 18 books. Then you have no excuse and you should have seen our time. Bridgerton meets seven but make it boring. You know? So like what are you doing, huh? So I did count how many books I read but then I realized that there was like a couple that I read on my Kindle and um and then I lost count. 18 books. Is that more than last month? Possibly. Oh who knows? Okay this stack is insane. I'm just gonna put it down okay. First book that I read in April. Did I say May at some point? I may have done um but anyway the thumbnail should have told you this was April so you should have been able to be mentally correct if I said that. Anyway first book that I read in April was Kingdoms of Death by Christopher Rockio. I know Alex and I have not had our chat yet as of the filming of this video. I think we will have just had our chat like last night um when this goes up. So you should already know what I think of this because you should already have watched that chat. I guess I forgive you if you're not this far in the series. You didn't want to get spoiled I guess. But if you are this far in the series then you have no excuse and you should have seen our chat. Anyway this is the fourth book in the Senator series. Book four was Split so book five will be what was originally the second half of book four and if I have a complaint about it it is that. But I did know that going into it and so for being a book that is Split for being a first half of something it is remarkably good. Nevertheless I do think it's weaker than the other installments because it does feel a little bit less like a whole complete thought if that makes sense. Like it does feel a little bit like we stopped at intermission. Like he did a good job leaving it somewhat conclusive and like kind of wrapping up this story in this book to feel you know it doesn't literally feel like it just got chopped but like there's just like it's lacking that certain genus equal. Now maybe I'm projecting maybe it's because I knew it was the first time something that I just like went in expecting to feel that way and it's like confirmation bias. Am I using confirmation bias correctly? Not sure. But you know what I mean regardless. I mean I think it's excellent and the only really like flaw that I can identify is this sort of like kind of vague sense of a lack of completeness which I haven't really faulted for since it is the first half of what was a longer massively long book. I still think it's excellent. So yeah right now I'm really looking forward to talking to Alex about it but I will have already done that by the time you're seeing this. So I'm assuming that went swimmingly and that is well worth watching whatever it is that we're going to have set. Next up I read The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince by Robin Hobbs. This is a novella that Mara and I were advised we should read after reading Live Tube Traders but before we dive into Tawny Man and since we planned in the staff to start Tawny Man then we snuck in also this. It's again we were advised that we should read this before we start Tawny Man and having now read this and the first Tawny Man book I absolutely understand why people say that. I also I do not know why I went into this little book expecting it to be a nice happy little little book and it might be the darkest thing that Robin Hobbs ever written. I just um yeah I don't know what I was thinking expecting to pick up a Hobb book and it'd be fine. That's on me really. It's really really really good and I absolutely see why people say to read it um before not just because like that's the best experience for reading this but because reading this enhances the experience of reading fool's errand. So yes this was great. Robin Hobbs was great and um jeez what packs a punch this little book does. Next up was The Blades and Bodice Rippers Book Club pick. I read it very early in the month. Actually I read Kingdoms of Death really early in the month because I just like couldn't resist. I read Lady's Guide to Miss Given Mayhem early in the month because my audio hold came in quite early so I was like well I'm reading this now I guess. So um it's been a minute since I read this and we did have our live show to chat about it and as as you might have guessed or suspected or if you're a betting man you probably could have placed bets that I would hate this or at least that I would like it the least out of all of us and I hated this. I gave it one star. I was permitted to rant for a bit in the live show and to bring you know harsh everyone's vibe and to yuck everyone's yum um so I had my opportunity to vent and unleash my fury. But basically Mara talks about going with itness. I had zero going with itness with this book. Mara and I disagree about whether or not it's possible to have um historical whether or not historical accuracy is a thing in fiction. I tend to fall much more in the camp of yes there is and there are some exceptions to that when you are in my opinion when you are deliberately playing with historical fact like you know how history went and you are purposely altering some parts of that for some artistic purpose or for some narrative purpose you know that you are this is a thing you are consciously knowingly changing or also stories that are so completely not to be taken seriously. Such utterly campy absurd romps you know like more in the lines of like sketch comedy where like you know we're not taking anything seriously so why would I take historical accuracy seriously kind of thing. And this doesn't fall into any of those camps this is just like playing so fast and loose with historical anything really. It is a book that takes itself too seriously to get away with that but it's not exactly a serious book it is a fluffier book but it's not fluffy enough to be fun um it's too serious to be fun but it's not serious enough to take historical accuracy seriously I don't know how to explain it and then like my one sentence review of this when I finished it and marked it on red on Goodreads I don't usually write reviews because I'm terrible about that but I did write a one sentence review for this on Goodreads and it was Bridgerton meets Seven but make it boring because this is a murder mystery that is akin to the movie Seven but it's like you know a wild romantic romp but it's not nearly as fun or as colorful as Bridgerton. Bridgerton is at least fun so this is like if Bridgerton was was really boring or as Seven was really boring and we mushed them together so yeah um do not recommend but if you want to hear different opinions obviously go listen to Amanda, Mara, and Bethany who will tell you why they liked it um but I can't speak to that position because I do not hold that position. Next up I read Fool's errand by Robin Hobb which is the first book in the 20 man trilogy as I said I absolutely understand why we are encouraged to read willful princess first it has some really important context for what's going on in this book um this is the this is the first book in a trilogy but it is the third trilogy in a series of series in the realm of the elderlings so even though it is a first book it is extremely spoilery to really talk about it because it is still built it's it's standing on the shoulders of the previous two trilogies which is a sort of unique circumstance with Robin Hobb. So I what I can tell you about Fool's errand is that I am perhaps the most disappointed with this that I have been with any Robin Hobb book I don't think this is a bad book by no means Robin Hobb is an amazing writer and this book if it was if it this is basically I'm saying on a scale of Hobb this is lackluster on a scale of literature in general or or sci-fi fantasy literature in general this is phenomenal but I know Hobb can do in my opinion or at least what I'm what I'm looking for in books Rob can do a lot more I can do a lot better and it satisfied me a lot more and better in other books I'm accustomed to Robin Hobb books being relatively grand in scope in terms of amount of time that passes amount of like plot lines and world things that occur amount of characters amount of various threads and things there's just like a lot I'm accustomed to a lot going on in a Robin Hobb book and this book is extremely narrow in scope and it feels much more like an adventure of the week it is one of the best adventure of the week books that I can imagine but when I've I have been made accustomed to something more something bigger something longer from Robin Hobb so entering Robin Hobb book that is just my expectation and I think this is setting the groundwork for some some more bigger things I have no idea how the rest of Tawny Man is going to go I wouldn't be surprised if the rest of Tawny Man does deliver that grandness of scope that I am expecting but this first book does not do that whereas the first book in Farseer and the first book in Life Sheep Traders even at the first book does deliver that big scope so I just kind of felt like oh is that it not because like it's bad but because this book it just felt so small and so narrow still excellently well executed and the character work is amazing I just I just felt like is that it which again this is on a scale of Hobb so compared to most other authors and most of their books blows it out of the water but compared comparing this to the other Hobb books I've read it is the weakest one in my opinion next up I read King Lear and I should probably do the next two while we're at it um because we did the Triple Lear in April I say we did um we have not had our chat yet because of life reasons um Heather was not able to do the chat in April but we are still going to do the chat at the end of May I told her I may need to reread all of these before we do that chat because I read these towards the beginning of April thinking we would have the chat in April but anyways this King Lear is a reread it is a Shakespeare play it is not actually one of my favorite Shakespeare plays although it has some of my favorite like moments or like bits of dialogue there's some excellent material in King Lear but overall like King Lear is not among my favorite plays it's I know why it's so well regarded and I know why it's so it's so often produced but it has never been one of my personal favorites that's sad we'll obviously get into this more and I don't know if Heather agrees with me I don't know that she's actually read these yet I have no idea but we have been pretty negative on the Hogarth project um which is how this all began but the Hogarth retelling Dunbar by Edward St. Aubin of King Lear is possibly my favorite of the Hogarth retellings I think the this understood the assignment as the kids like to say whereas the other big problem with the other Hogarths is like they just kind of fall short in in many different ways so this book more than the others I think kind of nailed what a retelling should be and then was also an engaging read I'm excited to talk about this with Heather although again I may need to reread this and then also the Queens of Innocent Lear which is also a retelling of King Lear and I'd heard this book was criticized for being extremely slow and I get why if you have not read King Lear have not seen King Lear are not intimately familiar with the plot beats of King Lear why you would find this boring or I guess if you just like not interested in King Lear like I guess if you are familiar with King Lear and think King Lear is boring I guess I could see also but personally being familiar with King Lear I was for most of the book utterly fascinated with where and when it was like massively diverging from King Lear but while also being so entirely retelling of King Lear where it's like recognizably King Lear that it was it's taking huge liberties with the story I mean not that it shouldn't because I mean this book doesn't purport to be King Lear but I mean like where it diverges from it is like kind of massive for some things and for other things it is extremely spot-on and the most part what it kind of is doing is providing context for the behaviors of some of the characters because King Lear is focused on King Lear you get it's a play so you don't really have like a pov in the way the books do but it does kind of center King Lear and then this book centers his daughters who are obviously big important figures in the play but you don't really explore there what would make them choose to say and do the things that they do it's more King Lear responding and reacting to what they're saying and doing so this does the opposite right like there's a king who is like the Lear figure and he's kind of behaving in a way that you recognize as being how King Lear behaves but he's we're not really doing him we're not really interested in like what's driving his behavior we're interested in what's driving his daughter's behavior so it's kind of like flipping the script where it's all it's very similar in the story but it does take liberties immense liberties at times but it's it's it's interesting it's sort of like switched focus and offered potential explanations for some arguably baffling behavior on the part of the daughters because there are some things that King Lear's daughters do and when that's not the focal point and we don't really get explanations for why they do what they do um it does kind of feel like why in the f would they would they do that why would they think that why would they want that so this offers even though the story is different from that story offers a reason why some of that behavior might be the way that it is and again where it would change from the story had me on the edge of my seat being like well okay but this is already different so it's going to have to end up being different or is it or is it going to like somehow circle back into being King Lear so I feel like if you are intimately familiar with King Lear this is a fascinating book and I just think it stands on its own but is it especially fascinating if you're waiting to see how the parts that are like King Lear um are are they going to keep being that way and the parts that are not are they going to end up being that way are they going to keep being different and if so what is that sort of like ripple effect because they do you know this is a holistic story the things affect each other so if this part of it is not like King Lear that's going to have an effect on the parts of it that ostensibly were like King Lear but when those plot points converge they have an effect on each other so like where is this going to end up so I as someone familiar with King Lear was like what is she going to do what where is this going to go um so I thought it was very well done um and I'm again excited to talk about it with Heather at the end of May. Next up I read Tis by Frank McCourt which is um his second set of memoirs uh Angel's Ashes is about his childhood Tis is about his um when he's a young man when he first comes back to America and um Angel's Ashes is still my favorite so far I have not yet read Teacher Man I will be reading that in May um Tis is just kind of it still has that the charming storytelling of Frank McCourt his narrative voice is so strong and it is as I say extremely charming it's just sort of it's a very lyrical storytelling style and it's a very distinct authorial voice like he sort of leaps off the page uh in how he's telling his own life story and that is definitely present throughout Tis the same as Angel's Ashes it's just Tis is a lot more depressing um because in Angel's Ashes even though terrible things are happening it's kind of told you through the lens of the child that Frank McCourt was when this was happening to him so he's telling it the way that he as a child was experiencing it which takes a little of the the sting out of it and adds some sort of as a good deal of humor because of like a child's um misunderstanding of things going on around him um Tis he's we don't have that because we wouldn't because he's an adult so it's more just it's still a wonderful style of storytelling and it's still really engaging it's just very sad and so it is still really really good but it's just much sadder it doesn't uh doesn't have this sort of like I don't know as depressing as Angel's Ashes is there is kind of like a sweet charming hopeful quality because it's all kind of through a child's eyes here um we're kind of like um shattering all that I hope and any kind of naive belief in future is kind of challenged and proved to be naive so it's it's it is more depressing um and I'm really much looking forward to teacher man um I think this will be the darkest one of the three because he is sort of a young man with no direction no education no prospects in life so in teacher man he's you know settled more like he's a teacher he's not you know going around wrecking his own life so I think this will prove to be the saddest one of the three but nevertheless I enjoyed it a great deal uh the second time through and I was to recommend it next up I read The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd and not much needs to be said about this I have a full I think the review video is like half an hour it is spoilery um but like watch it anyway if you haven't read it because I don't recommend you read this book this book is is bafflingly awful which is why I spent half an hour talking about it and I promise you in half an hour I was not able to even scratch the surface of the amount of dumb things are in this book um I had to kind of be choosy because like there are so many dumb things in this book and if I was to like actually go through every dumb thing it would be a five hour video and you know but I got time for that so if you want to know what I think about this info go check that out but I think this should make it pretty clear what I think of this book next up uh I have a book that is I do not have a physical copy of but um I was a co-host for the tour dot comathon hosted by beautifully bookish bethany and the group book that we were all to read and then be prepared to discuss at the end of it was remote control by neti okorafor I read that on my kindle um so I do not have a physical copy to show you um I this was my first neti okorafor and I definitely intend to read more from neti okorafor especially after looking up some reviews for this that kind of were saying uh people that had read a lot of her books before and now read remote control and were like I like her books I like her style this not so much which made me hopeful because I had always wanted to read neti okorafor and I was not I did not fully connect with that story and in the live show when we chatted about it one by the east channel we sort of identified what it was that was missing for me and which other neti okorafor books would work better for me or readers like me so I still I think it was good but it was definitely like lacking a hook um and but plenty of other people on the panel plenty of other people who were co-hosts adored it gave it five stars as was their second or third time through so I am by no means representative of the majority as usual and it wasn't you know anything where it put me off neti okorafor I was like as a first book like didn't let me away but um but now I kind of know what her style is like and I'm have some advice on on which of her books um are going to work better for me and which I should probably avoid because they're a lot more like remote control so anyway um it was overall it was good um it was it was not bad next up uh the next two no next three books are all for the tour.comathon um so the next one was fly away by Kathleen Jennings um this book was good it also did kind of disappoint me I think like I like the style of the storytelling it is very lyrical and sort of magical realism ish um I did kind of walk away feeling like what was the point but I did enjoy it and it kind of reminded me a little bit of we have always lived in the castle by Shirley Shirley Jennings Shirley Jennings well Shirley Jackson not Jennings Shirley Jackson this is Jennings okay we're we got it so if you like Shirley J Jackson Shirley Jackson's books you might like this um Shirley Jackson's kind of I didn't really like at all um uh haunting of Hill House I much much preferred we have always lived in the castle this kind of it was it had some of that vibe to it um and I think in general the storytelling is quite engrossing although I will warn you it takes in the beginning um it's really kind of hard to tell what's happening I had to like go back several times to be like did I miss something and like no I didn't but I'm very confused about who's talking what's happening um which is it feels a little intentional that sort of befuddlement because things as as you learn more information it helps you to understand what you just read before which didn't make sense when you read it and there was no way that it could have made sense so it was it was an intriguing and engrossing and a very atmospheric read but definitely a lot of flaws next up I read Ring Shout by Peter Jaley Clark and I'm so relieved to report that I liked this book I did not full on love it the way I would like to but especially because I've been quite disappointed with other Peter Jaley Clark books uh Tram Haunting of Tramcar 5 Dead Jin and Cairo Master of Jin which are all kind of connected I've been very kind of unimpressed with those but everyone loves Ring Shout and I was like please please let me like it and I did like it I think it's a lot better than those books I did it did start to have some of the problem that I have with those other books where I just feel like Clark just kind of like goes too far with like magic and speculative elements where it's just you you've overshot the mark you've overdone it and it's not really adding to the story anymore it's just absurd so like I love the speculative element of this uh where it's sort of like creating like a speculative version of the KKK where they're like where they're monsters actual monsters that kind of have to be fought and this sort of like alternate history type of thing I think the concept is brilliant and I think the concept is like fine on its own like that is that is plenty that is enough and it just keeps like it felt that way to me with the the Jin books um where it's this feeling of like I haven't impressed the reader enough I haven't caught their attention enough I haven't turned enough action at them I'm gonna lose them and it's like overdoing it and here it wasn't really overdoing it for most of which is why it worked for me but towards the end like the speculative element that's been throughout this book is plenty it is enough it is even already approaching being too much and then it kind of like goes full off the deep end into like speculative wildness um which is just like it it lacks grounding it lacks like it's not really doing anything narratively or thematically anymore it's just kind of like too much and then that's like that's what disappoints me where I'm like okay well now now you've kind of lost me out this is just ridiculous but for the most part like in general the the concept of this and for the most part of the execution absolutely worked for me I wish he had like reeled it in a bit and not gone so wild with the speculative aspects of this because that's where it lost me but up till that point fully had me for the most part and yeah and the ending like it didn't ruin it I was just like okay we're doing that again where we're just like going ham so I do absolutely highly recommend this it's really really good but I couldn't give it five stars because of that I would have liked to give it five stars I gave it four a high four a great four a relieved four but I just I'm finding it's it's too big on the magic and and you know unrealistic parts of it it goes too far too much too big too often so just that's a warning for you if you think you're picking it up next up is another book that again these are all for tor.comathon uh this one I only had on my Kindle do not have a physical copy of it and that is Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nevo this was my first Nevo book and um even worse so than with Flyaway with Flyaway I was like oh it's a bit confusing it's kind of hard to tell what's going on sometimes with Empress of Salt and Fortune I had to restart it many times because I kept being like no I still don't understand no I still didn't get it no did I zone out nope nope nope I restarted it probably five times until I was like you know what maybe I'll figure it out as I go and I did I don't think yeah it's really hard to pick up what's going on at first but I ended up quite enjoying it and I definitely want to read more from Nevo and it felt it feels like very very arm's length kind of storytelling and I thought that I was finding it interesting but not like compelling or that I wasn't really connecting with it on an emotional level until something quite upsetting happened and I was very upset by it I was like I guess I'm more attached to these characters than I realized because I thought I was like this is interesting but not you know like a story that you really connect to because it's so sort of distant and then I it blindsided me with feelings so I was like or I guess I am invested I know there's two sequels I don't know if there's gonna be more but yeah I want to read more I've heard mixed things about chosen the beautiful and about siren queen the full length books but I definitely would continue with this sort of series but anyway point being it was kind of a rough start but I did end up really enjoying it next up is the book that my patrons chose for me to read and vlog and review for them and that was justice of kings by Richard Swan and I ended up not hating this which I mean sounds I think this is a strong debut but it feels like a debut so when I like chatted about it in my vlog to my patrons I sort of went into details about what it is that did and didn't work for me where I thought it was a bit weaker and other things about it that I thought were quite strong for a debut so in general I feel like this was a good book and has a lot of promises for this series and for this author there are some things about it that's like I don't know if this is because you're new or because that's always been a problem for you but that like weren't that I didn't fully love but overall I thought it was pretty good and the biggest problem that I have with this book is the cover because the main character of this book the character telling the story the character whose story this is is a girl and is not on the cover the guy on the cover he's very significant to the plot but he is not the one telling the story it is not his story so I have to think the choice to put him on the cover was the same reason that female authors use initials for their name as opposed to their name because of like the dude bias that's the only reason I can imagine why their cover looks like this and that that irritates me like if your book is about a dude then yeah put a dude on the cover but the book is not about a dude you know so like it's like what are you doing huh what are you doing anyway otherwise the content pretty good we'll continue with the series next up is the fourth book in the sort of truth series the temple of the winds by terry good kind the live show for this was on my channel uh as me and bethanie are continuing our read along of the sort of truth books this is the book that most stood out in my memory from when I first read these books because this book is bananas it is bonkers it is insane it still is like it it was fresh in my brain even though too many years since I read it bethanie was rereading it and messaging me like oh I didn't remember that like oh I remembered everything about this book because this book is insane so anyway the live show for it was on my channel um where we talked about all the craziness of this book and the second time through was less hair raising for me mainly because I was so fully prepared for everything because I had not forgotten any of it so I wasn't blindsided by anything I was like and this is the part where that happens yep here we go I was less like shocked because I was like I was ready I knew where the twisted turns were on this roller coaster so anyway um yeah say one thing for temple of the winds say it's not boring next up is the book that my patrons and I buddy read um and that is or yes buddy yes almost music nightmares by lenea taylor um we haven't had our patron chat about it yet but we will shortly the second and concluding book to the strange of dreamer to all strange the dreamer duology and um this is my second time reading it and it is beautiful it's magnificent it's it's so so good and I really hope lenea taylor's writing right now because like it's been too long this book came out a few years ago now we haven't had anything new from her since then and I'm ready I need some more lenea taylor in my life this book is amazing it is a masterpiece it is a triumph it is what YA has the capacity to be and why I'm so mad when YA doesn't live up to this standard but I'm mad at adult books for not living up to my standards too it's really not just YA it's purple and I hate that book itself is wonderful I can't wait to gush about it to my patrons uh next up is a book that apparently you can't really get um that is the lesser devil and other stories by christa erachio I know this was a limited release um this like signed and numbered edition and I had previously read the lesser devil with alex this is the these are tales from the senator series um and so alex and I uh again we will have the chat as of the filming of this video but we have had the chat as of the going up of this video um so we were combining talking about kingdoms of death with uh the lesser devil and other stories but so I think you can get the other stories individually like on kindle but there is no other way like there is no like regular edition of this collection like you can't get them bound up in like a regular unsigned edition unfortunately I just got rid of this one like I went to go rate this book and there's like 14 ratings it's only people that got this specific edition but any who's these um I yeah I had a good time reading this I'd already read their lesser devil and the other stories are definitely interesting fresh perspectives and insight into the rest of the world of senator and are also interesting because they kind of show christa erachio's capacity to write in slightly different styles in a slightly different venues and like we really just seen the senator and hadrium story so here there's other characters other perspectives other situations other types of storytelling so it's kind of fun to see rocky a kind of stretch his creative muscles in these different directions so I'm excited to talk about this with alex and I'm sure whatever we said was great as you know because you watched us chat and last but not least is a book that we already chatted about for like three hours that is fire and blood by georgia martin because the song of ice and fire readalong has finally come to an end jimmy alex and I will never speak again I mean other than to talk about senator other than that we will never speak again fire and blood is a history book it is basically literally a history book about or the first part of the conquering of westeros by the targaryens and I understand why people would find this dry and boring um I tend to favor books that certain people would refer to as brilliant but unreadable but I was so so impressed with this because I mean to say all this reads like a history book just sounds like a straight up insult but it truly reads like a history book like authentically like a history book with all of the like attention to detail of like how history books are written the way in which history books will have to say we don't know what happened because we don't have any accounts of this or because this document was lost or we have conflicting accounts of this so maybe one of them is true maybe none of them are true so throughout like to come up with so many different micro plot lines for all of the different things going on generation after generation with the targaryens and all of the ways it does affecting the politics of the world in an utterly believable way is come and like the weird ways history sometimes shakes out or like it's not quite what you would think would happen but the oddly enough like the way that people responded to this was this which resulted in this and then we don't really know what they did here because we lost the document and like the way that it just is so believably a history book it's how I was gobsmacked reading this and I truly enjoyed it it wasn't just like you know brilliant but unreadable I wasn't just like this is impressive but like I'm bored I was gripped by it because similarly to how I personally would be gripped by a history book where you know if you are reading a history book and you're like you know they tell you about some intense situation between two parties and then you know some pivotal moment happens and they're like but we don't know what happened because no one was there you know no one was in the room where it happened the room where it happened like stuff like that in a history book you know you're like oh but I wish I knew like oh I'm so desperate to know what happened there or again when you read a history book and you find out you know this tragic event that like and then you read it and because it's true it feels so much sadder even though history book is probably not going to be too narrative about it it's not going to wax poetic and go into like emotional detail but you know it'll talk about the life story of this famous figure and about how you know tragically they lost you know five of their six children in a house fire and they never really recovered from that like that's a gut punch when I read it in a history book so similarly when these Targaryens are experiencing love and loss and betrayal even though it's told in this like history book way in some ways because it's told in such a dry historical way it's more of a gut punch to me because I feel often if an author is trying too hard to get an emotional reaction out of me writing in a very you know emotive way I'm like you're trying to give me a feel of something you're being really aggressive about it don't tell me what to feel don't tell me what to do whereas this where it's just presented as yep and then you know and then they died and we don't really know how anyone felt about it because we lost the journals but presumably they felt sad about it because you know the next thing they did was you know kill themselves or something you know like it's told in very arms-length way and it's just the situation which is an absolute gut punch so I was so impressed with this I really really enjoyed this and I also really enjoy chatting about this for like three hours without Alex and Jimmy so if you missed that and you're interested then the replay is available for you um and if you haven't read this book um I can't like universally recommend it but the same way that I recommend you know declaration of rights of magicians or the wolf or I don't know other books where I'm like if you're like me I can't recommend this highly enough a lot of people are nothing like me like I am by no means like representative of the average reader many many extremely popular books I hate so if you are like me if you enjoy nerding about history if you enjoy books that replicate the feeling of reading history if you enjoy books that and in some ways not to history because George R. Martin is drawing from his own knowledge of European history and he's not just like retelling European history with dragons but you can see where certain events in it are kind of like I don't know I think you're inspired by this in such period of European history so if you're like if you love to nerd out about that and you are um already interested in the song of ice and fire series the amount of like detail and fascinating world building and expansion of knowledge and lore and the sort of the way this colors the events and the understanding of events and the situations that we do get in the main series this sort of the context this provides for that it's it's just really really really really good anyone who says this is a lazy cash grab because I saw those reviews I see you lazy lazy I defy you to do something like this this is arguably the hardest book out of anything that he's written to write so don't and those are all the books that I read in April let me know in the comments down below your thoughts and feelings about my thoughts and feelings whatever you want me to know I post videos on Saturdays other writing tips as well but definitely Saturdays so like and subscribe join my patreon if you're so inclined and I'll see you when I see you