SFFWorld Review of the Year, 2013: Part 2
So here we are again: our SFFWorld review of the year. (This is something like our eleventh!)
For the uninitiated, this is usually where Rob Bedford and I try to pull together what we see as key genre books from the previous twelve months. I should really point out before we start that there is always some slippage here, as books get published in different places around the world at different times.
Putting it simply, some books may reappear even though they were mentioned previously. At the moment this seems to be a ‘UK first, US later’ thing, but by no means always.
At the end, Rob and I usually try and mention our year’s favourites. We try and limit it to five each, but it doesn’t always happen that way. (In fact, it never does, but the intention is always there….!)
Right: with that over, let’s get started.
Part 2: Science Fiction Books
(Part 1, Fantasy Books, is HERE.)
Mark: OK, our second section of our review.
I’ve been trying to think about my favourites for SF this year. According to Locus Magazine, at the time of typing, there have been more than 110 new SF novels published this year. Thinking back, though, I’m surprised to find I’ve not read as much new SF this year as normal. Despite this, my overall feeling is that as it has been for the last few years, (from a British perspective anyway) that SF has been getting stronger. Whilst there is a dearth of female SF writers, I think we’re seeing a little bit of a resurgence after a few years of ‘meh’, which I’m pleased to see.
I can only agree about the resurgence, my reading split between Science Fiction and Fantasy reading was far more even than it had been in prior years, nearly 50/50. I felt there were quite a few good books, although I read more “misses” in SF than I read “misses” in Fantasy.
What I’m most liking personally is the return to staple favourites of my own past but with a new post-modern twist: space opera, colonisation etc etc.
For example, Kim Stanley Robinson’s 2312 was nominated for a 2013 Hugo, a space travelogue if ever I read one. Alastair Reynolds’ Blue Remembered Earth covered similar themes in 2012 as well, and this year Alastair published his second book in his Poseidon’s Children series, On the Steel Breeze, which also took things further afield from the solar system. Paul McAuley added to his most recent Space Opera series with a smaller, more personal tale in Evening’s Empires. Neal Asher added to his Owner series with Jupiter War. Iain M Banks’ Hydrogen Sonata made some waves. Stephen Baxter’s Proxima can be added to that list too, and Charlie Stross’s Neptune’s Brood reminded me a little of old-school SF. James S A Corey’s Abaddon’s Gate was liked by both me and you, Rob. And then there’s David Weber’s series…
As Mark indicated, James S.A. Corey’s Expanse saga continues very strongly with Abaddon’s Gate and hit the New York Times bestseller list. Jack Campbell’s The Lost Fleet series continued, both with a ‘mainline’ novel and with Tarnished Knight, one in the parallel series The Lost Stars.
John Scalzi returned to form with The Human Division, a novel set in the same world as his debut novel Old Man’s War. While Redshirts was fun (and received the Hugo Award), many thought it felt slight. Not so with The Human Division.
Here in the UK I/we caught up with Steven Kent’s Clone Republic series, which I enjoyed.
T.C. McCarthy finished up The Subterrene War, his modern classic trilogy of military SF with Chimera. Although I haven’t read extremely widely in the Military SF subgenre, I have read quite a few and I don’t think any of them have felt as confined, trapped, filthy and uncomfortable in their depiction of war as has McCarthy’s fine trilogy.
Although many would suggest it belongs in the Fantasy genre, I’ve always regarded Steampunk as Science Fiction, though others may disagree. I quite enjoyed Liesel Schwartz’s A Conspiracy of Alchemists and Paul Witcover’s The Emperor of All Things. Chris Wooding finished his bucklepunk series of the Ketty Jay on a bittersweet high with Ace of Skulls.
As well as the longer-toothed authors blazing the trail, I’m pleased to say that there have been some new names to SF this year. Rob, you really liked Rachel Bach’s debut this year, didn’t you?
I loved Rachel Bach’s “soft” debut quite a bit. I say soft because it is an open secret that Bach is Rachel Aaron, author of the five book Eli Monpress fantasy series. Fortune’s Pawn is a mix of Space Opera and Military Science Fiction, with some romance thrown into the mix. A very engaging novel.
But less so Ancillary Justice by another new writer, Ann Leckie. Right, I was in a minority of folks who didn’t care for this novel. I think this could be a case that hype set me up for failure, but after the first chapter or two, the narrative just did not grip me. In short, some interesting concepts and ideas but not strung together well as a novel.
Jason Hough exploded on the scene with The Darwin Elevator, his debut novel and first in the Dire Earth Cycle. It was fun, but seemed to work much better for other readers than it did for me; the book reached the New York Times bestseller list.
Chuck Wendig’s Under the Empyrian Sky his first novel for younger readers/ young adults is also the first of a post-apoclyptic “cornpunk” trilogy – The Heartland Trilogy was quite entertaining.
V.E. Schwab, after a string of popular/well-received young adult novels, published her first novel aimed at adults – the superhero / supervillain deconstruction Vicious. Superhero tales can easily fall into fantasy, but with science underlying the path to characters powers, and the fact that the two primary characters are science students, I place this in SF. What a great novel.
Nila finished off Hugh Howey’s Dust series too.
Collections: I did enjoy some big SF collections this year. The Time Traveller’s Almanac is a great if not hefty read, though there were some reservations from me. It does pull together an eclectic ginormous pile of time travelling stuff, although there are some unusual choices and some strange omissions. The Best of Connie Willis is what it says in the title, as far as her short fiction goes. Elsewhere, I’ve been getting into the Wildside Press e-book collections of very cheap older work, and have in particular enjoyed H Beam Piper, Frederic Brown, Edmond Hamilton, and Philip K Dick (who I seem to enjoy much more as a short story writer). My most recent arrival, much delayed on publication but great so far, is David G Hartwell and Patrick Nielsen Hayden’s 21st Century Science Fiction, which includes stories from 2000 onwards.
Old Mars edited by Martin & Dozois was the only anthology I read, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. Standouts included stories by Phyllis Eisenstein, James S.A. Corey, Chris Roberson, Mary Rosenblum, and Allen Steele, while the majority were good.
Of course, as busy readers, we don’t always get time for all the books, or a re-read. My personal favourite re-reads or missed reads this year have been The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter, which was much better than it sounded, and I was sorry I hadn’t read it earlier, and Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game, which I tried to re-read without the hoo-ha around it elsewhere. I’ve continued the Heinlein re-reads, which I’ve generally enjoyed very much, albeit with the odd misstep. I’m starting to get into my favourite Heinlein period, I think, so I’ll be interested to see if they hold up.
Of the losses in SF this year, Jack Vance is clearly one (though I mentioned this in the Fantasy review). It was also very depressing to hear of the sudden passing of Iain Banks, who I consider myself to have been lucky to meet a couple of times. I think he will be missed very much in the UK, in a similar way to David Gemmell.
So: your five suggestions for this year, Rob:
1. Vicious by V.E. Schwab;
2. Abaddon’s Gate by James S.A. Corey;
3. The Burn Zone by James K. Decker;
4. Fortune’s Pawn by Rachel Bach;
5. The Human Division by John Scalzi.
And mine will be (in no particular order):
- The Time Traveller’s Almanac, edited by Ann and Jeff Vandermeer;
- Abaddon’s Gate by James S A Corey;
- The Best of Connie Willis, by Connie Willis;
- The Clone Republic by Steven L Kent (Bit of a cheat, but it is new here in the UK.)
- The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter
Next: Film & TV.
