Six More of My Favorite Fantasy Reads of the Past Year
- The Bossy Bookworm
- 1 hour ago
- 7 min read
Six More Great Bossy Fantasy Reads
I read lots of entertaining, imaginative, sometimes funny, fantastic fantasy in the past year--enough to make up multiple Greedy Reading List roundups. You can find my first list recapping last year's favorites here.
You can find other lists of favorite fantasy reads from past years here. And you can click here for other science fiction and fantasy books I've reviewed on Bossy Bookworm.
If you've read any of these books, I'd love to hear what you think! What are some of your favorite fantasy reads?
01 To Shape a Dragon's Breath (Nampeshiweisit #1) by Moniquill Blackgoose
Blackgoose offers a fascinating, layered story about a strong-willed, whip-smart young Indigenous woman in a steampunk 1800s Nordic setting, with plenty of dragons, dragon science, and dragon bonding alongside activism and bravery.
Moniquill Blackgoose's To Shape a Dragon's Breath delivers the dragons: in-depth training around being partnered with dragons, dragon-related science, emotional and physical ties to dragons, and the cultural importance, historical significance, and potential power of being linked to dragons.
It's also a steampunk, mid-1800s Nordic setting for some radical rethinking of nonsensical, destructive rules and regulations.
A fifteen-year-old Indigenous Masquisit girl Anequs finds a dragon egg, and when it hatches, she befriends and bonds with the hatchling, Kasaqua. But the Anglish conquerers of Masquapaug insist that a dragon must be raised a certain way, and if Anequs fails to demonstrate that she can control and shape Kasaqua's behavior, the dragon will be killed.
But everyone's about to find out how disruptive a whip-smart, open-minded, and strong-willed young woman can be. Because the restrictive Anglish world--and its selective history of the destruction of the Indigenous people--is due for some changes. And Anequs is just the fearless catalyst who might be able to shift it all.
Blackgoose takes on issues of Indigenous people and colonization, wealth and privilege, gender power imbalances, nontraditional sexual and relationship conventions, the bucking of societal traditions, and more.
And my thirst for boarding school/magical school settings was quenched by the feminist-activist Anequs's dragon academy experience.
For my full review, please see To Shape a Dragon's Breath.
I love books about dragons (check out the link for some of my favorites).
02 Starter Villain by John Scalzi
First: this amazing cover. Second: Starter Villain is playful, darkly funny, big-hearted, and wonderfully weird. I loved it and I can't wait to read more John Scalzi books.
“I can’t tell if you’re joking with me,” I said.
“I’m mostly joking with you.”
“That ‘mostly’ is doing a lot of work in that sentence.”
The cover of Starter Villain shows a grumpy-seeming cat's head on a human torso clad in a suit with "Meet the new boss" across the top, so obviously this was going to be a Bossy read. And I love that this is my first review of 2024. Bring on the weird and wonderful books!
In Starter Villain, Charlie's a substitute teacher, divorced, struggling emotionally, socially, and financially, and living in a house his half-siblings want to sell. Then he inherits his long-lost uncle's parking-garage empire. Which turns out to be a cover for a vast supervillain business--complete with an evil lair in an island volcano.
Could this be an unexpected new start that will point Charlie in a productive new direction?
The recently deceased Uncle Jake, an old-fashioned villain, made a lot of enemies--and they're ruthless, well-funded, and out for revenge. Charlie will have to quickly get up to speed and figure out friend from foe in order to stay alive. This villain business is more complicated than it seems.
There's crossing, double-crossing, a wonderfully savvy and knowledgeable second-in-command, nefarious plots, sentient cats, and more. This was playful, smart, funny, and weird.
Click here for my full review of Starter Villain.
03 The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo
Bardugo's rich world-building sets the scene in Spain during the Inquisition, as a scullery maid with magical abilities is thrust into the spotlight, falls for a cursed lover, and finds that her only hope of survival--and revenge--is outwitting church, state, and the wealthy who gleefully wield their cruel power.
Luzia Cotado lives in a grim house on a shabby street in the new capital of Madrid, working as a scullery maid for an insufferable, unsatisfied mistress.
But when her employer figures out that Luzia is using tiny works of magic to get through her day, she insists that Luzia turn her attentions to magical efforts that will benefit her, or be turned out on the street.
Luzia attracts the attention of more and more powerful people, and she soon finds herself navigating the complex world of seers, frauds, and holy men vying for the king's favor in a competition to earn a position in his inner circle.
She must manage the weighty expectations set upon her--while always hiding her Jewish blood, which would make her a target of the terrifying Inquisition that looms over everyone.
I love a mix of historical fiction and fantasy, and while this novel isn't as layered and complex or as twisty as some other Bardugo novels, The Familiar hit the spot for me with trademark Bardugo detail and world-building that set a dark, rich scene for the action; an unassuming, unlikely heroine who comes into her power; an unorthodox, deep love; and satisfying revenge over corruption and evil.
For my full review of this book--and for links to my reviews of other Leigh Bardugo books--please see The Familiar.
04 Blood Over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang
I loved the dark academia setting, Sciona's bid to become the first female in the High Magistry, and her rethinking of long-held assumptions and prejudices. Wang doesn't shy away from a dramatic reckoning for the story's main characters in the end.
For twenty years, Sciona has single-mindedly set out to learn enough complex, intuitive, precise, powerful magic to become the first woman to be accepted into the High Magistry at the University of Magics and Industry.
But after Sciona blasts the competition at her entrance exam and is admitted, she finds that not all of her dreams have come true. The misogyny and contempt of her peers means she faces a lack of respect and resources at every turn. For example, instead of a lab assistant, she is assigned a janitor without magical training.
The janitor is a cultural outsider with a complicated history, and what he lacks in training he makes up for with the desire to learn more about the forces that may have long ago destroyed his family. When he and Sciona uncover an enormous magical secret, it could not only mean the undoing of the magical hierarchies that many have come to take for granted--it's dangerous enough that those in power want to silence the two of them for good.
I loved the dark academia setting, Sciona's sassy spirit, and the outsider-becoming-an-insider theme. Sciona's fight to pursue magic and her oft-frustrated ambition, her personal journey of reconsidering her assumptions about the Tiranish culture and its people's intentions, and an immense reckoning for all.
Please click here to see my full review of Blood Over Bright Haven.
05 The Fragile Threads of Power (Threads of Power #1) by V. E. Schwab
Schwab returns to the world of the four Londons in the first of a wonderfully paced new series featuring established characters, their banter, and their in-progress stories as well as a new antagonist and a new potential hero who are both strong, fascinating young women.
“If you only think of the wrong hands magic can fall into, you forget that now and then there are right ones.”
The Fragile Threads of Power is set in the world of Schwab's Shades of Magic, with a return to the four Londons.
The Londons are connected by magic but separated by doors, which were created in a desperate attempt to protect the magic of each world.
Only a few Antari have been born in a generation, and they have long been the only ones with the power to open these doors. If you've read the Shades of Magic books, you'll already be acquainted with the fantastic characters of Kell Maresh of Red London, Delilah Bard of Grey London, and Holland Vosijk of White London.
Schwab does an excellent job of reinforcing characters from prior stories while introducing new ones; in this first of her new series, she weights the story more heavily toward names we already know and storylines in progress, which I found satisfying.
Meanwhile, two young women, a new antagonist and a new potential hero, trickle into the story until their presences are a flood. One may upend everything across four worlds--and one may possibly be able to save them all.
For my full review, and to link to my reviews of other V. E. Schwab books, please check out The Fragile Threads of Power.
06 A Fate Inked in Blood (Saga of the Unfated #1) by Danielle L. Jensen
The first in Jensen's fantasy series ticked many of my boxes--strong female main character, a tension-filled Chosen One premise, a fight for respect and to trust others, action, Norse-inspired elements, and a romantic storyline in the background.
A Fate Inked in Blood is the first book in Danielle L. Jensen's Norse-inspired fantasy duology, and when the book begins, Freya is yet again gutting fish alongside her brutish, cruel, selfish husband.
But things get worse: her husband's foolish bluster causes Freya to have to fight to the death against Bjorn, the firstborn son of the jarl. In the heat of battle, Freya discovers that the secret her late father had been holding in order to try to keep her safe is that she is a shield maiden. The drop of a goddess's blood she possesses means she can repel any attack.
Now those who would control her want her to do their bidding, and her people's enemies want her dead. Only the irritatingly handsome, arrogant Bjorn may be able to team up to keep Freya alive--allowing her to discover and fulfill her true destiny. But can her feelings for Bjorn be trusted? Can Bjorn himself be trusted?
This is my kind of "romantasy": adventure, fate, a strong main female character, a Chosen One setup--with a slow-build attraction and romance in the background. I loved the Nordic influence as well as Freya's fight to determine who she can trust, which part of the visions and future she may take as written in stone and which she can reimagine, and her noble, imperfect warrior's heart and intention.
I can't wait to read the next in this series, A Curse Carved in Bone.
Click here for my full review of A Fate Inked in Blood.