Shaunagh O'Conner describes the novel as "quirky, stranger-than-fiction tales from history", and praising its use of "fascinating details of life in the 1600s." Laura D. Shumar compared Year of Wonders to "Albert Camus's La Peste (1947; The Plague, 1948)." In an interview with the author, Noah Adams called it "heartbreaking." Shumar also stated that "Anna was not a person, but a perfect character." Laurence Mazzeno of Magill Book Reviews praises it as "Exceptionally well researched and deftly crafted".[6]
In 2020, the book was named the 100th most banned and/or challenged book in the United States from 2010 to 2019, according to the American Library Association.[7]
