2016 Reads
I finished just over 30 titles in the last year. Looking at the ratings I gave on Goodreads, a little over half were 4 stars while the rest were 2 or 3 stars and no 5 stars this year. I am either a grumpy old man now or am picking the wrong books to read considering I gave several 5 star ratings in 2015 and 2014. This is everything I read in the last 12 months:
- Cotton Malone – Steve Berry
- The Templar Legacy
- I Am Legend – Richard Matheson
- Hello, Startup – Yevgeniy Brikman
- Mistborn: Wax and Wayne – Brandon Sanderson
- The Alloy of Law
- Shadows of Self
- The Bands of Mourning
- Mitch Rapp – Vince Flynn
- Act of Treason
- Protect and Defend
- His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
- The Golden Compass
- Amos Decker – David Baldacci
- Memory Man
- The Last Mile
- John Puller – David Baldacci
- The Forgotten
- The Escape
- No Man’s Land
- Revival – Stephen King
- Redshirts – John Scalzi
- Call for the Dead – John le Carre
- Eon – Greg Bear
- Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne – Brian Staveley
- The Emperor’s Blades
- The Providence of Fire
- The Last Mortal Bond
- Bill Hodges – Stephen King
- Mr. Mercedes
- Finders Keepers
- End of Watch
- NOS4A2 – Joe Hill
- Harry Bosch – Michael Connelly
- Blue on Black
- The Wrong Side of Goodbye
- Jack Reacher – Lee Child
- Night School
- Culture – Iain M. Banks
- Consider Phlebas
- From a Buick 8 – Stephen King
- Rainbows End – Vernor Vinge
I won’t go into detail on everything I read but I will highlight a few titles.
Mistborn: Wax and Wayne – Brandon Sanderson
Without a doubt, Sanderson is a great writer. I like his unusual magic systems. They tend to be reasonably sound as far as magic systems go. The Wax and Wayne books are a fun jaunt back into the Mistborn world. I’m looking forward to the third Mistborn trilogy in the coming years. If you’re a Mistborn fan, you will likely enjoy this. If you haven’t read any Sanderson, pick up Elantris and the first Mistborn trilogy. Those are great stories. Jim’s score: B.
Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne – Brian Staveley
This series started out great and I was really looking forward to reading each successive book but by the end of the trilogy, I just wanted it to be over. Upon reflection, I was hoping this would be a wonderful fantasy distraction until GRRM released the next Game of Thrones volume or Rothfuss gave us the final installment of the Kingkiller Chronicle. Alas, I continue to pine for awesome fantasy. Jim’s score: C.
Bill Hodges – Stephen King
With the exception of the Dark Tower, King hasn’t shown a penchant for writing a series of books. Between 2014 and 2016, he broke with that tradition and released a series of books known as the Bill Hodges trilogy. It is a bit more mainstream but still has many of the trappings of classic King horror about the books. I enjoyed the read and feel they are one of the better latter day King publications (along with 11-22-63). Jim’s score: A-.