End of The Year Survey [CC]

0:00-Intro

0:40- Favorite book of the year

1:26-Book you thought you were going to love, but didn't

2:52-Most Surprising (in a good way) book you read

4:24-A book you pushed the most people to read this year

5:01-Best series you started, best sequel and best series ender

5:50- Favorite new author you discovered this year

6:03-Best book for a genre you don't typically read or was out of your comfort zone

6:24-Most action packed/thrilling/un-put downable book of the year

7:07-Book you read this year that you would be most likely to re-read next year

7:20-Favorite cover of a book you read in 2020

8:03-Most memorable character this year

8:29-Most beautifully written book

9:40-Most thought provoking/life changing book

10:27-A book you can't believe you waited until this year to read

11:38-Shortest and longest books you read this year

11:48-Favorite non-romantic relationship of the year

11:56-Favorite book you read from an author you previously read

12:26-Looking ahead

WHERE TO FIND ME:

[jaybowersii]

Got a happy tear in my eye when you said you were reading One Piece.

[enricguasch]

Hell yeah! I'm so happy that you are enjoying One Piece! Chapter 1000 of the series has just been released this week and saying that it gets better is an understatement. Just so you have a reference, most people say that "good" One Piece doesn't start until the Arlong park arc (chapter 70/volume 8)

[keegszzz]

MERPHY! A little birdy told me that you've started One Piece. I just wanted you to know what your getting into. Unless I am mistaken One Piece is the best selling manga period. Better selling than Dragon Ball, better selling than Attack on Titian and all the rest. It has bee going on for 20 years and has maintained its reader base in all that time. Unlike many manga that have a down fall in quality or a lower publication rate the further you go.

Now last I checked you are still in East Blue which is before One Piece really gets going. I know it seems long but I promise you if you keep at it, it is a truly phenomenal experience. There are a lot of tedious moments in East Blue, but I PROMISE you pushing through that is worth it. Oda's character writing and world building and magic system writing only gets better the further you go.

It seems unassuming early in the series, but once you get into the Grand Line it shows its true colors. Things get more fantastical, more devil fruits with crazy creative powers are introduced and the world building really starts up. One Piece has the best world building in the business introducing things like creative technologies, political struggles, magic, creatures, and what ever weird concepts Oda can come up with and it all comes together into a phenomenal connected image of a well build world. (Check out Mr. Morj's One Piece is the King of World Building if you curious, it's relatively spoiler safe).


Then theirs the characters. You probably don't see it now but the characters from a certain point all have backstories that are enough to make me cry (and I don't cry easy). One Piece has multiple moments that resonated with me on an emotional level as powerfully as the series finale of Avatar:TLA.

Not trying to force this on you or anything I just wanted you to know what you're getting into. The length may seem intimidating but considering how much epic fantasy you read it probably won't be as bad.

Assuming you get that far I'm fascinated to see your reaction to Arlong Park.

[Feferedon]

Since One Piece has a different story structure from what you are used to, I will give you a suggestion on how to better organize your OP reviews if you ever decide to do them.
I think it'd be better to split the reviews into sagas.
A saga is usually composed of small buildup arcs before the big arc at the end in which the story threads are neatly tied up.
It's always better to analyze a story as a self-contained whole and I hope this guide will help you to divide your reviews better:


1 East Blue Saga Romance Dawn, Orange Town, Syrup Village, Baratie, Arlong Park, Loguetown 100 Chapters
2 Alabasta Saga Reverse Mountain, Whisky Peak, Little Garden, Drum Island, Alabasta 117
3 Sky Island Saga Jaya, Skypiea 85
4 Water 7 Saga Long Ring Long Land, Water 7, Enies Lobby, Post-Enies Lobby 139
5 Thriller Bark Saga Thriller Bark 48
6 Summit War Saga Sabaody Archipelago, Amazon Lily, Impel Down, Marineford, Post-War 108

It doesn't matter how you split the East Blue saga since the story isn't continuous like the other sagas (aside from maybe Nami's storyline).

[colburn]

I'm glad you're really enjoying One Piece. I was one of the ones on Insta saying to not do it lol Even though it's my favorite manga of all time. Really interested to hear more from you on One Piece in the future.

[ianmoone]

you are always allowed to say one piece in relation to being awesome.

[k.b.peterson]

Wait, you started One Piece? Hell yeah! Probably one of my favorite pieces of story telling and worldbuilding and if you're enjoying it only a couple volumes in, I think we may have ourselves a new One Piece fan because it most certainly continues to get better and better. And I just read chapter 1000 too, so my One Piece hyper and emotions are in overdrive.

[Feferedon]

The beginning of One Piece is definitely the worst part of the series on the first read. If you are already enjoying it you gonna love it later.
It's much better in retrospect because you can notice how the story is carefully thought out with so many story seeds that are sprinkled throughout the beginning. Even the second magic system (the term for manga is power system) that will be fully explained 600 chapters later is introduced in the very first chapter and you can only see it in hindsight.

Keep in mind that the first 100 chapters are just a prologue,
hence the name of the final arc in the East Blue saga - LOGUEtown, as in prologue and epilogue. Not Roguetown, the official translation messed up there, the quality of the translations will improve at some point though.
The in-universe reason for the name and why it is known as "The town of the beginning and the end", is because this is where the former Pirate King was born and executed,
the event that ended the previous era and started the new one. The legend begins in chapter 100.

[natasagajic]

One Piece is absolutely a valid answer for that question 😁💖

[thenerdknownaschris]

Oh wow I was not expecting you to mention One Piece, but I really hope you keep reading and enjoy it. Also thanks to you I decided to start my first audiobooks (I was always nervous whether I would like listening to a book be narrated) and I started with The Lies of Locke Lamora because of your praise of the Gentleman Bastards. I'm already a third of the way through and I'm loving it so far! Thank you Merphy!

[holdenbeachever]

I bet Squarespace loves you!! Your ads are always awesome!! My favorite book this year was Home Before Dark.

[joshgoldenberg]

Would anyone else watch an entire episode of just Merphy doing various squarespace ads? Bc I know I would

[bizarrebookworm]

for the Percy Jackson books, I highly suggest listening to the audiobooks, they are short audiobooks and fast paced so you don't get bored. the Heroes of Olympus are great audiobooks too!

[moonstonepearl]

I'm glad you are starting to read more manga. I've been looking forward to you starting to talk about Pandora Hearts and The Promised Neverland, since I know you have a few volumes of those. No pressure, though. You read a lot, and One Piece is the size of a beast!

[essauthor]

Your joy while talking about books is contagious.

[litlbucky]

Love your square space ads! This one reminded me of every Hallmark Christmas movie & how the tree looks completely different from tree lot to in the house decorated.

[thejustinwestra]

This year I read Beartown, Us Against You, Dark Matter, Pet Sematary, And Every Morning The Way Home Gets Longer and Longer, Peter Pan, Jurassic Park, The Vanishing Half, The Gentleman Bastard series, The Murderbot Diaries, and A Christmas Carol all based on your recommendations. This was my biggest reading year with 36 books. Thanks for all the great recommendations!

[MagillanicaLouM]

I remember you saying you started One Piece on Instagram, glad you're enjoying. And yes, it's all uphill from an already great start

[bekis]

I'm glad you went back to mention This is How You Lose the Time War for beautiful writing! I just read it a few days ago and was waiting for you to mention it, it would be my pick for that question too

[annaeliseteresa]

Thank you so much for convincing me to pick up My Dark Vanessa - I just finished it last week and it jumped right into my top 10 books of the year. Incredible.