Well, here we are again at the end of another year. 2022 was not my best from a productivity point of view (thank you, second small human!), but I did learn a lot. On the upside, 2023 is off to a bang, and I still read some fantastic books in 2022, so let’s get right to it, shall we?

I only read 22 books, down seven from the previous year, but still, there were almost 7,500 pages with books as diverse as Drago: On Mountains, we stand (Brilliant) and Anna Karenina (massive bag of balls). I gave an average rating of 3.9, I don’t know if I’m going soft or I just read better books, but either way, five got the big five out of five, and they were:

• Critical Role: Vox Machina – Kith and Kin* by Marieke Nijkamp.
• Elantris by Brandon Sanderson.
• The Crow Folk by Mark Stay.
• Templars: The Rise and Spectacular Fall of God’s Holy Warriors by Dan Jones.
• Thunder Run: The Armoured Strike to Capture Baghdad by David Zucchino.

The winner was *drum roll*

The Crow Folk by Mark Stay.

This is a wonderful book that manages to be both quaint and scary simultaneously. It captures its sense of place perfectly and has some wonderful characters and moments. It was a close-run thing, and I thought Elantris would win it. I love Brandon Sanderson, but this book just stayed with me, and I can’t wait to dig into the rest of the series.

There were a bunch of other great books that didn’t make this list, and if you want to see all my book reviews (they are short and painless, I promise), you can check out all my reviews on my Goodreads page right here.

*I know, I know more Critical Role nerdiness, but I didn’t make it win, so cut me some slack. Besides, it’s a great book, even if you’re not a fan of the show.