Top Twenty Reads of 2023

Hey all, Sam here.

It feels like I’m a little behind schedule with this post, but I promise that I’m not. Usually in the last week or two of a year, I see so many posts and videos and reels where bookternet folks are posting their top ten reads of the year…and sure, there’s nothing wrong with that…but I read all the way through the last day of a calendar year. So, to me, if I do my top reads post with a week or two left, then I might be leaving out a last minute read that I’m amazed by. I always wait until the new year has started and then I can look back at the entirety of my reading year.

And, okay, fine, this was supposed to be a Top Ten list, but as I started listing all of my top rated/favorite reads of the year, I realized that I would be better off just showing off all of my favorite reads…which is twenty in total (although I stretched that a tiny bit, which you will see when we get further into the post.

These books are not in order of least favorite to most favorite or anything like that because I hate trying to rank a bunch of awesome reads. I simply put them in the order that I read them in 2023. Also, if I have a review written for the books then I will include a link to that post.

Let’s get into it.

The Foxglove King by Hannah Whitten, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves: The Druid’s Call by E.K. Johnston, Ravensong by Cayla Fay, The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Shakraborty

These first books were ones that I read–I believe–in like January and February, and I honestly flew through all of them. There’s a couple I’m probably going to reread soon so I can prep for the sequels coming out this year, but overall, I definitely enjoyed these…and yes, any of the D&D: Honor Among Thieves books could have been on this list because I enjoyed both novels and the graphic novel, but I feel like The Druid’s Call was probably my favorite of the three…and if you haven’t seen the movie yet, I definitely recommend it as well.

Animorphs: The Invasion, The Visitor, The Encounter, and The Message by K.A. Applegate and Chris Grine

Here’s where the “Top Twenty” gets stretched a little bit…I counted all four of these as a single spot on the list….because I didn’t want to narrow it down and say which of them was my favorite. I adore the Animorphs series, and considering it came out in the 1990s, it still holds up rather well. I’m so happy for these adaptations, and I sincerely hope they are able to adapt the entire series.

This was my original fandom obsession. Yes, I enjoyed Boxcar Children and Nancy Drew and Babysitters Club and other series like that. They were wonderful, but I was legitimately obsessed with Animorphs. I still own my entire series from childhood. They are treasured additions to my personal library. So, when I learned of the graphic novel adaptation, I had to try them out, and they are still wonderful reads.

I Am Ace: Advice on Living Your Best Asexual Life by Cody Daigle-Orians, Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross, The Grimoire of Grave Fates edited by Hanna Alkaf and Margaret Owen, The Study of Poisons by Maria V Snyder

In 2023 I tried to read a few more books on being asexual, and I have to tell you, it helped me understand myself a lot better, and I am grateful for that. I also definitely tried to focus a little more on diversifying up my reads, with a focus on stories with queer characters…although I also just picked up anything that sounded good….like Maria V Snyder releasing a companion to her Study series by finally giving us the story from Valek’s POV…and apparently she’ll be doing the same with at least the other two books of the original trilogy, so that is very exciting.

Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody, Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne, Dark Water Daughter by H.M. Long, Role Playing by Cathy Yardley

I also definitely tried to read a few more writing craft books, and I found Save the Cat! Writes a Novel to be chock full of useful information. I’ve picked up the recently released YA focused version as well, just to see what insights it has to offer. And I read a number of cozy fantasy reads, as you’ll see from a few books on this list, because I’m finding that while I enjoy epic fantasy and dark romantasy, I also genuinely love cozy reads.

Bonesmith by Nicki Pau Preto, The First Binding by R.R. Virdi, Godkiller by Hannah Kaner, Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree

All I can say for these books is that they were all absolutely incredible. The First Binding is a huge chonk of a book but I flew through it as if it was half that size. And they all had such interesting characters and magic systems and worlds…and I loved them.

Forged by Magic by Jenna Wolfhart, Lady of Darkness, Lady of Shadows, and Lady of Ashes by Melissa K Roehrich, Gentle Writing Advice: How to be a Writer Without Destroying Yourself by Chuck Wendig

Here’s the other place where the “Top Twenty” gets stretched…I put the three books of the Lady of Darkness series that I read in 2023 as one entry…although if I had to pick a favorite of the three…it’s difficult, but I think the second book–Lady of Shadows might just barely beat out Lady of Ashes.

And obviously you can see that this set is one where I don’t have reviews up…yet. I am planning on writing up review posts. These are books I read in November and December, and obviously I wasn’t really blogging much at the time. So, hopefully it doesn’t take me too long to get them written and scheduled. We’ll see what happens though.

All right. Well, that’s my top/favorite reads of 2023. What were some of your favorite reads of last year? Let me know in the comments!

That is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.