Best Books of 2020
In the face of a pandemic, I was sure my reading would slack off, but if anything, it sped up. I managed to read over 100 books this year! There were so many amazing books, it’s hard to narrow down my favourites of 2020. Here are the top 10 of the year, according to me! What were your favourites?
Winternight trilogy by Katherine Arden: 4.5 ★
This incredible trilogy begins at the edge of a Russian forest. Vasilisa was raised on stories of tales of winter demons and other magical folk that protect hearth and home. Throughout the three books, Vasilisa goes up against powerful demons, religious fanatics, faces down tsars and defies expectations, all while fighting to save her family with a dangerous gift she has kept hidden.
Don’t Call the Wolf by Aleksandra Ross: 5 ★
Ross’ Eastern-European inspired fantasy introduces readers to Ren, the defacto queen of a forest besieged by monsters since the Golden Dragon descended and brought his creatures with him. She strikes a deal with Lukasz—the last survivor of a heroic regiment of dragon slayers. If he can help her kill the dragon, she’ll help him find his lost brother. But things don’t go as planned, and soon the pair find themselves facing down a terror they never expected.
Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power: 5 ★
It’s always been Margot and her mother. But when the desire for a family, a past, becomes overwhelming, Margot strikes out on her own with a photograph in hand, one that points her towards answers: a town called Phalene. Yet when Margot gets there, she finds more questions than answers. Did her mother leave to hide her past? Or was it to protect Margot from what’s still there?
Ruthless Gods by Emily A. Duncan: 5 ★
The continuation of Duncan’s Something Dark and Holy trilogy finds the main cast in shambles. Nadya doesn’t trust her magic anymore. Serefin is fighting off a voice in his head that doesn’t belong to him. Malachiasz is at war with who—and what—he’s become. The voices that Serefin hears in the darkness, the ones that Nadya believes are her gods, the ones that Malachiasz is desperate to meet—those voices want a stake in the world, and they refuse to stay quiet any longer.
Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust: 5 ★
A captivating and utterly original fairy tale, inspired by Persian folklore, about a girl cursed to be poisonous to the touch, who discovers what power might lie in such a curse. Soraya has spent her life hiding, from her family, from the court, from anyone who would see her poisonous touch as what it is: a curse. Soraya thought she knew her place in the world, but when her choices lead to consequences she never imagined, she begins to question who she is and who she is becoming: human or demon. Princess or monster.
House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig: 5 ★
Annaleigh was once one of twelve sisters, but after the tragic deaths of four of her sisters, she grows suspicious that there’s more to her sisters’ deaths than mere accident. Her questions grow as her sisters sneak out every night to attend glittering balls, dancing until dawn in shimmering slippers. Annaleigh isn't sure whether to try to stop them or to join their forbidden trysts. Because who—or what—are they really dancing with?
Fable by Adrienne Young: 5 ★
Welcome to a world made dangerous by the sea and by those who wish to profit from it. Where a young girl, Fable, must find her place and her family while trying to survive in a world built for men. With the help of sea captain West and his crew, Fable embarks on a journey, where they’ll have to survive more than just treacherous storms if they’re going to survive.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab: 5 ★
In 1714, a young woman makes a desperate decision that alters the course of her life for the next 300 years. So begins the story of Addie LaRue, a woman no one can remember with a story no one would believe. Not until Addie meets a young man who, for the first time in more than three centuries, remembers her name.
Red Hood by Elana K. Arnold: 5 ★
Bisou Martel has lived a quiet life. She’s a good girl, follows the rules, but those rules fly out the window when she’s pursued by a wolf on the night of homecoming. The wolf attacks and Bisou fights back. A new moon rises. And with it, questions. About the blood in Bisou’s past and on her hands as she stumbles home. About broken boys and vicious wolves. About girls lost in the woods—frightened, but not alone.
The Folk of the Air series by Holly Black: 4.5 ★
Jude has been afraid ever since her parents were killed by a fairy. For ten years, as she and her sisters have lived under the roof of her parents’ murderer in the High Court of Faerie. To belong there, she must defy many, including Prince Cardan. Throughout the series, Jude’s capacity for trickery and bloodshed grows and her relationship with the prince turns from hatred to something far more dangerous.
Winternight trilogy by Katherine Arden: 4.5 ★
This incredible trilogy begins at the edge of a Russian forest. Vasilisa was raised on stories of tales of winter demons and other magical folk that protect hearth and home. Throughout the three books, Vasilisa goes up against powerful demons, religious fanatics, faces down tsars and defies expectations, all while fighting to save her family with a dangerous gift she has kept hidden.
Don’t Call the Wolf by Aleksandra Ross: 5 ★
Ross’ Eastern-European inspired fantasy introduces readers to Ren, the defacto queen of a forest besieged by monsters since the Golden Dragon descended and brought his creatures with him. She strikes a deal with Lukasz—the last survivor of a heroic regiment of dragon slayers. If he can help her kill the dragon, she’ll help him find his lost brother. But things don’t go as planned, and soon the pair find themselves facing down a terror they never expected.
Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power: 5 ★
It’s always been Margot and her mother. But when the desire for a family, a past, becomes overwhelming, Margot strikes out on her own with a photograph in hand, one that points her towards answers: a town called Phalene. Yet when Margot gets there, she finds more questions than answers. Did her mother leave to hide her past? Or was it to protect Margot from what’s still there?
Ruthless Gods by Emily A. Duncan: 5 ★
The continuation of Duncan’s Something Dark and Holy trilogy finds the main cast in shambles. Nadya doesn’t trust her magic anymore. Serefin is fighting off a voice in his head that doesn’t belong to him. Malachiasz is at war with who—and what—he’s become. The voices that Serefin hears in the darkness, the ones that Nadya believes are her gods, the ones that Malachiasz is desperate to meet—those voices want a stake in the world, and they refuse to stay quiet any longer.
Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust: 5 ★
A captivating and utterly original fairy tale, inspired by Persian folklore, about a girl cursed to be poisonous to the touch, who discovers what power might lie in such a curse. Soraya has spent her life hiding, from her family, from the court, from anyone who would see her poisonous touch as what it is: a curse. Soraya thought she knew her place in the world, but when her choices lead to consequences she never imagined, she begins to question who she is and who she is becoming: human or demon. Princess or monster.
House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig: 5 ★
Annaleigh was once one of twelve sisters, but after the tragic deaths of four of her sisters, she grows suspicious that there’s more to her sisters’ deaths than mere accident. Her questions grow as her sisters sneak out every night to attend glittering balls, dancing until dawn in shimmering slippers. Annaleigh isn't sure whether to try to stop them or to join their forbidden trysts. Because who—or what—are they really dancing with?
Fable by Adrienne Young: 5 ★
Welcome to a world made dangerous by the sea and by those who wish to profit from it. Where a young girl, Fable, must find her place and her family while trying to survive in a world built for men. With the help of sea captain West and his crew, Fable embarks on a journey, where they’ll have to survive more than just treacherous storms if they’re going to survive.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab: 5 ★
In 1714, a young woman makes a desperate decision that alters the course of her life for the next 300 years. So begins the story of Addie LaRue, a woman no one can remember with a story no one would believe. Not until Addie meets a young man who, for the first time in more than three centuries, remembers her name.
Red Hood by Elana K. Arnold: 5 ★
Bisou Martel has lived a quiet life. She’s a good girl, follows the rules, but those rules fly out the window when she’s pursued by a wolf on the night of homecoming. The wolf attacks and Bisou fights back. A new moon rises. And with it, questions. About the blood in Bisou’s past and on her hands as she stumbles home. About broken boys and vicious wolves. About girls lost in the woods—frightened, but not alone.
The Folk of the Air series by Holly Black: 4.5 ★
Jude has been afraid ever since her parents were killed by a fairy. For ten years, as she and her sisters have lived under the roof of her parents’ murderer in the High Court of Faerie. To belong there, she must defy many, including Prince Cardan. Throughout the series, Jude’s capacity for trickery and bloodshed grows and her relationship with the prince turns from hatred to something far more dangerous.