Rankings for the 100 Books I Read This Year

Here’s the rankings for all the books I read in 2019. Spoilers!(Obviously)

Overall thoughts: This is the third year I’ve been mass-reviewing books. While I had a good time this year, overall this was the weakest year of reading and reviewing I’ve had thus far. That said, this year also had the fewest number of flops- I liked pretty much everything I read. I just wish that I found more books which blew my socks off. Perhaps I’m just read so much that I have a harder time being impressed. Anyway, on with the show!

My Favorites of the Year

• Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
  • What a gloriously weird book. The author took liberties with style, telling a story American Civil-War era ghosts.
  • Reading this was a trip, both a trip back in time and a mind-bending acid trip.
• Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
  • First book by Kay I’ve read and it was excellent.
• This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohar and Max Gladstone
  • I liked this so much I read it twice in a row. It was really good, probably the best thing I read this year.
• The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie
  • When I first read this book I initially came away with a slightly negative impression. Upon reflection, I think that this is probably one of the best books I’ve ever read. Kudos to the author for writing such a gloriously difficult book.
  • It has several flaws, believe me, but ultimately I think the author pulls off a stellar story.
  • It contains some of the best understated worldbuilding I’ve seen in a while.
• Minimum Wage Magic by Rachel Aaron
  • Fun! This is a well told story, with a strong plot and pacing and good (and at moments great) characters. Dragons in Detroit! This isn’t the Mona Lisa of literature, but a fun good time.
  • The perfect beach read/ airport read. This is a perfect popcorn book, something I can read a dozen times and be happy while reading.

Highly Recommended

• Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
  • Girl goes to space-school, only to be dragged into interstellar war.
• Moon over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch
  • Jazz vampires. Jazz. Vampires. They hunt down and suck the lifeforce out of Jazz musicians. And guess what? The protagonist’s dad is a jazz musician.
  • Super premise, great stakes.
• Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch
  • It’s not every day when you read a book where the bad guy cuts off someone’s face and staples it to a tree.
  • Also, the twist at the end with Lesley really set the entire series in a spectacular new direction.
• Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone
  • Urban fantasy. This story is a commentary on corporate bankruptcies and bailouts, but with necromancers performing the corporate resurrections!
  • Can Tara save the dead god Kos Everburning from bankruptcy, or will her evil old professor successfully perform a hostile takeover of Kos Everburning’s divine assets?
• Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch
  • My favorite in the series.
  • What happens when a little girl disappears into the forest? You send in the police and sweep the local woods. What happens when a little girl is kidnapped by the faeries in the local woods and replaced by a changeling? You send in Peter for a hostage negotiation.
• Last First Snow by Max Gladstone
  • Urban fantasy ‘Occupy Wall Street’ style protests! Now with more quetzlcoatl flying bird-snakes and human sacrifice!
  • Can Temoc and the King in Red find common cause after a long and bitter war between them in order to save a ghetto? Or will their longstanding animosity come to ahead again and result in a bloodbath? And what will happen to Temoc’s infant son Caleb?
  • My favorite book in the series.
• The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch
  • Book 6 in the Rivers of London series, this is Part 1 of a 2-part duology, ending with Lies Sleeping. Doesn’t really stand on it’s own, but I liked it.
• Whispers Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch
  • Good, at moments great, but also a bit formulatic. When I read this I was growing a bit disenchanted a little with the Rivers of London Urban Fantasy style. It would probably be better if I read it in chronological order.
• Saga vol. 1 by Brian Vaughan
  • Surprisingly good. Would recommend it to anyone.
• Twelve Kings in Sharhakhai by Bradley P. Beaulieu
  • A great start to one of my favorite ongoing series.
• The Yahenni short story trilogy by Alison Luhrs
  • Magic: the Gathering short stories. I liked these ones, because they’re about a character with style. And also bittersweet. 
• Seven Blades in Black by Sam Sykes
  • Speaking of style, this book has buckets of style. I need to re-read it.
• Undeath and Taxes by Drew Hayes
  • Vampire accountancy! Haunted Houses Bed and Breakfasts! Fun!
• All Systems Red: Murderbot by Martha Wells
  • It’s good, but the non-murderbot characters were boring.
• Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch
  • Liked it a lot, but it’s a re-read so I knew I’d like it.
• Saga Vol. 2 by Brian Vaughan
  • Made me have feels. Really well done.
• Orconomics by J. Zachary Pike
  • I liked the first half, I liked the second half. I felt the the abrupt tone-switch between the the two halves wasn’t quite perfect. If the author handled the transition between the two better this would have been one of my favorites for the year.
• Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch
  • This, combined with Hanging Tree, was excellent. Bye bye, Faceless Man, you racist jerk. No more stapling people’s faces to trees for you. You will not be missed.
• Rivers of London: Body Work by Ben Aaronovitch
  • Comic book! Not my favorite in this series.
• Rivers of London: Night Witch by Ben Aaronovitch
  • Graphic novel! My favorite in the series.
• Rivers of London: Black Mould by Ben Aaronovitch
  • Graphics novel! Mold jazz! Revenge magic! Making rent! My second favorite.
• Rivers of London: Detective Stories by Ben Aaronovitch
  • Graphic novel. I liked the art styles and the low stakes.
• The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
  • Re-read. Still good.
• Lirael by Garth Nix
  • Re-re-re-re-re-read, or rather re-listen to. Tim Curry is a great narrator.
• Two Serpents Rise by Max Gladstone
  • Urban Fantasy parable about water rights and corporate mergers! Now with more alien-geometry demons and using dark wizard contracts to slyly defeat your enemies and collapse the international economy!
  • Can Caleb convince his terrorist father Temoc to stop trying to kill the King in Red, or will Temoc kill the King and cause everyone in the city to die of dehydration?
  • Most improved upon re-read. I liked the themes and tropes used in this one. The cliches I disliked on the first read I liked this time, because I saw that they were in the service of honoring noir genre conventions.
• Melting Stones by Tamora Pierce
  • This is a sad book. Tamora Pierce’s Circle of Magic setting. Fantasy-Krakatoa is about to go boom and it’s up to Rosethorn and Evey to save everyone who lives on the island.
• Rivers of London: Water Weed by Ben Aaronovitch
  • Graphic novel! Cool villain. I like that the bad guy wasn’t some world-ending threat, just a person who wanted to get rich growing marijuana using magic.
• Guilds of Ravnica by Nicky Drayden
  • More Magic the Gathering fiction. Only for Magic fans, but if you are a fan this is really good.
• The October Man by Ben Aaronovitch
  • Rivers of London novella. I liked it. Wine in Germany, while dealing with a little murder on the side!
• Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C Wrede
  • Re-read. I first read this 20 years ago when I was a kid. I listened to the full-cast audio and it was very fun. Definitely a kid’s book.
• Mono No Aware by Ken Liu
  • Heartbreaking and beautiful.
• The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith/ JK Rowling
  • Mystery story. As it turns out, JK Rowling can write.
• Holy Sister by Mark Lawrence
  • Good end to a good series. I liked Red Sister better, but this was a nonetheless worthy addition to the series. I liked the worldbuilding in particular.
• Loran’s Smile by Jeff Grubb
  • A nice Magic the Gathering short story. For fans of the game only.
• Sandman vol 1 by Neil Gaiman
  • Some good, some average. I liked what I read and plan to read more… eventually.
• Born of Aether by Alison Luhrs
  • Re-read. Was good.
• Four Roads Cross by Max Gladstone
  • International Law urban fantasy! But with eldritch gods and the economics of zombie farm laborers!
  • Can Caleb and Tara team up to prove Kos Everburning and Cyril Undying are not dangerous entities to invest your money in, or will an international cabal of villainous lawyer-warlocks perform hostile takeovers of both gods and turn them into religious sock puppets?
• On the Shoulders of Titans by Andrew Rowe
  • Liked it. Looking forward to book 3.
• Full Fathom Five by Max Gladstone
  • International banking urban fantasy! But with mai-tais and police-golems! Don’t catch the attention of Smiling Jack, or else you’ll disappear!
  • Re-read. I liked it less this time around, because I remembered the mystery twist at the end.
  • I think this book has the best worldbuilding in the entire genre. I read tons of fantasy, so I’m not speaking from a point of ignorance. This book’s worldbuilding is really, really good.
• Chivalry by Neil Gaimen
  • Go read it without looking for details. Gaiman being whimsical is excellent.
• ‘Trail of Lightning’ by Rebecca Roanhorse
  • Standard urban fantasy-meets-paranormal romance, but done REALLY well with a sweet ‘twist’ at the end. I’ll probably read book 2 next year.
• The Black Prism by Brent Weeks
  • Standard epic/high fantasy in the vein of WoT, Stormlight, Belgariad, but done really well. I’m reading the rest of the series soon.
• Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
  • This book’s lovely prose and characters nearly made this one of my favorites of the year, but it didn’t quite blow my socks off. It was bogged down by spotty pacing at points.
• The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter
  • Above average book. Mostly good, at points excellent, never bad. I enjoyed it heartily.
• Angel Mage by Garth Nix
  • Three Musketeers meets high fantasy. Four servants of the queen must stop a rogue cult from unleashing a foul plague in an attempt to resurrect a dead archangel. ‘Twas fun, with glorious prose.

Recommended

• Storm Front by Jim Butcher
  • Re-read. Holds up better on the re-read. Run of the mill noir, but with fantasy elements.
• Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri
  • I didn’t like it personally (romance ain’t my thing), but this was well written. I gave it additional points because it is so well written.
• Zero G by Dan Wells
  • Fun audiobook for children.
• Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik
  • Adventures in Africa with everyone’s favorite dragon!
• American Craftsmen by Tom Doyle
  • I liked it on a personal level, but it was held back a little by the characters being a smidgen dull. If the characters were more vibrant this book would have easily been a Highly Recommended.
  • Cool, Americana based worldbuilding. Never seen anything like it, except sort of reminding me of Tim Powers. (The prose isn’t on Power’s level, though.)
• Kingdom of Copper by S. A. Chakraborty
  • Not as good as the first overall, but it didn’t have the spotty pacing the first book had and needed higher stakes. I would suggest that you check it out.
  • One of my personal favorites of the year. I am personally fond of the characters and setting, which is why I liked it so much.
• The Wicked + The Divine: The Faust Act by Kieron Gillen
  • I liked the themes, I liked some of the characters… but there wasn’t quite enough substance for my taste. Worth reading nonetheless.
• Batman: Year One
  • I didn’t really like it, but a classic is a classic.
• Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
  • Re-read. Better than the movie, but the movie wasn’t bad either.
• The Black Tides of Heaven by J Y Yang
  • Good! I was meaning to read the sequel, but I haven’t gotten around to it.
• Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
  • Well written, but I didn’t really enjoy it. Kinda occupied the same space as Empire of Sand for me, where I acknowledge that it is well written and I’m not the target audience.
• The Fliers of Gy by Ursula K. LeGuin
  • I like the worldbuilding, a bit depressing.
• Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce
  • Re-read after 15 years or so. Good book, charismatic main character, suffered from a lack of a cohesive plot arc from page 1 to page fin.
• Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan
  • Re-read. Didn’t really love it the first time, or the second time. It’s not bad! Just average.
• Destruction of Justice by Lawrence Davis
  • Good urban fantasy
• The Shadow of What Was Lost by James Islington
  • Epic fantasy. I had a good time, I can recommend it broadly, just don’t expect a masterpiece. I’ll read the next book sometime next year.
• Beneath the Twisted Trees by Bradley P Beaulieu
  • Excellent book 4 in the series. Upped the stakes from book 3. I liked it.
  • I gave it a ‘Recommended’ rating and not ‘Highly Recommended’ because the series is asking a lot of questions and giving few answers.
• Soulless by Gail Carriger
  • Re-read. Was innocent fun.
• ‘Paw of the Jungle‘ by Diane Kelly
  • Cozy-ish, police procedural crime novel.
• Beowulf by Image Comics
  • Graphic novel! Was fun.
• Children of the Nameless by Brandon Sanderson
  • MtG novella. Was really well done.
• Abhorsen by Garth Nix
  • Fantastic conclusion to the initial Old Kingdom trilogy. Fastest pacing in the series. It would be Highly Recommended if it had a little more character development.

Recommended with Reservations

• The Midnight Front by David Mack
  • It had the very best chapter of all the books I read this year, a chapter I’ll remember for my entire life. It was a ‘Schindler’s List’ moment of compelling storytelling.
  • It had the coolest, most grimdark magic system I’ve ever read: you summon demons from Hell and sell them your soul in exchange for magic. The more demons you summon, the more insane you go.
  • You don’t want to sell your soul, but you have to because the Nazi warlocks are taking over Western Europe and Russia.  If you don’t fight fire with fire millions of innocent Jews, LGBT, communists and Roma will die, and the Devil-empowered Nazis will attack Britain and the US next.
  • Unfortunately, the protagonist was as dull as a spoon, and the book was too long. Ultimately these two disadvantages took me out of the book.
  • I’ll give it and the sequel another go one of these days.
• The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks
  • Re-read. Was fine. Not excellent, but a good tentpole for the genre. If you liked ‘Theft of Swords,’ then check this classic out.
• Mass Effect: Foundation by Mac Walters
  • Graphic novel. Was fine.
• Batman: Eye of the Beholder by Tony Daniel
  • Graphic novel. Was fine.
• Christmas Eve 1914 by Charles Olivier
  • Audioplay. It was okay.
• Overwatch: Bastet by Michael Chu
  • Was okay. A bit meh. I didn’t love or hate it.
• Lud in the Mist by Hope Mirrlees
  • Not my jazz. I can see why this used to be so popular and influential, but it’s too old fashioned for my taste.
• The Wicked + The Divine: Fandemonium by Kieron Gillen
  • I’m not a fan of Fandemonium. My favorite character died in book 1, and second favorite in book 2.
• Sea Girls by Daniel Wallace
  • Okay.
• Black Betty by Nisi Shawl
  • Also okay.
• War of the Spark: Ravnica by Greg Weisman
  • Sarcastic comment: FANDOM CONTROVERSY 1, HERE BE (POORLY WRITTEN) DRAGONS!
  • Sober comment: MtG novel. WotS: Ravnica wasn’t as bad as it’s reputation suggests. It wasn’t good, mind you, but it wasn’t bad. Mediocre, or maybe a little worse than mediocre. But not awful.
• War of the Spark: Forsaken by Greg Weisman
  • Sarcastic comment: FANDOM CONTROVERSY 2, THE BRAWNY (AND DECIDEDLY MALE) EDITION
  • Sober comment: I read the first fifteen or so pages, decided this book was bad, and returned it. You should read it only if you’re a fan of train wrecks. (My sympathies, Greg. Wizards did you dirty with this one.)
  • On the bright side, the r/magictcg subreddit got about a month of memes out of this, until Oko turned the subreddit into elks.
• The Baboon War by Nnedi Okorafor
  • Interesting concept, succeeded in pulling off the concept. Still, not enough resolution and raised more questions than it answered. I was left feeling unsure.
• Peter and Fi by Kelvyn Fernandes
  • Was fine.
• ‘Escaping Exodus’ by Nicky Drayden
  • This was one of my top 15 favorite books of the year. At moments it was truly excellent and innovative. However the whole ‘space tentacle body horror civilization’ thing makes this niche, so I can only recommend it only with reservations.
  • Are you in the mood to try something weird? I can recommend this wholeheartedly.
• “The Dresden Files: Dog Men” by Jim Butcher
  • Graphic novel. A bit meh. I like that we got more of Listens-To-Wind.
• ”Rivers of London: Cry Fox‘ by Ben Aaronovitch
  • Graphic novel! A bit meh, to be honest. It just didn’t have thematic cohesiveness.

Nonfiction

• Money Management Skills by Michael Finke
  • Good book. Investing, buying property, insurance and more. Lecture series.
• Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain
  • Some good arguments, some arguments I didn’t think the author did a good job of providing proof for.
• Denver’s Washington Park by Sarah O McCarthy
  • Photos of Denver
• Descarte in 90 Minutes by Paul Strathern
  • A brief history of Descarte.
• Zen Dogs by Alex Cearns
  • Photos of dogs!
• Plato For Everyone by Aviezer Tucker
  • Skimmed it. Not really my thing.
• Maya to Aztec: A History of Mesoamerica Revealed by Edwin Barnhart
  • My favorite non-fiction thing of the year. Lecture series.
• Legion vs Phalanx by Myke Cole
  • My second favorite non-fiction thing of the year.
• Trench Talk/Trench Life by Frederic Winkowski
  • Third favorite non-fiction thing of the year. About WW1.
• The Mueller Report by Robert S Mueller III
  • Depressing read.
• ‘Storm of Steel’ by Ernst Junger
  • Good WW1 memoir.
• ‘Across the Wall’ by Lots of People
  • Nonfiction about ASoIaF. Some good articles, some okay ones.

Video Games

• Masquerada Songs and Shadows
  • Unexpected indie gem. Really good Venice-like worldbuilding. Has great voice actors. The gameplay is fun. Shame it never took off.
• The Talos Principle + The Road to Gehenna
  • I beat the Talos Principle + the Road to Gehenna main game. I am now in the middle of getting all the bonus stars in order to save ADMIN. Great game, love the puzzles. I’ll post a Road to Gehenna review once I beat it (if I beat it, getting the stars is hard).
• Dishonored 2 + Dishonored: Death of the Outsider
  • Had the best level design of any game I ever played. Between ‘The Clockwork Mansion’ and ‘The Crack in the Slab,’ which comboed with the game’s teleportation and stealth based gameplay to be magnificent. Plus the art style, this game was just baller.
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
  • Just got this about a month ago and I’m only about 1/3 of the way through (I just beat Genichiro and am now working on Long-arm Centipede Giraffe). I’ve never played such a difficult game before, but I have to say that I like the gameplay loop of try-die-repeat. Self-improvement is half the fun of it. And the swordplay/assassination playstyle is crisp and satisfying even when you die. Together they make dying on the same boss over and over feel fun, because you see their health bar getting lower and lower on each try.
  • In other games you steamroll ‘easy’ bosses on your first try, and for hard bosses you have to fight them one or two more times. I like that in Sekiro ‘easy’ bosses kill you only two or three times, whereas hard bosses kill you ten or twenty times (or thirty or forty).
  • That said, screw you Lady Butterfly.