ARC provided by the publisher—Tordotcom—in exchange for an honest review.
Cover art illustrated by: Jaime Jones
Untethered Sky by Fonda Lee
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Series: Standalone
Genre: Fantasy, High Fantasy
Pages: 160 pages (Hardcover edition)
Published: 11st April 2023 by Tordotcom
Judging this by my novella standards, Untethered Sky is one of the best standalone novellas I’ve read.
“We cannot know the price others pay for their good fortune.”
The Magician’s Daughter by H.G. Parry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I received an advance digital copy of this novel from the publisher, Orbit/Redhook, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The Magician’s Daughter is a book that excited me as soon as I saw the announcement. I love H.G. Parry. Her debut, The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep, is one of my favorite standalones of all time. It is a love letter to book lovers, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. I have yet to finish reading her Shadow Histories, her incredibly well-researched (but dense) duology, but I was thrilled at the prospect of having another standalone from her. I didn’t love it quite as much as I hoped I would, as there was something about the plot and pacing that didn’t quite compel me to burn my way through the story, but The Magician’s Daughter was an absolute delight to read. …
Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Series: The Cosmere
Genre: Fantasy, High Fantasy, Epic fantasy
Pages: 483 pages (Kindle)
Published: 1st January 2023 by Dragonsteel Books (Kickstarter) & 10th January 2023 by Tor Books (US Ebook)/Gollancz (UK Ebook)
Tress of the Emerald Sea was simply whimsical and wonderful. Starting the year 2023 with the first secret novel from The Year of Sanderson is the correct action for me.
“Even small actions have consequences. And while we can often choose our actions, we rarely get to choose our consequences.”
Click here if you want to see the list of all the books I’ve read so far this year: Petrik’s Year in Books (2022)
Between 1st January 2021 and 28th December 2022, I’ve read 65 novels + 162 manga/manhwa volumes (69k pages).
Please read this first. There will be three rules I set in this list in order for me to give appreciation to more authors rather than having only a few authors hoarding this list. These rules allow me to highlight more authors, and at the same time, I’ll also be able to include both new and older books (many of them still need attention) that I read within this year.
Do note that although there’s a rank to this list, I HIGHLY recommend every book/series listed below because I loved all of them immensely, and they received a rating of 4.5 (rounded up on Goodreads) or 5 out of 5 stars from me. Honorable mentions are for books I rated 4.5 stars but I didn’t round up the ratings. And I will also mention my favorite novellas first this year. Without further ado, here are the top 15 (or 19) books I’ve read this year! (All full reviews of the books listed can be found on Novel Notions and my Goodreads page.) …
Swan Song by Robert McCammon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Series: Standalone
Genre: Post-apocalyptic, Horror, Dark Fantasy
Pages: 929 pages (Kindle edition)
Published: 1st June 1987
Once upon a time, a man decided to read Robert McCammon’s book. It became one of the best decisions he has ever made. …
Fairy Tale by Stephen King
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
“That much is true about songs (and many stories) even in my own world. They speak mind to mind, but only if you listen.”
Fairy Tale has been one of my most anticipated reads of the 2022 since it was announced. I preordered it in February, the day it first became available. So to say my expectations were sky-high would be an understatement. Reading anything you’ve been looking forward to for that long with your hopes for it residing somewhere in the clouds is always a tenuous undertaking. While Fairy Tale didn’t disappoint, it couldn’t quite live up to the hype in my head.
“it’s the stories of our childhood that make the deepest impressions and last the longest.”
Babel, or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution by R.F. Kuang
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
“Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.”
Every once in a while, you read a book that you can tell is something special. Not just because the story or characters are exceptional. Not just because the pacing is perfect and the prose is exquisite. Not just because it covers important topics in new ways. No, sometimes the book you’re reading is special because you know that it will go beyond standing the test of time; it’s destined to become a classic. You can see this book not only still being read a century from now, but being discussed in a classroom setting. Babel, or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translator’s Revolution is such a book. It tackles some truly weighty material, specifically colonialism and racism, in profoundly eye-opening ways. It houses a discourse on etymology and translation that is absolutely fascinating. And even while balancing all of these dense topics, Kuang still manages to create an incredible cast of characters that experience a phenomenal among of growth, as well as a perfectly paced, page-turning plot where the stakes are high and the emotions wrought in the reader are even higher. I can’t think of a superlative strong enough to adequately convey how powerful and nigh-on perfect Babel is as a piece of art. …
ARC was provided by the publisher—Subterranean Press—in exchange for an honest review.
Cover art illustrated by: Charis Loke
The Jade Setter of Janloon by Fonda Lee
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Series: The Green Bone Saga (Book #0.5 of 3)
Genre: Fantasy, Urban Epic Fantasy, Urban Fantasy
Pages: 144 pages (Hardback edition)
Published: 30th April 2022 by Subterranean Press
The Jade Setter of Janloon is an exhilarating and heartfelt appetizer or dessert to The Green Bone Saga, depending on when you start this novella. …
Click here if you want to see the list of all the books I’ve read so far this year: Petrik’s Year in Books (2022)
Between 1st January 2021 and 27th June 2022, I’ve read 39 novels + 55 manga/manhwa volumes (31k pages).
Please read this first. There will be three rules I set in this list in order for me to give appreciation to more authors rather than having only a few authors hoarding this list. These rules allow me to highlight more authors, and at the same time, I’ll also be able to include both new and older books (many of them still need attention) that I read within this year.
Do note that although there’s a rank to this list, I HIGHLY recommend every book/series listed below because I loved all of them immensely, and they received a rating of 4.5 or 5 out of 5 stars from me. Without further ado, here are the top 10 books I’ve read this year so far! (All full reviews of the books listed can be found on Novel Notions and my Goodreads page.) …
The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The Cartographers is one of those books that I added to my most anticipated list as soon as the cover and blurb were released. A literary mystery revolving around maps and map-making, with a dose of magical realism to boot? That sounded so very much up my alley that I snatched it up as soon as Book of the Month announced it as a March pick, and have been very much looking forward to it. The fact that it was only in my house for a couple of months before picking up is saying something, as even highly anticipated have my massive TBR to compete with before I manage to get to them. But unfortunately, I think my experience with The Cartographers is a case of letting anticipation spoil whatever is being anticipated, because it fell quite flat for me.
…