It’s that time of year again! Time to vote on the best books of 2023!
You have until January 31, 2023 to cast your vote, either here in the comments or on our social media. Please only vote in one place. The top 50 books will be announced the first week of February.
Socials: Facebook Group, the site formally knows as Twitter, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky.
Okay, rules for voting:
- 1. Book must have come out in 2023. No reprints or re-issues.
- 2. It must be fantasy or science fiction. (Horror that hits one of these two marks counts too.)
- 3. It can be any subgenre. (Excluding erotica.)
- 4. You can nominate up to five books.
- 5. If you do vote for more than one, _please_ put them in order from highest rated to lowest rated (according to you), so I can figure in scores when I finish the list.
- 6. Book must be novel length.
- 7. Book does _not_ have to be the first in the series.
- 8. Rule 4 and 6 are not set in stone.
Happy Voting! Happy Reading! And Happy Holidays!
Background image by Patrick Hendry.
You can see last year’s list here.
Geoff Matthews
Julia Kitvaria Sarene
1.Star SPlitter – Matthew J. Kirby
2. Blood Over Bright Haven – M.L. Wang
3. The September House – Carissa Orlando
2. Blood Over Bright Haven – M.L. Wang
4. An Inheritance of Magc – Benedict Jacka
A Quiet Vengeance – by Tim Hardie
The Words of Kings and Prophets – Shauna Lawless
Sons of Darkness – Gourav Mohanty (was trad published in 2023 as I understand it – not really a reprint or reissue?)
The Hexologists – Josiah Bancroft
The Prophet of Edan – Philip Chase
The Judas Blossom – Stephen Aryan
The Book That Wouldn’t Burn – Mark Lawrence
The Words of Kings and Prophets – Shauna Lawless
The Will of the Many – James Islington
Yumi & the Nightmare Painter – Brandon Sanderson
Tress & the Emerald Sea – Brandon Sanderson
The Book that Wouldn’t Burn – Mark Lawrence
The Spider Key – Jacqueline Hagen
Poisoned Empire — by Elyse Thompson
Michael fletcher – A War to End All
Micahel Michel – The Price of Power
Morgan Shank – A Low Country
João F. Silva – Ruins of Smoke
Kian N. Ardalan – Eleventh Cycle
The Green Man’s Quarry – Juliet E McKenna
Legacy of a Hated God – Patrick Samphire
1. The Wings of Ashtaroth–Steve Hugh Westerna
2. The Erstwhile Tyler Kyle–Steve Hugh Westerna
Two very different books, the first high fantasy, the second paranormal horror with a twist. This author blew me away.
1. The Book That Wouldn’t Burn by Mark Lawrence
2. Of War and Ruin by Ryan Cahill
3. The Hand of God by Yuval Kordov
4. The Necessity of Rain by Sarah Chorn
5. The Shadow Gate by L. L. MacRae
1.) The Price Of Power – Michael Michel
2.) The Eleventh Cycle – Kian Ardalan
3.) The Tyranny Of Faith – Richard Swan
4.) Buzzards Bowl – John Palladino
5.) The Traitor – Anthony Ryan
1. Waybound – Will Wight
2. Tress and the Emerald Sea – Brandon Sanderson
3. The Sunlit Man – Brandon Sanderson
4. Yumi & the Nightmare Painter – Brandon Sanderson
Blood Over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang
The Forsaken Planet – Bryan Wilson
Of Thieves and Shadows by B.S.H. Garcia
1. The Forsaken Planet by Bryan Wilson
2. Look no1
3. Look no1
4. Look no1
5. Look no1
Legacy of Brick and Bone by Krystle Matar
Blood Over Bright Haven by ML Wang
The Tyranny of Faith – Richard Swan
The Will of the Many – James Islington
The Cage of Dark Hours – Marina J. Lostetter
Eleventh Cycle – Kian N. Ardalan
Shadow Baron – Davinia Evans
We Dream of Gods – Devin Madson
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries – Heather Fawcett
The surviving sky – Kritika H. Rao
The Soul Thief – Madeline te Whiu
Spark of the Divine – Louise Holland
Blessed by the Maiden – Demi Clorissa
Faded Fragments – Mandy Kontos
Rise of the Witches – M. L Jewell
Spark of the Divine – Louise Holland
1. Spark of the Divine by Louise Holland
2. A Necromancer Called Gam Gam by Adam Holcombe
3. River in the Galaxy by Natalie Kelda
1. Spark of the Divine – Louise Holland
2. Tress of the Emerald Sea – Brandon Sanderson
3. The Necessity of Rain – Sarah Chorn
4. Yumi & the nightmare painter – Brandon Sanderson
1. The Will Of The Many by James Islington
2. Light Bringer by Pierce Brown
3. Of War And Ruin by Ryan Cahill
4. The Shadow Casket by Chris Wooding
5. Yumi And The Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson
Some Desperate Glory – Emily Tesh
Painted Devils – Margaret Owen
A Power Unbound – Freya Marske
The Faithless – CL Clark
Witch King – Martha Wells
Waybound – Will Wight
“The Will of the Many” by James Islington.
1. Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries – Heather Fawcett
2. Gods of the Wyrdwood – RJ Barker
3. The Last Fang of God – Ryan Kirk
4. To Shape a Dragon’s Breath – Moniquill Blackgoose
5. In the Lives of Puppets – TJ Klune
1. Blood Over Bright Haven – M.L. Wang
2. Traitor of Redwinter – Ed McDonald
3. Bookshops & Bonedust – Travis Baldree
4. The Will of Many – James Islington
5. Chain-Gang All-Stars – Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Special thanks to previous commenters for the terrific recommendations.
In The Shadow of Lightning by Brian McClellan
Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson
Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson
The Sunlit Man by Brandon Sanderson
The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson
No heart for a thief by James Dulin
Partial Function by JCM Bern
The Blood Stones by Tori Tecken