Favourite novels/novellas

These are my favourite novels or novellas by year: those I rate 4 or 5 out of 5. Ratings may change at any time.

I’ve decided to include novellas as well as novels here, because both can be bought as separate e-books, and because the two categories overlap: some books sold as novellas are longer than some books sold as novels.

I measure story length in Kindle locations, omitting text at beginning and end that is not part of the story (but including footnotes, if any). One Kindle location contains about 20 words, but this is not an accurate way to calculate word count.

Hugo Award winner Hugo Award nominee
Year My
rating
Length Title Series Author Comments
2025 4 6771 A Drop of Corruption Shadow of the Leviathan Robert Jackson Bennett Non-magical fantasy
4 1786 The Adventure of the Demonic Ox World of the Five Gods Lois McMaster Bujold Fantasy
2024 5 1918 Demon Daughter World of the Five Gods Lois McMaster Bujold Fantasy
4 5957 The Tainted Cup Shadow of the Leviathan Robert Jackson Bennett Non-magical fantasy
4 5524 Red Side Story Shades of Grey Jasper Fforde Bizarre sf
4 1566 Penric and the Bandit World of the Five Gods Lois McMaster Bujold Fantasy
2022 4 4608 Amongst Our Weapons Peter Grant Ben Aaronovitch Fantasy, crime
2021 5 4428 The Galaxy, and the Ground Within Wayfarers Becky Chambers Gentle far-future sf, no violence
4 4030 The Assassins of Thasalon World of the Five Gods Lois McMaster Bujold Fantasy, crime
4 2228 What Abigail Did That Summer Peter Grant Ben Aaronovitch Fantasy, crime
4 1842 Fugitive Telemetry Murderbot Martha Wells Far-future sf
2020 5 5400 Network Effect Murderbot Martha Wells Far-future sf
5 1575 Masquerade in Lodi World of the Five Gods Lois McMaster Bujold Fantasy
2019 4 6129 A Memory Called Empire Teixcalaan Arkady Martine Far-future sf
4 2274 The October Man Peter Grant Ben Aaronovitch Fantasy, crime
2018 4 1704 Exit Strategy Murderbot Martha Wells Far-future sf
2017 5 2125 The Prisoner of Limnos World of the Five Gods Lois McMaster Bujold Fantasy
5 1410 All Systems Red Murderbot Martha Wells Far-future sf
4 1792 Penric’s Fox World of the Five Gods Lois McMaster Bujold Fantasy
2016 5 4722 The Hanging Tree Peter Grant Ben Aaronovitch Fantasy, crime
5 2140 Penric’s Mission World of the Five Gods Lois McMaster Bujold Fantasy
4 1745 Penric and the Shaman World of the Five Gods Lois McMaster Bujold Fantasy
2015 5 1612 Penric’s Demon World of the Five Gods Lois McMaster Bujold Fantasy
2014 4 6256 The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet Wayfarers Becky Chambers Far-future sf
4 4498 Foxglove Summer Peter Grant Ben Aaronovitch Fantasy, crime
2012 5 4804 Whispers Under Ground Peter Grant Ben Aaronovitch Fantasy, crime
4 7710 Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance Vorkosigan Lois McMaster Bujold Far-future sf
2011 4 4810 Rivers of London Peter Grant Ben Aaronovitch Fantasy, crime
2009 4 6725 In the Stormy Red Sky RCN David Drake Far-future military sf
4 6182 Shades of Grey: The Road to High Saffron Shades of Grey Jasper Fforde Bizarre sf
2008 4 6355 When the Tide Rises RCN David Drake Far-future military sf
4 6170 In the Courts of the Crimson Kings Lords of Creation S. M. Stirling Alternative history, sf
2005 5 8177 The Hallowed Hunt World of the Five Gods Lois McMaster Bujold Fantasy
2004 5 5831 Going Postal Discworld Terry Pratchett Fantasy, postal service
4 9037 Weapons of Choice Axis of Time John Birmingham Time-travel military sf, Second World War
2003 5 7245 Paladin of Souls World of the Five Gods Lois McMaster Bujold Fantasy
4 11077 Conquistador S. M. Stirling Parallel-worlds sf
2002 5 8537 The Peshawar Lancers S. M. Stirling Alternative history, sf
4 5508 Night Watch Discworld Terry Pratchett Fantasy, time travel, crime, politics
2001 4 7639 The Curse of Chalion World of the Five Gods Lois McMaster Bujold Fantasy
4 5360 The Eyre Affair Thursday Next Jasper Fforde Bizarre fantasy, alternative history, crime
2000 4 11955 On the Oceans of Eternity Nantucket S. M. Stirling Time-travel sf
1999 5 9944 Against the Tide of Years Nantucket S. M. Stirling Time-travel sf
5 9259 A Civil Campaign Vorkosigan Lois McMaster Bujold Far-future sf, romantic comedy
1998 5 10820 Island in the Sea of Time Nantucket S. M. Stirling Time-travel sf
5 5726 Komarr Vorkosigan Lois McMaster Bujold Far-future sf, crime, romance
4 5974 With the Lightnings RCN David Drake Far-future military sf
1996 4 6660 Memory Vorkosigan Lois McMaster Bujold Far-future sf, crime
1993 4 5124 Men at Arms Discworld Terry Pratchett Fantasy, crime
1990 4 5093 Good Omens Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett Fantasy
4 2625 Wings Nomes Terry Pratchett Humorous sf
1989 4 3038 A Study in Sorcery Lord Darcy Michael Kurland Alternative history, fantasy, crime
4 2670 Truckers Nomes Terry Pratchett Humorous sf
1988 4 4644 Wyrd Sisters Discworld Terry Pratchett Humorous fantasy
4 4576 Perchance: A Tale of the Paraverse Michael Kurland Parallel-worlds sf
4 4183 Ten Little Wizards Lord Darcy Michael Kurland Alternative history, fantasy, crime
4 1091 The Blabber Zones of Thought Vernor Vinge Far-future sf
1987 5 3672 Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency Dirk Gently Douglas Adams Sf and fantasy, time travel
4 2226 The Forest of Time Michael F. Flynn Parallel-worlds sf
1986 5 4385 Marooned in Realtime Bobble Vernor Vinge Far-future sf
4 3064 Ethan of Athos Vorkosigan Lois McMaster Bujold Far-future sf
1985 4   The Proteus Operation James P. Hogan Time-travel sf, Second World War
4 3348 The Zenda Vendetta Time Wars Simon Hawke Time-travel to a fictional past
1984 5 4672 The Peace War Bobble Vernor Vinge Near-future sf
4 3783 The Ivanhoe Gambit Time Wars Simon Hawke Time-travel to a fictional past
4 3219 The Timekeeper Conspiracy Time Wars Simon Hawke Time-travel to a fictional past
1981 4 1287 True Names Vernor Vinge Near-future sf
1979 4 3528 Roadmarks Roger Zelazny Time-travel sf
1977 4 5098 The Dosadi Experiment ConSentiency Frank Herbert Far-future sf
1976 4 3155 Doorways in the Sand Roger Zelazny Near-future sf
1975 4 3910 Crocodile on the Sandbank Amelia Peabody Elizabeth Peters Historical, 19th century Egypt, crime, humorous
1974 5 8613 The Mote in God’s Eye Moties Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle Far-future sf, first contact
4 2704 Worlds Apart Richard Cowper Parallel-worlds fantasy
1973 4   Protector Known Space Larry Niven Far-future sf, first contact
1972 4 3185 The Patterns of Chaos Colin Kapp Far-future sf, first contact
4   Arigato Richard Condon Historical, 20th century, crime
1969 4 3943 The Unicorn Girl Michael Kurland Light-hearted parallel-worlds sf
4 1646 Masque World Anthony Villiers Alexei Panshin Light-hearted far-future sf
1968 5 1912 Star Well Anthony Villiers Alexei Panshin Light-hearted far-future sf
5 1677 The Thurb Revolution Anthony Villiers Alexei Panshin Light-hearted far-future sf
4 3784 A Gift from Earth Known Space Larry Niven Far-future sf
1966 5 3729 Too Many Magicians Lord Darcy Randall Garrett Alternative history, fantasy, crime
5 3515 Babel-17 Samuel R. Delany Far-future sf
5 2728 World of Ptavvs Known Space Larry Niven Future sf, first contact
1965 5 4017 The Mind Readers Albert Campion Margery Allingham Near-future sf, telepathy, crime
4 2893 Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen Paratime H. Beam Piper Parallel-worlds military sf
1963 4 3094 Way Station Clifford Simak Far-future sf
1961 5 4011 Time is the Simplest Thing Clifford Simak Future sf/fantasy
4 9194 Stranger in a Strange Land Robert Heinlein Near-future sf/fantasy
4 3531 Down the Hatch Artful Bodger John Winton Historical, 20th century, military comedy
1956 5 3805 Tiger! Tiger! / The Stars My Destination Alfred Bester Far-future sf, teleportation
1955 5 2642 The Mouse That Roared Grand Fenwick Leonard Wibberley Near-future sf, satirical comedy
4 5258 The Return of the King Middle Earth J. R. R. Tolkien Fantasy
4 1814 Time Crime Paratime H. Beam Piper Parallel-worlds sf
1954 4 7221 The Fellowship of the Ring Middle Earth J. R. R. Tolkien Fantasy
4 6092 The Two Towers Middle Earth J. R. R. Tolkien Fantasy
4 3432 The Caves of Steel Robots Isaac Asimov Far-future sf, robots
4 3118 Mission of Gravity Mesklin Hal Clement Far-future sf, first contact
1953 4 3719 More Than Human Theodore Sturgeon Sf/fantasy, powers of the mind
1951 4 4199 Time and Again Clifford Simak Far-future sf, time travel, androids
4 3247 Foundation Foundation Isaac Asimov Far-future sf, psychohistory
1950 4 3775 Mr Midshipman Hornblower Hornblower C. S. Forester Historical, Napoleonic Wars, military
1946 4   Vintage Season C. L. Moore Near-future sf, time travel
1945 4 4401 The Commodore Hornblower C. S. Forester Historical, Napoleonic Wars, military
1943 5 4635 The Picts and the Martyrs Swallows and Amazons Arthur Ransome Historical, 20th century, children’s adventures
1937 4 5046 We Didn’t Mean To Go To Sea Swallows and Amazons Arthur Ransome Historical, 20th century, children’s adventures
1933 5 5084 Winter Holiday Swallows and Amazons Arthur Ransome Historical, 20th century, children’s adventures
5 3542 Sweet Danger Albert Campion Margery Allingham Historical, 20th century, crime, adventure
1923 4 4635 Leave It to Psmith Psmith P. G. Wodehouse Historical, comedy