Favorite Fall Reads 2019

This year has so many great releases - here are a few of my favorites in my favorite genres (YA, sci fi, and fantasy) from this fall!

Finishing (or Continuing) Trilogies:

Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Calling this book the end of the Wayfarers Trilogy might be a bit of a stretch - it's in the same universe, but with new characters. This meant I struggled to connect with it in the same way, but overall, it's a solid (and solidly written) story. I'd prefer the Wayfarers to be a duology, and this to be a standalone, a slice of life or "comfy sci fi". If that's what you're into, you don't even need to read the other two books first!

The Toll by Neal Shusterman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Now this is how you end a trilogy. The Toll picks up right where Thunderhead ends and throws our protagonists into even more conflict. Plot points from the first book are brought to satisfying fruition even while new twists and turns are introduced (and resolved). This final book is also appropriately dark and quite a bit more mature than the first two - as this is a young adult series, I appreciate how the trilogy itself "grows up" along with its intended audience.

Steel Tide by Natalie C. Parker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As far as continuity and plot goes, Steel Tide does a fine job of continuing the story that Seafire sets up. We get more depth to our main characters, and new characters help keep things fresh. The open sea in a post climate disaster world remains my favorite aspect of the series, and we get to explore more of it. I'm looking forward to the final book (no release date yet)!


New Standalone Titles:

The Downstairs Girl by Stacey  Lee
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love when historical fiction says "Yeah, maybe things were this way, but what if this had happened instead?" The Downstairs Girl is set firmly in late 1800s Atlanta, with all of its society rules about how various races, classes, and genders act and interact, but Jo is distinctly modern with her anonymous advice column that challenges many assumptions about who is and is not "genteel" and why. Jo is easy to cheer for, her antagonists are fun to hate, and the audio is done extremely well!

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

This was one of the most anticipated fiction novels of 2019 for me, and for many others who were taken in by the world of The Night Circus in 2011. The Starless Sea is a completely different book in a completely different world, though its feel is very much Morgenstern: complex and layered, dark and dreamy. It didn't quite capture me like I wanted it to - often I felt not smart enough for the book - but the craft of writing and storytelling is on full display, and was still wondrous to be a part of.

House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Here is a dark and dreamy book I fully got into. This retelling of the Grimms' Twelve Dancing Princesses is the horror fantasy I needed this fall. The creepy atmosphere and seaside manor setting are the standouts of this novel, but Annaleigh makes for a compelling protagonist as she tries to solve the mysteries surrounding her sisters' deaths - before she or her other sisters suffer the same fate.


Extras: 2018 Faves, or View All My Reviews