I’ve been debating whether or not to do one of these posts since I haven’t read as many books as this point in the year as I normally have. After thinking about it, I decided to just do a condensed version containing the two books that I think stand out from all the rest, plus one honorable mention.

My #1 spot belongs to The Killing Moon, the first book in The Dreamblood duology by N. K. Jemisin. The writing, worldbuilding, story, and characters were all excellent, and it’s my favorite of N. K. Jemisin’s books so far. (Review)

The #2 spot goes to Range of Ghosts, the first book in the Eternal Sky trilogy by Elizabeth Bear. While the writing styles are very different, this novel and The Killing Moon actually remind me a little bit of each other, mostly in that they have very vivid world-building and are set in a non-European fantasy world. (Review)

Honorable mention goes to Discount Armageddon, the first InCryptid book by Seanan McGuire. This is great fun and might end up being urban fantasy series #4 that I must keep up with. (Review)

These books are all by authors I already loved so one thing I’ve been trying to do lately is find more books by new-to-me authors to enjoy. Not that I haven’t found any at all this year since I discovered a couple of books published before this year by new-to-me authors I liked (Dragon Sword and Wind Child by Noriko Ogiwara, which is my favorite book not published this year, and Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal). Yet I haven’t had a lot of luck with discovering new to me authors this year, even though I’ve been trying to lately. In a pile of books by new-to-me authors I still need to write about I have one I thought wasn’t bad but wasn’t really all that great, one I didn’t like, and one I couldn’t finish. So I am hoping by the year’s end I’ll have some more books on the list by authors I wasn’t already a fan of! (I also need to read more science fiction. I’ve only read one SF book this year.)

What are your favorite books you’ve read so far this year?