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Mon Dec 21
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Why oh why do you call it a best-SF list and then throw in grade-school-friendly wizards and dragons? Can we stop lumping obvious fantasy with SF? I enjoy good fantasy, believe me, but SF is not fantasy fantasy is not SF... gaaaaah! (pulls luscious, long, straight brown hair out).
AIR: Unsympathetic main character, deus ex machina love interest (literally!), hackneyed subplots (talking dogs were done better in "Up") and SYSTEMATIC TYPOS THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE PAPERBACK. All this is set against the backdrop of a very interesting technology that I would have preferred to see Greg Egan explore.
THE SEPARATION by Christopher Priest is the best SF book of the decade, to my mind. Its complex use of real history, alternate history, parallel worlds and human consciousness is simply fascinating.
Mieville I can get behind. Stephenson I'm torn on, as whilst the Baroque Cycle has SF elements, overall it is a historical fiction with a high amount of historical fidelity (moreso than most straight historical works).
ASH: A SECRET HISTORY by Mary Gentle should also be a contender for the list. As an alt-history with magic and an interesting language style, I would rank it as superior to JONATHAN STRANGE AND MR. NORRELL.
For fantasy I think we do need A STORM OF SWORDS on there. A book with so many memorable moments, characters and lines that it's almost overwhelming, along with at least two of the most jaw-dropping "Are you kidding me?" moments in modern fantasy fiction. Probably the moment that post-Tolkien secondary world fantasy stopped aping the old master and finally said, "Right, now things are going to be little bit different," and followed up on in style by the likes of Bakker, Abercrombie and Lynch.
For fantasy of a slightly different stripe, Steven Erikson's DEADHOUSE GATES and MEMORIES OF ICE are pretty impressive works, constantly imaginative and thought-provoking. Later books in the series have proved disappointing, even formulaic, but these two books remain very impressive.
Alastair Reynolds, for me, would be a strong contender for individual best SF writer of the decade. Individual works by other writers have been better than any of his output, but his high rate of output (nine novels and three story collections this decade alone) and its very high quality should be respected. CHASM CITY and PUSHING ICE are classic works of modern SF in their own right.
Ian McDonald's RIVER OF GODS and BRASYL are also very good, and refreshingly show that the future won't just be set in Los Angeles and New York, but that countries like India and Brazil have dazzling, high-tech futures and dangers to deal with as well.
Not a geat list, if you ask me. Some of them are not even science fiction novels. And where are Roth's The plot against America and Ishiguro's Never let me go? And why are all authors anglo-saxons?
@gilliam3001: All of the books are English-language, and I've added a note to the post to make that clear. However, I doubt that all of the authors on this list would identify (or be identified by others) as Anglo-Saxon.
@Joscelin: Believe me, Martin and Carey were high on my "I wish this list could be 100 books long" list too. Of course, since your name is Joscelin, you might be a LITTLE biased toward Carey. :)
@Annalee Newitz: Excellent points all! I forgot my screen handle was "Joscelin"!
More seriously, I think the time is right for a companion blog for io9 in the fantasy space. Fantasy is bigger than sci-fi, as we've seen from publishing stories. Twilight, True Blood, LOTR, Harry Potter, etc. are all fantasy. Or maybe io9 should morph toward a hybrid sci-fi/fantasy model? Thoughts? Love your posts, by the way, Annalee! :-)
WHAT? Why did you leave out "The Road?" It was easily top ten of the decade. I know it was an Oprah book-of-the-month-club pick or whatever but it's Cormac freaking McCarthy! The guy wrote "Blood Meridian". That more than makes up for the Oprah thing. Besides, you've got way too many smaltzy boy-wizard dragon-humping books on the list that don't really even qualify as sci-fi.
You need some good old fashioned Twilight-Zone-"On The Beach" downer Sci Fi stuff.
On the plus side you have Chiang on there. So...your list isn't all wrong.
I like book lists like I liked crystal meth, and let me tell you that was a lot. However I don't like this list. I just can't understand why Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go isn't on here. There couldn't be a more emotionally engaging work that comments so directly on mortality, the biggest issue of the human experience, through a sci-fi plot device/major metaphor.
I'd like to humbly suggest we take out Doctorow from this list, so we can make room for either Gaiman or Robert Charles Wilson.
Doctorow's novel might have been important for marking an important step in spreading the concept of Copyleft, but MAN... It's a trite, derivative, poorly-written story if I've ever read one. His SF concepts have been written better elsewhere (cf. "Lost in Transmission", for instance) and I believe the book would not have received a percent of the attention it gets were it not 1) for the CC publicity stunt, and 2) the fact that the author has a hugely popular blog to publicize himself on.
I'd recognize the book as part of a Top 20 important SF books of the decade, but "best"? Ack. Gimme "Spin" or "American Gods" over this.
Some of my favorite reads are on this list (Glasshouse, Down & Out in the Magic Kingdom, Rainbow's End) so yay. And good choices on the fantasy front too.
But I found Air to be alternately bland and grating. And while I haven't read Time Traveler's Wife, I'd offer "Rant" by Chuck Palahniuk as a solid contender for the time travel story that does not live in the SF/Fantasy section entry.
Thanks for the great list Annalee! More book articles please - look how many comments this has generated. I look forward to reading the new books on my must read list.
Will there be another book club selection soon? I was without computer recently so I may have missed an announcement.
My only complaint: The Yiddish Policemen's Union. Definitely one of the best SF books of the decade, though people have trouble remembering it because it falls between the genre cracks.
Harry Potter, thankfully, will about as well remembered in 50 years as the smash-hit bestsellers of, say, 1905 are remembered now.
A few thoughts:
I'm glad someone's talking about Air, which has been overlooked.
I too thought "The Time Traveler's Wife" & "Jonathan Strange..." were badly written and am surprised they'd make your list.
"Perdido Street Station," while great, doesn't stack up to Meiville's "Iron Council," for my money.
And David Marusek's "Counting Heads" surely deserves a mention.
This list seems oddly weighted in favor of bestsellers, which we could certainly get recommended to us at any corporate bookstore. Recommend the overlooked gems, please!
12/14/09
12/14/09
Why did you make read Air, io9, why?
12/14/09
Mieville I can get behind. Stephenson I'm torn on, as whilst the Baroque Cycle has SF elements, overall it is a historical fiction with a high amount of historical fidelity (moreso than most straight historical works).
ASH: A SECRET HISTORY by Mary Gentle should also be a contender for the list. As an alt-history with magic and an interesting language style, I would rank it as superior to JONATHAN STRANGE AND MR. NORRELL.
For fantasy I think we do need A STORM OF SWORDS on there. A book with so many memorable moments, characters and lines that it's almost overwhelming, along with at least two of the most jaw-dropping "Are you kidding me?" moments in modern fantasy fiction. Probably the moment that post-Tolkien secondary world fantasy stopped aping the old master and finally said, "Right, now things are going to be little bit different," and followed up on in style by the likes of Bakker, Abercrombie and Lynch.
For fantasy of a slightly different stripe, Steven Erikson's DEADHOUSE GATES and MEMORIES OF ICE are pretty impressive works, constantly imaginative and thought-provoking. Later books in the series have proved disappointing, even formulaic, but these two books remain very impressive.
Alastair Reynolds, for me, would be a strong contender for individual best SF writer of the decade. Individual works by other writers have been better than any of his output, but his high rate of output (nine novels and three story collections this decade alone) and its very high quality should be respected. CHASM CITY and PUSHING ICE are classic works of modern SF in their own right.
Ian McDonald's RIVER OF GODS and BRASYL are also very good, and refreshingly show that the future won't just be set in Los Angeles and New York, but that countries like India and Brazil have dazzling, high-tech futures and dangers to deal with as well.
12/13/09
12/14/09
12/14/09
12/13/09
12/13/09
"The Steel Remains" series?
That's going to be a big trilogy when it comes out. Or "Name the Wind"?
...Great list though, you've just added to my 'to-read' list.
12/13/09
12/13/09
12/13/09
12/18/09
More seriously, I think the time is right for a companion blog for io9 in the fantasy space. Fantasy is bigger than sci-fi, as we've seen from publishing stories. Twilight, True Blood, LOTR, Harry Potter, etc. are all fantasy. Or maybe io9 should morph toward a hybrid sci-fi/fantasy model? Thoughts? Love your posts, by the way, Annalee! :-)
12/13/09
You need some good old fashioned Twilight-Zone-"On The Beach" downer Sci Fi stuff.
On the plus side you have Chiang on there. So...your list isn't all wrong.
12/13/09
12/12/09
Doctorow's novel might have been important for marking an important step in spreading the concept of Copyleft, but MAN... It's a trite, derivative, poorly-written story if I've ever read one. His SF concepts have been written better elsewhere (cf. "Lost in Transmission", for instance) and I believe the book would not have received a percent of the attention it gets were it not 1) for the CC publicity stunt, and 2) the fact that the author has a hugely popular blog to publicize himself on.
I'd recognize the book as part of a Top 20 important SF books of the decade, but "best"? Ack. Gimme "Spin" or "American Gods" over this.
12/13/09
12/12/09
But I found Air to be alternately bland and grating. And while I haven't read Time Traveler's Wife, I'd offer "Rant" by Chuck Palahniuk as a solid contender for the time travel story that does not live in the SF/Fantasy section entry.
12/12/09
Will there be another book club selection soon? I was without computer recently so I may have missed an announcement.
12/12/09
12/12/09
Harry Potter, thankfully, will about as well remembered in 50 years as the smash-hit bestsellers of, say, 1905 are remembered now.
12/13/09
12/13/09
12/12/09
I'm glad someone's talking about Air, which has been overlooked.
I too thought "The Time Traveler's Wife" & "Jonathan Strange..." were badly written and am surprised they'd make your list.
"Perdido Street Station," while great, doesn't stack up to Meiville's "Iron Council," for my money.
And David Marusek's "Counting Heads" surely deserves a mention.
This list seems oddly weighted in favor of bestsellers, which we could certainly get recommended to us at any corporate bookstore. Recommend the overlooked gems, please!
12/14/09