This post has been sitting patiently in my drafts since I read Imyril’s 5 Star SF Books in 5 Words back in November. Wyrd & Wonder has prompted me to give it a go with fantasy books. Created by Matthew Sciarappa, the rules to this simple tag as laid out by Imyril are:
- Choose 5 books that you awarded 5 stars
- Pick 5 words to describe why you love each book
- No explanations, no context! …so some of the words may make no sense if you haven’t read the book yet
I struggled with that last point, haha, but I forced myself to delete my additional explanations and contextualizing. Such as my statement explaining that I focused on books which I would foremost describe as fantasy rather than another genre/subgenre (ex. no ghost stories, no magical realism, etc.) and that I didn’t include middle grade because I’m writing another post for that specifically. 😉 Headings link to my reviews if you would like more info.
In the Night Garden by Catherynne M. Valente
- Onion
- Expansive
- Ornate
- Storytellers
- Unanticipated
In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire
- Heartfelt
- Pies
- Cheated
- Owl-eyed
- Homesick
In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan
- Bildungsroman
- Contraband
- Bisexual
- Deadpan
- Flipped
The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden
- Sacrifice
- River
- Fanaticism
- Mushrooms
- Crossfire
Uprooted by Naomi Novik
- BFFs
- Botanical
- Cantrips
- Polish
- Embedded
Oof, this was harder than I thought it would be! Especially to pick just one word and not a phrase of two, three, four words. I’m not creative enough for this sort of thing, haha. I did try to go beyond straight forward descriptive adjectives, though I didn’t succeed much there. It’s actually been almost 10 years since I read In the Night Garden. Flipping through it for this tag really makes me want to reread it! Aaaand now I truly have broken the ‘no explanations or context’ rule. Better stop typing.
What words would you use to describe these books? What’s one of your five star fantasy reads?
Great choices! I really want to read In Other Lands – I’ve heard such good things about it – and I need to continue with the Winternight trilogy this year, too. 😁
In Other Lands is such a standout read among YA fantasy – unique but a great contemporary take on the portal fantasy. I think each book of the Winternight trilogy is better than the one before it, so you are in for a treat with the final book!
This is such a cool tag!! I’ve been so curious about The Wayward Children series and the first book has been siting in my TBR for forever. I’m so glad it’s good! I need to bump it up now. And I read the first Winternight book and LOVED IT. It makes me so happy to see the third one on your list. Awesome post 😃
I love the Wayward Children books so much – they are all gems (and there are two types of books in the series, so if you end up not liking the first one, you should still try the second one ;P). I think the Winternight books get better as they go so I think you will enjoy the remaining two books! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
What a fun challenge! I have not read any of these except Uprooted. I loved the first two books of The Bear and the Nightingale but when I started to read The Winter of the Witch somehow I was not in the mood so it was a DNF. Probably I’ll get back to it at some point.
I don’t like doing stars but I would probably award five to The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula Le Guin, Beauty by Robin McKinley, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke, and Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones.
Thanks Lory! I think you will enjoy The Winter of the Witch when you are ready for it. It was my favourite of the trilogy.
I haven’t read any of your top reads. I have only read one book by McKinley and would like to try more. I should really Diana Wynne Jones at some point!
Now I’m tempted to do this… and yay, someone else who loved In Other Lands!
I’d love to see what you come up with. I only read In Other Lands because my sister chose it for our buddy reads. Lucky for me she did!
I love this, and I’m going to try my own 5 word review post soon. Plus I love the words you picked, they make me want to read these!
Thank-you so much! Writing this actually inspired me to reread In An Absent Dream yesterday, haha. I’ll keep an eye out for your post 🙂
It is so hard, right? I think you picked some great words. Mine is a whole load of gibberish haha.
Thank-you!! I started writing the post one morning, but had to spend the rest of the day thinking about what words to choose, haha.
Uprooted is one of my favorite books <3 You picked great words for it!
Thanks very much! 🙂
Love it!
Especially your description of ‘In An Absent Dream’. I listened to it just last month!
….also, I loved ‘Uprooted’ so much! A wonderful story <3
Thank-you very much! 😊
I haven’t read the first book but I laughed at ‘onion’
Thank you for appreciating my attempt at humor! 😛