Sound the trumpets! Beat the drums! Light up those fireworks! It's time once again for my annual completely unnecessary end-of-year book award blog post!
That's right! It's time for the 10TH ANNUAL TROXELLIAN LITERARY AWARDS!!1
This year was all about the end of the world. Since I was releasing the first three books in my post-apocalyptic book series, AFTER THE END, I read a lot of books to keep me in the mood for the apocalypse. No sunshine and rainbows here! Just dystopian mayhem and the collapse of society. That genre features heavy on this year's list, but I strayed outside the apocalypse as well. Life can't be all robot uprisings and nuclear holocausts.
The rules for my fake book awards remain the same as in previous years. I rate all the books I've read over the past year and give them awards that make sense to me and me alone. Some books I've never read before, some are old favorites, some are bestsellers, and some are definitely not. It doesn't matter. They all get dumped into the same ring (battle royal style!) to see which book will be the last story standing!
Here are the nominees in the order that I read them. I’ll post the winners sometime before the end of the year:
1. The Witcher: Time of Contempt by Andrzej Sapkowski (F)
2. Outbreak by Ryan Casey (F)
3. Station 11 by Emily St. John Mandel (F)
4. Halfway Home by Hugh Howey (F)
5. Severance by Ling Ma (F)
6. FKA USA by Reed King (F)
7. Black Tide Outbreak by Baleigh Higgins (F)
8. Country of Ice Cream Star by Sandra Newman (F)
9. Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz (F)
10. Wanderers by Chuck Wendig (F)
11. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (F)
12. Beloved by Toni Morrison
13. Normal by Warren Ellis (F)
14. Practical Demonkeeping by Christopher Moore (F)
15. Pure by Julianne Baggott (F)
16. Survive the Apocalypse (F)
17. Swan Song by Robert McCammon (F)
18. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (F)
19. Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke (F)
20. Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving (F)
21. The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer (F)
22. A Widow for One Year by John Irving (F)
23. Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry (F)
24. If I Stay by Gayle Forman (F)
25. Messenger by Lois Lowry (F)
26. Son by Lois Lowry (F)
27. Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite by Gerard Way (comic)
28. Umbrella Academy: Dallas by Gerard Way (comic)
29. Umbrella Academy: Hotel Oblivion by Gerard Way (comic)
30. The Princess Bride by William Goldman (F)
31. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (F)
32. Wool by Hugh Howie (F)
Let's get it on!
If you want to start 2023 the right way, add AFTER THE END to your reading list. You can check it out here.