FICTION
1. Earth 2788 by Janet Edwards (YA science fiction). Anthology of stories from the Earth Girl universe.
2. Earth & Fire by Janet Edwards (YA science fiction).
3. Earth & Air by Janet Edwards (YA science fiction).
4. Cold Welcome by Elizabeth Moon (science fiction). Vatta’s Peace volume 1.
5. Into The Fire by Elizabeth Moon (science fiction). Vatta’s Peace volume 2. Interesting in places, but suspension of disbelief vanished in others and there were chunks near the start which were a bit of a slog. Not going to bother with any future volumes in this series.
6. Night School by Lee Child (crime). Jack Reacher #21
7. The Midnight Line by Lee Child (crime). Jack Reacher #22
8. Past Tense by by Lee Child (crime). Jack Reacher #23
9. Blue Moon by by Lee Child (crime). Jack Reacher #24
10. Gullstruck Island by Francis Hardinge (YA fantasy). I still can’t believe how much politics and the like Francis manages to sneak into her children’s books.
11. Deeplight by Francis Hardinge (YA fantasy).
12. Lancejack by Philip Richards (military science fiction). Union series volume 2.
13. Eden by Philip Richards (military science fiction). Union series volume 3.
14. Crossing the Bridge by David Wake (thriller). Funny and satirical. The only beef with it was the Scottish guy who starts every sentence with “Och”.
15. Capture or Kill by Tom Marcus (thriller).
16. Invader by Simon Scarrow & T. J. Andrews (historical). This is five novellas collected into one novel, and it feels very bitty.
17. In the Cold Dark Ground by Stuart Macbride (crime). A Logan McRae novel.
18. The Blood Road by Stuart Macbride (crime). A Logan McRae novel. Number 11 I think.
19. Birthdays for the Dead by Stuart Macbride (crime). Oldcastle #1. I’m re-reading these because I want to use Oldcastle as the setting for a Vampire the Masquerade game. The place is full of corrupt cops and serial killers, so it is very World of Darkness!
20. A Song for the Dying by Stuart Macbride (crime). Oldcastle #2
21. A Dark So Deadly by Stuart Macbride (crime). Oldcastle #3
22. Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers (mainstream).
23. Children of Blood & Bone by Tomi Adeyemi (YA fantasy).
24. Light & Shadow by Linda Nagata (anthology, mainly SF). There’s a prequel to The Red series in here.
25. Bad Dog by Ashley Pollard (military science fiction). I’m not a fan of mecha, but this is a mecha book with realistic attitudes to their limitations.
26. Vox by Christina Dalcher (science fiction). Dystopian USA, with nods to The Hamdmaid’s Tale.
27. Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse (modern fantasy). What do you call a book which is ‘urban fantasy’ but is set mostly in the countryside or very small towns? Interesting. Might buy the sequel when the ‘to read’ pile shrinks a bit.
28. Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente (science fiction/humour). Enjoyed this a lot. However the style is tiring to read, so it got read in fits and starts.
29. Kintu by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi (magical realism).
30. The Eighth Day by Harold Coyle (thriller). Features some of the characters from his ‘Scott Dixon/Nathan Dixon’ series.
31. Outside by Gustavo Bondoni (science fiction). Quite good. But I guessed the big reveal ages before it happened, and my suspension of disbelief about how the virtual reality world worked kept falling over. E.g. the virtual reality heroine calls in sick to her virtual reality work. Did she have a virtual flu bug???
32. Watership Down by Richard Adams (YA animal fantasy). I wanted to re-read it after seeing the CGI telly version on the BBC at Christmas. Most of it stands the test of time, except the occasional sentence about rabbits being like ‘primitive peoples’ which are a bit racist.
33. Semiosis by Sue Burke (science fiction). Fantastic first contact story – with an alien plant as one of the main viewpoint characters.
34. The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal (science fiction). Loved this. Will definitely buy the sequel.
35. The Green Man’s Heir by Juliet McKenna (urban fantasy… or should it be called rural-urban fantasy as it is set in the countryside?). Loved this too. It’s really two stories set in two locations, with a plot thread linking the first and second half of the book.
36.The Green Man’s Foe by Juliet McKenna (urban fantasy). Just as good as the first one.
37. Venus Plus X by Theodore Sturgeon (science fiction). I almost gave up on this. I only finished it because it is a very thin book. There are two plot strands: one is a present day character being dragged through a ‘tell don’t show’ tour of a Utopian future society and (eventually) discovering some secrets. The other plot thread is interminable soap opera about two 1960s neighbouring families doing such thrilling stuff as… going to the shops, looking after the kids, going bowling, etc. I think the message in the soap opera bits might have been that if men babysit or cook it will mean the collapse of civilisation as we know it. But I’m not really sure.
38. How Long ‘Til Black Future Month? by N. K> Jemisin (fantasy, science fiction). Anthology. There are some terrific stories in this and the writing is lovely. Will look out for more by this author.
39. No Time to Cry by James Oswald (crime). Slow start, but enjoyable.
40. Natural Causes by James Oswald (crime). Inspector McLean vol 1. Strays into another genre, but saying which one is a spoiler!
41. My Name is Monster by Katie Hale (science fiction).
42. A Stallion Free & Wild by John ??? (western).
43. Ghost Marines: Integration by Jonathan P. Brazee (military science fiction). Vol 1 in the series. Contains boot camp, but it was actually interesting because it skipped over the usual stuff and concentrated on the culture clash and racism suffered by the main character.
44. Ghost Marines: Unification by Jonathan P. Brazee (military science fiction). Vol 2 in the series.
45. The Strike of Midnite by John Peel & Andrew Skilleter (science fiction). The Doctor Omega Chronicles Vol 1.
46. Lucky Legacy by Joshua James (military science fiction). Lucky’s Marines vol 2.
47. A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine (science fiction).
48. The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon (fantasy).
49. Star Path by W. Michael Gear & Kathleen O’Neal Gear (prehistorical). People of Cahokia Vol 4. Ends on a cliffhanger – dammit! Now I’ll have to wait for book 5.
50. Sky Dragons by Anne McCaffrey & Todd McCaffrey (science fantasy). Dragonriders of Pern volume n. Meh. Too much dialogue, not enough description. The dragons have no discernible personalities, and lots of potentially interesting scenes, such as 90 dragon eggs hatching out simultaneously are not described. But we do get to read a scene about washing nappies.
51. A Gift of Dragons by Anne McCaffrey (science fantasy anthology).
52. Talking to the Dead by Harry Bingham (crime). Enjoyed this. Might see if there are more with this character.
53. Outpost by W. Michael Gear (science fiction). Donovan volume 1.
54. The Tiger & the Wolf by Adrian Tchaikovsky (fantasy). Very cool ideas in this. Had me thinking it would make a nice setting for an RPG… even though I don’t really like fantasy RPGs.
55. Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky (science fiction). Cephalopods in spaaaace – hurrah! I always enjoy Adrian Tchaikovsky’s books. I must read more.
56. The Stallion by Helen Gould (science fiction).
57. Tracker by C.J Cherryh. Foreigner series volume 16. Nothing really happens in this book. Lots of recap about the previous volume, lots of anticipation about what’s going to happen in the next volume. So it doesn’t really get going until the final third, when there is a crisis involving the kids on the space station.
58. Murder by the Book by Susanna Godfrey (crime). Seemed to have a lot of padding and took a long time to get around to the actual detective work.
59. Breach Team by J.R. Handley & Chris Winder (military science fiction). Marines versus endless waves of killer maintenance robots, so it got a bit repetitive. The intriguing stuff about who built the weird automated ship and why there were war heroes from centuries ago in cryotubes in its cargo bay was never resolved.
60. The Best of Us by Karen Traviss (science fiction). Nomad #1 (Galaxy’s Edge shared universe). I disliked some of Anspach and Cole’s Galaxy’s Edge books (Star Wars with the serial nubers filed off). But Karen Traviss writes terrific stuff so I bought this. It doesn’t disappoint. Good post-apocalyptic stuff, and set centuries before the ‘Star Wars’ era of Galaxy’s Edge. I shall be getting the rest of the series.
61. Speak Gigantular by Irenosen Okojie (anthology, with some genre stories). Nice writing, but because I read the whole collection in a week (it was due back at the library) I got a bit fed up of the characters who
62. I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes (thriller). This is a fun thriller and I enjoyed it. But it wins this year’s prize for most bollocks science in a novel plot… when the hero takes a couple of antique mirrors and develops their silver nitrate backing into photographs…
63. Blood Hunt by Ian Rankin, writing as Jack Harvey (thriller).
NON-FICTION
1. Them: Adventures with Extremists by Jon Ronson.
2. Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II by Keith Lane. Highly recommend this. It isn’t an easy read because of all the horrific stuff covered, but it is fascinating and enlightening.
3. Witches, Witch-hunting & Women by Silvia Federici. Collection of essays.
4. M2/M3 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle 1983-1995 by Steven J Zaloga & Peter Sarson.
5. Oxygen: The Molecule that Made the World by Nick Lane. Terrific pop science book.
6. War Doctor: Surgery on the Front Line by David Nott
7. Other Minds by Peter Godfrey-Smith. Consciousness, octopuses and cuttlefish.
8. Seven Types of Atheism by John Gray.
9. Armoured Warfare: A Guided Tour of an Armoured Cavalry Regiment by Tom Clancy.
10. Animal Powered Machines by J. Kenneth Major.
11. Painting the Sand: One Man’s Fight Against the Taliban Bomb Makers of Helmand by Kim Hughes GC.
GRAPHIC NOVELS
1. Bitch Planet: Extraordinary Machine by Deconnick & De Landra.
2. Haunted Tank by Frank Marraffino & Henry Flint. I’d been to Tankfest, so re-reading this was the obvious next step
3. Gender Queer by Maia Cobabe.
4. War Mother by Van Linte, Segovia, Giorello & Dalhouse.
BOOKS I DIDN’T FINISH
1. Fire & Blood by George R. R. Martin (fantasy). This is a ‘history’ of the Targaryen Kings. However I found it a slog to read. I want character viewpoint in my fiction. I want analysis and context in my history. This had neither.
2. Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James (fantasy). When the characters got on with the plot it was good. However, there were large chunks where the protagonist bickers and squabbles with travelling companions, lovers, relatives… basically with everyone and anyone he meets. Eventually I got fed up reading those bits.
3. Lost Gods by Micah Yongo (YA fantasy). Too many viewpoint characters, some of whom have no discernible personality. And despite being about assassins, there is zip, zilch, zero about what the young trainee assassins think or feel about being sent to kill random people. No sense of duty, no hint they feel proud or have doubts or have been brainwashed, no joy in the kill or ‘it’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it’. The action is described nicely, but on an emotional level they may as well have been doing their tax returns or stacking shelves in Tesco.
4. Lightless by C.A. Higgins. The terrible world building and nonsensical plot kept squashing my sense of disbelief. Like no-one on the heroine’s spaceship notices another ship approach and enter their docking bay. Because. Hacking. Or the captain on a tiny ship with a crew of 3 having to ask his computer expert how many entrances and exits his ship has. Or the computer expert being unable to stop a hacking attack by an escaped prisoner (which she can see taking place on CCTV) because she doesn’t know what the serial number of the particular terminal he’s hacking into is, and there is no way of working it out even when you can see it is the one in corridor C, just down from the galley and opposite the toilets…
5. Facing the Ocean: The Atlantic and its Peoples by Barry Cunliffe (history/archaeology). I might try this one again, but was struggling with the writing style being a bit of a slog to read.
RPG BOOKS READ IN 2019
Battleship Alamo
Archives of the Sky
Blue Rose
Summerland (2nd ed)
Vampire the Masquerade 5th ed (re-read)
Anarch sourcebook for VTM5e
Camarilla sourcebook for VTM5e
Role Play Relief: The Beginners Book (ed by Simon Burley)
Role Play Relief: The Expert Book (ed by Simon Burley)
Flotsam: Adrift Amongst the Stars by Joshua Fox
The Expanse
Afterverse
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