I enjoyed this last year, so I thought I’d do it again.

We’ll start with the fantasy books published in 2016 that made my end of the year favorites list. I count as Frontlist anything published in 2016 that I read in 2016 or 2017.  Backlist is (obviously) anything published in 2016 that I read after 2017.

Frontlist

• Stiletto by Daniel O’Malley (Checquy Files #2) 9.5/10
• The Lost Child of Lychford by Paul Cornell (Lychford series) 9/10
• Midnight Taxi Tango by Daniel José Older (Bone Street Rumba) 9/10
• Magic and Manners C.E. Murphy : 9/10
• The Brimstone Deception by Lisa Shearin (SPI Files #3) 9/10
• Ghost Girl in the Corner by Daniel José Older (Shadowshaper Cypher) 8.5/10
• Who Killed Sherlock Holmes by Paul Cornell (Shadow Police #3) 8/10
• Fire Touched by Patricia Briggs (Mercy Thompson #9) 8/10
• Jane Yellowrock series by Faith Hunter: Shadow Rites #10 8/10, Blood in Her Veins 8/10
• Soulwood series by Faith Hunter: Blood of the Earth 8/10, Curse on the Land #2 8/10
• Tremontaine: Season One Volume One by Patty Bryant, Joel Derfner, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Ellen Kushner, Malinda Lo, Racheline Maltese and Paul Witcover : 7.5/10

This year and 2017 will be particularly interesting, because I went through a really bad period in 2016 and was struggling until 2018. I also cut back sharply on my book purchasing at the end of 2016 and that lasted through 2018 and a bit beyond.

So I see some series that I really liked, but didn’t follow up on reading any later books as I wasn’t buying many new books for the next couple of years.

Which means I really need to go back to the Lychford, Shadowshaper, and Termontaine series.

And finally read those last Jane Yellowrock and Soulwood books. And get caught up on the Mercy Thompson series…

Backlist

• The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater (Raven Boys #4) 9/10
• Bloody Acquisitions by Drew Hayes (Fred, the Vampire Accountant #3) 8/10
• In the Labyrinth of Drakes by Marie Brennan (Lady Trent #4) 8/10
• Freaks & Other Family by Lish McBride 8/10
• Rag and Bone by K.J. Charles 8/10

I’d actually pre-ordered The Raven King, but held off reading it, mostly because I didn’t want the series to end. But the follow-up series, Ronan’s series, (heart eyes!) fell through the cracks and I really need to read it.

I loved the entire Lady Trent series, and the audio was lovely. But each book was more than 300 pages, and none was a stand alone, so that’s a pretty big commitment if it’s not something I’m listening to.

I’ve loved everything I’ve read by Lish McBride, but for some reason hold off on reading new books, in fear this one won’t be as good as the others.

All in all, most of the books that made my best of the year are ones I’ve come back to, or that have otherwise stuck in my brain in some manner.