If I've nothing better to do I will give the true answer. I don't have one. I've never really understood the concept. I don't understand how blue can be better or worse than green. Context narrows the discussion - give me a when, where, and what. What's my favourite colour of shirt to wear to a job interview? White. I suppose. Certainly not day-glo orange.
I'm the same with books. I can't compare a book I read thirty years ago to one I read yesterday. I was a different person then. I have difficulty comparing a high octane fantasy kill-fest (The Way of Shadows, say) to a subtle and reflective work that rests on a decades-spanning legacy (Fool's Assassin, perhaps).
However.
Since this is my fifth year of being a published author I thought I would give you today's answers to:
What are the five best fantasy books I've read since being published?
What are the five best fantasy books I've read that have been published since I was published?
5 Best SFF Books read in the last 5 years.
These aren't necessarily the most intellectual, laudable, groundbreaking books I've read in the 5 years. They are the ones I enjoyed most and think about most often.
My Goodreads reviews are linked for each.
(I started on Hobb's Soldier Son trilogy first)
(I came very late to this party)
(A great graphic novel that's also a great novel)
(Full of energy and possibility - hit me at the right moment)
(It seemed like nothing new - but I just couldn't stop reading!)
5 Best SFF Books read in the last 5 years that were PUBLISHED in the last 5 years.
(I put the trilogy's first book but actually book 2, Tomorrow The Killing, is the best)
(also in my first list)
(I put the trilogy's first book but actually book 3, Fortress Frontier, is the best)
(book 8, or 4.5, of the Dark Tower series)
(how to return to a great series)
Have you read Scott Lynch's work (Gentleman Bastard series)? It's genius. I actually can't decide between the two of you. But why not both, right? :)
ReplyDeleteI've read the first one. I liked it a lot.
Deletehttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show/822630415
What prompts you to read a new series? Recommendations of others? Random grabs? I'd love to earn my way onto a list like this ranging years 5-10.
ReplyDeleteAlso: I came back to add that Watchmen is sublime.
DeleteOooh, if I'd read Hobb's Soldier Son trilogy first I'd never have read any of her other books. Amazing imagination, wonderful world, but I've always been sorry I read it. She's terribly hard on her heroes anyway, but Soldier Son takes the biscuit for unwarranted cruelty to a character :-D
Delete