Renee:
What were you Top 3 series/books you read this year?
This year I discovered Jim Hines and I absolutely fell in love with Libriomancer. The story itself isn’t epic but the concept is absolutely brilliant. The idea of reading being a power in and of itself fascinated me. I am now going to be terribly predictable and say that my favourite books this year were by Kim Harrison, Kevin Hearne and of course Diana Rowland. Readers of our blog will recognise these names because these are the authors that we have a history of fanpoodling; however, when something is this good, it simply cannot be denied.
What book(s) pleasantly surprised you?
I think the series that surprised me the most was Shawntelle Madison’s Coveted series. I found it on Netgalley and it was characterized as a romance. In terms of disability treatment, it is the best that I found in the genre. Having a werewolf who hoards and is OCD and in psychiatric treatment was totally unexpected. I loved this series from start to finish and cannot wait to see where it is going.
What was this year’s guilty pleasure? Which book/series are you embarrassed to admit you liked?
I guess I would have to say that it would have to be the Sabina Kane series by Jaye Well. It’s treatment of GLBT characters was beyond problematic and it’s fat phobic as hell, but how could I say no to a demon, who shifted into a bald cat, who had needs that simply needed to be fulfilled?
What was your favourite Television series this year?
My favourite television series this year is without a doubt The Games of Thrones. I know that the show has plenty of problematic elements like sexism for instance, but it is still some of the most compelling television in the genre. I liked the series so much that season two inspired me to read the books to get to know the characters better.
What was your favourite indie published book?
My favourite indie published book was Dark Dates Tracy Sinclair. Firsts off, it has vampires, fallen angels and shifters - that’s winning combination. I loved that the protagonist Cassandra was sexually confident and refused to be a victim who waited around to be saved, yet she wasn’t one of the typical ass kicking protagonist that we have become accustomed to in the genre. Cassandra has no real physical fighting skills and so like the average person, when in danger, she uses whatever is at hand, even it’s just her purse.
What really sold me on this book however is the continual pop culture references and the fact that it is laugh out loud funny. Dark Dates is the first indie book that we have read for Fangs for the Fantasy, which received a five fang rating and it deserved every bit of it to be honest. I cannot wait to see where Sinclair is taking this series and I cannot recommend it enough.
What was the worst thing you read this year?
I think the worst thing that I read this year was Victoria Foyt’s Save the Pearls. It is without doubt, the most racist book I have ever read in the genre. It has all of the usual racist tropes and told oppression through the eyes of a White woman, who was supposedly a lesser being because of race. You’ll note that White people are called “pearls” which is semi precious material, while Blacks are called “Coals.” The entire book is a reverse racism lalapooloza, which culumates with the Black male protagonist being turned into a beast. How subtle is that?
What television series did you enjoy the least?
We watched a lot of shows in the genre and to be honest there were tons of series that were extremely problematic. Shows like True Blood, which I generally enjoy, seemed to be existing on vapors and have no idea of where it was going. I think for me, the worst show had to be Continuum. The writing was just plain bad and week after week it bored me. It has an interesting concept but was so badly executed, I found myself rooting for the supposed terrorists.
What are you looking forward to being released in 2013?
I really am looking forward to seeing World War Z starring Brad Pitt. I suppose it was to be expected that with the success of The Walking Dead we would see a few movies hoping to cash in on the latest thing, but this one actually looks compelling. I love that the zombies move fast enough to be a real threat. Also on the topic of zombies, I am really looking forward to the next five installations of The Walking Dead video game. I am not a video game person per say but after playing the first five episodes, I am truly hooked. Though the game was really hard to play, it really gives the player a sense of what it might be like to be caught in the series itself.
Were your expectations for 2012 met?
First, I have to say that I am truly excited that we have come to the end of the Twilight saga. I cannot tell you how excited I don’t have to watch another emo sparkling vampire movie. I don’t know that I went into 2012 with a lot of expectations though. I was also a little let down with the Hunger Games. I absolutely love this series and don’t feel like the movie did the book justice at all. I was further disgusted that fans turned the series into a competition between Gale and Peta and of course the uproar over a Black rue. Talk about letting your bigotry show and missing the entire point of the series. In terms of genre, I suppose I am never going to be happy with the amount of epic that happens because for me, there can never be enough.
Sparky:
What were you Top 3 series/books you read this year?
I have my old favourites from last year which continue to be excellent - Kevin Hearne’s Iron Druid chronicles goes from strength to strength and always needs a mention - but that’s a continuation of 2011’s awesome. For this year, prize goes to the Kara Gillian Series by Diana Rowland; we were introduced to her last year through My Life as a White Trash Zombie and hoped this series would be as good. It’s not - it’s better, and that takes some doing. Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London Series was truly, amazingly excellent and one of the books I’ve been sorely tempted to re-read.
What book(s) pleasantly surprised you?
Probably Fire Baptised by Kenya Wright. For some reason I expected this to be a romance, I think partly because of the books I was reading at the time. I started reading this warily and when I saw how wide the world was I cringed in expectation of the info-dumps... and they didn’t happen. I started wary and ended the book extremely happy, it was one of my few happy discoveries this year and became one of the series I’m earmark to follow on release day (or earlier if I can wrangle it)
I’m going to give Grimm a mention as well. Not a book - but after a full season of boring Monster of the Week, I was really surprised by how Grimm redeemed itself in season 2
What was your favourite Television series this year?
I have to say, this has been a pretty bad year for TV series. We’ve had a lot of new shows - 666 Park Avenue, Beauty and the Beast, Continuum, to name a few and they’ve been generally pretty awful. Add in True Blood pretty much crashing, Being Human (US) losing the plot and The Vampire Diaries continuing to be, well, The Vampire Diaries, it wasn’t a great year. At least I didn’t have to watch Secret Circle
However, this was the year I finally sat down and caught up with Supernatural. And this was the year I was introduced to Castiel. Admittedly, the latest season has been pretty awful, but it has been one of the few shows I’ve been genuinely looking forward to. I’m going to follow that with Teen Wolf which was excellent this year and didn’t need me trawling the archives to find things I loved. Honourable mentions to Once Upon a Time, Switch and Warehouse 13.
What was your favourite indie published book?
That definitely has to go to Hexcommunicated by Rafael Chandler. This book ticked all the right boxes - not just in terms of an excellent world, an excellent protagonist and a truly original concept and a very inclusive cast as well.
What was the worst thing you read this year?
Beauty by Laurell K Hamilton for being the distilled essence of all that is wrong in the Anita Blake Series in one teeny tiny short story. Well, 2 chapters, if we’re honest. Badly written, ridiculously descriptive and nothing but poorly written sex - it’s concentrated Anita fail. And that’s aside from the fact these 2 chapters, these scraps from the cutting room floor, were actually sold.
It being short meant it managed to escape being DNFed - but I had 3 books this year I simply couldn’t finish. Comically over-written, far too long and rambly and utterly incomprehensible, in that order. Fade has become my go-to book to show the horrors of purple prose, and I like to read Sleight of Hand aloud at parties - it saves on the booze, since everyone assumes they must be way drunker than they actually are.
An honourable mention goes to Lover Reborn by JR Ward for doing the impossible - actually taking all the bad things of that series, concentrating them and making it far far far worse. You thought it couldn’t get worse? Ha! That’ll learn ya!
What was the worst thing you watched this year?
The standard was, as I’ve said, pretty poor - I won’t say there were a lot of awful shows, but there were a lot of really-not-great shows. In terms of utter worse I’m probably going to go with the last 2 seasons of Misfits, the story fell apart, the characters were replaced and we just had an endless barrage of slurs and insults and tropes etc that it became a chore to watch. Past time to put this series to bed
What was this year’s guilty pleasure? Which book/series are you embarrassed to admit you liked?
Misfits (at least the first 2 seasons) and Almighty Johnsons. I enjoyed them, they were funny, they had fun stories, fun characters - but ye gods could they wrack up the fails! Every episode had cringeworthy moments and it definitely became a show I enjoyed - but was almost ashamed of enjoying.
What are you looking forward to being released in 2013?
What I’m most looking forward to is something new. This year wasn’t a great one for new, amazing shows, nor did I really launch onto any new book series that were amazing beyond the Kara Gillian Series (and even that I leaped off from a book series from the same author) and Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London Series. I read a lot of good books and I read some awesome continuations of some awesome series - but I didn’t pick up many brand new series and think “this is awesome! I’m hooked!”. Some good ones, certainly and some which may become awesome - but not the same number of series grabbing me that 2011 had.
I am still resisting the urge to camp outside Kevin Hearne’s and Diana Rowland’s homes listening to see if I can hear typing. I’m also looking forward to Kim Harrison’s new book - I want it but I know the series is coming to a close and I don’t want that to happen. I don’t know if Hexcommunicated is going to get a sequel - but I want it! Yes yes I do. I’m also looking forward to Ilona Andrew’s Magic Rises, Kate’s one of my favourite protagonists.
Were your expectations for 2012 met?
I would say... no, actually. Tricked by Kevin Hearne was awesome, certainly. But Ilona Andrews only released short stories in the most excellent Kate Daniels Series, and Cold Days, Heartless and Timeless all had issues, alas.