I have had another stormingly good reading year. The highlight being my immediate love affair with audiobooks, once I got hold of a Kindle Fire which could cope with the selection I’d already bought my dyslexic grandson to encourage him to keep reading. Needless to say, I’ve added to that list…
During 2019 I read 168 books and wrote 129 full reviews, with 26 still to be published. In no particular order, these are the books that have stood out for me. It might be that I didn’t originally give a 10 – but something about these books has stayed with me and won’t let go, which is why they have made the cut. And none of this top ten rubbish – I can’t possibly whittle down my list any further.
Oracle’s War – Book 2 of The Olympus series by David Hair and Cath Mayo
I loved the layered characterisation of Odysseus and his complex relationships in this intelligent and politically aware retelling of events leading up to the Trojan War. This one has stayed in my memory and I’ve found myself often thinking about it. See my review.
AUDIOBOOK The Dark Lord of Derkholm by Diana Wynne Jones
I’d read this book before – but listening to the excellent narration by Jonathan Broadbent brought home the darker side of the story. It certainly isn’t a children’s read – as the exploitation of the magic kingdom takes some shocking turns, and while Wynne Jones doesn’t go into graphic detail, they are still there. Riveting and thought provoking. See my review.
Atlas Alone – Book 4 of the Planetfall series by Emma Newman
This has been one of the outstanding science fiction series of the last few years for me and this latest slice in the adventure held me to the end. Dee’s driven, edgy character is so compelling – Newman writes these tricky protagonists with amazing skill. See my review.
Ascending – Book 1 of the Vardeshi Saga by Meg Pechenick
Alien first contact tales are a staple of science fiction, but rarely have they been covered with such skilled detail, featuring such a self-effacing protagonist as Avery. The second book is also an excellent read. See my review.
Rough Magic: Riding the World’s Wildest Horse Race by Lara Prior-Palmer
I picked up this true tale of adventure by accident – and I’m so pleased I did. The author opted to take part on a whim and even at the beginning, was clearly not really prepared for what followed. This fascinating account stayed with me throughout the year. See my review.
AUDIOBOOK Mythos: the Greek Myths retold, written and narrated by Stephen Fry
Listening to this offering while decorating the bathroom sweetened hours of tedious work as Fry’s smooth, chatty manner belied the scholarship and rigor that has gone into this retelling. See my review.
This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
This is probably the most quirky, extraordinary read of this year’s selection. A series of letters between two protagonists on either side of a savage war – think Romeo and Juliet with knobs on – drives the narrative in this beautiful, desperate book. See my review.
AUDIOBOOK A Room Full of Bones – Book 4 of the Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths
This offering took me completely by surprise. In fact, I’d felt rather fed up with Ruth’s struggles in the previous book – but this story took all the ingredients and ramped up the tension to an unexpectedly heart-rending degree that I still think about… See my review.
Novacene: The Coming Age of Hyperintelligence by James Lovelock
The second non-fiction book in this list, I found Lovelock’s take on our future absolutely fascinating and unexpectedly uplifting. Given he is now over a hundred years old and has been working in a variety of scientific fields until very recently, his opinion is worth reading. See my review.
AUDIOBOOK The Empty Grave – Book 5 of the Lockwood & Co series by Jonathan Stroud
This was an unexpected treat. One of Frankie’s chosen series, I wasn’t prepared for the sheer quality of the characterisation and worldbuilding, although I should have been, after thoroughly enjoying the Bartimaeus Trilogy. This final book brought the outstanding series to a triumphant conclusion. It goes without saying that you MUST read the previous four books first. See my review.
Sweep of the Blade – Book 4 of the Innkeeper Chronicles by Ilona Andrews
I find this quirky science fiction/fantasy mash-up just goes on getting better and better. I really suffered a profound book hangover after I finished this one – and that doesn’t happen to me all that often. See my review.
Circe by Madeline Miller
I’m conscious there is rather a strong Greek myth theme running through this list – but that just goes to show how well-written these books are. And this one is a total joy. The protagonist isn’t pretty or charismatic, so finetunes her magical skills in an effort to prevail alongside sneering relations. And then it all goes wrong… Fabulous, layered characterisation of a powerful woman who has endured a shedload of suffering without it being bleak or self-pitying. See my mini-review.
Akin by Emma Donoghue
In these days of serial monogamy and blended families, this interesting, unsentimental book drills down into what – exactly – makes up family. Brilliantly executed and thought provoking. See my review.
Lent by Jo Walton
This author is one of the finest, most talented writers in the SFF genre today, so I was thrilled when this one came out. Settling in to read it, I was happily engrossed in 15th century Florence – until a THING happens that changes the whole dynamic. Brilliantly written and completely engrossing, if you were to force me to choose a single outstanding read this year – you’d be a cruel beast for doing so and I’d probably never speak to you again – it would be this one. See my review.
AUDIOBOOK How To Fight a Dragon’s Fury – Book 12 of the How To Train Your Dragon series by Cressida Cowell
While I’d read a number of these books to the grandchildren, for one reason or another, I’d never reached the end, so when I realised we had the complete series on Audible, I started listening to the wonderful David Tennant’s narration. And then came the end… I was listening to this one with tears pouring down my face, unable to complete my chores. Epic fantasy of this calibre, written for reluctant primary school readers, is a rarity. Review to follow.
AUDIOBOOK To Say Nothing of the Dog – Book 2 of the Oxford Time Travel series by Connie Willis
This quirky, humorous homage to Jerome K. Jerome’s Three Men in a Boat is funny and completely engrossing – a thumping good listen. I loved it and though it isn’t quite as spectacular as her classic, Doomsday Book, that doesn’t prevent it making this list. See my review.
Have you read any of these offerings? What did you think of them? I’d love to hear your thoughts on these books! Wishing everyone a very happy, book-filled 2020…
exhausted, a relaxing trip to Victorian England seems the perfect solution. But complexities like recalcitrant rowboats, missing cats, and love at first sight make Ned’s holiday anything but restful – to say nothing of the way hideous pieces of Victorian art can jeopardize the entire course of history.
It’s been madly busy and great fun… Yes – I know I used that line last week, but it also nicely sums up this last week. Himself was working until 10 pm on Christmas Eve, so it was something of a blur to get presents wrapped and all the cooking done. My son arrived on Christmas Eve, just in time to start tucking into the homemade vegan mince pies and we had a lovely natter together. Christmas morning was spent cooking – Himself was in charge, despite struggling with a terrible cold. My sister and nephew joined us for lunch and stayed for the evening. We had a lovely time – Rob and Michael hadn’t seen each other for far too long, so were able to have a good catch up. After lunch 
was eaten and cleared away, we opened presents and played a couple of cracking games – Ticket to Ride and Scotland Yard.
Brighton, 1950.
BLURB: Being a telepath means your greatest strength can also be your greatest weakness.
This edition was produced by Razorbill in January 2011. I love this cover’s backdrop with the beautiful, glittering nebulae, although the two faces juxtaposed into an upside- down kiss doesn’t really do it for me. Someone mentioned it looks like two fish kissing and now that’s all I can see.
This paperback edition, published in November 2011 by Razorbill, has taken a different aspect of the story, rather than featuring the romance. I really like the image of Amy wandering along the corridor of the ship Godspeed all alone. It certainly gives a good sense of the plot.
Published by Razorbill in January 2011, this Kindle edition is my favourite. I really love the image of the ice-crusted hull with a lump that has fallen away. The font is also suitably futuristic and funky, which works really well with the space opera feel of this one. It’s original, beautiful and eye-catching. My one grizzle is that the chatter plonked in the top right shouldn’t be there, but it isn’t a dealbreaker.
This French edition, published by Pocket Jeunesse in September 2014, reverts to featuring the romance in the story. It is a beautiful cover with the two lovers gazing longingly into each others’ eyes with the starscape as a backdrop. However, I really don’t like the twirling font which is at odds with the sci fi setting – while this story does feature a romance, it isn’t the plotline that powers the narrative arc. So I believe the strong romantic feel is slightly misleading for those predominantly seeking a girl-meets-boy story.
This Greek edition, published in November 2011 by Πατάκης is more than a nod in the direction of the first cover. I really like the simplicity of the stylised outlines against the spacescape, but the issue I have with it is that the artwork effectively stops two-thirds down, so that the bottom third is essentially a textbox. This has been cluttered with a rather random logo and the series information with little thought as to how it blends with the rest of the cover design. Which is your favourite?
something just waiting for a handy body to take over. Something ancient and horrible, which can’t die.
Hal was once a knight, carefree and joyous, sworn to protect her future queen Banna Mora. But after a rebellion led by her own mother, Caleda, Hal is now the prince of Lionis, heir to the throne. The pressure of her crown and bloody memories of war plague her, as well as a need to shape her own destiny, no matter the cost.
efreshingly short and to the point… As you may have gathered, this is a generational ship adventure in the closing stages of its long, long journey. I was impressed at the strength of the characterisation of the main protagonist, Freya, who is the daughter of the main engineer striving to keep Aurora, their ship, in one piece long enough for the arrival at Tau Ceti. Roberson writes on the harder side of science fiction, so there is a fair amount of technical detail regarding keeping the ship and all the systems running. I found a lot of the problems thrown up by trying to keep a small biome running really fascinating – of course, this is fiction rather than science, but many of the issues Robinson raises did sound scarily plausible.
This edition was produced by St Martin’s Press in March 2011. The colours of this one are both beautiful and yet, there is a sense of wrongness. That cleverly angled head, along with the loose hair give a sense of someone in trouble. And yet, we cannot see enough to make sure. It’s very well done. I also like the lack of clutter. My one grizzle is that the title font is rather ordinary and doesn’t stand out sufficiently.
This edition, published in January 2012 by St. Martin’s Griffin, is a really dreary affair, I think. The wet road is boring, the title font is visually underpowered and the stripped back effect the designer was going for has been compromised by the chatter cluttering it up.
Published by Pan Books in June 2011, this offering is a definite improvement on the last effort. The running figure again denotes that something isn’t right, while the dark colouring and blurring gives a sense of menace. I really like the font on this one.
This Croatian edition, published by Znanje, Zagreb in February 2015, is more like it. The lonely road with the girl walking along it, lit by the moon looks both beautiful and threatening. I think I’d prefer it without the olden-style lamp in the foreground, but despite the rather measly title font, this is one of the better offerings.
This Romanian edition (I think! For some reason that escapes me, Goodreads has omitted that information) was published by LITERA. This is a beautiful cover, with that incredible night sky and the lurid red lighting picking out the road disappearing into the dark. While the font is still plain, it at least holds its own against the artwork and I’m pleased to see how uncluttered the cover is, allowing us to fully appreciate the design. Which is your favourite?
Brainfluff 