The Nebula Award – it’s like the little brother of the Hugo Award! And like a little brother in the shadow of an old sibling, the Nebula Award has something to prove. While some the books picked for Nebulas may not have the same prestige as those given the Hugo, you can bet that they have just as much merit. Why read Hugo Award winning fantasy books anyway? Expand your horizons! Isn’t that what fantasy as a genre is all about? Seeking undiscovered worlds full of untold magic? Don’t trod the well beaten Hugo path, take the road less traveled with these 10 Nebula Award winning fantasy novels.
Someone You Can Build A Nest In
Judging by the title, Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell could either be a story about a loving and supportive partner or the victim of a horrifying alien parasite. As it turns out, it’s a little of both! The novel is about Shesheshen, an amorphous shapeshifter on the run from humans hunting her. After that chase sends her careening over a cliff, she has a meet-cute with a kind hearted woman who offers to nurse her back to health. Having mistaken Shesheshen for a human, Homily could be the perfect vessel for the shapeshifter’s parasitic young, who will feed on their host from the inside out. The problem is, Shesheshen is really starting to like Homily. Once the shapeshifter realizes that her crush is one of the hunting party sent to kill her, things get a lot more rom-com complicated.
A Master of Djinn
A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark is a historical fantasy set in turn of the century Cairo – a city that deals with supernatural threats on the daily. Thankfully, the city is protected by the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities – whose rising star agent Fatma el-Sha’arawi just recently saved the universe. While one would think preventing the collapse of absolute reality would be the toughest job of Fatma’s career one would be wrong. Fatma has been left stumped by the recent murder of a cult – killed by the very man they worshipped, back from the dead. The killer claims to be al-Jahiz, a famous magician from a bygone era, who bridged the gap between the material and the spiritual world. Is this recently returned sorcerer truly the man he claims to be? Or is he merely an imposter rabble-rousing on Fatma’s turf? Faced with questions like this, saving the universe seems like a cakewalk.
All The Birds In The Sky
Charlie Jane Anders’ All The Birds In The Sky is the story of a witch and a mad scientist who used to be childhood besties – before the rigors of middle school tore them apart. Unbeknownst to each other, they’re both living in San Francisco – one works in magic, the other in tech. Reunited by chance at a party, the pair are unable to reconcile their relationship due to their vastly different viewpoints – one sees the world through the lens of science, the other through the supernatural. The world itself doesn’t really care how it’s seen – plagued by superstorms and earthquakes, the planet is crying out for help from anyone. With the combined might of magic and science, these two opposite thinkers may yet be able to repair the soon to be broken planet, and their relationship in the process.
Uprooted
Naomi Novik’s Uprooted is the story of Agnieszka – a woman who is absolutely certain that she won’t be chosen as a human sacrifice to the local wizard. 1000% sure. Never gonna happen. The wizard, known as “The Dragon,” is the only being capable of protecting Agnieszka’s village from the cursed wilderness that surrounds it. In exchange for this protection, he takes a young woman from the city every 10 years. Agnieszka is sure that her gorgeous and strong best friend Kasia will be taken, but surprise, surprise, Agnieszka is volunteered as tribute – Hunger Games style. Taken to the wizard’s tower, Agnieszka finds a gruff tutor in place of the heartless captor she expected – and as he instructs her in the ways of magic, she finds that her heart is being slowly charmed in the process.
Among Others
Among Others by Jo Walton is the story of Morwenna Phelps, who spent her youth rambling through Wales with her twin sister, playing with spirits that inhabited ruined buildings. After being rocked by a horrible tragedy, Morwenna flees from her home and her abusive mother to live out her teenage years in a boarding school. But as she attempts to adjust to the new normal, Morwenna realizes that her mother is attempting to use dark magic to draw her back into the past. A magical coming of age novel, Among Others is the tale of a young woman attempting defy old expectations and rewrite her own narrative. Considering her mother once nearly killed her in an attempt to take over the world through sorcery, it makes sense why Morwenna would want to take some time for herself.
Paladin of Souls
Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold’s takes place in the world of Chalion, a land rocked by constant religious revolution. In this world, the gods are able to speak directly into the minds of mortals, influencing them in an endless struggle for divine dominance. While Paladin of Souls is technically the second book in the author’s World of The Five Gods series, the series can be read in any order. An allegory about the rise and fall of real world religions, Paladin of Souls is an exploration of how even the most peaceful of spiritual tenants are sometimes spread at the point of a sword. If you’re forced to kneel, are you really worshipping at all? Or are you just waiting for your chance to rise up and fight back? The spiritual questions get even more thorny now that the world is haunted by very real evil sprits, and Chalion’s royal family is forced to deal with the otherworldly consequences.
Tehanu
The fourth book in Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea Cycle, Tehanu is what happens when you throw together a cult survivor, a burned out wizard, and a mysterious child. In a continent sized archipelago known Earthsea, a former cult member is now living out her days in peace as a farmer’s wife. After adopting a mysterious child covered in burns, the woman crosses paths with a wizard named Ged – the very same man who freed her from her cult long ago. She’s still got some serious religious trauma, and he lost his magic through a traumatic experience of his own. Despite their heavy baggage, the pair come together to help an equally traumatized young child in need, and build a found family together in the process.
Babel
R.F. Kuang’s Babel, or the Necessity of Violence is a historical fantasy novel set in the early 19th century. The plot revolves around a nameless young orphan from Canton, who is adopted by a British academic and tutored in the linguistic arts. Rechristened Robin Swift, the young polyglot is trained for a position at Royal Institute of Translation at Oxford – also called Babel. After being accepted into the prestigious institution, Robin realizes that its scholars’ quest for linguistic enlightenment serves dark ends. By harvesting the magic released when lost languages are translated, Babel is able to provide the British government with sorcerous power that furthers its efforts at colonization. A parable about academia’s relationship to social hierarchy, Babel shows how institutions of higher learning are used to justify oppression by governments under which they operate.
The Stone Sky
The second installment of N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy, The Stone Sky is set in a world rocked by constant cataclysm. A globe spanning supercontinent known as The Stillness is buffeted by climate disasters known as “fifth seasons,” the latest of which was brought about by a particularly powerful “orogene” – a human with the power to control the fundamental energies of the world. In the aftermath of the apocalypse, three orogene women must navigate a *title drop* broken earth in order to prevent the same tragedy from happening again. As they explore the mysteries of the natural world, they learn that their planet may have a consciousness of its own – a consciousness that is resentful of the suffering that humans cause nature, and determined to fight back by any means necessary.
The Moon and The Sun
Vonda N. McIntyre’s The Moon and The Sun is a historical fantasy novel about a king would secure glory by any means necessary – even if it means capturing freaky alien creatures in an effort to become immortal. King Louis XIV has heard tell that a source of eternal life exists in the furthest corners of his 17th century world, and he sends one of his explorers to capture a creature capable of granting it. The explorer returns to Louis’ opulent court with a sea monster in tow, a beast the will grant life to anyone who devours its flesh. Rather than let sleeping sea beasts lie, Louis decides to throw the creature in a fountain at Versailles. Good call, my liege. But when the being begins to show signs of sentience, certain members of the court disagree with Louis’ plan to dine on it, and launch a plot to release it from captivity.
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