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⚠️ NO TOP 10 OR 15 THIS YEAR ⚠️
Inspired by Ash (@sff_reads) best of 2022 list last year, I decided to make a change for 2023.
There will now be 14 categories for favorites, plus the Top overall read of 2023.
Re-reads are still excluded.
I love StoryGraph for its charts. It does such a good job of keeping track of things like mood, rating, most read and genres, like the pictures below!
WITH THAT SAID, ON TO THE CATEGORIES!
There’s not much to say here. Ortiz is a master of his craft, each one of his covers is worthy of this honor, but Sistah Samurai by Tatiana Obey sticks out more than anything else. It just oozes coolness and READ ME NOW! WHICH YOU SHOULD!
Though I loved the story of Malevolent Seven, it was Jameson who really made me enjoy it even more so. Jameson has a great command of his voice and is able to deliver a wide range of emotions and differing voices, helping bring each character to life.
If you’ve read Of War and Ruin, you’ll know exactly what scene this is! Ryan writes with such a unique ferocity and this scene in the video below, from the movie 300 known as “unflinching faith in brakes” (SHHH! Don’t tell Ryan I said that phrase, inside joke 😉), reminded me of the scene he wrote in OWAR involving Dayne and a certain beast.
In my review, I mentioned that I heard Iron Man by Black Sabbath playing, but Warrior by Imagine Dragons works so much better, so I had to create the scene with the audio! If you’ve read OWAR, this scene should be etched into your memory forever, if not… you really should read it! If you need a refresher, it’s in chapter 69.
Maybe it was the deep foreboding voice by the narrator, but Jacob Marber is an unforgettable antagonist that stuck out to me the moment he appeared. Jacob was once a man but has become something much different, he has an ability that involves manipulating dust which helps make him immune to fatal wounds.
Since Dayne’s scene was my favorite, it shouldn’t come as a shock that he is also my favorite character as well. Dayne is described by Mr. Cahill as a John Wick like character, I would also say he has a very Spartacus/Maximus like quality to him as well, which is what makes him so likable. Since his first appearance in Of Darkness and Light, to The Exile and now in Of War and Ruin, he has been that ultimate cool character with his unflinching drive that separates him from the other characters.
Though there are many great characters in TBATB, there is just a quality about Dayne that is unrelenting and has forced me to consistently go back to thinking about his past, his path back, and his future in the war to come. With that said, Belina Louna is a close second.
Ok, maybe I’m a little biased on this since the author named the character after me… but it was a glorious death nonetheless, and I’m very thankful for the honor of being one of the chosen to be sacrificed by the eclectifying, Krystle Matar! (No, that is not an actual word, it’s a portmanteau of eclectic and electrifying… cause that’s exactly what Krystle is, a person with a broad, diverse range of taste, style and ideas with a great sense of excitement! Yeah, tell me that’s not Krystle!)
This was a difficult decision to make, because I had to choose between, not 1, not 2, not 3… but 4 traditionally published books, that I gave 5 stars to! In the end, there can only be one, and the final book of the series won out over a stand-alone and two penultimate books.
This one wasn’t a very difficult decision for me, while this did actually have competition with a finale of a long series that I love, OWAR just holds a special place in my heart.
I didn’t read a lot of sci-if this year, specifically traditional, but reading Mickey 7 has definitely pushed me to add several more titles to my 24 TBR because of how amazing this was!
There was some stiff competition on the self-published side of sci-fi, and while I enjoyed several of them, Titan Hoppers was so different, and so much fun. Rob Hayes is an author that I have no problem reading whatever he decides to put out.
I had five novellas that I graded with 5 stars, so this decision was not easy, it was such a hard decision that I almost just made it a tie between all of them, because they all deserved the honor, but again, there can only be one. All were fantastic in different ways, but at this point in TBATB, every single story hooks me in a way I can’t describe, and it’s all I can think about for days, weeks and months later. The setting, the character work, the action, it’s just… special.
This is one of those, that people like more than they love, graded with a 3.80 on GR, and it seems that a lot of the issues come from the narration… that I actually loved. It’s a long, slow listen, but it’s dark, eery and will give you goosebumps if you go into it knowing what you’re getting. In my opinion, massively underrated.
This is another series, that I feel is massively underrated, and there’s only one thing to say about PL, this man can WRITE! It’s historical dark, low fantasy, and PL’s attention to detail in his descriptions of settings is unmatched, as well as his connections to historical events and peoples of the world that he weaves in so masterfully. The Drowned Kingdom deserves more love than it gets, and I will pound my fists on the table until it does!
Inspired by One Thousand and One Nights, this was such a fun story to dive into because it was something completely different. Abdullah showed us a world with a fantastic point of view of the Arabian setting, since I’ve never been anywhere near there, I was excited to see that it was a dazzling place I never knew, that felt so natural and wondrous. There were unbelievable sights that left an indescribable feeling, like it was a whole new world. On top of that, the charcaters were great and compelling while being narrated by three different narrators!
I received this as a review request from the author, and it quickly turned into a favorite, I’ve still yet to do a re-read with the audio, but that is in the plans before book 2 drops sometime in ‘24. I’ve said it twice already, but my gawd I’ll say it again, TALK ABOUT BEING UNDERRATED… this is very classic fantasy, and I say that with reverence, because if I’m being completely honest, I’m putting this right on the boot heels of my dude, Ryan Cahill’s, Of Blood and Fire, that I absolutely loved, which is also reverently labeled as classic fantasy.
Before we get to the TOP READ of the YEAR… here are all the books I read in 2023!
AND NOW… THE TOP READ!
I know what most of you are thinking: “but Michael, you’ve read some incredible books this year, is Of War and Ruin really that much better than the penultimate books of two different series, as well as, the culmination of two other different series?!?” Without any hesitation, the answer is yes, we are witnessing a master in his prime… Of War and Ruin is a masterpiece, and it may not even be Cahill’s Mona Lisa. OWAR is what happens when you think a series can’t get any better, and then you realize just how wrong you were.
Thank you for taking the time to check out my top reads list of 2023!
Below are links to my top 15 of 2021, top 10 of 2022 and my TBR for 2024! Don’t forget to like, retweet and follow me on Twitter!
Happy Holidays!
Check out these links below!
Michael’s Top 15 Reads of 2021
Wolfmantula.com 