A collection of the year's best science fiction and fantasy writing selected by New York Times bestselling author R. F. Kuang and series editor John Joseph Adams. R. K. Kuang, New York Times bestselling author of the Poppy War trilogy and Babel, selects twenty pieces that represent the best examples of the form published the previous year and explores the ever-expanding and changing world of science fiction and fantasy today.
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK - EXCERPT TO NEW NOVEL KATABASIS! "Hard to put down, harder to forget." -- Stephen King
White lies. Dark humor. Deadly consequences... Bestselling sensation Juniper Song is not who she claims to be. In this chilling and hilariously cutting novel from R.F. Kuang, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Babel, June Hayward and Athena Liu were meant to be twin rising stars. Athena is a literary darling, while June feels like a nobody. After witnessing Athena's tragic death, June impulsively steals her completed manuscript, an experimental novel highlighting the contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I.
June edits and submits the novel as her own, rebranding herself as Juniper Song with an ambiguously ethnic author photo. She believes this important story deserves to be told, regardless of the teller. The New York Times bestseller list seems to agree, but as evidence mounts against her, June finds it increasingly difficult to escape Athena's shadow.
As she races to protect her secret, June confronts how far she will go to claim what she thinks she deserves. With an immersive first-person voice, this novel explores themes of diversity, racism, cultural appropriation, and the alienation of social media, making it timely, razor-sharp, and eminently readable.
The exciting end to The Poppy War trilogy, R.F. Kuang's acclaimed, award-winning epic fantasy that combines the history of 20th-century China with a gripping world of gods and monsters, to devastating, enthralling effect. After saving her nation of Nikan from foreign invaders and battling the evil Empress Su Daji in a brutal civil war, Fang Runin was betrayed by allies and left for dead. Despite her losses, Rin hasn't given up on those for whom she has sacrificed so much - the people of the southern provinces and especially Tikany, the village that is her home. Returning to her roots, Rin meets difficult challenges - and unexpected opportunities. While her new allies in the Southern Coalition leadership are sly and untrustworthy, Rin quickly realizes that the real power in Nikan lies with the millions of common people who thirst for vengeance and revere her as a goddess of salvation. Backed by the masses and her Southern Army, Rin will use every weapon to defeat the Dragon Republic, the colonizing Hesperians, and all who threaten the shamanic arts and their practitioners. As her power and influence grows, will she be strong enough to resist the Phoenix's voice, urging her to burn the world and everything in it?
