I was planning on posting these genre-specific “best of 2018” lists WEEKS ago, but… alas, time has slipped away from me. Better late than never?
Today, let’s talk about my favorite FANTASY reads of 2018!
Note: These are not only 2018 releases, just books I READ in 2018!
All of these are books I gave 4.5+ stars in 2018. These are in no particular order!
1. In an Absent Dream — Seanan McGuire (review)
I read books #2-4 of this series in 2018, so it made it tough to narrow down, but I had to go with the newest installment.
I couldn’t put this novella down, and was instantly so sad when it ended because I wanted more. I think this spin on the Goblin Market was probably my favorite Wayward Children setting so far, and I loved Seanan’s unusual but flawless sense of storytelling throughout it.
2. The Language of Thorns — Leigh Bardugo
I don’t know what it is about Leigh’s writing that just makes me so EMOTIONAL, but y’all, I was seriously fighting tears through most of this collection—even when it wasn’t necessarily sad!
I haven’t reviewed the collection yet because my heart is still tender when I think about it, but if any of you are curious, my favorite story from the collection was ‘Ayama and the Thorn Wood’, with ‘The Witch of Duva’ following as a close second.
3. The Wicked King — Holly Black (review)
Have you all read this yet?! UGH.
Seriously, Holly’s writing and characters and settings always slay me, but I wasn’t sold on the romance in this series in book 1. While I still haven’t forgiven something that happened in the first book, I won’t lie; this book had me rooting for these two so hard. And that ENDING. WHO GAVE HOLLY BLACK THE RIGHT?! The audacity. ?
4. Queen of Shadows — Sarah J. Maas (review)
Like I said in my overall ‘best of 2018’ list, I truly wanted to put basically the ENTIRE DAMN SERIES in this list (minus KoA, which I am somehow STILL putting off finishing?!), but I couldn’t do that, so… this is the one I narrowed it down to.
Because that damn alley reunion scene puts a lump in my throat every freaking time I think about it. ??
5. Toil & Trouble — Tess Sharpe & Jessica Spotswood (review)
Queer witches, witches of color, fat witches, silly witches, angsty witches, dreadful witches, righteously angry witches… WITCHES.
AN ANTHOLOGY OF WITCHES.
I’m never gonna stop screaming about this and not even one little bitty bit of me is sorry.
6. A Conjuring of Light — V. E. Schwab (review)
My babies. ?
I have an issue with being terrified of series finales, right? Because they’re usually a letdown. USUALLY. This is not the case at all with ACOL because, honestly, ACOL is probably the best series finale I’ve ever read. It tied everything up so beautifully and gave me equal helpings of devastation and warm fuzzies, and makes me so emotional all the time.
7. Six of Crows — Leigh Bardugo (review)
I know a whole LOT of y’all felt like CK was better than SOC, and you know what? I love you, I respect your opinions… but you’re just wrong, plain and simple.
Okay, maybe not WRONG, but still. While I loved them both, I felt like SOC had one of the most chaotic, wild, FUN heist plots I’ve ever read and I just loved it so damn much.
(Then again, maybe I’m just still salty about that death in CK.)
8. Nevernight — Jay Kristoff (review)
I loved this book so much that, in a recent music tag, I made a parallel between Mia Corvere and the lyrics to ‘The Sin and the Sentence’ by Trivium, and now I literally cannot listen to Trivium without daydreaming about Mia in all of her gruesome bloody wonder.
I’m actually about to start a reread of this one in the next few days, just to give myself an excuse to keep putting off Godsgrave (and its cliffhanger!) until closer to the Darkdawn release.
9. The Raven King — Maggie Stiefvater (review)
This was my least favorite book in The Raven Cycle, yet it still made this list. What does that tell you?
(That tells you that I’m TRC trash and also that I read the first 3 books in 2017 so this was my only ‘best of 2018’ option from the series.)
(It’s still a damn good book.)
10. Reign of the Fallen — Sarah Glenn Marsh (review)
Reign was another book where it was so freaking DIFFICULT to pick just one from the series for this list, but I had to make myself. I read both books in the duology during 2018, and while I loved them both, the addiction representation storyline in the first book just meant so much to me on a personal level. On top of that, we got to see a bit more of the Dead Lands in this one, which gave Song a run for its money… (buuuut Song does have Nipper the dragon, so it’s tough.)
11. Circe — Madeline Miller (review)
There’s just no way I could finish this list without including this beautiful myth retelling which has cemented its place as one of my favorite books of all time. It’s so gorgeously crafted and intricate, and the motherhood portrayal of Circe and her son? It practically killed me with Feels the first time I read it, and now that my son is a year older and his little toddler personality has shone through more, I feel like I’d be even MORE emotional if I reread it right now. Which I might do soon, because I’m a glutton for pain.
12. Kings Rising — C. S. Pacat (review)
My sweet, sweet kings. ♥
I read the first 2 books in December of 2017, this one in January of 2018, and then reread the whole trilogy in summer of 2018. If that doesn’t tell you how much I adored this series, I don’t know what will, besides maybe the fact that crying over these characters and how much I love them is practically built into my normal weekly routine at this point.
That’s it! Those were my 12 favorite fantasy reads of 2018 (because I couldn’t bring myself to pick only 10!).
What were yours?
fictionnochaser
January 28, 2019So many amazing books here! Nevernight has ruined me forever. Now I have to go listen to Trivium.
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 28, 2019Thank you! Omg, SERIOUSLY, their songs are just so fitting for NN it’s ridiculous. ‘The Sin and the Sentence’ is literally my theme song for Mia now.
Sarah
January 28, 2019Honestly, I think I only liked CK more than SoC because of a certain OTP of mine getting fluffier by the second haaaa. But if I reread SoC there’s a chance I might like it more because now I already KNOW all the characters whereas in my first readthrough I was still sorting them all out in my mind.
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 28, 2019Bahaha which OTP is your fave?! I honestly loved all the couples in CK SO DAMN MUCH but I’m just not over the one big death. ? My heart hurts and while I’m so excited for KOS this week, I’m also kind of not ready to revisit those feels? Sigh.
Sarah
January 28, 2019Jesper and Wylan! They’re my bbs. I honestly had to look up the big death because I couldn’t remember but uhhh that’s par for the course for me and my poor memory. And I want to read KOS but I feel like I need to read the other Grishaverse books first??? I’ve only read SoC and CK!
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 29, 2019Ahhh they’re precious little beans. ♥ Oooh… man. I wish I could say you don’t need to, but you kind of DO, because 98% of Nikolai’s back story is in the trilogy and isn’t touched on in the duology!
Sarah
January 30, 2019That’s what I thought! I guess I’ll have to prioritize those then hmmm.
Jasmine's Reading Blog
January 28, 2019Oh, I just loved Six of Crows–such a wonderful and exciting reading experience. It took me a while to get into The Raven Cycle books, but overall, they are fascinating. Hoping to get to books 3 & 4 sometime this year!
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 28, 2019I hope you love the rest of TRC! Book 3 is my fave, I think, if I had to pick one. 😀
thelittlebookowl
January 28, 2019Circe was so good. It was definitely one of my favourite books from 2018 too. 🙂
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 28, 2019Yaaaay! It’s so gorgeously written and just, wow, what an awesome story of empowerment and finding your own way in life. ♥
tasya @ the literary huntress
January 28, 2019I literally just finished The Cruel Prince minutes ago, the second part of the book is so action packed my heart rate is still high xD I can’t wait to read the second one!
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 28, 2019That’s awesome haha! 😀 I hope you love the second one, too! It was even more action packed to me!
Kelly
January 28, 2019This list is perfect. Holly Black ruined me with The Wicked King’s ending. HOW are we supposed to wait a year for the next one??! I’m so happy to see Six of Crows made your list, too! And you’ve got me super excited to finish the Shades of Magic trilogy.
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 28, 2019Oh gods, right?!?! That ending slayed me ? And I hope you like the rest of Shades of Magic!
Kathy @ Books & Munches
January 28, 2019I honestly love how so many books on this list are on my TBR because that simply means I’ll have an AWESOME reading year if I succeed at picking them all up, haha. Hoping to read The Language of Thorns during Fantastic February and.. it’s a given for me to read The Wicked King as well. Whiiiiii~
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 28, 2019Hahaha, yessss! Ahhh, The Language of Thorns… it broke my heart but in the best way. ♥
Kathy @ Books & Munches
January 29, 2019Andd.. it doesn’t matter to read it before having read the trilogy, right? [I keep double-checking that little fact before I ruin things for myself :’) ]
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 29, 2019You don’t have to read the trilogy first, but I will say that you’ll miss all the easter eggs without reading the trilogy first—so it just depends on how important those little bits are to you!
Kathy @ Books & Munches
January 30, 2019Eh. I can reread it for the easter eggs afterwards? 😀
abyssallibrarian
January 28, 2019I really liked The Raven Kings too! I was nervous going into it because I’d seen that so many people hated it, but it was amazing.
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 29, 2019I know, I’m still not sure why so many people disliked it so much!
Mogsy @ BiblioSanctum
January 28, 2019Circe and The Wicked King definitely deserved the mentions! And speaking of Holly Black, her endings…ugh yes they slay me, but in the best possible way! 😀
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 29, 2019YES, haha! Her endings are so wild and I never feel like I can predict what she’s going to do in them!
theorangutanlibrarian
January 29, 2019Great list! I loved six of crows and circe 🙂
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 29, 2019Thank you! They were so good 🙂
Ellyn
January 30, 2019*cries* I’ve only read 2 of these! I really need to get my act together and read some of these!
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 31, 2019Awww I hope you get to soon! There are just so many good books and so little time ?
Rain
January 31, 2019Too many great books on this list! MY HEART IS HAPPY TO SEE MY FAVES HERE ASVDHDJK
ACOL is just perfection and The Language of Thorns is one great masterpiece. The Witch of Duva is my most favorite short story of all time which is a testament of queen LB’s greatness. Love this post so much! It rekindled my love for some of the books on this list ?
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
January 31, 2019Oh man, Leigh really is such a queen and The Witch of Duva… I get emotional just thinking about it. ♥ Thank you love!! I’m glad we had so many similar faves! 😀
Annemieke
February 1, 2019Yes to the Conjuring of Light. <3
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
February 2, 2019It’s so, so, so excellent and it still hurts my heart every time I think about it!