For #sixforsunday this week the prompt is favourite book one in series, these are the books that set the tone, the ones that decide whether this is a series I’m going to invest my time in because the world building and characters are just exceptional. It’s so hard to decide as there are so many series that I adore, but I have gone for the ones that felt like book one went over and above rather than simply setting a scene for future books in the series. As always, a huge thank you to Steph at A Little but a Lot blog for taking the time to put together these prompts which are always a ton of fun!

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Every so often a book will come around that is so good that it makes me re-evaluate all my previous 5 star reviews. This was probably only my second dabble into YA fantasy a few years ago and it had me hooked. I didn’t feel hampered by having not read the Grisha trilogy first because these characters, this part of the world are 100% their own and what fantastic characters they are, I adore Kaz so much that I have a custom funko based on him! I love Crooked Kingdom just as much, Nina and Matthias are adorable.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

This book has the dubious honour of being the only one to make me cry in public. When we lost Rue it became clear that this wasn’t going to run with the trope that the good guys always miraculously make it out okay. This is also the book where our characters are at their rawest and have the truest sense of desperation. At the time I first read this the format felt unique and I really didn’t feel like I was reading a YA book, it probably remains my favourite of the Trilogy, although it could do with some Finnick!

Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

I know a lot of people struggle with the footnotes in this series, I would honestly say that it that applies to you, please give the audio a go, the narrator is hilarious! The thing I love about Nevernight the most is the Red Church and all that happens within it’s walls (other than “that” bit) Mia’s journey to get to that point is brilliant, everything that she suffers, shapes her but also reveals a level of compassion that her exterior wouldn’t suggest. Mr Kindly is at his finest. Mia’s creativity and determination is fierce and honestly I picked up book 2 straight away and thankfully only had a month to wait until book 3.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas

I know that the first book in the ToG series isn’t always as well liked but for me I found it amazing, Caleana’s trials to try become champion are breathtaking. It’s actually high on my list to re-read. I think that actually so much for future books in the series was set up here and the tone of how much of a force to be reckoned with Caleana is. It remains one of my most loved series because of the emotional reckoning it brought and other than Heir of Fire I adored every single page.

Cinder by Merissa Meyer

Many of you will know that I have a real love/hate relationship with fairytale retellings. I feel that the market became absolutely saturated with them but The Lunar Chronicles totally blew me away, from the very moment I started reading Cinder I knew this was a retelling I could get on board with. Cinder is an amazing character and I loved the authors interpretation of the more well known moments in the traditional story. The overall arc and combination of characters was awesome.

Illuminae by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman

The Illuminae Files are pretty special books, they are laid out in a unique and wonderful way especially in that they use different mediums to tell the story. I was utterly drawn into the world and it’s crazy AI. There is a limited cast which works well and Kady is amazing with her resourcefulness, the countdown element adds dread and is a constant across the series and helps to anchor what it happening. I’ve heard the audio is outstanding so I think I may well grab them when I sign back up to audible!