**A Year of Fantasy and Sci-Fi: A Tier Rank of Book Reviews**

As we come to the end of another year, I've taken the time to reflect on the books that have captivated me throughout the past 12 months. From epic fantasy series to standalone novels, I've devoured a wide range of titles in the fantasy and sci-fi genres. In this article, I'll share my tier rank of the books I read last year, from the ones that truly resonated with me to those that didn't quite hit the mark.

**Wicked Fox by Kacho**

One of the standout novels of the year was Wicked Fox by Kacho. This beautifully written book is a retelling of Korean mythology, and it's clear that the author has a deep understanding of her cultural heritage. The story follows two characters, Me and Young, as they navigate their complicated familial dynamics and explore themes of individuality, morality, and duty. I was particularly impressed by the way Kacho wove together the mythological elements with her own personal experiences, creating a rich and nuanced narrative that felt both deeply personal and universally relatable.

**Vicious Spirit by Kacho**

While Wicked Fox was a standout novel for me, I have to admit that Vicious Spirit was not quite as successful. I think part of the problem was that it tried too hard to establish this incredible world-building element within the contemporary setting, which ultimately felt forced and contrived. The power dynamics between Me and Young were fascinating, but they didn't quite come together in a way that felt authentic or satisfying.

**Wickedness: A Misguided Effort**

The second half of the year saw me tackle Wickedness, another novel that promised much but delivered little. I found myself confused by the world-building, which seemed to change direction more often than it stayed on track. The main character's "greatness" felt like a convenient plot device, and I couldn't shake the feeling that the author was trying too hard to live up to the hype surrounding the series.

**Dreams Descend: A Missed Opportunity**

Another novel that disappointed me was Dreams Descend. While I loved the idea of a story that revolved around the main character's "rightness," it ultimately felt like a missed opportunity. The world-building was lacking, and the romance between the characters felt forced and unconvincing. It was clear that the author had some great ideas, but they weren't executed well enough to make for an engaging or satisfying read.

**Witches Steeped in Gold: A Messy Effort**

Last but not least, I have to mention Witches Steeped in Gold by Cheyenne Smart. Unfortunately, this novel felt like a mess from start to finish. The chemistry between the characters was nonexistent, and the romance felt more like a convenient plot device than a genuine emotional connection. While the world-building was interesting, it was ultimately too simplistic and lacked depth. I couldn't shake the feeling that the author was trying to hide behind the romance, using it as a smokescreen for weaker elements in the story.

**The Lightning Thief: A Solid, if Not Exceptional, Read**

Finally, I have to mention The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, which is one of my favorite childhood books. While it's not a novel that I've read recently, I still felt compelled to include it in this tier rank. The book itself was solid, if not exceptional, and I appreciated the way Riordan wove together Greek mythology with modern-day settings. However, I have to admit that I didn't feel as strongly about it as I did when I was younger.

**Sea of Monsters: A Favorite**

One book from last year's reading list that I'm still thinking about is Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan. While The Lightning Thief was a solid read, Sea of Monsters felt more like a favorite childhood memory than a recent read. There's just something about the way Riordan balances adventure, humor, and heart that continues to captivate me.

**The Citadel: Where I Come Alive**

As I look back on the books I've read this year, I'm reminded of why I love doing what I do. The community here at The Citadel is incredible, and it's a place where I feel like I can be myself without fear of judgment or criticism. From discussing our favorite books to sharing our thoughts and opinions, we have a space that feels truly welcoming and inclusive.

**Patreon Support: A Shout-out**

I want to take a moment to express my gratitude for the incredible support that comes from my Patreon community, the Citadel. This group of amazing individuals has been instrumental in helping me continue to create content that I'm passionate about. If you're not already part of the Citadel, I invite you to join us and be a part of this community.

**Socials: Stay Connected**

Finally, I want to encourage everyone to stay connected with me on social media. Whether it's Twitter, Instagram, or YouTube, I love engaging with readers and discussing all things fantasy and sci-fi. Follow me, share your thoughts, and let's keep the conversation going!

And that's a wrap for this year's tier rank of book reviews! I hope you've enjoyed reading about my favorites and not-so-favorites from last year. Until next time, stay curious, keep reading, and remember to always be open to new experiences and perspectives.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthis video is brought to you by squarespace the all-in-one platform to build a beautiful online presence and run your business squarespace is a wonderful platform to build your own sites with hundreds of templates to choose from all the way from podcasts to online shops their powerful features such as email campaigns collecting donations social sharing member areas and blogging tools provide all you need to freely manage your ventures and grow as a brand on top of that their analytics tools will help you gain powerful insights into who's visiting your site and how they're interacting with your content which is one of creators and marketeers most valuable assets head to squarespace.com reads to save 10 of your first purchase of a website or domain using code mel reads that was hot that was hot hello recording friends welcome back to my channel or welcome if you're new hello i know this is a different setup we're currently in my office area but today i have a super special video for you guys and it is a video that i've been looking forward to making ever since the year kind of ended or was approaching its end i mean 2021 we're already in 2022 this gets confusing however what's important here is that last year i did a video that a lot of you guys seemed to like at the time which is here ranking every book i read in 2020 this year around i was also planning the same thing so tear ranking every book that i read in 2021 except for the fact that i read over 170 books and tear ranking all of that is not only an incredibly daunting task but it would also be an extremely long video that i'm sure nobody would be interested in seeing however i have come with an alternative and that is me tier ranking every fantasy and sci-fi that i read in 2021 what was most interesting out of everything was figuring out the ratio of fantasy slash non-fantasy that i read last year and it came up at a whopping over 120 books that i read last year that were not fantasy or sci-fi and i call myself a fantasy reader but without further ado let's set up on the desk let's switch angles and let's get started with a nice little screen recording this lighting will be the vein of my existence so literally unless i talk like that you are going to see ring lights in my eyes and i'm not i don't pretend to talk like this for the entirety of the video so you're going to stare at my beautiful side profile as i tear-rank some stuff or the names of the tears i have five at the very bottom we've got ooh she missy with that voice it comes with that voice okay the next tier is they tried if anything tier number three is did we need this and then at number four we've got pikito with us market also with that voice pikito so if you don't speak spanish basically piquito means smooth at the very top we've got i'd kill for you these may change as i go i'm not gonna i'm gonna try i'm gonna try my best to be objective here although this entire thing is subjective however the very first book we are tier ranking today is amari and the knight brothers by b.b alston now you guys know if you watched my best books of 2021 this book did make it into the list i have been raving about amari for the entirety of 2021 and also in the beginning and i absolutely adored this i loved the world building amari as a character was fantastic i just think this world has so much to offer and literally if anybody messes with amari i would kill for her so i think that is pretty much self-explanatory for me i am incredibly protective over amari i love the book i love the story i love everything that it did and everything that it has set out to do and i cannot wait for book number two which comes out this year anyways so we've got ako maf a court of mist and fury regardless of when i read this book i think my opinion still remains the same and i would kill for her i would kill for akimov now when i was in high school i was very avidly reading when i was between eighth and ninth grade still kind of read when i was in sophomore junior and senior year of high school however i didn't read as much as i used to when i was younger and the one series that really did it for me at the time it's kind of like a nostalgic favorite is the court of thorns and roses series by miss mass sarah janet just knows how to do it every time for me and i think particularly with aquamoff i just think that it goes into a completely it almost goes on a tangent it goes and does its own thing the character development is fantastic the reveals the plot twists everything constantly gets a reaction out of me which is probably the best thing you could do as an author so followed by akumav we've got aqua war and while there are some really strong moments in here a lot of it just falls short there seems to be a lot of plot holes in this one and also just a lot of things like miss mass just let people die just let people die if they die they stay dead okay thank you very much so did we need this is the question did we need certain people to survive this the answer is no the novella a court of frost and starlight i know where this is going immediately they tried if anything i don't know originally if the novellas were planned but i do know that a court of silver flames was supposed to be in the works and it was supposed to come out but given delays whether in writing or editing or whatever it was bloomsbury basically went well sarah danette if your book is not ready at least give us something because you're under contract and we need to release something and so a court of frost and starlight came about it is literally a hallmark special it is nothing special and it felt like it was ghost written a court of silver flames which i read as soon as i came out it got here binced it read it loved it sobbed my eyes out however can i bring myself to put this beside aquamoff i don't know like my first instinct is to go like i'd smooch the hell out of this book journey is incredible it feels so independent yet connected to the main storyline of acotar i loved seeing nesta's development in this one a dark and hollow star by ashley shuttleworth now this one's a special one this was literally the first book the very first book that we read with lu tasmania which is my book club with liv on patreon which is super exciting which self plug if you want to join us the link is always down below this book is good this book is enjoyable is it fantastic is it the best thing i've ever read no by any means no this feels very city of bones like my favorite thing about this book was how the fae were portrayed exactly as they were this is subject to change this literally set up for the next book this is a bunch of exposition a lot of world building and you just really get to meet the characters the audiobook for this was also really really good okay a diary of blood is next and i know this is straight up going and i'd kill for you very easy position for me i would literally kill for constanta and i think that needs no explanation if you read this book this is a wives of dracula retelling you've heard me talk about this probably like a million times literally this woman gets done dirty so many times and the primary subject of this book is literally the toxic cycles of abuse against women and if that is not all you need to know why i'd kill for this woman then i don't know what to tell you it was such an empowering yet heartbreaking story and i really like all of the subversions i love how it was polyamorous and i love how again it didn't seem like a hopeless story a discovery of witches by deborah harkness and i would literally kill for this book i would kill for matthew i would kill for diana i would kill for diana's aunt i would kill just for everything and everyone in this book i constantly find myself saying deborah harkness just did an absolute stellar job at making me care for things i never thought i'd care for quite literally history and science are both well they were some of my best subjects in school but coming out of it as somebody who is a makeup artist and does youtube for a living i what am i here to talk about if anything but science and history and so she really made me care for those things and i think the way that they were incorporated into the story and into the world building were just masterfully done and i think this book reminded me of how much i love which vampire stories people don't hate me for this i have a darker shade of magic by miss v schwab you guys know i love jesus and i love addy labru and i'm saying that so y'all don't hate me a darker shade of magic she messy okay oh she messy i will say very easy to read very easy books just let yourself go with however the magic system in this book to me just didn't really feel intricate at all and this is supposed to be adult fantasy by all intents and purposes does not need to be an incredibly you know it doesn't need to be sanderson level intricate it does need to be shauna mcguire interesting however all i ask is for a magic system that feels substantial that is good that is interesting that keeps me hooked throughout the entirety of the story and characters that are actually compelling i believe i have a vlog where i talked about a darker shade of magic pretty in depth because i read this way back in 2021 like march i'd say of last year and this book the romance came out of nowhere it was incredibly in slove i was incredibly annoyed the characters that i was interested in were barely in the story and everything else just kind of fell flat for me so darker shade not for me gathering of shadows though was slightly better than a darker shade of magic which is why i'm putting it in they tried if anything they did try va shop tried alucard was honestly my favorite character in the second one literally the character that i cared the most about helen lila's relationship in this one it just further solidified how it made no sense to me how i saw no chemistry and how much i didn't care for these people okay chain of the iron by miss cassandra claire i'm gonna put this in piquito okay i'm gonna put this piquito because it was a sexy book it was good i realistically fell in love with fantasy even more when i first read the moral instrument series as it was coming out when i was in middle school and i absolutely adored every second of it however what seems to happen with cassandra clare that is very interesting that again could go either of two ways either in piquito or did we need this it's not she has a formula and she does the same thing in every book her characters are literally copy and pasted in every single narrative literally all of the hair nails are the same all of the main characters are arguably the same i liked this one i like this series more just because cordelia really does seem to have a higher sense of individuality which i personally really like and the era in which this is set in has been incredibly exciting the ending was really really good daughter of smoke and bone by miss lainey taylor is next now the only reason why i'm placing this here is because i think i read this at the wrong time now this is one of my patron book picks for last year and i enjoyed it i gave it four stars it was a really enjoyable book i just think it was very just like old school y a if i had read this one i was actually in high school i think i would have literally fallen in love with this would kill for it but given the fact that i read this last year and i feel like i've seen the same tropes over and over again at this point i just don't think it really did anything special what i will say is incredibly interesting to me as a trope or as a narrative follow i guess is angels and demons i love that in fantasy books brimstone was literally fantastic so we we get a bunch of really cool characters but when it came to the actual plot twist it was incredibly predictable and and at the very end you're just left with like really is that is that all we did so did we really need this could have been better to be quite honest now we have got illuminae and gemina illuminae was a really great book i'm literally gonna put it in piquito because i gave this book five stars when i read it it was a really fantastic narrative love the villain how we call it a villain i liked the villain in the story i think it was incredibly interesting to see it was kind of i guess now everybody's gonna compare it to this but it was kind of like the thanos situation where is it right no do you understand where they're coming from yes and i think that's exactly what this book is i think the cast of characters was incredibly dynamic and it really just called for attention and it was incredibly engaging the audiobook for this was great i liked the multimedia format that the book has so overall i think illuminae was a stellar book literally fantastic but when it comes to gemina she as messy as it can get i did not care for gemina at all i was so disappointed in the narrative and here is where mr kristoff's history kind of comes in a lot of his books from what i have heard tend to really play out the sexualization of underage girls of women gemina was literally that the main character of gemina is in a relationship with what i believe is a slightly older person and by older i mean just a few years older but i do remember it being like oh do you want to wear that nice dress that i love how it looks on your body and i was just highly uncomfortable listening to that on audio and listening how a girl who was 17 years old or around that age was being put in this position of your body is what makes you i hated that i also did not care a single flying about the plot in this book it was just such a weak follow-up to illuminae in my opinion we have into the drowning deep by mira grant and i freaking love this move definitely going to put that into piquito i absolutely loved this it just solidified why i'm so scared of the sea like between this and titanic i'm never going on a cruise i'm i'm not stepping on a cruise i'm not going in there i loved this it is literally an exploration of human evolution and it is all done through a quest set out at sea to find out what happened with a crew that got lost in the midst of filming a documentary about the mariana trench and it is the scariest spookiest thing you'll find at sea i love that this is a crossover of sci-fi and horror and it was honestly done perfectly in my opinion and i was very scared i do not want that again clara and the sun by casua ishiguro i am going to put this in i'd kill for you although this book was not a five star for me i would kill for clara and i think that's what this comes down to clara is the most joe-eyed wide-eyed innocent naive perfect ai to see the world from she sees the world in such a child's like way but with such love and enthusiasm and she just wants to learn about humans and what drives humans and why humans behave the way that they do and what human reaction really is and how it comes about and you truly just have such an empathetic literal robot which at times seems to be so much more empathetic than a human being itself so i loved her as the narrator of the story and i think it was a fantastic exploration of humanity we've got kingdom of ash by ms sarah janet i would kill for her is it my favorite throne of glass book no and i think this book as opposed to avatar it has a very well earned ending after every trial and tribulation and trauma and obstacle and tear and abuse and just everything in between the characters really got the ending that they deserve and i don't think i could have wished for anything more out of the conclusion of the series and i just love how she never ignores the topic of mental health in this space and she does it in a way that makes sense to her characters which i really personally enjoy and just have a pleasant time reading oh i was dreading this moment lost in the neverwoods by aiden thomas this was one of my most anticipated releases of last year and i also read this with the citadel and i thought i was gonna have the best time of my life i thought i was thoroughly going to love and enjoy this book and it ended up being the exact opposite now i constantly go back and forth with do i really like retellings do i hate retelling where do i stand with retellings and this was a case of where is the retelling i personally didn't see the charm that aiden thomas had in cemetery boys which i had read previous to this and i was very bummed about that block twists in this book didn't really even make sense to me the development wasn't even there it wasn't it wasn't it for me we have lore by alexandra bracken and my take on this did we need this now i did like this book also let me just preface by saying that i really liked this book i think it definitely gave me dc comics vibes in the beginning of the book i think a lot of mythology elements were really interesting in the way that it was executed it was interesting i just think we reach a certain point in the narrative where it gets really messy and where things just start happening out of nowhere and it almost felt like the author was pulling out of their ass and going whoa well you better take that and that and that and the ending of this as well was like so unearned and unwarranted and on everything i did not like the ending of this at all a lot of parts about this book also felt very plot convenient but i think overall there were elements of this book that i really enjoyed then that i think were really strong when i weigh them out it's i think it fits right in the middle of like it had some really great parts and some really not so great parts it's middle game by seanan mcguire and we already know where this is going also i just had to sing the song however obviously it had to go in the top tier i would literally kill for roger and dodger they don't need any help first of all they do not need my help if anything i literally just want to protect these siblings till the end of times which they may just bring out themselves also reading this with the citadel just because i want to reread it because it was that good and i just had a great time with it i just don't know what else to say about this book besides the the establishment of the theme itself which is humans with powers and what that does to people or what that does to the people around them was so just fantastic it was so intriguing to see the navigation of this particular subject in this capacity it was so well researched to what it seems like i don't i'm not a science person i don't know however it seems very well researched the way that everything connects at the edge the plot twist and the sense of dread really of are these twins ever actually gonna do it you know are they gonna beat all the odds become gods are they gonna take over the world end the world like what's gonna happen with them however strange dreamer and muse of nightmares i would definitely kill for strange i would kill for laszlo i would kill for the whole book for the set of characters i freaking loved this it was lyrical the world building was phenomenal phenomenal the world building was phenomenal it was the first book after i created the citadel it was the first book after i created the citadel that i read about that had a citadel and so it was just like very special at the time and it was also coincidentally enough so when i do read-a-thons a lot of the time just trying to rush through books and finish books which is just don't do it kids i try and read as fast as possible and for this one i believe this was also my first 48 hour readathon it was the very first time that i started reading a book and i was like if it takes me longer than a day well it i'm just gonna finish it when i finish it and i think at the time i also needed to hear a lot of things about feelings of inadequacy and like imposter syndrome so i particularly really enjoyed it i think the writing was stunning really just sucks you into the world because it's also magical and whimsical that it's like you just want to be in the citadel i know you do these jokes today mel what's happening i'm gonna go ahead with muse now several times i've said like oh like the sequel is even better but in this case when i look at the difference between strange and muse the lyrical aspect was so much more present and strange at several different times that i personally love that about it even more in terms of execution i think muse as opposed to strange was so much more jam-packed with action and resolution rather than anything and just a lot of great plot twists as well is it at the same level as strange i mean it is technically in terms of a rating when i look at the grand scheme of things i'm like i still like strange better ninth house by leigh bardugo it's going into piquito i loved this book as well i love alex stern as a protagonist i think when i think of dark academia i think of something like this it's something very twisted it's something very gory it's something that is really not pretty it's a narrative where things just get up real quick and where characters are being done wrong at every single turn this is the epitome of what i think dark academia feels like it literally explores secret societies and although it is said at yale which i know is a lot of people's critique about this book that yes it's said in yale but like she never really goes to classes and i'm like does she really have to though because the whole purpose of dark academia is exploring the intricacies of the darkness of the academia so when i think of that i think of the seven secret societies in yale and that literally was thoroughly explored in this novel one last stop by casey mcquisten now you guys know me i loved red white and real blue one last stop was one of my most anticipated releases for last year i was super excited for the element of time traveling and sci-fi set in the contemporary world and having a sapphic romance i was excited for all of it especially seeing the incoming reviews for the first round of arcs that went out everybody was raving about this book and i was like yes suffix win everything's gonna be fantastic love all of it and then i read it and i'm just convinced at this point that casey mcquisten should steer clear of writing pocs because it's messy i i have the same argument for red white and royal blue and i feel like a lot sadly a lot of authors tend to go that route for people who are not poc it's very easy to go the stereotypical route you know latinos everybody needs to eat tortillas and beans and that's just so dumb one last stop is the same thing it's very stereotypically white savior saves asian girl and everything asian girl does revolves around very white hero i don't love that i don't love that the ultimate salvation of this character needed to end up being so intrinsically connected to this girl like i just it rubbed me the wrong way the romance was fantastic like that literally the romance aspect of this book was so good but it also felt in a way like un unrequited unrequited i never know how to say that word please forgive me but it it almost feels like one sided love it feels like one of the girls is more into the girl than the other and it i don't know the book was just messy you guys okay moving on to lighter greater subjects yay we've got our violent ends by chloe gong and you already know i would literally kill for julian and roma do they need any help in that regard absolutely know what i still try and get in on the action absolutely yes i love chloe gong's writing i love how this is a cross between magical realism fantasy and historical fiction i love how she constantly brings up these topics about race and racism colonialism and it was honestly fantastic in this in this landscape and i love how she ended up including the romeo and juliet aspect of it it made the story even more intricate even more interesting i love the vicious cycle of enemies to lovers which i always say she did it incredibly well where it's a constant back and forth i love you and i hate you okay we've got pages in co by anna james which i absolutely love literally one of my favorite middle rates okay no i wouldn't kill for it so peterson co is a really good middle grade i constantly say this i love how magical it is i love how the subject the main subject of the book is books and love for books and love for book characters and i think it's almost it's almost like a childlike exploration of people who want to like self-insert themselves in books almost i remember when i was super young and i would read and i would be like oh my god i'd love to be in the new york institute of the shadowhunter world and i was just like i you know you kind of want to be in those worlds and you want to meet those characters and you want to be friends with those characters and i think that's what pages and code does tilly literally ends up being friends with alice in wonderland and adam green gables that's incredibly exciting to read about it's it's literally almost kind of like putting yourself in the shoes of the character and just you know diving into the world it was super exciting i loved it the plot twist was really freaking good literally did not see it coming at all then we've got number two which is pages and co and tillian the lost fairy tales i think it is and this one i'm gonna put and did we need this it was a definite step down from the first book which was so stellar it was so good and i just didn't think that the second one was up to par with book one it was not as interesting maybe it's because we already kind of knew the world building of it all you take that away from the second one and what's there to be excited about now and sadly the quest adventure in the second one again just wasn't as exciting as book one i have project hail mary by andy ware and i'm definitely gonna put this in piquito this was a phenomenal sci-fi generally makes me so excited to read the martian because i've never read that either project hail mary though and i am going to assume that the martian has a very similar tone based on what i've heard but it manages to combine the best elements of mental health and then comedy and then science and such a unique writing voice too and i love the quest in this one i love the relationship that rocky and ryland end up developing in this paola santiago in the river of tears is an interesting one i would put it at pikitom but i can't and the only reason why it constantly like fluctuates back and forth for me between piquito and like did we need this is the fact that we do need this in middle grade we definitely do need more poc representation i read this book and i found myself going if only i had this when i was younger if only i had this when i was 11 12 years old and i got to read about an 11 year old latina girl literally beating la llorona like i would have loved to read that when i was younger not only to feel reassured that leorina was not going to come and eat me every day but also just for the simple fact that representation matters it's important paola's attitude in this book is what kind of rubs me off the wrong way she was a very entitled almost selfish possessive kid and i constantly had an issue with the way that she behaved in this book and i also think that the ending was incredibly rushed and it was kind of hard to remember exactly what the resolution had been a month after i read the book and so while i do think that the subject matter and the representation aspect of this book is immensely important i think the execution of it could have been altered skyward by brandy sandy i am going to put this in piquito not top tier but up there i talk about skyward all the time i really need to stop love spencer it was the first sci-fi that i read and i just kept imagining the wildest crazy in my head and it just seemed to work i was listening to sci-fi music as i was reading the book it just elevated the experience it was so action-packed in classic brandy sandy fashion he spares no one it is emotional you get invested the world is interesting the plot twists are fascinating it was fantastic time however star sight was not as good as skyward so i am gonna put that in did we need this execution wise it was interesting but when you take away the supporting cast of characters that we fell in love with in skyward it kind of takes away a little bit of the charm i still do think that skyward was as strong as it was not only because of spencer but because of the people surrounding her and again when you take away that factor it takes away a little bit of its charm mr lightning fave parlously jackson by rick riordan now i am going to go ahead and just steer rank both of these and i'd kill for you i'd kill for the whole cast of characters percy annabeth grover for tyson for chiron for every single body in this story except for clarissa i will not kill for her but everybody else i would kill four i loved my reread of this it's just such an endearing cast of characters reminds me why i felt so in love with mythology when i was younger what made me keep reading mythology books what made me read every single article wiki i could find at the time with more mythology info i just felt so connected to this i don't know why i don't know why ever since i was young i was just obsessed with the idea of like deities and gods and all that and this book just kind of solidified that i love how adhd positive it is it's almost like even if you have this it does not make you different it does not make you less than people you are equally as special equally as unique you can do the best equal things if not greater and i just love that message for kids because it's so empowering spin the dawn by elizabeth lim i'm going to put in piquito that feels right that actually feels very very right this is a retelling that i really enjoyed it is a retelling of mulan and it meets project runway we've got a project runway-esque competition but it's all very magical and mystical the magic in this was just so whimsical and beautiful the romance even was something that i really really enjoyed i just think where the book falls apart for me a little bit is when they go on the quest to get this done but everything before and after that was incredibly exciting however that quest just there were really exciting parts and there were really just random parts that i was just like what's happening the beautiful and the damned so the beautiful is definitely pikito for me i really enjoyed this book it was super fast to read first of all literally read it in one sitting and i quite enjoyed it i think what i liked most of all was the vibes from the originals which is the spin-off show to the vampire diaries it gave me very much those vibes very much the vibes of the flashbacks of 1864 and the vampire diaries i just very much enjoyed just reminiscing about that era almost i like the sense of mystery in this one as well where you almost know something that she doesn't know that they're vampires that they're werewolves that they're witches that there's all of this supernatural world she doesn't know all of that we personally know all of that or it's insinuated so that we know all of that and that element of mystery of intrigue was just so good the romance was super tense it did what it had to do the chemistry was fantastic and i just think everything flowed so nicely in this one i genuinely genuinely really enjoyed it the damned though she's messy the damned is so freaking messy and this is the perfect example of or at least that's what it seems like of an author not knowing what they want to do with a story before they started these two novels feel like completely different worlds completely different settings because they are completely different writing style just everything felt so vastly different in the second one where the first one is very much focused on witches and vampires and werewolves in the second one we get this expansion of the world where now you get fae and now you get all of these different things that i would have never thought would come up in this book where i did not want that in the series because that's not what i signed up for the bone shard daughter she's so messy it's unreal and i almost wonder all the time like literally all the time i wonder if i read the same book that other people read first of all and maybe this is where i would have benefited from not reading a synopsis however i had to read a synopsis because this was a booklet pick i read the synopsis and the synopsis led me to think that this was going to be a completely different narrative than what i got and i say that because usually when you read the synopsis for high fantasy books you kind of get the sense of like multicast of characters multi-pov such a big conflict even greater than you can imagine this seems like such a close quarter let's follow one character in her narrative sort of synopsis that when i entered the narrative and got three more povs and three more povs that completely overshadowed what was happening with the main character i also didn't like the world building for this one at all it made no sense to me and i think the things that yelled being so important and that literally controlled the entirety of the nation were left unexplained they kept repeating those one term which i've already forgotten they kept repeating this one term over and over and over and over and over again and not once was it explained as to what it was maybe it's explained in book two don't have the patience to go there to find out next step we have the bone season i'm gonna put this in piquito i definitely have to reread this book before i carry out with the series because i feel like i've forgotten a lot of details but this book was so interesting the clairvoyancy part of this was so intricate and interesting the whole underground crime underbelly of london was so interesting this whole other species which seemingly wants to kill the other people the whole conflict of this book was so interesting the romance part of this was something that i was anticipating but not expecting if that makes sense and when it did happen it was so freaking good like the chemistry the tension everything was so freaking good i just had a really good time reading this and i really want to re-experience this this year so that i can carry out with the series and kind of get to where we're at right now but it was a really good first installment it was really freaking fantastic the diviners by libba bray is another one that i'm gonna put under pikito i'm putting off this book for like almost a decade okay when i think about a horror thriller paranormal narrative in a y a setting this is the excellency that everybody should be carrying out i love how genuinely spooky this book was i genuinely felt like a demon was going to come out of my bathroom and be like hi i'm here to get you i loved evie as the main character she was so sassy and so classy but so raunchy all at the same time i loved sam as the love interest he literally screams bucky barnes vibes all the freaking way or he like calls her like doll because it's set in the 20s so it all just very much lines up to that you know time period and sort of chivalry i would also kill for mistborn i didn't i didn't think it was going to go up there i my hand just just did it something and i just you can't blame me because i just i was out of control i would kill for kelsier even though he was the most annoying person ever i would kill for vin i would love to join the screw too it's like a very badass crew the magic system in mistborn is so freaking good i want to push and pull some metal i want to push and pull too the house in the ceruleans say going to put this until we need this here's my thing i love the book i love the tone of it it's it balances itself out it's comedic where it needs to be but then it's also very just sound depressing where it needs to be given the life that the main character leads and so i love how self-aware it is and how much it tries to again not make it seem like a hopeless case i love the trope of found family it's very well thoroughly done in this book however there was a certain point when it was kind of reaching its climax and the the resolution that i was just like i'm not here for that so i just think like the first two thirds of the book were really strong and the very very end was also fantastic but again when it came to the climax resolution i was kind of like underwhelmed thunderhead by neil schusterman's i will put this and i'd kill for you when i think of scythe as a trilogy which i still have yet to finish the most intricate interesting element of this has always been the thunderhead the thing that rules so omnisciently over everybody that rules itself supreme but is still so fair it is so interesting to me the fact that we get a whole book where we get to explore the thunderhead where instead of getting journal entries from the sites we instead get the thought process of the thunderhead was so good to read from but i think it's truly the exploration of humanity and crime and what it means to be right or wrong or what it means to be wrong in in doing a right action if that makes sense i don't know this book just the lines between morality are always so blurred in this one but it was really good it was it was really freaking good the los angeles viva murder cases now i loved this book but did we need this didn't we though i i think you kind of get what you expect if you've read death note and i definitely would say read death note first or watch it first and then read this and kind of you know read it in that order i don't know how much i would recommend people read this first even though it does take place before the events of death note it's l being a smart ass at all times and kind of knowing what things are going to happen before they happen and it's always really insane but good to see his thought process and to see how he reaches those conclusions i'm i'm bumping down akuma before i carry on the last wish which is the first set of novellas for the witcher i'm gonna put this and i'd kill for you and i literally would i was not expecting this at all the last thing i was expecting out of this was to get some sort of fairy tale retellings and i love geralt of rivia i love how strongly he believes in his moral code and how he strictly sticks to monsters and evil creatures and his companion is also incredibly funny and just incredibly loyal which i love and everything about it just worked out for me priory of the orange tree tried it tried it really did it really really tried the sapphic romance really won in this one because i was fully there for them i loved them i wanted them to literally like burn the world and then be the only two people alive that's the vibe that it gave me and i just i wanted it i just wanted them to be okay at the end that was truly what i was most invested in however we have certain povs that i really just were so weak in my opinion made no sense as to why they were there and they could have been cut out on the book could have been shorter to be quite honest this book could have also benefited from being two different books and a duology instead of a standalone the dragons in this one are there but are they really there because i don't i don't i don't think so when we did the live show for this book for because this was also a booklet pick for lou fantasma i literally took over this live show and i went on a whole ass rant about this ending because it felt like i was reading a 600 page like literally ascend into conflict and then nothing happened the space between worlds by makaya johnson also tried i really also wanted to love the space between worlds it was literally one of the books that i was so excited about reading last year and i was so just underwhelmed as well and i think it mostly came down to the plot twist and the world building which albeit very interesting it constantly fell short for me i just think i had created a certain expectation of how this book was gonna go and i think this is wholly my fault personally where i had this very clear vision of what i guess the book should have done which is the dumbest thing ever but alas it's kind of the hole that i put myself in i did not get any of that it took a completely different route i was so confused i was just again so underwhelmed and just sitting there being like what is even happening at this point i was very confused by the direction that the book took however i think if i would have known barely anything about it or if i hadn't heard so many people hype this up at the time maybe i would have liked this slightly more but i just think i just induced this sort of incredible excitement upon myself the witch's heart by genevieve gornicek i didn't love this book but i'm gonna put this and did we need this and i think this book had a few things going for it if you're not familiar with norse mythology it's got something going for it you're gonna learn a lot it's gonna be so interesting it's gonna be weird if you've never heard about loki and his personal story the writing style was also really good especially if you listen to the audiobook it really just feels like you're sitting at a campfire and somebody's telling you a story and it feels very good this retelling is not a retelling like there is no retold part to this most of this was so accurate to the original mythos that it's hard to distinguish where it was its own thing and where it was just regurgitating what the mythos already tells you the way of kings by brandy standing goes into a kill for you i love this book with my whole heart and soul we've been new we know this and i can't wait to finish words of radiance it just did everything right for me the world for way of kings first of all is so big and vast and so interesting because it really is there are a lot of things that are not necessarily explicitly explained in the way that final empire does however i think that's the charm of way of kings it's the fact that it's gonna be a ten book series and it's all just so mystical and magical and it's so grand you're literally talking about people possessing god-like powers just enhancing themselves through armors and swords and it's so just out of this world quite literally and the commentary and religion is always is fantastic i the chapter starters you guys know this we're driving me insane because i was like is writing this it was just all so freaking good and i would die for caledon and i would kill for khaled and i think a lot of people deserve to be killed in honor of kaladin vengeful tried it tried to do something it used one of the tropes that i'm always so in love with which is the game of cat and mouse but i just don't think it added anything relevant to what we already saw in vicious i would much rather think of this just as a standalone with an open ending rather than think of vengeful as a follow-up to be quite honest wickedfox i get killed for you vicious spirit i'd go for you i'd kill for the whole series i really would love this to be a whole series to be quite honest with you kacho writes korean mythology so beautifully it is so you know what took me by surprise about this book about both of them really is the fact that while yes she establishes this incredible world which is you know set in the contemporary world but this whole mythos talk in such a beautiful way but within that mythos she has her own personal familial dynamics and explorations of just so many topics about individuality about your view of the world about your sense of morality about your sense of duty it's just all so phenomenal and i loved wicked fox honestly seeing the power dynamics and the familiar dynamics between me young and her mom was literally just it was so much so much to unpack but it was honestly so fantastic were dreams descend it also tried see i felt no chemistry between the characters in this one i did not like the world building because there virtually wasn't any that made sense it was like the whole world and the whole plot was revolving around the main character and around how god right she was which she was she that great really and when you have those pitches which is great as showman means phantom of the opera and then the second one which i'm so scared for the people because i'm not gonna read it because i don't want that ruined phantom of the opera meets hades down that's that's that's a whole lot of shoe to fill and it was not filled okay this was like a kid standing in his father's shoes and them just flopping because they're so big that's what this book felt like was so sad when i didn't like this and last but not least we've got witches steeped in gold by cheyenne smart and she was messy i think it was a similar case of the chemistry between the characters that were supposed to have romance was not really present for me it felt very very much forced it almost felt like what i've mentioned in the past of authors who write y a using romance as a smoke screen to hide the fact that everything else is is weak this is kind of what it felt like and while the world itself was very interesting i read this after mistborn and it has a similar premise of metals being the primary source of magic in this world it was nowhere near as intricate as i feel it should have been for this particular narrative and it was very easy also to confuse the voice of the characters the only way that i could tell who was talking was by the side characters and that's just hearing that just sounds inherently wrong and so unfortunately it ended up being a miss for me pretty happy with this i think am i happy with this i feel like i could move something i just don't know i'm also going to move the lightning thief down to piquito just because i enjoyed sea of monsters more than i enjoyed the lightning thief when i did read it everything else is staying as is okay perfect so yes you guys that is my tier rank for my fantasy sci-fi books that i read last year that was such a long sentence smell i could have made that sentence like half the size that it actually was but i hope that you guys enjoyed this video if you did don't forget to give it a massive thumbs up down below let me know what were your favorite books of the year would you rank any of these differently let a girl know let a girl know what you think of this tier rank i feel like we're pretty much i think this is pretty solid but if you have any thoughts at all positive negative or just questions or thoughts or anything leave them down in the comments for me so that we can chat about all of these books that were read last year don't forget to subscribe down below if you haven't done so already i am constantly uploading videos i am sure you do not want to miss and if you want to support the channel further i do have a patreon we call ourselves the citadel and you can always join us at the link down below i also alongside that leave all of my socials linked down below in case you guys want to find me anywhere else yes i love you guys so so much and i shall see you on the next one bye guys youthis video is brought to you by squarespace the all-in-one platform to build a beautiful online presence and run your business squarespace is a wonderful platform to build your own sites with hundreds of templates to choose from all the way from podcasts to online shops their powerful features such as email campaigns collecting donations social sharing member areas and blogging tools provide all you need to freely manage your ventures and grow as a brand on top of that their analytics tools will help you gain powerful insights into who's visiting your site and how they're interacting with your content which is one of creators and marketeers most valuable assets head to squarespace.com reads to save 10 of your first purchase of a website or domain using code mel reads that was hot that was hot hello recording friends welcome back to my channel or welcome if you're new hello i know this is a different setup we're currently in my office area but today i have a super special video for you guys and it is a video that i've been looking forward to making ever since the year kind of ended or was approaching its end i mean 2021 we're already in 2022 this gets confusing however what's important here is that last year i did a video that a lot of you guys seemed to like at the time which is here ranking every book i read in 2020 this year around i was also planning the same thing so tear ranking every book that i read in 2021 except for the fact that i read over 170 books and tear ranking all of that is not only an incredibly daunting task but it would also be an extremely long video that i'm sure nobody would be interested in seeing however i have come with an alternative and that is me tier ranking every fantasy and sci-fi that i read in 2021 what was most interesting out of everything was figuring out the ratio of fantasy slash non-fantasy that i read last year and it came up at a whopping over 120 books that i read last year that were not fantasy or sci-fi and i call myself a fantasy reader but without further ado let's set up on the desk let's switch angles and let's get started with a nice little screen recording this lighting will be the vein of my existence so literally unless i talk like that you are going to see ring lights in my eyes and i'm not i don't pretend to talk like this for the entirety of the video so you're going to stare at my beautiful side profile as i tear-rank some stuff or the names of the tears i have five at the very bottom we've got ooh she missy with that voice it comes with that voice okay the next tier is they tried if anything tier number three is did we need this and then at number four we've got pikito with us market also with that voice pikito so if you don't speak spanish basically piquito means smooth at the very top we've got i'd kill for you these may change as i go i'm not gonna i'm gonna try i'm gonna try my best to be objective here although this entire thing is subjective however the very first book we are tier ranking today is amari and the knight brothers by b.b alston now you guys know if you watched my best books of 2021 this book did make it into the list i have been raving about amari for the entirety of 2021 and also in the beginning and i absolutely adored this i loved the world building amari as a character was fantastic i just think this world has so much to offer and literally if anybody messes with amari i would kill for her so i think that is pretty much self-explanatory for me i am incredibly protective over amari i love the book i love the story i love everything that it did and everything that it has set out to do and i cannot wait for book number two which comes out this year anyways so we've got ako maf a court of mist and fury regardless of when i read this book i think my opinion still remains the same and i would kill for her i would kill for akimov now when i was in high school i was very avidly reading when i was between eighth and ninth grade still kind of read when i was in sophomore junior and senior year of high school however i didn't read as much as i used to when i was younger and the one series that really did it for me at the time it's kind of like a nostalgic favorite is the court of thorns and roses series by miss mass sarah janet just knows how to do it every time for me and i think particularly with aquamoff i just think that it goes into a completely it almost goes on a tangent it goes and does its own thing the character development is fantastic the reveals the plot twists everything constantly gets a reaction out of me which is probably the best thing you could do as an author so followed by akumav we've got aqua war and while there are some really strong moments in here a lot of it just falls short there seems to be a lot of plot holes in this one and also just a lot of things like miss mass just let people die just let people die if they die they stay dead okay thank you very much so did we need this is the question did we need certain people to survive this the answer is no the novella a court of frost and starlight i know where this is going immediately they tried if anything i don't know originally if the novellas were planned but i do know that a court of silver flames was supposed to be in the works and it was supposed to come out but given delays whether in writing or editing or whatever it was bloomsbury basically went well sarah danette if your book is not ready at least give us something because you're under contract and we need to release something and so a court of frost and starlight came about it is literally a hallmark special it is nothing special and it felt like it was ghost written a court of silver flames which i read as soon as i came out it got here binced it read it loved it sobbed my eyes out however can i bring myself to put this beside aquamoff i don't know like my first instinct is to go like i'd smooch the hell out of this book journey is incredible it feels so independent yet connected to the main storyline of acotar i loved seeing nesta's development in this one a dark and hollow star by ashley shuttleworth now this one's a special one this was literally the first book the very first book that we read with lu tasmania which is my book club with liv on patreon which is super exciting which self plug if you want to join us the link is always down below this book is good this book is enjoyable is it fantastic is it the best thing i've ever read no by any means no this feels very city of bones like my favorite thing about this book was how the fae were portrayed exactly as they were this is subject to change this literally set up for the next book this is a bunch of exposition a lot of world building and you just really get to meet the characters the audiobook for this was also really really good okay a diary of blood is next and i know this is straight up going and i'd kill for you very easy position for me i would literally kill for constanta and i think that needs no explanation if you read this book this is a wives of dracula retelling you've heard me talk about this probably like a million times literally this woman gets done dirty so many times and the primary subject of this book is literally the toxic cycles of abuse against women and if that is not all you need to know why i'd kill for this woman then i don't know what to tell you it was such an empowering yet heartbreaking story and i really like all of the subversions i love how it was polyamorous and i love how again it didn't seem like a hopeless story a discovery of witches by deborah harkness and i would literally kill for this book i would kill for matthew i would kill for diana i would kill for diana's aunt i would kill just for everything and everyone in this book i constantly find myself saying deborah harkness just did an absolute stellar job at making me care for things i never thought i'd care for quite literally history and science are both well they were some of my best subjects in school but coming out of it as somebody who is a makeup artist and does youtube for a living i what am i here to talk about if anything but science and history and so she really made me care for those things and i think the way that they were incorporated into the story and into the world building were just masterfully done and i think this book reminded me of how much i love which vampire stories people don't hate me for this i have a darker shade of magic by miss v schwab you guys know i love jesus and i love addy labru and i'm saying that so y'all don't hate me a darker shade of magic she messy okay oh she messy i will say very easy to read very easy books just let yourself go with however the magic system in this book to me just didn't really feel intricate at all and this is supposed to be adult fantasy by all intents and purposes does not need to be an incredibly you know it doesn't need to be sanderson level intricate it does need to be shauna mcguire interesting however all i ask is for a magic system that feels substantial that is good that is interesting that keeps me hooked throughout the entirety of the story and characters that are actually compelling i believe i have a vlog where i talked about a darker shade of magic pretty in depth because i read this way back in 2021 like march i'd say of last year and this book the romance came out of nowhere it was incredibly in slove i was incredibly annoyed the characters that i was interested in were barely in the story and everything else just kind of fell flat for me so darker shade not for me gathering of shadows though was slightly better than a darker shade of magic which is why i'm putting it in they tried if anything they did try va shop tried alucard was honestly my favorite character in the second one literally the character that i cared the most about helen lila's relationship in this one it just further solidified how it made no sense to me how i saw no chemistry and how much i didn't care for these people okay chain of the iron by miss cassandra claire i'm gonna put this in piquito okay i'm gonna put this piquito because it was a sexy book it was good i realistically fell in love with fantasy even more when i first read the moral instrument series as it was coming out when i was in middle school and i absolutely adored every second of it however what seems to happen with cassandra clare that is very interesting that again could go either of two ways either in piquito or did we need this it's not she has a formula and she does the same thing in every book her characters are literally copy and pasted in every single narrative literally all of the hair nails are the same all of the main characters are arguably the same i liked this one i like this series more just because cordelia really does seem to have a higher sense of individuality which i personally really like and the era in which this is set in has been incredibly exciting the ending was really really good daughter of smoke and bone by miss lainey taylor is next now the only reason why i'm placing this here is because i think i read this at the wrong time now this is one of my patron book picks for last year and i enjoyed it i gave it four stars it was a really enjoyable book i just think it was very just like old school y a if i had read this one i was actually in high school i think i would have literally fallen in love with this would kill for it but given the fact that i read this last year and i feel like i've seen the same tropes over and over again at this point i just don't think it really did anything special what i will say is incredibly interesting to me as a trope or as a narrative follow i guess is angels and demons i love that in fantasy books brimstone was literally fantastic so we we get a bunch of really cool characters but when it came to the actual plot twist it was incredibly predictable and and at the very end you're just left with like really is that is that all we did so did we really need this could have been better to be quite honest now we have got illuminae and gemina illuminae was a really great book i'm literally gonna put it in piquito because i gave this book five stars when i read it it was a really fantastic narrative love the villain how we call it a villain i liked the villain in the story i think it was incredibly interesting to see it was kind of i guess now everybody's gonna compare it to this but it was kind of like the thanos situation where is it right no do you understand where they're coming from yes and i think that's exactly what this book is i think the cast of characters was incredibly dynamic and it really just called for attention and it was incredibly engaging the audiobook for this was great i liked the multimedia format that the book has so overall i think illuminae was a stellar book literally fantastic but when it comes to gemina she as messy as it can get i did not care for gemina at all i was so disappointed in the narrative and here is where mr kristoff's history kind of comes in a lot of his books from what i have heard tend to really play out the sexualization of underage girls of women gemina was literally that the main character of gemina is in a relationship with what i believe is a slightly older person and by older i mean just a few years older but i do remember it being like oh do you want to wear that nice dress that i love how it looks on your body and i was just highly uncomfortable listening to that on audio and listening how a girl who was 17 years old or around that age was being put in this position of your body is what makes you i hated that i also did not care a single flying about the plot in this book it was just such a weak follow-up to illuminae in my opinion we have into the drowning deep by mira grant and i freaking love this move definitely going to put that into piquito i absolutely loved this it just solidified why i'm so scared of the sea like between this and titanic i'm never going on a cruise i'm i'm not stepping on a cruise i'm not going in there i loved this it is literally an exploration of human evolution and it is all done through a quest set out at sea to find out what happened with a crew that got lost in the midst of filming a documentary about the mariana trench and it is the scariest spookiest thing you'll find at sea i love that this is a crossover of sci-fi and horror and it was honestly done perfectly in my opinion and i was very scared i do not want that again clara and the sun by casua ishiguro i am going to put this in i'd kill for you although this book was not a five star for me i would kill for clara and i think that's what this comes down to clara is the most joe-eyed wide-eyed innocent naive perfect ai to see the world from she sees the world in such a child's like way but with such love and enthusiasm and she just wants to learn about humans and what drives humans and why humans behave the way that they do and what human reaction really is and how it comes about and you truly just have such an empathetic literal robot which at times seems to be so much more empathetic than a human being itself so i loved her as the narrator of the story and i think it was a fantastic exploration of humanity we've got kingdom of ash by ms sarah janet i would kill for her is it my favorite throne of glass book no and i think this book as opposed to avatar it has a very well earned ending after every trial and tribulation and trauma and obstacle and tear and abuse and just everything in between the characters really got the ending that they deserve and i don't think i could have wished for anything more out of the conclusion of the series and i just love how she never ignores the topic of mental health in this space and she does it in a way that makes sense to her characters which i really personally enjoy and just have a pleasant time reading oh i was dreading this moment lost in the neverwoods by aiden thomas this was one of my most anticipated releases of last year and i also read this with the citadel and i thought i was gonna have the best time of my life i thought i was thoroughly going to love and enjoy this book and it ended up being the exact opposite now i constantly go back and forth with do i really like retellings do i hate retelling where do i stand with retellings and this was a case of where is the retelling i personally didn't see the charm that aiden thomas had in cemetery boys which i had read previous to this and i was very bummed about that block twists in this book didn't really even make sense to me the development wasn't even there it wasn't it wasn't it for me we have lore by alexandra bracken and my take on this did we need this now i did like this book also let me just preface by saying that i really liked this book i think it definitely gave me dc comics vibes in the beginning of the book i think a lot of mythology elements were really interesting in the way that it was executed it was interesting i just think we reach a certain point in the narrative where it gets really messy and where things just start happening out of nowhere and it almost felt like the author was pulling out of their ass and going whoa well you better take that and that and that and the ending of this as well was like so unearned and unwarranted and on everything i did not like the ending of this at all a lot of parts about this book also felt very plot convenient but i think overall there were elements of this book that i really enjoyed then that i think were really strong when i weigh them out it's i think it fits right in the middle of like it had some really great parts and some really not so great parts it's middle game by seanan mcguire and we already know where this is going also i just had to sing the song however obviously it had to go in the top tier i would literally kill for roger and dodger they don't need any help first of all they do not need my help if anything i literally just want to protect these siblings till the end of times which they may just bring out themselves also reading this with the citadel just because i want to reread it because it was that good and i just had a great time with it i just don't know what else to say about this book besides the the establishment of the theme itself which is humans with powers and what that does to people or what that does to the people around them was so just fantastic it was so intriguing to see the navigation of this particular subject in this capacity it was so well researched to what it seems like i don't i'm not a science person i don't know however it seems very well researched the way that everything connects at the edge the plot twist and the sense of dread really of are these twins ever actually gonna do it you know are they gonna beat all the odds become gods are they gonna take over the world end the world like what's gonna happen with them however strange dreamer and muse of nightmares i would definitely kill for strange i would kill for laszlo i would kill for the whole book for the set of characters i freaking loved this it was lyrical the world building was phenomenal phenomenal the world building was phenomenal it was the first book after i created the citadel it was the first book after i created the citadel that i read about that had a citadel and so it was just like very special at the time and it was also coincidentally enough so when i do read-a-thons a lot of the time just trying to rush through books and finish books which is just don't do it kids i try and read as fast as possible and for this one i believe this was also my first 48 hour readathon it was the very first time that i started reading a book and i was like if it takes me longer than a day well it i'm just gonna finish it when i finish it and i think at the time i also needed to hear a lot of things about feelings of inadequacy and like imposter syndrome so i particularly really enjoyed it i think the writing was stunning really just sucks you into the world because it's also magical and whimsical that it's like you just want to be in the citadel i know you do these jokes today mel what's happening i'm gonna go ahead with muse now several times i've said like oh like the sequel is even better but in this case when i look at the difference between strange and muse the lyrical aspect was so much more present and strange at several different times that i personally love that about it even more in terms of execution i think muse as opposed to strange was so much more jam-packed with action and resolution rather than anything and just a lot of great plot twists as well is it at the same level as strange i mean it is technically in terms of a rating when i look at the grand scheme of things i'm like i still like strange better ninth house by leigh bardugo it's going into piquito i loved this book as well i love alex stern as a protagonist i think when i think of dark academia i think of something like this it's something very twisted it's something very gory it's something that is really not pretty it's a narrative where things just get up real quick and where characters are being done wrong at every single turn this is the epitome of what i think dark academia feels like it literally explores secret societies and although it is said at yale which i know is a lot of people's critique about this book that yes it's said in yale but like she never really goes to classes and i'm like does she really have to though because the whole purpose of dark academia is exploring the intricacies of the darkness of the academia so when i think of that i think of the seven secret societies in yale and that literally was thoroughly explored in this novel one last stop by casey mcquisten now you guys know me i loved red white and real blue one last stop was one of my most anticipated releases for last year i was super excited for the element of time traveling and sci-fi set in the contemporary world and having a sapphic romance i was excited for all of it especially seeing the incoming reviews for the first round of arcs that went out everybody was raving about this book and i was like yes suffix win everything's gonna be fantastic love all of it and then i read it and i'm just convinced at this point that casey mcquisten should steer clear of writing pocs because it's messy i i have the same argument for red white and royal blue and i feel like a lot sadly a lot of authors tend to go that route for people who are not poc it's very easy to go the stereotypical route you know latinos everybody needs to eat tortillas and beans and that's just so dumb one last stop is the same thing it's very stereotypically white savior saves asian girl and everything asian girl does revolves around very white hero i don't love that i don't love that the ultimate salvation of this character needed to end up being so intrinsically connected to this girl like i just it rubbed me the wrong way the romance was fantastic like that literally the romance aspect of this book was so good but it also felt in a way like un unrequited unrequited i never know how to say that word please forgive me but it it almost feels like one sided love it feels like one of the girls is more into the girl than the other and it i don't know the book was just messy you guys okay moving on to lighter greater subjects yay we've got our violent ends by chloe gong and you already know i would literally kill for julian and roma do they need any help in that regard absolutely know what i still try and get in on the action absolutely yes i love chloe gong's writing i love how this is a cross between magical realism fantasy and historical fiction i love how she constantly brings up these topics about race and racism colonialism and it was honestly fantastic in this in this landscape and i love how she ended up including the romeo and juliet aspect of it it made the story even more intricate even more interesting i love the vicious cycle of enemies to lovers which i always say she did it incredibly well where it's a constant back and forth i love you and i hate you okay we've got pages in co by anna james which i absolutely love literally one of my favorite middle rates okay no i wouldn't kill for it so peterson co is a really good middle grade i constantly say this i love how magical it is i love how the subject the main subject of the book is books and love for books and love for book characters and i think it's almost it's almost like a childlike exploration of people who want to like self-insert themselves in books almost i remember when i was super young and i would read and i would be like oh my god i'd love to be in the new york institute of the shadowhunter world and i was just like i you know you kind of want to be in those worlds and you want to meet those characters and you want to be friends with those characters and i think that's what pages and code does tilly literally ends up being friends with alice in wonderland and adam green gables that's incredibly exciting to read about it's it's literally almost kind of like putting yourself in the shoes of the character and just you know diving into the world it was super exciting i loved it the plot twist was really freaking good literally did not see it coming at all then we've got number two which is pages and co and tillian the lost fairy tales i think it is and this one i'm gonna put and did we need this it was a definite step down from the first book which was so stellar it was so good and i just didn't think that the second one was up to par with book one it was not as interesting maybe it's because we already kind of knew the world building of it all you take that away from the second one and what's there to be excited about now and sadly the quest adventure in the second one again just wasn't as exciting as book one i have project hail mary by andy ware and i'm definitely gonna put this in piquito this was a phenomenal sci-fi generally makes me so excited to read the martian because i've never read that either project hail mary though and i am going to assume that the martian has a very similar tone based on what i've heard but it manages to combine the best elements of mental health and then comedy and then science and such a unique writing voice too and i love the quest in this one i love the relationship that rocky and ryland end up developing in this paola santiago in the river of tears is an interesting one i would put it at pikitom but i can't and the only reason why it constantly like fluctuates back and forth for me between piquito and like did we need this is the fact that we do need this in middle grade we definitely do need more poc representation i read this book and i found myself going if only i had this when i was younger if only i had this when i was 11 12 years old and i got to read about an 11 year old latina girl literally beating la llorona like i would have loved to read that when i was younger not only to feel reassured that leorina was not going to come and eat me every day but also just for the simple fact that representation matters it's important paola's attitude in this book is what kind of rubs me off the wrong way she was a very entitled almost selfish possessive kid and i constantly had an issue with the way that she behaved in this book and i also think that the ending was incredibly rushed and it was kind of hard to remember exactly what the resolution had been a month after i read the book and so while i do think that the subject matter and the representation aspect of this book is immensely important i think the execution of it could have been altered skyward by brandy sandy i am going to put this in piquito not top tier but up there i talk about skyward all the time i really need to stop love spencer it was the first sci-fi that i read and i just kept imagining the wildest crazy in my head and it just seemed to work i was listening to sci-fi music as i was reading the book it just elevated the experience it was so action-packed in classic brandy sandy fashion he spares no one it is emotional you get invested the world is interesting the plot twists are fascinating it was fantastic time however star sight was not as good as skyward so i am gonna put that in did we need this execution wise it was interesting but when you take away the supporting cast of characters that we fell in love with in skyward it kind of takes away a little bit of the charm i still do think that skyward was as strong as it was not only because of spencer but because of the people surrounding her and again when you take away that factor it takes away a little bit of its charm mr lightning fave parlously jackson by rick riordan now i am going to go ahead and just steer rank both of these and i'd kill for you i'd kill for the whole cast of characters percy annabeth grover for tyson for chiron for every single body in this story except for clarissa i will not kill for her but everybody else i would kill four i loved my reread of this it's just such an endearing cast of characters reminds me why i felt so in love with mythology when i was younger what made me keep reading mythology books what made me read every single article wiki i could find at the time with more mythology info i just felt so connected to this i don't know why i don't know why ever since i was young i was just obsessed with the idea of like deities and gods and all that and this book just kind of solidified that i love how adhd positive it is it's almost like even if you have this it does not make you different it does not make you less than people you are equally as special equally as unique you can do the best equal things if not greater and i just love that message for kids because it's so empowering spin the dawn by elizabeth lim i'm going to put in piquito that feels right that actually feels very very right this is a retelling that i really enjoyed it is a retelling of mulan and it meets project runway we've got a project runway-esque competition but it's all very magical and mystical the magic in this was just so whimsical and beautiful the romance even was something that i really really enjoyed i just think where the book falls apart for me a little bit is when they go on the quest to get this done but everything before and after that was incredibly exciting however that quest just there were really exciting parts and there were really just random parts that i was just like what's happening the beautiful and the damned so the beautiful is definitely pikito for me i really enjoyed this book it was super fast to read first of all literally read it in one sitting and i quite enjoyed it i think what i liked most of all was the vibes from the originals which is the spin-off show to the vampire diaries it gave me very much those vibes very much the vibes of the flashbacks of 1864 and the vampire diaries i just very much enjoyed just reminiscing about that era almost i like the sense of mystery in this one as well where you almost know something that she doesn't know that they're vampires that they're werewolves that they're witches that there's all of this supernatural world she doesn't know all of that we personally know all of that or it's insinuated so that we know all of that and that element of mystery of intrigue was just so good the romance was super tense it did what it had to do the chemistry was fantastic and i just think everything flowed so nicely in this one i genuinely genuinely really enjoyed it the damned though she's messy the damned is so freaking messy and this is the perfect example of or at least that's what it seems like of an author not knowing what they want to do with a story before they started these two novels feel like completely different worlds completely different settings because they are completely different writing style just everything felt so vastly different in the second one where the first one is very much focused on witches and vampires and werewolves in the second one we get this expansion of the world where now you get fae and now you get all of these different things that i would have never thought would come up in this book where i did not want that in the series because that's not what i signed up for the bone shard daughter she's so messy it's unreal and i almost wonder all the time like literally all the time i wonder if i read the same book that other people read first of all and maybe this is where i would have benefited from not reading a synopsis however i had to read a synopsis because this was a booklet pick i read the synopsis and the synopsis led me to think that this was going to be a completely different narrative than what i got and i say that because usually when you read the synopsis for high fantasy books you kind of get the sense of like multicast of characters multi-pov such a big conflict even greater than you can imagine this seems like such a close quarter let's follow one character in her narrative sort of synopsis that when i entered the narrative and got three more povs and three more povs that completely overshadowed what was happening with the main character i also didn't like the world building for this one at all it made no sense to me and i think the things that yelled being so important and that literally controlled the entirety of the nation were left unexplained they kept repeating those one term which i've already forgotten they kept repeating this one term over and over and over and over and over again and not once was it explained as to what it was maybe it's explained in book two don't have the patience to go there to find out next step we have the bone season i'm gonna put this in piquito i definitely have to reread this book before i carry out with the series because i feel like i've forgotten a lot of details but this book was so interesting the clairvoyancy part of this was so intricate and interesting the whole underground crime underbelly of london was so interesting this whole other species which seemingly wants to kill the other people the whole conflict of this book was so interesting the romance part of this was something that i was anticipating but not expecting if that makes sense and when it did happen it was so freaking good like the chemistry the tension everything was so freaking good i just had a really good time reading this and i really want to re-experience this this year so that i can carry out with the series and kind of get to where we're at right now but it was a really good first installment it was really freaking fantastic the diviners by libba bray is another one that i'm gonna put under pikito i'm putting off this book for like almost a decade okay when i think about a horror thriller paranormal narrative in a y a setting this is the excellency that everybody should be carrying out i love how genuinely spooky this book was i genuinely felt like a demon was going to come out of my bathroom and be like hi i'm here to get you i loved evie as the main character she was so sassy and so classy but so raunchy all at the same time i loved sam as the love interest he literally screams bucky barnes vibes all the freaking way or he like calls her like doll because it's set in the 20s so it all just very much lines up to that you know time period and sort of chivalry i would also kill for mistborn i didn't i didn't think it was going to go up there i my hand just just did it something and i just you can't blame me because i just i was out of control i would kill for kelsier even though he was the most annoying person ever i would kill for vin i would love to join the screw too it's like a very badass crew the magic system in mistborn is so freaking good i want to push and pull some metal i want to push and pull too the house in the ceruleans say going to put this until we need this here's my thing i love the book i love the tone of it it's it balances itself out it's comedic where it needs to be but then it's also very just sound depressing where it needs to be given the life that the main character leads and so i love how self-aware it is and how much it tries to again not make it seem like a hopeless case i love the trope of found family it's very well thoroughly done in this book however there was a certain point when it was kind of reaching its climax and the the resolution that i was just like i'm not here for that so i just think like the first two thirds of the book were really strong and the very very end was also fantastic but again when it came to the climax resolution i was kind of like underwhelmed thunderhead by neil schusterman's i will put this and i'd kill for you when i think of scythe as a trilogy which i still have yet to finish the most intricate interesting element of this has always been the thunderhead the thing that rules so omnisciently over everybody that rules itself supreme but is still so fair it is so interesting to me the fact that we get a whole book where we get to explore the thunderhead where instead of getting journal entries from the sites we instead get the thought process of the thunderhead was so good to read from but i think it's truly the exploration of humanity and crime and what it means to be right or wrong or what it means to be wrong in in doing a right action if that makes sense i don't know this book just the lines between morality are always so blurred in this one but it was really good it was it was really freaking good the los angeles viva murder cases now i loved this book but did we need this didn't we though i i think you kind of get what you expect if you've read death note and i definitely would say read death note first or watch it first and then read this and kind of you know read it in that order i don't know how much i would recommend people read this first even though it does take place before the events of death note it's l being a smart ass at all times and kind of knowing what things are going to happen before they happen and it's always really insane but good to see his thought process and to see how he reaches those conclusions i'm i'm bumping down akuma before i carry on the last wish which is the first set of novellas for the witcher i'm gonna put this and i'd kill for you and i literally would i was not expecting this at all the last thing i was expecting out of this was to get some sort of fairy tale retellings and i love geralt of rivia i love how strongly he believes in his moral code and how he strictly sticks to monsters and evil creatures and his companion is also incredibly funny and just incredibly loyal which i love and everything about it just worked out for me priory of the orange tree tried it tried it really did it really really tried the sapphic romance really won in this one because i was fully there for them i loved them i wanted them to literally like burn the world and then be the only two people alive that's the vibe that it gave me and i just i wanted it i just wanted them to be okay at the end that was truly what i was most invested in however we have certain povs that i really just were so weak in my opinion made no sense as to why they were there and they could have been cut out on the book could have been shorter to be quite honest this book could have also benefited from being two different books and a duology instead of a standalone the dragons in this one are there but are they really there because i don't i don't i don't think so when we did the live show for this book for because this was also a booklet pick for lou fantasma i literally took over this live show and i went on a whole ass rant about this ending because it felt like i was reading a 600 page like literally ascend into conflict and then nothing happened the space between worlds by makaya johnson also tried i really also wanted to love the space between worlds it was literally one of the books that i was so excited about reading last year and i was so just underwhelmed as well and i think it mostly came down to the plot twist and the world building which albeit very interesting it constantly fell short for me i just think i had created a certain expectation of how this book was gonna go and i think this is wholly my fault personally where i had this very clear vision of what i guess the book should have done which is the dumbest thing ever but alas it's kind of the hole that i put myself in i did not get any of that it took a completely different route i was so confused i was just again so underwhelmed and just sitting there being like what is even happening at this point i was very confused by the direction that the book took however i think if i would have known barely anything about it or if i hadn't heard so many people hype this up at the time maybe i would have liked this slightly more but i just think i just induced this sort of incredible excitement upon myself the witch's heart by genevieve gornicek i didn't love this book but i'm gonna put this and did we need this and i think this book had a few things going for it if you're not familiar with norse mythology it's got something going for it you're gonna learn a lot it's gonna be so interesting it's gonna be weird if you've never heard about loki and his personal story the writing style was also really good especially if you listen to the audiobook it really just feels like you're sitting at a campfire and somebody's telling you a story and it feels very good this retelling is not a retelling like there is no retold part to this most of this was so accurate to the original mythos that it's hard to distinguish where it was its own thing and where it was just regurgitating what the mythos already tells you the way of kings by brandy standing goes into a kill for you i love this book with my whole heart and soul we've been new we know this and i can't wait to finish words of radiance it just did everything right for me the world for way of kings first of all is so big and vast and so interesting because it really is there are a lot of things that are not necessarily explicitly explained in the way that final empire does however i think that's the charm of way of kings it's the fact that it's gonna be a ten book series and it's all just so mystical and magical and it's so grand you're literally talking about people possessing god-like powers just enhancing themselves through armors and swords and it's so just out of this world quite literally and the commentary and religion is always is fantastic i the chapter starters you guys know this we're driving me insane because i was like is writing this it was just all so freaking good and i would die for caledon and i would kill for khaled and i think a lot of people deserve to be killed in honor of kaladin vengeful tried it tried to do something it used one of the tropes that i'm always so in love with which is the game of cat and mouse but i just don't think it added anything relevant to what we already saw in vicious i would much rather think of this just as a standalone with an open ending rather than think of vengeful as a follow-up to be quite honest wickedfox i get killed for you vicious spirit i'd go for you i'd kill for the whole series i really would love this to be a whole series to be quite honest with you kacho writes korean mythology so beautifully it is so you know what took me by surprise about this book about both of them really is the fact that while yes she establishes this incredible world which is you know set in the contemporary world but this whole mythos talk in such a beautiful way but within that mythos she has her own personal familial dynamics and explorations of just so many topics about individuality about your view of the world about your sense of morality about your sense of duty it's just all so phenomenal and i loved wicked fox honestly seeing the power dynamics and the familiar dynamics between me young and her mom was literally just it was so much so much to unpack but it was honestly so fantastic were dreams descend it also tried see i felt no chemistry between the characters in this one i did not like the world building because there virtually wasn't any that made sense it was like the whole world and the whole plot was revolving around the main character and around how god right she was which she was she that great really and when you have those pitches which is great as showman means phantom of the opera and then the second one which i'm so scared for the people because i'm not gonna read it because i don't want that ruined phantom of the opera meets hades down that's that's that's a whole lot of shoe to fill and it was not filled okay this was like a kid standing in his father's shoes and them just flopping because they're so big that's what this book felt like was so sad when i didn't like this and last but not least we've got witches steeped in gold by cheyenne smart and she was messy i think it was a similar case of the chemistry between the characters that were supposed to have romance was not really present for me it felt very very much forced it almost felt like what i've mentioned in the past of authors who write y a using romance as a smoke screen to hide the fact that everything else is is weak this is kind of what it felt like and while the world itself was very interesting i read this after mistborn and it has a similar premise of metals being the primary source of magic in this world it was nowhere near as intricate as i feel it should have been for this particular narrative and it was very easy also to confuse the voice of the characters the only way that i could tell who was talking was by the side characters and that's just hearing that just sounds inherently wrong and so unfortunately it ended up being a miss for me pretty happy with this i think am i happy with this i feel like i could move something i just don't know i'm also going to move the lightning thief down to piquito just because i enjoyed sea of monsters more than i enjoyed the lightning thief when i did read it everything else is staying as is okay perfect so yes you guys that is my tier rank for my fantasy sci-fi books that i read last year that was such a long sentence smell i could have made that sentence like half the size that it actually was but i hope that you guys enjoyed this video if you did don't forget to give it a massive thumbs up down below let me know what were your favorite books of the year would you rank any of these differently let a girl know let a girl know what you think of this tier rank i feel like we're pretty much i think this is pretty solid but if you have any thoughts at all positive negative or just questions or thoughts or anything leave them down in the comments for me so that we can chat about all of these books that were read last year don't forget to subscribe down below if you haven't done so already i am constantly uploading videos i am sure you do not want to miss and if you want to support the channel further i do have a patreon we call ourselves the citadel and you can always join us at the link down below i also alongside that leave all of my socials linked down below in case you guys want to find me anywhere else yes i love you guys so so much and i shall see you on the next one bye guys you\n"