Best Book in a Genre I Didn’t Think I Liked: Boneshaker by Cherie Priest. I loved this book. I know I wrote a review of it, but I had to mention it again. It’s a great book and I highly recommend it.

Best Michael Connelly Book: I love Michael Connelly. He is one of my favorite crime/thriller authors. However, I was less than impressed by 9 Dragons. Sure the Hong Kong imagery was good, but I didn’t feel like the story was there, like is has been in previous books. Yes, I enjoyed the book, but not one I have any interest in reading again. I also enjoyed The Scarecrow, but my favorite Michael Connelly book I read this year was The Brass Verdict. I found the story compelling and I loved seeing Bosch from another person’s perspective. With exception of the “surprise” at the end of the book (which I found disappointing) this was a great book.

Best Conclusion to a Trilogy: One of my new favorite authors is Brandon Sanderson. I read Mistborn and absolutely loved it. In 2009, I read the final two books of the Mistborn Trilogy: The Well of Ascension and The Hero of the Ages. In these final two books, Sanderson does what few authors do. He completes a trilogy in which each of the books is interesting, and enjoyable, yet each tells a different story and accounts for the changes that occur as a result of the actions in the prior book(s). I particularly like The Well of Ascension in that it tells the story that is rarely told, namely the rebels have won and are in charge: now what? I cannot recommend these three books highly enough.

Nonfiction Book I Bought on a Whim: I normally do not read a lot of nonfiction. This year, however, I was in Seattle and browsing at the Elliot Bay Book Company when I came across Traffic: Why We Drive the the Way We Do. I flipped through the book and thought it looked interesting. I eventually bought the book and really enjoyed it. Traffic is one of those things that endlessly frustrates me. It was great to read this analysis of traffic as well as many explanations about how our views about traffic are intuitive, but wrong. I know this is a strange book to point out, but I enjoyed it so much, that I sent it to my sister as a Christmas present.

Of course I read a number of other books that I enjoyed as well. Without going into details, I would just say that I really enjoyed the following books as well: The Reapers and The Lovers by John Connolly, 7th Son: Descent by J.C. Hutchins, and Whiskey Rebels by David Liss.

Fortunately, Cherie Priest has come along and knocked me back on the steampunk path with a fabulous book Boneshaker. In his blurb on the front cover of the book, Scott Westerfeld describes the book as:

A steampunk-zombie-airship adventure of rollicking pace and sweeping proportions, full of wonderfully gnarly details. This book is made of irresistible.

Really, I can’t say it better than that. I fell in love with the book, the characters, and the setting (especially the setting) from the very beginning. This was one of those books that I hated to put down and I read it as much as possible until I finally finished it. Of course, once I finished it, I was upset because I wanted to read more about.

If you do not know what steampunk is, see here. To find out how the author describes the book and the idea behind it, see her Big Idea piece at Whatever. I think those links give you a good idea about the book.

There are a couple of things that I wanted to note about the book that I particularly appreciated. First, I thought Priest did a great job of pacing and keeping things interesting. Because of the setting, I never had more than a general idea of approximately what time it was in the book. I think this helps put the reader in the character’s situation. Nevertheless, there was plenty happening and the story moved forward at a great pace.  Second, (minor spoiler ahead) I thought Priest did a great job in how she brought the main characters together. Sure she had opportunities where she could have had them “bump” into each other. However, she avoided those cliches and set up a scene that made perfect sense with what was happening in the story.

Cherie Priest has injected the fun back into steampunk for me and I can’t wait to read the next book set in this universe.

It is a steampunk novel that takes place in Seattle. Many people have questions about what Steampunk is. If you are one of those people, Cherie has a Steampunk FAQ at her site The Clockwork Century.