Top 5 Tuesday is created and run by Shanah at Bionic Book Worm. You can join the fun by checking out the topics for the month here.

Hi everyone,

Happy Tuesday! This week we’re talking about our Top 5 Fantasy. Fantasy is my favourite genre to both read and write. I have so many favourites and every new book I read seems to be just as incredible in its own unique way. These 5 books are just some of the amazing fantasy books I’ve read this year!

Girls of Paper and Fire – Natasha Ngan

I very recently read this book, just a week or two ago, and was absolutely enthralled. I was riveted from the very first page and couldn’t put it down. It was such a brilliant story, I thought the world building was absolutely excellent. I really love creature based fantasy, and so was fascinated reading about the demon class and seeing people who look like cats. It dealt with such difficult issues in such a mature and nuanced way, and I loved the theme of female empowerment throughout.

Missing, Presumed Dead – Emma Berquist

This is another book I read a week or two ago, and it immediately shot into my all time favourites. I don’t read a huge amount of contemporary fantasy, so it was quite different to my usual reads. It had a thriller/mystery at the heart of the story which I loved, and the MC’s power was just so interesting – if she touches someone, she can see their death, and can also see and talk to ghosts. I loved how the book explored the impact on her mental health from having such a power. Discussions about mental health are one of my favourite things to see in fantasy and it was written so so well. I will have a full review of this book shortly!

The Poppy War – R.F Kuang

I came to The Poppy War train late and I can’t believe I only read this book this year!! But what a book! I loved that a grimdark fantasy had such a poweful and strong female character as the MC, as most of what I’ve read in the genre are heavily male dominated. But Rin was fabulous! I loved her anger, that she wasn’t afraid of her anger, and that she embraced that anger and refused to back down. I loved the magic system, and I am so excited for The Dragon Republic!

The Wicker King – K. Ancrum

The books I’ve read recently have just been absolutely phenomenal and The Wicker King is another I only recently picked up. It’s another book which delves into mental illness in a contemporary fantasy way, with main character Jack beginning to hallucianate a fantasy world. It’s another stark and difficult look at mental illness, and I felt like someone had punched me in the chest the entire way through. The relationship between Jack and August was quite dark, with both needing each other and relying on each other in very differnt ways. This is another book I will have a full review of soon.

Witchmark – C.L Polk

Witchmark is another excellent fantasy novel (with a sequel publishing in 2020!) I loved the setting, it had a very Edwardian England feel but brought in magic and mystery. Miles is hiding as a doctor to avoid being enslaved by his family for his magic. The story looks at war and PTSD, and when something begins changing the war veterans Miles is treating, he is sucked into a mystery to find out what’s happening. It was such a good read, the romance was lovely, and this was one of the books that really made me get back into reading this year.

That’s it for this week’s topic! I have so many amazing fantasy books I want to read that are being released in the next few months that I feel like in three months time this list will be completely different. Some of my favourites I’m looking for to reading are GIDEON. THE. NINTH (Tasmyn Muir), Wicked Fox (Kat Cho), The Infinite Noise (Lauren Shippen), War Girls (Tochi Onyebuchi) – I could literally go on for so long. There are so many excellent fantasy releases to look forward to and I can’t wait to see what my Top 5 fantasy looks like a few months from now.

Paws out,
Rach + Draco