My Favorite Reads of 2024 – A Dark and Bloody Time – Part 1
2024 was an interesting year for me. I had a great start to the year, but chronic illness bit me in the butt for the last quarter of it. But no worries! It meant I had plenty of time to read!
I read a lot more this year than I did last year, where I had spent a lot of the year in a reading slump or unable to read due to migraines. Thank goodness my local library has Libby and carries both ebooks and audiobooks!
I re-read some old favorites like the Demons of the House of Hua (Amazon, Kobo, Itchio) and I always read Howl’s Moving Castle (Amazon, Kobo), The Ghost Bride (Amazon, Kobo), and Uprooted (Amazon, Kobo). It wouldn’t be a year ending in a number if I didn’t re-read at least a few of my favorites.
But I want to take a moment to shout out some of my favorite new-to-me reads!
As I was putting together this list, I realized it’s got a lot of darker fantasy books on it, as well as a lot of vampires (I actually read three other vampire books that didn’t make this list)! Maybe next year, I will try the cozy fantasy speed-run just because the year itself is looking pretty dark, and I might need something a little lighter. Who knows!
Some of these are part of a series, and if I read more than one book in that series, I picked my favorite of the books I read! So, some of these are first in series and some of these are second or third! I also tried not to repeat authors, so I picked my favorite if I read multiple stand-alone books by the same author! Most of these came out late 2023 or throughout 2024, so there is definitely a recency bias in my reading this year. Except for The Dragon and the Pearl. I forget how it even ended up on my TBR but wow am I glad it did!
Because I have so many books I want to highlight, I have to do it in two different posts. This post will cover Epic Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, and Dark Fantasy. Part 2 will have Vampires, Romantasy, Paranormal Romance, Science Fiction, and Historical Romance!
Without any further ado and in no particular order, here is my list of favorite reads!
Epic Fantasy
The Sorceror's Lament.
Sam Dogra
Series: Chronicles of Azaria #1
Length: 475 Pages
What I Liked About It:
The main character had a solid character growth arc as the story progresses and she begins to question herself and her place in the world. Jessie starts out believing she knows all there is to know about magic, but the more time she spends in the company of Lahara, another magic wielder from a different field, the more she has to confront her preconceived notions. While I picked this up for the magic and the sapphics, I stayed because I am a sucker for watching an unlikeable MC grow and change.
This Book Is For You If:
You like sapphics, you like enemies/rivals-to-lovers, you love interesting interpretations of magic.
A talented young Magician must choose between power or love as she investigates a dark conspiracy that could unravel magic itself.
Ever since the restoration of magic, Magicians and Enchanters have been in an uneasy alliance. The Magicians’ power maintains peace, while the Enchanters’ potions prevent magic’s dangerous side effects.
But the Enchanters have become increasingly evasive, and the High Magician suspects foul play. Thus eighteen-year-old Jessie Balthanders, a Magician prodigy, is recruited to investigate. If she can expose their possible treason, she'll be hailed a hero.
She finds herself apprenticed to Lahara Redford, a powerful but jaded Enchanter who deeply mistrusts Magicians. With tensions running high, the two must learn to work together as they are dragged into a dark conspiracy.
But Jessie needs to find answers soon, and if Lahara discovers her true nature, she’ll have far more than the High Magician's wrath to fear.
The cost of success, however, may be far greater than failure.
The Prince with Six Faces.
Anna Holmes
Length: 377 Pages What I Liked About It:
I could write an essay on the way this book presents a magical form of medical gaslighting. That’s really one of the books strong points: portraying the subtle ways people can use manipulation to wear people down and make them question reality. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any form of gaslighting portrayed so achingly true-to-life as in this book both with the various people who try to “help” Max and the ways Max’s mother is manipulated by those around her.
Not to mention, I loved the way this ended with Max and Cormac! What a sweet relationship. This book did not feel as long as it is, once the plot gets going, it’s going!
This Book Is For You If:
You like epic fantasy with stakes that are big-for-the-hero but small-for-the-world / intimate, personal, and character driven narratives, found family, insta-love but slow-burn, novel takes on gender, disability, and fantasy interpretations of medicine.
When a mysterious visitor comes to call, Prince Maximillian finds himself the recipient of an unusual curse. Exiled by his mother the Queen until it is broken, Max sets out for the city of Clockbridge in hopes of finding answers.
Instead, he fumbles his way into trouble with the ruling Guild and into the arms of one of its enforcers.
Cormac leads a busy life— a woodworker, a barman, and a Guild heavy—but he’s never met anyone who changes shape every dawn. As he works to help Max and protect him from the Guild that controls Cormac’s life, Max captures more than just his interest.
As Max and Cormac fall deeper in love and into intrigue, questions arise that draw Max back home. Was his exile truly his mother’s own decision? Can he reach her and repair their strained relationship?
And is his curse truly a curse after all?
The Hatchling.
Vyria Durav
Length: 92 Pages
What I Liked About It: First off, I immediately loved the play on words that is the title. If you know, you know. I heavily identified with the whole “dreaming of dragons all my life,” because that was me with unicorns. I enjoyed the worldbuilding in this book—a lot is done in such little time! The book goes to some dark and violent places, but the ending was perfect.
This Book is for You If:
You are an egg and don’t know it. You are an egg and do know it. You have ever dreamed of dragons.
Sarric dreamed of dragons all his life; such flights of fancy captured his imagination at a young age and sustained him through the cruelty of the hunters that ruled the isolated mountain town of Rivermist. One day, a real dragon appears before him, dazzling him with her beauty and an answer to the unease that's afflicted him for as long as he remembers. He's eager to take what she offers—but the greedy hunters, driven by tales of treasure hoards, will do everything in their power to destroy her.
The Hatchling is a fantasy about a trans woman's journey of accepting her identity and her newfound family.
Ps: I didn’t know what order these posts would release in but I wrote a full review of Vyria Durav’s latest release, **The Dragon and Her Princess, **which you should also read. I know I said I would only do one book per author but I’m sorry, I couldn’t help it.
Journey Home.
May Barros
Length: 23 pages
What I Liked About It: This story is very matter of fact and upfront about Amara and Luiza’s QPR and plops you into the middle of their life seamlessly. The world is both familiar and “new,” mixing space-faring and galaxy hoping with dragons but also the mundane like rent and bills. I really enjoyed the little details in the worldbuilding like memory-transmission-spells and the fact that magical outposts exist in orbit around Jupiter and Pluto. The only thing I didn’t like is how short it is! I’d love to see more of this world and Luiza and Amara.
This Book is for You If:
You like science-fantasy/space fantasy, witches, magic, and strong platonic relationships, and adventure.
Amara and Luiza are two witches that live in a queerplatonic relationship. When Luiza decides to embark on a journey through the galaxy in a quest for the lost fortress of Laura, the Dragon Queen, she ends up finding more than expected, while Amara follows her footsteps, hoping it's not too late.
Wrath Goddess Sing.
Maya Deane
Length: 456 pages
What I Liked About It: While this book very closely follows the Illiad, the way it is told and the how of the story is utterly beautiful. Achilles is still proud, but instead of it being a fault, it’s a source of strength in a world that wants her to feel shame and guilt. I loved the prose, I loved the portrayal of the gods, I loved Meryapi (maybe a little too much). And the dolphins.
This Book is for You If:
You love retellings that make you completely rethink the original, epic gods and goddesses being absolutely toxic, defiance and wrath as virtues, and trans women getting to be the heroines of their own stories.
The gods wanted blood. She fought for love.
Achilles has fled her home and her vicious Myrmidon clan to live as a woman with the kallai, the transgender priestesses of Great Mother Aphrodite. When Odysseus comes to recruit the “prince” Achilles for a war against the Hittites, she prepares to die rather than fight as a man. However, her divine mother, Athena, intervenes, transforming her body into the woman’s body she always longed for, and promises her everything: glory, power, fame, victory in war, and, most importantly, a child born of her own body. Reunited with her beloved cousin, Patroklos, and his brilliant wife, the sorceress Meryapi, Achilles sets out to war with a vengeance.
But the gods—a dysfunctional family of abusive immortals that have glutted on human sacrifices for centuries—have woven ancient schemes more blood-soaked and nightmarish than Achilles can imagine. At the center of it all is the cruel, immortal Helen, who sees Achilles as a worthy enemy after millennia of ennui and emptiness. In love with her newfound nemesis, Helen sets out to destroy everything and everyone Achilles cherishes, seeking a battle to the death.
An innovative spin on a familiar tale, this is the Trojan War unlike anything ever told, and an Achilles whose vulnerability is revealed by the people she chooses to fight…and chooses to trust.
She Who Brought the Storm.
Vaela Denarr & Micah Iannandrea
Series: Stars, Hearts, and Dreams #1
Length: 460 pages
What I Liked About It:
As someone with a chronic condition and disability, I really liked the portrayal of Rhi’s magic as something that hinders more than it helps. I really related to then pushing themself past their limits even to their own detriment, even while knowing it’s to their own detriment. I’m not gonna pretend that the other major reason I enjoyed this book was the sapphic owner/pet dynamic going on throughout it. I really enjoyed the worldbuilding and all the components of it that eschew Euro-centric / Western tropes.
This Book is for You If:
You like unapologetically LGBTQIA+ worlds, dragons, complex magic systems, dark plots, slow-burns, disability representation, and characters in complex relationships finding ways to support each other in the darkness.
Dragons rule in secret, known only to a few chosen humans—and Rhi, who strikes a deal with a dragon: Servitude for protection.
Rhi is small, anxious, and gifted with magic that disables them more than it helps—Powerful magic, which many would stop at nothing to obtain. In their desperate search for safety, Rhi turns to none other than one of the secret dragon masters of Habitat Seventeen, Laura, Lady of Ash.
Exposing Rhi’s forbidden knowledge could garner Laura the recognition and allies she needs. Instead she offers them a choice: She will shield them from their pursuers, and they’ll be her hunting dog. Loyal, obedient, and exactly what she needs to deal with a pervasive monster situation in her territory before the other Starborn catch wind of it.
Rhi tentatively agrees, but the plan is complicated by the watchful eye of Calia, a bloodthirsty dragon with much to gain from their failure. And Rhi, grappling with their magic and desperately angling for control, doesn’t realize that being with Laura will put them closer to danger than ever before until it’s too late.
Flooded Secrets.
Claudie Arseneault
Series: Chronicles of Nerezia # 2
Length: 112 pages
What I Liked About It: Keza. I loved Keza. I have been the Keza of many a D&D campaigns. Each novella so far in the Chronicles of Nerezia does a great job of following an over-arching plot while weaving in a side quest that just may be the next clue Horace, Rumi, and Aliyah need. This has just as much of a cozy feel as the first novella, and the relationships between the characters continue to evolve.
This Book is for You If:
You like D&D and often get sidetracked on tertiary quests, queer-normative worlds, and a focus on platonic bonds, a diverse world, and persnickety maybe-allies.
Fate and friendship brought Horace, Rumi, and Aliyah together in Rumi’s Wandering Wagon of Wonderful Wares, a sentient self-propelling wagon. They seek the forest haunting Aliyah’s dream, hoping for answers about their past and their unique abilities—but for that, they need to traverse a world haunted by Fragments, dangerous shards that can possess travellers.
With the Fragments in the wilderness, banditry was the last danger Horace had expected on the road—but not even that could stop Keza Nesmit. Swift and deadly with a staff, Keza drops on the Wagon crew, claiming most of their provisions before vanishing back into the Tesrima Ridge. As if to compound their bad luck, the tunnel that serves as the only pass through the mountain is flooded and impassable.
Keza reappears, and she’s willing to show them the source of the flooding, a waterway blocked by Fragments, in the hopes that they can unblock it—and just like with the stolen food, she won’t answer any questions about her motives, no matter how friendly. Abrasive, confident, and eager to bicker, Keza makes for a thorny companion, but they’ll need to work together to free the pass and continue their travel.
As they unravel the Fragments’ blockage, so, too, do they chip away at Keza’s walls. But the cost of breaking both is far higher than anticipated, and Horace is about to learn that some secrets are better left untouched.
The Blood-Born Dragon.
J. C. Rycroft
Series: Everlands Cycle #1
Length: 330 pages
What I Liked About It: The… whatever the heck it is…. going on between Des and Liv. Squid’s sass is endearing. There’s a lot of adventures as Des is flung from one crisis to the next.
This Book is for You If You Like:
Dragons. Sapphics. Toxic Lovers to Enemies to …. It’s Complicated. Dark stories in rich worlds.
Smart, sassy, and sanguine, Des Mildue is a traveling sellsword in Rescalin, a dry and dusty kingdom full of rogues, opportunists, and thieves. She keeps her nose clean, brazens it out with a blade when she can’t, and keeps others at arm’s length where they can’t mess up her plans.
That is, until a sword fight gone wrong leaves her tied by blood to the first dragon hatched in centuries. Suddenly, Des has to contend with a new voice in her head: haughty, willful Esquidamelion. Des wants to leave Squid by the roadside, but the blood bond has other ideas.
With half the world on their tail – including Liv, her beautiful, faithless ex who Des is definitely over – Des must search for answers for why so many are willing to kill, maim and torture to get their hands on Squid. But she’s beginning to suspect her blood bond has tied her not only to a dragon, but to a fight for Rescalin’s future…
…and no one else even knows it’s at risk.
Blades Reforged.
Liz Sauco
Series: Blades of the Goddess #3
Length: 446 pages
What I Liked About It: I had no idea what I was getting into when I first picked up the Scions of Shanarra in middle school and I did not feel that kind of rush again until I picked up the first book in this series, Lost Blades, last year. These books are equal parts science fiction, epic fantasy, and urban fantasy and I honestly had no idea where to slot this book into this list because of that. But for as much worldbuilding happens, there is equal amounts of character building with Jamirh, Takeshi, Ander, Jeri, and Hades. No one ends this trilogy without serious development (and scars). But my favorite part of this is the ending… the slowest of slow burns I have ever endured…
This Book is for You If:
You like genre blending and genre bending, complex characters, agonizingly delicious slow burns, deep worldbuilding, and shocking twists.
The world is on the brink of ruin. The Goddess’ chosen must fight back, lest Abomination consume everything.
Everything is hurtling towards catastrophe.
The Blade is lost. People have died. Abomination is still out there. No one knows what to do… but they have to do something.
Without the Blade tying him to the situation, Jamirh feels adrift and forgotten about as the government of Romanii tries to brace itself for what’s coming. Takeshi is still trying to navigate whether or not he wants to be a priest of Hades, but the effects of his encounter with the Truth Seekers are making everything more difficult. Ander blames himself for not foreseeing the events at Tilden Base and has locked himself away in his lab. After centuries of being controlled by the Empire, the Seekers themselves have their own plans – which may or may not align with those of the goddess.
But what even is Abomination? What is magic? Why do these two forces find themselves in conflict cycle after cycle, and what does it mean for the mortals who find themselves caught between them?
As Abomination begins to gain ground, can anything be done to stop it? Or will the world finally end in ruin?
Fire Heart.
Joyce Ch’ng
Series: Fire Heart Duology #1
Length: 174 pages
What I Liked About It: The women in the City of Swords. It’s just women existing in community and supporting each other! It’s just beautiful! And it made me hungry… So many amazing meals in this book! This book has been previously released but was censored, with a sapphic component being removed. I’m so glad that it has been re-released the way it was intended (Wehia and Geri have my whole heart). There is a broader conflict that is hinted at throughout and I have the sequal on my 2025 TBR!
This Book is for You If You Like:
Women building community, sword-wielding and sword-making sapphics, fantasy that isn’t inpsired by medieval Europe,
Wehia t’Doniyat, the eldest daughter of a knifesmith’s holding that specializes in ornamental daggers, wishes with all her heart to make a longsword like the one created by her great-grandmother. She journeys to the City of Swords to be apprenticed under her kinswoman, Hadana t’Tolani, the head of a powerful swordsmith holding. Among strangers and missing her family, Wehia must learn to curb her impatient and reckless nature to endure the hardships that come with being a swordmaker’s apprentice. But despite making a true friend at the holding and being accepted by Hadana, Wehia’s impulsiveness threatens to destroy her dreams of Fire Heart, the sword that sings to her.
Urban Fantasy
Magica Riot.
Kara Buchanan
Series: Maidensong Magica #1
What I Liked About It: MAGICAL GIRLS. If vampires was the #1 supernatural entity I read about this year, magical girls was a close second with at least 5 of my reads being in the magical girl genre. But Magica Riot peaked right at the top with the added “girl band” element. It’s clear the author knows a LOT about the music scene and the love for it shines through. And there isn’t just one trans woman, there’s two! Which I find much more realistic because queer people travel in packs. Where there is one of us, there are a dozen more.
This Book is for You If:
You love the indie music scene (specifically Portland), you love magical girls, you want a beautiful and authentic journey of self-discovery and acceptance. And also interdimensional monsters. What if Sailor Moon but she was a trans woman in a band?
The last night of Claire Ryland's old life in the closet was pretty normal, aside from the alley fight with interdimensional monsters. Fortunately, the drummer of her favorite local band transformed into a magical girl and saved her.
Then Claire became a magical girl as well. Things got a little complicated after that.
Now Claire is juggling two new lives: living as a girl and as a member of Portland's super-secret supernatural defense squad, the hard-rocking magical girls known as ... Magica Riot!
The story of a young transgender woman who's discovering herself at the same time she's learning how to be a magical girl, Magica Riot is an action-filled musical adventure inspired by classic magical girl anime, tokusatsu shows, and the vibe of the American Pacific Northwest. Featuring a cast of LGBTQ+ magical girls, mysterious monsters, and villains that are more than they appear to be, Magica Riot shows that finding your true self is the first step toward saving the world.
The debut work in the Maidensong Magica universe of magical girl stories!
Dark Fantasy
Born of Scourge.
S. Jean
Length: 247 pages
What I Liked About It: NGL: I bought this book for the cover first and only bothered to read the description after it was loaded up on my ereader. I love fantasy stories that somehow incorporate the stars and their potential power. This is most obvious in Birthing Orion but just as present in the Araelta in the Scions and Shadows. The premise of this book—the sacrificee becoming the sacrificer—is as dark as a moonless night, but Sol, despite everything, can’t help but shine brightly. I love the slow transformation of Sol as he interacts with the humans he hated and resented as he builds relationships with them, especially Loren.
This Book is for You If You Like:
Unique worldbuilding, soft m/m romance, would-be-villains become heroes, deep character development, and crisp prose.
Legends say when the skies grow dark and scourge starves the land, a star will fall in order to save humanity. Only when the star is sacrificed at the end of their journey will light return. It's a cycle—one humanity refuses to break because stars are plentiful and their sacrifices easier than learning the true nature of the scourge.
When Sol finally falls, it's not because of humanity. It's because he's had enough of watching his brethren be sacrificed. He has one goal: end humanity and end the cycle.
Unfortunately, he has to pretend he cares before humans get wise. It doesn't matter how soft the princess who catches him is—Celena will be dead by the time his journey ends. Nor how kind his assigned companions are—the outgoing Mira with her ballads, the brave Nebora with her axe, and the hero Loren with his soft voice and friendly smile. For centuries, humanity has lied and their kindness is a ruse to bring about Sol's own destruction at the end of his tale. He will not be fooled.
No one cares about the cries of the stars they've destroyed over and over again and Sol will make sure this time, humanity is the one sacrificed.
At least, that's the plan until his traitorous heart begins to care for the humans he sought to eradicate.
Moonshadow's Guardian.
Dianna Gunn
Series: The Moonshadow Rising Duology #1
Length: 334 pages
What I Liked About It: Demons, capricious gods, and royal/political intrigue in a dark world and a hero only in it for themselves! I really enjoyed Riana and her struggle as she second-guesses herself, Loki, and considers how the past, present, and future are inter-linked. Another book I picked up purely for the cover and do not regret it! The pacing was great, interweaving several complicated plot threads and feeding readers background and worldbuilding facts in a way that felt natural.
This Book is for You If You Like:
Trickster gods, pet dragons, political intrigue, storylines that span centuries or longer, dark stories and long kept dark secrets!
All Riana has ever wanted is freedom. Unfortunately, that’s the one thing her kind cannot have.
Bound by the curse in her demonic blood for millennia, Riana has tried several times to bend the rules and live out her life in the mortal realm. Now her consistent rule-breaking has drawn the attention of Loki, God of Mischief, the main tormentor of Riana’s kind. But instead of punishing her, he offers her the escape she has always desired. All she has to do to is save the kingdom of Moonshadow from a mysterious magical plague. Armed only with the inherent power of her own blood and Loki’s pet dragon, Riana is determined to fight for the right to create her own destiny.
However, when her mission forces her to destroy the last remnants of an ancient culture, Riana must ask – what is freedom really worth?
Moonshadow’s Guardian is a dark fantasy novel about the meaning of belonging, and the struggle to create a future not defined by your past.
Bailuchien.
Rebecca Crunden
Length: 19 pages
What I Liked About It: This story reads like one of the Grimm Brothers’ darker fairy tales. The shortest and most haunting story I read this year! There are many worldbuilding details left vague, and that somehow makes it all the more chilling—it doesn’t matter what started the war, who killed the royal family, or what caused the famine; now you have some humans doing utterly monstrous things and the only salvation might be some terrifying actual monsters from the woods… There is a scene around the 80% mark with a young woman named Hyacinth that was just so well done. This book is so chilling, and I don’t think I will ever be able to walk in the woods again without wondering about the trees. Read with your lights on if you’re gonna chance this after the sun goes down.
This Book is for You If You Like:
“Deals with the devil,” and the “only kill those who deserve it” tropes, body horror, creepy forests, entities best left undisturbed, and tales that expose the monsters at the hearts of some people, and spark a hunger for vengeance in your heart.
In the midst of a famine that’s orphaned her and her sister, young Saorlaith Baker goes to the cemetery and calls upon Bailuchien, a spirit of the forest, for protection. Bailuchien takes pity upon the young girl and agrees to protect her for a small price. But for her sister’s protection, Saorlaith must give something more. Something bloody.
Riyati Rebirth.
Kalani Shimizu
Series: Riyati #1
Length: 251 pages
What I Liked About It: Where Magica Riot is Sailor Moon, Riyati Rebirth is Puella Magi Madoka Magica. This book pulls off the great feat of having each of its multiple points of view be absolutely clear. You always know who’s head you are in as each POV characters has a very distinct voice. Don’t let the magical girl aspect nor the fact that Kylie is in high school fool you: this is not a coming-of-age or young adult fantasy. I would put this firmly in “new adult” if I had to give it an age range. There are a lot of plot threads going on at once and I really can’t wait for the next book in this series.
This Book is for You If You Like:
Dark Magical Girls, timey-whimey narratives, interesting magical systems, characters with hidden motives, and ensemble cast.
With great power comes your past incarnations and future self playing chess with your existence.
Kylie Rae thought she was an average honors high school student but discovered during a life-threatening incident that she’s the reincarnation of an ancient magic kingdom’s crown princess. Now people she’s never met want her dead, and she must learn how to survive in this new world while maintaining the façade that nothing’s changed. Forget making A’s, how will Kylie survive to the end of the year when she’s constantly looking over her shoulder?
This Too Shall Burn.
Cat Rector
Length: 267 pages
What I Liked About It: Even before Pastor Hixon of the local Methodist church got up at the pulpit on a sunny autumn Sunday and told the congregation ‘Dax Murray is a witch,’ I loved stories about witches and deeply identified with the old forest witch living unbothered in the woods. I really just need to write up a full huge review of this and all the ways it resonated so deeply with me, but I don’t have space for that here so I’ll just say that I loved how this book examined religion, power, gender, medicine, female rage, injustice, chronic pain—especially as it relates to menstruation, medical trauma and so much more, all of which are issues I’ve struggled with or endured. The prose was deeply moving and the relationship between Arden and Verity was comelling and deep. This is definitely in my ‘top 5’ for the year.
This Book is for You If You Like:
Women’s rights and women’s wrongs, witch-y stories, losing faith in humanity but finding faith in people, and haunting prose.
Arden has lived in the woods near the deeply religious town of Arrothburg all her life, practicing magic and keeping balance with nature. She heals the sick, as her mother did before her. No matter how deeply the people of the village hate witches, they still arrive at Arden’s cabin in the dead of night, looking for help that their pastor, mayor, and doctor would never provide.
Verity is trapped in a life she doesn’t want. Her mother was burned as a witch six years ago, forcing Verity into the role of caretaker for her father and her younger siblings. The Good Book asks her to serve, and so she does. But it also asks her to endure the ungodly, debilitating agony of her monthly bleeding. No medicine, no comfort, no protests. If God is kind, why is she so cursed?
When a chance encounter between them leaves both their skin charred at a single touch, Arden and Verity are left with questions that may get them killed.
Does something wicked live inside Verity?
If Arden is the only true witch for miles, who is burning on the pyres?
Will they be next?
The Cradle of Eternal Night.
Ladz (Author), Pom Poison (Illustrator)
Length: 226 pages
What I Liked About It: I am comparing this story to Shadowbringers and if you know anything about me, you know that is high praise. And no, it’s not just because Shadowbringers is about restoring night and this book is about restoring day. It’s because both examine the difference between merely surviving and deciding to live, the difference between staying trapped in the past and looking toward the future. Also it has sapphic romance. Who can say no to sapphic romance? Another book that I need to do an in-depth review for, and it’s also another that is for certain in my ‘top 5’ for 2024.
This Book is for You If You Like:
Heroes that go up against the impossible, books that blend horror and fantasy, sapphic romance, and deep storytelling that starts off intimate but expands to make you question everything.
In a land lit only by the counterfeit warmth of magical technology, the Kler prays for the return of the sun, the moons, and the stars. Ceaseless night and the beasts lurking in the darkness keep the congregation within the Kolebka Wiecznej Nocy trapped in mirthless vigil. Their towns remain quiet as graveyards as they wait for day to come again. What no one knows about this ceaseless night is that the Kler themselves can end it. But they haven’t, and they won’t.
Long ago, the Kler banished the sun worshipers, but a heretical sect made the journey back to the land of darkness. Now, only one remains carrying their purpose heavy on her shoulders: a maverick technomancer named Basia. She alone will bring back the light, or no one will.
Armed with naught but her own cleverness and a sword imbued with sun-embraced charms, she searches for the Kler’s secrets and finds herself in Tawerna. With the Kler on her heels, she infiltrates a private feast and catches Hanka, a docile bard, in the middle of planning her own escape into the world beyond. Hanka wants nothing to do with the heretical outsider until she discovers that her purpose aligns with the darkness buried inside herself. Hanka knows the secrets the Kler keeps, and she knows just where to go to expose their lies.
With only each other and their heretical magic to rely on, Basia and Hanka face the eternal night and wonder, are they truly enough to bring light back to the world?
Whew! That's a lot of books and I still got over a dozen more to share with you so pleased stay tuned for part 2! Still to come is my entire section of sapphic vampire books (there were so many sapphic vampires this year...) and some amazing sci-fi stories as well as the much talked about Hades/Persephone retelling that's taking over BlueSky (IYKYK).
Thanks so much for reading and I hope you'll at least add a few of these books to your 2025 TBR!