The best books of 2023

This list is part of the best books of 2023.

Join 1,707 readers and share your 3 favorite reads of the year.

My favorite read in 2023

Book cover of Leviathan Wakes

Louise Carey Why did I love this book?

I thought I wasn’t a fan of space opera until I started reading Leviathan Wakes. I was drawn in immediately by the worldbuilding, which is some of the richest and most plausible I’ve ever encountered, but it was the characters that kept me reading.

I love a found family story; this series has one of the best. Spending time with Holden and his crew just made me feel happy; I’ve rarely been so invested in a set of characters’ lives and arcs. It felt like I knew them all personally.

I devoured this first book, reading late into the night, and the first thing I did when I finished the last page was to pick up the next one in the series.

By James S. A. Corey,

Why should I read it?

23 authors picked Leviathan Wakes as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Humanity has colonized the planets - interstellar travel is still beyond our reach, but the solar system has become a dense network of colonies. But there are tensions - the mineral-rich outer planets resent their dependence on Earth and Mars and the political and military clout they wield over the Belt and beyond. Now, when Captain Jim Holden's ice miner stumbles across a derelict, abandoned ship, he uncovers a secret that threatens to throw the entire system into war. Attacked by a stealth ship belonging to the Mars fleet, Holden must find a way to uncover the motives behind the…


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My 2nd favorite read in 2023

Book cover of A Deadly Education

Louise Carey Why did I love this book?

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this fantasy novel at first. It’s the first in a trilogy, and all I knew going in was that it was a magical school story that was sort of in dialogue with Harry Potter.

I found that hidden beneath a deceptively simple set-up of Hogwarts meets The Hunger Games is a novel that made me think about social responsibility, climate change, and class. I came in looking for a fun read, and I got it, but it was also thought-provoking and nuanced in ways I wasn’t expecting.

On top of that, it has a fascinating magic system, a complex protagonist who I couldn’t help but love, and a dash of romance. The next two in the trilogy are just as good.

By Naomi Novik,

Why should I read it?

15 authors picked A Deadly Education as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Enter a school of magic unlike any you have ever encountered.

There are no teachers, no holidays, friendships are purely strategic, and the odds of survival are never equal. Once you're inside, there are only two ways out: you graduate or you die.

El Higgins is uniquely prepared for the school's many dangers. She may be without allies, but she possesses a dark power strong enough to level mountains and wipe out untold millions - never mind easily destroy the countless monsters that prowl the school.

Except, she might accidentally kill all the other students, too. So El is trying…


My 3rd favorite read in 2023

Book cover of Six Wakes

Louise Carey Why did I love this book?

I was hooked on this locked room mystery from the opening premise: six newly minted clones awake on a generation ship and must solve their own murders.

The rest of the story did not disappoint, taking me on a crash course through the history, ethics, and sociological implications of cloning, a technology that in this future society has made many people functionally immortal.

I love a satisfying mystery, especially one with strong sci-fi underpinnings, so this really hit the spot for me.

By Mur Lafferty,

Why should I read it?

8 authors picked Six Wakes as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In this Hugo nominated science fiction thriller by Mur Lafferty, a crew of clones awakens aboard a space ship to find they're being hunted-and any one of them could be the killer.

Maria Arena awakens in a cloning vat streaked with drying blood. She has no memory of how she died. This is new; before, when she had awakened as a new clone, her first memory was of how she died.

Maria's vat is one of seven, each one holding the clone of a crew member of the starship Dormire, each clone waiting for its previous incarnation to die so…


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

Inscape

By Louise Carey,

Book cover of Inscape

What is my book about?

Warning: use of this gate will take you outside of the InTech corporate zone. You may be asked to sign a separate end-user license agreement. Do you wish to continue?

Tanta has trained all her young life for this. Her first mission is a code red: to take her team into the unaffiliated zone beyond InTech’s borders and retrieve a stolen hard drive. It should have been quick and simple, but a surprise attack kills two of her colleagues, and Tanta barely makes it home alive.

Determined to prove herself and partnered with a colleague whose past is a mystery even to himself, Tanta’s investigation uncovers a sinister conspiracy that makes her question her own loyalties and the motives of everyone she used to trust.

Book cover of Leviathan Wakes
Book cover of A Deadly Education
Book cover of Six Wakes

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