Best Reads | 2020

The longest ever year of our lives still has a few more days till it ends. We all did stay inside for most of the time, and more time means more books. I've read new books and re-read the old ones. This year half of the books I've read were on Wattpad, and I'm not counting Wattpad books. 

I am going for my top 5 books this year because if I go more than that, I'll feel bad for leaving some out, and I'll just consider them too, and well, then I'll just include every book I liked from this year. But from re-reading the entire Shadowhunter series to discovering my new love for the Folk of The Air series, here are my top reads of the year!

1. Six of Crows, Leigh Bardugo

This book was in my December TBR, and I finished it last week only, and I absolutely loved it! I love criminal books, and I love heists even more. I've read around 3-4 books about a heist, and I honestly cannot get enough of this book. There were a few things I didn't particularly like about this book, but they were relatively minor things. 

The main character is Kaz Brekker, who is a criminal prodigy. He plans to do a deadly heist that can make him super-rich. But he can't make it alone, so he gathers a crew of 5 people who would pull off the heist with him. A convict with a thirst for revenge, A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager, A runaway with a privileged past, A spy known as the Wraith, A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums, and A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes.

Netflix released the Shadow and Bone teaser on 17th December, and I cannot wait for the series. I mean, there's about an 80% chance that Netflix will completely destroy the book and make their own plot, but still, I am gonna hope it comes out better than I expect. I am going to be doing a full-on review on this but I haven't read the Crooked Kingdom yet so I'll first read that and then do the review.

2. Chain of Gold, Cassandra Clare

Chain of Gold is the first book in The last hour trilogy. I had been waiting for this book to come out since November 2019, and well, it didn't let me down even if it broke my heart. The main story is about James and Lucie Herondale ( children of Will Herondale), but it's written from Cordelia Carstairs's perspective, who comes to the London institute. 

James and Cordelia have to fight them off demons along with Lucie and the Merry Thieves(James and his friends Matthew, Thomas, and Christopher). It was a great story, and the cliff-hanger ending was impressive, and I can't wait to read the next book, Chain of iron, which will be out next year, March 2nd (The cover of the collectors' edition of this book is already out, and it can be pre-ordered). 

 

Cassie gave us 2 chapter preview in the Simon Teen 25 days of reading, and I cannot wait to read the rest of the book. I love the Shadowhunters Series so much, and getting more content in the same time-line as The Infernal Devices series has me so excited! 

You can check out my full review on the book here:  https://bookistic17.blogspot.com/2020/08/chain-of-gold-book-review-spoiler-alert.html

3. The Folk of the Air, Holly Black

I read the Folk of the air series in October and then Hoe the King of Elfhame Learned to hate Stories in December, and I am absolutely addicted to this series. I have to put this above Chain of Gold. 

Jude Duarte is one of the best female leads I've ever read about. She is a strong female lead, and she doesn't make really cringy bad decisions. I always like to read a book with strong female leads, but they just make the female smart, not strong in most books. So I personally liked it when I read about Jude. 

My words fall short of describing Cardan Greenbriar. I am still shocked he's the High King of Elfhame. Well, it was because of Jude that he became the King but even then. He is cruel and sadistic, but that's expected after how Balekin and Lady Asha treated him. But at the same time, he is so sweet and hilarious. 

The plot of this book stood up to the name of it with so much betrayal going on. I mean, there wasn't one person in that book who didn't betray anyone. I mean, some of them were shocking, like when Cardan exiled Jude. And to think they get married. One thing that I particularly liked about this book was that none of the characters were okay. Like all of them had some kind of malicious intent. Even Jude was terrible.

4. The Lost Book of White, Cassandra Clare

The Lost Book of White might have been my most fun read of the year. I just found this book hilarious and a lot of fun to read. The whole TMI gang being back together might have been a reason.  

We get to know that Ragnor Fell was never actually dead, and he faked his death to get away from Samael, Father of Demons Devourer of Realms, and many more titles I'm in no mood to type. So he came back because of Lilith's agony and apparently wanted to unleash hell on Earth like he wished to before he was defeated by Michael archangel. I also forgot to mention that he is the Greatest Prince of Hell. 

I kind of like Samael in this book except for the part where he tortured Simon. He was a good villain; it's kind of hard to explain, but Sebastian was a good villain. I love Sebastian and currently Samael ( Let's see what happens in the next book). A bad villain is someone I outrightly hate, you know, like Valentine.

You can check out my full review on the book here:   https://bookistic17.blogspot.com/2020/09/the-lost-book-of-white-my-thoughts.html

5. Tower of Nero, Trials of Apollo

Tower of Nero, the final installment in Apollo's Trials, and the Camp-half Blood chronicles. No more Percy Jackson books and no more seeing our favorite characters. That's a lot to sink in, right. I can't believe this book ended our series.

Apollo had already changed too much in the Tower of Nero, though he had never lost the charm that made him so. Riordan seamlessly balances his humor, vanity, and many centuries of crazy encounters perfectly with a sense of change that's been coming for a long time. This book contains the very best of Apollo. We get to see Nico Di Angelo and his boyfriend Will Solace return in the book, and the book simply does not lack any quality when these 2 are in it.

It took me a few moments to come to terms with the fact that it was the end of the Percy Jackson series (When I say a few moments, I men re-reading the whole Percy Jackson series and then going on to read fanfiction on Wattpad).