Today I completed my 2018 Goodreads reading challenge! I was looking over the books I’ve read this year, and  it occurred to me that I haven’t been blogging about them much, if at all. I’ve discovered a number of fantastic books, and I need to yell about them more, obviously.

Have you ever heard of Jo Walton? If yes, we are in a fight, because you didn’t tell me about how WONDERFUL she is. I read Among Others about a month ago and I haven’t been so joyfully wrapped up in a book in ages. Each page was like a discovery, an old friend newly met, and like a really good lucid dream. Walton, like my all-time favorite author Diana Wynne Jones, is originally from Wales, and while I wouldn’t say they write alike, they both are certainly masters of creating a conscious, enthralling narrative.

It’s sort of like when you meet someone who just gets you. I could gush for days and years, but I am on the third book of Walton’s Thessaly trilogy, and I’d rather be reading that, honestly. The first book, The Just City, is about Apollo and Athena’s involvement in gathering scholars and philosophers throughout history, plunking them on an island, and trying to set up Plato’s Republic in reality. While I’m not personally a huge fan of Plato, or The Republic, I do love philosophy, and there are so many historical figures that are transported to the island, and Walton does an incredible job with this premise.

In other news I’ve been reading Seanan McGuire’s Incryptid series, which I’d always stupidly written off because of the cover art (I am stupid). I assumed it was a cyberpunk series, and I was dead wrong. It’s about a family of cryptozoologists, and how they study and protect sentient and animal fantastical creatures. So good. The series jumps around in viewpoints from the different members of the Price family. Antimony is my favorite viewpoint to read, but Verity’s adventures are what start the series, and she is a pretty cool character too.

There are tons of other books that I need to blog about, but these are the ones that have been stuck in my brain lately.