Here’s my selection of the books I have enjoyed most in 2008 (not necessarily books published in 2008).

The Pavarotti-Bot Award for Best Space Opera

Loads of candidates for this cherished award – the first new Culture novel of Iain M Banks for seven years, Matter, was pretty fine, and Peter F. Hamilton’s The Dreaming Void reminded me just how much I enjoy his forest-busting tomes. But for sheer enjoyment, I would have to pick Alastair Reynolds, both for the breadth of vision of House of Suns and the taut plotting of The Prefect. I can’t wait for his next offering.

Best Use of a Shrew in a Humorous Context

This coveted prize can only go to Nick Harkaway’s sublime The Gone-Away World, which offers a futuristic romp that I described as ‘Mad Max meets Catch-22 meets Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy‘ (actually, I didn’t, but I should have). I don’t think any other book has made me laugh as much this year, and the author continues to amuse me in his blogging and his other writing (look out for our interview with him in the New Year). The fact that Harkaway is John Le Carre’s son is genuinely incidental – his is a very different talent.

The ‘Young Adults Have Never Had It So Good’ Prize

If they can cast aside their hoodies and their iPods and their text messages and the other fripperies of youth, this year has brought two wonderful books for young adults that should in actual fact be avidly sought out by old adults too. I can’t chose between them, so they share the prize – though both, in their way, feature Death as a main character, so perhaps he’s the real winner. Nation by Terry Pratchett is one of his best ever books in my opinion, while The Book Thief by Markus Zusak handles the Holocust and the fate of ordinary Germans in WW2 with a deft touch that has to be read to be believed.

The ‘J.R.R. Who?’ Award for Most Genre-Defying Fantasy

Lots of writers in the fantasy world this year have tried to break the mould – and you could argue all day about how innovative each of them has ended up being. Richard Morgan’s The Steel Remains introduced explicit gay sex to fantasy, as well as drugs and a disdain for magical rings and fellowships. K.J. Parker took a break from trilogies to bring us the excellent standalone The Company, and we had good stuff from Jonathan Barnes and Graham Joyce writing as William Heaney. But in a year when I expanded my mind with both Reaper’s Gale and Toll the Hounds, Steven Erikson is the only man for this prize. The only downside: I just dread to think what I have to push out of my brain to make room for all his characters’ names!

The ‘Tolkien Rocks, You Stupid Bucket of Orc-Droppings’ Prize for ‘Classic’ Fantasy

Despite all the genre-bending mentioned above, there were some great fantasies in a more traditional vein that reminded me why it actually was that I started reading fantasy in the first place – nothing embodies that sense of adventure and escapism better than Patrick Rothfuss’s The Name of the Wind. Honourable mentions also for Joe Abercrombie’s conclusion to his First Law Trilogy, as well as Tad Williams and Scott Lynch.

The Captain Jack Aubrey Award for Best Historical Fiction

OK, so  the clue is in the title – but in the year when I read the final five of Patrick O’Brian’s superlative seafaring tales, how can I possibly look any further? On another year, Conn Iggulen’s Wolf of the Plains would have been a strong contender; Cornwell’s Azincourt, however, felt too derivative of his earlier Grail Quest trilogy. The Amalgamation Polka was a wonderful blend of literary fiction and historical adventure that I enjoyed immensely.

The Watts-Billimore Double Award for History Writing

Naming this after my two favourite history teachers gives me the excuse to make the award to two books: in keeping with the History A-level syllabus and their teachings, one is British history and one is overseas. Christian Wolmar’s Fire and Steam is a wonderful exploration of the growth of railways in our country and the role they have played in shaping our modern lives. Meanwhile, The Bloody White Baron by James Palmer was an eye-opening account of a little-known Russian general who became a Mongolian warlord in the chaos of the Russian Civil War.

Most Recommended Book of the Year

However much you enjoy a book, the extent to which you recommend it to others is the ultimate testament to what it meant to you as a reader, so this is how I am judging the ‘Contemporary Fiction’ category. The Other Hand was a wonderful book that made me laugh and showed what a clever writer Chris Cleave is; Crusaders took me back to the heady political atmosphere of 1997; Dear Everybody was touching and showed the possibilities in the epistolary novel. I would recommend all of them heartily.

For me, though, the out-and-out winner, which I would recommend to anyone who wants to be seriously impressed by a debut novel, is The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson, which is truly superlative. Everyeone should read this book.

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