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 Jade City

Matt Weber Why did I love this book?

It’s everything I loved about Game of Thrones—a sprawling family saga, a web of intrigue between warring houses, a nation on the brink of revolution, a complex world where trade and politics are cutthroat—but with wuxia and gangsters.

The first book is laser-focused on the conflict between two warrior clans fighting for control of the nation of Kekon’s capital city, but the aperture widens across the series to encompass the major powers (of which Kekon isn’t one)… and as we spend time with the members of the Kaul family, it’s impossible not to see how the dynamics of the family and the war feed into one another. Just excellently crafted fantasy.

By Fonda Lee,

Why should I read it?

12 authors picked Jade City as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

WINNER OF THE WORLD FANTASY AWARD

'An epic drama reminiscent of the best classic Hong Kong gangster films but set in a fantasy metropolis so gritty and well-imagined that you'll forget you're reading a book' KEN LIU

'Gripping!' ANN LECKIE, author of Ancillary Justice and The Raven Tower

'Lee's astute worldbuilding raises the stakes for her vivid and tautly-described action scenes' SCOTT LYNCH, author of The Lies of Locke Lamora

*****Shortlisted for the Nebula Awards, the Locus Awards, the Aurora Awards, the Sunburst Awards and an Amazon.com Best Book of the Month*****

TWO CRIME FAMILIES, ONE SOURCE OF POWER: JADE.…


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My 2nd favorite read in 2023

Book cover of The Human Target: Book One

Matt Weber Why did I love this book?

The Human Target is a man whose specialty is drawing fire for superheroes and supervillains who fear for their lives, and living through it—but he’s caught by something he doesn’t see coming, and he’s only got twelve days to live.

Human Target is Tom King right in his wheelhouse: twisty mysteries and genuinely heartfelt romances, unearthing the buried emotional possibilities of the superhero comic in a way that’s so different, and much richer, than the deconstructions that Frank Miller and Alan Moore made trendy.

King also continues his unbroken streak of working with visual geniuses; Greg Smallwood’s retro-Americana art style and his versatility with color are a constant joy through the twelve issues. It’s a small story, but so worth your time.

By Tom King, Greg Smallwood,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Human Target as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Christopher Chance has 12 days to solve his own murder! Superstar writer Tom King and acclaimed artist Greg Smallwood team for a new, noir examination of a classic DC character! 2023 Eisner Nominee - Best Limited Series. 2023 Eisner Nominee - Best Writer, Tom King. 2023 Eisner Nominee - Best Penciller/Inker, Greg Smallwood. Christopher Chance has made a living out of being a human target a man hired to disguise himself as his client to invite would-be assassins to attempt his murder. He s had a remarkable career until his latest case protecting Lex Luthor when things go sideways. An…


My 3rd favorite read in 2023

Book cover of The Pallbearers Club

Matt Weber Why did I love this book?

I’m a sucker for found narratives, for stories told in annotations, and for ambiguous endings; there was no way I wasn’t loving this book.

Art Barbara saw some stuff, or thinks he did, when he was a kid. The stuff involved his friend, who’s drifted in and out of his life over the decades. He’s written a memoir, and his friend has found it, and… the blurb says, “she’s making cuts,” but really what she’s doing is adding her own opinion, or at least her own spin.

Both voices are engaging and distinct, both in the prose and in the narration by Graham Halstead and Xe Sands. Tremblay’s novels are all great, but whether it’s because it was my first or his latest, I liked this one the best.

By Paul Tremblay,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Pallbearers Club as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“Paul Tremblay delivers another mind-bending horror novel . . . The Pallbearers Club is a welcome casket of chills to shoulder.” – Washington Post

A cleverly voiced psychological thriller from the nationally bestselling author of The Cabin at the End of the World and Survivor Song.

What if the coolest girl you’ve ever met decided to be your friend?

Art Barbara was sonot cool. He was a seventeen-year-old high school loner in the late 1980s who listened to hair metal, had to wear a monstrous back-brace at night for his scoliosis, and started an extracurricular club for volunteer pallbearers at…


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

Brimstone Slipstream

By Matt Weber,

Book cover of Brimstone Slipstream

What is my book about?

It’s the eve of the biggest dragon race in Yemareir. Zaya Shearwater and her wife, Kiriki, have spent the year shooting up the rankings, and now they’re favored to win. But how did a team of women from Yemareir’s roughest precincts become the favorites in a sport where most winners buy their victories?

Doctor of Journalism Shenireen Agama wants to know. Through interviews with Zaya, Kiriki, and the ground crew that’s become their family, she begins to weave a story. Its threads are love, desperation, biology, and magic – bound together with the early history of Yemareir, where Zaya and Kiriki’s ancestors fled centuries ago to escape the pogroms of a mad king, and where the colonists resettling the ruins of an ancient city have just discovered that it's home to dragons…

My 7-year-old's favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of 5 Worlds: The Sand Warrior

Matt Weber Why did they love this book?

Space fantasy adventure where the fate of not one but five worlds are at stake!

Lovable outcast kid heroes, an insidious villain who grows in power over the series, a pyrotechnic showdown in book 5! Beautiful, color-drenched comic art that evokes Moebius and She-Ra! What self-respecting kid could say no?

By Mark Siegel, Alexis Siegel, Matt Rockefeller (illustrator) , Boya Sun (illustrator) , Xanthe Bouma (illustrator)

Why should I read it?

1 author picked 5 Worlds as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

R. J. Palacio, #1 New York Times bestselling author of WONDER, hails this adventure series as “Mind-blowingly beautiful. . . . A must-read.”

Think Star Wars meets Avatar: The Last Airbender!
 
The Five Worlds are on the brink of extinction unless five ancient and mysterious beacons are lit. When war erupts, three unlikely heroes will discover there’s more to themselves—and more to their worlds—than meets the eye. . . .
 
   • Oona Lee, the clumsiest student at the Sand Dancer Academy, is a fighter with a destiny bigger than she could ever imagine.
 
   • An Tzu, a boy from the…


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My 10-year-old's favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of Monster Manual: A Dungeons & Dragons Core Rulebook

Matt Weber Why did they love this book?

Imagine you’re 10 and you’ve already memorized the attacks, evolutions, and imperial and metric weights of Pokemon from every region. You’ve watched the D&D movie and realized there’s a whole world of owlbears, displacer beasts, and gelatinous cubes out there… and you don’t have the vital statistics for any of them.

Thankfully, Wizards of the Coast has got you covered. (Parent warning: Be prepared to do things like “explain how to calculate the area of a cone of fire,” “argue over whether a lich or a demilich should really have a higher challenge rating,” and “run a D&D campaign.”)

By Wizards of the Coast,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Monster Manual as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.


Explore all books for 10-year-olds

My 12-year-old's favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of The Girl Who Drank the Moon

Matt Weber Why did they love this book?

My 12-year-old is not super free with her opinions, but I read this book and we did talk a lot about it.

This is a book whose form and components are a fairy tale’s, but although it stays true to its fairy tale nature, it goes to some very contemporary places: To the seductions of simple answers, to parents’ best-intentioned misuses of their power over children, to a person’s right to make their family in the way they want and need. I think she knows enough to see how those themes connect with the world around her.

(Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the heroine is a magical girl whose name sounds a lot like hers, or that she’s friends with a cute little dragon.)

By Kelly Barnhill,

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked The Girl Who Drank the Moon as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 10, 11, 12, and 13.

What is this book about?

THE NO 1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AND NEWBERY MEDAL WINNER

'This beautifully written, darkly funny coming-of-age story will enchant and entertain' Daily Mail

Every year, the people of the Protectorate leave a baby as an offering to the witch who lives in the forest. They hope this sacrifice will keep her from terrorizing their town. But the witch in the Forest, Xan, is in fact a good witch who shares her home with a wise Swamp Monster and a Perfectly Tiny Dragon. Xan rescues the children and delivers them to welcoming families on the other side of the forest,…


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Book cover of Jade City
Book cover of The Human Target: Book One
Book cover of The Pallbearers Club

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