Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. They come up with top ten lists that people can blog about every week.
Since a straight top ten best books would be too hard, I’m doing it by category! 🙂
Sorry for no postage last week. I’ve been sick. Finally feeling better now though!
Best Super Hero (powers) Book: Vicious vs Steelheart
World Building: Steelheart. Since Vicious was set in our world and Steelheart is set in the steel city of Newcago in a post apocalyptic like setting this was a given.
Characters: Vicious. Hard to beat Victor, I’m not sure if he’s an anti-hero or a villain, but he rocks!
Super Powers: Steelheart. Most of the powers were pretty standard (though I did love Victor’s from Vicious) but in the end Steelheart won with the unique weakness thing.
Plot: Steelheart. This is just a personal preference, because Vicious’ tale of revenge didn’t have any flaws. I just preferred the mystery of figuring out the super powered people’s weaknesses. (And though Vicious’ flashbacks were well done, I prefer a more standard timeline)
Winner: Steelheart
Runner up: Vicious
Best Urban Fantasy: Generation V vs Hold Me Closer, Necromancer (Since Dresden Files was disqualified because I read it too long ago)
Characters: Generation V. Suzume is one of the best characters I’ve ever read and though I liked all of the characters in Necromancer they just weren’t as well fleshed out as Fort and his crazy family in Generation V.
World Building: Generation V. This was a close one because they’re both fairly similar with a council (Necromancer) or a family (Gen V) in charge over other supernatural beings and investigating problems these people have. But I prefer the almost mafia style of Generation V and it spends more time establishing the different peoples.
Magic/Powers: Necromancer. The powers of the vampires and Kitsune, etc are cool in Gen V, but there was more time establishing the magic of the Necromancer. (and it’s hard to beat kick butt death magic)
Plot: Necromancer. This was another close one, because I prefer the fighting of the big bad like in Necromancer over the littler cases in Generation V, but since Gen V is a longer series a big bad can still be in the works.
Humor: Generation V. For me Urban fantasy and humor go together and these are both funny books with a similar sense of humor, but once again Suzume tips the scale for Gen V.
Winner: Generation V
Runner up: Hold Me Closer, Necromancer 
Best Dystopian: Legend vs Red Rising vs Divergent vs The Hunger Games
World Building: Red Rising. There are few books to stand up to the futuristic color tiered world of Red Rising, though both Hunger Games and Divergent came in a close second and third.
Characters: Legend. I just like both Day and June. Some people say they’re too much alike, but that’s what I liked about them. They came from two opposite kinds of life, but in the end they had a lot in common.
Plot: Hunger Games. For starting this whole Dystopian craze in the first place. Red Rising comes in a close second. (I know many will say Red copies HG, but Red has spaceships!)
Romance: Legend. I just like Day + June and I’m not a big fan of Katniss + Peeta (Hunger Games) and Tris + Four (Divergent). I have hope for Reaper + Mustang (Red Rising) but since that’s not concluded yet it’s hard to say.
Winner: Legend
Runner up: Red Rising
Best Epic Fantasy: A Song of Ice and Fire vs Sword of Truth vs The Saga of Recluce
Characters: A Song of Ice and Fire. Though I like the characters of all of these books no one creates likable diverse characters like Martin.
World Building: Tied. Surprisingly while good none of the epic fantasys I love have outstanding world building.
Plot: Sword of Truth. I like Ice and Fire’s plot, but it annoys me how I never know what’s going to happen next, unless a character thinks ahead, then I know nothing’s going the way they think. It’s like there’s a rule that no plans can work.
Magic: Saga of Recluce. Though I like the magic in Sword of Truth, Modesitte creates the best magic systems.
Battles: A Song of Ice and Fire. There are many ways to do large battle scenes but my favorite is to be in the mess of things and Martin does that like no one else.
Runner Up: Sword of Truth
Best Young Adult: Daughter of Smoke & Bone vs Lunar Chronicles vs Snow Like Ashes vs The Grisha
Characters: Cinder. With having a different protagonist in each book Cinder won, but Daughter of Smoke and Bone was a close second. Grisha wins for minor characters, but I just don’t like Alina and Mal.
World Building: Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Grisha was a close second for a cool Russian like culture, but when it comes to world building Daughter of Smoke and Bone is one of the best.
Magic/powers: Grisha. Mostly elemental, but the cool light and dark powers are just awesome. I did enjoy the wishing magic of Daughter of Smoke and Bone a lot too. I have a feeling Snow Like Ashes will be a contender after a couple more books.
Plot: Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Plot is hard to compare, because all of the books have different goals, but overall I liked the war between the chimaera vs angels best.
Winner: Daughter of Smoke & Bone
Runner up: Lunar Chronicles
Best Middle Grade: Percy Jackson and the Olympians vs Skulduggery Pleasant vs Magisterium (Harry Potter would so win if I’d read it recently)
World Building: Percy Jackson. A new take on Greek mythology while still staying true. Skulduggery is a close second only because Magisterium only has one book.
Characters: Percy Jackson. Some of my favorite book characters are those from Percy Jackson and the main protagonist (Percy) himself is my favorite which never happens.
Plot: Magisterium. Percy Jackson’s plot is pretty straightforward, stop the bad guy. Skulduggery is pretty much the same with some little cases thrown in.
Magic: Skulduggery Pleasant. I like the powers half bloods of Percy Jackson get from their godly parents, but those books don’t focus on magic as much as Skulduggery does.
Humor: Percy Jackson. Skulduggery is the master of sarcasm, but no one does a bad pun like Percy.
Winner: Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Runner up: Skulduggery Pleasant
I had lots of categories to start, Scifi, indie, humor, romance (and I debated doing best vampire, thief, etc) but it got way too long. Which books would you pick?
Woven Magic Books 
Happy to hear you’re feeling better, Molly! This time of year seems to be the height of cold season. I’ve been hearing nothing but great things about Generation V for ages now – I have *got* to read that! I like the sound of a UF that has a prominent Kitsune character.
Thank you. Everyone does seem to be sick right now. I hope you don’t catch anything. There’s a reason for that, Generation V rocks! It’s just a fun read. And yes the Kitsune (Suzume) is the best part!
Some of these I still need to read but the ones that I have read, I couldn’t agree with more! It really has been a wonderful few years full of wonderful books hasn’t it?
These last few years have been terrific for reading! I’m glad you agree. I know how that goes, there are always so many books on these lists I want to read!
I love the way you broken this down into categories. Very smart! It is hard to only pick ten books randomly. I haven’t read Steelheart yet but now I want to! And Generation V has been on my list for a while. Great choices!
Thanks! I’m a fan of organization in case you didn’t notice. 😉 Steelheart is really good. I’d never read Sanderson before, but I plan to read more now. Yes Generation V needs to be read, it’s so much fun!
Nice list! I haven’t read a lot of these, but I am familiar with some. The Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy was really good; it’s probably one of my all-time favourite series (I don’t have very many favourite series).
I keep hearing such good things about Red Rising. I’ve got it in my TBR pile; I really need to get to it! (But Scarlet is up next.)
Thanks. Yes I think Daughter of Smoke and Bone is my favorite young adult book, which is saying something.
Red Rising is good, but you should be in the right mood because it is intense. I thought Golden Son was much better though. I’ve heard good things about Scarlet, I hope you enjoy.
Great way to go with this one! You’ve been totally sneaky and managed to cram loads of great books in – I like it!
Lynn 😀
hehe thanks. I’m all for sneaky. Originally I managed to cram twenty books in but that was a bit too much.
For someone who’s just gotten over an illness, there’s some serious rationalising going on here! I need to read Vicious to weigh in on that category (although presumably it is likely I’ll read ADSOM as my preliminary foray to Schwab. Ack.)
Cheers,
joey via. thoughts and afterthoughts.
haha thanks. I can’t seem to do something half way. Yes, Vicious is a must read, so good! I read the sample of A Darker Shade of Magic and it was really good too!
Great list. Some of these I’ve read others I still need to read. My tbr is so long I don’t think I’ll ever get through it lol
Thanks. I know how you feel. These lists just keep making my want to read list grow!
Awesome post Molly! I love how you categorized everything. I just added Generation V to my Amazon wishlist 🙂
Thanks. I have a thing for organization. 😉 Yay! I hope you enjoy Generation V. Such a fun series!
So many good ones there!!
Thanks! I had a really good year for books last year.
Sorry to hear you’ve been sick, Molly. Hope you feel better soon!
Wow, nice job with organizing your picks by genre. I don’t have my own list, but unfortunately we wouldn’t have any common picks. Though I was thinking maybe A Game Of Thrones, but I read that more like 4 or 5 years ago… And I have Legend and Daughter Of Smoke And Bone at home to read. It’s just a matter of when I get to them. 😉
Thank you. My doctors appointment is finally tomorrow so I should be fully better by then.
Thanks! I have a thing for organization. 😉 I read book five of Game of Thrones 3 1/2 years ago so I squeezed it in. I really liked Daughter of Smoke and Bone, it’s probably my favorite young adult. Legend is good, but it’s mostly just that I enjoyed it a lot rather than the book itself being good if that makes sense.
Oh what a great idea. I’ve read most of these and agree with you on a lot of the categories. I’m surprised Red Rising didn’t win in its category, but then I’ve never read Legend. It must be good!
Aw, I am so sorry you’ve been sick, but I am glad you are feeling better! Now that I have showed my concern for you, I shall now rage at The Hunger Games not winning AND not being a runner up. I mean, this may damage our relationship 😉
I kid, I kid (mostly?) but I do really want to read a LOT of these books! Like Red Rising, and Daughter of Smoke and Bone! And VICIOUS! I needs. Very nice list, even though you didn’t let my favorite win 🙂
Oh. It took me a minute to get the “Hold me closer, necromancer’ reference. I wasn’t feeling musical enough at first I think.
So many great books there! But I agree it’s not possible for me to only choose 3 books, I already wonder how you chose so few books lol.
I love the way you did your list! So, many great books but of the ones I’ve read I agree with your decisions(except that I love Katniss and Peeta!).
I, on the other hand, completely cheated this week and picked 20 books… =)
I’m sorry to hear you’ve been sick, I hope you’re feeling better!
Sorry to hear that you’ve been sick, and happy to hear that you’re feeling better. 🙂
This is a good list of books, though I haven’t read some of them. A Song of Fire and ice is one I am definitely needing to read. I feel like the only fantasy fan in the world who hasn’t read any Game of Thrones books!
All the books here I have not read I now desperately want to! Great list.
I BADLY want tor read Brandon Sanderson’s books! They look so good 😮 Great list Molly! I loved Game of Thrones but I haven’t read all the books so far yet >.< Thank you for following me, your blog looks great and we have common interests so I've followed back 😀 Here's my TTT if you would like to check it out 🙂 http://emmasbookery.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/top-ten-books-for-readers-who-love.html
I haven’t read most of these- but I always love lists that include favorite books. 🙂 I did read and loved The Lightning Thief! 🙂