Cinder House
Oh, how I loved this wickedly smart, gothic reimagining of Cinderella! In which Ella *IS* the house (or, rather, the house’s ghost), her stepmother is her murderer, and her stepsister is her torturer, and the prince is — well, I won’t spoil it.
Blood Over Bright Haven
I almost — almost — let this one slip through the cracks of my TBR. Reader, that would have been a grave mistake. What an incredible firecracker of a standalone fantasy novel!!
The Silmarillion
As a fan girl at heart, I love feeling 10x more informed about Tolkien’s lore and hope to pick up more of his supplemental works someday, perhaps starting with the story of Beren and Lúthien.
The Incandescent
This is one of those books you can’t examine tooooo closely, but if you just go along for the ride, you’re going to have a really fun time.
Someone You Can Build a Nest In
Well, I did not expect this novel — about a (female) blob monster who falls in love with a (human) woman and decides she wants to lay her eggs in her body, after which her offspring would devour her from the inside out — to be one of my favorite reads of the year. And yet! What fun this was!
Service Model
Adrian Tchaikovsky is trying to do a lot here, and insofar as his intentions go, I think he succeeded — Service Model is a funny, voicey book that hits its themes home. Unfortunately, the execution was just not for me.
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny
This is masterful writing and an epic; beautiful story. It’s a slow-paced, aching, intimate, sweeping 700-page book that takes its time, and so must you.
The Lesser Bohemians
What a moving exploration of youth, love, desire, and recovery from trauma. I’m intrigued to see what the sequel holds for these characters!
Wild Houses
Maybe I’ve read too many books with a similar setting, character archetype, and mood, but I didn’t feel like this one did anything compellingly new for me; it was just another well-written book in its subgenre.
The Tainted Cup (Shadow of the Leviathan, #1)
It took me way too long to read The Tainted Cup — its Hugo nomination tipped the scales — because y’all, this was SO much fun and just so well done.
The Everlasting
A wholly original and unputdownable sweeping, epic, magical story for the ages, this is my favorite book I’ve read so far this year and could easily maintain that #1 spot all the way through.
Assassin's Quest (The Farseer Trilogy, #3)
This book is a long adventure that takes its time, but I sank in and never felt frustrated by its pace. I also think this was my favorite Farseer book; the scope of the world and the story expanded so much!
Enlightenment
I enjoyed my time with this deliberately, consciously slow-paced book about lives in orbit, love in all its forms, and what haunts us.