SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

This is a thread I love to start in the new year. Tell us about the few most memorable books you read last year. It's always fun to look at your stats for the last year and see which books you gave 5 stars to. There are some that I see and think "gods yes, that book was phenomenal!" and others that I just remember thoroughly enjoying. The ones that land in the phenomenal category for me from last year are

The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks. I still haven't gotten around to finishing the first book in the Culture series, but I thought this book was nothing short of spectacular.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. This was my first Atwood and I think it was a great introduction. I didn't find this story very plot driven, which is something I usually require, but the writing and the style and the ideas were so mesmerizing it left me breathless. This book made me an instant fan.

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. The group read The Diamond Age: or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer a while back which was my first Stephenson and although I didn't hate it, I didn't particularly like it. I was told to try Snow Crash and I'm so very glad I did. It was one of those can't put it down, but don't want it to be over books. I thank all those who recommended it to me over the years. Excellent read!

Foundation and I, Robot by Isaac Asimov. Both classics with good reason. It was about time I got around to them.

Pump Six and Other Stories by Paolo Bacigalupi. The bleakness, the reality, the rawness. It got under my skin in a way only great stories can.

Those are my top reads from 2014. You don't need to give us reasons for your choices, but feel free to share your best reads with us.

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption was at the top of my non-fiction list. It's one of the more powerful books I've read- it's certainly disturbing, but also not full of despair. If you're at all interested in the United States criminal justice system I would very much recommend it.

My favourite fiction book was Station Eleven. I'd worried a bit going into it that I would be disappointed, because I'd read such glowing reviews. I couldn't put it down- it was such an interesting story and world, and so beautifully written. I often read books and then don't really think of them too much afterwards, but this one is permanently stuck in my mind. On the upside, all of the people that I've recommended it to have also fallen in love with it, which doesn't always happen.

My favourite re-read was A Prayer for Owen Meany. I go back to it every few years, and it always ends up meaning something different to me, depending on what's going on in my life. I could probably quote large sections of it from memory at this point, but sitting down and burying myself in it again is always great.

The entire nightrunner series?

Starts with Luck in the Shadows. Personally, I fell in love with this series. It's so much fun to read the books. I love the characters and there's just so much plot in each book (lots of sub plot alongside the main plot) and you get a society that is very appealing for feminists like me (warrior queens, socially accepted queer people, etc).

Then there's also His Majesty's Dragon which I liked quite a lot in regards to the friendship between the main characters. Also, the fights were exciting! I'm not someone who generally enjoys military fiction but add some dragons and it works for me.

The Word for World is Forest surprised me. This book does something a lot of media already did (books and movies) but it does it so much better.

By the same author: The Left Hand of Darkness ripped my heart out. I can't quite explain, I think.

I feel like I had a really good reading year in 2014. I fell in love with some new authors/series, feel deeper in love with others, and discovered some new loves.

Probably the biggest highlight of 2014 was my discovery of Brandon Sanderson. I started with The Final Empire to count toward my goal in the group challenge. I quickly blew through the entire Mistborn series thinking, "Yes! That is how epic fantasy should be written" And then I discovered The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance. Holy crap! I still stand by my 5-star ratings, but the Stormlight Archive makes the Mistborn books seem like minor league.


I was also surprised and delighted by Anne Bishop's series, The Others. I was unsure going in, since they get the YA tag so often, but was pleasantly surprised to find a refreshing and wonderful new UF world in Written in Red. Murder of Crows was even better.


I finally caught up on the Dresden Files this past year. I think Jim Butcher keeps maturing as an author and it is reflected in the most recent books of the series. Ghost Story, Cold Days, and Skin Game were outstanding.


Also continuing to knock it out of the ballpark on the series front were Seanan McGuire with Ashes of Honor, Chimes at Midnight, and The Winter Long and Gail Carriger with Waistcoats & Weaponry.


I discovered some new loves:
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
The Kite Runner & And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini


And, I reinforced my love for others:
The Ocean at the End of the Lane & Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn


Finally, I embarked in a couple of love triangles: one including writer Jeph Loeb and artist Jim Lee with Batman: Hush and the other including the combination of Brian Azzarello/Cliff Chiang with Wonder Woman, Vol. 1: Blood.


Penny, The Handmaid's Tale did not quite make the top of my list, but it was certainly among the list honorable mentions for me this year.

Valerie wrote: "Penny, The Handmaid's Tale did not quite make the top of my list, but it was certainly among the list honorable mentions for me this year. "

I didn't get to read any Sanderson last year because I was too set on the challenge, but after I read this month's group reads I'm going to re-read The Way of Kings and then I'm so looking forward to Words of Radiance. Brandon Sanderson is one of my favourite authors and this may be one of his best series yet!

In SF&F, the book that stood head and shoulders above everything else was The Martian .

It was so good that all others paled by comparison.

the first law trilogy, I am pilgrim, swans song.

well said Trike "the Martian" was snarky good stuff. Mcgyver on Mars.

I gave a bunch of 5 star ratings but my favorites of the favorites

1 Martian

2 Sandersons

and a fascinating A.I.

I will agree with Valerie, finding Sanderson this year was a huge win, I had heard good things but didn't truly believe them until Warbreaker.

I listened to the Martian and the book plus the narator added up to something unforgettable.

Hank, that is good to hear. I picked up Warbreaker through the year end Audible special. Now I am looking forward to it even more.

I could look at my shelves to see what might be in second place, but I won't bother. The Martian wins by a landslide, imo.

My favorite was also The Martian by far. I also enjoyed Gone Girl much more than I thought I would. Best non fiction by far was a book of essays called Why We Can't Wait. Fantastic read that talks about many issue that still exist today. Another non fiction favorite was The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France: Doping, Cover-ups, and Winning at All Costs. Uncovers the extent of doping in professional cycling.

I would go with The Sparrow and Fuzzy Nation as being books that were not only fabulous, they are ones that I'll revisit over and over. I'm about to read the sequel to The Sparrow, Children of God. I'm really looking forward to it.

For Brandon Sanderson fans, The Rithmatist was not only surprisingly good, it was absolutely amazing. There are these little creatures called chalklings that are drawn with chalk and they're surprisingly terrifying. It was universally loved in my in person book group. Fantastic book.

I'm not counting re-reads, as they skew the list.

Not in any particular order,

1. The Martian by Andy Weir. Except for this. It has the top spot. The book was brilliant and the audio was engaging.
2. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. It seems like I spent most of 2014 with either this or TWoK on my currently reading list. But it was a good savor/comfort read when I got bored with others I was working on.
3. The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. The other doorstopper. It was long at times and frustrated me (unlike the Goldfinch) when I couldn't get through it fast enough. But still awesome in places.
4. Heir of Novron by Michael J. Sullivan. Conclusion to the series, which I loved. The whole series deserves to be on this list, but I'll just put this omnibus of the last two on here because the first half of the series were re-reads.
5. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Read by Tim Curry, who brought out the story perfectly.
6. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. Another great audio that brought the book value up. I also liked Dark Places and Sharp Objects by the same author.
7. Nightmare At 20,000 Feet: Horror Stories by Richard Matheson. A great short story collection by the master.
8. Half a King by Joe Abercrombie. Best read from NetGalley. Lord Grimdark tackles YA.
9. A Betrayal in Winter by Daniel Abraham. Liked the first but wasn't overwhelmed, so it took me awhile to get to this. But wow. I'll be continuing soon.
10. Skin Game by Jim Butcher. This really should be listed higher. Love the Dresden books.
11. Bird Box by Josh Malerman. Best horror read in 2014.
12. The Free by Brian Ruckley. Standalone fantasy? Whoah.
13. The Wrong Quarry by Max Allan Collins. Hard Case Crime for the win.
14. Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King. Can't leave Uncle Stevie off. Wasn't his best, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit.

Lots of honorable mentions, but I'll leave it alone for now.

Chris wrote: "I'm not counting re-reads, as they skew the list.

Not in any particular order,

1. The Martian by Andy Weir. Except for this. It has the top spot. The book was bri..."

Chris, I just went to do a book comparison and saw that you have Geekomancy on your to-read. I have to say that you should bump it up the list. It's completely hilarious and very fast paced. It's so much fun. It gets pretty heavy into constant geek references. I had to put it down at one point just to give my head a break. Then I was SO excited to recommend it to my in person book group but it's only available in ebook :( I was so bummed. I did get a friend to read it and she loved it too. This was definitely one of the funnest that I read this year.

Cool, Sarah..I'll definitely keep it in mind..

Valerie wrote: "Probably the biggest highlight of 2014 was my discovery of Brandon Sanderson."

I also discovered Sanderson late last year (based on a recommendation). I started with Elantris and then read The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance. I just picked up a few others. I'm not normally an epic fantasy fan, but these are surprisingly clever and enjoyable.

Trike wrote: "In SF&F, the book that stood head and shoulders above everything else was The Martian .

It was so good that all others paled by comparison."

I agree, Trike. I found The Martian quite refreshing. It's a great Science Fiction Story.

Valerie wrote: "Hank, that is good to hear. I picked up Warbreaker through the year end Audible special. Now I am looking forward to it even more."

I just finished reading Warbreaker. I liked it enough to give it 5 stars. :-)

Sarah wrote: "I would go with The Sparrow and Fuzzy Nation as being books that were not only fabulous, they are ones that I'll revisit over and over. I'm about to read the sequel to..."

I bought a copy of Fuzzy Nation when it was first released, and enjoyed it enough to reread it again last year. It's a great reboot of the original H. Beam Piper story. I also just grabbed a copy of Sanderson's Rithmatist, but I haven't read it yet. It's on my TBR pile for this month. :-)

Fuzzy Nation and Rithmatist are in my top 5 for the year. You'll love The Rithmatist.

One of my all-time favorite short stories is "A Proper Santa Claus" (1973) by Anne McCaffrey, and it sounds like Sanderson took her idea and Sandersized it with The Rithmatist by using Harry Potter as a template.

Here are a few:

Midnight Tides, by Steven Erikson. The Malazan series is amazing.

Klondaeg the Monster Hunter and Klondaeg and the Klondaeg Hunters, by Steve Thomas. Very funny fantasy.

Ghost in the Storm by Jonathan Moeller. #4 in the excellent Ghosts series.

Dream Child by J.J. DiBenedetto. #3 in the Dreams paranormal-suspense series.

Buck Johnson: Dragon Wrangler Collection, by Wyatt McLaren. Cowboys and dragons in space. What more could you want? :-D

The Tease and The Grind, books 1 and 2 in the Darling Killer trilogy by Nikki M. Pill. Suspense and murder in the world of burlesque.

The Wind From Miilark, by M. Edward McNally. Book 3 in the epic Norothian Cycle.

"Sandersized" Elend said

Some favorites from 2014 were:

The Magicians - I loved the combination of satire of and loving tribute to children's fantasy literature. I read the whole trilogy this year and found it both moving and hilarious.

The Enchanted - very sad story, but beautifully written, and it had great use of fantastical imagery.

Annihilation - I loved the strangeness and creativity of this trilogy.

MaddAddam

Ancillary Justice

The Shadowed Sun

Favorite SF/F books read in 2014:
The Seed of Earth / Next Stop the Stars
from my Ace Doubles collection...vintage Silverberg!
Not science FICTION, but...
Scatter, Adapt, and Remember: How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction
And always love a little Harlan Ellison:
Bugf#ck: The Worthless Wit and Wisdom of Harlan Ellison
...and the classic comic book adaptations and expansions of Robert E. Howard's Conan in...
The Savage Sword of Conan, Volume 1

I didn't get much reading done during 2014 due to some very stressful personal and professional issues (it was not a good year), but I did manage to read The Lord of the Rings for the first time since I was a teen. So yeah, it gets my vote. It truly is a masterpiece of storytelling and prose. I chuckle at people who think it's overrated.

My 2014 favourites, in no particular order are
1984 by George Orwell Been wanting to read this for years. I have a phobia of books that are older than me, as I don't usually get on with them. I am sometimes pleasantly surprised which is why I persevere with them. This book gave me much food for thought.
Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness I really enjoyed the Chaos Walking Trilogy, once I got used to the writing style.
The Magicians by Lev Grossman I like the homage to established fantasy, with the addition of angst of these college kids. Will definitely be reading the sequel.
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. I started this book with no expectations. I had no idea that it was fantasy. Loved it. Again, sequel will be read.
Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch Devoured this book! I am getting very behind on this series. Need to catch up!

My favorites that I read in 2014 were:

Rose Under Fire

Love in the Time of Global Warming

The Good Luck of Right Now

Paperboy

Fangirl

Seeing Red

Saints & Boxers

We Were Liars

The Goldfinch

Love Letters to the Dead

Primates: The Fearless Science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas

Relish: My Life in the Kitchen

The Harlem Hellfighters

Dawn

The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap

Seven Wild Sisters

The Milk of Birds

No Plot? No Problem!: A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days

The Sparrow

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

For SciFi The Martian hands down my favorite. I half read and half listened to it initially then re-listened to it a few days later I do not think I have ever done that with any book before. The story was great and the narration made it. Almost scared to see what happens with the movie.

Hyperion was another SciFi favorite read of mine although just like Dune I kind of wish I would have stopped after the first book.

I really liked the The Reluctant Swordsman series for fantasy.


Although I started it very late in 2014 (like the last week) I am REALLY enjoying The Final Empire and currently reading the third book in the trilogy. I don't know how I missed Sanderson's books but cant wait to start The Way of Kings

My Hall of Fame 2014:

For SciFi the winner is The Martian with Feed in second postion;

For Fantasy I liked Promise of Blood, Theft of Swords, His Majesty's Dragon and Gardens of the Moon (in no particular order).

The most memorable books in 2014:
Ender's game by Orson Scott Card
Dune by Frank Herbert
Foundation and Nemesis by Isaac Asimov
Doomed city by Arkady Strugatsky
The Stand by Stephen King
Those are my favorite books from 2014.

2014 was a solid year of books for me. My favorite of the year had to be Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson. This was also the year that I finally was able to meet him. He is just such a nice guy.
My other favorites (in no particular order) include:
Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained by Peter F. Hamilton
Red Country by Joe Abercrombie
Vicious by V.E. Schwab
City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett
Heir of Novron by Michael J Sullivan
and I was pleasantly surprised by the Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy. It was a solid middle grade read.

Hmmm. My favorite books of 2014... I finOld Man's Warally came back to reading so there are a lot of them.
The Sparrow, The Handmaid's Tale, Cordelia's Honor and the rest of the Vorkosigan series(and I am glad that I had found the omnibus editions), Hyperion, my reread of I, Robot and the others in the Robots series,Little Fuzzy, my re-read of The Earthsea Trilogy, Howl's Moving Castle, Stardust, The Princess Bride, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, The Star Beast, The Eyre Affair, Furies of Calderon, The Curse of Chalion, to name a bunch. For all the books/series that I have mentioned, I have found that I have become a little less forgiving when the author begins annoying me with sloppy writing. Looking back, last year was a very good year!

My favorites:

The Martian by Andy Weir

The Sparrow by Mary Doira Russell

Tinkers by Paul Harding

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin

Enon by Paul Harding

The Forge of God by Greg Bear

I didn't read a lot in 2014, but my favorite books were Howl's Moving Castle and its sequel, Castle in the Air. Amazing reads, despite the target age group.
Unfortunately the third book wasn't up to the standard.

I didn't get a lot of reading done in 2014 but these were my favourites:

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie -- I find rare that a book lives up to all the hype but I really surprised my this!

The Final Empire by Brian Sanderson -- my first Sanderson novel and I definitely want to read more, I just can't decide which other Sanderson series I should try.

Hexwood by Dianna Wynne Jones

Man, I had so many great reads in 2014.

Sanderson's The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance were amazing.

The Martian was awesome

Went through the Dresden Files which quickly became one of my favorite series.

Riyria Revelations by Michael J Sullivan

Probably a lot more that I can't think of off the top of my head.

Just posted to my blog my favorite reads of 2014 yesterday:

http://buckmire.blogspot.com/2015/02/...

The sci-fi/fantasy section is:

Favorite Science Fiction Novel Read In 2014: Cibola Burn by James S.A. Corey






Cibola Burn  is the fourth book in the best-selling space opera series known as The Expanse. I have been a huge fan of these books from day one, and am very excited that the television adaptation of the books is slated to come to SyFy as a 10-episode miniseries later this year. Cibola Burn follows events in a planet which has opened up outside of our solar system as a result of the events that occurred in Abaddon's Gate . Cibola Burn is space opera at its best, with interesting ideas about conflicts between corporations and colonists, all in the context of a visionary future for humanity combined with non-stop action and peril for the familiar characters of Holden, Nagata, Amos and Avarasala. Corey also introduces some new characters and resolves some plot points which have been developing since the very first book in the series ( Leviathan Wakes ). This was my favorite novel (of any genre) that I read in 2014. At this point, I fully expect that Book 5 in The Expanse, Nemesis Games, to be my favorite science fiction and overall read in 2015. And from what I can tell about the television series so far, I expect that to be one of my favorites as well.

Yes, these are really that good.







Runner-Up Favorite Science Fiction: The Abyss Beyond Dreams by Peter F. Hamilton.







The Abyss Beyond Dreams is a return to the Commonwealth Universe for British sci-fi maestro Peter F. Hamilton, whose earlier books like The Reality Dysfunction and The Neutronium Alchemist turned me on to space opera in the first place. This book is intended to be the first book in another Hamilton duopoly called The Chronicle of the Fallers. His first duopoly in this universe was the brilliant  Pandora's Star  / Judas Unchained books which he returned to, somewhat obliquely, with his Void Trilogy (which are set a few thousand years in the future from the events in the first two books and inside a space anomaly called The Void in which advanced technology is stifled but mental powers like telekinesis and telepathy are possible). Despite the intriguing setting, The Void Trilogy were not as successful as the original Commonwealth Saga books (in my humble opinion). However, in The Abyss Beyond Dreams Hamilton has been able to combine the best parts of both of these prior works to produce a work which, while not as groundbreaking as the classic sci-fi of his Night's Dawn trilogy, is still as enthralling and engaging as anything the genre has to offer. And it's fun and funny as well. That being said, I am pretty surprised (and somewhat pleased) that I have found an author in James S.A. Corey who I think produces space opera as good as anything Hamilton has produced, but on a much more frequent timetable. It was still nice to see that the old master was able to show that "he's still got it" with his latest book, and I look forward to the concluding book in the series an I hope that he does NOT follow his promise (threat?) of never writing in the Commonwealth Universe again after he finishes the Fallers duopoly. (Unless he does so because he goes into Confederation Space, because that would be awesome!)



Honorable Mention (Science Fiction): Neptune's Brood by Charles Stross.

I have had difficulty finishing Charlie Stross books before despite the fact that he regularly gets recognized as producing some of the best speculative fiction around (multiple consecutive Hugo and Nebula nominations in the last decade). I picked up Neptune's Brood because it was nominated even though this is the sequel to Saturn's Children which I had not read (and still have not). This book was a whole bunch of fun, brimming with exciting ideas and lots of action set in well-imagined universe. Exactly what I love to get out of reading science fiction. One of my favorite sci-fi genre reads of 2014.



Favorite Fantasy Novel Read In 2014: The Broken Eye by Brent Weeks






I actually read the all three of the currently available books in Brent Weeks Lightbringer series in 2014: The Black Prism  (2010), The Blinding Knife (2012) and The Broken Eye (2014) and it's hard to say which of the three is the best. I think the third book has had the biggest impact on me of the three since now I have lived with these characters for well over 2,000 pages I am very invested as to what happens to them in the future. I believe that Weeks is improving as a writer; this series is already better than his Night's Angel series and there's (at least!) one more Lightbringer book to come. The main character is Kip, who is an out-of-shape, socially awkward 16-year-old who also happens to be the illegitimate son of the most powerful man in the world (Gavin Guile, known as The Prism for his powerful abilities to convert all spectra of light into solid objects and other forms of energy). Weeks has developed a fantasy series with a very interesting magic system  based on the seven colors of the rainbow and incorporated this into a complicated but intriguing political system and culture with many nuanced characters and exciting plot developments. The action is often breathless and the humor sometimes off-putting but once you start one of Brent Weeks novels they are often very hard to put down, and you are very glad that you didn't put it down until the end.



Runner-Up Favorite Fantasy: The Widow's House by Daniel Abrahams






I think of myself as someone who likes fantasy novels, but a review of my reading list in 2014 reveals I'm much pickier about titles in the fantasy genre than in the others that I consume. If I don't get caught up by a fantasy book early I am far more likely to give up on it than I would be if it were a mystery or science fiction book. One fantasy book I greatly enjoyed in 2014 was The Widow's House by Daniel Abraham. It is the penultimate book in the Dagger and the Coin series which is scheduled to be five books long. Amazingly, Abrahams has managed to keep to a schedule of releasing one book per year in the series for the last four years. Even more amazingly, he has been doing this while he has been adhering to the same schedule as one half of the writing team that produces The Expanse novels under the name of James S.A. Corey (see above). I don't know how they do it, but I am very happy that they do! The last book in the series will almost certainly come out this summer, and I expect The Spider's War to be awesome. Somehow Abrahams manages to have multiple strong female characters in a sword and sorcery tale that has monetary policy as one of its central organizing principles. If you are (or were) an economics major then this series is the one for you!

My favourite reads for 2014 were the Silo trilogy by Hugh Howey.

They grabbed me straight away and I lost several hours of sleep.
I also enjoyed Great North Road by Peter F Hamilton.

Dark Eden by Chris Beckett.

Railsea by China Meiville.

Proxima by Stephen Baxter.

There were others that didn't quite make the mark and I remember being disappointed with the Traitor Queen trilogy by Trudi Canavan.

here is my list of 6 star books, which I've read in 2014:

Flashforward
We
The Lathe of Heaven
The Light of Other Days

5 stars:
The Humans
Childhood's End
The Metamorphosis

I read a bunch of books in 2014, but my favorites new SF stories were:
-Storm Coming
-Prisoners of Eroak
-Occupy Eroak
-Thieves Profit
-Wool

Dived into The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance last year after putting them off for ages - BIG LOVE! Want more. So much detail it blows my mind.
Last Xmas I read ALL the McCaffery Pern books - Love them all.
I must admit to not keeping a record of all the books I read/re-read so that's all that spring to mind at the moment.

Cheers
:-)

Steve wrote: "My favourite reads for 2014 were the Silo trilogy by Hugh Howey.

They grabbed me straight away and I lost severa..."

Glad to see a mention of Peter F. Hamilton.I am pretty sure you'll enjoy The Abyss Beyond Dreams: A Novel of the Commonwealth.

I also iked the Hugh Howey books. Has anyone read the new Sand Omnibus books by him?

I have never read anything by Stephen Baxter that I have liked (or been able to finish) but he keeps on being put in the same sentence as Hamilton, Reynolds and other hard science fiction guys. What gives?

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness was my favorite book in 2014. Expertly told and very touching.

Gone with the wind - was even better than I figured, deserves its reputation

Shadowfever, the last book of the Fever series first five, great closing

Magic Breaks by Ilona Andrews - the best in the series, I was in reading rapture

Penny wrote: "This is a thread I love to start in the new year. Tell us about the few most memorable books you read last year. It's always fun to look at your stats for the last year and see which books you gave..."

if you loved Snow Crash, try Zodiac.

Some of my favourite reads in 2014

Blood SongTower Lord

Also got stuck into the Dresden files that I'd so much about in the group
Storm FrontFool Moon and all the others.

Another good book by an indie author I read is
Strega, throughly enjoyed it and the prose was beautiful.