My Year of Reading in 2024 and Top Books

2024 was quite a fun year for reading and also a year wherein I went through a bit of a book blogging journey with a lot of firsts. I got a whole bunch of ARCs (thanks to all the amazing authors who sent the books over as well as Netgalley), did my first Beta Read, got called out in the acknowledgements on a book (maybe 2 – thanks Joe Berne), won a giveaway, joined the Fantasy Hive as a contributor [Ed: woohoo!], read 76 books and posted 32 times about books on my substack (that’s quite some discipline for me). This isn’t going to be like one of the cooking blogs wherein the entire history of the dish and the maker is discussed before we get to the good parts, so I will just quickly move onto the top reads, which I am sure everyone reading here is very keen on (:P)

1) The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett – BOOK OF THE YEAR

I rated this as my top read in Feb and it just did not relinquish that at all. It takes on the Sherlock-Watson trope and sets it in a stratified empire that grapples with Leviathan attacks – My review of this fabulous book can just be condensed to “F*cking Fantastic” 

2) Undead Samurai by Baptiste Pinson Wu (Review)

The book that kickstarted by book blogger journey and therefore has a special place in my heart. This was in my words – “Rogue One meets the Fellowship meets the Army of the Dead featuring Dead Zombies”. A fun action ride with the right amount of trope homage to make it stand apart from the herd

3) A Specter Raps on My Windowpane/ Claws of the Collector by Douglas Lumsden (Review 1, Review 2)

Douglas Lumsden’s noirish urban fantasy is easily one of the series of the year for me. A Specter Raps was the concluding part of the Alex Southerland PI series and is an ending rooted completely in the nature of the series. Claws of the Collector kickstarts a new series in the same world & almost seamlessly picks up on some of the escalation from the Alex series and is what I call “A masterclass in storytelling & plotting weaving long-standing threads into a masterfully crafted series opener”

4) Thorns of War (The Smokesmiths #2) by Joao F Silva (Review)

Escalation is the name of the game in the 2nd instalment of Joao Silva’s fascinating smokesmithg saga. This book might pretty much be the Empire Strikes Back of the series featuring among others a war veteran turned gang leader, a retired mercenary leader and a weak, manipulated god man with a huge delusion for self-grandeur. A book that disrupts the status quo violently from the start and just never lets go in intensity nor in pacing

5) The Silverblood Promise by James Logan (Review)

A fantasy novel which feels video game-ish, this is one of the most entertaining summer blockbuster like novel out there. One of the smartly written books, this channels some of the witty parts to the MCU in a quest-filled book that is just quite unputdownable and a lead whom you want to cuff many a time as the story progresses

6) How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler

A wicked book rooted in the ever fresh time loop concept, except this has the potty mouthed lead turning over to the dark side – the book is increasingly witty, crass, snarky and an absolute hoot. While Davi aspires to become the Dark Lord, she increasingly realises a good, squeamish heart doesn’t necessarily align itself to the designs of a Dark Lord

7) Hell for Hire (Tear Down Heaven #1) by Rachel Aaron (Review)

A brilliant world of Warlocks, Witches, Sorcerers and Demons set in Seattle is ripe for the hopeful fantasy of Rachel Aaron and she delivers n action packed story filled with likeable characters, tremendous team dynamics and a deep lore encompassing reimagined versions of hells and demons

8) The Last Shield by Cameron Johnston (Review)

A gender-flipped Die Hard set in a fantasy castle dishes out fabulous amounts of guts, grit and glory in a terrific, bloody-minded and entertaining book that has a female lead who has the whole Ripley & Furiosa vibe going for her all the way. Also seems quite tailor-made for a movie – someone snap this one up

9) Death Tax (Debt Collection #4) by Andrew Givler (Review)

I honestly picked this series up as a diversionary lark and this Dresden meets Supernatural exceeded all my wildest expectations. I am amazed at how under the radar this series has gone and Death Tax deals a lot with the consequences of actions – it even has our lead going all the way to the Underworld and boy o boy, are there consequences. This book (and series) has been by far one of the most underrated picks of the year and I am surprised myself that it found its way into my top of the year list

10) Eyes of Empire (Hybrid Helix #5) by JCM Berne 

Now this one is a rather special book -not just because I had the chance to Beta Read this (my very first Beta Read hopefully of many). This is a book that demonstrates considerable growth and stakes for our Telugu-Canadian superhero in space. This was again a series that I picked up as a diversionary fare but it has evolved into my favourite ongoing space saga. Eyes of Empire was truly the case wherein you realize that the author is pretty serious and has massive plans for this saga

Some honorable mentions – Beasts of Jotunheimr by Baptiste Pinson Wu, Falling Into Oblivion by Aaron M Payne, Time Marked Warlock by Shami Stovall, The Company of the Wolf by David Wragg, Dig Two Graves by Craig Schaefer

Top Novellas of the year

1) In the Shadow of their Dying by Michael R Fletcher and Anna Smith Spark – BEST OF THE YEAR (Review)

Two of the best grim dark fantasy authors weave magic together by crafting a fabulous novella in a Siege situation featuring the third-best assassin, a mercenary crew and a relentless bodyguard Demon. With the undercurrent of dark humour, the novella packs in enough cynicism, nihilism and violence with the opportunity with the prospect of the characters always making a bad situation worse 

2) The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler (Review)

Jurassic Park meets Rise of the Planet of the Apes meets Eega in a packed novella where Karma is a reincarnated resurrected Mammoth Matriarch. While an eco-thriller on the surface, Tusks deals with deeper themes of memory, survival and greed while exploring the unholy nexus of science and commerce – a riveting book that deals with the global poaching industry has tons to say about the human nature

3) Performances of a Death Metal Bard by Rob Leigh (Review)

Kings of the Wyld meets Scott Pilgrim meets Ghylspwr from the Palace Job in this fast-paced fun & brutal revenge novella that is pedal to the metal all the way. Brutal, dark, foreboding, nihilistic but with tons of heart, Rob Leigh uses the a 4 chapter structure to pack in a deft and light story despite the morbid nature of revenge at work via an enchanted lute and a desperate elf metal artist