appelcline Book Ratings - RPGnet SF, Fantasy & Horror Book Index

appelcline Book Ratings

10
Little, Big	10	This was my favorite book for many years. I love John Crowley's use of language, and the characters in this book are all interesting.

9
The Book of Atrix Wolfe	9	A lyrical fairy tale full of vivid imagery.
Briar Rose	9	This is an amazing book which I couldn't put down. I'll definitely read it more than once.
The Citadel of the Autarch	9	The best in the series.
Engine Summer	9	I really enjoyed reading this book, and the reveal at the end really surprised and pleased me. It was one of those perfect reveals in which all the evidence was there from the beginning, but you just don't see it until the end.
The Eyre Affair	9	This book made me laugh repeatedly at its English major in-jokes, and made me want to read more by the same author. Lucky me, it's a series.
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld	9	An emotionally complex story about love and power, this book made me cry repeatedly.
Lake of the Long Sun	9	I enjoyed this much more than the first book in the series. It has more of a cohesive, extended plot.
Lost in a Good Book	9	I love the sense of humor in this book (and in the other books in this series), and this book kept me reading enthusiastically. Thursday Next ends up in a lot of hot water in this one, and it's entertaining to see how she handles herself.
Oryx and Crake	9	I would never have imagined that a book about a man stranded alone could be so enthralling. Apparently the last person on Earth, Snowman encounters adventure and remembers how things came to be the way they are. The book is fascinating and a quick read, but also inspires thought. Highly recommended.
The Sparrow	9	The characters are complex -- especially the main character -- and the story is both thrilling and heartbreaking. I was completely absorbed.
The Time Traveler's Wife	9	I loved this book. It's romantic without being insipid, and the time travel is well done throughout.

8
Alphabet of Thorn	8	Like most of McKillip's books, this one is mysterious until it all comes together at the end. I found the characters and the plot interesting.
Assassin's Quest	8	I found this even more absorbing than the first two books.
Dracula	8	I enjoyed how this story was told through journal entries and letters. The story itself is, of course, familiar in our culture today, but I still found the telling fresh and interesting.
The Falling Woman	8	An excellent ghost story with a complex mother/daughter relationship and a gradually building sense of menace.
First Among Sequels	8	A very clever and enjoyable addition to the series. I particularly liked Thursday's son and the two other Thursdays.
Fool's Errand	8	I think I enjoyed this even more than the first Fitz trilogy.
Fool's Fate	8	A fine ending to Fitz's tale.
Golden Fool	8	I enjoy how this trilogy focuses on the relationships between the characters.
Harpist in the Wind	8	Like the first two books in this trilogy, this one is written fairly simply, though I saw glimmerings of the lyrical style McKillip later developed. All the mysteries of the series were resolved in this book so magically and wonderfully that I was amazed. It made me want to sit down and read the whole trilogy again.
The Left Hand of Darkness	8	Exploring pride, patriotism, and love (among other issues), this book focuses on two complex, interesting characters and their relationship with each other. It's a quick read, but thought-provoking.
Lord of Light	8	I enjoyed the Buddhist element in this book, though Buddhism was only being used as a tool by the main character. The main character, Sam, is charming and very sympathetic. I enjoyed the book quite a bit.
The Mists of Avalon	8	When I got part-way into this book, I found that I just couldn't stop reading. Marion Zimmer Bradley's portrait of Morgan LeFay was sympathetic and fascinating.
Never Let Me Go	8	Like the guardians within it, this book doles out information in doses sometimes before you're ready to understand it, so that it all sinks in slowly. It's beautifully done.
Neverwhere	8	Wonderfully inventive and mythic, with vivid characters and excellent dialogue.
Royal Assassin	8	Very enjoyable light reading.
The Shadow of the Torturer	8	An interesting character.
The Shining	8	This is my favorite of King's books, because I find the characters compelling and the story chilling.
Snow White, Blood Red	8	An interesting collection of fairy tale retellings and reimaginings.
Song for the Basilisk	8	This seems a sort of middle ground between McKillip's early, straightforward work and her later, lyrical books. It's more on the lyrical side, but not to the extent of The Book of Atrix Wolfe. The plot is good and the ending made me stop and think and appreciate.
Winter Rose	8	With her lush imagery and beautiful language, Patricia McKillip is becoming a favorite of mine. I don't like this quite as much as The Book of Atrix Wolfe, but it's still very good.
Winter's Tale	8

7
Antiquities	7	John Crowley isn't really a short story writer -- his talent is in writing novels. As a result, these stories aren't his best work, but they're still better than a lot of what is out there. They vary in quality, with "Exogamy" and "Snow" being my favorites and "The Reason for the Visit" being my least favorite, but I think they're all worth reading.
Assassin's Apprentice	7	Nothing spectacular, but enjoyable reading with good characters and absorbing plot.
Children of God	7	Children of God isn't as good as The Sparrow, largely because it is more scattered. The Sparrow is a tightly organized book, telling one story in two time periods, from two perspectives, but Children of God tells two separate stories that eventually converge near the end of the book. As a result, it doesn't have the same emotional impact. It's still a good book, but not a great one.
The Claw of the Conciliator	7	Not as good as The Shadow of the Torturer, but similarly confusing upon occasion.
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister	7	Though a historical novel and not actually fantasy, the story is well told. The characters are all vivid and interesting.
The Curse of Chalion	7	Nothing special, but enjoyable reading and well plotted.
Daughter of the Blood	7	An absorbing tale of interesting characters.
Dreams Made Flesh	7	One of these stories didn't really appeal to me, but I thought the other three were quite good.
East	7	The language is simple and straightforward, not fancy at all, but the story is interesting and it's a quick, absorbing read. Pattou nicely expands on an old fairy tale.
The Faery Reel	7	Though some of the stories in this collection were mediocre, some were quite good.
Gob's Grief	7	I enjoyed the structure of this book, which is composed of intertwining, overlapping stories about several characters.
Great Work of Time	7	This is my least favorite of the John Crowley books I've read, but that isn't to say that it isn't a good book. I've just liked his others more. The writing in Great Work of Time is sometimes dense and the vocabulary is sometimes obscure, but the story itself is interesting, and I was pleased with the ending. Though I didn't enjoy it as much as I expected, I would say that Great Work of Time could support repeated readings.
Harrowing the Dragon	7	I like McKillips novels better than her short stories, but these are still quite good.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone	7	The writing isn't great, but the editing is better than in her later books, and the story is a quick and enjoyable read.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire	7	Perhaps the best of the HP books, though it could use some cutting.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince	7	The mystery surrounding the identity of the title character was not very interesting, and the resolution of the mystery was terribly anticlimactic, but otherwise the book was pretty enjoyable.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban	7	I really like this book, because I like Lupin and the mystery of Sirius Black is engaging. It's better than the first two in the series.
Heir to the Shadows	7	Better than the first book in the series.
In the Forests of Serre	7	Though the language and imagery are beautiful, the story is a bit muddled, with two many things happening at once.
The Last Unicorn	7	A good story simply told.
The Mysteries	7	I thought this book was very good until I got to the end, which was a bit anti-climactic.
Nightside the Long Sun	7	I found some of this book boring, but the second half caught my interest.
Novelty	7	I found the title story -- a non-genre exploration of an author's brain -- boring, but the rest were quite good. "Great Work of Time" is a dense read about time travel, but "The Nightingale Sings at Night" is a simple parable about creation, so the style varies widely. Both "Great Work of Time" and "In Blue" invite repeat readings, as they are subtle and complex. Crowley does better with novel-length works, but these stories are still worth a read.
Od Magic	7	Some of the imagery is wonderful, but overall this isn't one of her best.
Paladin of Souls	7	I found this a bit slow, but ultimately enjoyable.
The Penelopiad	7	An interesting re-telling of the Odysseus myth from the perspective of his wife Penelope. There was more humor than I would have expected.
Queen of the Darkness	7	A wonderful end to the trilogy.
Something Rotten	7	The series is back in fine form in this novel, with Thursday up to her old tricks in the real world after two and a half years in the book world. Great light reading.
Stranger Things Happen	7	Strange but beautiful, with moments of brilliance.
The Sword of the Lictor	7
Thomas the Rhymer	7	An enjoyable read, but nothing extraordinary.
The Tower at Stony Wood	7	Not one of McKillip's best, but still very enjoyable, especially in its beautiful use of language.
Welcome to the Monkey House	7	These stories vary in quality. My favorites are "Harrison Bergeron," "Welcome to the Monkey House," and "All the King's Horses," all of which are excellent. I find that his science fiction stories are better than his non-genre stories, and this collection is mostly non-genre, but the good stories are very, very good.
The Well of Lost Plots	7	Though this book is as clever as the first two books in the series, I didn't enjoy the plot as much. Very little happens in the first 3/4 of the book, which is just set-up, but the last 1/4 is quite good.

6
Beauty	6	Nothing extraordinary, but an enjoyable fairy tale retelling.
The Child Queen	6	An enjoyable look at Gwinevere's perspective, though there isn't a lot to distinguish this story from a score of other Arthurian tales.
The Cygnet and the Firebird	6	Though this book is well-written, I didn't really connect with any of the characters, so it was difficult to lose myself in the story.
Heir of Sea and Fire	6	Like The Riddle-Master of Hed, this story is told primarily in plain language, unlike McKillip's later books. But, also like that book, the story and characters are engaging. I particularly liked that this one was told from the women's point of view.
The High Queen	6	I liked this a bit more than The Child Queen, but it still didn't really grab me the way that Mists of Avalon did. Still, not a bad book.
Mad Ship	6	Well, the annoying characters weren't as annoying in this one as in the previous book.
The Monk	6	Sure, it's sensational and melodramatic, but it's a classic!
Once Upon a Winter's Night	6	A nice expansion of the fairy tale East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon, but I prefer Edith Pattou's East.
The Riddle-Master of Hed	6	Unlike McKillip's later books, the style is simple and straightforward, but the plot and characters are still interesting.
Ship of Destiny	6	The best of the Liveship Traders books.
The Sorceress and the Cygnet	6	This book is well-written, but I didn't care very much about the characters. They weren't as finely drawn as in McKillip's other books.
Spirits in the Wires	6	I liked the characters and the story pulled me along, always wanting to know what happened next, but the book was lacking something to make it actually good.
Storm Front	6	I like some of the basics of this book -- the core situation of a wizard working out of an office like a P.I., for example -- but the writing -- especially the characters -- is rather cliched. I'm told Butcher's writing gets better, and I enjoyed this one enough that I'll definitely continue on to find out.
The Vintner's Luck	6	The characters are vivid, but the story seems a bit tired.
White as Snow	6	I think this is a good book, but I'm rating it slightly lower than that because it is very creepy and I'm not big on creepy.

5
Childhood's End	5	I would have liked this book better if it had actual characters.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets	5	I found Dobby, Gilderoy Lockhart, and Moaning Myrtle annoying in this book -- Dobby especially -- so I didn't enjoy it as much as the first one. The final battle was pretty good, though, as is the case with many of her books.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows	5	I've really enjoyed the Harry Potter series, but this is my least favorite of the books. Harry, Ron, and Hermione spend most of the book sitting around wondering what to do, which doesn't make for interesting reading. The final battle almost makes up for it, but not quite.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix	5	When I was reading this book, I kept referring to it as Harry Potter and the Bureaucrat of Doom. I found Umbridge to be annoying in her pettiness, and I just felt like there had to be more interesting villains out there. The bits about the Order of the Phoenix and Sirius were interesting, but unfortunately those bits didn't make up much of the book.
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell	5	I thought parts of this book were good, but overall it was too long and boring.
Ship of Magic	5	Not as good as the Fitz books.
Something Rich and Strange	5	I don't think modern fantasy is really McKillip's forte. She's better with straight fantasy.

3
Blood Noir	3	This is a bit better than some of her recent books, but the writing is still bad.
The Fire Rose	3	I wasn't impressed by the writing, which was often clichéd, and the characters (with one exception) were entirely black and white.
The Good Fairies of New York	3	I didn't like this book enough to finish reading it and only got 3/4 way through before the simplistic writing style and annoying characters defeated me.
To Say Nothing of the Dog	3	It's hard for me to rate this book, because I can tell that it is a good book, but I personally didn't like the humor, so I didn't enjoy it much. It's well-written and the plot is interesting ... I just didn't find it funny. So many of the characters do so many stupid things, I just found it annoying and so didn't read past p. 158.

2
The Harlequin	2	Like all of the Anita Blake novels lately, this book sucks. It's just a lot of sex with a tiny bit of unsatisfying plot tacked on at the beginning and end. I'm only giving it a 2 instead of a 1 because I like the characters. This is a truly bad book.
Incubus Dreams	2	Wow, this is a bad book. There is a bit of character and relationship development, especially for a character named Nathaniel, but the rest is just sex sex sex, with a tiny bit of unsatisfying plot tacked on for appearance's sake. Truly terrible. I'm only giving it a 2 instead of a 1 because I like the characters.

1
Micah	1	I hated this book. The only thing I still like about Laurell K. Hamilton's books is the characters, but I don't like Micah and Richard, and this book is all Micah (hence the name). The book doesn't have a lot of sex in it (which is an improvement over her recent books), but it doesn't have much plot, either. Overall, a waste of time.