Now it’s 20 years we’re stepping back. Not that it feels like some of these books are twenty years old. Though that could be because they’re fantasies and tend to have less of the “I’m talking to you on my expensive new car phone!” that mysteries can have.

~ Frontlist ~

These are books published in 2006 that read in 2006 or 2007 and rated 8/10 or higher.

There are books that belong on this list which I’m going to save for the post on rereads, as back in 2006 I wasn’t doing a yearly roundup.

~ The Privilege of the Sword ~ Ellen Kushner (Riverside) 9/10
Avg Rating: 9.3 | read 3X | Fantasy of Manners

I love Swordspoint. This is a sequel of sorts, about Alec’s niece, who is coerced into moving to Tremontaine and learning the sword so her uncle will forgive the family debt and also settle a sum of money upon them.

She doesn’t want any of this, but does it anyway, and although she isn’t quite accepted, she also isn’t outcast, as Alec is the duke and has lots and lots of money.

~ Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth ~ Simon R. Green (Nightside #6) 9/10
Avg Rating 9.0 | read 3X | Supernatural Mystery, Horror

~ Hell To Pay ~ (Nightside #7) Avg Rating 7.0 | read 2X

John Taylor is a private detective from the dark and desperate world that exists under London. He uses his gift to find things–usually ways out of the bad situations he’s gotten himself into.

Confession: I still haven’t read the final book in the series.

~ Nightlife ~ Rob Thurman (Cal Leandros #1) 8/10
Avg Rating: 8.3 | read 2X | Urban Fantasy

This is another series I haven’t read the final book in, but that’s because she never finished the series, and the last book published is said to have ended on a cliffhanger. So I just pretend that book doesn’t exist and go on loving the other books in series.

Like Nightside, this series is quite dark. Cal is a monster,  but he’s kept from falling victim to his nature by his brother.

Honestly, the series is really a love story between Cal and Niko.

~ His Majesty’s Dragon ~ Naomi Novik (Temeraire #1) 8/10
Avg Rating: 8.3 | read 2X | Historical Fantasy

~ Throne of Jade ~ (Temeraire #2) Avg Rating: 7.5 | read 2X
~ Black Powder War ~ (Temeraire #3) 7/10

Speaking of books that are really romances–these books may be Patrick O’Brien’s Aubrey–Maturin series except with dragons, but really, they are the love story of Laurence and Temeraire. Just not in a “monster romance” kind of way.

He had been in many actions, no less deadly or dangerous, but this one had differed in the crucial respect: when the enemy took aim at his charge, they were threatening not his ship, but his dragon, already the dearest creature to him in the world.

Three times I have read the start of the series, and then wandered off and forgotten to go back and read the rest of the books.

 

~ Dzur ~ Steven Brust (Vlad Taltos #10) 8/10

Vlad is a mob boss and an assassin and a human in a world of beings who are stronger & more magical & much longer lived. For most of the series Vlad has been on the run, although things sometimes jump around in time, giving you Vlad’s past as much as his run from the mob.

There were five years between Isolla and Dzur, and then two years between Dzur and Jhegaala and I kinda fell out of the habit of keeping current with the series. I’m pretty sure I own all the books that have been published, but I would definitely want a reread before I jumped back in.

 

~ The Line Between ~ Peter S. Beagle 8/10 | Anthology

Series I Dropped

Failed to Keep Reading

~ Greywalker ~ Kat Richardson (Greywalker #1) 8/10 | Supernatural PI

~ A Fistful of Charms ~ Kim Harrison (Rachel Morgan #4) 8/10 | Supernatural

Quit in a Rage

~ Proven Guilty ~ Jim Butcher (Harry Dresden #8) 8/10 | Supernatural PI

~ Definitely Dead ~ Charlaine Harris (The Southern Vampire Mysteries #6) 8/10 | Paranormal Romance

 

~ Backlist ~

~ The King of Attolia ~ Megan Whalen Turner (The Queen’s Thief) 9/10

~ Instead of Three Wishes ~ Megan Whalen Turner 8/10 | Anthology