6 Fantastic Fiction Books That Got Me Back Into Reading in 2020

Suffice to say 2020 was a difficult year for just about everyone. I was better placed than a lot of folks (already working remotely, living with my parents) but even so, I struggled. I’m in a long-distance marriage, I transitioned from a corporate job to freelance work, there was a dramatic election cycle, and of course, there’s an ongoing global pandemic.

Whenever reality got to be too much for me, I found a great deal of comfort diving into books. TV shows also have their place, but for me, it’s too easy to watch TV and scroll through Twitter or Instagram. TV wasn’t engaging enough for me to lose myself the way I desperately craved. And so, for the first time since high school, I found myself staying up all night reading books again.

In the hopes of sharing these lifelines to anyone else who needs them, here are the books that let me, momentarily at least, forget who, where, and when I was.

1. The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

What better book for a book-lover than a book about a protagonist who is a book thief for a mysterious Library?

Genevieve Cogman crafted a series that follows Irene, a no-nonsense agent for a mystical Library, whose role in the universe is to collect books from alternate worlds. This book thievery stabilizes the world from the two opposing forces in this universe, which are Order and Chaos. The forces are represented by dragons and the Fae, respectively.

I love this series because it’s well-thought-out, rich, and unique. The idea of alternate worlds is not new, but the idea of stealing unique books from those alternative worlds to keep them stable against draconic and fae interference is. Not to mention, the protagonist is sensible, sympathetic, and super relatable.

Another point in its favor is that The Invisible Library is the first of six, and soon to be seven books. These action-packed books are creepy enough to grip me, but not so spooky I actually get scared. They’re an ideal read for an afternoon with a cup of tea and a slice of cake.

2. The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson

If you want a book that is so rich in detail and gripping action that you will literally be on the edge of your seat, look no further than Brandon Sanderson. The Stormlight Archive is an epic fantasy in the truest sense of the phrase — a 10-part series that features books over 1000 pages long, taking place in Sanderson’s Cosmere, which is a universe with multiple worlds, cultures, languages, and magic systems.

What I love most about Sanderson’s work is that it makes sense in a way not many magic books do. His laws that govern the use of the local magic systems on any of his planets are all underpinned by a single, comprehensive, and logical system. What this means is that as you read more and uncover more detail, previous details from earlier in the series make sense. It’s like a little inside joke between you and your pal Brandon every time you realize you’ve solved a mystery that’s been bothering you for three books.

This year, in anticipation of Rhythm of War being released, I re-read all three previous books for the 3rd time, and even then found new details I hadn’t noticed the first or second times. This type of detail layering is part of what let me lose myself so rigorously in his world(s).

His characters are flawed, his plots are deep, and his worldbuilding is unbelievably believable. He’s the kind of author that makes you feel like he’s describing a real-world and real events, rather than making the whole thing up.

3. Rubinrot by Kerstin Gier

As someone who speaks Spanish and German (and wants to retain her language skills) I made it a New Year’s resolution to read at least one book in German and one in Spanish in 2020. Kerstin Gier’s Rubinrot made that not only possible but easier than I could have dreamed.

It may be geared towards the YA crowd, as the protagonist is 16 years old, but I’ve always loved YA and this book was no exception. It’s an absolutely charming romp through time as the chronically underestimated heroine, Gwen, unexpectedly finds out she has inherited a time-traveling gene and uncovers a dastardly plot of world domination. Chaos naturally ensues.

This book series had one of my all-time favorite literary elements: the slow burn, enemies to lovers path. I felt like I was a teenager myself again as Gwen inevitably fell in inconvenient love with the handsome hero.

The real highlight of this book series is how realistic the characters are. There are no miscommunication plot holes, no clunky dialogue, no improbable fairy godmothers. It was good enough to keep me up for nights at a time reading a teenage love story/time-travel tale in my rusty German, and to immediately buy the 2nd and 3rd books in the series.

4. The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin

I consciously steered away from dystopian fiction this year, because reality was looking too much like that genre for my tastes. But The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin was so intriguing and otherworldly that it made the cut.

The truly incredible thing about Jemisin’s The Fifth Season was how she managed to tap into the duality of a perfect plot twist: it’s completely unexpected when it comes, but also utterly inevitable when you get there. And upon further rereads, you won’t understand how you missed it — while simultaneously picking up more and more details that lead you to her ultimate conclusion. Plus, there are multiple plot twists, so you can experience it over and over again.

Her world-building is dark. It’s brutal and grim, with death, mutilation, and horror. But it’s also very human. She masterfully touches on so many aspects of humanity with both heart and accuracy. It’s so easy to let yourself be carried away by her prose and her story.

5. The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

I came across this book as I typed “best rom-com book” into Google. I wanted something with the casual and simple joy of a Hallmark movie, but with richer detail and better-quality worldbuilding. The Hating Game did not disappoint.

It’s the exception on my list for being set here, on Planet Earth. But I can’t overstate how much it let me escape this planet and onto one where two coworkers who are polar opposites and who loathe each other could potentially, just maybe, fall into a deep and abiding love. (No spoilers, that’s on the back of the book.) The dialogue was so sharp and witty, it really revitalized the rom-com genre of writing and let me feel like I was right there with the protagonists.

It is also exceptional on my list for being the only book I read in a single sitting. The Hating Game arrived on a Saturday afternoon, I picked it up Sunday morning, and set it down Sunday evening, finished in its entirety. I passed it onto my sister, who gave it back to me Monday morning, also fully read. It’s lighter than a lot of the books on this list, and is written so vividly that you’ll forget you’re actually turning pages. If you want to live in a lighter, happier, fluffier world for 300 odd pages, you can’t do better than The Hating Game.

6. Wolf Tower by Tanith Lee

Wolf Tower is a book that’s sat on my bookshelves for about 15 years. I must have read it when I was 10 or 11, and then put it back on the shelves to gather dust. When I moved back home last year, I rediscovered it and found myself effortlessly transported to the heroine Claidi’s Wolf Tower, escaping with a notorious and unreliable rogue, falling in love with a different notorious and unreliable rogue, battling against the forces of law and evil, and chasing a happily-ever-after.

What I like most about Lee’s Wolf Tower is that it’s written in a realistic journal format. Many journal-esque fiction books never really acknowledge how improbable it is that the journal would be written by the fictional character, then somehow recuperated and read by us, the reader. Lee addresses that directly and has her heroine Claidi write for what she thinks is an invisible audience. It let me fully suspend my disbelief and fall headfirst into the world in a way not a lot of other journal fiction books can.

It’s a fun, fast-paced read that stands on its own, but also has another three equally fun books in the series if you want to continue the journey. Again, I found the heroine a big sell — Claidi is whimsical, down-to-earth, silly, and lovable. I found her “journals” to be a wonderful diversion from reality.

The amazing thing about books is that there are more incredible reads in the world than I’ll ever have time to get to, with more coming out every year.

As I’ve found my grown-up years to be more turbulent than my younger self could have ever imagined, I have taken refuge in some truly delightful books that let me pretend, even if just for hours or days, that I’m anywhere else. Unlike most other forms of distraction, I find books to be immersive. I can’t check Twitter, I can’t browse Instagram, and I can’t spend my mental energy contemplating how everything seems to be getting worse somehow.

My biggest obstacle is finding books I know will be good. I hope that this list will help just one other reader accomplish what I’ve managed to do and spend a couple of hours happily somewhere else.

Originally published on Zulie's Medium profile.