- Annihilation – Jeff VanderMeer. For a slender book, this sure packed a lot in. Four unnamed scientists are sent into Area X, a quarantined area that suffered some kind of environmental disaster thirty years previously. And then shit gets weird. This was a fantastic mash-up of sci-fi and horror, and it ratcheted the tension right up until the end. I can’t wait to read the other two books in the trilogy. Definitely, definitely recommended!
- Hellblazer, Volume 11: Last Man Standing – Paul Jenkins, Sean Phillips, Charles Adlard & Warren Pleece. The stand-alone stories in this volume felt a bit disjointed, but this was a decent, if not particularly memorable, read.
- Hellblazer, Volume 12: How To Play With Fire – Paul Jenkins, Warren Pleece, Garth Ennis & John Higgins. Similar to Volume 11, but there were quite a few issues that I just flat out didn’t enjoy.
- Low, Volume 2: Before the Dawn Burns Us – Rick Remender, Greg Tocchini & Dave McCaig. Look, I’m interested in the storyline of Stel trying to reach the Earth’s surface, and be the first human to do so in hundreds of years, but the rest of this is a distraction. When Low focuses on getting Stel to the surface, it works. When it tries to flesh out the under-sea world, it… fails is a bit harsh, but it definitely loses my interest. Plus, it could do with toning down the gratuitous female (and only ever female) nudity.
- Looking Glass Girl – Cathy Cassidy. I’m pretty sure that this is the first Cathy Cassidy book I’ve ever read. To be honest, although this was an interesting spin on Alice in Wonderland, and an okay read overall, it hasn’t inspired me to pick up any more of her work.
- Alice-Miranda at Camp – Jacqueline Harvey. As much as I enjoy these books, I honestly couldn’t remember the plot of this one until I looked it up, so it’s maybe time to give them a bit of a rest. That said, I would still recommend it to junior readers without reservation.
- The Stupidest Angel – Christopher Moore. I actually started this in December and only got around to finishing it in May. Shameful! Which is not to say that I didn’t like it, because I did. It was a really fun mix of insanity and humour, and I’ll definitely be picking up more of Christopher Moore’s books.
- March – Geraldine Brooks. I have mixed feelings about this one. I’m not a massive fan of what it tries to add to the world of Little Women, but I enjoyed learning more about the American Civil War, which is something I know little about. It’s worth a read if you like Little Women, but you’ll need to keep in mind that it’s a very, very different type of book.
- Travelers Rest – Keith Lee Morris. According to Goodreads (where it actually only has a 2.5 star rating), this was my first five star read of the year. Yay! I LOVED this. Loved it, loved it, loved it. A family are forced to check into a hotel when the weather turns bad, and then things get creepy as fuck. Without meaning to, our four characters separate and find out in their own ways that they can’t quite seem to leave the town they’ve stumbled upon. Not a new idea, admittedly, and I was reminded of Silent Hill amongst other things, but it’s so well handled. A sense of unease runs through the book, and the more we find out about what’s happening, the less it makes sense. All of which I loved 😀
- My True Love Gave To Me – Stephanie Perkins (ed.). A Christmas-themed YA short story collection. The opening story is the first piece of work by Rainbow Rowell I’ve read, and I have to say, I wasn’t particularly impressed. The whole thing was a bit blah, and it makes me worry about reading her longer works. The next story, by Kelly Link, I loved though. Which is weird because a lot of people on Goodreads seemed to hate it. It’s so good though – a nicely atmospheric but understated ghost story. And the rest of the stories were a mixed bag, with the Laini Taylor story standing out for some of the same reasons as the Kelly Link one. Overall, a good read, but not one I’d rush to reread every Christmas.
- The Maker of Swans – Paraic O’Donnell. My second five star read of the year! I honestly thought that I was going to have to revise my star system on Goodreads because I hadn’t had a five star read, and then BOOM, two in one month. (I actually don’t enjoy giving books star ratings at all, but that’s a different story.) First of all, the cover is absolutely beautiful. Then we have the fact that Paraic O’Donnell is Irish, and I am both Irish and an O’Donnell, and it’s all starting to come together. Finally, the story is also excellent 😉 There is something strange about Mr. Crowe and his ward Clara, something that only reveals itself slowly over the course of the book in wonderful, lyrical, never-quite-giving-you-all-the-answers prose. Gothic, mysterious and marvellous.
- Batman: Li’l Gotham, Volume 1 – Dustin Nguyen & Derek Fridolfs. This is probably the cutest thing I’ve ever read. Look at them there being tiny and adorable! It’s even made me quite like Batman himself, which is a difficult thing to do.
- Batman: Li’l Gotham, Volume 2 – Dustin Nguyen & Derek Fridolfs. See above.
- Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, Volume 2 – Brian Michael Bendis, Chris Samnee, Sara Pichelli & David Marquez. I’ve never been a huge fan of Spider-Man. I don’t find Peter Parker as amusing as I’m supposed to, which is a major problem. I’ve heard so much about Miles Morales though, that I couldn’t wait to pick this up. And I ended up loving it! This was a wonderful combination of a teenager trying to come to terms with new superpowers (and actually having to work his way up to defeating top level super-villains), and a surprisingly good crime story. I’m not usually one for the whole crime families thing, but it worked in this. Contrary as ever, my local library system bought this and not volume 1, but I’m hoping they’ll get it in eventually.
- Batgirl: The Greatest Stories Ever Told – Dennis O’Neill et. al. This had the potential to be an amazing collection of stories, but it was ruined by the issues included from the 90s. Original Batgirl was awesome. She was focused, determined and kick-ass (she successfully ran for the Senate!). Then, the 90s came and it was decided to strip her of all of that and have her mince around the place promising that she wouldn’t do anything until Batman allowed her to. Which was total balls.
- Civil War: Punisher War Journal – Matt Fraction et. al. There was potential in the Punisher showing Captain America how to fight dirty, but it was squandered quickly. Quite a rubbish read.
- Jessica’s Ghost – Andrew Norriss. On the surface, this is a book about a boy who can see a ghost. Underneath, it’s a nuanced look at depression in children and teenagers, and it’s just wonderful. Don’t let the terrible cover this got stuck with in the UK put you off, this is an excellent read. (Seriously though, look at how much better the German cover is. Even the American one is better and they’ve changed the title for some reason.)
- A Notable Woman: The Romantic Journals of Jean Lucey Pratt – Jean Lucey Pratt & Simon Garfield (ed.). I stumbled upon this book through a review in an e-mail Waterstones sent me. Sadly for Waterstones, I bypassed them and ordered it from the library. When it came, my heart sank because this book is HUGE, but my fears were unfounded as it turned out to be a surprisingly quick read, mostly because Jean Lucey Pratt is such an engaging diarist. She’s frank in her opinions, and it’s a joy to look so intimately into the life of a woman in the first half of the 20th Century. Recommended!
- Anatomy of a Soldier – Harry Parker. This has been on my radar since before it was published, but I was a little worried about reading it as it had the potential to be just awful. Anatomy of a Soldier is the story of a British soldier told through forty five objects that he comes into contact with. And it’s fantastic. Seeing Tom’s story from the point of view of a helmet, for example, gives it a focus on the minutia that would be glossed over in a more traditional narrative. All of which serves to make it that more personal. I can’t recommend this enough.
- Rebel Sisters – Marita Conlon-McKenna. Marita Conlon-McKenna’s Under the Hawthorn Tree trilogy was a massive part of my childhood. For a few years, I devoured everything she wrote and loved it all, so I was shocked at how poorly written this book was. Rebel Sisters gives a fictionalised account of the real life Gifford sisters and their parts in the 1916 Rising. The source material is absolutely fascinating, but the writing is bland, unengaging and flat. I know Conlon-McKenna can do better, so this was a massive disappointment.
- The Paper Magician – Charlie M. Holmberg. I had my eye on this book because the cover is so excellent. The story sounded okay, but that cover was reason enough for me to want The Paper Magician! After reading it, I can say that I adored the world that this is set in. The system of magic is fascinating, and has so much potential. Unfortunately, I don’t think Holmberg’s writing was quite up to what she’d created. The characters sometimes fell a little bit flat, and the relationship between Ceony and Thane wasn’t given time to develop naturally. Still, I enjoyed it enough to pick up the next two volumes.
- Lumberjanes, Volume 1: Beware the Kitten Holy – Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis, Shannon Waters & Brooke A. Allen. Stop what you’re doing and go buy or borrow this. I’m not even kidding. Lumberjanes is a fantastic celebration of female friendship, told quirkly and hilariously, and if you’ve not read it yet you’re missing out.
- Ms. Marvel, Volume 3: Crushed – G. Willow Wilson, Takeshi Miyazawa & Elmo Bondoc. Three volumes in and I’m still loving this. Kamala continues to be awesome and Loki turns up, so it’s all good! (On a side note, I need to catch up with all the bullshit that’s happened with the Inhumans, because I keep seeing random mentions of some cataclysmic event and I am confused.)
- The Glass Magician – Charlie M. Holmberg. I didn’t have a problem with Ceony doing all of the cooking in The Paper Magician, but in The Glass Magician, the idea of set domestic roles for women becomes a little hard to ignore. Which is odd because female magicians seem to be accepted by wider society rather than treated as women getting ideas above their station. Yeah… The relationship between Ceony and Thane still felt forced to me in this, but it was a decentish read overall. And I love the cover almost as much as the first one.
