Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted at That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week’s theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!
This week’s theme is ‘Books That Make Me Smile (Submitted by Julia @ pagesforthoughts)’, so today I thought I’d share the ten books I’ve loved the most so far this year!
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow: I adored this debut novel, which made me so nostalgic for all the stories I loved growing up. It had a little bit of everything I love and Alix E. Harrow is on her way to becoming one of my favourite authors.
The Kingdom of Copper by S.A Chakraborty: S.A Chakraborty is also a favourite author in the making—which I think is made obvious by the fact that she appears twice on this list. Middle books in trilogies can often feel like pointless filler but I loved this sequel and I love the way Chakraborty writes about history and politics.
The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang: This novel is proof that I need to read more Asian-inspired fantasy and that I need to read more self-published work. It’s phenomenal and a must-read for fantasy fans.
Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray: I adore this series set in 1920s New York. Bray’s research is amazing and I don’t understand how this series doesn’t have more hype.
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden: Arden’s writing is so beautiful and accomplished, so while the basics of this story—young girl in historical setting loves nature and fights the patriarchy—isn’t brand new, it was still such a pleasure to read.
The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo: I loved this novella for the way it explores the stories from history we choose to tell, and how we can miss exactly what happened in our history when we ignore the lower classes.
The Black Unicorn by Audre Lorde: I don’t read poetry very often but I know I loved this collection because of how many lines I underlined while reading. I can’t wait to read more of Lorde’s work.
For He Can Creep by Siobhan Carroll: This Hugo Award-nominated novelette is so fun! It reminded me how much I loved stories told from the POV of an animal when I was younger, so much so that I’d like to read more of them again as an adult.
Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb: This is the novel that got me fully invested in Hobb’s Realm of the Elderlings series. I loved it.
The Empire of Gold by S.A Chakraborty: Chakraborty’s second appearance on this list because this was such a satisfying finale. I loved this series, and Ali is one of my favourite characters ever.
Jessticulates 
I need to read Ten Thousand Doors of January too. I’ve been so far behind on my reading though.
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The S.A Chakraborty and Katherine Arden series are both high on my TBR, so I’m happy to hear you loved them so much!
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Ooh I hope you enjoy them! The Daevabad series is ideal summer reading.
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I need to finish the Daevabad trilogy… (and actually read The Bear and the Nightingale and The Sword of Kaigen, clearly!)
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Great list. Just finished Empire of Gold myself and it was super satisfying! It’s not often that a series finale can live up to things for me but this one did an awesome job. 🙂
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Wow you’ve read a lot of good books this year! I’m pretty slow so far, hopefully I’ll pick up soon. 🙂 I’ve wanted to start Bray’s series forever, I should get to it. 😀 Same thing with The Bear and the Nightingale :S The Ten Thousand Doors of January, The Empress of Salt and Fortune and Robin Hobb’s books are something I’m seeing quite often on Instagram, can’t wait to read those! I wanted to read For He Can Creep last weekend but didn’t have time, glad someone else is reading Tor stories and novellas! 🙂 Great list!
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I really need to start that Libba Bray series. I love historical fiction and books with weirdness and magic.
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The Empress of Salt and Fortune sounds good and I keep meaning to read some Robin Hobb!
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Great list! The Bear and the Nightingale is one of my favorites too. I love that whole series.
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Great list! Ten Thousand Doors was one of my top reads last year as well.
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So many on your list are ones I *need* to read still. I’m glad you liked them! I’ll have to move them up on my TBR list, apparently.
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The Black Unicorn sounds amazing!
My TTT .
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I’m so looking forward to reading The Bear and the Nightingale; I’ve been intrigued by it for a while now. Libba Bray is an author I have yet to read, but I certainly want to to so soon. I think my first book by Bray will be either Beauty Queens or The Diviners…Happy reading and happy Tuesday!
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I really enjoyed Kingdom of Copper too! I’m currently in the process of reading The Empire of Gold.
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2020/07/14/top-ten-tuesday-272/
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I’ve been hearing more and more things about The Ten Thousand Doors of January – might need to pick it up soon.
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I’m glad to see Ten Thousand Doors on your list, it definitely made me happy too, even though there are some serious themes in it😁
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Great list! I’ve been loving the Farseer trilogy as well! And I need to pick up the kingdom of copper sometime soon!
My post!
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The Empire of Gold sounds so good.
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday.
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I just started The Diviners, so I’m happy to see this on your list.
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I really need to read the Katherine Arden books!
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The Farseers trilogy is so good. And I am so glad you loved The Sword of Kaigen. That book is so good!
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The Sword of Kaigan is firmly planted on my TBR! It just sounds amazing! So glad to see Robin Hobb on here too. 😀 Every single book she writes makes me so so happy!
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A few of these are on my TBR, but I haven’t read any of these yet. I’ll have to read some of them soon if you enjoyed them. Just followed your blog!
My TTT: http://theburstingbookshelf.com/10-authors-whose-books-i-always-buy/
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I really need to find time to read Ten Thousand Doors… and I agree that The Bear and The Nightingale was wonderful – have you read the others in the trilogy?
My TTT is here https://bookloverssanctuary.com/2020/07/14/top-ten-tuesdaybooks-that-make-me-smile/
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I need to read the Ten Thousand Doors. I keep hearing good things. And I’m a huge Robin Hobb fan, especially the Assassin series.
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