It’s been a year in the making, but I finally have my Best of 2019 list together! Rather than do a top ten, which is very difficult, I’m listing all the books I loved this year. Most are 5 and 4 1/2 star reads, and I’ve broken them down by genre. I thought about doing a separate list for each grouping, but hey, let’s just throw all these books together in the same post, shall we?
And as a teaser, next Tuesday I will be listing my Best Books of the Decade, in which I pick five favorite books from each year of the past decade, 2010 – 2019. That post will be my big reveal of my very favorite top five books of 2019, so don’t forget to stop back next week and check it out!
One of the biggest surprises for me this year was the lack of good young adult books I read. As you can see by the last category, I only read four YA books this year that I would even consider putting on this list, and each one rated no higher than four stars! It may be a case of my reading the wrong books, and next year I’m going to try harder to find YA I will love.
It really has been a fantastic year for SFF reading, which is evident by these thirty-five books. I know that’s a lot of favorites, especially when I’ve only read about 82 books for the entire year. but I love shouting out about the books and authors I love, so please enjoy this list! I’m also linking up my reviews in case you missed them. Here we go! (in no particular order)
Best Fantasy of 2019
Wild Country by Anne Bishop | A Labyrinth of Scions and Sorcerers by Curtis Craddock | The Absinthe Earl by Sharon Lynn Fisher | The Gutter Prayer by Gareth Hanrahan | The Hanged Man by K.D. Edwards | Middlegame by Seanan McGuire | The Witch’s Kind by Louisa Morgan | Ormeshadow by Priya Sharma | The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow | The Girl With No Face by M.H. Boroson | Titanshade by Dan Stout
Best Horror of 2019
The Dead Girls Club by Damien Angelica Walters | The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giesbrecht | Sabbath by Nick Mamatas | The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher | Ration by Cody T. Luff | Infernal by Cheryl Low | Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton | The Girl in Red by Christina Henry
Best Science Fiction of 2019
A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker | The Loosening Skin by Aliya Whiteley | Sisters of the Vast Black by Lina Rather | Anyone by Charles Soule (review to come) | Our War by Craig DiLouie | How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse by K. Eason | Three Laws Lethal by David Walton | Recursion by Blake Crouch | A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher | Do You Dream of Terra-Two? by Temi Oh | Wanderers by Chuck Wendig
Best Mystery & YA of 2019
So many best books. *sobs* I need more time so I can read all of them! I really want to read The Monster of Elendhaven and Rory Thorne, and I’ve been on hold for Wanderers pretty much since you posted your review of it (that’s how crazy long my library’s Overdrive holds are haha). I still need to read Aurora Rising, too, and I’m so excited. I don’t want to start the series, because then it’ll just break my heart and end and arrrrgh, feels are hard.
Sammie @ The Writerly Way recently posted…2020 ARCs I Hope Santa Sends Me
Ha ha, we must deal with all the feels, Sammie! No matter how hard:-)
This is a great list… some I’m definitely putting on my TBR!
Thanks Paul:-)
Awesome list! So glad to see Gutter Prayer, Middlegame and Recursion on here. They sure were fantastic! 😀 Thanks for sharing, Tammy.
Lashaan Balasingam recently posted…Justice League: The Darkseid War Saga by Geoff Johns
Thanks Lashaan, I’m glad we both got to read such fabulous books:-)
Your horror list is good. Ration was excellent! I haven’t read The Twisted Ones, but I want to!
Priscilla Bettis recently posted…December To-Do’s for Writers
I hope you get the chance to read it, Priscilla!
I’m definitely going to pick up on that Best Books of the Decade idea. I like that a lot. 🙂
I really need to make time for The Gutter Prayer, and I feel like A Labyrinth of Scions and Sorcerers has been calling to me.
I think you’d love Curtis Craddock’s series, it’s got so many great elements:-)
So many great books! I’ve read at least a few from each of your categories, and in all cases, I agree that these books were amazing!
It really was a great year:-)
It looks like you had an amazing year of reading. I’m reading The Dead Girls Club right now (and it’s great) and The Twisted Ones is up next!
Enjoy The Twisted Ones!
I’ve weirdly only read a couple of these. One of which didn’t work at all for me- but I liked Wanderers a lot! And a few of them are on my list.
It just goes to show you the sheer amount of books published each year, that we can all read different ones:-)
Some new ones for me! And a reminder to get to some that are waiting in my stacks:)
Laura Thomas recently posted…Teaser Tuesday #260 ~ The Forever House
I know, I keep getting reminders from other bloggers lists too:-)
Fantastic list. Several of these are “Best ofs” for me as well and most of the rest are on my TBR, probably because of your wonderful reviews for them. 🙂
Suzanne @ The Bookish Libra recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday – Books I Hope to Find Under My Christmas Tree
Thanks Suzanne:-) We both have great taste:-)
Great list!
Thanks David:-)
Such a gorgeous post! My favorite YA this year was Wilder Girls by Rory Power.
I wanted to read Wilder Girls but just ran out of time. Hopefully I can read it next year, and she has a new book coming out so I’d love to read Wilder Girls first:-)
I’ve only read one book so far from your list, Sisters of the Vast Black, and that was thanks to your review. It also made my list of favorites for the year (I’ll post it Thursday). From the fantasy list I really want to read The Ten Thousand Doors of January and The Gutter Prayer (I’ve bought them both). From the horror list I have my eye on Hollow Kingdom and The Monster of Elendhaven. From the science fiction list I’m most drawn to Our War and Do You Dream of Terra-Two? From the mystery list I almost read Murder Theory this year, but that will have to wait for 2020 now. Am I ready for 2020? No chance. But that doesn’t much matter because it’s coming just the same, so I’ll sit back and enjoy it as it arrives! Thanks for a great year of reviews, covers, lists, and great recommendations, Tammy!
Yep, 2020 is coming so fast! I hate leaving behind all the 2019 books I couldn’t get to, because I know my chances are slim of picking them up next year, but I guess I can try anyway:-)
So many books!!! I can’t wait to read Titanshade next year as it’s going to be one of Barb and I’s buddy reads! I also love how different are thoughts can be on certain books as one of your best ended up on my disappointed reads. 🙂 I do know that my opinion is in the minority on that book too…hehe. 🙂 I hope 2020 brings you just as many great books!
Thanks Stormi! I can’t wait for you and Barb to read Titanshade together:-)
I love so many books on this list, and it also reminds me of more I still need to read! This is honestly the best way I’ve found to put together these best of lists at the end of the year, breaking up the categories and listening the books within them, because otherwise I can’t possibly narrow my favorites down to like 10 or even 20! And I love the idea for best of the decade! I definitely want to put something like that together next year for the end of 2020.
All these lists are also making me feel like there were so many other books I just didn’t have time to read!
I’m so looking forward to The Hanged Man! Also glad to see Hollow Kingdom here since that one sounds so interesting and I want to read it. Glad you found so many great books!
Kristen @ Metaphors and Moonlight recently posted…Bookish Musings: Top Ten Characters from Books I Read in 2019
I feel like not only were there so many good books this year, but I also chose well, lol.
I haven’t read a single book on your list. :O I’m going to add a lot of them to my wishlist! 🙂
Maryam recently posted…Blog Update : Guess who’s back?
I’m glad I’ve given you some reading ideas:-)
Yes, I’m so happy to see The Girl With No Face and Titanshade on your list!
Yes, two worthy books:-)
So many I still need to read. Including The Gutter Prayer. Especially since that sequel comes out soon!
I have to brush up on the events of the Gutter Prayer before I read the next one. It’s got a lot going on:-)
What a wonderful batch of books. I’m excited to get to some of these and you know there are several here I already love.
I’m glad we both have some similar favorites this year. I’m hoping for a book as good as Hollow Kingdom next year! I guess we can dream, right?
I haven’t read any of these but so many of them are on my TBR and I am all the more excited for them now. Such as: The Ten Thousand Doors of January, Middlegame, The Wicked King, Aurora Rising, Slayer by Kiersten White and The Princess and the Fangirl!!
Olivia Roach recently posted…2019 Resolutions Wrap Up!
You can’t go wrong with any of those, Olivia:-)
Great list and thanks for these recommendations. I seriously need to try Louisa Morgan’s books. They keep popping up on these best of lists.
She’s really good! The Witch’s Kind is my favorite of hers.
I’m finally catching up on everyone’s best books posts and I’m jotting down so many of yours to try to pick up for next year! I’m excited to see how many I’ve also read and loved. Wanderers, The Girl in Red, and The Witch’s Kind were all amazing. I recognize so many of these from your review over the past year and I still haven’t gotten to some of them so this is a good reminder, haha. What a fantastic array of books here, glad you had a great reading year!
A couple of these were expected 🙂 but wow I am surprised to see The Absinthe Earl on here, had no idea that would be tops. I’m even more excited to read that one now. Great list, Tammy!
You’ve got some great books on your list, Tammy. A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World and Wild Country are on my list (yet to be posted!) And others are ones I’ve meant to read, but others are new to me so I plan to search out some of them! Great list!
Great list. There were so many good books last year. I hope this year is equally good.
Lynn
Wow!! After looking at this list, it’s apparent that I need more hours in the day! I’m so behind. I’m glad to see some authors I haven’t heard of on this list, and some new books from ones I’m familiar with. Also good to see other authors featured, than the super famous ones that we are all so familiar with.
Thanks for this list, I just ordered “Do you Dream of Terra 2”, and I have my eyes on “How Rory Thorne destroyed the multiverse”
I’ll let you know how they turn out!