The Best Books I Read in 2018

Inspired by H.P.’s post on Everyday Should be Tuesday, I thought I’d also do a list of the best books I’ve read this year. I was able to read more this year than the past several years. A lot of that is counting the books I’ve read to my kids. Even when I was too busy to read a for myself, I always read them a chapter of something before bedtime. All told I read 48 books this year, over twice the 21 books from last year. But, what books were the best?

A Dreamer’s Tales, Final

Here we reach the final four stories in A Dreamer’s Tales. So far the collection has had some fantastic highs and a couple of lows. How does the final group fare?

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In Zaccarath

In Zaccarath, the most opulent kingdom on earth, the king asks his prophets to prophesy. They foretell the doom of Zaccarath so that none shall even see its walls.

A simple story that again is merely a scene. An effective fairy tail. Enjoyable, but not up to the level of the better stories in this collection.

A Dreamer’s Tales, Part 2

Continuing with my look at A Dreamer’s Tales by Lord Dunsany with Part 2. In Part 1 I went over the first four stories in the collection. Only one story was a true standout, the other three were fairly mediocre by Dunsany’s standards. Let’s see how this next batch stacks up.

A Dreamer’s Tales, Part 1

I don’t remember how I first heard of Lord Dunsany. No doubt I read his praises being sung in some corner of the internet and decided to search his works out. Many years ago I read The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories and loved it. Now, I’m turning to another collection of Dunsany’s work, A Dreamer’s Tales. Published in 1910, two years after The Sword of Welleran, later they would be printed together in one volume as A Dreamer’s Tales and Other Stories in 1919. With sixteen stories, I’ll split this review into four parts, with four story reviews in each part. So, onto the stories:

Review: The Jewel in the Skull

The Jewel in the Skull was originally published in 1967 by Lancer Books. A revised edition was published by DAW in 1977, which is the one I read. This is the first volume in The History of the Runestaff.