… and it includes the following five books.

  • Katherine Addison, The Goblin Emperor (Tor Books)
  • Robert Jackson Bennett, City of Stairs (Broadway Books/Jo Fletcher Books)
  • David Mitchell, The Bone Clocks (Random House/Sceptre UK)
  • Jeff VanderMeer, Area X: The Southern Reach Trilogy (Farrar, Straus and Giroux Originals)
  • Jo Walton, My Real Children (Tor Books US/Corsair UK)

I’ve read four of the five finalists (though I’ve only reviewed one of them on this blog of mine.  Yes, my reviews are about 10 books behind the novel I’m currently reading*).  Of the four I loved the Addison, the VanderMeer and the Bennett and was less keen on the Walton.  I haven’t read the Mitchell, and while I know reviews have been mixed, I’m still looking forward to reading The Bone Clocks.

Still, even if the Bone Clocks doesn’t float my boat I can say without hesitation that this is an excellent shortlist – definitely representative of the best fantasy written last year.

The full list of nominees featuring the other categories can be found here.

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* Lev Grossman’s The Magician’s Land for those who care