This novel is set in the same universe as Scalzi's Old Man's War (2005). Ghost Brigades are special forces units made up of soldiers cloned from the DNA of the dead. Jared Dirac is cloned from a despicable traitor. The memories of his infamous progenitor are transplanted into Dirac in an attempt to find out how deep the treachery went and how much the enemy might know. The memory dump doesnt' seem to take -- at least, not at first...

In this novel, Vinge has created an uncomfortably plausible near future world. Virtual reality is now able to create and superimposes a real-time overlay on your perception of the real world, essentially allowing you to live in the VR world of your choice. But some clever cookie has also created extremely slick mind control software called YGBM (You Gotta Believe Me), which causes you to believe whatever the originator wants you to believe.

In this sequel to Shaman's Crossing (2005), Nevare Burvelle is a survivor of the Speck plague that has devastated the King's Cavalla Academy. Unlike the other survivors, few as they are, Nevare seems to have resumed his previous good health. The only thing troubling him is that his defeated adversary, Tree Woman, continues to haunt his dreams -- dreams in which his Speck self is the ultimate betrayer.

Even in the 27th century people are still a little nostalgic for the past. An experimental historical role-playing project designed to recreate the mid-20th to mid-21st centuries goes somewhat awry. A far future SF thriller with complicated plot twists and complicated characters. Fast-paced, well-written and full of cool ideas, this is what SF is meant to be like.

Neil Gaiman is well known to SF Site readers. He took the number one spot on this list last year with Anansi Boys, and his first short story collection, Smoke and Mirrors captured the number one spot on our inaugural Readers' Choice list 9 years ago. He's definitely a perennial favourite among SF Site readers -- including me. This second collection of his short fiction made it onto my own personal top 10 as well. The stories here have a loose thematic connection as suggested by the title. Gaiman's stories are clever, vivid, lively, and always worth reading.

The sixth book in the 10-volume Tales of the Malazan Book of the Fallen is the fulcrum in this unfathomably vast web of plot. The events of the Malazan campaigns on Genabackis and Seven Cities, the Tiste Edur conquest of the Letherii Empire, the machinations of the Malazan Empress -- almost everyone we've met and everything that has happened so far is pulled together in this book. And now the Malazans are not only at war on every continent they occupy, they are also courting civil war on their very doorstep.

In this novel it's the characters sent to meet the aliens who are at least as interesting as the possibility of first contact. A linguist with a brain surgically quartered to house each of her distinct personalities; a pacifist warrior; a synthesist with half his brain missing; a biologist who is more machine than man; and a genetically reconstituted vampire to keep them all in line -- what more unlikely crew to represent humanity to a potentially hostile alien species? A suspenseful read to the very end.

The first three books of this series were all published last year: His Majesty's Dragon, Throne of Jade and Black Powder War. The pseudo-historical backdrop here is the Napoleonic wars, except in Novik's world dragons are used for aerial attack. Captain Laurence of the British Navy captures a French ship that has a rare dragon egg on board. When the dragon hatches, it bonds with the Captain, condemning him to a very different life than the one he had chosen for himself.

This novel is the concluding volume in the fantasy trilogy that began with The Darkness that Comes Before (2003) and continued in The Warrior-Prophet (2004). The Thousandfold Thought is a potent sorcery. It is the only thing that can avoid a second Apocalypse, and in doing so it will forever transform both faiths on either side of this holy war. Anasûrimbor Kellhus, the warrior-prophet, must learn the secret of the Thousandfold Thought -- the fate of the world rather depends on it.

The number one most recommended book by your fellow SF Site readers is this debut fantasy novel about a talented and daring thief and con man named Locke Lamora. In the course of his adventures and schemes, Locke runs afoul of the local authorities as well as the underworld leaders. In fact, he is drawn into a feud between the reigning crimelord and a new and sinister contender known as the Grey King. But there is honour among thieves. Unwilling to be manipulated, Locke declares his own personal war on the Grey King.