ARC received from the publisher, Tor.com, in exchange for an honest review.
The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water by Zen Cho
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Fantasy, wuxia, novella, Asian-inspired
Published: 23 June 2020 by Tor.com Publishing
The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water is a Malaysian-based fantasy with a semi-wuxia flavour that was an absolutely delightful slice of home.
…
ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Cover illustration by: Felix Ortiz
Ash and Bones by Michael R. Fletcher
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Series: City of Sacrifice (Book #2 of 3)
Genre: Fantasy, Grimdark Fantasy, Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy
Pages: 661 pages
Published: 1st August 2020 Michael R. Fletcher
Ash and Bones is a sequel filled with battles, narcotics, magic stones—especially obsidian—and moral dilemmas.
“There are two means of convincing a population to police itself: Religion, and Economy. Faith and greed.”
ARC provided by the publisher—Orbit—in exchange for an honest review.
Cover designed by: Lisa Marie Pompilio
The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Series: Standalone
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Pages: 528 pages
Published: October 15th, 2020 by Orbit (UK) and October 13th, 2020 by Redhook (US)
Similar to The Ten Thousand Doors of January, The Once and Future Witches will be a big hit among many readers. …
A Time of Courage by John Gwynne
My rating: 6 of 5 stars
“Truth and courage are the banners I live by. Love, loyalty and friendship shall be my guiding light. I will be the bright star in the night sky, the candle in the darkness. The defender of the innocent, protector of the weak. I will bring hope to the lost, give my life for the helpless. With Truth as my shield, and Courage as my sword, I shall stand against the darkness. From this day on, until the time of my death.”
— The Oath of The Order of the Bright Star.
I firmly believe that John Gwynne is one of the most gifted, powerful fantasy authors of our age. In the course of this trilogy and the quartet preceding it, Gwynne was able to create a world that feels as real as our own. The lore he wove into each book was fascinating and completely transportive. He crafted a compendium of characters for whom I cared so deeply that I rejoiced and wept with them as if they were my friends in reality instead of merely fictional. And don’t even get me started on his action-scene prowess. The fact that he can keep a battle going for 200 pages and keep everything in such incredibly clear focus that boredom has no hope of setting in and tension is so well maintained that I never once felt tempted to skim is an incredible accomplishment that I don’t think has been matched by any other author I’ve read outside of Brandon Sanderson. I honestly don’t know that anything about the series as a whole or this book in particular could’ve been improved in any way. In A Time of Courage, Gwynne penned an incredible finale that moved me deeply and left me feeling weepy and exhausted and content. …
The Once and Future Witches
The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Series: Stand-alone
Genre: Fantasy, Historical Fiction
Published: October 15th, 2020 by Orbit (UK) and October 13th, 2020 by Redhook (US)
ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Witchy as HELL! The Once and Future Witches was one of my most anticipated reads of the year and Alix E. Harrow absolutely, unequivocally, brought the magic.
I first picked up The Ten Thousand Doors of January earlier this year (2020) and loved it beyond description. In fact, that book now occupies a space on my favourites shelf. It is unsurprising then, that The Once and Future Witches was one of my most anticipated book releases of the year. Luckily, I have been fortunate enough to have been given the opportunity to read this book before the official release date. The icing on the bookish cake is that I have had the privilege of reading not just one, but two of Alix E. Harrow’s spellbinding stories in less than seven months and both have filled me with an unbridled sense of wonder.
Review copy received from the author in exchange for an honest review.
Dust & Lightning by Rebecca Crunden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Science fiction, space adventure, novella
Published: 5th February 2020 (self-published)
Dust & Lightning was an enjoyable science fiction adventure that packed just enough character development and worldbuilding to make the plot work in novella form.
…
Cover illustration by: Micah Epstein
Of Darkness and Dawn by Will Wight
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars
Series: The Elder Empire: Shadow (Book #2 of 3)
Genre: Fantasy, High Fantasy
Pages: 364 pages (Kindle edition)
Published: 10th August 2015 by Hidden Gnome Publishing (Indie)
This review is an unpopular opinion; please feel free to ignore this if you’ve read and enjoyed the first book, but in my opinion, Of Darkness and Dawn was a huge downgrade from its predecessor. …
2020 has so far been a truly strange, stressful and complicated year, but reading wise it has been pretty incredible for me. I’ve read/listen to 73 books during this first six months of the year and quite a sizeable chunk of these garnered 4-stars and above. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I’ve added so many books onto my favourites shelf in the same period of time. If you’re interested, you can see my year in books for 2020 right here.
Similar to my previous list, I do not limit this to only books released this year. There are simply too many great books that have been published prior and that I’ve yet to read, so there will always be older books included. Below are the parameters that I’ve set for the list.
None of these are ranked except for the top three, of which two are tied for first place. The rest, I’ve listed them in the chronological order of when I’ve read them this year. All of these have been reviewed by me on Novel Notions and Goodreads.
Cover illustration by: Chris McGrath
White Night by Jim Butcher
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Series: The Dresden Files (Book #9 of 25)
Genre: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy
Pages: 528 pages (US Kindle edition)
Published: 4th March 2010 by Orbit (UK) & 3rd April 2007 by Roc (US)
I’ve mentioned this several times, but it’s always safe to rely on The Dresden Files for a quick entertaining read. …
The featured image above was specifically designed by Felix Ortiz for Novel Notions’ Top Books Lists. His work is amazing, and we feel incredibly fortunate to have been favored with it. Thank you so much, Felix!
If you’d like to see a list of everything I’ve read so far this year, you can click here to see my year in books for 2020!
So far, 2020 has been an incredible reading year for me. Between January 1st and June 30th I read right around 75 books, and have found a number of new favorites. I haven’t read as much fantasy this year, but I still managed to find some wonderful new stories that I know will stick with me for a long time to come. Thank goodness for books, right? I don’t think I could’ve gotten through the dumpster fire that was the first half of 2020 without them. It was incredibly difficult to narrow my list down to twelve books, but I finally managed it. There will be a handful of honorable mentions at the end of this post, for those I just couldn’t bare to not include. I’m taking a page from Petrik and following three rules for my list:
1. Only one book per author.
2. Rereads don’t count.
3. The books were new to me, but didn’t have to be published this year.
Once again, I’m ranking my reads. That being said, every single book on this list was a 5 star read and I highly recommend them all. You can view my full review of each book (including the honorable mentions) by clicking the link in each title. And now, without further ado, here are my favorite books of the past six months. …