We’re living in a world that looks increasingly like science fiction, so I find myself looking to the genre not for predictions of what the future holds but for some guidance for dealing with this strange and changing world. 2016 was a difficult year, but a bounty of fantastic science fiction and fantasy novels were helpful in not simply escaping the present, but confronting it.
Here’s the best of what the year had to offer.
All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders
All the Birds in the Sky is as witty as it is smart. I used to work with Charlie Jane Anders when she was the editor-in-chief of Gawker’s io9. The novel affords her a length and creative freedom so different from the blog, and yet with both she deftly explored the murky boundaries between fantasy and science fiction, and how the world has evolved.
The book follows a pair of childhood friends, Patrica and Laurence, who hadn’t expected to reunite as adults. After growing up together, Patricia went on to study magic, while Laurence turned into a mad scientist. As the end of the world begins, they both find that they have their own roles to play, and will either save or doom the planet.
A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers
Becky Chamber’s A Closed and Common Orbit is set in the same world as her debut novel, A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. It follows two protagonists: a genetically modified orphan struggling to survive, and a ship’s artificial intelligence, dumped into a humanoid body, trying to learn how to pass for a human.