Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

What have been your favorite Science Fiction & Fantasy books published in 2016?

My Favorite Fantasy of 2016 (so far)....

It turns out I enjoyed quite a few fantasy books from the 2016 crop:

Four Roads Cross by Max Gladstone
Gladstone's Craft series continues to shine with a unique and variable cast of characters in a unique fantasy world whose problems are social and political rather than exogenous. I didn't think this one was quite as good as Last First Snow, but I still found it totally engrossing as it returned to the city and characters of Three Parts Dead.

The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin
The second book in a planned trilogy, following last year's award-winning The Fifth Season has a bit of that "middle book" feel of bridging an incredible set up towards a hopefully incredible ending, but it has such splendid characters in their unique world and magic (that's edging a bit towards science fiction), I couldn't put it down.

City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett
Sequel to City of Stairs brings back a couple of the characters to take on new challenges as the occupying force in a new city on a conquered continent.


Also worth reading:

The Regional Office Is Under Attack! by Manuel Gonzales
A really fun contemporary fantasy whose timeframe is barely one day as it chronicles the battle for the Regional Office of a super-secret super-natural super-organization at a breakneck pace.

The Last Mortal Bond by Brian Staveley
Solid action-oriented conclusion to the Unhewn Thrown trilogy.

The Guns of Empire by Django Wexler
An engaging continuation of the Shadow Campaign gunpowder fantasy novels, which show no signs of ending the story anytime soon....

Underground Airlines by Ben H. Winters
Alternate history detective story in a world where there never was a civil war and slavery is still practiced in the South, by the author of The Last Policeman.

All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders offers a conflict between technology and magic, so I could categorize it either as sci-fi or fantasy. I found it an entertaining read.

The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu
Okay, this isn't a novel, it's an anthology, and all of these stories except one have appeared before. Still, any story by Ken Liu is worth re-reading.


And, I still want to read...

The Wall of Storms by Ken Liu
2nd part of his Slikpunk debut trilogy that began with The Grace of Kings.

Edit: added All the Birds in the Sky

My Favorite Science Fiction of 2016 (so far)...

I originally hadn't read any 2016 sci-fi books I feel like recommending, but in the last couple of months I've either mellowed or added a couple to the worth reading list:

Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee is military scifi heavy on its decidedly different culture & politics, light on its tactics or explaining it's tech, but quite intriguing thoughout.

Crosstalk by Connie Willis is a lightweight comedy involving an experimental brain implant developed by a phone manufacturer to let people communicate in emotions... that quickly goes sideways. Just funny enough.

Infomocracy by Malka Ann Older

Babylon's Ashes by James S.A. Corey, continuing their Expanse series, wrapped up the 2nd trilogy story arc in decent fashion, though there was a sense of inevitability to much of the story and the lack of moral ambiguity.Good enough, but not as good as its predecessors.

I will heartily recommend the superb novella:

Charlotte Incorporated by Rachael K. Jones
In a future world, it turns out brains kept in jars have as much trouble with poverty as in today's world, and sometimes it's hard to hold on to your dreams. (It's free online, so you should read it.)

I still need to read Death's End, A Closed and Common Orbit.


Edit: Added Ninefox Gambit
Edit2: Added Babylon's Ashes.
Edit3: Added Infomocracy

I nominated The Obelisk Gate for fantasy and Too Like the Lightning for sci-fi. All the Birds in the Sky would be an honourable mention for me. I liked it but ended up voting for Obelisk Gate in fantasy. G, you would probably enjoy Birds, as long as you can tolerate a moderate amount of San Francisco hipsters.

Overall I found 2016 a little disappointing compared to 2015 and 2014, which both had an excellent crop of SFF. Only Too Like the Lightning truly blew me away, and it is probably too weird/niche to be taking home many awards. Maybe there's some great 2016 books out there I haven't read, the year isn't over yet.

Brendan wrote: "Only Too Like the Lightning truly blew me away, and it is probably too weird/niche to be taking home many awards..."

I'll add that to my to-read. I see Jo Walton liked it over at Tor.com, too.

I don't usually end up reading many books in a year that were published that year, unless I win them through Goodreads giveaways. Of the ones already nominated I only read Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and even though I didn't read any of the others to compare with, I'd have to say it doesn't qualify as the "best fantasy" of the year (unless everything else was dismal). Wonder why it wasn't under the YA or Middle Grade fantasy section, there maybe I could have been ok with the term "best".

Normally I would have read Guns of Empire but got derailed by the Power Mage trilogy which I'll finish up first. As for it finishing, I believe 5 books were planned? But authors sometimes change their minds if they can't fit everything they want into the last book. Which is sometimes great, so as a reader you can hang out in that world a little longer. And sometimes not so great (Eragon really, really, really should have been a trilogy)

Andrea wrote: "I believe 5 books were planned?"

I can remember when they said that about the Wheel of Time. :)

I have enjoyed recent books in 2 series: the Schooled in Magic series by Christopher Nuttall and the recent books in the Spellmonger series by Terry Mancour. specifically, Court Wizard: Book Eight Of The Spellmonger Series and Shadowmage: Book Nine Of The Spellmonger Series.

In the Schooled in Magic series the most recent are Infinite Regress and Past Tense. The starter book is Schooled in Magic. Both series are fun reads in interesting worlds. All 4 books are out this year.

I haven't read anything published in 2016. Only 3 books out of the 27 that I read this year were published in the last 5 years, the most recent of which was the free online anthology War Stories from the Future published in 2015.

I guess this is because I don't usually buy hardcovers and never buy e-books so I wait until the paperback is out and even then I often wait until I can get it used someplace. So I tend to read mostly older books which coincidentally is what I have sitting on my bookshelves at home.

But thank you for starting this topic! I am getting some good book recommendations to add to my Wish List, and I look forward to reading them in 2021. :P

I updated my two earlier posts ( scifi, fantasy) to include a few more titles I've read since then (Babylon's Ashes, Ninefox Gambit, All the Birds in the Sky).

What 2016 SF&F books have you enjoyed this past year?

I read Catalyst - A Rogue One Novel by James Luceno. It was OK - I gave it 3 stars but at least one of those stars is "just because it's Star Wars." Since it was the only 2016 book I read, I guess it was my favorite.

Let's see, I read 13 books that were published in 2016. I would say I enjoyed most of them, particularly Infomocracy, All the Birds in the Sky, City of Blades, The Obelisk Gate and The Last Days of New Paris.

My favourite science fiction books published in 2016 were The Big Book of Science Fiction and (sorry Geezer) Too Like the Lightning.

Favourite fantasy book from 2016 was The Weaver.

I didn't have a time to read all the 2016 books that I wanted yet, I still have Ninefox Gambit and Central Station that I plan to read, which could change my year-end lists. Things could change, but right now I would say that 2016 was a year that had many good books, but nothing I could confidently point to and say, "This will be remembered as a classic."

I don't read too many SFF published in 2016 but my fave fantasy would be City of Blades - rare that a sequel surpasses the first book and for SF Babylon's Ashes - almost as good as Nemesis Games which I give six stars LOL

Honorable mention: The Obelisk Gate

Top of my list is definitely City of Blades. Though I'm not usually a horror fan, I thought there were some excellent stories in Jeffrey Ford's A Natural History of Hell: Stories and enjoyed the collection overall.

While I had some quibbles with Icon by Genevieve Valentine, I enjoyed it overall. Like its precursor Persona, it deals with politics, propaganda, and surveillance in a near-future world governed by a UN-like multinational organization.

I really enjoyed Kai Ashante Wilson's language and worldbuilding in A Taste of Honey, though I had mixed feelings about the ending.

I ultimately found Samatar's prose style and frequent focus on less-typical protagonists in The Winged Histories more compelling than frustrating, though I'd guess the book won't be everybody's cup of tea.

I thought Every Heart a Doorway and Crooked Kingdom were fun reads. I thought The Spider's War brought the full Dagger & Coin series to a satisfying end (no easy task), though it didn't necessarily wow me.

Hillary wrote: "I really enjoyed Kai Ashante Wilson's language and worldbuilding in A Taste of Honey, though I had mixed feelings about the ending."

Me too. I liked The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps even more. I like the way he is building up these stories, wonder if he'll keep writing novellas in this world or build up to a novel?

Brendan wrote: "... I liked The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps even more. I like the way he is building up these stories, wonder if he'll keep writing novellas in this world or build up to a novel?."

I don't know. There's definitely material for a novel, but I'm thinking perhaps his prose style lends itself more to the novella-length. The time jump b/t the two novellas has me imagining something like Aliette de Bodard's Xuya universe stories/novellas -- which I keep hoping will eventually be collected in one volume.

Locus Magazine Is out with its recommended reading list for 2016.

2016 Locus Recommended Reading List

This is sort of a "long list" for the eventual Locus best of the year awards. The list is alphabetical by author, and as usual locus separates sci-fi and fantasy.

Thanks for linking the list G33z3r for some reason I thought it wasnt due out for a few weeks. For the first year in ages I have read nothing that is recommended other than stories in the best collection/anthology section.

Skimming through reviews there are at least 8-9 books and a few collections that look like I would enjoy them.

G33z3r wrote: "



What have been your favorite Science Fiction & Fantasy books published in 2016?"

My favorite sci-fi book published in 2016 would have to be "Liberation" which is book 3 of "The Mechanical Wars. The first two in the series were published in 2015. I hope this qualifies, since it is steampunk as well.

If you love androids, alt-history and don't mind graphic violence with torture, this is a fantastic series. I don't hand out 5 stars very easily, and this series got 5 stars for all three books from me.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

†Ðawn† wrote: "My favorite sci-fi book published in 2016 would have to be "Liberation" which is book 3 of "The Mechanical Wars. The first two in the series were published in 2015..."

I liked the Alchemy Wars series, too. Tregillis put together an interesting alternate history, sort of replaying the 30 Years War in the New World, with Calvinist Robots attacking Catholic Quebec. An alchemical / geas re-imagining of Asimov's laws, plus, a robot rebellion! Clockmakers lie.