Provisional speculative fiction Top 5 of 2011


Well, we've almost reached the halfway point of the year, so once again it's time for my provisional speculative fiction Top 5 of 2011! I've also include the runner-ups, so you guys won't bug me with the rest of the short list!

1- Steven Erikson's The Crippled God (Canada, USA, Europe)

2- C. S. Friedman's Legacy of Kings (Canada, USA, Europe)

3- R. Scott Bakker's The White-Luck Warrior (Canada, USA, Europe)

4- James S. A. Corey's Leviathan Wakes (Canada, USA, Europe)

5- Robert McCammon's The Five (Canada, USA, Europe, and Subpress)
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6- Joe Abercrombie's The Heroes (Canada, USA, Europe)

7- Patrick Rothfuss' The Wise Man's Fear (Canada, USA, Europe)

8- Alastair Reynolds' Troika (Canada, USA, Europe, and Subpress)

9- Paolo Bacigalupi's The Alchemist (Canada, USA, Europe, and Subpress)


You don't agree!?! You don't know shit!! :P

16 commentaires:

darkul said...

I completely agree with your number 1!

Hopefully GRRM makes it to number 1.5 ;)

Daniel B. said...

You gotta add "The Quantum Thief" of the year. If it doesn't get nominated for the Hugo, the award isn't worth anything any more.

ediFanoB said...

I can't "judge" about your list because I read only one of the mentioned books. I'm glad that The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man made it to your list because I liked it a lot

Adam Whitehead said...

Still lots to come in the second half of the year. Chris Priest's first novel in nine years, Richard Morgan's COLD COMMANDS is him back on top form, there's the conclusion to Paul Kearney's MACHT TRILOGY and we may - just - get REPUBLIC OF THIEVES as well. And the Sanderson book looks like it might be diverting.

Plus ADWD, of course :-)

Jebus said...

I was quite disappointed with Crippled God, I'm loving Leviathan Wakes so I'll stick that at Number 1 and Heroes at 2 for now.

Sally Bibrary said...

I wish I could agree with #1, but as much as I love the Malazan Book of the Fallen, I found the conclusion thoroughly disappointing.

Nice pick with #2. I loved the Coldfire trilogy, and the first two books of this series have been waiting anxiously on my shelf.

So relieved to see #7. I though Patrick's first book was AMAZING, but the sequel doesn't seem to be getting a lot of love.

Marduk said...

agreed with #1!

Ken Brosky said...

Would it be possible to send a copy of my e-book for review? God, that sounds so cheesy. Well, I'd be more than happy to dish out a few copies for free to anyone who wants to review it for this site or for Amazon.com.

Alexander Field said...

I love Paolo Bacigalupi's work, so he makes sense here. I've gotta read Erikson's stuff to saymore; finally I enjoyed 'The Wise Man's Fear', just not sure if it belongs on this list. For me it didn't quite rise to the level of 'The Name of the Wind'. Thoughts?

Richard Raley said...

I agree with Jebus, really enjoyed Leviathan Wakes and Crippled God was disappointing enough to put it Number 3 behind The Heroes.

Unknown said...

Thanks for this ranking. I concur with your ranking. I tremendously enjoyed the Crippled God firstly because it stayed true to Erikson's fantastic world building and unique POV's and secondly because it was a satisfying concusion to the Fallen series. Yes, questions left unanswered for future books. As of today this deserves #1 and the others following were excellent reads also.
Only book coming that might change this is DwD.

Dave said...

No Embassytown? Its absolutely brilliant.

Anonymous said...

Heroes should be higher...

Jason said...

I absolutely adore CS Friedman and am happy to see her on the list. I agree that her latest series seems to have gone under the radar. R. Scott Bakker is (in this reader's humble opinion) at the pinnacle of epic fantasy and he just keeps getting better with each book. White Luck Warrior might be my favorite book of the year.
I have not read the Crippled God yet. As soon as I finish reading Ilium and Olympos by Dan Simmons, I am going to start the Malazan series from the beginning, maybe I will be able to make it to Crippled God before the end of the year.
I agree with another comment regarding Embassytown, outstanding novel and definately on my top 10 list.

Anonymous said...

I don't get Steven Erikson. I tried to read Gardens of the Moon but I thought it was horrific. Does it get better? Usually I can at least get through one book in the series before I stop. The Way Of Kings, Bloodheir then fail in the next or won't get to the next. But Gardens was baaaad. Maybe it was the expectation. Everybody was like this guy is almost as good as Martin. Ah no. Faster? Sure.

martingriffy said...

Gardens of the Moon is widely accepted as the most difficult book to read in MBoTF because it flits from place to place and it seemingly starts threads that make no sense or are irrelevant.When you get further through the books though, you start to put the puzzle together. It's a complex series that requires full attention from the reader, but the pay off is well worth the effort. That series is the best stuff out there bar none It gets a lot better.