Top 5 Dramas

Welcome to my unapologetically casual top-5 series. Follow the tag ‘Top 5 2023’ for more. There are no stars and no metrics. The only criteria is how much I enjoyed the book, and how well its strengths place it primarily in a given category. Yes, books can appear on more than one list if they fit.

Drama:

‘Drama’ gets a bad rap. It brings to mind 4pm talk shows, poorly written dialogue, and internet comment sections. Even so, no story can live without drama. Drama in literature is conflict. Drama is honest emotions and opposing thoughts and desires pitted against one another. Drama is a thread stretched to the breaking point.

Although they span different genres, tones, and styles, each of these books is the essence of drama in its own way.

Top 5:

5. A Darker Shade of Magic – This universe-hopping adventure sculpts excellent characters with passionate views and the gumption to share them. The hot-headed wizards of the Many Londons are the poster children for messy drama. This might sound like an insult, but I mean it as the highest praise: if you have ever enjoyed a CW DC-verse show, this series is for you.

4. House of Shattered Wings – Gravitas permeates this alternate-fantasy world war 1. Memory loss and mistaken identity. Betrayals and old grudges. Literal war between heaven and hell. HOSW is a beautifully written novel filled with Drama with a a capital “D”. 

3. Lies of Locke Lamora – I don’t normally go for palace intrigue, but this machiavellian fantasy thriller executes the conflict between rival factions so well, it won me over. Believable, despicable, and cunning, the lords of the City of the Secret Peace create drama you feel in your bones. 

2. Jade City – The Green Bone Saga is filled with deep-seeded, irreconcilable internal conflict – one of my favorite types of drama. Most of the central characters in this generational ensemble epic are of two minds and two worlds. Following them as they seek to heal the rifts within their hearts and their families is a true privilege. 

1. The 5th Season – The Broken Earth is one of my favorite series. It is so well-rounded. It features action, romance, deep worldbuilding, and, yes, drama dripping from every page. The people of the stillness are hard by necessity, and when they come in conflict the earth shakes…. sometimes literally. 

Honorable Mention: The Last Human – I wish more people were talking about this quirky little drama about a lost girl trying to find her way in a wide, weird universe.