This year I had told myself I was going to read 13 books over the course of the 12 months. I'm happy to say that I did reach that 13, even though some of them might not have been books that I would really care to read again. I read a wide range of genres from philosophy to fantasy, from science-fiction to historical non-fiction. I like to be able to delve into virtually anything. Some of these may not appeal to you at all, and if that's the case you can certainly jump to those that sound the most intriguing. There's no quiz at the end. I'm going to start in chronological order from what I read in the beginning of the year and complete the series with The Song of Achilles, which I just finished last week.
1st book - Critical Role: Vox Machina - Kith & Kin by Marieke Nijkamp
This year starts off with the rabbit hole I was already traveling down in the form of Dungeons & Dragons types. Vox Machina is already a fantastic show that captures the feeling of D&D within its own world. I felt that this book would flesh out a couple of my favorite characters from the show even more. Vax and Vex are interesting characters in their own right, half-elves that have daddy issues after he abandoned them and their human mother, but we get to see more of their individual plights as they end up splitting up and on opposite sides of a rural conflict. Vax stays with some mining folk that are just trying to piece their lives back together after awakening an ancient evil, and Vex helps the villagers nearby who are trying to stave off that very same ancient evil before it overwhelms their entire town. It was a fun read, overall, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys D&D or its affiliate projects. 7/10 - Good
2nd - The Crystal Shard by R.A. Salvatore
Here we go in continuing down this nerdy path of mine. Don't judge too harshly. The Crystal Shard is a D&D novel written by one of the most famous writers in the genre. Salvatore introduces a set of characters in this novel that go on to become iconic in D&D lore. Drizzt the dark elf, Bruenor the dwarf, and barbarian Wulfgar shine with individual motives and actions in the novel. Drizzt's brooding persona is only starting to crack as his friendships show that he doesn't have to spend every waking moment alone. Bruenor finds new purpose in his life through his adopted son, Wulfgar, and the inherent abilities he possesses on the battlefield. The book was another fun read, but more than that it was a staple that led to an influence among D&D literature and lore. I was impressed. 8/10 - Epic
3rd - Children of Fire by Drew Karpyshyn
Don't worry. Still nerdy. We're just taking a new direction this time. Honestly, could be even dorkier than the last 2 books. Either way, here we are. If you've never heard of this book then let me just justify the purchase really quick. First of all, Drew Karpyshyn is a good writer. Dare I say, he's a great writer. He was one of the lead writers on the Mass Effect trilogy and if you happened to read my thoughts on that video game series then you already know I'm about as stoked as it gets over it. Karpyshyn also gained fame in the writing world from his Darth Bane series of books. Combine those with the writing level of his Mass Effect novels and you have a great author in his own right. Children of Fire was meant to be his first foray into a world entirely of his own creation. After my D&D kick I thought it would be a pretty fun read. Here I am several months later and I can't recall a single character's name. I remember overarching plot-lines... a disgruntled wizard is not as prolific as his students but teaches them anyway, a villain shrouded in darkness bides his time and hopes his minions will collect ancient artifacts that will open the rift between his dimension and the human one so he can reign supreme again. The typical, really. This book was a disappointment. It wasn't a dumpster fire, but it was certainly like a lit match got thrown in and caught a couple things aflame before guttering out. C'mon Drew. Do better. 5/10 - Middling
4th - Rule of Two: Star Wars Legends (Darth Bane) by Drew Karpyshyn
Uh oh. Here we go again. No, I'm kidding for the most part. This is the second Darth Bane novel and it doesn't quite match up to the level of the first but it is good. It showcases more of Bane and his apprentice girl's relationship. There is a 10 year jump in the midst of it all, too, that brings Zannah from a little girl to a young woman who is willing and ready to do whatever it takes to seize power. The premise of this trilogy, if we're honest, has a tendency to be a little obvious. That's a given when you're dealing with two main characters who both follow the dogmatic views of the Sith in Star Wars lore. They're going for galactic domination and will gut anyone who gets in the way, including those they have forged strong bonds and relationships with. Obvious overarching plots aside, however, Rule of Two does tell an interesting story that propels you through its pages pretty quickly. 7/10 - Good
5th, 6th, 7th - The Black Company, Shadows Linger, and The White Rose by Glen Cook
Let's goooo, boys! Now we're getting into the grit of some of this nerdy material, and this is where these books really shine. Joe Abercrombie is still, possibly, my favorite author of all time. But Glen Cook gives him a run for his money. Glen Cook is known as the "godfather of grimdark" as it is, and Abercrombie might not have hit his stride with his own novels had it not been for the old man's influence. I lumped these 3 books together for this portion because they make up the Books of the North trilogy released as one massive volume by Cook. They tell an overarching tale from beginning to end with a definitive conclusion, but are still part of an overall series that follows the titular Black Company in their adventures. Misadventures. Whatever. The Black Company is narrated by Croaker, the mercenary band's doctor and lead character no matter what Cook says about the "company itself being the main character." Croaker is the one doing the story-telling, he's the one fascinated with the Lady in her tower, and he's the one who gives us all a ground view of what the company's campaign looks like.
The story is unique in the sense of comparisons against other books of the same genre. The Black Company is a mercenary band that is in the employ of the Lady, a sorceress in control of a vast empire in this fantasy world. I say fantasy, but there are no ghouls and goblins to speak of. Okay there are ghouls, I guess. But orcs, trolls, giants, etc. Get that out of your head. These are humans wreaking havoc on one another. Some are just a little more powerful than others. The Lady's main concern has to do with rebels that push against her imperial forces and another sect of rebels that seek to resurrect her dead husband, the Dominator. Now while the Lady may be a real bitch, and lethal when it comes to any who get in her way or try to prevent her from enjoying the empire she believes she deserves, the Dominator is worse. This guy is supposed to be a truly big bad with a stick so far up his ass the leaves are tickling his brain. He can't even think straight without wanting to slaughter everyone who looks at him funny. The trilogy that makes up the The Books of the North explores Croaker and company's engagements against those rebels but takes a turn when Raven, the heartless badass of the bunch, finds a heart in caring for a mute girl who just might be prophesied to take down the entire bunch of bads in one swoop. These books are more than just a fun read. They're a classic set of grimdark fantasy that have paved the way for so many others in the genre. Cook is king. 10/10 - Legendary
8th - Port of Shadows by Glen Cook
This one is a standalone in the Black Company's history that actually came out much later. As in, The Black Company was originally published in 1984 and Port of Shadows dropped in 2018. The flavor is still there, and so is the unique nature in which Cook writes and releases his books. 34 years later, Port serves as an interquel between The Black Company and Shadows Linger. It covers a time spread between those two novels in which the company itself is still attached to the Lady and she has a vice grip over the whole bunch in doing her bidding. What makes Port of Shadows even more interesting is that it jumps back and forth in time, stretching back scores of years to when the Lady was just a young girl trying to take care of her sister in the midst of a mad scientist experimenting with resurrection. In the more "modern day" of Croaker's daily issues, the company's occupation of a rebel city has started to grow strange as clones that look remarkably like the Lady start popping up all over the countryside. Perhaps the most compelling relationship in the story is that of Croaker and Mischievous Rain, a new sorceress in the Lady's "10 who were taken" who insists that Croaker play the husband role to keep the others in the company from getting too close to her. But in the process of his role, the acting starts to feel a little too real. 9/10 - Glorious
9th - Undaunted Courage: The Pioneering First Mission to Explore America's Wild Frontier by Stephen Ambrose
Good lord, Stephen. I couldn't even keep that behemoth of a title on one line. I know this is a massive sidestep here. We went from nerdy D&D to grimdark fantasy and now all of a sudden we're traversing the Columbia River with Lewis and Clark. Well get used to it. I'm a man of many interests, and history happens to be one of the biggest ones. This book is a historical secondary source that compiles a bunch of notes and other materials to create a nearly day-to-day account of arguably the most famous pioneers who ever lived. Lewis and Clark's trip to the west coast and back in 1804 through 1806 is nothing short of extraordinary, especially given the fact that they only lost one man in the process (appendicitis, most likely). This book paints a vivid picture of what they went through and saw, and I peppered the entire thing with highlights and sidenotes that will be going into a book I have forthcoming. It's still a couple books away, but stay tuned for Pathfinder when it drops. 8/10 - Epic
10th - The Wheel of Osheim by Mark Lawrence
Lawrence got his start in the literary world with Prince of Thorns, an incredibly fun little ride through post-apocalyptic Europe at the side of a sociopathic prince hell-bent on getting what he feels he's owed. What makes the story interesting, however, is that it's not your typical post-apocalypse. There's no Mad Max dune-romping. Instead, over a millennium after some earth-shattering events, society has reverted back to a feudal/medieval society where certain things have even been completely forgotten and lost to time. Swords and bows will have to do when there are no intact guns to be found. Not that these people even know what a gun is. Wheel of Osheim takes place in the same world, but it's the conclusive book on another prince who's more concerned with his own skin than he is for the fate of the planet. Or so it would seem. Jalan is a character that has just as much depth as the prince in the first trilogy, more in some respects, and finds himself along the way of his tale. Then loses himself again. Then finds himself some more. It's a complicated piece, all right? He's basically just an idiot that you come to love because you know there's more to him than just girls, booze, and money. Prince of Fools is the place to start if you're so inclined. 8/10 - Epic
11th - Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
"C'mon you apes, do you wanna live forever!?" is a fantastic line from the movie Starship Troopers that came out in the late 90s. If you haven't seen it, it's a must-watch. It sounds ridiculous, and it's delivered ridiculously, but there's actually a lot of depth in the anti-war messaging of the movie. That's where it differs from the book. Okay, that's not the only part in which it differs. There are a lot of different paths and avenues that director Paul Verhoeven took that don't stick well with die-hards who love the book. I have a bit of a different perspective than them because I'd seen the movie probably 12 times before I ever picked up the book. Even though it was on the commandant's reading list for years, including the time that I served as a Marine. Must have slipped my mind...
Starship Troopers is a futuristic sci-fi novel written in the latter 50s that captures some pretty innovative ideas about what tomorrow could look like. On the surface, its about some space marines who are trying to win a perpetual war between themselves and a race of "bug" aliens. They believe that they are on the right track to find a "brain" bug that they can then use to find out more about their enemy in order to better defeat them. There is an implication in the book that Rico, the main character, and virtually none of his grunt buddies on the ground even really know who started the war in the first place. That doesn't matter. Humans are meant to finish it to achieve a sort of galactic dominance. The book is written by jumping back and forth between Rico's active missions and his basic training, infantry training, and even life before the military. He starts to find himself becoming fully ingrained in the lifestyle and persona he's developed as a trooper and is more than happy to do so. While there are moments of realistic... let's call it grumbling... the overall tone and feel of the book is that the military is good. Serving your country, or planet in this case, is the best thing that a person can do. In this, Heinlein delivers a take that easily serves as a good conversation starter. And while it may not have had as much action as I had hoped for... there's no denying its impact. 9/10 - Glorious
12th - The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
Oof. This was a tough read. Haldeman wrote this novel essentially as a sort of response to Starship Troopers. While Troopers skirts the line of glorifying war and goes full bore on glorifying the military, The Forever War does its best to shit on both. This would be the expected result of a Vietnam veteran coming home to write about their experiences with inadequate commands and idiotic orders. I'm not saying that the military is full of righteous duty and orders that all make sense. Trust me... it's downright ridiculous sometimes. What I will say is that there is often a purpose and reason, even if you can't see it on the ground level, behind the things that the powers that be are rolling downhill. My problem with Haldeman's work has less to do with his feelings on the military and more to do with his delivery of a futuristic society. Some things he got right on the head, i.e. the separation of liberals and conservatives and the lines being drawn even deeper in the sand. Other ideas were so wildly out there it was difficult to really fathom this being a realistic version of a world we could survive in, let alone live in. I get that this book was meant to be timeless and is almost more of a conversation piece than anything, but I just can't get on board. 6/10 - Good Enough
13th - The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
I'm glad I got to round out the year with a great novel. Song truly is one of the best books I've read this year, and easily deserves to find its way onto some literary lists. It's already there, but... you know. Miller does a great job in delivering a tale that's literally thousands of years old. I read The Iliad for fun in college. You like that humble brag? But seriously, I did, and I actually really enjoyed it. Homer's work has a timeless quality to it that is not found in other works thousands of years newer. Scarlet Letter, anyone? The Iliad tells the tale of Troy's fall after the Greeks band together in order to get back the beautiful Helen from the grasp of the handsome Paris. Everyone knows the story, and if they don't then they're uncultured swine. Oh c'mon, I'm at least half-kidding.
What Miller did was take that ancient tale and give it some new life. She does not put a modern spin on it. She expands further on the relationship that Homer implied with Achilles and Patroclus, fleshing it out and giving depth to these characters that was never there before. She brings about further exploration of the animosity between Achilles and Agamemnon, dives into what's truly there between Briseis and Patroclus, and gives us glances at other heroes we know and love like Odysseus and Hector. The book is lovingly crafted, told from Patroclus's perspective, and it propels you from first to last page in a hurry. Miller shows us the entire life of this young man and his more famous companion, Achilles. Together, they overcome obstacles of every kind. This is not just some book that you read once and forget, however. Just like there is a difference between a movie and a film. The Song of Achilles is one of those that shows the difference between a book and literature. 10/10 - Legendary
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