Best Books I read in 2021
Nobody asked, but here are the best books I read in 2021.
1. The Greenbone Saga by Fonda Lee
"Perhaps that was the great tragedy of jade warriors and their families. Even when we win, we suffer."
Now my favorite book series of all time. The Green Bone Saga chronicles the life of the Kaul family of the No Peak clan. This is being marketed as The Godfather meets kung fu meets magic and that tracks, but this series is much much more than that. The Green Bone Saga, at its core, is a family drama - and that's where the series excelled: its interesting and complex characters and their relationships. It has one of the best character arcs I have read (Hilo) and some of my favorite female characters (Shae, Wen, Mada). It also has one of the best worldbuilding in high fantasy. From the first page of Jade City, Fonda Lee will immediately immerse you in this fantasy metropolis. It's very visual and for me it played out like scenes from a Wong Kar-Wai film. Not to mention that it has well-written fight scenes, I think this is the first time I could picture out a fight scene vividly in my head (Fonda Lee's martial arts background definitely came in handy). This series is also heavy on the geopolitics and economics and I absolutely enjoyed this, it's one of my favorite things about GBS. I appreciate that Fonda Lee detailed the logistics of running a crime family, not just the military side, but also the business side. I'm not a fan of gangster/mafia stories and I usually steer clear of those, but picking up Jade City was one of the best decisions I made as this series has become my number 1 favorite book series.
Jade Legacy - 10/5 stars (favorite book of the year and maybe ever?)
TW: violence, death, drug use, murder, torture, sexual content, addiction, abortion, pedophilia, rape
2. The Poppy War trilogy by RF Kuang
"History repeated itself, and she was only the latest iteration of the same scene in a tapestry that had been spun long before her birth."
The Poppy War trilogy is a grimdark military fantasy inspired by the second Sino-Japanese war, particularly the Rape of Nanking, and the Chinese Civil War. If you're familiar with those events, then you'll basically know the general plot of the series, just add shamanism and drugs and lots of heartbreak. Before Jade Legacy came out, this was my number 1 fantasy series, it's still in my top three though. This series is INTENSE. It will break you. It certainly broke me and I still haven't recovered since I finished the trilogy in July. Actually, I still haven't processed the entire and I want to break this series down because there's lots to think about (the commentary on colonialism and that ending alone give me lots of food for thought). Rin had one of the most interesting arcs I have read. She's an already unhinged girl becoming more and more unhinged as the series progresses. Watching her descend into madness and her realizing she's actually the villain and not the hero was both fun and heartbreaking. This also has my favorite platonic relationship ever (rinkitay, my babies). The series is not perfect, I have some issues with it but it's still one of the best I have ever read.
The Poppy War - 5/5 stars
The Dragon Republic - 5/5 stars
The Burning God - 4/5 stars
Overall - 5/5 stars (still like it as a whole despite some issues in TBG)
TW: graphic violence, war-related violence, rape, sexual violence, substance addiction, massacres, genocide, self harm, abuse, human experimentation, cannibalism
3. The Sword of Kaigen by ML Wang
"Wholeness, she had learned, was not the absence of pain but the ability to hold it."
The more time passes, the more i realize i love this book, and it has cemented its place as one of my all-time favorite books. This is so underrated (only 7k ratings in goodreads, it's still underrated compared to other popular fantasy books) and you should read it now. The commentaries on propaganda, war, misogyny, family, and parenthood were written well and I enjoyed reading those. The characterizations were on point. The book had two POVs: Mamoru - the son, and Misaki - the mother. Misaki had one of the best character arcs I have read and is now one of my favorite female characters, the book is basically one giant character study of Misaki. The book also had an unusual structure, it had two climaxes, one leading up to the battle near the middle of the book, and another battle (this time more internal) near the end. The magic system is also interesting. The battle scenes were amazing. These people are basically waterbenders and they took waterbending to a whole new level. This book also made me legit cry, lol. It's intense, it's heartbreaking, but it's also hopeful. If you enjoyed the poppy war and would like to read a mature version of a:tla, then go read this book now!!!!
TW: death, violence, miscarriage, rape, suicide
4. The City of Brass and The Kingdom of Copper by SA Chakraborty
"People do not thrive under tyrants, Alizayd; they do not come up with innovations when they're busy trying to stay alive, or offer creative ideas when error is punished by the hooves of a karkadann."
City of Brass and Kingdom of Copper satisfied my craving for something MENA-inspired after We Hunt the Flame massively let me down. The first book was the very definition of no plot, just vibes but the vibes were immaculate and I had a fun time reading it. It was slow and focused on worldbuilding and politics. Characters still felt surface-level in the first book but I began to like them better in the second book. Shoutout to Prince Ali, my precious economist. As someone who previously worked in the government, I super enjoyed the fantasy economics and politics of development here. I have yet to read the third book but I hope it delivers a good ending.
The City of Brass - 3/5 stars
The Kingdom of Copper - 4/5 stars
5. The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang
Favorite nonfiction book this year. This chronicles the events before, during, and after the Rape of Nanking. The book is easy to read but difficult to digest because of the subject matter but it's very eye-opening. The world made sure that Germany never forgets the holocaust. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Nanking, as there are still groups of people persistently denying the true nature of the massacre, or claiming that it never happened at all. RF Kuang dedicated the first poppy war book to Iris. In the epilogue to the 2011 edition, Iris' husband revealed that it was Iris' dream to have her books be made into documentaries or films, and RF Kuang dedicating her book to Iris made me emotional, lol.
TW: rape, sexual violence, death, gore, genocide, racism
6. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
No need to say anything, I think everyone likes this.
