Today’s article is going to be one of the most anticipated book articles of the year, the best books that I have read in 2021. So this is part of my end-of-the-year book series. I look forward to this article every year. These are the best books that I have read.

1. Words of Radiance by Brendan Sanderson

However, a special mention to this one - Words Of Radiance by Brendan Sanderson. This is the second book in the Stormlight Archive series and I adore this one. I read the book, it made it to my best last year, but this year was just a whole other level. I have to adore his world-building magic system, but I think this one specifically. You could tell how much he has improved in terms of characters and his endings are always great, but that one specifically,

I didn’t see it coming at least not like that. Not this early and I was shocked, still kinda am, and I am so looking forward to continuing this series. I can’t even explain the plot, because it is so incredibly complicated, as the war between two groups of people is it like? Would you even call them race species? I don’t know, but it’s incredibly entertaining adore it. Both of the books that I have read in this series are over a thousand pages. I think they all are, and I don’t even mind. I will continue to push through and read a thousand pages fairly easily just to continue enjoying this series. So if you have yet to read anything by him, this might not be the first series I would recommend. I did do an article reviewing all the books, I have read by him.

2. Kindred by Octavia E Butler

Kindred by Octavia E Butler. I adore this book. I read it earlier this year and I have been thinking about it ever since the author. I have a couple of her books, but this is the first book that I have read by her. For some reason, I’ve been intimidated by her work. She talks about a difficult topic, whether it’s like feminism or in this case slavery, and she uses sci-fi elements or a little bit of historical fiction to discuss them. In this case, you’re, following a black woman 26-year-old black woman living in California in 1976 she is sent 150 years before the deep south and she has to struggle to figure out what’s going on trying to survive there and she goes back and forth between the timelines and this book was so raw, it’s less than 300 pages, but some of the scenes are still marked into like my brain, and I will continue to rave about this book and talk about it and think about it all the time.

A few things, for example, one of the men that enslaved people, seemed like such a decent person, but he has no empathy for her or any of the other enslaved people and she has more empathy for him than she does for her, and having to see her struggle with, that notion is just so difficult to read those in the scene. You have little children playing like a slave market or there’s another scene where someone is telling her that you know slavery happened so long ago.

Why are you still complaining about it from the first sentence? I was completely obsessed because it starts with. I lost an arm on my last trip home when a book starts with the first sentence, like that, you know it’s going to be a good book. So yes, if you have yet to read anything by her, I would highly recommend this one. I’m planning on reading more about her. But yes, this was easily five stars. If you had told me at the beginning of the year that this book would make it to this article, I would not have believed you.

3. The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan

This is the first book in the Wheel of Time series, The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan. I don’t know, I feel like a fantasy has been very hit and miss for me and I haven’t been reading as much, but I’m looking at the books that I’m going to be talking about in this article and a lot of them are fantasy. So I guess it’s still working for me, even though I’m hesitating to read a lot, but this was so much better than I expected. The characters were more likable than I thought they were going to be. I enjoyed how they all had their own stories. You can see the beginning of their journey because it’s going to be such a long series, which probably is why I was super scared to begin. After all, like I don’t want to commit to so many books.

I was also scared that it probably was going to be another pretty sexist fantasy book. I feel like the older ones, there’s always some sexism, but so far, at least for the first book, I haven’t encountered anything that put me off. I also was so annoyed by Matt. I am trying to figure out what else he’s going to do like, how is he going to mess up again, so Matt as a character that marked me? I think the only negative stuff I can think of is towards the end. The ending was the weakest point in my opinion and the romances, which were not big throughout the whole book, but at the end, it comes out of nowhere and I just didn’t care for it. I’m currently reading book two, it’s too early to have an opinion.

I’m currently reading slp anyway, it’s not doing a book. It’s me in the weather or just a world right now, but I am trying to read it so I can watch a tv show if you have started it. Please, Let me know how it’s going. Are you enjoying it, don’t spoil it, but let me know so it might give me the little kick in the butt to finish book two. But yes, I enjoyed book one a lot more than I expected. If I have to choose a favorite character, it’s probably going to be super random, but that one character can’t look up the name because of spoilers online right she’s like predicting their futures, she was cool. I want more of her in the series. So yes I enjoyed that one.

4. The Sword of Kaigen

I also obviously needed to talk about The Sword of Kaigen. I, for some reason, had this book for like two or three years on my kindle and I had yet to pick it up. I kept forgetting to read it: it’s a standalone adult standalone fantasy and it was self-published and it is so freaking good. It took me a while to get fully immersed in the universe. I think I struggle because the main female character grew up in a pretty progressive family went to an international school to learn to fight and magic and then married into a very conservative family that lives in a small remote village, and she has just accepted her fate, so it was frustrating to read about her, but the empire is now under attack and they have to protect everyone.

You also follow the arc of her teenage son, trying to find his place, there’s also a magical school. If anyone is interested, I’m always a fan and also his relationship with his father, who is once again very conservative and silent and quiet and hard to you know not very emotional, and about the midpoint of the book. My opinion completely changed. I adored the magic like I said the fighting, but mostly it has some of the best characters I have ever read, I loved it and highly recommend it. I kind of wish it wasn’t standalone, but I’m happy that it is. You know I feel like we need more fantasy that are standalone, but yes, if you still haven’t picked it up, I highly recommend you do yourself a favor.

5. The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

Speaking of fantasy series, we have The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie, the first book being The Blade Itself. I read the first book and adored it that’s why it’s in here. I need to finish the series next year, I’m doing a series challenge because I start series very easily, but I never finished them, but this one is going to be in there because I enjoyed it. Someone mentioned that it feels a little bit like a prologue, which I don’t disagree and I usually hate that. But it worked with this one you’re following three characters who are completely different, and I liked how the writing reflected that. So you have someone that used to be like a villain who is now becoming a hero.

You have what I would just call f boy, and then you have the opposite: the guy that used to be a hero and is now a villain and clocked up, that character is my favorite in the whole book. I adore him. I thought it was funny and interesting and I can’t wait to see where the story is going because there’s a ton of potential. But yes, it does feel a little bit like a prologue, because the story is beginning. At the end of the first book, I can’t wait to continue because this was great – the hype was real. I approve.

6. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson

I’m happy with it The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson. I am like 15 years late with this one. I had no intention of reading this, like none. I was doing one of my favorite challenges, which is one week one shelf. I put the number of all of my shelves in a jar pick one and I have to read solely books from that shelf that week and I pick this random shelf. That has like mystery trailer that just doesn’t have like nice covers like that shape mass-market paperbacks, not my thing, so I can’t make them real pretty.

So I shove a bunch of things there that I kind of forgot I had including this one and I decided to read the first chapter of a couple to figure out which one I liked the writing more most, and this was the winner and I read it So quickly, my edition has like 800 something pages, and I flew through this in a couple of days, loved it. I highly recommend it. I mean it’s very, very popular I’m super late, but it starts a little complicated essentially you’re following this financial journalist who is hired by this rich man to figure out a mystery that happened to him years ago, a family member disappeared or got Murdered on an island when there was an event where solely the family, pretty much was onset island.

So whoever did it had to be part of like someone that is close to him and he doesn’t want to die and leave his fortune without knowing what happened. So the journalist is trying to figure it out in that small village, which I like cozy mysteries, even though, like I don’t know if it counts as cozy, but to me, it does because the small village so enjoyed it gave it five stars easily. I also appreciated how the author tried to talk about topics like misogyny in a series. I believe this series is called in every other language except English men who hate women. So it’s only in English. It’s called the millennial series. I don’t know why. I also read book two which I did overall enjoy. I just had a few issues. That’s why it’s not part of this article, but I loved book one, and I can’t wait to read book three.

7. Emergency Skin by N.K. Jemisin

I also needed to mention Emergency Skin by N.K. Jemisin. This was my first five stars of the year. First, one first month of the year, I had put down a book by her that same month, so I was a little scared but adore this. This is 33 pages, so, if you’re still trying to hit your reading goal for 2021 or even next year, pick it up it’s a very quick read. I did an article recently and was reading bad reviews of books but the only bad comments were people saying that it was political which I don’t think it was but kind of, I guess but loved it. Very entertaining – and I just want to read more by the author out of the forward collection. This was my favorite easily ugh.

8. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

The next book that broke my heart, is A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. I think he has become after this year one of my favorite authors. I think he writes great characters and his stories break my heart. I tend to be a little careful with like contemporaries that tend to like to play with my emotions. I feel like I easily feel manipulated which it’s the goal with these kinds of stories to make you cry, you know, evoke some feelings than you yes, but I feel like when they’re badly written. I just don’t like it, but in this case, I didn’t cry, but like misty eyes, you know you follow the stories of a couple of women in Afghanistan talking about child brides, domestic violence, and multiple wives, and it was such a difficult read, but I highly recommend it it’s a little older and it’s popular, so you might have already picked it up. But if you haven’t, if you’re like me and you’re late totally worth the read.

9. The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter

The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter, I think this is the only book here that might not be unanimously loved. I enjoyed it. It’s an adult fantasy. Once again, I swear I feel like I didn’t read that many fantasies this year, but so many of them made it to this article. In this book, you’re following a character who had no intention of ever participating in the war. But epic revenge story begins, keeping it vague and he has to learn how to fight and he’s starting like way down. I enjoyed the world-building and the little bit of the magic system that we got. I am hoping that we’re going to get more in book two, which I will be reading next year for sure. I also enjoyed the friendships here, and I think the only thing negative that I have to say would be that the ending is the weakest part and I didn’t care for the romance, but that’s a pretty common complaint about me. I think there’s just a ton of potential with this series, I’m looking forward to seeing if it gets better and better with rest, and there are dragons. That’s what makes it better right.

10. A Psalm For The Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

Last but not least, I needed to rave about A Psalm For The Wild-Built by Becky Chambers. She’s one of my all-time favorite authors. She writes very character-driven sci-fi, but it’s very accessible sci-fi. With this book you’re following a version of a world where one day, robots got up and just left us to our own devices, wanted nothing to do with us and you follow the main character who is a non-binary monk trying to figure out the meaning of their life and it’s very character-driven tea discussions and it’s great there’s just something about her writing that makes me feel super comfortable like makes me feel like home, and I can’t rave about her enough – and this is going to be a 2 part book and book 2 is coming out next year, which I will be reading, although it might not have been my best reading year. In terms of how many books I have read, I do think I still got quite a few new favorites.

Top Books Of 2021