In addition to our ranking, we also give you the setup for each book and a suggestion on what kind of reader might like (or hate) each book. Here we go!
Since this episode aired before the awarding of the 2022 Hugo Award, it behooves us to mention that A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine went on to win the award.
#1 Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki - A young trans woman meets a violin teacher who owes the devil seven souls - oh and the donut lady down the block is a starship captain.
This book is an amazing combination of sci-fi, fantasy, and magical realism that feels like it has taken all those things and made something entirely new. This is a character-forward story (although there are certainly a lot of exciting things going on), a story about understanding, and self, and finding out who all these very interesting people are.
It also genuinely opened our eyes to how hard it can be to be trans and have people, fairly regularly, say truly horrible stuff to you (and make you physically unsafe too). Reading this book feels like a way, for just a moment, to see the world through someone else's eyes. We think that's the thing that truly amazing writing can pull off that no other art form can really manage, and it's amazing when it happens.
In the end this is a story about how real food and real music have to be made with love, and can take you home, wherever that might be for you. It just makes you feel good!
You’ll love it if: you love character stories, food / music, or connecting with another perspective.
You might not love it if: you’re looking for a more traditional sci-fi action book.
#2 - Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir - A high school science teacher is alone in space trying to save the world - no pressure.
This is one of those books that Just Doesn’t Stop (TM). Something exciting happens in every one of the short chapters, there are constant problems to solve, and the stakes couldn't be higher - Brent stayed up way too late reading two nights in a row and finished the whole book in about five sittings. It definitely gets pretty cheesy from time to time though, and a lot of the jokes feel like ones your high school science teacher would make.
It feels very Martianesque, and Andy Weir is definitely playing to his strengths - the smartass who doesn’t play well with others seems like his core character type, and ‘that guy’ is very fun to root for out on his own doing science and saving the world (and that also calls for less of Weir’s dialogue that way).
You’ll love it if: You want a gripping page-turner, or you love popularized science.
You might not love it if: you want complex characters or dialogue, or sci-fi that makes you look at society through a new lens.
#3 - A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine - Translator needed to talk with scary aliens, but everyone has an ulterior motive. The book is primarily about cultural belonging, what bioenhanced human minds might be like, and how that impacts one's identity.
This is the sequel to the Hugo-winning A Memory Called Empire, and picks up basically right where the last book left off.
Martine is a master of filling every conversation with the emotion of all those involved, which feels like the book's greatest strength and greatest weakness all at once. When it's used in the big, important conversations, it is so incredible to have this window into every character's mind, but it feels a little overly dramatic (and slow) when it is used in all the low-stakes conversations too. There's some interesting world building here, and the aliens are definitely cool and interesting to learn about. That said, this isn't hard sci-fi - the rules of physics definitely don’t apply, and we aren't overly concerned with how the technology works.
You’ll love it if: you like dramatic political storytelling and hearing how many different characters feel about issues - if you liked Memory Called Empire, you'll like this one.
You might not like it if: you are looking for lots of plot, or hard sci-fi.
#4 - She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan - Mulan, but Mulan acts more like Walter White from Breaking Bad.
It isn't traditional sci-fi or fantasy, its alternative history reimagining the rise of the first Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. It's a good story (although the main characters tend to solve their problems in kind of unbelievable ways), but the fact that this isn’t sci-fi or fantasy bumped it way down our list. This book is full of interesting exploration of gender and core identity as the two main characters (one a woman pretending to be a man, another a castrated eunuch) try to unpack what parts of themselves are their own vs a part they have been playing.
You’ll love it if: You like historical fiction and want Mulan but with more violence and search for identity.
You might not love it if: You’re looking for elements of sci-fi or fantasy – this is alternative history.
#5 - The Galaxy and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers - A bunch of aliens are stuck at an interstellar truck stop, hanging out with a cute kangaroo-esque alien child.
This book is written in with such a great voice - fun and friendly and lighthearted. Becky Chambers is the standard-bearer for writing in the “hope-punk” subgenre, and her wonderful voice is very much on display in this book. It is unbelievably cute how nice everyone is to the kangaroo kid. The big mystery at the beginning is who these travelers are and where they are going - and that turns out to be, in essence, the story of the entire book. It almost reads more like a sitcom, with smaller conflicts and issues along the way, but no big dramatic central conflict that brings all the characters together and forms a traditional plot arc.
You’ll love it if: You want a cute, friendly, fun read that always feels like it’s going to be ok.
You might not love it if: You are looking for a traditional dramatic central conflict.
#6 - Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark - A murder mystery set in a steampunk version of Cairo with genies and magic.
The very cool steampunk/genies/middle-eastern mythology setting is definitely the star here - a very fun place to spend time! Extremely reminiscent of City of Brass. It's super plot-driven and feels almost like a screenplay for an action movie. In general that makes it a fun read, but that also means it didn't feel like there were a lot of surprises here. As an example, a big part of the tension through the first 60% of the book is where the villain is getting their power - but the book is called Master of Djinn, so...
You’ll love it if: Steampunk genies sound fun, and you want to spend time with some badass lesbian detectives in fancy suits.
You might not love it if: You are looking for something unexpected in the plot, or novel speculative ideas.
Watch or listen to the full Best of 2021 discussion:
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