I was determined to catch up on reviews, but it’s much too hard at the moment so I’m doing a review tag instead. The 5 Star Books In 5 Words tag (originally created by Matthew Sciarappa) has been a huge fave this Wyrd and Wonder, so about time I joined in, right?

Right.

So, how does this work?

• Choose 5 books that you awarded 5 stars (I’m sticking to fantasy for Wyrd and Wonder)
• Pick 5 words to describe why you love each book
• No explanations, no context! …so some of the words may make no sense if you haven’t read the book yet

As I said back in SciFiMonth, it takes a lot to get 5 stars out of me – although it has happened a lot more regularly recently in my fantasy reading, apparently as there have been 5 this year! After that I’m reaching back to last Wyrd and Wonder and beyond… but I’ll stick with the five most recent reads today.

I went all out to make my five words into a sentence and my inner snark took over, so I ended up with two (although they’re definitely more plot summaries than reviews – although they capture the key theme I loved them for, so maybe that counts?)

The Ten Thousand Doors of January – Alix E Harrow

The right words transcend worlds

(Be more temerarious. Open doors)

Realm of Ash – Tasha Suri

Confront the past with love

(Don’t believe everything you’re told)

Silver in the Wood – Emily Tesh

Local legend beguiles new landlord

(New landlord beguiles local legend)

The Bone Ships – RJ Barker

Lonely souls bond at sea

(Nice hat. She’ll take it)

Daggerspell – Katharine Kerr

We’ve screwed this up before

(She’s not your woman, actually)

…for all it’s faults, looking at the reads I have queued up right now I suspect 2020 is going to be a bumper year for 5 star fantasy reads around here.