Best Books You Read in 2012

[JG]

Overall, an enjoyable reading year for me.

SciFi: Dark Eden by Chris Beckett. Best book of the year for me.

Fantasy: Three-way tie between The Hammer by K.J. Parker, The King's Blood by Daniel Abraham, and The Warded Man by Peter Brett. All enjoyable reads.

Hard to Categorize: The Troupe by Robert Jackson Bennett. This is a really good book.

Biggest Disappointment: Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan. Not my cup of tea at all.

[Lara Amber]

For me it would be
Feed (and the rest of the Newsflesh books)
Ready Player One
Blackout (All Clear, #1)/All Clear (All Clear, #2)
The Hunger Games (whole series)

[Zac]

I did some catching up as I continue my late bloom into sci-fi love. The best books I read in 2012 were EASILY:

[Zaina]

In this genre, it would have to be the Hunger Games trilogy.
However, I have been reading mysteries and technology books mainly so there aren't many to choose from for 2012 on my part.

[Jain]

My favorites of last year were:

Wuthering Heights -- Emily Brontë
The Graveyard Book -- Neil Gaiman
The Left Hand of Darkness -- Ursula K. Le Guin
Black Widow: The Name of the Rose -- Marjorie M. Liu
A Companion to Wolves -- Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear

And I'll also mention the short story collections Bloodchild and Other Stories by Octavia E. Butler and The Compass Rose by Ursula K. Le Guin. There were a couple of duds in each book, so I ended up giving them four rather than five stars, but the good stories in each collection were amazing.

[Mike]

My top 3 books of 2012.

Epic page turner, suspense story. A must read!
Fantastic espionage thriller!
Who doesn't love a good zombie story?

[[deleted user]]

Zac wrote: "I did some catching up as I continue my late bloom into sci-fi love. The best books I read in 2012 were EASILY:

Excellent choices! Coincidentally I "discovered" Peter F. Hamilton last year, and read quite a bit of his output. And, Richard K. Morgan has been one of my favorites for a few years now, I've read Altered Carbon 5 or 6 times over the past 2 years.

Mine favorites reads for 2012:

[Tara]

For me I vote Bujold's The Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls, and also Stephen King's On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.

In other genres I loved the historical mystery Silent in the Grave, the angsty Hate List and the most excellent To Kill a Mockingbird.

[Hylton J Abrahams]

For me it was
THE STAND
A Dance with Dragon's
Prince of Thorns
Wise Man's Fear
The Casual Vacancy

[Hylton J Abrahams]

Honorable mentions would be
The Kings blood
Salem's Lot
And since I'm a massive HALO fan Halo:Primordium and Halo:Glasslands
And my guilty pleasure has to be 'The Sword of Truth' series

[M.L.]

My favorite was Cloud Atlas - liked it so much that after reading the paperback I bought the hardback.

[Tayla36]

To Zac, and John
I too, discovered Peter Hamilton this year. I got the first two books of the Void Trilogy at a Library Used Book sale, and I just loved them. Bought the third one used online.



Then I had to go back and read and , which take place in the same universe, but an earlier time period. I loved them all.

Also fell in love with David Weber's Safehold series. I read books 2 through 5 (I had read the first in the series in 2011). Loved the series so much, I went out in september the day the 6th book came out and spent my birthday money on the hardback the day it came out. And I never buy a book full price anymore. Well, I guess I can't say never anymore.



I also tore my way through much of Vorkosigan Saga. I read six of them in two week. I wonder if anyone has ever started a thread with favorite scifi and fantasy heroes. Miles Vorkosigan would top my list.

[[deleted user]]

Tayla36 wrote: "To Zac, and John
I too, discovered Peter Hamilton this year. I got the first two books of the Void Trilogy at a Library Used Book sale, and I just loved them. Bought the third one used online.
..."

Awesome! :-) I read the Void Trilogy as well, after I got done with the Commonwealth Saga. Also read Misspent Youth, which kicks off the whole story. Currently reading his latest, Great North Road. I still need to read his earlier novels.

[Zac]

Hahaha I've got misspent youth sitting atop my TBR bookshelf but I'm starting The Reality Dysfunction tonight to get a head start for a February group read.

[Tayla36]

Misspent Youth is part of the same Commonwealth universe? I'm going to have to go find that

[Leesa]

I rated 22 books with 5 stars.

Here are 10 of them.

Saga, Vol. 1
Salsa Nocturna
ink
City of Masks
Ready Player One
Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead
The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements
Rosemary and Rue
Zia Summer
Princeless

[[deleted user]]

Tayla36 wrote: "Misspent Youth is part of the same Commonwealth universe? I'm going to have to go find that"

Yeah, it takes place a few years before the prologue in Pandora's Star. It's short, but interesting. Also, Manhattan In Reverse, a short story collection that Hamilton released last year, has a few stories that take place at various times around the Commonwealth Saga/Void Trilogy. My review of it has a brief write-up of each story.

[Frank]

Most memorable for this year:

[Casey]

I read just one book that I rated Five Stars in 2012: Wild Seed by Octavia Butler.

Probably my favorite four-star book was Ready Player One. That one was fun!

[Aleksandra]

These are some of my favs in 2012:




And something not related to sci-fi which I still enjoyed very much:

[Ron]

It's hard to remember which ones I read this year but the following were high on my list:
Among Others
Blackout/All Clear
Calculating God
The Lathe of Heaven
WWW.Wake
WWW.Watch
WWW.Wonder
The City & The City
Doomsday Book
Hominids
Humans
Hybrids

[David]

My favorites in 2012 were also published in 2012:

[Jenelle]

I'd have to go with as the best book I read in 2012. There were lots of other good ones, but that one was by far the best.

[D.M. Andrews (author)]

was my favourite indie read of 2012. Good to see it's still doing well in the rankings - better than mine! :(

[Chary]

The Steel Queen
The Flame Priest
The Skeleton King
The Poison Priestess
and waiting for the 5th and last one.
Great series!

[Chary]

and waiting for the 5th and last one. I highly recommend these series!

[Brian]

I have been kind of remiss about listing books I've read on this site -- actually I've been kind of busy elsewhere, but I'll try to remedy that now.

Here are some great things I've read in 2012.

The entire Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher, through volume 12. I just rated all but one of those with 4 stars. I rated #8, Proven Guilty, with 5 because of the depth of the personal stories in it.

At first glance, this looks like just formula urban fantasy with the usual not-quite-human detective, so it ends up a fantasy/thriller/mystery. But the characterization in this series is so good it rises above the genre. This is well worth reading.

The second series is The Tide Lords by Jennifer Fallon. Again, great characterization (that means a lot to me) and an unusual premise: utterly fallible and human (often disgusting) immortals -- in the "greater immortality" sense; they can't be killed -- some of whom have magical powers that ebb and flow with a phenomenon called the "tide." When the tide is high, the quarrels these Tide Lords have with each other tend to wreck the world, so it has a cyclic history. The end of the series is a bit surprising, and the very end sets up for something really depressing in an unwritten epilogue. Fair warning.

I'm in the process of reading Katje Van Loon's Bellica (Bellica) and am finding it riveting so far although I'm not finished with it. I'll be writing a review when I'm done. It's got lots of plots and intrigue, somewhat reminiscent of A Game of Thrones, but not quite as dark and hopeless, with a background of magic ignored/undiscovered.

And I can also recommend x0 and y1 by Sherrie Cronin. Powerful character development and intensely thoughtful themes.

[The Pirate Ghost]

Wow, no way to list all of the favorites. I read a bunch that I liked. Some of the Highlights...






(Non fiction)
(Classic ERB!)

[Roger]

In no particular order:


This book was fantastic and pretty much sits at the top of my list.


This is a great book in its own right, but is overshadowed by The Player of Games


I hadn't read any Philip Dick in years. This book smacked me around and compared my genitalia to that of small fruit flies for waiting so long. Truly, the man is a genius.


This was just fun. Logen Ninefingers is a fantastic character.


The nested story structure worked for me and, as I said in my review, the last three pages did more to reveal the character and nature of Roland Deschain than all seven previous books.


Ethereal and creepy. A slow slide into madness.


You either love it or hate it. I thought it was delightfully stupid. I was amazed at how many different euphemisms for the male member Baker was able to come up with and actually make work. Turn your brain off, tune in, and have fun.


Once you slip into Ellroy's style of writing, the story hits you full in the face. This is the blackest of noir.



Kay does High Fantasy like no other.

[Mark]

The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers.

A jewel of time travel literature. Unlike anything you'll expect.

[Roger]

Mark wrote: "The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers.

A jewel of time travel literature. Unlike anything you'll expect."

oooo, yeah. I read that years ago. Great book.

[Roger]

Mark wrote: "The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers.

A jewel of time travel literature. Unlike anything you'll expect."

Also, his Three Days To Never has some clever time traveling bits.

[Grace]

I didn't read a lot of sci-fi/fantasy last year but now I've been stuck in this genre since reading Ready Player One. I also loved Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore and Ender's Game. I've been doing a bucket list of sci-fi titles from listopia and I also liked 1984, and Time Machine (HG Wells). My education in sci-fi has a long way to go.

Best for me so far this year in sci-fi/fantsay:
Slaughterhouse-five
Fahrenheit 451
The Lies of Locke Lamora
Angelmaker (Nick Harkaway)
The Eyre Affair (Jasper Fforde)

[Jenelle]

Grace wrote: "I didn't read a lot of sci-fi/fantasy last year but now I've been stuck in this genre since reading Ready Player One. I also loved Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore and Ender's Game. I've been doing..."

Grace: I LOVE Jasper Fforde! That series is one of my very favorite non-fantasy saga. Mostly I stick to fantasy/sci-fi, but I do make the occasional exception. I really also enjoy meta-fiction (that's what Fforde writes) but it's such a small/unknown genre that when you say, "I enjoy meta-fiction" you just end up getting weird looks! LOL

[Grace]

Oh my I didn't know it was supposed to be meta-fiction! But it is soooo good. Such a rare read for me. I have started the next one in the series - Lost in a Good Book - but stopped after some references to books I haven't read yet. I was afraid I might end up not enjoying the second one and that would be a shame because I really loved the first one.

[Al]

My own, of course.

Okay, seriously. Here they are (all science fiction, of course):

Star Marine by John Bowers. I love just about everything Bowers writes.

Glowgems for Profit by Bruce Davis, one of the best story tellers I've encountered.

The Road to Damascus a Bolo book by John Ringo and Linda Evans. This book actually gave me the shivers when I compared it to today's political situation. I had mixed feelings about the story, but when I look back, I realize I was glued to my seat and had to force myself to put my Kindle down and go to bed in the evening. I got this one for free on Baen's website.

[Armand]

Peter wrote: "what are the best books you read in 2012? they don't have to be published in 2012, you just need to have read them in 2012

Interestingly, I also read Slaughterhouse Five in 2012. Really enjoyed it!

[Al "Tank"]

For me:
Blanktown
Wool (the first book, not the entire collection which I haven't read yet)
Stranded Angels
Children of Destruction
The entire Fighter Queen saga (all 5 books)

[Michelle]

Fighting Graving by Leah Petersen was awesome - and the sequel, which just came out, is also mind blowing.
http://www.amazon.com/Fighting-Gravit...

Enchanted by Alethea Kontis, which was nominated for the Andre Norton award -http://www.amazon.com/Enchanted-Aleth...

Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card - http://www.amazon.com/Pathfinder-Orso...

[Linda]

Best Romance - Runaway Bride by Donna Fasano. Absolutely loved it and so related to the bride. Wonderful character development and the background for the story was perfect.

[Kay]

I like fantasy books that are a bit different.
Last year my favorites were:

Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Suzanna Clarke

Still Life with Shapeshifter by Sharon Shinn (second in the series; The Shape of Desire is first, also excellent)

The Half Made World by Felix Gilman (or would you call that SF?)

I'd love to get some recommendations of recent fantasies out of the ordinary realms.

[Kevin]

Kay wrote: "I like fantasy books that are a bit different.
Last year my favorites were:

Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Suzanna Clarke

Still Life with Shapeshifter by Sharon..."

I saw the girl who is on the cover of The Shape of Desire at my local Barnes and Nobles a couple of weeks after the book came out.

[Guy]

My top 3 reads of 2012 would be -





I would have added Game of Thrones to that, but it would be too obvious (and I haven't read Hunger Games).

Arthur Machen and Algernon Blackwood are two of the most incredible British authors and I'm surprised at how few people seem to have read any of their work, considering how hugely influential they were to fantasy, science fiction and horror.

[Rob]

The top 3 books I enjoyed most last year would be:

1) Ready Player One
2) Cold Days
3) Fool's Fate

Only one of which I think even came out last year.

[Kay]

Kevin wrote: "Kay wrote: "I like fantasy books that are a bit different.
Last year my favorites were:

Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Suzanna Clarke

Still Life with Shapeshift..."

That's pretty strange, Kevin. At least you didn't see the wolf!

[Dara]

I cannot think of 3 right now but #1 is easily Tigana.

[Jed]

The entire 7 book Gone series back to back

The entire 7 bookFever Crumb series back to back

The entire 10 book series Lethal People back to back

can I have just one more? Sure, go ahead.

The entire 3 book God's War series back to back

[Dusty]

I've only recently discovered Dresden Files, so I'm still catching up on him. But yeah, he is exactly up my alley -- dark gothic brooding and...humor, making fun of said dark gothic brooding. Simply perfect.

I'll second Ready Player One -- that was outstanding. Reamde is similar, albeit it's so near future it's almost not sci-fi. Hello, BitCoin? I also thought it was cool of Community to base one of their episodes on _Ready Player One_, as well as Wreck It Ralph being similarly homage-ish to the world of retro gaming.

Thirteen by Kelley Armstrong was an "good" ending to the triskaidecalogy, but she's still better than so many others out there (at least from what little I've read outside of my favourite authors).

Funny, I read two books named "Thirteen" last year (the other being Richard K. Morgan).

I also only recently discovered Richard K. Morgan, Tim Powers, Alastair Reynolds and Jim Butcher, so I'll just say: everything I read by them in 2012.

Blackout was outstanding. I thought the one big reveal (of...I won't say how many, but it's more than one) was disturbing as all hell, and I kind of enjoyed being that uncomfortable. In fact, I'll go so far as to say as I've never enjoyed being that uncomfortable evar. The ending was bitterweet, and emotionally perfect for the series. Mira Grant/Seanan McGuire is easily my favorite discovery of recent years in those two genres (sci-fi [zombie horror], and fantasy). I think I read One Salt Sea in 2012 as well -- no, it says it came out near the last quarter of 2011 so that's when I read it. Discount that.

I need another book or series like Otherland or Slant. Yes, going to read more Greg Bear and Tad Williams. And Orson Scott Card, not that you were asking.