Best of 2014

-

I know I'm a little late with this, but I figured I'd share my favorite books of 2014 now since I didn't have the time to do it at the end of the year. I read a surprising amount of fantastic books last year, and I'm hoping this year is even better! Without further ado...

Instant favorite of 2014



This was the book that made me grin on the first page and I just never stopped. I've never read such an addictive book, with its charming roguish characters, magical world, and witty banter. This book had me laughing, crying, gasping, and up very late at night racing to finish and find out what happens next.

LOCKE AND JEAN FOREVER.

Best new series



I started reading The Way of Kings as part of a read-along hosted by yours truly this summer, and I was HOOKED. I fell in love with the characters and the world. This series has been such an emotional roller coaster, but it has always made me feel better when I am down. That's the mark of a really special book.

This is my favorite fantasy series ever, and I'm so glad there are 8 more books to look forward to.

Best Series Ending

13618440

I love Laini Taylor's writing style, and her stories are just as gorgeous. Not only was this a beautiful, dark, epic story, it did a fantastic job of opening huge new doors of possibility while still tying up loose ends.

Best standalone

13538873

I feel like this book was written for me, because it's a fantastical mystery set in San Francisco centering around a bookstore. It features nerdy main characters, a mysterious nice old man, secret global cults, typefaces, Google, and all sorts of other eclectic things. I can't even begin to describe this book, but rest assured that it is fantastic!

Most emotional punch

Ummm Words of Radiance? Lies of Locke Lamora?
I'll go with The Young Elites just so we have some diversity. The Young Elites crushed my heart. That ending was just...GAH.

Most entertaining/fun

In the interest of not putting down Lies of Locke Lamora for every possible category, I'm choosing Ready Player One. It was an unexpectedly hilarious story, and even though I'm not much of a gamer, it was so much fun reading about the OASIS and how reality and virtual reality collide.

Best Anthology

In case you haven't seen my glowing review yet, this is one of my favorite anthologies EVER. I highly recommend it, especially for fantasy fans. It has stuff from Joe Abercrombie, Scott Lynch, Neil Gaiman, George RR Martin, Patrick Rothfuss, and more!

What were some of your favorites of 2014? Have you read any of mine?


blog signature photo 4bf1c374-231a-40b6-8756-317f9308721c_zpsf45cae08.jpg
Follow on Bloglovin

Comments

  1. Jolien @ The Fictional ReaderJanuary 9, 2015 at 12:44 PM

    This looks like an epic list! I really enjoyed The Lies of Locke Lamora as well, the characters were so incredible. I haven't read any of the other books yet, but they are ALL on my to-read list. :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. Reading WenchJanuary 9, 2015 at 8:40 PM

    Several of these are either on my TBR or on my wishlist. I knew there was a reason I started following your blog! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. KritikaJanuary 9, 2015 at 10:19 PM

    I can't wait for you to keep reading Gentleman Bastards! Book 1 is my favorite so far, but they are all amazing and I can't get enough of Jean and Locke. I hope you enjoy all of these!

    ReplyDelete
  4. KritikaJanuary 9, 2015 at 10:22 PM

    You're in for some excellent reading! Let me know what you think about these :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. KritikaJanuary 9, 2015 at 10:22 PM

    Yes, you really do! I'll probably do a WoR (Re)readalong in the winter since Book 3 is due spring 2016, so you can join in then :D

    ReplyDelete
  6. Amber (Books of Amber)January 10, 2015 at 12:32 PM

    I bought Locke Lamora recently and I'm kind of nervous to read it since I wasn't a fan of another favourite amongst fantasy readers - The Name of the Wind. BUT, I'm always here for banter and roguish characters so I'm hoping Locke Lamora will be a hit!

    OMG I haven't read Words of Radiance yet but I am SOOOOO excited to get to it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anya E. J.January 10, 2015 at 9:16 PM

    Haha, I loooooove this list so much! Have you read Red Skies yet??????? Gah, my heart!

    ReplyDelete
  8. KritikaJanuary 11, 2015 at 1:33 PM

    Yes, I've read Red Skies and Republic of Thieves. Book 1 is still my favorite but both of them were great! Well, it's been over 6 months since I read Republic of Thieves and I *still* can't make up my mind about the Big Reveal. I'm just really excited for book 4 so that I can make sense of it haha

    ReplyDelete
  9. MichelineJanuary 11, 2015 at 5:02 PM

    I can NOT imagine a 'best of' list without Way of Kings or Words of Radiance (for those who've read them of course LOL) BOTH are all-time favorites of mine and OMG we NEED all the other books for a full-series read-along before we're old and grey hahaha >.<


    I'll DEFINITELY be reading the Lies of Locke Lamora soon this year, I've hear too many good things about it to wait any longer - my copy taunts me every time I walk by it ;) Ready Player One and Young Elites are two other ones I need to get to as well


    Oh and I also agree about DoG&M, it was a gorgeous series ender! I could bask in Laini Taylor's prose for everrrr. LOVE your picks here, and happy you did a best of list as well ♥

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Way of Kings Readalong: Wrap-up

-
Image
So it's finally over. That was an amazing book! Thank you everyone for joining in and making my first readalong so much fun :) I have said over and over again that Brandon Sanderson is a storytelling god. This book makes me believe it even more fiercely - it takes a mastermind to create such intricate worlds and piece together so many character and plot threads. He does such a great job of feeding you just enough answers/revelations to keep you happy, but keeps you hanging by dangling all sorts of questions for you to answer. Not to mention the bombshells he throws in at the end... Having read Mistborn, I really should have been more prepared for disaster and mindblowing moments towards the end of the book. The end was just bombshell after bombshell - some were interesting revelations, and others were shattering. The bombshells of this week: 1) Navani proves that Dalinar's visions are real , and says his unconscious decoding of an ancient language will help pave the
Read more

Way of Kings Readalong: Gender roles on Roshar

-
Image
We've seen a little bit about the differences in what members of different genders are allowed and encouraged to do. I thought it was interesting how things like reading were entrusted only to women, since reading is how you gain knowledge (and power!), and it seems like the men were the ones who wanted all the power in this world. So here's a discussion post about the different gender roles and what some possible implications are. But first, a few words from Brandon Sanderson: I found this video on YouTube where Sanderson talks a bit about gender roles in history and in The Way of Kings. It's only a minute or two in the middle of the video (4:30-6:58), but I thought it was interesting. YouTube is being annoying and I cannot embed the video so here's a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqeKPBHquOg Gender differences on Roshar A table of some basic differences in genders: Men Women Can read glyphs Can read an
Read more

Top Ten Tuesday 51 - recent TBR

-
Image
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by  The Broke and the Bookish . This week's theme:  Recently Added TBR books I'm pretty relentless about shaving down my TBR every time it hits 50 books, because I know if it gets bigger than that I'll never actually read half the books. Sometimes I shave it down by reading a lot of books that have been sitting on my TBR for a while, and sometimes I just take books off of it when I'm no longer interested in them. Long story short, I add books to my TBR very slowly, so the last ten span from last week to last November :)   Sir Terry's passing was such a sad moment for me because his children's Discworld books made such an impact on me as a child. I wanted to read more of his books, and I saw this on Netgalley, so I immediately requested it and added it to my TBR.   This one was recommended to me by Amy on the last TTT I did ( Recommendations for people who love Pirates, Thieves, a
Read more