Laith
I know I'm a little late in posting this, but Happy New Year! These year in reviews take a little bit longer than the average book review, so feel free to skip around, but please don't skip my 2024 wrap up. I know that 2024 wasn't the best year for human civilization, and we're looking at a rough remainder of the decade, but it was a good year for books!
2024 was an incredibly busy and fruitful year for me: I became an uncle many times over, I've taken on more responsibility in my professional life, and in late September I got engaged! Despite all that, I managed to make a respectable dent in my ever-growing TBR.
My reading goals have remained consistent, with a few minor changes:
- Read a minimum of 30 minutes every day. (692 Days in a row according to kindle)
- Read and review as many books as I could. (77 Books read! 55 Reviewed!)
- Read more than just SFF, I aim to finish at least 10 titles outside the SFF space, with at least half of those being NF/History titles.
I read fewer books than last year, as I intended, but whether it was a conscious effort or because of how busy I've been, I can't say for sure. I tried to pepper in more non-fiction and literature this year, and some of those books, particularly the large and dry non-fiction volumes, really brought down the pace. As for the reviews, I've come to develop a few personal rules concerning sequels; what I will and will not review. New books? Yes. Old Books? Also, yes. 4th non-contemporaneous issue in a popular series? No. When it comes to series, it comes down to whether or not the book is the first or the latest in the series. Or, if it is otherwise critical to, or divergent from, the series to date.
I have found a happy medium between over-reading and not reading at all. Doing reviews along with broadening up the genres I read in has helped to keep up the habit without overdoing it. My approach for 2025 remains much the same as it was last year, namely, striving for balance between life and reading time, along with reading more challenging/literary/nonfiction books. I think of it as having veggies along with the junk food. And of course the reviews will continue.
So with the year behind us, allow me to highlight some of what I read this year.
Non-Fiction for the year: I originally conceived of ranking these, but I did not read prolifically in this genre. I should have set a fixed goal on this because I did not reach for the NF/History pile nearly as much as I should have. I did manage to read three titles: From the Streets of Shaolin: The Wu-Tang Saga, The Sabres of Paradise: Conquest and Vengeance in the Caucasus, Mao: The Real Story.
Wu-Tang notwithstanding, these were really difficult to move through because of the sheer density of information. Maybe my approach to non-fiction is wrong, but I was forced into chipping away at these books in 20-30 page bursts. The narrative rhythm is absent in non-fiction, it makes it very difficult to settle in for a long lazy afternoon reading session. I would love recommendations for more interesting, or more story driven non-fiction books. I enjoy history, I just feel like I struck out with my picks.
Favorites Series for the year: I love a good series, and I was pleased to find a number of great ones this year. I kept up with prior favorites, but I've decided that for the purposes of this listicle, I will only mention series that were new to me this year. The short list for the year is as follows: Sun Eater by Chris Roucchio, The Factory by Derek Raymond, The Masquerade by Seth Dickinson, and Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman.
All of these were incredible series that captured me until I either finished them or caught up to the latest release. Despite the sterling quality across the board, there are only two real contenders: The Factory and Sun Eater.
While it was easy to get it down to two, I truly could not say which of these dominated more of my year. Sun Eater had me hooked for longer because of the length of the series, but the Factory books really are a cut above the average piece of genre writing. Indeed, the Factory series was kind of an out of nowhere surprise slam dunk for me and was something I was fully expecting to shrug off.
But I think Sun Eater gets the nod; this is a debut series in a genre I love-something I had extremely high expectations for, which impressed me at every possible opportunity. It really is the best iteration of the space opera epic yet.
Top 5 Books for the Year: These are my favorites for the year, in no particular order. I did consider banning series entries from this list, but I'm a pretty heavy series reader, so that would have made the list too short. I'll say a little for each of these, but my basic ranking criteria are: A. Personal Enjoyment and B. Impact/Resonance (do I still meditate on this book's ideas?).
- The Ministry for the Future: I know I said this list isn't in order, but this is my overall pick for the year. I just can't put this book out of my mind, and I think it'll only be a more and more important read as the climate disaster worsens.
- The Plague: This touched a nerve with me, I think it will for a lot of people post-covid. Doesn't hurt that it's also quite an accessible read as far as Lit goes.
- He Died With His Eyes Open/I Was Dora Suarez: The Factory novels were a big discovery for me, I think each of these books (not the fifth) are some of the best written. Ever. Both of these are listed because I can't choose which is better.
- Night's Master: I didn't read enough of the Flat Earth to make it a series contender, but this first book was incredible. I plan to read more Tanith Lee in the new year.
- Dark Matter: I really enjoyed this book, it was by far one of the most fun things I read this year and fascinating to boot. The Apple TV show is also a banger.
Small shout-outs to Permutation City, The Employees, The Passenger, and Crash. These were interesting, extremely well written, but very challenging books that remain on my mind. I thought that these books ranked among the very best in quality and resonance but among the lowest in reading experience/personal enjoyment.
Author of the Year:
This one is usually tough to pin down, but maybe I've already spoiled this one with the constant Factory gush. That's right, this year it's Derek Raymond a.k.a. Robert William Arthur Cook, and it's him by a mile. I cover this in my reviews, but he's got an existentialist style that elevates his crime fiction to unparalleled heights. His biography is wild to boot, and I guess just like with PKD, I'm a sucker for a folk figure.
As I did last year when I wound up picking another dinosaur author, I'll also give a nod to a contemporary author. And this one isn't a surprise either. I loved Sun Eater, and I can say this having read 6 ever improving works, Chris Roucchio is one of the best doing it right now.
____________ Thanks for reading my year in review, this year there was nothing I regret reading except for maybe The Shining Girls, which was a book club pick so it was out of my hands to begin with. Hope 2025 is great for everyone!
I know I'm a little late in posting this, but Happy New Year! These year in reviews take a little bit longer than the average book review, so feel free to skip around, but please don't skip my 2024 wrap up. I know that 2024 wasn't the best year for human civilization, and we're looking at a rough remainder of the decade, but it was a good year for books!
2024 was an incredibly busy and fruitful year for me: I became an uncle many times over, I've taken on more responsibility in my professional life, and in late September I got engaged! Despite all that, I managed to make a respectable dent in my ever-growing TBR.
My reading goals have remained consistent, with a few minor changes:
- Read a minimum of 30 minutes every day. (692 Days in a row according to kindle)
- Read and review as many books as I could. (77 Books read! 55 Reviewed!)
- Read more than just SFF, I aim to finish at least 10 titles outside the SFF space, with at least half of those being NF/History titles.
I read fewer books than last year, as I intended, but whether it was a conscious effort or because of how busy I've been, I can't say for sure. I tried to pepper in more non-fiction and literature this year, and some of those books, particularly the large and dry non-fiction volumes, really brought down the pace. As for the reviews, I've come to develop a few personal rules concerning sequels; what I will and will not review. New books? Yes. Old Books? Also, yes. 4th non-contemporaneous issue in a popular series? No. When it comes to series, it comes down to whether or not the book is the first or the latest in the series. Or, if it is otherwise critical to, or divergent from, the series to date.
I have found a happy medium between over-reading and not reading at all. Doing reviews along with broadening up the genres I read in has helped to keep up the habit without overdoing it. My approach for 2025 remains much the same as it was last year, namely, striving for balance between life and reading time, along with reading more challenging/literary/nonfiction books. I think of it as having veggies along with the junk food. And of course the reviews will continue.
So with the year behind us, allow me to highlight some of what I read this year.
Non-Fiction for the year: I originally conceived of ranking these, but I did not read prolifically in this genre. I should have set a fixed goal on this because I did not reach for the NF/History pile nearly as much as I should have. I did manage to read three titles: From the Streets of Shaolin: The Wu-Tang Saga, The Sabres of Paradise: Conquest and Vengeance in the Caucasus, Mao: The Real Story.
Wu-Tang notwithstanding, these were really difficult to move through because of the sheer density of information. Maybe my approach to non-fiction is wrong, but I was forced into chipping away at these books in 20-30 page bursts. The narrative rhythm is absent in non-fiction, it makes it very difficult to settle in for a long lazy afternoon reading session. I would love recommendations for more interesting, or more story driven non-fiction books. I enjoy history, I just feel like I struck out with my picks.
Favorites Series for the year: I love a good series, and I was pleased to find a number of great ones this year. I kept up with prior favorites, but I've decided that for the purposes of this listicle, I will only mention series that were new to me this year. The short list for the year is as follows: Sun Eater by Chris Roucchio, The Factory by Derek Raymond, The Masquerade by Seth Dickinson, and Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman.
All of these were incredible series that captured me until I either finished them or caught up to the latest release. Despite the sterling quality across the board, there are only two real contenders: The Factory and Sun Eater.
While it was easy to get it down to two, I truly could not say which of these dominated more of my year. Sun Eater had me hooked for longer because of the length of the series, but the Factory books really are a cut above the average piece of genre writing. Indeed, the Factory series was kind of an out of nowhere surprise slam dunk for me and was something I was fully expecting to shrug off.
But I think Sun Eater gets the nod; this is a debut series in a genre I love-something I had extremely high expectations for, which impressed me at every possible opportunity. It really is the best iteration of the space opera epic yet.
Top 5 Books for the Year: These are my favorites for the year, in no particular order. I did consider banning series entries from this list, but I'm a pretty heavy series reader, so that would have made the list too short. I'll say a little for each of these, but my basic ranking criteria are: A. Personal Enjoyment and B. Impact/Resonance (do I still meditate on this book's ideas?).
- The Ministry for the Future: I know I said this list isn't in order, but this is my overall pick for the year. I just can't put this book out of my mind, and I think it'll only be a more and more important read as the climate disaster worsens.
- The Plague: This touched a nerve with me, I think it will for a lot of people post-covid. Doesn't hurt that it's also quite an accessible read as far as Lit goes.
- He Died With His Eyes Open/I Was Dora Suarez: The Factory novels were a big discovery for me, I think each of these books (not the fifth) are some of the best written. Ever. Both of these are listed because I can't choose which is better.
- Night's Master: I didn't read enough of the Flat Earth to make it a series contender, but this first book was incredible. I plan to read more Tanith Lee in the new year.
- Dark Matter: I really enjoyed this book, it was by far one of the most fun things I read this year and fascinating to boot. The Apple TV show is also a banger.
Small shout-outs to Permutation City, The Employees, The Passenger, and Crash. These were interesting, extremely well written, but very challenging books that remain on my mind. I thought that these books ranked among the very best in quality and resonance but among the lowest in reading experience/personal enjoyment.
Author of the Year:
This one is usually tough to pin down, but maybe I've already spoiled this one with the constant Factory gush. That's right, this year it's Derek Raymond a.k.a. Robert William Arthur Cook, and it's him by a mile. I cover this in my reviews, but he's got an existentialist style that elevates his crime fiction to unparalleled heights. His biography is wild to boot, and I guess just like with PKD, I'm a sucker for a folk figure.
As I did last year when I wound up picking another dinosaur author, I'll also give a nod to a contemporary author. And this one isn't a surprise either. I loved Sun Eater, and I can say this having read 6 ever improving works, Chris Roucchio is one of the best doing it right now.
____________ Thanks for reading my year in review, this year there was nothing I regret reading except for maybe The Shining Girls, which was a book club pick so it was out of my hands to begin with. Hope 2025 is great for everyone!