This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar - I’ve read this book four times and it has never felt stale. A story about love letters that will make you want to write down everything you’ve ever loved to keep it safe, Time War follows two women on opposite sides of a multiversal war who only ever see each other through the encrypted messages they leave for one another. With two authors writing each character’s perspective, both Red and Blue are two of the most believable characters I’ve found in a science fiction novel. Nothing sets the tone of this book better than its dedication page, which simply reads: “To you. Yes, you.” Time War will teach you to love yourself and others even more than you thought you knew how to love.
Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon - A fantasy epic whose name belongs on any must-read modern fantasy list, Priory of the Orange Tree is Samantha Shannon’s introduction to the Roots of Chaos series, which will no doubt find its place among household names like The Kingkiller Chronicles or The Stormlight Archive. Shannon presents readers with an ensemble cast of gorgeously complex characters making their lives in a deeply rich world. Within these 848 pages, you’ll find dragons and riders learning to trust each other, a heart-warming/wrenching queer romance between a queen and her bodyguard, and nail-biting tension as peril threatens the heroes at every turn. The main cast will make decisions you won’t like, which only serves to make them more complex and human–and that much more satisfying when they learn from their mistakes as the action rises.