This was a difficult one to put together. I read a bunch of books this year; some might say too many. It seemed like I was always coming across a book I wanted to read but didn’t have the time for.
I started reading more video game novelizations this year, and those got mixed in with the historical and academic books. The novels ended up being some of my favorite books. There were also a few autobiographies, which were good but not as good as the previous few years.
I also read the first set of Doom novels. Those started okay but devolved into nonsense. None of them made it on this list; if I were making an honorable mention list, none would’ve made it. They were terrible overall.
Here is a list of the best books I read this year. Some of the books I liked had to be left off the list, while others weren’t as good or didn’t cover a subject as well as others. Here are the ten that I liked the most.
Shadowkeep by Alan Foster Dean
This was one of the more enjoyable novels I read this year. It is a paint-by-numbers fantasy story that deviates from the game, but it is fun. Oh, and I was wrong about one of the characters. It is a Kangaroo man, not a Rabbit man. I was still glad when he died and sad that they brought him back to life.
This story follows a blacksmith’s apprentice as he travels to a keep. There, he has to kill a demon. Along the way, he meets a few companions, and while in the keep, the Kangaroo man tries to get them all killed. They defeat the demon, and the world is saved. It isn’t anything special, but it is an enjoyable book.
Shadowkeep has the distinction of being the first video game novelization. Much of this story was invented for the book, as the game is light on details. I still wonder how many people learned about the game from buying the book.
There is something that I find fascinating about novels based on video games. I wonder how closely the author has to follow the game’s plot. How do they account for multiple playthroughs telling different parts of the story? It can be fun to think about as I read more novels.
Fight, Magic, Items by Aidan Moher
This book got me thinking about a few things. Specifically, what is the definition of an RPG, and how has it changed over the years? I’m unsure if that is what Aidan intended when he wrote this book, but that is where my mind went while reading it.
Aidan’s book follows the evolution of the Japanese RPG by going through the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest series. We get the history of the two series, how they evolved over the years, and what the creators of the games were up to.
I’m glad that all of this is in one place. It is a great look at the evolution of the RPG genre, and it sheds some light on things I wasn’t aware of. It is an easy book to read, and Aidan presents the information well. If you’re into RPGs or a Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest fan, this book is great for you. It is a fun and objective look at the two series and RPGs.
Long Live Mortal Kombat by David Craddock
David Craddock does some of the best work on recording video game history. His books are very detailed, and he has an engaging writing style. A personal favorite of mine is his book Rocket Jump which is about id Software. In this book, he tackles the history of Mortal Kombat, Midway, and their relationship with Acclaim.
There is a lot in this book. David explores the games development, the growth of the fan base, and the early Fighting Game Community scene in the arcades. There is too much to put in here, and it is hard to summarize. This is the first part of the story as it leaves off in the early 2000s.
David is one of the authors I follow to see if he has a new book coming out. They’re always great books, and I learn a lot from them. Books like this also give me ideas for other projects and provide a ton of information that I can refer back to. Long Live Mortal Kombat is an excellent history of the first four Mortal Kombat games, the growth of the fan base, and how people break down the game to better understand it.
Monster Kids by Daniel Dockery
This book follows the history of Pokemon. It looks at how the games impacted popular culture in the United States during the late 90s and early 2000s. We’re following a brief era of pop culture called Poke-Mania.
While the book’s main focus is Pokemon and its influence on handheld video games, anime, and trading card games, we also learn about some of the properties that came about simultaneously—specifically looking at the properties that were forced into being Pokemon clones. It reminded me of how several unrelated properties were turned into something wholly different when they were brought to North America.
Monster Kids is a fantastic book. It does more than cover a series of video games. It covers a period when a video game series took over pop culture. It was movies, TV shows, and more. Daniel’s book covers all of this beautifully.
Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller by Chet Williamson
This might be my favorite novel based on a video game. The book closely follows the game’s plot but changes some things so it won’t feel like the main character is doing everything. It has a very cool setting.
In Hell, we follow two characters who work for the cyber police in a dystopian future. The United States has been turned into a Theocratic Dictatorship, and the government has convinced people that Hell is a real place. You can even go to Hell. Demons are wandering around, and they’re responsible for all of the crime in the world.
This book sounds like how I imagine Web3 will be in many ways. It is needless VR that sends you to a version of hell. You don’t need it, but people keep telling you how awesome it is despite all the evidence against it.
The book is excellent! You don’t need to play the game to understand what is happening, and the story is excellent. I enjoyed reading it quite a bit.
Minesweeper by Kyle Orland
This was a great book! I didn’t think you could make a book about a game like Minesweeper, and I wasn’t sure what to expect. It turned out to be one of the better books from Boss Fight Books.
It tells a bunch of smaller stories that surround this simple game. Kyle explains the game’s origins, the minor moral panic it created, and the community around it. There are so many little stories about this game, and each one is fascinating.
This was a spectacular book! It was one that I wasn’t sure about when I started reading it, but as it went on, I found it hard to put down. It was more of a history than a personal story, but Kyle’s writing is engaging and made for an enjoyable book.
Parappa the Rapper by Mike Sholars
This is one of the books published by Boss Fight Books. Mike walks the reader through the game and writes about his experiences in this book. We learn a lot about the period when the game was released, its inspiration, and what it means to Mike.
Something very important is brought up in this book. Parappa the Rapper is a very short game and was sold for full price. People sometimes complain because a $60 game is 10-15 hours long, but back in the 90s, that didn’t matter much. Parappa the Rapper is a 2-3 hour game. There is some more content, but the main story is very short.
Mike also writes about the themes in the game. Nothing in the game is a big deal to anyone aside from Parappa. Nothing changes for the world around him if he doesn’t learn how to drive right away. If he craps his pants, he’ll be embarrassed, but it won’t change much in the grand scheme of things. For a 90s video game, this was something different.
The legacy of the game is brought up. Mike mentions that Parappa the Rapper was a mascot for the PS1 for a time. He also writes about learning about the game from a demo disk. This made me smile as it was similar to how I learned about the game.
This made me think about how we’re drawn to different video games. While I saw Parappa the Rapper and passed on it, Mike saw it and fell in love with it. Not every game is made for everyone, and I enjoy learning who played some of the games that I loved or passed on.
Doom Guy by John Romero
This is one of the books I was looking forward to. When John Romero announced it, I immediately pre-ordered a copy of it. I love learning about the games I grew up with, and I was hoping for more detail than the books Rocket Jump and Masters of Doom. The book delivered some of that, but I feel John held back on some things.
John tells his story. He had a rough childhood but eventually found his way to computer programming. It takes a while to get here, but John has an inspirational story about his journey. There are some things in here that I didn’t know about John’s career in video games.
I didn’t know he worked at Origin or started his own company before going to Softdisk. He also started making games and sending them to various companies, which many other programmers did back in the 80s.
If there is one criticism I have for this book, it would have to be when he talks about his time at Ion Storm. While John talks about some of what happened, it seems he mostly blames other people. There isn’t too much about what he would’ve done differently.
This was a fun book to read. John didn’t put as much as I would’ve liked in here, but he did tell quite a bit about what he had done before and after id Software. It was also interesting to see how closely his story followed other accounts I’ve read.
Suddenly I Was a Shark! by Caleb Ross
This book was amazing! Caleb is a spectacular writer who does a great job explaining the meaning of the game What Remains of Edith Finch. He walks the reader through each level and suggests the possible meanings of each death.
In the game, you see the deaths of the different members of the Finch family. This brings in the idea of a curse. Caleb explains that the family is cursed, but it is up to the player to decide if the curse is real or not. Some deaths could be because of a curse, but they could easily be chalked up to bad luck. The game doesn’t give you any answers, and Caleb explains that it is intentional.
Reading this book made me want to play the game. Caleb brings a creative approach to talking about video games. I liked this book an awful lot. It was one that snuck up on me but ended up being my favorite of the year.
Our Special Place by Whitney Chavis and Brock Wilbur
Several moments in this book made me smile. It is a series of conversations between Whitney and Brock about a series of video games that they like. It is a fun book to read.
The chapters follow a pattern. There is a brief conversation about a related topic; Whitney explains the plot of the game, movie, or comic book, and then the two discuss what they liked and disliked. They also go over some of the merchandise that one of them has collected.
They played through each game before they talked about it. It was cool to hear what they liked and disliked about them. Reading a conversation that doesn’t devolve into a shouting match over differences in a video game is fun.
One of the parts I liked a lot was about the movies and their impact on the series. After the first film, Western studios’ games started to take inspiration from it. It is fascinating to see how that happened.
Final Thoughts
These are just some of the books I read this year. There were others that I had planned on reading but ran out of time. I’ll try to get to them next year.
The only books I wouldn’t say I liked this year were the Doom books. The series went downhill after the second book. They became nonsensical once the authors had to create their own story and seemingly forgot the rules that the previous books established. This was the only time I didn’t like some books I wanted to read.
My favorite books this year were Suddenly I was a Shark! by Caleb Ross and Minesweeper by Kyle Orland. I found these books to be interesting and inspiring. I got ideas for other projects and for things I wanted to write. They’re both great books!
I’m looking forward to seeing what books come out in 2024. I have more novels I want to read, as well as some history books I’m looking forward to. It will also be fun to see what books sneak up on me. It happens every year!