Welcome to another edition of Top Ten Tuesday, a fun weekly feature hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. This week’s topic is all about books recommendation. It’s called Ten Books To Read If You Are In The Mood For X. If you want to join in, just go to their blog and find out how to participate.
For this week’s topic, I’m going with my favorite genre, fantasy. Romantic relationship seems to be an important part of the formula to write a successful fantasy series/standalones. I actually enjoy well-written romance in fantasy and has been shipping for (usually) doomed couple since forever. However, there are other relationships that are no less important but not usually been the main focus of the books, namely family and friends. Here, I like to mention ten books I especially love for giving strong focus in relationship between siblings or friends, but it doesn’t mean that these books do not have any romantic relationship at all.
I am very aware that these books are only a small portion on what’s available out there so I’d really appreciate if you have any recommendation for this kind of book.
In no particular order, here they are.
Truthwitch (Susan Dennard)
What are the odds of me recommending a book I haven’t finished? Apparently quite high, but I cannot help myself. Safi and Iseult are so close, they are practically sisters. From what I read, there is also an abundance of (sometimes tense) romance, but I hope it wouldn’t stop you-or me-from reading the book.
Uprooted (Naomi Novik)
I reviewed Uprooted back in January and gave it 4.5 stars. From the synopsis alone, you could see that there’s a strong focus on Agnieszka and Kasia relationship. What I really love about Uprooted is that it also shows the ugly side of being someone’s best friend. There are times when you’re angry or jealous with your bestie, and it’s totally okay to feel that way.
The Demon’s Lexicon (Sarah Rees Brennan)
I raved about this book many many times. Here’s a summary of The Demon’s Lexicon:
Alan: I am a kind-hearted, parent-approved guy who loves books and children *whispers: but I will tear down the world for my brother Nick*
Mae: My brother, Jamie, is hurt. You’re going to save him or else… *brings out knife*
Nick: KILL everybody. SAVE Alan.
Jamie: Can everyone just chill?
The Infernal Devices series (Cassandra Clare)
This has to make the list for Jem and Will alone. However, theirs are not the only BFFs/sibling relationships explored in the book. There was also one between Tessa and her brother, Will and his sister, and many more. Not all of them explored the good side of said relationships though.
A Gathering of Shadows (V.E. Schwab)
I’ve recently finished the book and after 5 minutes staring at the acknowledgements page (WHAT? GIVE ME MORE PAGES PLEASE), I’ve come to the conclusion that I enjoyed it even more than I liked A Darker Shade of Magic and part of it is the relationship between the characters, many of them are non-romantic relationships. Not going to mention anything because this is the second book in the Shade of Magic series. So, please read A Darker Shade of Magic so you could continue with this book.
Six of Crows (Leigh Bardugo)
The Dregs. That’s all.
The Way of Kings (Brandon Sanderson)
This book is probably not for people who never read Brandon’s books before, even he said it himself. It took not a small amount of trust in his writing to get through the 1000+ page of TWoK. It is a multi-POV book, but mainly Kaladin’s story. The relationship I want to highlight is between Kaladin and his crew. It took a large portion of the book, but the dynamics between the characters was so great it never bored me.
Vicious (V.E. Schwab)
Two Schwab books made the list. What gives?
Simple. When Shade of Magic was all about friends and family relationship, Vicious takes on two ex-best friends turn arch-nemesis. The catch? Both of them are supervillains.
Bartimaeus trilogy (Jonathan Stroud)
I read this series a long long time so I’ve forgotten most of it. From what I still remember, it was told from the POV of Bartimaeus, a narcissistic, cynical, footnote-loving Djinni during his time serving his master, a boy named Nathaniel. Nathaniel is a horrible master, but I really liked reading the banters between the two. I don’t think there’s any major romantic relationship in this series, but I might be wrong because I haven’t read it in like seven years. Time to re-read maybe?
Harry Potter series (JK Rowling)
My list would not be complete without this amazing series. Harry Potter is all about friendships and family. There is of course the trio, Harry-Hermione-Ron, but also one of my favorite fictional family ever, the Weasleys.
And there you have it! Let me know if any of the books above is your particular favorite or if you plan to read them. Also, please leave me some recommendation. 🙂
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The Iron Trial (Black & Clare) has some good friendships, so does Good Omens (Gaiman & Pratchett), and anything by Tamora Pierce. 🙂
My TTT
Thank you for the recs! I’ve been wanting to read Iron Trial, and was reading Good Omens when my scribd subscription expired. xD Now that you mentioned it, I realized I never did get to finish it. Need to obtain a copy soonish.
Tamora Pierce is an author I’ve been hearing a lot but never read, I’ll check out her works! 🙂
OMG the only book I’ve read from your list is Harry Potter, and that’s like a given. HAHA. But yeah, the Weasleys is also one of my favourite fictional families ever — they’re very warm-hearted, very open, very generous. <3
Hahaha we’ve been reading very different books then. LOL that’s okay.
I love the Weasleys so much, except Percy… okay maybe even Percy. xD
Interesting topic. I like it. I don’t think anyone else has done this topic yet.
Here’s a link my TTT post for this week: http://captivatedreader.blogspot.com/2016/03/top-ten-tuesday-eleven-books-to-read-if.html
You’re right. So many books focus on romance, but there aren’t nearly as many that focus on family and friendships. Maybe there should be a “family and friendship” genre, LOL. So many books have the parents killed off in the main characters infancy or moving to a new place that focus on long term relationships are a hard find.
Oh yes, that might be one of the reasons! YA heroes/heroines are usually thrown alone in the middle of apocalypse to save the world. lol.
I wouldn’t mind having “a family of assasins” as main characters. 😉
Yes, I’m sure being alone in the middle of an apocalypse has something to do with it. 🙂
A family of assassins could be great, but it’s probably too much to ask for. With all the death in their daily lives the main character is bound to wind up an orphan somehow.
The closest I can think of is Ally Carter’s Heist Society which follows a family of criminals. Though if I remember correctly, I think the main character’s mother was out of the picture somehow.
LOL yes. I suppose being an assassin is a very high risk profession.
Hmm I’m not familiar with that book. I’ll check it out. Thanks!
You’re welcome, I hope you like it!
Family and sibling relationships are seriously underrated in YA – this is such a fantastic list. I want to add in The Demon’s Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan as it focuses very heavily on the relationship between 2 brothers, and also between a sister-brother pair! I need to read Bartimeus trilogy as some point soon because it’s my partner’s long loved childhood fave and he is always harassing me to read it XD
Thank you for the kind comment, Aentee! The demon’s lexicon is one of my favorite book ever because of the reason you mentioned. Mae is also one of the most badass lady in YA books I’ve read. xD
Hahaha you probably should read Bartimeus then. I don’t remember a lot about it, just that it’s hilarious and full of somewhat (ir)relevant footnotes. It was very entertaining read indeed.