CAN READING FIRST CHAPTERS GIVE ME A NEW FAVOURITE BOOK?? ✨ try a chapter tag ft 2021 new releases!

Hey everyone, welcome back to my channel. Today we're going to do the try a chapter tag video. Is it a tag? I don't know. We're going to try a chapter vlog, reading vlog. This is bad already. So uh, so uh. In this video I'm going to try the first chapter of three different books and whichever chapter I enjoy most of the first chapters we're going to read that book together. I'm really excited but I am also very skeptic is the right word because I last did this about a year ago and I thought like I'd read a great first chapter and I hated the book. It was, it was The Silent Patient which was like one of the most popular thrillers and I'm one of the only people who hated it. I really didn't like it. So we're hoping that this is going to be more successful and I'm not going to give whatever book I read two stars. Wishful thinking. Yeah. You're a dreamer, you dream a lot in your sleep. So I have picked out three 2021 new releases that I really want to get to. So we have got Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Booley. This is like a kind of like mystery thriller about drug-related deaths in the indigenous community I believe. I know it's very hard-hitting, very emotional and yeah I've just heard really great things. One that I haven't heard great releases for but I'm really excited for and I'm really upset I haven't read it yet is A History of What Comes Next by Sylvain Neuvel. This is like something to do with the race to the moon, like the space race. I could be making that up. I think it's about this family of women who are like trying to stop the Russians getting things from the Germans in the 1940s. I don't really know. I've heard it's a bit strange, a bit weird but I really want to get to it. It's like one of the 2021 new releases I was most excited for so we're gonna give this first chapter a go and then I have also got Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas. This is the kind of like not sequel to The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas but we're following Maverick which is the dad of the protagonist from The Hate U Give. So we're following him when he was a teenager dealing drugs, finding out he's gonna be a teen dad, yada yada. So we've got like a contemporary, we've got a historical sci-fi I think, and then we've got like a contemporary thriller thing. I think it's like contemporary plus thriller this one. So we've got three different kind of books. They're all, I think these are pretty much like some of my most anticipated 2021 releases so they're all books I'm really excited for. I tried to pick three where I've got like similar levels of anticipation for all three. So excited! So that is not going to cloud my judgment, like I'm equally excited for all of these three, we're just going to judge it on the first chapter. So I think I am going to read the first chapter of Firekeeper's Daughter first and I'll tell you what I think after a minute. Okay let's go, this is just so much fun! Okay so first chapter of this, I really enjoyed the writing in it. I feel like the writing style, they're just very easy to read. So basically not much happened, obviously it's only chapter one, but the first chapter was very much like examining the tension and like the difficulty I think she feels, the main character feels between her indigenous side of the family and her non-indigenous side of the family. I believe her mum's side of the family are French or something and that's who she lives with and so it was kind of like examining yeah like how the indigenous side of her is in conflict with that and like the difficult time that her family has had over the past couple months and how she is like postponing going away to university for that. I found it very readable, I was very engrossed in it, I really enjoyed the writing but at the same time there wasn't anything in that first chapter that like has me like oh I have to read on, do you know what I mean? Like nothing big happened. Push me up against the wall, give me a kiss, then I might get excited. Possibility. We may go with this one. I think I'm gonna go downstairs and I'm gonna read the first chapter of A History of What Comes Next. Next. Fell in love with the colours, they kinda tell me what I'm thinking, fell in love with the way we are, there's something different. Okay so what the ****? I was like oh my god that ---- took me, caught me off guard, I did not expect it, I was chilling at home. So basically this isn't really like necessarily a first chapter, it's an introduction. So we're hearing from the perspective of who I believe is the grandmother, actually no let me not, let me not doubt myself, who was, who was the grandmother of our protagonist that we're gonna follow throughout the rest of the book. Basically detailing how there are these generations of women, mothers and daughters, who are numbered, so the grandmother was part of the 97 with her mum and then part of the 98 with her daughter. They are like scientists who are into science and they like affect really well-known moments in history, so it's like intimated they affected elections or wars and stuff through the science and they're like secretive, whatever. And she details how there's these pairs and they can never be three for long, so her mum killed herself, the grandmother's mum killed herself after the grandmother had her daughter, and she's detailing how her, the grandmother's daughter has now had the protagonist. They're on this boat escaping Germany, going to America, and the grandmother's husband finds her diary and she's like, well, let me drive a pen through his brain. What? I was just like, what? It was just said very matter-of-factly out of nowhere, I was like, did I, did I just read what I thought I read? I was not expecting that! And then, because they can never be three for long, this isn't a spoiler because it's literally the introduction. The end of the introduction says, a bag of silverware tied around the ankle should be good enough. I think I will wear the blue dress. Ahmet will like that. It was always his favourite. So here's the thing, this is what I was talking about with the other book. The other book didn't have anything major happening in the chapter one. This, I'm gagged. I'm gagged on page five. Like, excuse me? Like, what? So I'm very intrigued by this, but at the same time, I preferred the writing in Firekeeper's Daughter. Some of the writing in this, I wasn't like 100 vibing with, but I do know that I like Sylvain Neuvel's writing. I've read like a four star and a five star from him, so I do have a very good success rate with Sylvain Neuvel. So, I don't know, you guys. I really don't know what to choose. Look, I'm like indecisive already. I don't know what to go for. Okay, I'm gonna go read the first chapter of Concrete Rose, our last book, and then I'll come back to you with a decision. So I just finished the first chapter of this, and I've got to be honest, like, it didn't really pull me in. Oh my god. And I don't really know why, because I loved both of Andrew Thomas's other books, so I'm just a bit confused. So basically in this, Maverick is basically gonna find out whether he's a dad. I just was a bit bored, like, throughout the beginning, and I've never had that with Andrew Thomas's book, so I don't really know what's going on there. This is like one of my most anticipated releases. I'm not going to pick this. I think I'm feeling most drawn to A History of What Comes Next after that intro, and that is actually the one that I thought I'd least want to read, like, out of the first chapters. I thought Concrete Rose would be the one I'd most want to read. So that shows you how different it can actually be, because I thought I would pick this, but I'm not. Like, I was really bored. I don't know. Maybe I've read the other two via audiobook, so maybe I need to read this physically, and with the audiobook, maybe I'm just used to that. I don't know. But yeah, I think I'm gonna go and read some more of A History of What Comes Next, because that was the one that drew me in the most from the first chapter. Okay, that's a I thought about it, and I may have fucked it for myself a little bit by, like, by picking the book with the lowest rating out of all of these, to, like, not have a repeat of last time where I gave the book two stars, because so many people who I have similar reading tastes to have given this book two stars. But always a positive thinker, me. Yeah, I think I'm quite positive. Am I? What do you guys think? I mean, let me ask the audience. I'm really enjoying it. Like, I'm really enjoying it. I think it may be helped by having read Sleeping Giants, maybe, by Sylvain Nivelle. I really enjoyed that. Let's put a here. So basically, we are following, like I said, Mia, who has kind of been hired by the Americans to give them Germany's leading rocket scientist, basically. Her family, basically, these women, like I said, there's this lineage of them. She's, like, number 100. They're aliens, basically. They're called the, like, is it the Kibsu? Yes, Kibsu. And their motto is something like, get them to the stars before evil kills them, or whatever. So basically, the motto is, like, space travel for humans. Help humans get to space before the world kills, I don't know, something along those lines. And they're, like, superhuman strength, so they can kill a bitch if you need to kill a bitch. They're like, I'm just here to fight. I really like it. It's told in this very, like, dispassionate, disconnected way. We have no speech marks. All speech is told in, like, dashes. So we'll have, like, a section of inner narration from the protagonist. We also hear from her mum's point of view, Sarah, Sarah's point of view. So yeah, you'll have this inner narration, and then there'll be dashes, and it won't say who it's said by. Which I think, I was thinking about this. Sylvain Nivelle has a thing about speech, because The Themis Files, his other series that I was talking about, is told completely through interviews. So it completely avoids this kind of inner narration. And then this one is mostly that, and not a lot of speech. And I think it's very interesting for an author to explore those two things, like, in opposition to one another. So yeah, I'm really enjoying the dispassionate tone of voice. I feel like the pace is very interesting. We're having flashbacks to previous generations of the women, the mothers and daughters, and, like, the impact and the lessons that they learned, that they've passed down to the generations, the rules they've learned. Oh, there's also a tracker, who is- so just like these women have this lineage, there's a lineage of the tracker, who is supposedly a man who is trying to kill them. The Cibsu constantly talking about how the tracker is going to kill them. I've been aware of the killer since birth. Now, I hear that you don't- you think people are always going to come and get you. We don't really know much about that yet, other than, like, the tracker is near at the moment. So it's very interesting. It's told right at the end of the Second World War, so, like, right as Germany is losing. I think it's a very interesting take on the end of World War II from this complete alternate history point of view. Yeah, I'm finding, like, it's going well so far, but I'm the anomaly. I'm really enjoying it. I'm really enjoying it. Also, my god, I thought I was picking up a standalone. This is a ******* series, and let me tell you, I thought it would be a good idea last night to do a series spreadsheet, and I was having a go at myself about how many series I've started and haven't finished, and I was like, I'm not gonna start any series for the next- I'm not gonna start- I'm not gonna start any series for the next, like, couple days or whatever, because- couple days? I'm not gonna start any- let me try again. I'm not gonna start any series for the next couple months because I need to just get through the ones I've started. I'm just gonna read, like, standalones and continue series that I've started. Um, this is a ******* series. So, boohoo. I am a clown. Fuck. But I'm really enjoying it, and I'll see you in the morning when I wake up. As a young girl, the fields were mine. We played hide-and-seek for hours. Raced our shadows among the pines. So offshore, played fall-and-free. Without a care in the world, I was one rich little girl. Daydreamer. I'm now 200 pages into History of What Comes Next, and listen, I'm still really enjoying it, you guys. It's a bit of a different book. I think not everyone's gonna love this. I can understand why everyone doesn't love it. I think this is the kind of book where if you don't buy into it 100% from the get-go, you're not gonna enjoy it. Most books, when we read them, we spend a little time at the beginning, like, figuring out, do I like this? I think with this one, from that first chapter, you have to go into it going, wow, okay, I'm excited, let's ******* go. If you're a bit tentative, like, dipping your toe in, it's not gonna work. It's not gonna work. You're not gonna enjoy it. I am loving the uniqueness of this. It's such a unique story, both in imagination, in how much thought has gone into this, like, alien race idea with these women and these daughters. I absolutely love the flashbacks to different pairs of women, like, throughout history. I can't describe to you. I really enjoy this, you guys. I can understand why everyone hates it. Could not be me, though. I would rather die. Well, I may live to regret that. I may hate the last 100 pages, who knows? This whole idea of this alternate history with this race to the stars, I'm loving. Mia, as a character, is super fun to be in her head, and she's kind of struggling against the idea of this preordained existence and, you know, having to just, like, live the life that her mama says she has to and the universe says she has to and not getting to choose what she wants to do and the life that she wants to lead, so she's kind of rebelling against that. Sometimes I think the pacing is a bit off, if I had to complain about anything. I don't think it's a five star, and that would be my, like, why it's not a five star reasoning, but I just think it's such a unique science. Maybe I just don't read enough science fiction. Maybe here's the thing. Maybe I'm too much of a newbie to science fiction, and so I'm just like, oh my god, it's great, and people who have read more science fiction are like, like, with mystery, I can feel myself becoming pickier with what I want because I read more and more of it, and I barely ever read sci-fi, so that could be a reason, but I love the combination of futuristic sci-fi with being in the past. Like, that's so cool to me. I cannot tell you where it's gonna go. I am so excited. I am gonna go finish it, and hopefully I'm still gonna love it at the end. Who knows? I feel like I will. I feel like I'm gonna be the outlier here. So I finished it, and I really enjoyed it. Obviously something's not wrong with me if you're really enjoying a book, but I really liked it. I had so much fun reading it. The reason I think I like Sylvain Nivelle's sci-fi so much is that it makes me feel clever. I think a lot of sci-fi leaves me feeling dumb, but Sylvain Nivelle does this thing where, like, I know that I don't understand a lot of what he's talking about and, like, the reasons behind it, and it's, like, very advanced science, but he says it in a way that has me going, Like, I feel like I'm learning a lot whilst reading his stuff. I feel like I'm discovering stuff. I feel like I'm finding out new things. That's probably my favourite thing about reading his books. I can understand why people don't get into it because of the way it's told. We don't have any, like, descriptors of the way people speak. It's literally just lines, like a script, and it doesn't have people's name next to it, so you're constantly having to, like, remember who's saying what, but I still really loved it. I thought it was such an imaginative way to tell a story. At the end, there's this really interesting author's note where he goes into the history of everything and his research, and I didn't realise until that author's note how much of what is in this book actually happened, and Mia is just plonked into it and, like, takes the credit for it. So I thought it was so fun how so much of what happened actually happened, and so you can really start to believe this idea of this girl who had to hide herself in history being the hidden force amongst all of that. So that just added this element of, like, oh, it's true, isn't it? It's true to me, even though I know it's not true. I loved the idea of the kibsu, this lineage of mothers and daughters who are really strong but have had to make sacrifices throughout history. The idea of that going throughout history and the effect. I just loved it. I think it's such a cool idea. I'm giving it four stars. It's only about 300 pages, so it's not too long at all. So I would really recommend it. And here's the thing as well, I know this is a series and I was, like, kind of, like, oh, I'm starting another series, but I think this is the perfect kind of book where it can be read as a standalone if you want it to. The way it ends, you're like, I could be satisfied not picking this sequel up. I want to, of course. I'm excited for the sequel, but it ends in a way where you're like, well, that's a nice closure to the story as well. So I liked that as well. I do, I do think I prefer books that end with a bit of closure rather than, like, a really over-the-top cliffhanger to get you to pick the next book up. Like, I feel like I should want to do that without an over-the-top cliffhanger that means that the book can't stand on its own. I think I like books in series to stand on their own and to be, like, separable. So yeah, I loved it. I would recommend you read A History of What Comes Next. Everyone else gives it two stars. I am the anomaly here, but I really enjoyed it. I really liked it. I think it's fun sci-fi. I think it's easy to read yet still pushing yourself if you're not, like, an avid sci-fi reader, because I'm not. I hope you enjoyed this video. It was much more successful than last time I did Try A Chapter Tag, and we were against the odds here with this book being universally, like, not liked. Yeah, I hope you enjoyed the video. If you've gotten to the end, comment a spacey emoji, and I'll see you very soon in another video. Bye!