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Your best of 2014
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Mod
1. Alif the Unseen
2. The Martian
3. The Name of the Wind
4. Promise of Blood
5. The Night Circus
I debated which to list, because 3 of my favorites the group read this year, I read previously and not with the group. I opted just to rank my top 5 of the 12 chosen though.
Top 5 Books Read in 2014
1. Words of Radiance
2. Blood Song
3. Tower Lord
4. Rat Queens, Vol. 1: Sass & Sorcery
5. Skin Game
Top 5 Books Published in 2014
1) Words of Radiance
2) Tower Lord
3) Rat Queens, Vol. 1: Sass & Sorcery
4) Skin Game
5) Locke & Key, Volume 6: Alpha & Omega
These aren't always in strict 1-5 order, but i try my bestFirst off, WORST S&L pick of 2014:
1. A Dance of Cloaks :)
Top 5 2014 S&L Reads
1. Altered Carbon
2. The Martian
3. The Name of the Wind (read previously)
4. Promise of Blood
5. Alif the Unseen
Top 5 Books Read in 2014
1. Stormlight Archive #1,#2
2. Broken Empire Trilogy/Prince of Fools
3. Blood Song/Tower Lord
4. 1st Law Trilogy
5. Gentleman Bastards
OK. these were mostly series, not individual books
Top 5 Books Published in 2014
1) Words of Radiance
2) Prince of Fools
3) Tower Lord
4) The Magician's Land
5) The Crimson Campaign
I feel the Martian should also be in there somewhere..ah well.
Top Five of 20141. The Martian
2. Astro City, Vol. 9: Through Open Doors
3. Through the Woods
4. Powers: Bureau, Vol. 1: Undercover
5. Rat Queens, Vol. 1: Sass & Sorcery
Top 5 books I've read this year:1) Leviathan Wakes
2) The Name of the Wind
3) The Martian
4) Words of Radiance
5) tie between Throne of the Crescent Moon and Three Parts Dead
And thank y'all for adding to my TBR list with your picks upthread!
Top 5 read in 2014Ancillary Justice
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
Slaughterhouse-Five
Fool's Fate
S.
Top releases
Half a King
Fool's Assassin
The Gospel of Loki
The Mirror Empire
Sex Criminals, Vol. 1: One Weird Trick
(Loving the amount of Rat Queens love in this thread)
That's easy for me as out of 76 books I only rated 3 with 5 stars all year. Words of Radiance
The Martian
Mud, Sweat and Tears
For S&L I had 3 books with 4 stars but also 3 with 2 stars so they pretty much evens out. No 1 stars from S&L :)
Top 5 S&L Picks:1. The Name of the Wind
2. The Night Circus
3. The Martian
4. Dawn
5. Altered Carbon
Top 5 Books Read:
1. Ready Player One
2. Words of Radiance
3. The Night Circus
4. The Slow Regard of Silent Things
5. The Martian
*I technically read The Name of the Wind last year, so it made it for the S&L picks, but not my individual picks.
Most of the S&L picks were 3-4 stars, with a few being 5-star books, The only one-star book I had this year was A Dance of Cloaks.
I have read a lot of good books this year, so it is a little hard to decide.1. Words of Radiance
2. The Way of Kings
3. Assassin's Apprentice
4. The Alloy of Law
5. Fool's Fate
My S&L Top 5:The Martian
The Name of the Wind
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Stories of Your Life and Others
A Wizard of Earthsea
No 5 stars for me this year. A pair of 4s and 3s. Mostly 2s and a handful of 1s.
My top reads of 2014:
Hogfather
The Martian
Jim Butcher's Dresden Files: War Cry
Attack the Geek
Rat Queens, Vol. 1: Sass & Sorcery
My 5 star reads this year were:Anathem
Storm Front
Every Day is an Atheist Holiday
The Martian
Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century Volume 2: The Man Who Learned Better
Bitter Seeds
Bloodsucking Fiends and You Suck
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
Maus, II: And Here My Troubles Began
The Name of the Wind
My favorite S&L pick that I read this year was The Martian.
My favorite pick but I had already read it was Stories of Your Life and Others.
My favorite book that I read this year was Anathem.
Mod
1) The Martian
2) Promise of Blood
3) Name of the Wind
4) The Night Circus
5) Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Top 5 Read in 20141. The World of Ice & Fire: The Untold History of Westeros and the Game of Thrones
2. Kindred
3. The Magician's Land
4. Sleeping Late on Judgement Day
5. The Leftovers
Honorable mention goes to Gone Girl, and The End is Nigh.
I only chose books that were new to me for this year. I did re-read some good ones, like A Wizard of Earthsea, New England White, and Mockingjay.
Of the S&L books, I only read Dawn, The Night Circus, and The Einstein Intersection, since those sounded interesting and were new to me. A few of the others I had already read. My goal for next year is to read more of the S&L picks!
My five-star reads for 2014:The Gunslinger (reread, audiobook)
Velvet #1 (have read through Issue 7)
Ms. Marvel, #1: Meta Morphosis (have read through #8)
Veil #1 (have read through Issue 3)
The Nerdist Way: How to Reach the Next Level (audiobook)
Murder on the Mind
The Ghosts of Belfast (I first tried reading this in audiobook, but the Irish lilt and intonation was making it difficult for me to enjoy. I got the ebook. I'm very glad I stuck to it. Great story.)
Lazarus #1 (have read through Issue 6)
The Burn Zone (got this as a GR First Reads)
Rat Queens #1 (have read through Issue 7)
The Wake Part One (have read through Issue 6)
The Golem and the Jinni (audiobook)
I'm amused at how many comics made my top list. Until about two years ago, I didn't read many comics, and if I did, it was comics based on books or other media I liked before (Dark Tower series, The Stand, Farscape, Dresden Files, etc).
My five-star reads in 2014:The White Company
Street Justice
Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam
In the Lion's Mouth
Huntress Moon
The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line
Interestingly, to me at least, though just over 50% of the 75 books I have read so far this year were SF&F, I only rated one of them five stars. Go figure.
As far as favorites that I have read this year for the Science Fiction and Fantasy genre, here are a few in no particular order:Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Century Rain by Alastair Reynolds
The Predator Cities Quartet by Philip Reeve
The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan
The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
The Night of the Soul Stealer by Joseph Delaney
The Whispering Skull by Jonathan Stroud
Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Legion by Brandon Sanderson
None of the books that I read this year were published in 2014.My favorites (the ones I gave 5 stars) were:
The Einstein Intersection
The Decameron
Gravity's Rainbow
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
Gilgamesh A Verse Narrative
Dawn
Not that I gave them all five stars necessarily, but 2014 favorites included (in no particular order):The Inheritance Trilogy Omnibus
Nifft the Lean
Steles of the Sky
The Worm Ouroboros
Unmade
Area X: The Southern Reach Trilogy: Annihilation; Authority; Acceptance
Joseph wrote: "Not that I gave them all five stars necessarily, but 2014 favorites included (in no particular order):The Inheritance Trilogy Omnibus."
I loved the first two Inheritance novels but for some reason I haven't read the third one yet. I really need to do something about that.
Dharmakirti wrote: "Joseph wrote: "Not that I gave them all five stars necessarily, but 2014 favorites included (in no particular order):The Inheritance Trilogy Omnibus."
I loved the first two Inher..."
I read all three of them over the course of about two days in a train en route from Winnipeg to Churchill, Manitoba. Not a lot to do other than look out the window.
I also need to read the new novella she just published as part of the omnibus; fortunately, she also made it available separately.
Dharmakirti wrote: "Joseph wrote: "Not that I gave them all five stars necessarily, but 2014 favorites included (in no particular order):The Inheritance Trilogy Omnibus."
I loved the first two Inher..."
I'm the same. Read the first two in February and love them but haven't read the last one. Also didn't know there was a novella, will have to get that too.
Edit: they are in the post. late christmas present to myself
I only had one 5-star book this year, I'm stingy when it comes to giving 5 stars to books because they have to be amazing and the only one to actually manage that this year was Last Stand of Dead Men.But there was a lot of 4-stars, books that almost made it:
Immortal Coil
The Ghost Brigades
The Last Colony
Zoe's Tale
Kingdom of the Wicked
The Persistence of Memory this one nearly got 5 stars
Nyckeln
The Blood Gospel
Innocent Blood
Shards of Time
The Dying of the Light
Top 5 2014 Sword & Laser Reads 1) The Martian
2) Promise of Blood
3) Alif the Unseen
4) Dawn
5) Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Apparently, those are the only S&L picks I read this year.
Top 5 Books Read in 2014
1) Words of Radiance
2) Wheel of Time - read the whole series this year
3) The Martian
4) Inverting the Pyramid: The History of Soccer Tactics
5) Foundation's Edge
Top 5 Books Published in 2014
1) Words of Radiance
2) Cibola Burn
3) The Widow's House
4) Mr. Mercedes
5) The Mirror Empire
Top 5 I read this year:1. Words of Radiance
2. The Martian
3. The Golem and the Jinni
4. The Sparrow
5. Republic of Thieves
These are the books I gave 5 stars to in 2014:1. The Way of Kings
2. Words of Radiance
3. The Lies of Locke Lamora
The below are the top 3 books I gave 4 stars:
1. The Demon King
2. Red Seas Under Red Skies
3. Daughter of Smoke & Bone
Top 5 2014 Sword & Laser Reads1. Dawn + the rest of the series
2. The Martian
3. Alif the Unseen
4. The Name of the Wind
5. Stories of Your Life and Others
Of those Dawn and The Martian were the only books that were in contention for my best of the year list.
Top 5 Books Read in 2014
1. City of Stairs
2. The Goblin Emperor
3. The Girl with All the Gifts
4. Fated + the rest of the series
5. First Light (Thanks Nebulas!)
Top 5 Books Published in 2014
1. City of Stairs
2. The Goblin Emperor
3. The Girl with All the Gifts
4. Koko Takes a Holiday
5. Annihilation
Honorable mentions to: Otherbound by Corinne Duyvis, Fortune's Pawn (and the rest of the trilogy) by Rachel Bach and Ack-Ack Macaque by Gareth L. Powell.
I didn't get to read as much as I normally do in 2014, but here goes:Top 5 Epic Fantasy Books Published (and read!) in 2014:
The Broken Eye
The Widow's House
Words of Radiance
Tower Lord
Prince of Fools
Top 5 "other" books I enjoyed in 2014:
Blue Lily, Lily Blue
Burn for Me
Sixth Grave on the Edge
Heir of Fire
Seventh Grave and No Body
Honorable Mention: I read the entire Chicagoland Vampire Series this year, and while they weren't 5 star reads for me, all were highly enjoyable.
Top 5 Published in 2014:1. Annihilation
2. Station Eleven
3. City of Stairs
4. The Martian
5. Cibola Burn
Top 5 Read in 2014:
1. Annihilation
2. Station Eleven
3. The Golem and the Jinni
4. S.
5. Finch
Honorable mentions:
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena
Lock In
Authority
Acceptance
My 5 star reads this year of 122 read.Grimnoir books 1,3, and 3.6 (audiobooks were fantastic)
starting with Hard Magic
The Rook
Confessions of a D-List Supervillain
Mistborn: The Final Empire
Blood Song
Legend of the Sun Knight book 7
For Honor We Stand
Monster Hunter Nemesis
Hero of the shield first few books.盾の勇者の成り上がり 1
My best sword & laser reads for 2014 were:The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year (Volume 8) edited by Jonathan Strahan
The End is Nigh edited by Hugh Howey and John Joseph Adams
Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang (S&L pick)
The Girl in the Road by Monica Byrne
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree Jr.
Chimpanzee by Darin Bradley
The Future for Curious People: A Novel Gregory Sherl
Annihilation (Southern Reach Trilogy, #1) by Jeff VanderMeer (I liked the other two in the trilogy too but the first one is really the world-building one!)
My other best books of 2014 are on my blog.
I can honestly say that 2014 was a great year of reading for me. I read more books than I ever have before and it's all thanks to my book clubs and Goodreads. Now that I look at my list, there are a whole lot of urban fantasy titles. I guess it's my new favorite genre. Here are my best books that I've read in 2014! ^_^Magic Bites (and the rest of the Kate Daniels series) by Ilona Andrews
Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch #1) by Ann Leckie
Outlander (Outlander #1) by Diana Gabaldon
Namesake, Volume 1 and Namesake, Volume 2 by illustrator Isabelle Melançon and author Megan Lavey-Heaton
Hounded (The Iron Druid Chronicles #1) by Kevin Hearne
Moon Called (Mercy Thompson #1) by Patricia Briggs
A Kiss of Shadows (Merry Gentry #1) by Laurell K. Hamilton
Dirty Magic (Prospero's War #1) by Jaye Wells
Good year of reading for me... lots of 4 and 5 star books.Top 5 SF&F books I read in 2014:
1. The Blade Itself (and sequels) by Joe Abercrombie. Why didn't I read this before?
2. The Martian by Andy Weir.
3. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie.
4. The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi.
5. The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman.
Honorable mentions: The Name of the Wind, Wool Omnibus, The Republic of Thieves, Cibola Burn, Soldier of the Mist.
I only read 5 of the S&L picks this year, so a top 5 is hardly fair. A Wizard of Earthsea is one of my favorite books, though, so it deserves a mention as well.
Geoff
The Sword and Laser
Books mentioned in this topic
The Blade Itself (other topics)Ancillary Justice (other topics)
The Quantum Thief (other topics)
A Wizard of Earthsea (other topics)
The Martian (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Lev Grossman (other topics)Hannu Rajaniemi (other topics)
Joe Abercrombie (other topics)
Andy Weir (other topics)
Ann Leckie (other topics)
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Best published in 2014 (in no particular order):
The Crimson Campaign
Words of Radiance
Breach Zone
The Martian
City of Heavenly Fire
Best books I read in 2014 not published in 2014:
My guilty pleasure this year was totally Cassandra Claires' Mortal Instruments and Infernal Devices series.