 It's like a work of art. It's a literature. She'll be taught in schools. Okay, I'm a little bit disappointed. I'm not gonna lie. And I'm in head. Do I think I'm gonna like remember this forever? No. This deep love for each other that they feel. Come back to this week's vlog and today you saw it in the title. We're gonna be reading Dark Academia Books. So many of my favorite books are Dark Academia Books, be it The Secret History, the book that got me back into reading. Catherine House. They Never Learn. I love Dark Academia. How I Feel When I'm Reading a Dark Academia Book. That's when I knew that I was born to be great. Just destined for greatness. I think it's because Dark Academia often centers on murder. But there's always also some commentary that comes with it. And I think I really enjoy that in my books. I don't just often like reading, you know, a bog-sanded thriller. I like the books that I read to have kind of some commentary or some analysis on society as a whole. So because it's like October and November, this time of year always makes me think of Dark Academia. Like I think just the vibes, oh my god, the falling leaves. Imagine walking across campus. Oh my god. Like we're gonna be reading three Dark Academia books that I've been so excited to read. I am genuinely hoping in this vlog I'm gonna get three five stars. Delusion. Convince yourself. What do you think my luck is? Like percentage-wise? What are my chances? I think I've only really ever had one vlog that I've ever done where all three books got five stars. So we shall see. So the first book that I'm going to be reading is In My Dreams, A Holder Knife by Ashley Winstead. All I know about this is that we've got a group of friends who went to university together. One of the group were murdered and one of the group was accused of the murder and they're coming back I think maybe 10 years later to figure out what actually happened and they're all getting accused of the murder. This is similar to a lot of like Dark Academia that has existed in the future. It's a very secret history of if we were villains which I didn't like. I didn't like if we were villains but I think people tend to enjoy either the secret history or if we were villains. I don't think many people love both so I don't know which side I'll fall on with this. But this out of all the ones we're looking at like I feel like this synopsis is just repeated over and over again in Dark Academia and I think it's gonna be pretty typical of Dark Academia where what it's giving commentary on and what it's evaluating is morality as individual morality is right and wrong black and white and the morally gray areas in between in individual actions. That's what I think Dark Academia tends to examine the most right so I'm excited for this one. This feels like the most like standard Dark Academia that we're going to be reading in this video. Then okay then we've got Babel by I.F. Krang. If I've been saying for the past couple weeks if any book is going to become my favorite book of the year and the last few books I'm reading of the year this is it. I actually can't even almost say it because I'm so scared. I just don't think this is like great for me. I don't want to do it. I want to go home. Like I can't take the pressure of it. I don't know much about the plot. I know it's students learning translation or Oxford. I know it's about colonialism, racism, silver magic. I don't know. I just keep hearing like silver working magic and I'm like I totally understand what that means. You know I've gone so far. I've read The Poppy War. I think it was 4.554.5 so like she's so almost a favorite author. I feel like if this gets five stars I will have to induct her into my Hall of Fame which usually the you know favorite author requirement is three five stars but I feel like if you've had two 4.5 like good enough you know. They're letting anyone in nowadays. There's room for anyone. I'm getting rid of the requirements. The rules don't apply. I have just heard such good things about this. I feel like everyone who's reading it is loving it so I'm very excited to get to this. I think this one is different than a lot of other dark academia out there in that it's not you know I don't think it's going to be critiquing individual morality as much as it's going to be critiquing wider societal infrastructure and roots in colonialism and racism that exist in our country and particularly in kind of British academic institutions or British institutions in general that come from the spread of the British Empire. I feel like that's what it's going to be examining more which is interesting. I'm excited to see dark academia as a genre used to examine that because I don't think it's necessarily been done before. And then finally we're going to be reading In the Hall with the Knife. This would be like a nice quick easy back up to Babel. This is only like 280-90 pages long and the font's very big and I've heard this is pretty like young YA which I know I don't have the best you know results with but I think if I know it going in it's not as much for a problem. So this is a Cluedo or Clue kind of retelling. It uses the Cluedo characters. It feels wrong saying Cluedo. I know the most of you're American but I just can't bring myself to do it. It's Cluedo okay. We're following those characters and they're all they're all at this private boarding school together and I think the headmaster is killed in this like snowstorm that they were in. So yeah I'm really excited to see how this is done because it's YA and young YA at that. I don't know if it's gonna give us any kind of commentary criticism or if it's just gonna be like vibes like Cluedo you know Mrs. Peacock moves here. Do you know I mean like I don't know if it's gonna be serious. It might be more fun. So those are the three books we're gonna read in this vlog. I'm gonna read them in that order so I am gonna go ahead and start with In My Dreams I Hold A Knife. Okay hide. I'm about halfway through In My Dreams I Hold A Knife. Oh my god look she's like focused on me and the seals. My best friends literally in life. Love them. Anyways um In My Dreams I Hold A Knife. I'm halfway through and I'm in head. Not gonna lie I was a little bit concerned. I was a bit worried. A little bit worried in my bones because I saw this maybe Monday it's Wednesday now and I've just had a really busy few days. I think Monday Tuesday I only read maybe the first 40 pages. I wasn't feeling it. I wasn't feeling it. Yes. It's a concern and a worry. I like could not get into the writing. We have a lot of characters. I think there's like eight really like characters that we have. I couldn't remember who a single one of them were like I kept getting more confused. So let me give you the synopsis before we get into my current feelings. We're following one girl Jessica in particular who is going back to where she went to university for like a homecoming essentially. She's like I'm gonna prove myself. I'm gonna prove them the baddest be here like you know all of that but she was in a very close friendship group. The seven of them were so close at university and then one of them was murdered at university and another one blamed for it. She doesn't believe that he did it but I think everyone else in the group kind of does but I think we know that he didn't do it. That was the girl who's murdered's boyfriend and now they're being reunited at homecoming the group. Oh sorry I just hit my mouse and Kayla started talking. Yeah they're being reunited at homecoming and the girl who was murdered's brother is trying to figure out who actually murdered his sister essentially. He's not part of the group but he's kind of like cornered them. He's like I'm gonna figure out where do you suck as dead basically. Now one thing that is danger danger danger zone for this book is that it is dual timeline. We are switching back and forth between the present day and the past with them at university and one thing that it's doing is it keeps switching it's not like linear the past timeline it was switching back and forth between like senior year freshman year junior year like we keep going back and forth between all them and as a British person I'm just accepting I don't know which year is what. I know freshman is the first and senior is the fourth but I don't know what are the other ones junior and is another one. I don't know I don't know why did but I'm not disliking that. Usually I find you know I prefer one timeline over the other and so it gets like it to be an annoying reading experience because I always want to read the one that I'm finding more exciting but in this I don't know it's just like keeping my attention there's so many secrets everyone's like embroiled in each other's secrets messy messy. My university experience was much more boring than this me and Tom just lived in one room for like three years because of COVID I did not live this life I just this university experience people are talking about listen I like reading this stuff because my experience could not be further from the truth I just sat in my room reading making videos I think the writing is very good I think the pacing between I mean like just the fact that it's a it's dual timeline and I'm liking it it's pretty pretty outstanding if you ask me I've gotten to grips with all the characters are and I'm just liking all these secrets that are being revealed like everyone's all everyone's secrets are like criss-cross and you think it's this person you think it's this person I can't trust them they don't know what they're doing I think it's really good I'm really enjoying it I was so concerned because you know this is one of the books that I have wanted to read the most longest time I've been so excited to read it and when I read those first 40 pages I was like maybe I should DNF it like not not forever but like maybe I was like now is not the time to read it but today funny when I like I'm not stressed out I actually enjoy so today I have the audiobook for this so I'll carry on listening to the audiobook and reading it physically uh today is Tom's birthday he's at work at the moment but I need to pop out and get ingredients to bake him brownies and I'm gonna bake brownies which I can listen to the audiobook whilst I do so that's a good use of time yeah he relapsed my brownies so I'm gonna bake them so I'm going to pop out in a sec to do that and then bake the brownies I think I have like three and a half hours of the audiobook left at the speed that I'm listening to it when I'm not physically reading it but I think I'm gonna sit down and read a bit now before it pop out to the shops I am really enjoying it I'm really enjoying it I'm so glad I'm so relieved I was like this is over it's I'm like the outlier who doesn't like it but it just took me I had to actually sit down and read it properly and now I get it I get it and I'm just I just like I feel like I don't want to put it down and I don't get that that often with books like I just feel like I can't put it down I have to finish it now I have to know what's going on finished in my dreams I hold a knife five stars take my goal now just has to be to give all these books five stars in this vlog like I just have to do them all five stars to just prove my theory that I love dark academia so much now I finished the book on the way to we were going out on a walk and I finished it in the car on the way there and then I went on the walk and for the whole walk I was like what am I gonna rate it because part of me does think four point five because I think this is a little bit forgettable like the secret history if we were villains this I feel like these kind of stories they're very similar right like group of friends who have strange relationships with one another who are all morally gray one of them is murdered and it's one of the group of friends killed them I feel like going forward I am more looking for like unique dark academia in the way that I think Catherine House is very unique in the way I'm hoping Babel is like I think this story has been done a lot but I think this is a great version of it I think it's just like a solid thriller I think it does everything it sets out to do great do I think it's doing anything different no I wasn't really shocked by any of the twists like I kind of was like okay you know oh Lux is really sad because Laura and Miko have been taken out to the vets and he's like I'm all alone I can't believe this is a debut like the writing is incredible I am so excited to The Last Housewife I don't own it I'm really trying so hard not to buy books right now but if I was to buy a book right now it would either be Last Housewife or Woman in the Library they're probably the two books that I'm like so excited to get this made me even more excited I'm so excited to The Last Housewife I think I would probably like that even more than this oh oh okay oh I'm getting ahead of myself too many thoughts the main character is very morally gray and I found her very interesting character to read from I think she was the best pick within the group to read from and I liked the going back in time I liked the dual timeline which I never liked I was in pure shock I thought I might have misheard I always get annoyed at dual timelines because I find one more interesting the other but the way that these informed each other was really good and also the fact that I think it helped that the past timeline was jumping around in years it wasn't linear I think that helped because it didn't it made clear that that was like the secondary storyline and it was very interesting but I just I don't like it when two timelines are competing for dominance like I like one to be clearly subordinate do I think I'm gonna like remember this forever no was it a great time did I not want to stop reading it yes like I think it did a great job of what it set out to do and I'm really excited to read The Last Housewife so I'm so glad I finally read this this is what I've been waiting for ages to read I loved the audiobook as well if you're thinking of reading it I really did like the audiobook I think I read most of it via the audiobook actually so yeah five stars listen if we get three I I very rarely have ever gotten three five stars in a year I think the only time I've done it is when Mara picked what I read for Booktube Twin Test it's so rare but now that we've got one and I feel like babble like okay we're reading babble next everyone are we ready probably not I am determined that this will probably be my favourite book of the year I'm calling it now I feel like it's gonna be my favourite book of the year I'm nervous I feel a bit sick at the thought of reading it actually but I'm very excited so we're gonna read babble next everyone and I feel like this is gonna be first star and then it's only down to in my dreams not we've read that one um in the hall with a knife we've got two knife books remember it's only down to that to get five stars so yeah let's go ahead and start babble and I will probably read the first 100 pages because I feel like I'll need to like get into the story and then I'll give you my thoughts maybe page 104 we'll read the first five chapters let's talk to you okay so I have finished book one of babble I've decided I think I'm gonna check in with you at the end of every book which is kind of like every hundredish pages there's five books in total I'm loving it I mean I'm loving it I'm obsessed with it I'm reading it quite slowly because I want it I want my re-experience of this to be perfect I feel quite emotional actually reading it which is strange I don't know why but it's like you know okay we'll talk about the plot in a second but you know when you you know when you read a book and it just feels so perfect for you and it's like a moment you know those moments don't come around very often and that's kind of I don't want to speak too soon I've only a hundred pages in but that's kind of how I'm feeling we're following our main character Robin who has been taken from his home in Canton or his family died and he's taken from his home in Canton by Professor Laval who takes him in under his guardianship and trains him in languages so that one day he can go to Oxford to go to babble which is the kind of translation part of the university the way that this book is fantasy and kind of like an alternative history is silver magic so silver is used in all aspects of life in society by those with money to kind of make life better right it's and it seems like I haven't quite gotten a massive grasp on it yet how do I explain it but it seems like the act of translation or the act of like language like the art of language is what makes the silver work and so that's what his profession could be like there's different levels of babble and silverworking is at the top the reason I'm loving this so much is it just feels like such a love letter to language and I never really knew that that was something I was looking for before I've loved books that like love letters to to literature to books but the way that this talks about like the origins of different languages and why like individual words are the way they are like why is a stage coach a stage coach why is this a bitch do you know what I mean it's it's so interesting and I just love it I actually feel like I could cry talking about it already it's so interesting and I know that this book is already is going to kind of be a critique of universities particularly Oxford and how it can simultaneously be and I know I've crung spoken about this like a place that you love so much and seems so magical but it's ultimately a place that historically has not been for you we've just met Robin's classmates in his cohort two of them are girls he wouldn't I don't think have been allowed to go to Oxford at the time this is set I think when the 9 18 30s yeah so two of them are girls and three of the four of them are people of color and so there's already discussions about how particularly children from other places on the countries are chosen for this you know active translation and like are they there because that makes them special or are they being exploited for the differences that they then face discrimination for in the rest of their life but I know it's going to be also a critique of the colonialism in which these institutions are built on in the UK and the colonialism history that like so much of our society we forget I think is built on when you go to places that were popular slave routes within the UK I think Edinburgh might be one London's the same there's a lot of street names that are named after slave traders that are to do with the slave trade right this is still everywhere in British society and I'm excited to see how this book dismantles it and takes it apart I just already feel a bit emotional reading it I love this and also there's footnotes and I love footnotes the only trouble I'm having sometimes is it's a tiny star to indicate the footnote and I don't have the best eyesight I often kind of like I read quite fast so sometimes I'm missing with a star is having to go back and look I'm really really enjoying it so I will speak spoken for ages I will see you in a little bit once I have got to the end of book two okay I just finished book two of Babel Babel the audiobooks is Babel and I'm like that feels wrong so I'm about 220 pages in and I am still loving it it's just written so wow how does miss Rebecca do this whilst like doing a masters and stuff I don't understand it like one person do so much she's incredible she's a beautiful person her talent and brilliance is beyond she surprises me all the time I was talking to some of my patrons on some sprints a couple days ago and one of them said that Robin the main character in this is very similar to Kitty so they think I like him and he is and I love them I would like fight to the end so yeah Robin I love him but he's not like exactly like Kitty I think some of the decisions that Robin makes and the way he thinks and feels are very very interesting I'm just loving the book you know this section I found you know has really touched on colonialism racism classism as well you know and just the lens that it's looking at colonialism through how colonialism can happen through so many different angles right so not only is it discussing I don't want to spoil anything but like actual like physical invasion you know it's also discussing like in particularly translation how translation is inherently of violence because you are you are tearing something away from its original roots when you translate something from for example Chinese into English you are like fundamentally altering it to suit English and so I just find that super interesting I just feel like this is the perfect like clever cleverness of a book you know I'm always looking for I always say I love a clever book and this is just making me think about so much it's so well written I am pretty sure it's gonna be a five star I'm pretty sure it's gonna be a five star I'm pretty sure I was going to be a five star Just the sight of you when I'm at my weakest point Makes a world of difference, oh you make me strong Pretty little thing, you're a diamond in a rub Shining from within, I can tell that you're tough Order in a cup of love, feel it rising up and above You will always keep my heart and soul strong Plant your seeds and watch them grow The light will always know where to go You will always keep my heart and soul strong Because my overwhelming feeling is just like it's something I can't put into words at how this book is like describing the experiences of people like Robin and Rami who were taken from their homeland like as a young child and raised to serve the purposes of the empire essentially and then you know don't necessarily feel that connection to their home country but then don't feel the connection to here the way it's looking at colonialism imperialism like all these larger concepts I just think is amazing like I love it, I love it I don't really have much more to say I'm really enjoying it but I'm also things have taken a turn and I'm a bit nervous for where things are going to go in this last section like when I last two sections I guess not nervous because I think the book has been leading up to this moment and I'm you know excited to see where it's going to go but I also feel like Arakwang is going to ruin me emotionally like I think she's gonna I think I'm going to be crying by the end of today so my goal is to finish it today and I have a few other bits that I can do while listening to audiobooks I've really been enjoying the audiobook I'm still only reading it like physically when I'm reading it physically but I have been listening to a lot of the audiobook and I really I think the narrators are great I've really been enjoying that so I've got a lot of stuff to do this morning I can make progress in audiobooks maybe I'll read the whole of part four of our audiobook because I've got a lot of audiobooks listening ahead of me today so I'll see you in a bit once I finish part four I am stressed I am upset I am anxious I am full of dread I am... no, I don't even want to talk can we not? I'm apprehensive, nervous bit scared also weirdly calm perhaps on the verge of hysteria finished book four we've only got like a hundred pages left I don't want to read it I don't want to read it I don't want to read it I'm... I don't even want to say to you I mean it's still incredible I think I've decided there's unless the ending is horrific it's my favourite book of the year so far let's just say that now I feel like I can't even talk to you about it because I will spoil something because I'm so or I will just sound dumb because this book is like it's everything I've ever it's everything it's everything it's everything it's like a work of art it's a literature should be taught in schools see when I'm like upset and like insecure I just revert to memes I'm so sorry it is brilliant American literature and I don't care what anybody it is it's lit it should be taught in schools yeah mm-hmm yeah I'm going through it this book is a lot but I love it I love that Rebecca has no qualms about like sticking the knife in and twisting a little bit more and our emotion she's just like you know she looks new she goes sorry and she goes I'm just gonna go ahead and finish it and I'll be with you in a hundred pages however long I'll probably have dinner let's have a bit of an emotional break and then we'll finish it five stars Virginia it's my favourite book I've read this year yeah it's my favourite book I've read this year I loved it it's like a cute cryer like single tear Lisa Rinne rolling down the cheek I'm like an he loves he's experiencing me to go through how I want to I thought I was done I genuinely thought I was done crying and then I came and sat down to speak to you um in my opinion this is like a perfect book I'm gonna make everyone in my life read this but I have gone like I said the same thing with the poppy wall right like the endings you know are similar in a way in that they really pull on your heart strings I'm putting it mildly but I don't want to say too much without spoiling anything but they are they are the only way that the book could end whilst keeping the integrity of the book right where you hate it like I don't want the book to end that way I'm not saying they end if you've read one and read the other I'm not saying they end similarly I'm just saying they they end with the same feeling of I don't want that to be how it ends that does end up being how it ends and there was no other way to end that particular book without that book ending in that particular way and like I'm done this is my opinion is her best work I think there's tops of poppy wall I am in love with it I like I you know it's so intelligent it's so thorough it's like the way it blends real unimagined history and is gonna teach so many people so much and is so important and just has so many important themes in it the power that that has the intelligence that that has the clearance that that has the access that that has the influence that that has the profile that that has the international implications that that has the variety of incredible and the the friendships feel so deep right it's not just like a found family it's like this deep love for each other that they feel I'm not capable of saying much to you without bursting into tears or like going a bit too far with what I'm saying stuff because it's difficult to talk about but it's just amazing it's amazing it's amazing yeah best book I've read this year it was outstanding I think it's gonna be difficult for anything to top this now I'm so sorry it's incredible the depth, the detail the intricacy the writing the feelings the intelligence the intelligence it was amazing I loved it I'm very excited to reread this one day and I'm very excited to force all of my family to read it I'm tempted to start this tonight although I don't know how it's gonna compare I feel like I've set this up to fail a bit but also it might be a nice like I can just turn my brain off and just enjoy a fun YA mystery after what this was because I think I'm gonna be processing this for a long time I don't know if I'll ever be great at talking about it so I'm tempted to start in the hall with a knife tonight because I kind of do just want to fly through this so yeah, we'll see how this goes I think actually this will be like a fun yeah, I'm glad I've left this one till last because I I'm overwhelmed okay I will see you tomorrow when hopefully I've got about halfway through this because I don't think this will take me long to read it's pretty short and the font is massive so okay hi so I am halfway through in the hall with a knife how cute is the little text on the hardcover I am enjoying this so this is like a young YA murder mystery featuring the Cludeau Clue characters where they're at this like elite private school and there's a really bad storm and the few people that are still on campus cause it's like right before maybe Thanksgiving or Christmas I'm not sure they're all putting this one boarding house together the head teacher is there and quite a lot of students are there the next morning the head teacher is found murdered dun dun dun too much drama for me and it's like it's fun do you know what I mean it's not like amazing I think it's like a welcome book to read after Babel Babel I just didn't know what to call it Babel Babel Babel Babel it's a welcome book after that because it like requires no thought no emotion I can just like sit back chill out it's like watching Bug & Hunt do you know what I mean like it's just fun but it's not amazing and I think once upon a time this was like a five star prediction one of the books I was most excited to read and so in the context of that it's a bit disappointing because it's not like a five star I don't think we're going to get three five stars in this video unfortunately but at the same time I feel like it is the perfect book to be reading now for me the biggest pro of this is like it feels nostalgic right it feels almost like I'm watching like a Disney channel original movie that's themed off Pluto do you know what I mean like it's fun it's got this nostalgic feeling it's got this cozy feeling I think this would be really fun to read at Christmas time like it feels perfect for this time of year and that is the biggest pro for me but the characters like they're fine I think it's good like it's probably like a four right now but I know a lot of you know that this is one of the books I wanted to read the most for a really long time I think the mix of characters before are interesting I really like some of the character profiles because we're reading from everyone's perspective it switches perspective every chapter Peacock in particular is fun because she's like this sports tennis star and whereas everyone else's chapters like these long narratives hers is just like this little log that she does her workout log that's all that her chapters are which I think is unique I like that there's different ways of telling the story but yeah on the whole it's not amazing I can see why some people because this hasn't got a super high rating I can see why some people wouldn't love it but I just think it's it's kind of what I'm enjoying reading right now and I love the atmosphere of it like if you've read Trudy Devious because that has like a boarding house too it's similar to that but I think I even prefer it to Trudy Devious the atmosphere is amazing the atmosphere is really really good but I don't think the mystery is going to be particularly like you know mind-blowing okay I'm a little bit disappointed I'm not going to lie so I finished in the hall of the knife and I'm going to give it three stars maybe like a 3.5 in terms of the fact this is like a clue cluedo book like I enjoyed the idea but it was just fine you know I actually can't tell you the last time I was happy I literally can't tell you I think part of me is more disappointed for past me who put this on like every TBR was like this was the book I was most excited to read and that dream has not come true but you know I think I'm a little bit less disappointed because I'm still in like the post babble haze where like I'm just so amazed by the wonder of that book that like I feel like it's less into the blow of this a bit I think in terms of like prose to this it has a great atmosphere like I said I think the atmosphere is amazing I think it would be great to read around Christmas time it feels very cosy it feels like a very comforting book as much as a murder mystery can be comforting but I mean that should have sailed for me let's be honest I enjoyed the experience of reading it but I just wasn't wowed by anything you know I think it has a lot of fun nods on it there's a lot of little fun like wink winks you know the part I enjoyed most was like the nods to the original concept that it's based off of not the book itself you know which I enjoy the fact that it's gone there and done a book based on Clue or Clude but if the things I'm enjoying most are like the nods back to it not the book itself then that's a problem I actually don't think I'm going to continue with this series I'm trying to be really picky with series maybe if I wasn't with this whole series goal and you know I wasn't like worried about that maybe I would just continue with the series but like I've read the description and I just don't feel the need to I'm going to be honest I'm just happy that I've read it I enjoyed the experience of reading it but I just don't think I need more of it I'm happy to treat it as a standalone because it closes in a way that can be a standalone but like one or two storylines that are still intriguing like there's still a few characters with we've got open questions about their circumstances and stuff that I assume will be answered in the next two I'm okay with it like the murder mystery itself is pretty wrapped up and I'm just fine leaving it there so that's the end of this video we had pretty good luck with two five stars including my favourite book I've read so far this year I can't go over how much I loved it and I still feel like I've done a terrible job of discussing it because I just feel so so in awe of it and then we had a three start but like we can't all be winners you know so yeah let me know if you've read any of these books what you thought of them I hope you enjoyed this vlog of me nursing myself in dark academia vibes for a week so yeah let me know if you've read any of these what you thought of them I'd love to hear all your thoughts about Babel in particular because I know a lot of you have been reading that and I'd love to hear all your thoughts if you've gotten to the end of the video comment the scissors emoji the scissors on in my dreams I hold a knife comment that down below if you've gotten to the end thank you guys so so so much for watching and I'll see you very soon in another video bye