Thinker Awards is posted under the umbrella of Top Ten Tuesday, an original weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and it’s yearly prompt of “favourite books of x year”.

The Thinker Awards:
Best in 2018 Fiction

Hello, friends! Welcome to this year’s installment of the Thinker Awards, a yearly book awards ceremony hosted here on my blog celebrating the best in fiction experienced during 2018. Joining me in this year’s shindig are fellow buds of mine from the YA community –

 2018 Thinker Award Panelists:

Cherry (at) _forevermint (instagram)
Aimal (at) Bookshelves and Paperbacks (blog)
Inah (at) The Bibliophile Confessions (blog)
Joey (at) Thoughts and Afterthoughts

The only rule is that choices had to be experienced and/or read for the first time in 2018 but is not limited to 2018 titles.

But I’d like to hear from you! Which book gets your award of “Best Overall Book of 2018“?

Cheers!

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2018 Thinker Awards

(All choices link to their respective Goodreads)
  

Best Visuals
 standout imagery or world building

Cherry: Language of Thorns, Leigh Bardugo
Aimal: The Queen of Blood, Sarah Beth Durst
Inah: Star-Touched Stories, Roshani Chokshi
Joey: Skyward, Brandon Sanderson

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Best Voice
 compelling, authentic, or humorous narration

Cherry: #FashionVictim, Amina Akhtar
Aimal: You, Caroline Kepnes
Inah: Sadie, Courtney Summers
Joey: Odd One Out, Nic Stone

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Best Fight Sequence
thrilling action scenes

Cherry: N/A
Aimal: Heroine Complex, Sarah Kuhn
Inah: N/A
Joey: Deadly Class Vol. 1, Rick Remender

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Best Adaptation
television or film feature

Cherry: Crazy Rich Asians, Kevin Kwan
Aimal: Love, Simon, Becky Albertalli
Inah: Love, Simon, Becky Albertalli
Joey: The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson

Best Cover Design
use of typography and images

Cherry: Sea Witch, Sarah Henning
Aimal: Emergency Contact, Mary H. K. Choi
Inah: To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, Jenny Han
Joey: Check, Please!, Ngozi Ukazu (PIE. AND. HOCKEY.)

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Best Original Story
a refreshing concept

Cherry: The Boneless Mercies, April Genevieve Tucholke
Aimal: You Bring the Distant Near, Mitali Perkins
Inah: Sagala #3, Tori Tadiar
Joey: All of This is True, Lygia Day Penaflor

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Best Surprise
an unexpected favourite

Cherry: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, Mary Ann Shaffer
Aimal: Not Even Bones, Rebecca Schaeffer
Inah: To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, Jenny Han
Joey: Darius the Great is Not Okay, Adib Khorram

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Best Disappointment
an unfortunate let down

Cherry: Wintersong, S. Jae-Jones
Aimal: Horns, Joe Hill
Inah: Royals, Rachel Hawkins
Joey: City of Ghosts, Victoria Schwab

Best Book Title
a catchy book title

Cherry: Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik
Aimal: Dance of Thieves, Mary E. Pearson
Inah: What If It’s Us, Becky Albertalli & Adam Silvera
Joey: What If It’s Us, Becky Albertalli & Adam Silvera

Best Tearjerker
tissues? check.

Cherry: N/A
Aimal: A Girl Like That, Tanaz Bhathena
Inah: A Short History of the Girl Next Door, Jared Reck
Joey: N/A

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Best Book Hype
a book everyone was talking about

Cherry: The Cruel Prince, Holly Black
Aimal: Sky in the Deep, Adrienne Young
Inah: Sadie, Courtney Summers
Joey: The Poppy War, R. F. Kuang

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Best Author on Social Media
protect them at all costs

Cherry: Susan Dennard
Aimal: Arvin Ahmadi (re: “deadline beef with Penguin”)
Inah: Angie Thomas
Joey: N/A

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Best Debut Author & Book
welcome to the community

Cherry: The Kiss Quotient, Helen Hoang
Aimal: The Poppy War, R.F. Kuang
Inah: The Astonishing Color of After, Emily X. R. Pan
Joey: Darius the Great is Not Okay, Adib Khorram

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Best Book Community Moment
standout moment in 2018

Cherry: N/A
Aimal: “…when a certain book box released a phallic shaped soap”
Inah: “…when the community united for #BookishWish”
Joey: “…running through NYC in the rain just shy of midnight to get mcnuggets with Aila @ One Way Or An Author” 

Best Influencer of 2018
a community member who went above and beyond

Cherry: Alyxandria (at) TheBooksBuzz (instagram)
Aimal: Jen (at) bookavid (twitter)
Inah: Jen (at) bookavid (twitter)
Joey: Brittany (at) Book Rambles (blog) (honestly tho, she kept several of us alive during BEA with sustenance)

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Best Anthropomorphic or Animal Sidekick
supportive non-human allies

Cherry: Nailah, Zelie’s lionaire, Children of Blood and Bone, Tomi Adeyemi
Aimal: N/A
Inah: N/A
Joey: MBot, Skyward, Brandon Sanderson

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Best Mentor
actually a wizard

Cherry: N/A
Aimal: Doc, Dear Martin, Nic Stone
Inah: Dr. Covey, To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. Jenny Han
Joey: Billy Dent, Blood of My Blood, Barry Lyga

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Best Antagonist
a character who best challenged the hero

Cherry: Eli, Vicious, Victoria Schwab
Aimal: Darius’ father, Darius the Great is Not Okay, Adib Khorram
Inah: N/A
Joey: Father John, After the Fire, Will Hill

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Best Friendship
those who would share their fries

Cherry: Laurie & Sarah, One Day in December, Josie Silver
Aimal: Monday and Claudia, Monday’s Not Coming, Tiffany Jackson
Inah: Ben and Dylan, What If It’s Us, Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
Joey: Darius and Sohrab, Darius the Great is Not Okay, Adib Khorram

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Best Squad Goals
those you'd want to hang with/carry out a task

Cherry: Fray, Ovie, Juniper, Runa, Trigve, The Boneless Mercies, April Tucholke
Aimal: Squad from Shadow and the Fox, Julie Kagawa
Inah: Riel and Constantino, Sagala, Tori Tadiar
Joey: Skyward Flight, Skyward, Brandon Sanderson

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Best Ship
would go down with the ship

Cherry: Stella Lane & Michael Phan, The Kiss Quotient, Helen Hoang
Aimal: Jase and Kazi, Dance of Thieves, Mary E. Pearson
Inah: Zorie and Lennon, Starry Eyes, Jenn Bennett
Joey: Jude and Cardan, The Wicked King, Holly Black

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Best Supporting Character
contemporary, mystery, historical

Cherry: N/A
Aimal: Sohrab, Darius the Great is Not Okay, Adib Khorram
Inah: Kitty Song Covey, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Jenny Han
Joey:  Agent Carlyle, After the Fire, Will Hill

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Best Hero
contemporary, mystery, historical

Cherry: N/A
Aimal: Sadie, Sadie, Courtney Summers
Inah: Sadie, Sadie, Courtney Summers
Joey: Sadie, Sadie, Courtney Summers

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Best Supporting Character
science fiction/fantasy

Cherry: Sydney, Vengeful, Victoria Schwab
Aimal: Valyn, The Emperor’s Blades, Brian Staveley
Inah: N/A
Joey: Jacob, City of Ghosts, Victoria Schwab

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Best Hero
science fiction/fantasy

Cherry: Marcella, Vengeful, Victoria Schwab
Aimal: Wren, Girls of Paper and Fire, Natasha Ngan
Inah: N/A
Joey: Zelie, Children of Blood and Bone, Tomi Adeyemi

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Best Graphic Novel/Manga

Cherry: The Prince & the Dressmaker, Jen Wang
Aimal: Saga, Vol. 1, Brian K. Vaughn/Fiona Staples
Inah: Sagala, Tori Tadiar
Joey: Deadly Class Vol. 1, Rick Remender

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Best Poetry

Cherry: Sea of Strangers, Lang Leav
Aimal: N/A
Inah: Gmorning, Gnight!, Lin Manuel Miranda & Jonny Sun
Joey: Gmorning, Gnight!, Lin Manuel Miranda & Jonny Sun

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Best Mystery/Thriller

Cherry: Truly Devious, Maureen Johnson
Aimal: Sadie, Courtney Summers
Inah: Sadie, Courtney Summers
Joey: Blood of my Blood, Barry Lyga

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Best Contemporary

Cherry: The Kiss Quotient, Helen Hoang
Aimal: A Girl Like That, Tanaz Bhathena
Inah: Starry Eyes, Jenn Bennett
Joey: After the Fire, Will Hill

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Best Science Fiction/Fantasy

Cherry: Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik
Aimal: Not Even Bones, Rebecca Schaeffer
Inah: N/A
Joey: Skyward, Brandon Sanderson

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Best Overall

Cherry: Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik
Aimal: A Girl Like That, Tanaz Bhathena
Inah: Sadie, Courtney Summers
Joey: Skyward, Brandon Sanderson

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Afterthoughts:

And that concludes the Thinker Awards 2018 Ceremony!

Any picks you’d up-vote as well? What’s your favourite overall book of 2018? As I had read so few books in 2017, I can certainly be easily persuaded to shift around my TBR for new finds!

Cheers,
Joey

connect: 
afterthoughtAn // twitter
anotherafterthought // goodreads
picturevomit // instagram
letterboxd // filmvomit