This week on Top Five Wednesday, Chelsey and I talk about our Top Five Favourite Debut Novels.
This list was a little difficult to put together. When you finish a novel you don’t exactly wonder if this was THE VERY FIRST thing they have ever written. If I like an author, I will look into other things that they have written, but their debut book is not how I classify or judge my collection.
That being said, these are the Debut Novels that blew our minds. Whether we knew they were debuts when we picked them up or if we found out after the fact, they made this list. So buckle up and enjoy!
Top Five Wednesday is a book tag started by GingerReadsLainey. Join the goodreads group to get each week’s topic and participate yourselves!
5. QUEEN OF THE TEARLING – ERIKA JOHANNSEN
I loved this book unconditionally. Everything about this novel is great, the characters, the world and the story. The book follows Kelsea, a girl who has the Queenship of the Tear thrust upon her. As the story continues you realize that everything is slowly building up to a giant epic event. Kelsea has to balance keeping peace while navigating a shifting political landscape. At the same time she has to choose between doing what is right and what is easy.
At the time of this filming, the sequel novel comes out in about a month. Both Chelsey and I are extremely excited. The wait has been killing us. When I first finished Queen of the Tearling, the very first thing I did was google to see if the sequel was out yet. The wait is finally almost over.
Chelsey and I filmed a review for Queen of the Tearling. You can watch it here.
4. RED QUEEN – VICTORIA AVEYARD
I’m currently in the process of reading this novel. Chelsey on the other hand finished it and really enjoyed it. Red Queen takes all the fantasy and dystopia tropes that you are used to and turns them on their head. Chelsey likes the main character: Mare. She’s smart and knows how to keep her head in a crisis. The way the book approaches it’s racial problems between the silvers and the reds is clever and well thought out. Most importantly though, the novel never goes where you expect it to go and that keeps you interested.
We filmed a review on Red Queen and you can watch it here.
3. THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA – SCOTT LYNCH
I still haven’t read this book. Friends have threatened me to read this book. I just haven’t had the time. Chelsey on the other hand has talked on and on about this series. As many people have told me The Lies of Locke Lamora is the perfect book. There is nothing that anyone can do to change it to make it better. It’s clever, it’s fun and it’ll hook you from the very beginning. I’ll get around to it eventually. But first I’m finally making myself read the sequel to Parasite. I’m coming for you Mira Grant, in the most none creepy way as possible…
2. SERAPHINA – RACHEL HATMAN
Seraphina is a fantasy novel set in a medieval Europe setting. Chelsey’s read it, I have not (I’m sensing a trend here). According to Chelsey the prose is beautiful. Hatman describes the world and workings of her novel beautifully. The main character herself is a lot of fun. Seraphina is a half dragon, just trying to fit in while solving a murder mystery. The second novel Shadow Scale came out recently, it wasn’t as good but still was a decent novel.
Check out Chelsey’s review on Seraphina and Shadow Scale. You can read it here.
1. GRACELING – KRISTIN CASHORE
Graceling is a fantasy superhero mashup. The main character Katsa is awesome. She had interesting super powers that she used in clever ways. The main villain is super creepy (he’s kind of like the Purple Man from Marvel Comics) and nearly invincible. Graceling has everything we love in a good fantasy novel and we would recommend it to fans of the Tamora Pierce Tortall books. Graceling also has two companion novels: Fire and Bitterblue which I still need to get around to reading.
Chelsey and I filmed a review of Graceling and you can watch it here.
It was interesting when we were coming up with this list. Chelsey had read (or at least could think of) more debut novels. I wonder if that is saying anything or if this was just a coincidence.
What are your favourite debut novels? Tell us about them in the comments below. We’ll see you next Wednesday for our next Top 5 video. Until then, happy reading!
