My Favorite Books
When deciding what my first blog post to be, I wanted to start off on a positive note. So we’re talking favorite books!
First, lets talk about what I look for in a favorite book?
THEMES - it’s so important to me that not only are there interesting themes, but also that said themes are pulled off well.
World building - I get so exited when world building is done well. Although I’ve found that most of the time it doesn’t stand out to me unless its really good or kinda to really bad. The first chapter of your book should not feel like an exposition dump that’s almost impossible to understand because of the amount of fantasy words it uses. Things should be mentioned as they come up naturally because they’re part of the environment the characters are in.
Interesting characters - The characters don’t have to be good people, but they do have to be interesting.
Now let’s get into the books!
Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White
Benji, a young trans guy, runs away from the fundamentalist cult he was raised in that started the end of the world and infected him with a bioweapon. He finds himself among a group of teen survivors from the local LGBTQ+ center and makes fast friends amongst some of the members. All the while Benji must hide the fact that he’s slowly being transformed by the medical experimentation done on him, and his history with the cult.
When I say this book changed my life, I mean it. I’m not sure if I just read it at the right time or what, but this book is fantastically written and made me feel seen in a way I didn’t know was possible before. As with all books by this author, I encourage potential readers to look at the author’s note at the beginning of the book that includes a list of content warnings. If you can handle it (and absolutely no shame if you can’t) this book is amazing. From the way that it’s written, to all of the small things about being trans that White absolutely nails, this book is one of my absolute favorites.
Swordcrossed by Freya Marske
A young man named Mattinesh from a wool merchant family who needs to hire a swordsman to be his best man for his wedding, because in this world you can contest a marriage by challenging the best man to a duel. Matti’s family is struggling to keep their business afloat and needs the arranged marriage between Matti and Sofia, the daughter of a wine merchant, to go through. Matti hires Luca, a swordsman who’s new in town and looking to start again after committing a crime in his hometown.
This is romantasy at it’s finest. It has romcom qualities, but with fantastic characters and world building. Also it doesn’t do the thing where only the main couple is queer. It’s implied that most, if not all of the main characters are bi, and one of the supporting characters is canonically trans. Representation like that doesn’t make or break a book for me if the rest of it is well written, but in this book its just the cherry on top of all the other fantastic parts.
Dark Rise (Dark Rise trilogy Book One) by C. S. Pacat
A young adult, dark fantasy set in the 1820s about a dock boy, Will, who discovers he’s the descendant of one of the heroes of The Light from an ancient world of magic. He and a girl named Violet are found and taken in by the Stewards, an ancient order that protect the Light from the Dark.
This is a book that I accidentally majorly spoiled for myself by picking up and reading the dust jacket of the second book. Even then, I enjoyed this book so much that I picked up the second book in the series as soon as I could. It’s super well written and you can tell that the author put a lot of planning and research into both the fantasy and historical elements.
The Spirit Bares It’s Teeth by Andrew Joseph White
This book takes place in a alternate version of victorian England where there are people with violet eyes that can see spirits and the tears in the barrier between the living and spirit world. We follow a trans boy named Silas (no relation), who is shipped off to a ‘finishing school” (read: correctional facility) for violet-eyed women that are believed to have gone mad after he attempts to escape an arranged marriage. The ghosts of missing students draw out the start of a mystery at the heart of the facility that Silas becomes fixated on exposing.
Honorable Mentions (in no particular order)
Don’t Let the Forest In by CG Drews
Most Ardently by Gabe Cole Novoa
The Ruins of Gorlan (Ranger’s Apprentice Book One) by John Flanagan
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
Heaven Official’s Blessing by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
The Summer Hikaru Died by Mokumokuren
Heartstopper by Alice Osman
So This is Ever After by F. T. Lukens