I have two Harry Potter novels on this list.  It’s hard to deny the sheer impact of this series.  Every novel is enjoyable, but for me there are two that truly stand out among the best Fantasy and Science Fiction novels.  The first two novels are fun children’s novels.  Azkaban is where the series moves up a level.  It’s also the tightest plotted novel in the series, with the most unique plot. 

                It’s the one novel that doesn’t center around Voldemort.  Voldemort is a compelling villain, but it is refreshing to have a different antagonist.  Instead, we get Sirius Black and we get the twists that come along with it.  Rowling avoids her tangents from the later novels and keeps compelling tension throughout, with a quickly moving story.  Dementors are incredible foils for Harry and the climax of this novel, which feels like half the book, is riveting.  As an individual novel, this is the best in the series.

Felan’s Rescue is now available on Audiobook!

Felan’s Rescue is now available in Ebook form (and Kindle Unlimited), Hardback, and Paperback!

            The second Culture novel was so different from the first.  The Culture is unquestionably the good guys in this novel.  I love the way Banks has shown the Culture and how it works, without really detailing it in a straightforward manner. You learned about the Culture first in Consider Phlebas from a changer hostile to the Culture and then in this book from a Culture Citizen who has dedicated his life to games. This book deals head-on with a specific example of what Contact does to incorporate other races as peacefully as possible.

In it we learn of a younger Empire that’s entire power structure revolves around a game (what an awesome idea). Our protagonist, Jernau Morat Gurgeh, is sent to play against the Empire of Azad in their game also known as the Azad. We learn of the strengths and moral weaknesses of the Azad largely through the lens of the Culture. The pacing of this story is good, many of the action sequences are intense and interesting (particularly the last on the fire planet) and the characters are engaging.

The Player of Games is probably the most straightforward of Banks’ culture novels.  It’s crisper, with fewer flaws than Consider Phlebas.  It doesn’t have the unique, challenging structure of Use of Weapons.  It doesn’t have the sprawling, divergent stories that many of the later culture novels have.  As much as I love the direction Banks took his later culture novels, there is something refreshing about the straightforward plotting of Player of Games.  In that sense, it’s probably the Culture novel that has the most universal appeal. 

Felan’s Rescue is now available on Audiobook!

Felan’s Rescue is now available in Ebook form (and Kindle Unlimited), Hardback, and Paperback!

            Book 6 in a 10-book series never drags.  This is one of 5 books in the series you could reasonably argue is Erikson’s best.  It has many of the strengths of my favorite book of the series, Memories of Ice, specifically huge, incredible set pieces throughout the novel. The battle in Y’Ghatan was one of the craziest chapters (clocking in at like 100 pages) I’ve ever read and it’s only about 1/3 of the way through the book. The tension in those scenes just builds and the momentum is relentless. Likewise, the climax of the novel is thrilling.

So many huge things happen in the 1200 pages. There are some more disparate threads, and the novel isn’t quite as tightly plotted as Memories of Ice and Midnight Tides (still my favorites in the series).  That’s the only thing preventing this novel from being right there with my favorite Malazan novels.  But nonetheless, this is every bit as epic as any novel in the series and an example of Erikson continuing to deliver in enormous ways.

Felan’s Rescue is now available on Audiobook!

Felan’s Rescue is now available in Ebook form (and Kindle Unlimited), Hardback, and Paperback!

Another cheat.  Since these books are similar level and are back-to-back books in a trilogy…they join together at 36.  This is a spectacular trilogy.  One of the best trilogies of all time.  These are the second and third novels in the trilogy, two novels that deliver on the promise of the utterly brilliant, The Fifth Season. 

The Obelisk Gate is an incredible sequel that builds on the brilliance of book 1. The world is uniquely realized and the characters both true to that world and relatable to the reader. The prejudices between types of people in this world feel real in a completely relatable way.

We continue to follow Essun as she develops her abilities hoping to find her daughter and possibly save the world from thousands of years of winter. We get to spend time with her daughter half a continent away as she uses her growing abilities to survive threats from her resentful father and the guardians in the north.

The Stone Sky, the final book in Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy, lived up to the promise of the first two. The stakes were just as high, and the central character continued to work perfectly as she has throughout. The unique point of view Jemisin chose to use in writing the series makes sense as the series reaches its fascinating conclusion. If you’ve read the first two, I’m sure you’re finishing the series without my review. However, if you haven’t read the series, rest assured it works from book 1 through book 3 and the end is satisfying in all the right ways.

Felan’s Rescue is now available on Audiobook!

Felan’s Rescue is now available in Ebook form (and Kindle Unlimited), Hardback, and Paperback!

I am guessing I have this novel ranked higher than most, but I absolutely adored it.  You would think Simmons going back to the well of blending classic literature with science fiction in the most literal sense couldn’t work again, but it did.  Ilium blends the Iliad and Science Fiction brilliantly. 

Hockenberry is a scholar “Scholic” observing the trojan war being played out in real life and reports about it to the Gods.  But obviously, this is Science Fiction and something else is going on.  The way Simmons can connect the pieces of the story (and the other point of views) to give us both the appreciation of the classics and the telling of a new, unique science fiction story, is something to behold.  Simmons’ science fiction is so unique and maybe not for everyone, but if it connects with you it will stay with you.  Ilium is no exception.

Felan’s Rescue is now available on Audiobook!

Felan’s Rescue is now available in Ebook form (and Kindle Unlimited), Hardback, and Paperback!

If you wondered whether Corey could build on the brilliance of Leviathan Wakes you didn’t have to wonder long.  Caliban’s War takes the strengths of Leviathan Wakes and improves on them.  The pacing is great, the action is well written, and the dialogue is fun. For a television similarity, think Firefly. I probably did not care about the two romantic relationships as much as the authors wanted me to but the relationship between the crew is what makes these novels work and this is the one where that really began to come into its own.

Though it is not as sprawling as other space opera (or as sprawling as The Expanse would eventually become), to me this is still space opera because though everything takes place within the solar system, there are galaxy wide implications. I read the last 175 pages in one night because I simply could not put it down. I highly recommend you read Leviathan Wakes and follow up with this spectacular sequel. 

Felan’s Rescue is now available on Audiobook!

Felan’s Rescue is now available in Ebook form (and Kindle Unlimited), Hardback, and Paperback!

It’s really hard to conclude a 9-book series in a way that continues to build and yet ends in a satisfactory manner.  Leviathan Falls manages to do just that.  If you’re planning to read this book you’ve already bought in to the series so there is not a ton to say. Leviathan Falls brings home this epic series with its fittingly fun style. Everything feels earned. 9 books and they basically all deliver. Quite an accomplishment.

Felan’s Rescue is now available on Audiobook!

Felan’s Rescue is now available in Ebook form (and Kindle Unlimited), Hardback, and Paperback!

Every Banks reader has the Culture novel that really stood out to them, in a way it probably didn’t to others.  This one is it for me.  I loved this book.  Iain M Banks never fails to deliver riveting, action packed science fiction. I strongly believe Surface Detail is among his best overall Culture novels. I would place it below Use of Weapons, but above almost everything else (there is one more similarly good novel coming soon to my reviews). Its action sequences are probably second only to Consider Phlebas, though the story has far fewer holes than Phlebas. The visual landscapes created in Surface Detail are second to none.

There are basically six main point of view characters we follow throughout though I would consider Lededje Y’breq the main protagonist. Her story of revenge is probably smaller in the overarching universe sense, but also probably the one we care about most. Banks’ descriptions of the Hells created by species for punishment in the afterlife are unbelievable. His wit and humor are evident throughout, particularly with the ship “Falling Outside the Normal Moral Constraints.”

Like all of Banks’ culture novels Surface Detail can stand on its own, but I think having a background from a couple of his early culture novels does help. With this book particularly there is a reference at the end that sheds more light on what is happening throughout that you will not get without having read a specific one of his early novels. I highly recommend Surface Detail…it is truly a tremendous read.

Felan’s Rescue is now available on Audiobook!

Felan’s Rescue is now available in Ebook form (and Kindle Unlimited), Hardback, and Paperback!

The first published book in The Culture series was also my first read in the Culture Series.  It did not disappoint.  I loved the backdrop of war between these two super civilizations. I really enjoyed how our protagonist, Horza, was not particularly fond of either civilization but fought with the Idirans. In his great exchange with Balveda at the beginning of the book Horza explains that despite all the civilizations the Idirans have either throttled or destroyed because of their religion he is fighting for them because “they are on the side of life… boring, old-fashioned, biological life; small, fallible and short-sighted, God knows, but REAL life.” He described the Culture as “an evolutionary dead end”.

At once we see Banks anticipating the hostility that a reader could feel for a civilization run by machines…one where people are happy, they live great lives, there is no crime, no poverty, everyone is safe, but that is run by machines. I could easily emphasize with that viewpoint and yet it is easy to hate the Idirans. The story then is almost morally ambiguous at times, which is an interesting entry point for the Culture series. I thought this was a perfect way to introduce the idea of the culture to the reader.

Consider Phelbas had its flaws.  Some scenes dragged and the resolution wasn’t particularly satisfying (which was kind of the point).  However, at its core this novel was just plain fun. The escape flight through the Giant Orbital was one of the most exciting, well written sequences I have ever read in science fiction. Just brilliant visuals. I could see it in my mind like it was on the big screen.  This is a perfect entrance into the work of my all-time favorite author, in an all-time great series. 

Felan’s Rescue is now available on Audiobook!

Felan’s Rescue is now available in Ebook form (and Kindle Unlimited), Hardback, and Paperback!