[Mithfanion]

Time to gather here your yearly favorites, regardless of release date. Name as many as you feel worthy of a "Best of" label but please give a short explanation for why they make your year's greatest list. I make no distinction here between 2006 releases and releases from any other year, so just list your very best.

Personal favorites:

The Thousandfold Thought by Scott Bakker.

Despite some disappointment with the way some end scenes were handled I still think this was a great book, maybe the best of the trilogy. Really sets up the Aspect Emperor nicely and to me proved Bakker could maintain a consistenly high quality. It leaves me immensely curious about the works to follow since Prince of Nothing resolves the Holy War arc, and not the one of the Second Apocalypse.

Winterbirth by Brian Ruckley

Good start to a new epic Fantasy series which just appeals to me a lot.

Replay by Ken Grimwood

Small but poignant and remarkable book.

Pride of Baghdad by Brian Vaughn

Excellent graphic novel about four lions who escaped from the Baghdad zoo and encounter the harshness of the outside world, based on a true story.

Slaine: Book of Invasions by Pat Mills and Clint Langley

Langely's the new artist and he really revives the Slaine comic series. I enjoyed both the hardcovers which are out now.

Most disappointing reads of 2006:

In the Eye of Heaven by David Keck. Drab, dreary, incomprehensible. Very average most of all.

The Forest Mage by Robin Hobb.

This is extra bad because she is one of my five favorite authors. Here she manages to eclipse even the poorness of Shaman's Crossing with an utterly irritating protagonist who, more even than Fitz Chivalry, whines and whines and genuinely gets upstaged by everyone he ever meets. At the end I wondered why I should care and hoped that he rots away. The behaviour of some secondary characters ( the father for instance ) is also very odd and they really pale in comparison to the secondary cast in Farseer/Tawny Man.

[RodeoRanch]

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

Hugely entertaining fantasy/crime caper that was sharply clever without being too cutesy. Loved it.


Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett

Old school hard boiled American detective fiction at its best. I've been getting in the genre and Hammett is simply the top dog.

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

Chandler's first Marlowe novel and a great example of the genre. Marlowe rules!


Ummm...there are probably more but I can't remember all the books I've read this year. Those 3 stand out the most.

[The .303 bookworm]

# The Darkness That Comes Before
# The Warrior Prophet
# The Thousandfold Thought

The entire series (Barring "Gardens of the Moon") of "The Malazan books of the Fallen"

"Thud!"
Many more that I can't remember what year I read them in.

[Reborn]

These are the top twenty fantasy books I have read this year (the order is uncertain):

1. The Chronicles of Amber (Corwin) - Roger Zelazny

2. Deadhouse Gates - Steven Erikson

3. Midnight Tides - Steven Erikson

4. The Bonehunters - Steven Erikson

5. The Warrior Prophet - R. Scott Bakker

6. Gardens of the Moon - Steven Erikson

7. House of Chains - Steven Erikson

8. Last Call - Tim Powers

9. Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny

10. The Anubis Gates - Tim Powers

11. Crown of Shadows - C.S Friedman

12. Memories of Ice - Steven Erikson

13. The Chronicles of Amber (Merlin) - Roger Zelazny

14. The Lions of Al-Rassan - Guy Gavriel Kay

15. Elantris - Brandon Sanderson

16. Fevre Dream - George R.R. Martin

17. Perdido Street Station - China Miéville

18. Queen of the Darkness - Anne Bishop

19. Black Sun Rising - C.S Friedman

20. The Darkness that Comes Before - R. Scott Bakker

The only books I have read that were released this year are The Bonehunters and Forest Mage, but both The Thousandfold Thought and The Lies of Locke Lamora are waiting for me, and I am planning to begin reading TTT tomorrow.

I would also consider Forest Mage by Robin Hobb to be the most underrated book of the year, and it just narrowly missed a place in the list above.

[Morgoth]

hmpf..

Lies of Locke Lamora,
The Bonehunters
Use of Weapons
Blindsight
The Thousandfol Thought
The Wasp Factory
House of Leaves

[kcf]

Hmm...I think this is the last message board that I frequent where I'll post this (so this is the apology to all of you have seen this elsewhere ).

Anyway, the full list is posted here at the blog. I read a few other books in 2006 after posting that, and a couple of them deserve at least an honorable mention - From the Files of the Time Rangers by Richard Bowes (review) and The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers (review).

If I had to pick an absolute favorite book read in 2006 it would be City of Saints and Madmen by Jeff VanderMeer (review). Noteably, The Bonehunters (review) didn't make the list.

[Varunwe]

DHG, MoI, HoC, MT - do I really need to explain these

Perdido Street Station - China Mieville
An exciting bug hunt and a very difficult decision at the end.

Thud!- Terry Pratchett
Can't miss with Pratchett.

[Sol Invictus]

Steven Erikson - Gardens of the Moon (Recently re-read it. It's confusing the first time around)
Deadhouse Gates
Memories of Ice
House of Chains
Midnight Tides
The Bonehunters
China Mieville - Iron Council
Richard Morgan - Altered Carbon
Terry Pratchett - Going Postal (I still need to read Thud!)
R. Scott Bakker - The Darkness That Comes Before
Tad Williams - Shadowmarch (but I really didn't like the Autarch scenes)

Books Classified Under Crap -
Richard Knaak - (Diablo) The Moon of the Spider

Quote

The Forest Mage by Robin Hobb.

This is extra bad because she is one of my five favorite authors. Here she manages to eclipse even the poorness of Shaman's Crossing with an utterly irritating protagonist who, more even than Fitz Chivalry, whines and whines and genuinely gets upstaged by everyone he ever meets. At the end I wondered why I should care and hoped that he rots away. The behaviour of some secondary characters ( the father for instance ) is also very odd and they really pale in comparison to the secondary cast in Farseer/Tawny Man.

Been meaning to read that one, but that really puts me off. Fitz Chivalry being constantly upstaged just annoys the hell out of me. I don't think I can take a protagonist with even worse luck.

[Astra]

The Last Light of the Sun by G.G. Kay

The first 5 books of The Dark Tower by Stephen King:
The Gunslinger
The Drawing of the Three
The Wastelands
Wizard and Glass
Wolves of the Calla

The Last Watch (the 4th book in the series) by Sergei Lukyanenko


The worst book was The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

[GardenGnome]

I reread Deadhouse Gates, does that count? No?

Then Ilium by Dan Simmons. About the only Iliad-adaption worth a shit.

[Dr Trouble]

The Count Of Monet Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

... I wish I oculd read it for the first time again.

[Tif the Barber Boy]

Fantasy:
Memories of Ice, Midnight Tides & Bonehunters - Steven Erikson
All the Song of Ice and Fire books - GRR Martin
The Iron Dragon's Daughter - Michael Swanwick
Tigana & The Sarantine Mosaic - Guy Gavriel Kay
1610: A Sundial in a Grave - Mary Gentle
The Blade Itself - Joe Abercrombie
The Year of Our War - Steph Swainston
Swords and Deviltry - Fritz Leiber
The Monarchies of God series - Paul Kearney
Soldier of the Mist - Gene Wolfe

Science Fiction:
I Am Legend - Richard Matheson
The Algebraist - Iain M. Banks
This Immortal & Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny
Songmaster - Orson Scott Card
Thebes of the Hundred Gates - Robert Silverberg
The Space Merchants - Frederik Pohl & S. M. Kornbluth
Redemption Ark - Alastair Reynolds
A Wreath of Stars - Bob Shaw

Others:
Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson
The Golden Age - Gore Vidal
Absolute Friends - John le Carré

Worst Books i read in 2006:
Timeline - Michael Crichton (From the moment one of the time travellers manages to blow up the time machine with his own grenade things started rapidly going downhill.... and don't get me started on the historian who is an expert sword-fighter, jouster, horse-rider etc. Just plain horrible!)

The Deed of Paksenarrion - Elizabeth Moon (I am cursed to be always compelled to finish a book I have put down money for... even when its basically a rehash of someone's AD&D campaign (1st edition). The first book held out some hope, but the second was truly substandard.)

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe - Douglas Adams (Was it just me or was this very very boring?)

[Whelp]

Thud! - Pratchett
Fragile Things - Gaiman
Iron Council - Mieville
Malazan Book of the Fallen - the English version of the series

[mxlm]

Critical Space - Greg Rucka
This Day All Gods Die - Stephen R. Donaldson
House of Chains - do I really need to name the author?
Iron Council - China Mieville
Market Forces - Richard K. Morgan
Redliners - David Drake
Illium - Dan Simmons

Worst:
Freehold - Michael Z. Williamson: blatant propaganda doesn't bother me (even when I think the message is stupid) so much; terrible writing, plot, characterization, and world building do.

[Use Of Weapons]

My top reads from 2006:

Butcher: Dresden Files (I love these!) 'Proven Guilty' really ups the ante for Harry.

Brust: 'To Reign In Hell' -- a sideways take on the creation myth, where Satan, Beelzebub and the rest are the ones you feel sorry for.

Bakker: 'The Thousandfold Thought' -- a really nice conclusion to the opening trilogy. Looking forward to see how the story continues.

Pratchett: 'Wintersmith', 'Thud!' -- Thud! is excellent, up there with the best main sequence Discworld novels for me. And the Nac Mac Feegle may be my favourite tiny blue warriors with Scottish accents ever.

Justina Robson: 'Keeping It Real' -- quantum instabilities introduce magic and magical creatures to Earth. Great start to a new series.

Steph Swainston: 'The Year Of Our War' -- just got round to this debut novel from a new voice in fantasy (she has since written a few other works). The blurb didn't grab me, but the writing hit highs that were well worth the occasional debut author problem.

Neal Asher: 'Brass Man' -- the story of the homicidal rogue Golem Mr. Crane, from Asher's Polity sequence. Excellent stuff. 'Polity Agent' -- following Agent Cormac as he tracks down Dragon. Same universe as 'Brass Man'.

Naomi Novik: 'Temeraire'; 'Temeraire: Throne of Jade' -- the Napoleonic Wars, with added dragons. Loads of fun!

Julie Czerneda: Species Imperative trilogy ('Survival'; 'Migration'; 'Regeneration') -- aliens with complicated biology, human scientists, desperate galactic adventures. Fun, and a really engaging heroine.

Scott Westerfeld: Midnighters series ('The Secret Hour'; 'Blue Noon'; 'Touching Darkness'). Marketed for teens, but enjoyable urban fantasy nonetheless.


Best so far in 2007?

Simon Green: Nightside sequence ('Something From The Nightside'; 'Agents Of Light And Darkness'; 'Nightingale's Lament'; 'Hex And The City'; 'Paths Not Taken'; 'Sharper Than A Serpent's Tooth'; 'Hell To Pay') -- if you like Jim Butcher's Dresden files, you'll like these. Same kind of noir urban fantasy, with Green's extremely weird catalogue of characters (including Suzie Shooter, also known as 'Shotgun Suzie' and 'Oh god, it's her, run!')

Rachel Caine: Weather Warden series ('Ill Wind'; 'Heat Stroke'; 'Chill Factor'; 'Windfall'; 'Firestorm'; 'Thin Air - forthcoming') -- good fun urban fantasy, mother nature versus man -- but which side is the right one?