Highly specific magical powers are the BEST! especially with hard magic systems, i feel like it pushes characters to be smarter or more creative in problem solving.
I adore epistolary/mixed media books! The authors can get so creative in how they provide information and I just adore it! My favorite is Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn because the way he uses letters and language is just so incredibly clever. My favorite unreliable narrator is from A Conspiracy of Truths by Alexandra Rowland, who is this crotchety old aromantic man who is basically justifying why he orchestrated a political coup in a foreign nation from a prison cell. I trust basically nothing that man says which is why I loved it so much. The sequel (A Choir of Lies) is from the POV of his apprentice as he comes to terms with everything his master did and the justifications he used.
For Mixed Media or interesting formatting: HOUSE OF LEAVES! This book is a book, within a book, about a movie, and it has a very very interesting page layout. Simply flipping through these pages and looking at them without even reading is a treat and the formatting has a very good reason for being this way. I love this book, its nothing short of genius.
Love love loved this video! For the specific magic systems I recommend Nocturna by Maya Motayne- it’s such a fun fantasy set in a Latinx inspired world! For a personal narrator I recommend Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone- it’s a really powerful story about a girl with OCD and the representation meant so much to me. For a family relationship I recommend The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf which is about a girl and her mother who get separated during the Kuala Lumpur race riots. It’s such a powerful story and also is about OCD and how difficult mental health challenges are on this family in this time. For a story that spans a long time I’d recommend Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston- it’s so incredible and beautiful and you are truly following Janie through her life as a Black woman in the US South in the 1930s. These books are all fantastic and I think they definitely have what you’re looking for!💜
I think you would really enjoy the Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor it is a fantasy with what are basically angels and demons but there isn’t god or anything. It is partially set in our world, which made me immediately want to move to Prague and it has a forbidden romance. I just loved the world building in this and thought it was such an interesting concept.
I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson has one of the most heart wrenching relationships between a mother and her children that I've ever read. You get both kids' perspectives since it's told in dual narrative, & the first time I read it I cried really hard.
I would highly recommend the Renegades trilogy by Marissa Meyer since you're into books with superpowers. This series is a fantasy/sci-fi (more so a sci-fi) with prodigies that have really cool, unique superpowers. It's definitely a heroes vs. villains story. This also has kind of a “forbidden” romance of sorts that makes the plot even more intriguing. I think this is totally up your alley. I love your channel btw!
I would recommend the Seven deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle as well. It is a very unique murder mystery type game where the murder keeps occurring and the main character gets to see it from different perspectives until he solves the murder.
You mentioned specific magic powers and the first thing I thought of was Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. It's a manga, and it's my favorite manga/anime of ALL time because the worldbuilding is amazing and the magic systems is just brilliant and the characters are to die for. If you don't mind reading manga, check that out! 😁
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood is my fave 😊 i read the manga years ago and actually just finished my rewatch of the anime, so you were spot on with that rec 😂💗
The diviners series by libba bray has people with specific individual powers and is a fantasy based in reality. A paranormal series for sure. Hits a few of your categories!
You should read Spin the Dawn if you haven't already. It has a great romance interwoven into the story. Also, have you read the classic short story "The Most Dangerous Game"? It was definitely a huge influence on The Hunger Games.
Beartown by Fredrik Backman is a multi-person narrative, but I feel like you really get to know the characters on a deep and emotional level. I think you might like it! It contains a lot of social commentary on the world. Also, might be a hit or miss, but To Best the Boys by Mary Weber is a book about a girl who enters a boys only challenge in a Labyrinth to win a scholarship to a college where she can find a cure for her mom's sickness. Love your videos so much, happy reading!
The maze runner I think could be a good read for you from the moment you like the games/championship thing. I actually found it kinda messy, but I had a good time reading it. P.s: I love your videos!!
I got so excited when I saw you post! This video just confirms that you have a similar book taste to me. I see “Clap When You Land” on your TBR cart. :)
A book I would recommend is Entwined by Heather Dixon. It’s a 12 dancing princess re-telling with a little bit of magic, and add what I would consider a very mysterious and compelling darkling character.
An underrated series is the Superpowered Series by Drew Hayes on Kindle and Audible...AMAZING! Always by Sarah Jio, See Me by Nicholas Sparks, Romiette and Julio by Sharon Draper❤️❤️❤️
when you talked about the challenge/ competition trope i immediately thought of the night circus by erin morgenstern (maybe cause i recently read it) and even though the element of the "challenge" is kind of vague it's still a really beautiful book and it also has the element of happening through a long period of time and parallel to the real world!
The book Just Listen by Sarah Dessen does flashback stuff but not far back. Just lots of flashbacks to 1 year ago and back to the present, but it’s done very well. It’s YA contemporary romance
for #4, i’d definitely recommend Dividing Eden by Joelle Charbonneau, it definitely has that competing for the crown aspect, as well and a very interesting family dynamic 😌
For forbidden love, I have to recommend Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (author of Strange the Dreamer) It's my favorite book of all time and the romance is so so good Basically the 2 main characters are from nations which have been at war with each other for thousands of years, which makes their love completely forbidden by both sides
Night Film is my favorite book that contains mixed media! it seems to be pretty polarizing here on booktube, but I think it's such an immersive read :) thanks for these recs!
For unreliable narrator, you might like The One Memory of Flora Banks, the main character has amnesia. For whirlwind romances I was gonna recommend Dash & Lily before you said it hahaha, but The Statistic Probability of Love at First Sight also has this!
Powers: The Young Elites by Marie Lu The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken Strange Formats: Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia (I think I spelled her name wrong) Championship: Endgame by James Frey Time Jumps: Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson Fraught Family Relationships: Tweet Cute by Emma Lord (This one is especially great)
For a game-related book, you should try "Erebos" by Ursula Poznanski. She's a german author but there is a translated version of the book too and I really loved this book! (I only read it in german so unfortunately, I don't know how good the translation is)
You need to read "the turn of the key". First-person. (written to convince someone to be her lawyer) And the whole time you are unsure if the narrator is reliable or not. Plus a mystery. Plus a bit creepy. thanks for sharing. much love, amy
If you haven't read The Nightingale or All the Light We Cannot See, they are both novels that take place over a long stretch of time and worth the hype imo!
When you described the romance you like in fantasy, it reminded me to Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji. They shouldn't be together (partly because they are male), Wei Wuxian dies and years later he is resurrected. They only get together at the very end, but until then they suffer a lot. It has a duel timeline. We can see them before Wei Wuxian dies and after he is resurrected. The novel is in Chinese, but it has translation for both three books. The English name is Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu. It's long, it's wonderful and heart wretching. I liked both the novel and the series.
You didnt say anything about historical fiction but "The Watchmaker of Filigree Street " is a wonderful novel discussing abt the romance between two adult men in victorian Englang ( its pretty slow pace) ans has theme of magical realism and time "manipulation (not really but I dont know what else to call it) .
I might suggest Sister Spider Knows All it's more of a middle grade than YA but you could definetely say theres a fraught relationship with her mom. Her mom ran out on MC when she was very little
Wow, The Broken Empire trilogy by Mark Lawrence sprung to my mind a lot through this video haha! It's a gtimdark fantasy in first person with changing time lines and a really unreliable narrator (he's atrocious!!) - and since it seems to tick off quite a few of your fave things, maybe give it a try 😊😊 I just finished the series this week and thought it was brilliantly written, really elegant and philosophical prose
Your first love, specific magic, is something I LOVE and didn't realize the pattern until you mentioned it. I loved Graceling and Strange the Dreamer, Renegades and Nevermoor. I didn't like the Young Elites, but that's because I don't like Marie Lu's writing style. For the fantasy but in our world, I think urban fantasy, low fantasy and intrusive fantasy all tend to fit in that category as well if you are looking for more search terms for them.
If you like time jumps and stuff, you should read The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August (by Claire North), if you’re interested in life long books, The Heart’s Invisible Furies (by John Green) is the best I’ve read My favorite theme is prob time traveling and I also love games, so you’d better have read Ready Player One cause it’s the best out there T-T I am, too, looking for game-ish book recs
Have you ever read the Not Your Sidekick series by CB Lee? It's a YA series with superpowers and superheroes/villains. Each book follows a different character's POV from the main friend group and all three of them are qpoc
for unreliable character narration i really recomend the Thief by Megan Whalen Turner!! In general that entire series constantly have interesting narration choices. It switches between first person and third person throughout the series, and its just really well executed.
The astonishing colour if after by Emily X. R pan is an amazing book. It is a magical relisam, it has a messed up family in it and it has flash backs in it. It's is about leigh and her mother comits suicide and she thinks her mother was reborn as a bird and is telling her to go to taiwen to visit her mother's parents who she never met before. It's my favourite book of all time.
If you haven't read Summer Bird Blue by Akemi Dawn Bowman, I highly recommend it! It delves really deep into grief through an extremely personal first person narrator :)
Read Nice Try, Jane Sinner. Really cool writing style and you know you’re not getting the full story from the start plus there’s a competition involved
I would recommend The Art of French Kissing by Brianna R. Shrum. It has a cooking competition in it and the winner wins a scholarship to a prestigious culinary school. It’s also in first person and it has enemies to lovers! There’s also LGBTQ+ characters!! Let me know how you like it!
There's an amazing contemporary book called pivot Point by Kasie West check it out you'll love it, different powers mind reading/telekinesis/healers etc first book 4/5 🌟 and the second book (duology) Split Second 5/5 🌟
The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas is a murder mystery with some time jumps back to when the murders were happening! it’s really interesting and it’s a ya mystery
Maam u literally look like how i imagine inej wOW THE beauty jumped out
Highly specific magical powers are the BEST! especially with hard magic systems, i feel like it pushes characters to be smarter or more creative in problem solving.
elias and laia are always wrenching my freaking heart out
Time traveling and traveling to different nations & territories on Earth fascinate me. 💓👌💯⏰🌏
I adore epistolary/mixed media books! The authors can get so creative in how they provide information and I just adore it! My favorite is Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn because the way he uses letters and language is just so incredibly clever.
My favorite unreliable narrator is from A Conspiracy of Truths by Alexandra Rowland, who is this crotchety old aromantic man who is basically justifying why he orchestrated a political coup in a foreign nation from a prison cell. I trust basically nothing that man says which is why I loved it so much. The sequel (A Choir of Lies) is from the POV of his apprentice as he comes to terms with everything his master did and the justifications he used.
For Mixed Media or interesting formatting: HOUSE OF LEAVES! This book is a book, within a book, about a movie, and it has a very very interesting page layout. Simply flipping through these pages and looking at them without even reading is a treat and the formatting has a very good reason for being this way. I love this book, its nothing short of genius.
in Red Queen they all had pretty specific powers, more so as the series went on there were more characters introduced as having various powers
Love love loved this video! For the specific magic systems I recommend Nocturna by Maya Motayne- it’s such a fun fantasy set in a Latinx inspired world! For a personal narrator I recommend Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone- it’s a really powerful story about a girl with OCD and the representation meant so much to me. For a family relationship I recommend The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf which is about a girl and her mother who get separated during the Kuala Lumpur race riots. It’s such a powerful story and also is about OCD and how difficult mental health challenges are on this family in this time. For a story that spans a long time I’d recommend Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston- it’s so incredible and beautiful and you are truly following Janie through her life as a Black woman in the US South in the 1930s. These books are all fantastic and I think they definitely have what you’re looking for!💜
The Kiss of Deception has a forbidden love vibe and especially in the second book! It is FANTASTIC
you gave me so many good books to read! I want to try different genres so thank you!
I think you would really enjoy the Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor it is a fantasy with what are basically angels and demons but there isn’t god or anything. It is partially set in our world, which made me immediately want to move to Prague and it has a forbidden romance. I just loved the world building in this and thought it was such an interesting concept.
I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson has one of the most heart wrenching relationships between a mother and her children that I've ever read. You get both kids' perspectives since it's told in dual narrative, & the first time I read it I cried really hard.
Aww that’s beautiful
I would highly recommend the Renegades trilogy by Marissa Meyer since you're into books with superpowers. This series is a fantasy/sci-fi (more so a sci-fi) with prodigies that have really cool, unique superpowers. It's definitely a heroes vs. villains story. This also has kind of a “forbidden” romance of sorts that makes the plot even more intriguing. I think this is totally up your alley. I love your channel btw!
I totally agree! Definately a forbidden romance and I was torn for what side I was rooting for while reading
I would recommend the Seven deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle as well. It is a very unique murder mystery type game where the murder keeps occurring and the main character gets to see it from different perspectives until he solves the murder.
Since you mentioned Sadie (I really loved it as well!), you might like Radio Silence! It has POC rep and stuff and is super interesting!
You mentioned specific magic powers and the first thing I thought of was Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. It's a manga, and it's my favorite manga/anime of ALL time because the worldbuilding is amazing and the magic systems is just brilliant and the characters are to die for. If you don't mind reading manga, check that out! 😁
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood is my fave 😊 i read the manga years ago and actually just finished my rewatch of the anime, so you were spot on with that rec 😂💗
The diviners series by libba bray has people with specific individual powers and is a fantasy based in reality. A paranormal series for sure. Hits a few of your categories!
I usually don't read, but during this quarantine, I've read books recommended by you and absolutely LOVED every single one. Thank you!! 😍😍
Aww I’m so glad 💕🥰
Have your read the renegades series by Marissa Meyer? If you haven't you should totally check it out xx
City of Brass fits into quite a few of these categories!
I LOVE tournament arc/championship tropes too! They give me life 👌🏾
This is the first video I've watched from you and I loved!
Have you read the night circus by erin morgenstern? It definitely has that championship-game kinda plot device!
You should read Spin the Dawn if you haven't already. It has a great romance interwoven into the story.
Also, have you read the classic short story "The Most Dangerous Game"? It was definitely a huge influence on The Hunger Games.
Beartown by Fredrik Backman is a multi-person narrative, but I feel like you really get to know the characters on a deep and emotional level. I think you might like it! It contains a lot of social commentary on the world. Also, might be a hit or miss, but To Best the Boys by Mary Weber is a book about a girl who enters a boys only challenge in a Labyrinth to win a scholarship to a college where she can find a cure for her mom's sickness. Love your videos so much, happy reading!
I second Beartown!
The maze runner I think could be a good read for you from the moment you like the games/championship thing. I actually found it kinda messy, but I had a good time reading it.
P.s: I love your videos!!
I got so excited when I saw you post! This video just confirms that you have a similar book taste to me. I see “Clap When You Land” on your TBR cart. :)
For mixed media I recommend radio silence since there is a podcast in it - I also recommend the audiobook for it :)
A book I would recommend is Entwined by Heather Dixon. It’s a 12 dancing princess re-telling with a little bit of magic, and add what I would consider a very mysterious and compelling darkling character.
I subscribed because I love most of these things in books as well!
I loved hearing about all your favourite things about books!
An underrated series is the Superpowered Series by Drew Hayes on Kindle and Audible...AMAZING! Always by Sarah Jio, See Me by Nicholas Sparks, Romiette and Julio by Sharon Draper❤️❤️❤️
yesss I LOVE first person narrators who are unreliable!!
Radio silence is a great book and most chapters starts with a podcast!!
when you talked about the challenge/ competition trope i immediately thought of the night circus by erin morgenstern (maybe cause i recently read it) and even though the element of the "challenge" is kind of vague it's still a really beautiful book and it also has the element of happening through a long period of time and parallel to the real world!
The book Just Listen by Sarah Dessen does flashback stuff but not far back. Just lots of flashbacks to 1 year ago and back to the present, but it’s done very well. It’s YA contemporary romance
Two books that you may really like if you want "light magic" are Icarus Girl by Oyeyemi and Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. :)
for #4, i’d definitely recommend Dividing Eden by Joelle Charbonneau, it definitely has that competing for the crown aspect, as well and a very interesting family dynamic 😌
For forbidden love, I have to recommend Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (author of Strange the Dreamer)
It's my favorite book of all time and the romance is so so good
Basically the 2 main characters are from nations which have been at war with each other for thousands of years, which makes their love completely forbidden by both sides
Night Film is my favorite book that contains mixed media! it seems to be pretty polarizing here on booktube, but I think it's such an immersive read :) thanks for these recs!
For unreliable narrator, you might like The One Memory of Flora Banks, the main character has amnesia.
For whirlwind romances I was gonna recommend Dash & Lily before you said it hahaha, but The Statistic Probability of Love at First Sight also has this!
Powers:
The Young Elites by Marie Lu
The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken
Strange Formats:
Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia (I think I spelled her name wrong)
Championship:
Endgame by James Frey
Time Jumps:
Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson
Fraught Family Relationships:
Tweet Cute by Emma Lord (This one is especially great)
i haven’t even watched the video yet i’ve already liked it
The Valiant by Lesley Livingston has a championship element that's really cool. I didn't like the second book as much but the first one is beautiful
For a game-related book, you should try "Erebos" by Ursula Poznanski. She's a german author but there is a translated version of the book too and I really loved this book! (I only read it in german so unfortunately, I don't know how good the translation is)
You need to read "the turn of the key". First-person. (written to convince someone to be her lawyer) And the whole time you are unsure if the narrator is reliable or not. Plus a mystery. Plus a bit creepy.
thanks for sharing.
much love,
amy
Also Burning Glass by Kathryn Purdie is a good one for specific powers
Dude you seems so smart and are GORGEOUS
If you haven't read The Nightingale or All the Light We Cannot See, they are both novels that take place over a long stretch of time and worth the hype imo!
When you described the romance you like in fantasy, it reminded me to Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji. They shouldn't be together (partly because they are male), Wei Wuxian dies and years later he is resurrected. They only get together at the very end, but until then they suffer a lot. It has a duel timeline. We can see them before Wei Wuxian dies and after he is resurrected. The novel is in Chinese, but it has translation for both three books. The English name is Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu. It's long, it's wonderful and heart wretching. I liked both the novel and the series.
Omg yessss 10/10 recommend!! Loved the drama ver on netflix!!
You didnt say anything about historical fiction but "The Watchmaker of Filigree Street " is a wonderful novel discussing abt the romance between two adult men in victorian Englang ( its pretty slow pace) ans has theme of magical realism and time "manipulation (not really but I dont know what else to call it) .
Penny Ts I’ve just finished rereading that, it’s just so amazing!
I really enjoyed your video, I look forward to the next one. 🙂
I might suggest Sister Spider Knows All it's more of a middle grade than YA but you could definetely say theres a fraught relationship with her mom. Her mom ran out on MC when she was very little
The Bunker Diary is one of the best books I've ever read, it won the Carnegie medal in 2014. I highly recommend it.
Wow, The Broken Empire trilogy by Mark Lawrence sprung to my mind a lot through this video haha! It's a gtimdark fantasy in first person with changing time lines and a really unreliable narrator (he's atrocious!!) - and since it seems to tick off quite a few of your fave things, maybe give it a try 😊😊 I just finished the series this week and thought it was brilliantly written, really elegant and philosophical prose
I totally binged your channel and new subscriber
Your first love, specific magic, is something I LOVE and didn't realize the pattern until you mentioned it. I loved Graceling and Strange the Dreamer, Renegades and Nevermoor. I didn't like the Young Elites, but that's because I don't like Marie Lu's writing style. For the fantasy but in our world, I think urban fantasy, low fantasy and intrusive fantasy all tend to fit in that category as well if you are looking for more search terms for them.
Mirage by Somaiya Daud had the forbidden love element in it.
Nyxia by Scott Reintgen is a YA sci-fi with a championship/competition vibe.
If you like time jumps and stuff, you should read The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August (by Claire North), if you’re interested in life long books, The Heart’s Invisible Furies (by John Green) is the best I’ve read
My favorite theme is prob time traveling and I also love games, so you’d better have read Ready Player One cause it’s the best out there T-T I am, too, looking for game-ish book recs
I dont know if you've read the lunar chronicles.. it's got forbidden romance in it. I feel that you'd really enjoy it! :)
Have you ever read the Not Your Sidekick series by CB Lee? It's a YA series with superpowers and superheroes/villains. Each book follows a different character's POV from the main friend group and all three of them are qpoc
for unreliable character narration i really recomend the Thief by Megan Whalen Turner!! In general that entire series constantly have interesting narration choices. It switches between first person and third person throughout the series, and its just really well executed.
The astonishing colour if after by Emily X. R pan is an amazing book. It is a magical relisam, it has a messed up family in it and it has flash backs in it. It's is about leigh and her mother comits suicide and she thinks her mother was reborn as a bird and is telling her to go to taiwen to visit her mother's parents who she never met before. It's my favourite book of all time.
For the number 3 of your list, you could read the Gallagher girls series by Ally Carter.
If you haven't read Summer Bird Blue by Akemi Dawn Bowman, I highly recommend it! It delves really deep into grief through an extremely personal first person narrator :)
The Chaos of Standing Still by Jessica Brody
I really liked your brake down of it all.
Night Angel Triology by Brent Weeks
Hyberbol and a Half by Allie Brosh
The Last Kingdom (series) by Bernard Cornwell
The Unwanteds series by Lisa McMann has a school where they're able to do different kind of Arts if that counts as specific powers
The crown's game is a really good fantasy with the championship element .
If you like mixed media you should try NIGHTFILM 🙆🏼♀️
Read Nice Try, Jane Sinner. Really cool writing style and you know you’re not getting the full story from the start plus there’s a competition involved
I recommend the elemental series by Brigid Kemmerer and Stain by A.G. Howard.
Check out The Starless Sea! Magical system in today’s world. I’m reading it now and it’s really great so far.
I would recommend The Art of French Kissing by Brianna R. Shrum. It has a cooking competition in it and the winner wins a scholarship to a prestigious culinary school. It’s also in first person and it has enemies to lovers! There’s also LGBTQ+ characters!! Let me know how you like it!
If you haven't already I recommend the selection series ❤
There's an amazing contemporary book called pivot Point by Kasie West check it out you'll love it, different powers mind reading/telekinesis/healers etc first book 4/5 🌟 and the second book (duology) Split Second 5/5 🌟
The shadow of the fox book series by Julie kagawa.
The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas is a murder mystery with some time jumps back to when the murders were happening! it’s really interesting and it’s a ya mystery
Give it to us Kaibaaaaa!!!
i don’t know if you’ve read this because it is popular but the great gatsby is really good
I have! it’s also one of my favourites ☺️
For the will they won’t they I recommend the vampire academy serie (cause it’s kinda forbidden and stuff but I thought the romance was great)
Off topic but you're so beautiful 😍❤️❤️💕
The book 'Made You Up' features an unreliable main character with schizophrenia
ur videos r not complete if u don’t mention a very large expanse of sea at least once beksbdjsnakshd