The Locus Awards are held annually and voted on by readers of the Locus Literary magazine. The represent readers favorite fantasy, sci-fi, and horror from the previous year.
Best Science Fiction Novel
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ᐧ The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, Becky Chambers (Hodder & Stoughton; Harper Voyager US)
ᐧ Leviathan Falls, James S.A. Corey (Orbit US; Orbit UK) ★★★★⍣
ᐧ The Echo Wife, Sarah Gailey (Tor; Hodder & Stoughton) ★★★
ᐧ Klara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro (Knopf; Faber & Faber) ★★★
ᐧ A Desolation Called Peace, Arkady Martine (Tor; Tor UK)
ᐧ Noor, Nnedi Okorafor (DAW) ★★★★
ᐧ We Are Satellites, Sarah Pinsker (Berkley; Ad Astra) TBR
ᐧ You Sexy Thing, Cat Rambo (Tor)
ᐧ Shards of Earth, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tor UK; Orbit US) TBR
ᐧ Hummingbird Salamander, Jeff VanderMeer (MCD; Fourth Estate) TBR
My favorite was Leviathan Falls. I thought it was a perfectly bittersweet ending to a fantastic and epic sci-fi series. I think Klara and the Sun is very overhyped. It was an okay book but did not live up to they hype at all. Noor was really great, I thought it was a novella. I definitely could be wrong though.
Best Fantasy Novel
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ᐧ Light From Uncommon Stars, Ryka Aoki (Tor) ★★★
ᐧ The Witness for the Dead, Katherine Addison (Tor; Solaris) TBR
ᐧ Black Water Sister, Zen Cho (Ace; Macmillan) TBR
ᐧ Paladin’s Strength, T. Kingfisher (Argyll)
ᐧ Under the Whispering Door, TJ Klune (Tor; Tor UK) ★★★
ᐧ Jade Legacy, Fonda Lee (Orbit US; Orbit UK) ★★★★★
ᐧ The Last Graduate, Naomi Novik (Del Rey; Del Rey UK)
ᐧ Soulstar, C.L. Polk (Tordotcom)
ᐧ The Jasmine Throne, Tasha Suri (Orbit US; Orbit UK) TBR
ᐧ No Gods, No Monsters, Cadwell Turnbull (Blackstone) DNF
I am extremely surprised to see Light From Uncommon Stars on the fantasy nominees. It is straight sci-fi in my opinion. Now, I haven't read many of these nominees but Jade Legacy is about as perfect of an ending to a trilogy as you can get. This is my vote to win. I'm also shocked to see No Gods, No Monsters on here as I DNF'd it. The narrative style was not to my taste and the plot seemed very randomly pieced together.
Best Horror Novel
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ᐧ Revelator, Daryl Gregory (Knopf)
ᐧ The Final Girl Support Group, Grady Hendrix (Berkley; Titan) ★★★
ᐧ My Heart Is a Chainsaw, Stephen Graham Jones (Saga; Titan) DNF
ᐧ Billy Summers, Stephen King (Scribner; Hodder & Stoughton)
ᐧ Later, Stephen King (Hard Case Crime) TBR
ᐧ Moon Lake, Joe R. Lansdale (Mulholland)
ᐧ A Broken Darkness, Premee Mohamed (Solaris) TBR
ᐧ Sorrowland, Rivers Solomon (MCD; #Merky) TBR
ᐧ The Death of Jane Lawrence, Caitlin Starling (St. Martin’s) ★★★
ᐧ The Book of Accidents, Chuck Wendig (Del Rey; Del Rey UK) TBR
I am far behind on the horror books I want to read. I usually save them for fall and winter, though, so I do plan on reading a vast majority of these. I didn't particularly enjoy either of the two that I actually read, and, while My Heart is a Chainsaw is fairly popular with a 3.62 rating on Goodreads, I DNF'd it as I couldn't stand the main character.
Best YA Novel
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ᐧ Victories Greater Than Death, Charlie Jane Anders (Tor Teen; Titan) TBR
ᐧ This Poison Heart, Kalynn Bayron (Bloomsbury; Bloomsbury USA)
ᐧ The Infinity Courts, Akemi Dawn Bowman (Simon Pulse) TBR
ᐧ The Gilded Ones, Namina Forna (Delacorte; Usborne) ★★★★
ᐧ A Dark and Starless Forest, Sarah Hollowell (Clarion)
ᐧ Redemptor, Jordan Ifueko (Amulet; Hot Key)
ᐧ Chaos on CatNet, Naomi Kritzer (Tor Teen)
ᐧ A Snake Falls to Earth, Darcie Little Badger (Levine Querido) TBR
ᐧ Terciel & Elinor, Garth Nix (Allen & Unwin; Tegen; Hot Key) TBR
ᐧ Iron Widow, Xiran Jay Zhao (Penguin Teen; Rock the Boat) ★★★★★
I loved, loved, loved Iron Widow. I want this to win all the awards and I want everyone to read it. Mech stories are so cool and the way Zhao blended sci-fi and fantasy together was really great. I also really liked The Gilded Ones, as I am currently reading the second one and quite enjoying this as well.
Best First Novel
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ᐧ The Unbroken, C.L. Clark (Orbit US; Orbit UK) TBR
ᐧ A Master of Djinn, P. Djèlí Clark (Tordotcom; Orbit UK) ★★★★★
ᐧ Machinehood, S.B. Divya (Saga) ★★★★
ᐧ The All-Consuming World, Cassandra Khaw (Erewhon) TBR
ᐧ A Marvellous Light, Freya Marske (Tordotcom; Tor UK)
ᐧ Winter’s Orbit, Everina Maxwell (Tor; Orbit UK) DNF
ᐧ She Who Became the Sun, Shelley Parker-Chan (Tor; Mantle) ★★
ᐧ The Chosen and the Beautiful, Nghi Vo (Tordotcom) TBR
ᐧ Wendy, Darling, A.C. Wise (Titan)
ᐧ Iron Widow, Xiran Jay Zhao (Penguin Teen; Rock the Boat) ★★★★★
A Master of Djinn was my favorite read of last year so of course I want this to win. Clark is such a fantastic creator, writer, and storyteller. I'll read anything he puts out and I find his style unique and compelling. Machinehood was a book I wasn't expecting to enjoy as much as I did. I highly recommend it as it takes place in our near-future and gives a very interesting perspective. I'm surprised Winter's Orbit is on here as I thought it was more romance set in a sci-fi world. There was very little sci-fi involved past the first few chapters. It was more character driven, which is why I think I DNF'd it.
Best Novella
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ᐧ A Blessing of Unicorns, Elizabeth Bear (Audible Originals 10/20; Asimov’s 9-10/21)
ᐧ A Psalm for the Wild-Built, Becky Chambers (Tordotcom) TBR
ᐧ Defekt, Nino Cipri (Tordotcom) ★★★★
ᐧ Fireheart Tiger, Aliette de Bodard (Tordotcom) TBR
ᐧ A Spindle Splintered, Alix E. Harrow (Tordotcom) TBR
ᐧ The Return of the Sorceress, Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Subterranean) TBR
ᐧ Remote Control, Nnedi Okorafor (Tordotcom) ★★★★
ᐧ Comfort Me With Apples, Catherynne M. Valente (Tordotcom) ★★★★★
ᐧ The Past is Red, Catherynne M. Valente (Tordotcom) TBR
ᐧ Fugitive Telemetry, Martha Wells (Tordotcom) TBR
Comfort Me With Apples was a beautifully perfect novella and no one can convince me otherwise. I have really been loving novellas recently. It was so good! I also enjoyed both Defekt & Remote Control. I think it's awesome that some stories can be completed in such a short amount of time yet feel so complete.
Other Categories
ᐧ Best Novelette
ᐧ Best Short Story
ᐧ Best Anthology
ᐧ Best Collection
ᐧ Best Magazine
ᐧ Best Publisher
ᐧ Best Editor
ᐧ Best Artist
ᐧ Best Nonfiction
ᐧ Best Illustrated and Art Book
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