2018 is all but done, so it’s time once again for me to dig my judging hat out of storage and cast my beady eye over the last twelve months here at The Eloquent Page. Before all the excitement and accolades, some thrilling numbers for all you stat fans out there. Since 1st January I’ve read fifty-eight books. Forty-one of those fall into the categories of either fantasy, sci fi or horror. Conversely, crime, action/adventure, and historical fiction were all pretty thin on the ground. I’ve written fifty-three thousand five  hundred words of book-related review waffle and, most importantly, thoroughly enjoyed myself to boot. Now time for the awards. As ever, what follows is a random assortment of plaudits, each of my own devising. The “End of the World and I Feel Fine Award” for the Apocalypse in Fiction – Tough group this year. The Feed by Nick Clark Windo was brilliant. Zero Day by Ezekiel Boone was suitably bonkers (flesh eating spiders are wonderfully icky). Hunted by G X Todd continued The Defender series, and was both thoughtful and immersive. So many great books in one of my favourite categories. I do love the end of the world. My…

Another year draws to a close, and I find myself in the midst of the little book vacation I always give myself. A couple of weeks off means I can come back to the blog refreshed and reinvigorated for the coming year. It also gives me the opportunity to reflect upon what I’ve read over the past twelve months. Now, it’s time for the annual Eloquent Page awards. The rules are as arbitrary as ever. I make up the categories myself and the only real requirement are that the winners are taken from within the books I’ve read this last year. I’ve tried to reduce the number of books I read in a year; I’m aiming for one a week. In the past the blog has taken over my life a little, but in 2015 I came pretty close to my target. The grand total was 60 books. So without further ado on to the awards themselves. The They Will Be Missed Award – Sadly, all good things to an end. The biggest disappointment for me in 2015 was that way back in January, the final book in the Ack Ack Macaque series, Macaque Attack by Gareth Powell arrived. *Sniffle*…

Welcome to The Eloquent Page review of 2014. It’s been another barnstormer, genre fiction wise, in the last twelve months. I’ve managed seventy eight books and for the first time ever the site has had over two hundred thousand page views which equates to over fifty thousand unique visitors. That boggles my tiny mind. But never mind all this statistical mayhem. Let’s cut to the chase. It’s time for my awards for the year. Random as ever, and judged by a panel of one, me. The “They Did What?” Award – I’m a boring old sod at heart. I’m not massively interested in the vagaries of the book industry. I read what I like, and that’s about all there is to it. That said, even I’ll admit I was confounded and disappointed when I discovered that Angry Robot were discontinuing Strange Chemistry and Exhibit A. Both were brilliant imprints. Obviously, I appreciate there were probably entirely valid economic reasons why what happened happened, but personally I wish they were both still around. I read some cracking books from both imprints and I’m still disappointed that they are gone. One small silver lining is that Kim Curran’s final book in the…

2011 has been another great year for books. First off a few stats – I have managed to read eighty-two novels which works out at over six and a half books a month. After a swift and very rough calculation that works out at approximately 6,150000 words. Some were bad, some were good and some were even great. I thought it would be nice to round off this festive season with a little bit of review. Firstly, my books of the month January – December 2011. There is a mixture of new releases and others that have been around for a while. Each and every one was a genuine pleasure to read, and I recommend them all heartily. Jan  – Point by Thomas Blackthorne Feb – Vegas Knights by Matt Forbeck Mar – The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie Apr – Vampire Warlords by Andy Remic & Serial Killers Inc by Andy Remic – I dont feel too bad about a tie here as both books are by the same author (prolific sod that he is) May – Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs Jun – The Watchers by Jon Steele Jul – Tourniquet by Kim Lakin-Smith Aug – Outpost by…