Petrik’s Top 10 Books of the Year So Far (January 1st, 2018-July 31st, 2018)
Between January 1st, 2018 and July 31st, 2018, I’ve read and reviewed 82 books, and so far it’s been another fantastic reading year. Considering the number of books I’ve read and reviewed this year, there will be four 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. The rules are:
- Rereads don’t count.
- One book per author.
- The book listed here are not exclusively published this year.
- Number one spot aside, none of these are in particular order. Why? Because I spent two hours of staring at my computer screen and I still can’t firmly decide on the ranking!
All the books listed below received a rating of 4.5 or 5 out of 5 stars from me. Without further ado, here we go! (All full reviews of these books can be found on my Goodreads page; some are available on this blog.)
- The Ember Blade (The Darkwater Legacy, #1) by Chris Wooding
“It’s a book that fantasy readers will love to revisit and inhabit longer and longer with every visit. The Ember Blade has been forged to stand the test of time and I sincerely hope you’ll wield the blade yourself.”
- Chains of the Heretics (Bloodsounder’s Arc, #3) by Jeff Salyards
“Chains of Heretics is a superlative and satisfying conclusion to a great grimdark/military fantasy trilogy and I sincerely hope a lot of readers will give this trilogy a try.”
- Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield
“One of the two best standalone books that I’ve ever read; this is truly historical fiction at its finest.”
- Lancelot by Giles Kristian
“I firmly believed that I would never experience another Arthurian novel as magnificent as Bernard Cornwell’s Warlord Chronicles trilogy. I was wrong.”
- We Ride the Storm (The Reborn Empire, #1) by Devin Madson
“This book is truly a serendipitous and glistening hidden gem oozing with brilliant cinematic set pieces and a gripping, evocative hurricane of emotions that constantly took my breath away.”
- Iron Gold (Red Rising Saga, #4) by Pierce Brown
“A bloodydamn spellbinding return to my number one favorite sci-fi series of all time.”
- City of Miracles (The Divine Cities, #3) by Robert Jackson Bennett
“I’ll even go as far as saying that The Divine Cities trilogy has become one of the best trilogies I’ve ever read.”
- The Poppy War (The Poppy War trilogy, #1) by Rebecca Kuang
“I have no doubt this will end up being the best fantasy debut of the year […] I have absolutely no doubt that [Kuang’s] name will be up there with the likes of Robin Hobb and N.K. Jemisin.”
- Bloody Rose (The Band, #2) by Nicholas Eames
“If you’re a fantasy reader, you better get some holy water to cleanse yourself of your sin if you’re thinking of not reading Bloody Rose.”
- Assassin’s Fate (The Fitz and the Fool Trilogy, #3) by Robin Hobb
“This book actually deserves 6/5 stars… Robin Hobb’s achievement on completing The Realm of the Elderlings is stupendous and something that readers in the future will always remember.”
I wish I could include more books but it was hard enough for me to narrow down 82 books to 10 books. In conclusion, all the books and series mentioned in this list are truly worth buying and reading. I still have more or less 30 books left in my priority list to read this the year so I will definitely do another post like this at the end of the year; hopefully, that one will be with a proper ranking 😅. Thank you to every author for the experience. I look forward to reading and reviewing more books for the rest of the year! 🙂