Another year is coming to a close if you can believe it… and with all the books I’ve managed to read this year, it’ll be another trial narrowing it down to just a top ten. I won’t be splitting it by genre or anything like that, as picking them is hard enough as is, so the list that follows will be a top ten–in any order you choose to view it. All of them will have been 5/5 star reads for me, so each and every one has my full endorsement.
I’m currently at 130 reads completed for 2024, with maybe 1-3 left in me on the year. As I mostly listen to somewhat silly Christmas stuff in December, I don’t think anything will knock down something out of the top ten, but who knows…
So, without further delay–
2024 Top Reads
This is the *not book 5* book 5 of the Inheritance Cycle. Not the long awaited story we were promised, but certainly a very welcomed story by me. I suppose there have been some mixed reviews from this one, but as someone that loved the series as a kid (first reading Eragon at age 11), then having recently reread it as an adult and feeling the same love for it now, this was incredible. A triumph. A story that maybe wasn’t all that expected, but now is entirely necessary. You can check out my full review here!
In a turn of events that should surprise no one, this read/author tops the charts again. Tom takes on something new, after finishing the absolutely fantastic Pillars of Peace, and of course, this one is smashed out of the park as well. Sorry, but I didn’t create the #TomDumbrellFanClub tag for nothing…
In this new novel, Tom shows readers once again how well he can create and craft fantasy worlds. This one feels lived in, gritty, and whole. Yet he has taken his writing to another level by interweaving an Agatha Christie-ian murder mystery. It’s chef’s kiss…no notes. You can check out my full review here!
This one pays homage to damn near ever slasher trope ever created, and yet it’s somehow reinventing the wheel all itself. What would happen if we viewed the slasher genre, or the slasher itself, as an actual thing–an entity? Well Stephen Graham Jones certainly thought about it, and his answer for you is a disturbing and yet profound read.
And if you’ve yet to really watch or read any of the genre, don’t worry, as the author still has you covered. This novel can show you the ropes.
As someone that had struggled with a read from the author previously, this one ended up being a real triumph, and I have read more from him since. Thanks again to Saga Press for the copy, and check out my full review here!
Malerman has been an auto buy author for me since I first read Bird Box. I try to keep my collection of his entirely hardcover, and I have some really cool special editions of his work too. But I’ll be honest, when I saw a cover with just a teddy bear, and then read that it was in the perspective of an 8 year old, I had to wonder how he was going to pull it off…
And yet, Malerman is a maverick, and somehow, the perspective is even creepier than you could ever imagine. There is still a scene with Other Mommy that haunts me to this day, and with that being said, I shared this with my grandma and she loved it! You can check out my full review here!
In this incredibly detailed family history, Martin takes readers from Aegon the Conquerer’s time to past that of the plot shown in HBO’s House of the Dragon series. If you’ve ever wondered how the stories briefly sprinkled throughout A Song of Fire and Ice play out, this is exactly what you’ve been looking for. Now it is currently unfinished, as I believe we have come to expect from all of Martin’s work, but it’s totally worth checking out prior to the release of the second book, especially because this one covers so much of the important history.
Please note though that this is more of a history, kind of textbook-ish a la The Silmarillion, so that may not work for everyone, but I went with audio, and it all went smoothly. You can check out my review here!
Honestly, I struggled between picking this or Pet Sematary, but as this is King’s debut, it turned 50 years old this year, and it still holds up so well, I had to give it up to this one.
A harrowing tale of bullying, zealotry, and the supernatural, this novel packs such a gut punch that I’m still not sure if I’m okay some days. Originally I planned to see every adaptation I could get my hands on, and now that I still haven’t, I think I’m afraid of ruining what I experienced. This book should be read by everybody as a classic, regardless of if they like the horror genre or not! Check out my full review here!
This one took me by surprise. Not that I wasn’t already a fan of E. Reyes’ work, but because it so perfectly captured infatuation and obsession. It could work as a case study.
Nathan goes down the rabbit hole and his spiral is anything but short. From an earnest desire to be with Christine, to having to have her no matter the cost, this was a fantastic horror read. You can read my full review here!
This one was another sleeper surprise for me. Not that it has anything but glowing reviews online, it’s just that I did not get along that well with Maeve Fly. But with an opinion-free mind I went into this one and I was surely awarded.
This does some incredible things for the post apocalyptic genre in an almost reinventing way. It both hits upon some seriously old (and needed tropes) while finding its own footing and then hiking its way to an awesome finish. The blend of religion with post apocalyptic, especially in the way the author did it, was a surprise I think the genre needed. You can check out my full review here!
I was a lucky ARC reader for this and it was the perfect blend of historical and fantasy. Oh, and then some horror with zombies galore! The author really knows how to add fantasy into the ancient world and make it feel whole. I still find myself wishing there was a zombie game I could play where I was a samurai, and this book delivers on those feels. Check out my full review here!
One of my latest reads, but since it was first announced, I figured it would make this list the entire time. As my full review says (and I’m certainly not the only one) McAuley is bringing things to the table that the slasher genre has not only never seen, but I think truly needs. Every time you open a book from him it’s refreshing. He makes everything his own, and although this was a sequel, it was anything but a copy of the first. Read my complete review here!
Do yourselves a favor and get some Shortwave Media titles, they rocked this year.
Honorable Mentions
You know what, pretty much all of these could be interchangeable with my top 10, and honestly I could have chosen more…so no, I could not pick 10.
Wrap Up
Another 130 reads, and I still try to focus on indie stuff, this year reading another 71 titles either from small press or self pubbers. However, having been on the team here a full year, it has afforded me the opportunity to read some brand new titles, so that is why a lot of the top 10 is ARCS. I am incredibly lucky, and am thankful to everyone, publisher and author alike, for what they do. And I hope to continue to do the same in 2025.
Also I love to include the image below (taken from StoryGraph stats), as I recall a few years ago someone popped off on the internet about how people nowadays just throw out 5/5s like it’s nothing… year three for me, and still statistically not true.
If you’ve read this far, you are awesome! I’m hoping 2025 will be big for me as my debut full length releases in March…preorder here!
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