I read a lotta books last year. Some really good, some good, some mediocre and some 'meh.' I don't really have the impetus to write up reviews of everything like I used to, but I can at least list them and give some brief comments. As always, your mileage may vary--my taste in books is not to everyone's liking. Books are in alphabetical order by author.

*****Theo and the Stolen Library by Melanie Ansley: Fantasy. The third book in the Theo trilogy. Anthro animals in a war against their human neighbors.

****Dead Jack series 1 & 2 by James Aquilone : Dark Fantasy/ Hard-boiled detective. A zombie detective & his golem sidekick work cases in a hell-like underworld filled with unpleasant creatures.

****14 by Peter Clines: Eldrich Horror.

****Upgrade by Blake Crouch: Near-future SF. Crouch can always be counted on for an entertaining ride.

****Dragon of Sand & Storm: The Autobiography of a Goddess by H. Leighton Dickson: Dragon POV fantasy. Good enough, but I really wish she’d get back to the [b]Upper Kingdom series.[/b]

*****Paw (Bastis Archives 1) by L. E. Henderson: Fantasy. Anthro cats fight for their freedom. One of my favorite books from last year.
*****Prowl (Bastis Archives 2) by L. E. Henderson

***Distraction by Abigail Hilton: Animal fantasy. A short follow-up to the excellent Hunters Unlucky, this is mostly an explicit M/M romance between two of the big cats from the previous books.

***In Good Company by M.C.A. Hogarth: Furry SF set in the Pelted Universe.

***Across the Sand by Hugh Howey: Dystopia SF. His first full novel in years, it suffered from some very annoying characters.

***The Last Human by Zack Jordon: Hard SF. The last human is raised by a giant alien spider.


****Lost Dogs by Kenton Kilgore: Apocalyptic animal fantasy. Dogs struggle to survive after an alien invasion wipes out humanity.
****Stray Cats by Kenton Kilgore: Animal Fantasy. Related to Lost Dogs, this follows a cat through multiple existences on our world and others.

***Cell by Stephen King: Apocalyptic horror.

****Fairy Tale by Stephen King: Fantasy. Prominently features a dog as an important character.

*****Gwendy’s Final Task by Steven King & Richard Chizmar: Horror/SF. An excellent end to the Gwendy trilogy.

***Primitives by Erich Krauss: Dystopia with a heavy-handed analogy to some current events.

***Winter without End by Casimir Laski: Apocalyptic Animal fantasy. A female wolf and male lab struggle to survive after a pandemic devastates humanity. Author said the book was inspired by Faithful Ruslan. If you read that, then you know how this ends.

**The Registration by Madison Lawson: Near future SF with a dumb premise. Also has extensive scenes of the female protagonist being tortured, if you’re into that.

***Library of the Sapphire Wind (Over Where book 1) by Jane Lindskold: Portal fantasy. Three women of a certain age are drawn into a fantasy world populated by anthro animals.
***Aurora Borealis Bridge (Over Where book 2) by Jane Lindskold

**The House of Sparrows by Janice Mayo: Fantasy. An odd book with angel-like beings who shapeshift into birds to guide the souls of the recently deceased.

**Ledge: The Glacian Trilogy book 1 by Stacy McEwan: Monster boyfriend. I thought this was an alien invasion/dystopia, but it turned out to be hunky alien and defiant human woman fall in love and have sex.

**The Locked Door by Freida McFadden: Thriller. The absolutely unbelievable twist ending really was unbelievable. And not in a good way.

****Le Fay (A Life Out There book 2) by Brian McNatt: Fantasy. An outcast Wolf Lord struggles to find her way in a world of fantasy creatures (Gryphons, minotaurs, unicorns, etc.) Very prominent LGBTQ themes.
****The Wolf Lords (A Life Out There book 3) by Brian McNatt

****The Crackling Sea (Gryphon Insurrection book 6) by K. Vale Nagle: Fantasy. Gryphons and Opinicus in a protracted conflict.
****Opinicus (Gryphon Insurrection book 7) by K. Vale Nagle

*****A Dream of Wings and Flame 1 by Cale Plamann: LitRPG fantasy. A lowly kobold strives to level up until he can become a dragon.

****Iara’s Crossing by Diana L. Pomeroy: Animal fantasy. Talking dinosaurs with a lot of supernatural elements.

*****Chrysalis series 1-3 by RinoZ : LitRPG Fantasy. Loved these books. A human is reborn as a monster ant, and has to survive and level up to help the colony. Sounds kind of silly, but the books were a blast.

***Legion: Lies of the Beholder by Brandon Sanderson: Near-future SF. The last of the Legion books, about a prodigy with multiple personalities, each of which has a brilliant specialty.

***The Way of Kings by Louise Searl: Animal Fantasy. Lions in Africa.

*****Gleanings: Stories from the Arc of a Scythe by Neal Shusterman: SF. An anthology of stories about old and new characters from the [b]Arc of a Scythe trilogy (one of my favorite recent series)[/b]

****The Revolution and the Fox by Tim Susman: Furry fantasy. The final volume of the Calatian series. Anthro animals live alongside humans in colonial America where magic is real.

****Bearhead by Adrian Tchaikovsky: SF with some furry characters.

*****Eyes of the Void (The Final Architecture book 2) by Adrian Tchaikovsky: Hard SF

***Ogres by Adrian Tchiakovsky: Dystopian fantasy. A stand-alone novel.

****The Remembered War books 1-5 by Robert Vane: Dragon POV. Sprawling saga about dragons enslaved by humans, dragons free, and dragons fighting a zombie horde. Lots of dragons.

***Nimbus by Bernard Voss: Animal fantasy. Foxes in the wild.