I've managed to get in quite a few more books in 2019 than I thought I would. I initially set myself a target of 52 books, one for each week of the year; but when I managed than in the first five months I knew I had to boost it, so set my Good Reads challenge to 100. At the time of writing this I'm on 131, and could still potentially finish another book before midnight of New Years Eve. As such, narrowing what I've read down to my ten favourites wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. Not all of these books were published in 2019, though most were, but are simply what I read this year and liked the best.
City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab
I discovered Victoria Schwab late last year when I was offered a copy of her latest book to read. Despite not being the first book in that series I loved it and she quickly became one of my favourite writers and I've been working through her other books where I can. City of Ghosts is one of her books aimed at younger, teen readers, and it's one that I adore the most.
Cassidy Blake is a girl that had a near death experience, and ever since has been able to see ghosts. She even has a best friend, Jacob, who's a ghost. When her parents, a historian and a paranormal investigator, get the green-light to begin filming a new television series that will see the family travelling to some of the most haunted places in the world Cassidy finds herself packed off to Edinburgh, and plunged into a city full of ghosts.
Cassidy and Jacob learn that Cassidy isn't the only person who can see ghosts, and that not all spirits are safe to be around. When Cassidy is targeted by the sinister Red Raven she ends up having to fight for her very life.
City of Ghosts is a great mixture of creepy horror, and real world history. Schwab manages to not only capture the feel of Edinburgh brilliantly, but imparts some great stories about the city and its history of hauntings, all within an exciting and engaging narrative.
The Troop by Nick Cutter
I first picked up The Troop from my local library, drawn in by the excellent blurb on the back that described an isolated scout troop falling victim to a horrific 'bio-engineered nightmare'. What I wasn't expecting, however, was just how disturbing and disgusting a horror it would turn out to be.
When a small group of scouts head out to an isolated island with their scoutmaster for the weekend their trip away is shattered with the arrival of Tom Padgett, a man infected with a deadly parasite that drives him to eat anything he can. Trying desperately to feed the growing parasite inside him, that's eating him from the inside, he consumes anything he can. When Tom attacks the troop he begins to spread an infection that will turn the young teens against each other as they desperately try to survive.
The Troop is a body horror in the purest sense. The infection that spreads amongst the boys is a horrific new type of worm, one that can enter your body through the smallest cut, and can replicate and grow at horrific speed. It turns the infected in withered husks, desperate to feed the monsters inside them before they die.
Nick Cutter has managed to craft a story that's not just a intense and engaging character led narrative, but a horror that freaks you out and stays with you long after you've finished the book. Don't read this when you're feeling hungry either as I made that mistake and it made the whole experience a lot worse.
Other Words For Smoke by Sarah Maria Griffin
Other Words For Smoke is a coming of age story that happens to be set in a house where creatures live in the walls. Mae and Rossa are two teens living through the messy marriage of their parents who get sent to spend the summer with their aunt and her ward. It's in this house that they begin to learn that magic is real, and that there are dark forces lurking within the walls of the house, waiting to prey upon those that live there.
The book not only focuses on otherworldly forces, but on the struggles that teens have to go through. Over the summers that the two teens spend at their aunts house they change as people, trying to find ways to cope with their parents damaged marriage. Mae's story is particularly grabbing as she discovers her first crush for a girl, and has to come to terms with her homosexual feelings.
Other Words For Smoke is an amazingly written book, often times feeling more like poetry than a traditional novel. It's filled with images and emotions that twist together into a story that feels so much deeper than you'd first expect. Despite being set in one house, with just a handful of characters it's a living, breathing world full of mystery. Easily one of the best books of 2019.
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
Drawing from West African mythology and culture, Children of Blood and Bone is a young adult fantasy adventure story that feels fresh and new, standing out from others in the genre.
Set in the world of Orïsha, where magic was destroyed more than a decade ago, and those with the power to wield it are treated as slaves, a young woman sets out to fight against the evil that rules the kingdom and restore magic to her people.
Children of Blood and Bone was a huge hit when it came out in 2018, and I can easily see why it has won as many awards and received the acclaim that it has. It tells a fairly traditional YA story, of a group of teens rising up against an oppressive regime, yet manages to feel fresh and exciting throughout. It draws from an often ignored and underused style of mythology and culture to create a rich and engaging world and a narrative that has an important message about hate, racism, and oppression.
Gears of War: Ascendance by Jason M. Hough
Video game to book adaptations can sometimes be fairly dull affairs compared to their source material, often failing to capture the fun and excitement of the games. Gears of War: Ascendance not only manages to be engaging and action packed throughout, but adds more depth and character development that suspected as it fills in the gap between Gears of War 4 and Gears of War 5.
Taking place immediately following the end of the fourth game, the story sees the heroes of the series having to convince First Minister Jynn that the threat of the Swarm is real. When JD and Del are sent to investigate an old Locust burial site to gather evidence that Swarm are coming Kait and Marcus travel to Kait's old village to search for survivors, with both missions putting them in grave danger.
Gears of War: Ascendance not only explains how characters that were renegades end up working for the ruling government, but also goes on to lay the seeds for things that will be addressed in the latest game, including Kait's connection to the Swarm. The book also manages to make the bad guys quite scary, something that is often lacking from the high octane nature of the games. Here the heroes fight desperate battles against monstrous foes that feel tense and frightening, despite knowing that they're all going to make it out alive; quite a feat of writing.
Moriarty: The Hound of the D'Urbervilles by Kim Newman
Professor James Moriarty is one of the most iconic villains in literature, the arch enemy of the worlds greatest detective. This book, told from the viewpoint of Moriarty's right hand man, Colonel Sebastian 'Basher' Moran, chronicles several tales of the dastardly villain, and his position as one of the greatest criminal minds ever.
Written as a series of journal entries by Moran, echoing the writing of John Watson, the book charts Moran's ten years with the professor, from their first meeting to the fateful fight at Reichenbach Falls. As such, the book reads like a series of short stories, rather than a large narrative. These stories not only play homage to the world of Sherlock Holmes, but incorporates many works of Victorian fiction.
Moriarty: The Hound of the D'Ubervilles feels true to the world that Arthur Conan Doyle created, working in the background of the stories that he told, making Moriarty a shadow that haunts the periphery. A fantastic book for anyone that's a fan of Sherlock Holmes and literature from the era.
Soon by Lois Murphy
Soon is a horror book that skips the big scary event and chooses to focus on the horror of what comes after. Set in a small Australian town where ghosts stalk the streets after dark, killing anyone who dares step out of their homes, the book follows a group of several people unable to move away, trapped within the deserted town. When one of these survivors receives a warning that if he doesn't get out of the town by the winter solstice he will die, a fight to survive begins.
Lois Murphy tells a very different type of horror story, one that largely ignores the frightening spectres that stalk the streets at night. Most of the book doesn't even feature these spirits, and it takes a third of the book for the reader to find out what's actually outside at night. Despite this, she's crafted a story that's heavily character driven and emotionally charged; and one that is downright terrifying at times.
I don't want to spoil much about the book, but the ending left me stunned, and feeling physically shaken. The narrative drew me in and spat me out on the other side completely affected. Soon is definitely a roller coaster ride that will leave horror fans happy.
I'll Be Gone In The Dark by Michelle McNamara
I've not read many non-fiction books this year, but of the one's that I have I'll Be Gone In The Dark was not just my favourite, but quickly became one of the best that I've read. The book charts the story of the Golden State Killer, a rapist and murderer who stalked California for over a decade; and the obsession that McNamara developed for the case over the years.
Responsible for more than 50 sexual assaults and 10 brutal killings, the Golden State Killer eluded police investigations and apparently vanished. Thirty years after his crime wave investigative journalist Michelle McNamara became determined to try and figure out his identity and help bring him to justice.
I'll Be Gone In The Dark is an incredibly personal book, one that is as much about Michelle McNamara as it is GSK. As such, the book doesn't fall into the trap of feeling dry or dull as can sometimes happen with true crime books. Instead, it feels more like having someone there with you, talking you through the case, taking you on a journey rather than reciting facts and figures. Sadly, Michelle passed away before completing the book, and the last few chapters were completed from her notes by her friends and colleagues. A deeply personal and engaging story that kept me fascinated throughout, and was made poignant through the loss of an amazing journalist and writer, and knowing that she never got to see the Golden State Killer found and arrested two years after her death.
Dread Nation by Justina Ireland
When the living dead rise and begin to kill the living at the battle of Gettysburg the American Civil War comes to a shocking end, as the north and south must put aside their differences to fight the creatures that now stalk the nation. nearly twenty years have passed, and a new America has emerged. Thanks to the Native and Negro Reeducation Act former slaves are trained to kill the undead. However, black people are far from free in this new world, and the dead aren't the only thing they have to fear.
Justina Ireland creates a fascinating alternate history in Dread Nation, one that sees the undead end the civil war. In this new America we follow Jane, who has been trained to be become an Attendant, a bodyguard for wealthy white women who are experts in both combat and etiquette. When Jane becomes embroiled in a conspiracy she discovers that some want things back to the way they were before the dead returned, where black people were nothing more than slaves.
Dread Nation isn't just a story about zombies in Restoration Era America, it's also a story about race, slavery, and man's hatred towards man.
Sherlock Holmes & The Christmas Demon by James Lovegrove
Sherlock Holmes and John Watson get called to investigate the apparent haunting at her ancestral castle in Yorkshire. When Eve Allerthorpe becomes haunted by Black Thurrick, an evil entity that comes as Christmas time and torments it's victims, she faces the prospect of losing her inheritance by being found to be of unsound mind. Can Holmes and Watson find an explanation for this mysterious haunting, or is a demon really responsible for these horrible events?
James Lovegrove is an excellent Sherlock Holmes writer, and it's clear throughout this book that he knows that characters so well. Not only is Holmes intelligent and devious throughout, he avoids falling into the trap that some writers have of making him grumpy or unlikable. Instead, Lovegrove has crafted a story that features Holmes and Watson at their best. There's a great central mystery at the heart of the story for them to solve, one that had me guessing throughout, and some wonderful scenes of friendship between the leads that left me smiling wide. One of the best Sherlock Holmes books I've read in a while, and the perfect read for a cold winter day.
Please feel free to let me know what you thought of these book, and what you enjoyed reading in 2019 in the comments below.
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