40+ BOOKS | Ranking All The Popular YA/NA Fantasy Series I Read in 2021

Do I have one that beats Six of Crows? You will have to wait to find out. Why am I so nervous to film this video? Hi, welcome to my channel, I'm Cari. Thank you for being here. I made a video last year where I went over all of the young adult and new adult  fantasy series that I read. It was a hit! You guys liked it and I had so many requests  to do it again. This year, I definitely read - I don't know if I read less but 2020 was  just the year that I kind of jumped really hard back into reading

fantasy so I felt  like I read kind of all the bigger ones. And so this year is kind of like ones that  are still coming out and and new ones and or maybe like really old ones that people don't  talk about anymore kind of thing. So this one I hope still hits for you - scratches whatever itch  you were hoping it itches. Some of these are not finished. I'm still gonna, I'm gonna talk about them  because some of my favorite ones are the ones that only have one book in the series out yet and I'm  d

ying!!! And then the rest of them, I attempted to rank. I am only sure about my top three. I hope  that this video doesn't come off as complainy but I felt like the books that I read this year  were a little bit more meh than last year. Enough disclaimers, I'm trying this year, I'm trying to  have less disclaimers on my video. This will be no spoilers! I will edit them out. Editing Cari -  edit them out, okay? Because I know I'll say them. I do, however, before we get started, want to  give a s

hout out to the sponsor of this video because we have a sponsor! It is Likewise who  I'm sure you've heard about. Likewise is an app that helps give you recommendations for  books, tv shows, movies, etc - podcasts, came in clutch with the podcasts this year. Likewise  uses kind of an algorithm/computer-generated thingy but also reviews from people like  you, people like me, to help give you great recommendations. And that was  so helpful for me especially because, as you know, 2021 is the year t

hat I  dipped my toe into the ocean of romance books and I really had no idea where to go,  what to do, so they really came in clutch there and sent me towards quite a few interesting  reads. You can also create lists, you can follow people. If you want to sign up, it is free, but  just so they know that I sent you - you can go to on.likewise.com/cari3. Check them out, I  will link my username down below as well. You can check out their lists - they have really great ones.  I think most of the p

eople in the book side of this app seem to have the same taste as me so all  of the lists that you can read are really helpful. I love it, so thank you Likewise for sponsoring  this and if you don't get any recommendations from this video, head over to Likewise and  they'll help you out. So let me get my notes out. Let's just jump in! So I am not going to  rank the books that are not finished yet but I'm going to tell you about a couple of  series that have started and I cannot wait for the sequ

els - of some of these. First one  being... say it with me... Legendborn! Oh my god, so this was on - if you haven't watched my best books of  2021 yet - this was one of my top books of the year. It is a fantasy that takes place in North Carolina  and it ties in really strongly with actually King Arthur and the knights of the round table,  but also hunting demons? So it follows our main girl who is brilliant so even though she's only 16,  she is part of this university program where she basicall

y goes to college and gets college credit  even though she's still a high school student. She goes to kind of this orientation party  sort of thing and she witnesses a demon thing going on and she ends up getting  wrapped up in this kind of secret society that is linked to King Arthur. It also deals  a lot with grief, she had just lost her mother. It also deals with her being a young Black  woman in, especially with the secret society, especially with the university that she's in, in a  historic

ally racist system. And I thought that all of these different elements were tied together  so well and she felt like such a real character. And there was a little bit of insta love, there's a  little bit of enemies too - as I said in my best books video - enemies too we don't know because  we don't have the sequel yet!!! It was just so - I thought it was so good. I cannot wait for the  sequel. I believe it comes out - it better come out in 2022 or I will lose my mind. It's called  Bloodmarked an

d yeah I just can't speak highly enough about Legendborn. If you haven't read it  yet, check it out. It's got a little demon hunting, it's got a little King Arthur/Camelot type stuff  going on. Everybody has a Welsh last name. So that is Legendborn. Next up, keeping it real quick, is  These Hollow Vows. I have a whole video about it. If you don't want to read it, you can just watch  the video that I made. That's all I'm gonna say about that. Next up is The Atlas Six. This book  was so hyped and

if someone can explain to me in the comments like what is the deal - basically  I said that I didn't really like it, long story short, and a lot of people were saying that you  hope that when the official version comes out it's better edited or something? I bought the book,  like why is it not published? I don't understand. Tell me the story of The Atlas Six. Basically the  Atlas Six is about a world where magic exists and, well like people have these very specific  powers, and it's also a world

where the Library of Alexandria didn't burn down - it kind of faked  its own death. Every certain amount of time there are like new recruits to be kind of the guardians  and the caretakers of this library because basically people thought that having access to all  this knowledge is really dangerous and so we need to control who gets to see it. There are six people  who get taken in as kind of interns and only five of them will be picked to become the official kind  of caretakers. And so we foll

ow these six people and there is stuff - stuff happens. Did I like it? No. I read it in October so you can check my October reading wrap up where I go more in depth into  why I didn't love it. But for the amount of hype that it got, I was quite surprised. Will I read the  second one? Yes because I feel like the twist at the end actually gave me something to look forward  to but without that ending I don't think I would have continued it. So that's the Atlas Six, for  more information you can che

ck my October reads. Lakesedge! I had such high hopes for this book.  It was vibes for the first couple of chapters and then it just dissolved. Lakesedge is about  this world where there is kind of the goddess of life and light and then there is the king of the  darkness, lord of the darkness, you know, underworld stuff. Our main girl and her little brother were  found kind of abandoned wandering in the woods. This woman took them in. Seems like their life  was pretty okay until the little broth

er starts to show signs that he might have been infected by  the darkness - he starts to have these really vivid nightmares. Their kind of adoptive mother is like  "I love you, but I don't love you that much. You need to get out of my house." And so they end up  in some strange way having to go to their local lord's house. They learn about a curse  that is affecting their town and they are a key to solving it. And I loved the vibes, oh my god, it was  so good. And then the magic got a little fun

ky and the story got a little funky. Will I read the  second one? Yes but I would wait for this at your library if you're, if you're short on cash. Like I  wouldn't put this at the top of my buying list. but it was fun for a little bit until I got confused.  So that is Lakesedge. Great cover, great cover. Andn last but not least is These Violent Delights. Oh - So this is a duology. It is a retelling of Romeo and Juliet. But it takes place in Shanghai in the  1920s. It is filled with so much info

rmation, so much research, so many different cultures. I loved  it. I really did. I thought that the fantasy element was very strange but I still loved it. And I  am still on hold - I'm on the waiting list for the second one that did come out. So this is a finished  series. It's a duology. Have I finished it? No. And I'm upset about that. It's a  Romeo and Juliet retelling - Roma, our Romeo, is the son of the head of the Russian  gang in Shanghai and then we have Juliette, Juliet, who is the dau

ghter of the head of the  Chinese gang. Something is lurking in the rivers or the bay of Shanghai but there's also just like  gang warfare. It's just - I really enjoyed it. Two of my favorite characters were not the  main characters and they had better have a huge chunk of the story of the second one! I can't wait.  There you are, that's what I read in 2021. Let's go into the series that I read - I either finished  it or I read a significant amount of the series. Here we go! So as I mentioned, t

hese are somewhat  ranked. The bottom ones are for sure the bottom, the top ones are for sure the top. The middle's a  mess, as it was last year. So let's just jump in. Also remembering that my opinions are just my  opinions - if you love a book that I didn't love, great. Great that you have your own reading  taste, that's a great sign that you're thinking for yourself. And we love that. So that being said  my first one is going to be polarizing. My least favorite series is - From Blood and Ash.

I'm so sorry.  Okay so I have a reading vlog in which I read two of these books. I did read the third one, secretly. I  didn't talk about it but I did read the third one. It took me about 10 minutes to read it because I was just like skipping all the sex scenes because I was like "I've read this before" and so as far  as like plot and stuff that actually happened, it took me about 10 minutes to read it. Anyway, From  Blood and Ash is absolutely either new adult or adult fantasy. It is written b

y an author that  writes mostly romance so this book was really like romance first, fantasy second. It follows a  girl - she is kind of kept by the royal family, she has like this kind of religious connotation.  And so she has to like wear a veil, she's not allowed to be touched or really seen by anybody.  The world is kind of confusing. I can't - you know I'm not even gonna really explain the plot  that much. She gets a guard to guard her and he ends up being from like the enemy camp. How do I

even explain this book? It's an enemies to lovers. Attempting to tie in like mythology. They  don't say it, but are there vampires? Yes. Are there werewolves? Yes. Didn't love this, mainly because  I wanted it to be a fantasy story with a plot and it was like a romance that had attempts of a  plot. I was very uncomfortable with a lot of the sexual stuff that happened which like I'm not  gonna get into and at this time. I talk about it a little bit in my reading vlog. I thought it was  like borde

rline abusive. I will not be continuing this series - it's going to have six books,  I read three. That is enough for me. That is From Blood and Ash, I'm so sorry. Next up is one  that I've actually had a lot of people recently asked me to review and I actually read this, I  never really talked about it but I did read this earlier in 2021 and it is the Shatter Me series.  There are so many books in this series, it's like for every book that she writes, she also writes  a novella. She basically w

rites the book over but just in another character's point of view. So I  think in total there's like 11 technically, like 11 books. But there's six main books and I read  three, possibly four. I don't remember, they kind of all mush together. This is a series that I would  have absolutely loved if I had read this when I was in middle school during like the Hunger Games  era. It is a future dystopian fantasy. Society has collapsed and there are these kids - there there are  people who have these

powers, kind of like x-men. They're all varied - sometimes they're  good powers, sometimes they're bad powers. Our main girl, her power is deadly.  I'm not gonna tell you what it is, but it is not a power I would want and so her parents  basically freak out and send her to an asylum. And she's kept in like solitary confinement, in  horrible conditions, for I think it's like years? It's not cute, it's not a cute beginning to the  story. And eventually she gets either kidnapped or like broken out

of this asylum and she is taken  by one of the ruling people in this new society and she's going to be kind of used as a  weapon, as what they hope she will agree to be - but she is obviously not happy with that role  and so she fights tooth and nail the whole time. I again, think I would have loved it during the  time that I really was into - when the whole world was really into - dystopian stuff. The thing  I appreciated and I think is kind of like a love hate thing for most people who read th

is book  is that it's in the point of view of our main girl and in the beginning she has been  in solitary confinement, like literally losing her mind - the writing mimics that. So in the  beginning it's like, her inner monologue is like, she's constantly counting things. That was kind of  the era of like this kind of edgy sort of writing and so the me that had read a lot of those  books, appreciated that. And so to be able to see her point of view, very visibly, go from broken to  becoming like

a full person again was cool to see! Did i love it? No, but do I think that it was  a fine series for the amount of it that I read? Certainly. So if you did like the Hunger Games - I don't think it had quite as much commentary on society but if you're just there  for a general dystopian plot, there you have it - Shatter Me. Not bad.  Am I going to read 11 books of it? No. Next up, Daughter of the Pirate King. This is  a duology that I read pretty quickly. It delivers exactly what it promises. T

his is a story  about a girl who is the daughter of a pirate king.. could you have guessed? We meet her as she is  being kidnapped by another group of pirates. What the other pirates don't know is that she is being  kidnapped on purpose. She needs to be on the ship in order to find the thing that her pirate  king father wants and so she allows herself to be kidnapped so that she can kind of do espionage  and then she can break out and be rescued because she's the daughter of the pirate king, she

's like  the best pirate in the world! Obviously the plan goes a bit awry. There is an enemies to lovers vein  of this story. Thinking back on it, I like it more thinking back. At first I was kind of  underwhelmed but now I'm kind of like, you know, I could do a reread of that. We all know that  Tricia and I have a little issue with her book the Shadows Between Us which I thought was like a joke  of a book - but fun, a fun joke. This actually has like a plot that makes sense and characters that

I  don't hate. One thing I actually really like about the romantic male character is that he actually  felt like a real dude and I think that in fantasy oftentimes the kind of romantic interest  has like one fatal flaw - like they either have like a horrible temper but it's okay because they're  also like really passionately in love with you, or like they, you know, every character just  has like a thing that I'm like if you were a real life man, no like that would not fly. But for this  guy, I

felt like he was a real human dude. If I met him in real life, he was fine, he was fine! So I  appreciated that. So yeah if you are interested in pirates and sirens and stuff like that - boat stuff.  iI gives you what you want. So that is Daughter of the Pirate King. Next up is This Savage Song. We're  back with our dystopian fantasy. This takes place in I think it's supposed to be Chicago. And I think  that the concept is so cool. We are in a future where, if a crime is committed, certain kinds

  of monsters will come out. So like if there is a murder, this specific kind of monster will  appear. Like there are physical consequences for our crimes. And I thought that that concept  was really cool. So again we're in Chicago and Chicago is kind of divided into this like  safe zone - which is the part of the city that is run by essentially a mob boss where you pay  for protection and you get a certain amount of security based on how much you can pay. On  the other side of that, we have kin

d of this not like the rebel group but like the more free  group. They have problems on both sides. It's told in two points of view - our main boy is actually  a monster. He is sent over into the safe zone to do a little bit of espionage work. He's sent  over there to get information that can hopefully quell the violence. and then we have our main  girl who is the daughter of this mob boss and it goes on from there. Again, I think that the  premise was very interesting. I didn't super love the s

tory, like I wasn't really drawn in to  read the second one, but overall again if you're into dystopian fantasy I thought that it was  a really cool idea and you should give it a try if that is your thing. So that is This Savage  Song. How did I read less fantasy books this year but this video is going to be longer than last  year's? Next up is another duology but it has a ton of novellas so if you are looking for a lot of  content - I got you. This is the Wrath and the Dawn. And this is a retel

ling of a thousand and  one nights or Arabian nights. There is a prince and he keeps getting married and he keeps killing  his wife on their wedding night. So our main girl has just lost her best friend - her best friend  married the prince and she was killed. And so the friend decides "I am sick of this, I'm going to  kill the prince!" How do I do that? I have to get in the castle. How do I do that? I have to marry the  prince. She agrees to marry the prince which is an honor but also a death s

entence, but she has  a few tricks up her sleeve. And thus begins our story. So I thought that it was a really  interesting retelling. I enjoyed that part a lot. In the kind of ending bit in the second  book, there was an introduction of a couple new characters and stuff that made it  a little too complicated - like I wasn't invested enough in the story to deal with that  many characters but I did have a good time with it. I did enjoy it, if you're looking for a retelling  that isn't a beauty an

d the beast retelling, the Wrath and the Dawn and the Rose and the Dagger, I believe and then again there are novellas that I didn't read but are there for you so Next is one that I at first didn't think was a fantasy because nothing like objectively  magic happens but it is based on mythology so I'm putting it in there! It is Sky in the Deep  and we're gonna talk about Adrienne Young again in this video, but I love Adrienne Young. Her writing  is wonderful and this is actually a duology inspire

d by Vikings. And so there are basically  these two tribes that, based on their origin story, like they're tied to two different gods -  and since literally the beginning of time their gods fought and so every five years (literally  they schedule it) like every five years these two tribes will meet and have a totally deadly  battle and then they will separate and go there do their own thing for another five years. And  so our main girl had lost her brother five years prior in the battle and so w

e start the story  five years after that, where it's the first time that she is going to be in this battle after her  brother has died. And she comes very close to death until someone goes "wait a second, that's my  sister!" and her brother appears and she's like "You are supposed to be dead, this is weird. Did I  die?" I can't say more without spoiling anything but it's an enemies to lovers story, I thought  that it was really well done. I thought that it delivered exactly what we wanted it to,

it did the  thing. It did the thing. The Sky in the Deep. It's a duology, I recommend. So this next series might be  a little bit polarizing and that is my opinion on Kingdom of the Wicked. I recently read the second  one. I can't go into the second one that much because of spoilers so there is the human realm  where there are witches and then there is kind of the underworld where there are the princes of  hell and each one of them is named after one of the seven deadly sins - so we have Wrath,

we have  Envy, we have Pride, we have Greed, etc. And we follow these twin sisters but one of the twins has died.  And the other twin is like "not on my watch!" and she is going to figure out what happened. In  order to figure out what happened, even though they're really not supposed to use magic, she  decides to use a spell. I forget what exactly her goal is but the spell goes haywire and she  accidentally summons one of the princes of hell. They hate each other, but they're working together.

  I don't know - it's an enemies to lovers story but it's mainly a cookbook. It takes place in Sicily  and honest to god my favorite scenes in the book were when she was cooking. They're constantly  talking about food and cooking and like all of the garlic and the pasta and it was just :') Those  were the scenes that stick in my brain, the rest of the story honestly I don't remember. I remember  thinking that the twist was quite silly and then I felt the same way with the second  book. When ther

e was the twist at the end I was like... Something about this series I  didn't really love. It was lacking something but I also know people who absolutely loved it  so that is Kingdom of the Wicked for you. Next up is a book that I desperately desperately want to like  and I really loved the first one, and that is a Deadly Education. So I am not the biggest fan of  Naomi Novik's other work but I felt like this one was so drastically different from her other - her other stories felt very much li

ke fairy tales and this one felt very modern and kind of edgy. I  really like the first one. The second one, I will get into. A Deadly Education takes place in a world  where there is magic but the problem with magic is that there are all of these, let's just say  monsters for the sake of making sense, that feed off of magic. And so when there are all of these  little magicians, all these little witches and wizards that have magical powers but they aren't  strong enough to defend themselves - it

's like the little turtles, the baby turtles that are crawling  desperately for the water after they're born and there are all of these birds trying to eat them.  That's what, that's what this story is about. So instead of having these little turtles crawling  helplessly to the water, they created this school that is basically in another dimension. It's in  this kind of spiral thing so the freshmen are at the top and as you go through school you wind down  until you get to the exit and you are s

et free and hopefully, by the end of your four years, you  have studied enough that you are strong enough to defend yourself and you can fight your way out of  school. But the school isn't perfect, so even though you're supposed to be in a safe place there are  tons of monsters that have snuck in. So you have to constantly be watching your back. There are no  teachers, it's all self-study. You're pretty motivated to study because you will die if you don't do well. I  thought that the magic syste

m was so interesting. It's really tied to language. Basically we follow  this girl who has a pretty dangerous specialty. Everybody has like their strength and her strength  is basically world destruction. People don't really want to be her friend, she's kind of a loner but if  you're a loner in this world, you are screwed like safety in numbers! So we're basically on this  adventure with her as she goes through school and tries to survive and I really enjoyed the first  one. The second one was j

ust a little tiresome because we're seeing it through our main girl's  point of view and she's talking to us and giving us all this information and it was just a little  overload. Literally every decision that she makes - like do I take a shower this morning? What shoes do  I wear? Every single move that she makes she has to really really think about or she's going to get  killed and it just got a little tiring. Like every time she entered a new room she was like "well I  have to sit here becaus

e there's a vent and if there's a vent, there's a monster, but then I..." Yeah  so it was a little tedious. I still love the world, I still am interested in the story. So that  is A Deadly Education. Yes I will continue reading it - I can't wait for the ending but I need to give  myself a little mental break after reading it. Next up is a book that has been recommended to me  since the beginning of time and I trusted you guys so much that I bought this book. Normally I get  my books from the lib

rary - this one I was like you know what, the wait list is way too long and people  said I'd love it so I'm gonna spend the money. And you were right! So I am talking about  Mistborn. This is a trilogy, I believe. I have read one and a half. I didn't finish Well  of Ascension just because life got in the way but I read enough of it to know that I  liked it. This is considered a high fantasy and it isn't heavy on the romance. It's not a  huge part of the plot - I thought it was like just there en

ough, you know? So if you are  frustrated by the amount of romance that is in fantasy nowadays, definitely check out  Mistborn. It's a lot more about politics and kind of revolution and stuff like that. We are  in a world where there is like one grand leader, basically like a god. He's this immortal  dude dictator guy. And we have the nobles, we have a working class, and then we have basically  a slave caste. This society has existed for so long that the idea of a uprising or a rebellion or some

  kind of revolution is slim to none because people are like "listen, we're not going to overthrow this  immortal dude. We're just a bunch of like working class people, we're trying to just make it through  the day. We're not going to rise up because we're just going to get killed or punished or worse"  and so we follow this one guy who is starting the revolution. And we have people who can  do magic and I think the magic system is so interesting. It's all based on metal so you like  basically p

op a pill of metal - like you swallow let's say like a penny and you're able to like  burn the copper in you and like the copper allows you to, I don't know, manipulate wood. And then  you can take a little bit of iron and that helps you manipulate blah blah blah, you know? So it was just - I thought the magic system was so cool. I thought that the politics were so interesting,  I thought that the characters were so morally gray in the best way. Because revolutionaries  are not perfect. Heroes a

re never perfect. And so this guy kind of had his faults and  he had - his plan wasn't perfect and his plan doesn't always work out and his plan can  hurt people. And so I just thought it was really well done and I do really want to finish  it but it's a book that I think demands a little bit more attention and I am just not  in a point where I can give it the attention I think it deserves. So that is Mistborn. Thank you  guys so much for recommending it. You were right, you were right. Okay las

t one before I take  a quick break for my voice. This one's so difficult to talk about. This is King of Scars.  So you guys know, you might know, that I love Nikolai, oh my god. So this is a continuation of the  Grishaverse which includes the Shadow and Bone trilogy and then the Six of Crows duology. The King  of Scars duology takes place after Six of Crows. It absolutely cannot be read before Six of  Crows, do not do it. I did it. Chaotic don't do it. I really love Nikolai so the fact that  he

was getting his own duology was great. Without spoiling Shadow and Bone, this takes place  kind of in the aftermath of the battle, the war, the whole thing that happens in Shadow and Bone and  so we follow Nikolai as he is trying to rebuild his country from the rubble of this war. He did  not come out of the war unscathed. I can't tell you what, but he is definitely carrying a few demons  that he has to deal with. I liked his storyline in the first in the first book, I did. Then  there's also an

other point of view which is Nina's story and her story is all about grief. And what's  frustrating is that I also really liked Nina's storyline. But the fact that they were running side  by side in this duology but never really touching - confused me a little bit. Like it felt like  Nina should have just gotten her own book or like a novella or something like that. Trying - the times when they tried to tie it in I was kind of confused by it. So I did love  King of Scars - and then the sequel an

d the finale which is Rule of Wolves honestly let  me down. Because I felt like it was written for the fans. There were certain characters  that have cameos, there were certain things that happened. She has created such a wonderful  community and fandom that like - it's impossible for me to ask her to write without us in mind, I understand that, but it just felt like it kind of made me separate from  the story a little bit because I was aware of the author. I didn't get lost in the  story, I was

like "oh this is going to be a meme" I really loved King of Scars. Rule of Wolves  was imperfect but I was still happy to read it. And I do genuinely hope that the Grishaverse  is done. Give me your thoughts on that. I am of the camp of not wanting a third Six of Crows  or like if she continues the Grishaverse, I would want her to not use any of the characters  that she has already written. I don't want cameos, I don't want any of this stuff. Yeah that  is King of Scars. It's still ranked highl

y because it was highly anticipated and I ate it up  but it was, for me being like a huge Nikolai fan :/ Yeah. So that's that. Okay top six. These are  ones that I loved, would recommend to everybody, pretty much flawless I would say. Starting with  Caraval and it is now being continued in the series Once Upon a Broken Heart which takes  place in the same world with some of the same characters but we follow one side character and  their adventure. Caraval I think is definitely for a slightly you

nger audience. It has a very young  whimsical kind of vibe and Caraval is a trilogy that - how to explain? There is a man boy called  Legend and he runs this kind of carnival game sort of thing where you can go to this island where he  is hosting his game and you can either be in the audience or you can play it. And I don't even know  - the rules of the game aren't even important. But basically our main girl goes and she plays  the game in order to help find her sister, sort of? Honestly I forge

t the plot but I just remember  really loving it. And I read the first one and I felt like that was pretty much a standalone but  then everybody was on my butt and they were like no you have to finish the series, because  it ends up, the last two books actually focus more on the other sister. And you guys were  right again. I did enjoy the last two books - did I enjoy them more? I enjoyed them the same, I  enjoyed the series as a whole. I thought it was fun, I love Stephanie Garber's writing. I

think  that her word choices, her descriptions - like I said, are very whimsical and with Once Upon a  Broken Heart, I also read that very recently and I really liked it and I'm excited for more. The fan art! The fan art for Once Upon a Broken Heart. Is so good. I wasn't like super hyped to read  Once Upon a Broken Heart yet because Caraval was good but it wasn't like I was itching for  more and then I saw some fan art for this book and I was like I need to read it. And I read it  and it was, it

was great. My only complaint about it is that it felt too short and I  demand more which is I guess a good problem to have. But yeah Caraval was simple, fun.  I think if you're in a reading rut kind of thing and you want to read a little fantasy,  it was a good time and I do still stand by that you could read Caraval as a standalone and  not read Legendary and Finale but that's on you. I enjoyed it. It's one that I actually reread so  yeah that is Caraval and then Once Upon a Broken Heart has j

ust begun and I think it's either a  duology or a trilogy - I don't know but I'm here for it. So next up is a duology that made it to  my best of 2021 list and this is the duology of Fable. I feel like I've talked so much about Fable  and I'm so sorry if you're sick of it but I really enjoyed this book. It is about a girl who has been  abandoned on an island where she really wants to get off of this island - so she basically just  like dives for gemstones, she's a really good diver, and so she w

ill dive for gemstones, sell those  gemstones, and get to keep a little money. Her goal in life is to save up enough money so  that she can buy a spot on a ship so she can get off of this damn island and also she wants to  find the person who left her there, figure out why she was left there, and then get on with her damn  life. The thing I really liked about Fable is that the first book was really scene setting - like  there was action but it was kind of drawn out and it was really more charact

er focused and we  met these characters and we fell in love with them and we understood the world and so then  Namesake is much more fast-paced and we already have all this background of the characters so  that we can really jump into this action story. It's got pirate vibes, even though  they aren't pirates. The fantasy element was minimal. Yeah I just, I have no complaints. I  have no notes about Fable, at all. So yeah I can't say anything more, it's great. Fable  and Namesake. Next up is Chai

n of Gold and I feel like I talked about this in my last year's  video - I read the Mortal Instruments when I was either in high school like the middle school  high school era. I was unaware that Cassandra Clare wrote more books in that world and  so last year I read the Dark Artifices, Infernal Devices, I reread Mortal Instruments. I was so mad that I had lived for so long not knowing that these characters existed and so I was  very excited to read Chain of Gold. I can't believe that she is sti

ll writing in this world. Chain of  Gold luckily is one that you do not have to read all of the books for - you definitely have to  read Infernal Devices first and then read Chain of Gold because this takes place - Chain of Gold  takes place kind of right after Infernal Devices and before the other two. Chain of Gold is just  another Shadowhunters story where we are in London I think in the 1800s. It's interesting because in  Infernal Devices, there were a lot of demons that you had to hunt down

and fight and all this stuff  because that's what Shadowhunters are - they are descended from angels and they hunt demons that  normal people like us can't see. But in Chain of Gold, there aren't any. And the adults are kind of  like "I'm glad that our kids are growing up without having to like risk their lives every day, but also  they're getting soft!" Like our kids don't know how to fight demons. And so obviously, demons  come back like that! We have a whole generation of kids who are like "

oh my god I have never done  this before" There's a great little love story going on. Cassandra Clare knows how to like  just rip your heart out - she's practiced it, she's gotten quite good. I think that at  least with the second book, it got a little ridiculous. Like the amount of "oh my god  yes they're finally gonna admit their feelings" and then just... One too many times  Cassandra. One too many times. But that being said, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the characters, I think that  her character

s are struggling with interesting things. So if you like the Shadowhunter world  and you haven't read Chain of Gold yet, I don't know why you wouldn't but there it is. And if you  haven't started Cassandra Clare yet, I would definitely say you can start Infernal Devices  without reading the Mortal Instruments. The Mortal Instruments are the first ones and they kind  of info dump but I think you're smart enough to figure it out as you're reading Infernal Devices,  like it's not a big deal. Read I

nfernal Devices, Chain of Gold, Mortal Instruments, Dark Artifices  is the order. Am I forgetting one? Chain of Thorns is coming out in 2022 and I can't wait. So  there's that. Next up is We Hunt the Flame which is a duology that I dedicated an entire separate  video to, so if you want to watch that for all of my thoughts please watch it down below  because I do not have time to tell you how much I love this and why I loved it. It's an enemies to  lovers romance and it is a takes place in a worl

d that used to have magic and the magic is gone. And  in its place, is this strange forest that is like spreading and just like killing everything  in its path. And our main girl happens to be like a really good tracker - she's kind of like  Mal, she is the Mal of this book. She is just really excellent at finding things and not getting  lost and she can like go into the forest and not lose her mind because that's what the forest  does. It's kind of brought up to her that like "hey there's a way

to bring the magic back and  you're really good at finding things so why don't you do it? If you don't do it, everyone in  your village is gonna die. If you go and you fail, everyone in your village is gonna die. So why don't  you try?" So our main girl does go try to find this thing but little does she know, the ruler of this  kingdom is aware that she's doing it and so he sends a group of people to kind of follow her  on this quest, once she finds the thing - take it and kill her. I don't wan

t to go any further into  it. If you want to know more about why I liked it, please watch the video. But I just thought  it was so interesting. Really rich. The author has another series that she's working on that I am  so excited for. I think that their writing is just going to continue to get better and better and  better because the second book was light years ahead of the first book. The first book is kind of  tedious to get through but read it so that you can read the second book. I really

enjoyed it.  Again, I can't wait for more of their work - We Hunt the Flame. And we have reached the top two - number  one the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy. Oh my goodness. So this is written by the same author  who wrote Strange the Dreamer which everyone has been bothering me to read since I started  booktube and I still haven't so I'm sorry. This was such a joy, like it was just - it had everything  I wanted it to have. We follow a girl who is an art student in Prague who is heavily tat

tooed  and has naturally blue hair, but other than that she's pretty normal - except that her father slash  guardian figure is like a demon? Every once in a while she has to help him with his errands which  includes like collecting teeth from dead people, normal things, right? She has to, in order to do this,  she travels through doors that like help zap her around the world or like between realms and stuff  like that. And one day the door just doesn't open. And things start to go - is it snowin

g? yeah okay  it's snowing, weird, anyway - things start to happen. Turns out that in another realm there  is this whole issue of angels versus demons and there is a twist and there is a romance. It was  definitely - I said this in my best of 2021 video but - it's definitely like a fantasy book whereas  Fable was sort of like a story that had a hint of fantasy. This is like 100%, all-in, full speed ahead  fantasy. There is magic, there are angels, there are demons, there are - there's so much. I

love  the characters, I love the side characters the most. I don't want to go further into it but it was a  really great trilogy, I ate it up. Highly recommend. If you love fantasy and you haven't read this yet, please give it a try. I totally enjoyed it and that is why it is number two on this list. Only  eclipsed by... Gilded Wolves. Oh my god so... uh!!!!!! It is a trilogy - each book takes place in a different  city and or region. First book takes place in Paris, next book takes place in Si

beria slash a  little bit of St Petersburg, third book Venice. Takes place at the turn of the century,  1800s. So it's almost - I don't want to say it's like steampunk but like definitely  the first book gave me kind of steampunky vibe. The magic system, it is called forging so you can  either forge material and you can make like you have a different specialty so maybe you're you  can manipulate wood, or maybe you can manipulate fire, or maybe you can manipulate plants. There's  also mental forg

ing so maybe you can do illusions. Such a cool magic system. It's also weirdly based  around the Tower of Babel so there are like all of these pieces of the Tower of Babel have been  spread across the world and if we only combined them, we would have the power of god. And so  there's this whole idea of becoming a god, godliness, being divine, being immortal laced  throughout it. Wonderful. The first book is really a heist where we follow this kind of gaggle of  misfits who are trying to get this

treasure so that they can get their kind of leader back into  the political world. So there are all of these like houses that have power throughout the world  and he, for whatever reason, was not allowed to claim his house because for some reason they  didn't recognize him as the heir once his parents died. And he wants back in because when you are the  like heir or the leader of a house, you can protect your family - you have all these different rights,  you have a seat at the table kind of th

ing. He's obsessed with protecting the people that he loves  and he feels like the only way he can do it is to do it with this power. So the first book's really  a heist - the next two are kind of a continuation. It's more of like this very strange mystery  thing that happens. I loved it. I talked about this in my other video but it's often compared  to Six of Crows - I disagree with that comparison but I do think the like found family sort  of thing is very strong. The relationships, the histor

y, the amount of research that must  have gone into writing this book - I can't speak highly enough of it. Again it did take me two  tries to get into this series because I felt like the first book - there was a lot of information  and not, like the beginning was like information heavy instead of action-heavy, whereas the  second book was action-heavy and I loved it. And then the third book was also  action-heavy but the ending left me upset. Imperfect ending, beautiful beginning,  beautiful mid

dle, beautiful almost end. Yeah, Gilded Wolves - like if you just - just give it a try,  please give it a try. I really enjoyed it. That is my number one, that is my Six of Crows of 2021.  Absolutely loved it. So is that all I have to say? Thank you for sticking with me through this whole  long video. I really love doing this, I loved doing it last year and then you guys recommended  a bunch that I ended up reading this year so it was wonderful, thank you. Please leave any series  or anything th

at you liked down below. Let me know your thoughts on all of them. What was your  favorite of this year? I will catch you guys next time. Once again if you are looking for even more  recommendations, check out Likewise - you can get it at the app store but also if you go to on.likewise.com/cari3, you can get it there as well. And I will leave my links down below.  So yes, I'm going to leave because I can't speak and I'm gonna watch the snow and  edit this and send this off to you. So, I love you

very much. I hope that you  are having a good 2022 so far and I will see you guys next time, okay? I am so  hyped up - I'm hot. Talking about books gets me so excited! So anyway, yeah! I will see you guys later - love always, bye!