Alexis DeSousa's Blog

The Best Books I Read This Year (2015)

I haven���t posted in a long time, but I figured with the end of the year coming up, I���d post a list of my favorite books I���ve read this year! Some of them I reviewed earlier on, while others I haven���t. I figured I���d do this list because I���ve read a lot this year: 135 books and still counting (the year isn���t over yet!). Some of these were published this year, but some weren���t. If you���re looking for some interesting books to read, check them out!

Let me know in the comments of any of your favorite books you���ve read this year. I love recommendations!

Fantasy



The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern



Erin Morgenstern blends the charms of the circus with the dangers of magic so smoothly that she had me on the edge of my seat the entire time I was reading. This novel pits two magicians and their apprentices against each other in a game of life or death with the circus as their game board. Truly magical, I fell in love with the characters instantly!




A Darker Shade of Magic by Victoria Schwab



The first in a series, this book has magicians traveling through doors to other London's, some good and some horribly bad. The story is fresh and at the end, I definitely couldn't wait for more.



Science Fiction



11/22/63 by Stephen King



What if you could go back in time and prevent JFK from being assasinated? King takes that idea and runs with it. Jake Epping attempts to do the impossible and you won't believe the consequences of his actions. I love King and this was just another great story from a great master of writing.




Red Rising by Pierce Brown



I read both Red Rising and Golden Son this year and fell in love with Pierce Brown. This series is disturbing and gritty and I can't wait for the finale next year. I first described this book as a Hunger Games in space, but it's so much more than that. The world Pierce Brown has created is amazing and the characters are all blood thirsty for revolution and revenge against an evil empire and caste system. Read it, you won't regret it.

Fiction



The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon



Michael Chabon really is a captivating writer. This and Kavalier and Clay are the only two books of his I've read so far, but I plan on reading his others as well. This book is a bit of alternate history, as if the Jews were never given Israel after WWII and, instead, settled in Alaska. There's some detective work and Jewish history in this one and I was really drawn to it. I enjoy alternate history books and this one really moves quickly despite its length.




The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon



In this novel, Kavalier escapes Nazi's and moves to New York to live with his cousin, Sam Clay. The two end up starting a really successful comic book series. Throughout the book, Kavalier is constantly trying to get the rest of his family to New York and we follow the ups and downs of his adventure to do so. This book can be heartbreaking at times, but it really is an amazing adventure.

Graphic Novel



Sandman Series by Neil Gaiman



I've read though this series to about the fifth compilation and it really is an amazing story. It really draws you in and the stories are all really great. Also, I think the Sandman is totally drawn to look like Neil Gaiman!




Nimona by Noelle Stevenson



I had Nimona on my list for most of the year and was pleasantly surprised to find that my local library had it in stock! Nimona is about a rambunctions shape shifter who joins forces with an apparently evil villian to take down an even eviler corporation. Nimona is fun and hilarious! She is probably a comic book character that I fell in love with the most, as it's very hard to establish much depth of character in just one graphic novel. She is amazing.

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi Review

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi – – sci-fi

Set in a distant future where many foods have become extinct due to disease, Anderson Lake goes undercover in Bangkok to find instances of these extinct fruits they may have survived. He meets Emiko, a Windup Girl (part human, part machine/genetically altered) who just wants to escape her servitude.

The thing that bugged me the most about this one was that I liked the idea of the story, but the writing style made me feel like I was constantly reading someones thoughts as if they were thinking them in English as their non-primary language. I understand many of the characters were not native English speakers, however, the way it was done made my reading sluggish and slow.

I liked Emiko as a character, but the others I was a little “eh” about. I found the ending to be more interesting than a majority of the book and wish I had read more of THAT story! Bacigalupi leaves things a little open at the end, so it’s possible there may be a sequel.

Bacigalupi really captures the idea of starvation and the fear of not knowing if the next food item you consume could lead to your death. We learn that the rich, or the calorie companies who control the seedstock for growing food, have access to immunizations against some of the food-borne diseases. The poor, however, live in the slums, trying to scrounge what they can and hope they don’t die from it.

I’m not sure this was really a complete story. I feel like we were given a look into a different world for just a smidgen of time. We learned some things about the people, their lives in Bangkok and the troubles they faced, but there was no real resolution to any of it. In the end, the poor were still poor and hungry, the diseases still swarmed, and politics was still politics.

The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber Review

The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber – – sci-fi

Peter is given the opportunity to go on a mission to a colony in outer space called Oasis. Peter is a pastor and he decides to leave his wife at home to embark on the greatest missionary project of all time: converting Oasis’ local aliens to Christianity.

I’m not sure how I felt about this one. I liked Faber’s writing style, however, the story itself was a bit too much for me. It was too preachy, I felt; Peter was constantly quoting Bible verses for every occasion he came across. Also, he just wasn’t really a very likeable character. He was just very, meh. He’s a reformed drug addict and he goes to Oasis, where nothing really happens and he just goes with the flow of everyday life (aside from some weird physical characterizations of his comrades).

Most of the people on Oasis are BLAH characters, too, though apparently, this is what Oasis intends. Each person on the planet has little to no connections back on Earth beside Peter (he leaves his wife) and they are all non-confrontational. There’s no scandals, no affairs, no nothing. They don’t care about what’s happening back on Earth, which is apparently in turmoil, and they don’t care about the native aliens on the planet either.

There’s a few little mysteries – apparently there was a pastor before Peter and he disappeared. Likewise with a linguist who was there to learn the natives language. However, the resolution to these mysteries is very anticlimactic (like the entire story). Nothing really happens. People question God some, but the aliens already love Jesus, so there’s no conflict in trying to convert them.

I’m not sure why I stuck through reading this book until the end. I think I just wanted to know if something was going to actually happen. In the past, I’ve been satisfied with books that have less than stellar plot lines, however, I think the religion bit being the forefront of the plot just really didn’t appeal to me.

Golden Son by Pierce Brown Review

Golden Son by Pierce Brown – – sci-fi

Following his tumultuous time at the Institute, Darrow is thrust into the house of Augustus, led by the man who killed his wife, and sent to learn the delicacies of ship’s warfare. When he fails to win, Augustus threatens to rescind his contract, causing a crazed Darrow to start an all out civil war. How far can he go before he breaks?

Man. Gorydamn. Bloodyhell. That’s about all I have to say after finishing this amazing book. I LOVE this series. There’s so much deceit and corruption, you never know where it’s coming from. Pierce Brown likes to kill as much as George R.R. Martin. No one is safe from the ax.

So much happened in this book. Darrow goes to war and wins favor back with Augustus. He finally trusts others and reveal his secrets, but some are more wary than others. Darrow is surrounded by friends and foes alike. It’s impossible to tell who to trust.

When I was reading, I felt like I was on the same wild ride as Darrow. I was second guessing every conversation he had, looking for little nuances, for the little signs of betrayal. He makes me believe in him, the same way he makes others in the book believe in him. He is a good man sent to do a dirty job. He must kill in order to set people free.

This is the second book in the series and I definitely recommend you pick up Red Rising if you haven’t already and embark on Darrow’s adventure and his efforts to free humanity from the slavery they’ve brought upon themselves.

Voyage of the Basilisk by Marie Brennan Review

Voyage of the Basilisk by Marie Brennan – – fantasy

The third memoir of Lady Trent, Isabella, regarding her round the world voyage to study dragons. This time, Isabella goes on her adventure with her son, Jacob, her constant traveling companion Tom, and Jacob’s governess. The group travels to various different locations, encountering not only the forces of dragons, but also politics and tribal strife as well.

I have to say I enjoyed this book more than the second, but still not as much as the first. I really liked that Jacob was a part of this expedition as he added much more interest to the story. The book is written from an archeological point of view and you really do feel as if you’re reading a non-fiction book as opposed to a fantasy one. If there were real dragons out there, I’d expect a real Lady Trent to write about them ;)

Anyway, the books, as always, are very well written and I do love the artwork. The plot itself can be less than adventurous at times, but I think the added character of Suhail provided more intrigue into the world of Draconean ruins. He is an archaeologist investigating the possibility that the long gone Draconeans were able to tame dragons. This was of more interest to me than Isabella’s scientific endeavors.

Agatha H and the Clockwork Princess by Phil & Kaja Foglio Review

Agatha H and the Clockwork Princess by Phil & Kaja Foglio – – fantasy

Now on the run, Agatha and her talking cat friend, Krosp, must navigate the Wastelands in order to escape from the notice of the Baron. They come across a traveling troupe of actors who put on Heterodyne Adventures plays in various towns, and the people there agree to let her travel with them until they reach the Heterodyne home of Mechanicsburg. Unfortunately, with so many people looking for the Heterodyne heir, Agatha surely has a bumpy ride.

I enjoyed the second installment of the Girl Genius series, though I did find it really long when Agatha was traveling with the troupe. There was a lot of parts that seemed kind of unnecessary and a bit of filler and I found myself skimming through. I also am unsure of how I feel about a lot of the footnotes. Some I like, some I didn’t, and sometimes I felt they pulled me out of the story.

Also, there were a lot of storylines going on, sometimes a little hard to follow. I do like that we found out more about who The Other is and more about Agatha’s family. I really can’t wait for her to arrive in Mechanicsburg so we can see what awaits her there at the Heterodyne home.

Agatha really is a cool female protagonist and though she encounters a lot of trouble, she often comes out on top!

Agatha H and the Airship City by Phil & Kaja Foglio Review

Agatha H and the Airship City by Phil & Kaja Foglio – – fantasy

Agatha lives in the town of Beetleburg as an assistant to a doctor containing the Spark. She tries and tries to make her machines work, but always fails. When a confrontation with the Baron Wulfenbach in the lab goes awry, Agatha is swept away to the Baron’s castle and finally figures out just who she is and why she was always having such a difficult time getting her machines to work.

I’ve never read any steam punk before, but I have to say I really loved this one. This series is based off of a set of web comics that you can read for free online (www.girlgeniusonline.com). I thought the novelization was a bit better, but maybe it was because I read the novel first?

Anyway, the book takes us to a world where a fabled Other used to send out these hive machines which would releave slaver wasps and create Revenants to further enslave the human population to do their bidding. The Heterodyne Boys and some of their other companions (including Baron Wulfenbach at one time) used to fight against these creatures and save the day. Unfortunately, they’ve disappeared, but a hive machine has been found and brought to Wulfenbach castle, along with Agatha.

The book was full of adventure, fast paced, and a fun read. I recommend it.

The Enchanted by Rene Denfeld Review

The Enchanted by Rene Denfeld – – fantasy

In an enchanted prison, on death row, a prisoner awaits his fate. While he waits, he imagines the lives of those around him. A few of the people include a priest, the Lady, the Warden, and other inmates.

For a long time, we don’t know who our prisoner is or what he has done. Slowly throughout the book, we are given little tidbits of his life growing up. Our prisoner doesn’t speak, spent much of his life committed to an asylum, and was given life in prison as his sentence for his unspeakable crime.

We later learn that he commits yet another crime while in prison, despite trying to keep to himself in the library, where he was able to lose himself among the books there, and is retried and given the death penalty. He ends up on death row, where there are no windows and the prisoners are never allowed to leave their cells.

Through his eyes, we see the lives of those who he does have contact with. We learn intimate details about the priest, the Lady (a woman who attempts to help others get off death row) and the other inmates.

I really felt emotionally connected to the prisoner and believed that he really did think there were horses running wild underneath the ground and little critters who ate the bodies of the cremated death row inmates. Despite the horrors he had done, there was something magical about him and his thoughts.

The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Catherynne M. Valente Review

The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Catherynne M. Valente – – fantasy

September returns to Fairyland after a year at home. She learns that her shadown, Halloween, has become the Queen of Fairland-Below and is stealing other people’s shadows. September reunites with her Fairyland friends shadow selves and goes on a quest to join her and her shadow back together.

I really love September. She has grown up a little bit in the year since we’ve seen her last and she longs to return to Fairyland. Wouldn’t you if you lived in Nebraska during WWII? I enjoyed following September on this adventure beneath Fairyland. I loved the idea of her shadow, which was taken from her in the last book, had gone and taken over in a somewhat sinister way. September feels responsible and wants to fix the problem.

All of the shadows were a little evil in their own way, including the shadows of September’s friends from her previous adventure - Saturday and Ell. I miss their original counterparts, who only showed up briefly in the end. I felt as if September left Fairyland too soon, but I think the ending had a somewhat good feel to it.

I like when September goes back to Fairyland and finds out what was going on in her absence. I can’t wait to see what has happened in between her adventures and what she is going to embark on next.

A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan Review

A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan – – fantasy

The memoir of Lady Trent, Isabella, regarding her first foray into the scientific realm of dragons. Isabella grows up determined to spend her days discovering the intricacies and anatomies of various creatures like dragons. However, in her society, Isabella is frowned upon for having such fancies.

Isabella really is a charming character. She wants to defy society and go on expeditions and discover everything there is to know about dragons. Luckily for her, her husband Jacob is willing to give in to her fancies and allows her to accompany him and a couple of other men on an expedition to learn more about mountainous dragons in a nearby realm.

The crew is met with much dislike upon arriving in Drustanev, but they continue on with their work. Isabella takes notes and draws the dragons they come across. They uncover a plot while there regarding the increased attacks the dragons have been conducting on the townspeople. There is intrigue and death, there is sorrow and loss.

I really liked Isabella and her desire for answers. I felt myself saddened by the tragedies she faced along the way. I can’t wait to read the next one and follow her on her next adventure.