Top Ten Fiction Books of 2023
I read.. ahem.. a LOT of books in 2023. Like, WAY more than I ever thought was possible. So, in an attempt to capture a few of my favourites and pass them onto you, here is my list of top ten favourite fiction books in 2023.
Homecoming (Kate Morton)
Genre: Mystery/thriller
Age warning: Adult readers (16+) due to disturbing images
Mysterious deaths of an entire family one hot Christmas Day in Australia. Dual timelines in which present-day characters try to uncover the secrets of the murders some fifty years ago, and the story of Adelaide Hills in 1959 is slowly revealed. It’s one of the best mystery/thrillers I’ve ever read. Complicated, yet not overly convoluted. Set in beautiful southern Australia (now I’d like to go visit, thank you very much).
The Invisible Library (Genevieve Cogman)
Genre: Fantasy
Age warning: For all readers. PG-rated.
Ahh, I loved The Invisible Library so much! Librarians of an interdimensional Library are tasked with stealing rare books from multiple worlds in order to maintain the interdimensional balance—what’s not to love? Also, dragons and Fae are essential for the balancing of worlds, even as they try not to destroy each other. Also, the protagonist is a thirty-year-old woman named Irene, which is tremendously refreshing for this thirty-year-old woman who desires to read more protagonists who are not teenagers. Aside from the age of the protagonist, the book (and its subsequent eight book series) reads easily, like most YA novels.
The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde)
Genre: Classic English literature
Age warning: Teenage and adult readers (14+) due to the complex content and literary style
Realistically, I’d have never read Oscar Wilde as a teenager. However, I know those particular prodigious teens exist, so they might well read The Picture of Dorian Gray well before I did. Regardless, I enjoyed it immensely, having read it for the first time this year. It is a stark, witty, and cunningly cold examination of human nature, greed, and vanity. When I finished, I stared into space for half an hour, simply basking in the wonder of Dorian Gray. It is truly a masterpiece.
The Bear and the Nightingale (Katherine Arden)
Genre: Historical fantasy
Age warning: Teenage and adult readers (14+) due to some frightening images
How I loved the Russian folklore combined with Eastern Orthodoxy and medieval Russia in The Bear and the Nightingale! It felt fresh and wonderful, offering a combination of history and fantasy and leaving the reader wondering which parts really happened. I highly recommend this book to all lovers of fantasy, particularly if you enjoy medieval history or Russian folklore as well! The rest of the trilogy is equally wonderful.
The Exiles (Christina Baker Kline)
Genre: Historical fiction
Age warning: Adult readers (18+) due to implied sexual violence and heavy colonial themes
The Exiles was not an easy read, but it was well worth it. It gripped me from the start, highlighting the lives of three women—a governess who became pregnant and was shipped off to Australia for her ‘crimes,’ a teenage girl who is on the same boat for petty theft, and an Aboriginal girl who has only known colonial life and is taken against her will to live with an English family to be ‘shown off’ to the colonial families settled in Van Diemen’s Land, Australia. It’s not necessarily a happy story, but I imagine that it is a somewhat accurate story of what it would have been like to live as exiled women under these circumstances. I recommend this book to all who want to learn more about the unjust shipping of female prisoners from England to Australia and the colonization of Australia.
The Priory of the Orange Tree (Samantha Shannon)
Genre: Epic fantasy
Age warning: Teenage and adult readers (16+) due to the sheer size of this book, some violence, and some implied sex scenes
Boy oh boy, The Priory was one of the best fantasy books I’ve read in a long time. Dragons are the main feature here, but not only Western gold-hoarding ‘evil’ dragons. We also encounter the gentle, water-loving dragons of Eastern folklore, who are vastly misunderstood by the Western cultures in The Priory. East and West mimic our own global cultures, and Shannon weaves these together beautifully. Her mastery of the English language was also something to behold. The prequel, A Day of Fallen Night, which was published just this year, doesn’t hold a candle to the original story.
A Rip Through Time (Kelley Armstrong)
Genre: Time-travelling mystery
Age warning: Teenage and adult readers (16+) due to thematic supernatural and mystery elements
Kelley Armstrong has quickly become one of my favourite authors. A Rip Through Time involves 21st century homicide detective time travelling to 19th century Edinburgh, where she is trapped in the body of a housemaid to an undertaker in Victorian Scotland. I don’t know which bit I loved more—the time travelling or the historical setting in Edinburgh, which I recently visited and could imagine in my mind’s eye.
Defy the Night (Brigid Kemmerer)
Genre: YA fantasy
Age warning: Teens (14+), involving light fantasy violence (e.g. sword fights) and teenage romance
I’ve been struggling in the YA fantasy genre recently. It might have something to do with the fact that I’m thirty years old now and don’t actually fit the targeted audience anymore. Regardless, I enjoyed the kingdom of Kandala, its magical secrets and social system, the beautiful map of the kingdom, and the relationship between the primary characters. It captured me, which is saying something. I continue to be impressed by Kemmerer’s work.
The Silmarillion (J.R.R. Tolkien)
Genre: Epic fantasy
Age warning: Teenage and adult readers (14+) due to its literary complexity
The Silmarillion has been compared to reading the Bible. I can understand why. It is written in broad sweeps, introducing new characters every few paragraphs and jumping ahead in time and space frequently. At the same time, it is incredibly detailed and it made me fall in love with Middle Earth all the more. I finally understood the origins of Middle Earth and its various races. I learned that Galadriel, at the time of The Lord of the Rings, is over three thousand years old and is one of the oldest living Elves (yikes!). Tolkien’s dedication to Middle Earth is absolutely incredible and is worth reading for LOTR fans.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone — Illustrated Hardcover (J.K. Rowling and Jim Kay)
Genre: Fantasy
Age warning: Children (8+), with magical elements
I’ve read Harry Potter multiple times, but reading the illustrated edition was something else entirely. Jim Kay’s artistry is truly amazing and brings to life the world of Diagon Alley and Hogwarts. For all Harry Potter fans, I recommend. Of course, I hardly have to recommend it, because I’m sure most die-hard fans have already read it.
There you have it—my ten favourite fiction books of 2023! If you read (or have read) any of them, let me know! I always love to talk books. :)
