Cover Illustration by: Daniel Dociu
Babylon’s Ashes by James S.A. Corey
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Series: The Expanse (Book #6 of 9)
Genre: Sci-fi, Space Opera
Pages: 543 pages (UK paperback)
Published: 6th December 2016 by Orbit
A good sequel that feels like a long wrap-up to Nemesis Games. …
Cover Illustration by: Daniel Dociu
Nemesis Games by James S.A. Corey
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Series: The Expanse (Book #5 of 9)
Genre: Sci-fi, Space Opera
Pages: 535 pages (UK paperback)
Published: 4th June 2015 by Orbit (UK) and 2nd June 2015 by Orbit (US)
It’s all about the crew of Rocinante, and that’s the main reason why Nemesis Games is the best book in the series so far. …
ARC provided by the publisher—Head of Zeus—in exchange for an honest review.
Cover illustration by: Scott M. Fischer
Ashes of the Sun by Django Wexler
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Series: Burningblade & Silvereye (Book #1 of 3)
Genre: Fantasy, High Fantasy, Post-apocalypse, Sci-fi.
Pages: 593 pages (Kindle edition)
Published: 21st July 2020 by Head of Zeus (UK) & Orbit (US)
A captivating start to a series; if you’re worried whether Ashes of the Sun will be as good as The Shadow Campaigns or not, feel free to incinerate those doubts away now. …
ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Cover illustration by: Chris McGrath
Divinity’s Twilight: Rebirth by Christopher Russell
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Series: Divinity’s Twilight (Book #1)
Genre: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Sci-fi, Steampunk
Pages: 498 pages (US Paperback edition)
Published: 2nd June 2020 by Morgan James Fiction (Indie)
This was good, an ambitious SFF debut to what I foresee will be a large series.
Due to my TBR pile that continues to exponentially grow uncontrollably, I have to say that I rarely accept an ARC/review copy from an unknown author these days. My gut, however, told me to accept the request to review Christopher Russell’s debut, Divinity’s Twilight: Rebirth, and I’m glad I gave this one a go. I mean, how could I say no when Russell himself said that he’s a huge fan of The Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson; the inspirations from that epic series was evident in his debut. …
Review copy received from the author in exchange for an honest review.
Dust & Lightning by Rebecca Crunden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Science fiction, space adventure, novella
Published: 5th February 2020 (self-published)
Dust & Lightning was an enjoyable science fiction adventure that packed just enough character development and worldbuilding to make the plot work in novella form.
…
2020 has so far been a truly strange, stressful and complicated year, but reading wise it has been pretty incredible for me. I’ve read/listen to 73 books during this first six months of the year and quite a sizeable chunk of these garnered 4-stars and above. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I’ve added so many books onto my favourites shelf in the same period of time. If you’re interested, you can see my year in books for 2020 right here.
Similar to my previous list, I do not limit this to only books released this year. There are simply too many great books that have been published prior and that I’ve yet to read, so there will always be older books included. Below are the parameters that I’ve set for the list.
None of these are ranked except for the top three, of which two are tied for first place. The rest, I’ve listed them in the chronological order of when I’ve read them this year. All of these have been reviewed by me on Novel Notions and Goodreads.
Cover Illustration by: Daniel Dociu
Cibola Burn by James S.A. Corey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Series: The Expanse (Book #4 of 9)
Genre: Sci-fi, Space Opera
Pages: 587 pages (UK paperback)
Published: 17th June 2014 by Orbit
Cibola Burn brings The Expanse back to its good form. …
Abaddon’s Gate by James S.A. Corey
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars
Series: The Expanse (Book #3 of 9)
Genre: Sci-fi, Space opera
Pages: 560 pages (UK paperback edition)
Published: 4th July 2013 by Orbit
This was underwhelming; my least favorite novel in the series so far. …
Review copy received from the author in exchange for an honest review.
Fid’s Crusade by David H. Reiss
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Series: The Chronicles of Fid (Book 1 of 3)
Genre: Superhero, science fiction
Published: 23rd March 2018 (self-published); Re-release with new cover: 1st January 2020 (Atian Press)
I can’t say that I’ve read many superhero/villain stories. But for what it’s worth, I’d say that Fid’s Crusade was a great read; an engaging anti-hero story that balanced fascinating character work with clever plotting and cool action scenes.
…
ARC provided by the publisher—Tor UK—in exchange for an honest review.
The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Series: Standalone
Genre: Sci-fi
Pages: 608 pages
Published: 4th August 2020 by Tor (UK) & Orbit (US)
Children of Time has won the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 2016, and Children of Ruin won the “best novel of the year” in The British Science Fiction Association Award a few days ago. Tchaikovsky’s newest work, The Doors of Eden, will definitely continue to win him more prestigious SFF awards in the future. …