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My Favourite Books of 2012, Nadia Graham
by Dan
Fiction + Science Fiction and Fantasy / December 21, 2012
I seem to have procrastinated this to the last minute, but there were so many good books to choose from in the last year. After some thought, I’ve got three books to recommend from 2012.
Redshirts
John Scalzi
From the Science Fiction shelf, this is a funny and yet ultimately thought-provoking book. When recommending it, I tell people this: “Redshirts. It’s about exactly what you think it’s about and it’s very well done. You should read it, I think you’d enjoy it.”
For those of you who didn’t grow up watching Star Trek instead of Degrassi and Hockey Night, “redshirt” is the term used to refer to the security officers that inevitably died shortly after being introduced in the original Star Trek, usually on an away mission. The security uniform changed colour in the later Treks but the term lives on.
The story itself takes the premise “What if these characters became aware of the pattern?” and runs with it.
Blue Magic
A.M. Dellamonica
This is a book that crosses a few genres. If I had to categorize it, I would put it on the fantasy shelf but it is in some ways more of a post-apocalypse novel centering on the human condition. This is the second in a series and the characters must deal with the final, world-changing events of the previous book. Magic is spilling into the world, due in no small part to the actions of a trio of friends. This is a book that is as much about the character relationships as it is about the events unfolding. Ordinary people coping with extraordinary circumstances is one of my favourite themes and that’s a large part of why this book is on my list of favourites for 2012. Although, not everybody might agree with the ordinary part for these characters.
The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland And Led The Revels There
Catherynne M. Valente
Well-written and original, I love this whole series. While technically children’s books, both this and The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In A Ship Of Her Own Making have elements that make them worth reading for adults and older children. The language is rich and the world of Fairyland is well built. As with Blue Magic, this book introduces consequences to actions that September (the heroine) took in the previous book and she must cope with the changes her last visit caused.
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