I officially christen into existence Sam's MVB Awards!
If I had a champagne bottle, I would gladly bash it over my computer in celebration of this momentous event. (No, I wouldn't.)
(Since I can't find a photo of someone wearing sweatpants, sitting in untidy rooms, ignoring all of her household duties while she reads instead, here is a picture of a random woman who seems to have her life together.)
Sam's MVB (Most Valuable Books) Awards is inspired by my love of going back at the end of each calendar year and reviewing the books that I read, picking out my favorites, and celebrating those books again.
In my all-powerful position as chairman of Sam's MVB Awards, I have decided how a book is chosen for such a high honor. There is only one question I ask of each book: Did you make Sam binge read you? If the answer is yes, then congratulations! We've found a winner.
Without further ado...drum roll, please...here are the winners of Sam's 2020 MVB Awards!
The 2020 Sam's MVB Award Winners!
Tada!
Holy cow, these two books just grabbed ahold and didn't let go. Forget about laundry, my own work-in-progress books, forget about cooking meals for my family, or generally being a productive human being. These two books earned their spots as the winners of Sam's first annual MVB Awards!
Congratulations, Galbraith and Sanderson! Just take my money, please and thank you.
TROUBLED BLOOD (Cormoran Strike, #5) by Robert Galbraith
I think I can officially say that TROUBLED BLOOD is my favorite book of the Cormoran Strike series so far. There is something comforting about returning to beloved characters over and over again. Cormoran and Robin, the two detectives in the story, are perfect examples of Rowling's brilliant characterization. They are deep and complex and immensely likable in both their strengths and their flaws.
Apart from the amazing characters, I enjoy her world-building. I was incredibly fortunate in college to study in England for a semester. One of the things I LOVE about this series is that I feel like I get to go back and visit England as I read. She also has the ability to describe a room perfectly in just a few sentences while many authors take multiple paragraphs to accomplish the same task.
Lastly, I adore her mind-twisting and complicated plots with their abundant amount of details and red herrings. Like all mystery lovers, I take it as a personal challenge to try and figure out the killer before the end of the book. For this Strike series, I've only guessed correctly twice, and each time I didn't know exactly how they did it. The two times I did accurately guess the killer, I was blown away by the creativity of the crime, and I never once felt cheated. I had all of the information I needed, and as a result, was never disappointed.
THE FINAL EMPIRE (Mistborn, #1) by Brandon Sanderson
If there was one book that I had to pick as my favorite 2020 read--it would be THE FINAL EMPIRE by Brandon Sanderson.
This book is wonderful. I can't get over it. I'm not often emotionally invested in books. I tend to take a scholarly approach to all of the books that I read. I try to dissect them and learn from their authors. However, this book swallowed me whole. I became so invested in the plot and the characters that I bawled multiple times before the story was over, and that almost NEVER happens to me.
I spent a few days thinking about this book before I was able to move on to the next one in the series. I wanted to fully understand my feelings about it, and why it had such a strong impact on me as a reader.
The book is immensely creative. The magic system is unlike any I have read before. However, I think most of my enjoyment came from not only reading a beautifully told story, but from reading a story that felt complete. I don't have to read the next book in the series if I don't want to--that is how satisfied the ending left me. I closed the book after the last page and felt content. Even though Sanderson wrecked my emotions not long before this, I felt at peace, joyful even. It was beautifully done, and it was an incredibly profound reading experience for me as a new writer.
There you have it! The 2020 winners of the first annual MVB Awards! I hope you had some enjoyable 2020 reads as well. I can't wait to see what 2021 has in store. (In the book world, that is! NOT in the continuation of the dumpster fire that was 2020. Books...just more books.)
Happy Reading,
Sam
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