Due to a four-day break in best-of coverage due to being sick as a dog, angsty, and ZOMG FINALS--devastating, I'm sure, to your weekend--today you all get treated to my favorite fantasy, paranormal romance, romance, and debuts of 2011! I'm tackling fantasy first. Hang tight.
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Tied for first pick: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor.
YA, Fantasy/Paranormal, 418 pages, Little, Brown & Company
Goodreads blurb:
Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.
In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.
And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.
Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages--not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.
When one of the strangers--beautiful, haunted Akiva--fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?
Why it's the best:
If I wasn't so behind on my reviews, you would already know: this book knocked my socks off. There is no word but gorgeous for Taylor's writing, story, and world; unique doesn't even begin to cover it. It's urban and modern enough that I was tempted to put it in the paranormal romance category, but the mythology felt too complex for paranormal, and the connections to the real world too tenuous. This book rewrote what fantasy means to me. And I can count on one hand the stories that have done that.
This book is also one of the few this year I actually WANT to see as a graphic novel. Get on it, publishers.
Who will love it:
Freaking everybody. Trust me.
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Tied for first pick: Chime by Franny Billingsley
Not yet reviewed | Goodreads
YA, Fantasy, 361 pages, Dial.
Goodreads blurb:
Before Briony's stepmother died, she made sure Briony blamed herself for all the family's hardships. Now Briony has worn her guilt for so long it's become a second skin. She often escapes to the swamp, where she tells stories to the Old Ones, the spirits who haunt the marshes. But only witches can see the Old Ones, and in her village, witches are sentenced to death. Briony lives in fear her secret will be found out, even as she believes she deserves the worst kind of punishment.
Then Eldric comes along with his golden lion eyes and mane of tawny hair. He's as natural as the sun, and treats her as if she's extraordinary. And everything starts to change. As many secrets as Briony has been holding, there are secrets even she doesn't know.
Why it's the best:
The buzz about this book had been building all year, but after the unfortunate
Shine/Chime National Book Award debacle, I knew it was time to read it. And after I did, I wished even more that the National Book Award committee had had more class and sense, because it's a terrific shame that such a no-holds-barred fantastic book had to be a part of that mess.
Chime has one of the best examples of an unreliable narrator that I've ever read, and a world that reads part-steampunk, part-Salem Witch Trials, part-straight historical fiction. Where
Daughter of Smoke and Bone smolders,
Chime gleams, despite its dark subject material. I can't imagine choosing a favorite of the two!
Who will love it:
Also freaking everybody, though as
Chime moves more slowly than
Daughter of Smoke and Bone, it's probably a better pick for those already on the historical fantasy bandwagon. (Think
A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray.)
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First runner-up: Red Glove by Holly Black.
Why it's the best:
As I already wrote about this one in my
Best Sequel post, I'll keep this brief. Suffice to say that
Red Glove's film noir fantasy world is as deliciously thick with intrigue as you could wish for, and that you should read it, okay?
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Second runner-up:
Huntress by Malinda Lo.
Nature is out of balance in the human world. The sun hasn't shone in years, and crops are failing. Worse yet, strange and hostile creatures have begun to appear. The people's survival hangs in the balance.
To solve the crisis, the oracle stones are cast, and Kaede and Taisin, two seventeen-year-old girls, are picked to go on a dangerous and unheard-of journey to Tanlili, the city of the Fairy Queen. Taisin is a sage, thrumming with magic, and Kaede is of the earth, without a speck of the otherworldly. And yet the two girls' destinies are drawn together during the mission. As members of their party succumb to unearthly attacks and fairy tricks, the two come to rely on each other and even begin to fall in love. But the Kingdom needs only one huntress to save it, and what it takes could tear Kaede and Taisin apart forever.
The exciting adventure prequel to Malinda Lo's highly acclaimed novel Ash is overflowing with lush Chinese influences and details inspired by the I Ching, and is filled with action and romance.
Why it's the best:
Rounding out my books-released-on-April-5th-are-awesome picks, when talking fantasy, it would be impossible not to include the literary and lovely work of Malinda Lo. Set in what is by far the most traditional fantasy world of any on this list--faeries, princes, quests, and arranged marriages abound--Lo nevertheless puts her own unique twist on her universe, the same one we visited in her debut effort,
Ash. Huntress is a heady fusion of Eastern and Western mythology, and, if you hadn't gathered from the blurb, a lesbian romance as well as a kickass adventure story.
Huntress felt like the only real return to the fantasy worlds of my childhood--a la Tolkien, Pierce, and Paolini--since
Graceling was released back in 2008. As always, I'm a huge fan of Lo's work, and can't wait for her next release!
Who will love it:
The feminist high fantasy fans in your life, OR anyone looking for fantasy with a literary twist.
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Check back later tonight for my paranormal romance picks! (Brace yourselves. It's a surprisingly long list.)
Just in time for your last-minute Christmas shopping, here's a round-up of all my best-of posts and the titles in every category. Enjoy. And Happy Holidays.
Best Sci-Fi
