‘Tis the time of the year when all the lists are written so, today I’m here with a list of books that surprised me – in a good way and… in a not so good way.
I have read significantly more things in 2020 (thank you lockdown) than last year, and I have enjoyed most of what I have read. In order to keep my Best Books I read in 2020 list on the short side, I made some decisions and several books didn’t make the cut. However, I still want to highlight those books because I really enjoyed reading them and, even if they are not my favorites of the year, I still want to recommend them.
On a different note, I also wanted to mention some books that disappointed me this year. Not because they were the worst thing I have ever read (they’re not) or because I hate the authors (I don’t, actually two books on the list are from favorite authors) but because I expected to love those books and for different reasons, they didn’t work for me. In a way, they were also the most surprising books of the year, just not in a good way…
To keep this post short and sweet, I have decided to describe each book in 5 words, if you want to know more about a specific book, I have linked the reviews I have posted about all the books mentioned in this post.
The good surprises
The Light Years by R.W.W. Greene – REVIEW
Quiet and introspective. Fascinating Characters.
Beneath the Rising by Premee Mohamed – REVIEW
Quirky geniuses saving the world.
Do You Dream of Terra-Two? by Temi Oh – BOOK DISCUSSION
Teenagers in Space. Terrifying. Brilliant.
The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell – REVIEW
Epic. Zambia. All the Genres.
Burning Roses by S.L. Huang – Review
Emotional sapphic fairy tale retelling.
The Wall by Gautam Bhatia – Review
Contemplative. Poetic. Revolution. Friendship. Horizon.
The not-so-good surprises
The Monster Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson – REVIEW
Too long, too messy. Bit Boring.
Gideon the Night by Tamsyn Muir – REVIEW
Can Gideon please shut-up?
Cage of Souls by Adrian Tchaikovsky – REVIEW
Interesting ideas but stale story.
The Rush’s Edge by Ginger Smith – REVIEW
Felt like a first draft.
I also just realized that almost every single book in the Good Surprises category is a debut novel while only one is present in the Not-so Good. I guess 2020 was the year of solid debuts!
If you have read any of these books, I would be curious to know what you thought about them! 😀
The Curious SFF Reader 
I have one out of the six you did enjoy, THE WALL, on my TBR pile, a gift from the author. But have seen a wide difference of opinion on it. Will be trying to read it this January. Of the 4 you didn’t like, though I’ve heard of them all, they’re just not my cup of tea anyway so will not be reading them.
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Î’m curious to see your thoughts on The Wall, I haven’t seen any reviews about it so far. It worked well for me but it’s a slow read and the pacing could be an issue for some.
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I don’t mind a slower pace if there is a worthwhile pay off at the end. I’m patient enough.
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It’s the same for me, if it’s good, I don’t mind a slower pace! 🙂
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Sounds like some hyped books didn’t appeal to you. And the less known where perfect – I don’t know any of those.
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Yes, it’s true that I was disappointed by hyped books, probably because I set my expectations a bit too high because of the hype. I try not to do that but it’s hard sometimes!
However, my Best Books of 2020 will have its share of hyped book that worked very well for me! 🙂
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Ah, expectation management 🙂
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I love seeing Terra Two on here. One of my favorite books from last year😁
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It was really good, not at all what I expected and quite bleak in some parts but very good! 😀
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I’m so on the fence with Gideon the Ninth. So many people find it difficult to read and I’ve heard multiple times that the character is insufferable (which is what I’m concerned about. If I don’t like the MC, the entire novel falls apart for me.) But then there’s the other half of reviewers who treat it like a revelation.
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Yes, that’s very true. I think Gideon is a “love it or hate it” book and I wanted to see on which side I would end up. I didn’t hate it and I will read the sequel but it wasn’t a revelation because the writing and the main character didn’t work for me. However, I’m willing to read Harrow the Ninth because it follows another main character and I have heard that the writing is very different from Gideon.
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Oh well it’s good to know that Harrow the Ninth is a bit different. I’ll wait for your review to see how it stacks up to the controversial Gideon, lol.
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😂😂 No problem, I’ll do the crash test!
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I struggled with Gideon quite a lot as well. I liked the IDEA of it, but the world-building was almost non-existent and so I just didn’t understand what the stakes were at all. And, as you, say Gideon needed to shut up.
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Me too!! The idea of the book was great but the execution was all over the place. And omg, Gideon was the worst, I couldn’t stop rolling my eyes at all the stupid things she was saying or doing…🙄
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Man, I really need to get to Terra-Two this year, a bunch of people in my timeline have really enjoyed it!
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I would also recommend having a box of tissues at hand for Terra-Two, it’s quite bleak but brilliant nonetheless!
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ooo, thanks for the heads up!
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I’m intrigued by The Light Years and really looking forward to The Wall. Here’s to debuts making a big splash!
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Yes, here’s to debut! 😀
And I’m looking forward to your thoughts about The Wall. 😉
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So glad you loved Burning Roses–it’s one of the books my husband got me for Christmas so I’ll be looking forward to that one. 🙂
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Oh yes, I really liked this one! I don’t usually cry while reading a book but this one made me shed both sad and happy tears. 😅
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