It has taken me a bit longer than expected to get to this post, but today I want to talk about the books I read in 2022. Don’t worry, I won’t talk about all 75 books I managed to read last year. Instead I’ll talk about the top ten books that I enjoyed the most. So, without further ado, let’s take a look at the books!
10. Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty.
At number ten is a sci-fi murder mystery called Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty. I picked this novel up because it was the November pick for the Sword and Laser book club and by the end of it, I was glad it was that month’s pick! In Six Wakes, you follow the crew of a spaceship as they wake from the ship’s cloning vats and discover that they have been murdered. To make matters worse, none of the crew have any memories from onboard the ship. Now, they have to discover which one of them is the murderer before they strike again. I loved Six Wakes’ mystery and the way it was slowly pieced together by the crew, who each had plenty of skeletons in their closets. If you want a murder mystery in space, clones and characters with messed up histories, then I recommend Six Wakes.
9. How High We Go In The Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu.
Here is another Sword and Laser pick, this time for September, that has made the list. How High We Go In The Dark is a serious sci-fi rollercoaster that will appeal to fans of novels like Cloud Atlas. The novel explores what would happen to humanity if a dormant virus was awakened. Each chapter focused on a different person, in a different part of the world/timeline, as the impact of the plague is shown. I loved the way each chapter was connected to the previous one and some chapters really hit me emotionally- especially the theme park one, the pig one and the one about the robot dogs. How High We Go In The Dark won’t be everyone’s cup of tea and it certainly will upset you at times but I definitely feel that Sequoia Nagamatsu has written a fantastic novel.
8. Babel, Or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’s Revolution by R. F. Kuang.
Sticking with the tough reads, Babel was one of my most highly anticipated books of 2022 and it did not disappoint. In Babel. R. F. Kuang tells the story of Robin, an orphan brought to London by an Oxford professor. He is trained to join the Royal Institute of Translation at Oxford University but once there, Robin starts to question where his loyalties lie, as by working in the Institute, he is betraying his motherland. Babel is a fantastic read that takes a look at colonialism, a person’s loyalties and identity. I really enjoyed it but the reason Babel isn’t higher on the list is that I felt the pacing was a little chaotic and some of the supporting characters felt a little one dimensional. This is still an amazing book, I just enjoyed The Poppy War more but I will be reading more from R. F. Kuang in the future.
7. The High Lord by Trudi Canavan.
The High Lord was a re-read for me and it was a long time coming. I hadn’t read a Trudi Canavan book since 2015 and 2022 felt like the right time to re-read a trilogy that helped cement fantasy as one of my favourite genres to read. In all honesty, The High Lorddid not disappoint. It was a fantastic finish to the Black Magician trilogy and it has made me want to read some of Trudi Canavan’s more recent novels.
6. Lore Olympus: Volume One by Rachel Smythe.
OK, this next book is one that I have technically read before this year. Lore Olympus: Volume One is the graphic novel version of the webtoon comic, Lore Olympus. It is a retelling of a number of different ancient Greek myths, with a particular focus in the story of Hades and Persephone. Long time readers of this blog will know that I am a sucker for Beauty and the Beast stories and Hades and Persephone retellings., so if there was anything that would get me hooked on Webtoons, it was going to be Lore Olympus. I’ve loved Rachel Smythe’s retelling and I will be picking up the other volumes of Lore Olympus at some point.
5. The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan.
We have now reached the top five and at the number five spot is the fifth book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Last Olympian. As this is the fifth book in a series, I won’t go into detail about the plot but I can say that it was a fantastic ending to the Percy Jackson and the Olympians. I felt like the ending was very satisfying and I felt that the pacing was spot on, keeping the action at the forefront but also allowing opportunities for the characters to develop. I had such a great time with Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, that I will definitely be reading more of Rick Riordan’s books.
4. Eye of the World by Robert Jordan.
Very early on in 2022, I finally managed to start to read The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan by finishing Eye of the World. And what a book to kick off a fantasy series! I absolutely love deep lore and worldbuilding, something which Robert Jordan clearly excelled at. Whilst some people may struggle with Eye of the World’s pacing and cast of characters, I personally loved it. I did read the next two books in the series, The Great Hunt and The Dragon Reborn, in 2022 but both narrowly missed making this list. The Wheel of Time is a series that I would like to continue reading this year, so fingers crossed that The Shadow Rising makes my 2023 top ten list!
3. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan.
As the only author that has made my list twice, you can tell that Rick Riordan is a pretty solid author. In fact, if there is an author that can claim to have helped me recover from the reading slump that hit in the first half of 2022, then Rick Riordan can definitely lay claim to it. I picked up The LIghtning Thief on a bit of a whim and I’m so glad I did. The idea of the children of the Greek gods having to go on a quest in modern day America in order to prevent a war amongst the gods is right up my street. It is clear that Rick Riordan knows his Greek mythology and is great at putting a modern twist on it. My only regret is that I didn’t read the Percy Jackson books sooner.
2. The Girl Who Fell Beneath The Sea by Axie Oh.
A novel that seems to blend elements of Spirited Away, The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast was always going to win me over and The Girl Who Fell Beneath The Sea did exactly that. The novel follows Mina, a young woman who sacrifices herself in order to save her people from the fury of the Sea God. However, once Mina enters the Sea God’s realm, she realises not all is at seems and now she must save the Sea God as well as her people. The Girl Who Fell Beneath The Sea is an enchanting tale that felt like a fairy tale in its own right.
1. American Gods by Neil Gaiman.
And at number one is Neil Gaiman’s American Gods. This was a re-read for me, as I had read American Gods back in 2015 but it was on my list of books to read for the Sword and Laser book club challenge and since it has been a few years since I read it, I felt 2022 was a good year to re-read it. And I was not disappointed. Putting ancient gods in modern America, trying to survive as mortals turn to modern deities to worship is a fantastic premise that Neil Gaiman manages to deliver brilliantly. American Gods is not a light read, at over six hundred pages, it is a bit of a tome and yet it never felt like I was forcing myself to read or that my attention wandered from the pages. If you are looking to read a Neil Gaiman book, I highly recommend American Gods.
And those were my top ten books that I read in 2022! Despite suffering from a several month long reading slump, I did manage to read quite a few books last year- with many being fantastic books that I enjoy dreading. I am hoping that 2023 will be able to surpass 2022. And now I would love to hear about the books you enjoyed reading 2022, so let me know in the comments below and I’ll talk to you soon!
A Reluctant Hero 