2010

[pippin]

So what were your favourite books from 2010? Your least favourite?

Are there any 2011 releases you're looking forward to?

Comments

[pippin]

My favourites were Lord Sunday by Garth Nix, the final of the The Keys to the Kingdom series and The Company by KJ Parker! :3 :3 :3

Worst books ever of 2010 were The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by NK Jemisin and The Onion Girl by Charles de Lint. Boooo them.

[miss_haitch]

I loved the Numinous World series by Jo Graham - they're wonderfully characterful and atmospheric. Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon was a lot of fun. I also enjoyed Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey - post-apocalyptic Texas plus werewolves. Yay! :D

Least favourites, argh, now to bring back the bad memories. The Gaslight Dogs by Karin Lowachee was a disappointment, and Shadow Magic by Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennet was a lolz-laden slog. I also tried Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Dart, but couldn't finish it.

[pippin]

I have Silver Phoenix on my shelf! I'm looking forward to getting around to reading it. Someday. .__.

[miss_haitch]

I found it charming - the characters are very likeable. :D

[miss_haitch]

Oh! And! Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore is rumoured to be released 2011, so I've got my fingers crossed.

[azurelunatic]

I am looking forward to the completion of the trilogy started with The Demon's Lexicon.

[birgitriddle]

Favorite new reads from this year were Except the Queen by Jane Yolen and Midori Snyder and The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin, but really, I read a lot of good books this year and it'd take forever to list them D:

Least favorite read by far this year was Shadowmancer by G.P. Taylor because it's a horrible bigoted book if books can be bigoted. It's books like this that Pullman should railing against rather than C.S. Lewis's Narnia books.

The book I'm most looking forward to in the coming year is Mastiff by Tamora Pierce which is slated to be released this year, but I'm not sure if it has an official date yet. When it's released though, it will be the last book in that trilogy and it will finally be finished. :D There will also be a book of her short stories that I've already pre-ordered so I'm looking forward to that.

[quivo]

Here's what I remember really enjoying:

- Kate Griffin's The Midnight Mayor, not perfect, but a really good sequel, very much worth picking up
- Holly Black's White Cat, despite how meh I was about reading an earlier book of hers. Interesting read, can't wait to see if the sequel is any good
- Lane Robins' Maledicte, because I just liked it that much.

I don't really have a 'worst books' list anymore. Generally, I don't bother to finish things if they are starting to look really bad. But I do remember a couple of books that were disappointing:

- Daniel Fox's Jade Man's Skin, for being a rather sorry sequel. I was expecting so much more than there was, and I don't think I'll be bothering with the series in the future.
- Ann Aguirre's Stone Maiden, for being unifinishable even though it was written by an author I expect. I didn't get beyond the first two or three chapters, it was that bad.

All I'm looking forward to next year are sequels-- Red Glove, The Neon Court, Fury of the Phoenix and Bitterblue. Oh, and the next atevi book by C.J. Cherryh.

[clare_dragonfly]

I think the only book I read this year that was actually new was White Cat by Holly Black. Absolutely loved it. Holly Black was already one of my favorite authors, and I think now she's made it into the very top spot. The world/magic system is really interesting and different. Thus, naturally, the book I'm most looking forward to (and have in fact already preordered) is Red Glove, the sequel.

I also read two books that came out in 2009 and therefore count as new, in my opinion! Boneshaker by Cherie Priest was disappointing, considering the hype and all the awards it got--not terrible, just disappointing. The Red Tree by Caitlín R. Kiernan is perhaps not technically fantasy but it has fantasy aspects; I found it beautifully written and very enjoyable.

[holyschist]

I loved Holly Black's White Cat, Karen Healey's Guardian of the Dead, Heather Tomlinson's Toads and Diamonds (although apparently her grasp of tropical parasitology could be better), and Alaya Johnson's Racing the Dark, The Burning City, and Moonshine.

I'm looking forward to Pierce's Mastiff and short story collection, Malinda Lo's Huntress, and anything Johnson might publish in 2011 (I'm not sure what her upcoming publication dates are). Bitterblue if it comes out.

...gosh, will I read anything besides YA fantasy next year or is there no going back? :D

[clare_dragonfly]

No going back ;)

I just remembered that I read Toads and Diamonds, too. I didn't like it--I was disappointed by the retelling of the tale and the ending--but I'm curious, what is it about tropical parasitology?

[holyschist]

I bow to crumpetsfortaenia, who knows more about science in general and parasitology in specific than I do:

http://holyschist.dreamwidth.org/193540.html?thread=1336580#cmt1336580

[clare_dragonfly]

Thanks for the link!

[archersangel]

i think the only thing i read that could be considered fantasy is my re-reads of harry potter
http://archersangel.dreamwidth.org/22599.html

[aphenine]

Books I read in 2010 that I remember fondly:

The Gathering Storm and Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brian Sanderson. Towers of Midnight was probably the only book published in 2010 that I read in 2010.
Mistwraith Series by Brian Sanderson. I'm probably a bit slow not to have read these yet, but I corrected that once I realised how awesome his writing of the WoT books was.
Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding. Firefly meets fantasy. Oh yeah.
Santa Olivia by Jaqueline Carey. Werewolves and boxing in near future Texas. Really different from her other stuff.

Least favourite:

Graceling by Kristin Cashore. Not so much that it was bad, just that, apart from the characters, who were excellent, it had absolutely no feeling of depth.

In 2011:

I'm looking forwards to the last book of the Wheel of Time series. Finally, I'll get to know how it ends. Only took fourteen years :)

[anthimeria]

It's not strictly fantasy (sci-fi/futuristic vein), but OMG, Mira Grant's FEED. I've been obsessed with this book since I read it, it came out last May. The sequel comes out this year and I CAN'T WAIT.

Also, the next Beka Cooper Book (Tamora Pierce) is supposed to come out this year, and I'm excited for that.

[elaran]

2011 releases:

I am fouthing? fifthing? whatevering the looking forward to Mastiff by Tamora Pierce. Also the next Kirsten Cashore book (Bitterblue) because Graceling and Fire were very very YA to me but still enjoyable. And the next Jim Butcher novel Ghost Story.

2010 reads I enjoyed:
the ones I listed on my last post -
+ Open - Andre Agassi autobiography
+ The Millennium Trilogy
+ Tales of the City series!
+ Changes
+ Glasshouse
+ Two Week with the Queen
+ Son of a Witch
+ The City & The City
+ On Stranger Tides
+ The Forever War
+ Snow Crash
+ Jasper Jones