N.K. Jemisin's Reading List

"What looks like a stock story isn’t. But that isn’t this story’s greatest asset; the worldbuilding is. This is a rich, complex, plausibly exotic fantasy world like nothing on earth, described so vividly that I’d love to go visit it. (Except I’d get eaten in 5 minutes.) Moon’s people are one of the most intelligently-constructed fantasy races I’ve seen in awhile — science fictionally so, though the story manages to retain the wonder and magic of fantasy. Add to that characters who stick with y..."

"A collection of compact space epics anthologized by Neil Clarke and written by some of the biggest stars and up-and-comers in the genre…over all this anthology is mostly hits, remarkably few misses. Highly recommended."

"A worthy and powerful supplement to a classic."

"It’s soaring, high-minded stuff, and Shawl does a marvelous job of demonstrating the capabilities of the steampunk subgenre, which too often sacrifices the richness of actual, global history in favor of Victorian fetishization and racial exclusion."

"Darkly ironic worldbuilding is the real treat of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Certain Dark Things , which posits that vampires are a species that coexists with humans, most recently amid the human underworld. The core of the tale is a parallel of colonialism, in which indigenous vampires of Mexico — once partnered with the Aztecs — are threatened by amoral, disease-carrying European vampires encroaching on their drug trade and feeding territory."

"The story is dense, the pace intense, and the delicate East Asian flavoring of the math-rich setting might make it seem utterly alien to many readers — yet metaphors for our own world abound…Readers willing to invest in a steep learning curve will be rewarded with a tight-woven, complicated but not convoluted, breathtakingly original space opera."

"A chilling, gorgeous saga that spans several centuries and many lands…Readers will savor every bite."

"An adorable little set of almost old-school science fiction."