Top Ten Authors I've Discovered This Year

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It’s been a busy year for books for me. At the time of writing I’ve read over 140 books, some written by authors I know and love and return to again and again. Others written by authors I have only just discovered. It’s been a wonderful mix of established authors that I hadn’t yet managed to read, and debut authors with stunningly eye catching first novels, and it’s so great to celebrate the top ten of those here.

 

Moira Fowley-Doyle

With the release of Moira’s debut novel ‘The Accident Season’ she shot straight onto my list of favourite authors. I adored ‘The Accident Season’ – the secrets, the magic, the tilting, shifting view of the world as everything unravels. It marked Moira as an author to watch, with a gorgeous writing style and an incredible imagination.

Leigh Bardugo

The first of my ‘Rosy which rock have you been hiding under to only just discover this author NOW’ authors, I’d somehow managed to avoid reading The Grisha trilogy until this year, but now that I have, followed by ‘Six of Crows’, I am hooked, HOOKED I TELL YOU. Basically I am on the Leigh Bardugo bandwagon and I cannot wait for the next book from her.

 

Rainbow Rowell
So my rock I’ve been hiding under has been busy. Technically I had already discovered Rainbow, but I’d not been particularly fussed on ‘Eleanor and Park’ so she hadn’t really caught my interest as an author to watch. But then earlier this year I read ‘Landline’ and it caught me at the perfect moment. It resonated so strongly with me, filled me with hope and longing and the magic that Georgie finds every night with this old clunky phone, and really captures both the wild reckless surety of love in your twenties juxtaposed by the deeper, more entangled love later in life. It was beautiful and perfect, and had me sobbing and auto buying every other novel Rainbow has written.

Diana Gabaldon
Outlander has been around for a while but it took getting hooked on the TV show (which is brilliant by the way, go watch it now if you haven’t seen it yet) for me to finally look up the books and immerse myself in Claire and Jamie’s world. These books are epic. Truly epic. They are so much more than the romance at their heart. They’re time travel, they’re historical novels, romance, war, political. A mix of everything into one glorious series. I fell in love with Claire and Jamie, with this world that Diana is depicting. It cemented my love of Scotland yet further, and illuminated a period of history I was shockingly hazy on. It also turned Diana into one of my favourite authors, and one whose books I am loving working my way through.

 

Sabaa Tahir
A dark, intriguing and complex novel, the hype surrounding ‘An Ember in the Ashes’ was huge and well deserved. It was a surprising novel that came to me at just the right time and sets up for a thoroughly fascinating series. The cliff hangers we were left with at the end of the first book have left me longing for book two to see more world development, character arcs and a plot worthy of the excitement the first book left me with.

Renne Adieh

This book was gorgeous. One of those beautiful novels that sweeps readers away and I saw the wave coming towards me and knew I was going to love this book. I was so right. Heart breaking, beautiful with such a rich and vivid story folded within its pages, I loved this one. I’m both eager to get my hands on the next book and sad to see the story conclude. If you’re a fan of the tale of 1001 nights and you haven’t picked this one up yet, you need to get onto this asap…

Martha Brockenbrough

I’d not come across any of Martha’s writing before, and then ‘The Game of Love & Death’ fell into my lap and broke me completely. It’s a stunningly beautiful novel. Unique, magical, and filled with hope. I loved the complexity of the characters, the added depth the game and the personification of Love and Death gave to the story. But above all I loved Flora and Henry, watching their story unfold and their emotions unfurl. It’s an incredible novel, one of my favourite reads of the year.

Sarah Benwell
Ok, so technically I have known Sarah and her writing much longer than just this year. However her debut novel ‘The Last Leaves Falling’ hit shelves way back at the start of this year and I want to show it some more love. Because it’s almost Christmas, and you should really be giving this book to everyone you know. Sarah’s debut novel was stunning. A beautiful, hauntingly quiet novel suffused with longing, the fragility of life and working out what it truly means to live, and hope. It’s beautiful, a uniquely different young adult contemporary that smashes the moulds and greets difficult subjects head on. It is an incredible debut and I cannot wait to see what Sarah writes next.

 

Marie Rutkoski

The first book in The Winner’s Trilogy somehow didn’t make it to the top of my to read pile before the second book came out, so I marathoned both books in a matter of days. My only complaint? That I didn’t wait for book three to be out first because THAT CLIFF HANGER. Despite the fact that my nerves will be in shreds by the time I read the third book, I LOVED this series. So well written, such a brilliantly constructed world with fascinating and morally grey characters, and such TENSION AND STRESS. I cannot wait to get my hands on the last book.

Terry Pratchett

Another author that yes ok I technically discovered a long time ago. But whilst I had read the odd Discworld book before, I don’t feel I truly discovered and started to appreciate Pratchett and the Discworld before this year. I enjoyed previous books, but something about the Witches thread has me thoroughly captivated. I’m loving getting to know Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and co, and these are books that have definitely fallen into my lap at precisely the moment I’ve needed them most. I’ve stopped just enjoying my visits to the Discworld and started loving them, and I’m so glad I have so many more outings and stories yet to discover.

So there you have my top ten authors I've discovered this year. Do we share any? Are you appalled that it's taken me so long to discover some of these? Let me know and link me to your own top ten lists in the comments below!

Review: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Publication Date: July 1st 2014 (This edition. First published in 1991)
Publisher: Random House
Length: 850 pages

The year is 1945. Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is just back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach—an “outlander”—in a Scotland torn by war and raiding border clans in the year of Our Lord...1743.
Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire is catapulted into the intrigues of lairds and spies that may threaten her life, and shatter her heart. For here James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, shows her a love so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire—and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.

Unless you have completely avoided the internet for the last year or so, you will have heard the word ‘Outlander’ bandied about at some point. This is due to the insanely popular TV series on Starz that started airing its debut season in August 2014 and is currently airing the second half of the season on Saturday nights.

Based on the series of books by Diana Gabaldon, the novels have suddenly received a new surge of interest due to the tv series as a whole host of people turn to the books to fill in gaps, find out what happens, and generally sate their unquenchable appetite for the incredible love story between Claire and Jamie.

I was one of these people. I watched the first eight episodes and promptly demanded all the Outlander books immediately. Because reasons. I stormed through the first book and it both sated all my Outlander needs and made the wait for the second half of the season to air nigh on unbearable, because this series is incredible.

Let’s start with Claire, the driving force behind the story. She is an incredible heroine – headstrong, feisty, determined and full of love and loyalty. She is a modern woman thrown out of her own time and forced into a time and situation where her gender plays heavily against her. She brings modern thinking and ideas in like a whirlwind and sweeps everyone up along with her. It is because of her that the book is so compelling to read – she drives the narrative and you cannot help but fall in love with her and want to know how she survives and thrives in this alien world she has stumbled into.

And then of course there’s her counterpart… Jamie Fraser has now set a new standard for fictional heroes. He’s young, yes, and filled with the ideas and status quo of the period he has grown and lived in, but he is also loyal and gentle and prepared to listen to Claire as an equal and adapt and grow so that their relationship is a truly modern affair with both of them holding equal power instead of Jamie ‘owning’ Claire. He loves her – that much is obvious – but the depth of feeling and emotion depicted in the book swept me away. He is the epitome of the romantic hero, full of fire and daring and love and whilst he desperately wants to protect Claire he also acknowledges she is a strong and independent person in her own right. They compliment each other perfectly, which serves to make the romance and relationship one of the strongest in fiction and one of the highlights of the novel.

The first section of the novel is a little slow to get moving, but once you are into the bulk of the story and are following Claire through the trials and mishaps of being a very modern woman in a very unmodern time you become completely immersed and swept up in the tale. I couldn’t put the book down and stormed through it in a night. Gabaldon has a rare talent of combining compelling and interesting characters with a well-researched and thoroughly realistic look at life in 1743 Scottish Highlands and all that that entails. The politics, the clans, the day to day existence – it’s all beautifully rendered in a captivating story that thrills along at an incredible pace. It is a world populated with fascinating and realistic characters and I found myself utterly enthralled as it touches on everything from the bigger politics and shifts of a time when Scotland was desperately fighting to regain its independence to the smaller pieces of life, the superstitions and traditions. I love Scotland and this furthered my love of the country and its history and brought it to life for me in a way other fiction and mediums haven’t yet captured. Despite the magical idea of time travel this is a novel very much rooted in real life, and other than that one breach of reality to get Claire back to 1743 the novel feels real, which makes it even more terrifying to experience some of the scenes later on in the book when hysteria and a lack of understanding whip events up into a frenzy of terror.

I cannot recommend this book (and subsequent series) enough. Coming to the series now you’re also spoiled for choice as the Starz production of the first book is lovingly brought to life with an incredible cast and absolutely stunning scenery. It’s such a faithful adaptation that satisfies long term fans as well and offers a second entry into the imaginative and captivating story that Gabaldon has created. If you’re still not convinced, check out my article detailing five reasons why you should watch the tv series here.

This is an incredible book, one that became an instant favourite and one that I will return to again and again. It is so many things and not just a romance, but the love story at its heart is one that will stay with me forever.

Five Reasons why you should be watching Outlander

Today is the day that a lot of people have been waiting for with vast amounts of patience, it is the day that Outlander returns for the second half of its first season.
I came to the series late so I haven't had to wait for quite such a ridiculous time as those who have been there since the beginning, but I am no less impatient for the series to begin again and show us more of Claire and Jamie's story.
Based on the first book in the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, Starz have struck gold with this incredible book to screen adaptation, one of the best shows on TV at the moment, and here are five reasons why you should be catching up and watching this show if you haven't discovered it yet.

1 - Our heroine and narrator Claire. She is a strong independent woman, who isn't going to let a little thing like being trapped in a male dominated society get her down. She's feisty, determined and a compelling character to watch. Sucked through time to 1743 Scotland, she leaves her husband and the life she was beginning to get to grips with following the second world war and finds herself thrust into the Highlands on the brink of war with the English for their independence. A nurse with a modern background she quickly finds a niche for herself at Castle Leoch where she becomes the resident healer (with unsurprisingly good results.) She's a wonderful look into the world, an outsider like us she is alienated and desperate to return to her own time and Catriona Balfe plays her to perfection. She pitches it perfectly so that Claire is both vulnerable and strong, trapped in this world where she has no control but wresting control and her individuality where she can. I adore Claire as a heroine, both in the show and in the books, but Catriona's performance is simply wonderful.

2 - And with our heroine, there must of course be our hero, Jamie. A young Scotsman who has a knack for getting himself into the kind of trouble where it's useful to know a particularly good healer, Sam Heughan is the perfect Jamie. He is one of my favourite fictional hero's, just the right blend of gentle kindness and tough rugged Scotsman. He can be brutal at times, and fiercely protective, but one of the things I love most is his desire and ability to learn and develop and listen to Claire's opinions and demands as well as her secrets. They become so much more than physical attraction and develop into one of the most layered and wonderful partnerships I've had the pleasure of watching and reading. Heughan is a truly incredible actor and brings Jamie vividly and wonderfully to life. Their partnership and chemistry on screen is fantastic, and really brings the romance to new levels.

3 - Ronald D Moore, who is a genius I might add. Well known for his stints on Star Trek, the reboot of Battlestar Glacatica and Caprica he brings a brilliance to any show he turns his hand to. He has captured the essence of Gabaldon's story and transported it incredibly faithfully to the screen and the result is fantastic. We feel for Claire, every step of the way on this incredibly twisted path. From the moments where she feels isolated and displaced as everyone speaks Gaelic around her (wonderfully offset with no subtitles on screen so the audience feels as isolated and confused as Claire,) to when she is truly happy and content in the time she has found herself stuck in. The attention to detail, the costumes, the epic scope of the Highlands that is conveyed throughout, the beautiful sweeping feel of the story and the tiny moments where the focus is narrowed right into human emotions. It is an incredible adaptation, I wish more could be so faithful to the essence of the books they adapt!

4 - Bear McCreary's incredible score, need I say more? I first discovered McCreary's music when watching Battlestar Galactica, and have music stalked him ever since. He is an incredibly daring composer whose music is like nothing else out there. He has created an iconic soundtrack with some truly beautiful themes making full use of traditional Scottish instruments and I could listen to it all day. So far only the soundtrack for the first half of the season has been released, but I cannot wait to hear what he has in store for us for the second half.

5 - Diana Gabaldon's epic story. At nearly a thousand pages long this first tome in the series is quite an undertaking, but it is more than worth it. Gabaldon has created a story that is a little bit of so many things: a wonderful historical insight into the Scottish Highlands in a particularly unstable time, a compelling and brilliant story of time travel, fantastic characters that make the story real, and a wonderful romance. This is so much more than swooning damsels and men in kilts, this is a beautifully nuanced story that tackles so many issues and provides a decidedly different romance to the one you might be expecting. It's brutal and violent, quiet and raw, and at the heart of it is a love that transcends time. What more could you want?

So there you have it, five reasons why you should be watching (or catching up with) Outlander. It's got a little something for everyone, so don't just dismiss it as a romance without giving the pilot a shot. Just be wary of some of the more adult content both violent and sexual if you have any younger people trying to watch too.