Okay, so today we're going to be doing a review video. We're going to be talking about three
books that i read. The Deal of A Lifetime which is actually a short story. This is literary fiction.
Um... oh no. Her-cule? Hercule Poirot's Christmas? I don't know if i'm saying his name right.
This is a classic murder mystery by Agatha Christie and Best Served Cold which is a fantasy,
grim dark, brutal revenge story. There will be time stamps in the description if you
want to skip around a little. We're gonna start with The Deal of A Lifetime which is
a literary fiction short story. It's only 65 pages long. The premise of this is, it's a man who
is um in the hospital. He thinks he's at the end of his life because he's had a tough diagnosis and
he is, he's given the opportunity to give up his life for someone else like, death shows up and
gives him this opportunity. Um, and i guess that's all i'll say since it's 65 pages long. I really
enjoyed this book, uh short story. Again, because Backman has this ability to take a difficult topic
and explore it in this unique way that just makes me think about it and he does it in a way
where it really feels like he's exploring something inside himself and he's doing it
in such a raw and vulnerable way that i feel like i'm having a discussion with someone who gets this
topic that's also important to me. Uh, the big theme, i mean there's a lot of themes in this
story. There's a lot of parallels in the story, but the big theme is that this man has spent his
life pursuing work, pursuing money, pursuing a big name for himself. A big reputation for himself,
and he's sacrificed a lot of relationships and people and morality in order to accomplish these
things. And now that he is facing this question he uh, is is reevaluating the values that he's
had in his life and it's such a great topic of discussion and it hit me real personal and uh, i
really really loved it. I did have some nitpicks, some things that tripped me up a little bit that
made it a four star instead of a five, but it was still fantastic. I still loved it so much and do
recommend. It's only 65 pages. It, it's a very fast read and actually in the physical edition...
which is over on my desk, i... is it over on my desk? I uh... i think half of the pages were
illustrated so it's even fewer than 65 pages. It's such a quick read. Um, i guess i'll go into some
quick spoilers so i can talk about the things that tripped me up, the things that i didn't like about
this since it's so short. Why not? Uh timestamps in the description for you to just skip to the
next book. Couple of things that tripped me up in this. One: at one point death says that she can't
see into the future and then shortly thereafter she tells him his future. She says; "You're going
to get a good diagnosis tomorrow and you're going to go home and live a happy life and get all you
want out of life." And i... can you tell the future or not? Also, one of the big things, the
big thing about this book is that he can't give his death, he can't, he can't die in the place of
a in the place of another. Like, take my life and save hers. It doesn't work that way. It's "take my
life, my actual life." You'll be erased from the world if you sacrifice your life to give her
more life, right? This little girl. Um, so that's like the big question and the thing is that
the way she explained it, she said, so if you disappear. If you give up your life then that
means that you were never here. No one remembers you. No one knows you existed and the way she
explained it is that someone else will come in like, your family will still be around. Your
son will still be alive, but someone else will come in and they'll have been your son's dad and
naturally my brain is trying to fill in these holes and i'm just like, okay. If someone else
comes in to be his dad then does that mean that that someone else now is leaving a hole? Like what
about their life? What about the life that this man has built up? His whole life. Now if you're
removing him from his life and putting him here, then who fills the hole of his life? And then who
fills the whole of that person's life? Like, what happens when you remove someone and put them here,
there's still a hole in the universe that needs to be filled and then just turtles all the way down!
So then, it's like, okay so then is a new human created out of nothing every time someone gives up
their life and they disappear from existence? Is a new human created out of nothing and placed there?
Is that how.. like how does that work? How does that... what? Do they have manufactured memory?
What is... so the and i know it wasn't the point, i know it wasn't the point of the story. The point
of the story wasn't the plot or the all that it was, it was the discussion. The point of the story
is the discussion and i reminded myself of that and i let these things go, but obviously i didn't
let them go enough because it still gets me. But these things were little things, they were little
nitpicks about like, ah. I don't, this isn't just tripping me up a little bit, but it was fine. The
one thing, i would have still given it five stars with these things. The one thing that actually
bothered me is sometimes Backman does this thing that i hate! And i won't say where else he did it
because i don't want to spoil other books, but sometimes he does this thing where he'll say
something at the beginning of the story to create false expectations so that he can then subvert
those expectations. And he did that with this short story and it's so blatant that it's like,
okay. Now i have to go back, now that i've gotten to the end i feel lied to because you
said something and then you delivered something else. So now i have to go back to the beginning
and re-read the beginning because you lied to me. And then once i re-read it i realized, oh.
You worded it in this abstract way so that you deceived me so that you would make me believe
something, but it was abstract enough that it's not 100% that thing and he can get by
with having just set up false expectations so he can subvert them and i actually really hate that.
It's it's it's a narrow line. Like, i'm really okay with authors setting something up and then
letting the readers make assumptions and then subverting those assumptions, but Backman takes
it a step too far for me where he actually is intentionally trying to deceive me so that he
can subvert these things and i hate it! I think he takes it a step too far, like i feel like you can
allow your readers to make assumptions and then subvert those without outright like, presenting
them with something and wanting like, making them believe something with the way you worded
it. Being tricky about it and i don't like that he does this. He has, i've only read two books where
he's done it and i've hated it both times and it's like... it's bothered me both times, but oh well.
It was still a fantastic story. Amazing things were still discussed. I still had a great time
with it. Okay, the next book that we're discussing here is the Agatha Christie Christmas one. I,
this is my first murder, this is my first detective, i know that this is her detective um
Poirot' is the detective that she has in a lot of her stories and this is my first one with him. And
i discussed, i'm gonna discuss this in another video, but we'll discuss it here too. The thing
with murder mysteries is a lot of times i really enjoy the beginning and i really enjoy the end,
but a lot of times the middle goes on a little bit long for me and i felt this way with Agatha
Christie's book. She did a great job of setting up this really interesting mystery with a bunch
of suspects that all look pretty sus and uh trying to... she laid clues in this story so well
where it's like a bunch of little things that are really obvious. Once you know the ending,
once you know who did it, the clues were right there. Like, so clearly there, but because
everybody's a little bit sketchy and has their own secrets it's hard to decipher which people are
just sketchy people and which people are hiding things. And i think she did such a great job
at accomplishing that. There was a part in the middle where i actually ended up just putting this
book down and finishing another book. I finished Best Served Cold and then i came back to this,
um and, and i feel that way with a lot of murder mysteries where it's just like, okay.
We've been introduced to these people, we've got clues, we're deliberating and like the
deliberating goes on a little bit longer than i want it to. It's just a preference thing and
once we got to the ending i was happy with "who done it" because it wasn't too obvious,
but it was also all right there. So i was really happy with how it went. And the final book
that i will be discussing in this spoiler-free review is Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie.
Oh my goodness. This book was so good! So, okay. I did an interview with Joe Abercrombie recently
and i asked him what order he wants his books read in and he said that the way he wrote them
is that you can start at the beginning of any of his trilogies or you can start with any of
his standalones and they're all good starting points, entry points into his world. But ask
most any fan of Joe Abercrombies and they will say to read his books chronologically. And i get it,
but i think i disagree. Don't get me wrong, if you're willing to start with The First Law trilogy
start with The First Law trilogy because there are characters in this trilogy that show up in
the standalone and man it was really satisfying to already know so much about these characters that
show up and then be able to just dive back in with them in a different setting, in a different story,
in a different part of their life. I loved it, but it's definitely definitely readable as a
standalone, as an entry point. I guess you'll get some mild spoilers for the trilogy if you
start here, but i think you'd be fine. Does it hold up for those of you who read the trilogy and
you're concerned about going to the standalone? Go into the standalone! It has Joe's signature
unbelievable, incredible character work that he like, he creates such uniquely different and
wholly lovable while being so bad, so morally corrupt in this world that's so morally
corrupt. He has all these signature abilities to get inside a character's head and make them
completely, wholly, uniquely their own and nothing that they do feels out of character. Everything
they do is just like, oh wow. Yeah, that makes sense. That is what this character would do.
Even sometimes there were some scenes in this book where i was just like, really?
But it always fit you know? It always fit with the character even though sometimes i was like,
okay. I don't... i'm trying to keep the spoiler free so i don't want to go into it so much,
but um there were certain scenes that i was like, really? But the characters, it always worked for
the characters. He just has this ability to create some of the most authentically real 3D characters
that i've ever read. And please, those of you who have read more of Joe's work than i have. Please
tell me that Friendly shows up in other books because he is one of my new favorite characters
of all time and i miss him. Even if the timelines are different, even if we're hanging out with
Friendly before this story, i don't care. I need more Friendly. This book was so surprising with
how much it did so well. It's a revenge story. It has family dynamics, it has characters that
develop such an incredible um friendship, an incredible dynamic. It has characters
really grating against each other that don't fit well at all. It has romance, it has adventure,
it has intrigue, it has betrayal. It has so many great elements to it and, AND AND AND... if you're
not a hugely character focused reader and the thing that intimidates you about First Law is that
it's not very plot focused in the first book. The plot doesn't even really begin until the second
book... hey bud. Sorry. If the thing that makes you hesitate about The First Law is that you're
not so character focused, that having very little plot for a whole book is intimidating to you,
start with Best Served Cold so that you can get an idea of how incredible Joe is because the plot in
Best Served Cold is so good and it's it's it's it's important, it's at the fore... fore point,
it's driving, i mean the characters still drive the story. They always drive the story, but
it's a great driving plot. It's a very engaging plot and it's... i think, i think that if you are
less of a: "All i care about is characters" kind of reader, this is going to really show you Joe's
talent because honestly, i might like this more than the trilogy. I don't know. I need to think
about it. I might like this more than the trilogy. It... i feel like there are so many things that
Joe Abercrombie does well, but this book shows off his ability in near every facet. I mean truly,
i really really really liked this story. Also, too, also... if you've read this book can you do
the spoiler space space space? I want to hear what you think about the ending. I haven't,
i haven't read reviews. I haven't watched videos on it. I don't know what the general consensus is,
but can we talk about the ending because when i first... this is spoiler free still... when
i first read it, my reaction was... "What?" And then i thought about it and i think i love it? But
i still don't actually know how i feel about it and i would love to talk to you guys about it. It
was very different from how you expect a fantasy ending to go and i think it actually worked really
well for these characters and for this world. It... and you know, i really respect Joe for how
he ends his books because he doesn't end them the way fantasy readers expect him to end them
and it works. He pulls it off i think. I want to know if other people think that though. I'm such,
i'm i'm i'm such a fan of Joe Abercrombie's work. I really recommend it. There you go,
that's my spoiler-free review of Best Served Cold. Anyway, i would love to continue chatting with
you guys about any of these books. Have you read them? What did you think of them? Do you plan to
read any of them? I post videos every Tuesday through Friday. I'll see you guys again soon.
Bye