I noted in my earlier post my choices and the predictions for the final round. Now I will present again the books in the three main fields of interest, fantasy, sf and historical fiction and discuss my earlier predictions, what actually got in the top 10 and how I see the final vote shaping.
Once the results are published with the final statistics, a final round-up in December. For the predictions below I used the Goodreads metric: # reviews times average rating.
I correctly predicted 7/10 including my choice The Blinding Knife; the wrong predictions erred towards epic, namely Red Country and Forge of Darkness, while I should have included the Fforde novel but realized it too late.
The surprises for me, Some Kind of Fairy Tale (ok but not great imho) and Alif the Unseen which I opened but then it went on my huge “to read” pile.
My Vote:The Blinding Knife again
Prediction:The favorite by far isStephen King (always popular – which is a bit of a mystery for me as I find his work very boring at best) who leads by a lot in the Goodreads metric so it’s the overwhelmingly likely winner.
A slim outside chance: Brent Weeks or Robin Hobb
For The Blinding Knife I expect a very good 2nd or 3rd place.
I correctly predicted 6/10 including that my choice The Hydrogen Sonata will not make it. The Goodreads sf tastes do not really match mine as of the 10 finalists, the only one I finished is Caliban’s War which I liked but thought a step below the superb Leviathan Wakes.
Of the rest, the Pratchett/Baxter is juvenile, tie-ins are rightly known as the “mine pits of genre”, Orson Scott Card’s fiction never appealed, steampunk is banal today, Angelmaker lost my attention fast, while Wool is written well and I may read it when in the mood for post-apocalyptic, but I feel I exhausted its sub-genre so it may take a good while for that…
My Vote:Caliban’s War
Prediction: Based on the Goodreads metric, Wool and Redshirts battle and I see Wool winning on quality versus a sub-mediocre spoof.
A reasonable outside chance: The Long Earth
For my less thanenthusiastic choice Caliban’s War I expect a 6-7th place finish.
I correctly predicted 6/10 including that my choice The Secret Keeper will make it. Here I did no research and the genre is only partly familiar, so I missed the two huge favorites based on the Goodreads metric, The Light Between Oceans(ok but nothing special imho) and The Snow Child(better prose but a bit limited).
My Vote: Obviously my #1 book of the year, The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton.
Prediction:The Snow Child battlingThe Light Between Oceans with The Snow Child winning on numbers outweighing higher rating.
An outside chance: Bring up the Bodies
For The Secret Keeper I expect a respectable 5-6th place.
The Alloy of Law reviews are pouring in, but sadly the biggest news is the passing of Anne McCaffrey. We have lost one of the greats. Her craft will be continued by the current crop of talented fantasy authors, and you can check out interviews with a few current greats like R.A. Salvatore, Patrick Rothfuss, Lev Grossman, Terry Brooks and Daniel Abraham below. Also, Brandon Sanderson talks about writing the Infinity Blade novella. Cool stuff.
Tonight’s a special live edition of SmackDown!, and I’m actually looking forward to it, as the main event will be Daniel Bryan and Mark Henry in a cage for the World Championship.
Stephen King continues to dominate the holiday season, but George R.R. Martin is still scooping up large swaths of bestseller weeks. Its likely Martin will rank first for the annual review.
Stephen King takes first and second this week, with two different formats of the same novel. A Dance with Dragons remains strong, with The Allow of Law by Brandon Sanderson making its debut in fifth.
Towers of Midnight holds strong yet again in first place, with urban fantasy by J.R Rain and Jim Butcher filling out the 2 through 4 slots. A sci-fi novel about the apocalypse, Mercury Falls edges in at number 5 this week.
Reviews this week of The Way of Kings, Gauntlgrym, City of Ruin and more. Interviews with Robin McKinley, Brandon Sanderson and Mercedes Lackey, and another HBO Artisans video was released spotlighting the Game of Thrones series.
The embargo on Towers of Midnight reviews has expired, and the reviews are pouring in. In addition to the onslaught of ToM reviews, interviews with Brandon Sanderson are popping up like hotcakes. I never really got on the Wheel of Time bandwagon after reading the first book in the series, but I am about 10% through The Way of Kings, so expect a review of Sanderson’s solo work sometime soon. Also check out the interview with Felicia Day, good stuff.
Towers of Midnight holds strong not only on the fantasy bestseller list, but at number 5 overall on the entire Amazon bestseller list. Breaking Dawn makes a reappearance at number 5 on the fantasy list.
by Stephen King
by Stephen King
by George R.R. Martin
by George R.R. Martin
by Gregory Maguire
by Erin Morgenstern
by Brandon Sanderson
by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
by J.R. Rain
by Jim Butcher
by J.R. Rain
by Robert Kroese
by Stephanie Meyer