2021 Reading Goals

“It was the largest gathering of the Spirit clans Raisa had ever seen.”

First line in The Crimson Crown by Cinda Williams Chima

Hello, you lovely people. Hope you all enjoyed the holidays how ever the current situation forced you to spend them. I’m here to let you know about some of the books I plan to read in 2021. I’m mainly making this to hold myself accountable because these books will never be read otherwise. I’ve divided my picks into sections, so it’s not just one long list. I’ve also decided that when talking about series, I’m only sharing the series I plan to start. The sequels in series I plan to read are mainly new releases in 2021, so that’s a different post. We’re starting with the adult fantasy series.

Adult Fantasy Series

• The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb

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This series is my top priority in 2021! I really want to read all three because I just know I’m going to love it. I’ve heard that these books get quite dark and depressing, and those are exactly my kind of buzzwords.

• The Winnowing Flame Trilogy by Jen Williams

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These books get so much praise everywhere, and I really want to know what all the fuss is about.

These are the two adult fantasy series I’m going to prioritize, but that doesn’t mean they’re the only adult fantasy books I’m going to be reading. I will probably start other series but these are the ones I want to also have finished by the end of the year.

YA Fantasy Series

• Shattered Realms by Cinda Williams Chima

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This is the companion series to The Seven Realms series which I read in 2020, so it only seems fitting to continue on with Shattered Realms in 2021.

• The Age of Darkness by Katy Rose Pool

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The synopsis of the first book just screams “the chosen one”-trope, so it’s of course a trilogy I need to read. The third book isn’t out yet but is supposed to be released in September.

• Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman

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This is an old series that everyone seems to have read already. Now I’m going to give it a try. There are five books in the series if I’m not mistaken, but I don’t foresee myself reading more than three in 2021.

Standalones

I need some breaks from all these series I’m going to be reading, and I actually have a lot of standalones on my TBR. Here are a few I really want to read in 2021:

• The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
• The Book of Hidden Things by Francesco Dimitri
• The Betrayals by Bridget Collins
• Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson
• The Absolutist by John Boyne

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I know Warbreaker is getting a sequel some time in the future, but right now I’m considering it a standalone.

Beat the Backlist 2021

I’ve also decided to take part in the Beat the Backlist 2021 reading challenge. It’s all about reading the books released before 2021, and it is hosted by Novelknight. It seemed a very relaxed reading challenge with some fun prompts, and since I almost only read backlist anyway, this shouldn’t be too much of a challenge for me. Just a little fun to help me decide what to read throughout the year. Here are the prompts:

This is the one with 24 prompts, but you can also get one with 52 if you’re feeling ambitious. But as you can tell from these prompts, I can’t pick everything beforehand. Then there’s also ones like ‘has a map’ *laughs in fantasy* and ‘standalone’ where I have too many options to choose from. I’m still going to share some of my picks with you, so here we go:

📚 Genre you never/rarely read: Quite: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain (non-fiction)

📚 Picked by a friend/trusted reviewer: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman (friend recommendation)

📚 Person on the cover: A Sky Beyond the Storm by Sabaa Tahir (two people even)

📚 Banned book: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (Apparently, that one was a little too sexual back in the day)

📚 A book with illustrations: The Wicker King by K. Ancrum (I think this counts)

I probably won’t hit all prompts because I have no intention of adding books to my TBR just to fulfill a prompt. I still might come across something throughout the year, so maybe it’ll happen.

That was some of the books I plan to read in 2021. I am so very excited by so many of them and can’t wait to get started. Do you have any reading plans for the year? Have you read any of these? Please let me know in the comments!