Mad Ship – Robin Hobb
A Feast for Crows – George R. R. Martin
Hyperion – Dan Simmons
No Country for Old Men – Cormac McCarthy
Kindred – Octavia Butler
Death Comes for the Archbishop – Willa Cather
Memories of Ice – Steven Erikson
City of Pearl – Karen Traviss
Parable of the Sower – Octavia Butler
Crossing the Line – Karen Traviss
Parable of the Talents – Octavia Butler
Marley and Me – John Grogan
Acts of Faith – Philip Caputo
So Big – Edna Ferber
Old Man’s War – John Scalzi
The Forever War – Joe Haldeman
Fledgling – Octavia Butler
House of Chains – Steven Erikson
Two things: First, I really should at least blurb all of these novels. These are the 18 best books out of the 134 that I read this year. Blurbage? Second, I feel like I'm doing John Scalzi a disservice by not including The Ghost Brigades on this list. It was on the second tier of the Best Reads (which still includes some damn good books) and it veered onto this list and off of it a couple of times, but I just got more satisfaction from Old Man's War. The Ghost Brigades may be the better written novel (which Scalzi admits), but Old Man's War gave me more visceral enjoyment.
This list in order of preference?
ReplyDeleteNever got to reading Hobb's Liveship Trader trilogy this summer, which I don't really regret since I know they'll be something good to read this summer instead.
But I was wondering; if Mad Ship was so good, what about Ship of Destiny?
Glad to see you enjoyed Memories of Ice and House of Chains as much as you did. Midnight Tides is great as well. Bonehunters was good, but felt a bit like a transitional-tying-together-loose-strings-novel.
Oh, no no. In order of reading. I didn't want to rank it.
ReplyDeleteShip of Destiny was very good, but I thought Mad Ship was the best of the bunch. Ending of SoD was a little bit of a cop out, though.
If I had to rank, I'd through Butler's Kindred, Scalzi's Old Man's War, and maybe some City of Pearl up at the top.