2015 in books

Yet another (tiny) proof 2015 was one of the worst in recent years, I did not manage to read all the 42 books I put on my 2015 Reading Challenge on Goodreads. I listed at least 42 books like last year and am at 38. 4 books short, mainly because I could not read for the last month more or less. Feeling depressed after the November attacks in Paris and death of friends didn’t help.

2015 is, like 2014, a mix between re-reading books I love (Roger Zelazny again!) and new books and authors.

Old books

  • I finished the last two books in the “Corwin of Amber” series in the “Amber” books by Roger Zelazny. It is always a pleasure to read them. I also like the second series (with “Merlin” as main character) but it is less consistent and worse, does not really end in Prince of Chaos; in fact, Zelazny’s death leaves way too many open threads :( (yeah I’m repeating myself).

  • Another all-time favourite series of mine is “The Keltiad” by Patricia Kennealy-Morrison — if you ever wondered why my domain name is keltia.net (along with my username in several places), now you have the answer :) The first three books are very good (although littered with slightly too many Gaelic expressions).

Old Series

There we find new series I started before 2015, like the “The Final Formula” or “The Secret Histories”.

  • I read two volumes in “The Secret Histories”, Casino Infernale and Property of a Lady Faire. Still one left to go. Not the greatest series ever but the Bond-like setting is nice.

  • “Artefact Hunters” by A.W. Exley I started in 2014. There was a novella The Unicorn’s Tail and a full fledge novel Nero’s Fiddle. Still the final volume to read. Why didn’t I finish it? I’m not sure but some comments by the author about the last book and its not-so-happy end maybe :)

  • “Dragon Blood” by Lindsay Buroker. She is still one of my favourite recent authors and on my “automatic buy” list. One novella in the “Emperor’s Edge” series (The Assassin’s Curse) and two full novels (Pattern in the Dark and The Blade’s Memory ) and one novella (Under the Ice Blades). One final volume remains in “Dragon Blood”. No book in the “Rust and Relics” series though.

  • “The Final Formula” by Becca Andre. One full novel (The Alchemist’s Flame) and one novella (The Heir of Death) this year, we follow both Addy and Elisa along with James and Rowan.

  • “The Others” #3 by Anne Bishop. This third book — Vision in Silver confirmed that I absolutely loved this series. While the two other series she made left me pretty much un-enthousiastic, that one is just awesome. The fourth one is scheduled to be out in March like last year. Can’t wait.

New Series! (and authors)

  • “Ambassador” by Patty Jansen. While I’m not a fan of “Space Opera” in general, I finally started this series and I can say I love it. The Space-Op part is nice, the characters and stories ever nicer. I like the universe very much and would love to see more books there to explain everything about the Coldi and stuff.

  • Lindsay Buroker has started a new series this year, “Chains of Honor” with Warrior Mage. Set in the universe of “Dragon Blood” we are dealing with new characters. First volume is nice, more to follow.

  • “Throne of Glass” by Sarah J. Maas. While officially labelled as a Yound Adult (YA) series, I can not resist anything involving assassins :) Somewhat in a lighter tone than other assassins’ series but it is quite fun to read. One full novel (Throne of Glass) and plenty of novellas (The Assassin’s Blade) this year.

  • A long-awaited book for me: The House of Shattered Chains by Aliette de Bodard. I even pre-ordered it after discussing several times with her on Twitter. The setting is clear, post-Apocalyspe Paris, with Angels and Dragons galore, even Lucifer (as Morningstar) is here! And oh boy, was it gloriously Dark. Marriage of a mystery novel with Fantasy. Loved it (and the novella Morningstar’s Shadow I got along with it). She is working on the next book \o/1

  • After seeing many recommendations on the ‘Net, I have finally started the “Dresden Files” series by Jim Butcher. More Urban than plain Fantasy, lot of humour there. First one is nice, will read the next ones :)

  • My second favourite book of the year with HoSW is The Martian by Andy Weir. This is the book the now famous movie is based upon. Wonderful read for a Science fan like me. Lots of humour as well but the movie managed to surpass that aspect with a great Matt Damon. If you liked the book, watch the movie (and the other way around).

  • Did I mentioned I am not a Space-Op fan? Did not prevent me from starting a new Sci-Fi series, recommended by a friend of mine: “The Frontier Saga” by Ryk Brown. Lots of volumes there (he is up to 15 now), light and fast reading, I like it a lot.

  • “Clockwork Dagger” duology by Beth Cato was also on my to-read list, I was not disappointed. Nice to see both a healer and a cripple (no spoilers) as main characters. Fast-paced, engaging characters, lots of action. Very good. Still two novellas to read.

Last words

I have several books in the “Reading…” state, it is rather unusual of me but reflect my state of mind (see the preambule of this article). Hopefully it will get better soon-ish.

All these books were read (or started) in e-book format. As I said previously both here - EN and here - FR, almost everything I read now is electronic and in some cases (“Dragon Blood” for example) do not even exist in paper form, especially with self-published authors. Embrace the future folks :)

I have started to read Zen Cho book — Sorcerer to the Crown recommended by Aliette de Bodard. Starts very nicely :)

Series

Author Sites

Notes

  1. I even got to meet her in person as she lives in Paris, wonderful meeting, thanks Aliette! ↩

books, ebooks, english, reading