books so suffice to say I love this. Previously I had this at four stars I bumped it up to a five because every time I read these books I loved them more and uh this was probably well I did read StoneSky but StoneSky was intense. I honestly like the thing that I found most joy in reading this month was probably this. The next book I read was Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland this was a buddy read with Mara from Books Like Low and we both of us really really love this book. I think both of us liked Dread Nation slightly more but considering what we'd heard from other people about what a what a step down this was compared to the first book we were pleasantly surprised. Like we did like the first one better but not by that much and the reason that we liked the second one less was more to do with structure and the pacing and less to do with the story because there's a big time jump that occurs and Mara suggested and I ended up agreeing at first I was like I don't know but the more I thought about it the more I agreed that it would have felt more organic for a time jump like that to happen between books so perhaps there should have been a trilogy instead of duology and have this second book and where that time jump occurs and then have a third book explore what happens after the time jump and just kind of flesh those out a bit more instead of cramming them both into one book and it just means jarring break where suddenly we've moved a bunch of time. So from that standpoint yeah like the first one there was no structural flaw like that it was just a knockout this was still really excellent the themes and the character work that's that are being handled here are this is what YA should be and could be and often isn't. There are very dark and complex ideas and themes present but they're handled in a way that's approachable and appropriate for the age group that it is marketed and geared towards without feeling like it's talking down without being juvenile without being in some way trait or cleaned up it's still messy and it's still dark it's quite dark but it doesn't feel inappropriately dark for YA it doesn't feel like one of those where you're like should this be YA it feels like it's YA because it feels like it's handling in a way that doesn't shy away from showing you how ugly these things can be but still handles it in a way that is sensitive to the age of the people that will be reading this. Oh my goodness so so good this duology is so so so good I still gave this five stars I think Mara gave it a lower rating than she gave the first book but I give this duology five stars basically and like I did I like this one less maybe maybe four and a half stars but in good reads like you can't do half stars so I always round up so it's still five stars. The next book that I read was Gardens of the Moon by Stephen Erickson I gave this three stars I have extremely mixed feelings about it um I will be posting a video where I talk about this book with my father because we buddy read it and I will most likely be posting another video that's a discussion video that's related to this but I haven't totally planned that out yet so I don't want to say but so I will be talking about this more I say that because like I don't really want to talk about it too much here now because full for one I haven't filmed the video with my father yet I don't want a situation where like I say something here and now and then during the course of that video like filming that video like maybe my dad will change my mind about some things I don't know but right now I have very mixed feelings about this I do want to read more melisand books but I would I have issues everyone is surprised so in any case more in-depth discussion and thoughts will be shared in the video that I filmed with my father um that will be coming to you soon. The next book that I read was From Blood and Ash by Jennifer Armand Trout I have a very lengthy video talking about this book because I vlogged reading it there's also the live show on Amanda's channel where me and Mara and Bethany and Amanda all talked about it because this was the Blades and Body Servers book club book so my thoughts and feelings have been shared in great depth and detail already so I hated this give it one star it's one of the worst things I've ever read if you want to know why check out those other videos. The next book that I read was Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness this is the second book in the also astrology which is the which starts with a discovery of witches I didn't love a discovery of witches but the way it ended I was curious to see where the next one would go and I'm curious to watch the second season of the show so since I read the first book before watching the first season of the show I wanted to read the second book before watching the second season of the show and I hated it I hated it so much I thought there was a good chance that I'd like this better than the first one because of where it would be taking place and I hated it oh my god I hated it this book had like no redeeming qualities it is everything I hate about how historical fiction is done badly it's everything I hate about how romance is done badly it's everything I hate about how supernatural and speculative romance is done badly I hated it so much to and like so much that I don't even want to rant about it like I it's the kind of thing where like maybe I should post a rant review that I don't want to spend any more time thinking about it I hated it so so much it makes me so angry and it was a lot of similar feelings that I had from blood and ash and I've already spent so much time just like in the headspace of hating that but I don't want to spend any more time there I spent enough time while reading this and we'll talk about from blood and ash but it was bad I can't there's no there's nothing redeeming about it the first book had some redeeming qualities found this the oxford setting interesting there was some humorous moments there was some interesting lore being built about the supernatural creatures some interesting ideas about how they would like exist in our world all of that's gone now now it just became the most cliche stupid trite tropey thing and I wanted to be sick reading it I just pushed through so that I could at least get another book read for my reading goal for 2020 out of this so it wouldn't be a complete waste of my time the next book that I read was a rogue of one's own by Evie Dunmore um I was hesitant to pick this up because I didn't really like bringing down the duke which was the first in this series by Evie Dunmore mainly because of the questionable consent in the romance in the first book so I asked around and was told that I'd probably like this better because like well that questionable consent thing wasn't there but I did like it better for that reason but I didn't love it like romance for romance sake is just not a thing I look for or seek out so there's there's quite a few romance-y books that I've liked but it's because I think that the humor in it is fantastic or the character workers fantastic or a combination thereof maybe it's great world building like a love story just for a love story sake I don't really get anything out of it it's not something I seek out and that's kind of what this was like I it wasn't especially like witty dialogue like there were some elements that were kind of witty but like not enough to like super entertain me the plot was as predictable as a romance typically is like you could kind of guess every turn that it would take and it did so usually because of the predictability of romances it is the journey that you're there for it's the others ability to make the journey enticing entertaining whatever that is what keeps you reading and I just it it was fine I like I didn't love the characters I wasn't super invested in anything that was going on with them they didn't leap off the page in any way it was fine I kind of you forgot about it as soon as I finished it I was like yeah it was fine and the last book that I read was the girl in the tower by Catherine Arden this is the third uh I'm sorry the second book in the winter night trilogy um which began with the bear and the nightingale and concludes with the winter of the witch I think I kind of didn't pick it up immediately when it came out because the cover is so pink and also I thought bear and the nightingale was a standalone so I was kind of surprised when I learned that it wouldn't be and so I was like okay well there's another book why I want it and then it came out I was like it's so pink I was like I mean I want to read it but I'll get to it and then so much time passed that I like forgot the bear and the nightingale so I had to reread it so I did as you know if you watched my wrap-up from last month I loved it even more the second time and jumped right into this and I read this almost all in one day like I technically read like the first 40 pages a different day and I read all the rest of it um in one day and it's a knockout it's so good um it's I don't know if I could say it's better than bear and the nightingale but it's different and that was a pleasant surprise to me because like if it had just been kind of more of the same I would still have been well pleased by that because bear and the nightingale was great so more of same when same is good is good um you know a second helping of the same dish that was a tasty dish still good but this was bringing in new themes and new scenery and new places new characters new russian folklore and handling it just as well as the first book but different bringing in new themes aging it up not in like because it's it's still adult fantasy like it's not like it wasn't already adult fantasy but aging up the character because like Vasya is she's older now she's because she's experienced more of the world than she grows as a character and so like growing the folklore and growing the story and growing the world with the character and like having the folkloric elements reflect this growth in the character and the handling of like russian history I suppose because like this is it's this magical realism this isn't a fantasy world inspired by Russia the way that the grisha verse is this is meant to be Russia but with some fantastical elements present so me handling of sort of how like the pieces of it that are non-magical just like the russian elements it's very immersive once again but again different so there in the 90s is very rural Russia this is more this takes place largely in Moscow so having sort of the city life if you will of old-timey Russia was was beautifully described and immersively described and frustratingly described and how I'm not exactly feminist the place in time where it was a dazzling read and I am so excited to read the third book in this trilogy because I can I can only imagine it's going to be just as good and yet new again and I can't wait to find out how so yeah those are all the books that I read in February I apologize if there are noises in this video because I live in downtown Los Angeles and it's been a very noisy day um so I've tried to stop and start as much as I could to cut that out but I'm only human also it's been a kind of a cloudy slash sunny day so I'm sure the lighting shifted throughout the video again I apologize for that there's but there's only so much I can do I don't have a professional studio with professional lighting any hoosies um yeah let me know in the comments down below if you read any of the books that I read if you want to read any of the books that I read if you hated any of the books that I loved or loved any of the books that I hated or if you felt the exact same way whatever you want to let me know I post videos on Saturdays other random times as well but I'll see Saturdays so like and subscribe and I'll see you when I see you