My Favorite Fantasy Reads From the Year
Fantasy was my top genre this year. Many of my rereads were also from this category, and there were a lot of good series that ended this year as well.
These three were my favorite stand-alone books of the year.
Salt was so well done and such a wonderful read. This is an author who I will definitely pick up again.
The Price Guide to the the Occult was also a surprise as to how good it was. It also had some scarier moments.
The Supervillain and Me was funny at times but such a surprisingly good read. Also a very interesting alternative world where superheroes as simply people.
These three were awesome first books in new series.
Ace of Shades has such an interesting magical system and some great world building.
Trail of Lightning also wins the award of best cover of the year. The story is also amazing and the dystopian world it takes place in is quite something.
Give the Dark My Love was a surprise hit for me. I wasn’t expecting it to be as good as it is. It also has a very interesting magical system.
These are the second books in some of the best series I have read in awhile.
Legendary was just as awesome as the first book, and I can’t wait to see how it all ends.
The Heart Forger also gets a nod for best cover, and best sequel. This is another one that I am having a hard time being patient for the final book.
Keeper of the Bees, could also be a stand alone, you certainly did not need to read the first book. In some ways it was better than the first one. Not sure when the next one is happening, but hopefully sometime this year.
Arch-Enemies was a great sequel too. A very explosive ending and also heart wrenching, if you have read it you know what I mean.
These are some debut authors that I really enjoyed this year.
The Belles is sort of a mixture of science fiction and fantasy, but the magical system is interesting and outweighs some of the more techie things in the story.
To Kill a Kingdom is one of the few retellings I read this year and was a good one. This is an author I will pick up again,
The Diminished also had some interesting magic and I really liked the Twin aspect of the story.
By A Charm and A Curse was very different than what I thought it was going to be, but the writing was solid and the characters well developed. Another author I will be keeping my eye on.
Finished Series
2018 was a great year for finished series. I wish that I had more time to reread the first books before tackling the last ones.
Poison’s Cage was the second in a duology based in an alternative India. Great characters and setting and an interesting premise .
Kingdom on Fire ended with a bang. Not at all what I was expecting, but ended in a satisfactory way.
The Effigies was also a series that I wasn’t sure where it was going, but it ended up being quite the ride. Solid ending.
The Curses was also the second in a duology but I am hoping for more in the series. I liked seeing the story from a different character’s perspective than the first book.
And finally, I was so glad that I waited to read the Shades of Magic series until the last book came out. This is probably my favorite fantasy series this year and I am looking forward to the spin off series coming hopefully in 2019. I think I will be reading her Vicious series next.
Confessions of a Serial Reader 