Our 10 best fantasy and science fiction books of 2023
By Daniel Roman
Generation Ship by Michael Mammay
Michael Mammay is best known for his Planetside series, which are sci-fi mysteries that follow retired space marine colonel Carl Butler as he unravels various conspiracies. Generation Ship could not be more different than Mammay's usual fare. Where the Planetside books are very tightly focused on one specific character and his few companions, Generation Ship tells an ambitious story about the society aboard a colony ship which is finally reaching its far-flung destination after hundreds of years of deep space travel.
I love seeing authors try something different, doubly so when it works as well as Generation Ship. The story is conveyed from multiple different viewpoint characters, each of whom inhabits a specific type of role on the titular generation ship, from scientists and politicians to farmers, security officers and maintenance crew. And like the best sort of sci-fi political dramas, each of the characters in Generation Ship feel like real people, with flaws and virtues and everything in between. Even the worst of them have redeeming qualities, and even the best have their blind spots. It makes for a fascinating back-and-forth as the ship nears its destination and everyone argues about how best to handle colonizing the planet with their own agendas in mind.
Generation Ship is a sweeping sci-fi standalone that I'd have an easy time recommending to any fan of the genre. It was a book I had been anticipating for a while, and it far exceeded my expectations with its scope and complexity. Easily one of my favorite reads of 2023.
The Faithless by C.L. Clark
The Faithless is the second volume in C.L. Clark's Magic of the Lost fantasy series. The first book, The Unbroken, told the story of how conscripted soldier Touraine returned to her childhood homeland of Qazāl and became embroiled in a fight for its freedom. She also became embroiled in a fraught romance with the heir apparent to the conquering Balladairan Empire, Luca.
When the dust settled at the end of The Unbroken, a truce had been brokered. However, events were restricted to the land of Qazāl in book one. In The Faithless, we're introduced to the capital of the Balladaire, where we see how Luca's uncle and the rest of those in power view the hard-won truce. The diplomatic morass is fascinating, especially once you throw in the roguish Sabine de Durfort, a Marquisse who is as deft at political maneuvers and romance as she is with a sword.
Magic of the Lost does an excellent job of depicting a complicated colonial power struggle as well as a star-crossed sapphic romance where the characters are drawn to each other but have so much working against them. Both aspects of the story are given equal weight, which means that whether you're reading a quiet character-driven scene or an explosive twist with major geopolitical implications, it's hard to look away.