Last November I made a list of 22 books I would like to prioritise in 2022 and essentially this is a look back on that post to see how successful I was. Yeah…. not a successful year again. Hahahaha.
If you would like to read the 2022 list beforehand, you can find it here >>>
If you would like to read my new list for 2023, you can find that one here >>>
I am going to categorise this post into 3 parts.
- Books I have read
- Books I haven’t read but still want to
- Books I haven’t read and no longer want to
Books I Have Read
Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson
Rating: 4 stars
Thoughts: I ended up actually finishing the entire series this year! I had so much fun being in the world of Mistborn and cannot wait to read more about the Cosmere. I am looking forward to branching out into Sanderson’s other works.
The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang
Rating: 5 stars
Thoughts: I think I liked this more than The Poppy War. It was very different to TPW which I really enjoyed. I am not emotionally or mentally prepared for The Burning God.
The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
Rating: DNF
Thoughts: So my Rick Riordan read-through failed this year. I wanted to read both The Lost Hero and The Son of Neptune but I got about 50% of the way through TLH before I put it down. I just don’t love Jason and Piper too much.
Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune
Rating: 5 stars
Thoughts: One of my favourite reads of 2022. So much heart wrapped up in one book. It was beautiful, hilarious and comforting. I normally don’t like books that talk so openly and honestly about death itself and how it affects us. I usually read a crime book where the focus is on the mystery, not death itself. I thought I would really struggle with the nature of this book but I ended up finding it really comforting.
Far From the Light of Heaven – Take Thompson
Rating: 3 stars
Thoughts: To be honest, this was pretty unmemorable. It was a sci-fi murder mystery but the focus was more on the sci-fi than the mystery so it lost my interest.
Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim
Rating: 4 stars
Thoughts: This was enjoyable. Due to the hype, I was expecting a bit more from it but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It really did feel like a fairytale which I loved.
The Atlas Six – Olivia Blake
Rating: 4 stars
Thoughts: This was originally a 5-star review but after some time away from the book I reduced my rating. Not to say this book isn’t great but I think the hype of the ending got me too excited. I enjoyed the characters a lot and I thought all their individual powers were interesting but the magic system was rooted in science, a lot of the time, and that confused and slightly bored me. I am quite anxious about the sequel as I am not sure where the story is going to go.
She Who Became the Sun – Shelley Parker-Chan
Rating: DNF
Thoughts: I cannot remember why I didn’t finish this book all I know is that I didn’t.
Books I Haven’t Read But Still Want To
There were a bunch of sequels I did not get around to this year so they are definitely a priority.
A Torch Against the Night – Sabaa Tahir
Plot for Book 1: Laia is a slave. Elias is a soldier. Neither is free. Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear. It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the Empire’s impoverished backstreets. They do not challenge the Empire. They’ve seen what happens to those who do. But when Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, Laia is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire’s greatest military academy. There, Laia meets Elias, the school’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined—and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.
The Fires of Heaven – Robert Jordan
Plot for Book 1: The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow. Moiraine Damodred arrives in Emond’s Field on a quest to find the one prophesized to stand against The Dark One, a malicious entity sowing the seeds of chaos and destruction. When a vicious band of half-men, half-beasts invade the village seeking their master’s enemy, Moiraine persuades Rand al’Thor and his friends to leave their home and enter a larger unimaginable world filled with dangers waiting in the shadows and in the light.
We Free the Stars – Hafsah Faizal
Plot: Zafira is the Hunter, disguising herself as a man when she braves the cursed forest of the Arz to feed her people. Nasir is the Prince of Death, assassinating those foolish enough to defy his autocratic father, the sultan. If Zafira was exposed as a girl, all of her achievements would be rejected; if Nasir displayed his compassion, his father would punish him in the most brutal of ways. Both Zafira and Nasir are legends in the kingdom of Arawiya–but neither wants to be. War is brewing, and the Arz sweeps closer with each passing day, engulfing the land in shadow. When Zafira embarks on a quest to uncover a lost artifact that can restore magic to her suffering world and stop the Arz, Nasir is sent by the sultan on a similar mission: retrieve the artifact and kill the Hunter. But an ancient evil stirs as their journey unfolds–and the prize they seek may pose a threat greater than either can imagine.
A Winter’s Promise – Christelle Dabos
Thoughts: Long ago, following a cataclysm called “The Rupture,” the world was shattered into many floating celestial islands. Known now as Arks, each has developed in distinct ways; each seems to possess its own unique relationship to time, such that nowadays vastly different worlds exist, together but apart. And over all of the Arks the spirit of an omnipotent ancestor abides. Ophelia lives on Anima, an ark where objects have souls. Beneath her worn scarf and thick glasses, the young girl hides the ability to read and communicate with the souls of objects, and the power to travel through mirrors. Her peaceful existence on the Ark of Anima is disrupted when she is promised in marriage to Thorn, from the powerful Dragon clan. Ophelia must leave her family and follow her fiancée to the floating capital on the distant Ark of the Pole. Why has she been chosen? Why must she hide her true identity? Though she doesn’t know it yet, she has become a pawn in a deadly plot.
Once Upon A Broken Heart – Stephanie Garber
Thoughts: For as long as she can remember, Evangeline Fox has believed in true love and happy endings… until she learns that the love of her life will marry another. Desperate to stop the wedding and to heal her wounded heart, Evangeline strikes a deal with the charismatic but wicked Prince of Hearts. In exchange for his help, he asks for three kisses, to be given at the time and place of his choosing. But after Evangeline’s first promised kiss, she learns that bargaining with an immortal is a dangerous game—and that the Prince of Hearts wants far more from her than she’d pledged. He has plans for Evangeline, plans that will either end in the greatest happily ever after or the most exquisite tragedy…
The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern
Thoughts: The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night. But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands. True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.
For the Wolf – Hannah Whitten
Thoughts: As the only Second Daughter born in centuries, Red has one purpose-to be sacrificed to the Wolf in the Wood in the hope he’ll return the world’s captured gods. Red is almost relieved to go. Plagued by a dangerous power she can’t control, at least she knows that in the Wilderwood, she can’t hurt those she loves. Again. But the legends lie. The Wolf is a man, not a monster. Her magic is a calling, not a curse. And if she doesn’t learn how to use it, the monsters the gods have become will swallow the Wilderwood-and her world-whole.
From Blood and Ash – Jennifer L. Armentrout
Thoughts: A Maiden… Chosen from birth to usher in a new era, Poppy’s life has never been her own. The life of the Maiden is solitary. Never to be touched. Never to be looked upon. Never to be spoken to. Never to experience pleasure. Waiting for the day of her Ascension, she would rather be with the guards, fighting back the evil that took her family, than preparing to be found worthy by the gods. But the choice has never been hers. A Duty… The entire kingdom’s future rests on Poppy’s shoulders, something she’s not even quite sure she wants for herself. Because a Maiden has a heart. And a soul. And longing. And when Hawke, a golden-eyed guard honor bound to ensure her Ascension, enters her life, destiny and duty become tangled with desire and need. He incites her anger, makes her question everything she believes in, and tempts her with the forbidden. A Kingdom… Forsaken by the gods and feared by mortals, a fallen kingdom is rising once more, determined to take back what they believe is theirs through violence and vengeance. And as the shadow of those cursed draws closer, the line between what is forbidden and what is right becomes blurred. Poppy is not only on the verge of losing her heart and being found unworthy by the gods, but also her life when every blood-soaked thread that holds her world together begins to unravel.
These Violent Delights – Chloe Gong
Thoughts: The year is 1926, and Shanghai hums to the tune of debauchery. A blood feud between two gangs runs the streets red, leaving the city helpless in the grip of chaos. At the heart of it all is eighteen-year-old Juliette Cai, a former flapper who has returned to assume her role as the proud heir of the Scarlet Gang—a network of criminals far above the law. Their only rivals in power are the White Flowers, who have fought the Scarlets for generations. And behind every move is their heir, Roma Montagov, Juliette’s first love…and first betrayal. But when gangsters on both sides show signs of instability culminating in clawing their own throats out, the people start to whisper. Of a contagion, a madness. Of a monster in the shadows. As the deaths stack up, Juliette and Roma must set their guns—and grudges—aside and work together, for if they can’t stop this mayhem, then there will be no city left for either to rule.
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