Top ten books published in 2001

[jinian]

10. Year of the Griffin by Diana Wynne Jones.
This is a sequel to her Dark Lord of Derkholm, which was basically a novelized version of her Tough Guide to Fantasyland. This is something else, something with the same characters but less depression. This is what Harry Potter books need to get some of. It's how the fantasy version of the boarding-school novel should be done. Funny and light, but not too sweet.
The downside is that I felt like she didn't focus enough on the characters. They fell a little flat for me. That's common to her work, though; something about how she writes means that I don't get into the people's heads all that much.
I really enjoyed it, though, and I recommend it, or it wouldn't be here.

9. Treasure at the Heart of the Tanglewood by Meredith Ann Pierce.
I just got this on my trip to Powell's in December. Pierce hasn't had a new book in ages, and this one is lovely. She used a word that wasn't in my dictionary, which always earns tons of points; the OED has "meline" (which means "quince-yellow" for when you run across it) listed as Obs. rare.
If you want the story to go someplace quickly, you might want to give it a miss. It wanders the paths of the present more than, say, her Darkangel trilogy, and the protagonist is less directed. Also, it has the simplicity that makes me love to read YA fantasy.
I was laughing out loud several times and purring several others. This was a very good year for new books, or I would have rated this higher.

8. Squire by Tamora Pierce.
As uppity as it feels for me to say this sort of thing about someone whose books I've been devouring since I was ten, Pierce is slowly but surely coming into her craft. (I saw her when she visited Seattle this past year, and she thinks so too, so I haven't actually imploded from shame at expressing that thought.) The characters are still a little typecast, but she's drawing the magic in more intricately and fixing it to the plot in more places. Interesting that I notice that now, because the protagonist of this book isn't Gifted. Keladry is my favorite person so far, though.
The one thing that rubs me the wrong way in this quartet-to-be (Lady Knight isn't out just yet) is the Yamani. They're an island people, very concerned with keeping face; they have an emperor, and their ladies fight with polearms while the knights fight with a long sword and a short one... Okay, the rest of her countries are distilled fantasy Europe, but the Yamani language is exactly Japanese. Too much, sheesh. Run it through the mixer on low at least.
I will read anything this woman writes, and she's the only author to whom I've ever given an actual gift. She's just getting better. Unless you can't stand to read YA stuff, pick up First Test and give her a try.

7. The Last Hot Time by John M. Ford.
Okay, maybe I'm cheating. I read it in 2001, but I'm not 100% sure it came out in hardcover then. The paperback did, though, so I'm counting it.
Damned fine book. What can I say about Ford to someone who hasn't read him? Those who have already know. He's a bloody genius, and I'm not just saying that because he's one of Elise's partners, either. The man can write like no one else.
The reason this is as low as it is -- and I'll say it now: I am wrong. This book should probably be number one -- is because of a fault in me. The fabric is so dense that I can only see one layer at a time, and I only read this book once in 2001. Future readings will leave this book in my all-time top ten, I'm sure. There's just so much there that I haven't gotten it all yet. Give me time.
One note to anyone squicked by BDSM: It's fairly subtle, I'm just warning you that the theme is there.

6. Perdido Street Station by China Mieville.
Possibly also a cheat, but this came out in the US in 2001. I had to watch Brits rave about it for a good long time before we got it, though.
How can you not love a steampunk city with a neighborhood called Chitin? This is number six beacuse I adore the city. The setting is wonderful. I enjoyed the characters, the races, the politics, and the particular sort of science.
I wasn't satisfied with the ending, and that's all I'm going to say about that. There's a lot of brutality throughout the book, which squicked me pretty good at times, so if you're more sensitive you might want to be careful with it.

5. The Wizard's Dilemma by Diane Duane.
When I read A Wizard Abroad, I was sad. I thought Duane had lost the thing that made the first three wizards books resonate with me, or maybe I was too old and would never have the same feeling for new books as the ones I read when I wasn't yet thirteen.
Neither of those is true. This book was just right. It tied in some issues from earlier books, which were fun to spot, but mostly it just felt right. Yes, these are the characters I care about, they are not doing dumb things for no reason. Yes, this is the vision of the universe that has made me cry for its beauty. Yes, that's the one.
Drawback? I dunno. If you didn't read any of these when you were a young'un, you might not love them the way I do. So go read something else of hers, then.

4. Issola by Steven Brust.
A truly excellent book about which I can say almost nothing. Good! Really, really good! So much information we didn't have before that I can't start to tell you what the plot is like without ruining it!
If you haven't read the other Vlad books, I highly recommend reading at least some of them first. They aren't in chronological order at all, so beware if you pick and choose.

3. The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold.
Finely crafted, well plotted, and thoroughly thought out. The magic system, for lack of a better term, is fascinating. It was interesting to read a novel written at her current level of competence that lacked any of the characters I knew; I cared about what happened, absolutely, but the references couldn't get as deep. Great stuff, regardless.

2. American Gods by Neil Gaiman.
Notice how I have less to say about each of the books as they move toward the "favorite" end of the scale? About AG I can say "wow" and "wow" again. That about covers it. I still don't know where several of those myths came from, but I am going to find out eventually.
Gaiman's strength is in warped retellings, I think, and his language is lovely -- so natural. If you ever have a chance to hear him read his work, skip work for it. Skip your wedding. Maybe even your funeral. Most authors can't read aloud that well, I find, but Gaiman is wonderful at it. Sometimes I am envious of his daughters, as they get (or got) to be read to all the time. (And he has such good taste.)
Fine, fine book.

1. The King's Peace and The King's Name by Jo Walton.
I claim that this is not cheating; it is not my fault that TOR foolishly published the first half of this book in 2000. Really it's just one book, the Sulien text, which has been found in the future of an alternate world and reprinted, to some scholarly outcry because of how widely it differs from their accepted history.
Er, it's not a bit like Mary Gentle's Ash, though, promise.
Why is it number one? Because no one has heard of it! And I find that to be a travesty. This book had the most emotional impact on me of anything I've read this year, and the top ten have been roughly arranged in gutpunch order. It is quiet and standoffish, and it took me some work to get into it, but if I'd been reading the last book at home instead of on the train I'd have been bawling my head off. (As it was, Wim makes a very good concealing shoulder.) It's beautiful. Sulien is more a person that any character I've ever seen, and she lives in a world full of other people.
If you love all things Arthurian, read this now. If you hate all things Arthurian, read this now.

Honorable Mention:
War For the Oaks by Emma Bull.
It was republished in 2001 and there is no longer any excuse not to have read this perfect piece of fantasy. Get out there and buy it.

Comments

[wcg.livejournal.com]

An impressive list, and one that gives me much to look for. Of the ten, I've only read _Curse_, and have to agree with you that it's an amazingly good book.

(And hey, I'm typing this because I just saw your most recent entry. I'll be happy to talk with you about books. I just didn't feel especially well qualified to comment on your list. That, and it's LJ, and I still have the sense I'm writing in someone else's diary here.)

-Bill

the last hot time

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

honey, it ain't just you. i adore the last hot time and nearly everything else he's written, but i always get the feeling that there's lots more there that i'm not getting.

i read tlht last year just before christmas, so i think it's now been long enough so that i can go back and read it again.

This List Makes Me Sad

[montykins.livejournal.com]

Because on the books I've read, I strongly agree with you. Which means that I really ought to get the ones I haven't. Like I'm not far enough behind on my reading already.

Great list.

Re: the last hot time

[jinian.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think I'll go back and read it again, too. That'll be next on my agenda after I finish rereading Diane Duane's wizard books to research the critical issue of whether Tom and Carl are queer. :)

[jinian.livejournal.com]

You're always welcome to write in the margins. Thanks for writing, though I'm a little embarrassed to have guilted you into it. :)

Re: This List Makes Me Sad

[jinian.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Which ones have you read?

critical research

[rivka.livejournal.com]

after I finish rereading Diane Duane's wizard books to research the critical issue of whether Tom and Carl are queer.

*grin* I've done the same. My verdict: yes, of course, they must be! Nita thinks of them as best friends living and working together, but that could just mean that their romantic connection hasn't occurred to her, not that it doesn't exist. She's been portrayed as kind of clueless on the social-perception level, after all.

A Wizard's Dilemma was an awesome book. I think I'm about ready to re-read it.

Re: critical research

[jinian.livejournal.com]

Well, the fact that they're on Mary Anne Mohanraj's list of queer fiction (http://www.mamohanraj.com/balist.html) is what set me off. My reaction that day was "but they're not gay!", so I had to go find out. I finished High Wizardry yesterday and found what I remembered, which was Nita thinking to herself that they just like working together. All through the books, though, there are these hints being dropped: the fact that only two Seniors on the planet even live in the same state, the very perceptive things T & C have to say about outness (as a wizard, of course!), the way people say several times that they're "just like anybody"... They don't act like they're involved, but they could just be undemonstrative. I know people like that.

It makes a fine excuse to reread, anyway. High Wizardry is one I didn't find until after I had given up on there being more books, so it has a special place on my emotional bookshelf. :) I'll slog through Abroad this weekend, most likely, and then reread Dilemma, yay!

[technocracygirl.livejournal.com]

*Sigh*. Woman, I already have Stephen Saylor and Dorothy Sayers to read, not to mention _Hellspark_ and _March to the Sea_. And now, your cogent list, which includes so many books I like, causes me to read more.

G-d, I should drop out of grad school and become a slush-pile editor for SF/Fantasy for one of the publishing houses.

FYI, I've read _YotG_, _CoC_, _and _AG_. I actuially bought _Issola and Dragon_ (a compendium volume) yesterday, and though it's really confusing, it's pretty darn good.

Re: This List Makes Me Sad

[montykins.livejournal.com]

I've only read American Gods and Issola. Well, and War for the Oaks, but that's a given.

But I have Perdido Street Station glaring at me, waiting to be read. And people keep telling me to read The Last Hot Time.

[resolute.livejournal.com]

Nice list. I think I might add Ascending, by umm, (rummage around in other room, excuse me,) James Alan Gardner.

All those on this list that I have read, I agree with. I note that you include a number of "children's" fantasy -- do you keep up with that part of the genre regularly?

[jinian.livejournal.com]

I have YA authors that I follow. Not so much the younger children's stuff, but once it gets into the 12-and-up bracket I often enjoy it. Sometimes the stories are too Saturday-morning, but a heartening number of them are simplified into elegance rather than dumbed down, and elegance is something I really like.

I haven't read Ascending, or any Gardner. What's it like?

[jinian.livejournal.com]

Noooo, slush pile bad! (I'm tempted sometimes, too, I'll admit. The thing is, none of this good stuff went to the slush pile, so we'd miss it anyway.)

Have you read the other Vlad books at all?

Re:

[technocracygirl.livejournal.com]

Nope, not a one of them. I picked up the second and fourth ones at the Seattle Public Library the other day, though.