In 2024, I read over 70 books, about half of those being novelettes or novellas—so it’s not as impressive at it sounds. I also DNFed a lot more books than past year (about 15), which I’m happy with as I have a giant to-read pile and too little time for books I don’t enjoy.
As usual, I’m writing an end-of-year blog post to share my favorite reads. But this time I couldn’t pick only 8 of them, so I allowed myself to pick 16: 8 favorites and 8 honorable mentions.
• Lettres de Sang by Rozenn Illiano, 2023 (Urban Fantasy): Once again I open the post with a book by Rozenn Illiano, which also means it’s in French and a reminder that you should learn the language so you can read her books. This one is a vampire story which is not your typical vampire story. Actually, a lot of people who don’t like vampire stories like the ones by Rozenn Illiano.
• Starter Villain by John Scalzi, 2023 (Science-Fiction): A hilarious parody of James Bond villains by a master of science-fiction. What else could we possibly want?
• The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells, 2017-2023 (Science-Fiction): My only regret is not reading this series sooner.
• Starling House by Alix E. Harrow, 2024 (Gothic Fantasy): I almost didn’t read it because I didn’t like the author’s previous two novels (but I love her novellas and short stories). I’m glad I gave it a chance because it’s my favorite book of the year.
• When Among Crow by Veronica Roth, 2024 (Urban Fantasy): A great urban fantasy novella featuring Polish folkore and memorable characters.
• The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin, 1970 (High Fantasy): One of my new favorite books of all times. I wish I would have read it sooner, but better late than never.
• Polyphemus by Zachary Ashford, 2023 (Horror): I read this novel in one sitting. It was that good. The book was recently re-published by a new press after the fallout of the initial publisher, and received the hard cover treatment. I loved this novel so much that I bought it immediately to add it to my collection.
• La Passe-Miroir (The Mirror Visitor) quartet by Christelle Dabos, 2013-2021 (YA Fantasy): It’s amazing, you should read the whole thing even if you don’t read YA (I usually don’t), it’s translated in many language so you have no excuses. The fantasy world is extremely creative and the romance is the slowest slow burn of all slow burns in the world, and while I don’t read a lot of romance, I absolutely LOVED this one. I devoured the last three books (600 pages each) in just a week.
• Mazi by Koji A. Dae, 2024 (Erotic Horror)
• What Did Not Die by Ruth Anna Evans, 2021 (Horror)
• Resisters by Chris Campeau, 2024 (Horror, Psychological Thriller)
• Navigational Entanglements by Aliette de Bodard, 2024 (Science-Fiction)
• Kosa by John Durgin, 2024 (Horror, Fairytale Retelling)
• The Instruments of Darkness by John Connolly, 2024 (Supernatural Thriller)
• The Palace of Eros by Caro de Robertis, 2024 (Myth Retelling)
• Give Unto Us by Justin Lutz, 2024 (Horror)
If you are looking for books to add to your tbr pile, I highly recommend any of the titles listed above. Thanks for reading this post. I hope you found it helpful!
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