2012 Reading Roundup, Part 2
It was fun looking back at how I rated the books that I read in 2012, but I thought it would also be fun to break it down a little more so here are the winners and runners up of some standard (and not-so-standard) categories that I’ve chosen.
Most Entertaining
- Hounded by Kevin Hearne (paperback)
- Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (audio)
- Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay (audio)
Most Thought Provoking
- Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut (Kindle)
- Hyperion by Dan Simmons (paperback)
- Doomsday Book by Connie Willis (paperback)
Biggest Surprise
- Hounded by Kevin Hearne (paperback)
I actually read this simply because I won a copy and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it was actually a lot of fun.
Biggest Letdown
- Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed (audio)
- Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis (audio)
I heard so many good things about Throne of the Crescent Moon, but I really just didn’t like it very well. I found the plot t0 be overly simplistic and the characters unlikable. I also really did not care for the narrator so perhaps that was part of the problem.
I also heard a lot of praise for Bitter Seeds, but I wasn’t overly impressed. It was okay, but not as good as I was expecting. Again, I didn’t think the narration was as good as many of the other audio books that I’ve listened to so that may have contributed.
Biggest “Did I miss something?”
- Geekomancy by Michael R. Underwood (Kindle)
I picked this up because so many people compared it to Ready Player One, which I loved, but, for me, it just wasn’t on the same level. I’m still trying to figure out what everyone was raving about.
Best Narration
- Roy Dotrice performing A Clash of Kings
- Lenny Henry performing Anansi Boys
- Simon Vance performing Tigana
I would also like to give some credit to James Marsters, the narrator of the Dresden Files. Truthfully, he is not a perfect narrator, but I can’t imagine anyone capturing the essence of Harry Dresden as well as he has.
Best Magic System
- Legion by Brandon Sanderson (audio novella)
- Storm Front by Jim Butcher (audio) (re-read)
- Shadow’s Edge by Brent Weeks (paperback)
Best Plot
- Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (audio)
- Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay (audio)
- Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (audio)
Sometimes a novel’s plot is really good because it twists and turns or because it’s complex and rich, but, sometimes, a simple plot is just right. I thought all three of these stories worked really well, but I think a lot of the novels that I read in 2012 had interesting plots, which made this a difficult choice. I also considered both of the Gentlemen Bastards novels, both of the Song of Ice and Fire novels that I read, and Nine Princes of Amber.
Best Characters
- The Lions of al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay (trade paperback)
- Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay (audio)
- A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin (audio)
Simply put, GGK writes great characters. I also considered the Dresden Files novels, but I only re-read the first three and some of the best supporting characters have barely made appearances up to that point.
Best Writing
- Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay (audio)
- The Lions of al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay (trade paperback)
- A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin (audio)
I’ll also give an honorable mention to The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon, which wasn’t my favorite read, but was definitely well written.
Best Novel
- Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay (audio)
- Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (audio)
- Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (audio)
Although this was a very difficult decision, I think these are the novels that I would pick and in that order. They each had great stories and characters, and they were all very well written. Overall, I think I’ll say Tigana was the best because it had amazing characters and was exceptionally well written. I picked Snow Crash because it had an excellent plot, a perfect blend of intrigue and action, and I picked Ready Player One because it was ridiculously entertaining.
These are three very different novels, but they were all highly enjoyable and I would recommend them to anyone. I would also like to mention that, were I to pick a fourth, it would definitely have been A Clash of Kings, which I also found to be exceptional.