My Favorite 5 star Books Released in 2023

      I had a really good year reading wise. I had only 1 DNF and it was Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros.  I got to the point where the main POV was walking in front of the dragons, and one of her teammates was fried and the whole scene was written in such a bland way I could not go forward. Now I don't know if my tolerance was so low because the book I read before I tried it was my favorite book of the year?

    The Book that Wouldn't Burn is my Favorite book of the Year by a small margin, but still an easy choice. Loved the characters and plot twist and turns, Mark Lawrence is one of my many pre-orders every new release author.

I had two continuing novella series that released 5 stars stories. 

Across The Sorrow Sea by Anthony Ryan BK 5 of the Seven Swords series. Amazon thinks that is the end of the story but the ending of this novella indicates there is more to come. 

System Collapse by Martha Wells.  Bk 7 in this fabulous series that just gets better with every new instalment. Looking forward to the TV series. Was kind of hoping for it to be animated like some of the realistic looking Love, Death & Robots Episodes. Still have high hopes. 

I had a few 2nd book in the series that lived up to the promise of Book One. 

Words of Kings and Prophets by Shauna Lawless. Ancient Ireland History and Mythologies mixed in with Vikings, Plus, 2 main female POVs.  Have a soft spot in your heart for Cersei Lannister? You will love Gornflaith. 

Bitter Crown by Justin Lee Anderson.  Book One had a delicious plot twist that was my favorite Finalist for SPFBO 6 and, not only did it win, but was also picked up by Orbit Books. Book two had a great concept of having the main character suffering from the PTSD from the action in the book 1. 

Legacy of Brick and Bone by Krystal Matar.  I had Book One tied on top with another in SPFBO 7.  Love the worldbuilding and the character development in this series. Book 3 can't come fast enough.

House of Odysseus by Claire North. Been a fan of Ms North for a long time and this retelling of Penelope is fabulous.  North has Penelope doing more than making a weaving. If you are a fan of the book Circe you will love this series. 

Books that landed the landing in finishing up a series. 

The Traitor by Anthony Ryan.  Yes, I am a Fanboy of Anthony Ryan and He can do no wrong. In my humble opinion. 

Esrahaddon by Michael J Sullivan. Yes, I am a Fanboy of Michael J Sullivan and He can do no wrong, In my humble opinion. 

Fantastic starts to a New Series. 

Hexologist by Josiah Bancroft.  Been waiting for this and it delivered a fantastic read, The rare happily marriage couple are the main characters and I love them. Easily my second favorite book of the year. 

Infinity Gate by M.R. Carey. Was a bit worried, but one of my favorite SF writers took on the Quantum Universe and produced a great start to a new series. 

Will of the Many by James Islington.  I thought I was done with the "Kids in School" trope, but I guess not because this book took off after the main protagonist goes to school. 

   Well, that is it. Had a lot of 4 stars too. Like I said before I had a really good 2023 reading Year. 

 

Infinity Gate by M. R. Carey- A Review

 

        

     I first discovered M.R. Carey with his book Girl with All the Gifts.  Had I known the plot of the book, I probably would have skip it.  I was thoroughly burned out on that sub-genre, but the buzz on the book got me to read it without any prior knowledge. What I found was an innovating book that was so well written, I became a Carey Fan. The follow up, Boy on the Bridge, was a pre-sequel and a post-sequel, which again showed off Carey's writing skills. Carey followed up with the Rampart Series, three shortish books that came out all in one year.  When I first began to read Book of Koli, the first book in the series I got the impression it was going to be Carey's first foray into the Fantasy genre, until some tech flew in. The Rampart series turned out to become one of my favorite dystopia novels of all time. Later I listened to an interview with Carey, who stated his intention to write a fantasy novel, but it morphed into a dystopia almost of its own free will.  This glimpse into the creative process made me more of a fan of Carey, if that was even possible at that point. 

     So, if I am such a big fan, why did it take me so long to read to read this first entry into a new series. Frankly, I forgot.  I had so many books come in March and April of 2023, May 2023 book got slightly overlooked.  And when I got to think about my favorite books of 2023, I realized one of my favorite authors was unread. But in a way, I was glad I waited. 

    Infinity Gate is set in the multiverse, and I am glad I was able to watch Marvel's Loki.  It helped get my mind in the right mind for this novel.  There is a lot going on with this novel.  A Hot War turns into a Cold War, spies, and a wildcard all concepts that inhabit this first in the Pandominion series.  Multiple POVs spin the tale.  The Wildcard is one POV, a Watcher is another POV, a Criminal POV is added in the mix and a rabbit type student POV another.  Carey skills as a writer makes it all work. 

     After Marvel's foray into the Multiverse concept, first with Avengers, then with Spiderman into the Multiverse and finally Loki, it was really nice to have my first literary foray to be by one of my favorite authors. 

      

Napoleon- a review of Ridley Scott's Epic

     I guess my first introduction to the character of Napoleon came in the form of cartoons.  The figure of Napoleon came to represent a person who thought themselves crazy.  The hat and the hidden hand inside the vest came to represent someone who was not in control of all their mental capacity. Junior High and High School was heavy on the French Revolution and the Terror with scant lessons on Post Revolution France.  In college I got more French Revolution and even a bit of Pre-Revolution France. What I am telling you is that my Napolean Era knowledge is severely lacking. So, is Napolean historically accurate?  Who cares?  Not me. Is it a good film, that is more important. 

     The film looks fantastic.  From the get-go, the death of Marie Antionette scene, you felt like this is how it looked.  See the movie if only for the gorgeous cinematography! The two leads, Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby, carry the film. Most of the of film is about the dynamic between the two. I saw the IMAX version of the film for the battle scenes, so I was a bit surprised by the amount of the film that featured just those two actors. Did not need IMAX for that Lovey Dovey stuff,  

      In conclusion, this will get a Best Picture nomination along with Best Cinematography nomination.  Both leads will get nominations.  It is Epic film making at its finest.    

Sistah Samurai- Tatiana Obey

The Cover Art on this novella caught my eye. So, another shout out to Felix Ortiz who should get a Hugo nomination for this cover. 

      This novella took me back to the 1970s, a time when there was an era of Blaxploitation films that starred the great Pam Grier, among others.  The last samurai is fighting demons that kill and steal the souls of the dead.  Ink has become the currency of this world. Sistah fights both the demons and those who seek to corner the Ink market. Tatiana has written a "samurai anime" inspired tale, drawing on her years spent in South Korea. 

  It also has the proper price point for a novella at $2.99.  
 

Lost War- Justin Lee Anderson.

    

I read this book in 2020 when it was in the SPFBO contest.  It won the contest and was my personal favorite as well in SPFBO 6.  Barely beating out Black Stone Heart in my personal ratings. If either had won, I would have been fine with that result.  If you are wondering what SPFBO is, I will give you a brief history of the Self Publish Fantasy Blog Off contest.  Mark Lawrence started the contest way back in 2014 as a way to get more eyes on self-published books.  Mr. Lawrence convinced 10 bloggers to join him in this venture. Each contest has 300 books that in turn are slit up amongst the 10 bloggers. The next phase, each blogger will pick one out of their 30 to be one of the finalists in the contest. In the final phase has all 10 bloggers review the 10 finalists. I have mostly agreed with the eventually winner. A few times I had ties. For SPFBO 5 I had a 6-way tie. For the current SPFBO 9 it took all of 40 minutes for 300 books to be summited. It is a contest that get more popular every year.  

     Orbit Books picked up The Lost War and signed Justin Lee Anderson to a book deal. Funny thing, I remembered the very beginning of the book and the very end.  But everything in between was lost to memory, so it was like reading it new again. Orbit's editors had Justin add and delete some things from the original text, not that I could tell. Just a great read with a major plot twist of epic proportions at the end. Book 2 The Bitter Crown come out in December of 2023, so I am either going to end the year with a great book or begin the year with a great book, I hope.

Essex Dogs by Dan Jones - A Review

 

   

  Dan Jones is one of my favorite British Historian I don't know if I have read all of his non-fiction books dealing with various eras of British history, but it has been a few.  Jones puts the story back into History with his very readable, dare I say breezy, takes on various historical periods. So, when I heard that Mr. Jones was trying his hand at fiction, color me there. 

     Jones has taken the HBO's Band of Brothers and applied the concept to the July 1346 British invasion of France. It is a winning combo, as Jones takes you from a beach landing to a march inland.  It is a nice mixture of historical figures interacting with fictional characters to move the story along. Jones mostly employs First Person Narrative to spin the tale, a war weary veteran who starting to feel the pressure of being a leader of a band who are picked for all the dangerous missions. 

      Dan Jones has stepped up and enter the genre of Historical Fiction that includes some of the greatest series ever written. Dorothy Dunnett, George MacDonald Fraser, Patrick O'Brian and Richard Cornwell to name a few. A special shout out to Christian Cameron's Chivalry Series which starts with The Ill-Made Knight (Not to be confused the T,H. White's book of the same name.) 

The Will of The Many by James Islington - A Review

      Sometimes I will wait a bit before I start with a new series for fear I will be so in love with the previous series, I will not give the new series a clean slate to start. I start comparing the characters and the worldbuilding one to the other, which is not fair to the author.  I really liked James Islington's first series The Icanius Trilogy and approached this new series with a bit of trepidation.  I should not have worried. After a bit of a slow start, this tale begins to move at a pleasant pace. 

 I thought that I was done with the "Kids in School" trope, but I guess not. This book really picks up when the teenage main character goes to the "Academy."  There is a bit of a Dickensian start to the book. And a smattering of Romanesque imagery, and tech that jars you out of your first impressions. So, there is a bit of worldbuilding to this first book. I did not feel overwhelmed by the worldbuilding and there were no long paragraphs of info dumps, a big plus. The info was feed in small bites at which it seems to me, the perfect timing of info and pace. 

       The book has a First-Person narrative style, which is always my favorite style to listen to as an audiobook. The book is performed by Euan Morton, a brilliant voice actor whose work I have come across a few times. I am a big fan of audiobooks. I have been listening to audiobooks when they were suitcase like with 40 cassettes, then CDs that were a little more manageable. Love the audiobook experience while working out or cleaning.