It’s the first Thursday of the month. You know what that means. Time to report!
What is the best book you read in April 2015 and why did you love it? It doesn’t have to be a newly published book, or even SFF. We just want to share some great reading material. Feel free to post a full review of the book here, or a link to the review on your blog, or just write a few sentences about why you thought it was awesome.
(And don’t forget that we always have plenty more reading recommendations on our Fanlit Faves page and our 5-Star SFF page. And we’ve also got a constantly updating list of new and forthcoming releases.)
As always, one commenter will choose a book from our stacks.
We’ve got a couple of giveaways still current. Find those here!
Hands down, the best book I read last month was The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu – a stunning blend of Guy Gavriel Kay brand epic grandeur, intelligence, and dignity, and Steven Erikson complexities, intricacies, and smirking humor. A huge, sprawling epic, with a cast of characters that are challenging, but so well-rounded and distinct as to be immediately memorable.
Argh!! There were so many!! I will pick by which book gave me the worst book hangover…R.J. Blain’s Storm Surge. I read it at least twice and accidentally reread Storm Without End, book #1, when I looked up a plot point. The world is enthralling, the characters are fascinating, and I can’t wait for book #3.
The best book I read in April was The Mechanical, by Ian Tregillis. I’m so glad it wasn’t a standalone and there will be more books in that series. Such a fantastic exploration of free will, showing how Jax gets his, but another character loses it. Can’t wait to see how it continues.
I also really enjoyed The Lost Kingdom, by Matthew Kirby. Flying ships and laser cannons in pre-Revolution America, woo-hoo! I love Matthew Kirby’s books, and I don’t care that they’re supposedly for children or teens. I just want more!
The Mechanical was my favorite as well. It was definitely too short though! Jax was a wonderful character and I can’t wait to read more. However, I do think this was my least favorite book by Ian Tregillis. Have you read any of his others? The Milkweed Triptych is amazing. (I haven’t read Something More Than Night yet – I did win it from a contest here though LOL)
RedEyed Ghost, I haven’t read anything else by Ian Tregillis, though of course I’ve heard all the good things about the Milkweed Triptych. Would like to get my hands on more of his writing!
After a third of the way through The Many Colored Land by Julian May I would have said that book was a five star read but it seemed to go off the tracks for me after that. Therefore, my favorite book read in April was The Lieutenants by W.E.B. Griffin.
Best book I read in April was The Library At Mount Char by Scott Hawkins. I got an ARC as it doesn’t come out till June 16. It is the most original and creatively imaginative book I have ever read.
I had a decent reading month for April.
Only two Five Stars:
Greenglass House by Kate Milford – this is an excellent middle grade story with only one true fantastical element but the characters are fabulous and the main’s struggle with being adopted and still loving his adoptive parents is the best part of the story. The mystery is first rate too.
Dead Heat by Patricia Briggs – the latest of her Alpha & Omega series takes the two mains into a very creepy mystery that they have to solve to help their family. The mystery is good here but what keeps me coming back to this series is the characters, they are just done so well.
I read seven Four Stars in April so I’ll just list them here:
The Girl who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her own Making by Catherine Valente
The Crimson Campaign by Brian McClellen
Mister Max and the Book of Secrets by Cythia Voigt
The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency by Jordan Stratford
The Prophecy Con by Patrick Weekes
Witches Bureau of Investigation 2 by Richard Capwell
MythOS by Kelly McCullough
The best book I read in April was Half the World by Joe Abercrombie. Several new characters added to the mix and plenty of action throughout the story really enhanced the story started in Half A King.
A reminder to tick the “Notify me of followup comments” box because this is the place where we let people know they’ve won. I’ll post something around May 17.
For me it was Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie, I absolutely loved that book.
Edge of Dark by Brenda Cooper. If you are into trans-humanism, singularity, and stuff like that, I’d recommend looking into it more. I loved the book – was one of the best I’ve read this year.
That would be The Honours by Tim Clare. If HP Lovecraft had decided to write an Arthur Ransome adventure story it might possibly end up something like this. On a very basic level it’s an adventure story set in the 1930s about a child uncovering a mystery in a country house. Delphine is an extraordinary heroine – a lonely, brave, confused, resourceful and troubled child who mainly wants to save her father who suffers from PTSD. Beyond that, it’s difficult not to give anything away. It’s exciting and unexpected at every turn. I really like Tim Clare’s style of writing; I was totally caught up in the world he creates.
It’s properly exciting and terrifying. The honours themselves, when finally explained, are disturbing to say the least.
I cannot recommend this enough.
My favorite last month was The Three by Sarah Lotz. Four planes crash, three children are the only survivors. A religious fanatic thinks they’re the four horsemen of the apocalypse. But is he right?
The structure of it as a fake non fiction book worked fantastically, and the way she slowly teased out information through interviews and articles etc. created such a creepy atmosphere and made it impossible to put down.
Red Bedell, if you live in the USA, you win a book of your choice from our stacks.
Please contact me (Marion) with your choice and a US address. Happy reading!