Favorites of the Year 2015: Books
All right! Let's start the Favorites Of The Year lists!
This year, I will start once again with my Favorite Books.
Last year I resolved to read more books and I accomplished that. I managed to even resurrect my book blog, Bookerie, and reviewed some books. Even though I didn't keep up with the reviews, I at least managed to read more books than last year and kept going even when I despaired over the quality of the some of the books I read.
Not only did I read new books, I also opened up my old library (particularly in my iBooks) and found some I haven't read ever since obtaining ages ago. So I am definitely making a huge dent in my own to-read list. Here we go...
*
Favorite Books In 2015
Note: This list ignores publication date. I list books that I enjoyed reading in 2015, regardless of the publication date/year.
Naomi Novik's Uprooted
I love magic and I love dragons. This book has a young village girl named Agnieszka learning magic from a wizard called the Dragon. They have to fight the Wood that's been corrupted by evil spirits. The royal family of their land is involved and [SPOILER ALERT] a lot of people die. The major UST between Agnieszka and the Dragon is delicious. Everything is so good, so very good, that I shivered a lot while reading it. I'm still in love with this book. If I could pick a favorite, I would pick this one as my favorite of 2015. (Thank you, SFX Magazine, for reviewing this book and making me interested to read it.)
Joseph Delaney's Wardstone Chronicles
Excuse the picture I chose. The movie Seventh Son can safely be considered as one of the worst ones in 2015 (which is a pity, considering Ben Barnes and Julianne Moore) but I felt it was appropriate to use the picture because it was my frustration with the movie that led me to reading the entire Wardstone Chronicles (there are 13 books; I'm up to Book 11 now) so I could discover the story of Thomas Ward and his journey into becoming a Spook, basically the 'supernatural police' in the olden times, and his apprenticeship to Master John Gregory. I couldn't pick one or two books from the series to be put as a favorite so I cheated and put the entire series here. It has been such a huge part of my reading life this year so they all deserve to be in this list anyway.
Read my reviews of The Wardstone Chronicles (Books 1-8) and find out what I find so interesting.
Rachel Hartman's Seraphina and Shadow Scale
Do you know how hard it is to find good novels about dragons that are iconic? Well, thank god for Rachel Hartman. I discovered her Seraphina books this year and I got so hooked on it that I was glad that I waited until I bought the sequel to Seraphina, Shadow Scale, before I started reading it. Both books tell the story of a musician, Seraphina Dombegh, one of the fiction world's most compelling heroines. In her world, dragons can take on human forms but their basic personality, characteristic and entire way of thinking/life are so different from humans that this have caused - and may once again cause - war. There also exist the half dragon; they're usually described a human that has scales that they have to hide, as half dragons are considered abominations. When members of the royal family start dying left and right, it's up to Seraphina to investigate. She continues her journey to the wider world of this universe, meeting a rich ensemble cast of characters, including a villain that lives in Seraphina's head. There's also a three-way love story that's filled with UST and angst and also sweetness in Seraphina's life, but what's great about these books is that - despite being labeled as 'young adult fiction' - that love triangle situation doesn't overcome the story. Sometimes, it barely even comes into play. Gah. These books are pretty conclusive at the end of Shadow Scale but of course I am in Team Want More.
Ginn Hale's Cadeleonian Series
I remember getting Lord of the White Hell duology right after I finished reading Wicked Gentlemen for the first time but I didn't read it. I have no idea why. This is why I should never be left alone to have too many books in the to-read list; I may never read them. EVER. But finally for the first time this year I started with Lord of the White Hell Book 1 and. WTF. IT'S SO GOOD. So good in fact that, after I finished Book 2, I just had to get the sequel, which is the Champion of the Scarlet Wolf duology. (I just love how there are two books for each title.) I wish I could explain just how wonderful these books are but there's really one explanation for it: Ginn Hale is a damn good writer.
(Also, with characters named like Javier Tornesal, Kiram Kir-Zaki and Elezar Grunito - oh, Elezar, I love you! - it's pretty much impossible to not be in love with these books from the Cadeleonian series.)
David Lagercrantz's The Girl in the Spider's Web
Lisbeth Salander is back! And although she's no longer written by her original creator, Stieg Larsson, the new writer - Swedish author - David Lagercrantz is able to continue to carry Lisbeth's voice in a way that's utterly believable but also, at the same time, freshly engaging. Lisbeth and her sidekick, journalist Mikael Blomkvist, deal with NSA, autism, artificial intelligence and a mysterious character from Lisbeth's past. The case itself is not really all that intriguing but, once again, its ties to Lisbeth's past is what makes it interesting. It's a lighter book than the previous trilogy, which may disappoint some fans, but personally I love how much faster the pace goes and how much more 'organized' the narrative structure is.
Robert Galbraith's Career Of Evil
My feelings about this book are (vaguely) illustrated here. It's a depressingly powerful book (depressing because some parts of the story are dark and I'm not even talking about the violence), which necessitated the 'live-blogging' as I read so I could vent. But I never got to finish blogging about the book because the last part of the book, after I finished that last entry was explosive. Robert Galbraith has yet another great book in the Cormoran Strike series, one that ends on a humorous but cliffhanging note. Of course, I can't wait for the next one. Re-reading the last few chapters last night before I went to bed, I'm reminded once again what a great writer J.K. Rowling is, no matter what name uses.
Audible's Classic Love Poems
Go ahead and accuse me of self-indulgence. I never would have put an audiobook in my list of favorites if it hadn't been read by Richard Armitage. But he did so it's in this list, FOR VERY OBVIOUS REASONS OBVIOUSLY. Please tell me you would NOT listen to a book where an actor with a voice like THAT is reciting poems in your ears. It's an eargasmic treat from Audible, one that I will hope they will continue to produce with the collaboration of Mr. Armitage.
Blake Crouch's Pines
I dubbed this book my fastest read of 2015 and it still holds that record. A thrilling novel with loads of mystery and a gut-punching twisted ending, this book was the most jaw-dropping thing I've read this year. Read my full review in Bookerie and you'll see why this is a book to remember. And no, I haven't read the sequels yet. It's the end of the year and I'm still reeling from Pines' ending.
Rick Riordan's Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: The Sword of Summer
Thus begins another new chapter in Rick Riordan's deity-filled series. Our hero this time around is a homeless teenager in Boston, Magnus Chase, who - as it turns out - shares a familial relation to the heroine in Riordan's first and most famous series. Frankly, that fact alone made me want to put this book in the Favorite Books list. Oher than that, there are Asgardian gods and Valkyries and Einherjar and shenanigans in the after-life according to Norse mythology. What's most fascinating, and also ass-kicking, about this book is how it handles the very serious and adult theme of death and making it into a believable, if shocking, concept for the purposes of Magnus' adventures. Never let it be said that Riordan doesn't tackle substantial concepts; he just does it with a lot of tongue in cheek.
Sabaa Tahir's An Ember in the Ashes
This one was so hard to decide on; I vacillated between putting this one in the list and Brandon Sanderson's second Reckoners book. But Sabaa Tahir's debut novel seems to be more deserving to be on the favorite list because, for all its hype, An Ember In The Ashes fulfills my expectations of it. It deals with a difficult topic, slavery (and it makes no excuses about what goes on with the slaves), but the world-building is detailed and epic and it's worth going through the nasty parts (which includes maiming and mutilation, mind you!) in order to find out what really goes on and how the conflicts are resolved. That is to say, not at all. So, here's another YA that has successfully hooked me with its claws. Carry on!
*
Honorable Mentions
Three books became my favorites this year and I didn't have enough space in the pseudo Top 10 to put them so they are honorably mentioned.
Read full review.
As I said before, the book is great but I didn't like the ending, so I 'dropped' this book from the Top 10. There were more questions at the end than answers, but the second part of the Reckoners series delivered on the concept of Good vs Evil in the context of super powers. The grey area in Firefight is great material for exploration, but it's not so much of a think-deep-thoughts novel that it forgets to have fun. In any case, it was a fun read.
*
Chris Colfer's fourth The Land Of Stories book uses famous classic literature characters instead of fairy tale characters to further populate the tale. It's still a fun romp through magical places - and it's always interesting to see how Colfer twists these characters into new, hilarious situations - but seeing as a tragedy befalls my favorite character, Red Riding Hood, in terms of her love life, it's a bit hard not to feel heartbroken while reading it! So, favorite? Not so much this year as it was last year. Let's hope Red gets her happy ending!
*
Another 'inspired by movie' reading, Andy Weir's The Martian is probably in a lot of people's favorite books list (it was a Goodreads Choice Award last year, but I'm pretty sure plenty of people were still discovering this book this year) and they probably felt the same way I did about it: BLOODY BRILLIANT. The science parts went over my head because, truthfully, it's not very accessible (but it sure does sound cool), but Mark Watney's voice is loud and clear and charming. (Matt Damon did a fantastic job playing Watney on screen, gotta say.) While it's not the easiest book to read, it was still impressive.
*
My Favorites of 2015:
Books | TV & Web Series | Movies | Music | Eye Candies
This year, I will start once again with my Favorite Books.
Last year I resolved to read more books and I accomplished that. I managed to even resurrect my book blog, Bookerie, and reviewed some books. Even though I didn't keep up with the reviews, I at least managed to read more books than last year and kept going even when I despaired over the quality of the some of the books I read.
Not only did I read new books, I also opened up my old library (particularly in my iBooks) and found some I haven't read ever since obtaining ages ago. So I am definitely making a huge dent in my own to-read list. Here we go...
*
Favorite Books In 2015
Note: This list ignores publication date. I list books that I enjoyed reading in 2015, regardless of the publication date/year.
Naomi Novik's Uprooted
I love magic and I love dragons. This book has a young village girl named Agnieszka learning magic from a wizard called the Dragon. They have to fight the Wood that's been corrupted by evil spirits. The royal family of their land is involved and [SPOILER ALERT] a lot of people die. The major UST between Agnieszka and the Dragon is delicious. Everything is so good, so very good, that I shivered a lot while reading it. I'm still in love with this book. If I could pick a favorite, I would pick this one as my favorite of 2015. (Thank you, SFX Magazine, for reviewing this book and making me interested to read it.)
Joseph Delaney's Wardstone Chronicles
Excuse the picture I chose. The movie Seventh Son can safely be considered as one of the worst ones in 2015 (which is a pity, considering Ben Barnes and Julianne Moore) but I felt it was appropriate to use the picture because it was my frustration with the movie that led me to reading the entire Wardstone Chronicles (there are 13 books; I'm up to Book 11 now) so I could discover the story of Thomas Ward and his journey into becoming a Spook, basically the 'supernatural police' in the olden times, and his apprenticeship to Master John Gregory. I couldn't pick one or two books from the series to be put as a favorite so I cheated and put the entire series here. It has been such a huge part of my reading life this year so they all deserve to be in this list anyway.
Read my reviews of The Wardstone Chronicles (Books 1-8) and find out what I find so interesting.
Rachel Hartman's Seraphina and Shadow Scale
Do you know how hard it is to find good novels about dragons that are iconic? Well, thank god for Rachel Hartman. I discovered her Seraphina books this year and I got so hooked on it that I was glad that I waited until I bought the sequel to Seraphina, Shadow Scale, before I started reading it. Both books tell the story of a musician, Seraphina Dombegh, one of the fiction world's most compelling heroines. In her world, dragons can take on human forms but their basic personality, characteristic and entire way of thinking/life are so different from humans that this have caused - and may once again cause - war. There also exist the half dragon; they're usually described a human that has scales that they have to hide, as half dragons are considered abominations. When members of the royal family start dying left and right, it's up to Seraphina to investigate. She continues her journey to the wider world of this universe, meeting a rich ensemble cast of characters, including a villain that lives in Seraphina's head. There's also a three-way love story that's filled with UST and angst and also sweetness in Seraphina's life, but what's great about these books is that - despite being labeled as 'young adult fiction' - that love triangle situation doesn't overcome the story. Sometimes, it barely even comes into play. Gah. These books are pretty conclusive at the end of Shadow Scale but of course I am in Team Want More.
Ginn Hale's Cadeleonian Series
I remember getting Lord of the White Hell duology right after I finished reading Wicked Gentlemen for the first time but I didn't read it. I have no idea why. This is why I should never be left alone to have too many books in the to-read list; I may never read them. EVER. But finally for the first time this year I started with Lord of the White Hell Book 1 and. WTF. IT'S SO GOOD. So good in fact that, after I finished Book 2, I just had to get the sequel, which is the Champion of the Scarlet Wolf duology. (I just love how there are two books for each title.) I wish I could explain just how wonderful these books are but there's really one explanation for it: Ginn Hale is a damn good writer.
(Also, with characters named like Javier Tornesal, Kiram Kir-Zaki and Elezar Grunito - oh, Elezar, I love you! - it's pretty much impossible to not be in love with these books from the Cadeleonian series.)
David Lagercrantz's The Girl in the Spider's Web
Lisbeth Salander is back! And although she's no longer written by her original creator, Stieg Larsson, the new writer - Swedish author - David Lagercrantz is able to continue to carry Lisbeth's voice in a way that's utterly believable but also, at the same time, freshly engaging. Lisbeth and her sidekick, journalist Mikael Blomkvist, deal with NSA, autism, artificial intelligence and a mysterious character from Lisbeth's past. The case itself is not really all that intriguing but, once again, its ties to Lisbeth's past is what makes it interesting. It's a lighter book than the previous trilogy, which may disappoint some fans, but personally I love how much faster the pace goes and how much more 'organized' the narrative structure is.
Robert Galbraith's Career Of Evil
My feelings about this book are (vaguely) illustrated here. It's a depressingly powerful book (depressing because some parts of the story are dark and I'm not even talking about the violence), which necessitated the 'live-blogging' as I read so I could vent. But I never got to finish blogging about the book because the last part of the book, after I finished that last entry was explosive. Robert Galbraith has yet another great book in the Cormoran Strike series, one that ends on a humorous but cliffhanging note. Of course, I can't wait for the next one. Re-reading the last few chapters last night before I went to bed, I'm reminded once again what a great writer J.K. Rowling is, no matter what name uses.
Audible's Classic Love Poems
Go ahead and accuse me of self-indulgence. I never would have put an audiobook in my list of favorites if it hadn't been read by Richard Armitage. But he did so it's in this list, FOR VERY OBVIOUS REASONS OBVIOUSLY. Please tell me you would NOT listen to a book where an actor with a voice like THAT is reciting poems in your ears. It's an eargasmic treat from Audible, one that I will hope they will continue to produce with the collaboration of Mr. Armitage.
Blake Crouch's Pines
I dubbed this book my fastest read of 2015 and it still holds that record. A thrilling novel with loads of mystery and a gut-punching twisted ending, this book was the most jaw-dropping thing I've read this year. Read my full review in Bookerie and you'll see why this is a book to remember. And no, I haven't read the sequels yet. It's the end of the year and I'm still reeling from Pines' ending.
Rick Riordan's Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: The Sword of Summer
Thus begins another new chapter in Rick Riordan's deity-filled series. Our hero this time around is a homeless teenager in Boston, Magnus Chase, who - as it turns out - shares a familial relation to the heroine in Riordan's first and most famous series. Frankly, that fact alone made me want to put this book in the Favorite Books list. Oher than that, there are Asgardian gods and Valkyries and Einherjar and shenanigans in the after-life according to Norse mythology. What's most fascinating, and also ass-kicking, about this book is how it handles the very serious and adult theme of death and making it into a believable, if shocking, concept for the purposes of Magnus' adventures. Never let it be said that Riordan doesn't tackle substantial concepts; he just does it with a lot of tongue in cheek.
Sabaa Tahir's An Ember in the Ashes
This one was so hard to decide on; I vacillated between putting this one in the list and Brandon Sanderson's second Reckoners book. But Sabaa Tahir's debut novel seems to be more deserving to be on the favorite list because, for all its hype, An Ember In The Ashes fulfills my expectations of it. It deals with a difficult topic, slavery (and it makes no excuses about what goes on with the slaves), but the world-building is detailed and epic and it's worth going through the nasty parts (which includes maiming and mutilation, mind you!) in order to find out what really goes on and how the conflicts are resolved. That is to say, not at all. So, here's another YA that has successfully hooked me with its claws. Carry on!
*
Honorable Mentions
Three books became my favorites this year and I didn't have enough space in the pseudo Top 10 to put them so they are honorably mentioned.
Read full review.
As I said before, the book is great but I didn't like the ending, so I 'dropped' this book from the Top 10. There were more questions at the end than answers, but the second part of the Reckoners series delivered on the concept of Good vs Evil in the context of super powers. The grey area in Firefight is great material for exploration, but it's not so much of a think-deep-thoughts novel that it forgets to have fun. In any case, it was a fun read.
*
Chris Colfer's fourth The Land Of Stories book uses famous classic literature characters instead of fairy tale characters to further populate the tale. It's still a fun romp through magical places - and it's always interesting to see how Colfer twists these characters into new, hilarious situations - but seeing as a tragedy befalls my favorite character, Red Riding Hood, in terms of her love life, it's a bit hard not to feel heartbroken while reading it! So, favorite? Not so much this year as it was last year. Let's hope Red gets her happy ending!
*
Another 'inspired by movie' reading, Andy Weir's The Martian is probably in a lot of people's favorite books list (it was a Goodreads Choice Award last year, but I'm pretty sure plenty of people were still discovering this book this year) and they probably felt the same way I did about it: BLOODY BRILLIANT. The science parts went over my head because, truthfully, it's not very accessible (but it sure does sound cool), but Mark Watney's voice is loud and clear and charming. (Matt Damon did a fantastic job playing Watney on screen, gotta say.) While it's not the easiest book to read, it was still impressive.
*
My Favorites of 2015:
Books | TV & Web Series | Movies | Music | Eye Candies