2024 Books I've Read

I almost always read by listening to audiobooks. There are a couple of reasons for this, but the most important one is that it allows me to read more without sacrificing writing time. I realize that the voice actor's performance probably biases my judgment of the book's quality. But to me, the price of that is worth the ability to read more.

One of the best pieces of writing advice I’ve been given is:  “Writers need to read. A talented writer can not be successful unless they are a prolific reader.” In 2025, I plan on writing up “book reviews” for every book I read, but for what I’ve done in 2024, I thought I’d give you an abridged version. Listing all the books I’ve “read” and where I remember something about it, I’ll add a few comments.

SPOILERS may exist in this.

King of Thorns by Mark Lawrence     Did Not Finish

Too Grim and Too Dark. I finished Prince of Thorns in 2023, but I couldn’t find myself liking the main character, and in Book 2, I liked him even less.

American Gods: The Tenth Anniversary Edition by Neil Gaiman (3 ½ stars)

The story was good. But I felt it didn’t go deep enough into the characters. Shadow, the main character, is fascinating, but I still felt Neil could have dug deeper into him. He is still mysterious to me.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (2 stars)

People love this book. I don’t know why. I thought it did some good things in world-building, and right until the main character meets the second important character (literally the first half of the book), I would have rated this (5 stars), but the second half of the book just seemed too out there for me to believe. Speculative fiction needs to make the impossible possible. This work didn’t do that for me.

Gardens of the Moon (Malazan 1) by Steven Erikson (1 stars)

People either love Malazan, the Book of the Fallen or hate it. I hated it. I did what everyone said: Just finish it, and you’ll start to like it. Maybe I did like it enough to start the second book (see below). But there are too many characters, and it reads kind of like a history book. He did this. She did that. It's one very long book of story telling with not much story showing.

Deathhouse Gates (Malazan 2) by Steven Erikson  (DNF)

See above

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (3 ½ stars)

I like a lot of Stephenson’s stuff. This was okay. I thought it was a great story idea and if you read it as a caricature, you will like it. It does have the most fantastic name for a main character in modern literature, Hiro Protagonist, and does jab at Scientology hard. It also is the book that introduced the world to the “Metaverse” before Facebook was a thing, so that’s cool.

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (4 stars)

I liked this book more than I liked American Gods. I think the characters worked better here. I liked the play on names, and I do believe that the villain was done very well. I’ve only read two of Gaiman’s works, and this one will push me towards others.

The Will of the Many by James Islington (5 stars)

I thought this book was very well written. If you can soldier through the massive amount of fantasy troupes in the first half. I think every significant one is in this book. You will love this book and, like me look forward to the second book in the series due to be released in 2025.

The Way of Shadows, Shadow’s Edge, and Beyond the Shadows (the Night Angle Trilogy) by Brent Weeks (4 ½ stars)

A grim dark book I did like. Unlike the Mark Lawrence books above, I related to the main character. I could not put this book down, often times driving around the block one or two more times before I arrived at my destination to just keep the story going. If you like fantasy and have read none of Brent Weeks’s work, you should.

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (3 ½ stars)

It was ok. I put this book off forever and finally read it for reasons other than to enjoy it. Growing up, when this came out, many people I admire shunned this book because they felt it was anti-Christian faith. Some who read my works might say the same thing. I don’t believe either are. The story was a great idea, and it was pulled off well. A professor turning into James Bond didn’t work too well for me. But, I did like the ideas.

Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett (DNF)

I wanted to like this book. People I respect love it. To me, it mocked Fantasy. Dragons, dwarves, and all sorts of other things are in here. But I couldn’t keep going. I made it two-thirds through and just said to myself, “You aren’t enjoying this; find something you will.”

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (4 stars)

A friend at work recommended it to me. It is based in my part of the world. I believe the final destination is Grand Rapids, Michigan, my hometown, though it has a different name in this book. There is a reason this book was turned into a TV series (I have not seen it). It is paced well and has good characters. A little stretch on the believability in parts (a troupe of traveling fine arts performers in the post-apocalyptic upper Midwest) seemed far-fetched. I think everyone would have been hunting and gathering and not putting on Hamlet for bands of survivors.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (4 stars)

Same friend recommended this. Five star book if Clarke sticks the ending. This book had a chapter or two too many.

The Last Three Books of the Dark Tower by Stephen King (4 ½ stars)

I finally finished the Dark Tower. I put it off because I heard that it goes down hill after the fourth book Wizard and Glass. I think some people hate the ending. I loved it.

Domestication (Book 1 of Battlemage Farmer) by Seth Ring (3 ½ stars)

My first look into the newish fantasy sub-genre of Lit-RPG. I liked the story and the author (I met him at a retreat). The book is read by Michael Kramer, who read all of the Wheel of Time and a lot of Brandon Sanderson’s books. The story is good. The main character is slightly overpowered and doesn’t face much hardship in this book. I’m going through the series slowly.

Zodak: The Last Shielder by Max Moyer (4 stars)

This is a great first book for Max. Another author I met at a retreat. This is a good story with an interesting main character. I will read book 2 when it comes out.

The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan (Rosamund Pike audiobook version) (5 stars)

I love the Wheel of Time and consider myself an expert on all things Wheel of Time. I’ve read these books multiple times. The only good thing that came out of the Amazon adaptation of this story are these audiobooks. Pike does a good job with them.

On Writing by Stephen King (5 stars)

Anyone who wants to be a writer should read this.

The Stand by Stephen King (1 ½ stars)

AHHHHHGGGGH will it ever end? King fans think this could be his best book. I’m wired differently.

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel (4 stars)

I just about DNF’d this after the first half of the first chapter. Picked it back up and loved it. I like it better than Stations Eleven, and this is based in the same world. Great take on time travel.

Dies the Fire by S. M. Sterling (DNF)

I was getting into this book and then the main character did something so unbelievable to his character that I stopped reading.

Polostan by Neal Stephenson (4 stars)

Much better than Stephenson’s last work (which I can’t even remember the name). This is book 1 of a series so it doesn’t have a very satisfying ending. Otherwise, well written piece of historical fiction. If you read the Baroque Cycle, this has those kinds of undertones.

The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay (5 stars plus)

I loved this book. My 2024 Read of the Year. Great character work. Great bit of historical fiction with a very light fantasy touch. Not enough people talk about this Guy (ha, see what I did there). READ THIS BOOK.

The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie (4 ½ stars)

This takes forever to get going, to get to know the characters, to get to know the why. But when it all comes together, Bam, there it is. I can’t wait to read book 2 in 2025.

That’s it. I probably read one of Sanderson’s Bonus books in 2024 as well. The Wizards guide to books that shouldn’t have been written or something like that. But out of respect for him, I’ll just stop there.