Cover art illustrated by: Gregory Manchess
Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Series: The Wheel of Time (Book #6 of 14)
Genre: Fantasy, High Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Classic Fantasy
Pages: 1056 pages (Kindle Edition)
Published: 15th October 1994 by Tor Books
Lord of Chaos could potentially become the best book by Robert Jordan for me. Let the Lord of Chaos rule, and rule it did.
“Asha’man, kill!”
Locke & Key: The Golden Age by Joe Hill
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
When I read the original 6 volumes of Locke & Key, I fell head-over-heels in love with every element of it: the story, the art, the characters, the concepts, the setting, all of it completely enchanted me. I consider it one of my favorite series of all time, and definitely my favorite series of graphic novels I’ve ever read. Every single volume was a 5 star experience. I wouldn’t have changed a single sentence or frame. It’s one of those rare instances where the art and the prose carry equal weight in the story, and something about Rodriguez’s art style stole my heart as surely as Hill’s writing did. I loved every single thing about it. …
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. …
Sharp Ends by Joe Abercrombie
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Series: First Law World (Book #7 of 10)
Genre: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Grimdark Fantasy, Westerns
Pages: 369 pages (UK paperback edition)
Published: 26th April 2016 by Gollancz (UK) and Orbit (US)
Sharp Ends, the ultimate collection of tales from The First Law World by Joe Abercrombie, is a great dessert to provide insights and background for most of the previously established characters in the past six novels. …
Cover art illustration by: Patrick Foster
Dreadgod by Will Wight
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Series: Cradle (Book #11 of 12)
Genre: Fantasy, Progression Fantasy, Xianxia
Pages: 504 pages (Kindle edition)
Published: 5th July 2022 by Hidden Gnome Publishing (Indie)
Dreadgod has prepared the series to reach its epic conclusion, but as an installment, Dreadgod was my third least favorite of the series.
Cover art illustrated by Marc Simonetti
Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Series: The Legends of the First Empire (Book #1 of 6)
Genre: Fantasy, High Fantasy
Pages: 432 pages (Mass Market Paperback)
Published: 28th June 2016 by Del Rey
It’s always a great feeling when you start a new series from an author whose work you loved and find out their storytelling skill in their first installment of a series has improved. Well done, Michael J. Sullivan.
On my first read of Age of Myth, I gave it a 3.5/5 stars rating. Five years later, today, I finished my reread of the book. Similar to my experience of rereading The Riyria Revelations, I loved Age of Myth more on my second read. Let me enlighten you a bit on why this reread worked so well. And to do this, I will have to compare my experience of reading Age of Myth and The Crown Conspiracy, the first book in The Riyria Revelations series, and also my reread experience of them both.
“If given a choice between a potentially great hardship and doing nothing, people gravitated toward what was most familiar and comfortable. That was why leadership was needed. To do what was necessary rather than what was easy.”
Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Series: The Founders Trilogy (Book #1 of 3)
Genre: Fantasy, High Fantasy, Science Fantasy, Urban High Fantasy, Science Fiction
Pages: 512 pages (Hardcover)
Published: 1st August 2018 by Crown (US) & Jo Fletcher (UK)
Thrillingly fun and highly imaginative, Foundryside is one of the most promising starts to a series I have read.
Hello everyone! I did wonder if I should keep up with my monthly wrap-up for June or do a half-year recap of best books read so far. I decided with stick with the wrap-up in the end as I thought my Books of the Month will end up being on the half-year list anyway.
I can’t believe half of 2022 had passed by already. Hope that all of you have been reading great books so far this year. Before I start, can I just say that Stranger Things Season 4 was absolutely phenomenal! I still can’t stop thinking about it, and that ending.
NB. Books are rated within its genre. For avoidance of doubt, rereads are not considered for Book of the Month.
ARC was provided by the publisher—Del Rey—in exchange for an honest review.
Locklands by Robert Jackson Bennett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Series: The Founders Trilogy (Book #3 of 3)
Genre: Fantasy, High Fantasy, Science Fantasy, Urban High Fantasy, Science Fiction
Pages: 560 pages (Kindle edition)
Published: 28th June 2022 by Del Rey (US) & Jo Fletcher (UK)
Locklands is a truly inventive, emotional, genre-blending, and reality-defying finish to The Founders Trilogy.
“We’re all the result of countless actions and choices made throughout the centuries, and the odds of those actions and choices going the exact same way again are basically nil.”
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.) …