2023 was a year with lots of great new book releases in the fantasy and science fiction space. Here at Winter Is Coming, we dug deep into the year's book slate, with monthly release lists as well as periodic reviews, author interviews and more. Suffice it to say, we did a fair amount of reading, much of which was centered around new releases in the genre.
The bells may have tolled on a new year, but I'm still mulling some of the best books I read in the last. Is it a little late to shout from a mountaintop about them? No it is not, because it's never too late to gush about your favorite books.
As with any favorite books list, I have to give a big old disclaimer at the top that this is highly subjective. How can I call out the objective "best" titles of the year when there are many I wished I could have read but didn't get to? There are a lot of books from 2023 I know are probably amazing because I've heard from enough people I trust about them, but I didn't have the time to dig into myself, likeThe Pattern of the World by J.T. Greathouse, The Surviving Sky by Kritika H. Rao, The Olympian Affair by Jim Butcher, Thick as Thieves by M.J. Kuhn, Murtagh by Christopher Paolini and others. And don't even get me started on the Year of Sanderson that I still need to catch up on. There were a lot of exciting fantasy and sci-fi books published in 2023.
So what follows are my personal 10 favorite fantasy and sci-fi books I read that released in 2023, in no particular order. If you had other favorites, I'd love to hear about them! One can never have too much on the TBR, after all.
Ethera Grave by Essa Hansen
Ethera Grave is the third and final volume in Essa Hansen's debut sci-fi trilogy The Graven, and it is a mind-bending affair. The first novel, Nophek Gloss, introduced us to emotionally scarred child Caiden, who joined a spacefaring crew and learned the ropes of a weird and wild multiverse. We watched him grow up through Azura Ghost, where some important figures from his past returned. That second book ended with a massive cliffhanger that left the fate of the multiverse hanging in the balance.
And my, did Ethera Grave deliver the payoff. Ethera Grave is an action-packed yet philosophical book that mixes pulse-pounding fight scenes that feel ripped out of a JRPG with cool science fiction concepts and deeply fleshed out characters. The imagination in this series is part of what sets it apart; the aliens, creatures, technology and conflicts which we see throughout the story are wonderously unique. Its multiverse isn't the same as the kind commonly portrayed in media in recent years, with many different similar worlds. Instead, it's comprised of various bubble universes which are situated against each other, each with their own unique physics and biology. Combined with wonderful found family dynamics and a cosmically enormous conflict, Ethera Grave makes for an engrossing read.
The ending of The Graven stands out clearly in my mind as one of my favorite book moments from 2023. The way the trilogy wrapped up was ambitious, weird and deeply emotional, which felt just right for the journey that Caiden and his friends have gone on.
The Tyranny of Faith by Richard Swan
The Tyranny of Faith is the second installment in Richard Swan's Empire of the Wolf. If you ever wished you had more lawyering in your fantasy, well, this is a series for you. Even if you haven't wished for that, Swan's world is dark and brooding and easy to get lost in. The series follows Justice Konrad Vonvault—who is basically an investigator, judge, and executioner all in one (with a side of necromancy)—and his protégé Helena. The story is told from Helena's perspective, which preserves an air of mystery about Vonvault and the imperial institution he serves.
The first book in the series, The Justice of Kings, was a dark medieval fantasy mystery that was hard to put down. The second, The Tyranny of Faith, kicks things up to a whole other level. It still includes the gradual unraveling of mysteries that made the first book so much fun, but with even more epic fantasy worldbuilding, magic and action. We meet a bunch of new characters as the story shifts focus to the imperial capital, and finally get to see how enigmatic figures like Vonvault fit into the larger whole.
The Tyranny of Faith is a pitch perfect sequel that doesn't even remotely suffer from middle book syndrome. It's bigger, meatier, and more complex than its predecessor, while still retaining the core mystery elements that make the series feel different than many other medieval fantasies. The third and final book, The Trials of Empire, comes out next month, and I'm counting down the days now that I'm finally over my book hangover from The Tyranny of Faith.
2023 had many more literally gems. Click the button below to read about them:
Untethered Sky by Fonda Lee
Fonda Lee is the author behind The Green Bone Saga, a masterwork of contemporary fantasy about a crime family fighting to keep power on the East Asian-inspired island of Janloon. With Untethered Sky, Lee did something a bit different. This novella is set in a brand new fantasy world where specialized trainers raise enormous flying murderbirds called Rocs to hunt down man-eating Manticores. Manticores are just as scary as you'd think; they're humanity's one real natural predator, and they are big, fast, and prone to eviscerating those caught in their path in a heartbeat.
Untethered Sky is a novella which can be devoured in a single sitting (ask me how I know), but don't let its relatively short length fool you. The book packs in the sort of vivid character work and tight twists and turns you'd expect from any Fonda Lee story. Main character Esther's journey to become a Roc trainer is filled with heartbreak and excitement, as she gets the thing she desires most only to find out that that's just the beginning of her long road. There's something especially magical to me about stories which depict a long span of time in a characters' life over the course of a relatively compact page count, and Untethered Sky pulls it off really well. Esther's journey feels like a journey, with a fulfilling yet bittersweet ending.
Okay, maybe more bitter than sweet. I'm not saying I cried, but I'm not saying I didn't cry either. Plus, the animal training sequences were exceptional.
Witch King by Martha Wells
Sure, everyone knows Martha Wells for her beloved Murderbot series, and who can blame them? By all accounts, Murderbot is a great time with a fascinatingly hilarious protagonist. I am ashamed to admit I haven't yet read Murderbot (will that change this year?!), but in 2023 I did finally take the plunge and read my first book by Martha Wells. Witch King is a standalone fantasy book about a demon who wakes up to find out that he's been betrayed and left for dead; he promptly sets out to round up his closest allies and figure out what exactly has gone amiss during his time on the outs.
The story is told in two parts: in the present, the demon Kaiisteron revisits some of his old haunts in order to piece together how he ended up nearly dying and being deposed; and in flashbacks, we see how Kai went from a young demon to one renowned the world over for his role in a deadly war against a supernaturally powerful race of humanoid zealots.
There are a lot of reasons that I loved Witch King. Even all these months laters, characters like Kai and Ziede have stuck with me. The novel is a standalone, which makes me eager to revisit it to see them again. This may have been a problem for some readers who wished for a vaster series, but for me, the standalone nature of Witch King made it even more beautiful and thought-provoking. You don't realize entirely what kind of story it is that you're reading until you see how it ends. We're not witnessing the entirety of Kai's life, just one very specific chapter that's emblematic of how he and his band of misfit friends fit into the tapestry of history.
So yes, by the end of 2023 I was still that one nerd you know who hasn't read Murderbot, hanging my head in shame. But I wouldn't change that, because Witch King was a wonderful introduction to Martha Wells' work that I had a blast reading.
The Blighted Stars by Megan E. O'Keefe
Of all the novels that I read in 2023, I think The Blighted Stars by Megan E. O'Keefe wins the award for the one that I read the fastest. I blasted through this sci-fi action horror novel in about two days flat because I could not put it down no matter how hard I tried. Need to do errands? Hope they can be done with a book in hand, otherwise they'll have to wait.
The basic setup for The Blighted Stars is that a spacecraft carrying the heir to a prestigious mining family crashes on the planet it was sent to investigate, only to find that it's inexplicably barren. That heir, Tarquin Mercator, then has to assume command of his fellow survivors in order to figure out why the planet's ecosystem—which was supposed to be healthy—has mysteriously failed. Helping him is a space marine named Naira Sharp, who has a grudge against the Mercator family she'll have to wrangle with as she tries to decide if the bookish Tarquin is a friend or foe.
The tale of survival on the planet forms of the core of The Blighted Stars; more than once I was reminded of stories like Aliens or The Last of Us as Tarquin and Naira fought through one horrific situation after the next. There's also a heavy dose of romantic intrigue; Tarquin and Naira begin as untrusting allies, but being stranded on an alien planet has a way of bringing people together. Or driving them apart. The Lord of the Flies terror as the group of survivors gradually crumble is another thing I loved about The Blighted Stars.
As with Martha Wells and Witch King, The Blighted Stars is the first book I've read by Megan E. O'Keefe, and it was good enough that I belligerently shouted at people to read it for months on end. Consider me a fan.
Beyond the compelling characters, setting and story, The Blighted Stars also featured a game-changing twist that made for a pretty wild set up for book 2. The sequel, The Fractured Dark, also came out in 2023, though alas, I have not had time to read it quite yet. The third book is expected sometime in 2024.
The Bone Shard War by Andrea Stewart
Next up is the final installment of Andrea Stewart's debut fantasy trilogy The Drowning Empire. The Bone Shard War continues the story of Lin, Jovis, and everyone's favorite talking otter-thing Mephi. The mystical Alanga are returning to the world, meaning people are waking up with elemental powers. Many will have to choose their allegiance in the war to come.
It's no easy thing to wrap up an ambitious epic fantasy trilogy, but The Bone Shard War totally nails it. The book is unpredictable from the outset, starting with a time jump that sees some of our characters pick up months after the cliffhanger ending of the second book, The Bone Shard Emperor. The series has a bunch of long-running mysteries, and at long last we got answers to some of our biggest questions about the moving island chain of the Phoenix Empire, as well as the clouded history of those who once inhabited it.
The Drowning Empire is a charming, powerful series. It still feels weird to think that it's actually over, which is a testament to how well drawn the characters and world are. By the end of The Bone Shard War, we've wrapped up many of the largest plotlines of Stewart's trilogy, while still leaving enough open that the world feels like it will continue to live on even after shutting the book.
Generation Ship by Michael Mammay
Michael Mammay is best known for his Planetside series, which are sci-fi mysteries that follow retired space marine colonel Carl Butler as he unravels various conspiracies. Generation Ship could not be more different than Mammay's usual fare. Where the Planetside books are very tightly focused on one specific character and his few companions, Generation Ship tells an ambitious story about the society aboard a colony ship which is finally reaching its far-flung destination after hundreds of years of deep space travel.
I love seeing authors try something different, doubly so when it works as well as Generation Ship. The story is conveyed from multiple different viewpoint characters, each of whom inhabits a specific type of role on the titular generation ship, from scientists and politicians to farmers, security officers and maintenance crew. And like the best sort of sci-fi political dramas, each of the characters in Generation Ship feel like real people, with flaws and virtues and everything in between. Even the worst of them have redeeming qualities, and even the best have their blind spots. It makes for a fascinating back-and-forth as the ship nears its destination and everyone argues about how best to handle colonizing the planet with their own agendas in mind.
Generation Ship is a sweeping sci-fi standalone that I'd have an easy time recommending to any fan of the genre. It was a book I had been anticipating for a while, and it far exceeded my expectations with its scope and complexity. Easily one of my favorite reads of 2023.
The Faithless by C.L. Clark
The Faithless is the second volume in C.L. Clark's Magic of the Lost fantasy series. The first book, The Unbroken, told the story of how conscripted soldier Touraine returned to her childhood homeland of Qazāl and became embroiled in a fight for its freedom. She also became embroiled in a fraught romance with the heir apparent to the conquering Balladairan Empire, Luca.
When the dust settled at the end of The Unbroken, a truce had been brokered. However, events were restricted to the land of Qazāl in book one. In The Faithless, we're introduced to the capital of the Balladaire, where we see how Luca's uncle and the rest of those in power view the hard-won truce. The diplomatic morass is fascinating, especially once you throw in the roguish Sabine de Durfort, a Marquisse who is as deft at political maneuvers and romance as she is with a sword.
Magic of the Lost does an excellent job of depicting a complicated colonial power struggle as well as a star-crossed sapphic romance where the characters are drawn to each other but have so much working against them. Both aspects of the story are given equal weight, which means that whether you're reading a quiet character-driven scene or an explosive twist with major geopolitical implications, it's hard to look away.
The Sapphire Altar by David Dalglish
Book 2 in David Dalglish's Vagrant Gods trilogy, The Sapphire Altar, is all about a conflict for the soul of the isle of Thanet, which was occupied and had its living gods slain by the forces of the Everlorn Empire during the opening pages of the first book, The Bladed Faith. In that book, deposed prince Cyrus fought a long and bloody guerilla war to keep hope alive for his people; in The Sapphire Altar, we start to find out more about what that decision has him. Will he ever be able to free his people? And what will his life even look life he does?
There are no simple answers. The Sapphire Altar is reminiscent of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back in that it's a middle volume of a trilogy which vastly expands the story while ending on an ambiguously challenging note. Yes, the good guys may have won some victories, but their conviction in what's good and bad, historically right and wrong, has been shaken to the core. Add in a crazy, multilayered twist that totally reframes the entire story so far, and The Sapphire Altar became a read that has stood out in my memory more than a year later. It was the first book I read in 2023, and now that the year is over, it's still one of my favorites.
And thankfully, since Dalglish writes with clockwork reliability, the third and final book in the trilogy, The Slain Divine, will be one of the first books I read in 2024.
The Narrow Road Between Desires by Patrick Rothfuss
Last but not least, 2023 marked a return to Temerant, the setting of Patrick Rothfuss' beloved series The Kingkiller Chronicle. It's been around 10 years since Rothfuss last published a story in his Kingkiller world. Was this a welcome return?
Kind of! The Narrow Road Between Desires is a reimaging of Rothfuss' 2011 novella The Lightning Tree, so it's not entirely new. Since I read the original story back when it first came out, I was mildly skeptical about whether The Narrow Road Between Desires was going to move me much...but to my surprise, it was immediately obvious that this is a completely reworked story with far more emotion behind it. Yes, it still has the same general arc and beats as The Lightning Tree, but it also contains a much deeper examination of Bast's character, as well as a few new tidbits about the world of Temerant itself. This is the definitive version of The Lightning Tree story now, full stop.
But at the end of the day, it was just freakin' great to be back reading a Patrick Rothfuss story again. The beautiful writing and sly turns of phrase reminded me why I loved his work so much in the first place. And to top it off, The Narrow Road Between Desires also featured a few new scenes which add a lot more depth to the story. No longer is it just a one-off story about Bast doing Fae stuff for a day; now it feels like a proper installment in The Kingkiller Chronicle. It was a great treat for fans who've been waiting on The Doors of Stone all these years. We may not have the end of the trilogy yet, but at least we have a great reason to revisit Temerant in the meantime.
And so ends this look back on the fantasy and science fiction books of 2023. As I said at the top, there were a lot of great books released last year, and even reading feverishly throughout it feels like we're just scratching the surface here. What were some of your favorite reads of 2023? Our comments are sadly broken, so hit us up @WiCnet on Twitter and let us know what books we should be reading next!
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