log(book)
I'm currently behind on reviews, so don't be surprised if the recent reviews are a bit sparse.

The 31 books I read in 2014 year in books

Cover of Ghost Story.

Ghost Story

by Jim Butcher · published 2011 · read 2014-12-01
★★★☆☆
Different angle on the ever-same story (Harry is mostly intangible for this book). We get some sudden – but well-prepared! – development, mostly in Molly. I'm very ambivalent about Molly, which is good. The Harry Dresden books aren't usually ones to foster ambivalence, to say the least.

Cover of Grave Peril.

Grave Peril

by Jim Butcher · published 2001 · read 2014-12-01
★★★☆☆
This book was actually better than the first and second ones. It's as if now that he's staked his claim on all the tropes, Jim Butcher is feeling free to explore what to do with magic in this world.

Cover of Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality.

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality

by Eliezer Yudkowsky · published 2015 · read 2014-11-01
★★★☆☆
HPMOR is both the best and the worst of rationalist fiction. Terrible, terrible writing, in a physically painful stilted style, and oh-so-fucking superior. There aren't even characters in this story, only symbols.

Cover of Death Masks.

Death Masks

by Jim Butcher · published 2003 · read 2014-11-01
★★★☆☆
I continue to go think "predictable, stock, lazy, booooring" and "ohhhh this is fun fun fun": If I was willing to feel guilty about any books, these would be guilty pleasure books.

Cover of Redshirts.

Redshirts

by John Scalzi · published 2012 · read 2014-10-01
★★★★☆
Often, I'm a reader of simple tastes. This is a drabble, a writing exercise, 320 pages long, that cheerfully tears into bad TV show scifi. It enjoys itself, it spends most of its time not punching down. It's not high art, it's not deep, it's just straight-up fun – if you're into the meta underpinnings. Otherwise, it's probably 300 pages of tedious jokes. It made me laugh, a lot.

Cover of Neverwhere.

Neverwhere

by Neil Gaiman · published 1996 · read 2014-09-01
★★★★☆
Neverwhere must have been my first adult Urban Fantasy, and I was head over heels for it. Gaiman is elegant to the point of being flowery as always, but not as over-the-top as he sometimes gets. Nice balance in all things. If you have the chance, listen to the full cast audiobook! Originally intended format, and excellent.

Cover of Skin Game.

Skin Game

by Jim Butcher · published 2014 · read 2014-09-01
★★★☆☆
Dresden Files go ever on and on.

Cover of Small Favor.

Small Favor

by Jim Butcher · published 2008 · read 2014-08-01
★★★☆☆
I can't tell this book apart from the other ones. You gotta give it to Butcher, though: His writing is nothing if not consistent.

Cover of White Night.

White Night

by Jim Butcher · published 2007 · read 2014-08-01
★★★☆☆
Stakes rise. Supernatural battles continue. The snark is tired.

Cover of Xenocide.

Xenocide

by Orson Scott Card · published 1991 · read 2014-07-01
★★★☆☆
Xenocide is too long, too full, and starts showing where the series goes wrong. But there's still a whole lot of good in there … somewhere.

Cover of Dead Beat.

Dead Beat

by Jim Butcher · published 2005 · read 2014-07-01
★★★☆☆
We get character development, which may just turn into a thing we get thrown every three books or so, so that we don't feel like we're reading the book equivalent of Fast & Furious VIII.

Cover of Storm Front.

Storm Front

by Jim Butcher · published 2000 · read 2014-07-01
★★★☆☆
It's the height of generic Urban Fantasy, complete with edgy protagonist who can't be allowed to have his shit together (very House, MD style). Stock elements taped together.

Cover of Old Man's War.

Old Man’s War

by John Scalzi · published 2005 · read 2014-06-01
★★★★☆
Modern classic. Old people are made young, and if they survive two years in the interstellar war, they get a piece of land on some planet (how very Roman).

Cover of The Long Earth.

The Long Earth

by Terry Pratchett · published 2012 · read 2014-06-01
★★★☆☆
Parallel worlds are always fun, and I liked very much how the concept was set up. Normally in scifi you get a good concept like this, then an okay plot and cardboard characters. Sadly, in Long Earth everything except for the concept was made from cardboard.

Cover of Equal Rites.

Equal Rites

by Terry Pratchett · published 1987 · read 2014-05-13
★★★★☆
Definitely one of the better early Discworld books, but still very uneven. Not one of my favourites, but I can't in all honesty dislike a book with Granny Weatherwax in it – and as her first book, it is special.

Cover of Peace Talks.

Peace Talks

by Jim Butcher · published 2020 · read 2014-05-01
★★★☆☆
More dresden files. Part 16, man, how did we get here?

Cover of Summer Knight.

Summer Knight

by Jim Butcher · published 2002 · read 2014-05-01
★★★☆☆
Generick kick-ass, but kick-ass.

Cover of Turn Coat.

Turn Coat

by Jim Butcher · published 2009 · read 2014-05-01
★★★☆☆
Completely predictable, but you don't read these books for the plot. Or the characters. You read them because you are into stock badass-but-broken characters, so you'll like this one just as well. Even if you can only tell it from the others because the title is even more descriptive of the story than on average.

Cover of Changes.

Changes

by Jim Butcher · published 2010 · read 2014-04-01
★★★☆☆
Nothing ever changes in Harry Dresden land. Power levels slowly escalate, everything else stays the same.

Cover of Fool Moon.

Fool Moon

by Jim Butcher · published 2001 · read 2014-04-01
★★★☆☆
More of the first book. Jim Butcher has found a niche, and by god he's going to keep it.

Cover of Blindness.

Blindness

by José Saramago · published 1995 · last read 2014-03-01
★★★★☆
Blindness felt really strong – the general vibe of the book is still easy to recall for me years later. The epidemic blindness that befalls everybdoy in contact with a victim is terrifying, but the terror isn't overdone. It's humanized, low-key, loving even. I'm glad I read this book.

Cover of Speaker for the Dead.

Speaker for the Dead

by Orson Scott Card · published 1986 · last read 2022-08-29
★★★★☆
I prefer this book to the first, more famous one. It's deeper, and more powerful, and doesn't rely on one cheap trick.

Cover of The War Prayer.

The War Prayer

by Mark Twain · published 1900 · read 2014-03-01
★★★★☆
Where did I get my pacifist stance? It wasn't here – I read the War Prayer much too late for it. But it might as well have been here.

Cover of Proven Guilty.

Proven Guilty

by Jim Butcher · published 2006 · read 2014-03-01
★★★☆☆
This week's stock trope is "past mistakes catch up to our broken-but-sympathetic hero".

Cover of Freedom™.

Freedom™

by Daniel Suarez · published 2010 · read 2014-02-13
★★★★☆
Builds very well on Daemon, and while it sure is a nerd power fantasy in the end, the execution is good.

Cover of Cold Days.

Cold Days

by Jim Butcher · published 2012 · read 2014-02-01
★★★☆☆
Combines on-the-run stock plot with power escalation stock route and doesn't give the protagonist even the little bit of introspection time he sometimes managed to snag, because blah blah the US is about to blow up, let's defuse Lake Michigan or something.

Cover of Love Hurts.

Love Hurts

by Jim Butcher · published 2011 · read 2014-02-01
★★★☆☆
Dresden novellas have become as interchangeable as the books.

Cover of Whispers Under Ground.

Whispers Under Ground

by Ben Aaronovitch · published 2012 · read 2014-01-01
★★★☆☆
Magic develops further, and we get an entire new race below London. Still very witty, and I just cannot resist a "magic underground in London" story. At the same time, it's a whodunnit, and the banter continues the strong suit of the series, while the plot (especially the overarching series plot) does well to stay in the background.

Cover of Rivers of London.

Rivers of London

by Ben Aaronovitch · published 2015 · read 2014-01-01
★★★★☆
I thought I was done with Urban Fantasy after the slot of Jim Butcher's forced-funny, forced-dark supernatural detective, but Ben Aaronovitch won me over. This series is more measured, more funny, and – admittedly – I want to read about London much more than about Chicago.

Cover of Ender’s Game.

Ender’s Game

by Orson Scott Card · published 1985 · last read 2020-08-01
★★★★☆
Rereading Ender's game six years later, I found it better than I remembered it. Sure, you'll never see the twist coming the way you saw it the first time, and when I read it the first time I didn't know about OSC's personal politics. But regardless: The book sucked me in, dragged me through a story as relentlessly cruel as it was enjoyable, and then spit me out three hours later, not without delivering a last minute kick straight to the feelings.

Cover of Blood Rites.

Blood Rites

by Jim Butcher · published 2004 · read 2014-01-01
★★★☆☆
It's impressive for how long Jim Butcher can just do "more of the same, please". Come to think of it, Codex Alera was also a long series of "more of the same", only with a different set of tropes, and arguably more imagination.