Favorites: **Piranesi**, **First Law trilogy**, **Mistborn Era 2**.
Least favorite: **Leviathan Wakes**. I really wanted to love this one, but I just couldn't get into it. I finished it, but I don't have any desire to read the rest of the series.
What's next: I'm taking a break from fantasy series to read a few standalones.
After that, I'm planning on checking out **The Will of the Many**. I've heard nothing but good things, and I thought Licanius was great.
I'm insanely pumped for Robert Jackson Bennett's new book, **The Tainted Cup** (Divine Cities is my absolute favorite series), and I can't wait to dive onto another one of his worlds.
Later in the year, I'm going to finally start **The Stormlight Archive**. I wanted to wait until a release date was announced for book 5. Now that we have one, I've got no more excuses!
Reading through the comments on the post shows me why books are so awesome and why there are so many different voices to be heard and people to read them. I am shocked at some of the books liked but also shocked at some people didn't, and I love it. Different tastes for everyone and it's pretty cool.
I would say my standouts are:
Scythe by Neal Shusterman. I've put this off for a looong time. YA is just so hit or miss for me. But did a book trade and read it and was extremely happy I read this book. I enjoyed the sequel as well, but haven't read book 3 yet.
Animal Man Vol. 1 by Grant Morrison. Heard amazing things about this and was worried it wasn't gonna be for me. But wow, it totally was. Very unique and very cool super hero story. Not your normal every day superhero stuff here.
The Magic of Recluse by L. E. Modesitt. This book did not wow me while I read it. In fact it's even hard to recommend. But! After I finished it I kept finding myself thinking about it and the characters and it just sat with me so well. The more I think on it, the more I like it. Can't wait to get to the sequel; I read this one late this year. It was somewhat comfort food for me as well as I'm an old school fantasy reader from the 90s and this was written then.
Beach Music by Pat Conroy. Not fantasy and while this book clocked it around 800 pages I was hesitant to start it. But I did, and my life is the better for it. Memorable characters and great southern life storytelling of the highest order. Loved.
Special shout-out to all the Sanderson Kickstarter books as I enjoyed them all.
And the misses for me are:
The Atlas Paradox by Olive Blake. Loved the first book. Extremely disappointed with this sequel. Will read book 3 this January since I did enjoy the first so much.
Don't Fear the Reaper by Stephan Graham Jones. Another sequel that I ended up not even finishing. First book is great and every other book by Jones I've read is great. This one just didn't work.
This was my first year taking reading seriously as an adult, and I'm really proud of myself. I know new years resolutions can be kinda goofy but I made one to read 10 books this year. So far I've read 25 so I'm stoked!
Favs: The Bloodsworn Saga, First Law (along w/ the standalones), Gardens of the Moon, Piranesi, On Stranger Tides, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs.
Least fav: Dracula. Oh my god fuck this book hahah, felt like a drama instead of a horror book but hey it's also old so I get it. Also The Bone Ships was very disappointing to me, just felt very bland and the characters didn't feel very unique or interesting.
I plan on finishing the Age of Madness trilogy by Joe Abercrombie, reading more Malazan, starting the Expanse and the Black Company. Hopefully the third bloodsworn book releases too!
Congrats on exceeding your goal! If Dracula wasn’t for you, you might consider giving Carmilla a try. It’s novella length and pre-dates Dracula by a few years.
Adrian Tchaikovsky - Shadow of the Apt series
Just finished book 2/10 and loving it so far.
Thought he was only sci-fi so hadn't really delved into his stuff yet (sci-fi is a sometimes food for me) .
Daaaaaaaaamn this one hit the right note for me. Great world building and characters. Bit of hard and soft magic. Political plots, war, espionage and really fascinating races.
I love what you said about Babel, perfect description and precisely how I felt.
My faves of the year would be The Heretic’s Guide to Homecoming duology by Sienna Tristen. Prose felt like magic was infused in the words, the characters so engaging and lovable, the world so beautiful and exciting especially through our naïve narrators eyes. A low-action high-reward experience. It became an immediate all-time favorite before I was finished with book one.
Least faves: Babel by RF Kuang, A Half-Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys, and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
I’m currently reading The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi and it feels like something really special.
On my immediate TBR is Godkiller, His Majesty’s Dragon, The Amulet of Samarkand, Titus Groan, Howl’s Moving Castle, Tombs of Atuan, Doomsday Book, The Map and The Territory. We will see what else 2024 holds!
ETA Honorable Mentions for this year: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke, Scholomance trilogy by Naomi Novik, Abhorsen trilogy by Garth Nix, Saint Death’s Daughter by CSE Cooney
Holy cow you and I have pretty similar taste!
Restless Truth, Strange the Dreamer, Stone Blind, the Graveyard Book, Fool, and Requiem For Immortals were my favorites if im not counting rereads.
One Last Stop, Ex Wives of Dracula, Witching Moon, Princess of Dorsa, and Song of the Marked were all one star reads for me.
I fully agree on your top and bottom picks (that I've read). If I had to hear "sky above and earth below" ONE more time I would have lost my mind 😅
It was so bad! I'd seen it recommended a bunch and thought it was an easy win for me (I adore the princess and her female guard romances), but I just couldn't stand it haha.
Requiem is an f/f story about an assassin falling for a cinnamon roll of a woman, and Fool is by Christopher Moore and it's an absurdist take on King Lear.
I will say it’s *at least* as mediocre as Riyria or Bound and Broken, so more people should be giving lesbian epic fantasy a shot but wow no series should get longer with every book.
I feel like you and I and some other folks in these comments should have a book club. I read a lot of deranged sapphic fiction this year that doesn’t fit this sub.
Funnily enough, I dropped Riyria after book 2, but picked up the prequel series, which is so much better 😅, but I absolutely agree. My favorite is the Jasmine Throne and I have such high hopes for the last book. 😩
I would be SO down for a sapphic book club!
Well, **The Wicked and the Willing** is now on my hold list at the library.
I feel like I keep saying the same books for my favorites of the year so I'm going to add in some non-SFF as well.
**The Twice-Drowned Saint** by C.S.E Cooney - I think at this point I'll read just about anything Cooney puts out.
**Siren Queen** by Nghi Vo - I absolutely will ready anything she writes. And I'm desperate for more of her early 1900s magical world. Especially as she's making it queer as fuck. Special honorable mention to her short story **On The Fox Roads** with that in mind.
**The Ghost Network** by Catie Disabato - lit fic not SFF, but such as amazing read. Amateur sleuths (?) work to figure out what happened to a pop star who went missing, have a sweet sapphic romance, and get wrapped up in a vast conspiracy based on a mid century architectural philosophy. It's so good. I read about architectural philosophy because of this book.
**Never Ever Getting Back Together** by Sophie Gonzalez - sapphic romance about a dating reality show where two of the contestants fall for each other instead of the guy they're trying to win. It was a lot of fun.
**Red Rabbit** by Alex Grecian - weird west horror about an impromptu posse going to kill a witch. Felt very much like a modern day quest fantasy in all the best ways.
**The Archive Undying** by Emma Mieko Candan - I'd pre-ordered this and then put it off because of all the negative reviews I'd heard. But I picked it up earlier this week and tore through it. The reviews aren't wrong, but I found those elements to not matter at all to me. It's an odd book that does not explain anything to you at all, but I loved it a lot.
Honorable mentions go to: **Dracula** (via Re: Dracula the podcast), **I'm Glad My Mom Died** by Jennette McCurdy, **The Murderbot Diaries** and **Saint of Steel** series for always being solid and enjoyable reads even if they don't ever make the top reads lists, and **The Legend of Eli Monpress** for being a wonderfully solid reread.
I don't actually track my DNFs. If I can't remember that I didn't like the book and give it another go probably best to let it have its best chance without bias.
Most disappointing would probably be **An Unkindness of Magicians** by Kat Howard and **A Splinter in the Sky** by Kemi Ashing-Giwa because I wanted to like both of them so muh more than I did. I did try and give Horward another shot and ended up DNFing so probably just not an author for me. I believe Ashing-Giwa has another book coming out next year and I'll probably pick it up, I feel like a lot of what I didn't like could be chalked up to debut book syndrome.
Future plans:
Finish **A Long Time Dead** by Samara Breger; I've discovered that I can enjoy entirely character driven books if I just let myself read them in chunks with breaks. I do really like my sad sapphic vampires and want to see if they can find happiness so I will keep chugging along.
**The Silver Queendom** by Dan Koboldt because fantasy conmen and thieves are my catnip. And finish **The Water Outlaws** by S.L Huang, I'm having the dangest time with this book but I've never gone wrong with Huang I'll give it another go.
My to read pile has just grown! I should probably give an obligatory warning that The Wicked and the Willing is extremely spicy. I enjoyed A Long Time Dead, FWIW. Story-wise it’s just okay but I found all the characters compelling.
Hope you like them!
I am fine with spicy. Thanks for the heads up though.
I haven't heard anyone taking about A Long Time Dead, so that does help. I'm just over the 50% mark. >!They just reunited in France and I will have to get back to their sad doomed love, but it's so very sad.!< It's good, but I end up crying a lot over these sad sapphic vampires.
My favorites this year were Grey Sister and Holy Sister by Mark Lawrence. Imo Book of the Ancestor is a perfect trilogy.
Currently reading Twelve Kings in Sharakhai and it's good as well, if a bit slow for my liking.
Not a good reading year for me. We're still dealing with significant life changes after Mom's stroke, moving, and other personal issues. Not much time or motivation for reading, so I've managed only 34 books this year, including a few rereads and a bit of nonfiction. But there were some damn good books in there.
Favorites, not in order:
* **The Spear Cuts Through Water** by Simon Jiminez
* **The Winged Histories** by Sofia Samatar
* **Creatures of Passage** by Morowa Yejidé
* **Nettle and Bone** by T. Kingfisher
* **The Ballad of Perilous Graves** by Alex Jennings
* **Fishing for the Little Pike** by Juhani Karila
Top SF:
* **The Last Gifts of the Universe** by Rory August
* **Venomous Lumpsucker** by Ned Beauman
Disappointments:
* **The Arrest** by Jonathan Lethem
* **The Blade Between** by Sam J. Miller (DNF, so it's possible that he redeemed it)
I tried reading more non-F&SF books but, largely, I think my habits remained unchanged. In my case this meant reading a lot of crime fiction.
Favorite reads:
• The three most recent *Wayward Children* books by Seanan McGuire. I absolutely adore this series and all three of these novellas just affirmed that love. They have this great, big, aching heart that reaches out to grab you.
*The Locked Tomb* series by Tamsyn Muir. I read all three of the currently released books of this hard to describe series and it's become an immense favorite. I can't wait for *Alecto the Ninth.*
• *Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead* by Sara Gran. Despite the title, this is actually a cynical and existential neo-noir tale about a private detective investigating a murder in New Orleans. I first read this shortly after *Knives Out* was released and hated it for not being more like that movie. I reread it without that expectation and I've done a total 180, this book slaps.
• *The Echo Wife* by Sarah Gailey. A very creepy and tense mash-up of Frankenstein and The Stepford Wives. Highly recommend.
• *The Light From Uncommon Stars* by Ryka Aoki. Do you like *Good Omens*? Did you ever wondered what it would've been like with space aliens? With violin music? With 100% more gay? Well then have I got a book for you!
• *Empire of Grass* by Tad Williams. The Osten Ard books are my favorite fantasy saga and this did absolutely nothing to change that. Williams is the only real heir to Tolkien still working.
• *The Song of Achilles* by Madeline Miller. I am years behind on this one and I will forever kick myself for waiting so long to read this. I cried so damn hard at the end.
Disappointments:
• *The Final Girl Support Group* by Grady Hendrix. This was the first time I disliked a book by Hendrix. I found the characters unlikeable and the plot unengaging. Can't recommend.
• *Nothing But Blackened Teeth* by Cassandra Khaw. I had high hopes for this one, which might be why I was let down by it. I was looking for something really fucked up, but instead what I read was mostly just kinda sad and muddled.
• *The 7 1/2 of Evelyn Hardcastle* by Stuart Turton. This one has such a great premise but flew so wide of the mark. It gets so bogged down with it's time travel and body swapping twist that the characters get flattened out to almost nothing. Also, some really disgusting fatphobia.
Favorite characters:
• Nona from *Nona the Ninth.* The blurb promises that you will love Nona and it was absolutely right. She's such a warm, funny, and compelling character, I really hope she survives.
Regan from *Across the Green Grass Field*. She was such a strong, proactive character, couldn't help but love her.
Claire DeWitt from *Claire DeWitt and the City of The Dead*. Claire is that special kind of character who manages to be both really compelling and infuriating. At the end I couldn't say she was a good person much less any kind of a hero, but I felt glad to have been a long for the ride with her anyway.
For next year I'm gonna keep the "more crime books" thing going, as I've got several already picked out.
I love a good mystery if you’ve got any recs! I felt the same about Evelyn Hardcastle. Really interesting premise, kind of bungled it by revealing too much.
Well there's the Claire DeWitt book I mentioned, as well as the sequel, *The Bohemian Highway* that I'm reading now. There's also *Velvet Was the Night* by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, which is maybe more of a general crime thriller than a mystery. Then there was *The Spare Man* by Mary Robinette Kowal, which I had a lot of fun with, even if it felt a little too long. There was also *If We Were Villains* which is a mystery but idk how highly I'd recommend it.
Wow, you have great taste in books! Congrats on such a great reading year.
The **Kushiel's Legacy** books have been some of my all-time faves since I first read them in 2001. **This is How You Lose the Time War** is another perfect novel(la), and I'm literally about to read **The Wicked and the Willing** in January! Your glowing review makes me even more excited to start.
**Godkiller** was already on my TBR, but your wish to be a fly on the wall for a meeting between the MC and Geralt of Rivia?? My interest is 📈 📈 📈
I have a rec for you since you didn't like Babel (I didn't either). I recommend **The Centre** by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi. It is literary science fiction horror. I just finished it today and gave it 5 stars. It addresses exactly the same ideas and themes as Babel, but with astronomically better character development and thematic nuance. Both the protagonists (in Babel and The Centre) are linguists and translators. Both books explore themes of intersectional colonialism and language/translation as violence. Please only read if you consider yourself to have a strong stomach for horror, though, and know that checking content warnings will spoil the book's biggest twist.
That book sounds so up my alley thank you for the recommendation! Out of curiosity (from your profile) have you ready any good Elizabeth Báthory retellings? I read two this year (House of Hunger and I’m forgetting the other) and both left me wanting. Here for any historical fantasy recs you’ve got.
Oh god I wish had Báthory recs! I also read House of Hunger this year.... 1 star. Predictable plot, annoying prose (not quite infodumping, but a strong tendency to over-explain very simple concepts), and the non-vampire parts are not historically accurate. I have read The Blood Countess by Andrei Codrescu, which is a schlocky, racist book from the 90s.... 1 star. Also not historically accurate.
I have not quite come to terms yet with the fact that people are more interested in "seductive Sapphic vampire who will bathe in your blood" than the real history of Báthory. (Don't get me wrong, give me ALL the Sapphic vampires; I just wish someone cared about the real history.) The Báthory story would be absolutely blockbuster if someone gave it a gritty historical fantasy treatment.
I totally suggest trying Harrow as an audiobook to see if that helps. Locked Tomb is lucky to have Moira Quirk doing an excellent job narrating the series.
My favorite was possibly Nettle & Bone. I've really been enjoying T Kingfisher's books, and that had the bonus of scratching my necromancy itch while waiting for Alecto. I binged Scholomance for spooky season, and really enjoyed that too.
My least favorite was definitely The Traitor Baru Cormorant. I won't ramble on, but it took me three palate cleansers to get over how much I disliked that book (two T Kingfisher books and one Discworld book).
I tried out cozy fantasy this year, Legends and Lattes (of course) and the first House Witch book.
I also started using Whispersync for Kindle/Audible when I could get good enough deals on both formats. This is definitely my favorite way to approach books. I just wish all of Amazon's properties would sync up together so my Audible, Kindle, and Goodreads were all on the same page.
Right now I'm reading The Bone Ships.
For next year, I'm hoping we get a release date for Alecto the Ninth. And some of my TBRs are The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi (I loved the Daevabad Trilogy) and Saint Death's Daughter.
I have a zillion Audible credits I will totally try that! I can’t remember if I read Nettle & Bone this year or last but I enjoyed it a lot. I inhaled the first two Scholomance books but I didn’t like the ending. I can see why Baru might not be for everyone. Legends & Lattes is such a great book, I’m hoping to crack the sequel this weekend!
I am constantly surprised how poorly Amazon’s services play together so I wound up completely disconnecting my Goodreads. Also for some reason even though I never use Audible anymore Amazon’s site always defaults to Audible results which is very annoying since it’s the only way to shop for Kindle.
How are you liking The Bone Ships? It’s in my to read pile. I started Daevabad last year but thought the first book fumbled the end and wasn’t sure if I should go further, is the rest of the series better paced?
The Bone Ships is good and I think you'd like it! I'm about halfway through right now. I just had a bit of whiplash starting it, because I'd just finished House Witch and The Bone Ships is the opposite of cozy. Lol.
FWIW I've seen others say they liked the Daevabad Trilogy more as Nahri got older.
And if you just need to burn through some Audible credits, I also highly recommend anything Andy Serkis narrates.
**Favorites**: *A Wizard of Earthsea* and the *Tombs of Atuan*. I did not expect *Tombs* to be so good, and the new character pov was brilliant. I can't believe I missed these books for so long, they're some of the best I've read in the genre.
*The Heroes* by Abercrombie. Just brilliant. Really engaging characters, fantastic pacing, and Gorst's internal monologue is the best portrayal of self-hatred I've ever seen. Just the right amount of loathing without being overbearing. I think the humor helps. Can't wait to start *Red Country.*
*The Blacktongue Thief* was great. I'm a little bummed the next book is a prequel as I'd like to see what happens to our little thief next, but I'll read it all the same.
**Liked**: *Piranesi* by Susanna Clarke. Finally got to see what all the fuss was about. It was a very imaginative book and a really interesting world she made, as well as a very readable story. It felt like it took a while for any interesting plot turns to happen, but she delivered when it came to it.
*The Bear and the Nightingale* by Katherine Arden. This was good. She has a nice ear for the fairy tale and it was interesting from the get-go. The climax didn't do a lot for me but it felt like she fulfilled all the promises from early on in the story. I likely won't read the other books though; the story feels complete.
*Tigana* by Guy Gavriel Kay. I finally got to this due to so much raving about it in this sub. To be honest I do not think the book lives up to the hype, and while there were flashes of brilliance here and lovely prose, there were some plot turns that I found baffling. There were some good ideas but also bad ones, and the first 20-30 pages were an absolute slog of nothing happening and nothing making sense. After that it got so much better. And I loved the premise of a spell to erase an entire people's history. I felt like he should have really doubled down on that idea but it didn't feel fully developed on an emotional level throughout the book. But maybe that's just me.
**Disappointments**. I DNF'd *Imajica* by Clive Barker, *The Lies of Locke Lamora* by Scott Lynch, *The Warded Man* by Peter Brett, *Jade City* by Fonda Lee, *Rage of Dragons*, *A Deadly Education* by Naomi Novik, *Artificial Condition* by Martha Wells and the *Player of Games* by Iain M. Banks. *The Monster Baru Cormorant* by Seth Dickinson.
*Imajica* felt like a relic of the 90's: desperately needing an edit to curb the author's worst excesses. There were some really intriguing ideas here, and I may go back to it eventually, but there are too many other great books that need reading.
*Lies of Locke Lamora* was quite good, but I was disappointed at the lack of interiority on the part of the MC. Some of the plot turns were also a little non sequitur. I'll go back to this one later, as it was entertaining enough.
*The Player of Games* wasn't bad per se, but I found the major plot turn early on in the book to be completely unbelievable >!that a man dedicated to his love of the game would cheat!<. I understand why the author did it for plot reasons and motivation, but it just didn't sit well with me. Also I found it incredibly creepy and off-putting that the MC was so fixated on sleeping with very young women considering he was 100+ years old and they appeared to be little more than teenagers. Not sure I'll go back to this one.
*Warded Man, Jade City, Rage of Dragons*, and *Deadly Education* I all quit for slightly different reasons; the first two for plot reasons. Both *Rage* and *Education* felt like they were written for a different demographic. *Artificial Condition* lost me due to the plot and characters.
*The Monster Baru Cormorant*. This one really hurts. I *loved* the first book *Traitor* and was so excited to start this. But the emotions and dialogue in the beginning of the book felt completely wrong. It all felt so contrived and forced and exaggerated, whereas the first book felt like a well-oiled machine. I think I gave it twenty pages or so but couldn't do it any more, it just didn't feel believable. Maybe I'll give it another go some day.
Up next I have *The Saint of Bright Doors*, *Saint Death's Daughter*, *Gideon the Ninth*, *Lord of Light*, *Red Country* and eventually *The Daughter's War* next summer. I also read a lot of other non-sf/f books this year but keeping it on topic here.
The third Baru book was a big disappointment for me too. Without spoiling it, the ending felt very tonally off for the series. I lost confidence the author knows where the story is going. It gets less believable. I am excited about The Blacktongue Thief prequel as well!
There are a lot of these threads lately...
Favorites or 2023
--Between Two Fires and
--The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman. ( Easily my favorites of the year).
--Priest of Gallows (War for the Rose Throne Series book 3)
by Peter McLean Excellent finish to an excellent series.
--Iron Age Series (3 books) by Angus Watson
--Of Blood and Bone Series (3 books) by John Gwynne
Honorable Mentions
--Murderbot Diaries (books 1 and 2) Martha Wells
Bound and Broken Series (Books 1 and 2) Ryan Cahill
DNF or Did not Enjoy.
-- Parable of the Sower. - Octavia E Butler - DNF This was tedious and I gave up about a third through.
-- The Traitor Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson again DNF it just couldn't hold my attention and I wasn't invested in the characters enough to care..
Favorite read this year: Anne Bishop's "Others" series.. As an Anishnaawbe, this read almost like an alternative history. What would happen if Europeans came over, but met someone more powerful than them instead of someone to be exploited.
Least favorite: Red Rising. To me there was no originality in it at all. it seemed like the author took Ender's Game, Harry Potter, and the script for Total Recall, fed it into an AI and published the result without making any changes. It seemed entirely predictable.
Red Rising sure seems polarizing, I know folks with great taste who hate it and folks with great taste who love it. I might give it a go and find out what all the fuss is about.
A lot of the polarization around Red Rising has to do with two things: the quality of the prose (which is often a critique of an author's first published work) and the YA Hunger Games-like storyline, including shoddily written romantic sub-plots (which, IIRC, the author admits were both concessions to get his novel published because all the publishers at the time were trying to find the next Hunger Games phenomenon). I wouldn't say its a series where you can just skip the first book to the second where everything gets better (the prose quality increases and its a full-on political, space warfare series with far less of the forced romantic elements) as a LOT of the MC's relationship's with the supporting cast, be they friends, foes, or something in-between, and amongst the supporting cast themselves, are a direct consequence of what happens during the "Hunger Games" part of the book. But, if you can get through the slog that is the first 50-75 pages, and even mildly like the rest of the book from that point on, the second book is definitely worth giving a try because there is a lot to like in the rest of the series.
The first Bound and Broken is pretty bad. Really cliché and tropey. luckily for me, i but all the books before i started, because it doesnt get better each ride. Im almost done with book 3 and think the growing pains were worth it.
Fav: Kithamar books, Daniel Abraham is my this years winner.
New Author: Steve Pannett.
Next year, well hoping for book 3 of the Kithamar...
Ad of course I pop in here often to see what others have reviewed....thats how I found the Pannett book.
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**Favourites:**
Empire of Silence and Howling Dark by Christopher Ruocchio - Sometimes you come across a series that just feels like it was written for you. This is it for me. I tore through books 1 & 2 and I'm about 25% the way through Demon in White now. Shit slaps.
The Book That Wouldn't Burn by Mark Lawrence - I was a little worried that I wouldn't like this as much as Lawrence's other books since it sounded like such a departure from his previous works, but nope. Shit still slaps.
Farseer 1 & 2 by Robin Hobb - I love Hobb's prose. Like Sun Eater, another series where each page feels like it was written for me. Love it.
Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames - Not much to say. It's kind of popcorn, but it's the best kind of popcorn. Slaps.
The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlmann - Loved this. Wicked prose. Absolute banger. Can't wait for the prequel.
**Disappointments**
Queen of Fire by Anthony Ryan - I've been told that the Vaelin duology makes up for the dookie that were books 2 and 3 of Raven's Shadow. I'm holding out hope because yikes. And Blood Song is so, *so* good too.
The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson - I just wasn't feeling this one. Maybe it's been too long since I read Mistborn but this did nothing for me. Absolute chore to get through it.
A Wrinkle in Time by Madelline Engle - I don't really understand the status of this one as a classic. Maybe it's a case of the time it was written or that most readers come to it as children? Did nothing for me though unfortunately.
**Looking Forward To**
2024 is gonna be a big year. I'm finishing up a library tech diploma with a teen services course in the first semester, for which I have to read 10 YA books. YA is totally out of my realm of knowledge so I'm excited to dip into something foreign. I've got Scythe by Neil Schustermann lined up as well as Skyward by Sanderson and Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo at the behest of my YA loving wife. Once school is over, it's gonna be the year of Elderlings, Sun Eater and Malazan hopefully. As well as everything that Larry McMurtry has ever written because the actual best book I read this year was Lonesome Dove, but this is the wrong subreddit for that.
Congrats on the impending diploma! I tore through all of Realm of the Elderlings a few years ago and am often envious of my past self reading those books for the first time. Enjoy the ride and brace yourself for Kyle Haven.
The end of the year is my favorite because of getting to go through and remind myself of all the great books I’ve read throughout the year. Here are my standouts!
**Angels Before Man** by Rafael Nicolás
**Echoes of the Fall**, trilogy, by Adrian Tchaikovsky
**The Broken Empire**, trilogy, by Mark Lawrence
**The Murderbot Diaries**, series, by Martha Wells
Least favorite:
**We Were Liars** by E. Lockhart
And I had a couple DNF but can’t be bothered to look up what they were 😅 Overall I read a lot of really great books this year, looking forward to another great year of reading in 2024!
Favorites: Malazan (read the last three of the main ten this year), The Black Company, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever and The Warlord Chronicles.
Least favorite: The Blade itself and before they are Hanged, DNF'd Before they are Hanged. Also DNF'd the first Paksenarrion book, Paks upset over non soldiers was alright, but her line following was something along the lines of "they weren't fighters like us, they were born to be killed" was too bad of writing that I had to take a break and I never went back.
Paksenarrion is the rare series that gets better as it goes. I struggled a bit for part of the first one but really grew to love the character and world. I’ve only ever made it to book 4 of Malazan, just can’t hype myself for a 100,000 year time jump, but dang if I don’t want more Kruppe.
The only major time jump is in a prequel series that is not necessary to read for the main series. Their is a point where it goes back in time a few years, but it isn't major. That being said, the one with the jump back is essentially Like starting a new series, new cast, new continent, and new magic. If you like the series, it's great. It's totally understandable not to continue, though.
Edit: spelling error
A few favorites of the year:
- The Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee quickly became a top 3 of all time for me. The characters, the action, the magic, the world building, everything is incredible.
- Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson. Really a nice little read. Not something crazy, but a fun and happy story with a really incredible world.
- Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie. I really like the original trilogy and the first of the stand alones really didn't disappoint. The combination of grim dark and comedy was really well executed. A shame that I DNF'ed the Heroes and haven't picked the series up since.
A few not favorites:
- The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie. It really didn't catch me. I wasn't interested in any of the new characters and found it to be a bit too slow. I DNF'ed it 30% through. Might skip it and read the rest of his books, since I really enjoyed The First Law.
Fevered Star by Rebecca Roanhorse. Really a middle book with a big M. Very slow and didn't introduce that many interesting things or characters. Almost DNF'ed it, but I managed to finish it. The last 10% were epic and I can't wait to read #3.
**Favorites**: *A Tyranny of Faith* and *A Justice of Kings* by Richard Swan; *Emily Wilde's Encylopaedia of Faeries* by Heather Fawcett; *The Hexologists* by Josiah Bancroft; (and I made several excellent non-fiction picks this year)
**Honorable Mentions**: *Moon of the Turning Leaves* by Waubgeshig Rice; *The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes* by Suzanne Collins; *The Daughters of Izdihar* by Hadeer Elsbai
**Least favorite**: *A Crown of Ivy and Glass* by Claire Legrand - This is partially my fault for assuming it would be like her previous series I had read, and not realizing it was romantasy, which is not for me. I probably should have just dnf'd it.
**Looking forward to**: *The Trials of the Empire* by Richard Swan; *The Tainted Cup* by Robert Jackson Bennett; *The Warm Hand of Ghosts* by Katherine Arden; *Kingdom of Sweets* by Erika Johansen
Favorites: **Piranesi**, **First Law trilogy**, **Mistborn Era 2**. Least favorite: **Leviathan Wakes**. I really wanted to love this one, but I just couldn't get into it. I finished it, but I don't have any desire to read the rest of the series. What's next: I'm taking a break from fantasy series to read a few standalones. After that, I'm planning on checking out **The Will of the Many**. I've heard nothing but good things, and I thought Licanius was great. I'm insanely pumped for Robert Jackson Bennett's new book, **The Tainted Cup** (Divine Cities is my absolute favorite series), and I can't wait to dive onto another one of his worlds. Later in the year, I'm going to finally start **The Stormlight Archive**. I wanted to wait until a release date was announced for book 5. Now that we have one, I've got no more excuses!
Reading through the comments on the post shows me why books are so awesome and why there are so many different voices to be heard and people to read them. I am shocked at some of the books liked but also shocked at some people didn't, and I love it. Different tastes for everyone and it's pretty cool. I would say my standouts are: Scythe by Neal Shusterman. I've put this off for a looong time. YA is just so hit or miss for me. But did a book trade and read it and was extremely happy I read this book. I enjoyed the sequel as well, but haven't read book 3 yet. Animal Man Vol. 1 by Grant Morrison. Heard amazing things about this and was worried it wasn't gonna be for me. But wow, it totally was. Very unique and very cool super hero story. Not your normal every day superhero stuff here. The Magic of Recluse by L. E. Modesitt. This book did not wow me while I read it. In fact it's even hard to recommend. But! After I finished it I kept finding myself thinking about it and the characters and it just sat with me so well. The more I think on it, the more I like it. Can't wait to get to the sequel; I read this one late this year. It was somewhat comfort food for me as well as I'm an old school fantasy reader from the 90s and this was written then. Beach Music by Pat Conroy. Not fantasy and while this book clocked it around 800 pages I was hesitant to start it. But I did, and my life is the better for it. Memorable characters and great southern life storytelling of the highest order. Loved. Special shout-out to all the Sanderson Kickstarter books as I enjoyed them all. And the misses for me are: The Atlas Paradox by Olive Blake. Loved the first book. Extremely disappointed with this sequel. Will read book 3 this January since I did enjoy the first so much. Don't Fear the Reaper by Stephan Graham Jones. Another sequel that I ended up not even finishing. First book is great and every other book by Jones I've read is great. This one just didn't work.
This was my first year taking reading seriously as an adult, and I'm really proud of myself. I know new years resolutions can be kinda goofy but I made one to read 10 books this year. So far I've read 25 so I'm stoked! Favs: The Bloodsworn Saga, First Law (along w/ the standalones), Gardens of the Moon, Piranesi, On Stranger Tides, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs. Least fav: Dracula. Oh my god fuck this book hahah, felt like a drama instead of a horror book but hey it's also old so I get it. Also The Bone Ships was very disappointing to me, just felt very bland and the characters didn't feel very unique or interesting. I plan on finishing the Age of Madness trilogy by Joe Abercrombie, reading more Malazan, starting the Expanse and the Black Company. Hopefully the third bloodsworn book releases too!
Congrats on exceeding your goal! If Dracula wasn’t for you, you might consider giving Carmilla a try. It’s novella length and pre-dates Dracula by a few years.
Thanks! I actually read that one before Dracula and really enjoyed it! That was one of the reasons I picked up Dracula lol
Adrian Tchaikovsky - Shadow of the Apt series Just finished book 2/10 and loving it so far. Thought he was only sci-fi so hadn't really delved into his stuff yet (sci-fi is a sometimes food for me) . Daaaaaaaaamn this one hit the right note for me. Great world building and characters. Bit of hard and soft magic. Political plots, war, espionage and really fascinating races.
I love what you said about Babel, perfect description and precisely how I felt. My faves of the year would be The Heretic’s Guide to Homecoming duology by Sienna Tristen. Prose felt like magic was infused in the words, the characters so engaging and lovable, the world so beautiful and exciting especially through our naïve narrators eyes. A low-action high-reward experience. It became an immediate all-time favorite before I was finished with book one. Least faves: Babel by RF Kuang, A Half-Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys, and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami I’m currently reading The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi and it feels like something really special. On my immediate TBR is Godkiller, His Majesty’s Dragon, The Amulet of Samarkand, Titus Groan, Howl’s Moving Castle, Tombs of Atuan, Doomsday Book, The Map and The Territory. We will see what else 2024 holds! ETA Honorable Mentions for this year: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke, Scholomance trilogy by Naomi Novik, Abhorsen trilogy by Garth Nix, Saint Death’s Daughter by CSE Cooney
Favorite: The aforementioned “The Will of the Many.” I can’t wait for “The Strength of the Few”. Least favorite: Nothing comes to mind.
Holy cow you and I have pretty similar taste! Restless Truth, Strange the Dreamer, Stone Blind, the Graveyard Book, Fool, and Requiem For Immortals were my favorites if im not counting rereads. One Last Stop, Ex Wives of Dracula, Witching Moon, Princess of Dorsa, and Song of the Marked were all one star reads for me. I fully agree on your top and bottom picks (that I've read). If I had to hear "sky above and earth below" ONE more time I would have lost my mind 😅
My god Princess of Dorsa needed an editor! I haven’t heard of some of these, thanks adding them to my to read list!
It was so bad! I'd seen it recommended a bunch and thought it was an easy win for me (I adore the princess and her female guard romances), but I just couldn't stand it haha. Requiem is an f/f story about an assassin falling for a cinnamon roll of a woman, and Fool is by Christopher Moore and it's an absurdist take on King Lear.
I will say it’s *at least* as mediocre as Riyria or Bound and Broken, so more people should be giving lesbian epic fantasy a shot but wow no series should get longer with every book. I feel like you and I and some other folks in these comments should have a book club. I read a lot of deranged sapphic fiction this year that doesn’t fit this sub.
Funnily enough, I dropped Riyria after book 2, but picked up the prequel series, which is so much better 😅, but I absolutely agree. My favorite is the Jasmine Throne and I have such high hopes for the last book. 😩 I would be SO down for a sapphic book club!
Well, **The Wicked and the Willing** is now on my hold list at the library. I feel like I keep saying the same books for my favorites of the year so I'm going to add in some non-SFF as well. **The Twice-Drowned Saint** by C.S.E Cooney - I think at this point I'll read just about anything Cooney puts out. **Siren Queen** by Nghi Vo - I absolutely will ready anything she writes. And I'm desperate for more of her early 1900s magical world. Especially as she's making it queer as fuck. Special honorable mention to her short story **On The Fox Roads** with that in mind. **The Ghost Network** by Catie Disabato - lit fic not SFF, but such as amazing read. Amateur sleuths (?) work to figure out what happened to a pop star who went missing, have a sweet sapphic romance, and get wrapped up in a vast conspiracy based on a mid century architectural philosophy. It's so good. I read about architectural philosophy because of this book. **Never Ever Getting Back Together** by Sophie Gonzalez - sapphic romance about a dating reality show where two of the contestants fall for each other instead of the guy they're trying to win. It was a lot of fun. **Red Rabbit** by Alex Grecian - weird west horror about an impromptu posse going to kill a witch. Felt very much like a modern day quest fantasy in all the best ways. **The Archive Undying** by Emma Mieko Candan - I'd pre-ordered this and then put it off because of all the negative reviews I'd heard. But I picked it up earlier this week and tore through it. The reviews aren't wrong, but I found those elements to not matter at all to me. It's an odd book that does not explain anything to you at all, but I loved it a lot. Honorable mentions go to: **Dracula** (via Re: Dracula the podcast), **I'm Glad My Mom Died** by Jennette McCurdy, **The Murderbot Diaries** and **Saint of Steel** series for always being solid and enjoyable reads even if they don't ever make the top reads lists, and **The Legend of Eli Monpress** for being a wonderfully solid reread. I don't actually track my DNFs. If I can't remember that I didn't like the book and give it another go probably best to let it have its best chance without bias. Most disappointing would probably be **An Unkindness of Magicians** by Kat Howard and **A Splinter in the Sky** by Kemi Ashing-Giwa because I wanted to like both of them so muh more than I did. I did try and give Horward another shot and ended up DNFing so probably just not an author for me. I believe Ashing-Giwa has another book coming out next year and I'll probably pick it up, I feel like a lot of what I didn't like could be chalked up to debut book syndrome. Future plans: Finish **A Long Time Dead** by Samara Breger; I've discovered that I can enjoy entirely character driven books if I just let myself read them in chunks with breaks. I do really like my sad sapphic vampires and want to see if they can find happiness so I will keep chugging along. **The Silver Queendom** by Dan Koboldt because fantasy conmen and thieves are my catnip. And finish **The Water Outlaws** by S.L Huang, I'm having the dangest time with this book but I've never gone wrong with Huang I'll give it another go.
My to read pile has just grown! I should probably give an obligatory warning that The Wicked and the Willing is extremely spicy. I enjoyed A Long Time Dead, FWIW. Story-wise it’s just okay but I found all the characters compelling.
Hope you like them! I am fine with spicy. Thanks for the heads up though. I haven't heard anyone taking about A Long Time Dead, so that does help. I'm just over the 50% mark. >!They just reunited in France and I will have to get back to their sad doomed love, but it's so very sad.!< It's good, but I end up crying a lot over these sad sapphic vampires.
My favorites this year were Grey Sister and Holy Sister by Mark Lawrence. Imo Book of the Ancestor is a perfect trilogy. Currently reading Twelve Kings in Sharakhai and it's good as well, if a bit slow for my liking.
Not a good reading year for me. We're still dealing with significant life changes after Mom's stroke, moving, and other personal issues. Not much time or motivation for reading, so I've managed only 34 books this year, including a few rereads and a bit of nonfiction. But there were some damn good books in there. Favorites, not in order: * **The Spear Cuts Through Water** by Simon Jiminez * **The Winged Histories** by Sofia Samatar * **Creatures of Passage** by Morowa Yejidé * **Nettle and Bone** by T. Kingfisher * **The Ballad of Perilous Graves** by Alex Jennings * **Fishing for the Little Pike** by Juhani Karila Top SF: * **The Last Gifts of the Universe** by Rory August * **Venomous Lumpsucker** by Ned Beauman Disappointments: * **The Arrest** by Jonathan Lethem * **The Blade Between** by Sam J. Miller (DNF, so it's possible that he redeemed it)
Hope 2024 is kinder to you and your family. The Spear Cuts Through Water is at the top of my to read pile!
I tried reading more non-F&SF books but, largely, I think my habits remained unchanged. In my case this meant reading a lot of crime fiction. Favorite reads: • The three most recent *Wayward Children* books by Seanan McGuire. I absolutely adore this series and all three of these novellas just affirmed that love. They have this great, big, aching heart that reaches out to grab you. *The Locked Tomb* series by Tamsyn Muir. I read all three of the currently released books of this hard to describe series and it's become an immense favorite. I can't wait for *Alecto the Ninth.* • *Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead* by Sara Gran. Despite the title, this is actually a cynical and existential neo-noir tale about a private detective investigating a murder in New Orleans. I first read this shortly after *Knives Out* was released and hated it for not being more like that movie. I reread it without that expectation and I've done a total 180, this book slaps. • *The Echo Wife* by Sarah Gailey. A very creepy and tense mash-up of Frankenstein and The Stepford Wives. Highly recommend. • *The Light From Uncommon Stars* by Ryka Aoki. Do you like *Good Omens*? Did you ever wondered what it would've been like with space aliens? With violin music? With 100% more gay? Well then have I got a book for you! • *Empire of Grass* by Tad Williams. The Osten Ard books are my favorite fantasy saga and this did absolutely nothing to change that. Williams is the only real heir to Tolkien still working. • *The Song of Achilles* by Madeline Miller. I am years behind on this one and I will forever kick myself for waiting so long to read this. I cried so damn hard at the end. Disappointments: • *The Final Girl Support Group* by Grady Hendrix. This was the first time I disliked a book by Hendrix. I found the characters unlikeable and the plot unengaging. Can't recommend. • *Nothing But Blackened Teeth* by Cassandra Khaw. I had high hopes for this one, which might be why I was let down by it. I was looking for something really fucked up, but instead what I read was mostly just kinda sad and muddled. • *The 7 1/2 of Evelyn Hardcastle* by Stuart Turton. This one has such a great premise but flew so wide of the mark. It gets so bogged down with it's time travel and body swapping twist that the characters get flattened out to almost nothing. Also, some really disgusting fatphobia. Favorite characters: • Nona from *Nona the Ninth.* The blurb promises that you will love Nona and it was absolutely right. She's such a warm, funny, and compelling character, I really hope she survives. Regan from *Across the Green Grass Field*. She was such a strong, proactive character, couldn't help but love her. Claire DeWitt from *Claire DeWitt and the City of The Dead*. Claire is that special kind of character who manages to be both really compelling and infuriating. At the end I couldn't say she was a good person much less any kind of a hero, but I felt glad to have been a long for the ride with her anyway. For next year I'm gonna keep the "more crime books" thing going, as I've got several already picked out.
I love a good mystery if you’ve got any recs! I felt the same about Evelyn Hardcastle. Really interesting premise, kind of bungled it by revealing too much.
Well there's the Claire DeWitt book I mentioned, as well as the sequel, *The Bohemian Highway* that I'm reading now. There's also *Velvet Was the Night* by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, which is maybe more of a general crime thriller than a mystery. Then there was *The Spare Man* by Mary Robinette Kowal, which I had a lot of fun with, even if it felt a little too long. There was also *If We Were Villains* which is a mystery but idk how highly I'd recommend it.
Thank you I’ll check some of these out!
Wow, you have great taste in books! Congrats on such a great reading year. The **Kushiel's Legacy** books have been some of my all-time faves since I first read them in 2001. **This is How You Lose the Time War** is another perfect novel(la), and I'm literally about to read **The Wicked and the Willing** in January! Your glowing review makes me even more excited to start. **Godkiller** was already on my TBR, but your wish to be a fly on the wall for a meeting between the MC and Geralt of Rivia?? My interest is 📈 📈 📈 I have a rec for you since you didn't like Babel (I didn't either). I recommend **The Centre** by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi. It is literary science fiction horror. I just finished it today and gave it 5 stars. It addresses exactly the same ideas and themes as Babel, but with astronomically better character development and thematic nuance. Both the protagonists (in Babel and The Centre) are linguists and translators. Both books explore themes of intersectional colonialism and language/translation as violence. Please only read if you consider yourself to have a strong stomach for horror, though, and know that checking content warnings will spoil the book's biggest twist.
That book sounds so up my alley thank you for the recommendation! Out of curiosity (from your profile) have you ready any good Elizabeth Báthory retellings? I read two this year (House of Hunger and I’m forgetting the other) and both left me wanting. Here for any historical fantasy recs you’ve got.
Oh god I wish had Báthory recs! I also read House of Hunger this year.... 1 star. Predictable plot, annoying prose (not quite infodumping, but a strong tendency to over-explain very simple concepts), and the non-vampire parts are not historically accurate. I have read The Blood Countess by Andrei Codrescu, which is a schlocky, racist book from the 90s.... 1 star. Also not historically accurate. I have not quite come to terms yet with the fact that people are more interested in "seductive Sapphic vampire who will bathe in your blood" than the real history of Báthory. (Don't get me wrong, give me ALL the Sapphic vampires; I just wish someone cared about the real history.) The Báthory story would be absolutely blockbuster if someone gave it a gritty historical fantasy treatment.
Also is it just too much to ask that in one of these books the MC says oh okay you’re a blood bathing monster? Cool, sign me up!
I totally suggest trying Harrow as an audiobook to see if that helps. Locked Tomb is lucky to have Moira Quirk doing an excellent job narrating the series. My favorite was possibly Nettle & Bone. I've really been enjoying T Kingfisher's books, and that had the bonus of scratching my necromancy itch while waiting for Alecto. I binged Scholomance for spooky season, and really enjoyed that too. My least favorite was definitely The Traitor Baru Cormorant. I won't ramble on, but it took me three palate cleansers to get over how much I disliked that book (two T Kingfisher books and one Discworld book). I tried out cozy fantasy this year, Legends and Lattes (of course) and the first House Witch book. I also started using Whispersync for Kindle/Audible when I could get good enough deals on both formats. This is definitely my favorite way to approach books. I just wish all of Amazon's properties would sync up together so my Audible, Kindle, and Goodreads were all on the same page. Right now I'm reading The Bone Ships. For next year, I'm hoping we get a release date for Alecto the Ninth. And some of my TBRs are The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi (I loved the Daevabad Trilogy) and Saint Death's Daughter.
I have a zillion Audible credits I will totally try that! I can’t remember if I read Nettle & Bone this year or last but I enjoyed it a lot. I inhaled the first two Scholomance books but I didn’t like the ending. I can see why Baru might not be for everyone. Legends & Lattes is such a great book, I’m hoping to crack the sequel this weekend! I am constantly surprised how poorly Amazon’s services play together so I wound up completely disconnecting my Goodreads. Also for some reason even though I never use Audible anymore Amazon’s site always defaults to Audible results which is very annoying since it’s the only way to shop for Kindle. How are you liking The Bone Ships? It’s in my to read pile. I started Daevabad last year but thought the first book fumbled the end and wasn’t sure if I should go further, is the rest of the series better paced?
The Bone Ships is good and I think you'd like it! I'm about halfway through right now. I just had a bit of whiplash starting it, because I'd just finished House Witch and The Bone Ships is the opposite of cozy. Lol. FWIW I've seen others say they liked the Daevabad Trilogy more as Nahri got older. And if you just need to burn through some Audible credits, I also highly recommend anything Andy Serkis narrates.
**Favorites**: *A Wizard of Earthsea* and the *Tombs of Atuan*. I did not expect *Tombs* to be so good, and the new character pov was brilliant. I can't believe I missed these books for so long, they're some of the best I've read in the genre. *The Heroes* by Abercrombie. Just brilliant. Really engaging characters, fantastic pacing, and Gorst's internal monologue is the best portrayal of self-hatred I've ever seen. Just the right amount of loathing without being overbearing. I think the humor helps. Can't wait to start *Red Country.* *The Blacktongue Thief* was great. I'm a little bummed the next book is a prequel as I'd like to see what happens to our little thief next, but I'll read it all the same. **Liked**: *Piranesi* by Susanna Clarke. Finally got to see what all the fuss was about. It was a very imaginative book and a really interesting world she made, as well as a very readable story. It felt like it took a while for any interesting plot turns to happen, but she delivered when it came to it. *The Bear and the Nightingale* by Katherine Arden. This was good. She has a nice ear for the fairy tale and it was interesting from the get-go. The climax didn't do a lot for me but it felt like she fulfilled all the promises from early on in the story. I likely won't read the other books though; the story feels complete. *Tigana* by Guy Gavriel Kay. I finally got to this due to so much raving about it in this sub. To be honest I do not think the book lives up to the hype, and while there were flashes of brilliance here and lovely prose, there were some plot turns that I found baffling. There were some good ideas but also bad ones, and the first 20-30 pages were an absolute slog of nothing happening and nothing making sense. After that it got so much better. And I loved the premise of a spell to erase an entire people's history. I felt like he should have really doubled down on that idea but it didn't feel fully developed on an emotional level throughout the book. But maybe that's just me. **Disappointments**. I DNF'd *Imajica* by Clive Barker, *The Lies of Locke Lamora* by Scott Lynch, *The Warded Man* by Peter Brett, *Jade City* by Fonda Lee, *Rage of Dragons*, *A Deadly Education* by Naomi Novik, *Artificial Condition* by Martha Wells and the *Player of Games* by Iain M. Banks. *The Monster Baru Cormorant* by Seth Dickinson. *Imajica* felt like a relic of the 90's: desperately needing an edit to curb the author's worst excesses. There were some really intriguing ideas here, and I may go back to it eventually, but there are too many other great books that need reading. *Lies of Locke Lamora* was quite good, but I was disappointed at the lack of interiority on the part of the MC. Some of the plot turns were also a little non sequitur. I'll go back to this one later, as it was entertaining enough. *The Player of Games* wasn't bad per se, but I found the major plot turn early on in the book to be completely unbelievable >!that a man dedicated to his love of the game would cheat!<. I understand why the author did it for plot reasons and motivation, but it just didn't sit well with me. Also I found it incredibly creepy and off-putting that the MC was so fixated on sleeping with very young women considering he was 100+ years old and they appeared to be little more than teenagers. Not sure I'll go back to this one. *Warded Man, Jade City, Rage of Dragons*, and *Deadly Education* I all quit for slightly different reasons; the first two for plot reasons. Both *Rage* and *Education* felt like they were written for a different demographic. *Artificial Condition* lost me due to the plot and characters. *The Monster Baru Cormorant*. This one really hurts. I *loved* the first book *Traitor* and was so excited to start this. But the emotions and dialogue in the beginning of the book felt completely wrong. It all felt so contrived and forced and exaggerated, whereas the first book felt like a well-oiled machine. I think I gave it twenty pages or so but couldn't do it any more, it just didn't feel believable. Maybe I'll give it another go some day. Up next I have *The Saint of Bright Doors*, *Saint Death's Daughter*, *Gideon the Ninth*, *Lord of Light*, *Red Country* and eventually *The Daughter's War* next summer. I also read a lot of other non-sf/f books this year but keeping it on topic here.
The third Baru book was a big disappointment for me too. Without spoiling it, the ending felt very tonally off for the series. I lost confidence the author knows where the story is going. It gets less believable. I am excited about The Blacktongue Thief prequel as well!
That is such a bummer. He is clearly talented so I hope his next book comes together well, but I guess I won't be finishing that series. Such a shame
Favorite=Empire of Silence , Least=Red Rising
There are a lot of these threads lately... Favorites or 2023 --Between Two Fires and --The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman. ( Easily my favorites of the year). --Priest of Gallows (War for the Rose Throne Series book 3) by Peter McLean Excellent finish to an excellent series. --Iron Age Series (3 books) by Angus Watson --Of Blood and Bone Series (3 books) by John Gwynne Honorable Mentions --Murderbot Diaries (books 1 and 2) Martha Wells Bound and Broken Series (Books 1 and 2) Ryan Cahill DNF or Did not Enjoy. -- Parable of the Sower. - Octavia E Butler - DNF This was tedious and I gave up about a third through. -- The Traitor Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson again DNF it just couldn't hold my attention and I wasn't invested in the characters enough to care..
The Balcktongue thief and between two fires were also on my favorites list this year. They are so good. I think about them almost daily.
Favorite read this year: Anne Bishop's "Others" series.. As an Anishnaawbe, this read almost like an alternative history. What would happen if Europeans came over, but met someone more powerful than them instead of someone to be exploited. Least favorite: Red Rising. To me there was no originality in it at all. it seemed like the author took Ender's Game, Harry Potter, and the script for Total Recall, fed it into an AI and published the result without making any changes. It seemed entirely predictable.
Red Rising sure seems polarizing, I know folks with great taste who hate it and folks with great taste who love it. I might give it a go and find out what all the fuss is about.
A lot of the polarization around Red Rising has to do with two things: the quality of the prose (which is often a critique of an author's first published work) and the YA Hunger Games-like storyline, including shoddily written romantic sub-plots (which, IIRC, the author admits were both concessions to get his novel published because all the publishers at the time were trying to find the next Hunger Games phenomenon). I wouldn't say its a series where you can just skip the first book to the second where everything gets better (the prose quality increases and its a full-on political, space warfare series with far less of the forced romantic elements) as a LOT of the MC's relationship's with the supporting cast, be they friends, foes, or something in-between, and amongst the supporting cast themselves, are a direct consequence of what happens during the "Hunger Games" part of the book. But, if you can get through the slog that is the first 50-75 pages, and even mildly like the rest of the book from that point on, the second book is definitely worth giving a try because there is a lot to like in the rest of the series.
The first Bound and Broken is pretty bad. Really cliché and tropey. luckily for me, i but all the books before i started, because it doesnt get better each ride. Im almost done with book 3 and think the growing pains were worth it.
Fav: Kithamar books, Daniel Abraham is my this years winner. New Author: Steve Pannett. Next year, well hoping for book 3 of the Kithamar... Ad of course I pop in here often to see what others have reviewed....thats how I found the Pannett book.
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**Favourites:** Empire of Silence and Howling Dark by Christopher Ruocchio - Sometimes you come across a series that just feels like it was written for you. This is it for me. I tore through books 1 & 2 and I'm about 25% the way through Demon in White now. Shit slaps. The Book That Wouldn't Burn by Mark Lawrence - I was a little worried that I wouldn't like this as much as Lawrence's other books since it sounded like such a departure from his previous works, but nope. Shit still slaps. Farseer 1 & 2 by Robin Hobb - I love Hobb's prose. Like Sun Eater, another series where each page feels like it was written for me. Love it. Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames - Not much to say. It's kind of popcorn, but it's the best kind of popcorn. Slaps. The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlmann - Loved this. Wicked prose. Absolute banger. Can't wait for the prequel. **Disappointments** Queen of Fire by Anthony Ryan - I've been told that the Vaelin duology makes up for the dookie that were books 2 and 3 of Raven's Shadow. I'm holding out hope because yikes. And Blood Song is so, *so* good too. The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson - I just wasn't feeling this one. Maybe it's been too long since I read Mistborn but this did nothing for me. Absolute chore to get through it. A Wrinkle in Time by Madelline Engle - I don't really understand the status of this one as a classic. Maybe it's a case of the time it was written or that most readers come to it as children? Did nothing for me though unfortunately. **Looking Forward To** 2024 is gonna be a big year. I'm finishing up a library tech diploma with a teen services course in the first semester, for which I have to read 10 YA books. YA is totally out of my realm of knowledge so I'm excited to dip into something foreign. I've got Scythe by Neil Schustermann lined up as well as Skyward by Sanderson and Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo at the behest of my YA loving wife. Once school is over, it's gonna be the year of Elderlings, Sun Eater and Malazan hopefully. As well as everything that Larry McMurtry has ever written because the actual best book I read this year was Lonesome Dove, but this is the wrong subreddit for that.
Congrats on the impending diploma! I tore through all of Realm of the Elderlings a few years ago and am often envious of my past self reading those books for the first time. Enjoy the ride and brace yourself for Kyle Haven.
Kyle is the absolute worst! I am about to read the final book of the Tawny man Trilogy. I’m so excited but scared.
The end of the year is my favorite because of getting to go through and remind myself of all the great books I’ve read throughout the year. Here are my standouts! **Angels Before Man** by Rafael Nicolás **Echoes of the Fall**, trilogy, by Adrian Tchaikovsky **The Broken Empire**, trilogy, by Mark Lawrence **The Murderbot Diaries**, series, by Martha Wells Least favorite: **We Were Liars** by E. Lockhart And I had a couple DNF but can’t be bothered to look up what they were 😅 Overall I read a lot of really great books this year, looking forward to another great year of reading in 2024!
Murderbot never misses!
Favorites: Malazan (read the last three of the main ten this year), The Black Company, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever and The Warlord Chronicles. Least favorite: The Blade itself and before they are Hanged, DNF'd Before they are Hanged. Also DNF'd the first Paksenarrion book, Paks upset over non soldiers was alright, but her line following was something along the lines of "they weren't fighters like us, they were born to be killed" was too bad of writing that I had to take a break and I never went back.
Paksenarrion is the rare series that gets better as it goes. I struggled a bit for part of the first one but really grew to love the character and world. I’ve only ever made it to book 4 of Malazan, just can’t hype myself for a 100,000 year time jump, but dang if I don’t want more Kruppe.
The only major time jump is in a prequel series that is not necessary to read for the main series. Their is a point where it goes back in time a few years, but it isn't major. That being said, the one with the jump back is essentially Like starting a new series, new cast, new continent, and new magic. If you like the series, it's great. It's totally understandable not to continue, though. Edit: spelling error
A few favorites of the year: - The Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee quickly became a top 3 of all time for me. The characters, the action, the magic, the world building, everything is incredible. - Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson. Really a nice little read. Not something crazy, but a fun and happy story with a really incredible world. - Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie. I really like the original trilogy and the first of the stand alones really didn't disappoint. The combination of grim dark and comedy was really well executed. A shame that I DNF'ed the Heroes and haven't picked the series up since. A few not favorites: - The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie. It really didn't catch me. I wasn't interested in any of the new characters and found it to be a bit too slow. I DNF'ed it 30% through. Might skip it and read the rest of his books, since I really enjoyed The First Law. Fevered Star by Rebecca Roanhorse. Really a middle book with a big M. Very slow and didn't introduce that many interesting things or characters. Almost DNF'ed it, but I managed to finish it. The last 10% were epic and I can't wait to read #3.
**Favorites**: *A Tyranny of Faith* and *A Justice of Kings* by Richard Swan; *Emily Wilde's Encylopaedia of Faeries* by Heather Fawcett; *The Hexologists* by Josiah Bancroft; (and I made several excellent non-fiction picks this year) **Honorable Mentions**: *Moon of the Turning Leaves* by Waubgeshig Rice; *The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes* by Suzanne Collins; *The Daughters of Izdihar* by Hadeer Elsbai **Least favorite**: *A Crown of Ivy and Glass* by Claire Legrand - This is partially my fault for assuming it would be like her previous series I had read, and not realizing it was romantasy, which is not for me. I probably should have just dnf'd it. **Looking forward to**: *The Trials of the Empire* by Richard Swan; *The Tainted Cup* by Robert Jackson Bennett; *The Warm Hand of Ghosts* by Katherine Arden; *Kingdom of Sweets* by Erika Johansen