My Favorite Books I Read in 2023 (In No Particular Order)

This is one of those books I wish I’d been able to read as a teenager. Set in a world based on Chinese history and myth (but make no mistake, this novel is a work of speculative fiction and should in no way be taken as historical fact), where soldiers pilot giant robots by sacrificing concubine pilots to fight against aliens. Our protagonist is feisty, in constant pain from her improperly bound feet, and on a mission to avenge her sister’s death at the hands of a pilot. A story of revenge and tradition-breaking featuring an M/M/F polyamorous relationship, I devoured this book and eagerly await the sequel’s release later this year. Recommended for fans of Shelley Parker-Chan and Pacific Rim. Plus, Iron Widow won or was nominated for pretty much every award you can think of.

I adored this story of Emily Wilde, a grumpy researcher of all things faerie, as she explores a small town in a Scandinavian-coded country, studying their folklore. The thing I loved most was Emily herself, and not least because we share a name. She’s passionate about her work and good at it too, if only she were better at the people side of things (hashtag relatable). I love stories that delve into faeries and folklore, so this was very much my cup of tea. I also enjoyed that this novel is written in journal entries, a structure I would like to explore in my own writing one day. I’d recommend this if you liked A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan or Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke.

Even Though I Knew the End reminded me a bit of the Dresden Files if the Dresden Files was a sapphic period piece. Winner of the Hugo and the Nebula awards for best Novella, the book was one of those novellas that was the perfect length. Sometimes I read a novella, and I feel like it’s the first act of a novel, and, othertimes, they feel like bloated short stories. This was the perfect length for the allotted plot, and the plot was fantastic: a mystery to solve, a ticking clock, a lover to save, and a coming to terms with one’s past. This book was wonderfully bittersweet.

A Marvellous Light is a queer and steam historical fantasy that kicks off a fantastic trilogy that strikes just the right balance between romance and intrigue. I loved the luscious prose of this book with its vivid descriptions and loving rendering of William Morris prints. I felt completely immersed in the version of Edwardian Era England that Freya Marske created, and immediately had to go out and get the sequel as soon as I’d finished the first. I want more books like this: books that are unapologetically queer and sexy on top of telling a fun story filled with magic and intrigue where the fate of the world is possibly at stake. This book is a bit like Bridgerton but with magic and bigger stakes than marriage.

The Absolute Book is His Dark Materials meets The DaVinci Code with a sprinkling of Jonathon Strange and Mr Norrell, if that makes sense. I read many books about faerie land and libraries this year, and this book featured both. Our protagonist has been researching the history of library fires while trying to put the violent death of her sister and her attempt at revenge behind her. Now a successful author, she’s approached by police in relation to a cold case, and that’s when the faerie shenanigans begin which certainly don’t help her seem innocent. This book is seeped in myth and story and was one of those books that seemed ridiculously long when I started, but I didn’t want it to be over by the time I’d finished it.

Our Hideous Progeny is a continuation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, placing Victor Frankenstein’s great-niece at the center of the narrative. When Mary, our heroine and wife to an ambitious but poor geologist, stumbles upon some old family papers, she begins a journey to make a name – and a fortune – for herself by trying to create a living prehistoric creature. Mary’s ambitions are stiffled in a scientific community where wealth, status, and gender are more important than scientific aptitude, driving her into ever more dangerous situations in her efforts to prove herself. Our Hideous Progeny is a tale of queer identity and ambition and it felt like it was written just for me. I think this book will resonate with any who enjoyed Theodora Goss’s The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club series.

Another theme in my reading this year was books about houses. As is probably evident from the title, A House with Good Bones was one such book. A Southern gothic set in North Carolina, A House with Good Bones follows our protagonist, Sam, who returns to her grandmother’s house where she’d spent her childhood to check in on her mother, who seems to be haunted by her toxic grandmother’s ghost. There are teeth buried in the garden, and vultures are watching the house, and Sam is just nosey enough to want to get to the bottom of what the heck is going on. She discovers the truth about her family’s history, why her grandmother was so nasty and controlling, and what exactly lies under her grandmother’s house. T. Kingfisher is one of my favorite authors at the moment, and A House with Good Bones confirmed that status for me.

Kameron Hurley’s The Light Brigade had been on my list since it came out in 2019, and I only got around to reading it when I found it at my local library. I’m so glad I finally read it because it was super hard to put down once I started it. Seriously, I lost sleep over this book, but I have no regrets. The Light Brigade tells the story of an ordinary soldier in a neverending war where foot soldiers are sent to the battlefield by breaking them down into light particles and reconfiguring them. Our main character, Dietz experiences her drops out of order from her fellow soldiers and through her “bad drops” she learns that the higher ups haven’t been completely truthful about why they’re fighting. I’m not usually one for military sci-fi, but The Light Brigade had me hooked from beginning to end, and I think it may now live rent-free in my head. Definitely one for fans of Starship Troopers.

Of all the books I read in 2023, Lone Women is probably the one I’ve recommended the most. The novel follows a Black woman who leaves California after her parents’ mysterious deaths and goes to Montana with nothing but a mysterious, too-heavy steamer chest. She sets herself up as a homesteader and tries to live a quiet life in a predominantly white community when somebody opens her chest. That’s when people start disappearing. I loved the way this book presented its information and breadcrumbed its reveals. I enjoyed how it played with the idea of what, or who, a monster is. Lone Women is a historical horror and weird western and examines ideas of race and what it means to be a woman. I’ve enjoyed other things I’ve read by Victor LaValle, but this is by far my favorite.

Kaiju Preservation Society was another one that had been on the list since it came out but I just hadn’t gotten around to until I found a copy at the library. This book was so much fun. At the start of the pandemic, Jamie Grey is laid off and can only find work as a food delivery driver. When he deliver’s an order to a former classmate, he’s offered a job with the Kaiju Preservation Society who do what it says on the tin: preserve kaiju. I’m a big fan of anything feature kaiju or titans or any other name by which you’d call a Godzilla-scale monster and this book did not disappoint. It was fun and heartfelt and a quick read. It didn’t take itself to seriously and I appreciated that. Another book I’d recommend for fans of Pacific Rim or Godzilla.

I’ve been a fan of R.F. Kuang’s since The Poppy War and while that was fantasy and Yellowface is most definitely not, Kuang proves that she’s able to write across genres adeptly. Yellowface follows the story of June, a white author who hasn’t seen the success in publishing she feels she deserves, who manages to get her hands on the never-before-seen, unpublished manuscript of a newly-deceased literary darling of Chinese heritage. June decides to publish the manuscript herself, even changing her pen name to something more ethnically ambiguous. She finally has the success that she’s always felt she deserved, but at what cost, and what will she do to keep that success and her secret? This book is bonkers in the best possible way, exploring questions of diversity, racism, cultural appropriation, and when it’s okay to write in and about a culture that’s not your own.

Lady Tan’s Circle of Women is the fictionalization of the life of a real-life female physician who lived and worked in 15th-century China. This novel was lush in its historical detail and told a poignant story of one woman’s life from girlhood, to womanhood, to motherhood and beyond while she tries to pursue the practice of medicine and to help other women with their health problems in a culture where doctors aren’t even allowed to see their high-class female patients face-to-face. The novel centers around themes of womanhood, female friendships, and finding one’s place in a world that tells you your only purpose is to be a wife and mother. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes Maxine Hong Kingston’s work or fans of Isabel Allende.

I seem to have read a lot of books this year about reclaiming women’s stories. Hamnet falls neatly into that trend as it imagines what the life of Anne Hathaway, or Agnes as O’Farrell calls her (Shakespeare’s wife, not the actress), was like in the events surrounding their son’s death. The book flashes back and forth between Agnes and William’s early courtship and marriage and the events surrounding their son’s illness, death, and the aftermath. This novel was emotionally brutal and beautifully written. I cried several times throughout and definitely recommend keeping a box of tissues to hand. If you enjoyed the musical & Juliet, you might want to check out this book. Although, be warned, Hamnet is not a happy book, I would argue that it’s an important one.

I read this book in advance of the movie coming out this year and on the recommendation of several friends and I found it absolutely delightful. I read it in under twenty-four hours and immediately had to go and read every other thing the author had written, which wasn’t much but never fear, she has a new book coming out this year. Red, White, & Royal Blue is an enemies-to-lovers romance between the son of the US president and a British prince. It’s funny, sweet, and most of the conflict stems from external forces that the couple must face together, which I appreciated because nothing irks me more in romance than a story where the conflict is entirely interpersonal between the romantic leads, and we’re supposed to believe that they can overcome all the horrible shit they’ve done to each other and live happily ever after. This book is not that. It depicts a relationship where the partners learn and grow together, bring out the best in each other, and become stronger together which is what my personal experience of love is. It’s so easy for romance to fall into toxic tropes, so I’m definitely enthusiastic about romance books that avoid those pitfalls.