My favorite books of 2017

As I do every year, here I round up the books I enjoyed most in 2017. (No guarantees they were published in 2017, though.) In order to make the cut, I had to like them in the moment, and they had to stick with me.

First up, a non-SFF novel - The Windfall by Diksha Basu. It's a humorous novel that takes place (mostly) in India, about a family moving up in the world. I've seen comparisons to Jane Austen, which is maybe a stretch, but if you enjoy Austen, chances are you'll like this.

Next, a pair of novellas - The Red Threads of Fortune and The Black Tides of Heaven by JY Yang. These were published at the same time and can be read in either order (I read them in the order listed). The protags are siblings in a secondary fantasy world where a rebellion is testing the order of things. Read for the compelling characters and world-building.

The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson was something I almost didn't read, because I'm a little tired of Lovecraft, even reinvented. (I haven't read Victor LaValle's The Ballad of Black Tom yet, even.) Nevertheless, I enjoyed this feminist take on the Cthulu mythos - told from a very different perspective than most.

All Systems Red by Martha Wells is the first of three novellas starring the lovable Murderbot, a security android that reluctantly has to get involved in the mission of the humans it is there to protect. (By the way, Tor is killing it with their novella imprint: the Yang, Johnson, and Wells novellas are all from it.)

Back in full novel territory is Jeff VanderMeer's Borne. In a post-apocalyptic world, a scavenger finds Borne. Is it a sidekick, a sentient life form, or a weapon? This one is on here for sticking with me and popping up in my thoughts long after I finished it.

Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee is the first book in a trilogy (and Raven Stratagem, the next, is just as good). If you like Ann Leckie, you'll like this. Both authors depict far-future worlds (or perhaps just the universe next door) where intergalactic empires have a few issues they need to work out. (Like, maybe less genocide.) The tech in this book is extremely inventive and informs the plot in an meaningful way.

Finally, Hunger Makes the Wolf by Alex Wells should be filed under "fun read with space bikes and solid female friendship." I've been enjoying Wells' short fiction and was excited to see their debut did not disappoint.

As usual, I probably read too many books this year, and you can see the list here. There were many runners-up that almost made this list, too, and I feel a bit arbitrary in some cases with my choices.