Welcome to Part 1 of my favorites of all time! This month, we'll start with authors, and in April I'll do characters. (Because of course, the author comes before the character. Most of the time.) I'm going to go backwards from 5 to 1, just to keep you in suspense.
5. Suzanne Collins
So the thing about authors is, not a lot of people actually know their names. They just know the books. I have a few pretty well-known authors on here, but once you get down to numbers one and two, you might not have heard of them. Suzanne Collins is best known for her dystopian trilogy, The Hunger Games. If you haven't heard of the Hunger Games, you've been living under a rock (just kidding). I love this series for so many reasons, but one is how realistic Suzanne Collins makes it seem. It's almost like I am in the arena with Katniss and Peeta, which is a bit scary, but pretty cool all the same. As a writer, I idolize authors who have the ability to make their world seem like real life. By the way, if you're not super into books, there's also a movie series of the Hunger Games, the last of which recently came out. (Although, if you don't like books, I'm not quite sure why you're reading this blog in the first place.)
“May the odds be ever in your favor!” -Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games
4. Rick Riordan
If you don't know who Rick Riordan is, you can go ahead and leave. Shut the door behind you.
I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Promise. Please stay. Just because you don't know who he is doesn't mean you can't learn!
Rick Riordan is the author of the series Percy Jackson and the Olympians. It is a modern spin-off series about the children of the Greek gods. And since I am a mythology nerd, this stuff fascinates me. He also wrote the follow-up series Heroes of Olympus (incorporating Roman myths as well as Greek) and Trials of Apollo (as suggested by the name, Apollo goes through Trials. Capital T. If you know, you know.), along with The Kane Chronicles and Magnus Chase & the Gods of Asgard, based on different types of mythology (Greek and Norse).
So yeah, this guy is famous. Percy Jackson and the Olympians has two movies (horrible, really. There are memes about how bad these movies are. Read the books first. Please.) A Disney series came out last December (ironically, the same month I launched this blog! Two days after, to be exact.) and The Kane Chronicles might have a movie on Netflix (fingers crossed!).
The reason I love Rick Riordan's books so much is that they're funny and witty as well as sad (*cue sobbing*). His characters are easy to fall in love with (and a lot of times, couples that have us chanting "Kiss! Kiss!"). So if you haven't read any of his books, I suggest you go and read them. Start with Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and if you like those, read his other stuff.
“Ever had a flying burrito hit you? Well, it's a deadly projectile, right up there with cannonballs and grenades.” -Rick Riordan, The Titan's Curse
3. Jennifer A. Nielson
I cannot begin to explain to you how much I love this author. Her books are so well executed, they have you on the edge of your seat and the book is just about glued to your hand- you cannot put it down! She wrote the Ascendence Series, one of my all-time favorite books series EVER. These books broke me, put me back together again, and broke me twice more, just for good measure. She's written a handful of other books as well, some of which you might have heard of, such as A Night Divided and The Mark of the Thief Trilogy (which I have not yet read, but some of my friends have, and they have been highly recommended to me.) I definitely recommend reading the Ascendence Series, if not her other books. Her writing is so wonderful.
“Nobody gives you respect in this life. You must take it, you must earn it, and then you must hold it sacred, because no matter how hard respect is to attain, it can be lost in an instant.” -Jennifer A. Nielsen, The Shadow Throne
2. Alyssa Roat
Isn't her last name just amazing? I wish I had a last name like that. Alyssa Roat wrote (see? Amazing.) the Wraithwood Trilogy, a book series that I will discuss in more in detail in my July post. Stay tuned! But Alyssa Roat's books are so enchanting, and if you can't wait until July to hear about the Wraithwood Trilogy, go buy them now. I promise you won't regret it. I could go on and on about how wonderful she is, and her books are, but I can't spoil it. I think being #2 on my favorite authors list says it all.
“Hey. I will come back to you. I wouldn’t leave you here alone if the world depended on it.” -Alyssa Roat, Castelon
1. Kate Milford
Y'all, we have reached the moment you've all been waiting for, my favorite author OF ALL TIME!!! To be totally honest, it wasn't a hard decision, because Kate Milford is so absolutely wonderful. She has written a bunch of different books, not necessarily together, but they have similar plot elements and characters that tie them together beautifully. My favorite book ever, The Broken Lands, is by her, and is so, so good. I am actually going to do an entire post about Kate Milford and her books next November (I know it's a long time from now, but I promise, she is worth the wait!) but AH! Like I said with Jennifer A. Nielson, I cannot even begin to explain how much I love her. Her writing is seriously gorgeous, which is a weird way to describe writing, but if you've read her stuff, you know. Her words are like a painting or a piece of art that she creates...I would even go so far as to call her the Van Gogh of YA novels. If you are wondering in what order to read her books, she has a post about that on her website: https://clockworkfoundry.com/faq/in-what-order-should-i-read/
I started with Greenglass House (which, if you've read my January post you've heard of) but if you want to dive right into her other stuff, go right ahead! They are spectacular.
“Nobody said it had to be a story with an ending all neatly tied up like some ridiculous fairy tale. This story's true, and true stories don't have endings, because things just keep going.” -Kate Milford, Greenglass House
A note: This is only five of A LOT of amazing authors out there. I could have added so many more, but I had to narrow it down. If you have a favorite author, let me know! I'd love to read someone new. J.K Rowling and Rick Riordan could have both gone on #4, but I had to narrow it down to just one. I am a giant Harry Potter fan though!
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