 I've liked my channel and welcome back to episode three of Wrapped Up Risk, where I have wrapped up 25 of the books I'm most excited to read and 25 of the books I'm least excited to read and we're going to wrap one and I read it in a reading vlog and we see how lucky I am. Whether I get to read something I'm excited for or not as excited for. So if you haven't seen the first two episodes I will link the playlist down below but spoiler alert I won't tell you what I thought of the books but I got two books that I was most excited to read so I had the delusion from the beginning that I was just gonna get books I was most excited to read the whole time but like it does mean that our statistics are dwindling because what we have left is more and more books I'm least excited to read so I don't know. We need like a small book that's the vibe we're gonna read a small book but I still want it to be something that's substantial enough to fill out a vlog. We've got a lot of like smaller paperbacks on top here and I feel like I'm gonna pick one of them. I don't know why but I feel like I'm drawn to this red one. I think I'm just gonna do it I'm not gonna overthink it I always overthink these okay we're just gonna do it we're just gonna do it. I can't get into this this must mean it's one of my dad wrapped my dad helped me wrap them and he always wraps really in a way that's hard to open um okay I don't know which side you're a winner baby we're only gonna done it again so we have got When Women are Dragons by Kelly Barnhill which is another one I was most excited to read I am I just like I can't lose I generally can't lose though this one is a little bit misleading because it looks tiny it is only like 330 pages long but it has some of the smallest font I've ever seen tiny tiny tiny fonts I think it will take me a little bit longer to read than I perhaps anticipated because it is like literally the smallest font you've ever seen I need to get a magnifying glass out to read it I don't know why they made it so small but what I know about this is that it's in 1950s America and women and housewives rise up and become dragons I've never read anything by Kelly Barnhill but when I say that kind of writing that I love like Erin Morgenstern that kind of lyrical beautiful lush writing a lot of people have recommended When Women Are Dragons to me and I'm finally gonna be getting around to an arc that I've had for quite some time so wow I'm super excited okay great pick I'll read a bit and then I'll check in with you my thoughts what day was that the I want to say the 20th 20th of December um I filmed it all thinking I was gonna be vlogging and loads in Wales from the hotel me and Tom went to Wales for few days for Christmas for his work I was like you know I'm gonna read loads of this um not only do I read nothing there today is the what day is it 28th of December today is my first day reading since then so my vibe right now is just living life I don't know I just really thought I really thought I was gonna get so much reading done but we were so busy so I got no reading done but hey ho I'm reading now this is gonna be my final wrapped up episode of December I was trying to get four done but we're only gonna get three done because like I said I didn't read for entire week now I said I think when I unwrapped it it's been a while that I wanted a short book and I unwrapped this right but literally the font is so so so tiny can you tell how tiny that is like it is so much tinier than a normal book and I'm not gonna be honest I'm struggling to read it physically I'm kind of just listening to audiobook I would say for example a short audiobook is probably gonna be like seven to nine hours long like the audiobook of a short book this one I think is like 15 and a half hours long which I would say like once you start getting into like 18 hour 17 hour territory like that's a long book I think definitely over 20 hours that's a long book so this is pretty long like it's deceptively short okay let me tell you the plot and then I'll tell you thoughts I'm just like ready for the year to be over guys I love the new year and I'm just like my reading is done for 2022 this is gonna be my last novel that I read I'm enjoying it so it's set in America in the 1950s when there was a mass dragoning where women housewives mothers turned into dragons en masse there were hundreds of thousands of women in the America where this is set who turned into dragons on the same day killed their husbands in many cases took off to the skies and you know it's a lot about throughout history but also in this time period but also like it is all obviously an allegory for like present day but how women have to contain their anger and the manifestation of that anger and that trauma coming to life it's almost like women taking control and women like not being afraid to showcase their anger and pain and stuff I'm loving the writing of this right this is the first time I've read anything by Kelly Barnhill and I'm like obsessed with the writing but this book is too long should we speed it up a little bit the idea is great like when I started reading it when I was like 20 pages in I was like oh my god this could be like a five star like this could be like a favorite book of the year and I've already done my video on it but I don't think it is because it's so long it doesn't need to be this long there are so many scenes that could have been cut I think this would have been a great 200 I mean it's 330 pages but I'm saying like 250 to 300 pages of like normal sized font kind of book because I just feel like we haven't gotten anywhere I've read a third of the book you know I'm a hundred pages in sorry I don't think I said that and I don't really feel like much has happened so her arm transformed into a dragon but her mother didn't and her mother now insists that her cousin her baby cousin um is her sister so they're kind of living with the cousin as being a sister I just wish it were shorter I just just like I'm really enjoying it I think I'm going to keep listening to audiobook whilst I do stuff I'm about to do reading streams with my patrons so I think I will try and read it physically with the audiobook for a while and see how we go but yeah I'm enjoying it I don't even think I'm not enjoying it oh also one of the parts I'm loving about it is there's excerpts from excerpt excerpt experts excerpts excerpts excerpt I've said it too many times it's not a real word anymore dumb dumb from a guy who like studies this as a science like the dragonning and like this phenomenon and that's been really interesting and like this imagined history I really really love and like this all other kind of no all-knowing narrator that keeps popping in I don't know I'm really enjoying that aspect of it but it's too long just tired I am now 200 pages into when women were dragons and I'm really enjoying it I'm really really enjoying it I would say maybe even a bit more than halfway through I'd say for the majority of this section a change happened that makes me very interested to see where the story is going to go and it kind of like rejuvenated my interest in the story added a new dimension it added a new element to what was going on and to like just talking about women's burdens and women's like responsibility no burden burden is the best word for it really throughout history I really love the way that this book is talking about stuff and yeah I don't know is discussing everything and is discussing the themes that it has around women's trauma anger burdens women I also think I do want to say this is something that I've often thought about like if you have a book that is a fantastical powers relating to gender like particularly like women like women having certain powers like how do you make that inclusive and I will say this book has done a good job of that there's mention of a drag performance multiple drag performers turning into dragons and there's just been a good discussion in the bit I've just read about gender so I feel like it's doing that in a good way as well it's like having this be about women's burdens and stories whilst also being inclusive in its magical kind of rules because in fantasy if you're gonna write a fantastical book like your magic system has to have rules there's something I've often thought about because a book that I want would want to write that would have women having certain magical powers right and if you start it with any magic system I'm not talking about in a particular example introducing exceptions or like more rules and more rules it can get a bit like overwhelming for the reader but I would still want if I were to do that and if I were to read a book that did that like have gender-based magic system rules for it to be inclusive not to view gender as a binary but all that to say I feel like this is doing it well and is an example of how to do it well you know so I'm really enjoying it I don't think it's going to be a five star I do think that the first 100 pages like I still stand by the fact that stuff could be cut but I will say it's one of those classic examples right where like those 100 pages makes you care more about what is happening now but that still doesn't mean that at the time it all needed to be there it's a difficult balancing act right because I like now looking back I know that I care about certain characters in the way that I do and I'm angry about certain stuff in the way that I am because we had all that information but at the same time I feel like your job as a writer is to pass through what can be cut and I think some of it could have been cut so that's my kind of feelings at the moment I'm gonna read a bit more this evening probably and then to finish it first thing in the morning I do just want to though I got a parcel I got a parcel you might have seen I uploaded my Christmas book haul the other day and this arrived after I filmed that I filmed that on Christmas Eve but I've got a book so shall we find out what it is together okay oh it's a hardback this is a story about a girl named Lucky it must have one of my series videos saying I want to continue let's find the um note who is this from oh my god Maya shut up hi Megan just watched your series video and thought I helped you earn your goals in the new year I'm also selfishly curious of your opinion have the greatest Christmas break from your patron Maya Maya Maya got me a book that I unwrapped in that oh my god that is so kind this is a series I really want to finish in 2023 this is the third book so now I've got my hands on it I can kind of make progress in the series and this is I think now the oldest series that I'm still currently reading so I'm very very very excited to read this oh my gosh Maya thank you so much this is so exciting well I did read the second one quite not quite recently but like fairly recently it wasn't like I read the first two ages ago so it is still kind of fresh in my brain so yes hopefully I will finish this series this year wow thank you I love how these have pictures in them that is one thing I do love about the stalking jack the ripper series like there's pictures and stuff I do love that a little bit spice for the girls anyways I'm gonna go have a nice bath and probably read a little bit more this night and I'll check in with you in the morning with my final thoughts hello I feel like I haven't vlogged in like a week and I'm out of practice but anyway I finished when women were dragons and I'm gonna give it a 4.5 yes yes I really really love this especially the latter two thirds I just I really loved it this has a sister relationship that really becomes a massive focus of the book and we know that I love sisters if you're a regular here we know that I love witches you really I just love women women I already use that meaning I can't use women we know that I love witches and I feel like the dragons in this story are serving the same purpose that witches are serving now in modern literature and I just loved what this book had to say and I love an alternative history I love something that's historical but fantastical and I mean it's just like I just I loved it I loved it the only reason it's a 4.5 and not a 5 is I do feel like it has some pacing issues it got better I think it's those first a hundred pages that are a bit slow but like I said you do begin to understand why they're important and particularly the role that her mother has in her life is very much focused on in those first hundred pages and I get it like I get it I get it but I do think it needed a little bit editing so that's the only reason why it's not a 5 but I am so excited to read more Kelly Barnhill I literally can't wait I'm like I need to be let out it like I'm so excited to read more from this author because I loved the writing I love what I had to say and you know if when I find an author that I love the writing from you know writing for me is number one I can deal with not really having a plot I can deal with underperforming characters for me like connecting to and like living in the writing is so important so I just I loved it I think it's so good if you can feel like a feminist alternative history go read this something that I also think is very unique about this book that I haven't mentioned is that Alex our protagonist is actually writing this book and she mentions it occasionally so it's self-referential she'll be like as I sit here writing this now I can't remember this or whatever but it's done well that it's not all the time I think when you do that in a book it has to be like occasional references otherwise it can get a bit overwhelming and yeah I loved the characters I loved the dragons I loved it all so yeah I would a hundred recommend picking this up and that is another success for wrapped up so yeah sad that I didn't get to do four episodes in December but this is actually I think gonna be my last video of the year so thank you guys so much for all your support I cannot tell you how much I appreciate it how thankful I am for this year that we've experienced together and I'm trying out I mean I always love the new year and I'm trying to get that hope and excitement alive the next year and I just feel like we're gonna have an even better 2023 so thank you so much for watching me if you're liking my videos for commenting I read every single comment probably five times I'm really bad at responding just as like I'm bad at responding to text like I feel a lot of pressure around it um but I love reading your comments and hearing from you and I just love you I love you so thank you for your support wrapped up risk will continue into 2023 I think I will still try to do 10 episodes so that now means we'll be going until July so one a month you'll see and yeah thank you so much I love you you're going to the end of video comment a celebration new year's emoji because I'm trying to get myself into that space so thank you guys so much for watching and I'll see you very soon in another video bye