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My drug of choice is writing––writing, art, reading, inspiration, books, creativity, process, craft, blogging, grammar, linguistics, and did I mention writing?

Wednesday, January 27, 2021

Best Y.A. Science Fiction (Book or Series) [NOTpoll results]

What is the best young adult book (or series) in the science-fiction genre? 

The results are in! I don't normally post on Wednesdays, but this is just a quick results thing, so I should still be on track for the rest of the week. 

From your nominations and recommendations have come these two lists. One of the best titles in the genre. The other titles that are not "best" but are great, but tragically less well known. Come get some great suggestions for your To Be Read™ list or journey over to the nomination page to see people singing the specific praises of each title and having a great conversation.

Thank you all so much for participating. I hope we get a little more engagement once folks sort of see how it works.

We also now have TWO of these results pages, so I need to get cracking creating a top level menu page where all the various results are posted and linked.


The Best (one nomination each)*

Machine - E. Bear

Thunder and Lightning (series) - J. Varley

Dingilliad (series) - D. Gerrold

Succession (split into two volumes by the publisher) - S. Westerfield

Karen Memory - E. Bear

Matthew Looney and the Space Pirates (series) - Jr. J. Beatty

Have Spacesuit, Will Travel - R. A. Heinlein

Raybearer - J. Ifueko

Animorphs - K. A. Applegate 

Undersung Heroes

Foundations - I. Asimov

Epic - C. Kostick


*There's an author/book missing. There's a reason it's missing. Its nomination comment has been erased. I will gladly explain if someone is curious, but the short version is that I have to draw the line somewhere on something that could promote the work of a living artist who is being actively and directly harmful to marginalized communities.

3 comments:

  1. Thanks for the note on the missing book. Glad to know it was intentional, and not that I didn't understand the new system. I agree with the line drawn. Really wish that author could come to terms with his demons and stop hurting people. In the meantime, adding a bunch of books to my donate pile.

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  2. My take on that author is that I am willing to recommend the book in question if asked about it specifically (as it’s a really, really good book) but will only do so if I’m also given the space to highlight the abhorrent views the author holds and the active harm the author chooses.

    And in the spirit of avoiding putting money into his pockets I recommend against buying new copies of his books and rather looking to libraries, second hand bookstores, pirated ebooks and the like

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  3. I loved Animorphs as a series, but if I had to choose a single standalone book as the best, I would nominate the Hork Bajir Chronicles. I remember reading it dozens of times as a kid, and while I never re-read the entire Animorphs series as an adult, I kept finding myself going back to that one book.

    You can finish it in a few hours, but good luck putting it down before you reach the end. <3

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