Amazon Selects the Best Books of 2016
Friday, December 30th, 2016 | Posted by John ONeill
Tomorrow is New Year's Eve, which means it's time to get hopping on all those Year's Best lists I promised myself I'd cover. Wednesday we reported on Barnes & Noble's Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog list, which means I should probably give equal time to Amazon today.
Their list pointed me towards some acclaimed fantasy that I've clearly overlooked, such as the first novel in Roshani Chokshi's new Star-Touched Queen (April, St. Martin's Griffin) series. In fact, it's got lots of titles that B&N doesn't mention — including a few I've never even heard of, like Sean Danker's Admiral (May, Roc), the opening book in a brand new SF series (read Chapter One at Tor.com), and Lindsay Buroker's Star Nomad (May, CreateSpace), a self-published novel about an interstellar alliance that topples before a tyrannical empire. Although Amazon's editors did choose as their top pick Charlie Jane Anders debut novel All the Birds in the Sky (January, Tor), which has shown up on numerous Best of the Year lists so far.
In fact, I was rather surprised at the books which appear on both lists. They weren't the big titles from major names that I might have expected. Here's a complete list of the four novels that appear on both the B&N and Amazon lists as the best SF and fantasy novels of the year, as selected by the editorial staff of both companies.
All the Birds in the Sky, by Charlie Jane Anders
Morning Star, by Pierce Brown
The Invisible Library, by Genevieve Cogman
The Summer Dragon, by Todd Lockwood
The list also includes several novels we've recently covered at Black Gate.
Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett
Company Town by Madeline Ashby
Skinner Luce by Patricia Ward
Midnight Taxi Tango by Daniel José Older
See the complete list of the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2016 So Far at Amazon.com.
I'd also include last year's list as well… but that link leads to the same spot. Looks like the list just gets overwritten every few months. So if you're interested in a permanent record of all the titles, you'd better jot them down. Here they are for the record, listed in bestselling order.
All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders
The City of Mirrors (Book Three of The Passage Trilogy) by Justin Cronin
The Invisible Library (The Invisible Library series) by Genevieve Cogman
Morning Star (Book 2 of The Red Rising Series) by Pierce Brown
The Summer Dragon (Evertide) by Todd Lockwood
Every Heart a Doorway (Wayward Children) by Seanan McGuire
Stiletto (The Rook Files) by Daniel O'Malley
The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi
City of Blades (The Divine Cities) by Robert Jackson Bennett
Marked In Flesh (A Novel of The Others) by Anne Bishop
Chains of Command (Frontlines) by Marko Kloos
League of Dragons (Temeraire) by Naomi Novik
Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen (Vorkosigan Saga) by Lois McMaster Bujold
Midnight Taxi Tango: A Bone Street Rumba Novel by Daniel José Older
The Lyre Thief (The Hythrun Chronicles) by Jennifer Fallon
Admiral by Sean Danker
The Many Selves of Katherine North by Emma Geen
Star Nomad (Fallen Empire, Book 1) by Lindsay Buroker
Still hungry for more of the best books of the year? Black Gate has you covered. Here's our picks for the top lists so far.
Kirkus Selects the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2016
Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog Selects the Best Novels of 2016
Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog Selects the Best Horror Books of 2016
Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog Selects the Best Collections and Anthologies of 2016
See all our coverage of the best New Treasures here.
Posted in Books, Editor's Blog, New Treasures