Mid-Year Book Reviews! 2022
At the time of writing this, I have read 64 books this year. I have attempted to narrow that list down to the 10 must-reads from the year so far. Most are fiction, many are fantasy and/or horror, but there are a couple outliers! I will link each book to its Goodreads page if you want a proper summary. I’m writing my reviews/summaries based more on vibes and tropes. I have been reading a lot of fantasy as of late and find the book jacket blurbs to be terribly confusing, sometimes boring, and often misrepresentative of the book’s overall vibe. Like, if I’m bored and confused reading ABOUT the book, why would I want to spend my time reading the actual book? So if you’re looking for what the feel of the book is and are not too concerned about the specific plot points, you’re in the right place.
And without further ado, here are my top 10ish—because some are series and you need to read the entire series—books I’ve read this year, in no particular order.
Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves
by Meg Long
Genre: YA, Fantasy
I ate this book up. It is like The Hunger Games, but set on an almost uninhabitable ice planet, and instead of the Games there’s a super dangerous wolf-sled race where everyone is killing and cheating everyone to be the winner. Also, it doesn’t have the whole love triangle going on like The Huger Games does, so you really get to know the main character and her motivations. There is lots of low-life, gangster activity framing the story as well, and the corruption of the participants in the race and the people who control the wealth (and everything else) on the planet makes for an awesome page-turner.
Godspeed
by Nickolas Butler
Genre: Fiction, Thriller?
This book is hard to place genre-wise outside of just general fiction, but I think thriller is the best categorization. I flew through this story. The character development was phenomenal. A group of friends and contractors are hired to build a house (read: excessive, mind-blowing mansion) in a remote area, in an intensely short amount of time. Even though the characters end up doing some really messed up and horrible stuff to try to be successful and meet an insane deadline, their motivations are so relatable, and the unfolding of events makes it easy to see how quickly and terribly things can go wrong when ambition trumps all. This book had some of the best character development I’ve read lately.
The Only Good Indians
by Stephen Graham Jones
Genre: Horror
Wow. Looooove me some folksy horror set in modern day and this hit the spot. This book is such a cool mix of legend, folklore, monsters, rage, and revenge. It has some really terrifying imagery and is awesomely atmospheric. This is one of those books, that if someone tells you exactly what it’s about, you’ll be like, “Huh? That sounds super weird.” And it is weird, but in the best, most surprising way. Horror lovers need more of this story type in their lives.
Daughter of the Moon Goddess
by Sue Lynn Tan
Genre: YA, Fantasy
I waited to buy this book for a while, because it was one of those whose description was too complicated to make me care about it. If you’re like me and have a hard time knowing which fantasy books you’re going to be into based on the blurbs, let me tell you that this one is worth taking a chance on! I loved the mythos, the love/relationships are captivating, and the main character is a badass warrior goddess-person. So if you’re not convinced by the book jacket, just go for it, because I ended up loving this.
Once There Were Wolves
by Catherine McConaghy
Genre: General Fiction
This book is a work of art. The blend of conservationism, trauma, healing, and murder-mystery just felt right in the story. The main character is leading a project to reintroduce wolves to an area in Scotland, and there is a lot of other family and town drama happening in the midst of the project. I loved the descriptions of the wolves’ interactions and pack behavior too. Overall, this was a unique and beautiful story. It’s sad in some ways, but also gorgeous.
These Hollow Vows / These Twisted Bonds
by Lexi Ryan
Genre: Fantasy, YA?
I’m pretty positive this is considered YA, but I will say that the sexy parts are highly satisfying. If you loved ACOTAR, I can say with confidence that you will like this duology. There is definitely some crossover in themes: it’s about humans and faeries and the female main character is a human who hates the fae at the beginning and has to go to the fae world for reasons… But, despite its similarities to the Sarah J. Maas series, it is also its own thing. Both books are page-turners with amazing twists, so much revenge, characters who are shady as shit, and a delicious love triangle (if you’re into that—which I totally am). This duology is in my top top tier of books this year. Highly recommend.
The Kaiju Preservation Society
by John Scalzi
Genre: Fiction, Fantasy, Kaiju/Monster
This book was a wild ride in the best way. It’s hilarious and I laughed out loud several times while reading. The premise is delightfully preposterous and the story captures the absurdity of how, I imagine, a lot of us feel in this moment in history, and adds adventure, a parallel universe, and Kaiju to the mix. What’s not to love?
Hex
by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
Genre: Horror
This was the most unique witch story I’ve ever read. It’s set in modern times, which gives it a humorous edge sometimes (if you have a sick sense of humor and love horror like I do), and it was truly creepy AF. If you like horror and witches, don’t skip this one.
Crescent City Series (House of Earth and Blood, House of Sky and Breath)
by Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Fantasy
There are more of these books to come, so if you hate being left on edge, you can wait until the next one comes out (next year, I think), but this story reads like an action movie with a heavy helping of sexual tension. I have written about my love for SJM’s ACOTAR series, and you actually should read that first.. for reasons… So, that means this whole reading adventure is quite a commitment because the books are long, and you’ll get the most enjoyment out of it if you read an entirely different series first. BUT, if you like romantasy, this is where it’s at. Read the first three ACOTAR books (A Court of Frost and Starlight and A Court of Silver Flames are not necessary before the Crescent City series, but you should also read them) then read both of these.
Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now
by Jaron Lanier
Genre: Nonfiction
I needed to get a nonfiction read in here for good measure, but I also really enjoyed/needed this book. It was validating to read that what I feel about social media and my use of it is as problematic as I imagined. The whole platform is engineered to manipulate and predict behaviors. I wrote an entire blog post about this book, then edited the post, then never published it because I just didn’t like the way the post read. I think it felt too personal for me, because I wrote a lot about my experience with and use of social media. I might come back around to it at some point. But the reason I wrote the unpublished post was to say that this book is extremely important and relevant RIGHT NOW. Even if you don’t intend to quit social media after reading, it might change your mind, or at least give you a different perspective about how you’re using it and how it might be affecting your life.
There were some close calls I left out of this post because I will probably write about them in other fantasy- or horror-related posts. If you don’t already, you should follow me and interact with me on Instagram and Goodreads! I love to see what my friends are reading and I get lots of ideas from their recommendations!
What are your standouts from this year? What are you reading now?