[Aptorian]

It's that time of year again where everybody is making lists and nominating books, films, games, etc. as their favorite entries within their medium, genre, era, etc. Such lists are always a great source of entertainment and discussion. Lists of favorites are by their nature always subjective and are often controversial, as fanboys and diehards call each other out and threaten to kill their respective families. A warm and wholesome Christmas tradition all in all.

So why not hear what the Malazan denizens think? Tell us what you read this year. Did you finally get to the bottom of that “To read” pile? Did you finally switch from dead trees to digital jazz, or are you still killing the forest? What about that Malazan re-read? What stood out this year? What did you especially like? What did you hate?

If you want you can try and make a top ten of your favorite stories, books, comics, articles or what ever, or a top 100 or just pick one book you really liked and want to tell us about. There are no rules or limits.

This post has been edited by Apt: 15 December 2016 - 05:07 PM

[Andorion]

On books, lets see

My mission to read all the big notable fantasy authors continues.

In 2014 I did Robert Jordan. In 2015 I did one trilogy of Glen Cook and all the Cosmere stuff of Brandon Sanderson.

In 2016 I did one trilogy of Mark Lawrence and am halfway through Bakker's first trilogy. Hopefully I will be able to finish Bakker next year and come back to Cook and also read Tad Williams.

I have also read War and Peace this year. Mediocre book, good to begin with, quality tails off, horrible last part. Advice - don't waste your time on it.

My top ten books I read this year, in no particular order -

1. Vagrant by Peter Newman - I normally don't do postapocalyptic but this book is excellent. A book about a mysterious man who never speaks, a baby and a vindictive goat

2. Nightmare Stacks - Charles Stross marked a spectacular return to form with this stellar entry in the Laundry series.

3. Dark Matter - Excellent thrilling mind-bending sci-fi

4. Library at Mount Char - Grimdark Gaiman

5. Anything by James Herriott - Seriously read this stuff. It will leave you healed and whole

6. Fifth Season and Obelisk Gate by NK Jemisin - Some of the most innovative worldbuilding and narration backed up by solid character work. Spectacular reads

7. Dancer's Lament - Easily ICE's best book, in retrospect this overshadowed Fall of Light for me.

8. City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett - Another stellar entry into a fantastic series

9. Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence- Dark, smart, jagged sharp fantasy. A very refreshing book.

10. Darkness that Comes Before by R Scott Bakker - I want to say the Warrior Prophet, but I am not done with it yet. Majestic, epic and so very dark. Love it.


Special Mention: Fall of Light - Lorewise probably the most valuable Malazan book, but some of the Tiste parts bored me to tears.

Honourable mentions - Guns of Empire by Django Wexler, Waking Fire by Anthony Ryan, Four Roads Cross by Max Gladstone.

Special Note: All Quiet on the Western Front is a book that cannot be rated or put in any lists. To me is the definitive antiwar book and it makes Hemingway's Farewell to Arms look like amateur scribbling.

[Chance]

Been doing a Malazan re-read for a while but it collapsed with new work which just ain't compatible with long time listening or reading, went up to Toll the Hounds which just was getting interesting about halfway in. They are books that really rewards re-reads after a a few years.

So to the best of the year which likely is in my TBR pile as Malazan re-reads have made it grow to new heights.

Best book?

The really good ones.
* Tracker by CJ Cherrhy. Id recomend the entire foreigner series to anyone interested in kind off sf about living in strange alien land. Tracker stands out however as being very good in a good series.
* A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab just rediculously fun its predecessor being nearly as good.
* Shadowline by Glen Cook sadly most of the follow ups just arent worth the time except for Passage of Arms.
* The Nightmare Stacks by Charles Stross perhaps my praise of this one is about the shittiness of the last one but this might be the best one yet for the Laundry.

The decent ones.
Fall of Light, Waking Fire, Servant of the Underworld, The Builders, Chains of the Heretic, The Perdition Score, The Ninefox Gambit, The War God's Son, To Break the Demon Gate, A Blade of Black Steel, Lines of Departure, The Six Gun Tarot, Passage of Arms, Visitor, A Darker Shade of Magic, Those Above, Burned, A Crown for Cold Silver, The Last Mortal Bond, The Ascendant Star, Fortress in the Eye of Time

All in all a year of decent books not great ones so far but there are a number of certain bets for decent or better that might get finished before new year A Plague of Swords, At the Sign of Triumph, Dancer's Lament, Children of Earth and Sky, Babylons Ashes and The Blood Mirror.

This post has been edited by Chance: 15 December 2016 - 05:09 PM

[Dadding]

I'm halfway through two series at the moment, and they're my favourite of the year even if they weren't written this year:

1) The Chronicles of Amber. Just about done the Corwin Cycle. I like the writing style. It's sparse, with a few choice metaphors, and the shadow-walking descriptions are always unique.
2) The Dark Tower. I'm listening to book 4 currently. It's a great book to listen to, reminds me a bit of The Dresden Files in that regard.

I listened to a few audiobooks this year: Dune, Hitchhiker's Guide, and American Gods. The Dark Tower trumps them all so far. I got bored of Dune halfway through the series, and I needed a break from Hitchhiker's Guide after book 3 for something more similar to my usual genres. I've been slacking in my physical-book-reading though. Got through The Magicians & series, which I didn't love but didn't hate. And read a few science books in line with my work including Regenesis by George Church, which was interesting but I wouldn't recommend it for a lay audience.

[worry]

Crossroads of Twilight

[Mentalist]

I clocked @ 52 new books this year, according to Goodreads. May possibly get another one in before the end of the year.

Off the top of my head (i'll probably edit this later)

A Crown for Cold Silver- this was the first, and in some ways still the best.

Fall of Light (and the preceding FOD re-read) were a sublime experience, if dark and sometimes confusing.

I finally read some Ian McDonald, and I'm a fan.

Great new discovered series: Kate Daniels (thanks, QT and Ando!); Far-called sequence (thanks, PG!), Dandelion dynasty (thanks... Chapters?)

Most interesting debut (that actually came out this year)- Purge of Ashes.

Biggest failure to read something- I stalled on "Gunslinger" in French AGAIN. Also, not finding the time to re-read Bakker's second series and STILL not having picked up Great Ordeal (I blame my injury and reduced traveling potential on that).

Best re-reads: whichever end-tail of Malaz I didn't finish last year (*opens new tab to check*... so B&B, Assail and then FoD); the Ambergris trilo; and it feels like "Quantum Thief" will be anothe one.

The "I'm kinda disturbed; but still glad I read this"- The Southern Reach trilo + the Colonel Pyat books. Oh, and "Dawn of Swords", which is probably the darkest book I read all year- which means a lot considering I re-read FoD, read FoL AND "Byzantium endures" this year.

"The end of all Songs" from Dancers at the end of time omnibus for kind of letting me start understand how most of the Eternal Champion stuff might be linking together. Maybe.


Biggest mindfuck- all the Jerry Corneluis books (the Quartet, the Calendar, and Time & Lives)

Bestest no-brains action fix- "Flaming Ice", a Russian spin-off from Vadim Panov's "Enclaves" universe + the 2nd Powder Mage trilo book.

Biggest "I'm glad this is finally off my TRP - "God of clocks" and "Kings of Morning". Both "Meh, but not terribad" for different reasons.

Most underwhelming book- "Elric: Stormbringer!". I... expected more.

[worry]

More seriously, my year was dominated by WoT so I didn't get much else read, but I did read a few 2016 books that were great:

Fall of Light
The Wheel of Osheim
The Obelisk Gate
Dancer's Lament
and yeah I'll round it out with Purge of Ashes -- definitely willing to read it again once the pro edit version comes out

[Vengeance]

I didn't get to read very many books this year.

Dancers lament
Fall of light
The wheel of Osheim

Several of the p.i.garrett books by Glen Cook. (Thanks Obdi for getting me on those.)

[Abyss]

BESTEST READ: hands down, Scott Bakker's THE GREAT ORDEAL. It was everything I read fantasy lit for, utterly held my attention for every page. Redeemed Bakker for me after my disapppontment in the last two books of the second trilo.And I'll take this opportunity to reiterate a hearty fuck you to every one of you who praised this book to the point that my vow to wait for the concluding next book failed utterly. Jerks.

BESTEST FUN: Ilona 'not a real person' Andrewses' KATE DANIELS series... started ok, and in the finest tradition of sort of urban fantasy serieses escalated nicely until I found it utterly addictive. Great fun, fantastic supporting cast, was such a treat to jump into this series with nine+ books plus shorts out and just maas thin the hell out of it. A great forum reco that totally paid off.

MOST DISSAPPOINTING: author implosion is a horrible thing. I was enjoying Rob Thurman's CAL LEANDROS series... I was. But even the hairless undead mummy cat couldn't save this series and I really didn't enjoy books 9 or 10.

BEST AUTHOR EXCEEDS MY EXPECTATIONS: ICE for DANCERS LAMENT. I fully expected to enjoy the book, but Cam took his writing to a new level with DL.

BEST BOOK THAT BLEW SHIT UP: James Fake Name Corey's NEMESIS GAMES. Damn. That was a serious kaboom.

OTHER MOSTEST DISAPPOINTEDING: Lynch. REPUBLIC OF THIEVES. It is a rare book that I cannot even force myself to skim to the end to finish. This, was that book.

I LAUGHED SO HARD I MAY HAVE PEED MYSELF A LITTLE: SE's WILLFUL CHILD THE WRATH OF BETTY. Because harvest time at the penis farm. Also, the chicken manifest.

MOST CINEMATIC: Stross' NIGHTMARE STACKS ending. Great book, GREAT ENDING.

[Aptorian]

Maybe you could make a thread about your ten least favorite threads.

[Tattersail_]

I have read so many books this year I am happy!

I'll say the best thing I have read this year is the Dark Tower series.

[acesn8s]

Goodreads says I've read 17 books this year, sound about right.

I think my favorites were:

Wexler's The Shadow Campaigns - Gun powder fantasy with a cool magic system.
Kearney's Monarchies of God - Very cool setting, loved the new world concept.
Hamilton's The Society of the Sword - some swashbuckling goodness.

I had a few that disappointed me, because I thought I would really like them:
Friedman's Black Sun Rising - just didn't get engaged.
Cole's Control Point - Too forced, plot-wise.

I hope to read more in 2017. I've been waiting to pick up Fall of Light and Dancers Lament, Butcher's Steampunk, Bakker's 2nd series, and reread William's MS&T in anticipation of his new book. Oh, and Cornwall's latest Uhtred book (which I may get to between Christmas and New Years).

[End of Disc One]

*Checks Goodreads*

I'm at 31 books finished this year (though in the middle of a bunch of good ones right now).

Morning Star by Pierce Brown is my pick for best.

[Salt-Man Z]

I read 23 books this year, not including comics or individual short stories/novellas. 12 (just over half) of those were ebooks. 4 were rereads. 4 were short story collections. And 1 was a commentary on a novelization of a movie (Ryan North's absolutely-hilarious B^F.)

Of those, my top three reads of 2016 were:

• Champion of Mars by Guy Haley - This one really stuck with me. The narrative alternates between one of the first scientific research outposts on Mars somewhere in the near future and the strange discoveries there, and a Mars in decline thousands (if not millions) of years into the future, with powerful AIs, symbiotic armor, and all sorts of crazy far-flung-future pulp goodness. We also (along the way) get brief glimpses of Martian history from numerous points between past and future, culminating in one final scene that ties everything together and reframes the entire thing as a love story. Fascinating, beautiful, and quite affecting. This will demand a reread sometime soon.
  
  
• The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins - An absolute mindf**k of a page-burner, this one. Completely off-the-wall, often brutal, stuff that only gets more bizarre the deeper in you dig, until the ending (once again) puts everything into a new context and just left me stunned. A masterful debut.
  
  
• Dark Matter by Blake Crouch - I think all of my top three can be argued to be love stories, and this one is the most obvious, though it's also a nonstop action-packed romp. I tore through this one in two days and one veeery late night. The pace never lets up, but Crouch never loses the emotional center of the story. Just amazing.

Honorable mentions:

• Fall of Light by Steven Erikson - Peak Erikson, prose-wise, but the slooow pace and overall dourness kept it from making the shortlist. Still a fantastic book, though.
  
  
• Seveneves by Neal Stephenson - The first two-thirds is a phenomenal disaster story, just let down by the incongruous final third. I'll give him points for trying, but I don't think the experiment quite worked.
  
  
• Sword/Spell series by G. Derek Adams - I read other books (not listed here) that were better than these, but dang these were a lot of fun. Granted the first book is fairly weak. But the second is great, and the third (which I read first, not knowing better at the time) is an absolute blast. The characters are fantastic, and the writing is more-than-competent punctuated with glimpses of pure poetry.

This post has been edited by Salt-Man Z: 16 December 2016 - 08:16 PM

[Macros]

I reaaly must get a goodreads thing set up to track what I read

[Abyss]

The increased use of earbooks definitely upped my reading number for the year. Counting earbook and ebook, I cleared at least 30 this year. A big chunk of that are the LEANDROS, KATE DANIELS and EXPANSE series plus a bunch of shorts ands novellas from the latter two. FoL and DL Malazan goodness, Bakker's TGO, two of Weeks' KETTY JAY books, Belcher's BROTHERHOOD OF THE WHEEL... throw in some solid GNs from SAGA, BLACK SCIENCE and EAST OF WEST and it's been a solid reading year.

[Macros]

Best book I read this year.

well I didn't read an awful lot new to me, but did a right bit of rereading.

a few stinkers that stick in my mind. but most pleasantly surprised by - Dancers Lament, having been so disappointed by most of his stuff this one was excellent

[Lady Bliss]

I'm out of books again so popped in. I may have to check out The Fifth Season...

1.I loved Dancer's Lament

2. FINALLY read the Black Company series and loved it

3. Wheel of Osheim

4. Desert Spear was good

[Salt-Man Z]

Can't believe I forgot Robert Silverberg's Downward to the Earth. It's like (yet another) "sci-fi Heart of Darkness" with great aliens and sooo much atmosphere. The ending was a little weird, but it easily makes #4 on this year's list.

[HoosierDaddy]

Popping in to agree that the first 2/3rds of Seveneves is really, really good.

Don't know how many books I've read this year. Probably over 25.

Best: Promise of Blood by McClellan; Shadow Campaigns by Wrexler; Revival by Steven King, Ready Player One by Cline

Honorable Mention: Dancer's Lament, Stavely's Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne series

Not so honorable mention: Fall of Light was a tedious and slow read. I still enjoyed it, but less than any other Malazan book by either author.

Edit: Forgot Nemesis Games and Prince of Fools

This post has been edited by HoosierDaddy: 21 December 2016 - 10:26 PM