The Book Plank

Best Books of 2015 So which books did I enjoy the most? Compared to the other lists this was definitely the hardest one to make. I would have loved to make this a 10 book list but I had to stick to my own set rules. After a lot of contemplation I came down to the following 5 books. Just as with Harry August Claire North/Catherine Webb managed to shock and awe me with Touch a terrific blend of Science Fiction and Thriller. As I said in the review, this book would make a perfect storyline for a movie. The new Bourne series? It has my vote.  Sebastien de Castell wrote a solid entry with Greatcoats  last year but has really outdone himself with Knight's Shadow this year. In every possible way he has raised the bar for himself. The book itself is action packed. Sword fights, arrows zooming through the air and of course magic and gods that walk the Earth. Time Salvager  is the best time traveling book of this year. Welsey Chu had proved himself with the Lives of Tao and ...

Best Epic Fantasy of 2015 Epic Fantasy. Swords or magic? Anything is possible. There are lots of variations on this theme. It's no longer a knight on a quest for a golden chalice. The stories have gotten a lot in terms of complexity and character development. Below are my favorite Epic Fantasy book of 2015. Brain Staveley's debut, The Emperor's Blades,   featured last year also on the Best Epic Fantasy list. This was precisely one of those book that had everything that I mentioned above. It laid a solid foundation for the series, but this is just a start and no guarantee for a good series. With the sequel, Providence of Fire, did proof that Brian Staveley is a terrific author he used the foundation flawlessly in his sequel. There are some definite bold moves in the ending of the book that will pay on the third book.  A Darker Shade of Magic was one of my most anticipated book of 2015. When I read V.E. Schwab's Viscous I knew she was destined to do great things and thi...

Best Science Fiction of 2015 Science Fiction. The genre that excites, invents and build grandiose invents. Science Fiction has always been the books that inspire technology, look at Star Trek tablets anyone? The counts for the light sabers of Star Wars an Harvard - MIT collaboration resulted in a break through ( link ). So you never know what the next big thing will be! Last year Catherine Webb aka Claire North surprised me with Harry August  a terrific book about time traveling. During LonCon3 in London in 2015 I learned about a new book of Catherine, a book where you can jump bodies by touching. If that doesn't get your hopes up I don't know what will. Cathrine Webb writes once again anastonishingstory fast paced, pitch perfect thriller. Adrian Tchaikovksy. The man with a thousand-and-one ideas. After finishing his Shadows of the Apts series he brought two stand alone book this year. One of them was Children of Time  a scifi space op...

Best Urban Fantasy of 2015 Urban Fantasy. Pushing on the boundaries of our natural world. Transforming the natural in the super or supranatural. Some of the wildest ideas come from this genre and the books mentioned below are no exception. Flex by Ferret Steinmetz is full of wild idea's I loved the world he has created just love something hard enough and magic can and will happen a Flex able world but only to a certain degree!  The Paradox  by Charlie Fletcher is the sequel to his stunning The Oversight  which by the by also made it last year on my favorite UF list. In The Paradox Charlie Fletcher continues the success story he started in The Oversight . There are many memorable scenes in the book but the ones that stood out the most were definitely the mirror scenes. Wow. And wow again. I have high hopes for the conclusion of the trilogy. Last First Snow by Max Gladstone is already his fourth book in the Craft Sequence series. Just a few years ago he was the ...

Best Young Adult of 2015 Young Adult the genre that triggers young minds (and old). Writing Young Adult fiction is a league of itself. Though of course each story has it's roots in one or another genre, Epic or Urban Fantasy inspired. They set themselves apart when it comes down to telling the story and more importantly the focus on the protagonist, often these are young heroes or heroines who go through a remarkable transition. For me the combination mentioned above was most notable in the following books. Brandon Sanderson took over the Young Adult world by storm with his novel Steelheart . This year Firefight was released and wow. Storytelling at it's finest. The one sentence I always take into account now when reading the Steelheart series is. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Brandon Sanderson also cleverly questions what it is to be an Epic. Uprooted by Noami Novik really surprised me. It was my first book that I read from her, the synopsis of the s...

Best Debut of 2015 Debuts. Authors often only get one real chance of making a name for themselves. It's basically an all or nothing game. First one of the biggest challenges an author faces is getting published. After that you are basically in with the sharks.. uhm critics... My favorite debuts of 2015 were: Genevieve Cogman's The Invisible Library. The idea of librarians and books jumping has already been done before. However not in the precise way that Genevieve Cogman does it. Every bibliophile will enjoy the wild idea that Genevieve came up with. The Vagrant  by Peter Newman had some very bold idea's when it came down to the story. The world was amazingly rich, a unique blend of a pre and post apocalyptic vision. Crashing Heaven is one of the hardest SF books that I read so far in my reading career. A dark and grim story, Jack Forster's relation with Hugo Fist the AI, is just brilliant. Finn Fancy Necromancy was also nominated with Best First in Series. It's a...

Best Alternate History of 2015 Alternate history, the genre that bends the "what once has been" into something new, into what might have also happened. I am a big history fan and seeing with what these authors came up with I can only try to hide my grin. The Mechanical must not be missed by anyone and especially me being a Dutchy. Ian Tregillis is best known for his alternate WWII story with the Milweed Tryptich, in The Mechanical  he take you back to The Netherlands in the 17th century. Where clakkers, automatons, are slaves to help us humans. It is a wonderful imagining of The Netherlands and Ian Tregillis really did his homework when he was re imagining several parts of The Netherlands. I am a big fan of Nick Brown's Agent of Rome series. I like the Roman times a lot, during a holiday in Rome I visited the Colosseum. Awesome I tell you. With every book the series just seems to get better. Nick Brown shows a lot of versatility in the build up of his story. Highlightin...

Best Short Fiction of 2015 Short Fiction. Perhaps even more trickier than writing a full length book. One of the most obvious limiting factors is the page/word count. Some stories just fail utterly because they want to show to much or show to little and would have been better if turned in a novel. The stories below are the ones that just wowed me. Short, to the point and they pack a punch. First there is The Builder  which is published by the new Tor.com imprint. Daniel Polansky is no stranger for me. His books have always left a mark on my but The Builders has definitely left a strong one. Daniel is master of the creativity. Today I am Paul  is by far the most emotional story that I read this year. Martin L. Shoemaker created a emotional rollercoaster of a story. Powerful and heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. Paul Cornell who i know best for his Shadow Police series. Find a Way Home  is something completely different. It's part a boisterous adventure of a...