2022 End of Year Book Survey

I do this tag every year, so here I go again with it, looking back on all the books I read last year. It was created by Jamie, the Perpetual Page-Turner.

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2022 READING STATS

Number of books read: 35

Physical: 25
E-books: 10
Audio: 0

Number of books reread: 2
(Which, wow! That’s super low for me since I OFTEN reread.)

Number of books I Did Not Finish: 4

Genre I read the most: Fantasy

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Best book I read in 2022

Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Elder Race is easily the best thing I read last year. It’s a sci-fi novella about a lonely scientist at a secluded outpost on a planet, where he’s supposed to only study the inhabitants and not interact much with them. And it’s also about a princess seeking help from a sorcerer to defeat a demon terrorizing her people. We read from both characters’ perspectives, one which seems to be telling a sci-fi story and another which seems firmly set in fantasy. I loved the structure of this story and the emotional depths it explores.

Books I was excited about and thought I would love but didn’t

Wytches, Vol. 0: Bad Egg Halloween Special by Scott Snyder, illus. by Jock

I liked the first volume of Wytches, a horror comic book about a girl who starts seeing weird things in the woods in the new town she moved at with her parents, and have been hoping for more in the series. I was excited to discover this prequel to the story, but it didn’t work for me. It was a bore, and I didn’t like the dialogue or characters.

Most surprising
(in a good way or bad way)

Emma by Jane Austen
Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie

Good surprising: Emma — I’ve attempted to read Pride and Prejudice a number of times but was bored or confused every time, so it was surprising that I was delighted by Emma, entertained by it and even understood what was going on. Emma is a classic romance novel about a young woman who enjoys setting up romantic matches.

Bad surprise: Best Served Cold — My rating of Abercrombie’s books have been middling, so in the 3- to 4-star range. I liked the books that make up the First Law trilogy and thought I’d get on well with Best Served Cold too, which is about a woman out for revenge with her band of misfits. But, to me, this book dragged on for longer than needed and the many violent scenes became tedious to read after a while.

Book I “pushed” the most people to read
(and they did)

In the Garden of Spite by Camilla Bruce

Not gonna lie, I continued recommending this book to people all through 2022. It was my favorite book of 2021, and I included it as one of the books for this same category when I did this post for my 2021 reads. It’s a historical thriller about a female serial killer and is based on a real person.

Best series I started; best sequel; best series end

The October Faction, Vol. 1 by Steve Niles, illus. by Damien Worm
DCeased: Unkillables by Tom Taylor, illus. by Karl Mostert
Kushiel’s Avatar by Jacqueline Carey

Best series start: The October Faction, Vol. 1 — This comic book really intrigued me, so much so that I couldn’t wait to get and read the second volume and instead watched the TV-show adaptation on Netflix (which wasn’t as good as the comic book). It’s a horror comic book about a retired monster hunter and his family.

Best sequel: DCeased: Unkillables — Unkillables is the second volume in the DCeased comic-book series, an action-packed series about a zombie apocalypse that takes place in the DC universe. Unkillables shows us what some of the villains were up to when the zombie apocalypse began and how they tried to survive. It’s wonderfully entertaining, and of course I love it because ZOMBIES!!!

Best series end: Kushiel’s Avatar — Although it seemed to take forever because there’s a lot packed in and a lot to wrap up and the pace was sometimes glacially slow, Kushiel’s Avatar was a great end to Phedre’s trilogy, which begins with Kushiel’s Dart and is about a courtesan who’s trained as a spy and marked by the gods. It answered all my questions, took me to amazing places and on mind-blowing adventures, and left me wanting more.

Favorite new author I discovered

Adrian Tchaikovsky

He’s not exactly new to me since I once attempted his Children of Time series but gave up on it a few pages in because I wasn’t in the mood for such a book. But Elder Race is the first book by him I’ve completed, and I am looking forward to reading more of his work.

Best book from a genre I don’t typically read/was outside my comfort zone

Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Again that would be Elder Race because it’s sci-fi and I hardly, if ever, read sci-fi. I guess the reason why this worked for me is because it’s arguably fantasy, depending on the character perspective you read from.

Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book

DCeased: Dead Planet by Tom Taylor, illus. by Trevore Hairsine

That’s any of the volumes in the DCeased series. They are all action-packed and thrilling and unputdownable. I was hooked. The story is exciting, and I liked the art, for the most part. It’s a story I’ve always wanted — a superhero-zombie story — and I got it, dark and bloody.

Book I read in 2022 that I’ll most likely reread in the new year

Book Love by Debbie Tung (illus.)

I’ve yet to reread any of the books I select for this category in the year I’m supposed to do so. But I think it’s a high possibility that I will for Debbie Tung’s graphic novel, which is about the odd things us book lovers get up to. It was a fun read.

Favorite cover of the books I read in 2022

Mirka Andolfo’s Mercy: The Fair Lady, the Frost, and the Fiend by Mirka Andolfo (illus.)

Such a stunning cover and also the reason why I bought the comic book, but I unfortunately didn’t like the story as much. It’s a horror comic book set in the late 19^th century in a small town in Washington state about a young woman who has a monster inside her. The interior illustrations are as stunning as the cover.

Most memorable character

Emma from Emma by Jane Austen

Emma easily stood out to me because I was surprised at how modern she seems for a character created for a book published in the early 1800s. I also liked how independent she seems, although the cause of that is because her father indulges her and heavily relies on her too. She was both memorable and interesting.

Most beautifully written book

Kushiel’s Avatar by Jacqueline Carey

I guess I’ll go with Kushiel’s Avatar, although the prose didn’t make me melt with pleasure as Cinnamon and Gunpowder by Eli Brown (my selection for my 2021 reads) did. But I liked the writing, and Carey does a great job bringing the world and the characters to life.

Most thought-provoking/life-changing book

I don’t have any for this category.

Book I can’t believe I waited until 2022 to read

Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark

This is more a “book I can’t believe I took such a long time to read.” Ring Shout is a novella, but I think it took me about two months or more to complete it. The fault doesn’t lie with the book but with me — I was incredibly slumpy throughout 2022. Ring Shout is a historical-horror novella about a young Black woman who hunts demonic members of the Ku Klux Klan with her two friends.

Favorite passage/quote from a book I read in 2022

I have a few…

“I have a conscience, but it’s a feeble, withered shred of a thing. It couldn’t protect you or anyone else from a stiff breeze.”

— Glokta in Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie

“I drank to his memory, and tasted the salt of my tears.”

— Phèdre in Kushiel’s Avatar by Jacqueline Carey

“People who didn’t need people needed people around to know that they were the kind of people who didn’t need people.”

“Hate is a force of attraction. Hate is just love with its back turned.”

— from Maskerade by Terry Pratchett

Shortest and longest books I read

How the Stars Came to Be by Poonam Mistry (illus.)
Kushiel’s Avatar by Jacqueline Carey

Shortest: How the Stars Came to Be — At 32 pages, this is a children’s fantasy picture book about how a girl helped to put stars in the sky to help her fisherman father find his way home at night. The illustrations are amazing, and the story has a folkloric tone to it.

Longest: Kushiel’s Avatar — This fantasy novel is 750 pages long.

Book that shocked me the most

Kushiel’s Avatar by Jacqueline Carey

Some parts were quite shocking and are not for those who can’t stand violence and gore and all that.

Favorite book I read in 2022 from an author I previously read

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

I’ve already mention Kushiel’s Avatar a number of times, so I’ve chosen Christie’s Death on the Nile instead, which I enjoyed. It was a thrilling read that kept me guessing who the murderer is — even though I watched the movie first. It’s about the famous detective Hercule Poirot’s vacation on a river cruise in Egypt being interrupted when a rich heiress is murdered.

Best book I read in 2022 that I read based solely on a recommendation from someone else/peer pressure

The Shadow Saint by Gareth Hanrahan

It’s the second novel in a fantasy trilogy set in a world where the gods have all gone mad and keep starting wars. This second book was recommended to me by Aquavenatus. I read the first book but wasn’t sure about continuing with the story. Aquavenatus convinced me to keep going, and I’m glad I did.

Best 2022 debut I read

I don’t have an answer for this, which isn’t surprising since I don’t often read new books soon as they’re published.

Best worldbuilding/most vivid setting

Kushiel’s Avatar by Jacqueline Carey

Yep, it’s Kushiel’s Avatar again (and I actually chose the second book in the trilogy for this category last time). But the settings are among the things I loved about this book. I like that we visit a variety of places and encounter different cultures, and that Carey did such a great job bringing them to life for me through her writing.

Book that put a smile on my face/was the most fun to read

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

Riordan’s middle-grade fantasy books are always fun to read. This one is the first in the Heroes of Olympus series, which follows the Percy Jackson books. It’s about Greek and Roman demigods trying to save the world, and it was a fun read because of Leo, who loves fiddling with things and telling corny jokes.

Book that made me cry or nearly cry

None of them brought me to tears.

Hidden gem of the year

Every Tree Has a Story by Cécile Benoist, transl. from the French by Sylvia Rucker, illus. by Charlotte Gastaut

It’s a lovely children’s picture book about interesting trees around the world and the people associated with them. I chose it for this category because it doesn’t seem to be well known on Goodreads.

Most unique book

Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky

By now you’re probably tired of seeing this book mentioned in this post, but the structure of it was really unique to me and is what made it a remarkable read.

Book that angered me the most
(Doesn’t mean I didn’t like it)

Storm Front by Jim Butcher

I can’t think of one that made me angry. There’s Storm Front by Jim Butcher whose chauvinistic protagonist annoyed me, but I wasn’t angry. Storm Front is urban fantasy about a wizard for hire.

Best book title
(This is a category I added to the survey.)

Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie

It fits the story well. It’s fantasy about a betrayed female mercenary seeking revenge for her attempted murder.

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New favorite book blog/bookstagram/booktuber I discovered

Well, there are lots of bloggers I follow whose content I enjoy, but I can’t remember when I started following them. A few I started following recently (like within the past two to three or so years) include:

The Book Nook — really enjoy reading the reviews

Peat Long’s Blog — enjoy the variety of content and humor

Eustea Reads — enjoy the variety of content and books discussed and the cozy, cottagecore vibes

Favorite post I wrote in 2022

10 Years, 10 Favorite Books — A list of my favorite books of the past 10 years

Six for Sunday: Fav Character ARCs — The themes of my favorite character ARCs

Weekend Reads #121: I Love to Reread — About my love of rereading and why that is

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One book I didn’t get to in 2022 that will be my #1 priority in 2023

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

I’ve already started it and am enjoying it. I credit Aquavenatus for this one too because her posts on the TV-show adaptation got me watching the TV show, which then reminded me and drove me to try the book.

One thing I hope to accomplish or do in my reading/blogging life in 2023

Hit my reading goal

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That’s it.

I’m done.

And it’s still long even though I cut out a lot.