Best of 2014
It’s that time of year when, as we have done for the last decade or so, we have dragged ourselves from the revelries here at SFFWorld to try and put some sort of order to our favourite (and not so favourite!) stuff from 2014.
And so, in the finest traditions of trying to reduce our lists to five in each category, here’s the second part of our attempt to show what we liked (or didn’t) this year. (The first part, on Fantasy & Horror books, is HERE.)
Taking part are Rob Bedford (Rob), Mark Chitty (MarkC), Nila (N.E.) White (Nila) and Mark Yon (MarkY).
Part 2: Science Fiction Books and Art Books.
In no order, MarkY’s top 5 (Yes: I still can’t count!) SF books for 2014:
The Abyss Beyond Dreams: Peter F Hamilton
ULTIMA: Stephen Baxter
War Dogs by Greg Bear
Robert A Heinlein: The Authorised Biography, Volume Two: The Man Who Learned Better, 1948-1988, by William H. Patterson Jr.
V-S Day by Allen Steele
The Martian by Andy Weir
Rob’s Top 5 SF:
Defenders by Will McIntosh
Cibola Burn by James S. A. Corey
Heaven’s Queen by Rachel Bach
Ascension by Jacqueline Koyanagi
Fallout by James K. Decker
Nila’s SF for 2014:
Under the Suns by Ches Smith
Sand (omnibus) by Hugh Howey
MarkC’s Top 5 SF for 2014:
The Abyss Beyond Dreams by Peter F Hamilton
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
Extinction Game by Gary Gibson
Off To Be The Wizard by Scott Meyer
The Girl With All The Gifts by M R Carey
SF Books in detail
The Abyss Beyond Dreams: Peter F Hamilton
MarkY says: An Epic Space Opera prequel, that stylistically both augments and builds upon the worlds of previous Hamilton tomes. Starts very well – one of the best of Peter’s I’ve read – and then keeps adding. An ideal start point for those intimidated by his other recent books. I know this one is going to get bigger in its sequel next year…
MarkC says: There really isn’t much to add to my review of this book, but suffice to say it just hit every button on my reading wish list. I’m a massive Hamilton fan and consider his Commonwealth books among my favourites, and this one once again shows just how adept Hamilton is at crafting unique worlds and situations despite such a long and in-depth history in the setting. This one is tied with Skin Game as my top read of the year.
ULTIMA: Stephen Baxter
MarkY says: Probably my favourite SF of the year. A book that should be credited for its audacity, the evolution of the ‘big-idea’, and one that made my inner teenager squeak a lot, with its daring amalgamation of cool ideas. A book with its sense of wonder turned up to eleven, ULTIMA satisfied my yearning for an Arthur C Clarke-type novel.
War Dogs by Greg Bear
MarkY says: Somewhat of a return to form, this one. Subtle and clever, with overtones of Starship Troopers or The Forever War but clearly going some place else. The best Greg Bear novel I’ve read for years (and Eon and Moving Mars are amongst my favourites…)
Robert A Heinlein: The Authorised Biography, Volume Two: The Man Who Learned Better, 1948-1988, by William H. Patterson Jr.
MarkY says: It’s not perfect, and as with the first volume there are some astounding leaps of arrogance by both the author and the biographer in places, but it’s about as close as we’re going to get to getting a glimpse of the complex man named Heinlein. Like Jo Walton’s What Makes This Book So Great (which also contains a lot of Heinlein), The Authorised Biography is a non-fiction book I’ve dipped in and out of all year since I got it. Both books, in their references to Heinlein, have meant that my view of their subject still veers wildly from genre genius to egotistical diva.
V-S Day by Allen Steele
MarkY says: Short, yet sweet: a counterfactual that manages to hold together all the implausibilities (based on fact) to create a novel low on character development but high on entertainment. It was a toss-up between this and Graeme Shimmin’s A Kill in the Morning, which gives a rather more European view to similar material, and was a surprisingly good debut novel.
The Martian by Andy Weir
MarkY says: This year’s sleeper hit, here in the UK, at least. A novel based on a blog, that shows a hard science (ish) novel with the re-emergence of an Analog-style problem solver as a lead character. Whilst its prose is nothing to shout about, it can’t be denied that after a slow start it kicks up a gear about halfway through into a relentless page turner. I’ve had more enquiries about this one than any other SF novel this year. For that reason, it is worthy of a look, even if it may not be everyone’s cup of tea.
MarkC says: I read The Martian by Andy Weir on a whim earlier this year and found it interesting, funny, and very readable. It’s got that appeal to both mainstream readers and fans of genre, and the voice in which it’s written just works so well.
Defenders by Will McIntosh
Rob says: What makes Defenders such an incredible novel is McIntosh’s pure elegance, the beauty of its simplicity. Each element of the novel, the characters, the situations, the world, the results of the world’s actions, organically feed into each other as the novel progresses. … However, in the (relative to other characters) small amount of space we are in Wiewall’s head, she comes across as a woman who is admirably head-strong, as well as flawed and nervous. In other words, she’s reads like a real, living and breathing person.
MarkC says: I thought that Defenders was a great look at a unique alien invasion and its aftermath, and though I found myself hooked to it, I thought it lost a little steam towards the end. Still, definitely one to recommend, and I’ll be tracking down other books by McIntosh based on my experience with this one.
Cibola Burn by James S. A. Corey
Rob says: While Cibola Burn is the fourth book of an ongoing series, it is really can also work as an entry point for new readers; perhaps the best example of a series novel that can work as such. In other words, the book is set on a new world, with new characters and starting with a relatively new status quo from the previous novels. Not bad timing considering The Expanse is quickly going to be a television show.
Heaven’s Queen by Rachel Bach
Rob says: Bach builds each novel upon its predecessor extremely well. We start out in a personal story on an intimate level about the adventures of one character (and what a character Devi is) in the first book and by the third book the scale has expanded greatly (though the intimate nature of the narrative is still present). While the story begun in Fortune’s Pawn comes full circle here in the final novel, the universe has plenty of room for more stories about Devi or many for the characters who inhabit the world. If anything, the closure at the end of the novel, which acts as the closure to the series as a whole, was a little too neat and clean. This isn’t to say that Devi didn’t earn her ending, because she did.
MarkC says: I’ve read the first two in this trilogy, and found them hugely enjoyable, so not quite sure why I haven’t got around to this yet. Soon.
Ascension by Jacqueline Koyanagi
Rob says: We’ve got a very unique perspective and voice in the main character – a disabled woman of color who finds herself attracted to the same sex. That alone sets the novel apart, and fortunately, the novel is not simply about what makes Alana stand out from a gender/sexuality/disabled perspective. If that were the case, the novel wouldn’t have been so engaging for me. Koyanagi doesn’t use Alana’s uniqueness to be the lone standout element of the novel and tells a good, engaging story, with great character interaction and plot momentum, and sets up a potential foundation for more stories to be told. She populates the novel with (mostly) believable characters caught up in a plot that forced page turning. We need more books like Ascension in the genre in general, and I for one would like to see more from Jacqueline Koyanigi and Alana Quick in 2015 specifically.
Fallout by James K. Decker
Rob says: Fallout is an excellent follow-up to what I thought was one of the more enjoyable (and surprising because of the comparably small fanfare prior to the release of the novel) SF novels I read in 2013. Decker takes everything he did previously and turns it up to eleven. Seeing the world through Sam’s eyes is not a pretty thing, society seems on the fringe of survival, the future is an unclean world, and trust is something she has little spare change for in her wallet. Her ‘father’ Dragan has taken up with a woman whom Sam distrusts and dislikes. Sam’s trying to strike a balance with Vamp; Sam knows he has romantic feelings for her but she’s afraid to let him get too close.
Under the Suns by Ches Smith
Nila says: I didn’t read much Science Fiction this year though I did squeeze in one science fiction religious satire novel that reminded me of Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett. Under the Suns by Ches Smith was a fun, irreverent look at what might happen if space-faring missionaries visited another planet and it goes terribly wrong (or right, depending on how you look at it).
Sand (omnibus) by Hugh Howey
Nila says: I continued to enjoy my read of Mr Howey’s books this year. Sand had great characterisation and I enjoyed some unique ideas on the standard dystopian setting.
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
MarkC says: After the Hamilton and Butcher, this novel was the best I read in 2014. I didn’t review it at the time, simply because I didn’t know how to put my thoughts into words – and that’s not something that I can say often. Harry August is one of many people that live their life over and over again, and it’s this premise that Claire North uses expertly. Not only is that aspect so very interesting, the characters add more depth than I’d have thought possible. It’s an outstanding novel and one I would hope to see on many a year-end list, and also on many award ballots in 2015. Interesting factoid: at one of Peter Hamilton’s signings/readings I went to he was asked what the best book he’d read this year was, and he answered with Harry August.
MarkY says: Another one I’ve bought this year, but still not got round to reading. This might be seen as another of those breakthrough novels that many in the mainstream have read and liked. You may (or may not) know that ‘Claire North’ also writes Young Adult novels under the name of ‘Catherine Webb’ and Fantasy novels under the name of ‘Kate Griffin’ – someone Rob has reviewed and enjoyed greatly in the past. So not quite a debut novel, but definitely an author to continue to look out for. Catherine/Kate/Claire has a new book out in February 2015 named Touch, which is already getting good comments.
Extinction Game by Gary Gibson
MarkC says: Multiple worlds, each with an apocalyptic event wiping out most of humanity, and Extinction Game follows a group of survivors brought together to investigate these different Earths. Gibson has always been an author I’ve admired, and this is probably his best yet. It’s entertaining and intelligent, and with just enough weirdness to really bring home the possibilities of multiple parallel worlds.
Off To Be The Wizard by Scott Meyer
MarkC says: This one is just pure fun, there is no other word for it. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, and having a novel that uses the idea of a master ‘reality’ file that can be changed in so many different ways really does make for situations that can simply put a massive smile on your face.
The Girl With All The Gifts by M R Carey
MarkC says: This one is – for lack of a better word – a zombie novel. However, it’s much more sci-fi than you would initially think, and the world is fascinating, as is the central idea behind the titular ‘Girl with the gifts’. It’s a novel that I feel should be gone into relatively cold to get the full effect, so I’ll say nothing else other than this: read it!
As you can see, some of us had difficulties reducing the list to just five. Here’s some that very nearly made it:
MarkC’s Honorary Mentions: Lock In by John Scalzi (a typical Scalzi novel that also manages to be something different).
MarkY didn’t get to: Cibola Burn, by James SA Corey, The Adjacent by Christopher Priest Extinction Game by Gary Gibson. (And some of these I *really* wanted to get to.)
Rob didn’t get to a lot in SF, as more of my reading for 2014 releases was squarely in the fantasy side of things.
MarkC didn’t get to: Hive Monkey by Gareth L Powell – I’m actually reading this at the moment, and so far it’s living up to expectations after Ack-Ack Macaque was an unexpected hit for me this year.
Empires: Infiltration & Empires: Extraction by Gavin Deas – a great premise (an alien invasion told from two different viewpoints), and one (or is that two?) I must make room for in 2015.
MarkY didn’t like: Ann Leckie’s Ancilliary Sword, which, like Ancilliary Justice, still seems rather ‘style over substance’ to me. Still can’t put my finger on entirely why I didn’t like it, but I have accepted that this is probably one that will sweep the Award ceremonies, like Ancilliary Justice did. And probably for all the reasons I didn’t like it, whatever they are.
MarkC didn’t like: Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie – much like MarkY, this just didn’t work for me, though I found it better than Ancillary Justice and ending with the potential to improve again, at least from my perspective.
Star Road by Matthew Costello & Rick Hautala – a novel that doesn’t include a paragraph that contains more than about four sentences, with most being only a couple long. And it’s way too generic.
The Burning Dark by Adam Christopher – could have been good, but it failed on pretty much every front. Such a disappointment.
The Forever Watch by David Ramirez – another one that had the right ingredients, but failed to pull them together in the right way.
Art Books:
Alien Archive : MarkY says: A lovely summary of the first five Alien movies – can be summarised as ‘how a movie did better than expected and led to a franchise’.
Hyperluminal by Jim Burns : MarkY says: One of my favourite artists, with an up-dated view of his glorious portfolio. It was lovely to see some of these at LonCon this year too.
The World of Ice and Fire: MarkY says: OK, whilst not strictly an ‘art book’ – there’s a lot more text than I was expecting! – this was great fun to dip in and out of, filling in some of the Game of Thrones backstory. Whilst it’s not the much anticipated Winds of Winter, I enjoyed having new Westeros material to read. I must also mention the rather surprising Game of Thrones Pop-Up Guide to Westeros, which has been a constant source of conversation and reference this year.
Honorary Mentions: Dark Shepherd by Fred Gambino.
