Cover art illustrated by: Dan dos Santos
Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Series: Warbreaker (Book #1 of 2)
Genre: Fantasy, High Fantasy
Pages: 688 pages (US mass market paperback edition)
Published: 29th December 2011 by Gollancz (UK) & 9 June 2019 by Tor Books (US)
A colorful, vibrant, and highly character-driven standalone fantasy. …
The featured image above was specifically designed by Felix Ortiz for Novel Notions’ Top 20 Lists. Check out his portfolio, he’s brilliant.
Click here if you want to see the list of all the books I’ve read this year: Petrik’s Year in Books (2019)
Here we are, we’re reaching the end of 2019 very soon! This year, I’ve read and reviewed 115 books (96 traditionally published books + 19 indie books.)
It’s lower than the previous two years, but I must say that it’s been another incredible reading year for me. Putting the high amount of 4.5 and 5 stars books I’ve rated this year into consideration, I will be applying four rules into this list; doing this will help me give appreciation to more authors, and I’ll be able to include both new and older books (many of them still need attention) rather than having only a few authors/books hoarding the list every year.
All the books listed below received a rating of 4.5 or 5 out of 5 stars from me. Without further ado, here are the top 20 books I’ve read in 2019! (Full reviews of these books can be found on Novel Notions and my Goodreads page.)
The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
I was so hesitant to pick up this book. I’ve only read one other book by Moyes, Me Before You, and was absolutely infuriated by it. Not because it was a bad book, mind you; on the contrary, it was incredibly compelling and introduced some characters for whom I came to care deeply. But I felt so emotionally manipulated by the ending that I seriously considered burning my copy. I didn’t, because I consider book burning akin to sacrilege, but in my opinion the ending that Moyes chose to go with felt like it was chosen not because it served the plot, but because it was shocking and memorable. I hated it with my entire being. I don’t believe myself to be a reader who demands happy endings, but the final scenes of Me Before You felt like a right hook when I was expecting a warm handshake or something of the sort.
“… some things are a gift, even if you don’t get to keep them.”
Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I received a copy of this book from the publisher (Tor.com) in exchange for an honest review.
Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children novellas have quickly become one of my yearly highlights. I love having them to look forward to. I’ve been eagerly anticipating Come Tumbling Down since I read the final page of In An Absent Dream this past January. While I didn’t adore it as much as I have some of the previous installments, Come Tumbling Down is a fast-paced return adventure spanning two of McGuire’s worlds that I’ve come to love in recent years. It was an action-packed read that had me flying through its pages in one sitting.
“…the fact that I’ve been damaged doesn’t make me broken…”
Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Some adventures being easily.
It is not hard, after all, to be sucked up by a tornado or pushed through a particularly porous mirror; there is no skill involved in being swept away by a great wave or pulled down a rabbit hole. Some adventures require nothing more than a willing heart and the ability to trip over the cracks in the world.
Other adventures must be committed to before they have even properly begun. How else will they know the worthy from the unworthy, if they do not require a certain amount of effort on the part of the ones who would undertake them? Some adventures are cruel, because it is the only way they know to be kind.
Portal fantasy is among my favorite things, and Seanan McGuire excels at creating new realms. This book was just as good as Every Heart a Doorway, and yet managed to be completely different in tone and the method in which the story was told. This is the story of Jack and Jill, the identical twins from Every Heart a Doorway, before they were cast back through their door and relegated to Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children. The novella can be viewed as a prequel or a standalone story in the same series. It should most certainly be read, because it has much to say in its less-than-two-hundred pages. …
Hi everyone! Petrik from Novel Notions here. We have two events in one post: a cover reveal and a surprise novella release announcement! And to make things even better, this novella is FREE for five days starting from TODAY!
Today, we’re here to bring you a beautiful cover reveal of Valley of the Free, this is a prequel novella in the Pandemonium Rising series by Michael Sliter. I’ve read and enjoyed the first two books in the series, Solace Lost and Wisdom Lost. It pleases me to see that more grimdark fantasy readers are starting to jump into this great series since I’ve read it. However, it’s still not enough; more readers have to read this series! I hope this novella, which will be free for a few days, will gain your attention. Without further ado, here’s the cover reveal to Valley of the Free.
Cover art: Rene Aigner …
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Series: Standalone
Genre: Literary fiction, Historical fiction, Mystery
Pages: 384 pages
Published: 17th January 2019 by Corsair (UK) & 14th August 2018 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons (US)
Where the Crawdads Sing is a book that’s massively praised worldwide, and it lives up to all the hype.
It doesn’t matter whether you read literary fiction or not, if you’ve visited Amazon or a bookstore in 2019, it’s quite likely that you’ve heard about Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens’s FIRST novel that’s praised and hit bestseller everywhere. Honestly, I didn’t expect to read this one; my girlfriend and my co-blogger—Celeste—highly recommended it to me even though they know that it’s well outside my usual genre—SFF—of novels to read. However, the immensely high average ratings made the book a must-try for me. At the time of writing this review, it has an average of 4.5 stars out of 463k ratings on Goodreads, and on Amazon US it has an average rating of 4.8 out of 27.3k ratings/reviews! To make things even crazier, this is the author’s FIRST novel, and everything about it lives up to the hype.
“I wasn’t aware that words could hold so much. I didn’t know a sentence could be so full.”
The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
“Destiny has many faces. Mine is beautiful on the outside and hideous on the inside. She has stretched her bloody talons toward me—”
You can probably guess why I finally picked this book up. I’m stupid excited for the Netflix series of The Witcher. And since I’m a good student, I wanted to at least have read the first book of the series before watching the show. I’m very glad I did. The Last Wish is a wonderful introduction to Geralt of Rivia, the eponymous Witcher of the series. Set up as short stories with a framework, we get to see some of Geralt’s greatest hits of his career, as well as gaining a bit of insight into his character.
“People,” Geralt turned his head, “like to invent monsters and monstrosities. Then they seem less monstrous themselves. When they get blind-drunk, cheat, steal, beat their wives, starve an old woman, when they kill a trapped fox with an axe or riddle the last existing unicorn with arrows, they like to think that the Bane entering cottages at daybreak is more monstrous than they are. They feel better then. They find it easier to live.”
Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
There was still something unfinished around her eyes; she wasn’t done yet. She was a story, not an epilogue.
This was my third time reading this, and I have loved it even more with each rereading. Seanan McGuire created something magical with this novella. I’m not one to judge a book by its cover, but that’s exactly what attracted me to this book in 2016. A random door in the middle of a forest is the stuff of daydreams, and I had to see if the story inside was as captivating as the cover. It was. Everyone who has every felt like they didn’t fit in should read this book. It’s a love letter to dreamers and outcasts, and a declaration that everyone should have the freedom to be exactly who they are, without worrying about the disapproval of others. …
ARC provided by the publisher—Orbit—in exchange for an honest review.
Blood of Empire by Brian McClellan
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Series: Gods of Blood and Powder (Book #3 of 3), Powder Mage (Book #6 of 6)
Genre: Fantasy, High Fantasy, Flintlock Fantasy
Pages: 688 pages (UK paperback edition)
Published: 5th December 2019 by Orbit (UK) & 3rd December 2019 by Orbit (US)
Six years after the first publication of Promise of Blood, it’s time to say goodbye to the Powder Mage universe.
Blood of Empire is the third and last book in the Gods of Blood and Powder trilogy. McClellan has also said that this will be the final novel in the Powder Mage universe, and there’s a chance there won’t be any new full-novel in this universe, at least not for years because McClellan has a new series—Glass Immortals—coming in 2022. So overall, was this a satisfying conclusion to the saga? I’ll say yes. I have a few issues with it that prevent me from giving it a full 5-stars rating, but overall I’m satisfied. There aren’t many things that I can say regarding the details of the plotline without going into spoiler territory, and I don’t want to do that, so I’ll get into what worked for me and a few things that in my opinion would’ve made this final book more awesome.
“Styke was willing to put up with all sorts of creeping things for the sake of an ambush. He would not, however, allow a man to piss on him.”
Every time I talk to readers and fans of McClellan’s work, the majority have agreed that McClellan is very well-known for his fast-paced and action-packed oriented storyline. Contrary to The Powder Mage trilogy, every installment in Gods of Blood and Powder adapts a slow-burn story that escalates towards a big explosive conclusion. Both Sins of Empire and Wrath of Empire uses the same method, and the situation is even more apparent in Blood of Empire where the big action sequences happened only at the final 15% of the novel. McClellan has spent a lot of time building the setup towards reaching the final confrontation set piece. In fact, out of all six novels in the Powder Mage universe, it felt like this is the one where action scenes happened the least. It’s different from the first trilogy but it’s not a bad thing per se. It may be slower relatively, but McClellan was still able to tell a compelling story without neglecting the high focus on characterizations, relationship developments, and politics. Cultural differences, greed, faith, responsibilities, loyalty, love, and learning from mistakes were some of the patent themes used effectively to enrich the narrative in Blood of Empire. …