Since I forgot to write a Best Of list for 2016, I decided to put together a list of all the books I'm super excited about this year. Most of them are sequels to books I've read previously (I'm sure I will find some lovely new authors and books to sweep me off my feet at some point), but these are the books currently at the shut-up-and-take-my-money level of excitement.
I've finished reading the English translation of the conclusion to Cixin Liu's scifi epic - and, as with its predecessors, I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with it.
I'm not sure whether it's good or bad that I still have mixed feelings about this series.
Here is yet another middle book in a series that strongly surpasses the first book. The Obelisk Gate is a stunner, containing several shocking developments, many exciting displays of orogeny and more than its fair share of character drama, making for a book that should top Best Of lists for 2016.
I don't always read Hugo award winners, but when I do...I usually really like them. I keep an eye on the Hugos every year. Drama notwithstanding, I tend to pick up one or two of the nominees afterward. This year, after NK Jemisin won for The Fifth Season, I picked it up in my local Barnes & Noble, read the back, bought it on the spot, skipped it to the front of the reading queue and then tore through it in two days.
I know, I know. Don't judge me. Dune books are like drugs for me. I'm so in love with the world that I can't stop reading them, and while the original Dune is clearly the best by an astronomical margin, I enjoy revisiting the world as Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson craft new stories in it.
I actually finished this book several months ago, but I've been so behind that it's taken me this long to review it. Which is a shame, because wow - this was such a good conclusion to The Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne series. Slow clap for Mr. Brian Staveley.
Jay Kristoff - yet another author I wasn't keeping close enough tabs on. I read his The Lotus War series two years ago (fortunately I discovered it just as Endsinger came out and was able to go straight through all three). After that, I neglected to add him to my list and thus, when I stumbled across Nevernight, the first book in a new series by him, I was pleasantly startled and immediately purchased it. Man, am I glad I did.
Readers, there's something you should know about me: I love weird books. Which means that China Mieville rocketed to the top of my favorite authors list after reading only one of his books, and he's now on my list of authors-whose-books-I-buy-without-reading-plot-synopses.
I went ahead and purchased A Symphony of Echoes after I'd gotten about halfway through its predecessor, because I was certain I would want to read it. In a rather unusual move for me of late, I moved from one book directly into its sequel, with no time between.
You're not supposed to judge books by their covers, but sometimes you can't help it. In this case, it wasn't so much the cover as it was the title. With a title like Just One Damned Thing After Another, it's hard not to pick up the book after a long day being stressed at the office.
Dilemma, thy name is, apparently, The Invasion of the Tearling. On the one hand, this book is a much darker story, giving me meat to dig into after the sugary sweetness of the first novel. On the other hand, holy middle book syndrome, Batman! The plot is a drag as the author crams in all the preparation for the third book, leaving this book with very little plot of its own.
I don't read much Young Adult these days. It's not because I don't enjoy them; I buy all my books, and it simply takes far too little time for me to read a YA book. It's not a good investment of my money. But when a friend loaned me these and said I'd really like them, I decided to give them a shot.
It's the moment you've all (not actually) been waiting for - what did I think of the conclusion to Pierce Brown's Red Rising trilogy? Drumroll, please.
OK, so here's the deal with this book, guys. The first chapter tries too hard. Like, way too hard. It feels like that person at a party who makes really terrible jokes and then laughs far too much at them, while the rest of the room makes cricket noises. It's painfully awkward.Get through it.
FINALLY. FINALLY THIS BOOK HAS ARRIVED.For those of you who aren't rabid Bakker fans like myself, it's been five years since the previous book was released - an almost Martin-esque wait between novels. From what I gather, it had little to do with Bakker himself, as the manuscript has been written for some time. The decision was eventually made to split the third book of this second of three trilogies into two, and thus The Great Ordeal finally made it to print.
I've been a fan of Peter Clines ever since he first blew my mind by putting superheroes and zombies in the same book. His books are witty, funny and good romps that I can tear through without having to invest too much time and energy. His latest addition to the Ex-Heroes series, Ex-Isle, delivers more of the same fun.
If you ever read this, Brian Staveley - thank you. Thank you for turning it up to 11 in The Providence of Fire.
I remember the moment I started reading Harry Potter - as a child, I received Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone as a Christmas gift and tore through it within the next two days. Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Azkaban followed, and then I had caught up and had to wait for the next book. Each release was a huge celebration. I dressed as Hermione Granger for Halloween well before the movies came out. Harry Potter was my gateway drug to fantasy and science fiction.
I have this theory I call "middle book syndrome," which basically states that the middle novel of a trilogy is inherently in danger of becoming nothing more than a set-up for the third book - that it will lack a proper plot of its own and become a dragging plod from start to finish. It's the mark of a good author to avoid this, but I'm always leery when I pick up the second book of a series.
