So I wanted to do something a little different and I decided to do something a little controversial as some of my picks are going to be unpopular. I will also be including one honourable mention for each section. The lists are also in no particular order and I can’t bring myself to rank them.
The honourable mentions for authors I love would be Kate Elizabeth Russell. Kate is here because she only has one book out right now, My Dark Vanessa, but this is one of my favourite books of all time and she deserves to be on here somewhere.
Authors I Love
Brandon Sanderson – Sanderson is what really got me into epic fantasy and The Stormlight Archives is going to be some of his best work to date. The Way of Kings I devoured in 3 or 4 days bearing in mind this book is around 1000 pages long. I absolutely loved the world-building and characters and I can’t wait to see where the series goes.
2. Taylor Jenkins Reid – One of my only non-fantasy writing authors on this list but I have read both Daisy Jones & The Six and The Seven Husbands on Evelyn Hugo and adored them and I also recently picked up Malibu Rising which I am sure is going to be amazing too.
3. Joe Abercrombie – I have only read The Blade Itself so far but it was absolutely outstanding, so much so I have already bought Before They are Hanged and Last Argument of Kings.
4. Nicholas Eames – I think the fact that I have already re-read Kings of the Wyld 3 times this year and plan to read it again before getting into Bloody Rose shows how much Eames deserves to be on this list as I very rarely re-read books unless I am absolutely love them.
5. Amanda Foody – I have read both Daughter of the Burning City and Ace of Shades and I adore them both and I have to say that Foody is one of the best female fantasy authors I have come across so far.
Author That I Don’t Like
My honourable mention here would be Orson Scott Card, I believe everyone knows why he is here so I am not going to give him a spot on the list.
Sarah J Maas – This is a really controversial pick but she has basically become a meme for fairy porn and to be honest her books are just bad. I have read Throne of Glass up to Queen of Shadows and at that point I was bored and abandoned the series. I didn’t give up on her though as I did really ACOTAR and almost half of ACOMAF and was bored. I also bought and read about 150 pages of House of Earth and Blood before putting it down. So sorry SJM but it’s a no from me.
2. Holly Black – Some of Holly Black’s earlier works I have to admit were pretty good but The Cruel Prince series is one of the worst I’ve picked up in recent years, it was just completely forgettable again sorry, not sorry.
3. Natasha Ngan – I have only read Girls of Paper and Fire but my review which is essentially a rant about why I hate this book is enough to put her on this list. I won’t be reading the rest of this series and I would take a completely genre shift in her writing to make me pick up another book by her.
4. V. E. Schwab – I read A Darker Shade of Magic a few years ago and it was alright, it wasn’t enough to make me continue the series because it didn’t really pull me in that much. I also read around half of Addie LaRue before I admitted defeat.
5. Dan Brown – While I love the movies I have tried on 8 separate occasions to read The Da Vinci Code and I have never been able to get more than 150 pages in.
Authors I Have Mixed Feelings On
My honourable mention here is a tie between E. L. James and Sylvia Day. Both write a lot of smutty books that aren’t great, some like Fifty Shades of Grey border on horrendously bad but they are guilty pleasure reads I like to come back to again and again.
J. K. Rowling – I am firm believer in you can separate the art from the artist. As a LGBT supporter I absolutely hate this woman with a passionate but the Harry Potter series got my into reading when I was young and I have a strong emotional attachment to it. I am seen people boycotting J. K. Rowling entirely and I while I support their choice am I going to keep buying HP books and merch, yes because it is something I deeply love and enjoy returning to over and over.
2. Cassandra Clare – Honestly me and Cassie have a complicated relationship. The Mortal Instruments series is absolutely trash and I hate it with a passion. The Infernal Device trilogy I absolutely loved and I have a feeling I am going to love The Last Hours series as it follow the children of characters I have really come to love. However, Cassie’s book are hit or miss for me and I would love to see her write outside of the Shadowhunter Universe to see what she can do when she isn’t tied to an existing universe, character or lore.
3. Stephanie Myer – Another controversial one as I don’t mean The Twilight Saga as I only recently read Twilight for the first time. I am talking about The Host which I loved, both the book and the movie and The Chemist. However, Twilight seems to hang over Myer like a black cloud but I found the first book enjoyable and I own the entire series including The Second Short Life of Bree Tanner and Midnight Sun.
4. Leigh Bardugo – This one hurts me physically to put it on this list. The Grisha trilogy was not great, Six of Crows was amazing but Crooked Kingdom was a let down for me and I have no intention of picking up King of Scars. Ninth House also is one I read like 150-200 pages of before DNFing it.
5. Vladimir Nabokov – This one is really controversial for the content rather than the writing. I liked both Lolita (which I have re-read several times, the audiobook by Jeremy Irons is divine) and Ada but the other books I’ve read from him including Pale Fire were meh at best.
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