Bill Hiatt's 3 favorite reads in 2023

I’ve always been a hopeless romantic, and Sarah J. Maas writes a skillful blend of fantasy and romance. I’m especially drawn to stories in which the love seems impossible, like that between Feyre and Tamlin. Though the story is inspired by the old fairytale Beauty and the Beast, Maas goes far beyond the original in turns of realistic emotions within a complex relationship.

I’m also a fan of immersive worldbuilding, and in that area, Maas shines. The complex relationships between humans and fae, as well as the numerous fae courts, with their various alliances and hostilities, make an excellent backdrop for what rapidly becomes more than just a love story.

This is one of those books I didn’t want to end. It’s a good thing it’s the first book in a series!

These days, there is no shortage of books set in magic schools. What drew my attention to this one was that the premise is almost entirely different from that of the typical volume in this subgenre.

The students don’t really go there for magic instruction. In fact, there are no teachers. The school itself has ways of pushing students to work and study. No, the real purpose of the school is to keep students safe from a world full of maleficaria (mals)—creatures who feed on mana (magic energy) and go after young wizards because they are more vulnerable.

I also love a good twist, and Novik is an expert at defying our expectations. Though the Scholomance was designed to protect young wizards, over the decades, mals have gotten in and prove to be a constant menace. Rules like “Don’t go anywhere alone” and “Don’t sit under an air vent” are not just advice—they’re a survival guide. But that’s only the first twist. The nature of the characters and even wizard society itself are often not what they appear to be at first.

I enjoyed this book so much that I’ll surely read anything else that Novik publishes.

I’m not usually a fan of graphic novels, particularly since I mostly read ebooks these days. It’s tough to enjoy graphic novels in that format. But I made an exception for Books of Magic because it was from Neil Gaiman and because it was a fresh take on the coming-of-age theme.

I love Gaiman’s imagination. His twelve-year-old potential magician, Timothy Hunter, who precedes Harry Potter by a few years, is an angsty teenager who just might be special. But instead of going to a school, he’s given a dangerous trip through time and space by DC occult figures like John Constantine. The journey gives Gaiman a chance to describe a wide variety of exotic settings and unusual people.

I’m also drawn to the suspenseful nature of the plot. Far more than Timothy’s life is at stake here. It’s well worth torturously navigating an e-reader to see the illustrations.