Corry L. Lee's 3 favorite reads in 2024

I love a big story that sticks the landing, and the Rook & Rose trilogy (which finishes with Labyrinth’s Heart) is a fabulous example. The characters are all distinct and interesting, multifaceted and pulled in many directions - with their loyalties, their friendships, their ambitions. The world is rich and well-textured (it initially seems simple and familiar in book 1, but reveals wonderful layers), and the magic is deeply tied into that world and its people.

I had a bit of a hiccup in the plot of this book, as there’s effectively a side-quest that fills the first third, which didn’t work for me, but I’m glad I persisted. Labyrinth’s Heart pays off everything the first two books set up, and left me deliciously satisfied by a great big trilogy - and looking forward to what these authors write next!

Also, if you enjoy audiobooks, the narrator Nikki Massoud is incredible. She somehow manages a distinct, consistent voice for all the series' myriad characters and conveys emotion spectacularly.

I love stories filled with intrigue, and am impressed by an author who can make me care about awful people. These Burning Stars has both in spades. As someone who prefers to /like/ my characters, fortunately there’s at least one good, decidedly complex character (who’s been a part of some terrible things) to root for as well.

The structure of this novel heightens the intrigue, as an intergalactic game of cat-and-mouse unfolds between Esek (a terrible but surprisingly compelling woman with a great deal of power and privilege) and Six (a mysterious person who’s leading Esek on a far-ranging hunt for reasons that slowly get revealed through the course of the story).

The science fiction setting is very light (no hard science or technical descriptions here), but plays a nice backdrop for the core exploration of loyalty, trauma, power, and revenge.

I’m a sucker for fantasy that explores class struggles and industrialization in a way that’s deeply tied into the story's fantastical world. A Market of Dreams and Destiny triumphs at this as the backdrop for a wonderfully human tale of ambition and love. Both the main characters are underdogs - one in magical society, one in a Victorian-ish mundane society. What a delight to root for the factory worker and slave to outwit the rich and powerful. I gobbled this book up in one day.