September Wrap Up! (Favorite and Least Favorite read of the year!)

**Book Review: A Mixed Bag with a Fascinating World**

I recently attempted to complete three books during the month of September, but unfortunately, I was only able to finish one of them. As for the two other books that didn't quite make it, my thoughts on them will be reflected in this article.

The first book I'm going to review is a fantasy novel with a complex world-building system and a magic system that revolves around dreams and fortunes. The author has done an admirable job of creating a rich and immersive world, but I have to admit that the magical element was somewhat murky for me. The world itself is fascinating, with a sense of politics and power struggles between different merchant houses vying for control. The writing style is engaging, and the author's attempt to tackle complex themes like fate and interconnectedness is commendable. However, I felt that the book was slightly overlong at 600 pages, which may have detracted from my overall enjoyment of it.

The second half of the book did feel stronger than the first half, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what specific aspect of the world-building made it more compelling. Overall, I found the book to be solid if not particularly memorable. The author's willingness to tackle tough themes and push the boundaries of storytelling is admirable, but I didn't quite connect with the world as much as I had hoped.

As for the third book, I was able to make a bit more progress, getting about two-thirds of the way through it. "Great Circle" by Maggie Shipstead is an intense and gripping literary fiction novel that tells the story of two women, Marion and Hadley, whose lives become intertwined in unexpected ways. The book jumps back and forth between the past and present, using short chapters to convey the story in a punchy and efficient manner.

One of the things that struck me most about this book was its unflinching portrayal of the challenges faced by women throughout history. Marion, in particular, is a fascinating and complex character whose determination and passion are inspiring. The author's writing style is bold and unforgiving, tackling themes like identity, power, and privilege with no quarter asked or given.

I was also impressed by the structural choices made by the author. Using short chapters to convey the story in a series of vignettes creates a sense of tension and urgency that propels the reader forward. The result is a book that feels charged and intense, never shying away from difficult topics or characters.

Overall, I found "Great Circle" to be an unforgettable reading experience. It's a book that holds back no punches, tackling tough themes with honesty and nuance. If you're looking for a literary fiction novel that will challenge you and stay with you long after you finish the book, then this is definitely worth checking out.

**Recommendation**

Both of these books have their merits, but they also have some significant flaws. If you're interested in fantasy or science fiction, the first book may be more to your liking. However, if you prefer literary fiction and are looking for a challenging and thought-provoking read, then "Great Circle" is an excellent choice.

As for me, I'm glad that I was able to finish one of these books this month, but I'm also looking forward to diving into new reads next month. If you have any recommendations or suggestions, please let me know in the comments below!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhi guys it's Reagan and welcome back to another video today's video is going to be my September wrap up now for the month of September I have a total of eight books to talk about some of the books I read for this month were total hits some were a little disappointing and a bit of a Miss but without further Ado let's go ahead and Dive Right In First book I completed this month is a book I feel like I have not stopped talking about ever since I finished it it quickly climbed to one of my favorite books I've read so far this year if not one of my favorite books I've read in the past couple of years my most anticipated release of the year that's right folks I'm talking about Babel by RF Quang this is RF quang's newest release it's a fantasy Standalone and wow was it a feat from beginning to end this is a historical dark Academia fantasy novel and I would also say it kind of leans more heavily on the historical dark Academia setting it definitely does have fantasy components specifically a magic system but it's really woven into the intricacies of the historical time and place that R of Quang is sort of unpacking and setting the book in but if you're not familiar this story follows our main character Robin and the story itself opens in 1826 we follow Robin as a young child as he's taken from his homeland of China and brought over to England by a very mysterious Professor once he arrives in England he's immediately put to work and training very very intensely in Latin and ancient Greece all in preparation for one day enrolling in a very prestigious translator program at the University of Oxford otherwise known as Babel once Robin grows up starts attending this University he has dreams of finally finding a place for himself that he can fit in in England having obviously faced racism and just essentially being othered his entire life but once he arrives he realizes that the apparatus of translation is much more than he thought it was and in fact it's used as a tool by the British Empire itself to maintain its Colonial interests and by helping them in their translation he is indirectly or very directly hurting places like his homeland this sort of leads Robin to get involved in Rebellion more specifically student rebellion in the book sort of takes off from there this book is incredible first and foremost Robin as our main character really rooted Us in this story we're following a huge swath of his life and that we're following him as a young child growing up into a young adult and then kind of finally seizing his own fate in Destiny and who he wants to be this is take down of not only dark Academia but is really focused on this particular time period in history not only the Empire Building and the greed of the British Empire during this time their policies of exploitation of around the world but also the hypocrisy that existed in the Academia space that honestly in a lot of ways persist to this day this book you can tell has so much research in it actually throughout the novel itself it has a footnote of Quang kind of calls to specific references of like academic text or just like specific moments in history to kind of Flesh out the reference that is being made in the book this I felt like really added just additional background to this already very rich text I would say this is technically a fantasy novel but it's much more a historical novel with fantasy elements time and place and the historical references that are of Quang is trying to build and also have commentary on is very much pulled directly from the pages of our own history and she weaves in a fascinating sort of magic system that works so well with the economic and cultural reality of the time and it's a really fascinating idea and it worked so so well the story also lives up to its dark Academia moniker takes place primarily in the University of Oxford and just the setting time and place and also just like the everyday life of our characters really shines through with this academic Vibe our main character Robin loves to learn and the discussion and the learning of languages is really Central to this book obviously all of that is kind of put into stark contrast of what the this knowledge is used for and also what narratives are pushed to sort of maintain the status quo it's a really interesting back and forth at R of Quang accomplishes so so well following our main character throughout the story it was just incredible Robin is a character so easy to root for and you see him go through so many different internal struggles from sort of seeking this idea of safety for himself versus trying to push the envelope support a cause that is much larger than him story has so many different Central themes identity to colonialism I was honestly not able to put this book down once I picked it up I have an entire reading Vlog documenting my experience of the story it was truly just so good from beginning to end and I gave it five stars the next book I decided to pick up is the daughter of Dr Morrell by Sylvia Moreno Garcia this is Sylvia Moreno Garcia's newest release and obviously it was immediate Buy and read for me just because I love this author's writing and story so much this is a retelling of the island of Dr Moreau which is I think like a Gothic sci-fi horror story but Sylvia Moreno Garcia twists sort of this narrative and actually places it in the Yucatan Peninsula in the 19th century and throughout the story we actually follow our new main character which is Dr moreau's daughter Carletta this is a dual perspective story We shift between Carletta one of our main characters who is Young and Beautiful and vibrant and full of life and the other main character we follow is Montgomery who is Dr Moreau sort of assistant in this remote household that they all live in and he himself has a lot of demons he's running from and he copes with these Demons by drinking a lot of alcohol and of course also existing on the island are the hybrids and the experiments from Dr moreau's work which they themselves are actually very Central in this story obviously everything sort of is turned upside down though when the son of one of Dr moreau's benefactors arrives on the island and actually begins to court Carletta story is just first and foremost Lush was so much atmosphere I love Sylvia Moreno Garcia's writing so much and I feel like she's so great at creating like a time and a place that just completely envelops you what's also interesting is that this is taking inspiration from a Gothic story and I think traditionally for writer for wrong when I think like a Gothic story I think a dark remote cold rainy sort of manner and this is a remote manner within this story but instead of it being like cold and dreary it's actually hot and steamy and we're existing in a jungle and that sort of transition worked so so well in this book we're really following Carletta as she's going through an arc of Discovery she at the beginning of the story is very naive and throughout this tale she kind of has to confront the reality of not only her father but also the evils of the world itself and you see her sort of make decisions to try to save herself and her close friends that live on the estate this story again is dual perspective we're shifting between Carletta and Montgomery and I found this choice to be a very intriguing one where Carletta is light and sort of fluttery Montgomery is very very brooding and it provides the atmosphere to this sort of Gothic Horror Story and I felt like it worked oh so well Sylvia Moreno Garcia for me writes such Dynamic and interesting and often gray morality characters you're not quite sure what type of relation Dynamic to root for and that is definitely present within this book I found it to be really engaging I really loved the setting I love that it had sci-fi elements as well obviously with the inspiration from the original story I wouldn't say this is my favorite book by this author as I did find the characters perhaps to not be as fleshed out as I would like but I found the story itself to be engaging I wasn't sure where it was going until I finished it I read it very very quickly so I would give the daughter of Dr Moreau a 3.75 four stars I was continuing to crave something very atmospheric so I decided to pick up the wolf and The Woodsman by Ava Reed this is said to be for fans of the bear and the Nightingale and spinning silver so needless to say I wouldn't into this book with very high expectations this story is inspired by Hungarian history and Jewish folklore we all know I love any type of Mythology folklore fantasy retelling so I was so pumped to pick this book up in the story we follow our main character of eke and she lives in a village in the middle of a very magical but very dangerous wood many generations ago in her Homeland a outside sorted group of people have taken over and now rule through a very powerful Kingdom they also brought with them a new religion and eveke and her people are viewed as Pagan she herself is actually born without power which sort of makes her an outcast within her own town so when the kingdom sends woodsmen come collect their yearly sacrifice and tribute to bring back to the king ave's town was quick to volunteer her to go as tribute however while she's being transported through this very dangerous wood the monsters come and attack her group of woodsmen who are transporting her giving her in one mysterious Captain the only survivors now they have to rely on themselves to begin to go any Quest and they also slowly begin to know each other and so Begins the story of the wolf and the woodsmen here's the thing I would say I'm pretty torn about this book elements of it I really really loved and I would also say the first 50 was an absolute knockout for me I was really drawn in by our two main characters and I thought all of the concepts that were present within this book were spectacular that being said the second half of the book took a bit of a shift we changed from a quest structure story to more of a traditional political entry story and while the ideas there were fantastic I found that there just wasn't enough time to really develop the plot there to feel the full weight of a lot of the story lines the author was trying to include like all of the concepts were fantastic I just didn't feel like they were paced out properly if that makes sense I feel like the true star of this book is definitely eveke and The Woodsman name Gaspar this is definitely a book that has an enemies to lover situation and why wow was it steamy and very very intense that aspect of this book made it very hard to put down the two main characters are honestly very endearing Gaspar and Avec were raised amongst people who basically taught them to hate the other group of people they also have different religions and specifically gaspar's religion is full of a lot of like corruption and hypocrisy and is used to really mistreat a lot of the different populations in the area but Avec and Gaspar also have something in common in that they are both mistreated rather badly by the people that they were surrounded with so despite the fact that they're both supposed to hate each other on Principle as they actually get to know each other they realize they might actually be able to find comfort in one another which is such an interesting storyline this book heavily involves conversations around religion and philosophy and the hypocrisy of those in power it's a really interesting book and again all of the concepts there I thought were fantastic I also really enjoyed the writing style I truly wish this book was like two books the first part being its own book and then and the second part kind of given a lot more pages to be fully fleshed out and explained because I really think this as a duology would have been a knockout nevertheless though I did like this still recommend it and I would probably give it like a 3.5 3.25 out of 5 Stars the next book I won't lie was a complete disappointment and that is the death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlyn Starling I had such high hopes for this book because it's a Gothic Horror Story very Jane eyre-esque Vibes and that sort of setup is always one of my favorite this story follows our main character Jane and she is very practical she's very smart she's very no-nonsense she has run the numbers and she's done the calculations and she's realized that the best way forward for herself is to enter into a marriage of convenience she's looked at all the eligible bachelors in her area and she has come to the conclusion that the young doctor Augustine Lawrence would be her best match he's mysterious and he's very unsure if he actually wants to enter into any type of marriage but after hearing Jane's idea he decides to give it a try though he does have populations and that is Jane is never allowed to visit his crumbling family manner on the outskirts of town and he really wants to have more of a business arrangement in terms of their marriage she thinks that's great that's exactly what she wants so she agrees but of course everything is turned upside down when Jane finds herself kind of stranded in the countryside and the only home she can turn to is Augustine's family home their magic and haunting begin to run wild and Augustine's past is really called into question it's Mayhem it's utter chaos and you think based off of that setup it sounds oh so interesting but my difficulty with this book is that I could never buy in on the reasoning of our main character the entire premise and the entire setup of the story is our main character is practical and very business-like and she has no interest in having any type of romantic marriage situation but the author basically makes our two main characters fall in love like instantly with each other sort of disregarding any type of promises and obligations they made with one another at the beginning of this book and Jane seemingly transforms into someone who is like very straightforward to completely irrational overnight she's jealous about her new husband's past she's trying to like uncover all of his Secrets when this marriage of convenience was literally her idea it just it was very hard for me to like really Clue Into I did not understand the overnight change and the dynamic of their relationship it just felt very bizarre to me on top of that the book itself is very bizarre it has gruesome Elements which I did like it definitely leans into like the gothic horror situation which I did feel like worked and there's this sort of Haunting occult magic which is definitely unsettling but as things really began to accelerate it just did not really make sense and I just never really understood Jane's motivation for sticking around and also investigating these very dangerous matters at all motivation and the commitment of our main character to put herself in such danger for a man she instantly fell in love with just and never panned out for me The Vibes in the writing I did think were really good I just didn't really feel like the plot made that much sense I would check out other books by Caitlyn Sterling but unfortunately this book ended up being a big disappointment for me and I would give it like a 1.5 2 Stars luckily though I immediately redeemed myself and I picked up a first book to a new fantasy series that was impeccable and I feel like I'm gonna be binge reading all of the rest of the books that are out because this was so unique so political I am truly obsessed and that is the trader baru camerant by Seth Dickinson this is like if you love heavy political fantasy books like this is the book for you I'm talking our main character is like a Tyrion Lannister or a glocca Vibe situation you love people who are maneuvering more with their brains and like backdoor dealing which is like hand-to-hand combat this is definitely the book for you and just the world and the setup of this is just truly genius but in the story we follow our main character bar and ever since she was a child she was very very gifted and where baru grew up is a small island nation where she was raised by both her fathers and her mother in her land family rearing is a really Community oriented and everyone is very close and they also have their own rights and traditions that have been passed down in her land for Generations upon Generations but everything sort of changes when the Empire of masks arrives on their doorstep in this world the Empire masks is evil but it's also incredibly powerful and they're known for their colonial interests and the slow takeover of every country they sort of run into how they accomplish this not through traditional blood and War but instead through like a slow Chokehold taking over their economy rewriting culture forcing education and basically bulldozing any aspect of this country's identity forcing people through like economic Reliance and Promises of technological advancement to sort of go along with it baru as a young child is quickly singled out as someone who is very talented so she's put into the Empire of mass schooling all in preparation to become a part of their merit-based kind of bureaucratic network but Baro herself has her own goal and that is Ultimate Revenge she from a young age recognizes the evil of this Empire and she also feels like the only way to tear them apart is to do it from the inside so we follow baru first as she receives her education and finally her first posting which is in another Colony very far away who is kind of in constant Rebellion where she is assigned as the Royal accountant using the power of the economy you see how borrow not only entrenches herself and their culture and their society but also sort of Tears it all apart this book is fascinating it is Cut Throat it's definitely like for fans of Game of Thrones it's also described you very Machiavellian our main character baru comerant is fascinating she's a genius and I always feel like she's constantly outsmarting me and the methods that she uses to sort of accomplish whatever goal she has in mind is so cool to see how it all plays out this book is very very dark the Empire as I've said are evil so are there policies seeing all their policies put into place can be incredibly disturbing but having a main character baru komarat who is so determined to get what she wants is also fascinating this book was full of twist and I could I could honestly say while reading this book I never quite knew where it was going and I wasn't sure what types of decisions baru comrade was going to make but it was truly a ride from beginning to end and the ending was absolutely just wow and I need to know what's going to happen next again if you live very very political kind of slower moving fantasy stories this is a great one to pick up this definitely does have combat I don't want to say there's like no War or conflict in this at all but the people who have the most power in this world are pulling the strings in different ways that don't involve picking up a sword if you know what I mean and it's just so good I loved it 5 out of 5 Stars after those books I wanted to pick something up that was a bit of a palette cleanser something a little fun a little fluffy so I decided to read 10 000 stitches and this is book two to Olivia Atwood's like Faye Regency romance series and it just was so unbelievably adorable this is a low spice romance and we're introduced to our main character Effie and Effie is a maid a very hard-working maid in a very difficult household and Effie has a problem she is in love with a gentleman but Maids cannot marry gentlemen and she's completely resigned that she is just gonna have no luck in this department until one day she stumbles into a very peculiar figure known as Lord Blackthorne or a fairy Lord Lord Blackthorne himself is like trying to become a better person and he was told to accomplish this he basically has to help the helpless and hurt the powerful so he comes across Effie and he's like I am going to solve all your problems let me help you capture the love of your life because he's Faith they sort of have to enter a fairy agreement and he agrees to help her if she also basically stitches 10 000 stitches into his favorite jacket Lord Blackthorne though trying to be helpful he's also kind of Clueless and he turns into like the most useless Fairy Godmother you could ever come across but putting their heads together they basically make Effie the daughter of a Duke she begins attending balls trying to win over this very gentleman I would say it's like a fairy Downton Abbey meets Cinderella our main character Effie is so pragmatic and smart and you really see her throughout this entire story go on a journey of like accepting her own self-worth and also like standing up for herself accepting her anger accepting her place in the world and what I also really enjoy about Olivia atwater's stories is that the romance is not really so straightforward like the tale is not as direct as it appears when reading the synopsis and I love Lord Blackthorne so much I think they're contrasting characters created so many wonderfully adorable moments great dialogue I also love the shift between our world and fairy it was just so so cute so funny a super quick read book is about 250 Pages it was endearing I love this series so much I think they're all adorable and I can't wait to pick up the next book oh and I would give this book like a 3.75 4 stars a super solid romance tale and then the last two books I'm just going to quickly talk about because I've technically not finished them I know I feel like I slacked a bit this month the first is The Masks of Mirrors by M.A Carrick I am so close to finishing this book I have about 100 pages left in this 600 page novel and this has taken me a while but I will say I'm enjoying it and in the story we follow one of our main characters Ren and she is a con artist and at the beginning of the story she's arrived back in Nazareth with one goal and that is to basically steal as much money as possible from the rich families of the city and flee and make a new life for herself with her best friend Tess she has this whole scheme she's basically going to get involved the lower aristocratic families by pretending to be someone else and she's going to get close to them steal their money it's all going to go according to plan until it isn't when one sort of dark Magical Force begins threatening the town things get much more complicated as well as Ren's connections to this family kind of get her more entrenched in their life and conning them becomes much more difficult so here's the thing on the surface that is what this book is about and that is definitely true but this is a multi-pov story we're also following her close friend and like partner Tess's point of view we also have chapters from like a crime Lord that exists in the town that red is working with a detective any aristocratic individuals you get the point this book has a huge cast of characters and in some aspects it's definitely its strength the authors are spending a lot of time kind of fleshing out this world and this city by giving us purview into so many different characters point of view but on the flip side of that I find that this book at times is very hard to follow there are so many names and political alliances and just trying to keep track of everything I felt like could be very difficult and it wasn't necessary necessarily described in the clearest of ways if that makes sense the other aspect of this book is that there is a magic system or a magical element and this is another part of this book I just don't know how clear it's been described to us how it works it has to do with dreams it has to do with like fortunes and fate and the interconnectedness of all the people that live here that sort of thing but again in my mind at least it's a little bit murky all's out to say though this book does read pretty quick I do think it is too long at 600 pages but I am pretty fascinated not only by the world our main character but the ever-shifting political alliances I do think it makes for a very interesting tale I also appreciate that the authors really went for it in the scale of this novel and didn't cut too much out of it to make it a more simple streamlined story I appreciate that this is trying to be very political and Shifty story where I'm at with 100 pages left I am liking this book I do feel like the second half was stronger than the first half I think if you can get sort of the confusing and clunky World building it is definitely worth reading I love the vibe of this world too I'd say it's kind of like a grimy Venice with these different Merchant houses vying for power I think that's a cool setup I wouldn't say this book is perfect um but I am liking it there is a lot of mystery that has compelled me to continue to read it obviously have a hundred pages left so I'll give a star reading uh next month once I actually complete it but I love the sort of lying backstabbing sort of setting of this I think it works and I think book two has a chance to be even better than book one so it's solid it's not my favorite but it's definitely solid and then the second book I was not able to complete this month is great circle by Maggie shipstead I am about two-thirds of the way through this book and I can say with confidence I'm loving this story it is so intense it is so gripping it's honestly I feel like this could be one of my favorite books of the year I'm just sort of reading it slowly because I'm really enjoying it I didn't want to rush through it as I kind of came to the end of this month but if you're not familiar this is a literary fiction tale kind of paralleling two lives of two women the first is Marion and we follow her at the turn of the century we follow her through her childhood and as she begins pursuing her great Passion which is to become a pilot Marion becomes an incredibly famous pilot and she has lots of like non-fiction work written about her and her death itself also ended up being rather mysterious fast forward to present day we follow our other main character Hadley who is an actor sort of embroiled in Scandal and she sort of offered a second chance at a career in Hollywood by playing Marion in a movie and we see as Hadley begins to begin to do research on Marion's character and her sort of immersion into Marion's story kind of happens alongside us reading Marion's tale structurally how this book is written is truly fascinating the chapters themselves are really short they kind of read almost an estacado like nature you're just moving from scene to scene it's very very Punchy this this book is full of so many different trigger warnings I wouldn't say this book is flowery at all it's actually very intense and this writing style is very fitting to the characters that are present in this particularly Marion Marion is fascinating she is a force of nature her determination to pursue something that she loves so much which is not only like a very clear career but also as a woman in this time period what's fascinating too and what begins to happen between our characters as we shift between present and past we begin to see sort of parallels and female identity and what has changed and what has not changed at all in relation to society a fascinating book to say the least it just feels charged this is a book holding back no punches at all I wasn't really sure what to expect when I picked this up from a literary point of view but I'm really enjoying like structurally how this book is put together and it's honestly just so bold which just makes so much sense because Marion as a person as an individual is just simply one of the most vibrant characters I've come across in a long time and and yeah I'm really liking this book I'm curious to see how it's all going to wrap up um this will be another book I finish in early October as well alrighty guys those are all of the books I was able to complete for the month of September let me know below some books you read recently as I would love to know and I will see you soon with another video soon goodbyehi guys it's Reagan and welcome back to another video today's video is going to be my September wrap up now for the month of September I have a total of eight books to talk about some of the books I read for this month were total hits some were a little disappointing and a bit of a Miss but without further Ado let's go ahead and Dive Right In First book I completed this month is a book I feel like I have not stopped talking about ever since I finished it it quickly climbed to one of my favorite books I've read so far this year if not one of my favorite books I've read in the past couple of years my most anticipated release of the year that's right folks I'm talking about Babel by RF Quang this is RF quang's newest release it's a fantasy Standalone and wow was it a feat from beginning to end this is a historical dark Academia fantasy novel and I would also say it kind of leans more heavily on the historical dark Academia setting it definitely does have fantasy components specifically a magic system but it's really woven into the intricacies of the historical time and place that R of Quang is sort of unpacking and setting the book in but if you're not familiar this story follows our main character Robin and the story itself opens in 1826 we follow Robin as a young child as he's taken from his homeland of China and brought over to England by a very mysterious Professor once he arrives in England he's immediately put to work and training very very intensely in Latin and ancient Greece all in preparation for one day enrolling in a very prestigious translator program at the University of Oxford otherwise known as Babel once Robin grows up starts attending this University he has dreams of finally finding a place for himself that he can fit in in England having obviously faced racism and just essentially being othered his entire life but once he arrives he realizes that the apparatus of translation is much more than he thought it was and in fact it's used as a tool by the British Empire itself to maintain its Colonial interests and by helping them in their translation he is indirectly or very directly hurting places like his homeland this sort of leads Robin to get involved in Rebellion more specifically student rebellion in the book sort of takes off from there this book is incredible first and foremost Robin as our main character really rooted Us in this story we're following a huge swath of his life and that we're following him as a young child growing up into a young adult and then kind of finally seizing his own fate in Destiny and who he wants to be this is take down of not only dark Academia but is really focused on this particular time period in history not only the Empire Building and the greed of the British Empire during this time their policies of exploitation of around the world but also the hypocrisy that existed in the Academia space that honestly in a lot of ways persist to this day this book you can tell has so much research in it actually throughout the novel itself it has a footnote of Quang kind of calls to specific references of like academic text or just like specific moments in history to kind of Flesh out the reference that is being made in the book this I felt like really added just additional background to this already very rich text I would say this is technically a fantasy novel but it's much more a historical novel with fantasy elements time and place and the historical references that are of Quang is trying to build and also have commentary on is very much pulled directly from the pages of our own history and she weaves in a fascinating sort of magic system that works so well with the economic and cultural reality of the time and it's a really fascinating idea and it worked so so well the story also lives up to its dark Academia moniker takes place primarily in the University of Oxford and just the setting time and place and also just like the everyday life of our characters really shines through with this academic Vibe our main character Robin loves to learn and the discussion and the learning of languages is really Central to this book obviously all of that is kind of put into stark contrast of what the this knowledge is used for and also what narratives are pushed to sort of maintain the status quo it's a really interesting back and forth at R of Quang accomplishes so so well following our main character throughout the story it was just incredible Robin is a character so easy to root for and you see him go through so many different internal struggles from sort of seeking this idea of safety for himself versus trying to push the envelope support a cause that is much larger than him story has so many different Central themes identity to colonialism I was honestly not able to put this book down once I picked it up I have an entire reading Vlog documenting my experience of the story it was truly just so good from beginning to end and I gave it five stars the next book I decided to pick up is the daughter of Dr Morrell by Sylvia Moreno Garcia this is Sylvia Moreno Garcia's newest release and obviously it was immediate Buy and read for me just because I love this author's writing and story so much this is a retelling of the island of Dr Moreau which is I think like a Gothic sci-fi horror story but Sylvia Moreno Garcia twists sort of this narrative and actually places it in the Yucatan Peninsula in the 19th century and throughout the story we actually follow our new main character which is Dr moreau's daughter Carletta this is a dual perspective story We shift between Carletta one of our main characters who is Young and Beautiful and vibrant and full of life and the other main character we follow is Montgomery who is Dr Moreau sort of assistant in this remote household that they all live in and he himself has a lot of demons he's running from and he copes with these Demons by drinking a lot of alcohol and of course also existing on the island are the hybrids and the experiments from Dr moreau's work which they themselves are actually very Central in this story obviously everything sort of is turned upside down though when the son of one of Dr moreau's benefactors arrives on the island and actually begins to court Carletta story is just first and foremost Lush was so much atmosphere I love Sylvia Moreno Garcia's writing so much and I feel like she's so great at creating like a time and a place that just completely envelops you what's also interesting is that this is taking inspiration from a Gothic story and I think traditionally for writer for wrong when I think like a Gothic story I think a dark remote cold rainy sort of manner and this is a remote manner within this story but instead of it being like cold and dreary it's actually hot and steamy and we're existing in a jungle and that sort of transition worked so so well in this book we're really following Carletta as she's going through an arc of Discovery she at the beginning of the story is very naive and throughout this tale she kind of has to confront the reality of not only her father but also the evils of the world itself and you see her sort of make decisions to try to save herself and her close friends that live on the estate this story again is dual perspective we're shifting between Carletta and Montgomery and I found this choice to be a very intriguing one where Carletta is light and sort of fluttery Montgomery is very very brooding and it provides the atmosphere to this sort of Gothic Horror Story and I felt like it worked oh so well Sylvia Moreno Garcia for me writes such Dynamic and interesting and often gray morality characters you're not quite sure what type of relation Dynamic to root for and that is definitely present within this book I found it to be really engaging I really loved the setting I love that it had sci-fi elements as well obviously with the inspiration from the original story I wouldn't say this is my favorite book by this author as I did find the characters perhaps to not be as fleshed out as I would like but I found the story itself to be engaging I wasn't sure where it was going until I finished it I read it very very quickly so I would give the daughter of Dr Moreau a 3.75 four stars I was continuing to crave something very atmospheric so I decided to pick up the wolf and The Woodsman by Ava Reed this is said to be for fans of the bear and the Nightingale and spinning silver so needless to say I wouldn't into this book with very high expectations this story is inspired by Hungarian history and Jewish folklore we all know I love any type of Mythology folklore fantasy retelling so I was so pumped to pick this book up in the story we follow our main character of eke and she lives in a village in the middle of a very magical but very dangerous wood many generations ago in her Homeland a outside sorted group of people have taken over and now rule through a very powerful Kingdom they also brought with them a new religion and eveke and her people are viewed as Pagan she herself is actually born without power which sort of makes her an outcast within her own town so when the kingdom sends woodsmen come collect their yearly sacrifice and tribute to bring back to the king ave's town was quick to volunteer her to go as tribute however while she's being transported through this very dangerous wood the monsters come and attack her group of woodsmen who are transporting her giving her in one mysterious Captain the only survivors now they have to rely on themselves to begin to go any Quest and they also slowly begin to know each other and so Begins the story of the wolf and the woodsmen here's the thing I would say I'm pretty torn about this book elements of it I really really loved and I would also say the first 50 was an absolute knockout for me I was really drawn in by our two main characters and I thought all of the concepts that were present within this book were spectacular that being said the second half of the book took a bit of a shift we changed from a quest structure story to more of a traditional political entry story and while the ideas there were fantastic I found that there just wasn't enough time to really develop the plot there to feel the full weight of a lot of the story lines the author was trying to include like all of the concepts were fantastic I just didn't feel like they were paced out properly if that makes sense I feel like the true star of this book is definitely eveke and The Woodsman name Gaspar this is definitely a book that has an enemies to lover situation and why wow was it steamy and very very intense that aspect of this book made it very hard to put down the two main characters are honestly very endearing Gaspar and Avec were raised amongst people who basically taught them to hate the other group of people they also have different religions and specifically gaspar's religion is full of a lot of like corruption and hypocrisy and is used to really mistreat a lot of the different populations in the area but Avec and Gaspar also have something in common in that they are both mistreated rather badly by the people that they were surrounded with so despite the fact that they're both supposed to hate each other on Principle as they actually get to know each other they realize they might actually be able to find comfort in one another which is such an interesting storyline this book heavily involves conversations around religion and philosophy and the hypocrisy of those in power it's a really interesting book and again all of the concepts there I thought were fantastic I also really enjoyed the writing style I truly wish this book was like two books the first part being its own book and then and the second part kind of given a lot more pages to be fully fleshed out and explained because I really think this as a duology would have been a knockout nevertheless though I did like this still recommend it and I would probably give it like a 3.5 3.25 out of 5 Stars the next book I won't lie was a complete disappointment and that is the death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlyn Starling I had such high hopes for this book because it's a Gothic Horror Story very Jane eyre-esque Vibes and that sort of setup is always one of my favorite this story follows our main character Jane and she is very practical she's very smart she's very no-nonsense she has run the numbers and she's done the calculations and she's realized that the best way forward for herself is to enter into a marriage of convenience she's looked at all the eligible bachelors in her area and she has come to the conclusion that the young doctor Augustine Lawrence would be her best match he's mysterious and he's very unsure if he actually wants to enter into any type of marriage but after hearing Jane's idea he decides to give it a try though he does have populations and that is Jane is never allowed to visit his crumbling family manner on the outskirts of town and he really wants to have more of a business arrangement in terms of their marriage she thinks that's great that's exactly what she wants so she agrees but of course everything is turned upside down when Jane finds herself kind of stranded in the countryside and the only home she can turn to is Augustine's family home their magic and haunting begin to run wild and Augustine's past is really called into question it's Mayhem it's utter chaos and you think based off of that setup it sounds oh so interesting but my difficulty with this book is that I could never buy in on the reasoning of our main character the entire premise and the entire setup of the story is our main character is practical and very business-like and she has no interest in having any type of romantic marriage situation but the author basically makes our two main characters fall in love like instantly with each other sort of disregarding any type of promises and obligations they made with one another at the beginning of this book and Jane seemingly transforms into someone who is like very straightforward to completely irrational overnight she's jealous about her new husband's past she's trying to like uncover all of his Secrets when this marriage of convenience was literally her idea it just it was very hard for me to like really Clue Into I did not understand the overnight change and the dynamic of their relationship it just felt very bizarre to me on top of that the book itself is very bizarre it has gruesome Elements which I did like it definitely leans into like the gothic horror situation which I did feel like worked and there's this sort of Haunting occult magic which is definitely unsettling but as things really began to accelerate it just did not really make sense and I just never really understood Jane's motivation for sticking around and also investigating these very dangerous matters at all motivation and the commitment of our main character to put herself in such danger for a man she instantly fell in love with just and never panned out for me The Vibes in the writing I did think were really good I just didn't really feel like the plot made that much sense I would check out other books by Caitlyn Sterling but unfortunately this book ended up being a big disappointment for me and I would give it like a 1.5 2 Stars luckily though I immediately redeemed myself and I picked up a first book to a new fantasy series that was impeccable and I feel like I'm gonna be binge reading all of the rest of the books that are out because this was so unique so political I am truly obsessed and that is the trader baru camerant by Seth Dickinson this is like if you love heavy political fantasy books like this is the book for you I'm talking our main character is like a Tyrion Lannister or a glocca Vibe situation you love people who are maneuvering more with their brains and like backdoor dealing which is like hand-to-hand combat this is definitely the book for you and just the world and the setup of this is just truly genius but in the story we follow our main character bar and ever since she was a child she was very very gifted and where baru grew up is a small island nation where she was raised by both her fathers and her mother in her land family rearing is a really Community oriented and everyone is very close and they also have their own rights and traditions that have been passed down in her land for Generations upon Generations but everything sort of changes when the Empire of masks arrives on their doorstep in this world the Empire masks is evil but it's also incredibly powerful and they're known for their colonial interests and the slow takeover of every country they sort of run into how they accomplish this not through traditional blood and War but instead through like a slow Chokehold taking over their economy rewriting culture forcing education and basically bulldozing any aspect of this country's identity forcing people through like economic Reliance and Promises of technological advancement to sort of go along with it baru as a young child is quickly singled out as someone who is very talented so she's put into the Empire of mass schooling all in preparation to become a part of their merit-based kind of bureaucratic network but Baro herself has her own goal and that is Ultimate Revenge she from a young age recognizes the evil of this Empire and she also feels like the only way to tear them apart is to do it from the inside so we follow baru first as she receives her education and finally her first posting which is in another Colony very far away who is kind of in constant Rebellion where she is assigned as the Royal accountant using the power of the economy you see how borrow not only entrenches herself and their culture and their society but also sort of Tears it all apart this book is fascinating it is Cut Throat it's definitely like for fans of Game of Thrones it's also described you very Machiavellian our main character baru comerant is fascinating she's a genius and I always feel like she's constantly outsmarting me and the methods that she uses to sort of accomplish whatever goal she has in mind is so cool to see how it all plays out this book is very very dark the Empire as I've said are evil so are there policies seeing all their policies put into place can be incredibly disturbing but having a main character baru komarat who is so determined to get what she wants is also fascinating this book was full of twist and I could I could honestly say while reading this book I never quite knew where it was going and I wasn't sure what types of decisions baru comrade was going to make but it was truly a ride from beginning to end and the ending was absolutely just wow and I need to know what's going to happen next again if you live very very political kind of slower moving fantasy stories this is a great one to pick up this definitely does have combat I don't want to say there's like no War or conflict in this at all but the people who have the most power in this world are pulling the strings in different ways that don't involve picking up a sword if you know what I mean and it's just so good I loved it 5 out of 5 Stars after those books I wanted to pick something up that was a bit of a palette cleanser something a little fun a little fluffy so I decided to read 10 000 stitches and this is book two to Olivia Atwood's like Faye Regency romance series and it just was so unbelievably adorable this is a low spice romance and we're introduced to our main character Effie and Effie is a maid a very hard-working maid in a very difficult household and Effie has a problem she is in love with a gentleman but Maids cannot marry gentlemen and she's completely resigned that she is just gonna have no luck in this department until one day she stumbles into a very peculiar figure known as Lord Blackthorne or a fairy Lord Lord Blackthorne himself is like trying to become a better person and he was told to accomplish this he basically has to help the helpless and hurt the powerful so he comes across Effie and he's like I am going to solve all your problems let me help you capture the love of your life because he's Faith they sort of have to enter a fairy agreement and he agrees to help her if she also basically stitches 10 000 stitches into his favorite jacket Lord Blackthorne though trying to be helpful he's also kind of Clueless and he turns into like the most useless Fairy Godmother you could ever come across but putting their heads together they basically make Effie the daughter of a Duke she begins attending balls trying to win over this very gentleman I would say it's like a fairy Downton Abbey meets Cinderella our main character Effie is so pragmatic and smart and you really see her throughout this entire story go on a journey of like accepting her own self-worth and also like standing up for herself accepting her anger accepting her place in the world and what I also really enjoy about Olivia atwater's stories is that the romance is not really so straightforward like the tale is not as direct as it appears when reading the synopsis and I love Lord Blackthorne so much I think they're contrasting characters created so many wonderfully adorable moments great dialogue I also love the shift between our world and fairy it was just so so cute so funny a super quick read book is about 250 Pages it was endearing I love this series so much I think they're all adorable and I can't wait to pick up the next book oh and I would give this book like a 3.75 4 stars a super solid romance tale and then the last two books I'm just going to quickly talk about because I've technically not finished them I know I feel like I slacked a bit this month the first is The Masks of Mirrors by M.A Carrick I am so close to finishing this book I have about 100 pages left in this 600 page novel and this has taken me a while but I will say I'm enjoying it and in the story we follow one of our main characters Ren and she is a con artist and at the beginning of the story she's arrived back in Nazareth with one goal and that is to basically steal as much money as possible from the rich families of the city and flee and make a new life for herself with her best friend Tess she has this whole scheme she's basically going to get involved the lower aristocratic families by pretending to be someone else and she's going to get close to them steal their money it's all going to go according to plan until it isn't when one sort of dark Magical Force begins threatening the town things get much more complicated as well as Ren's connections to this family kind of get her more entrenched in their life and conning them becomes much more difficult so here's the thing on the surface that is what this book is about and that is definitely true but this is a multi-pov story we're also following her close friend and like partner Tess's point of view we also have chapters from like a crime Lord that exists in the town that red is working with a detective any aristocratic individuals you get the point this book has a huge cast of characters and in some aspects it's definitely its strength the authors are spending a lot of time kind of fleshing out this world and this city by giving us purview into so many different characters point of view but on the flip side of that I find that this book at times is very hard to follow there are so many names and political alliances and just trying to keep track of everything I felt like could be very difficult and it wasn't necessary necessarily described in the clearest of ways if that makes sense the other aspect of this book is that there is a magic system or a magical element and this is another part of this book I just don't know how clear it's been described to us how it works it has to do with dreams it has to do with like fortunes and fate and the interconnectedness of all the people that live here that sort of thing but again in my mind at least it's a little bit murky all's out to say though this book does read pretty quick I do think it is too long at 600 pages but I am pretty fascinated not only by the world our main character but the ever-shifting political alliances I do think it makes for a very interesting tale I also appreciate that the authors really went for it in the scale of this novel and didn't cut too much out of it to make it a more simple streamlined story I appreciate that this is trying to be very political and Shifty story where I'm at with 100 pages left I am liking this book I do feel like the second half was stronger than the first half I think if you can get sort of the confusing and clunky World building it is definitely worth reading I love the vibe of this world too I'd say it's kind of like a grimy Venice with these different Merchant houses vying for power I think that's a cool setup I wouldn't say this book is perfect um but I am liking it there is a lot of mystery that has compelled me to continue to read it obviously have a hundred pages left so I'll give a star reading uh next month once I actually complete it but I love the sort of lying backstabbing sort of setting of this I think it works and I think book two has a chance to be even better than book one so it's solid it's not my favorite but it's definitely solid and then the second book I was not able to complete this month is great circle by Maggie shipstead I am about two-thirds of the way through this book and I can say with confidence I'm loving this story it is so intense it is so gripping it's honestly I feel like this could be one of my favorite books of the year I'm just sort of reading it slowly because I'm really enjoying it I didn't want to rush through it as I kind of came to the end of this month but if you're not familiar this is a literary fiction tale kind of paralleling two lives of two women the first is Marion and we follow her at the turn of the century we follow her through her childhood and as she begins pursuing her great Passion which is to become a pilot Marion becomes an incredibly famous pilot and she has lots of like non-fiction work written about her and her death itself also ended up being rather mysterious fast forward to present day we follow our other main character Hadley who is an actor sort of embroiled in Scandal and she sort of offered a second chance at a career in Hollywood by playing Marion in a movie and we see as Hadley begins to begin to do research on Marion's character and her sort of immersion into Marion's story kind of happens alongside us reading Marion's tale structurally how this book is written is truly fascinating the chapters themselves are really short they kind of read almost an estacado like nature you're just moving from scene to scene it's very very Punchy this this book is full of so many different trigger warnings I wouldn't say this book is flowery at all it's actually very intense and this writing style is very fitting to the characters that are present in this particularly Marion Marion is fascinating she is a force of nature her determination to pursue something that she loves so much which is not only like a very clear career but also as a woman in this time period what's fascinating too and what begins to happen between our characters as we shift between present and past we begin to see sort of parallels and female identity and what has changed and what has not changed at all in relation to society a fascinating book to say the least it just feels charged this is a book holding back no punches at all I wasn't really sure what to expect when I picked this up from a literary point of view but I'm really enjoying like structurally how this book is put together and it's honestly just so bold which just makes so much sense because Marion as a person as an individual is just simply one of the most vibrant characters I've come across in a long time and and yeah I'm really liking this book I'm curious to see how it's all going to wrap up um this will be another book I finish in early October as well alrighty guys those are all of the books I was able to complete for the month of September let me know below some books you read recently as I would love to know and I will see you soon with another video soon goodbye\n"