It’s December 2023, which means it’s time for me to take a look back at all the SFF books I’ve read this year and pick out a few of my favourites. I’m sticking with the same format as I went with for last year’s Best SFF post, so I’ve chosen ten fantastic SFF books that I’ve loved this year and listed them in the order I read them (so don’t think of this as a ‘top 10’). As always with these articles I’ve selected only books that were published this year, so some of my absolute favourites didn’t make the list – but even so, it was tough narrowing things down to just 10 books! What’s interesting this year is that quite a lot of these books are relatively low-key and not-very-fantastical – which I love, as it just goes to show the breadth of SFF as a whole!
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The Lies of the Ajungo – Moses Ose Utomi
Moses Ose Utomi’s fantasy debut The Lies of the Ajungo is a short, beautiful, heart-rending novella set in an Africa-inspired world of magic, monsters and manipulation. In the city of Tutu’s birth, the City of Lies, everyone aged 13 or older must sacrifice their tongue in exchange for a pittance of water from the powerful Ajungo Empire, enough to keep the city just about alive. Days before his 13th birthday, Tutu bravely ventures out from the city in search of water, determined to return a hero and save his ailing mother. Out in the Forever Desert he meets unexpected friends and dangerous enemies, and grows into himself as a man. The truths he learns, however, reveal the true darkness behind the City of Lies and the realities of the Ajungo.
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