2015 in review

It’s fitting that, having spent most of 2015 not blogging, it’s taken me until February 2016 to finish writing about the year. But I know I’ll miss this post if I don’t write it, and I did read some amazing books in 2015.

Rereads

As my few posts in 2015 demonstrated, this was the year of rereading for me. I didn’t think I was restricted before, but I must have been in some sense so I properly indulged in rereading some of my favourite series over again in 2015. Mostly this was because new books were coming out; I reread all of Robin Hobb’s Farseer, Liveship Traders, and Tawny Man books so I could start her new series with the proper background, I reread Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress before I let myself read Winter by Marissa Meyer, I reread all of the Kate Daniels books again, and I reread Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey so I could finally move on to the remaining books in The Expanse series. All of them, completely worth it, by the way; if these were new-to-me series they’d all be in the next section.

New Reads

My favourite new reads of 2015 are mostly speculative fiction. In fact, most of what I read that wasn’t fell flat for me in some way; either I’m not reading the right books or I’m just very strongly leaning towards fantasy and science ficton. I suspect the latter. The only exception was A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson, which I loved, although probably not quite as much as Life after Life.

Highlights from the rest of the list:

Tooth and Claw, Jo Walton – This has been billed as Pride and Prejudice with dragons and it really does feel like that; many of the social mores of a bygone English society combined with peculiarities that would only arise due to dragons living in that world led to a book that was highly enjoyable.

Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel – I loved this book so much I started pushing it on everyone I knew who liked reading in the slightest. I thought I’d tired of post-apocalyptic stories, but it turns out I just hadn’t read this one yet.

The Scorpio Races, Maggie Stiefvater – This book, and its characters, leapt off the page for me. Another review I’ve seen described this as a “fierce and hungry” book and that perfectly describes it. I can almost taste the salt water.

The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison – This is a book I let sit on my shelf for far too long. I loved Maia’s character, his honest desire to do the best he could conflicted against his shy and stifled personality, and his way of facing those who thought he was lesser due to being young and half-goblin. Also, I have a thing for political fantasy.

A Darker Shade of Magic, V.E. Schwab – I only rated this book 4 stars, but I’m not sure why – I think it’s because I wanted something to happen that didn’t. But this book has actually stuck with me and I’m very much looking forward to the sequel, so on the list it goes.

In 2016

I’d like to go back to my goals, especially to read more authors of colour, which I know I don’t do enough of if I don’t pay attention, as aptly demonstrated by the list above. There will probably be more fantasy, too, but I’ll see where whim takes me for everything else!