For previous posts and future FFF topics check out my Friday Favorite Five page here.
Favorite Five Debut Novels
Honestly, just in the last couple of year’s we’ve seen a ton of amazing debut novels, this list is super hard to narrow down. Maybe going forward I’ll do a favorite five debut novels of ‘x’ year. I can’t reiterate enough how hard it was to pick these…so this list is by no means exhaustive or final.
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Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey
How many lists have I put this one on so far? I don’t know and I don’t care, it’s one of my favorite books EVER for a reason. One of the many great things about this book is that because the world is based on our own we don’t have to spend a lot of time with those details and we can focus on the plot and intrigue and political maneuvering. Also romance. 😀
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Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed
I read this book on a road trip and it was the PERFECT road trip book. I love the main protagonist and that he’s older, on the brink of retirement, and his ‘getting too old for this crap’ attitude sometimes hits home for me, lol. This was such a fun sword and sorcery adventure, so if you like those types of stories I’d say give this one a whirl.
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Updraft by Fran Wilde
This book has some of the most imaginative world-building I’ve seen. It’s also a story about people adapting to their environment and having to deal with scarcity issues. Everything about this world is intriguing to me and the story of the struggles within the society is excellently portrayed.
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The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
This is one of the many books I loved last year (several of which were also debuts!). So glad the author is nominated for the Campbell award because it’s well deserved. This is a book that doesn’t pull any punches. I can’t wait to dive into the sequel soon and see what direction the story takes.
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The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
I love these books so much. Yeah they’re not perfect, but they’re so much fun. I especially love deep diving into theories of trying to figure out how everything is supposed to end, how Kvothe became Kote, and why the world is the way it is from what we’ve seen in the frame parts of the story. There’s some pretty clever storytelling going on here and however it goes I’m sure many will be surprised because he’s often said that he’s not telling the story everyone thinks he’s telling. 🙂
Those are my picks this week, such as they are! What are some of your favorite debut novels? What do you think of my picks? Leave a note in the comments, I’d love to hear from you!
Way Too Fantasy 
I’m going to look for Throne of the Crescent Moon. That sounds fun.
I really enjoyed it!
These are some great choices, I’m regretting not reading The Poppy War last year when it came out😊
Thanks! Well the good news is that you can always read it whenever. 🙂
Yes to Name of The Wind! Yes to The Poppy War! Haven’t heard of the other three. But my other ones Trail of Lightning, City of Brass and An Unkindness of Ghosts 😁😁
Those are great picks too! Haven’t read An Unkindness of Ghosts, so I’ll have to check into that one.
Poppy War, Updraft, and Kushiel’s Dart are all on my “Need to Read ASAP” lists!
They’re all great in different ways. Hope you enjoy when you get to them!
I love all of these! (Except Updraft, but that’s only because I’ve never read it!) It’s still crazy for me to think that Kushiel’s Dart is a debut. Even The Name of the Wind is pretty impressive! Wonderful list!
Yeah, some of these feel like master works tbh. Very impressive. Thanks!
Oh The Name of the Wind! Such a fantastic book 🙂
Right?! So much fun. 🙂
I really need to read Name of The Wind!!! Its my best friend’s favorite book haha. Sky in the Deep is one of my favorite debut novels!
I’ll have to check into that one. 🙂
I really should check some of these books out! ☺️
(Www.evelynreads.com)
I hope you get a chance to!
Wow, was Kushiel Carey’s debut? I always thought it was one of her other books, I’m even more impressed now!
Yeah, I didn’t realize either, pretty impressive!
Great list – ahh, Name of the Wind. I loved that book so much and the second one two.
Lynn 😀
Yeah they’re both great. I should probably reread them at some point. 🙂
The poppy war and the name of the wind have been on my TBR since forever and I still haven’t gotten to them. Hopefully this is the year I actually read them!
“What do you think of my picks?” Love them, well, I think I will. All of them are on my TBR except maybe Throne of the Crescent Moon. I think I removed it from my TBR. I might have to add it back.
Throne is very S&S but with an middle eastern setting. It’s fun, but not high brow. I do wish he would have continued the series, maybe one day…
sword and sorcery is my fav type of fantasy so maybe it will work for me.
I hope so!