You Tell Me | The Year's Best Books

I still struggle to believe it's 2014, never mind the end of the year, nearly, but I'm reliably informed that I'm wrong. Not for the first time, nor the last, naturally.

The end of the year has come to mean something new to me, in recent years. There's Santa, sure; the birthday of the baby Jesus, but of course; and a bit of a break—yay! In advance of all that, though, the end of the year has, since the dawn of The Speculative Scotsman, signified a period of comprehensive critical consideration.

To that end, I tend to keep a list: of all the books I've read, the movies I've seen, the video games I've played, and so on. I failed at that in 2014, for various reasons, so forgive me, folks, if I overlook more than I usually do when the time comes to tackle Top of the Scots.

Truth be told, I was hoping we could compare notes—to begin with, about some of the best books we've read this year. Let me start you all off with a bit I contributed to the recent Reviewers' Choice on Tor.com:

2014 has been a banner year for British science fiction, beginning with The Echo by James Smythe—an immensely upsetting sequel that doubled down on the awesome promise of its unsettling predecessor—continuing courtesy Claire North’s fantastic Life After Life-alike, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August—a very different sort of novel than The Echo, yes, yet no less memorable—and concluding, because we’re already running out of room, by way of The Bone Clocks: the closest thing the man who came up with Cloud Atlas has written to a proper genre novel over the course of his career.

Reading through the other reviewers' recommendations, it's clear that I've completely failed at fantasy in 2014. I haven't read The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison, City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett or The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley, though I sincerely mean to make time to catch up on those books over the break.

I feel much more up to speed on my science fiction. That said, All Those Vanished Engines by Paul Park managed to pass me by, and if ever a novel had my name on it...

Horror-wise... well. Here's where the lack of a list has really ruined me. I remember really liking the opening act of Revival by Stephen King, but it ended—spoiler warning—with giant evil ants, and gah all over that. To the best of my recollection, then, the only horror story that really stands out to me is the Southern Reach series by Jeff VanderMeer. Annihilation might just be the best book of the year, according to me. We'll see.

But please, you tell me: what have you read in 2014 that really rocked your socks?

Status Update | A Lion King Christmas

I don't know about you, but with Christmas day just a week away, I'm finally feeling festive.

Not least because last night I realised a dream more than a decade in the making, when the entirety of my family got together to attend a performance of The Lion King live. Simba's spotty performance did not ultimately undermine what was a wonderful show overall; a real visual feast that I'm so pleased to have seen.

I've been humming 'Be Prepared' ever since leaving the theatre, and this morning it occurred to me that I could do worse things in life than take Scar's advice.

Which is my way of saying that though I'm usually one of the very first folks to bang on about the year's best books — Top of the Scots has in the past happened in early December — in 2013 my other obligations have regrettably had to take precedence. I've had to stockpile columns, including this morning's edition of the British Genre Fiction Focus, and ready a fair few reviews to run on Tor.com over the holidays. Truth be told, I've been so busy in November and December to date that it only just hit me that Christmas is coming.

And you know what? I want to enjoy it, so instead of spending the few days remaining to me this year putting together Top of the Scots, I'm going to give myself over to the Christmas spirit. To wit, I warrant you won't be hearing a whole lot from me over the holidays, but when I do get back to blogging, it will be worth the wait. Scots honour!

For a sneak peek at a few of my favourites, check out the Tor.com Reviewers' Choice, in which I count down the three best British books I've read in 2013. I've contributed to another end of year feature as well: Strange Horizons has a few hundred words from me about the books I've gotten most lost in this year.

Now to lose myself in festive merriment...

You all have a brilliant Christmas, and a happy New Year, you hear?

News | Dark Eden Captures the Hearts of the Clarkes

As I'm sure you'll have heard by now, Chris Beckett took home the Arthur C. Clarke award yesterday, for the best science fiction novel published in Britain in 2012.

I'd have picked 2312 myself, but Dark Eden is a worthy winner, I think. Then again, aside the much ballyhooed about fact that it didn't feature a single female author, or any persons of colour, the shortlist was extraordinary. I've read everything on it except Nod by Adrian Barnes, which I admit I'm not particularly interested in, and only The Dog Stars disappointed. Otherwise, a bunch of best in class books.

In any event, in light of the news, I went looking for the review of Dark Eden I remembered writing after reading it nearly a year ago, primarily in order to link to it today, but also to see if I still agreed with my initial assessment.

Long story short, I couldn't find it.

I searched through The Speculative Scotsman and Strange Horizons, Tor.com and SF Signal—any and all of the places it might possibly have been published—only to realise that for some reason (very possibly a holiday) it had never made it out of My Documents. Like the 5000 word critique of Haruki Murkami's IQ84 that's been waiting there, utterly unloved, for an even longer period.

I'm going to give my Dark Eden review a bit of a once-over tomorrow morning, with an eye towards running it here on TSS immediately afterwards.

Before I say good day, allow me to offer my hearty congratulations to Chris Beckett. Learn from my mistake and try not to waste all your winnings on sweets, sir!

Say, would you be interested in hearing what I thought about Murakami's last novel while we're at it? :)

The Scotsman Abroad | Marking the Clarkes

Three months in, I can only hope most of you are familiar with the British Genre Fiction Focus: the weekly column about news and new releases in the UK that I contribute to Tor.com.

The response to the series so far has been more positive than I could have imagined, but with every additional edition, I've wondered whether some of the more meaningful news stories I ruminate on each week wouldn't be better serviced in articles of their own.

Well, yesterday was something of an acid test in that respect. Yesterday, the first special feature from the British Genre Fiction Focus fold was posted, and luckily, I had a hell of subject to tackle: namely the recently released shortlist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award, especially the overwhelming presence of penises amongst the authors nominated.

Anyway, in Marking the Clarkes, I attempt to round up some of the most representative reactions to the alarming absence of women writers on the shortlist, before pitching in with my own several cents:

So was the reaction to this year’s shortlist basically a case of much ado about nothing? 

No, it wasn’t. Absolutely positively not. There’s a very real problem in play that the subsequent back-and-forth has brought to the fore, finally. But I’d echo the thought that this alarming lack of diversity [...] can be traced back to the publishing industry rather simply set at the doorstep of a panel of individuals with autonomous opinions who announced an inherently subjective shortlist. 

One last wrinkle before I let you folks work out where you stand and why: the publishing industry lives and dies by the same rules of supply and demand as any other commercial sector. Accusing the bigwigs and the buyers, then, is too easy an out. After all, they buy the books that they have reason to believe we’ll read. 

Who then to blame for this dangerous state of affairs but ourselves?

If I may be so bold, Marking the Clarkes makes for an interesting read in its own right, but the real conversation has occurred in the comments section, already almost thirty thoughts long and strong, and featuring a few words from Tom Hunter himself, director of the Arthur C. Clarke Awards.

All of which is to say, you should think about reading this thing. Chiming in, even.

Fingers crossed I see a few of you over there. Otherwise, we'll talk again shortly.

The Scotsman Abroad | Dear Year in Review

How's it going, folks?

I'm still in Skye, so forgive the relatively short blog. Hard to believe, but internet access is a precious commodity here, even in the year 2013: I've had to camp out in a WiFi-friendly pub in Portree, complete with a pint of Dark Island and my massive laptop. Fair to say, then, that I look a little conspicuous - there isn't even a smartphone in sight - so I'll keep this quick.

Last week, Strange Horizons' published their round-up of the Year in Review, and I wanted to direct you all towards it. This is the third time I've contributed to the feature, I believe, and as ever, the invite was an absolute highlight.

So what did I do with my 250 words?

Well, given the genre of the books I reviewed for Strange Horizons in 2012, I decided to focus on horror and dark fantasy fiction. Firstly, I burbled about The Drowning Girl: A Memoir - I'll toot my horn about that text any chance I get - but I couldn't very well discuss the year in all things creepy and/or crawly without making mention of season one of The Walking Dead, the incredible episodic entity I named my favourite game of 2012.

Thanks to the alphabet, my contribution comes first, but I implore you to read on for a paragraph or two from a who's-who of the site's most insightful critics. To see my work next to theirs - especially without an asterisk denoting I don't belong amongst such upstanding company - is an astonishing honour.

A brief word of warning: if it's anything like mine, your wallet simply can't handle all this awesome. By all means read the article anyway — just be prepared to seriously consider a new credit card after.

I've been nursing this ale for altogether too long already, so I'd best be off, but we'll talk again on the other side of what's been a deeply geeky holiday!

Back to Dungeons & Dragons and The Grim Company I go. :D

Top of the Scots 2012 | The Best Books: Other Awards

The Five Favourites we talked about yesterday may represent the very pinnacle of 2012's speculative fiction in my eyes, but The Best Books isn't over yet. Not even nearly!

Today, we're going to talk about some of the year's other most notable novels, beginning with a darkly fantastic double-act that only just missed out on proper slots in Top of the Scots' most coveted category.

Runners-Up

A year in which a career best from Caitlin R. Kiernan somehow doesn't make my Five Favourites says more about 2012's abundance of brilliant speculative fiction than it does about The Drowning Girl: A Memoir, which I adored in oh so many senses.

"This [...] is a book of lies, yet there is truth to it, too. The Drowning Girl: A Memoir is unquestionably Caitlín R. Kiernan's most ambitious long-form fiction to date, and its successes are multifarious, its failures truly few. I will say that the twofold conclusion the esteemed author eventually arrives at feels unfortunately hastened, but this doesn't subtract dramatically from the inexorable impact of The End, and again, 'you really have no notion how delightful it will be, was, at the inevitable convergence of those two roads full sail.' Kiernan's prose is in the interim as precise and appealing as ever, if a little less aesthetically poetic by dint of Imp's disorder (or discordant order). Similarly, her capricious characters ring true from their tailbones to their tippy-toes, and however far-fetched it is in fact, there is nothing false about this fiction."

This is one of the rare reviews for other genre-oriented resources that I haven't republished on The Speculative Scotsman, but you can of course read the remainder of the article over here.

To make up for the absences aforementioned, I've discussed my feelings for Kiernan's latest and greatest in more detail in my contributions to both of the other year's best articles I'm a part of. I'll say no more, except to point you towards tor.com and Strange Horizons, where the review excerpted above originally appeared.

Meanwhile, Forge of Darkness - the beginning of The Kharkanas Saga - single-handedly rekindled my interest in The Malazan Book of the Fallen, which I had made I don't know how many attempts to get into in the past.

From my review, which was so long I had to split it in two:

"For a new beginning from a phenomenal fantasy author, Forge of Darkness is surprisingly difficult to wholeheartedly recommend to readers unfamiliar with the series it aims to lay the foundation for. But cast your minds back. Recall that I was such a one, once upon a time. And know now that this twisted fairytale has a happy ending, because I plum loved this book, such that I expect to be first in line for the following volume. 

"Indeed, all I can think is that in the interim between Forge of Darkness and Fall of Light, however long that lasts, I have at least nine more Malazan novels to help keep my mind off the acute pain of anticipation."

True to my word, I've been busy with the series since the time of that writing: rereading Gardens of the Moon in the rare moments I haven't had some dastardly deadline to attend to, as well as beginning Deadhouse Gates again.

There's no stopping me now! :)

Biggest Disappointments

To go from two of 2012's most novel narratives to one of its least encouraging is quite the comedown, but you mustn't misunderstand: The Twelve wasn't a bad book at all. In fact there were elements of it I enjoyed awfully. I appreciated what little forward progress there was, and the action scenes, though few and far between, were exemplary:

"[Great] set-up for the summer blockbuster this book could easily be, if Ridley Scott would only exercise his option. The Massacre of the Field is memorably horrendous, as is the bombastic attack on the Oil Road, and the explosive final showdown unfolds in exquisite slow motion. 

"Unlike The Passage, which made so much of so little - and so very well - The Twelve is at its best in the throes of such spectacle, and if in the periods between these superb set-pieces it seems shallow, and somewhat self-indulgent, rest assured that soon enough, there will be blood. And when it comes, you'll see why this sequel is still worth reading. 

"In the beginning, The Twelve builds brilliantly, and the end - which is both 'a beginning and an ending, standing adjacent but apart' - is excellent. Regrettably, the intermediary episodes are substantially less successful, and to make matters worse they represent the length of any normal novel."

You can read my review of The Twelve in its entirety here. On the whole, however, I came away from the middle volume of Cronin's apocalyptic trilogy quite crestfallen, simply because The Passage was so fantastic. Indeed, way back when, I deemed it one of The Best Books of 2010... whereas The Twelve didn't even figure into my excruciating deliberations over this year's Five Favourites.

Before we move on, let me stress again that The Twelve isn't terrible: it's simply a disappointing successor to a truly tremendous text.

Honourable Mentions

I don't know what it is about the work of Guy Gavriel Kay, but I always read his books whilst on holiday. The better to give them the space and time they deserve, I guess.

The tradition began with Tigana, which I devoured between Christmas meals in 2009. Bang on a year on I read Under Heaven, and earlier in 2012, during my month in America, I went back to the well with A Song For Arbonne.

I dare say my first Kay's still my foremost favourite, but A Song For Arbonne came incredibly close to equalling it. There are truly few books I wouldn't change if I had my way; this is one of that negligible number. Hard to believe it's nearly 20 years old!

The Half-Made World is a rather more recent favourite. I've had a copy since its publication in 2010, and it appealed to me immediately. Sadly, it took two years and a single sequel - The Rise of Ransom City - before I put aside time enough to do it justice.

I'm so glad I did.

I'm going to need a little longer to get my thoughts on Gilman's novel in order, but to make up for my earlier negligence, I plan to review both volumes of this damn fine duology on The Speculative Scotsman shortly. For the moment, know that if I'd gone ahead and read The Half-Made World when it was remotely recent, it would have featured in the very first Top of the Scots in a far more major way than it has here.

I came late to The Macht Saga too. Luckily, I got on board with this awesome author just in time to make a right song and dance about the trilogy finishing in February. I reviewed all three volumes before publishing a love letter to the complete series, from which I've lifted this:

"Kearney, in my admittedly limited experience, is getting better and better. Going from strength to strength, as they say. And I wish more people were reading his work to realise it. If you ask me, the best of his fiction stands shoulder to shoulder - in its own way - with a who's-who of my favourite fantasists, including the likes of Steven Erikson, George R. R. Martin, Guy Gavriel Kay and, at a stretch, R. Scott Bakker.

"But I don't think he sells as well as any of them, and therein's the thing. I have no actual information here - this is just speculation, loosely informed by a smattering of press releases and the buzz around his books versus the buzz around new releases by the other authors above - but the received wisdom seems to be that he's little league, as opposed to being one of the big hitters. And that's a damned travesty."

Yet here we are in the Honourable Mentions section. Why is that, you ask? Well, whilst The Kings of Morning saw off The Macht Saga in fine form, The Ten Thousand is yet the best of the books — and that's two whole years old!

In any case, I'd rather recognise the entire than any one of its parts. If you haven't already had the pleasure, readers, read The Macht Saga! I simply can't imagine a single situation in which you'd end up regretting it.

Glaring Oversights

If you've been following The Speculative Scotsman for any length of time, it won't come as news to you that China Mieville and K. J. Parker are two of my very favourite writers. You'll remember that I recommended The Hammer over every other new novel published in 2011, and perhaps that Kraken featured in Top of the Scots the year previous. Furthermore, you'll can't but be aware that I'm quick to post anything remotely resembling news about either author.

I habitually look forward to their latest with the greatest anticipation.

So why the hell haven't I read their newest books?

Well, I've been busy... but that's hardly the half of it.

If I'm honest, I think I have a problem, because the selfsame thing happened with Under Heaven in 2010: like Railsea and Sharps, it was a new release from a frequently fêted fictioneer that I all but refused to read until after the fact.

What's the use in gilding the lily? I'm a hoarder, but not of the normal denomination: I hoard stories, essentially. I hoard reading experiences that I'm as good as guaranteed to treasure... and in a sense, I sort of want them for myself.

That said, there's another reason for Sharps' absence from my reading this year. I'd been recommending my partner get on the K. J. Parker train for ages, and my copy of Sharps latest arrived at just the right time: Katie was between books, and good to give it a go.

Within a couple of weeks,  while I wrapped up a few literary loose ends, she'd read it from cover to cover, and was ready to surrender an opinion. Readers... I regret to report she didn't dig it.

This took the wind out of my sails somewhat.

I'm pretty sure I'll be reading Railsea sometime soon - hopefully somewhere warm, with coffee and chocolates, over the holidays - but it might take me some time to come back to Sharps.

Final Thoughts

You ask me, 2012 has been a fantastic year for genre fiction. One of the very best in my recollection. For fantasy and science fiction. For horror and alt-history. For the weird and the wonderful.

I had no trouble finding Five Favourites from amongst the many, many contenders... to the point that I seriously considered doing a top ten instead. What stayed my hand was the thought that if I doubled my numbers once, there'd be nothing to stop me from multiplying them again, and again — and what meaning would these awards have then?

Still, my restraint has left me with a list as long as my arm of books I'd recommend to discerning speculative fiction fans in a second. Like Jack Glass and Jagannath; Red Country and The Corpse-Rat King;  Some Kind of Fairy Tale and The City's Son.

I could go on and on... sadly Top of the Scots cannot.

I can't pretend to have read everything, either; not even everything that's been recommended to me. Other notable oversights include The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers, The Lighthouse by Alison Moore, The White Forest by Adam McOmber, This is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz.

I'm hoping to spend some time with each of these in 2013, but let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet.  There's still a week of 2012 left, and if it's anything like the last 51, it's bound to be brilliant.

Now then. Our Christmas intermission approaches. I'll be back on Monday to wish you all well, and reward one reader with a particularly gorgeous gift, but with The Best Games and The Best Books behind us, I'm calling time on Top of the Scots for the time being.

Do stay tuned for The Best Movies and The Best of the Rest in early January!

For the moment, let's reflect on 2012.

It's been a hell of a year, hasn't it?

Top of the Scots 2012 | The Best Books: Five Favourites

Books are why I blog.

There. I've said it.

Sure, I review the occasional video game. I also talk about comics from time to time. And I've been known to post about movies, too... though rather less so lately. But at the end of the day, make no mistake: books are to blame for The Speculative Scotsman.

The Best Books, then, is the crown jewel of Top of the Scots. And it begins... now!

Five Favourites

5. Alif the Unseen
by G. Willow Wilson

As I discussed in my introduction to Top of the Scots 2012, for various reasons I've found time to be in short supply this year, and in light of my limited resources, I've had to make some terribly difficult decisions. One of these was whether or not to read Alif the Unseen.

I'll be honest: I very nearly didn't. I'd had an e-ARC of the US version sitting on my Kindle for some months before a physical copy of the beautiful British edition found its way to me. What finally elicited my interest, coupled with my passing familiarity with G. Willow Wilson from the comics she'd written, was the glowing Neil Gaiman quote on the UK cover. 

Though my reasoning for reading Alif the Unseen may have been both shallow and arbitrary, to my unbridled delight, the book itself was anything but. Here's a particularly suggestive excerpt from the review I wrote in August:

"The Alif is both more and less than a word. It is the first letter of Sura Al Baqara in The Quran; it is the first line of code ever written; it is a state of mind, a suggestion, a symbol that our hero becomes - inasmuch as it becomes him - over the course of this remarkable fantasy narrative. Alif 'had spent so much time cloaked behind his screen name, a mere letter of the alphabet, that he no longer thought of himself as anything but an alif — a straight line, a wall. His given name fell flat in his ears now. The act of concealment had become more powerful that what it concealed.' (p.3) 

"Alif the Unseen, too, conceals a great deal. The initial simplicity of the Aladdin-esque romance with which it begins belies the book's more challenging aspects. Seductive as it is, this early section seems fleeting when set against the heady concoction of faith, torture and politics that fuels its unforgettable finale. Indeed, these ends are so at odds that one can only imagine the inevitable clash, yet instead, Wilson shapes a careful, character-driven commingling — a thing both beautiful and terrible to behold."

Dear readers: if you haven't already experienced Alif the Unseen, I urge you to do so at the first available opportunity. It's fantasy at its most magical.

And if I can't convince you, maybe this interview with the author will.

4. The Brides of Rollrock Island

by Margo Lanagan

From the delightful, as above, to the devastating, so below. Unlike Alif the Unseen, which took me entirely by surprise, I'd been anticipating The Brides of Rollrock Island for some time — ever since the twisted fairytale Margo Lanagan told in Tender Morsels in 2008. That latter will never leave me, and if this tragic selkie story is not necessarily its better, than it is its equal, at least.

It's breathtakingly beautiful, too. From my review:

"There is a peculiar poetry to Lanagan's prose: a power - all her own - over those who push through the opaque prologue, and with my every word I would urge you to do exactly that. [...] There's nothing not to love about The Brides of Rollrock Island. It's a wistful book, but wondrous. It will break your heart, and remake it. 

"Surrender yourself, then, to Margo Langan's mesmerising new novel. Allow it to surround you like a shimmering second skin... finer, fuller, and freer, finally, than the first."

Like several of my other selections, The Brides of Rollrock Island isn't easy reading, but what it lacks in accessibility, it more than makes up for in meaning. Which just goes to show that sometimes, literature's greatest rewards are not given, but taken — earned, even.

You'll have to work for this next one as well.

3. Angelmaker

by Nick Harkaway

I don't know what I was expecting when I read Angelmaker back in March. More of the glorious, gabbling madness of The Gone-Away World, perhaps? But more likely something lesser.

I didn't for a minute think Nick Harkaway's new book would blow me away in the manner it managed to. As I wrote in my review:

"The Gone-Away World was 'a bubbling cosmic stew of a book, written with such exuberant imagination that you are left breathless by its sheer ingenuity,' but for all its wonders, Nick Harkaway’s extraordinary debut was not without its issues in addition — foremost amongst them its madcap, almost abstract construction, which too often left one wondering what in The Gone-Away World was going on, even as it was going, going, gone.

"Angelmaker, however, is a book far better put than its predecessor. A markedly more crafted artefact. Though the author’s roving eye remains intact, and those subjects its alights upon feel as delightful and insightful as ever, Harkaway has honed this incomparable trick of his to a filigree so fine that it appears nearly invisible; a filament of woven gold - impossible, yet a fact for all that - which runs through Angelmaker from the fanciful first to the beloved last."

Back in March, Angelmaker seemed to me a clear contender for the year's best books; and here, nearly a year later, its impact is essentially undiminished. I can't think of a single 2012 reading experience I've had more fun with than than I did this one — I've selected the other books on this greatest hits list for other reasons.

Smart, funny and fantastic, Angelmaker is all I could have asked for. But be warned: like The Gone-Away World before it, it won't be for everyone. Why, just the other day The Book Smugglers took exception to Nick Harkaway's apparent inanity... and Ana's complaints were anything but baseless.

But beauty is of course in the eye of the beholder, and obviously this beholder adored Angelmaker.

2. The Vorrh

by Brian Catling

I have hummed and I have hahed about nothing else in Top of the Scots 2012 more than where to place Brian Catling's incredible debut.

Though there's no question in my mind that The Vorrh is a fundamentally fantastic genre novel - amongst the year's best, easily - at the same time it's the most recent release to feature in my Five Favourites by a number of months, and I don't doubt that its primacy in my mind plays some part in its apparent potency.

The long and short of it is that The Vorrh has yet to stand the test of time, whereas the others featured in my list have, and I felt it was important to take age into account this year. Nevertheless, know that it was this close to taking home the trophy.

Here are a few reasons why, excerpted from the review I republished here on The Speculative Scotsman before Top of the Scots kicked off:

"The Vorrh is quite a complex novel, and not always easy to follow, what with its unnamed narrators and its array of peripheral perspectives, but though the going gets tough, the tough makes for good going soon enough. I’d go so far as to say great. [...] And if its story seems iffy initially, rest assured that things become clearer beyond the book’s fulsome first third, by which point I warrant you’ll be comprehensively caught in the inexorable vortex of The Vorrh. 

"When even the warts of a novel are winning, it’s hard to misunderstand that you have something special on your hands, and The Vorrh is absolutely that. Equal parts dark fantasy and surrealist dream, it is inescapably dense, and unrelentingly intense. Shelve it shoulder to shoulder with 2012’s other most notable novels, then consider carefully which stands lacking in comparison."

And there's still time for you to win a copy of the strictly limited signed and numbered edition of The Vorrh I announced late last week.

If not The Vorrh, then, what's our winner?

1. 2312

by Kim Stanley Robinson

Surprised to see me plump for a science fiction novel as the best book of 2012?

Well you shouldn't be! I basically game the game away in May, in the last paragraphs of my original review:

"The tension in the structure of 2312, between the little and the large, reflects the relationship between the planet-cracking happenings and the seemingly insignificant events that Robinson is interested in for the bulk of the book. The reader is routinely shuttled between stunning set-pieces, like the sunwalk with which the whole thing begins, or the destruction of Terminator - Swan's sweet home if she has one - and quiet, composed, character-oriented moments, such as the prolonged underground walkabout our scattershot protagonist shares with Wahram, or the stop-overs she takes on various terraria. 

"You will come to look upon all these moments equally. In astonishment, in awe, at both the small, and the immense. Such is Robinson's success in terms of the sense-of-wonder 2312 evokes, like a sky full of stars exploding one after the other, over and over again. 

"Given all its ideas, not to speak of the myriad intricacies of each of these, I dare say 2312 is a substantially more accessible novel than it has any right to be. The author's decision to delineate his science from his fiction pays dividends in that respect, as it allows each scene to breathe, and more often than not to blossom. Furthermore, Robinson presents many of most complex concepts with a winning amount of whimsy. As recipes, among other things. 

"There's fun in 2312, then. Fun, and unbelievable wonder; love, profundity and a lot of legitimately gripping drama. Also some startling ideas. I had not dared to dream that Kim Stanley Robinson could even equal Red Mars, but in time, 2312 could take the cake. That and biscuit-based relativity aside, it's a magnificent sweet treat in its own right. Robinson is as intelligent and compelling as ever he has been - at least in my experience - but herein he has tempered his the science of his fiction smartly, and sensitively. The result, simply put, is stunning. 

"Never mind the usual genre divisions: 2312 is easily one of the year's best books, period."

The year's very best book, as it happens, in retrospect at least as much as in the moment.

Hearty congratulations to the creator of a sense of wonder like no other: Kim Stanley Robinson, I salute you!

***

And that's that. My favourite books of 2012, bar none.

Is it just me, or has this been an especially spectacular for speculative fiction?

But The Best Books isn't over yet! Stay tuned to The Speculative Scotsman for tomorrow's Other Awards, wherein we'll see which novels narrowly missed my final five.

In the meantime, I'd be obliged if you chimed in with your own opinions. What was the best book you read since the last time we did this thing? And what, I wonder, was the worst?

You Tell Me | What's at the Top of the Scots?

It's that time of the year, dear readers!

Hard to believe it may be - I'm still wondering where October went, never mind November - but it's time to start thinking about 2012 as a whole. To consider the very best of the very best. And as ever, I need all the help I can get.

I go to the movies as often as I can... I play video games on the PS3, the PC and the 360... I read more books than most humans — but there's only the one of me, and I can't hope to be in any sense comprehensive. What I can do is ask you if I'm missing anything particularly significant.

So here I am, hat in hand... asking.

This post is intended as an open forum for you to put your personal favourites forward. If there's a book you think is brilliant, and I haven't already reviewed it here or on Tor.com - here's my page over there - then it's entirely likely I haven't read it. If there's some magnificent film or obscure video game that I haven't said word one about, please, point me in the right direction. 

Top of the Scots starts on December 17th, which gives us approximately ten days to talk. I can read three or four normal-length novels in that time, watch at least as many movies, and play perhaps a pair of games, depending on how long they're apt to last. I've cleared the slate specifically so I can do exactly as outlined... so let fly your recommendations, folks!

Who needs holidays, eh? :)

Top of the Scots 2011 | The Best of the Best of the Best

So there you have it, everyone.

The best books... the best movies... and the best games.

Of the year. According to me. And you know me, don't you?

It's been a bit surreal, doing this for the second time. When I first sat down to write a review of Tigana, almost two years ago to the day now - for you newcomers, that's here, by the by - I did not think blogging would come to be such a huge part of my life. I certainly wouldn't have believed you if you had told me I'd be doing this two years on, and doing it more than ever.

I'm still not entirely convinced that I am.

But here we are, hey?

And it's been fun! Indeed, it continues to be fun. And I ain't going anyplace just yet -- though there will be some changes to TSS in 2012. Better formatting for one thing, whether that means I move the site over to another service or see if Live Writer can solve all my problems in one fell swoop. We can only hope.

Anyway, with that ever-so-slight digression, Top of the Scots is almost over, till next year.

Almost... but not quite!

See, this is the part where I troop out the best of The Best of the Best for one last hurrah, or in case you missed 'em the first time out. Our three overall winners, then - in books, movies and video games - are as follows.

The Best Book of 2011

 

The Best Movie of 2011

 

The Best Game of 2011

Though you couldn't go wrong with the runners-up, either, or any of my selections, come to that... except perhaps a few of the movies I had to make do with. But let's not get into that again.

So if you play one video game this year, let it be Portal 2. For PotatOS! In space!

If you watch one movie, meanwhile, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 marked the end of an era, and it marked it, if I may say so, very well indeed.

As to books? Well that's what I'm here for, first and foremost - let's not beat around the burning bush as to my priorities - and if you take just one of the many, many recommendations I've made in 2011 to heart, let it be this: K. J. Parker is amazing.

Read The Hammer. Weep, if you must. Then come back to me and let me know how you found it. It's an incredible piece of standalone fantasy fiction, to my mind, and the more folks I can turn on to K. J. Parker, the better.

Right then. That's it.

Or -- wait, is it? 

Actually, no. Not even now, because now that I've shown you mine, you have to show me yours, folks! It's the law around these here parts... or so the policeman told me. :/

And now that we're done talking about 2011, or we near-as-dammit are, next on the agenda: 2012!

For a taste of what's to come, please do pop back on Monday, when I'll be pointing you in the general direction of a long blog about my most anticipated books of the year ahead.

Gosh, it never stops, does it?

Well, I wouldn't have it any other way!

Top of the Scots 2011 | The Best Books

You know, I love me my video games. And my movies too... if a little less this year than I have in the past, as I was saying on Wednesday.

But I'm first and foremost a reader. I read every night, and most days, too, if I can nab 10 minutes here or a half-hour there; in fact - fancy that! - for the first time in my entire life, I broke the 100 books barrier this year, and that isn't even counting comics.

Now I haven't reviewed every last one of the books I've read, but I've gone on record with my thoughts on more of them than not. So that's something to be proud of.

In any event, if I have a reputation around the blogosphere - and I like to think I've a wee one - it's as a book reviewer. And at this stage, before Hurricane Bawbag comes around for another pass, I've probably kept you in suspense as to my favourite reads of the read quite long enough.

Without any further ado, then, I give you... 

The Best of the Best

5. Little Star
by John Ajvide Lindqvist

I was as surprised as anyone when it was pointed out that horror novels rather ruled the roost in my selection of The Best Books of 2010, so I had it in my head to decide on a more diverse representation of the year's foremost fictions in this second edition of Top of the Scots.

Turns out I needn't have worried. I read at least as much horror in 2011 as I did in 2010, if not substantially more, and though there were many highlights, only Little Star, I think, by John Ajvide Lindqvist, can stand shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the year's best.


It's incredibly powerful stuff.

And you know, it's pretty hard going. Harrowing and horrifying in the purest sense of the word. I wouldn't recommend Little Star to everyone, not even to all those folks who've read Lindqvist before - probably by way of his incredible debut Let the Right One In - but if you're willing to be disturbed, this tale of two sisters of sorts who finally find themselves in one another is utterly unforgettable, and ultimately as beautiful as it is twisted.

No other horror novel released in 2011 can hold a damn candle to it.
  
For more on Little Star, read the full review here.

4. Embassytown
by China Mieville

Did you think I'd pick this as my favourite book of 2011?

Well for a minute there, I did too.

Never mind that the man's hard to read on a good day - in a good way, needless to say - Embassytown is surely the most demanding tale award-gobbler China Mieville has told to date. But once you get into the swing of it, it's simply magnificent: a rumination on the power of language by one of our generations most persuasive wordsmiths, via the stuff of hard sf.

Here's some of what someone wrote in some review somewhere:

"For a book about the Word, whatever the word is, or was, or will be, it is ineffably apposite that Embassytown leaves one quite without the words to describe it, far less do this stupendous thing justice. Certainly, lovers of lovely language will love the languid language of Mieville's loveliest text to date, and though in the beginning the narrative is difficult to grasp, far less to parse, there is such light at the end of Embassytown's darkness: pools of pure illumination, brilliant and utterly unfettered."

Couldn't have put it better myself! :P

Anyway, that's why Embassytown is my favourite science-fiction book of the year.

But it's only my fourth favourite novel of 2011 overall. What could have possibly dethroned it?


Well, for one thing...

3. Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti 
by Genevieve Valentine

Here I was beginning to think - after The Bookman and Camera Obscura by Lavie Tidhar, Cherie Priest's Clockwork Century novels, and a handful of others I can't even remember - that for all its apparent outward appeal, steampunk simply wasn't for me.

Then along came Mechanique, a book about a traveling troupe of steam-powered people - by an author I'd never read before, no less - to show me just how wrong I was.


Excerpted from the full review:


"Whether Mechanique is a collection of loosely connected episodes in the life and times of a traveling circus and its oddment of performers, or a single story with a fistful of distinct threads enmeshed together, I would argue it matters little. And there can be no disputing that the ringside seats Valentine arranges for us around this unforgettable parade of 'clockwork coquettes' and strongman machines are a marvel. We are so close to the action as to scent the mingled stink of sweat and sawdust and sweet treats in the air; to hear 'the sound of feathers singing' as every bone in the wings sewn to the spine of Alec the flying man arrives at an impossible harmony; to gape up at and around and through every last incredible act, as if we were ourselves a part of them.

"Truly, madly, deeply, readers: this first full-length Tale of the Circus Tresaulti moved me immeasurably. Here's to many more where it came from -- which is to say, from the mind of one of the most promising new voices in all genre fiction. I haven't been so excited about a second novel since discovering Catherynne M. Valente; that for her first Genevieve Valentine has conjured such a masterpiece of measure and imagination as this - the performance of a lifetime! - speaks volumes as to why I may finally have fallen for steampunk."

Saying that, I haven't loved any steampunk since I read Mechanique, almost half a year ago, so perhaps I only fell for Genevieve Valentine. Hmm.

Whatever the case: read this, readers.

2. The Tiger's Wife

by Tea Obreht

I very nearly missed out on The Tiger's Wife entirely.

I remember hearing some lovely, lovely things about it around its release window in the spring, but for one reason or another - I was probably just swamped at the time - I didn't seek it out, and then I basically forgot it existed. More fool me.

Then last month, when I began the great catch-up, I asked you all for recommendations, and a couple of commenters mentioned The Tiger's Wife.

To those folks - you know who you are! - I say, sincerely: thank you.

I haven't reviewed The Tiger's Wife yet, so let me ad-lib a little here: not since Life of Pi have I been so in awe of a new purveyor of literary fiction as I am by Tea Obreht. Incredibly, she's only in her mid-20s... and perhaps that's one of the reasons why The Tiger's Wife is so stunning. But it's very far from the only reason.

If, like I, you overlooked The Tiger's Wife at the time of its publication, don't feel too terrible. But do take my advice, and give it a chance. This is that rarest of things: a book that not only meets but exceeds the hype.

Stay tuned to The Speculative Scotsman over the holidays for a proper review of Tea Obreht's award-winning debut in the fullness of time.

But first, behold: my book of the year...

1. The Hammer 

by K. J. Parker

Have I said before how criminal it is that K. J. Parker isn't more widely appreciated?

I tend to think I have... time and again at that. But maybe I haven't quite gotten across just how much I appreciate - no, adore - his or her work. 

This is how much.

No other novel has held me, thrilled me, kissed me or killed me in quite the way The Hammer did, way back when I read it at the beginning of 2011.

The review I wrote at the time says it better than I could now, nearly a year out:

"I expected The Hammer to be a pleasant diversion: smart and fun and unfussy... you know the like. And it is all those things, indeed it is - par for the K. J. Parker course - but what the secretive author has proffered up here is so much more satisfying, so much more profound, than that and that alone. From least to most, then, this stunning standalone fantasy is a chronicle of the re-invention of industry - the particulars of which are fascination themselves; it's a many-faceted rumination on the point and the price of justice (a subject presumably so close to Parker's literary heart because of her and her partner's profession in the pursuit of said); and it is a provocative portrait, last and not least, of a character so complex and conflicted, so dark and somehow endearing, few are likely to rival Gignomai Met'Oc until Parker tops him herself, whenever the next of her novels rolls around."


That is to say Sharps, due in July. The wait for it has already been horrendous, and I aim to remedy that over the holidays by digging into Parker's back-catalogue a bit.


In the interim, if you haven't already read The Hammer, well... you have your marching orders. It is, in my humble opinion, the single best book of the year.

On the other hand, one of my favourite book reviewers just slated it. K. J. Parker is an acquired taste, make no mistake, and perhaps the more of his or her work you read, the less surprising it is; there's absolutely something to that argument.

But this is neither the time nor the place to start second-guessing myself, and if you ask me, there's no better place to start reading K. J. Parker than here. Period.

Runners-Up

I was lucky enough to lay hands on an ARC of The Heroes a good few months before it came out in January, so I actually read Joe Abercrombie's latest in 2010 rather than this year. It's a testament to its greatness, then, that more than a year later I remember it as well - and as fondly - as if I'd been reading it yesterday. This guy gets better with every book. Roll on A Red Country!

Also narrowly missing out on a place amongst the final five discussed above, my first - but assuredly not my last - Daryl Gregory novel: Raising Stony Mayhall, a terrific and touching coming-of-age comedy set in the wake of a stymied zombie apocalypse. Probably the most pure, unadulterated fun I've had with any narrative in 2011.

I also adored The Diviner's Tale by Bradford Morrow, but that got a shout-out in Top of the Scots 2010, and it feels a little cheeky to feature it again, so I've opted not to, other than this. But it's brilliant.

For more on The Heroes, read the full review here. Meanwhile, here's what I wrote about Raising Stony Mayhall.

Honourable Mentions

Have you ever accidentally read a whole book before?

As I recall it was late one night. Dark and quiet; well after midnight, knowing me. I'd just finished the book I'd been reading for the last little while... but I wasn't quite ready for lights out just yet. So there I was, browsing quite exitedly through all the ebooks I have on my tablet, thinking What am I going to read next? when all of a sudden, I was reading Room.

Five or six hours later, the sun was coming up, and I was getting dressed to go get milk for the coffee that had been keeping me going!

Room is not a perfect novel - the second half is a bit preachy, and many leagues less powerful then the first - but still. What a concept. And what execution! Tremendous. If it had only come out in 2011!

Meanwhile The Weird. I'm hoping to put some sort of review of The Weird together over Christmas. Which isn't to say I'm finished with it. Far from it, truth be told, but there comes a time when one can safely say yes, this monolithic thing is magnificent - with enough weird within to last you a lifetime - and it is, and it has. Every genre fiction fan should have a copy of this compendium.

For more on Room, read the full review here. And keep your peepers pointed at The Speculative Scotsman over the holidays for a... a something about The Weird.

Biggest Disappointment

If there's one book from the last year that's emerged as something of an awards favourite, it's got to be Blackout. Or rather, Blackout and All Clear, Connie Willis' celebrated speculative account of the Second World War. But I've only read the first vast volume so far... and - I'm sorry - but no.

In its own right, Blackout is not a good book. Never mind that it doesn't end - it doesn't, though in certain sense that's to be expected - my issue with Blackout is that it's simply a lot of faffing. Of Blackout's 600 pages, maybe 400 are devoted to setting the scene in minute, excruciating detail, even. Then there's the meaningless dialogue, the characters who aren't very interesting to begin with...

I could go on, as Connie Willis seems determined to. But for all that Blackout is an almighty disappointment, it's worth remembering that it's only the first half of a much larger narrative, and presumably the good stuff is coming in All Clear. Or else what were all those awards committees thinking?


As is my curse, I've started this story, so now I'll have to finish it - thus, you can expect reviews of Blackout and All Clear in early 2012 - but I'm in no huge hurry to do so. Nor, I dare say, is the author.

Glaring Oversights

For all that I have read in 2011, the mind boggles at the thought of everything I haven't.

These two books are just the tip of the iceberg, of course. I don't feel so awful about The Wise Man's Fear, but Swamplandia! sounded simply terrific, and I wish I had had the time to get to it before putting this list together.


But such is life! And I suppose books don't suddenly cease to exist if you miss them the year they come out... though if you follow the blogosphere, you'd be forgiven, I think, for thinking that's the case.

Final Thoughts

And with that bit of seasonal snark, Top of the Scots is over! For another year! Almost!

It's been a pretty good year, all told. I mean, in books, absolutely - and in video games too... though good movies have been few and far between, that I've seen. Maybe they're all coming out after Christmas, the better to be timely when the Oscars roll around?

Well whatever. Otherwise, 2011 has been pretty swell - and in life, as in literature. With my making regular contributions to Tor.com, Strange Horizons and Starburst Magazine, and actually earning a little for my efforts, I've never been busier, or happier to be doing what I do.

But what about you guys and gals? What have some of your favourite - and your least favourite - books of 2011 been?

And besides the books, how has the year treated you?