Each year I select my “Favorite Book Of The Year” and it is definitely a difficult task! I have tried to keep the book selection to one of the more current books I’ve read in that year which helps me narrow down the selection process, but as this is a subjective award I feel free to award it to any book I read in the calendar year. That said let’s look over the past winners of the award and then announce 2016’s Favorite Book Of The Year!

First up is 2013’s winner of Favorite Book Of The Year:

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie is one of the best books I’ve ever read. It fought off tough contenders in 2013 such as Ship Of Fools to win this award. It is an interesting tale marvelously told. A multi perspective character to start things off with a bang! Seriously the primary character starts off with multiple view points and that’s neat to me! Also this book challenges gender bias and does so in a unique and interesting way. Excellent SciFi. 

This leads us to the 2014 winner of Favorite Book Of The Year:

Red Rising by Pierce Brown takes The Iliad and combines it with Warhammer40K style action and weaves a grand tale of betrayal, intrigue, vengeance, and heartbreak. Imagine your people slaving away in dangerous conditions in mines never to see the light of day, dying young, risking everything, with only the belief that you’re doing this so that mankind itself won’t perish keeping you strong. Now imagine that after sacrificing everything you learn that all that you know is a lie and your people are merely slaves being used to enrich your masters above you…. That’s where this story starts, and from there an amazing adventure takes place. Red Rising beat books such as Half A King, Consider Phlebas, The Southern Reach Trilogy to win the award. 

The book that won the 2015 Favorite Book Of The Year award is:

The Girl In The Road by Monica Byrne which is a beautifully told story that will place you within the hearts of the characters and let you see life through their eyes! Monica Byrne has a way of pulling you not only into the story but also into the characters too. This tale is an outward adventure that reflects the inward journey our characters are on. It is a masterpiece and it’s one that causes you to see this world we’re in through different perspectives. I had thought Golden Son would be my favorite of 2015, or Armor, or Half The World, but in truth The Girl In The Road surpasses them!

Which brings us to…

The WINNER…

Of the 2016…

RedStarReviews…

Favorite…

Book…

Of…

The…

Year…

Award!

And the winner is:

Jeffrey Alan Love for his book: Notes From The Shadowed City! 

This book is AMAZING! It is an illustrated tale of a man who has forgotten who he is while finding himself inside a magical city filled with dark and dangerous wonder. I love the artwork and was completely captivated by the story. This is a book to fire up the imaginations of the readers! A fantasy that introduces you to some of the lessor known magical swords hidden away within the Shadowed City. This beat Passage At Arms, The Incorruptibles, Children Of Fire and all others to carry away the award this year!

I am looking forward to finding out what book will win the award in 2017!