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Announcing the Winners of the 2016 Goodreads Choice Awards
More than 3.5 million votes have been cast and tallied and we are excited to announce the winners of the 8th annual Goodreads Choice Awards, honoring 2016's best books as selected by the readers themselves.
Congratulations to all of the best books of the year in each of the 20 categories!
View the champions & runners-up in 20 categories »
In the Best Fantasy category, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child garnered more votes than any other nominee in Goodreads Choice Awards' history with an impressive 128,543 votes. This original play by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Jack Thorne is also Amazon's bestselling book of 2016.
In another Choice Awards' first, a father and son both won this year. Stephen King's End of Watch won for Best Mystery & Thriller, while King's son, Joe Hill, took the top place in the Best Horror category for The Fireman.
Though she's been nominated before for Big Little Lies and The Husband's Secret, Liane Moriarty scored her first big Goodreads Choice Award win this year with Truly Madly Guilty in the Fiction category, narrowly beating out Bryn Greenwood's debut novel, All the Ugly and Wonderful Things.
Already an Oprah's Book Club Selection and winner of the National Book Award, Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad won in the Best Historical Fiction category. The critically adored young adult fantasy Rebel of the Sands secured Alwyn Hamilton as the Best Debut Goodreads Author.
Sarah J. Maas continues her domination of the YA Fantasy & Science Fiction category with two nominations and a win for A Court of Mist and Fury, part two of her charged, hit series about a teen huntress in a dark, magical world. In 2015, Maas was also a double nominee in the YA fantasy category, winning for Queen of Shadows. This year she won with more than 57,000 votes—20,000 more than her 2015 win. Maas has been nominated in this category every year since 2012.
And it's another win for the unstoppable Rick Riordan, who has won the Middle Grade & Children's category for six straight years. This year he was a double nominee, winning for The Hidden Oracle, book one in his series The Trials of Apollo, about the god recast as a New York teen. The Hammer of Thor, book two in his Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard series, was also nominated. Last year Riordan won for The Sword of Summer.
Some of our many winning authors shared photos expressing their gratitude to Goodreads' readers. Here are some of your winners in their natural habitats:
Here's a great photo from our Best Mystery & Thriller winner Stephen King.
Comedian Amy Schumer thanks voters for her win in the Best Humor category for The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo.
Best Fiction winner Liane Moriarty is clearly truly, madly grateful.
With a second consecutive Goodreads Choice Awards win for Best Romance, Colleen Hoover clearly has a direct line to readers' hearts.
For the third year in a row, Pierce Brown is a Goodreads Choice Award winner. Here he celebrates properly with a giant sandwich.
Best Debut Goodreads Author winner Alwyn Hamilton shows her gratitude for the readers' support.
Best Middle Grade & Children's winner Rick Riordan says thanks.
Best YA Fantasy & Science Fiction winner Sarah J. Maas celebrates another win.
Sarah Andersen jumps for joy—in doodle form. The newcomer won Best Graphic Novels & Comics for her debut, Adulthood Is a Myth
Third time's a charm for very happy YA Fiction winner Ruta Sepetys, who has been nominated twice before. This year, readers voted Salt to the Sea number one.
How many of the winners and runners-up have you read? Check out the full vote breakdown for the top 400 nominees across 20 categories, and start packing your want-to-read list with award-winners! Congratulations to our winners! »
Comments Showing 1-50 of 51 (51 new)
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MC
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Dec 05, 2016 09:37PM
Congratulations to all winners!
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So many of my favorite authors won!Yes!!
Congratulations to all!
Congratulations to all winners and specially to Sarah J. Maas for giving us the best book of the year "A Court of Mist and Fury".
Congratulations to all the winners.
Congratulations! Gonna add these to my reading list. :)
I personally don't understand what was A Court of Mist and Fury doing in the YA fantasy and sci-fi category. It's NA, not YA. Oh well, at least Amanda Lovelace won in the poetry category and Adulthood Is a Myth won for graphic novel.
Congrats to all winners but why A Court of Mist and Fury that is definitely New Adult content! It's not fair for all the YA fantasy that deserved this award!
I just don't get The Cursed Child winning anything! It's the worst script/fanfic ever wrote! It doesn't even make sense!!! It's just horrible! Yes, it was nice to be in that world again, but it was so strange, because I hated almost all the characters in that book.
I'm a huge fan of Harry Potter, don't get me wrong. Love fanfics as well. But this authorized fanfic didn't go down right in so many levels.
It's just ridiculous.
Anyway...
But I'm really glad that ACOMAF won. It totally deserved. Already read twice and it's a really great book!
Despite being really glad that A Court of Mist and Fury A Court of Mist and Fury won, I think it was a really hard decision to make (vote in it) in so many levels.
Crooked Kingdom rocked my world with it's ending. What a great story!!! Leigh Bardugo was in her best in this book.
And all the other ones that I have already read and also deserve so many congratulations on how good they are: Empire of Storms, United as One, My Lady Jane (what a funny and original book!!! Just loved it!!!).
I have great expectations on Lady Midnight, Gemina, and I'm already in love with Heartless, despite not having finished yet.
And all the others as well. They look like great books! Can't wait to read all of them. They all are in my TBR.
My favorite historical fiction book missed out on being the best by 184 votes. Are you kidding me? How did The Underground Railroad surpass Lilac Girls? Or Homegoing and A Gentleman in Moscow?
Stephanie wrote: "My favorite historical fiction book missed out on being the best by 184 votes. Are you kidding me? How did The Underground Railroad surpass Lilac Girls? Or Homegoing and A Gentleman in Moscow?"The Oprah factor. You are right, Lilac Girls was wonderful.
CURSED CHILD winning is absolutely tragic.
B wrote: "CURSED CHILD winning is absolutely tragic."Totally agree... :(
I don't understand why The Cursed Child won. I can see it work as a play, but as a book it is no match for the other contestants in the category. I wonder how many people voted because it was another new Harry Potter 
Did not like all the choices, I am not a Harry Potter fan, and Underground Railroad is a book that has been in circulation long before Oprah,,,A gentleman in Moscow seem more to my liking...
Truly Madly Guilty? A winner? Really? No one that's read it has anything good to say about it. This is a popularity contest based on what readers have read so far this year ... these choices certainly don't reflect the "best" books of the year.
Rowling wouldn't have written a play if there wasn't a fanbase screaming to do so. Yes it's bad, but if you want the HP story milked dry, that's what you get. Cursed child won because most people voted for a book they recognize, rather than great content. I voted for J.K. Rowling, because she will always be an inspiring word wizard/witch to me. Too bad you can't vote for authors so I had to settle for the book. :)
Haters gonna hate, to each their own.
Congrats to all the winners!! You totally deserve it!
Congrats to everyone on well deserved wins!!!
Elke wrote: "Rowling wouldn't have written a play if there wasn't a fanbase screaming to do so. Yes it's bad, but if you want the HP story milked dry, that's what you get. Cursed child won because most people v..."To bad she in fact didn't write the play. Maybe if she had I would be more satisfied with the result and the script and the story wouldn't be with so many strange inconsistencies in it.
It's just badly written.
I was really excited when I read it, since I love Harry Potter! Until I stopped and thought about what I was reading. There are so many things wrong and in so many levels...
Disappointed in most of the results (although the Cursed Child winning proves that there's hope for fanfiction being recognized, I guess...). But I'm super happy that Frans de Waal won in his category!! He deserves all the recognition&awards!
Trudy wrote: "Congrats to everyone on well deserved wins!!!"Ihave never read any of these authors books
So happy for all of the authors that won and also for the writers that were nominated CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!!
Laura wrote: "Truly Madly Guilty? A winner? Really? No one that's read it has anything good to say about it. This is a popularity contest based on what readers have read so far this year ... these choices certai..."Totally right...I go by what i have read
Sjoerd wrote: "I don't understand why The Cursed Child won. I can see it work as a play, but as a book it is no match for the other contestants in the category. I wonder how many people voted because it was anoth..."I think they voted because of the HP image not for anything else
Lilian wrote: "B wrote: "CURSED CHILD winning is absolutely tragic."Totally agree... :("
I agree
Why is the Choice awards not showing which book I voted for? It did last year. It had a banner across the top of the book labelled "Your Choice."
Andi wrote: "Stephanie wrote: "My favorite historical fiction book missed out on being the best by 184 votes. Are you kidding me? How did The Underground Railroad surpass Lilac Girls? Or Homegoing and A Gentlem..."Not alot of word has gone out about the book...i started hearing about it in the middle of November from the friday posts...there were so many in the catagory i never heard of :( but then again being from Canada found that we dont get them as fast as Americans do. Its just my opinion.
~Brandy~ wrote: "Why is the Choice awards not showing which book I voted for? It did last year. It had a banner across the top of the book labelled "Your Choice.""
If you go to the top of your home page and click on
"Announcing the Best Books of 2016 see winners."
This will show you all the categories ,the winners and the books you voted for. Hope that helps Brandy.
If you go to the top of your home page and click on
"Announcing the Best Books of 2016 see winners."
This will show you all the categories ,the winners and the books you voted for. Hope that helps Brandy.
Best books of the year? I don't think so. Most popular, maybe, but I don't really care about that.
IMHO I believe the cursed child is overrated. And lately I'm kind of saturated by anything related to Harry (cursed child, fantastic beasts, Instagrammers who just share their Harry Potter books and paraphernalia and nothing else.) Yes I'm whiny now but I can't help it.
Anne wrote: "Best books of the year? I don't think so. Most popular, maybe, but I don't really care about that."Agreed!
Joe Hill and Stephen King win..... The King family is awesome!
The photo with Ruta Sepetys is a bit ghoulish. It's hard to imagine the author of a novel about 9/11 posing with a broad smile and a fragment of twisted steel beam from the WTC, or of one about a plane crash grinning with a charred seat cushion.
Hamilton and Harry Potter winning, like a two minute conversation with the average voter are the best arguments against democracy.Now I'll be 'hypocrite' and exult in Morning Star's victory.
I see the same ole commercial drivel wins again this year. Stephen King and Joe Hill are winners who consistently offer readers original works of literature. GoodReads "Choice Awards" are a total joke.
The Cursed Child?????????????????????Well, I enjoyed it, but.....
Congrats to all the winners, especially Colson Whitehead & Pierce Brown.
Bet the readers voted for Trump, too. Bah.
Lilian wrote: "Elke wrote: "Rowling wouldn't have written a play if there wasn't a fanbase screaming to do so. Yes it's bad, but if you want the HP story milked dry, that's what you get. Cursed child won because ..."YES! Thank you! I am a lifelong, devoted Harry Potter fan and Cursed Child was awful. I refused to vote for it in the nominations because I knew it definitely didn't deserve to win. I'm actually astounded and I think it's a joke that it did win.
Elke wrote: "most people voted for a book they recognize, rather than great content. "But that's exactly the problem. If people genuinely thought the book was fantastic and voted for it because of that then fine but if most people only voted for it because it's 'Harry Potter' then that's not a good thing.
Anne wrote: "Best books of the year? I don't think so. Most popular, maybe, but I don't really care about that."That's how the awards go. The Cursed Child wasn't the best ( a lot of my friends who are big Harry Potter friends didn't even like it much), but I knew without a doubt it would win because people do not vote on the quality of a story, they vote on what they recognize. The same goes for if Stephen King or Joe Hill enter - one or both will win. The same for other well-known authors.
Doesn't matter if the book is not good enough to win, which is why I don't put much stock in these awards.
Erin ☕ *Proud Book Hoarder* wrote: "Anne wrote: "Best books of the year? I don't think so. Most popular, maybe, but I don't really care about that."That's how the awards go. The Cursed Child wasn't the best ( a lot of my friends wh..."
These Choice Nomination/Awards are nothing more than popularity contest wherein the same known quantities win every year. It's just product placement marketing with no measure of literary quality. I will not bother to vote in this rigged "contest" in the future.
Marvelous books. Real food for thought.
