Showing posts with label Best of 2020. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Best of 2020. Show all posts
2020 was a year that almost all of us would like to put
behind us for good. A global pandemic and working from home while trying to
manage young-uns, made more me than a tad morose. I only managed to read
to about 60-odd books (still need to update my GR account about many of them). This isn’t counting the re-reads as I found myself
jumping back a lot to my comfort reads when certain events occurred. Overall I
wasn’t able to read as many debuts as I have done in the past years. Hence I’m
listing only the top 5 this year. So here we go:
1) Kings
Of Heaven by Richard Nell – Richard Nell has rapidly made strides with each
book of his debut trilogy and with this trilogy, he did something spectacular.
He wrote a book that’s smaller than its predecessors in word count but easily
had more epic story and magic. It was an ending that David Gemmell would be
proud of. This easily made it the best book I’ve read in the entire year.
2) Black
Tie Required by Craig Schaefer – Craig Schaefer’s reinvention of his
spinoff series has been nothing short of incredible. When the books were being
published by 47North, they were dark & thrilling but after Craig got the rights back. The series has become a marvelous amalgamation of thriller, fantasy &
spycraft. Black Tie Required is also one of the best thriller stories that
I’ve read in my life and easily takes the silver medal.
3) Paternus:
War Of Gods by Dyrk Ashton – This last year was one for some great indie
trilogies. We got to see what Dyrk Ashton had planned for his immortals and man
what a climax it was. Stupendous in a single world, War Of Gods does have it all
epic magical battles, one of one fights between immortals and an ending that
outdoes everything that has come before. Dyrk Ashton proves himself to be the
Tolkien for the 21st century with his debut trilogy.
4) The
Shadow Saint by Gareth Hanrahan – The Shadow Saint takes all the amazing magical stuff introduced in The Gutter Prayer and takes it to another level altogether.
I loved Gareth’s imagination in his debut and this book further solidifies his
reputation as an imaginative storyteller. I can’t wait to read the future entries of the Black Iron Legacy which will be must reads whenever they release.
5) The
Fires Of Vengeance by Evan Winter – This was another sequel that really
really expanded on the world and characters while never comprising on the prose
and action sequences. Evan Winter’s epic fantasy series gives us a taste of
tropes which we have loved but packaged in a new non-European world and with
Dragons because you know fantasy is always that much more exciting with
dragons. Evan Winter’s the Burning
Quartet promises to be a future epic fantasy classic.
6) The
Stone Knife by Anna Stephens – The Stone Knife is the start of a new epic
fantasy saga that is styled on a world that’s drawn from Mesoamerican culture
and topography. Combined with Anna Stephens’ vivid characterization, this dark
fantasy epic was one hell of a read and promised a saga that I can’t wait to
read more about.
7) We
Ride The Storm by Devin Madson – Devin Madson’s traditional publishing
debut was first self-published and we at FBC count ourselves lucky that we were
able to recognize its magnificence early on in SPFBO. Combining a Spartan
approach in prose and a quick-paced plot, We Ride The Storm is one hell of a ride
and should be on everybody’s radar (if it isn't already).
8) Race
The Sands by Sarah Beth Durst – I must confess this book originally wasn’t
on my radar but thanks to my blogmate Caitlin & her effusive praise, I was
drawn in. Telling a standalone story is something of a novelty in the epic
fantasy and Sarah Beth Durst does it with aplomb. Writing a story about bonds
between a mother & her daughter, a master & an apprentice, a racer
& her beast, she manages to combine all these old tropes in a fresh way
that made me love this story a lot.
9) From
Cold Ashes Risen by Rob J. Hayes – From Cold Ashes Risen was a fascinating
end to an experimental trilogy by one of my favourite authors. It focused on an
anxiety ridden, self-loathing protagonist who was the exact opposite of Kvothe.
This book brought things full circle and made realize what an intricately
planned ride it was.
10) Of
Honey And Wildfires by Sarah Chorn – Of Honey And Wildfire is Sarah Chorn’s
sophomore effort and a completely different story than her debut. It still has
her gorgeous prose, three dimensional characters and a story that combines
aspects of a western with financial colonialism. It is a dark story but an
important one and highlighted what a terrific storyteller Sarah is.
There were three other titles that almost made the list, hence I have to give them a shoutout:
Top 5 Debuts:
1) The
Combat Codes by Alexander Darwin – This was genuinely one of the best
debuts I’ve read in the last couple of years. It combined dystopian SF elements
with martial arts and a very light touch of fantasy. With echoes of Ender’s
Game and Red Rising mixed in with regular martial art tropes, this debut by Alexander Darwin
was easily the top choice amidst all the debuts I read.
2) The
Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart – The Bone Shard Daughter was a book
that narrowly missed out of top spot. It had some of the creepiest and most
detailed magic system which I have had the pleasure to read in recent years.
Andrea Stewart’s prose skills as well as the plot shine amidst a bit of uneven
pacing and made the sequels a must read for me.
3) The
Sin In The Steel by Ryan Van Loan – The Sin In The Steel is a wonderful mix
of gender-flipped Sherlockian tropes, high fantasy & loads of action
sequences. This debut was so much fun in a year filled with darkness that I was
genuinely sad when it ended. However I can’t wait to read the sequel and to see
where Buc and Eld end up in a world filled with dead (& resurrected) gods,
pirates & shapeshifting mages.
4) The
Boy Who Walked Too Far by Dom Watson – I must confess this is another title
which I was privileged to read earlier thanks to SPFBO. However this past year,
Dom Watson was able to re-release it with a smashing new cover as well a much
more streamlined plot thanks to a cracking edit. The first volume of the Xindii
chronicles showcases a world and story unlike any other out there. Remember the
name as this is another future classic.
5) The Unspoken Name by A.K.
Larkwood – The Unspoken Name came with a lot of hype and it did justify
most (if not all) of it. This debut gave us magical races, a magical academy
settings and an epic fantasy plot. However the amalgamation of these elements
wasn’t entirely smooth (eg. the uneven pace & anti-climatic ending) but I’m still excited for the sequel and I hope the author can improve upon some of the book’s
minor deficiencies.
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2020 was a strange one. All doom & gloom, wherever you look. Good books, sport, and work helped me to cope with these interesting times. I read a lot of books this year. A lot.
Without further ado, here are my ten favorite reads of 2019. Not all were published in recent years. I see no reason to limit myself this way. What makes them best for me? Well, it's easy. Not all of these books got a stellar rating from me, but these are the books I found most memorable and impactful at the end of the year. In other words, I just can't get them out of my head.
Pretty Little Dead Girls by Mercedes M. Yardley - Pretty Little Dead Girls is in turns sad and funny, heart-breaking and heart-warming. Above all, though, it's beautiful.
I absolutely loved it.
Sweet Harmony by Claire North - Times being what they are, I should probably pick more optimistic titles. But I have no regrets. Claire North has mastered the novella format. In Sweet Harmony, every word counts, every scene serves a goal, and Harmony's decisions have a cost. North's take on nano-upgrades, a sense of identity, and addiction is terrifying, plausible, and intelligent. An outstanding novella.
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. Jones Mandell - Like “Station Eleven,” "The Glass Hotel" is a puzzle book. Mandel isn't afraid to use flashbacks, flash-forwards, alternating points-of-view, and alternate realities, to tell the story of two siblings moving in and out of each other’s lives.
I'll keep my review short. You'll easily find in-depth studies of this book elsewhere. If you loved Station Eleven, you'll love The Glass Hotel. It's beautifully written, haunting, and unforgettable.
The Lesser Dead by Christopher Buehlman - Buehlman twists the vampire mythos and makes it feel fresh. His vamps, a tribe of unscrupulous blood-drinking monsters preying on humans, ARE about death. Joey’s voice entertains and is a source of many laughs but don’t trust him. He’s a deceiver waiting to break you.
The ending is vicious. That’s all I have to say.
A terrific read.
The Loosening Skin by Aliya Whiteley - it's lyrical and bizarre. It analyzes the nature of love and the illusions we choose to feel good. In Whiteley's world, people shed their skin (and with it their feelings) every seven years. It was a difficult read. I can't say I love it (heck, I'm not even sure if I like it) but I can't get it out of my head.
For a Breath I Tarry by Roger Zelazny - a brilliant novelette that aged well (It's almost 60 years old and still packs a punch). It focuses on a computing machine's quest to understand the nature of Man, an extinct species. Nobody gets killed, there's no actual action or an army of robots and yet it makes you think and feel. A thing of beauty.
Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand - I loved everything about it. The mystery, the supernatural, the suspense. It left me confused and hungry for more.
The Scaled Tartan by Raymond St. Elmo - the last book in St. Elmo's excellent Quest of the Five Clans Series. I loved it, it's a perfect conclusion to the insane series playing with subgenres and not being afraid (or ashamed) to be different.
Kings of Heaven by Richard Nell - A spectacular culmination to the Ash and Sand trilogy. As a whole, the series is a masterpiece. If you haven't read it yet, you should ask yourself what the hell is wrong with you.
Black Stone Heart by Michael R. Fletcher - Black Stone Heart is addictive and compulsively readable - it forced me to prolong my lunch as much as I dared because I couldn’t bear to stop reading it. If anything depended on me, I would forbid Fletcher to work on anything but The Obsidian Path series. I need the sequel.
Graphic Novels
I got myself a Comixology account. It's frightening how easy it is to spend money there. It's a bottomless money pit. And yet, I regret nothing. It allowed me to catch up on reading graphic novels. The three standouts are:
Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples - Amazing. I bought all three collected editions in hardcover and I'm waiting for the new entries in the series.
Something is Killing The Children by James Tynion IV and Werther Dell'Ederra - Wow. Tynion IV doesn't pull any punches but he knows what he's doing. In Something is Killing the Children, he finds a perfect balance between a morbid, disturbing atmosphere and dramatic writing. Add haunting artwork to the mix, and you get something special. Loved it.
East of West by Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta - I want more graphic novels like EAST OF WEST. It stands apart from most of the releases and awes with a futuristic/sci-fi Western feel. From the illustrations to the writing, it delivers BIG TIME. So, if you're looking for a genre-bending, character-driven story about the apocalypse, it's here. And it's great.
TV Series
I don't play games, but I like movies and TV Series. Interestingly, I had little interest in bingeing anything this year. The three shows that bullied me into doing it were:
Queen's Gambit - Say what you will, but it's one of the best Netflix mini-series ever.
Doom Patrol Season 2 - They did it again. Love the series.
Umbrella Academy Season 2 - I wasn't crazy about UA's season 1 so I had little expectations about season 2. What I got was a pleasant surprise. An excellent TV show with great character development and strong acting.
Anticipated in 2021
I have plenty of stuff to read in 2021, but I'll mention three new series/books I'm excited about.
The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman - I've read all of Buehlman's published books. I'm beyond excited to check his first fantasy series.
The Empire's Ruin by Brian Staveley - Staveley's The Chronicles of The Unhewn Throne series is in my Top 5 fantasy series ever. I need this book asap.
Bear Head by Adrian Tchaikovsky - Tchaikovsky's Dogs of War is one of my favorite books ever. As soon as I get my hands on Bear Head, its sequel, everything else will have to wait. Basically, I'll read anything Tchaikovsky publishes.
Other than that, I'll read anything published by indie authors I follow: Craig Schaeffer, Raymond St. Elmo, M.D. Presley, Richard Nell, Dom Watson, Michael R. Fletcher, Angela Boord.
Given the wonderful hellscape of 2020, I put a lot more effort into reading this year, particularly outside genres I’d normally gravitate toward. With the kiddos distance learning, and therefore our house being a disaster of toys, drawings, tablets, and noise, reading outside in a hammock was my momentary escape. So to narrow down the big three I adored, and would practically beg anyone to read, they’d be:
Books I read:
Under A Pendulum Sun by Jeannette Ng – Impossible not to fall in love with this one. This story oozes gothic atmosphere, and takes place in a world almost unparalleled in its imagination and creativity.
Velocity Weapon / Chaos Vector by Megan O'Keefe – I feel it is fair to combine the two given that I devoured the both of them back-to-back. The Protectorate is the twistiest, most expertly-plotted sci-fi being published today. Enjoy having the rug pulled out from under you again, and again, and again.
Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow – My favorite read in years. It’s hopeful, angry, raw, and achingly beautiful. I’ll be shocked if it doesn’t become a genre classic.
Books I look forward to:
Catalyst Gate by Megan O'Keefe – Given how much I loved the first two, this inclusion should be obvious.
The Unbroken by C. L. Clark– Possibly cheating, since I’ve already read this, but it’s gonna be big, and I’m looking forward to the fandom it will absolutely develop.
The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart – So this came out late this year, but whatever, it’s my list. Bone Shard Daughter is my next read after I finish Essa Hanson’s Nophek Gloss (which is also super imaginative, btw, but I’m not finished yet!), and I’m eager to sink my teeth into this one.
I also feel it’d be incomplete to finish a 2020 list without at least acknowledging some of the other media that helped get me through it. On TV, that’d be HBO’s Lovecraft Country. Episode after episode, it was filled with some of the weirdest and wildest moments I’ve ever seen on screen.
On the game side, I’ll scream it from the rooftops that anyone should be playing Supergiant Games’ Hades. The music, the artwork, the gameplay, the phenomenal characterization – everything is top notch. I’ve put 130 hours into that masterpiece, and I expect I’ve still many more to go.
Own projects:
This February, I’m finishing the Keepers trilogy that’s pretty dear to my heart with the release of Voidbreaker. I wrote it to be a hopeful trilogy of characters enduring a dark world, and that optimism will be nice to start out a new year.
STUFF OF THE YEAR.
It has been, as you’ve probably noticed, a very peculiar year. I’m sure I’ve consumed more media than I ever would in a normal year, but it also seems to have passed my by in a haze – barely taken in, just buzz in the background.
I’ve hardly read anything at all, my concentration had been shot to bits so that by the time I’ve finished whatever writing and editing I’ve been doing I’ve been struggling to concentrate. Still, I managed to read a couple: Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy and A Private Cathedral by James Lee Burke as well as more non-fiction, which I could dip in and out of. Both the McCarthy and the Lee-Burke books are works that I am still thinking about months after finishing. Then there was Piranesi by Susanna Clarke which I enjoyed but didn’t love. Though beautiful it felt curiously empty, to me, though I think that may be a deliberate decision.
In visual stuff, and like most people I was blown away by The Queen’s Gambit which is held together by astounding performances by Marielle Heller as Beth’s brittle, disappointed mother and Anya Taylor-Joy as Beth. Taylor-Joy’s ability to convey so much in just a flick of her eyes is astounding. Though if you had already seen her in Emma (and many horror films I am informed, though I am too much of a wuss to watch them) then you wouldn’t be surprised by this. I think what I really liked about the Queen’s Gambit was everyone found their bit of happiness, and I think that’s a large part of why it’s been a such a hit. I also liked the fact she didn’t just magically get good at chess. She had an aptitude but she had to work at it, she always had a book in her hand or was thinking about chess, or talking about chess. It’s something who will resonate with anyone who does a thing (like writing) that is as much compulsion as it is ‘work’. We also watched The Magicians, and though I can imagine it would annoy some people I found the ‘knowing winks’ within the story about story and how it works immense fun. I’ve enjoyed Star Trek: Discovery but I wasn’t quite as taken by The Mandalorian as most people, I thought there was a lot of filler in the early episodes but when it was good it was really good.
The other thing I’ve really enjoyed this year as been the podcast ‘Finding Drago’ where Australian comedians Alexei Toliopoulos and Cameron James try to track down the mysterious author, Todd Noy, who wrote the novella ‘Drago: On Mountains We Stand.’ They end up going on an adventure and if I told you anything about it then it would ruin it for you, but I think it is really worth your time. It’s a fascinating dive into people and so very satisfying.
Gamewise I really enjoyed Ghost of Tsushima which made me the Kurosawa hero I’ve always wanted to be. Was underwhelmed by Outer Worlds which I really wanted to like more but never really rose above ‘well, it’s alright.’
As to what I’m looking forward to next year, well, obviously the final book in the Tide Child trilogy is released, ‘The Bone Ship’s Wake’ and I think it’s probably the strongest thing I’ve written to date. But I’ve been so busy with that and other projects that I’ve been a bit out of the loop really and I don’t know what else is coming next year. I think what I’m really looking forward to next year is that I might be able to meet up with people again. Do some bookshop appearances and go to some conventions as I didn’t realise how much I missed seeing everyone until I did. I’ll enjoy that more than any film or game. Maybe not books though. Books are special to me.
I always hesitate to indulge in these listicles, primarily because my reading habits are so eclectic. However, if you’re like me and enjoy reading across a broad range of topics and books, you might find something new to like.
As this sad, strange year comes to a close, it’s interesting to sit back and reflect about what stood out for me in the media I consumed. To be honest, it didn’t feel like a very rich year, and maybe that’s partly because movie releases were so limited.
Tenet was interesting, but left me fairly cold. Knives’ Out was a lot of fun, though I finally got around to seeing Snowpiercer and liked it a lot less than I thought I would. Mulan was another big disappointment – to me it felt like the creation of a bunch of empty suits sitting around a corporate board room table.
Television remains the visual medium I really enjoy, though I probably only sit down and watch 3-4 shows a year. Watchmen was simply phenomenal, some of the best TV I’ve ever seen. The Umbrella Academy’s second season was really strong – the characters and concept and the charismatic actors compensated for a fairly nonsensical plot. The Expanse remains my favorite science fiction show.
I didn’t play very many new games (I’m avidly awaiting Baldur’s Gate 3, though I don’t want to play the Alpha that’s out now) but I did have fun building bases and running away from sea monsters in Sub Nautica.
Books are where I spend most of my leisure time. The first few months of the year I worked my way through Malazan for the first time, and that was quite an interesting experience. I really liked Midnight Tides in particular, though the last few books I was a bit impatient for it all to be over. Still an experience I’d suggest for every fan of epic fantasy. Other than Malazan, the best books I read this year were Wintersteel by Will Wight, The Curse of Chalion by Luis McMaster Bujold, and the Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow.
On a personal level, I finished two books this year: The Hollow God, the concluding volume in my Swords and Saints fantasy trilogy, and The Shadows of Dust, a space-fantasy adventure that will release on January 3rd. In 2021 I’ll be returning to the world of The Raveling, writing the first book in a new trilogy that takes place five years after the events of The Shadow King.
Best of 2020
First off, I must say that I consume way too much media in the best of times, and so with being confined to my home, that only increased this year. I got through 48 books, around 60 movies (which is a shorter list than usual, for obvious reasons), over 60 seasons of TV (and that's just for new 2020 seasons, not including rewatches or things that came out in past years. Yikes), and I don't even know how many games. All this to say that narrowing down to a "Top Whatever" list is always very difficult for me, but I will do my best to narrow it down (and to keep it relatively short).
2020 Review / 2021 Preview
So I’ll start by saying it’s been an odd year, and I’ll wager most people can agree with that. My reading slumped a little and I’ve even slumped in playing new games, falling back to playing the latest CoD with my friends mostly because SOCIAL INTERACTION!!! I’ve watched a ton of TV though, so I’m gonna do a favourite reads and favourite series I consumed in 2020.
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