It all started – as so many things do – with a proposal on Twitter: what would happen if a group of bookworms had a go at calling the best genre reads of 2017? Well, firstly an explosion of reading lists as our opinions cross-pollinated. Then an outbreak of glee. Finally, much Serious Debate. And now, at last, we can reveal our winners…
Category Archive: Subjective Chaos Kind of Awards
No Season is forever, but this one promises to be longer than humanity can endure. In the underground refuge of Castrima, Essun must master powers that might save her new people. But a powerful city state has emerged from the ashes of Sanzed, and far to the south, the Fulcrum is not yet dead. The Season is not all Castrima must survive…
Amalia Cornaro is a good-hearted scholar who likes wearing trousers. She’s also the daughter of La Contessa, the most powerful woman in the Empire. And she’s just forged an unbreakable bond with Zaira, the most destructive warlock the Empire has seen in centuries. Life’s about to get complicated…
The American government imprisoned Aphra’s people and let them die in the desert, far from the sea. Now they need her help, and have an irresistible offer to make. But can outcasts ever truly win the trust of a government that persecuted them? And can they trust that government in return?
We’re entering the final phase of the Subjective Chaos Kind of Awards. After the initial phase of nomination and debate, we ended up with 5 categories and 33 nominees. Now we’re down to the wire after six months of reading, discussing and voting: it’s finalist time. So who has made our final cut?
Sorlost is the heart of the richest empire in the world: ancient, proud, unconquered. But its self-regard is stronger than its armies. As nobles conspire for power and mercenaries flock to their call, who will prove ruthless enough to seize – and hold – power?
Everything changes in a Season. First guard the gates. Keep storecaches clean and dry. Obey the stonelore, make the hard choices, and maybe when the Season ends there will be people who remember how civilisation should work. Or maybe not. Not this Season.
William Manderlay is old and arthritic. In his dreams, he relives his golden days as a violinist, a sailor, a lover – until the nightmares hunt him down. But William’s music holds the key to the prison at Solomon’s Eye, terrifying heart of the dream beyond dreams. Does William have enough youth left to him to help the Sleepwalkers fight off an army of nightmares intent on releasing the monster trapped there?
The Red Gods were defeated, their followers banished to the mountains to eke out a violent subsistence in the rocky heights. But their time is coming. The Blessed One of the Mireces is determined to open the door for the return of the Dark Lady and the Blood God. Is the kingdom of Rilpor ready to be tested?
Nahri is a hustler with a sixth sense for sickness, trying to save up enough money from her scams to study medicine. When she accidentally summons a daeva during an improvised ritual, her dreams go up in smoke. Now she must flee her home to survive the ifrit who hunt her bloodline down. Will she find sanctuary in the City of Brass?
Nina Beaulieu is a debutante, spending the Season with her cousin Gaetan and his glamorous wife Valerie. They will usher her into a glittering world of balls and find her a suitable husband. But Nina has a mind of her own, and talents that aren’t welcome in polite society. Can she be satisfied within its constraints?
Doctor Greta Helsing isn’t your regular Harley Street practitioner: she specialises in the lesser-known maladies of the supernatural. When a mysterious group of monks try to murder a local vampire, she gets drawn into solving London’s ills to keep her patients safe…
The Hexarchate is no more. Only two Hexarchs survive: slippery Shuos Mikodez, backing Cheris’s nascent democracy; and immortal Nirai Kujen, determined to resurrect the high calendar to maintain his grip on life. And even Protector-General Kel Inesser and her fleet don’t back him. Kujen isn’t worried: he has another incarnation of Shuos Jedao at his command…
Seth has always lived for the future, but his musical partner Carter has his heart set on the past. When Carter pushes Seth to create a retro track that sounds straight out of the 20s, they unleash a memory of musicians past. The blues don’t forget, and the devil still lingers at the crossroads…
Desmond Coke fled Jamaica with his former comrades hot on his heels. He must cross an alternate America, where the Free Republic of Tejas, the Albion Empire and the Five Civilized Tribes may all offer sanctuary – or may seek to take advantage of the rare opportunity Desmond’s young ward Lij represents…
