Our favorite science fiction and fantasy books of 2018 – The Verge

The long and gloomy year of 2018 is almost over. It was a year filled with devastating storms and disasters, scandal after scandal from tech companies, and chaotic politics around the world. If there was any bright spot in the year, it was that 2018 also brought with it a bumper crop of fantastic sci-fi, fantasy, and horror novels that served as an oasis to survey the world around us, or to escape to brighter pastures.

This year’s best books tell stories of interstellar colonization, of fantastic magical civilizations, optimistic alternate worlds, and devastating potential futures. they brought us fantastical characters seeking to find their place in the vivid and fantastical worlds they inhabited.

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These are our favorite sci-fi and fantasy reads of 2018.

by the foundry by robert jackson bennett

robert jackson bennett is one of those authors who draws a lot of praise for his books, and after reading foundryside, I can see why. is an epic and impressive novel that has both cyberpunk and fantasy. We follow a desperate thief named Sancia Grado, who is hired to steal a mysterious box from a warehouse. Sancia has a special ability: he can sense the magic imbued in objects, which makes it easier for him to work in a world where magic is everywhere.

bennett presents a fantastic story full of fantastic characters, but what stands out here is his take on magic. it’s treated a bit like computer code, and in this world, people use it for everything: to strengthen city walls, provide city lights, and imbue weapons with greater powers. Sancia stumbles upon a plot to use this power to completely remake the world, providing a chilling commentary on the lengths people and corporations will go to to ensure they stay in power.

semiosis by sue burke

A long-standing trope in science fiction is the moment when humanity first encounters life somewhere else in the universe. That’s the approach of Sue Burke’s debut novel Semiosis, which acknowledges that extraterrestrial life likely won’t take the form of a bumpy-headed alien, but rather something we might not recognize as intelligent at first glance.

such is the case here: a spaceship departs from earth with a mission to build a utopian civilization on a new world. But when the colonists land on a planet called Pax, their focus turns to surviving among the planet’s hostile plant life. Burke’s novel jumps from generation to generation, following the colonists and their descendants as they realize that not only are they not alone, but coexistence is a difficult proposition.

record of a few born in space by becky chambers

One of the most delightful sci-fi worlds to hit the shelves in recent years is Becky Chambers’ Wayfarers “trilogy”: a series of books set in the same world, but otherwise self-contained. the latest is the record of a few born in space, which follows the descendants of the last flotilla of starships to depart from earth, who have clung to their way of life aboard the aging fleet.

the chamber novel is a beautiful look at a community dealing with imminent change. It begins with the destruction of a member of the fleet and follows the paths of various characters – parents, newcomers, alien investigators, and others – as they work to make their way through life. in essence, the book has an optimistic view of the importance of traditions and one’s way of life, but the same importance of leaning to change with circumstances.

The Armored Saint and The Queen of Crows by Myke Cole

myke cole began his career with his control points trilogy, a military fantasy series in which magic appears in the real world. his latest foray is a somber leap into epic fantasy with the armored saint and the queen of ravens, the first installments of a trilogy that are punctual tales of the dangers of fascism.

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The first novel introduces readers to a villager named Heloise who witnesses the brutality of the tyrannical order, nominally protecting the wizarding world with the power to summon hideous demons. Ella Heloise opposes the Order and brings destruction to Ella’s home, and in the next installment, she becomes the figurehead of a growing movement to oppose and overthrow the Order. the final volume will be out next year.

The Calculating Stars and The Fated Sky by Mary Robinette Kowal

What if the stakes in the space race were higher? In the opening chapters of Mary Robinette Kowal’s last two novels, an asteroid lands off the East Coast of the United States and threatens to drastically change the weather. To save humanity, the United States and partner nations embark on an ambitious plan to colonize the solar system.

In the midst of this is a Wasp pilot named Elma York, who has the skills and ambition to help with the effort. In the first novel, she confronts systemic sexism and racism as she works to break into the corps of astronauts who set their sights on the moon for her. In the second, she joins the first mission to Mars and faces not only the challenges of space flight, but also the attitudes and prejudices of her crew. these two books are the first steps towards a vivid and exciting world and, thankfully, there are more to come.

war of poppies by r.f. wow

r.f. Kuang’s debut novel, The War of the Poppies, is the promising opening salvo in an upcoming trilogy of military fantasy inspired in part by the atrocities that occurred during the Second Sino-Japanese War. It follows a brilliant young woman named Rin who gains admission into the Nikara Empire’s elite military academy, Sinegard, an escape from serfdom in her impoverished province.

once he arrives at school, however, he finds that the road ahead of him will be difficult: he is faced not only with racism from his classmates and a challenging course load at school, but also with the beginning of a brutal and horrible war. . when he enters the fray, he learns that power comes at a terrible cost.

how long until the future black month? by nk jemisin

Earlier this year, n.k. Jemisin became the first author in history to win three consecutive Hugo Awards for best novel for her phenomenal Shattered Earth trilogy. While we wait for her next novel, she has put together a collection of her short fiction, how long until the future black month?

Each story in this collection simmers with a righteous fury at the state of the world. his characters often find themselves at the end of systematic injustice, and his stories, a mix of cyberpunk, epic and urban fantasy, hard science fiction and more, criticize modern life.

In “The City Was Born Big,” a young man comes to terms with his status as a manifestation of New York City, while in “The Witch of Red Dirt,” a mother confronts a powerful creature who represents white supremacy and she is forced to deal with the sacrifices she and her family must make to secure a future. For fans of her broken earth trilogy, there’s also “Stone Hunger,” in which a girl will stop at nothing to hunt down a man who destroyed her life. the rest of the stories in the collection are just as fantastic and timely.

tiger flu by larissa lai

Set in the distant future, humanity survives on a planet ravaged by climate change and plague in Larissa Lai’s latest novel, Tiger Flu, which follows a community of cloned women fighting for their own unfettered survival. by disease and the economy.

Lai’s story follows two women: Kirilow, a female doctor from Grist village whose lover Peristrophe dies of a new strain of flu. Peristrophe was of vital importance to her community: she could regenerate her limbs and organs, and after her death, Kirilow heads to Saltwater City to try to find someone to replace her. there she meets kora, a woman who lives in the city and who could save her community, but who is reluctant to leave her family behind. Lai’s story is an intriguing post-apocalyptic novel, filled with biotechnology and remnants of the world before.

cixin liu lightning ball

cixin liu is best known for his fantastic recollection of earth’s past trilogy: the three body problem, the dark forest and death’s end, which begins in the 1970s and continues until heat death of the universe. In his latest novel, Liu explores how obsession can lead to dark and dangerous places.

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The book follows a young man named Chen who witnesses the death of his parents in a freak accident: they are incinerated by the impact of spherical lightning. the incident leads him down a path to study the phenomenon, taking him all over the world. Along the way, he meets an obsessive army weapons engineer named Lin Yun, who wants to harness the power of ball lightning into a new weapon. liu approaches the story with the same interest in physics and technology as his other books, and highlights the dangers that power and technology can bring.

lightning trail by rebecca roanhorse

rebecca roanhorse made a splash earlier this year when she won the 2018 hugo and nebula awards for her short story “welcome to your authentic indian experience”. Ella’s debut novel Trail of Lightning is a dazzling urban fantasy that puts indigenous culture front and center and sets up an incredible world.

The book follows a Native American woman named Maggie Hoskie in Dinétah, the traditional homeland of the Navajo tribe. Protected from the chaos of climate change and war by massive magical walls, she is one of a small group of people who have exhibited magical powers and find work as a monster hunter. When a magical construct snatches a little boy from a village, she realizes there is a powerful force threatening her community and she becomes involved in the fight to stop it before they disappear.

the giant reincarnated: a 21st century chinese science fiction anthology edited by mingwei song and theodore huters

Cixin Liu might be one of China’s best-known science fiction authors, but there is a growing effort to bring more of the country’s fiction to the West. Wellesley University Professor Mingwei Song and UCLA Professor Emeritus Theodore Huters have put together a fascinating anthology of some of the contemporary stories coming out of China today.

These include established authors like Cixin Liu, but also newcomers like Chen Qiufan, Xiao Jia, Bao Shu, and others, who tell stories about alternate realities, other societies, and potential futures for the rising nation. the stories range from interstellar wars, messages from a long-dead human race, as well as artificial intelligence, robotics, and cybernetics. The stories represent only a portion of China’s science fiction community, but it is a fascinating window into a fascinating body of work.

the vanished world by tom sweterlitsch

Time travel is a tricky proposition: Science fiction has endlessly explored the possibilities and consequences of changing the past or the future, and Tom Sweterlitsch’s book is a complicated version of the trope.

Sweterlitsch begins in the 20th century with an NCIS agent named Shannon Moss who travels back in time and is tasked with investigating a particularly gruesome murder. Moss jumps back and forth in time to try to unmask the killer, exploring different timelines and suspects. is a vivid and complicated story that combines crime fiction with cosmic horror that doesn’t set you free until you turn the last page.

space opera by catherynne m. brave

Comedy in sci-fi is often a hard thing to pull off: it’s hard to live up to douglas adams’ guidebook series the hitchhiker to the galaxy. but catherynne m. valente achieved that and more with her space opera novel.

“space opera” is the general term for the type of science fiction novels set in great galactic empires or that follow starships as they make their way through space. valente made it into an excellent play on words after a conversation about Eurovision. The book follows a failed glam rocker named Decibel who represents Earth in a megagalactic grand prix, an interstellar music competition that will judge whether or not Earth can join the great galactic civilization. it’s incredibly witty and wonderfully written, with almost every line of the novel telling a story of its own.

Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol, and Exit Strategy by Martha Wells

Martha Wells’s first killer robot novel, All Systems Red, was published last year and was a huge success, ultimately winning the 2018 Nebula and Hugo Awards in its category. This year, the rest of the series hit the shelves, continuing the story of the grumpy but kind-hearted security android who calls himself a killer robot.

Each story is more or less independent, but they form a larger story in the wells universe, following the killer robot as he bounces from planet to planet and tries to discover his purpose in the universe. Along the way, he finds himself helping people caught up in conflicts against the dominant mega-corporations that rule the space lanes, and ultimately helps take down one that has been gunning for his friends. While this series has ended, Wired just published a new short story about the killer robot, and Wells is hard at work on a new novel about the character.

honorable mentions:

children of blood and bone by tomi adeyemi; A Space Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, and the Making of a Masterpiece by Michael Benson; Brooke Bolander’s One Great Harmless Thing; the drums of the black god by p. djeli clark; european tour for the monstrous lady from theodora goss; marko kloos hit points; The 2020 Commission Report on North Korea’s Nuclear Attacks on the United States: A Speculative Novel by Jeffrey Lewis; war cry by brian mcclellan; time was ian mcdonald; compensation for ling ma; black star renegades by michael moreci; amazing: john w. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard and Alec Nevala-Lee’s Golden Age of Science Fiction; star wars: last shot of daniel josé old; powder moon by david pedreira; bandwidth / borderless by eliot peper; Gods, Monsters and the Lucky Peach by Kelly Robson; head on and the consuming fire of john scalzi; vengeful for v.e. schwab; the book of m by peng pastor; heaven is yours by chandler klang smith; riot on vesta by r.e. vapors; tade thompson rosewater; unholy land by lavie tidhar; mecha samurai empire by peter tieryas; side life by steve toutonghi; Paul Tremblay’s Cabin at the End of the World; On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden; the freeze frame revolution by peter watts; and the descent of j and yang monsters.

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