Hello and welcome my name is Starlah and  today's video is 
going to be my December wrap-up. I
had two coffees before filming this. And
I never drink coffee like it's not
for me. And I really only have like
caffeinated teas on days that like I
feel like I need it. Today, I was feeling
perfectly fine but for some reason I had
two cups of coffee and now I'm feeling ... a
lot of things.
December was the last month of 2019 - and
every year duh!
In December I read five books which is
forsure my "least quantity of books read
month" [??] But I would call it far from my
worst reading month because in December
I read three books that were over 600
pages. One of them was nearly a thousand
pages so like I still read a lot which is
super surprising because in December not
only was like school finishing and I was
working but I had to move and then the
holidays. And like everything else that
was going on in life was incredibly
stressful so the fact that I was still
able to get a lot of things read, truly ...
What am I saying?
I'm very proud that I still got a lot of
things read. Okay let's jump right into
it. The very first book that I read in
December was This is How You Lose
the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max
Gladstone. This is a story told in
letters between two time-traveling
operatives from rivalrying [stutters] yes! Rivaling agencies. I don't
think the story's marketed this way but
I would a hundred perc-
Oh my god I can't talk! I would a hundred
percent say that this book is heavily
written like poetry. But it isn't
constructed like poetry like reading it
still looks like a prose novel but like
each and every line is so beautifully
crafted and like so thoughtfully put
together, like it reads beautifully! The
writing is gorgeous. This is a love story,
specifically, a Romeo and Juliet inspired
love story which is far from like what I
would be interested in but I really like
this/ Like I said there are these two
agencies, they're rivals, and we follow
one individual from each of these
agencies who end up like corresponding
through letters through time and space
and like throughout their letters,
throughout writing these letters to each
other, they really begin to kind of truly
discover themselves as individuals as
well as each other. I believe that this
is a story that is about bravery, it is a
story that is about how our- how we can
affect others and be affected in turn,
and it's also a story about love and
like
how love will always beat out hate. I
don't really want to say more than this
because it is super sho- oh no! it's queer!
It's queer. I don't think I said that,
that is something more I want to say
about it. I did find the first a little
bit of this, maybe the first like 50-ish
pages, a little difficult to get into
the story with. Mostly because we were
just kind of like thrown into this world
without any like preparation or
explanation. Also, the romance in this
is a little fast for me but once I like
got over that, I was like totally down
for it, I ship 'em. I ended up giving
this four stars. Definitely enjoyed
it, highly recommended, it was good. Am I
even making any sense?
I don't know! Next, oh man, next I finally
finished ... [deep sigh] The Burning White by Brent
Weeks. This is the fifth and final book
in the Lightbringer series. You can see
it here. This is the book that was nearly
a thousand pages but its length is
honestly not why it took me a little
while to read, it was like a little over
month to read this. It is the fifth and
final book in a series that is just so
near and dear to my heart and I like
didn't want it to end but at the same
time I needed all the answers and like
questions that were like presented in
the very first book of the series we're
finally answered in this one and it's
just like [another deep breath] the Lightbringer series is my
favorite fantasy series of all time. yeah,
yes, yes! I did, I said it. The Lightbringer
series by Brent Weeks. I like,
I don't, I don't know what to say! I cried.
I cried during like the last hundred
pages of this it was just - oh my gosh - it
was absolutely incredible. It's like over
now - I mean it's not 'like' over, it IS over.
A very small part of me is hoping that
like Brett Weeks will write more in the
series with these characters, but I doubt
it.
Oh my gosh, it honestly hasn't even been
a full week since I finished this and
like my thoughts are everywhere. I'm
gonna link a video where I talk, all of
the video I talk about Brent weeks. I
talk about this series a lot, and like
everything about Brett Weeks and his
books and all the books that I have read.
I'm gonna link it, please watch it and I
think that once this has finally kind of
like sunk in and like I fully processed
it, I think I'll sit down and
make a video talking about the
Lightbringer series because it's my new
favorite fantasy series! After having my
heart and soul ripped from my body I
really needed something light. Light and
fun, so I found W.i.t.c.h. part one The 12
Portals volume one. Did anybody else
watch the show or like read the original
comics way back when like early 2000s - oh
my god it was really almost 20 years ago.
I'm pretty sure like the original comics
came out in like 2001, 2002 and I'm
pretty sure the show came out like a
couple years after that 2003, 2004. The
original comics are an Italian comics.
I was absolutely obsessed with these way
back when - nearly 20 years ago. I read a
lot of the comics when they were first
released. I didn't finish the story so
like I'm really excited that I have
found these again as an adult. But I was
also totally obsessed with the show. This
story, if you don't know, is about five
human preteen-ish girls, they're like 12,
13, who're chosen to be the guardians of
the Vale which is this thing that
separates the human world from this dark
fantasy world called Metamoor. The young
girls are quickly having to learn how to
protect humanity as these portals are
opening everywhere and evil and darkness
is seeping into the human world from
them. These girls, along with going with
like a lot of normal teenage stuff, are
gifted these elemental powers and
like basically forced to step into these
roles as Guardians. Going into this, I
really didn't remember much of the story
but like as I started reading it - oh my
gosh - everything came rushing back! I am
so excited to continue to reread this.
The artwork in this is absolutely
adorable, so cute, so beautiful. The 90s
vibes in this is there! The friend group,
there! The found family aspect, there!
I just, I adored this I will say
that like the only thing that I really
didn't love about this is during some of
the parts where they're like
transforming into their Guardian form,
they are explicitly sexier. Which is
like not something I wanna see of a 12
year old. And like I totally missed that
as a kid, which I'm not surprised. Their
guardian forms are definitely a bit
sexier, you can even kind of see it like
with them on the cover here/ There was
even like a scene where Will, who's the
main character here in the center, was
looking at herself in the mirror and her
regular self was here but her reflection
was her guardian self and like it's-it's
very clear/ Here's another example,
multiple of them are changing into their
guardian form - I think it's fine to show
they're not like naked naked but, it like
shows these 12 year old girls 12, 13 year
old girls naked, as they're transforming.
I just thought it was like a little
unnecessary . I don't think-I don't think
that was-I just don't think it was
necessary. Yes, it's important for like
even preteens to be comfortable with
their bodies and everything but they
don't need to be sexualized in the story.
Wait, no, I remembered one more other
thing. One other thing that I didn't love
in this story, it was super short and
like a very throwaway kind of scene but
like I noticed it, and was like "umm". One of
their other friends in their group. Towards
the very beginning of the story, she was
leaving to go meet up with somebody.
He's another character in the story and
he is a grown-ass man. And like even though I
know that it was just like, the scene was
just here as a plot device, to like
get her to go there or whatever, but like
I'm like, it wasn't necessary to say this
specifically. So, here's the scene. They're
hanging out in like the courtyard
outside of school and the other friend,
she specifically says, she's like, "I can't
hang out with you guy"  And they're like "why" and
she's like "I've got a DATE with Cedric,
that guy from last night, remember?" like
this is Cedric! Grown-ass man, owns a
bookstore. And like, she's 12, like you're
not going on a date with a grown-ass man,
and like she doesn't! Nowhere in the
book is there ever like any romantic or
sexual anything between them. But like
that word just didn't need to be used. It
didn't need to be "I'm going on a DATE
with Cedric". She could have just been
like 'I'm just, I'm gonna go to the book
store.". I don't know if it's just like the
translation, because like I said this was
originally an Italian comic or if it's
just a little dated 'cause it did come out
in 2000-200. But besides those things,
I thought this story was absolutely
great. I thought the rest of it
definitely aged fairly well. I remember
being pretty young and absolutely loving
the diversity that was among this group
which wasn't often found in the early
2000s. Like within this group of five
girls, there's an Asian girl, there's a
black girl, I-I can't remember if it's
like canon said, but I'm pretty sure
Irma's like of some Hispanic descent. So
like during that time it was totally
crazy to me to see like a group of girls
that was that mixed. I still love seeing
it now as an adult. I thought it was
really good, I really enjoyed it, I
definitely plan on continuing with the
series. I'm excited. If you have read this
book or you watch the show back when
like please comment down below let me
know. Oh, I give that four stars. Next, I
read The Toll by Neal Shusterman, the
third and final book in the Arc of the
Scythe trilogy. This entire series was
great, I'll say that right now. I
thoroughly enjoyed the entire trilogy. If
you don't know what this is about and
you want to know more, like a lot more,
then I would definitely highly recommend
checking out my Tome Topple vlog. In that
I read the other one of this and I
explained the entire series quite
in-depth. It's a little difficult to explain
it now my wrap-up because I'm not
talking about the whole series, I'm only
talking about The Toll, but The Toll is
the third book, so it's like how do I
explain it without giving spoilers? I
honestly think that deciding to do my
wrap-up without any notes and hyped-up
on caffeine, may not have been the best idea.
Check out the vlog if you're interested
in hearing more of my thoughts on the
series as a whole. But talking about The
Toll on its own, this book, it's series
it's very very deep. It's a story that
really gives you a lot to think about
when it comes to humanity, and our society,
and the development of technology and
medicine.
The series has like one of my favorite
antagonists, across all three books, like
he is just a horror. In The Toll,
in the final battle, the final book, he
isn't as morally grey as he was when he
was first introduced. But like it kind of
works, like you know, you kind of get this
you know, falling into insanity kind of
feel. Neal Shusterman writing is
absolutely amazing, I absolutely adore
the characters. Love how so many of them
were morally grey-ish, not really maybe
like as much as it could have been or
like as much as it wasn't a previous
book, but again like it kind of makes
sense 'cause it's the last book in the
series. We're wrapping it up. I will say my
biggest critique I think about this
series over all three books is that I
really, really, really couldn't care less
about the romance. I don't give a shit.
And like I know I'm not a romance person,
I'm not usually like onboard with all
of the romances, but I truly, truly think
that the romance in the series is wholly
unnecessary. Like you can completely
ignore all of the romantic aspects of
this entire series and the story would
be exactly the same. I think if you're
really into romance if you enjoy a love
story along with your normal stories
then you'll really enjoy it, but it
honestly didn't really do anything for
me, I didn't really feel like it was
necessary for the overall plot. I ended
up giving this book four stars which is
what I ended up giving every book in the
series. It's like a solid four stars
though, like the entire series is really,
really good - not perfect - but really,
really good. The last book that I read in
December, in 2019, in the decade, was
Death's End by Cixin Liu, the third and
final book in the Remembrance of Earth's
Past trilogy. Again, check out that Tome
Topple vlog, because I talked about this
series in depth as well. This is an adult
science fiction series, its main plot
it's kind of the classic sci-fi dilemma,
making contact with alien life-forms. And
just kind of like everything that
happens after that. This story, and this
series, though takes it so much farther
than I have ever seen or could have even
imagined it to go though, with that
classic dilemma. There is so much culture
and history and hard science weaved into
this story, it makes it so realistic, like
it doesn't feel like science fiction. I
absolutely love that the story even in
this third and final book, it asks so
many big questions. Big questions on
morality, humanity, on society, on
civilization. Questions that like really
make you think about the way that you
think about things and like that's
fucking amazing!
I absolutely love how the story isn't
just a story about making contact with
alien life-forms, it's a story about
everything, every single thing that is
affected and changed and altered and
questioned and just everything that
follows that contact. Everything that you
can think of from like daily life to how
the world is ran is completely altered
because of this. And in this third book,
we go even beyond that not even just how
our world is ran but how the entire
universe is altered. How the entire
universe is brought into question.
Literally, like spending 600
pages questioning the universe is ...
It's the recipe for an existential crisis, like -
oh my gosh . This story and the series is
incredibly, insanely creative and
imaginative. One of my favorites - hands
down - one of the smartest books that I've
ever read. Absolutely five stars it's
absolutely incredible.
Like, if you're ready for like a mind
trip, read this series, it's-it's fucking
fantastic. And that's it! Those are the
five books that I read in December I am
so happy with my reading. Everything that
I read was either four or five stars so
like it was a great reading month. Please
comment down below let me know your
thoughts on any of the books that I've
read if you've ever read them. Please let
me know what you read in December. What
was the last book that you read of the
decade?? If you like this video, please
give it a thumbs up, subscribe if you are
not and I will see you soon in the next
one. Goodbye!
