The books of 2015

1. Dawnthief - James Barclay

I felt like reading some sword and sorcery, and this series have been sitting half read on my shelf so long now. When I first read this book I liked how the fighting scenes felt lively and real. Having learnt that this book is based on a DragonQuest campaign Barclay ran, made me look for signs of the rpg rules in the story. But, this is not crappy game fiction, it's better than that. The only thing I disliked was that it so clearly was not a self contained story, but had to continue on in the next volume. Book series tire me.

2. Noonshade - James Barclay

This second volume was quite epic and I really wanted to find out how they would fare, and how they would succeed, considering their success in the last volume did come at such a high cost. But, the long battles, the endless trekking through wilderness to get to the next plot point was a bit to long. Also, the grating personalities and their disharmony made it a bit annoying to read. Too long, but still quite enjoyable.

3. The Last Wish - Andzej Sapkowski

Since I don't play computer games, I have just barely heard of The Witcher. But, since I like gritty fantasy and sword and sorcery, it should be up my alley. It was. It had enough of that central European feel to be different, and the sharp wit and irony of Geralt, the protagonist, made it a very enjoyable read. The form, with short episodes and a surrounding bigger story arc, worked really well. I always respect an author who uses structure for his or her narratives. Geralt is a badass, the monsters are dark and mysterious and the interplay between the characters are interesting and colourful. I could do with some more Sapkowski.

4. Pink Floyd :: Musiken, Människorna, Myterna - Bengt Liljegren

A very interesting look behind the scenes of the great Pink Floyd machine. Very tragic and sad look at Syd Barret and the way the group fought and fell apart. For me it gave some quite useful background of the different band members and how the band started. The culture from where they all grow up is so clearly part of what they did as artists. I didn't know so many of them went to architechture school, and their clear aim to be avant garde and different. It was, at least it felt so, slightly tilted to the first half of their carreer. If there's anything lacking, it probably is a first person voice, and some more personal touch. I think I need to track down Nick Mason's book as well.

5. Twilight of the Idols - Friedrich Nietzsche

Time to re-read a favourite of mine during my student days. I still find it funny in places, and insightful in some places combined with some bizarre outburst that make less sense. The tirades against christianity are sometimes more boring than anything else. But, even when he misses the mark och kicks in open doors is is perceptive and does write with a certain charming bravo. His ideas about life, nature and art still intrigue me, even though I find them murky at times. Sadly I think he was a bit lost when it came to politics, so no wonder he has been used for all kinds of purposes. Still interesting.

6. Glorious Angels - Justina Robson

This was a very good book. I really liked the way it was told, with a society where women had a very prominent position, and how that coloured the way the story was told. Males where described and looked at in a way I'm not used to, and it was yet another thing that made the world feel different and strange for me. The setting was clearly a hi-tech world, but with a society ignorant of the technological wonders that surrounded them. Clearly science fiction, but with a look of fantasy. The aliens were indeed quite alien, and the very twisted intrigues were interesting enough. The only thing I did not like was the peculiar Epilog. What was the point of that?

7. Mannen som trodde han var gud (tr: The Magus) - John Fowles

Very well known author whom I've wanted to read for a long time. While there are stuff going on in this book, and the characters are strong and interesting, the plot moves on a bit too slow. I've found myself looking longingly on the next book on the pile. Even though the idea of a "mystery play" to educate a young man about his misconceptions about life and relations it interesting it still never gets anywhere. Maybe the protagonist just is a bit too dull and self centred to really grab you.

8. The Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch

Police procedural, and urban fantasy could that work? In this case it does. Maybe it's because it's so very much a book about London. I took out maps and tried to follow along where they went. In the tradition of The Kraken and Mother London, this is a book that makes you want to go to London. The humour is dry, and quite British in a way that speaks to me. The fact that the author managed to sneak in an easter egg from Bladerunner made me even happier. This is a setting so rich you almost can not fail. The plotting was tight, the characters likable and the setting great. I want to read more.

9. An Evil Guest - Gene Wolfe

As always, the cover blurbs are moronic. This novel felt very much like a 30-ies pulp noir crime yarn. The mood and feel for the setting is well done, and the characters feel like archetypes from that kind of setting. Then there are werewolves, space aliens, clones, time travel and cthulhu. Why on earth did that have to be there? Sadly, just like Derleth not getting it, Wolfe doen't either. I liked the book until the weirdness started. So, clearly there's more going on that is first apparent. It is a Wolfe book after all. But, the characters are cheap, paper thin and act like morons. Cassie, the "heroine" is stupid and sometimes believe anything a man tells her, and then is racked by doubts. I actually didn't care to try to unravel who Gideon Chase or "Wally" was or if there were clones or time travel. So much of the sf tropes felt tacked on, and the totally nonsensical scenes in the south pacific lost me. Sorry Gene. This wasn't really that great.

10. Främling. Inkräktare - Hans Olsson

This is a self published set of short stories of the spookier kind, or weird as is the term used today. I kind of liked it, as the sensibilities for weirdness and modernity in tanden really worked in some cases. Sadly, and what I think a good editor should have caught, some times it did not. The language worked well, except for one word choice I did not like. The biggest problem was the story set in 1752, but clearly the author have no idea of 1752 in our world, as it was clearly a Hammer Films set with latin chanting and dour villagers. A proper historical setting would have worked much better, and since the story did not demand it, the story came across as a failure that could have been salvaged. But, the pieces with nordic mythic lore combined with the modern world was really quite effective. Somewhat like Anders Fager's Samlade Svenska Kulter but less thorough.

11. The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck Companion - Don Rosa

I like very much how Don Rosa takes some nuggets from Carl Barks and develops them into very well thought out adventure stories. But, in this book he also develops the character of Scrooge McDuck in many ways, making him a very sad and tragic figure. It's very, very funny in many places and his inclusion of lot of historical detail is very entertaining. But, there's a very sad love story hidden in the youthful exploits of Scrooge that Don Rosa handles very well. I feel sad for the old duck. He is a very complex character at the hands of someone like Don Rosa. In addition to that, there are some very interesting uses of the medium, especially in the "The Dream of a Lifetime" storyline.

12. The Windup Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi

This was an excellent book! Well thought out near future, not shy about really being very much about us today. I liked the language, and the setting. Both was very evocative. It felt like it was too long and slow in the beginning, but since it was just as much a book about place as a book about about character I guess it made sense. Still, it could have been tighter. The character were all interesting, and you got both detestable and and heroic acts from most of them. So, what will it be? Adapt us to a changing world, or try to keep the world together as the place were we evolved? Lot of biological and ecological connundrums and moral tough choices.

13. Leviathan Wakes - James S.A. Corey

It's billed as blockbuster space opera, but it's set within the solar system, and no FTL. As such it's an interesting kind of sf, but definitely with the big scope of classic space opera. It's a big book, and it felt very tightly plotted. Oddly enough the almost as big The Windup Girl was an easier read. I'm not sure if it was due to the tight twists of plots and loyalties you had to keep track of, or if it was the language. The characters were all very distinct, but I could not shake the feeling all of them was very much bluster and pomp. In a way all of them was high strung all the time, and was that just because of the pressing conflict or the way they were written? It did make them less likeable, I found. There are many more books in this series, but I'm not sure I'd like to read on. More cliffhangers upon sudden insights, hard deals and sneaky corporations will feel very tired after this volume has ended. A good read, but maybe not directly inspiring me to pick up the next book.

14. Gud är ett verb - Ola Wikander

The Hebrew bible as a literary artifact, and as a linguistic puzzle. That sounds quite interesting to me. Ola does a great job, as usual, in making odd verb forms to feel really engaging. Also, the connections he makes between Ugaritic och Babylonian mythological themes to the biblical narratives I find both illuminating and fascinating. The extensive bibliography have already caused me to go book shopping.

15. Messias med träbenet - Peter Nilson

Very interesting short stories, where the rural yarn is contrasting the fantastic and cosmic. I like these images of a Småland from yesteryear that never really was, and how they gets "touched by god" so to speak. The only story which feels silly and becomes stilted is the last one about a computer.

16. Introduction to the Hebrew Bible (second edition) - John J. Collins

I read this one as it was in the bibliography of Gud är ett verb. It was a good overview of the structure of the Hebrew bible, and how it is a document with a very checkered history. I really liked how he made fun of conservatives who refer to the bible as their source when they obviously have not read it. I learned a lot of the eras of antiquity when some of these texts where written, and the social context and the state of current research. My biggest thing to take home was probably how thoroughly all the texts have been edited, and how fragmented and conflicted they are. Very interesting.

17. The 'Geisters - David Nickle

I think I liked this book. There are some things that bug me, like how it never became clear to me what of the manifestations were the poltergeist, and which was not. Also, maybe I'm dense but I did not understand the ending. Who? What? But, the mood and setting was good, and the language made for a free flowing book. I will read more David Nickle.

18. The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror - Volume 23 (2011) - Stephen Jones ed.

This was a very good collection of horror. Since horror is such a wide field, it's not uncommon for anthologies to be all over the place. In this case I felt the stories were quite similar in tone, and there were no real duds in this one. Most of them were of the "weird and unreal" subtype and few were pure gross out or yuck stories, even though some covered some fairly grim subjects.

19. Evaporating Genres - Gary K. Wolfe

Since this was a collection of essays, they were of varying interest. I found the one on fantasy to be a bit flat, and in his notes Gary probably correctly pointed in the direction of things like Farah Mendelsohn's The Rhetorics of Fantasy, which I probably will have to read as well. But, some essays were quite interesting and engaging. The ones about icons of sf, the post-apocalyptic and the 21th centry writers were quite engaging. I enjoy listening to Gary talk in the Coode Street podcast, and he is just as engaging in text. Almost anyone who have thought so much about what sf/f/h is will make me perk up when they write down their thoughts. Definitely so here.

20. The Galaxy Game - Karen Lord

I liked Karen when I met her, so I figured I should read one of her books. It was a decent read, it flowed well and the setting was kind of interesting. Oddly enough there were very little descriptions of the different people, even though you were told they were different looking. Also, I really found the structure of the book to be off. There's a big fight when the spire like city gets attacked, and then it's all just people talking and the big setting revelations happening in the sidelines. I guess it's a book about people, but nobody is all that interesting! So, well done, but bland.

21. They Fly at Ciron - Samuel R. Delany

Delany is always very interesting, and has a very unique voice. This was not one of this "big" novels, but maybe even more interesting for that. As a 1962 novel, published in the nineties, it's not overworked or dense like some of his other late work are. This is a fantasy, but it feels more like a science fiction story in a low tech world with an alien race of humanoids. Then there's one short story about a thief and a ghost or immortal witch, which is more clearly fantasy. The story is not very exciting, but the characters come alive on both sides of the conflict. It's very much a story about how some events change people, and how contact with the Other changes everything. Interesting piece, as could be expected. Not great, but it lingers.

22. Bridge of Birds - Barry Hughart

This is such a glorious romp! Hilarious and wild, and really funny. There are nasty villains, hordes of treasures and both gods and godesses. The plotting is tight, but convoluted, and the characters are expressive. I really like the feel of this story, as it has enough exotism to feel strange, but still resemble a real China. It is also filled with characters that are like figures from a wuxia movie. They boast, drink and fight like there's no tomorrow but also cry and mourn like real people. This book really deserved to win World Fantasy Award.

23. Sagan om den stora datamaskinen - Olof Johannesson

This is actually a satire written my Nobel laurate Hannes Alfven. It's both very dated, with a image of computers that feels like the sxities, and a very up to date imagining of the role of computers in our society. I can't help but wonder if the author don't too easily dismiss the value of human companionship. While his discussion of rationality as a basis for society feels understandable, his praise of rural living and remote work is more of a hard sell for me. I feel in those part he is serious, and not satirical. While not necessarily a book that is relevant in the particulars, the general questioning about automation, work and society is relevant in all ages.

24. Beowulf - Robert Nye

Finally I've read this story. Why I did not read it in my worst Tolkien obsessed age is an open question. Clearly there are many things that inspired him in this. This is a modern retelling, not a translation, and it feels very readable. It's clearly influenced by christianity, so maybe we can guess at a composite text, with fragments like the dragonkilling from other germanic story traditions. It also makes me think of the western semitic tales of fights against the original chaos monsters, and the defeat of darkness and the sea. Most interesting is the character of Beowulf, who is stout and good hearted, but not a perfect physical specimen. I will probably try to read a straight translation as well for comparison.