J. K. Rowling’s phenomenally successful Harry Potter Series has ended its dominance on the Whitcoulls Top 100 Books List, with Kiwis voting overwhelmingly in favour of Lucinda Riley’s historical fiction.
Whitcoulls Book Manager Joan Mackenzie says, ‘Lucinda Riley released the eighth book in her phenomenally successful series The Seven Sisters in May, and thousands of readers read it at pace and placed their votes quickly which secured her the top spot. There are several new titles which have made it to the Top 10, with Harry Potter coming in at tenth place, the furthest away from the top spot he’s ever been.
Significantly, 38 of the books on the new Top 100 are newcomers and Mackenzie notes that TikTok has again had a strong influence on voting and has introduced new authors to the List including Holly Jackson’s A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder Series (#17); Tahereh Mafi’s Shatter Me Series (#31); Emily Henry who has three novels in the Top 100; and Ana Huang’s Twisted Series (#37).
Fiction and fantasy titles always dominate the Top 100 along with a sprinkling of memoirs, classics, self-help and inspirational books. Homegrown talent is also prevalent and this year 12 of our foremost writers and personalities have made the cut, including Ruby Tui with her confronting memoir Straight Up (#23); Eleanor Catton’s long-awaited novel Birnam Wood (#33); Sam Neill’s charming memoir Did I Ever Tell You This? (#56); Needs Adult Supervision by Emily Writes (#73); and Catherine Chidgey’s award-winning novel The Axeman’s Carnival (#76)
Other highlights of this year’s Top 100 are the dominance of women writers who claim the top ten spots; word of mouth books such as Lessons in Chemistry (#4), Where the Crawdads Sing (#6) Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow (#9); and eight authors who appear more than once, including bestselling fantasy writer Sarah J. Maas and fiction writer Colleen Hoover.
