10. Urban Fantasy For Every State
We start off our countdown of our top ten blogs of 2013 with our attempt to find an urban fantasy novel set in every single state in the United States. We got pretty far! How many states have you visited while reading?
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9. Book Review: The Host, or the trials and tribulations of the victorious alien invader
When I saw that The Host was coming out as a movie, I saw the writing on the wall. I was gonna read myself another Stephanie Meyer book. And, surprise, it was a pretty fun popcorn read. Plus, I’ve always wanted to read a story from the point of view of the brain-stealing alien invader!
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8. Book Review: Treachery, kidnapping, and 24th century super-commandos
What would I do without some ridiculous pseudo-military scifi adventure? Probably be very sad. Give me a space adventure, and I am a very happy canary. Though that didn’t save this book from getting smacked with a two star rating.
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7. How Books Change Us — And Save Us
A heartbreakingly lovely article on how one book can pick you up and sew you back together. It’s a must read, and I’m very glad the canary nation thinks so too!
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6. Beautiful Creatures and Awkward Audiobooks
A young adult paranormal romance written with a boy as the main character, what? That’s what I thought too. But it’s done with a deft hand and leaves you with a read full of mystery, romance, tragedy, and adventure. While the movie version failed to stay true to the book in a lot of ways, the book is a good read that plays with our expectations and delivers a good story.
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5. Book Review: Pantomime by Laura Lam
A new release that left us squawking in frustration. We couldn’t even really do this book justice in our review, because it all hinged on one twist that we couldn’t bring ourselves to ruin. A young adult book that takes a hard look at our roles in society, gender roles, and, of course, how sometimes, we just need to run away to join the circus.
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4. Storytelling Podcast Shortlist
This list of great listens takes fourth place on our most-viewed blog posts this year. Who says great stories have to be written down to be enjoyed? Here are our favorite podcasts.
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3. Book review: Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan
We love the Percy Jackson books by Rick Riordan, we really do. But another series by this YA author captured our hearts this year – and, looking at our views, yours too! The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan is the second book in the Kane Chronicles that follows a sister-brother team as they battle prophecy and ancient Egyptian gods.
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2. Cover Art in the World of Harry Dresden
Excited about the upcoming Harry Dresden book? We were too! It was a painful wait for Cold Days, and now it’s an even more agonizing wait for Skin Game (expected publication, May 27, 2014). Our canary coping mechanisms went into full gear with this collection of Harry Dresden cover art, and again with all the cover art from foreign publications. Now all we got to do is survive till May.
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The top-viewed post this year is, unsurprisingly, a tie between our favorite top fives: fantasy assassins, literary wizards, and vampire and werewolves. In a three way pageview battle of epic proportions, who knows who’ll come out on top. My personal vote is behind Gandalf, though. Because, well, Gandalf.
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Onward to the next year, canaries!
The Book Canaries 