Best Reads of 2017

2017 has been a tough year, both personally and for the world at large. I'm amazed that I've made it this far; somehow it still feels unreal to stand at the cusp of another year.

In 2017 I read 37 books (38 if I can finish my current read before midnight on the 31st) which is an average amount for me. While I didn't get anywhere near to the amount of books I wanted to read I can't complain about their quality.

Here, in no particular order, are my best reads of 2017:

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

If I had to choose my top read of the year then this would have to be it. Children of Time is an astounding space opera that will have you re-evaluate your allegiance to humanity. It’s fascinating and terrifying in equal measure with a truly fantastic ending. Space spiders have never been more captivating. Read full review.

Infinity Engine by Neal Asher

Infinity Engine is a stunning conclusion to the Transformation series. It has all the hallmarks of a Neal Asher novel - devastating technology, massive space battles and stellar destruction on the grandest of scales, but it's also a far more intimate story of growth, redemption and forging your own identity. There are a lot of intricate layers at play in the superbly woven narrative; the myriad transformations will leave you both satisfied and utterly intrigued with the implications for the Polity universe at large. A mind-blowingly brilliant read! Read full review.

The Stars Are Legion by Kameron Hurley

The Stars are Legion by Kameron Hurley is space opera unlike anything I’ve ever read before. Set on, living organic world-ships, the novel is gross, unsettling, unrelenting and utterly glorious. It carries a strong social message and deals a deathblow to the notion that females are the weaker sex. These women are brutal, devious and totally badass. Be warned though, this is definitely not a tale for the squeamish. Read full review.

The Shadow of What was Lost by James Islington

The Shadow of What Was Lost is a thoroughly engaging coming-of-age fantasy tale with far more complexity than it initially appears. It shows immense promise to develop into a series worth following. Fans of The Wheel of Time series will find a lot to love here. Read full review.

Bazaar of Bad Dreams by Stephen King

No list can be complete without the King. The stories collected in Bazaar of Bad Dreams are terrific, haunting delights that will stay with you long after you turn that last page. This is a perfect read for those dark nights where you come to realise that the monster might be the one hiding under the covers... Read full review.

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

I'm late to the bandwagon, but boy what a bandwagon it is. While the narration style can be difficult to get to grips with at first The Fifth Season blew me away and shook me to the core. Well worth reading!

Love Minus Eighty by Will McIntosh

An unusual tale about love and relationship in a futuristic landscape where death doesn't necessarily mean the end. A great read, especially if you are looking for something different!

Galactic Empires edited by Neil Clarke

Galactic Empires edited by Neil Clarke is a stunning collection of short fiction dealing with galactic empires in all their varied forms. It showcases some of the best voices writing in the genre today with some remarkable stories that will stay with you for ages. A great way to test the waters of what current SF has to offer. Read full review.

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Here's to a wonderful 2018 filled with even more bookish delights and time enough to read them all!

New Arrivals: A Torrent of Books

It seems South African customs have somehow managed to catch up with their backlog of international parcels. The floodgates have been opened and I've been overwhelmed by bookish delights from the folks at Tor books.

The gigantic edition of Brandon Sanderson's Oathbringer is a thing of beauty. The endpapers are simply gorgeous! I haven't started reading the Stormlight Archive series yet, but this is definitely the best incentive to get started.

The titles I received for review are Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson, The Man In The Tree by Sage Walker, War Craft by Tom Doyle, The Realms of God by Michael Livingston and the Last Chance by Gregg Hurwitz.

As is to be expected I couldn't help myself and also ordered a few more books to add to my collection.

Hopefully 2018 will bring enough time to read them all!

On My Radar: The Will to Battle

The Will to Battle, the penultimate installment of Ada Palmer's Terra Ignota series releases this week. I must confess that I've been stockpiling the books for a binge reading session when I have enough time to adequately devote to the series. Last year I started in on the first book, Too Like the Lightning and about a third into the book I realised that this was something special - a complex, layered world steeped in philosophy and history, with a narrative style that requires your undivided attention to untangle. I'm looking forward to tackling the series soon when I'm able to give it the attention it deserves.

THE WILL TO BATTLE by Ada Palmer
ISBN: 9780765378040
Release date: 19 December 2017
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The long years of near-utopia have come to an abrupt end. Peace and order are now figments of the past. Corruption, deception, and insurgency hum within the once steadfast leadership of the Hives, nations without fixed location. The heartbreaking truth is that for decades, even centuries, the leaders of the great Hives bought the world’s stability with a trickle of secret murders, mathematically planned. So that no faction could ever dominate. So that the balance held.

The Hives’ façade of solidity is the only hope they have for maintaining a semblance of order, for preventing the public from succumbing to the savagery and bloodlust of wars past. But as the great secret becomes more and more widely known, that façade is slipping away. Just days earlier, the world was a pinnacle of human civilization. Now everyone—Hives and hiveless, Utopians and sensayers, emperors and the downtrodden, warriors and saints—scrambles to prepare for the seemingly inevitable war.