Best Books of 2010The Golden AgeHow to Live in a Science Fictional UniverseRedemption in IndigoThe Half-Made WorldThe Hundred Thousand KingdomsThe Orange Eats CreepsThe Dream of Perpetual MotionWho Fears DeathThe Fixed StarsKill the Dead

Best Books of 2010

Top 10 Books: Science Fiction & Fantasy

Welcome to our Best of 2010 top 10 lists for Science Fiction & Fantasy. We've put our editors' picks and our 2010 bestsellers for each category on the same page together, so you can easily compare. Click on "Editors' Picks" (or "Editors' Picks: Kindle eBooks") to see our choices for the best science fiction and fantasy of 2010, including our top pick, Michal Ajvaz's The Golden Age. And click on "Customer Favorites" to find the bestselling science fiction and fantasy at Amazon.com during 2010. (Ranked according to customer orders through October. Only books published for the first time in 2010 are eligible.) See more editors' picks and customers' favorites in our Best of 2010 Store.


1. The Golden Age (Czech Literature Series)
The Golden Age (Czech Literature Series)
by Michal Ajvaz
3.8 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)
In Stock
Dalkey Archive Press
April 20, 2010
Paperback

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List Price:$14.95
Price:$13.46
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Review
“This 2001 novel, Ajvaz’s most brilliantly complicated, is a fictional travelogue, part philosophical ethnography and part potboiling fairy tale.” (Jonathan Bolton - CONTEXT)“Michal Ajvaz is a literary magician creating worlds of worlds, worlds of words, worlds of objects. He is the fantastical baby of Borges and Timothy Leary. He ... Read more

2. How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe: A Novel
How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe: A Novel
by Charles Yu
3.5 out of 5 stars (152 customer reviews)
In Stock
Pantheon
September 7, 2010
Hardcover

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List Price:$24.00
Price:$17.60
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Amazon.com Review
Lev Grossman Reviews How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe Lev Grossman is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel The Magicians. Read his review of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe: The science-fictional universe in question in this marvel ... Read more

3. Redemption in Indigo: a novel
Redemption in Indigo: a novel
by Karen Lord
4.4 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)
In Stock
Small Beer Press
July 6, 2010
Paperback

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List Price:$16.00
Price:$11.49
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From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Lord's debut, a retelling of a Senegalese folktale, packs a great deal of subtly alluring storytelling into this small package. Paama flees her gluttonous husband, Ansige; two years later, he hires the master tracker Kwame to find her. Kwam... Read more

4. The Half-Made World
The Half-Made World
by Felix Gilman
3.9 out of 5 stars (63 customer reviews)
In Stock
Tor Books
October 12, 2010
Hardcover

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List Price:$25.99
Price:$17.99
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From Booklist
Gilman’s steampunk-influenced third novel blurs the lines between genres. It’s set in a universe that is distinctly not our own, one dominated by the people of the Gun, who carry demon-possessed guns that give them supernatural abilities, and the people of the Line, whose world includes sentient engines. The ... Read more

5. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, Book 1 (The Inheritance Trilogy)
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, Book 1 (The Inheritance Trilogy)
by N. K. Jemisin
4.0 out of 5 stars (182 customer reviews)
In Stock
Orbit
February 25, 2010
Paperback

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List Price:$13.99
Price:$10.71
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From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Convoluted without being dense, Jemisin's engaging debut grabs readers right from the start. Yeine desires nothing more than a normal life in her barbarian homeland of Darr. But her mother was of the powerful Arameri family, and when Yeine ... Read more

6. The Orange Eats Creeps
The Orange Eats Creeps
by Grace Krilanovich
3.0 out of 5 stars (23 customer reviews)
In Stock
Two Dollar Radio
September 7, 2010
Paperback

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List Price:$16.00
Price:$11.83
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Review
"Grace Krilanovich's first book is a steamy cesspool of language that stews psychoneurosis and viscera into a horrific new organism—the sort of muck in which Burroughs, Bataille, and Kathy Acker loved to writhe."—The Believer"Krilanovich's work will make you believe that new ways of storytelling are still emerging from the ... Read more

7. The Dream of Perpetual Motion (Playaway Adult Fiction)
The Dream of Perpetual Motion (Playaway Adult Fiction)
by Dexter Clarence Palmer
3.7 out of 5 stars (59 customer reviews)
In Stock
St. Martin's Press
March 2, 2010
Hardcover

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List Price:$24.99
Price:$12.53
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From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Palmer's dazzling debut explodes with energy and invention on almost every page. In a steampunky alternate reality, genius inventor Prospero Taligent promises the 100 kids he's invited to his daughter Miranda's birthday party that they will... Read more

8. Who Fears Death
Who Fears Death
by Nnedi Okorafor
4.5 out of 5 stars (54 customer reviews)
In Stock
DAW Hardcover
June 1, 2010
Hardcover

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List Price:$24.95
Price:$17.33
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Amazon.com Review
An Origin Story Nnedi Okorafor is a writer of Nigerian descent known for weaving African culture into creative evocative settings and memorable characters. She is know for her young adult novels, including The Shadow Speaker ... Read more

9. The Fixed Stars: Thirty-Seven Emblems for the Perilous Season
The Fixed Stars: Thirty-Seven Emblems for the Perilous Season
by Brian Conn
3.0 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
In Stock
Fiction Collective 2
March 16, 2010
Paperback

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List Price:$19.95
Price:$16.55
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Review
“Brian Conn’s wonderfully perilous crossbreeding of Science Fiction and innovative prose reads like what might result if Dhalgren and A Canticle for Leibowitz engaged in salacious acts with The Tibetan Book of the Dead. The Fixed Stars is a funny, absurd, and beatifically strange book, one in which you ... Read more

10. Kill the Dead: A Sandman Slim Novel
Kill the Dead: A Sandman Slim Novel
by Richard Kadrey
4.4 out of 5 stars (108 customer reviews)
In stock but may require an extra 1-2 days to process.
Harper Voyager
October 5, 2010
Hardcover

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List Price:$22.99
Price:$17.30
You Save:$5.69 (25%)

From Publishers Weekly
James Stark, antihero of 2009's Sandman Slim, returns in this gritty, over-the-top tale of supernatural mayhem. Having taken his revenge on the rival magician who got him sent to Hell, Stark settles in sorcery-infested Los Angeles and gets a part-time gig ... Read more