10 TBR Books for 2021

Welcome to 2021, another year likely to entail us stuck indoors with nothing much to do (or, in my case, stuck in a trailer with a mask on for ten hours a day), with an increasingly smaller selection of comfort television and films to rewatch over and over again.

2020, while terrible in a variety of ways to say the least, did allow me one thing I haven't been able to really experience since teenage summer holidays: disappearing into books for literally days at a time. Despite working solidly since September, I made more of a dent to my TBR than expected last year - so I'm hoping it might be one silver lining to 2021 also.

To celebrate, kill some time, and organise a list that will inevitably change in less than a month, I've put together ten of the novels I'm most excited to read this year.

1. She Who Became the Sun, Shelley Parker-Chan

I remember hearing about this book months ago as I fell in love with R.F. Kuang's The Poppy War and Asian-inspired literature in general. Back then it was sold as Mulan meets The Song of Achilles, with a little bit of Avatar: The Last Airbender in there - I'm not usually sold on comparisons in book blurbs but when you put three of my favourite stories in the world together I'm going to interested. Here's hoping it doesn't disappoint.

www.goodreads.com/book/show/56337658-she-who-became-the-sun

2. Ninth House, Leigh Bardugo

What more is there to say than there's a new Leigh Bardugo novel, styled as dark academia, being compared frequently to The Secret History? In all honesty, I haven't even read up on what the book's about - I just know I want to get to it, and get to it soon.

www.goodreads.com/book/show/52198857-ninth-house

3. The Sorcerer to the Crown, Zen Cho

I saw this book in Waterstones back when I was in university and was always intrigued. Cut to a few years later when I get approved its sequel on NetGalley for review so I now have an excuse to buy the first one. It's unfortunately been collecting digital dust on there for a while just because I read so much fantasy that I try and diversify my list a bit. But I'll get to it this year, I swear.

www.goodreads.com/book/show/45419659-sorcerer-to-the-crown

4. The Children of Jocasta, Natalie Haynes

Another book that's been sat on my shelves for a while now, but maybe a little more deliberately. I love my classical mythology, but given the often grim tone of their retellings I like to put a bit of space between each one. Last year I read Natalie Hayne's other Greek retelling, A Thousand Ships, based on the women of the Trojan War. I definitely enjoyed it, though wasn't utterly blown away as I've read that story a thousand times. I'm hoping that a retelling of Oedipus' slightly less overt-old story will show off the author's style a little more.

www.goodreads.com/book/show/36524694-the-children-of-jocasta

5. Girls of Paper and Fire, Natasha Nga

Girls of Paper and Fire is one that I've been seeing around for a while but just wasn't that engaged with because the title and cover make it seem like just another YA fantasy novel - which there's nothing wrong with, but I've read enough in my time to veer in different directions now. But the more I heard about it and its representation, plot and writing, the more I gradually became interested in it. Who knows, maybe it will turn out to be another YA fantasy novel, but I'm always willing to follow a good recommendation.

www.goodreads.com/book/show/38530684-girls-of-paper-and-fire

6. Pachinko, Min Jin Lee

I started learning Korean about a year ago, fueled by a love of Korean cinema and the desire to learn more about it's cultural. As part of that, I'm trying to read more Korean literature, and Pachinko is one that comes up again and again on recommended reading lists. The specific period and themes it explores (the early 1900s, family and the relationship between Japan and Korea) are areas I know less about too, so I've got high hopes for it.

www.goodreads.com/book/show/40730474-pachinko

7. Muse of Nightmares, Laini Taylor

Ah yes, another sequel that's been on the digital shelf for ever that I keep putting off. Look, I didn't dislike Strange the Dreamer, I just felt so betrayed by its ending completely changing the story it was telling. For a while, I didn't want to read the sequel at all. That passed, but now the page length is making it less attractive to me. But I know I'll enjoy it when I read it, even if it doesn't live up to what Daughter of Smoke and Bone meant to me. I just have to get around to it... easier said than done.

www.goodreads.com/book/show/45158895-muse-of-nightmares

8. Hamnet, Maggie O'Farrell

Hamnet received so much positive critical acclaim last year that when I was finally able to go into a bookshop again (for as long as it lasted) it didn't take me long to pick it up compulsively (look, I felt like a kid in a candy shop, it had been so long since I'd been surrounded by so many books). Honestly, the synopsis itself always puts me off a bit; a story about marriage and family strife isn't really my cup of tea. But Maggie O'Farrell writing a story about Shakespeare's son? Come on, of course it's on the list.

www.goodreads.com/book/show/43890641-hamnet

9. Darkdawn, Jay Kristof

Finishing the Nevernight series has been a long time coming, but I'm determined to do it in 2021. Jay Kristoff's books are ones that I really want to be able to sit down and focus on which is why I've been putting it aside for now. They're so full of action and twists and beautiful writing that you really need to be focused to be ahead of the game (if that's the way you like reading like me). Hopefully, with all the free time we're likely to have, I'll be finishing Mia's story off sooner rather than later.

www.goodreads.com/book/show/39283509-darkdawn

10. Piranesi, Susanna Clarke

One of the most strongly-advertised books of last year, Piranesi was getting on my nerves a little bit by how often I saw it - I read the synopsis the first time and immediately put it on my list. It worked! Now leave me alone! That being said, the positive reviews of this book kept flooding in and with a 99p price on kindle who can you really complain?

www.goodreads.com/book/show/52702097-piranesi

The Mask Falling

Book Title: The Mask Falling

Author: Samantha Shannon

Series: The Bone Season #4

Date Started: December 23rd 2020

Date Completed: December 31st 2020

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Dystopian, Sci-Fi

Quality Rating: Four Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Five Star

Final Rating: Five Stars

Review:

◆ Thanks to NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

Since I read the first Bone Season novel I've loved this series, and it always takes me reading the new instalment to remember just how much I do love it (I know I still like it, but it feels like each book rekindles the same feeling of excitement again, and that's priceless). The Mask Falling has, like each instalment, been a long time coming, and I'm very happy to say I enjoyed every minute of it.

These books are pure entertainment and excitement. The characters are fun and investable; the locations are recreated some real cities in full glory with such creativity and wonder; the plots feel like puzzles and murder mysteries without anyone even being hit over the head with a candlestick. It has the flair of revolution and literature and it's a little gilded, but that's where the fun comes from.

That's not to say that the book is perfect. While I love Paige, she, like many protagonists in stories leaning on the YA side, could do with engaging her brain a little more actively sometimes. And while the schemes are ingenious and the puzzles inventive, I can't help but feel it's a little too 'refined' for an attitude that would really nail it home (without drawing comparisons, I couldn't help being reminded that the Throne of Glass series has just as fiendish strategies, but has a bit of an attitude to make it really strike its crux).

And there are so. Many. Names. Samantha, I love you, take all the time you need between books, but please don't expect me to remember who everyone is by their mollisher names (or even just their normal names...) - I appreciate that in the physical books you can flip to the character glossary but it made reading this review galley a little difficult. And there is such strength in the immersion of this vividly rich world that I don't want to be taken away from it to look through a glossary just to be on my feet with the politics.

I do sometimes wonder if The Bone Season needs to be a seven-book series (a lot of similar antics happen over and over again - though the gaps in publication and growing layers of politics mean it still feels fresh) but, nonetheless, I'll be sitting here waiting for the next one, and the next, until we reach the end of Paige's story.

Lonely Castle in the Mirror

Book Title: Lonely Castle in the Mirror

Author: Mizuki Tsujimura

Date Started: December 5th 2020

Date Completed: December 23rd 2020

Genres: Magical Realism, Contemporary

Quality Rating: Four Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Four Star

Final Rating: Four Stars

Review:

◆ Thanks to NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed Lonely Castle in the Mirror since it started off feeling very predictable. Its story is not a new concept, but the way in which it was told was. While a little slow and contrite at times, the moments when it reaches out or reveals itself are genius enough for it not to matter.

Tsujimura is clearly a lover and student of fairytales, and I felt so akin to the way in which she used that to anchor the story. While most of the stories are Western, there's a real reclaiming of them in the Japanese culture we get to see which I really liked. The puzzle-solving element for the reader, rather familiar from classical fairytales, to work out just what is happening in this mysterious castle in the mirror was especially enjoyable - and while I worked out the first twist before the end, its very last one was still a surprise.

I also want to give praise to the translator (who I'm having real trouble finding the name of, which is actually quite upsetting) because they've done a fantastic job. Part of what reached me with this book was its honesty and clarity in the experiences of its young characters, something that felt so real and eerily familiar that it moved me to tears. To write that kind of authenticity is an achievement on its own, to communicate it across to another language is yet another.

I will say that the majority of this book is very talky. It feels like literary fiction a lot of the time, with a dash of magical realism for good measure. While I'm not particularly well educated in what's happening in contemporary Japan, the short afterword does do a lot to explain why this book is so important; Japan is ranked second from the bottom for the rates of young people's mental health. While I don't think context is vital to appreciate a story on its own, Tsujimura's already colourful exploration of young people and coming of age felt all the more vivid after realising that.

The magical realism may frustrate some people, but I feel like it's possibly a good introduction to Japanese fantasy for Western readers, as well as also just being a comforting and enjoyable read in its own right.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

Book Title: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

Author: V.E. Schwab

Date Started: October 17th 2020

Date Completed: December 5th 2020

Genres: Romance, Historical, Fantasy

Quality Rating: Four Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Three Star

Final Rating: Three Stars

Review:

◆ Thanks to NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue was quite a long way from what I had thought I was going to be reading when I picked it up that can, for me, ultimately be distilled into a cool concept made too convoluted. While I'm used to a good mix of adventure/mystery from her stories (or at least a little fantastical drama), this time Schwab chose to go down the purely romantic genre with a historical flair, which caught me a little off guard. It is fantastical too, but it doesn't feed too much into the story.

I will openly admit that part of why this novel felt so dragged out was because I was reading it over the course of nearly three months. While not necessarily that long, it does pack a lot of prettily-written information into every sentence. I love that about Schwab's writing but I'm still puzzling over one thing: why is this book the same three scenes over and over again? Addie gets forgotten by a past lover; Addie gets taunted by Luc; Addie and Henry do coupley things. Over and over again, set in slightly different (and conveniently recognisable) historical time periods. There are only two significant plot points, first when Addie meets Henry about a third through and then when she tries to save him at the end - other than that, nothing changes across the entire novel, and it felt so out of character for Schwab's storytelling that I was even more uneasy about the whole thing.

At the start, I felt the book was overly sentimental and, by the end, I suspect that may be the root of why I didn't enjoy it. You can see Schwab has poured her heart into it, but there's no discipline in the storytelling; there barely is a story, it's all so fragmented and dreamy, but without a driving force (or even really a goal) as a result. This glimmers of character and moments in time and images are beautiful and so clearly emotionally relevant to the writer, but it's all so patchworked together it felt unpolished as an actual novel for me.

The above being personal preferences, I do also want to point out that the final resolution to this book was disappointing even if you disagree with my stylistic observations. Why is it always that the boy gets redemption and the female protagonist 'sacrifices' something. I'm so bored of that trope, especially with a character like Addie who otherwise rejects all expectations of what she should be unless she makes them for herself.

My overall takeaway from the book was quite disappointing given how much I love some of Schwab's other work and how much hype there was around this particular one. For me, it just petered along the same way all through and then fell back onto a cliche at the end. I'm sure a lot of people will like it a lot, and I'm not saying it's necessarily bad - but I don't understand some of the creative choices, and it's not my thing overall.

A Natural History of Dragons

Book Title: A Natural History of Dragons

Author: Marie Brennan

Series: The Memoirs of Lady Trent #1

Date Started: November 3rd 2020

Date Completed: November 12th 2020

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Mystery, Historical

Quality Rating: Three Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Four Star

Final Rating: Four Stars

Review:

I enjoyed this a lot more than I was expecting to. It made me feel like a kid again even as an adult, in the way that only a whimsical but politically-conscious fantasy story can really do. Some people might think there aren't enough dragons and it's a little too domestic, but I get the feeling that this is an enormous biographic story that Brennan planned over a whole series, so it's not much surprise that the first instalment is a lot about the first steps.

I love the Victorian-esque setting and was impressed by how seamlessly the dragons had been placed into it. They were like exotic animals not that different to a tiger or a whale to the people themselves. As much as dragons are of course the centrepiece for the world-building, in general there's a lot about exploration, archaeology and other adventurous pursuits thrown in here. I think a good comparison (just to give people an idea of the kind of book this is, more than an explicit recommendation) is The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. These collections of stretching experiences that don't necessarily feel like they're making a plot but are totally immersive and ultimately do thread together to construct a person rather than a single story.

My one criticism, and it's quite a big one sadly, is that the writing borders on casually xenophobic at some points with the 'peasant village' the story takes place in and its inhabitants. While I get it fits with the time period being recreated, arguably the aesthetic, and that Brennan is demonstrating Isabella to be a complex and flawed character etc, this is a fantasy novel and it felt like that frame of mind wasn't really necessary the whole way through quite the way it was written.

Following on from that, however, I want to say how much I did adore Isabella as a character. The first third or so of the book follows her as a child as she collects tiny dragons and has this fascination and curiosity about them that no one appreciates. We've all seen similar origin stories before, but the whole world-building and whimsical nature of the dragons just made me feel so in tune with her, so like that child, and I fell in love with it. The retrospective narration of Isabella writing autobiographically once she's obviously made a name for herself added something to this as well; you could tell she was going to succeed eventually, so the journey of her initial (big) mistakes was all the more exciting.

Ultimately, the end of the book was a bit more complicated than it needed to be once it effectively became a murder mystery, but I still enjoyed it and am looking forward to reading the other books in the series. I also think this would make a kickass TV show.

Turtles All the Way Down

Book Title: Turtles All the Way Down

Author: John Green

Date Started: November 2nd 2020

Date Completed: November 3rd 2020

Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Mystery

Quality Rating: Three Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Three Star

Final Rating: Three Stars

Review:

The quirks! The angst! The profound quotes! It must be a John Green novel! In all seriousness, while I'm not personally a fan of quoting every author in history to reinforce your thematic points, Turtles All the Way Down has the charms all of Green's other books have too. They weren't quite enough to totally win me over, but it wasn't an unpleasant experience to read.

One thing I will commend Green on, which I know is sometimes controversial, is how mental health representation. I can't really remember enough of the books I read as a teenager, but I was impressed by how Aza wasn't just a 'tortured teen', she had genuine OCD and there was an understanding of what that means to all aspects of her life - and also that that doesn't condemn her forever. It explored things a past the glorified teen angst we're more used to from YA literature.

That being said, I know there's joking cynicism about Green's tortured teens and while I hate to put things in a blanket category, there were moments where I really needed some of the characters to get over themselves and engage their brains.

My biggest critique is that I'm not totally sure what the plot was. I didn't follow the mystery at all - in fact, I couldn't explain what happened in that respect other than someone went missing, then at the end they guessed where they were. Admittedly, the mystery is a side note, but it was a shame that nothing a bit more solid came of it because it's actually a pretty engaging concept.

John Green is a good writer, he's just got a niche audience in the grand scheme of things - which isn't a bad thing at all. I'm not here to diss a good writer, just to give it a try and say it isn't really my thing.

Jurassic Park

Book Title: Jurassic Park

Author: Michael Crichton

Series: Jurassic Park #1

Date Started: October 29th 2020

Date Completed: October 30th 2020

Genres: Sci-Fi, Adventure, Thriller, Horror

Quality Rating: Three Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Four Star

Final Rating: Four Stars

Review:

Michael Crichton's original story is anything but a novelisation of the film that has become so iconic, and I can see why a lot of people who know the film don't necessarily like the book. But I personally found this to be a great novel, if of course flawed. And actually, knowing the process of translating prose to screenplay, I was more impressed by both the source material and Speilberg's wonderful work to adapt it.

I think we all appreciate that it's impossible not to compare this book to the film, so I'll get the major things out of the way. The big changes are that Alan Grant likes kids (shocking, right?), the girl is actually the younger sibling and pretty much useless, and there are a lot more dinosaur encounters written down than end up in the film. In a broader sense, the book is both slower and faster-paced; the first section is all about the mystery of this strange lizard that has been found while the audience tries to work out what's happening - it's pretty obvious to all of us now, but I did like the way it really built up the ripple effect of Hammond's creations before we even got into the meat of what he had created. I'm also going to point out that the women in the novel are far less prominent, and written as figureheads. While Crichton is aware of the sexism that's around them, he doesn't do much to oppose it other than inferring to it a few times.

Aside from those inevitable comparisons, however, I was really impressed at how creepy and tense this story was. Considering it's written and has no actual visuals of dinosaurs for the reader to reference, it's very vivid and wonderous. Having been a dinosaur-obsessed child (as so many of us are) I could picture a lot of them, but even so their behaviour, the way they moved, the mere presence of size and strength was tangible.

The whole book reminded me a lot fo the Martian. It's very much fiction but backed up with a lot of constructed science, and very convincing. A lot of the tension is in the reader's realisation as the writer explains the evidence. A little unexpectedly, Crichton does a lot of this with maths as well as biology (Malcolm is even more pretentious than in the film if that's possible) and even starts delving reasonably deeply into philosophy. Again, potentially another reason why some people don't totally engage with it.

Overall, I really enjoyed Jurassic Park, although it does become repetitive the further on you go when it basically becomes Grant and the kids having various encounters with dinosaurs that only really differ depending on a very specific characteristic that highlights the behaviour of said species they run into. But you can tell it's an influential work of fiction because even the new films are still borrowing things from this first book.