FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2019

hi guys so today's video is going to be a list of my favorite books from 2019 I don't know how many of these books were standouts and oh my gosh I can't get over how good this book was kind of books but I did really enjoy them there are certain things about some of the books on this list that I really felt they deserved to be on this list but I'll get into it there's some there's some elements to them that they don't they don't make them way up here for me but they still I thought were really great books we're gonna go ahead and get the one out of the way that is kind of the exception to this Vinland saga you guys have probably already heard me talk about finland saga it is a manga series and it's about vikings we follow a young boy whose father was killed and we kind of got back and forth at the beginning of the story trying to figure out what happened why our main character is where he's at and why he's so bent on revenge and then along the way you sort of start to get the perspective of some of the enemies and they're very interesting in some ways I would say they have more going on more complexities than the main character himself initially and it's just it's very good a premise does not necessarily do it justice or it's a very good representation of how much depth is in this story and what there is within it because there are some really really powerful moments in this story next up we have the rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson I sort of feel bad for you guys because I know I like so many Sanderson books but gosh darnit the man writes a lot of books the rithmatist I feel is so under hyped the magic system in this book everybody always talks about Sanderson's magic systems especially miss borns but the magic system in this one was so interesting and different basically they have the ability to draw with chalk and create chocolates which are like little chalk monsters and it sounds kind of lame the way I'm describing it but they have a means of doing different shapes to create a defense and certain things they can do that sort of attack the person they're against and people learn how to do it at this one particular school we have a character who goes to the school but he's not really a part of the arithmetics part of the school he's kind of a the you're an average person part of the school but he has dreams of being a rithmatist you instantly feel for this character he's very likable he has some flaws but I think that just made him more realistic next up we have before they are hanged by Joe Abercrombie this is the second book in the first law trilogy and I'm a little bummed out to say that the trilogy is a whole the whole trilogy doesn't get to be on this list because it was really the second one that I loved and I thought it was the best one the thing that I found to make the first law trilogy so good was the character work and in the first one you're getting to know the characters so you don't really see it as fullest potential and in the third one the character work was still there but sometimes it got put the back burner because at the forefront was a lot of action and a lot of kind of coming to a conclusion and in that second one it was the it was the perfect moment of everything because there was still action and I really enjoyed the action scenes there were some really good moments for the characters but the best thing about the book I found were the interactions between the characters and seeing all of these characters that feel so fleshed out and so real you really feel like you know them at this point seeing how they grow or how they just in general have to kind of fight against or embrace the things that are brought up by the other characters and the interactions they have were so good I'm gonna go ahead and stick with second books in trilogies and the next one would be the wicked king by Holly black and this is another one where I'm a little sad that the whole trilogy wasn't on this list but the second one is the one that stood out to me and this story is just so many twists and turns and it's dramatic and it's kind of the stereotype of what young adult fiction is for some people I kind of don't even care because I just found it very entertaining and the second one in particular I constantly didn't know if our main character could trust other people the thing the setup that makes a lot of this book really work is that it's a mortal in a Fae world the mortal has the ability to live with the fate can't and so the Fae have to find tricky ways saying things to where they're not lying but they're misleading you and so there were so many times in that second book that you're constantly wondering is this person tricking her right now are they trying to get something from her right now what am I not catching in their wording and I thought that was so fun it made the scheming so entertaining and juicy and it was fun and the ending was great next book on this list is kind of the opposite of these in that it was the conclusion to a story and I really liked the conclusion and that would be a crooked Kingdom by Leigh bardugo I thought that the way that she dived into our characters was really well done if you are not really a character driven reader or you don't like getting to really fall back into what makes our characters the way they are and you kind of want more plot you want to focus more on the present that's not really what these books do but one of my favorite things about books is literally just sitting and getting to know the characters and so for me it actually really worked I do think that the time spent getting to know the characters and seeing their past it does take up quite a bit of the duology as a whole and I think the book is marketed very much as this exciting intense heist story but the exciting intense parts for me especially in the second one I actually thought they were they were almost so unpredictable that I was just like well whatever I'm along for the ride because I like the characters which is similar actually to I think the Joe Abercrombie books I just like the characters so whatever came up I was like alright let's see where this goes and that's kind of how I was for cricket Kingdom but I do think that the six of crows duology has a little bit more plot to it maybe then Abercrombies first law trilogy but the fact that both this and Abercrombies work we were so character driven I think is what made them stand out for me next up on this list is a book I read way back at the beginning of the year and that would be a crown of feathers by Nikki Powe Peto I have mentioned quite a few times that while this story is young adult I think if you're the kind of person that only likes to read young adult here and there and you prefer adult fantasy this one is still probably good one to pick up because while a lot of the tone is still fairly more it's more youthful it's got a lot of lore the amount of time that the author has put into developing the lore is really admirable I think and it's one of those things where she weaves it into the story in a lot of clever creative ways especially before the chapter she has what I call extras and it would make for a really fun reread I'm really excited for the second one it's gonna be a trilogy and I I think that it's one of those stories that you get to the end and then you're gonna be like oh my gosh now I got to go back to see all those times what happened in the past she was alluding to this the whole time and she was setting this up I just think the way she's done that was really cool to see it definitely makes for a more historical feel to it not saying it's like a boring textbook or something like that but if you're the kind of person that likes history you loved history class in school I think you would really eat this book up there are three main point of views in this story and I enjoyed two of them so much it's not that the other one I thought was badly written I just didn't like that character as much but the other two characters oh man I could not get enough of them it kind of has a Mulan and Shang feel to it because the girl is disguised as a boy there's this tension because they don't necessarily get along and so you wonder are they gonna become friends is this gonna work out is this gonna happen the whole time and the way that their relationship develops throughout the story is really fun to see I also feel like the animal companion element of the story is great because the setup is our main character she really wants she's a burning desire totally pun intended to have a Phoenix and she joins this group of a secret rebellion of Phoenix riders next up we have the toll by Neal Shusterman this is the third and final book in the arc of the site the trilogy you guys have heard me talk a lot about psych and it's a futuristic society where we conquer death and to prevent overpopulation we have people that go around and kill each other that's the quick summary of it it's quite morbid but there's a lot of really funny humor in it which you wouldn't necessarily expect the last book was definitely very plot driven there were certain things about it that I kind of wish were condensed but ultimately in the ending of it I really enjoyed the ending I really enjoyed seeing how every came together I still felt like you know Schusterman was constantly exploring what this world would look like this was really the situation and I just thought for the end of this trilogy that I've enjoyed so much I was I was pleased with this conclusion next up we have sorcery of thorns by Margaret Rogerson I don't it's funny every time I think about this book I don't know that I think of it the way I think of Vinland song every time I talk about Vinland saga I'm like and I go a little crazy and I get really annoying but with sorcery of thorns and maybe I don't think of it that way but when I think about it I was like that was fun I liked that and it makes me happy there's just something about this story that when I think about it it gives me the warm fuzzies I definitely think it's difficult to pull off a good standalone that doesn't feel rushed doesn't feel too short that you feel like the stakes are high but they're not cheesier over-the-top and overdone and they're not under played it actually feels relevant to what's happening it makes you care about the characters even more and you want them to succeed that's hard to pull off and it's also hard to pull off making you care about the characters in a shorter amount of time but I thought Margaret Rogerson did a really good job it was a one and done story and it was one that kind of left me wanting more because I enjoyed this world I enjoyed this story that she's created I missed the characters but also I'm kind of glad that it didn't get drawn out and made into something bigger it was just it was a good time I liked it the last book on this list is interesting for me because if I think of this as a first book in zoology a trilogy in some kind of a series then it's an absolute favorite for me but as of right now there's no concrete there is going to be a sequel set in place yet which is a little bit of a bummer but I enjoyed the first book a lot if it does end up being a first book and that would be a descendant of the cream it took me a while to get into this book for a long time I was kind of just not digging it and then something at some point clicked and all of a sudden I was really intrigued there is a lot of family drama in this book the setup is that our main character is basically the heir to the throne her father died murdered she believes and she's not meant to look into his death because it's already been deemed something natural but she's positive that he was poisoned that he was murdered so she is trying to kind of go against her own courts and find out the truth but she seeks out some magic users that are looked down upon in her kingdom and the family dynamics were so interesting because her mom's kind of crazy and she has a full-blooded brother and then she has these other characters that are kind of like adopted siblings for her you get to know more about her relationship with her father who has died just really a lot to it that I ended up enjoying so much but oh my gosh based off that ending I need a sequel I need the next one because I feel like this story's not done I do want to add an honorable mention that is it's almost it's worse than hating a book is to love a book and hate the ending but I do want to mention this one particular story that I read this year because I loved so much of it and and it just did not work for me but that's not the case for everybody so the bird and the blade this is a story that it is not the easiest to read it follows the girl who is the slave of a descendant of Genghis Khan there's a lot of interesting familial politicking in a way and you're not really getting that invested in that element of the story but it does play a role so it's historical fiction and our main character is kind of swept along into the survival of one of these descendants and the way that the relationship bills throughout the story is really it was really well done I thought and it is a retelling of an opera which I think was based on a story that already existed so it's like a retelling of a retelling but so much of the story I liked the reason it's not the easiest to read it's because this character has so many things that if we look at her the way she is when we first meet her we're like girl get a backbone come on stick up for yourself we kind of have this at least I mean I feel like that's what other people would I was reading it thinking all right what's going on because why why is she have this mindset and when you get to find out why it's so tragic but you understand and you feel for her and I feel like the character development and the work the author put into showing this character was really well done but I hated the ending I wish I didn't hate the ending but it is a retelling and I'm I'm guessing that is how the original ended from what I've seen that's basically the ending of the original but I didn't like it but a lot of you might end up liking it so because I enjoyed so much of the rest of it I still felt like it was worth mentioning that's it for some of my favorites of this year please let me know of course what your favorites were I would love to know let me know if you felt similarly to some of these or if you completely disagree and had completely differing opinions but anyway thanks so much for watching I hope you have a great rest day and I'll see you later [Music]

Channel: Elliot Brooks

Views: 23,909

Rating: 4.9717064 out of 5

Keywords: elliot brooks, elliot, brooks, booktube, booktuber, fantasy, favorite books, best books, favorite books of the year, best books of the year, best books of 2019, favorite books of 2019, elliot brooks favorite books, elliot brooks best books, top books, top book of the year, top books of 2019, peruse project best books, peruse project favorite books, read with cindy best books, ready with cindy favorite books, daniel greene favorite books, daniel greene best books

Id: Mr2moWje3to

Length: 14min 21sec (861 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 28 2019