Despite having read quite widely this year, I haven’t read many stand-out books. I’ve read lots of good ones, funny ones, entertaining ones, but few ‘oh my I will reread this for the rest of my life’ books. Apart from those listed below… they have really left their mark on me. Instead of writing full reviews I have chosen some quotes to whet your appetite. If I have previously reviewed them on here or on Goodreads, I will link it so you can investigate further if you so wish. So without further ado, here be some greatness:
Cainsville | series | Kelley Armstrong
Omens, Visions, Deceptions, Betrayals, Rituals, Lost Souls, Rough Justice, Portents & Cruel Fate (coming 2019)
‘Demons are a very human creation. You look for ways to explain evil, and instead of seeing it in yourselves, you offload the responsibility onto monsters. The monstrous exists in the mirror, not in the sulfurous depths of some fantasy world.’
~~~
‘A bad omen is a warning. A sign to stop and reconsider. Proceed with caution.’
You can read my review of the first few books here.
Kushiel’s Legacy | series | Jacqueline Carey
Kushiel’s Dart, Kushiel’s Chosen & Kushiel’s Avatar
‘It is a fine line, in all of us, between civilisation and savagery. To any who think they would never cross it, I can only say, if you have never known what it is to be utterly betrayed and abandoned, you cannot know how close it is.’
~~~
‘That which yields is not always weak.’
Trail of Lightning | first in series | Rebecca Roanhorse
‘But I had forgotten that the Dine had already suffered their apocalypse over a century before. This wasn’t our end. This was our rebirth.’
~~~
‘…it made me strong, made me vicious when I needed to be. But it was a narrow road that I walked. I had to be vigilant not to let it grow, not to feed it unnecessarily. Because my fate wasn’t decided yet. I could be a monsterslayer, or I could be a monster.’
Guns of the Dawn | Stand alone | Adrian Tchaikovsky
‘The first casualty of war is truth.’
~~~
‘Standing there, her pistol directed downwards at ***, she had a moment of truth come to her, as calm and still as the moment before a battle charge. In her head, fragments whirled and spun, words and conversations… The war anatomized and picked apart like a diseased corpse – to find the cause, to excise the tumour. Lest it spread; lest the disease claim more lives; lest it claim them all.’
Veronica Speedwell | series | Deanna Raybourn
A Curious Beginning, A Perilous Undertaking & A Treacherous Curse
‘ “O, the perfidy of men.” “What have I done?” he protested. “Nothing at present, but you are the only representative of your sex I have at hand to abuse. Take your lumps for your brothers.”
~~~
‘I am quite determined to be mistress of my own fate, Mrs Clutterthorpe, but I do sympathise with how strange it must sound to you. It is not your fault that you are entirely devoid of imagination. I blame your education.’
I have reviewed the first three books in this post.
The Song of the Shattered Sans | series | Bradley P Beaulieu
Twelve Kings, Of Sand and Malice Made, With Blood Upon the Sand, A Veil of Spears
For this one I have chosen a quote from the author himself from this Unbound Worlds interview.
‘It’s also a tale of how culture and customs can be lost, how the victors write the history books, and how those written out of it struggle to uncover the truth and right the wrongs committed along the way.’
You can read my review of the first book here.
Children of Earth and Sky | stand alone | Guy Gavriel Kay
‘We live among mysteries. Love is one, there are others. We must not imagine we understand all there is to know about the world.’
~~~
‘Villages or farms on a violent border divided by faith didn’t become peaceful because of pen strokes in courts far away.’
I hope to try more of Kelley Armstrong’s work next year. I do own Omens already, so I can try that, but I also want to try the third WotO book and see how that goes. ๐ And Kushiel’s Dart is another I want to tackle next year!
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I hope you enjoy! I really love Cainsville, but donโt judge the series on just Omens as the story spans all the books and is just ๐ฑ๐ ๐
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Ah, noted! At which book did you know the series was a fave?
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Ooh tricky. I think it just changes, Omens is very crimey/mystery with hints at the paranormal whereas the next books get more and more fantastical as the protagonist learns more. Lots of pagan/celtic mythology which is very interesting. I hope you enjoy it, i think you will ๐
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Hmm, crime hasnโt appealed to me much at all this year – I must admit I only found out a few months ago that this was shelved with crime books, haha. But your love for the series has me super intrigued, and I love the sound of the mythology! And you even enjoyed the novella(s) ๐๐
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I did!! Yeah itโs strange to describe – i find it no different to other urban fantasy in the crime/mystery element. They all seem to have a murder or a disappearance or some weird occurrence that the protagonist(s) endeavour to get to the bottom of ๐ itโs definitely paranormal (but mythological rather than vamps/shifters) but less so in the first book
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Ah, thatโs true! I donโt know why I didnโt think of it like that, haha. Hopefully I enjoy it next year ๐
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Oh I want to read Trail of Lightening!
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Itโs really great! I hope you enjoy it ๐
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