The work has left me tired like a dog but it's all downhill from there though huh?
Because on the plus side, all that running and lifting has removed the need for me to go exercise tonight and I'm pretty sure I've sweat the last dredges of the flu right out of my system.
However: as I needed to do the best books of 2017 post today (on the tenth! yes this was always gonna happen!) and I don't feel much like writing or even reading, this would have been a very bad time to do some coherent writing.
Good thing then that this one was pretty much done yesterday, eh? :)
(and I STILL edited for 2 hours.)
Best Books I read in 2017
To reiterate: These are the best books I read last year. Me and my favourites. This isn't about the best books published in 2017. I should think that as I've read only one of those this year, that'd be a very short list.
Also: I tend to view trilogies or even cycles as one thing, so whenever I finish a final book in a series then that book as the culmination is always judged on the merits (and the flaws) of the whole, and every book of that series also gets judged by that final one. If the last bites are rotten I'm going to be left with a foul aftertaste. Rather a mediocre beginning and a brilliant ending than the other way around.
So without further ado...
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5. Joe Golem and the Drowing City, Christopher Golden and Mike Mignola
Where the rest of the top 5 are without a doubt masterful and fielded specific ideas, themes or writing styles to full effect in creating a memorable work of fiction, this one is in fact here purely because of how it made me feel. There's a constant sense of quiet melancholy in Golden and Mignola's story and though I'm new to the steampunk aesthetic, I'm thinking that this is a pretty good first novel to get acquainted with the genre. It's not perfect though: Molly McHugh doesn't have as much agency as the blurb suggests, and at the end one has to wonder how much agency any of our protagonists actually had and if the resolution to the events of the story would have been the same without them. Regardless of that little niggle, those final scenes are just perfect nonetheless.
And here's to hoping for a continuation that's just as heartfelt as this one because though the book might be pretty beautiful and satisfying, its story is not yet done.
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4. The Circus of Doctor Lao, Charles G. Finney
A Fantasy Masterwork that I loved immediately during the read itself.
Finney's themes found a pleasant welcome in my misanthropic mind and the humorous way that he goes about delivering them was doubly welcome.
A quick read, it is nonetheless here above many that I read this year. The poster book for quality over quantity.
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3. Ombria in Shadow, Patricia A. Mckillip
This one on the other hand has earned its pride of place by sheer time spent with it.
Ombria in Shadow has a fascinating story filled with magic, intrigue and love.
But it's the love of a family rather than that of romance, and that in itself makes it remarkable.
I admit I spent too much time trying to figure out the meaning behind the story and how exactly its mythology would work, and that I went about it in too serious a manner. And though I'm still sure I delivered a reasonably good explanation for the events of the novel I still like to reiterate that it isn't necessary to understand a McKillip novel to fall in love with it.
But. Just in case you're interested:
Ombria in Shadow: An Explanation.
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2.The Crippled God, Steven Erikson
Ah, the mountain of Malazan.
The Crippled God, the finale in the 10 book epic Malazan the Book of the Fallen and the culmination of over a year of reading these books, with some other stuff in between, of course, to let it all settle. And believe you me, that settling was necessary.
After the long journey to the mountain top, the Crippled God delivers on all fronts. The lines drawn at the start of its slopes have been wholly crossed and every expectation has been subverted. We're here alongside characters that we've come to love over the course of 10 novels and all that's left to do is to find out how many of them make it through those final moments of hideous, grinding warfare. The massive pitched battles we're used to from epic fantasy are made transcendent in Malazan and whether it's the desperation of the Last Shore, the fight on the hill or the carnage and horror of Kolanse, every single one of the Crippled God's final battles rank among the best in epic fantasy as a whole.
But what do you say when the story is done and you've closed the final page. What do you do when you're finally sitting on the mountaintop? You sit and you take in the road you've traveled.
It's been horrifying, and thrilling. Beautiful and grotesque. All those hard paths taken, all that terrible loss. But you've seen some truly uplifting things as well. Sacrifice and glory. Love and friendship.
Compassion.
Compassion above all.
And at the end of the day, no matter what, it's all been for a good cause. Because you have witnessed and you know their tale.
Reading Malazan is a beautiful and lasting experience, its themes are many and its thoughts are profound. It has its share of flaws but I'm glad to have finally made the trip.
The Crippled God, the finale in the 10 book epic Malazan the Book of the Fallen and the culmination of over a year of reading these books, with some other stuff in between, of course, to let it all settle. And believe you me, that settling was necessary.
After the long journey to the mountain top, the Crippled God delivers on all fronts. The lines drawn at the start of its slopes have been wholly crossed and every expectation has been subverted. We're here alongside characters that we've come to love over the course of 10 novels and all that's left to do is to find out how many of them make it through those final moments of hideous, grinding warfare. The massive pitched battles we're used to from epic fantasy are made transcendent in Malazan and whether it's the desperation of the Last Shore, the fight on the hill or the carnage and horror of Kolanse, every single one of the Crippled God's final battles rank among the best in epic fantasy as a whole.
But what do you say when the story is done and you've closed the final page. What do you do when you're finally sitting on the mountaintop? You sit and you take in the road you've traveled.
It's been horrifying, and thrilling. Beautiful and grotesque. All those hard paths taken, all that terrible loss. But you've seen some truly uplifting things as well. Sacrifice and glory. Love and friendship.
Compassion.
Compassion above all.
And at the end of the day, no matter what, it's all been for a good cause. Because you have witnessed and you know their tale.
Reading Malazan is a beautiful and lasting experience, its themes are many and its thoughts are profound. It has its share of flaws but I'm glad to have finally made the trip.
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1. The Dark Defiles, Richard Morgan
(Yes, even though I claimed in my the Dark Defiles review that it wasn't the best epic fantasy I'd read all year as I also had read the Crippled God in 2017 I swiftly found out that somewhere, privately, I did not agree with this. The culmination of the Malazan cycle is glorious, but Malazan as a whole spreads itself maybe a little too thin. It's focus is all over the place, it's too massive, plot threads, previously significant, are cut short, while it's the same with characters but on a whole different level, unique to Malazan.
Inconsistency is the word that'll sum up any misgivings or negativity there. And yet, that same inconsistency is a plus. It doesn't speak of flaws, but rather of how huge its scope is: literally nothing is left by the wayside, but when a theme has been explored it's time to move on to the next one, which leaves some inconsistency in themes and even on some views over the course of the entire series.
In truth, to compare Malazan to anything else is to do that thing a disservice. Malazan stands apart, outside of normalcy, convention and what is expected.
I've expounded more than a bit on it in this post because, even though it's one of the most significant pieces of fantasy and literature I've ever read, before yesterday I hadn't actually ever written much of relevance on the blog about it. That's why, where something should be written about the Dark defiles, there's yet a whole bunch of Malazan instead. I tried to keep it down and restrain myself, but I found that I just could not.
The truth of the matter is. Malazan needed talking about and the Dark Defiles did not, because I've said whatever I wanted to say, and praised it however much I could in my original review. Look there for opinions instead, or just take it as a given here that it's the best thing I've read this year.)
The Dark Defiles Review
Ultimately. The Dark Defiles is here because of consistency and focus.
For subverting expectations, for letting me flinch in the face of vengeance that I wanted to see enacted, for Richard Morgan's style and dedication to his characters and for not taking the easy way out, for delivering something that should be more appreciated and more known and yet is not. It is here for angel eyes, for black witch and for dragon bane and because I wish I didn't yet know their story, so that I could live through it with them for the first time.
But then, one reading experience is never like another. I guess, in the end, I just got really lucky and this trilogy just hit me at a perfect time.
Ultimately. The Dark Defiles is here because of consistency and focus.
For subverting expectations, for letting me flinch in the face of vengeance that I wanted to see enacted, for Richard Morgan's style and dedication to his characters and for not taking the easy way out, for delivering something that should be more appreciated and more known and yet is not. It is here for angel eyes, for black witch and for dragon bane and because I wish I didn't yet know their story, so that I could live through it with them for the first time.
But then, one reading experience is never like another. I guess, in the end, I just got really lucky and this trilogy just hit me at a perfect time.
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Special mention also has to go to Michael Cisco's The Traitor. Which I still find myself thinking about now and then. I could make a joke about a mountain, but, fuck that. It would mess with the mood.
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