Fine.

You wanted the top ten sci-fi / fantasy books I read during the pandemic year?

You got it.

(Recall: I've been in the market for middlebrow fantasy, that I can read in my free time between 10:30 and falling asleep at 10:35, and won't give me more nightmares. Mercy!)

Gideon IX: How many times do I have to tweet about this book before you buy it?

Spellbreaker: Victorian under-theorized magic with a woman heroine that vague seems like it could be a Charles Finch mystery? Yes please!

Harrow the IX: A step down from the glories of its successor. But still wildly bizarre and original.

Too Like Lightning (by @Ada_Palmer): Really smart -- maybe too smart for the neurons 2020 has left me. But I'm saving a re-read of this for our post-vaccine glory year.

A Memory Called Empire: Pulp! But not in a bad way.

The Last Emperox: Pulp! But I read it in early March and god I needed that.

The Diamond Age. I own this book in hard copy. My kindle tells me that I bought it again in the second week of March, which is also when I apparently ordered something like $150 of bird seed and the Les Mis soundtrack. Dark times.

The Seal of the Worm (Shadows of the Apt Book 10): The series kind of ground on a bit for me.

But just think, he finished it and didn't turn the last promised book into three hardcover books released over years to finance Tor's budget!

Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City: Thanks @jdmortenson! This hit the spot -- it's unpretentious, not that dark, and it ends with a gut punch, just like this year will.

Senlin Ascends: I think I read this early in the year, because all I recall about it is that it was intense, complex and interesting and there's no way I've got the bandwith for any of that now!

(The third book sits on my kindle unread for better days).

Some of these are gloriously good, while others extremely plotty. None will fail to distract you.

I won't judge you in any case, but if any of you recommend Gene Wolfe or Seveneves or the Broken Earth books, let me remind you of the times we're living in.

I mean, if you are young and have gumption and need to be taken down a notch or three, spend the last few days of the year reading Deadhouse Gates.

I read that book maybe a decade ago and it still makes me feel depressed to think about.