The Book Count 2024

[Greg]

Have to start somewhere. These books aren't going to read themselves.

January

TransAtlantic by Colum McCann Jan 1, 2024 Rating A
The Olympian Affair by Jim Butcher Jan 5, 2024 (Book 2 of a series) Rating A
In the Lives of Puppets by T.J. Klune Jan 9, 2024 Rating B
Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky Jan 17, 2024 (Book 2 of a series) Rating B
Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo Jan 21, 2024 (Book 2 of a series) Rating B+
Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky Jan 28, 2024 (Book 1 of a series) Rating A

February

System Collapse by Martha Wells Feb 1, 2024 (Book 8 of a series) Rating B
My Effin Life by Geddy Lee Feb 4, 2024 Rating B+
The Secret Hours by Mick Herron Feb 10, 2024 Rating B+
The Mysteries by Bill Patterson and John Kascht Feb 10, 2024 Rating B-
Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros Feb 17, 2024 (Book 2 of a series) Rating B
Winter's Gifts by Ben Aaronovitch Feb 18, 2024 (Part of the series) Rating B
Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky Feb 26, 2024 (Book 3 of a Series) Rating B+

March

Eyes of the Void by Adrian Tchaikovsky Mar 2, 2024 (Book 2 or a Series) Rating B+
Bad Weather Friend by Dean Koontz Mar 7, 2024 Rating B-
Lords of Uncreation by Adrian Tchaikovsky Mar 12, 2024 (Book 3 of a trilogy) Rating A
Prophet Song by Paul Lynch Mar 16, 2024 Rating B
City of Last Chance by Adrian Tchaikovsky Mar 25, 2024 (Book 1 of 2) Rating A
The Bezzle by Cory Doctorow Mar 27, 2024 (Book 2 of a series) Rating B+
Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky Mar 30, 2024 (Book 1 of 2) Rating B

April

Bear Head by Adrian Tchaikovsky Apr 1, 2024 (Book 2 of 2) Rating B
Orders of Battle by Marko Kloos Apr 3, 2024 (Book 7 of a series) Rating B+
Centers of Gravity by Marko Kloos Apr 5, 2024 (Book 8 of a series) Rating B+
Citadel by Marko Kloos Apr 7, 2024 (Book 3 of a series) Rating B
Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky Apr 8 Rating B
House of Open Wounds by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Book 2 of a series) Rating A
The Chaos Agent by Mark Greaney Apr 19, 2024 (Book 13 of a series) Rating B-
Love will Tear Us Apart by C.K. McDonnell Apr 25, 2024 (Book 3 of a series) Rating B
Revenger by Alistair Reynolds Apr 28, 2024 (Book 1 of a series) Rating B

May

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh May 2, 2024 Rating A
The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera May 10, 2024 Rating B-
The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett May 13, 2024 (First in a series) Rating A
The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty May 20, 2024 (First in a series) Rating A
Shadow Captain by Alistair Reynolds May 25, 2024 (Book 2 in a series) Rating B
Hits, Flops, and Other Illusions by Ed Zwick May 27, 2024 Rating B+

June

City of Blows by Tim Blake Nelson June 1, 2024 Rating B
The Hunter by Tana French June 9, 2024 (Book 2 of a series) Rating A
Think Twice by Harlan Coben June 11, 2024 (Book 7? of a series) Rating B+
In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware June 13, 2024 Rating B
Pieces of Her by Karin Slaughter June 16, 2024 Rating B
The Women in Cabin by Ruth Ware June 19, 2024 Rating B
I'll Keep You Safe by Peter May June 23, 2024 Rating B
The House of Binding Thorns by Aliette de Bodard June 28, 2024 (Book 2 of a Series) Rating B-
Coffin Road by Peter May June 30, 2024 Rating B

July

Of Wars, and Memories, and Starlight by Aliette de Bodard July 7, 2024 Rating B
Kagan the Damned by Jonathan Maberry July 13, 2024 (Book 1 of a series) Rating B-
Bridge of Dreams by Chaz Brenchley July 17, 2024 (Book 1 of 2) Rating B
Dragon in Chains by Daniel Fox July 20, 2024 (Book 1 of a series) Rating B+
The Reformatory by Tananarive Due July 26, 2024 Rating B
Qigong: The Secret of Youth by Dr. Jwing-Ming Yang July 31, 2024 Rating B+
Unsub by Meg Gardiner July 31, 2024 (Book 1 of a series) Rating B

August
Into the Black Nowhere by Meg Gardiner Aug 5, 2024 (Book 2 of a series) Rating B
Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry Aug 9, 2024 (Book 1 of a series) Rating B+
First Frost by Craig Johnson Aug 11, 2024 (Book 20 of a series) Rating B
The Dark Corners of the Night by Meg Gardiner Aug 14, 2024 (Book 3 of a series) Rating B
River of the World by Chaz Brenchley Aug 18, 2024 (Book 2 of a series) Rating B+
Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu Aug 21, 2024 Rating B+
Jade Man's Skin by Daniel Fox Aug 21, 2024 (Book 2 of a series) Rating B+
The Lewis Man by Peter May Aug 23, 2024 (Book 2 of a series) Rating B
The Chess Men by Peter May Aug 28, 2024 (Book 3 of a series) Rating B

September

You Like it Darker by Stephen King Sept 2, 2024 Rating A
The Firemaker by Peter May Sept 5, 2024 (Book 1 of a series) Rating B
My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite Sept 7, 2024 Rating B+
The Root of Chinese Qigong by Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming Sept 12, 2024 Rating B+
The Woman who walked into Doors by Roddy Doyle Sept 13, 2024 (Book 1 of 3) Rating A
Number One is Walking by Steve Martin and Harry Bliss Sept 13, 2024 Rating B
Paula Spencer by Roddy Doyle Sept 21, 2024 (Book 2 of 3) Rating B+
The Dragon Factory by Jonathan Maberry Sept 28, 2024 (Book 2 of a series) Rating B
Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu and Stephen Mitchell Sept 30, 2024 Rating B

October

The King of Plagues by Jonathan Maberry Oct 4, 2024 (Book 3 of a series) Rating B
Assassins's Code by Jonathan Maberry Oct 6, 2024 (Book 4 of a series) Rating B
Extinction Machine by Jonathan Maberry Oct 9, 2024 (Book 5 of a series) Rating B
The Fourth Sacrifice by Peter May Oct 14, 2024 (Book 2 of a series) Rating B
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Haxell Oct 19, 2024 Rating B (tough one to rate)

November

Buried Deep by Naomi Novik Nov 3, 2024 Rating A

December

Code Zero by Jonathan Maberry Dec 15, 2024 (Book 8 of a series) Rating B
Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky Dec 23, 2024 Rating B
The Mercy of Gods by James S.A. Corey Dec 30, 2025 (Book 1 of a series) Rating B+

[Greg]

TransAtlantic by Colum McCann

Starting/Ending the year with a bit of literature. At first I thought, TransAtlantic was just a series of vignettes about people with an Irish experience. The first Vignette was about Brown and Alcock who made the the first Transatlantic flight from Newfoundland to Clifden. The second sequence was about Frederick Douglass and his experiences in Ireland. The third was from the viewpoint of Senator George Mitchell and his time putting the the peace process together in Northern Ireland. Gradually, I caught on that the peripheral characters from one appeared in on story crossed over into another until later in the book I received the full background on these people. Transatlantic served to give a full experience in Ireland and North America from about 1850 to 2013. Some of it was moving but eventually it was quite sad, which I guess is the point of literature.

I was especially interested in the Alcock and Brown story and the Frederick Douglass bits and the reason I picked up the book. I saw a couple of the Alcock/Brown memorials in Clifden on the latest Ireland visit. I also came across a lot of plaques to Douglass in several cities in Ireland where he spoke, including one in Dublin which also happened to be next door to the meeting place of the United Irishman who started the 1798 rebellion. It gave me those old history feels to get some background.

A good primer on some Irish history, past and present.

[Greg]

The Olympian Affair by Jim Butcher

It only took eight years, but it was worth the wait. I'm glad I read the novella, Warriorborn which served as introduction to this book.

Grimm and his crew are back together sailing the air currents above the surface world between the giant towers were humanity now lives since the surface of the planet is too dangerous. The old foes are back as well this time with a secret weapon that destroys habitats. Grimm is tasked with going to Olympia to help drum up support against a rival spire that seeks to bring war to the spires. Bad things happen. Ship engagements occurs. There are duels and brawls and sexy time for Grimm.

I couldn't put this book down. I read it late into the night, past my bedtime because I needed to know what happens.

The whole thing is like a C.S. Forester novel with massive amounts of fantasy elements.

[Greg]

In the Lives of Puppets by T.J. Klune

Victor and his father Gio live in the forest in a treehouse. Victor likes to go to the nearby scrap heaps to salvage parts. He's already built a healthcare robot named Nurse Ratchet and vacuum named Rambo. You can guess the source. After more chapters you learn that Gio is also an Android. Victor is the only human of the group. One day Victor finds another robot in the scrap piles that looks incredibly human, too. We come to find out that the new robot, Hap, used to hunt down humans as his sole mission. It turns out when Hap was found, a bit of blood was spilled that alerted the authorities there was a human in the area that needed to be dwelt with. More robots arrive to track down Victor. Bad things happen. Victor and the robots set off on a quest to make things right.

Also Victor finds himself attracted to this roguishly attractive robot human killer and vice versa. It's all very confusing.

The book shoots for quirky humor on many instances which I find annoying. It was also incredibly slow. And as a human instead of a robot, I kept coming back to the question of what happens to the humans if there is only one human left?

[Greg]

Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky

I'm still undecided about whether I enjoy these books. They are incredibly dense with ideas and concepts and a bit light on story. And Mr. T really likes developing new intelligences from weird species. In the first book it was the spiders. In this book it's the octopi. I'm sure in his mind, Tchaikovsky is clear about how the octopus thinks and communicates but I got lost in the nomenclature.

In this edition, the spiders and humans set off on another decades long journey to find another terraforming expedition that set off from earth. That expedition found two planets. One called, Nod already had life on it and was left alone. Another, called Damascus, became the world to be terraformed. One of the terraformers also was experimenting with the octopi and seeing if he could do for them what was originally done with the spiders. They do give a shout out to author David Brin and his book the Uplift War. Things go wrong on both planets. A thousand years later or so, the spiders and humans arrive to find out what is going and seeing if they can find a solution.

Some of the action was very exciting. Some of it, I had little understanding of what was going on as the different species try to communicate.

I have the third book. I will read it. Then I think I will be done with Mr. T for awhile.

[Greg]

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

Back to the magical world of Yale. It's year 2 for Alex and her friends at Lethe. They are still on their quest to get Darlington out of Hell. No one believes Darlington is alive, but Alex and Dawes keep trying. Unfortunately, their attempts have unintended consequences which only cause more problems. Plus, Alex's past life in Los Angeles keeps reaching out to interfere with her current life in the form of drug dealer Eitan. 

The book seems a bit of more of the same. Not a lot of growth for Alex. The whole story seems repetitive although we do learn a bit more about the characters. Kind of enjoyable but not a revelatory as the first.

[Greg]

Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky

I thought this was going to be book 3 of the Child series but it turned out to be a completely different series. 

A group of aliens called the Architects are back to send the universe. They are called the architects because they remake planets into wild and different shapes. One of their first targets was earth. But a group of altered humans was able to fend off their attacks and the Architects vanished. Now, one of the remaining altered humans who works as a pilot on a salvage ship finds another ship that might show signs the Architects are back. Suddenly, the pilot is wanted by all the different races in the galaxy for his knowledge.

The book was great fun. Tchaikovsky gives in to his penchant for weird life forms but they all really work in the book. The whole universe feels like an actual universe. I'm waiting on book two.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky

I thought this was going to be book 3 of the Child series but it turned out to be a completely different series. 

A group of aliens called the Architects are back to send the universe. They are called the architects because they remake planets into wild and different shapes. One of their first targets was earth. But a group of altered humans was able to fend off their attacks and the Architects vanished. Now, one of the remaining altered humans who works as a pilot on a salvage ship finds another ship that might show signs the Architects are back. Suddenly, the pilot is wanted by all the different races in the galaxy for his knowledge.

The book was great fun. Tchaikovsky gives in to his penchant for weird life forms but they all really work in the book. The whole universe feels like an actual universe. I'm waiting on book two.

I just finished the trilogy and enjoyed it. Top shelf space-opera.

[Greg]

I think the most interesting thing about Shards of Earth is that the 'hero', Idris, wants to be anywhere but in the center of this battle.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

I think the most interesting thing about Shards of Earth is that the 'hero', Idris, wants to be anywhere but in the center of this battle.

Agreed.

[Greg]

System Collapse by Martha Wells

The excitement of these books is starting to wear thin. I'm glad I'm checking these out of the library rather than paying $22 for what is a slightly longer novella. But yes, author's need to get paid, too.

I also feel like I'm reading chapter books and in this case I couldn't quite remember where we left off in the last chapter.

In this case, Murderbot and his spaceship friend, ART are trying to rescue a group of colonists before they are all abducted by the Corporate Rim and sold off into indentured servitude. Most of the book is Murderbot whining about what is wrong with him until we get to a small battle in one of the colonists underground bases. The battle scene was tense and exciting but that was about it. And then the book was over and I'm left waiting for the next chapter.

[King Bob]

I read the first one and felt it ended abruptly. Like you said, I suppose it's to move more books.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

I've enjoyed these as library loans. I refused to pay for such slim volumes. The novella format really took off, though.

[Greg]

My Effin Life by Geddy Lee

The lead singer and bassist for Rush talks about his life and career. I'm not a big Rush fan. I know a bunch of their early songs but I probably couldn't name any new song they've done since 1990. But I am always interested to read biographies about famous creative people and I will give them that.

In some ways, the book is an exhaustive look at the making of Rush albums and touring. Lee goes into great detail about the equipment they used and the places everything was recorded. Most of it flew by my head. He does a gripping chapter about his family escaped the holocaust. Both his parents were in the camps. He also touches on his own romantic life with his wife Nancy and their two kids. But if he isn't talking about the nuts and bolts, it almost becomes cursory. He doesn't want to tell tales of anyone but himself, not because he's a raging narcissist, but he gives everyone around their privacy. Unless the stories are big and well known, he won't talk about them. He talks about Neil Pert and his tribulations. He talks about Alex and a little of their friction. But there are only a few instances when he gives the view points from their side.

He does go into the drugs part of Rock and Roll, but never gets into the Sex part of the famous triplet. Did Rush not have groupies or does he just not want to talk about them for fear of causing more problems with his wife Nancy?

In the end, Lee writes really well. There is a lot of humor and pathos in the book. He doesn't mind taking shots at himself. There are many references to his rather large nose. But I also felt there were stories missing that he hid by throwing a lot of detail at you.

[thatguy]

Did Rush not have groupies or does he just not want to talk about them for fear of causing more problems with his wife Nancy?

I doubt they had groupies...