It’s really difficult at the end of the year to pick just one best of 2015 novel so I’ve made a list with brief comments to entice you to read my favourites without reading my reviews. The links are to my reviews for those who want more information.
My list is based on my reading for 2015 and I’ve tried to choose something for everyone: from literature to SF to comedy.
Some books may have been published prior to 2015 while others worthy of note haven’t been mentioned, either because I haven’t read them yet or because I felt I already had too many in a particular category. There are many more books that I read this year that I loved. All book reviews for 2015 are here.
If you have to choose just one book from this list to read, I suggest The Cat at the Wall by Deborah Ellis. I’m still astounded by this short, simple but powerful story.
Nalini’s Best Novels of 2015
- The Fire Sermon by Francesca Haig — a post-apocalyptic dystopia featuring disability.
- Haterz by James Goss — a roman à clef of the SFF community and the broader interwebs. Satire.
- Techbitch (aka The Knockoff) by Lucy Sykes and Jo Piazza — a 40-something returns to work to find Techbitch is trying to steal her life. Not SFF but a great story.
- Zeroes by Chuck Wendig — a hacking novel.
- Slade House by David Mitchell — a literary horror story.
- Welcome to Night Vale (novel) by Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor — comic horror.
- The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E Lockhart — a feminist treatise; an intelligent girl masterminds shenanigans based on Robert Louis-Stevenson’s Suicide Club and real-world subversives with a side-dish of commentary on P G Wodehouse.
- The Awesome by Eva Darrows — hilarious monster-hunting teenage novel.
- Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer — gifted high school students exploring Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar cross over into a fantasy world.
- Cloudwish by Fiona Wood — diverse YA novel with elements of fantasy, romance and art.
- The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black — brilliant YA fantasy that grabbed in the first sentence and didn’t let go.
- Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith — Starship Troopers ‘prequel’ meets Divergent.
- There will be lies by Nick Lake — blending of European and Native American folklore with disabled protagonist.
Best Children’s Novel
- Goth Girl and the Wuthering Fright by Chris Riddell — hilarious mystery and mayhem with an onion full of Literary layers.
- The Cat at the Wall by Deborah Ellis — a cross-cultural fantasy; an American girl is reincarnated as a cat in the West Bank.
