The Host's Christmas Gift: A Descent into Literary Chaos

Hello everyone, I did a silly thing. So I have been wanting to do this video for a very long time, but I forgot how evil, honestly, some of you guys are. What today is, as you can probably tell by the title of this video, is I asked you to send in two different books or characters or tropes or anything like that and I have to choose one.

What I didn't expect, which I should have known, is that you guys would literally go through all of my favorite books and pit them against each other. I haven't read them all, I screenshotted them all from Instagram - thank you all so much. So you might see some unfiltered reactions here. We're just gonna dive into it, I'm prepared for pain.

This is my Christmas, my holiday, my end of the year gift to you - putting me through a lot of pain, so I have my tea, I'm drinking what am I drinking? Organic peachy green. I'm going to attempt to calm me down and soothe my throat as I try very hard to get through these so let's dive in.

Where do I even start? Okay let's just start off with the hardest one because this one was so funny - so a lot of you horrible horrible people that I love so much asked me Jem or Will or Will or Jem or Herondale or Carstairs? Thank you to jarjargreens who said something like "you can't choose between them" but then again, why can't I? It's not like I'm going to spend all of my time trying to figure out which one is better. It's just a book, right?

I think what really gets me is that some of you guys took this task way too seriously. Like, I've seen some pretty elaborate arguments about whether Jem or Will is the better character. I mean, come on guys, it's not like it's going to change my life if I choose one over the other. But I guess that's what makes me love you guys - your dedication to making my life more difficult.

I have to admit, though, some of the suggestions were pretty entertaining. Like when someone suggested that maybe I should do a battle between Jem and Will from the Mortal Instruments series versus the Jem and Will from the Dollhouse novels. Now that's what I call a tough decision. But in the end, I don't think I can even choose just one.

One of the things that really stood out to me was how passionate some of you guys were about their favorite books. Like, I saw someone who had literally read every single book in the series multiple times and still couldn't make up their mind which character they liked better. That's dedication right there.

I'm not sure if this video will actually be helpful or if it'll just end up being a bunch of people arguing with each other online. But hey, at least I'll have my tea to calm me down during all the chaos.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enHello everyone, I did a silly thing. So I have been wanting to do this video for a very long time,  but I forgot how evil, honestly, some of you guys are. What today is, as you can probably tell  by the title of this video, is I asked you to send in two different books or characters or tropes or  anything like that and I have to choose one. What I didn't expect, which I should have known,  is that you guys would literally go through all of my favorite books and pit them against each  other. I haven't read them all, I screenshotted them all from Instagram -thank you all so much.  So you might see some unfiltered reactions here. We're just gonna dive into it, I'm prepared  for pain. This is my Christmas, my holiday, my end of the year gift to you - putting me through  a lot of pain, so I have my tea, I'm drinking - what am I drinking? Organic peachy green. I'm  gonna attempt to calm me down and soothe my throat as I try very hard to get through these so  let's dive in. Where do I even start? Okay let's just start off with the hardest  one because this one was so funny - so a lot of you horrible horrible people that I love so much  asked me Jem or Will or Will or Jem or Herondale or Carstairs?  Thank you to jarjargreens who said \"whoever said Jem or Will is pure chaotic evil and I will  fight them\" because, thank you, I need someone to fight them for me Jem or Will ah~ honestly...Honestly, Will because I was always the person who had crushes on like the class clowns  in high school or in school in general rather than the quiet kid. I don't know I was always just  very drawn to really magnetic and very boisterous personalities and I feel like  Will is like that whereas Jem is a lot more calm and caring and mature.  So I feel like if I was in that in age range that the Infernal Devices series takes place  in, yeah I'd probably go for Will but don't quote me on that, that might change by tomorrow, so today  Will Herondale, my man. Also shout out to the one person who said \"Will or Jem sorry\" At least you  recognized what you were doing. This one was hard - A Little Princess or The Secret Garden.  For a book, The Secret Garden, for a film, A Little Princess. That film,  I still dream about it, like what a beautiful beautiful film. If you haven't seen it yet:  A Little Princess. Okay a lot of you guys asked this and I actually feel really bad,  I got so many people asking me: Harry Potter or Percy Jackson and I actually never read Percy  Jackson - what are, what are his, what's his series? I never read those and I know that's ridiculous  because I know I would have loved them. I don't know why as a child I missed that - I literally  just completely missed the Percy Jackson train and I apologize profusely. aggiebrown00, chaotic evil  personified (I'm so sorry I'm sure you're very nice) asked Nikolai or Howl. How dare you. I would pick  Nikolai because I am married to someone who is so much like Howl lol so yeah I think Nikolai would be  fun, I'd like to try that out. Ooh Wind-up Bird Chronicle or Norwegian Wood? I would say Wind-up Bird Chronicleeven though that took me so long to finish - I think I had to start it and restart it  like a hundred times. I much preferred Wind-up Bird Chronicle but the film for Norwegian Wood  is beautiful. Light reading or very deep reading? Ooh very deep reading if you mean by like focus-wise. I can't do the like - oh I've got 20 minutes, let me just read a book - I've trained myself to  do it sometimes but I hate it, I would much prefer to have just hours to just sit and read so  deep reading I guess is my answer. Somebody else asks Kurt or Nikolai which is the same as asking  Howl or Nikolai so I guess that means I picked Nikolai lol I would just really like  Nikolai to be my best friend honestly so...good thing Kurt doesn't watch my videos.Okay I got this question a couple times - people ask The Cruel Prince versus Six of Crows and I  feel like people, because I recommended The Cruel Prince in one book - in one video, people might think  that I like the book, I actually didn't. I loved the world but I hated the cruel prince like the  actual prince, I didn't - I did not enjoy him at all. So Six of Crows 110% but also I'm just not - I  didn't really get on the hype train for The Cruel Prince. And then someone asked Rhysand  or Mal. Please. I didn't, I never liked Mal so Rhysand. So many of you guys - heartless evil people that I still like, so many of you ask Howl's Moving Castle versus House on the Cerulean Sea. I feel  like that's like the little sister and the bigger sister, you know? The child and the parent book.  I still would say Howl because Howl had such a rich world and I think  House on the Cerulean Sea felt very like a short little moment in time, kind of like a snowglobe versus  like a full snowy world. Howl still has my heart for that one, but if you like Howl you should read  House on the Cerulean Sea and vice versa. Yes! Ooh somebody asked Inkheart versus Sorcery of Thorns! Iwill have to say...I will have to say Sorcery of Thorns only because I haven't read Inkheart in  so long but Cornelia Funke is my girl, I love her to death, so maybe I should just reread Inkheart  I don't know. Thank you for asking that, that inspired me. I will add that to my reading list.  Oh this is a good one! Someone asked Night Circus or the Starless Sea and both of those books, as you  guys might know because I've said it many times, both of those books - I could not understand.  I kept reading it and I was like ~what is going on~ you know? But I would choose Night Circus  because that's the only one that I actually finished. For a Starless Sea, I was so confused and I  literally just lost the plot. I don't know what happens in the end. Her books are so so visual  that for the Night Circus, even though it didn't, I didn't really get the plot, I didn't really like  the plot that much, it was so beautiful in my brain - everything that I saw was like \"wow  I love it\" but with Starless Sea, the visuals that my brain was cooking up - I didn't like  it. I was like ~why am I underground? why is it so dark?~ Whatever the hell my brain was  doing with the words she put on the page, I wasn't like comfy in the world so  I peaced out. So the Night Circus for sure.Okay this person, I can't pronounce - oh kyeranbbang.  That is horrible, so this person's instagram name is my favorite Korean street food  so I feel extra betrayed by this question. You are asking me VE Schwab vs Leigh Bardugo.I almost don't want to answer this...here's the thing...oh no you know what, i'm not going to  play your game. I'm actually not gonna answer this because they are both the lights of my  freaking life. A Darker Shade of Magic is one of my favorite series, I love it so much but Six  of Crows is the book that threw me back into this world, is the reason I even have a booktube channel.  Snd they're both they seem like genuinely really nice people. I follow them both on instagram  and they are so open and they are so encouraging. If you are looking to write, definitely follow  them. They are just so ugh I love them both and I will not choose. Speaking of Leigh Bardugo  though, someone asked Six of Crows or Crooked Kingdom which is the second book of Six of Crows.I would honestly need to reread them because they've kind of squashed together in my brain  but I remember loving how much more of the characters we got to learn about  in Crooked Kingdom but Six of Crows, actually Crooked Kingdom was the first book that - my mom  actually bought it for me as a gift but - it was the first book that was purchased rather than me  getting it from the library as far as like reading on my e-reader, because I finished Six of Crows  and I had a meltdown because it leaves you on a cliffhanger. It didn't occur to me that I could  have just bought the book. I had to wait for like eight weeks for Crooked Kingdom to come in so the  joy I felt of being able to read Crooked Kingdom because it was bought for me as a present made the  book even better, so I don't know, they kind of run together but I'm leaning towards Crooked Kingdom  I think, I don't know. Someone just said \"Six of Crows definitely\"  Yes, I agree. Got a lot of Throne of Glass versus A Court of Thorns and Roses. And I think I've talked  about this before but I didn't really like Throne of Glass because I just got confused  by all of the love interests and then I just lost the plot because I was like, this is too much and I  know that some people are incredibly passionate about it but I lost it. I started skimming and  it was gone. So a Court of Thorns and Roses. Another thing that I haven't read, I got a few questions of  the Hunger Games versus Divergent. I actually never read the Divergent series, that was like  again, I don't know why I didn't because I was very much, like that era of the dystopian  YA novels, I was into it. So I don't know why I missed Divergent, but I missed Divergent.  Sorry. The immature yet soft wizard edition: Howl or Nathaniel from Sorcery of Thorns.That's a great question. I was going to say Nathaniel because you would  also, get the added bonus of his best friend Silas but with Howl, there's Calcifer.I feel like Nathaniel had less temper tantrums than Howl, like I feel like....  I don't remember in the book how extensive Howl's home library was so I would pick  Nathaniel only because I know that his house has a bomb library that I would love to use soNathaniel.Ooo dang, this one - Shadow and Bone or a Song of Wraiths and Ruin? That's hard, soI would say... I'm gonna pick a Song of Wraiths and Ruin because - and it's really tight - because  for Shadow and Bone I actually, other than... no I didn't even really like her in that book... Yeah I  can't think of a single character in Shadow and Bone that I really loved but I really loved some  of the characters in a Song of Wraiths and Ruin. I'm basing it on character love, a Song of Wraiths and Ruinbecause I could hang with some of those characters. Somebody asked Kaz or the Darkling...Why would you choose the Darkling?! My friend Kayla did not ask this but  sounds like a Kayla question. Yeah no I'm not on the Darkling's little  fan caravan here. Kaz all the way. Cut out all the eyeballs you want buddy.  Happy ending or rip out your heart sad ending? I like happy endings. I'm fragile. I don't like  sad endings. No. Happy, happy endings please. Oh but this one's hard somebody asked the Darkling or Mal?I feel...nothing for Mal. There is not a piece of me that cares about Mal and I'm so sorry about that, at  least for me, I feel things for the Darkling like there's empathy there, but with Mal I'm just like...  That's what I mean by me not loving the characters in Shadow and Bone.  Dare I - dare I say the Darkling? I'm gonna choose the Darkling in this one, sorry Mal.  And then there's all these people asking me Kaz or Nikolai. I would pick Nikolai because I don't  really deal very well with the...there are a lot of times where Kaz is just not nice to  his love interest and I could not handle that like I can't deal with people suddenly being  not nice to me even if it's to protect me or whatever, um no. So I feel like Nikolai would be  very just nice, you know? I love Nikolai so much. God I can't wait for the next book.Oh this one's really interesting, somebody asked Pachinko or Human Acts?I would say Pachinko because I feel like if you go into Pachinko with no knowledge  of any of the historical context it's still an incredibly powerful read but with Human Acts I  think you could read it without the historical knowledge but it wouldn't be quite as impactful.  I feel like Pachinko is just also an easier read because it reads like a typical  novel but I think that Human Acts, it could be a little bit harder to follow and yeah I think that  you need to have a little bit more background knowledge in the history before you read it.  So I would say Pachinko and I heard that they're making either a drama or a movie version of it and  I really hope that they do it well, I'm excited for it but I really hope that they do it justice so  we shall see. Oh somebody asked historical fiction or YA fantasy? I am currently deep deep within  the trench of YA fantasy and I like it here but the genre easily gets very repetitive  so I would say if I could only read one genre for the rest of my life  I would have to pick historical fiction but if they wanted to throw in a little magic  in there, you know, like those kind of historical fictions? Love it. I would not complain, but yeah I  would say historical fiction has the ability to be much more varied and you learn a lot  but YA fantasy gets quite repetitive even though I love it, no hate, love. And then we have the most  evil question - Howl's Moving Castle or Six of Crows parentheses I'm not evil. Here's the - okay  For Howl's Moving Castle, I can read it and reread it and reread it and reread it and never get  tired of it but I actually haven't I've read the duology, the Six of Crows duology, twice  and I haven't touched it in a while because I fear that it would lose its magic if I keep reading  it, you know? It's kind of like when you have a favorite song and you don't listen to it because  you don't want it to hit you less. But for the year of 2020, I'll say Six of Crows because Six of  Crows defined this year for me and it is the reason I am even right here talking to you guys  so for only for the year of 2020: Six of Crows beats Howl's Moving Castle, can't believe you made  me choose. Oh this one's pretty interesting - wait where'd it go? I just saw it and I've scrolled  past it. Well whatever somebody asked me Twilight versus the Host and that's actually so interesting  because I don't remember - I think I only read the Host once and I don't remember it very  well but I do remember thinking that at the time when I read it - you are not going to park there -I don't remember the plot of the Host that well but when I read it I remember thinking that  it was such an interesting concept where you were like kind of on the side of both  the characters, like there's a conflict and you can so easily see each of their  points of view and you don't know who to root for - I could be making this plot up in my brain but  I remember thinking that that was so interesting versus Twilight was kind of like  a love story with vampires so it wasn't groundbreaking to me but I will say  that I just choose Twilight because I read that series so  much I would, just that was another one that I can just reread and it doesn't  have any stronger or less strong effect on me so I will choose Twilight but I wish I remembered  the Host more, I never saw the film, I - isn't Saorise Ronan in it? I found that out recently and I was - my mind was blown. If she's not then I'm crazy but if she is, that's very strange and I still  don't plan on watching it but strange. And last but not least, you guys thought you were gonna trick me.  You thought this was gonna be a hard question: Six of Crows or A Court of Thorns and Roses.  How dare you. Six of Crows. I don't even have to hesitate. Six of Crows is the one that I'm  going to choose. That is all. And I know that I mentioned it in my - oh that was on my main  channel - well I mentioned it in my video on my main channel that I'm super excited for the Netflix  version. Like I said, didn't love the characters in Shadow and Bone but I'm excited to see it  translated on film. I know that Leigh Bardugo has been really involved in it, I'm yeah I'm just  you know fingers crossed. The cast from the like three second videos you see of them on instagram,  they seem great, I can already feel the chemistry even though they're never in the same room in  these instagram things. I've said it before but the guy who's playing Kaz is Kaz in my brain.  The guy who plays Jesper, I can feel it, the charisma is there. The girl who plays Inej is  like shockingly beautiful, shockingly beautiful. I think the girl who plays Alina  might make me actually like Alina, who knows. So yeah I'm really excited for that as well  and yeah I think this is where I'm gonna end it. I hope that you guys are having a really good  Christmas if you celebrate, just general holiday/end of the year season. I don't  know what else to say but thank you for spending some time with me thank you for sending in your  very difficult questions - oh wait somebody asked Pride and Prejudice or Little Women.  Pride and Prejudice. Yeah, I would say Pride and Prejudice. That was one of the first  classic books that I ever read I think. I remember reading Little Women, I read the  like kid version - if you ever, do you remember those - I don't know if it was just me that read  them but they were these hardback books that were big type and I remember I read little women  and Robinson Crusoe, like all of these classics that were kind of chomped down into  a lower reading level. So I don't, I actually haven't read the full text of Little Women,  sorry! So yeah I remember being very ironically proud of myself when I finished  Pride and Prejudice because that was my first classic work of literature that I finished as a,  you know, pre-teen or whenever I read it. So I would choose Pride and Prejudice but it is a  close tie. So anyway I'm done, I will leave you here, please be safe, please finish this year on a strong  and happy note. I am wishing you very well and I will - I think I still have another video to post  before I wish you a happy new year but just in case, happy happy new year. I will see you in 2021! Bye!\n"