As the year comes to a close, here are my lists of favorite books published this past year, for both adults and youth/children.
Top 10 SciFi/Fantasy Books:
(Adult Category)
1. Touch of Twilight, by Vicki Pettersson
2. Star Trek: Destiny: Lost Souls, by David Mack
3. Child of a Dead God, by Barb and J.C. Hendee
4. The Host, by Stephenie Meyer
5. Dragonforge, by James Maxey
6. Goblin War, by Jim C. Hines
7. Dead To Me, by Anton Strout
8. Deja Demon, by Julie Kenner
9. Rogue Angel: Gabriel’s Horn, by “Alex Archer”/Mel Odom
10. Small Favor, by Jim Butcher
– If I was including reprints (hardback to paperback) in 2008, Star Trek: The Academy: Collision Course, by William Shatner, Garfield and Judith Reeves-Stevens and The Last Days of Krypton, by Kevin J. Anderson
would have certainly be on the list as well.
—
Because of the number of wonderful young adult and children’s book released this year, I decided to do a separate list.
Youth/Children’s Top 10 List:
1. Fablehaven: Grip of the Shadow Plague, by Brandon Mull
2. Vampirates: Blood Captain, by Justin Somper
3. Ranger’s Apprentice: The Battle for Skandia, by John Flanagan
4. The Youngest Templar: Keeper of the Grail, by Michael P. Spradlin
5. Pillage, by Obert Skye
6. Breaking Dawn, by Stephanie Meyer
7. The Stowaway: Stone of Tymora, by R.A. and Geno Salvatore
8. City of Ashes, by Cassandra Clare
9. Brisingr, by Christopher Paolini
10. Ranger’s Apprentice: The Sorcerer of the North, by John Flanagan
Of Note:
-Stephenie Meyer made both lists.
-John Flanagan placed on the youth/children’s list twice.
-Anton Strout was the only debut author that made the list.
-15 of the 20 novels are sequels in a series.
-3 novels are first in a new series.
-2 novels are stand alone.
—
Click here to view titles read in 2008.
Click here to view last year’s picks.
—
What were some of your favorites?
I was WAY behind on my reading, and finally did some catching up in ’08!
I read ALL of The Dresden Files novels by Jim Butcher, and was so impressed, I found and read all of his Codex Alera novels. Both series are excellent, and Jim is now one of my favorite authors.
Also picked up Kathy Reich’s ‘Bones’ novels and devoured them as well. The novels are different than the series in some ways, similar in others, and I enjoyed the novels as much as the series (the hunk-o-rama in the novels is even more interesting than Seeley Booth’s character).
An article by Stephen King in Entertainment Weekly turned me on to Meg Gardiner…and I’ve read all of her novels (mysteries).
Re-read some of my favorites (my local library is a tad slow with new books), including Barbara Hambly’s novels, Diane Duane’s Star Trek novels, and 81 of the Agatha Christie novels!
🙂
Looking forward to more catching up in ’09!
Morjana – Reading all of the Dresden Files is quite a feat in itself! I hadn’t caught up before starting to receive review copies, so I had to devote time to just that. I haven’t read his other series, but I’m hoping to catch up on that soon too.
I think I only have one of the Bones books, but haven’t read it yet.
I haven’t read any Meg Gardiner. What do they compare to?
I wish I had time to re-read some of my favorites! I do re-read the Narnia books as the movies come out, but that’s about the extent!
Great list! I don’t think I am going to be doing one this year because for the first year ever, I didn’t really keep track of what I read! 2008 was a disorganized year…
Meg Gardiner I would say is close to Sue Grafton (Kinsey Millhone mysteries) in style. Oh, just finished reading Sue Grafton’s latest, T is for Trespass, this morning. Very good. A change in style — this time, we’re told in advance who the antagonist is — and we wait for Kinsey to figure it out.
I would say the first Codex Alera was a hard start for me, at least the first 100 pages. But after that, I was hooked.
I love the Narnia books. Have you read Lloyd Alexander’s Tales of Prydain? The Black Cauldron, etc? Love those as well.
Morjana
That’s quite interesting. I didn’t read one of the listed books!!
Some of them are on my TBR list.
Great lists, dude. Vicki’s my #1 as well!
I’m so glad you thought so well of “The Host” by Stephanie Meyer. I’ve been trying to tell people how amazing the story was but all they hear is the author’s name and think it’s another “Twilight.” While I enjoyed the Twilight series, “The Host” was such a different story that just drew me so completely into the situation that I was considering all the possibilities that could come if she turned it into a series and how Wanderer, Burns and those like them could lead the humans to take back the planet.