2020 in books

By Ollivier Robert

6th Jan 2026
9 min read
Tags:
english,
reading,
ebooks,
books

Preamble

Yes, we are 2026 and this is the 2020 edition of the year in books. Yes, I’m awfully late. Let me put it on Covid, lockdown which triggered a new, longer and harder depression and a really bad year.

Nevertheless, here it, as usual a mix of fiction and non-fiction, new and old authors and series. Some comics too. Please forgive me if the comments are shorter than usual, these were read like 6 years ago…

Our friends at Goodreads have done some nicely presented stats here and this article will go in more details than just stats :)

To the books!

Author of the Year

By quantity of read books, it would probably be Lindsay Buroker, but as much as I love her books, I think the author of the year is Teresa Frohock. I had the luck and pleasure to read the last book in the Los Nefilim series books slightly in advance from publication, and they were as good as I expected from the author of Miserere :)

Reading Again

I re-read the entire Freaks’ Squeel series in one go. Still as good as I remember it, except for the final book, much weaker than the preceding ones. I know endings are always complicated, but I still think he could have done better.
I also re-read most of the Buck Danny comics series of my youth, full of “historical” reference at the beginning (WWI in the Pacific) then the adventures of Buck, Tumbler and Sonny.

Old Series

There we find series I started before 2020 like The Dresden Files and The Invisible Library.

I read the second book in the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch called Moon over Soho, from what I remember, it was rather weaker than the first one.
The Dresden Files is a long-running series by Jim Butcher. The series is still developing, showing more aspects of both Harry and Molly. I read Changes and Ghost Story, lots of new stuff there, but I do not want to spoil, so no details… except that events turn to the worst (This is Harry, right?).
It is nore secret that since I read the first 3 books in the The Black Jewels series I loved Anne Bishop, and she kept adding new books to the series, in parallel to her other books. This year, I read three books Dreams Made Flesh, The Shadow Queen and Shaladors Lady. The first is more abouot Janaelle herself, while the latter two are in a mini-series about the Shalador Kingdom..
The Dominion of the Fallen series was the second one Aliette de Bodard wrote, and one I pre-ordered, so nice was the announce, and it didn’t disappoint. Aliette is now writing shorter stories in this universe with the main characters and it is wonderful. I read Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders and it was nice.
Shadows of Annihilation is the 3rd book in the Tales from the Black Chamber by S.M. Stirling and this is the last one. He started a new series called Treasures of Tartary trilogy which apparently has the same set of characters. This last one was slightly weaker, felt like a wrap-up.
Next was going back to the Laundry with The Annihilation Score where we follow Dr. O’Brien aka Mo in her dealings with her failing marriage to Bob and the relationship with her weapon, the possessed violin. I loved the entire setup, and it gets worse later too (wink).
Near the end of the end, it was time for a new book in the Invisible Library series by Genevieve Cogman, called The Dark Archive where Irène and her new assistant about the craft, but get to learn quite a things about her family…
Last, but not least, I got to read the last book from my beloved V. E. Schwab, called The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and oh my gosh, it was so good. Just read it.

New Series (and authors)

Quite a few new authors in this section with debut works and I always welcome new voices in these genres.

First book of the year was a new series by V. E. Schwab. Different setting from what I have read so far, Cass can see ghosts, which leads to interesting stuff in no less than Edinburgh and its multiple places. Very interesting.
A new series from Lindsay Buroker is always interesting, and this doesn’t disappoint. Val is an half-elven bounty hunter and of course, she had to clash with, what else, a dragon of course. Said dragon has a very high opinion of himself and doesn’t particularly like humans. But Val is apparently… special :) – I read Sinister Magic, Battle Bond, Tangled Truths, Elven Doom and False Security, and finally Mist and Magic a short story which is before the first book.
I had never really read much Fantasy by Adrian Tchaikovsky, so I tried Redemption’s Blade and I remember liking it a lot. Then again, I like theis author a lot :) In another style, I read Firewalkers and I see it is the 2nd one in a series, oopsie. This one was good.
I read my first Patrick Samphire book, called Shadow of a Dead God and remember liking it a lot. The seond was just released in 2025 so I need to get it.
Aliette de Bodard also started a while a completely different series, put in a Vietnamese-inspired space opera settings, with mindships and other interesting stuff. I read a novella called Of Wars, and Memories, and Starlight and Seven of Infinities. Expect more of these in the following years :)
Sarah Andersen is not a new author here (see the 2018 archive), but this book Fangs is. Follow the adventure of a vampire and her werewolf lover, just very nice and funny.
I tumbled on this author and this book on Twitter, and it didn’t disappoint. Judge Dee, and the limits of the Law, does live up to his name and more, as he is a vampire, so he gets to be jury and executioner as well. Excellent!

Non-Fiction

Cryptography and World War II are two of my favorite subjects, it is known :) This year, I read two close books on both subjects.

Joe Rocheforts War: The Odyssey of the Codebreaker Who Outwitted Yamamoto at Midway is a biography of one of the most prominent US codebreakers, Joe Rochefort. Quite an interesting read about someone I encountered a few time sin other books, because he was very important in the Midway battle in the Pacific. Fascinating.
Speaking of the Battle of Midway, I read Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway which relate the events of the Battle of Midway, but mostly from the Japanese perspective, which is something new to me. It was a great read, loved it.

Series

Authors

The officiel sites for the authors, GR or WP if no site are available.