Tuesday 10 July 2018

TTT (28) - Best Books I Read in 2018 so far

Top Ten Tuesdays is hosted over at That Artsy Reader Girl. Read up on the rules here and join in on the Top Ten Tuesday fun.

Follow the link to know more about the meme and join up, it's a great way to find out more about the book blogging community.

This week the theme is best books we read in 2018, at least so far, and this week's post by That Artsy Reader girl can be found here.

We're halfway through the year so this is a great moment to look back and choose a few books that I've loved so far. I've been reading quite a bit. More or less two books a week is my goal and so far I've kept up with that. Actually, I think I'm a few books ahead. But I also have ARCs piling sky high. I've linked my reviews in case any of these pique your curiosity.

These are my top ten books so far:

  • City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett. Read this if you're looking for a mystery in an interesting fantasy setting that is different. There's politics, religion and at its heart a murder mystery. My review will be up shortly. 
  • Bright Ruin by Vic James. The Dark Gifts trilogy is a fantasy YA that is about the common man owing the elite, who wield magic, ten years of servitude. It's political, it's intriguing and it's got characters I love. Here's the review of the first one, Gilded Cage.
 
  • Grey Sister by Mark Lawrence. Read this, but start with Red Sister, if you want to see a young girl being trained in a convent by nuns to become an assassin. The protagonist reminds me a lot of Arya Stark and what would have happened if GRRM would have focused on her story.
  • Every Last Minute by Ellen Smith. Time travel. Fast paced. Great couple. What if you could go back and undo something terrible which happened in your past?
 
  • The Cruel Prince by Holly Black. Read this if you're looking for a fun YA romp in the world of the fae.
  • The Curse of the Mistwraith by Janny Wurts. Read this if you're a fan of lyrical prose and epic high fantasy with a world filled with endless lore and are prepared to take on eleven books.
 
  • Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer. Read this if you're into philosophy, history, the age of enlightenment, and don't mind language like Voltaire would have used. This is one of the most different books out there in the SF world.
  • House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds. Read this if you enjoy hard science fiction and are looking for something epic spanning galaxies and centuries.
  • Inda by Sherwood Smith. Coming of age in a military academy, again in a fantasy setting. Read this if you're looking for betrayal and pirates.
 
  • Daughter of the Empire by R. Feist and Janny Wurts. Read this if you're looking for a fantasy inspired by Japan, where a woman is the main character who uses her intelligence to solve all her problems. (It's in the same universe as the Riftwar Saga by R. Feist.)

Special mentions:

  • Kings of Paradise by Richard Nell (because, I technically finished it in July and it'll probably be on my end of the year list.) Read this if you are looking to support an indie author who wrote a complex grimdark fantasy with an amazing plot.
  • Sorcerous Rivalry by Kayleigh Nicol (because it was heartwarming and exactly what my news-battered cynical soul needed, a good dose of fantasy romance with irresistible characters.) Read this if you're looking for a m/m romance in a fantasy setting.
 

13 comments:

  1. The Cruel Prince made my list too! You've got some books I haven't heard of before and they sound interesting!

    Top Ten Tuesday

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  2. Every Last Minute sounds really interesting! The Cruel Prince has been on my TBR list since I first heard of it, ages ago :)

    My TTT

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  3. Loved The Cruel Prince too! Red Sister and Grey Sister are both on my TBR :)

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  4. The Cruel Prince is one of those books that I need to read because everyone is always talking about it!

    Elle Inked @ Keep on Reading

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  5. The Cruel Prince made my list this week too. Can't wait to read the sequel!

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  6. I need to get The Cruel Prince. Grey Sister looks good too, adding that one per your recommendation. :) The Arya Stark reference doesn't hurt either lol.

    I've always wondered about the Mistwraith books. I looked at the map in the front of the book once and it looked so amazing I immediately wanted to read the series, but I haven't tackled them yet...

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    1. I'm not sure if they're not too slow for you, but you should definitely give the first one a try.

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  7. The Cruel Prince was definitely one of my surprise hits of the year.
    Every Last Minute sounds excellent! I’ll be checking my library for that one. I love time travel plots and this one seems like it brings up a lot of moral dilemma questions.

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  8. The Cruel Prince seems to be on everybody’s list. I should find out what all the hype is about.

    Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  9. The Cruel Prince is really such a fave. My co-blogger is a Black fan, so we have the book, I just tend to mostly read contemporary books. I will probably eventually cave to the FOMO though.

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  10. Fantastic list! I really want to read Gilded Cage and Red Sister! #somanybooks #mytbrwillbethedeathofme

    I hope you're having a lovely August. I'm doing my best to catch up!

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