Hello it's Angela. Welcome back to my
channel Literature Science Alliance
Today let's go into my February wrap-up.
I have read 10 books this month, which is
really impressive. I don't think I have
ever done that and I guess there's this
caveat that two of them were novellas
and one of the novellas was an audiobook
and then one of the books was an
audiobook. So I've never tried audiobooks
so that probably helped. But I figured
last time I did it in ratings order and
this time I'll try chronological and if
anyone ever has an opinion comment down
below, because I have a very small
channel so you have a lot of power
over what I do at least to some extent.
 I'm still gonna do what I want to
do, but let's get into all the books I've
read because it's quite a few. Like last
time I will have timestamps down below.
So if there are certain books you're
more interested in, I value your time you can
skip ahead to those parts I understand
sometimes these videos especially for me
get a little long. So let's start the
first book I have read this month was
brave new world also my lowest rated
book two out of five stars. I have a rant
review about this I will put it up in
the cards. I didn't I like this book. This
book is a classic dystopian sci-fi, it's
about a world where no one's born
anymore they are made and given specific
roles in society and the idea is
everyone's always happy because they're
never not happy, but you really aren't
happy if you've never had tragedy and
it's kind of part of that part of how
science can kind of kind of really mess
up society I don't know, that's its goal. I did
not like it, I did not like the
characters I thought the plot was
absurdly boring it took me way too long
to read these 230 pages, don't like this
book and looking into this author he had
some kind of messed up ideas. If you
want to really hear more go to the
review, I really lay it all out there.
Next up though I read Little Women and I
read this because my book club was
reading it and because I had just seen
the movie over Christmas break with my
mother. I was I was worried, if you
watched my TBR I was concerned
because it's a classic and classics can
be hard but it was, it was pretty good. If
somehow you don't know the premise it's
a story about four sisters growing up
and becoming young women in the late
19th century, so it's not nearly
comparable to what it would be like
today and the first part is them as
children and the second part is them as
young women and there were definitely
points where it was slower paced and I
feel like today it would be edited in
a more condensed matter. I didn't think
that detracted from my liking of the
book but I think that's when I did start
picking up the audio book to help
supplement it on my walks to get through
the more tedious portions and it made me
really appreciate what the movie did. So
the new movie adaptation is still really
close to the book but the director
decided to have the second part be the
main timeline with flashbacks to the
first part and I really appreciated that
because I found that both parts as I
stayed in them for too long kind of wore
on me but by hopping between the two
although yes that can be jarring in a
narrative structure really worked by
keeping me engaged in the story. And it's
a great story, it made me feel very
nostalgic for the days my mom would read
me Little House on the Prairie for some
reason I enjoyed it I think it's a
really fun classic and I would, I would
pick it up with the caveat being if
you'd seen the movie recently I would
maybe give yourself more space I wish I
had because I felt like the movie is
such a good adaption that I wasn't
getting much new from reading the book
other than you know it was a little
longer. So that was Little Women.
Now the third book I read was Kingdom of
God, the third and final novel in the
Inheritance Trilogy. Oh I loved this book
I love that trilogy I love NK jemisin
these are not surprises. I have a
recommendation video for the inheritance
trilogy that I'll link in the cards in
case you want to know if it would be a
good trilogy for you, because I do think
it's not a trilogy for everyone, it's
pretty much made for me. This one, it
takes place 100
years after the first book and you are
following a godling where unexpected
changes are happening to him and he
can't quite figure out why and at the
same time major changes are happening on
the continent so the combination of
these two things are the plot of the
book. But really I loved following the
godling character and by the end I was
so emotionally invested in ways that I
normally am not, like my heart was just
so torn by what was happening to these
characters and there is, it's not in the
Omnibus so there's many ways this book
has been printed but I looked at the
book story and my favorite part of this
book is not in the omnibus and and I
don't know if it'll be in the new books
I hope it is but there's an extra scene
called, it's a short story called "not the end"
it's 11 pages and I almost cried. You
pick up with characters that we hadn't
seen since the previous book and it's a
perfect conclusion this is all so
cathartic and the ambition of this
trilogy, I love how it's just like here
are mythology books for this made-up
world and its origins but you also get
the gods perspectives like imagine if
you could write really well-written
fantasy books but you were creating
Greek mythology. I feel like it's similar
to that uh I love this trilogy, really I
think you should pick it up. Alright that
that's it again recommendation video if
you're really interested I love it. And
then through the recommendation of
Sophia I picked up the audiobook for The
Test because it was only two hours and
then later I learned it's on the
booktube SFF Award nominations so I'm 
ahead of the curve there. This short story
is very black mirror, so I don't want to
say too much because like most things in
sci-fi it's very short and it's
intriguing because you don't know what
you're getting into. But it's about a man
taking a British citizenship test and if
you can't tell by my Venezuelan flag
back there I'm a daughter of an
immigrant, my mom's family's been here
since the 1600s but my dad moved here in
the 80s to go to school, so immigration
is like
it's one of those issues where I can't
debate with people because it is so,
I am so passionate about it because it's
so close to home for me and this book
did a really great job at looking at the
hypocrisy in the standards we have for
people trying to become citizens versus
people who are just naturally born here
who did nothing to quote-unquote earn
citizenship. So I think it really does a
great job at exploring that topic and
it's tense and it's great so if you have
two hours to kill it's it's a good audio
book to pick up. Now number five was a
book that was recommended to me and I'm
so glad it was and that is Renegades
This is a world that has just recovered
from what was called the age of anarchy
Now this world has always had people
with superpowers they call that
prodigies and now these prodigies were
always killed and feared and then one
day ace anarchy rised up and with a
bunch of other prodigies basically
destroyed governments and the world was
in an age of Anarchy and then the
renegades show up and these were a
handful of superheroes, what we would
call superheroes, they're called
renegades here and they basically are
trying to put order back in the world
trying to recruit more prodigies to
become renegades to help with crime and
basically try and get more order back
into it. And we're gonna follow two
teenagers Adrian who is the son of a
renegade and Nova who is the daughter of
a family who was killed in the age of
anarchy
Nova's always been resentful of the
renegades because they did not save her
family and so that's a big thing behind
her motivation. Her uncle is also Ace Anarchy, so she also has a huge
influence by him and his ideals and
Adrian he he doesn't not believe in the
mission of the renegades but I think he
misses the time of superheroes and so
both of these characters are conflicted.
They have secrets that I won't talk
about for spoilers and they end up
running into each other a fair bit and
it's just about this world and you kind
of following more Nova's goal of trying
to bring down the Renegades and it's
really fun and I enjoyed it enough that
the minute I finished it I downloaded
the second book. So it's a it's a really
fun one. And then I don't have a copy of
to show you but I am probably going to
buy one soon and that is The Great Alone.
This is my five star of the month, this
is my favorite book I've read so far
this year, my biggest surprise of the
year I loved this book and it's not even
a fantasy book it's historical fiction
It was so good.
This is the story of a family that moves
to Alaska because the father has PTSD
due to Vietnam. Now I will say this book
and I don't know if it's a trigger or content
warning but there is domestic abuse and
there's PTSD so these are things that
will exist in this book if that's a
problem. But then it's told through the
eyes of Leni who is an amazing main
character. She is a really intelligent
and self-aware teenager who has been
dealing with moving her whole life and
when they come to Alaska
they are woefully unprepared and she
just gets into it and becomes an Alaskan
Like there's no other way to say it
Alaska becomes her home and I'm so
invested with her from like the first
couple chapters as she's just trying to
make friends and then the book just
becomes really tense and really
stressful and I couldn't put it down. It
was the perfect emotional roller-coaster
for me and when I was done how dare this
car come in the middle of my gushing
review of this book but I I almost got
into a book hangover
It was so good. I read the end and
I was just so emotionally overwhelmed
People tell me the nightingale by this
author is also really good so I might
have to check that out but I was not
prepared to love this book so much
There was nothing better than having a
week where all I wanted to do was get
back to my book, it was exactly what I
always want to have
Such an amazing book, go check it out
it's great. Now number seven is an
average book, it's the Summer Knight. It's
the fourth book in The Dresden Files. Oh
for those of you who have not read The
Dresden Files this is about a wizard
detective in Chicago and he helps with
supernatural problems in Chicago with
the police, although it kind of morphs
away from that but that's the initial
premise and traditionally or at least in
the past I've liked the first three
books, they were good I think I gave most
of them four stars I had a great time
This one I gave three stars. Cause 
it was average, I really wasn't ever
compelled to pick it up, even when I was
in the heat of the action, even when the
mystery was being solved I don't know
why and part of it might be it was an
audiobook and I'm still not used to
doing that because I did find that it
was quicker once when I finished it by
reading it at the bookstore, cuz I I was
so close to finishing it and I had a
thing to go to so I just wanted to get
it done. But I'm definitely not
giving this up, there's gonna be a read
along for The Dresden Files so I'm gonna
pick up when they get to book five I'm
gonna hop in and probably read it
physically. I don't know it's just, it was
just average for me it doesn't mean I'm
giving up on it but I really wanted to
like it more because I remember really
having fun with the first three books so
yeah so that was the Summer Knight. And
then, have to flip the page ah the Ten
Thousand Doors of January, what to say
about this book? I have such mixed
feelings about this book. This book is
about a girl named January, she is a
mixed girl in the early 1900s which you
know isn't helpful for her and she is
kind of taken under the wing of this
rich Vermont I don't know probably a
millionaire in the time, he's a very rich
white man while her father gallivants
across the country to provide him rich
things and she's telling us her story
and it involves lots of mystical doors
that will transport you to different
worlds. It is a really great story and if
you like
lyrical writing I think you should pick
it up, like if you're one of my readers
who really likes lyrical prose and kind
of getting lost in worlds and being
immersed I think this is good for you,
for me it was really slow paced and took
a lot of focus or like it's been 
a while since I've read a book where I'd
get to the bottom of the page and my
mind had wandered and I needed to reread
the page, that was a constant struggle I
had with this book it wasn't because the
content wasn't interesting it wasn't
because the characters weren't
compelling. I loved January, I think it's
amazing that we have this character who
is mixed in this world and she's just
trying to be herself, that's a big thing
with me if a character is true to
themselves I'm really going to like them
she has a great dog and so I read this
because it's nominated for the debut
category for booktube SFF this
author has traditionally written novellas
so I was kind of shocked that even
though this book was only 360 pages it
felt so long. I don't know it's, I'm torn
with this book I don't regret reading it
but I wish I had read it faster. It took
me a pretty long time so that's, those
are my kind of thoughts. And then next up
I finished the sequel in renegades
called Archenemies. Oh what to say about
this one, so in this one Adrian and Nova still
have secrets and it kind of bothered me
if you watch my blogs it's teenagers
having secrets for too long can overstay
its welcome with me, and also Nova's
annoying me because she is very smart
and so she should be capable of growth
and changing how she thinks and she's
just so rational and until she's
irrational in the most important way and
it bothers me, but I really like Adrian
I really like their relationship and
whoa how this one ended I couldn't put
it down and I'm sad that I can't get the
Kindle right now, which is probably for
the best
because my March TBR is insane but I
really want to finish this soon because
I've been really invested in this world
and I don't want too much time to pass
but yet still really fun it's basically
everything I
wanted the Reckoners Trilogy to be by
Brandon Sanderson so I am having a great
time. And then the last book I read that
I just finished this morning The Awakened
Kingdoms. This is a novella kind of a
companion novella sequel to the
Inheritance Trilogy, oh I loved it, it was
probably my favorite one, like oh my god
so good. You have this little Godling
who was just born, she's like 30 days old
she doesn't know who she is and so she
you get to just see her in the universe
in the mortal realm just trying to
figure out who she is and in the process
we learned more about the Darre culture
and where the world is now after the
events of the last book and I was so
immersed. I have been having problems
working out lately and like finding
books that will keep me distracted while
I work out. I worked out for a very long
time reading this the other day.  I
love the voice of the character and I
was so impressed because this is the
character voice of a child essentially
and it can be very hard not to write
irritating children and I didn't find
her irritating, I loved her curiosity, I
loved her naivety is that how you say
that word? If you ever read the
inheritance trilogy you need to pick up
this novella. I'm also gonna pick up the
other novellas it was so good and I had
a really bad day at work yesterday and
this book was perfect for me because I
just got lost in it. I loved the world
the character and N.K. Jemisin is a
goddess it's really all I have to say
about that. But with that that is my
pretty long but hopefully not too long
February wrap-up. It was a great month, I
mean definitely had some lows but I'm
only remembering the highs so it's been
pretty great. Let me know what your
favorite and least favorite books were
of February. If you have a wrap-up you
can link that below so I can go find it
in case I haven't already and yeah just
you know I'm ready for March now
February is usually my at least favorite
month so to have so many quality books
has been really great. So have a great
day bye!
