We asked our reviewers to share some of their 2022 favourite science fiction books and other recommendations.
Ann Landmann,
Reviews Editor
Joe Gordon’s final two recommendations of the year are
Sea of Tranquillity by Emily St John Mandel, published by Macmillan
A beautifully crafted tale across several different time periods, that circles around from past, present and future, connecting the different narratives in a manner I found highly satisfying, and with a flavour of our pandemic-era woven lightly into it.
Apollo Remastered by Andy Saunders, published by Particular Books
I was waiting on this to be released, and simply had to buy it for myself, despite the significant price tag. Saunders, an expert in image restoration, was given unprecedented access to NASA’s vaults, and the result is this spectacular coffee table book of spectacular imagery from one of the greatest endeavours of humanity into space, the Apollo programme. An amazing, beautiful book of one of our most remarkable voyages as a species.
Veronika Groke shares her favourite book of 2022:
Babel by R.F. Kuang, published by HarperVoyager
Featuring a host of unlikely 19th-century Oxford scholars as protagonists, Babel is so much more than just a novel — it’s a lesson in (alternative) history, a philosophical treatise on people’s capacity to understand one another across cultural and class divides, and, not least, a relentless examination of the effects of empire on those it exploits and those who would profit from it. Erudite and entertaining to equal degrees, it wouldn’t be out of place on many a school or university reading list.
Reviewer Phil Nicholls picks his genre favourites of 2022.
Best SF of 2022: Hell Sans by Ever Dundas, published by Angry Robot
Hell Sans portrays Britain as a brutal police state featuring the font hell sans, a powerful tool
keeping the population in a state of bliss. Dundas weaves a clever thriller into this setting, mixing
romance, cyberpunk technology and a dash of horror, wrapped up in a pacey plot.
Best Fantasy of 2022: Silver Queendom by Dan Koboldt, published by Angry Robot
The owners of the Red Rooster Inn are a superb band of thieves, each with a speciality skill. They
perform a series of thefts and cons, which somehow mires the team in deeper trouble each time.
This fast-paced book is a fun twist on the fantasy genre.
Best Short Story Collection of 2022: Chasing Whispers by Eugen Bacon, published by Raw Dog Screaming Press
This collection of 13 short stories mixes modernity, magic and African folklore. Bacon experiments
with the structure of several of these stories, cleverly weaving flashbacks and asides with footnotes
and sub-headings. Genre content varies, but my highlights were bickering ravens and post-
apocalyptic water world submarines where mages duelled.
Ann is the review editor for Shoreline of Infinity and runs Cymera: Scotland’s Festival of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Writing