Archive for August, 2011
Monday, August 15th, 2011
It seems like everyone is putting together top Science Fiction and Fantasy lists lately, but, since I love SFF and I love lists, I thought I would pass along the link to another one. Lev Grossman, author of The Magicians, named his 10 must-read fantasy novels in a post over at Flavorwire.com and I thought his list was pretty interesting.
- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
- The Once and Future King by T.H. White
- Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
- A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
- The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
- A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
- Fafhrd and the Gary Mouser by Fritz Leiber
- The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
- Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny
As you can see, most of his picks had two things in common: they are targeted at a younger audience and they have good magic systems. The only one that really broke the mold was A Game of Thrones.
Overall, I thought those were some interesting choices. I’ve only read half of them myself so I guess I’ve got some more suggestions for the future (like I needed any more after NPR’s poll). It’s too late for me to properly speculate about the list, but you can see Grossman’s rationale for each choice if you visit the original post.
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Sunday, August 14th, 2011
Ghost Story by Jim Butcher
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
To put it simply, I enjoyed this book. A lot. Though I doubt that comes as a big surprise to anyone reading this. If you make it to book #13 in a series, that usually means you are a pretty big fan. I am.
The Dresden Files is one of my favorite fantasy series and I love Jim Butcher’s writing. The plots are always complex and twisty; the characters are real and funny; and, overall, the books are just fun. You don’t really have to think all that hard, though some of the twists will leave you a bit perplexed if you aren’t paying attention.
Another thing that I love about the series is that Butcher always seems to raise the stakes or introduce some new element with each novel. This time, Harry was faced with a very unique dilemma (one that I can’t discuss without throwing out a major spoiler warning). Harry’s new challenge was the premise for this novel and really gave it a unique perspective that was both interesting and enjoyable.
We also got a look at some new characters in Ghost Story or at least characters that we had seen in only very small doses up to this point. That was kind of refreshing, though, admittedly, the cast is starting to feel a bit large. Butcher writes the characters in this series really well and he’s done a great job developing them over the course of the series so I suspect that it will be a good thing that he’s bringing more bodies into play.
Overall, the novel was great. I really liked getting a look at the new characters and seeing how Dresden would work through the latest mystery. Truth behind said mystery was a perfect fit and really sets the next novel in motion nicely. I don’t know what’s in store exactly, but I’m sure it will be entertaining, if nothing else.
If you have somehow stumbled through this review and you haven’t read the series, drop what you are doing right now and fix that. Or if you are a fan of the series, but you haven’t read Ghost Story, I’m quite sure that you’ll love it.
View all my reviews
Tags: Dresden Files, Jim Butcher
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Thursday, August 11th, 2011
Today, NPR released their list of the top 100 SFF novels, constructed by the selections of more than 60,000 voters. It’s not a perfect list, but it’s still pretty damn good. Here’s the top ten:
- The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
- Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card
- The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert
- A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin
- 1984, by George Orwell
- Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
- The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov
- Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
- American Gods, by Neil Gaiman
I really thought the top four selections were perfect. For me, there’s no denying that The Lord of the Rings is the greatest Fantasy story ever written, but all of the top four picks are amazing–I voted for all of them.
It’s a bit interesting to see how some popular series were boosted in the poll. Right now, A Song of Ice and Fire is about as hot as Fantasy series can get (with the fifth novel being released last month and a very successful HBO series wrapping up the first season recently as well) so I’m not at all surprised to see it so high on the list. However, it would be interesting to see how it would do in a vote in another ten years after the series has actually finished. I could say the same for The Kingkiller Chronicles which came in at 18.
So, I have read and voted for the top four and I’ve read the first book of A Song of Ice and Fire, but I didn’t vote for the series. I have not, unfortunately, read the next four and I’m feeling a bit shameful. I guess I really need to get caught up on my classic Science Fiction! I’m currently listening to American Gods and I’m really enjoying it. If it continues to be as good as it has been so far, I have to imagine that I would have voted for it.
As it stands, all of the novels that I voted for actually made the cut! Here’s what I voted for:
- The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert
- Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card
- The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
- The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss
- The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
- The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson*
- Old Man’s War, by John Scalzi
- The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks
- The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn
I’m sure that plenty of voters saw at least one of their picks fail to make the cut though. For me, it came in the second round as The Dresden Files wasn’t even listed!
No matter what you feel about the list, you can’t deny that this gives the average SFF reader plenty of excellent recommendations. I have actually only read one or more of 26 titles in the top 100 so I’ve got a ton of awesome suggestions for years to come. I guess I better get reading!
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Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011
NPR has moved onto the second leg in their quest to determine the top 100 SFF novels or series ever written. They have posted a list of a few hundred titles composed from responses that they received back in June when they asked for people to nominate 5 novels or series. Now, they are asking people to submit their votes for the top 10.
Being the responsible geek that I am, I voted. But I really wanted to vote in the fairest way possible so I quickly came up with these rules to follow:
- I would only vote for a book or series if I had read it.
- I would only vote for a book or series that I felt was worthy of the honor.
So, with those two simple rules in mind, I ended up voting for the following:
- The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert
- Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card
- The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
- The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss
- The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
- The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson*
- Old Man’s War, by John Scalzi
- The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks
- The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn
*I have not actually read the entire Mistborn trilogy, but I’m currently reading the third novel right now and I have a good enough feel for the series that I felt it was worthy of a vote.
Now, my rules definitely knocked out some very notable works, but a few that might have had my vote if I were farther in the series include The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan, The Dark Tower by Stephen King, and The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. I like all of those pretty well (especially First Law), but I felt that I haven’t yet experienced enough of the series to vote for any of them.
Perhaps the biggest surprise was that I did not vote for The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, but that’s only because IT WASN’T ON THE LIST! That’s just blasphemy! I’m currently reading Ghost Story, the 13th novel in the series and I can say that The Dresden Files one of the most entertaining series that I have ever read and I definitely would have selected it over several of my choices.
What is really peculiar is that Butcher’s Codex Alera made the cut. I’ve read the first five. They’re pretty good, but Dresden is Butcher’s masterwork, his flagship. In protest, I’m displaying the cover of Ghost Story as image for this post.
The final results will be posted later this month. If you haven’t voted, get over to NPR and do it!
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