By Jay Flood
June is behind us, which means we are halfway through 2023. I have read 46 books so far this year, so I thought I would give a recap and list my top four favorites of this year, so far. According to Storygraph, I have read 46 books, which is 15,966 pages in total and my top three genres are fantasy, young adult, and mystery. The top three ‘moods’ for the books I’ve read are adventurous, mysterious, and dark. About half of the books I read were given three stars and my average rating for all 46 books is 3.63 stars. My goal for the entire year is to read 55 books, which means I only have nine books left before I reach my goal. Out of the 46 books I read, I gave 11 of them five stars. My four favorite reads from the first half of this year are very different from each other but similar in the fact that they all were impossible to put down.
1. A Psalm for the Wild-Built and A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers
Technically, this is two books. But, it’s part of a duology so I will talk about them together. I wrote an in-depth review if you are interested in learning more. This duology not only is my favorite read from this year so far, but it also might be one of my favorites of all time. These two short books about a monk and a robot made me feel so many things. It’s difficult to explain why these books were so incredible to read and why they became my favorite, but I will try. When we think of dystopian and fantasy books, we typically think of revolution, war, and villains. Dystopian books are meant to comment on and critique society by applying the same oppression and politics to a futuristic and unfamiliar setting. Fantasy books are meant to present the differences between good and evil by showing the main characters as inherently good fighting indisputable evil.
It’s important to view the world as it could be if we continue to allow hate and evil to take over. But just like it’s important to learn about history so we don’t repeat it, it’s important we learn and read about how the world could be if we allow love and good to take over. The society displayed in this duology is the goal we should be trying to reach. Their society rewards its people instead of punishing them, appreciates differences, lives in harmony with their planet, and is content with mundanity and simplicity. When asked what they need, they didn’t have an answer because they had everything they needed. Poverty, hunger, and debt don’t exist because their community takes care of each other. Reading about a society that is the goal rather than the lesson was such a unique and bittersweet experience. I wish I could go back and read it again for the first time.
2. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder trilogy by Holly Jackson
Again, technically this isn’t just one book. But it’s a trilogy, so I will write about them as one. I read this trilogy in one week and rated every single book five stars. It’s not often the second book in a trilogy is as good as the first and last, but I would argue the second book in this trilogy was the best. Each book got better and better. The characters felt so real that it didn’t feel like I was reading a book, it felt like I was watching a tv show. I love when books feel so real that it feels like you’re watching a tv show. It was so fun trying to guess the plot twists, but even if I guessed one aspect of it, I was shocked at everything else. The reveals always made sense and I could look back and see the foreshadowing, rather than feeling like it was a last-minute decision. This trilogy made my list of four unpredictable fast-paced thrillers, where I explain more about the plot.
3. The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter
I read this book as part of a fantasy book club and probably wouldn’t have chosen it myself if not for the book club. However, it absolutely blew me away. This epic fantasy inspired by African culture was action-packed, character-driven, and suspenseful. Although the story centers on the main character’s plot for revenge, the caste system, mythology, and politics were so interesting and impressive. I genuinely cared about the characters and loved learning more about their magic systems and mythological lore. I just started reading the second book recently, and am even more excited to learn more about aspects of their world that were mentioned in the first book but not fully explored. I had so much fun reading this book and was impressed by the detail and development of the world and magic systems. The society in this book is also a matriarchal one, which I thought was cool.
I loved this book because none of the characters are inherently good, especially their leaders. I can’t fully explain what I mean without spoiling things, but we are shown the grey areas in survival and that people will do whatever it takes to protect their people, even if it harms others. I love morally grey characters because I believe it shows the complexity of good and evil and how good and evil change based on perception. There were no slow points in this book and it kept me turning the page wanting to know more.
4. Lore by Alexandra Bracken
Every seven years, Zeus turns Athena, Artemis, Apollo, Poseidon, Hephaestus, Hermes, Ares, Aphrodite, and Dionysus into mortals for one week to be hunted by descendants of Greek heroes like Perseus, Achilles, and Odysseus in a game called the Agon. Once a god is killed, the killer becomes that god and is hunted in the next Agon. After her entire family was killed by another descendant during the Agon, Lore disappears and vows never to participate again. But right as the next Agon begins, Athena shows up bleeding on her doorstep for protection, which drags Lore right back into the dangerous game that killed her family.
This book was released in January 2021, but the paperback version wasn’t released until January 2023. I only like reading paperbacks, so I waited two years to read this book. The two-year wait was absolutely worth it. I love reading books based on Greek mythology, so it’s not surprising I loved this book. This book was so thrilling and kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I loved all of the characters and felt all of the emotions Lore felt. I think I loved this book so much because it combined two of my favorite series: The Hunger Games and Percy Jackson and the Olympians. If The Hunger Games took place in New York City and the participants were the demigods from Camp Half-Blood in Percy Jackson, the result would be this book.
I read a lot of books in the first half of 2023 and loved so many of them, but it wasn’t hard to pick my favorites at all. I rated 11 books five stars, but technically seven of them are on this list and three of them were books I reread. I’m excited for what the rest of the year has in store!
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