Yay! I’m so happy you had a better experience with Light Bringer 🙌🏽 Completely agree about the heart returning with that book and feeling back home with it!
Soooo happy to hear that Lightbringer was indeed the promised return to form for you. Time to get excited for Red God!! Also, I just read By Blood By Salt for judge duties and I loved hearing your take on it. You loved it a lot more than I did, yet I still agree with everything you said. The cultural world building and the immersive prose were absolutely breathtaking! Glad you had such a great month and are so excited for the upcoming reads again, we love to see it 🥰🥰
I get so many TBR books from your channel (and I suspect I will have to give Lord of the Flies a try in spite of my trepidations!) but I think this is about the most stunning review I could have ever imagined getting. Thank you.
Awesome stuff, Tori! Glad you had a great reading month, and that Lightbringer resparked your love of a beloved series 😊 I've been hearing so many good things about By Blood, By Salt... I really must give it a try! My November was mostly War-Time historical fiction. It seemed thematic and I had some really profound reads in the process (All Quiet on the Western Front for one). I'm excited now to dive back into fantasy!
Holy crap! I’m literally going to finish Black Company tonight. I agree that it’s vague in parts. I don’t know what is going on at times. There doesn’t seem to be any lead ups to some things. My 3 sons loved Hatchet.
I bought Spy Family recently based off your praise. Very intrigued by Hatchet and By Blood By Salt, which I may need to pick up and read soon. Thanks and keep up your videos Tori.
Thanks for By Blood By Salt. Ive never ever heard of it but I'm 1000% gonna get it asap. It sounds fantastic. Also I'm right there with you regarding the Black Company lmao. I reallllly want to like it. Im the biggest Malazan fan in the world, Ive read the series 10 times, and I know Erikson considers Black Company one of his biggest influences. So I want to get into it. But just like Book of the New Sun, despite how badly I want to finish each book, I just cant make it through them 😢 Also can I recommend you the Fire Sacraments series? I think the series is failed by book 1's cover, being titled Master Assassins, and obviously lack of marketing. It just... doesnt look that good. But god damn, its sooo fantastic. Basically theres an army of religious zealots forcibly converting and conscripting or else killing everyone they run into. The story follows 2 brothers who kinda hate each other. The book starts when one brother kills a child rapist, and that rapist ends up being the son of The Prophet. So they must flee together. As you learn more about this world, things just get more and more interesting and you find out there's something massive going on and that the outside world is different than the continent the story takes place on. Something I'm integrating into my own book. The brothers are also pursued by this entity the Prophet controls called The Pale Child and shes terrifying. Book 2 gets even more interesting. Its criminally underrated and so so good. The cover of BB,BS reminded me of the Sidewinders cover so I figured I'd recommend the series to you!
I just bought By Blood, By Salt so I’m happy to hear you loved it! I just bought a Libra Color so maybe I will get some use out of the color highlights 😁
I'm so glad someone also struggled with Dark age and Iron Gold the first 3 are the best in my opinion (Morning Star is my fav) but dark age and iron gold really fell into trying to be a bit more dark and gritty and some of the new characters I enjoyed that came from those books but the main characters lost there way abit in those 2 books I think. anyway great recap!
The Lord of the Flies is a book I was assigned to read in high school and never finished. Thinking about what it’s about, I’m not entirely sure why. I just remember not having a good time. Maybe I was going through depression at the time or something. But yeah. My grades on that one weren’t as good as my grades on The Outsiders lol. I finished Pet Sematary in November and loved it!
By Blood, By Salt was already on my TBR but now it's been bumped to the top of the list. And I know you've mentioned Jacquelyn Hagen's The Riverfall Chronicles before, but my most recent read was The Blue Flames and I loved it. I'm looking forward to diving into The Sundering Hours, but as mentioned above, By Blood, By Salt will be my next read.
@@thegreatwaugh I would start with The Blood Stones, that's the first book in my in progress dark epic fantasy series. Ancient world with a lost magic system, succession wars and a twist on warrior school tropes. :) Thank you so much for checking out my work!
I’m looking forward to reading Tanna the Tendersword. Lord of the Flies was required reading in my public school curriculum- I can’t remember what grade, maybe 8th or 9th grade?
It was for a lot of people! It's nice to finally be catching up on some of the required reading lists that I didn't have XD And I hope you enjoy Tanna!
Here's what I read The Graham effect by elle Kennedy Scythe by neal shusterman The extraordinary life of an ordinary man by paul Newman memoir Love holly by Emily stone Bring me your midnight by Rachel Griffin Long after we are gone by terah shelton Harris Twisted love by ana Huang Icebreaker by hannah grace
I still remember the exact moment during elementary school when I was in the library stacks with a guy friend of mine and he recommended me Hatchet. I really ought to revisit it again.
Hi Tori, Hatchet, By Blood, By Salt and Your Blood And Bones all sound like good reads. Lord Of The Flies is a great book, I enjoyed re-reading it in October. I almost had a very rare DNF this month (Beartown by Fredrik Backman), but I gave it a break and then finished it. In November I read: Horns - Joe Hill, which was great, loved it a lot. The Catcher In The Rye - J D Salinger really enjoyed this. Beartown - Fredrik Backman - slow start. It took 200 pages before anything happened and those 200 pages dragged so badly. 2.5 stars I think. Also re-read some comic books: Hellboy Short Stories Omnibus Volume 1 - so good to read Hellboy again Hellboy Short Stories Omnibus Volume 2 B.P.R.D. Omnibus Volume 1 Superboy and the Legion of Superheroes Volume 1 - Awesome nostalgia trip Superboy and the Legion of Superheroes Volume 2 - Awesome nostalgia trip Book of the month was Horns
Hatchet has a similar premise to Yellowjackets if you havent watched that show yet? It's very good. Girls soccer team crashes in the Canadian wilderness, survival ensues, cannibalism ensues, and there are scary supernatural(?) elements too. That storyline is in 1996, but theres also a current day timeline with the survivors where we see the residual impacts on their lives and we see as the supernatural(?) elements start back up. Great show if you haven't seen it already.
It's a reallllly reallly good show. Super popular and for good reason! The actresses absolutely kill it in their roles. I really enjoy how mysterious the story can be too, and it's cool seeing how these survivors descend into and start to ritualize their cannibalism once they finally give into it. Not a spoiler btw. Cannibalism is clear from the jump lol
In November I read: «The Steel Tsar» (A Nomad of the Time Streams» Trilogy #3) by Michael Moorcock (Multiverse/Alternative History/Time Travel Steampunk(?)😅) «The Stranger» by Albert Camus/illustrated by Jacques Ferrandez (Graphic Novel adaptation of the Absurdist Philosophical Novel) «The Duel» by Joseph Conrad (Napoleonic Historical Military Fiction Novella) «Lord of Light» by Roger Zelazny (Science Fantasy inspired by the Legend of Siddhartha Gautama/the Buddha) «The Fury of the Gods» (Bloodsworn Saga #3) by John Gwynne (Epic Fantasy inspired by Norse Mythology) Currently reading: «The Power Broker» by Robert Caro (Political Biography/Investigative Journalism Classic, my Q4 long-read)
Le Guin's short story collection, A Fisherman of the Inland Sea, was terrible. I really liked 2001's Empire Falls. Nothing good happens, but it's funny with good small town character development.
Yay! I’m so happy you had a better experience with Light Bringer 🙌🏽 Completely agree about the heart returning with that book and feeling back home with it!
Soooo happy to hear that Lightbringer was indeed the promised return to form for you. Time to get excited for Red God!!
Also, I just read By Blood By Salt for judge duties and I loved hearing your take on it. You loved it a lot more than I did, yet I still agree with everything you said. The cultural world building and the immersive prose were absolutely breathtaking!
Glad you had such a great month and are so excited for the upcoming reads again, we love to see it 🥰🥰
I get so many TBR books from your channel (and I suspect I will have to give Lord of the Flies a try in spite of my trepidations!) but I think this is about the most stunning review I could have ever imagined getting. Thank you.
You're so welcome, THANK YOU for writing such an incredible book!
By Blood, By Salt sounds amazing. I'm a big themes reader so this sounds so right for me. Adds to tbr!
Awesome stuff, Tori! Glad you had a great reading month, and that Lightbringer resparked your love of a beloved series 😊
I've been hearing so many good things about By Blood, By Salt... I really must give it a try!
My November was mostly War-Time historical fiction. It seemed thematic and I had some really profound reads in the process (All Quiet on the Western Front for one). I'm excited now to dive back into fantasy!
Holy crap! I’m literally going to finish Black Company tonight. I agree that it’s vague in parts. I don’t know what is going on at times. There doesn’t seem to be any lead ups to some things. My 3 sons loved Hatchet.
Oooh I hope the ending lands for you! I just wasn't feeling it, maybe I'll pick it back up later. Hatchet is so good!
I bought Spy Family recently based off your praise. Very intrigued by Hatchet and By Blood By Salt, which I may need to pick up and read soon. Thanks and keep up your videos Tori.
I loved By Blood By Salt! I'm so glad to see it getting the praise it deserves.
It's phenomenal! I'm hoping to continue the hype!
Thanks for By Blood By Salt. Ive never ever heard of it but I'm 1000% gonna get it asap. It sounds fantastic.
Also I'm right there with you regarding the Black Company lmao. I reallllly want to like it. Im the biggest Malazan fan in the world, Ive read the series 10 times, and I know Erikson considers Black Company one of his biggest influences. So I want to get into it. But just like Book of the New Sun, despite how badly I want to finish each book, I just cant make it through them 😢
Also can I recommend you the Fire Sacraments series? I think the series is failed by book 1's cover, being titled Master Assassins, and obviously lack of marketing. It just... doesnt look that good.
But god damn, its sooo fantastic. Basically theres an army of religious zealots forcibly converting and conscripting or else killing everyone they run into. The story follows 2 brothers who kinda hate each other. The book starts when one brother kills a child rapist, and that rapist ends up being the son of The Prophet. So they must flee together.
As you learn more about this world, things just get more and more interesting and you find out there's something massive going on and that the outside world is different than the continent the story takes place on. Something I'm integrating into my own book.
The brothers are also pursued by this entity the Prophet controls called The Pale Child and shes terrifying. Book 2 gets even more interesting.
Its criminally underrated and so so good. The cover of BB,BS reminded me of the Sidewinders cover so I figured I'd recommend the series to you!
Great video. Completely agree re By Blood, By Salt. It was amazing!
Glad you enjoyed it!!! Thanks for watching.
I just bought By Blood, By Salt so I’m happy to hear you loved it! I just bought a Libra Color so maybe I will get some use out of the color highlights 😁
YES! I hope you love reading it, I'm obsessed. Let me know how you like your Libra Color!
I'm so glad someone also struggled with Dark age and Iron Gold the first 3 are the best in my opinion (Morning Star is my fav) but dark age and iron gold really fell into trying to be a bit more dark and gritty and some of the new characters I enjoyed that came from those books but the main characters lost there way abit in those 2 books I think. anyway great recap!
I’m glad u found some amazing books!! Happy reading!! 😊
Thank you so much! Happy reading to you too!
The Lord of the Flies is a book I was assigned to read in high school and never finished. Thinking about what it’s about, I’m not entirely sure why. I just remember not having a good time. Maybe I was going through depression at the time or something. But yeah. My grades on that one weren’t as good as my grades on The Outsiders lol.
I finished Pet Sematary in November and loved it!
By Blood, By Salt was already on my TBR but now it's been bumped to the top of the list. And I know you've mentioned Jacquelyn Hagen's The Riverfall Chronicles before, but my most recent read was The Blue Flames and I loved it. I'm looking forward to diving into The Sundering Hours, but as mentioned above, By Blood, By Salt will be my next read.
I'm SO happy to hear that you're loving Riverfall AND that you're going to try By Blood, By Salt. That's awesome. I can't wait to hear your thoughts!
Sounds like a great month of reading!
It really was!
@ I’ve been thinking about picking up one of your books. Which would you recommend first?
@@thegreatwaugh I would start with The Blood Stones, that's the first book in my in progress dark epic fantasy series. Ancient world with a lost magic system, succession wars and a twist on warrior school tropes. :) Thank you so much for checking out my work!
I’m looking forward to reading Tanna the Tendersword. Lord of the Flies was required reading in my public school curriculum- I can’t remember what grade, maybe 8th or 9th grade?
It was for a lot of people! It's nice to finally be catching up on some of the required reading lists that I didn't have XD And I hope you enjoy Tanna!
By Blood, By Salt sounds intense, will have to check it out. Too bad Black Company didn't work for you, Cook is absolutely miserly with words, ha.
Please do! It's so good. Cook definitely doesn't hand hold lol!
Here's what I read
The Graham effect by elle Kennedy
Scythe by neal shusterman
The extraordinary life of an ordinary man by paul Newman memoir
Love holly by Emily stone
Bring me your midnight by Rachel Griffin
Long after we are gone by terah shelton Harris
Twisted love by ana Huang
Icebreaker by hannah grace
I still remember the exact moment during elementary school when I was in the library stacks with a guy friend of mine and he recommended me Hatchet. I really ought to revisit it again.
It holds up as an adult reader! I hope you enjoy the reread when you get to it. :D
Hi Tori, Hatchet, By Blood, By Salt and Your Blood And Bones all sound like good reads. Lord Of The Flies is a great book, I enjoyed re-reading it in October.
I almost had a very rare DNF this month (Beartown by Fredrik Backman), but I gave it a break and then finished it.
In November I read:
Horns - Joe Hill, which was great, loved it a lot.
The Catcher In The Rye - J D Salinger really enjoyed this.
Beartown - Fredrik Backman - slow start. It took 200 pages before anything happened and those 200 pages dragged so badly. 2.5 stars I think.
Also re-read some comic books:
Hellboy Short Stories Omnibus Volume 1 - so good to read Hellboy again
Hellboy Short Stories Omnibus Volume 2
B.P.R.D. Omnibus Volume 1
Superboy and the Legion of Superheroes Volume 1 - Awesome nostalgia trip
Superboy and the Legion of Superheroes Volume 2 - Awesome nostalgia trip
Book of the month was Horns
Love your channel... The Black Company is in my TBR but still waiting, ha.
Thank you so much! ❤ I'm not sure when I'll continue Black Company. Maybe we'll end up reading it at the same time XD
i just re-read Lord of the Flies as well, read it once when i was younger but it is a must read IMHO
I agree!
I had a stomach virus all week 😅
Told you Light Bringer was fire though.
Oh yuck, I hope you're feeling better. Lightbringer is much better. Still not above the original 3 though. :D
@@ToriTalks2 You're entitled to your wrong opinion :P
@@praetorxyn As are you ;)
What a great month!
It really was!!!
Hatchet has a similar premise to Yellowjackets if you havent watched that show yet? It's very good. Girls soccer team crashes in the Canadian wilderness, survival ensues, cannibalism ensues, and there are scary supernatural(?) elements too. That storyline is in 1996, but theres also a current day timeline with the survivors where we see the residual impacts on their lives and we see as the supernatural(?) elements start back up.
Great show if you haven't seen it already.
I haven't seen it, but I think I'd heard of it, because that sounds familiar. Thanks for the recommendation!
It's a reallllly reallly good show. Super popular and for good reason! The actresses absolutely kill it in their roles.
I really enjoy how mysterious the story can be too, and it's cool seeing how these survivors descend into and start to ritualize their cannibalism once they finally give into it. Not a spoiler btw. Cannibalism is clear from the jump lol
Your blood and bones!!!!!!! Soooo good
I really enjoyed it! You and Kay pushed that one up my TBR
Smack Gobble!
🐓🐓🐓
In November I read:
«The Steel Tsar» (A Nomad of the Time Streams» Trilogy #3) by Michael Moorcock (Multiverse/Alternative History/Time Travel Steampunk(?)😅)
«The Stranger» by Albert Camus/illustrated by Jacques Ferrandez (Graphic Novel adaptation of the Absurdist Philosophical Novel)
«The Duel» by Joseph Conrad (Napoleonic Historical Military Fiction Novella)
«Lord of Light» by Roger Zelazny (Science Fantasy inspired by the Legend of Siddhartha Gautama/the Buddha)
«The Fury of the Gods» (Bloodsworn Saga #3) by John Gwynne (Epic Fantasy inspired by Norse Mythology)
Currently reading:
«The Power Broker» by Robert Caro (Political Biography/Investigative Journalism Classic, my Q4 long-read)
Great wrap up! How did you like Fury of the Gods?
lol my November was complete chaos
😂 I look forward to watching that
Ever read any Brian Lumley??
I haven't! Do you have a favorite read by him?
Le Guin's short story collection, A Fisherman of the Inland Sea, was terrible. I really liked 2001's Empire Falls. Nothing good happens, but it's funny with good small town character development.
Well at least it was balanced!
Still waiting for the Midnight Tides review ... 🥲
I need to finish 3 more Malazan rereads first XD