Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Odds and Ends: My New Top 10 Anticipated Novels From the Rest of 2010 - Updated with Comments 1
From my original Top Ten Anticipated Books of 2010, I have read 7 so far (3A++, 1 A+, 2 A, 1 A-, no major disappointments) and the 8th (The Evolutionary Void/PF Hamilton) has just made its way to my house to be read asap; there is also more information available - including confirmation of publication for 2010 or of moving to 2011 - for some of the books in the extended Anticipated Books post, so I thought of doing a new post with the New Top 10 Expected Books which *I do not yet have* and which *are confirmed for 2010.*
While there are several debuts I am very interested in, I will not list them here since my record so far with predicting my degree of interest in such is mixed (see Tome of the Undergates vs The Last Page).
However since I loved Ms. Bernobich's collection "A Handful of Pearls" (FBC rv soon), I will make an exception for her debut which intrigues me a lot by its association with the Jacqueline Carey Kushiel series which is still my number one completed fantasy series of the 00's. I will cheat a bit and mention 14 novels since I cannot stop myself...
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1. The Horns of Ruin by Tim Akers (utterly loved Heart of Veridon, so Horns of Ruin is the one novel I give best odds to top The Folding Knife as #1 sff of the year for me now that the new IM Banks Culture is confirmed for 2011 as is the new Mary Gentle novel)
This turned out to be very "not for me". Great narrative energy that kept me reading but a comic book plot with the 100 repetitions of "in the name of Morgan I smite you" incantation of superwoman on steroids Eva Forge made me thankful it was short enough so I could finish it. Well, Dead of Veridon comes out in 2011 and hopefully the subtlety missing here, will come back since the author writes too well for comics.
2. The Half Made World by Felix Gilman (now that the blurb is available in the Tor catalog(pdf file), this one is even more intriguing and I give it second best odds for #1)
A++ and top 10 fantasy; only half a duology though which lessened a bit its impact; full review soon;
3. Passion Play by Beth Bernobich (see above why)
A+ and great debut with extraordinary promise; full review soon
4. Empire of Light by Gary Gibson (end of series and a dark horse for #1)
A+ and good ending of the series, but I still think the series could have been awesome and stalled slightly after the excellent first volume. FBC Review
5. The Scarab Path by Adrian Tchaikovsky (beginning of new sub-arc in the Kinden series; hard to believe it will top the awesome Salute the Dark, but one can hope)
A++ and top fantasy (as a combo with Salute the Dark) of 2010; FBC review
6. The Black Prism by Brent Weeks (still of great interest and very curious if Mr. Weeks can keep the freshness and exuberance of his debut trilogy)
A++ and #3 fantasy of the year; FBC review
7. Wintertide by Michael Sullivan (another #5 in a series like the Tchaikovsky novel above that will be hard pressed to top the awesome #4, in this case The Emerald Storm)
A++ and #5 fantasy of the year (as a combo with The Emerald Storm which yes, it tops) FBC review soon
8. Empire by Steven Saylor (now confirmed for August; my favorite living non-sff author is always a must; I may do a dual review with its precursor Roma)
A++ and #4 mainstream novel of the year; FBC review
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9 (tie). Absorption by John Meaney (early reviews were somewhat mixed; on preorder from BD)
B- and disappointing; hope the next novel brings the scattered stuff here together; FBC Review
Black Lung Captain by Chris Wooding (loved Retribution Falls, let's see if the author can keep the freshness and the pace)
B and somewhat disappointing; has some great stuff, but a lot of farcical stuff too which worked in Retribution Falls sometimes because it was new, sometimes because it was just slightly on the other side of the farce, while here it tips over; I may do a full review or not depending on how other novels line up; I am in for Iron Jackal
Transformation Space by Marianne de Pierres (another end of series and a book that can get very high in my end of year lists)
the only 2010 one I am missing so far; hopefully will get it soon
The Immorality Engine by George Mann (cannot wait to see how the first arc of the Newbury/Hobbes series ends)
2011
Skywatcher by Jon Connington (loved the author's debut quite unexpectedly a lot and I really, really want to see what's next)
reading it now; seems as good as the first one
The Blood of Alexandria by Richard Blake (same as above, except that this is book three in a pretty anachronistic series that nonetheless managed to hook me by the narration of its irrepressible and cynical (anti)hero and which I plan to review soon - for fantasy lovers, this series is what I imagine Joe Abercrombie would write as historical fiction)
still unread, but will get to it sooner rather than later
Edit 6/30/2010 - a little update
The new IMB Culture novel has been brought forward to October 2010 so Surface Detail should be #1 there
Yes, Surface Detail should have been #1 since as expected it became my #1 sff and sf of the year and #2 overall. FBC Review soon
Absorption (FBC Rv, B-) was somewhat disappointing though i have high hopes for the sequel because its main fault was too many threads, too little pages
Passion Play (A+, first impressions here) was not quite what I expected and the Kushiel's comparisons area bit misleading since this one is almost pure romantic fantasy; loved it once I realized the way it goes and the series has great potential but the sequels will decide how great it will be.
Got Blood of Alexandria which is the same cynical fun of #1/#2 and will read soon and got Black Prism too which starts very well, also to be read soon
12:01 AM | 
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Liviu |
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3 comments:
This is a good post. Thanks for sharing. I'll be sure to return regularly. I invite you to see my post, I hope you will find interesting too.
Hey Liviu
The Richard Blake series seems to be very interesting, also you might be like the Adventures of Odysseus by Glyn Iliffe. I'm also going to start Empire of the Moghul book 1 by Alex Rutherford.
Mihir
Great suggestions - will take a look ;the main problem with historical fiction, though it holds for most books, is that even if it sounds very interesting, it all depends on the author' style - for example there are are a ton of series and novels about Greece or Rome and only some that I like.
Steven Saylor has a great exhaustive list of fiction and movies set in Ancient Times on his website which is linked under Favorite Authors and I use it as a comprehensive resource for such.