SFFWorld's Favorite Book from 2006 is.....

[Rob B]

The ballots have been cast and the votes have been counted (I know I took longer than expected, sorry. Life kind of intruded) and YOU the members helped to decide what our favorite books from 2006 were. A total of 44 ballots* were cast and the results are as follows:

The Lies of Locke Lamora in First Place as the book we enjoyed the most.

Second place goes to R. Scott Bakker's The Thousandfold Thought.

The Bonehunters by Steven Erikson showed impressively at number 3

Forest Mage by Robin Hobb landed the #4 spot
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie finished off the top 5 at #5

So, our top 10 looks like this:

1. The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
2. The Thousandfold Thought by R. Scott Bakker
3. The Bonehunters by Steven Erikson
4. Forest Mage by Robin Hobb
5. The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
6. His Majesty's Dragon/Temeraire by Naomi Novik
7. TIE!Shriek: An Afterword by Jeff VanderMeer and Vellum by Hal Duncan
8. The Blood Knight by Greg Keyes
9. TIE!Kushiel's Scion by Jacqueline Carey The Road by Cormac McCarthy
10. Blindsight by Peter Watts

Some interesting notes:
Of the 44 ballots submitted, The Lies of Locke Lamora appeared on 22 (half!). Of those 22 ballots, it was the #1 (out of five) on 0 ballots. For The Thousandfold Thought , those numbers are 15 and 4, respectively.

4 of the books are debut novels.
As is often the case, the top books were fantasy.
Naomi Novik missed the top five by one point.

There has been a great deal of consistency over the years.

The Charnel Prince by Greg Keyes was #7 in 2004. If this polling had taken place for the 2003 books, I don't doubt The Briar King would have made the list.

Bakker was #1 in 2005, both #6 and #10 in 2004 (The Warrior-Prophet and The Darkness that Comes Before++).

Stephen Erikson and Robin Hobb always have strong showings.
In 2005, Erikson ranked #10 with Memories of Ice, #10 in 1004 with Midnight Tides, #5 in 2002 with Memories of Ice and #2 in 2001 with Deadhouse Gates.

Robin Hobb was #5 last year with Shaman's Crossing, #1 in 2004 with Fool's Fate, #1 & #4 with Golden Fool and Fool's Errand++ and #4 in 2001 with Fool's Errand

The check out the past results follow the link-a-dinks below:
2005
2004
2002
2001

*ballots being defined as response to the voting thread

++ in past years, some authors have had books appear in different years and different books appear in the same year because of the timing of books being published in the UK vs the US or because people base their vote upon reading the mass market paperback, foten released a year after the hardcover

Participation has grown quite a bit over the past few years on the voting threads, and as such, we've been a bit more strict about what we allow. Also, as the participation has grown, so have we amended the voting rules alloting more points for the top book and expanding from 3 to 5 books in the voting thread.

For whatever reason, this wasn't done in 2003.

[ChrisW]

no surprises there.

[Mithfânion]

By my count it was really close between "TTT" and "Lies".

Very little new SF in the list again. Partly because there are more Fantasy--nly readers, partly because the genre simply isn't bringing forth as many good new works as the Fantasy genre ( IMO ).

As for Hobb, she's a two time winner of this annual poll with Golden Fool and Fool's Fate but clearly Forest Mage did not gather the same amount of popularity ( though I am still surprised to see her come in 4th).

[Werthead]

A solid result. My thoughts:

The Lies of Locke Lamora was a refreshingly fun novel with a somewhat different slant to the standard epic fantasy template. Red Seas Under Red Skies, by the way, is a superior follow-up and I expect it to rate highly next year.

The Thousandfold Thought is a mostly satisfactory conclusion to The Prince of Nothing. However, those readers who do not know that there will be two sequel series will likely find the ending of the novel infuriatingly ambiguous. The novel is not as accomplished as The Warrior-Prophet, but does tie up the story of the Holy War in a spectacular fashion.

The Bonehunters is the weakest book in The Malazan Book of the Fallen sequence to date, hamstrung by the structural needs of the book in the wider context of the series (to bring the three previously widely-separated primary plot threads into one storyline) to the extent that the book simply doesn't function as well as it should as a story by itself. It's a book that needed to be written for the series to make sense, rather than a story that demanded to be written for its own sake. That said, it was still a solid fantasy novel and sets things up for a huge showdown in Reaper's Gale. The advance buzz on RG, which is far more excited than for TBH, suggests that RG could be a contender for top spot next year.

Forest Mage I haven't read, and probably won't. Robin Hobb simply isn't an author I find very compelling to read. She can write, certainly, but pads her stories out to several times their natural length, robbing them of pace or immediacy.

The Blade Itself is perhaps a surprising entry on this list (not out in the USA yet), but a welcome one. The book doesn't rewrite the rules at all, but instead is simply a solid fantasy tale with colourful characters, a sense of humour and occasional, compelling flashes of something darker and more intriguing beneath. I'm particularly glad it ranked higher than Temeraire which, despite being an enjoyably light and fluffy read, is about as deep as a petri dish.

As for this year, I'd expect the next books in these various series to do well: Red Seas Under Red Skies, Reaper's Gale and Before They Are Hanged. As for original books, I suspect we'll see strong results for The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss next year. However, for books released in 2007, the best one I have read so far is Black Man (aka Thirteen in the USA) by Richard Morgan. An absolutely stunning novel, which another reviewer has called a "Stranger in a Strange Land for the 21st Century", this deserves to do very well.

At the moment both Overlook and Orbit are confirming that The Great Ordeal by Scott Bakker will be an early 2008 release, so that won't be on the poll this year. A Dance with Dragons by GRRM may still make it, but it's going to be close.

[Kailana]

I have never read the book that came in first place. I think I am going to have to add it to the tbr pile next time I go book shopping. The rest of the books I have either read or I am still back in earlier books and haven't got to the newer ones yet.

[Kailana]

I have never read the book that came in first place. I think I am going to have to add it to the tbr pile next time I go book shopping. The rest of the books I have either read or I am still back in earlier books and haven't got to the newer ones yet.

Right, I was in the bookstore on Friday looking for two specific books and I picked up another one that looked interesting but I apparently forgot the name because it was the book that came in first. I can predict the future... Anyways, looks like I can read it sooner rather than later.

[Beleg]

My thoughts.

1. TLOLL was a very entertaining novel, but the best of the year? Nah....
2. Haven't read this one: on the reading list, based on previous experience of the author I believe it'll be better than TLOLL.
3. Ditto as above.
4. It might have been readable had Nevarre developed a backbone, as it stands I don't care for maschoistic fiction.
5. For me the most over-rated book of the year.
6. Another one I couldn't get into but that just might be the setting.
7. Haven't read them and don't intend to either.
8. On the reading list: looking forward to it greatly, I think it will be on the same level as Lies...
9. Haven't read The Road, Kushiel's Scion was a very entertaining novel despite its numerous flaws.
10. Extremely hard to get into. Since I didn't really read most of it, I can't say its over-rated but it definitely was very un-interesting.

Edit: The results are a pretty good reflection of the type of readers that frequent the fantasy sub-forum on this board - I refuse to believe there wasn't a better sf book published in the year than Blindsight.

[Rob B]

By my count it was really close between "TTT" and "Lies".

It was very close for most of the voting. The last 10 or so votes really pushed it to LIES.

[Mithfânion]

As for this year, I'd expect the next books in these various series to do well: Red Seas Under Red Skies, Reaper's Gale and Before They Are Hanged. As for original books, I suspect we'll see strong results for The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss next year. However, for books released in 2007, the best one I have read so far is Black Man (aka Thirteen in the USA) by Richard Morgan. An absolutely stunning novel, which another reviewer has called a "Stranger in a Strange Land for the 21st Century", this deserves to do very well.

Yes, I do expect the names of Lynch, Abercrombie and Rothfuss to do well plus Ruckley's Winterbirth now gets a US release. If the Bilsborough and Marc Ferrari debuts are also good they could well be ranking high here as well. Morgan's book may do well. Robert Wilson's Axis could show up here but both will struggle to contend with the popularity of the Fantasy books. Let's not forget Children of Hurin though, or Ysabel, or Simmons' The Terror. If Forest mage comes fourth now then Renegade Magic may well be up there as well. I don't really expect Shadowplay by Williams to do well. Maybe Gene Wolfe's Pirate Freedom, he has his share of fans. Gemmell's Fall of Kings. Jones' Sword from Red Ice. Reaper's Gale may turn out no.1 though.

BTW about Bakker, I don't think Overlook has confirmed an early 2008 release, they just said it would be published sometime in 2008. It could even be that the UK edition is the first to come out, which would be disappointing.

[U-Borat]

Lies was wayyyy overhyped....It would have barely scraped into Top 5 for me IMO.

Next year, I'm thinking Reaper's Gale, Dance if it comes out,Aspect Emperor, Born Queen, Winterbirth (Should get a lot more recognition that it did, came out in 06 in UK)

[Gildor]

An interesting result, if a still predictible one.

This has reminded me of the books from last year I still need to get and read, The Blood Knight, The Road and Bonehunters .. and I have Shriek: An Afterword next up at some point, I was so far behind on recent releases last year, it stands now at five as I've read Valente's The Orphans Tales and J Lakes Trial Of Flowers redently, which were both superb btw, this something I hope to be able to rectify in 2007.

[Julian]

Hmm. Predictable? Well, mostly so, but:

I'm actually quite surprised Hobb's Forest Mage ended up so high on the list. A lot of the comments I read on this book seemed to indicate Hobb fans were pretty unconvinced by her new series.

Personally, I rather like this outcome, since I think Hobb might well be basically retelling the same Fitzian story - which I believe to be pretty universal, rather like a good tragedy - from a more awkward and challenging point of view. And whilst I feel her earlier novels are a bit better, I applaud both her consistency and her daring.

As for The Thousandfold Thought - I knew this was coming, but it really leaves me baffled. I simply do not understand how anyone could consider this a great book in its own right, let alone a worthy ending to the (first) trilogy. "Thought" left me feeling that Bakker was, perhaps, a very gifted writer, but one too prone to thinking so himself; as far as I can see, this posturing became very apparent during the end of "Thought". Having said that, though, most of you obviously don't agree.

Finally. just to give a (slightly) alternative point of view, here's the top 10 of the readers of the SF Site:

1. The Lies of Locke Lamora
2. The Thousandfold Thought
3. Temeraire/His Majesty's Dragon
4. Blindsite - Peter Watts
5. The Bonehunters
6. Fragile Things
7. Glasshouse - Charles Stross
8. Forest Mage
9. Rainbow's End - Vernor Vinge
10. The Ghost Brigades - John Scalzi

I've highlighted the ones you may not know - basically SF titles.

[Gildor]

As for The Thousandfold Thought - I knew this was coming, but it really leaves me baffled. I simply do not understand how anyone could consider this a great book in its own right, let alone a worthy ending to the (first) trilogy. "Thought" left me feeling that Bakker was, perhaps, a very gifted writer, but one too prone to thinking so himself; as far as I can see, this posturing became very apparent during the end of "Thought". Having said that, though, most of you obviously don't agree.

Well unless we take in on its own, how else should it be taken, every other book is based upon it's own strengths? As to his posturing, having writen such books as the Warrior Prophet before hand and then coming up with the Thousandfold thought (The ending in particular) i'm inclined to agree with you, 'Thought' was lacking when compared with his previous books, there was a very strong obvious set up or the next series ... which was irritating, though to be honest the powerful and creative scenes within 'Thought' more that made up for that shortcoming.

As to the influx of Fantasy in the top ten, a few posters who i'd consider SF fans voted more or less for Fantasy titles, plus some posters who solely vote in the SF forum didn't vote at all.

A factor of of the voting process being started in the fantasy forum, or mainly due to the strong nature of the fantasy reader in this forum, I suspect the latter tbh.

[Rob B]

Finally. just to give a (slightly) alternative point of view, here's the top 10 of the readers of the SF Site:

1. The Lies of Locke Lamora
2. The Thousandfold Thought
3. Temeraire/His Majesty's Dragon
4. Blindsite - Peter Watts
5. The Bonehunters
6. Fragile Things
7. Glasshouse - Charles Stross
8. Forest Mage
9. Rainbow's End - Vernor Vinge
10. The Ghost Brigades - John Scalzi

I've highlighted the ones you may not know - basically SF titles.

Interesting, 5 books in common, with Blindsight being one of them. I think a fair number of the folks here are familiar with Stross and Scalzi, both authors have been featured in our science fiction book club.

[Rob B]

A factor of of the voting process being started in the fantasy forum, or mainly due to the strong nature of the fantasy reader in this forum, I suspect the latter tbh.

While the main voting thread does reside in the fantasy forum, a redirect always exists in the science fiction forum. The much higher traffic in the fantasy forum being the main reason why it stays here. Though I am happy to see more and more people hanging out in the Science Fiction section!