Best books... Katie Mack
The cosmologist and writer chooses her favourite science fiction books. Mack uses Twitter to make cosmology more accessible, and her book The End of
Everything (Astrophysically Speaking) is out now (Allen Lane £20)
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie, 2013 (Orbit £8.99). The first in a series, this is an incredible story of war and intrigue in a futuristic space-faring society, with compelling characters set in a richly imagined, immersive universe. It has AIs, spaceships, and AIs who are spaceships. And everyone appreciates the importance of a proper cup of tea.
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin, 2015 (Orbit £8.99). Somewhere between science fiction and fantasy, this book has what can only be called magic, but with the rules of science, in the language of geology, in a setting that feels completely natural. The human story within is gritty, gripping and heart-wrenching.
The Long Way to a Small,
Angry Planet by Becky Chambers, 2014 (Hodder £8.99). A delightful book about space travel, aliens and fitting in. I think I like it so much because it has characters that are, for the most part, genuinely nice people, living in an extravagantly multi-species society, and generally being pretty cool about it.
Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson, 2015 (Orbit £8.99). This is an original and rather confronting take on the idea of a generation ship – a spacecraft built to carry people on voyages so long that even their children’s children won’t finish the journey – and... I’ve already said too much. Read it and let me know when you’re done.
Network Effect by Martha Wells, 2020 (Tor.com £20.99). The first novel in the
Murderbot Diaries series: the story of a “bot/human construct”, built to work security in dangerous off-world situations, but really wanting nothing more than to be left alone to watch its entertainment serials. Somehow it has become caught up with a group of fragile humans and, inconveniently, it might actually be starting to care. The whole series is witty, acerbic, and disconcertingly relatable.