Only the Best of 20 Ten (and also some of the worst)

It was promised multiple times and now it's a reality. My top picks for 2010.

My goal was to read 60 books this year and I reached 52, which is quite an achievement for me (10 more than last year). I've always heard that it's best to reach 80% of your goals because it means your setting them to make you stretch and that's about what I've done here (86% to be exact).

Top 5 2010 Releases

5. Corvus (2010) - Paul Kearney
4. Shadow's Son (2010) - Jon Sprunk
3. The Desert Spear (2010) - Peter V. Brett
2. Return of the Crimson Guard (2010 US) - Ian C. Esslemont
1. The Way of Kings (2010) - Brandon Sanderson

Top 10 Read in 2010 (From any publication year)


10. The Ten Thousand (2008) - Paul Kearney
9. The Crown Conspiracy (2007) - Michael J. Sullivan
8. Ender's Shadow (1999) - Orson Scott Card
7. The Burning Skies (2009) - David J. Williams
6. An Autumn War (2008) - Daniel Abraham
5. The Desert Spear (2010) - Peter V. Brett
4. Return of the Crimson Guard (2010) - Ian C. Esslemont
3. The Way of Kings (2010) - Brandon Sanderson
2. The Warded Man (2008) - Peter V. Brett
1. The Last Unicorn (1968) - Peter S. Beagle

Biggest Surprise(s)

There were three for this category and all from small presses. Loved all of these and will definitely be reading more from each author:


Dante's Journey - JC Marino
Armageddon Bound - Tim Marquitz
A Festival of Skeletons - RJ Astruc

Biggest Disappointment(s)


Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
The Last Wish

Series Started in 2010

16

They are:

The Way of Shadows (Night Angel)
The Ten Thousand (Macht)
Ender's Shadow (Ender's Shadow)
On Basilisk Station (Honor Harrington)
The Way of Kings (Stormlight Archive)
The Warded Man (Demon Cycle)
Shadow's Son (Shadow Saga)
The Left Hand of God (Thomas Cale)
The Mirrored Heavens (Autumn Rain)
Heroes Die (Overworld)
The Hunger Games (Hunger Games)
The Gunslinger (Dark Tower)
The Crown Conspiracy (Riyria Revelations)
Armageddon Bound (Demon Squad)
Malice (Malice)
A Shadow in Summer (Long Price)

Yeah, this doesn't look too good does it? It gets worse (and then a bit better).

Series Finished in 2010

4

The Hunger Games
The Long Price Quartet
The Autumn Rain Trilogy
The Night Angel Trilogy

This is definitely the 'worse' part. Ouch.

Series With the Possibility of Completion in 2010

5

The Hunger Games
The Long Price Quartet
The Autumn Rain Trilogy
The Night Angel Trilogy
Dark Tower

Doesn't look so bad now does it? :D

Series Furthered in 2010

4

Return of the Crimson Guard (Malazan)
Reaper's Gale (Malazan)
Toll the Hounds (Malazan)
The Desert Spear (Demon Cycle)
The Light Fantastic (Discworld)
Corvus (Macht)

Hope you did better with your series than I did. Furthering only 4 when I started 16, not to mention the others I started before 2010 is a goal I'll have to work a bit harder on in 2011.

Review - The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

I'll get straight to the point on this, read it, read it now. The Last Unicorn (1968) [US] [UK] is a classic and not without reason.

The third-person narrative centers on a unicorn who, believing she is the last of her kind in the world, sets off on a journey to discover what has happened to the others. She encounters a host of diverse characters as her journey progresses, each of them bringing her closer to her goal. (from wikipedia)

I thought I'd do this review a bit different than my normal routine and just list the reasons for reading it. I don't have any grand delusions of thinking that I can actually do the book justice. :)

Why You Should Read The Last Unicorn...

-The prose flows beautifully, keeping the plot moving and your imagination enriched.

-Along the same vein, the metaphors used are amazing and perfectly describe the situation giving it that quality that stays with you.

-This is not your typical journey tale.

-The characters are magical and can be hilarious at times, especially Schmendrick the Magician and Molly Grue.

-Ever want to live in a fairy tale for at least a few minutes. The Last Unicorn immerses you in a world of unicorns, harpies, witches, and magic.

-This is a story of hope or maybe more accurately of no hope. I once heard that if you don't just accept that life sucks you're not an optimist, you're an idiot. One theme in The Last Unicorn reminded me exactly of this quote that I think is ridiculous. Life will throw things at you all the time no matter what you do. If you don't learn to enjoy life through those hard times you'll always be miserable. This is exactly the mistake that is commented upon in The Last Unicorn.

-It's only 294 pages with large font. You can hammer that out in a few hours right?

-Did I mention The Last Unicorn is a classic?

-If you don't like cats, The Last Unicorn has the answer for you:

...there is no such thing as a cat-it is just a shape that all manner of imps, hobs, and devilkins like to put on, to gain easy entrance into the homes of men...

-If you don't read The Last Unicorn, the red bull will come get you.

Why You Shouldn't Read The Last Unicorn...

-I do have to warn that there are plenty of poems and songs interspersed throughout. I know lots of people get turned off by that sort of thing, but I thought it only added to the fairy tale atmosphere. But again, I realize that's not for everyone.

-I guess if you're not a true fantasy fan (tsk tsk)...do you really want me to go there? Did I mention everybody's doing it? Peer pressure usually works on me.

5 out of 5 Stars