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!)

[war_machine_rox]

I'm rereading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell right now (along with others but its my main one) I love it so much

[jensonanckles]

It's my favorite book ever. I still need to read Piranesi but I'm afraid to be disappointed lol

[blahblahcakes64]

PIRANESI is completely different in every way, but I think it shows how brilliant she is at different types of stories. I loved PIRANESI-it was probably my favorite book that year.

[anagramofbrat]

that one's fun! That line about getting married dying then getting resurrected being entirely too much for one week is iconic.

[therearewords]

I could look this up myself but: 'SFFH'?

[afeelingunacted]

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror.

For some reason they only call it a science fiction and fantasy list but I saw some horror on there too.

[beaucadeau]

I wish I wasn’t on a bus rn because I have so many that come to mind ;___;

[afeelingunacted]

Come back later and tell me about them...👀

[jontargaryen]

Is it too obvious to guess that the fan list will be a bunch of SJM, Brandon Sanderson, and (yuck) Gaiman? And are they disqualifying Harry Potter on the grounds that it doesn't fit the age categories? Because those later books are absolutely YA and not kid lit. They're also not good, but I doubt that will affect the votes.

[afeelingunacted]

YA is welcome and I assume will probably dominate in the fan polls.

I wonder if maybe they didn't include it because it's too well known. They did mention some authors left off obvious picks because they wanted to shout out lesser known but still iconic titles.