Books: 2015 in Review

I wrote a couple of years ago about the books I read in 2013. I liked it enough that I wanted to do it again. (Apparently, I didn't like it enough to remember to do it for 2014, though.)

For 2013, I said, "The total is more impressive than it should be, because Goodreads allows you to review many pieces of short fiction, especially those nominated for awards. Since I voted on the Hugo awards this year, I read a lot of that type of work." Well, in 2015, there was an annoying controversy that caused me to skip voting on the Hugo awards. Instead, my total was padded by starting to read graphic novels, which are quicker reads.

Again, I will list them by author and quote from/link to my Goodreads reviews, when I wrote them.

Brian Michael Bendis (7)

• Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man, Vol. 1: Revival 4 stars "It's very confusing, and there's not a lot of hand-holding of the reader to explain what's going on...I enjoyed the story and characters more than I expected."
• Spider-Men 4 stars "Not a lot of depth...but Bendis makes it an exciting ride."
• Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man, Vol. 2: Revelations 4 stars "This comic really shows how fun things can be when Spider-Man can blend in with S.H.I.E.L.D., Kitty Pride and [spoiler]."
• Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 1: Cosmic Avengers
• Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, Vol. 1 4 stars "This is the place to start reading the Miles Morales story."
• Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2: Angela
• All New X-Men, Vol. 1: Yesterday's X-Men 3 stars "Meh."
  

G. Willow Wilson (4)

• Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1: No Normal 5 stars "This was awesome." 
• Ms. Marvel, Vol. 2: Generation Why 4 stars "Enjoyable but not quite up to the standards of volume 1."
• Ms. Marvel, Vol. 3: Crushed 5 stars 
• Ms. Marvel, Vol. 4: Last Days 4 stars "These issues are leading up to the Secret Wars...I thought volume 4 suffered a little bit from this focus."

Ursula K. Le Guin (3)

• The Tombs of Atuan 4 stars
• The Farthest Shore 3 stars
• Tehanu 3 stars "This book was an amazing meditation on age, gender and power. It was also kind of boring."

Lev Grossman (2)

• The Magicians 3 stars
• The Magician King 2 stars

Mark Millar (2)

• Superman: Red Son 4 stars
• Civil War 4 stars "Pretty enjoyable, but many of the characters seemed to go off the deep end pretty quickly."

Ryan North (2)

• The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Vol. 1: Squirrel Power 3 stars 
• The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Vol. 2: Squirrel You Know It's True 2 stars "After a while I get sick of the whimsy."

Brandon Sanderson (2)

• Words of Radiance 4 stars
• Firefight 4 stars "I definitely recommend it to anyone who liked the first book (and likes trilogies)."

Charles Soule (2)

• She-Hulk, Vol. 1: Law and Disorder 4 stars "It was enjoyable, without being spectacular."
• She-Hulk, Vol. 2: Disorderly Conduct 4 stars "Verdict: not tiresome!"

Jason Aaron (1) 

• Thor, Vol. 1: The Goddess of Thunder 3 stars

Katherine Addison (1)

• The Goblin Emperor 4 stars "I really liked this book. If I knew who everybody was instead of getting confused all the time, it would have been 5 stars." 

 Louis Ames Bates (1)

• Your Five-Year-Old: Sunny and Serene 3 stars

Katherine Mary Barrow (1)

• Three Years in Tristan da Cunha 3 stars On one level, it's a fascinating slice of history of one of the weirdest places on Earth (I like weird places). On the other hand, it could use more editing. 

 Robert Bennett Jackson (1)

• City of Stairs 4 stars "It was put together in an exciting way, and I would definitely be willing to read the sequel." 

Lois McMaster Bujold (1)

• Cryoburn 4 stars

Delilah S. Dawson (1)

• The Perfect Weapon 2 stars "The writing and characterization are wooden in a way that gives tie-in fiction a bad name."

Conrad Glass (1)

• Rockhopper Copper 3 stars "While it contains some genuinely fascinating information, it is also very boring in places."

Rachel Hartman (1)

• Shadow Scale 4 stars "It's mostly well done, but the climax falls flat." 

Kevin Hearne (1)

• Heir to the Jedi 3 stars "Meh."

Ann Leckie (1)

• Ancillary Mercy 3 stars

Laura Markham (1)

• Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids: How to Stop Yelling and Start Connecting 4 stars

George R. R. Martin (1)

• A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms 5 stars

Jack McDevitt (1)

• The Hercules Text 3 stars

Naomi Novik (1)

• Uprooted 4 stars "The plot was good, and the characters were well-formed."

M. Rickert (1)

• The Mothers of Voorhisville 3 stars

Kim Stanley Robinson (1)

• Aurora 4 stars "One of the year's better books, but once again I wish that Robinson were more a fan of making his points in the plot, or at least dialogue." 

John Scalzi (1)

• The Last Colony 3 stars "It was not bad, just kind of cheesy."

Neal Stephenson (1)

• Seveneves 2 stars 

Jeff VanderMeer (1)

• Annihilation 2 stars "I read the plots of the next two books on Wikipedia just to spoil them for myself in case I ever got tempted to read them."

Chuck Wendig (1)

• Aftermath 3 stars "This only had minor appearances by the characters from the original trilogy, and it wasn't interesting enough on its own."