I read a lot of books in 2021, all across a wide range of topics and genres. If you’re looking for good reads to add to your 2022 booklist, I highly recommend these! Divided by age, genre, and with a special section on ace books (of course) I hope at least one of these books you’ll pick up to read in the future.
- Best Middle Grade Reads
- Hazel’s Theroy of Evolution by Lisa Jenn Bigelow
- Orphie’s Ghost by Justina Ireland
- Best YA Reads
- Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee
- The Wicked King by Holly Black
- Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta
- Best Fantasy Reads
- The Scholomance Seires by Naomi Novik
- The Dark Archive by Genevieve Cogman
- Across the Grass Green Fields by Seanan McGuire
- In The Ravenous Dark by A.M. Strickland
- Best Ace Reads
- Hazel’s Theroy of Evolution by Lisa Jenn Bigelow
- All Out Anthology edited by Sandra Mitchell
- Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee
- Common Bonds editited by Claudie Arseneault
- In The Ravenous Dark by A.M. Strickland
- Best Reads in 2021 Overall
- The Scholomance Seires by Naomi Novik
- Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee
- Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel (literary fiction)
- A Tip for the Hangman by Allison Epstein (historical fiction)
- Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta
While I enjoyed all of the above books, there were a few I found myself either frequently recommending or talking about to friends.
Hazel’s Theory of Everything is the youngest ace rep I’ve read (Hazel is 11), and the youngest trans rep. I found myself really charmed by the book. Hazel is forced to attend a new school due to district rezoning and start fresh making friends, which is really hard to do! She also struggles with the knowledge that one of her mom’s is pregnant. She’s already had a string of miscarriages and Hazel is very scared of the emotional blowback if this one is a miscarriage too. It’s a great book about friendship.
In the Ravenous Dark is an upper YA. It has 18+ characters, some dark and violent scenes, plus mild spicy scenes. The world-building and magic systems were brilliant, and I really loved the takes on standard mythological creatures in the second half of the book. This is also a very queer book (seeing a pattern?) that my bookclub all around loved. Really, what’s not to love about a corrupt king binding a mage to a dead babysitter, only for her and the ghost to start a revolt?
Gearbreakers is a lesbian YA with strong Pacific Rim/Gundam vibes. Large piloted robots are used by the capital to oppress the outer regions, enforcing quotas and rules. Gearbreakers are the rebels who specialize in taking the robots down, and this book follows two women who strive to rid the world of the oppression. This book also ended on such a cliffhanger I wept because not even pre-order links were up yet.
Tip for the Hangman is historical fiction, not my usual cup of tea, but I knew I’d like Epstein’s writing. It follows the life of playwright Christopher Marlow, positioning him as a spy for England set to watch over Mary Queen of Scotts. Kit is a marvelous character, very rich and faceted, and I’m still surprised I didn’t cry at the end.
The Scholomance Series is my first introduction to Novik, much to the outcry of friends and family. (My mom has been pushing for me to read her for years, if only because she thinks we look alike). I fell in love with these books so hard, I want me copies instead of library copies. This adult fantasy, though staring teens, has a rich, complicated world and I love how nuanced Novik’s characters are. She also really impressed me as a writer with great character insights and turning large, weighty paragraphs into chapters I devoured.