A Really Good Fantasy Novel by a Sci-Fi Writer

Plus, the Locus 2024 Recommended Reading List

Ann Leckie was solidly in her 40s when she published her first novel Ancillary Justice. It won the Hugo Award, Nebula Award, the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the BSFA Award, and decisively established her as excellent science fiction writer. The two sequels to the book reinforced that.

Then, in 2019, she published her first fantasy book, The Raven Tower, and proved herself just as adept in that realm.

Big gods and little gods populate the world of The Raven Tower and control the fates of the people in it. They protect their people (mostly), go to war, make mischief, and are generally imbued with human foibles, much like the Greek gods, with one important departure: they cannot tell a lie. Well, they can, but they could die if they don’t alter reality enough to make their lie the truth.

“What is it that makes language a far more powerful—and risky—tool for gods than it is for even humans? What is it that makes gods gods? What am I?” ― Ann Leckie, The Raven Tower

Living in service to the gods is fraught with danger, of course, as the main character has always known. What’s interesting about Eolo, who is a retainer to someone who is basically a prince, is that his story is told from the perspective of a god, The Strength and Patience of the Hill, who narrates the whole book.

It’s an engrossing book, borrowing some themes from Shakespear’s Hamlet, but setting them into an entirely new world. It was one of those books that made me stay up far too late into the early hours of the morning because I couldn’t put it down. Those few days were brutal, trying to stay awake, but totally worth it.

Told in both first and second person narrative, the structure and styling aren’t for everyone, but Leckie is highly skilled in her craft and the story doesn’t stumble.

It took a long time to figure out what had been happening all along in the story, and I like it that way. Don’t make it too easy to guess how it’s going to end, but don’t make the plot twist implausible. It’s fun to see the clues after the fact.

The Raven Tower was lavishly praised and well-reviewed, and is very much worth a trip outside of sci-fi. I highly recommend.

“Perhaps the length of one’s life was not important—except in the way it is to so many living beings, desperate to avoid death. Perhaps, long or short, it mattered how one spent that time.” ― Ann Leckie, The Raven Tower

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If The Raven Tower doesn’t pique your interest, this bit of news probably will. Locus Magazine put out their 2024 Recommended Reading List, and it’s a good one. Also a big one. Dozens of books are listed in many categories, including Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, YA, Anthologies, Short Stories, and more.

You can also vote for your favorites, which will help determine the winners of the Locus Awards. It’s kind of a big deal.

I loved Beautyland, by Marie-Helene Bertino in the Sci-Fi category, and Nalo Hopkinson has a book in the Fantasy category that’s about to be added to my TBR pile. If you’re looking for something new to read, this list is probably the best place to start.