Every year it seems that I’ve read less and less of the nominees for the Goodreads Choice Awards in the fantasy categories even though it is my favourite genre. This year in the adult category I’ve read 3 of the 20 which makes sense since I haven’t been prioritizing a lot of the fantasy books on my TBR which I want to change in the coming year. I think in the next month I want to try and get to at least two more of the nominees that are on my TBR and I would love to try and complete at least the top 10 books that are announced next year! For the full list of the nominees click HERE!
Since I haven’t been reading as much as I have wanted to this year the YA Fantasy/Sci Fi category is the only category where I’ve actually already completed more than one of the nominees. I have no intention of actually finishing all of the other 15 books in this category before the deadline but I think I will try to read all of the books over the coming year and then do my own award before the 2022 round!
So I made the conscientious decision to try and read the nominees in the YA Fantasy Goodreads Awards for 2020 and I figured I would do a little update! There were 10 books in the final round and I wanted to give my thoughts on the ones I were able to finish. I am still going to try and finish all ten books before the end of the year, fingers crossed!
Books I finished:
Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron – Overall I just think the novel as a whole read a little younger. The characters are all pretty juvenile and one dimensional. The twists that were thrown in were entertaining but still predictable. There was nothing in there that really took me by surprise and shocked me in any way. I appreciated the diversity in the characters and the topics that were discussed but I wasn’t wowed in any way by this story. ⭐️2/5 stars
Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi – I have to admit I wasn’t as enthralled with this instalment as I was with Children of Blood and Bone. It was a lot shorter than the previous book but I felt like it just wasn’t as immersive, which is mostly to do with the characters. Miscommunication was the main source of conflict in this book and that frustrated me. If Amari and Zélie had just sat down and worked through their issues I feel they could of probably come up with a fool proof plan that would have saved a lot of lives. ⭐️3/5 stars
Starsight by Brandon Sanderson – It boggles my mind how Brandon Sanderson is able to piece together such intricate storylines that still manages to surprise me at every turn. Characters and interactions that I dismissed as trivial and unimportant turn out to be vital to the continuation of the plot. You really need to pay attention to every little detail he puts in because somehow it will be revealed as a key piece of information that the whole story is revolving around. ⭐️4.5/5 stars
The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black – The pacing was a lot better in my opinion in this book than the rest of the series. I feel like everything has already been established and we just jumped straight into the action which I enjoyed! It kept me engaged and wanting to read on to see what will happen next. It got a little too political and not quite fantastical for me at times. All of the strategy talk and the movements of the armies bore me , if it would of cut out a lot of the planning and extending the schemes and action I think I would of liked this book a whole lot more! ⭐️3.5/5 stars
Usually I don’t really attention to the Goodreads Choice Awards but I have seen the criticism in the past about how it’s more of a popularity contest rather than going off actual ratings. Which is apparent this year as one of the nominees for the Fantasy category is Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson and it hasn’t even been released yet. I wanted to make an informed decision when I vote so I have decided to try and read all of the nominees from the YA Fantasy category and see which I think should be the winner!! There are a couple that I have already read and a few on my physical TBR and I will have to try and source the rest and try to get to them in the coming weeks.
Amy Leigh Reads 