 Hey everyone, welcome back to my channel. I hope you're good. Today we are going to be reacting to a five star predictions video which I made February of last year. Oh my god. I don't know why it's taken me over a year to read like the 10 or something books I was most excited for but it has. Let's just get into it. I'm going to watch the video back. I can't remember what books are on here. Before we get into it I actually need to ask a favor of you. I am currently making my final year uni project which is equivalent to my dissertation but I'm actually making a documentary because I do a journalism degree and I'm making mine about the paid disparities in publishing for authors of color particularly for black female authors and so I just really want to represent like the reader's point of view and opinion on the topic in the documentary so if you could just send me a video of yourself answering some questions that's all I need from you. Please help me out. So basically the questions are what's your favorite book by an author of color? Why do you think it's important we read diversely and what changes do you think need to happen to the book industry to make it more diverse? You can just like film us on your phone and then email it to me at megunidoc at gmail.com. It can either be like on YouTube as unlisted and just send me the link or you can just send me the file. You don't need to edit the video at all like literally just film yourself and then send me the video. I would appreciate it so so so so so so so much so much because it's hard to make a documentary and like we've only just got a lockdown in the UK so I would really appreciate it and I'd love to hear your thoughts on the topic so it'd be great if you could send me that literally it needs to be two minutes just film it on your phone you don't need to stress about it but I'd really help it would really help me if you guys could send me some of them. Let's just get into the video I don't know how well I'm gonna have predicted this I can't remember what was on there I feel like I may have done a pretty good job. Today we are doing a very exciting video and that is my five star prediction so these are all books that I am hoping to read this year and I think I'm gonna give five stars I have pretty good feelings about all of them. So the first book on my list is The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern for those of you who don't know I read The Starless Sea at the end of 2019 and I loved it it was my second favourite book of the year. I feel like this is my kind of book I like books that are a bit confusing, they're a bit all over the place, they're a bit misleading and I think that's kind of what this is also this edition is five stars on its own so if you ask me Megan what is it about? I know it's set in a circus so I did give The Night Circus five stars Erin Morgenstern can do no wrong she could do no wrong maybe she snapped. I loved it I really really loved The Night Circus I loved how confusing and strange and ethereal and magical it was. I still cannot really tell you what it's about not sure I can't tell you what it's about I can't I can't tell you what it's about it's basically about two magicians who are locked in this like lifelong battle with one another through the circus the circus kind of like the vessel for that but they don't know that they are battling with one another and it's kind of their love story but it's also the story of this magical circus and of all these other characters and it's weird and I really want to reread it I think I read it this time last year maybe maybe about a year ago and I need to read both that and the Salicy again because they're both such magical like I can't even describe Erin Morgenstern's writing to you sufficiently but just so special and unique but I am terrified of rereading them not because I don't think I'm gonna love them but just because it's like it's an experience I have to be in the right headspace to reread them and I understand how people say it's boring because it's slow the plot is a bit all over the place but like it's got this flair for the dramatic which I just love so we've got one. Next five star prediction is Daisy Jones on the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid so obviously Taylor Jenkins Reid is super well known for the Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo which I think I gave a four star initially and then bumped up to a five star because I just couldn't stop thinking about it. I've been scared off of this one for a little while just because of the unique way in which it's written if you don't know it's written in kind of an interview format where you just have the character's name and then what they say and that's them telling the story. Okay so Daisy Jones on the Six I gave I think a 4.5 so it's like not quite a five and it's very close like it's super close and very similar to Evelyn Hugo like I kind of see it as a five star Reid but like it was on five stars but it was I don't know I really really really loved the way that this was told the unique sound which is told in that interview format. I thought it was so interesting and I'd love to read more books in that way. I just really loved hearing everything through the character's voices the characters all had really unique voices and really identifiable voices. He made me cry I remember I was driving back to uni or driving home from uni one of the two. I think I was driving back to uni and I was just sobbing silently on the motorway reading this book like my dad was driving he didn't even know I'd been crying but I was like sobbing for like half an hour reading this book like it really hit me. I was looking at people and I was like I was like me when people looked at me crying on the motorway. I was ashamed. Oh because of course Katy Perry is so strong. But yeah I really loved the like music setting I thought that was really fun I thought the time setting was really fun I thought the ending was great it ends in a way that I didn't really expect so it wasn't a five star but like I kind of view it as one of those books so maybe it was a five star that's like a maybe that's like it was up there it was basically as up there as you could be without me giving it five stars. Next on my predictions list is Six of Crows by Lee Bodger now. I haven't finished The Shadow and Bone trilogy yet I've only read the first book I only have the first book Six of Crows I just have a massive like I just know I'm gonna love it. The cold prayer of this video being so late I just read this in a reading blog and I gave this 4.5 stars and I gave Cooker Kingdom like 4.75 but I gave it five on Goodreads like I rounded up two or five on Goodreads now. This is a great series like this is such a good series the character the character is the best part of this the characters are some of the like the most well-rounded characters that some of the most interesting characters in Nege. I can't think about Nege like I just love her like has there ever been a character as iconic as a Nege the answer is no. She's a blessing and a curse she's wild she's free she's dynamic. The only reason this one wasn't a five star was because the pacing at the end they're like the last third didn't quite pull it off for me and that's particularly where the heist section is like where it comes to a head and I didn't feel like it was quite done as well as I wanted it to whereas I really felt like in this one it pulled off what I wanted where you were kept in the dark of the plans of the heist and of what to expect and like what was going on so the characters were five steps ahead of you and you didn't really know what was happening and you thought you knew what was happening and then something would happen you'd be like shit the plan is not going to plan but it turned out that is the plan you know or something like that or the other way around you know what I mean you know that you were constantly being confused by what was happening whereas in this one I kind of felt like you know you knew what was supposed to go down and kind of what was gonna happen and that was the only thing that led it down for me so again similar to Daisy Jones like this was this was super close to being a five star it was a 4.5 so we haven't had anything yet that's like a dud in those five star predictions this was definitely up there Lee Bodugo's writing is incredible I'm still waiting for 9th house to I don't know how long I'm gonna be waiting I'm not happy at how long 9th house is being delayed like I have never wanted to read a book so much I don't think I've ever been waiting for a book so the way that 9th house ends if you know if you read it you know you know exactly what I'm talking about I need it right now and I swear she once said she wanted to be like a seven book series I'm like miss girl please let's hurry them up like I need anyway um so this was very close and I basically gave quicker kingdom five stars like I basically gave it five stars so I don't think this was that far off again similar to Daisy Jones it was it was pretty much correct my next prediction is middle game by shawnen oh my god now I've had so many people say good things about it this is a bit complicated I think we've got another one girls and gals and ladies and gents and everyone hey success it's another five stars it's another five stars it's another five stars I loved middle game shawnen maguire without a doubt another one of my favorite authors the woman is a pure genius like when you read the oh my god let me get it another one of five stars shawnen maguire come tumbling down like just the genius in the way with children's series and the genius in middle game my god I don't even have the words so middle game is very confusing middle game is like what the fuck did I just read like what did I just read like not sure what happened but I liked it it's about twins called Roger and Dodger and they were just such interesting characters they'd basically been bred by this alchemist to like take over the world it's a long story one of them's good at english one of them's good at maths or like one of them's good at languages I guess kind of and it's just such clever writing such like encapsulating writing such interesting writing I miss reading books like these like books like the night circus middle game like I read all these like last summer around each other and I just haven't and I just haven't been reading anything like this lately I need another shawnen maguire middle game book I need another I mean I was about to say I need another Erin morganston book but we're about we're gonna be waiting for like another 10 years for that she only puts a book out every 10 years middle game was so clever I think one of the most clever books I ever read and understood enough to give it five stars and just to be in love with it it was such an amazing book wow wow if you like complexity in your fantasy like a bit of sci-fi time the way it examines time was really interesting my god don't need to reread that as well oh my god anyway yeah five stars another one we're doing really well so far so my next prediction is a bit of a cool and that is bad feminist by Roxanne gay so this is a series of essays by Roxanne gay kind of detailing the complex nature I think it's trying to be a feminist in the modern day I think that's right okay so another five stars this is my favorite non-fiction of last year oh my god my mind how do I know this I am so powerful my mind oh it amazes me sometimes this is my favorite non-fiction of last year five stars it kind of is about what I said it was about but it's definitely about like race and politics and just like critiquing of the media the media is a big part of this book and critiquing how that works and perpetuates certain cycles of inequality and oppression and I am obsessed with Roxanne gay's writing like it was the most interesting non-fiction I've ever read it was so insightful I rarely highlight stuff I was out here with my highlighter like studying what she was saying she's an amazing writer like the way that she just articulates thoughts was super interesting I just thought was amazing yeah really interesting sections on like the help there's a whole essay on like the damaging effects of the help the book and the film and that was really interesting that's one that sticks in my mind but there's so many and I think when you want to examine issues like black feminism race feminism as a whole like these issues although it's interesting to read maybe like more fact-based books non-fiction books I think it's equally as important to read like experiences from the people who live those intersections so I just loved it I just absolutely loved it I have not that bad by Roxanne gay I eventually want to make my way through all of her backlist but I would I loved this and I think it's such an accessible form of non-fiction and it's like if you're not into non-fiction and you maybe wanted to read one this was this would be like what I would recommend to you is If We Were Villains by M.L.Rio so this was gifted to me by Ryan Rea and it was a book that she loved last year so I feel pretty good about that because again a lot of books I've picked up on her recommendation I've really enjoyed and everyone compares this to the secret history everyone compares this to the secret history but they're wrong no no no no okay we have our first we have our first dad I gave this two stars was not a fan such a disappointment such a disappointment such a disappointment I am so sad so this is about these actors these acting students who study Shakespeare predominantly and one of them is murdered and I still don't even remember um one of them has gone to jail has served jail time for this murder but we're learning now what the true story is basically and here's the thing I don't mind this likeable characters like unlikeable characters I don't mind that I like shitty characters right I don't believe that like you have to have all nice characters my characters we love and no characters who like are wrong and bad or whatever but these characters are shitty and they're boring and they're annoying and they're stupid well here's the tip like if you're gonna be shitty be interesting be interesting with that they were like they wanted to be shitty as well but they weren't quite there like from recollection so they like they wanted to be bad but they like they were like pretending do you know what I mean they're like rich kids like oh my god they're so naughty and they're so horrible it was just boring it was just so boring I can't even remember my critiques of this I'll link my vlog where I read this I did a dark academia reading vlog I'll link that so you can actually see what my problems with it were because I can't remember sometimes when I'm super disappointed about a book I will wipe it from my memory like not books I hated that I wasn't expecting much like I remember that experience I know what to talk about but when it's a book is disappointing I can't live with that and so I just kind of like wipe it for my memory so I can't even remember what my annoyances were I remember there was many problems I had with it um but I genuinely can't remember what they were I genuinely I can't remember let's just swiftly move on because we don't need to talk about how sad it was because I was so excited for this book and then it was bad anyway and then the last book that I own that I've chosen okay is a bit of a curveball it is The Last by Hannah Davidson okay now this is not a book that really anyone on booktube I've heard talk about this is a book my mum bought and I've had it on sitting on my tbr shelf and I really want to read it so I'll just read you out the back it says the world has ended in nuclear war you and 19 other survivors hold up in an isolated swiss hotel you wait you survive then you find the body one of your number has blood on their hands the race is on to find the killer before the killer finds you okay so that's the premise of the last I didn't get this five stars okay this four stars now here's the thing this um this was a great book this was a wonderful book this was like such a good thriller murder mystery I loved how isolated it was the beginning was incredible like the it's a diary entries from this guy who's there it's about the end of the world like the rest of the world is a kind of end in nuclear war you are in one of the only places that has survived and you're stuck in this hotel with all these people and so that element was really interesting like the isolation at the end of the world I found super interesting um the murder mystery element was interesting but this had one of the weirdest endings I've ever read in a book like the last third of this just kind of went in this very unexpected direction and it was so weird it's getting weird and I have to admire it a bit for going there and for like being like what the fuck was that like I have to admire it a little bit but at the same time it prevented it from being a five star like it was kind of fun because it kind of just went off the rails and like I finished the end and I was like what the fuck just happened like I've never been in more in shock when finishing a book I would really recommend it though I think it's a very underrated like thriller murder mystery isolate like super isolated book and the characters in it are really interesting and how they all interact like I just found I found that premise very interesting so I would recommend it but just be prepared the ending will probably be disappointing and like you'll be shocked and you'll be like well it just happened but I would recommend it and so it's not a complete dad like if we were villains but it wasn't five stars it's hard to put volume two this is volume one by alice placement yeah heartstopper will always be five stars I don't even need to read there's gonna be two more I don't even need to read them to know they're five stars I could literally rate them five stars right now and there's not any other author or book or series I can say that for heartstopper is this graphic novel series where these two boys called Nick and Charlie fall in love and it's just super soft and sweet and cozy and like happy but it also is starting to deal with some important issues as well like eating disorders and stuff like that yeah it's just about them like coming to terms with their sexuality and falling in love with each other it's just so gorgeous heartstopper will always be five stars like there's no question about it like not just the ones I've read the ones in the future I will never rate them less than five stars because it's just the whole experience of them they already take like half an hour to read but they are just so full of life and fun and joy and happiness they just like it's really so happy so yeah it will always be five stars I'm so sad there's only gonna be two more like that makes me so deeply sad but I understand it can't go on forever but it's just such an amazing graphic novel series so that was one of my five star predictions and I think I did pretty good like it was mostly five stars and four point five stars in fact it was all four to five stars apart from if we were villains which was a two star so that is the big disappointment I prefer not to think about that book we pretend we do not see it but everything else was between like a four four point five five a lot of fives in there so I'm so happy like I think that was such a good predictions video I need to do it again I'm gonna do like a renewed one and I don't know what books to pick I'm feeling very scared about this so yeah I feel like I know my reading tastes pretty well and I know pretty well what is going to be a five star usually so let me know down below what you thought of any of the books I mentioned in this video if you've gone to the end comment any stars emojis and yeah thank you so much for watching and I will see you very soon in another video bye