Finally the year 2020 is almost done and about damn time. This was a difficult year, personally and mentally. Everything that I used to do at home, at work, and with my family I had to learn to readjust my routine while surviving through this pandemic. It was a tough year and I struggled a lot just to get through the day, and I feel like I have aged a few more years too. I have the rest of this year off to refresh and just relax while counting down to 2021. This also gives me a chance to reflect on the good, the bad, and the ugly. The good part: my reading challenge for 2020. I read 160 books. Let me be specific: I completely finished reading 160 books. Goodreads says that I read 164 but 4 of those books I did not finish and so, they don’t count.
I was thinking about making a list of all the best books I read this year but instead, I decided on writing about the best series I read. It makes it more interesting and you will notice that I listed manga series too. Instead of listing all the volumes (and there are many because mange series are ongoing) I encourage you to look it up.
Yona of the Dawn by Mizuho Kusanagi
I want to share a special thank you to my friend and manga reader who recommended this to me. Yona of the Dawn is the best shojo series I have read and I am so glad to have started it! It is still ongoing and I love every volume. The characters, the building romance, the friendships, the politics, the betrayal, the geography and history, it’s all in here! I also love the illustrations and the light hearted and comedic moments really add a nice touch and makes the characters more interesting. If you’re looking for a good shojo manga, I highly recommend Yona of the Dawn.
Tsubasa Chronicles by CLAMP
This should be the year of CLAMP because I have been reading a lot of those since January. I think I might have spent quite a bit buying CLAMP series too. But I can’t help it because I love CLAMP! I love the art work, the story, the crossovers and I hate how CLAMP has unfinished series that have been on hiatus for many years. Where is the last volume of X/1999?! CLAMP, I NEED to know what happened in the apocalypse!!! Please finish this series!!!
As I mentioned I read a lot of CLAMP but I am putting Tsubasa on here because this is a special series. I liked how the story began, the cast of characters and crossovers (and there are many) but when it came close to the end, I was confused to where the plot was heading towards to. I think a lot of fans who read Tsubasa (and this series has been around for a long time) can agree that there were some confusing moments in other arcs too. I blame the time traveling bit because that always puts me off track and I didn’t suspect that one of the major characters managed a 360 degree turn with the entire storyline due to time travel! That was a huge and unpleasant twist of events that I didn’t suspect and it completed turned my head around.
Putting aside the confusing time traveling and jumping to other dimensions bits, this series holds a special place inside because literally all the CLAMP characters came together in this long standing series! I love rediscovering all these characters because it was like I was seeing them for the first time. And CLAMP please please please finish X/1999! It’s been over 20 years!!!
Black Butler by Yana Toboso
I share a love and hate relationship with Black Butler. I remember binge reading this series last year after I stumbled upon it, and I fell in love with the demon butler, Sebastian, Earl Ciel Phantomhive and his family, the Victorian England period, and the different arcs. Book of Circus and the Public School arc were my favourites because both of them contributed to the development of the plot and character transformation. I love how it’s dark and grim and there is so much mystery with the characters. What started out as an intense, nail biting series that made me want to rip through volume after volume to see what happens next, ended in “so where is this going?” Just like Tsubasa, Yana decided to do her own 360 degree turnaround by resurrecting a character, and now the story is dangling on a cliffside with the major characters hanging on to dear life. After reading the scans, the story is dragging that I am losing patience and interest to see what happens next with the characters. This is why I have a love and hate relationship with Black Butler. The first dates were exciting but now there is not a lot to look forward to. This is still a good series that had a strong head start so I recommend this to anyone who wants to read a manga that takes place in the Victorian Era and deals with the supernatural.
Wayward Children by Seanan McGuire
- Every Heart a Doorway
- Down Among the Sticks and Bones
- Beneath the Sugar Sky
- In An Absent Dream
- Come Tumbling Down
If you are looking for a shorter series then I recommend the Wayward Children. It’s a novella so you can easily speed through this one. I have not read the first book yet, but I read somewhere you can read the books in any order, it doesn’t matter. I read the second and third and I love how the story is about these different doors only children can discover and each door leads to another world with its own set of rules. It’s a fun, dark, thrilling, and fast paced series to read through and I cannot wait to see what Seanan has in store next with our characters.
Market of Monsters by Rebecca Schaeffer
- Not Even Bones
- Only Ashes Remain
- When Villains Rise
One of the underrated series that more people should read! The last book was so fast paced, dark, and intense that I ripped through it because I couldn’t wait to see what happened next. An urban fantasy series where monsters exist and are monitored by a government body, and a black market where captured monsters are bought and sold for their abilities by the highest bidder. We follow Nina who gets kidnapped by the black market and escapes with a new ally and together, they survive by hiding from the government, and wiping out their enemies who are hunting them down. What made me speed through the last book was witnessing Nina’s character development in the end as she did everything in her power and her wits to survive, and how she handled her relationship with her domineering mother who is insane. I loved the last book and this series is so underrated that it deserves more attention!
Arc of a Scythe by Neal Shusterman
- Scythe
- Thunderhead
- The Toll
I thoroughly enjoyed this dystopian series. A future where plague, hunger, and war doesn’t exist. Humanity has learned to conquer all of these things including death. To make sure the population numbers are under control, people called Scythes have only one responsibility they are trained for: end a life. Citra and Rowan are apprenticed as Scythes and after completing their training all hell breaks out as the world comes into chaos when Scythes and a supercomputer called the Thunderhead try to restore balance and control over humanity. I read The Toll this year and it blew me away! I loved how each character had their own conclusion and that surprise at the end with Rowan and Citra was so unexpected. This series exceeded my expectations and I absolutely loved that.
Villains by V.E. Schwab
- Vicious
- Vengeful
Over a year we had to wait for the second book to come out, and after it finally did, Victoria did not disappoint us with another riveting chapter of Eli and Victor’s journey as they survive on their own in a world where humans and EOs or Extraordinaries exist. These are humans with superpowers. Nobody knew the existence of EOs but after the following events in Vengeful, all that is going to change. As Eli and Victor hunt down each other, we are introduced to new recurring characters who are also on the hunt for vengeance and murder. A dark and thrilling series that had me internally screaming in the end as Victoria leaves us with another cliffhanger, and I am impatient to see what happens next to Victor and his friends. I don’t know when the next book will be published but I really hope it comes out sooner than later. We had to wait years for Vengeful to come out!
Blood and Gold by Kim Wilkins
- Daughters of the Storm
- Sisters of the Fire
The last book Queens of the Sea hasn’t been released in Canada and there is no news if it’s going to be published here, I checked. Fingers crossed a Canadian publisher buys the rights to this book because I hate being left with a cliffhanger after reading Sisters of the Fire. A story of five sisters: a warrior, an under magician, a queen, and twin sisters each of them born of royal blood and pursuing their own journey intersect in this viking inspired fantasy of war, magic, and dragons. I love this series and I really hope the last book publishes in Canada soon!
Hoot Reads Books 