Reactor polls 50 authors about their favourite SFFH books

[afeelingunacted]

It’s a great time to read speculative fiction.

We asked over 50 authors about the most iconic SFF books of this century. Here's what they had to say.https://t.co/Gc9tsAPHUo
- Reactor (formerly Tor.com) (@reactormag) October 30, 2024

• Most mentioned book was The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin. Others dubbed "Most iconic" include The Hunger Games,

Comments

[anus]

Ohhh definitely going to go through this list. I loved Fifth Season, but it's very hit or miss for people.

I'm always surprised by the praise for Babel because I remember being very annoyed by it. The formula and themes felt the same as Poppy War. There's even a major tone shift that disrupts all of the pacing like Poppy War's first book. The book is over explained and the resolution is essentially the same: white people are the worst. Even the main characters [Spoiler (click to open)]sacrifice themselves and die in the end

[squirrels_oh_no]

Is it bad that I don't get the hype for Kuang? Her stuff I've read has just been very heavy on the same exact themes, and Yellowface somehow didn't go hard enough? It felt like her response to social media drama without exploring book drama more than "people are so jealous of me because I'm so young!" Even if she claims June was also inspired by her.

[anus]

I'm with you and I read both Poppy War and Babel. I wouldn't have even read Babel, but I got it from the stupid book sub I had.

[skyillusion]

you aren't the only one who doesn't get the Kuang Hype! I gave Poppy War 4/5 but I don't feel the need to continue the series, haven't read babel and Yellowface felt like I was going through my Twitter feed (crazy that the book, 2 months after being published, is already kinda obsolete, but that' what you gent when you write about social media!)

[winter_lace]

I haven’t picked up anything else from her since I finished the Poppy War trilogy. Did not think those books were anywhere near as good as everyone else seemed to find them.

[mercuryfish]

Totally agree, Babel was so underwhelming.