Favorite Books of 2023
Well the end of 2023 came and went so it feels like time to look back and review my 2023 reads and share with you all some of my favorites. I read 56 books in 2023 and while I enjoyed most of them I had a really hard time selecting 5 to highlight as favorites. I read a lot of books that were nice, or fine, or entertaining enough, and very few that really blew me away. These 5 did though.
Starting with Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson. This was the first book I received from Brandon Sanderson’s historic kickstarter campaign. It follows a girl who lives on an island where none of the inhabitants are allowed to leave. It’s such an undesirable location that if they let any of the residents move away no one would choose to live there and the Duke needs employees so therefore no one leaves. Tress forms a friendship with the duke’s son, Charlie. When his father finds out about his relationship with Tress he sends him away to wed a more suitable bride. However; Charlie fails to return from that trip and Tress learns he has been captured by the notoriously evil sorceress. No one else will try to rescue Charlie so Tress must defy the laws and risk everything to leave the only home she’s ever known in order to bring him back. The magic system of this world is so well-formed and interesting, the characters are varied and engaging, and the story is the perfect mix of adventurous excitement and cozy comfort. I loved every minute of it.
The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty - I wrote a full review of this book last year that you can read here. It was one of my Book of the Month and it features a swashbuckling retired pirate as it’s protagonist. It’s got magic, adventure, excitement, lost treasure, and really anything else you could want from a pirate story featuring a badass mom as it’s lead.
Babel by R.F. Kuang - This book is set in Oxford following a boy, Robin Swift, who was born in Canton and found himself an orphan after a cholera outbreak. He was then brought to England where he was made to rigorously study for years in the hopes of gaining a spot in Oxford’s Royal Institute of Translation. While there he learns all that is involved in the silverwork magic that translation students are learning to master. Silverwork is what has given the British Empire it’s enormous power over the rest of the world and performing the spells as well as continuing to innovate ways in which Britain can hold onto and grow it’s power is an incredibly lucrative and desired field. However; Robin learns that they are also trying to use this magic to start an unjust war with China putting him at odds with his birth and adopted countries. This books delves into a really interesting exploration of colonialism, racism, and what lengths revolutions must go to in order to be effective.
The Fragile Threads of Power by V.E. Schwab - This is the first book in the second trilogy of the Darker Shades of Magic Series. This book is a multi-POV fantasy and takes place years after the end of the first trilogy. It follows both new characters and old and it can be read and enjoyed if you’ve never read the original series, but I’d recommend reading them first just because you will be spoiled for what happens when you pick back up with those characters. In this story there’s a secret group who want to assassinate the king, a quest to retrieve a missing item, a girl coming into power at a young age and working hard to maintain control and be taken seriously, an antari who no longer has easy use of the powers that shaped his identity, and another girl who may just have the power to bring them all together.
The Daevabad Trilogy by S.K. Chakraborty - I read the first book in this series in 2022 and the second and third in 2023. The story starts in 18th century Cairo and follows Nahri, a thief and a conwoman who accidentally summons a djinn warrior. This kicks off a series of events that thrust her into a whole new world of magic and legend she never knew existed. The narrative, the politics, and stakes, and the intrigue all grow significantly as the series progresses. It’s one of those stories where the world and the characters are so fleshed out that even the villains can be sympathetic to the reader at times. I loved the myths and the stories within the story these books told. I thought Chakraborty expertly weaved politics and romance and magic together in such an incredibly compelling manner and I do intend to read every one of her books she publishes in the future.
What was your favorite read of 2023? Anything I should add to my 2024 TBR? Let me know!
