Year In Review

Out of the 140+ titles I read this year, picking out a particular volume as “best” just makes no sense. Rather than a “10 Best Books of the Year,” I thought I’d do a recap of some of the authors that made an impression.

Best New Author: Sarah J. Hoodlet.

She published book 1 of an eponymous new series, Way of the Wielder. The characters drew me in as they grew. The magic system intrigued me. The world building just kept me engaged in wonder. The plot unfolded gently, but not without some darker moments that felt well crafted and necessary. Book 2 is out and I’m looking forward to getting to it.

Best New-To-Me Author: Sarah Painter.

With her two related series, Crow Investigations and Unholy Island), Sarah took me on a fantastic journey thorough a magical England that felt as real as walking down a rain-slicked sidewalk in the twilight of a chilly autumn day. Rich world building, engaging plots, relatable characters. Everything just so. I’m looking forward to reading more from her

Honorable Mention: Branwen O’Shea’s Finding Humanity series where magic surfaces in post-apocalyptic Earth.

Favorite Time Travel Expedition: Ed Nelson

Think “Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court” where a modern character wakes up in some fantastical historical Earth, Ed Nelson’s Cast In Time series kept me turning pages. Don’t let the covers put you off. There’s a lot of fun storytelling going on between them.

This is not a deep well of content but I’m always interested in how this mechanic plays out as the modern character rises to the challenge of being in a different time, a different body, and a world where things aren’t necessarily what they think.

Honorable Mentions: J R Mathews’s Port to Nova Roma, which I read last year, and Gabriel Rathweg’s From Chef to Crafter to Conqueror series, another contender, dropped a fresh volume this year.

Best New-To-Me Science Fantasy: Scott Baron

Scott’s Dragon Mage series took me on a crazy ride across a universe where magic sort of exists in some places but never got developed in others. The main character – Charlie – takes a journey in space and time to save Earth from alien invaders. A wonderful, very pulpy kind of series that kept me reading into the night more than once. He’s got a ton of other work out there, too, that I haven’t even dipped a toe into.

Best Series: Pirate Aba

The Wandering Inn series (14 volumes and counting) has been crossing my desk for years. Technically litRPG with deep roots in Royal Road and a blog, I bounced off the sample half a dozen times over the years. Something about it stuck this year and I read nothing else for weeks, sometimes up to 40 hrs a week. I had to fight with myself to put it down for a couple of days to read some science fiction I could recommend to readers.

Another in the isekai fantasy niche but instead of one single character (spoiler alert), we soon learn that Erin Solstice is not the only ex-SmartPhone wielder in the mix. How and why all this happens? In the words of Alton Brown: “Your patience will be rewarded.”

Yes, some of the characters are aggravating, others just too nice (or are they?), but the tapestry this saga weaves across multiple continents, with several parallel – sometimes intersecting – story-lines, and various timelines kept me enthralled.

Honorable Mentions:

Jenny Schwartz continues to put out SF books I love. Delphic Dame and Pax Galactica each have a new volume this year.

Honour Rae’s highly recommended All the Skills (litrpg) series has at least one new title.

Tim Rangnow finally crossed my desk this year with his nicely pulpy space opera series, Rim Jumper.

James Haddock does double duty with his fantasy mage books and his SF Duty Trilogy.

All told, a heck of a year in books and I’m looking forward to seeing what these authors do in the future in addition to finding new ones to delight me.

Until then, safe voyage.

-N