Now I know very few people care about my best books of the year, I’m not that in-depth or intellectual about my reviews on top of the fact most books I read came out a while back, but since it’s the season for them I thought I’d just list the ones I though were five stars offerings since I do now record what I read on Goodreads.
In reverse order of reading, because frankly I can’t remember much so I’m running down the list, we have:
The Violent Century – Lavie Tidhar. A brilliant literary take on the superhero novel, encompassing a chunk of the the West’s darker history in this century.
Broken Homes – Ben Aaronovich – a pitch-perfect supernatural crime series – funny and such a breeze to read it feels like a cosy crime novel, but it’s also intelligent and dark at the same time. This is the series that the BBC should be filming for their prime time slot or Christmas specials.
The Wild Places – Robert Macfarlane – I read most of it last year but finished it this year. Non-fiction and just an account of journeys in the last few wild parts of the country, it’s aching beautiful. Probably the best descriptive prose I’ve ever read so worth a mention here.
Leviathan Wakes – James SA Corey – intelligent space opera that still doesn’t take itself too seriously and has what most SF novels are lacking, real humanity.
The Tooth Fairy – Graham Joyce – A dark, elegant coming of age story from a master.
Honourable mentions – Son of the Morning by Mark Alder which was brilliant for the main, and The Shadows of the Apt books (I read a couple last year) by Adrian Tchaikovsky which is one of the few fantasy series this jaded old bastard continues to plough through with childish delight.
So there you go.