Mare Barrow is a 17-year-old girl who lives in a kingdom where people are separated into two different social classes based on the color of their blood. People with silver blood are supernatural, and have superpowers, and they’re also rich and live good lives, while people with red blood have to live in poverty because they don’t have any special superpowers. Mare has red blood, so she lives in poverty. To help her family, she steals by pickpocketing from Silvers and the people in her village.
Red Queen is a fantasy novel by Victoria Aveyard. It is the first novel in the Red Queen series. The book follows Mare, a girl who lives in a world which is divided by the color of blood. Mare is a Red, meaning she is a commoner and lacks the superpowers of the noble Silvers. However, Mare discovers that she has powers of her own while working at the castle and is declared a princess, putting her into a dangerous game between Reds and Silvers.
Six of Crows, the first in a fantasy duology by Leigh Bardugo.
Summary: Kaz Brekker, an infamous criminal and the commander of a gang, has just been offered the greatest heist he’ll ever get in his life. It’s enough money for him to seek out the revenge he has been waiting for all his life. There’s just one problem: the target is in the Ice Court, the most secure building in the world. In order to pull off this heist, he needs a team.
Inkheart is a fantasy novel by Cornelia Funke. It is the first novel in the Inkworld series. It follows a young girl named Meggie, whose father has the ability to bring characters from books into the real world just by reading aloud. However, this ability takes a turn when a villainous ruler is read out of the book. Together, they must use their magic to defeat evil. This novel is perfect for book lovers. The main character, Meggie, is an avid reader and the entire novel centers around reading and imagination.
Summary: Rin was a war orphan living in a poor town in Nikan (based on China) when she aced the Keju, the test to find the most talented children across the country to study at the academies. She goes to Sinegard, the most elite school in all of Nikan. There, she is hated by her classmates for her poverty and dark skin. But then she discovers that she has powers that may be able to stop Nikan’s enemy, the Federation of Mugen (based on Japan). Her powers may be the only thing that can save her people, but she fears that she might lose herself in the process.
Summary: Celaena Sardothien, the world’s most famous assassin, was betrayed and forced to work as a slave in the salt mines of Endovier. Now, the King of Adarlan has offered her a chance at freedom: fight in his competition against twenty-three other assassins, mercenaries, and soldiers, and be the last one left. But in the middle of the competition, when her competitors start dropping one-by-one with mysterious symbols written across their bodies, she learns there is something dark happening behind the scenes.
This book is definitely in my top 10 books of this year. I loved the portrayal of lgbtq+ themes with fantasy. It also has a mythological aspect to it. It’s honestly refreshing to see a book that has lgbtq+ as a subplot and focuses more on fantasy. Most lgbtq+ book are more slice of life or coming of age, although those are fun to read from time to time. Overall I loved this book.
A Discovery of Witches tells the story of Diana, the last of the powerful Bishop witches, who wants nothing to do with magic. Instead she chooses to study alchemy at Oxford. When she finds an enchanted manuscript during her research, daemons, witches, and vampires are drawn to Diana and the power the manuscript could bring. Among those looking for Diana and the manuscript is Matthew Clairmont, a vampire interested both in the manuscript and Diana herself.
