Ranting Dragon’s Favorite… Genre Reviewers of 2011!

Merry Christmas everyone!

To celebrate Christmas and the end of the year, this week’s Ranting Dragon’s Favorite will be a little different. Today, we will be looking at some of our favorite reviewers of the blogosphere—specifically those that wowed us during the year past.

Though our Favorites lists only contain five mentions, there are many more great blogs and websites out there; these five were merely our favorites. Instead of one mention per Ranting Dragon staff member, we worked on this list together, listing our combined five favorites.

Without further ado, I present to you—in no significant order—Ranting Dragon’s favorite genre reviewers of 2011:

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			Staffer’s Musings
			Justin Landon’s Staffer’s Musings has only been around since May, but he’s already a major presence in the blogosphere. His great wit on Twitter, combined with his intelligent opinionated articles and thorough, creative reviews, make Staffer’s Musings one of the best blogs of the year, and definitely the best debuting reviewer in the blogosphere. Go check out Staffer’s Musings here.
			A Dribble of Ink
			One of the best things about Aidan Moher’s blog, A Dribble of Ink, is his series of cover art announcements. He also does reviews from time to time, as well as anticipation posts, free reading, and genre news. His Asides are well-thought-out essays on the genre and its authors, and are always worth reading. We’ve also enjoyed some of the guest blogs he’s had this year. Check out Aidan’s blog here.
			Pornokitsch
			The year 2011 has definitely been Pornokitsch’s year. Not only did they continue to bring enjoyable and often snarky reviews and articles—a highlight this year was definitely their review of Pat Rothfuss’s Wise Man’s Fear—they also helped making our favorite genre just a little better with their new and creative SFF award The Kitchies, and with Pandemonium, where they publish anthologies of original stories by today’s best authors and rising stars of SFF literature. Check out Pornokitsch here.
			Civilian Reader
			While Civilian Reader has been around for a couple of years—his blog dates back as far as April 2006—Stefan, the guy behind Civilian Reader, has really stepped up his game this year, both in quality and quantity, with his number of articles almost doubling and his writing becoming increasingly interesting. Highlights are definitely his lists of upcoming releases and the weekly comic roundups. Give Civilian Reader a visit here; he’s definitely worth your time.
			Grasping for the Wind
			Another consistently good blog is John Ottinger’s sci-fi blog, Grasping for the Wind. Especially interesting are the Geek Media Round-Ups, offering one place to check out links to interesting bits of all sorts of articles, news and more that geeks love. Grasping for the Wind doesn’t just write about books, either, but covers media and science as well. In addition, they have well thought out reviews and opinionated blogs. Pay them a visit here, if you haven’t already.

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Are there any blogs or websites you particularly liked this year? Let us know in the comments below, or come discuss this list on our forums.

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