"Charley is an athlete. He wants to grow up to be the fastest runner in the world, like his father. He wants to be painted crossing the finishing line, in his racing silks, with a medal around his neck. Charley lives in a stable. He isn't a runner, he's a mount. He belongs to a Hoot: The Hoots are alien invaders. Charley hasn't seen his mother for years, and his father is hiding out in the mountains somewhere, with the other Free Humans. The Hoots own the world, but the humans want it back. Charley knows how to be a good mount, but now he's going to have to learn how to be a human being."

Eskridge explores such complex issues as power and corruption, crime and punishment, and deeply personal insecurity. Most interesting, is the evolution of the character of Jackal from self-doubt through to self-revelation. All in all, a surprising and impressive first novel.

Redemption Ark by Alastair Reynolds
Gollancz
Reynolds made quite a stir with his debut novel Revelation Space (2000). It was followed by Chasm City (2001), which takes place in the same universe. Redemption Ark returns to the storyline begun in the first novel. Something is preventing faster-than-light interstellar travel -- by destroying solar systems where such technology is attained. With such revolutionary technology within our grasp, what should we do about this threat?

In his review, David Soyka says:

"If you like hard SF, even if you have know no idea what the hell Stephen Hawking is talking about half the time, with fast-paced action and hard-boiled characters driven by necessity to take steps they'd rather not, you're in for a great ride." This is space opera with a healthy respect for the laws of physics (the author is an astrophysicist, after all). And, in the true tradition of space opera, there are plenty of plot threads left dangling...

Coraline is a sort of Alice in Wonderland adventure with a young reading audience in mind. The eponymous heroine is a charming, quirky character, who has recently moved into a big old house with a mysterious locked door that eventually leads her into a different realm. And, because it's Neil Gaiman, there's a nice balance of dark creepiness and magical wonderment.

As SF Site reviewer Cindy Lynn Speer notes, Coraline makes a great read-aloud story and is sure to be enjoyed by readers of all ages.

"It soon becomes apparent to both that something is wrong but what that may be is just beyond their ken. Odd characters, empty landscapes, evident (at least to the reader) clues make you want to scream at them but their pace is so frantic that the obvious just skips past. But they do learn that they are just pawns on a game board guided by two factions each with their own agenda. The two are aided by aliens working through volunteer hummingbirds. But Mike and Daniel have something extra -- the aliens that control this murky dimension have met them before..."

The Golden Fool focuses most intensely on the character of Fitz (aka Tom Badgerlock), exploring his relationships with others, his growing understanding of himself, his loneliness following the loss of his wit-partner, and his doubts and fears about what is to come. Although there are moments of action and drama, this is largely a novel of introspection and character development. Obviously many readers feel an affinity for such a deeply human document, written, as it is, with skill and passion.

In his review, SF Site's Rich Horton describes this as one of the most ambitious books in recent years. It is ambitious, and it is much more massive than its hefty page count, but it's also a great book.

This novel has three major strands, spun out seemingly effortlessly and almost at random. One is more or less in the present, and two others are set in the more distant future. But as the narrative progresses, you begin to realize how the spiraling strands are growing together more and more tightly until finally it all coalesces in a brilliant flash. Definitely one of the best science fiction books of the year, and indeed one of the best books of the year in any genre. Click on the title or the cover image above to read Jeff VanderMeer's glowing review.

As SF Site reviewer, Ian Nichols, notes, City of Saints and Madmen "is more an invitation than a book. It is an invitation to wake up in Ambergris, after dreaming of Earth." Ambergris is a city of baroque beauty and creeping nightmare, as real as any place you've ever read about, dreamed of, or visited.

VanderMeer likes to push at the boundaries of conventional fiction, offering and testing other forms and other media -- the 2002 Prime edition includes a story entirely in code (with a sealed envelope containing the decoded story, for those less ambitious readers) as well as another tale embedded in the artwork of the cover itself.

As William Thompson says in his SF Site review:

"The book's greatest strength remains Miéville's vivid description and fecund ability to create and imaginatively bring to life his highly exotic, often perverse yet wonderfully revealed and realized cities, as well as the cultures and mythography of Bas-Lag.... Anyone who has read Perdido Street Station will instantly suspect there is much more going on here in The Scar than simple or mere tale-spinning, however wonderfully or inventively imagined. From title until the end, the nature and perception of scars is a recurrent theme throughout, echoed in the author's cast of grotesques."

As the series continues to grow in complexity, it also grows in popularity: last year Memories of Ice (Book 3) was #9 on the Readers' Choice Top 10, and the previous year Deadhouse Gates (Book 2) was #10. Unlike the previous novels in this cycle, House of Chains begins as a clear, relatively straightforward narrative following one central character. However, by the second quarter of the book, we return to the multiple inter-linked story lines we have come to expect from Erikson, following many different characters. And, as usual, he doesn't allow much slack in his storytelling -- keep up or get lost; those are your choices. I strongly recommend the former.

I personally think this is Erikson's best yet. I also believe this is easily the best fantasy series to appear in the past decade. Looks like I may not be alone in that opinion.

• #11:  The Fantasy Writer's Assistant by Jeffrey Ford (Golden Gryphon, USA, hc, June 2002) -- this book was #4 on the Editors' Choice Top 10 for this year;
• #12:  The Birthday of the World & Other Stories by Ursula K. LeGuin (HarperCollins, USA & Canada, hc, March 2002 / Perennial, HarperCollins, USA & Canada, trade, March 2003) -- this collection was also a near miss on the Editors' Choice list;
• #13:  Fortress of Grey Ice (Sword of Shadows, Book 2) by J.V. Jones (Orbit, UK, hc, April 2002 / Orbit, UK, mm, November 2002) -- the long-awaited sequel to A Cavern of Black Ice;
• #14:  Kushiel's Chosen by Jacqueline Carey (Saint Martin's, USA & Canada, hc, April 2002 / Tor, USA & Canada, mm, March 2003) -- sequel to Kushiel's Dart (2001), which was #6 on the Readers' Choice Top 10 last year;
• #15 (tie):  Fire Logic by Laurie Marks (Tor, USA & Canada, hc, May 2002); and
• #15 (tie):  Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold (Baen, USA, hc, May 2002) -- another Vorkosigan adventure. Bujold's The Curse of Chalion was the #1 Readers' Choice book last year, and A Civil Campaign was the Readers' #7 choice for books of 1999.

• The Golden Age by John C. Wright (Tor, USA & Canada, hc, April 2002);
• I Dare by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller (Meisha Merlin, USA, hc & trade, February 2002);
• Tainted Trail by Wen Spencer (Roc, USA & Canada, mm, June 2002);
• The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque by Jeffrey Ford (HarperCollins/William Morrow, USA/UK, hc, June 2002) -- #3 on the Editors' Choice Top 10;
• Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan (Gollancz, UK, hc, February 2002 / Gollancz, UK, mm, September 2002);
• Fool's Errand (The Tawny Man, Book 1) by Robin Hobb (Bantam Spectra, USA, hc, January 2002 / Voyager, HarperCollins, UK, mm, 2002) -- this book, in its 2001 hardcover edition from Voyager, was #8 on last year's Top 10;
• The Fall of the Kings by Ellen Kushner & Delia Sherman (Bantam Spectra, USA & Canada, trade, October 2002);
• Warchild by Karin Lowachee (Warner Aspect, USA & Canada, mm, April 2002);
• Ares Express by Ian McDonald (Earthlight, UK, hc, May 2001 / Earthlight, UK, mm, March 2002);
• The Separation by Christopher Priest (Simon & Schuster, UK & Canada, trade, October 2002) -- which made it onto this year's Top 10 as chosen by the SF Site staff;
• The Isle of Battle (The Swans' War, Book 2) by Sean Russell (Eos, HarperCollins, USA & Canada, trade, July 2002 / Orbit, UK, hc, September 2002) -- sequel to The One Kingdom (2001), which also received an honourable mention last year.