1clong
1. Radio Free Albemuth by PKDick - this was my 16th PKD book to date, and by far the biggest disappointment. The first third was promising but the rest was pointless.
2clong
2. Red Iron Nights by Glen Cook - one of the few books in this series that I had yet to read. This was entertaining, and advanced the macro-level story, but some of the key plot points felt contrived bordering on ridiculous.
3clong
3. The Eye of the World, 4. The Great Hunt, 5. The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan. Going for quality of quantity to start the year. For what they are, these books are just about perfect.
4clong
6. The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan - More of the same here!
5clong
7. The Fires of Heaven and 8. Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan - these books still feel just about perfect for this style of fantasy storytelling.
9. A Crown of Swords by Robert Jordan - great beginning to this one, some great scenes, but overall this is the one where the storyline starts to lose steam. And the ending is more confusing than satisfying.
9. A Crown of Swords by Robert Jordan - great beginning to this one, some great scenes, but overall this is the one where the storyline starts to lose steam. And the ending is more confusing than satisfying.
6clong
10. Path of Daggers by Robert Jordan - this one has a few good scenes, but generally the Kin and the Seafolk and Cadsuane and Marigan and the Black Tower soap opera don't do much for me. And the best character is AWOL.
7clong
11. Winter's Heart, 12. Crossroads of Twilight, and 13. Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan - Winter's Heart is more of the same but has a strong ending, Crossroads of Twilight is a boring waste of time, but thankfully Jordan got back on track in Knife of Dreams, which would be the last that he completed.
8clong
14. The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson - things happen, storylines are resolved, Egwene kicks ass, Rand has an epiphany. I remember a sense of profound gratitude that Sanderson has stepped in to take over.
9clong
15. Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson - not as satisfying as book 12, but it does leave things ready to go for Tarmon Gai'don.
10clong
16. A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson - finished my WOT reread.
11clong
17. The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson - time for a quick re-read of the first three Wax and Wayne books before moving on to book 4.
12clong
18. Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson - surprises, funniness, Sanderlanch.
13clong
19. The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson - I found this final book of the Wax & Wayne story to be a bit of a letdown.
14clong
20. The Bigger they Come by A.A. Fair - not the best plot in the series, but fun to see how it all started.
15clong
21. All Grass Isn't Green by A.A. Fair - reasonably entertaining if completely inconsequential.
16clong
22. The Count of Nine by AA Fair - this on the other hand is preposterous but delicious. Good stuff.
17clong
23. Up for Grabs by AA Fair - another one of the good ones.
18clong
24. Double or Quits by AA Fair - this one offers a nice set-up and and interesting cast of characters/suspects. But I found the ending to be a bit of a nothing burger (to use a technical literary term).
19clong
25. Fish or Cut Bait by AA Fair - entertaining and satisfying.
20clong
26. Shills Can't Cash Chips by A.A. Fair - Elsie's catalogue of unsolved cases finally proves handy.
21clong
27. Some Slips Don't Show by AA Fair - not among the best in the series, but a couple of intriguing wrinkles.
22clong
28. The Pirates of Zan by Murray Leinster - entertaining silliness with an almost Vancian vibe.
23clong
29. The Mutant Weapon by Murray Leinster - this was fairly inane.
24clong
30. Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells - entertaining, with relatively more mystery and relatively less killing bad humans/enhanced-humans/SecUnits.
25clong
31. Hell Is Empty by Craig Johnson - these books keep getting better. This one is more or less perfect.
26clong
32. Storm Front by Jim Butcher - I thought the first half of this felt like watered down Brust with superficial and uninteresting characters, but the second half got better.
27clong
33. Traps Need Fresh Bait by AA Fair - the damsel in distress in this one is fairly pathetic.
28clong
34. Bachelors Get Lonely by AA Fair - a more interesting cast of characters than some of these novels, but the ending felt contrived.
29clong
35. The Best of Planet Stories #1 edited by Leigh Brackett - half of these stories did nothing for me, but two and a half of them were fantastic.
30clong
36. The Dark Lady by Mike Resnick - Resnick is a solid storyteller, and this one started with an intriguing premise, but it doesn't particularly deliver.
31clong
37. Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky - an ambitious book. I had a hard time getting into it at first, but found most of the middle of the book to be quite good. A bleak vision for humanity.
32clong
38. The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie - good stuff.
33clong
39. Sometime, Never by Golding, Wyndham & Peake - fairly astonishing (given the date) collection of three novellas.
I finally gave up on the much lauded Babel. An interesting concept and an interesting world in which characters I don't care about do things I don't care about. Maybe I'll come back to it later.
I finally gave up on the much lauded Babel. An interesting concept and an interesting world in which characters I don't care about do things I don't care about. Maybe I'll come back to it later.
34clong
40. New Voices in Science Fiction edited by Mike Resnick - a fairly mixed bag of light diversions and more ambitious stories that didn't quite work.
35clong
41. Leviathan Falls by James S.A. Corey - This ends a great series, even if the last few books were a bit of a letdown.
36clong
42. Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson - magical world building, plus a more or less perfect beginning and ending. But the middle felt a bit clunky and confusing at times.