So I saw this post an old high school friend does every year where he recaps the books he’s read. He’s going on 7 years so I figured I’d better get going. (Thanks, Ryan)
Stealing one of his “rules”, some of these are graphic novels and comic collections.
Here we go!
1. The Estuary (Derek Gunn) – Solid zombie/plague book set in rural England. His Vampire Apocalypse series is much better.
2. Patient Zero (Jonathan Mayberry) – First Joe Ledger book. Action/SciFi/Horror with the pacing of a Clancy novel.
3. Containment (Christian Cantrell) – Second best read of the year. Hard SciFi novella that was a .99 Kindle special. This guy is on my short list.
4. The Passage (Justin Cronin) – Best read of the year. Not for the faint of heart. This 800 page monster take the vampire concept, tosses it sideways and blends in a shade of genetic horror. Oh yeah, did I mention it’s the first in a trilogy?
5. Tongues of Serpents (Naomi Novik) – Latest Temeraire novel is a real snoozer. Hopefully this was the “Order of the Phoenix” of the series.
6. Star Trek:A Singular Destiny (Keith DeCandido) – Political thriller set in the wake of the Borg invasion. Setup for the Typhon Pact books.
7-8. Star Trek: Typhon Pact 1-2 – Take everyone who’s not in the Federation and form a coalition. Series spanning trilogy that’s not quite as good as the Destiny trilogy.
9. Clickers III: Dagon Rising (Brian Keene and J.F. Gonzalez) – Pulp monster fiction by two of horror’s finest. Guilty pleasure.
10. The Fall (Guillermo Del Toro, Chuck Hogan) – Second book in The Strain trilogy(sensing a trend?) that might as well be a Blade sequel, if it didn’t suck.
11. The High King of Montival (SM Stirling) – Latest in the “Dies The Fire” series that should continue to please the SCA nuts in spite of the mysticism. Heading towards what can only be called an explosive conclusion.
12. Titus Crow Book One (Brian Lumley) – Lumley’s contribution to the Lovecraft mythos introducing the character that does a 180 on most Lovecraft characters. Good start.
13. Mockingjay (Suzanne Collins) – Awesome end to the Hunger Games books. Must read.
14. Declare (Tim Powers) – Deighton blended with Lovecraft. Gave me a headache.
15-27. The Dresden Files (Jim Butcher) – Blew through this series in three weeks. Love, love, love Harry Dresden. Can’t wait for Ghost Story.
28-31. The Laundry (Charles Stross) – Equal parts Lovecraft, James Bond and Office Space. A geek’s wet dream.
32. Mission of Honor (David Weber) – Latest Honor Harrington novel. More political intrigue than action but sets up the next book well without boring you to death.
33-38. Other Honorverse Books (David Weber) – Three anthologies and the two novels about Torch. More in the universe of above.
39. Ice, Iron and Gold (SM Stirling) – Short story collection encompassing Stirling’s other series and some unconnected stuff.
40. City of Saints and Madmen (Jeff Vandermeer) – Consume heavily before reading.
41. Dragon Factory (Jonathan Mayberry) – Second Joe Ledger novel. Crichton, Clancy and King blended.
42. Pronto (Elmore Leonard) – The first Raylen Givens(Justified) novel. Have decided I’m not a fan of Leonard’s crime stuff.
43-44. The Living Dead/Wasteland (ed. John Joseph Adams) – Two themed short story collections, one zombie, one post-apocalyptic. Both great.
45. Dark Life (Kat Falls) – Teen scifi with a great setting and a solid story. Would like to see more from Falls.
46. Under The Dome (Stephen King) – Return to form for King. TV version could be good.
47. Infected (Scott Sigler) – Alien plague novel. Andromeda Strain with legs. Gory in parts but a good plot even if the characters are a bit thin. Will read the next book in the series.
48. The Complete Hammer’s Slammers Vol. 1 (David Drake) – First of 2 or 3 reprinting the stories as originally published. Best military scifi not called Starship Troopers.
49-51. Repairman Jack (F. Paul Wilson) – Wilson’s action/horror series keeps on truckin. Jack gets beaten down for three books here which makes me wonder if we’re going to see any sunshine before this series winds up in three more books.
52. Crossed (Garth Ennis) – Comic collection that follows a group of plague survivors. Graphic and brutal.
53. The Walking Dead Vol. 9-13 (Robert Kirkman) – Before the TV show, there was an awesome comic. Just remember, no one is safe.
54. Wasteland Vol. 3-5 (Antony Johnston) – Post apocalyptic western. Johnston needs to get back to writing it.
