If you’re on BookTok, then you have probably become accustomed to being recommended books categorized as “must reads” — but these books we’re about to recommend you … really must be read! We broke down the most popular books on TikTok in 2023, and which ones that are definitely worth reading. Keep reading to uncover all of the best BookTok books of 2023 — and to see if you’ve read them already.
Without a doubt, Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros has become one of the biggest books of 2023, thanks to BookTok! Debuting in May 2023, the book blew up on the video platform, helping it skyrocket to the top of the New York Times Bestseller list. Not only that, the second book in the series, Iron Flame, also debuted in 2023 — and was released on November 8.
Yarros revealed that the entire series was originally supposed to only be three books. However, she quickly realized upon writing the first book that she would need five books to tell the tale.
“Probably about 30,000 words in, I called my editor and I said, I think this is a five-book series,” the author told Variety. “And that’s how we went from three to five. And then as I looked at what needed to be accomplished in this book in order to get to where we are at the end of Iron Flame, and to have brought in the additional characters and brought everything to this point, I knew that the defining end of Part One had to happen.”
Fourth Wing follows protagonist 20-year-old Violet Sorrengail, who must join hundreds of candidates at Basgiath War College in order to become an elite dragon rider. The fantasy series includes a mix of romance, a Hunger Games-level of carnage and of course, dragons.
As for when the third book will come out? Since the first two of the Empyrean Series were both released in 2023, fans were hopeful that they wouldn’t have to wait long for the third. However, Yarros revealed that that won’t be the case this time around.
“We haven’t announced yet,” she told Entertainment Weekly in November 2023 of the third book’s release date. “I will tell you that the speed at which I wrote Fourth Wing, in between I wrote In the Likely Event, and then I wrote Iron Flame happened so quickly in the middle of touring, in the middle of everything, that it was really hard on my body.”
Click through our gallery to uncover all of the best 2023 books from BookTok.
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