Science fiction & fantasy · 2019

Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Books of 2019

The Water Dancer: A Novel by Ta-Nehisi Coates was the most-recognized science fiction & fantasy book of 2019, named by 12 of the 153 sources we track. The table ranks all 37 by how many sources named them.

Sources is the number of distinct awards and year-end lists that name the book's ISBN, in any year. 2019 is the award or list year in our catalog.

#	Book	Author	Sources	Named by
1	The Water Dancer: A Novel	Ta-Nehisi Coates	12	Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence 2020 Finalist The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize 2019 Longlist Booklist Editors' Choice 2019 Selection Chicago Public Library Best of the Best 2019 Selection Esquire Best Books of the Year 2019 Selection Financial Times Best Books of the Year 2019 Selection The Globe and Mail Globe 100 2019 Selection The Irish Times Best Books of the Year 2020 Selection Library Journal Best Books 2019 Selection NPR Books We Love 2019 Selection New York Public Library Best Books 2019 Selection Paste Best Books of the Year 2019 Selection
2	Middlegame	Seanan McGuire	7	Alex Awards 2020 Winner Locus Awards 2020 Winner Hugo Award (book categories) 2020 Finalist Goodreads Choice Awards 2019 Nominee Kirkus Best Books of the Year 2019 Selection NPR Books We Love 2019 Selection Publishers Weekly Best Books 2019 Selection
3	Jade War	Fonda Lee	3	Ignyte Awards 2020 Finalist Library Journal Best Books 2019 Selection NPR Books We Love 2019 Selection
4	The Raven Tower	Ann Leckie	3	Locus Awards 2020 Finalist NPR Books We Love 2019 Selection Paste Best Books of the Year 2019 Selection
5	The Grand Dark	Richard Kadrey	2	Locus Awards 2020 Finalist NPR Books We Love 2019 Selection
6	A Memory Called Empire	Arkady Martine	1	Library Journal Best Books 2019 Selection
7	Gideon The Ninth	Tamsyn Muir	1	Library Journal Best Books 2019 Selection
8	The Bird King	G. Willow Wilson	1	Mythopoeic Fantasy Awards 2020 Finalist
9	The Heavens	Sandra Newman	1	New York Times 100 Notable Books 2019 Selection
10	The Ruin Of Kings	Jenn Lyons	1	Library Journal Best Books 2019 Selection
11	The Ten Thousand Doors Of January	Alix E. Harrow	1	Mythopoeic Fantasy Awards 2020 Finalist
12	The Testaments: The Sequel To The Handmaid's Tale	Margaret Atwood	1	New York Times 100 Notable Books 2019 Selection
13	Wanderers: A Novel	Chuck Wendig	1	Library Journal Best Books 2019 Selection
14	A Song for a New Day	Sarah Pinsker	0
15	A Spectral Hue	Craig Laurance Gidney	0
16	All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries	Martha Wells	0
17	Black Leopard, Red Wolf	Marlon James	0
18	Dark Age	Pierce Brown	0
19	Do You Dream Of Terra-Two?	Temi Oh	0
20	Gingerbread: A Novel	Helen Oyeyemi	0
21	Gods Of Jade And Shadow	Silvia Moreno-Garcia	0
22	Hollow Kingdom	Kira Jane Buxton	0
23	Ninth House	Leigh Bardugo	0
24	Palestine +100: Stories from a Century After the Nakba	Basma Ghalayini (editor)	0
25	Steel Crow Saga	Paul Krueger	0
26	Supernova Era	Cixin Liu, translated by Joel Martinsen	0
27	The Book Of Dust: The Secret Commonwealth	Philip Pullman	0
28	The Calculating Stars	Mary Robinette Kowal	0
29	The City In The Middle Of The Night	Charlie Jane Anders	0
30	The Deep	Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson and Jonathan Snipes	0
31	The Haunting Of Tram Car 015	P. Djèlí Clark	0
32	The Pursuit Of William Abbey	Claire North	0
33	The Starless Sea: A Novel	Erin Morgenstern	0
34	The Violent Century	Lavie Tidhar	0
35	The Wall: A Novel	John Lanchester	0
36	The Water Cure: A Novel	Sophie Mackintosh	0
37	This Is How You Lose The Time War	Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone	0