Well, 2014 has almost come to an end. And in terms of quality SFF novels, it's been a decidedly dismal year. By far the worst since I created the Hotlist in 2005. Many of this year's new releases were so lackluster that they often took the love of reading right out of me. Indeed, 2014 marks my lowest output of book reviews since I started doing this. =(Still, although it was far from a banner year, 2014 saw a number of noteworthy SFF titles get published. Here are the top 5 speculative fiction novels I've read this year! =) Click on each title to read my review. . .1-by Myke Cole ( Canada Here's the blurb:2-by Robin Hobb ( Canada Here's the blurb:3-by Jasper Kent ( Canada Here's the blurb:4-by Mark Lawrence ( Canada Here's the blurb:5-by Joel Shepherd ( Canada Here's the blurb:------------------------------I'll post my entire Top 10 at the end of the year. Last December, a nasty virus that turned into an acute gastroenteritis prevented me from coming up with the annual Hotties awards. Hopefully they can return once more this year. . . =)