Top Reads of 2019

What’s up everyone. The end of the year has arrived and with it comes the season of lists. Best movies, TV shows, songs, books, etc of 2019.

The thing I have found fascinating is that people begin posting their “Best Of” lists in December, which completely negates anything you would get to in the entire last month of the year. Sort of baffling. Having said that, Christmas and New Years sort pretty much negate the last 2 weeks of the month, at least for me.

But, I digress. Below I have compiled our reviewers’ Top Reads of the year. Since I read quite a bit more than my co-reviewers, my list was a tad larger than others and I even included a novella section (like I did last year) as well as some honorable mentions that just missed the cut. A majority of covers have links to reviews if you would like to see why we loved each and every one of our choices.

2019 was a pretty big year for us here as we brought on four (4) new reviewers, read a ton of fantastic novels, and started a podcast call Authors on a Podcast Talking Books. 2020 is going to be even better as the list of authors we chat with grows exponentially. We hope you’ll come along for the ride!

Without further ado, check out our Top Reads of 2019 below. Let us know if you jive with any of our choices, or if there are any books that we didn’t include that you loved!

David W’s Top 25 Novels of 2019

*Note: I do not put more than one (1) book by the same author in my lists, nor do I count re-reads.*

#25. Two Like Me and You by Chad Alan Gibbs

#24. We Live Inside Your Eyes by Kealan Patrick Burke

#23. The Forgetting Moon (The Five Warrior Angels #1) by Brian Lee Durfee

#22. Legacy of Ash (Legacy Trilogy #1) by Matthew Ward

#21. Seven Blades in Black (The Grave of Empires #1) by Sam Sykes

#20. Where Gods Fear to Go (West of West #3) by Angus Watson

#19. Children of Time (Children of Time #1) by Adrian Tchaikovsky

#18. Titanshade (The Carter Archives #1) by Dan Stout

#17. Nevernight (The Nevernight Chronicles #1) by Jay Kristoff

#16. A Time of Blood (Of Blood and Bone #2) by John Gwynne

#15. Smoke and Stone (City of Sacrifice #1) by Michael R. Fletcher

#14. The House of Sacrifice (Empires of Dust #3) by Anna Smith Spark

#13. Last Argument of Kings (The First Law #3) by Joe Abercrombie

#12. Holy Sister (Book of the Ancestor #3) by Mark Lawrence

#11. The Other People by C.J. Tudor

#10. Inspection by Josh Malerman

#9. The Hod King (The Books of Babel #3) by Josiah Bancroft

#8. We Are the Dead (The Last War #1) by Mike Shackle

#7. The Rage of Dragons (The Burning #1) by Evan Winter

#6. Dark Age (Red Rising Saga #5) by Pierce Brown

#5. Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

#4. A Lush and Seething Hell: Two Tales of Cosmic Horror by John Hornor Jacobs

#3. Growing Things and Other Stories by Paul Tremblay

#2. The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

#1. Recursion by Blake Crouch

Honorable Mentions

1. In the Valley of the Sun by Andy Davidson
2. The Gutter Prayer (The Black Iron Legacy #1) by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan
3. Anyone by Charles Soule
4. Empire of Silence (Sun Eater #1) by Christopher Ruocchio
5. Heaven’s Crooked Finger (Earl Marcus #1) by Hank Early
6. Blood of an Exile (Dragons of Terra #1) by Brian Naslund
7. Planetside (Planetside #1) by Michael Mammay
8. The Chestnut Man by Soren Sveistrup
9. The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
10. The Bone Ships (The Tide Child #1) by R.J. Barker

David W’s Top 10 Novellas of 2019

#10. Widow’s Point by Richard & Billy Chizmar

#9. Uncanny Collateral (Valkyrie Collections #1) by Brian McClellan

#8. A Pilgrimage of Swords by Anthony Ryan

#7. Vigilance by Robert Jackson Bennett

#6. The Resurrectionists (Salem Hawley #1) by Michael Patrick Hicks

#5. The Test by Sylvain Neuvel

#4. Rotten Little Things by Justin M. Woodward

#3. The Killing Light (The Sacred Throne #3) by Myke Cole

#2. In Shadows We Fall by Devin Madson

#1. Summer Frost by Black Crouch

David S’s Top 13 Reads of 2019

#13. All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries #1) by Martha Wells

#12. And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer by Fredrik Backman

#11. The Ninth Rain (The Winnowing Flame Trilogy #1) by Jen Williams

#10. Starsight (Skyward #2) by Brandon Sanderson

#9. The Pale Horseman (The Saxon Stories #2) by Bernard Cornwell

#8. Grey Sister (Book of the Ancestor #2) by Mark Lawrence

#7. The Thief Who Pulled on Trouble’s Braids (Amra Thetys #1) by Michael McClung

#6. The Crimson Campaign (Powder Mage #2) by Brian McClellan

#5. The Emperor’s Soul by Brandon Sanderson

#4. Blood of Assassins (The Wounded Kingdom #2) by R.J. Barker

#3. Ruin (The Faithful and the Fallen #3) by John Gwynne

#2. Dark Age (Red Rising Sage #5) by Pierce Brown

#1. The Rage of Dragons (The Burning #1) by Evan Winter

Griffin’s Top 5 Reads of 2019

#5. Skyward (Skyward #1) by Brandon Sanderson

#4. The True Bastards (The Lot Lands #2) by Jonathan French

#3. Holy Sister (Book of the Ancestor #3) by Mark Lawrence

#2. A Little Hatred (The Age of Madness #1) by Joe Abercrombie

#1. The Hod King (The Books of Babel #3) by Josiah Bancroft

KJ’s Top 5 Reads of 2019

#5. Legacy of Ghosts (The Coraidic Saga #2) by Alicia Wanstall-Burke

#4. The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo

3. Blood Tally (Valkyrie Collections #2) by Brian McClellan

#2. The Handmaid’s Tale (The Handmaid’s Tale #1) by Margaret Atwood

#1. King of Assassins (The Wounded Kingdom #3) by R.J. Barker

Mada’s Top 5 Reads of 2019

#5. The Red Wolf Conspiracy (The Chatrand Voyage #1) by Robert V. S. Redick

#4. Traitor’s Blade (Greatcoats #1) by Sebastien de Castell

#3. The Spirit Thief (The Legend of Eli Monpress #1) by Rachel Aaron

#2. Ice Forged (Ascendant Kingdoms #1) by Gail Z. Martin

#1. The Cry of the Icemark (The Icemark Chronicles #1) by Stuart Hill

Traveling Cloak’s Top 5 Reads of 2019

#5. The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

#4. This Is How You Lose the Time War bu Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

#3. Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb #1) by Tamsyn Muir

#2. The Ruin of Kings (A Chorus of Dragons #1) / The Name of All Things (A Chorus of Dragons #2) by Jenn Lyons

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#1. The Burning White (Lightbringer #5) by Brent Weeks