Mogsy’s Best of 2017 and the Year in Review
It’s once again that time of the year where I look back at the last twelve months and round up my favorite reads! As always, my methods are going to be rather haphazard, but as you know I read a TON of books and having to narrow it down to just “Top 10” or even “Top 20” is a difficult (if not impossible) task. That’s why I’ve opted not to do a traditional list, and instead I’m going to be breaking this post down into different genres/categories to highlight all the books that 1) were my favorites of the year, 2) I thought were most memorable, or 3) I think should be getting more love and attention. The one thing they have in common is that I loved them all.
You can see my reviews and more information about the books by clicking on the images and following the links.
Fantasy
As always, we begin with Fantasy which is always the biggest category, and this year saw some epic sequels like Brandon Sanderson’s Oathbringer, Sebastien de Castell’s Tyrant’s Throne, Katherine Arden’s The Girl in the Tower, and Michael J. Sullivan’s The Disappearance of Winter’s Daughter. In addition, Angus Watson also started a brand new series with You Die When You Die, and Brian Staveley made a return his world The Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne with the standalone Skullsworn. It was also a big year for fantastic debuts, including Devil’s Call by J. Danielle Dorn, The Nine by Tracy Townsend, Age of Assassins by R.J. Barker, An Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors by Curtis Craddock, and Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames. My 2017 also had one big surprise in the form of The Grey Bastards by Jonathan French, which won SPFBO 2016 and has since been picked up by a traditional publisher.
Science Fiction
This was also an excellent year for Science Fiction. Top reads include Children of Time by new-to-me author Adrian Tchaikovsky, The Punch Escrow from debut author Tal M. Klein, and brilliant sequels like The Last Iota by Robert Kroese and Persepolis Rising by James S.A. Corey. A couple of my favorite authors also made it onto the list, like Brandon Sanderson’s Snapshot and Michael R. Fletcher’s Ghosts of Tomorrow.
But wait, there’s more! This year The BiblioSanctum once again participated in the month-long Sci-Fi November event, so if you’re interested in seeing a more detailed list of all my favorite sci-fi reads this year, be sure to check out the Top Ten post I put together for the wrap up!
Horror
Compared to last year, 2017 was not exactly a big year for Horror releases, but there were still a few standouts, including The Boy on the Bridge by M.R. Carey, Kill Creek by Scott Thomas, and Ania Ahlborn’s spine-chilling The Devil Crept In.
Urban Fantasy/Paranormal
I didn’t read as many Urban Fantasy or Paranormal books this year, so the ones I loved really stood out. Mishell Baker’s Phantom Pains was actually my first five-star read of the year, Daryl Gregory impressed me once again with Spoonbenders, and I also discovered a new favorite series with G.S. Denning’s Warlock Holmes: A Study in Brimstone.
Children’s and Young Adult
Hate to say it, but overall it was a disappointing year for me when it comes to the Young Adult and Middle Grade categories, with many highly anticipated releases that fizzled. But thankfully, there were also a number of amazing reads that balanced out those disappointments. Among them are books like The Fall of the Readers by Django Wexler, The Valiant by Lesley Livingston, Royal Bastards by Andrew Shvarts, and Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray. New favorite author Frances Hardinge even appears on this list twice, with A Skinful of Shadows and A Face Like Glass!
Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
This is a brand new category, because in 2017 I read more in the Mystery, Suspense, and Thriller genres than I had in any previous year. There were quite a few that I loved too, like 13 Minutes by Sarah Pinborough, The Naturalist by Andrew Mayne, and Stillhouse Lake by Rachel Caine. I can hardly wait for all the authors’ next projects.
Overview: Books Read in 2017
We still have about a week and a half left in the year so these numbers aren’t going to be final, but the below charts and statistics taken from Goodreads should provide a good general overview of my 2017 in books.
Goodreads Ratings:
On My Shelves…
By a Male Author: 49.5%
By a Female Author: 48.0%
Unknown/Male & Female Co-Authored: 2.5%
Audiobooks: 24.5%
For Review: 96.4%
Genres (some crossover):
Fantasy: 44.4%
Science Fiction: 30.6%
Horror: 9.7%
Urban Fantasy and Paranormal: 17.3%
Children’s and Young Adult: 19.4%
More on The BiblioSanctum:
Mogsy: Best of 2014 and The Year in Review
Mogsy: Best of 2015 and The Year in Review
Mogsy: Best of 2016 and The Year in Review
The BiblioSanctum 
Looks like you had an awesome year, and how do you manage to read this many books? I need that magic spell too…
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My secret is audiobooks! I would get go reading done during busy times if it weren’t for them 🙂 Sometimes just being able to switch back and forth between print and audio helps a lot too!
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Great plan. I still haven’t gotten into audiobooks train yet, lol.
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Many interesting books and some I’m also curious to try! A great bilan!
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Indeed, I can’t wait to see your list! 🙂
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Hail! Hail Power Reader! I, your fellow book brother, do salute you.
Do you think you’ll break the 200 mark?
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I think I will! I actually drafted this post and scheduled it last week. I’ve finished a couple more books since and now my total is up to 198. I’m about to finish another one so it’s going to be close, but I think I’ll barely make it 🙂
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Awesome!
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Awesome list! We agree on many of these, and you’ve listed a few that I want to make an effort to read at some point. Especially You Die When You Die, I know there is a sequel coming out and I’d like to be ready for it!
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Yep, I think the series is on a schedule that’s faster than the typical 1-book-a-year cycle. Love it when you finish a book and the sequel is already on the horizon!
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Awesome summary of your favourite books! I’m definitely planning on reading a few of these- especially King of the Wyld. And I’m excited to see Girl in the tower on here cos I loved the first one!! Really want to read 13 minutes as well!! And well done on reading so many books!
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Kings of the Wyld might be one of this year’s biggest breakout hits! I hope you enjoy it if you get a chance to read it 😀
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Must get that Assassin book was my first thought 😉
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Yes! Age of Assassins, and The Tethered Mage!
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What an impressive collection! A great reading year indeed 🙂
Here’s to an even better one!
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Hear hear! 😀
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What a wonderful reading year!
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Indeed! 2017 was full of wonderful surprises 🙂
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I wonder if I’ll be doing a list. But when you’ve read 100+ books, it’s just so hard to choose! I don’t want to choose xDDD heheheh.
Oh yes yes yes, The Punch Escrow was amazing… Totally agree 🙂
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It really is! I can’t even imagine doing a top ten list or even a top 20 – how do you choose between so many! So I don’t even try 😀
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196 books… wow. I couldn’t do that if I tried.
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Thank goodness for audiobooks!
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Nice roundup! I see quite a few on here I’m interested- The Valiant, The LAst Iota (your blog may be where I first saw it, along with Punch escrow), Winter’s Daughter. Stillhouse Lake maybe too, I’ve heard good things.
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I hope you get to try all the ones you’re interested in! By the way, I’m currently reading the sequel to Stillhouse Lake and I’m really enjoying it too! 😀
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Love your list here and I’ve already added many to my TBR after reading your reviews of them. I’d still love to get a copy of Grey Bastards though. I can’t find anywhere that sells it.
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Yeah unfortunately once it got picked up by a traditional publisher, they pulled the self published version from Amazon. I hope it comes out soon, I know so many people who want to read it but can’t get their hands on it!
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Oh… that explains it. Well I hope so too so I can get myself a copy.
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What an awesome post!!! Looks like you had a great year and looks like there will be more books added to my never ending TBR!💖📚😉💯
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Glad to hear you discovered some new books! Happy New Year! 😀
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A few of these are on my bookshelves waiting-You die when you die, Kings of the Wyld, The Boy on the Bridge, Kill Creek, Warlock Holmes and Stillhouse Lake. Looking at my stats for this year, I need to up my game on apocalypse reads next year!
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I need to do the same! I had more apocalyptic reads at the beginning of the year.
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Nice list, Mogsy! I also struggled with YA fantasy this year, but had some fantastic luck with trusted favorites and magical realism. I’m also really glad I finally read Brian Staveley (The Emperor’s Blades and Skullsworn). The world he created for those books is fascinating, and I can’t wait to read the rest of the Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne series. 🙂
Btw, we might have some crossover on our year-end lists. It depends on how my last couple reads of the year go, but Katherine Arden will definitely make an appearance.
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Yeah, I don’t know what was up this year with YA, I had such bad luck in general with highly anticipated books especially debuts. Sadly, the subsequent burn out also put me off from reading more, so I didn’t get to read as many towards the end of the year so I probably missed out on some good ones!
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I don’t blame you. But there were some highlights between the misses for me. Our Dark Duet by Victoria Schwab and The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo were really good.
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This is such a great list!! You had a great reading year. There are several books on your list I loved and many more I need to pick up.
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Happy new year! I recently saw on your best of list that we had a couple of crossovers 🙂
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What a very impressive list! There are a number of books I want to catch up with – Frances Hardinge is an author I need to track down. And I completely agree with you regarding Spoonbenders and Children of Time. Let’s hope 2018 is another fabulous year!
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