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Top & Bottom 5 books read in 2017
For my official first year of reading books I would say it has been very productive and I enjoyed a lot of books which makes it a problem since Idon't think I have enough books here that would make it for bottom 5 but here goesTop 5
5. Guns of the Dawn- My first Musket fantasy and I don't think I've read anything that was as beautifully written as this
4. Heir of Novron- Another brilliant book that I really enjoyed Hadrian and Royce will forever be in my heart
3.The Dragonbone Chair- Loved the world of Osten Ard so much and the lore behind it and I'm still annoyed I haven't started the second book yet
2.The Hero of Ages- The ending of the book made me physically upset and every time I think of it I feel like crying
1.The Way of Kings- This has to be number one and I'm really glad I read it this year I had so many feelings for it I think it's fair to say Sanderson takes the prize this year
Runner up: Malice, The Blade Itself, Cursor's Fury
Bottom 5
1. Pandora's Star- It didn't really mesh well with the story and the world so I lost interest after awhile
2.Magician- I wasn't happy where the story was going and like the PS I lost interest
3.Dragon Prince- First part was good second part didn't stick with me and I couldn't continue
I was gonna say name of the wind but it turns out I finished it last December so I haven't really got much that's at the bottom to be honest
Top 5 5. His Majesty's Dragon- Napoleonic Wars with dragons. Dragons. What else needs to be said? 4 stars.
4. Kings of the Wyld- fun read, loved the basic idea, and liked the characters. 4 stars
3. Ready Player One- Despite not being a kid during the 80s, I really enjoyed this book. 5 stars
2. Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch- most disorganized but amusing apocalypse ever, enjoyable read. 5 stars
1. The Disappearance of Winter's Daughter- loved this one, so many feels, finished it in three days- a rare thing for me these days. 5 stars (I would also group the rest of the Riyria Chronicles here)
Honorable mentions: Age of Swords, Just One Damned Thing After Another, Hounded, A Darker Shade of Magic, Sleeping Giants
Bottom 5
5. The Maze Runner- 3 stars, practically bored me to sleep at times, finally got a better towards the end
4.Caraval- The main character drove me nuts. 2 stars
3. Falling Kingdoms- literally did not care what happened to any of them. 2 stars
2. Steppenwolf- read for a challenge for another group. Did not like it and felt no connection to the character. Confirmed for me that I am NOT a Herman Hesse fan. 1 star
1. Breakfast at Tiffany's- read this with another group. Spent most of it wondering what on earth I was missing since so many people love this one. 1 star
Other least favorites: The Circle,
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1. The Waking Fire/The Legion of Flame - This series is now in my top 3. I loved every single aspect about it. :)
2. Assassin's Fate - Also in my top 3 along with everything Hobb has done in the Elderling realm.
3. The Shadow of What Was Lost - Thanks to the group, I read and loved the first two of this one. One of my favs of the year.
4. Magic Shifts - Along with the rest of the Kate Daniels series. They've been so much fun this year, and were the books I found myself looking forward to the most often.
5. In the Labyrinth of Drakes - My favorite of the Lady Trent series. Some might find the series a little dry, by I ate up every single iota of dragon naturalism. Love.
Honorable mentions: All the Sandersons I read (I felt it was redundant to put it on the list. They're all Harry-Potter-Pedestal status). Cursor's Fury, Old Man's War, Skin Game.
Worst:
1.Dragonmaster - one of the most poorly written books I've ever tried to read. I don't know how Siobhan and Laura made it through it.
2. Murder of Crows - it's me. Everyone loves these. I had so. many. issues.
3. Bard's Oath - a trilogy-ender for which I waited 10 years for publication. It did not continue or resolve a single thing. It wasn't even about the freaking Bard. Or dragons. It was a book about horses. Huge disappointment.
4. Foreigner - DNF at 95%. I think it's safe to say I gave it a fair chance and just couldn't even at the end.
5. A Sending of Dragons - This one gets the award for the worst tangent/off-topic/waste of pages sequel in the bunch. I loved the first one. This one made me abandon the series.
Dishonorable mentions: The Desert Spear, Green Rider, A Crown Imperiled
Many more good books than bad ones this year, thankfully. :)
I’m going to immediately cheat and go with my top 5 series read this year.1. Inda by Sherwood Smith - this series blew me away. It had all of what makes me love fantasy in it.
2. Long Price Quartet by Daniel Abraham - great unique setting and characters.
3. Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan - so glad I finally made it through this massive series. Everything came together so well in the end.
4. The Broken Earth by N.K. Jemisin - another really unique setting and magic system. Never read anything else like it.
5. Abhorsen by Garth Nix - this was the surprise of the year for me. Picked it up on a whim and loved it.
Worst(back to books because I didn’t have many):
1. Crossroads of Twilight by Robert Jordan - the 10th and only book in the wot that I didn’t really enjoy. Absolutely nothing happened.
2. Tongue of Serpents by Naomi Novik - another book where nothing happened just a bunch of pointless traveling.
3. Tricked by Kevin Hearne - this series is just so unbalanced to me and this was the low point.
4. Soul Music by Terry Pratchett - this is one Discworld book that just missed for me.
5. Three Hearts and Three Lions by Poul Anderson - took me 3 tries to get through it. Book just ended with no real resolution. There was a dwarf whose entire speech was a mystery to me as it was written in a Scottish accent and I could not make heads or tails of it.
Top 5, in no particular order:1. Words of Radiance - brilliant, and I can't believe I waited so long to jump into it. I'll also mention Oathbringer, which I have yet to finish and probably won't this year. More of the same good stuff, but I'm bogged down for some reason.
2. The Crimson Campaign - Loved this whole trilogy this year, and this was probably the best one.
3. The Mirror’s Truth - Fletcher is brilliant, and a bit nuts.
4. The Disappearance of Winter's Daughter - consistent Sullivan.
5. Bull Mountain - Going totally off-genre here, but I raced through this one, and that did not happen very often in 2017.
EDIT: Wow, I forgot Red Sister! If not for Sanderson, this would have probably been my favorite all year. I can't decide what book to knock out of the top 5 to replace it with, so I'll just have to go with 6.
Bottom Feeders:
1. The Last Unicorn - Boring.
2. Cold Counsel - Boring with troll.
3. Shards of Honor - I don't get the hype. I was probably hindered by the horrible audio, but the story was boring without a troll.
4. DC Comics. Read several of their rebooted reboot universe stuff and it was dry and well, boring. Artwork was decent in most of them, but the stories were entirely without soul. Kinda like their movies, eh?
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Top 5
1. The Crippled God An epic end to an epic series. There's really nothing more to say.
2. Beyond Redemption This book was really more like beyond weird in my opinion, but the best kind of weird that lives an imprint in your memory. Can't wait for the buddy read of the second one in the new year.
3. Sins of Empire I love Brian McClellan's world and characters. Was cool to see the affects of the first trilogy, see new perspectives from already well known characters with the addition of some new ones.
4. Age of Myth Sullivan does female characters better than most authors I've read and I love seeing the world he's built from another angle. Listening on audio just made it all the more magical. It doesn't hurt that he's one of the nicest and most active authors on this site.
5. Chains of the Heretic Another author who interacts with readers a lot, the ending to this series could not have been done better. The story and the characters grew so much from the first book. Excited to see what Jeff comes out with next.
Honourable mentions:
The Dresden Files - I've been reading them all year and have gotten to book 13 as of now. To stick with a series this long is rare for me, but it just keeps getting better.
The Curse of Chalion - This was a book that I barely put down once I got into it and the discussion we had with the BR group was one of the best I've had.
Bottom 5
1. The Fifth Season - It just wasn't for me, but I hate most books written in second person.
2. Under Heaven - I can't really pinpoint why I disliked this so much because I've liked other things I've read by Kay. I read the first 100 pages or so twice and then gave up.
I read a lot of really crappy paranormal romance to help get me out of my reading slump this summer. I just needed something easy to read and it got me back on track. All of that is my 3-5 (and more).
Mod
1. The Way of Kings / Words of Radiance / Oathbringer -- I got to read all 3 of these for the first time this year... what a treat...
2. And the Rest is History -- Great time travel series... this year's release really packed the emotional punch...
3. Agatha H and the Airship City / Agatha H and the Clockwork Princess / Agatha H. and the Voice of the Castle -- Probably the most fun I had listening this year... Steampunk webcomic novelisation about Mad Scientists...
4. The Fifth Season / The Stone Sky -- Read the whole trilogy this year, but didn't like the middle book as much. Great trilogy, and great "ending"...
5. Dark Matter -- There sure is a lot of sci-fi on my list. This touches on another of my favorite topics. (The first being time travel in #2)
Honorable Mentions: Etched in Bone, The Brightest Fell, The Blade Itself, The Traitor Baru Cormorant, Secret History and the rest of Arcanum Unbounded
Bottom 5
1. Flag in Exile -- Just compounded on problems I had in earlier books... almost DNF'd... not planning to continue...
2. Wool Omnibus -- Really dragged... skimmed the rest of the series summaries online...
3. Retribution Falls -- The audiobook did me in here, using music between each chapter...
4. Armed & Magical -- I tend to find female MCs without agency annoying... I guess this series isn't for me...
5. House of Leaves -- A weird buddy read I did in another group... a story within a story about a fake documentary about a house with an infinite labyrinth inside it's walls... took me a whole month to finish...
Dishonorable Mentions: Lady of Misrule, The Devil You Know, Secrets in Death
NOTE: I accidentally closed this tab switching tabs to check my 2017 reads... I was nearly done at the time... re-doing it all really hurt...
Top 5:The Emperor's Soul
Daughter of the Forest
Age of Swords
Snapshot
The Alloy of Law -all three of these second era books
Also considered: Crooked Kingdom, Renegades
Bottom 5:
Hyperion
The Tethered Mage
Yesternight
Locker Nine
Starfall
Also considered: The Evaporation of Sofi Snow, Ready Player One
I'm going to try and narrow this down and try to list just my favorite and least favorite sci-fi and fantasy books. So here goes.Top Five
1. Rise of Empire This might be my favorite of the series, fantastic books. (This spot really goes to all Riyria books in Revelations and Chronicles.)
2. Age of Myth The first Sullivan I read and I loved it. It's what got me hooked on his books. (Age of Swords, the sequel, was quite good as well.)
3. The Crimson Campaign The best of this series. Such a fun world and cast of characters.
4. Oathbringer My least favorite of the Stormlight books, but there were some great moments.
5. A Wizard of Earthsea I really loved this book. I don't know what about it made it so great, but it was really really good.
Honorable Mentions: The Silver Chair (my favorite of the Narnia books, Puddleglum is the best), The Shadow of What Was Lost (really enjoyed this).
Bottom Five
1. Old Man's War I expected a lot from this book and it fell almost completely flat for me. Really cool concept, but poor execution.
2. New Spring This was harder for me to get through than any of the books in the Wheel of Time series. There was a lot of potential there, but then it all fell apart for me.
3. The Blinding Knife The first book was good, but not great, and then this just went completely down hill for me.
4. Fool Moon Another where the first book was alright and the series spiraled down from there. I tried this and the third, didn't like either of them.
5. His Majesty's Dragon Not as good as I expected. It wasn't horrible, but I didn't have any interest in continuing the series.
I think this year I read an unusually large amount of 5* books, so it's hard to choose the top 5. I'm going to cheat a little.Top 5 (in no particular order)
1) Stormlight Archives books 1-3. I read Oathbringer and reread The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance in 2017. If you don't want to count the rereads you can just count this as Oathbringer
2) White Hot I read the Hidden Legacy series books 1 and 2. While book 1 was ok I loved book 2.
3) On the Edge I read the series (4 books) this year. The other 3 were ok but the first I really loved. I read a LOT of Ilona Andrews this year.
4) Assassin's Apprentice I read the first 3 book. Book 2 and 3 went downhill imo but the first book was great.
5) The Name of the Wind This book blew me away. I couldn't stop reading. Need to read the second but putting it off since there'll never be a third.
Honorable mentions: Kushiel's Dart, The Curse of Chalion, Before They Are Hanged
Bottom 5
1) The Pillars of the Earth I've now had enough detailed rape scenes and information about the intricacies of building a cathedral to last a lifetime
2) Ghost Story I am so disappointed in Jim Butcher that I don't even want to go into it.
3) His Majesty's Dragon So boring that I zoned out for much of it.
4) Assassin's Quest This series went from top 5 to bottom 5.
5) Steel's Edge Another series that went from top 5 to bottom 5.
Dishonorable mentions: The Art of Racing in the Rain, Kitty and the Midnight Hour (the whole series as I've read it so far)
Top 51. City of Miracles. I waited a little over a year for the release of the last book in this amazing series, and it exceeded my lofty expectations. Great book, and great trilogy.
2. Station Eleven. Best stand-alone book I’ve read in many years. I’m not a huge post-apocalypse fan, but still absolutely adored this book because it’s so much better than you usually get out of the genre.
3. Senlin Ascends. Wonderfully compelling and difficult to classify into a specific genre. Bancroft’s debut novel was my most unique read of the year.
4. Lord of Emperors. Like most Guy Gavriel Kay novels, this one lingered in the back of my brain long after I had read the last page. Probably my favorite cast of characters of any book I read this year.
5. Mort. Discworld at its finest/funniest.
Bottom 5
1. Life, the Universe and Everything. The first Hitchhiker’s Guide was witty and fun in spurts. The second was disappointing but still witty at times. The third was bad enough to make me never want to read Douglas Adams again.
2. The Sacred Band. The end of a trilogy that was really pretty awful throughout. If the series was more popular I would’ve just quit partway through book 2 and looked up how it ends on wikipedia. But since it’s not popular (for obvious reasons now that I’ve read it), the only way to get resolution was to slog through three books of drivel.
3. Shadow's Edge. The worst entry in a mediocre, albeit quite popular, trilogy. Thankfully it is at least an easy/fast read.
4. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. Sooooo long and sooooo boring.
5. The Crown Conspiracy. Clunky and bland writing. I have high expectations for the rest of the series since so many in this group rave about Riyria, but the first book felt like something an amateur cranked out for NaNoWriMo.
Mod
Very underrated.
Scott wrote: "Very underrated.It's great! I picked it up as a Kindle Daily Deal and promptly let it collect (virtual) dust for a few years. When I finally got around to reading it I was really surprised how much I liked it.
Top five:1/The Dragonbone Chair
2/ The Crimson Campaign
3/ The Lies of Locke Lamora
4/ The Emperor's Blades
5/ The Ladies of Mandrigyn
Honourable mentions: The Long Price Quartet, The Blade Itself, Sword-Dancer.
Bottom five:
1/ The Stolen Throne
2/ The Iron Wyrm Affair
3/ Age of Assassins (DNF)
4/ Winterwood (DNF)
5/ Traitor's Blade
Dishonourable mentions: Malice, Red-Headed Stepchild, Imager.
My Top Five: 1) Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson. Wouldn't expect any other book to make the top haha.
2) Malice & Valor by John Gwynne. This whole series really took my surprise - almost finished with book three.
3) Heir of Novron by Michael Sullivan.
4) A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. Not fantasy, but still really loved this one.
5) The Night Circus. Haters gonna Hate ;].
Honorable mentions: First four Wheel of Time books; Red Rising; Powder Mage.
Bottom Five:
1) City of Stairs. Biggest disappointment of the year for me.
2) Fool Moon. Basically hated it haha. I'm going to give book three a shot relatively soon, and will promptly call it quits on this series unless it improves DRASTICALLY.
3) Messenger & Son from The Giver series. Just painfully bad, I almost didn't finish them.
4) Saint's Blood. For the life of me, I cannot understand what makes these books so popular. Everything about it felt cheap to me. Like playing with a dollar store bow and arrow as a kid, as compared to using a real one. Just really bad writing in my opinion haha.
5) The Death Cure. The movies are better.......... And I hate saying it haha.
Others I severely disliked: A Conjuring of Light; Red Queens War.
Overall, this was a really great year for me. I know my tastes well enough now that I very rarely am severely disappointed in a book I'm reading. And I really only read books that come from trusted sources/recommendations.
Wow, Greatcoats series finds its way onto multiple Bottom 5 lists. I was planning on reading the series in 2018, but I may bump it down the priority list. Unfortunately I already own two of the books, so I will have to read the series eventually.
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The first two books were fine - nothing great for me, just alright. Some major plot issues, but I was able to look past it. Book three wrecked it all for me haha.
Top 51. Strange the Dreamer
2. The Dragon Reborn
3. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
4. The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue
5. Mage's Blood
Worst 5
1.Caraval
2. The Handmaid's Tale
3.Red Rising
4. The Slow Regard of Silent Things
5.The Great Gatsby
Mod
I was debating buying Mage's Blood today because it's a part of the audible 2 for 1 sale... maybe I should give it another look?
Niki Hawkes wrote: "Angus! Long time no see. :)I was debating buying Mage's Blood today because it's a part of the audible 2 for 1 sale... maybe I should give it another look?"
Nice to see ya too :) I haven't been reading the past few months so haven't been on goodreads :( But i'm getting back into it now! And you definitely should! I don't know what the audiobook is like but i really enjoyed the story, still need to get onto the sequel tho D:
Yeah seriously Angus you like disappeared for awhile! Hope all is well. The Handmaid's Tale is one book that I know I need to read, just because of how polarizing it is haha. Seems like people either love it or hate it.
Mod
I was debating buying Mage's Blood today because it's a part of the audible 2 for 1 sale... maybe I should give it another look?"
Nice to see ya to..."
Totally understandable. :) And nice to see you back! I think the audio is Nick Podehl, who also did Name of the Wind, and tbh I was thinking it would be a good pick for that alone because he's really good lol. What I need to know is: I don't mind historical influences on fantasy, but I don't usually like when the book has very few fantastical elements and focuses mostly on the history. How does Mage's Blood hold up? Does it lean more towards fantasy or alternate history? (seriously, this conversation couldn't have come at a better time lol).
@liam Hey! I'm all good don't worry :) I just moved out for university and things so ive sorta just fallen out of my reading routine but hopefully it'll get back on track now :) and I honestly hate the handmaids tale.... makes me angry 😂 the TV show was actually quite cool tho
Glad you're getting back to reading, Angus! I think I'm going to try Strange the Dreamer on audio in 2018, so glad it made your top five.
@Niki it's good to be back :) And it definitely has a LOT of historical influences in terms of the culture, especially with the names of places and religions etc... But one character is a practising mage so that story arc is quite heavy in fantasy elements, but the other 2 main arcs are less so. I'd say more fantasy than a song of Ice and fire, but less than like storm light archives... I hope this helps :) it's been a while since I've read it so could be a little off haha
@C.P thank you! I hope you do! I'm thinking of rereading it too :)
This is actually difficult as I've read some amazing books this year! :)Top 5:
1. The Passage
2. His Majesty's Dragon
3. The Blade Itself
4. The Final Empire
5. The Lies of Locke Lamora
Honourable mentions: All the Birds in the Sky, Delirium, Within the Sanctuary of Wings
Bottom 5:
1. Wintersong - completely awful
2. Idaho - bit of a let down
3. InterWorld - poor
4. Red Queen - disappointment
5. Something Wicked This Way Comes - just OK
Mod
@Niki Eeeek! If you don't like it, it's not my fault ;) But if you do like it than you're welcome and i'm up for buddy reading the sequel! haha
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Long time no see Angus haha its great to have you back here again and its nice to see mages blood up there I've been wanting to get to it eventually since it sounds interesting although the land bridge part of the synopsis kind of makes me laugh have they not invented boats or something but I guess I'll have to see for myself hahaI wouldn't mind buddy reading the series so if there are people up for it we could do that
@ahdam it's all sorta centred around that land bridge, but the ocean is incredibly stormy because of the moon if i remember.... Guess that's why it's called the Moon-tide quartet? If there's a buddy read, i'll definitely join In on the discussions because I need a little recap before book 2 :D
@ Angus - the first two books are in my TBR list - I'll have to bump them up a bit now!
Siobhan wrote: "This is actually difficult as I've read some amazing books this year! :)Top 5:
1. The Passage
2. His Majesty's Dragon
3. The Blade Itself
4. [book:The Fi..."
Solid top 5 this year for you! Mistborn, Gentleman Bastards, and First Law are all among my favorite series. I can't imagine how awesome of a reading experience it would've been if I had read them all in one year! And the Passage was really good, too. It fell just outside this year's top 5 for me after I finally got around to reading it.
Top 5:1. Words of Radiance - loved it so much I read it twice this year.
2. Deadhouse Gates
3. Oathbringer
4. Memories of Ice
5. The Bonehunters
Honorable mentions: The Emperor's Soul and Strange the Dreamer
Bottom 5:
1. The Demon King - I couldn't even finish it.
2. Rock Chick - way over the top for my taste.
3. The Dragon Reborn - snail pace and constant repetitions.
4. Traitor's Blade - put me in a reading slump
5. A Darker Shade of Magic - I didn't connect with the main characters and the plot was underwhelming. I gave it 3 stars, but it was more like 2.5.
Andrew wrote: "Siobhan wrote: "This is actually difficult as I've read some amazing books this year! :)Top 5:
1. The Passage
2. His Majesty's Dragon
3. The Blade Itself..."
Thanks Andrew! I know, I have no idea how it's taken me so long to get to those series. I have absolutely adored all of them so far! :)
Liam, I was at the same place after Fool Moon. I read Grave Peril, and unfortunately it did not turn the series around enough for me to want to continue.
Top 5 of 2017:1. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingslover
2. Giant Days Graphic Novel collection by John Allison
3. King's Dragon by Kate Elliott
4. Hidden Empire by Kevin J Anderson
5. Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson
Honorable Mentions: The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (re-read before Book of Dust)
Bottom 5 of 2017:
1. Weaving Destiny by CP Ching (DNF)
2. The Story of Mankind Graphic Novel by Marv Wolfman
3. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by JK Rowling (so disappointed)
4. Sand by High Howey
5. Earthsong: Native Tongue III by Suzette Haden Elgin
Mod
Well let me start this thread by first saying, "Merry Christmas to all, Happy Holidays to the others, and I'm wishing you the best in the New Year!" Thanks so much to each of you for helping me rediscover the joys found in reading a good book. Due to reading your reviews and through our chats I've discovered the talents of authors like Brandon Sanderson, Peter V. Brett, Tad Williams, and many others! Without further delay, here's my top 5 reads of 2017 in no particular order because they were my only 5 Star Reads:1). The Dragonbone Chair: This was both a first read of this book and an introduction into Mr. Williams works. His poetic descriptors and amazing (although initially slow) plotting made this an immediate favorite of mine. I followed this read up with a 4 Star read of the second in the series and I look forward to continuing through books 3 & 4.
2). The Name of the Wind: One thing that I learned about this book is that it has the ability to entertain and make you laugh, but it also causes a forum thread to explode with so many mixed reviews that it feels like you're staring at a laser light machine that leaves you dazed and confused! I really liked the humour, the magic system, and the flow of the story so much that I killed the book in 8 days @ 100/day.
3). Old Man's War: I loved this book for different reasons that you might expect. It doesn't have the strongest plot nor does it have the deepest characters. Where this book succeeds is that it's a well written comedy - think "Grump Old Men" meets "Starship Troopers". This was my first exposure to the Sci-Fi genre, and I'm glad that I saw it on my library's shelf!
4). Ready Player One: This book was so well written and a fantastic trip down memory lane into my childhood that it was a 5 star read before I even turned the first page! So I guess I'm 2 for 2 while reading Sci-Fi. Such a fun read that I still get a smile on my face when I think about reading this book!
5). The Final Empire: Another first for me, this was my introduction into the Cosmere! Best book that I've read in my life, enough said!
Honourable mentions:
The Warded Man
Homeland
Legend
Sea of Shadows
OH THE SHAME (aka worst books of 2017 - for me!)
1). The Eye of the World: (DNF) After reading New Spring (#5) and giving it 2 stars, I decided to try the main series. BUT, I should have stopped at reading the prequel... Mr. Jordan had the uncanny ability to write a plot that predicted your questions as you're thinking them, but then he'd outright dismiss them, move on and leave you shaking your head at the character's decisions... It just wasn't for me. There are too many good authors out there to read so I bypassed this one. Sorry.
2). The Way of Shadows: (DNF) This book made me physically ill the way it exploits and abuses children within the first 120 pages that I literally couldn't continue. And from what I've read, that seems to be a common theme in his novels. So, Mr. Weeks will never again be on my TBR.
3). Dead Until Dark: (2 Stars) I LOVE the TV show True Blood, so I thought, "What the hell!? Lets give the books a try, they're supposed to be better, right?"... "Sigh"... The plot was great, the mystery was great but then the author f*cked it up by putting about 17 sex scenes throughout the novel. It messed with the continuity and I felt that the main character was a little too excited to boink a vampire... By the end it felt like the sex was thrown in to fill a page quota instead of advancing the plot. I might continue due to curiosity.
4). Age of Assassins (2 Stars) Sorry Scott...
SO MUCH POTENTIAL... But I found that it fell a little flat and deviated from what I expected. Which was sort of like, MAD Magazine's Spy vs. Spy but more deception and killing attempts...
5). New Spring (2 stars)... Nuff said about this one...
So that's my opinion on my reading this year. I look forward to the next 366 days of discovery that I get to share with all of you! Especially our 2 year buddy read of Steven Erikson! Happy Reading my friends and we'll talk to you soon along the way!
i've read only one book yet and it is amazing...The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Chris wrote: "Well let me start this thread by first saying, "Merry Christmas to all, Happy Holidays to the others, and I'm wishing you the best in the New Year!" Thanks so much to each of you for helping me red..."That's great Chris and I think I share your feelings because I truly enjoyed reading books ever since I joined this group and finding new authors as well as meeting them in person (If I could meet Tad Williams then I can die a peaceful death haha) to tell them how much I enjoyed what you listed in your top 5
Also you would be happy to know that I am halfway through Stone of Farewell and I'm already in love with it even more than the first one, I hope to finish it next week so if you want to join up for Green Angel tower then I would be happy to do so.
Ahdam wrote: "Chris wrote: "Well let me start this thread by first saying, "Merry Christmas to all, Happy Holidays to the others, and I'm wishing you the best in the New Year!" Thanks so much to each of you for ..."Thank you ...may this new year brings all blessings to you.....
Ahdam wrote: "Chris wrote: "Well let me start this thread by first saying, "Merry Christmas to all, Happy Holidays to the others, and I'm wishing you the best in the New Year!" Thanks so much to each of you for ..."I'm all over that, just let me know when!
Niki Hawkes wrote: "Ooh I've had hidden empire in my shelves for years - glad to see it's in your top and worth holding onto. Are you continuing with the series?"Niki, yes! I decided when I finished Hidden Empire to continue the series. Found "A Forest of Stars" at a used bookstore in November. I dont know WHEN ill get to it with this coming year of BRs, but it'll happen sometime.
The different planets are really intriguing.
Mod
Fantasy Buddy Reads
Books mentioned in this topic
Ancillary Justice (other topics)The Eye of the World (other topics)
The Fifth Season (other topics)
Too Like the Lightning (other topics)
Shadows Linger (other topics)
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1. The Crippled God - Climax to the GOAT series that brought so much together in heart wrenching fashion.
2. Children of Time - The best Sci-fi book ever.
3. Oathbringer - I don't think this needs an introduction.
4. An Autumn War - Sort of a series award as I read all four books this year but book 3 (of 4) was the best of the lot but all got 5*'s.
5. The Stone Sky - Another series award where I read the entire series this year. I thought the last book brought everything home.
Also considered: Dust of Dreams Deadhouse Landing Guns of the Dawn Hope and Red
Bottom 5
5. The Bear and the Nightingale - The writing was child like as was the plot.
4. The Night Circus - Boring, nothing ever happens.
3. Uprooted - The Petrick special. The characters were awful and the story boring.
2. Guilded Cage - The premise and story both awful.
1. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life - I read this thinking it would be funny but really the author is an idiot.
Also considered: Infomocracy The Barrow The Red Heir Too Like the Lightning Days of Blood & Starlight