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by Greg L. Johnson
If you'd have talked to me in the middle of the year, say August or so, you might
have heard me bemoan the state of the year so far in science fiction, few of the
books I'd read by that time had struck me as worthy of inclusion on a best of
the year list. But that quickly turned around, and whether it was me or the publishing
industry, the rest of the year quickly produced a run of books well worth celebrating,
and what had looked like a year with a short list turned out to be a year that
took more than one cut to make it. So, with the usual caveat that titles are
limited books I actually read, the best of 2009.
Editor's Note: Links lead to SF Site reviews of the books.
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Sandman Slim by Richard KadreyRichard Kadrey's punk sensibility turns L.A.'s streets into the perfect setting for a character who's already been to Hell and back.
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The Empress of Mars by Kage BakerKage Baker's untimely demise in early 2010 is made all the more sad by the fact that as a writer she was on a creative peak in 2009. In addition to the Empress of Mars colorful tale of life on the Martian frontier, her YA novel The Hotel Under the Sand was very well received. Her voice will be missed.
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Cyberabad Days by Ian McDonaldSnapshots of a future India, these companion stories to River of Gods both expand on and add detail to one of the most stylishly portrayed future histories in recent science fiction. review by Paul Kincaid
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The Windup Girl by Paolo BacigalupiPaolo Bacigalupi's first novel combines genetic engineering, unrestrained capitalism, and Bangkok to produce a world where megadonts provide power, wealth is measured in food calories, and an uncontaminated seed bank is the key to Thailand's and possibly the world's future.
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Finch by Jeff VandermeerMurder takes on new shades of gray in an Ambergris torn by civil war and occupied by the Gray Caps. Jeff Vandermeer's hallucinatory, vivid prose effectively captures the minds of characters living on the edge of madness, including that of a detective forced into an investigation with no safe conclusion.
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City Without End by Kay KenyonThe Entire and The Rose series continues on a high level. While some questions are answered, others are raised and the stakes become even higher for Titus Quinn and two universes.
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The Devil's Alphabet by Daryl GregoryDaryl Gregory's second novel starts out as a typical, though smartly-written, small-town, southern horror novel and then becomes something quite different; reality-bending science fiction.
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The Quiet War by Paul McAuleyPaul McAuley uses lessons learned from writing thrillers to spice up this space opera look at how modern warfare can be plotted, managed, lost, and won before the first shots are even fired. review by Paul Kincaid review by Rich Horton
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Julian Comstock by Robert Charles WilsonFrom out of the West comes Julian Comstock; fugitive, heretic, war hero, President. At least that's the way the story is related in Robert Charles Wilson's tale of a 22nd century America that has reverted to 19th Century values.
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Galileo's Dream by Kim Stanley RobinsonSpeculations in history, philosophy, and physics, grounded in a warts and all look at the life of the great scientist make Galileo's Dream a rare combination of literary science fiction and serious biography. In a career of highlights, this could well be Kim Stanley Robinson's best.
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Greg L Johnson lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota and reviews science fiction and fantasy for the SF Site and The New York Review of Science Fiction. |
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