Kirkus Selects the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2016

Kirkus Selects the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2016

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We continue our tour through the more reputable Best of the Year lists. Today’s stop: Kirkus Reviews, with their slideshow celebrating the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2016.

This is a much more selective list than most (a scant 10 titles), but it’s still a nice mix of repeats from other lists, and fresh names. It includes books by Charlie Jane Anders, Cixin Liu, Malka Older, Michael Swanwick, Brian Staveley, Yoss, and N.K. Jemisin. It calls out excellent titles such as Peter Hamilton’s latest Commonwealth novel A Night Without Stars (Del Rey, September).

Hamilton’s latest (a relatively slender 704 pages) brings to a furious boil the two-book saga (The Abyss Beyond Dreams, 2014) describing human colony planet Bienvenido’s unremitting battle against the hostile alien Fallers. Read full book review

And Patricia A. McKillip’s Kingfisher (Ace, February)

A delicately wrought, twinkle-eyed fantasy from the accomplished author of The Bards of Bone Plain (2010, etc). Read full book review

the-last-mortal-bond-smallerAnd the second novel in C.A. Higgins’s Lightless Trilogy, Supernova (Del Rey, July).

The story of a revolution-turned-civil war waged across the solar system — and within one very unusual spaceship. Read full book review

We didn’t manage to cover as many Kirkus selections as we did with other lists, but we hit a few.

Not So Much Said the Cat, by Michael Swanwick
The Last Mortal Bond by Brian Staveley

See the complete slideshow at Kirkus Reviews.

Interested in hearing more about the best books of the year? Black Gate has you covered. Here’s our picks for the top lists so far.

Amazon Selects the Best Books of 2016
Kirkus Selects the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2016
Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog Selects the Best Novels of 2016
Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog Selects the Best Horror Books of 2016
Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog Selects the Best Collections and Anthologies of 2016

See all our coverage of the best New Treasures here.

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Jeff Stehman

While I usually love McKillip’s novels, I’m not likely to read Kingfisher due to its contemporary trappings.


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