Paternus: War of Gods by Dyrk Ashton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Series: The Paternus Trilogy (Book #3 of 3)
Genre: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Mythology
Published: 23rd June 2020 by Paternus Books Media (Indie)
A truly stunning and magnificent conclusion to an incredibly unique and fun urban fantasy adventure, Paternus: War of Gods cemented The Paternus Trilogy as one of my all-time favourites. …
Paternus: Wrath of Gods by Dyrk Ashton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Series: The Paternus Trilogy (Book #2 of 3)
Genre: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Mythology
Published: July 2018 by Paternus Books Media (Indie)
If I’m limited to just two words to describe The Paternus Trilogy so far, I would say that it’s fun-tastically spectacular. …
Paternus: Rise of Gods by Dyrk Ashton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Series: The Paternus Trilogy (Book #1 of 3)
Genre: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Mythology
Published: July 2017 by Paternus Books Media (Indie)
An excellent new take on urban fantasy, Paternus: Rise of Gods was fascinating, fun and simply fantastic.
Boy’s Life by Robert R. McCammon
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Genre: Historical fiction, magic realism, horror, mystery
First Published: 1991
Boy’s Life is a beautifully written and captivating coming-of-age story.
I would like to highlight first of all that while this book might have won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 1992, I would say that it was more akin to magic realism with a dose of horror in historical and fictional setting of a small town named Zephyr in Alabama.
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.
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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.
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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.
ARC received from the publisher, Tor, in exchange for an honest review
The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Genre: Historical fiction, mystery
Published: 23rd June 2020 by Tor Books
The Angel of the Crows was a decent and fun read, though not at all what I was expecting from the blurb. This book is Sherlock Holmes fan-fiction written in the subgenre of wingfic, where some of the characters have wings (in this case, they are angels).
Cover illustration by: Matt Duffin
The Labyrinth of the Spirits by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
My rating: 6 of 5 stars
Series: The Cemetery of Forgotten Books (Book #4 of 4)
Genre: Historical fiction, Mystery, Thriller
Translated Edition Published: 2018 by Weidenfield & Nicholson, Orion Books (UK) & Harper (US)
The Labyrinth of the Spirits is one of the best books I’ve ever read. It has it all – evocative history, engrossing mystery, atmospheric setting, compelling characters, incredible emotional depth – wrapped up in writing so beautiful that it moves your soul.
Dust of Dreams by Steven Erikson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars.
Series: Malazan Book of the Fallen (Book 9 of 10)
Genre: Epic fantasy, grimdark fantasy, fantasy
First published: 2009 by Bantam (UK) and 2010 by Tor (US)
The denouement of the Malazan Book of the Fallen is so long that it had to be written over two enormous books. Dust of Dreams is the first act of this grand finale and it was glorious!
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