It’s that time again, where we all reflect back on the year previous and look forward to the year ahead. Isn’t it? Anyway, I read a total of 38 books last year, so I might as well talk about some of them.
That’s enough of an intro, let’s get to the meat. Here’s my top 5 reads of 2023, and more, in no particular order:
Dying Inside by Robert Silverberg
A man born with telepathy is losing his powers as he ages. One of those books that really should be on a “literature” shelf, but because it’s about a dude with telepathy, it’s lumped under Science Fiction. That said, if you’re a fan of—or curious about—the New Wave of Science Fiction, you REALLY need to read this one. Absolutely phenomenal. It examines alienation, identity, existential crises, maturity, relationships, and asks questions like “if you can read a person’s mind while they’re having sex, is that rape?”
The narrative is a bit non-linear in form, weaving from the past to the present and back again. There are some diversionary passages, for example an essay on Kafka. We get insights from the main character of course, but we also get thoughts from the other characters, too, due to the nature of the MC’s powers—one of the best scenes in the book involves a bad LSD trip he experiences because someone else is tripping. Whew!
5 stars having existential crises out of 5.
Warlock by Oakley Hall
Yes, Pynchon wrote the blurb on the back of the NYRB edition—he liked it a lot. But that’s not the reason to read this book. And don’t read it because you’re a fan of the movie Tombstone—you’ll be disappointed. This is a Literary Western, just like Dying Inside is a Literary SciFi. It goes deep.
It is very densely written and I found it difficult at first to keep track of all the characters. And it is a bit of a tome: 471 pages of teensy tiny text. But it IS worth it. Folks who love westerns will enjoy the thoroughness of the details—folks who hate westerns will take pleasure in the subversions to the genre (bear in mind the book was written in the 1950s, the height of the western craze.)
The town of Warlock is a frontier town suffering growing pains. Heavily inspired by the events of Tombstone, Arizona and the infamous Gunfight at the OK Corral. It examines worker’s rights, the lawlessness of the era, the futility of the system, friendship, loyalty… A bit bleak, but there’s some lighter bits, too. Everything is vivid, the characters, the atmosphere is evocative. I feel like I’m summing it up poorly, but I really enjoyed the book.
5 star-shaped bullet holes out of 5.
The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson
This one I didn’t like at first, took a couple chapters to grow on me. Sometimes that happens: you start a book, think “ugh,” but a couple pages later something clicks. Then it winds up making it into some sort of favourites list.
Published the same year as The Fellowship of the Ring, for all the Tolkien-haters out there, this is your book to point to and say “See? See? Imagine what fantasy would look like if LOTR didn’t exist!” Both books are very heavily inspired by northern European/Celtic mythology, feature archaic styling (the poems in this book are so perfect!) but one got heavily overshadowed by the other—almost to the point of being forgotten in the history of fantasy as a genre.
If you’re looking for elves and trolls, tragic heroes, gods and goddesses, this is for you. Apparently Michael Moorcock was a big fan, inspiring certain aspects of his Elric saga. Do with that what you will. Also, you might want to check out another Poul Anderson fantasy: Three Hearts and Three Lions, but that one is a kinda goofy take on a portal fantasy. It’s also good, I enjoyed it, but The Broken Sword far surpasses it.
Also note, the version I read is the original version—Anderson made some changes and had it republished later on, so if you’re ok with a harsher depiction of women, read the original.
5 stars forged by evil giants out of 5
Molloy by Samuel Beckett
This is probably the most analyzed book of the bunch so I’ll keep this brief:
Half the book is a single paragraph, stream-of-consciousness style. Yes, I loved it. 5 mouth rocks out of 5, and I look forward to reading more Beckett this year.
Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolfe
This is actually 3 novellas in one related narrative. If you had trouble with BotNS or The Wizard Knight, you’ll have trouble with this one, that's just how Gene Wolfe is—but it is a standalone, so a smaller chew vs those works. Full of puzzles, symbolism, esotericism and allegory… iiin spaaaace…!
Another “should be on the capital-L Literature shelf but it’s in space so stick it in Science Fiction.” If I go on I’m just going to continue fangirling over Gene Wolfe, the Pringles guy.
Such a marvelous mustache.
Anyway, I went onto this book without looking up anything about plot/narrative/whatever so I suggest you do the same. Go in blind.
5 heads of Cerberus out of 5
Honourable mentions:
Thrice and Four-Scored by Andrew D. Meredith
A really great example of self-published fantasy. A sort of Lone Wolf and Cub/Mandalorian style father/son adventure, with slavic myth-inspired magic, if you’re into that sort of thing. I’m looking forward to the conclusion of the trilogy.
My Name is Yip by Paddy Crewe
Told from the perspective of a mute child/young man navigating the harsh realities of life as a person with disabilities in 1815, but where some of these stories can be really cringey and exhausting, this one is done very well. In some ways it reminded me a bit of Blood Meridian, in that it’s a western full of tragedy. I enjoyed Crewe’s voice quite a bit.
Flash for Freedom by George MacDonald Fraser
Look, I fucking love the Flashman Papers series. The historical accuracy is phenomenal, considering these books are told from the perspective of a cowardly, selfish asshole. Anyway, this one is about the Atlantic slave trade. None of these books are suitable for Modern Audiences.
Rereads
The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe
An absolute masterpiece of a series, and well worth a second read (or third…) I skipped Urth this time around, mostly because I found Urth to be a bit too “explainy” and I prefer the ending to Citadel of the Autarch just how it is. That said, I’ll probably read Urth again soon, too.
Cugel’s Saga by Jack Vance
My favourite in his Dying Earth series. Funny and extremely Vancian. My one gripe is that each of the Cugel stories has a near-identical plot progression, but it doesn’t really matter because in each story you’re wondering how Cugel the Clever is going to screw it up for himself and annoy the piss out of everyone around him.
The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt
One of my favourite books, to be flat out honest. I don’t know why, but it hits me just the right way. It’s funny, sad, and the one (only) thing the adaptation did right was cast John C. Reilly as Eli Sisters. Absolutely perfect casting, too bad the movie is totally skippable. But if you like westerns with a touch of humour and a little bit of magical realism (scientific fantasy?) give the book a try.
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Another favourite book. It’s just so goddamn funny. PS, if you think you’d suit the scorpion jacket from Drive, you’re probably more similar to Ignatius J. Reilly. You have your “literally me” mixed up.
I kid. Calm down and have a hotdog.
Least Liked
Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh
One of my favourite things to do is pick books based on 1-star reviews. I’ve found some awesome books this way. However, the 1-stars were correct on this occasion, but not for the way you’d think—most the reviews said it was too gross etc, but I think those reviewers were just thin-skinned when it comes to that sort of content. No, its biggest offence was just being boring. I almost DNF’d. It was pointless, annoying, and I couldn’t stand Moshfegh’s voice. The end.
The Chronicles of Amber series by Roger Zelazny
I know I’m going to get a lot of heat for this but I just didn’t love it. Luckily each book is rather short. There were some cool parts, and I will say The Guns of Avalon was the best, but I DNF’d the Merlin cycle after forcing myself through the Corwin cycle. I just didn’t care enough. I know this series is a big favourite amongst SFF fans, and it was a huge influence on a lot of authors (GRRM for example) but I felt overall very “meh” by the end of book 5 (out of 10.) Apparently we’re getting an adaptation soon, but I’m not super eager for it.
Cage of Souls by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Absolutely pointless book, and the last book I finished in 2023. Oh well. Some parts were neat, but, by the end… Well, I won’t spoil anything, I’ll just say I really didn’t care at all. Was very close to DNFing multiple times. I should have, but I guess it wasn’t so terrible on a technical level. Again, its biggest sin was conjuring boredom.
Well, I don’t do too many posts like this, so let me know what you think. Agree, disagree? Tell me my taste is shit in the comment section below!
DNF’d ? Cant find a definition...
I got a ways into amber but then after about the 5th book it just beacem utter rubbish...
Better is The World of Tiers ! Way more whackdoodle but actualy readable...
We have similar tastes in SF and Fantasy! If you like Poul Anderson check out High Crusade! I’m a huge Robert Silverberg fan…or AgBerg (get it? Ag is the symbol for silver?😂). His more literary stuff is great but still gets lumped in the SF genre stacks. My faves are Gilgamesh the King and The Book of Skulls, with an honorable mention to Downward to Earth.
On Amber, the first five books I read as they came out…it was more than a decade later when the next series came out. You’re right, Guns of Avalon was the best and the series kind of went downhill from there though I liked the end of the first series (Random becoming king was a great choice). The whole second series was like you said, meh. We ought to compare what we have and haven’t read; I’m sure I’ll get some good reads out of that!
Hey, you read any Haldeman?