Rate this year in books

Year In Review – Books

Slightly different article for you today, what you’ll find after the jump is a tantalizing list of the books I’ve read this year. Each one sporting a brief review and a final collection of my top three books of 2007. Excitement embodied is just round the corner!

Rate this slice of mythological Americana

Neil Gaiman – American Gods

American Gods, the Hugo award-winning best-selling novel by Sandman creator Neil Gaiman, is a wonderful example of modern fantasy. It’s not the most original concept but as is typical with his past work Gaiman tackles it with grace and enthusiasm, handling a myriad characters and expertly brewing an unsettling and exciting atmosphere. American Gods is simply a beautiful book to read as our protagonist is shunted along his road trip through the dark heart of America, encountering a host of mysterious characters where narrative twists abound. The territory is emotionally very familiar and fans of Gaiman’s previous output will be right at home, it’s dark, terrifying and sexy.

The plot arc is overall perhaps not as epic as Gaiman perhaps hints at, however after going through the final reveals it could be debated whether or not this is the author’s intent. Interspersed throughout the book are amazingly engaging vignettes which further flesh out the universe, these diversions providing the reader with further clues in the who’s who deity guessing game. Highly recommended to both newcomers and Gaiman die-hards (if such a person exists).

Rated: 5 out of 7

Rate this disturbing introduction

Iain M. Banks – The Player of Games

If you like your science fiction dark, rip-roaring and astonishingly well-written then look no further than the work of Scottish author Iain M. Banks. His science fiction novels deal chiefly with a futuristic mega-society known as the Culture, a nightmarishly attractive utopia where nothing is illegal and everything is possible. ‘The Player of Games’ is told, like many of the other novels in the series, from the point of view of one particular character who is somehow involved in the Culture, either inside, at the fringes or outside completely. Jernau Gurgeh is the greatest game player alive, perhaps ever, as such he is selected by shadowy agents from a need-to-know military arm of the Culture known as Special Circumstances to play the greatest game in the galaxy. Banks crafts a beautiful tapestry of his universe and it is through Gurgeh’s eyes that the reader can start to understand what makes a futuristic civilization like the Culture tick. What the reader finds out however is always much, much darker than you could imagine.

The Culture-orientated novels are quite horrific in fact. While Banks crafts these swashbuckling, violent space operas there lurks beneath the surface a dark vein that erupts at the most jaw-dropping moments. Just when you’re caught up in his this rollicking adventure the rug is pulled from beneath you. Banks uses this device gloriously and it’s disturbing that he’s actually very good at it. Very adult, very enjoyable, a pan-galactic romp of a book that serves as a fantastic introduction to a brilliantly addictive series. In the same way that crack is a good introduction to drugs for people with no willpower.

The “Oh my god I can’t believe he just wrote that” factor: 7 out of 7

Likelihood that it’ll appeal to fans of Charmed: 0 out of 7

Rated: 6 out of 7