rereading six of crows, is dune worth it? & drawing characters as i talk about books i read in april

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Let's get cozy and discuss and review the books I read in April (and also March oops). I reread six of crows because i'm still hyped about the shadow and bone netflix show, read the SFF classics Dune and Neverwhere and then also a few feel good stories! This month the reading wrap up is a bit different because I'm doing it while I casually paint some bookish characters. Hope you enjoyed it!
contents:
00:00 intro
2:38 steamy and cute romance hell yes
5:38 ghibli movie books !!
9:08 a popular book i didn't like
14:18 DUNE (+ a speedpaint??)
20:25 i reread six of crows for the first time in 5 years
Books mentioned:
• Take a hint Dani Brown - Talia Hibbert
• Howl's Moving Castle - Diana Wynne Jones
• Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
• Dune - Frank Herbert
• Six of Crows - Leigh Bardugo
🌻 w a n n a s e e m o r e?
• Easy non-fiction recommendations: • EASY non-fiction book ...
• How to read critically: • How To Read Critically...
• Reading vlogs: • Reading Vlogs☕
🌸 m y e t s y s h o p
I sell bookmarks, bookplates and art prints!
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🌼 s o c i a l m e d i a
• goodreads: / leonie-dams
• twitter: @thebookleo
• instagram: @thebookleo
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🌺 a b o u t m e
Hi! My name is Leonie and I am a 23 year old girl who loves talking about books! From YA to non-fiction to classics, I read it all (although fantasy will always be my fave). I live in the Netherlands and go to university, but make booktube videos in my spare time :)
🌹 m u s i c
• KZbin Audio Library

[@lightlawliet3526]

howl's moving castle is the definition of cozy fantasy for me.

[@TheBookLeo]

it's so chill

[@lightlawliet3526]

@@TheBookLeo there's also a book on kiki's delivery service if you wanna try it btw.

[@alejandranunez5407]

It’s my favorite book! I read it for the first time last year and I’ve re-read it 3 times so far 🥺

[@Juliacasualcozygamer]

I first listened to it as audio and then read it and I loved it so much!

[@DudaSilva-xl6qc]

a live and a video in the same day, life is not about winning, but today my friends, we won

[@TheBookLeo]

hahaha perfect timing right after each other!

[@headinthecloudsbookinhand]

I think your thoughts on Kaz are really interesting! I just finished Six of Crows for the first time and I’m currently reading Crooked Kingdom. I really loved SoC and would like to add my thoughts if you don’t mind. First of all, I totally get where you’re coming from. We get so many descriptions of how dangerous, mysterious and honestly evil Kaz is. Everything tells us that he’s a force to be reckoned with. And you’re right, it is kind of a caricature. His ‚catchphrase‘ is literally „Dirtyhands had come to see the rough work done.“ It makes him seem like a myth, something lurking in the shadows that everyone fears, something not quite human. Now, I might be giving Leigh Bardugo to much credit here, but she makes a lot of very well thought out choices in the books, so I feel like she did that on purpose. It’s mentioned a few times that Kaz has been spreading rumors and stories to shape his image in a way that’s beneficial to him in most situations. The other characters have all heard of these rumors or seen some true parts of them with their own eyes so he’s described like that in their chapters. But every now and then, we see that they’re not all entirely true. Two examples in the first book that I can think of off the top of my head are (spoilers!!!) when he faints in the carriage they use to get into the Ice Court and then again later at the docks when the crew realizes that for once, Kaz Brekker, genius bastard of the Barrel doesn’t have a plan when they’re confronted by the soldiers and Drüskelle no one knew about. Both show that, despite everything that we seem to know about him, Kaz isn’t invulnerable and he doesn’t know everything. He can’t think his way out of every single situation. I think it’s a great way to slowly show us his ‚true self‘ more, and I personally think it’s a great stylistic choice.

[@mena4397]

I just read six of crows for the first time and I LOVED IT!! Crooked kingdom has been a blast so far, I fear I'm getting way to emotionally attached to the crows 😂

[@TheBookLeo]

Ohhhh you're in for a ride!

[@Doublehelix_]

I wanted to read SOC for a long time but some people told me that I should read the Grisha trilogy first but im totally not in the mood for that..so yeah im holding myself back and hence I haven't watched the show either *sighs *

[@mena4397]

@@Doublehelix_ I actually haven't read the grisha trilogy but despite that SoC totally made sense to me and was absolutely magical :)

[@beatriz6131]

@@Doublehelix_ it's totally fine not to read the grisha trilogy if u wanna read SoC!! tho u should watch the show bcs its rlly good!

[@bunniekay]

i am literally attached to them. i forget they’re not real and i find myself thinking “i wonder how kaz and inej are doing” 😭😭 lmao

[@marieindrova5215]

Hey I was also reading Dune the whole march, I honestly loved it so much, drinking water felt different that month

[@Thaibiohazard123]

"It took me the whole March to read Dune" **Me, a beginner reader who took 6 months to finish Dune** : The hell ?

[@Doublehelix_]

hi five beginner reader xd

[@valeriag9443]

That’s okay before I really got into reading again it took me that long to read Emma and now I can read an Austen novel in about 5-7 days, but it did take me a month to read Dune

[@josharugay1414]

I'm so glad I'm not the only one having a hard time reading this. But the story is sooo immersive

[@tanaypandey1771]

Same man . I can feel you

[@chelsealee144]

This made me feel a lot better having spent almost 2 weeks reading the first third.

[@mirtegeerts8025]

omg just loooove that you're drawing whilest talking!!! Just love these video's where people are doing like the laundry or different chores whilst talking because it feals so cozy and more spontaneous

[@kapperuza]

I'd really recommend reading Dune Messiah as well. I always find it funny when people say Dune can be read as a standalone because you really miss a lot by stoping there...even if you don't plan on reading the rest (I love all of them), I feel like 1 and 2 should almost be seen as a package deal...

[@postmoderndisco]

i totally agree. for the people who say you can read dune as a standalone, i assume to give this opinion these ppl have read the other books so i'm like ummm do you even understand this story? XD

[@xJillie]

I don’t know. I read dune messiah and children of dune recently and I kinda wish I had just stopped at Dune.

[@olifasan]

In my opinion, God emperor of Dune is the angular stone of this universe as it concludes all that happens before and introduces the sadly non concluded part that starts after.

[@Dularr]

@@xJillie It does deconstruct the hero.

[@alexiasp]

no no, I read Messiah and I think you can wrap it up there. The main philosophical themes are in Dune already. Messiah is written in a way that makes it difficult to read and it wasnt worth it in my opinion.

[@KatieColson]

Five seconds in “Stunning. Beautiful. Whatever she’s doing, it’s great.” 😂

[@Alexandra-jc5xm]

I see six of crows, dune and howl's moving castle and I click😁

[@shriyasrinivasan3468]

LITERALLY ME

[@cerise4662]

IT’S LIKE MY WHOLE PERSONALITY LMAO

[@Alexandra-jc5xm]

@@cerise4662 SAME

[@desertspring9174]

There are what I would call, two different arcs in the series. DUNE, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune. That is the first arc, and I feel like it allows for a lot of satisfaction and wrapping up of plot lines. If you want to feel like stuff has been wrapped up, read the next two books. That’s it if you don’t want to commit to reading all six. Plus Messiah is very short. So honestly, read the next two books, they are a lot short then the first and wrap up a lot of the stuff you were wondering about. Theoretically you could read it as a standalone, but you miss so much in way of what the story is about if you do. Messiah and Children are really great. The second arc would be God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune, and Chapterhouse Dune. These take place thousands of years into the future, and while awesome stories and really fascinating in how humanity changes and power shifts occur (*cough* the Honoured Matres are epic*cough*), you don’t NEED to read them per-say if you are more invested in the Atreides and particularly Paul’s arc.

[@postmoderndisco]

totally agree! having read dune messiah, i think stopping at dune would make it a whole different story (like how it's actually anti "the chosen one"). makes me sad when people stop there lol

[@desertspring9174]

@@postmoderndisco Same! Especially when the character arcs and development develop so much even in such a short book

[@alethearia]

Children of Dune was my absolute favorite book for a long time... and then I read God Emperor of Dune... and like, my whole perspective on his writing changed. Princess Weekes does a really good video on the series over on Storied. Totally worth a watch for Dune and non-Dune fans alike.

[@losermillie]

Thank you so much! I own dune but have been putting it off as I didn’t know if I have the mentality right now to start a huge series but will definitely be picking it up soon!

[@desertspring9174]

@@losermillie No prob! I’m sure you’ll enjoy it when you get the chance. It real is the type of story where you need to sit down and dedicated the time when you are in the mood, because that is when you really get the most out of the story and all the layers of character and world building. 😊

[@angelawesneski5029]

I think that people who loved Howl's Moving Castle and Jones' other books probably grew up to love Spinning Silver. It's a vibe.

[@TheBookLeo]

ohh good one, i really enjoyed spinning silver!

[@melissagoss4951]

I saw six of crows I clicked

[@TheBookLeo]

yesss six of crows

[@shreeeeeeeeeeeeee]

Okay but like Leonie watching Jazza is the crossover I needed lol

[@sammorgan9526]

I got thrown off when she said Josiah Brooks though lol I sometimes forget his actual name isn’t Jazza

[@adiahh6382]

This is such a fun video idea, watching you paint is so relaxing and listening to you talking about books is the best combination!

[@Cdagraca]

I enjoyed dune from the first page. I didn’t see it as slow it flowed really nicely to me

[@chellirey3040]

I agree!

[@sumitraspov]

LOVE THE SPEEDPAINT PLS NEVER STOP

[@tcontarin]

this is one of the best wrap up videos i’ve ever seen

[@Priya_JR]

On point with Howl's Moving Castle. It just doesn't have a specific plot but is filled with random magical events :)

[@clownfucker]

If you want more crime-based fantasy, then I recommend the Gentlemen's Bastards series!! It's SO good and it's similar to Six of Crows

[@shreeeeeeeeeeeeee]

Love the speedpaint! Wouldn't mind seeing it more in videos tbh

[@Fullbatteri]

The drawing-review idea was brilliant! The first time I read Dune, I too felt like it took very long to start. Now I think it's fantastic, I've read it many times, and each time I love it more and more. It's one of those books that become a part of your life.

[@elisabethp3699]

The moment you said „I wanna read more crime-fantasy-books“ I thought: You HAVE to read Locke Lamora! It‘s exactly that!

[@eadlc]

The Lies of Locke Lamora is everything I liked about Six of Crows but better.

[@luoiv7682]

@@eadlc I'm intrigued what is it about?

[@rivendellstarlight]

@@eadlc disagree, Locke was soooo slow, I liked the world and the characters but it was moving so slowly I couldn't put myself through it

[@rivendellstarlight]

Too sloooowww, so meandering and bogged down with too much repetition of the same events

[@luoiv7682]

@@rivendellstarlight Would you recommend it?

[@apoorvpragya1777]

Loved the fast drawing! I like the way you talk about books. Really makes me wanna read them. :)

[@tamlovestea]

Loved the addition of the speed paint & casual drawing 😊

[@Lillyjoy]

I loved the speed drawing!! I would love if you did that more often

[@PiaMakinang]

your videos fill me with so much peace and serotonin, thank you for making them 💜🙇🏻‍♀️

[@brigid6626]

I loved your artwork in this video, the drawings were so pretty 😍

[@yaelvargaskusnir]

this video was hypnotising! def love the mix of drawing and talking about books

[@jessicapratt1400]

I loved watching you make beautiful art while talking about books! Two of my favorite things. I would be very excited if you decide to do this more often

[@lorenceinflames]

your art is so beautiful!

[@Miettesdetrucs]

I love this video ! I love the talk about books and the drawing !!

[@inbookville]

Loved watching you draw, while talking about books - it actually inspired me to draw & read more at the same time! 👌

[@raenich8661]

The vibe of this video is 💛💛💛💛💛

[@sarahaeri4264]

Definitely loved the speed drawing!

[@kate559]

These are such great recommendations for spring!

[@lrkegaardsdal3690]

More videos like this! Not exactly where we only see the drawing, but where we see you draw. And more reading/bulletjournal vids

[@sheyslibrary]

This was such a fun way to do a wrap up!

[@bellabiundo9873]

absolutely loved the speed drawing segment while you reviewed dune! i was entranced ahaha

[@iamawaffle4629]

Ooo I love your art style it’s so unique 🌹

[@thebookishmind]

This video was so lovely!! Relaxing and creative. Made my day! 🧡🧡🧡

[@meera2654]

I love the energy you give

[@uriah19s]

I like the new drawing/talking format!

[@janasamaranchcosta6654]

The dune art is amazing!!!

[@kovacsattila9960]

I really liked the Dune review with the speedpaint. I love your artstyle and opinions too

[@christinacampbellbooks]

I feel the exact same way as you about re-reading a favourite! I don't want to ruin my wonderful feelings about it. Loved this style of reading wrap up. So cosy 🖤

[@rafa_8950]

I just finished Crooked Kingdom yesterday and you made me sob with the SoC review

[@neophyte8]

I've read a few Neil Gaiman books and I enjoyed The Ocean at the End of the Lane the most by far. If you're wanting to give him another shot, I'd recommend it!!

[@hope-cp7nj]

you're becoming a dream roommate with these aesthetic videos✨

[@paularodriguez726]

The asmr at the beginning of the video YES, this video idea YESSSS, Leonie looking gorgeous YESSSSSSSSS

[@the_reading_apprentice]

That drawing time lapse was EPIC!

[@solpluvia]

Great wrap up, please continue! And the swirleys are really cute looking :)

[@bookthoughtswitheilish]

This was a great video, loved this idea as a wrap up!

[@renee4282]

I just wanna point out that the thumbnail and the background are absolutely beautiful ! 😍

[@grayshot77]

That was a really nice picture of Chani. Reminded me of Katara from Avatar

[@deboraalmeida9198]

Love the speed drawing!!!!!

[@ruthjackson2804]

This is cool! I loved this video so so soooo much

[@applepie-sq8mm]

you have such a cute artstyle wow!

[@TheBookLeo]

thank you :D

[@cooldragon919]

I liked watching the character drawing process while listening to the review.

[@neverxever66]

The live-drawing was so much fun! Would love to see you do it again for another character 🐱

[@AliceSchicker]

can we get a dust jacket of the art you did while you were talking about dune PLEASE

[@jacobellis5822]

Loved your dune drawing! Personally, I loved the first part of the book for all the world building and gOt-style intrigue, and did think it had a really good ending that wrapped up well. I think the finality of the ending is in the themes and implications for the futures of the characters and world, rather than a traditional closed ending with a focus on plot

[@nins7]

the brown sisters trilogy is so so good, i‘m glad u loved it as well!! welcome to the romance club

[@boxgrater]

24 seconds ago? I've never been this early in my life. Sorta proud.

[@TheBookLeo]

congrats :D

[@savannahcarlon7033]

I loved watching the speedpaint while you talked! Your face is great too, but whenever you want to do this style of video I'm happy to watch it.

[@deathbyduckie]

This was a super fun video. I also want more SV streams please!

[@sarahsperusals]

your drawing of chani is incredible!!

[@starry_worlds]

Your art looks so good.

[@violetfolgi]

it would be so cool if you made a video, like, "the books you will like if you love SoC and morally gray characters!" I really need more of those stories in my life

[@raymondhodgson1190]

Just finished re-reading Howl's so this great timing. Also, the book is *so* funny! Can't ignore the humor. Also, Neverwhere is a bit of a weird situation since Neal Gaiman started this out as a TV mini series and turned it into a novel pretty much as a same time. I think you get stuck with the main character making more sense as an audience stand-in where all the bad stuff is happening in their living room rather than in a book that you're safely reading and can just shut. I still like it because all of the other characters are so cool.

[@tejaswinisureshkrishnan4228]

Liking Leonie's video without even watching it because it's Leonie and she's always amazing!!!❤❤❤

[@asmaababa9193]

Leo, you are one of those youtubers that I hit like on your videos before you even say a world ❤

[@ashirali2620]

Heyy Everyone! 👋🏼 Excited to see this week's episode!

[@pearld1ver]

Heyy

[@kori_bb]

Please do more speed drawings/reviews! Super entertaining

[@rxea545]

i see you switched up your filter on your videos and i really love it! its such a cozy vibe and i love the colours! 💖

[@TheBookLeo]

thank you!!

[@clare8146]

I adore Howl's Moving Castle. Both the movie and the book hold a special place in my heart. I re read the book every spring

[@rikkebay8548]

It is the only book I reread every single year ❤️

[@banaa9463]

I liked watching you draw while talking about books.

[@teawithleia]

I love this video concept 🥰 I sadly also didn't like Neverwhere. I liked the beginning but the moment he met Door everything was so boring. But omg the inspiration Schwab got form Neverwhere, now that you mentioned it, wild!

[@deliaconti8430]

a lot of people say that the lies of locke lamora (the first book in the gentlemen bastards series) has the same vibes as six of crows, so i think that if you like that kind of story, you’d enjoy it!

[@Jasmijn.F]

That drawing is so good! I would love to see some more speed drawing!

[@stephenbyrne8746]

I would love to see more art on the channel, very cool

[@winterbutterfly8861]

I recently found your channel by the nlog trope in ya. Totally love your videos and the books you recomend. I'm kinda in the same place with romance books right now, gonna try the Talia Hibbert one 🙏🏻

[@susanacardoso1659]

i saw a video of her and i automatically fell in love haha, she usually does this thing where she puts her hair behind her ears in a cute way. She's really funny.

[@irisselmpesi4091]

I read dune in march too and it also took me a month and it TOTALLY went over my head. there has never been a book that has made me feel THAT dumb before oops

[@theleosasmr]

I read six of crows and shadow and bone before the show came out and six of crows was my absolute favorite out of the two!

[@MissEpicMe]

Mistborn also have the "chosen one" trope but in a religious/prophecy way, which I loved a lot !!

[@Pixiewithpens]

omg yes!!!! i also draw while i talk about books, im on the hunt for more booktube/art making crossover content all the time so i wont feel so alone lol

[@Emma-sj6wp]

The fit is giving me fun high school counselor that keeps an arsenal snacks in her office. The fact that my ideal cozy fictional places are The Shire and Ketterdam says something about me and my personality that I don't necessarily think is good. But it's there....

[@NeilBruder]

It’s nice to see your face and your art! Can’t we have the best of both? You could do a picture-in-picture of you talking over your art time lapse, like the way you setup your game livestream.

[@HanSan17]

Could you do a video on cozy fantasy books? I feel like the house in the cerulean sea fits in to that and it’s one of my favorites! I also just started howls moving castle!

[@leisamorton8997]

Yes! That would be wonderful!

[@guilhermefigueiredo3936]

I love books I love draw I love this video!

[@tessmasselink2171]

Hey! If you love crime and heists in fantasy you could read The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch! This first book is all about a heist (with a bigger over-arching thing happening that will drive the plot of the next books) and is also very character focused. The relationship between Locke and Jean is just per-fect! There are flashbacks and it might take a while to realise what these flashbacks' functions are, but once you do it'll help you understand and appreciate the plot and characters so much more. It's one of my favourite books :) I liked the speed-drawing by the way, looks so nice!

[@jennayoung7722]

Enjoyed your speed drawing of Chani. Dune can be read as a trilogy, it gets pretty dark but you get more if you read Dune Messiah and Children of Dune.

[@megancoad1897]

Dune is my all time favourite! If you don't feel like book 1 was enough, but don't want to commit to the whole series, I recommend reading it like a trilogy! I think you can wrap it up at book 3 - Children of Dune. After that.... well... you either understand God Emperor or you don't, and I definitely didn't get it lol

[@dresdenjackshula4940]

FIT 2B READ and MEDIA DEATH CULT got me hooked on Dune. Id recommend their reviews. I haven't read any of these others so I'm going to add them to my TBR.

[@ashwonders16]

I adore Howl's Moving Castle so much, I love how the magic described in the book is random, unpredictable, it's almost like witnessing the witch/wizard performs some kind of an art. And the characters imo are waay more complicated and layered... very different compared to the movie version. I read Neverwhere years ago and never finished it. It's full of adventure throughout the book, yet somehow I just didn't feel the excitement of reading those adventures.

[@emmastirling3450]

I felt the same way about Neverwhere! A lot was happening, some of it was cool, but I really didn't care. I've read other things by Neil Gaiman though and really loved them

[@Clearwood2023]

If you like criminals doing heists, you should consider reading “The Lies of Locke Lamora”. It’s an adult fantasy book centered around a group of gentlemen thieves. It’s the first book in a series, but works as a standalone. Also the book is great.

[@TheBookLeo]

i've heard great things about that one!

[@lemon8283]

Literally watched this because the thumbnail had Dune in it lol it is such a good series, I have to say that the third book "Children of Dune" is one of my favourites. You should really read the rest of the series if you have time! I think the slow pace of Dune turned me off of it a bit but it was definitely worth it.

[@varrsha715]

Hi Sis How are you? Loved this wrap up and the style of the wrap up was different and cool Love you sis Bye 😘❤😘❤😘