The best of 2018 and what's to come in 19

So, 2018 draws to a close and, as usual, it is time to look back at books I've enjoyed and forward to what's up and coming. 

This year has been a good one with new books in KT Davies' Breed series (Dangerous To Know, Tooth and Claw, Something Wicked) with a promise of more to come. Also, good to see that Jen Williams, Anna Smith Spark and Anna Stephens all managed to pull off the tricksy middle book of the trilogy. Looking forward to all 3 finishing in 2019 with The Poison Song (J Williams), The House of Sacrifice (A Smith Spark) and Bloodchild (A Stephens).

Two book series that have finished this year and are both really good are Adrian Tchaikovsky's Echoes of the Fall and RJ Barker's Wounded Kingdom- of you haven't tried these yet do yourself a favour.

Anyhoo, here's my 3 choices for 2018. First off, Newcomer of the Year is Alicia Wanstall-Burke. I've been watching her posts about Blood of Heirs for a good while on fb and am happy to say that when it finally landed it more than held up to expectations. Alicia is certainly one to keep an eye on.

Next up is Novel of the Year which (after much contemplation) goes to Miles Cameron's Cold Iron (review on the blog). This starts what promises to be a really interesting series. I'll admit I do already have a copy of book 2 from NetGalley and it's even better so far.

Finally, Best Compilation - and this one really was a no-brainer for me. I'm a big fan of Adrian Tchaikovsky's Shadows of the Apt series and with The Scent of Tears (Newcon Press) Adrian has invited other authors to write in his world - and each and every one of them steps up to the plate. An absolute delight.

And on that point I'll wish you a Happy New Year