Reviews of Nebula Shortlist

This is a list of the Nebula nominees and winners for best novel, including ratings for those books that I've read and links to reviews where I've written one. Winners are in bold.

The Nebula award is voted on by the membership of the Science Fiction Writers of America. The date given on this page is the year that the award was given, since I standardize all awards to the year of the award. It will therefore be one year later than the official date on the award, which reflects publication date.

The eligibility rules for the Nebula were changed in 2009 to include only books published the previous year. Prior to 2009, the eligibility rules were more complex but generally allowed books published in the preceding two years.

2023	R.F. Kuang	Babel	7 out of 10
2023	Travis Baldree	Legends & Lattes	8 out of 10
2023	Nicola Griffith	Spear
2023	T. Kingfisher	Nettle and Bone
2023	Tamsyn Muir	Nona the Ninth	7 out of 10
2023	Ray Nayler	The Mountain in the Sea

2022	P. Djèlí Clark	A Master of Djinn	7 out of 10
2022	C.L. Clark	The Unbroken	7 out of 10
2022	S.B. Divya	Machinehood
2022	Arkady Martine	A Desolation Called Peace	8 out of 10
2022	Jason Sanford	Plague Birds

2021	Martha Wells	Network Effect	9 out of 10
2021	Susanna Clarke	Piranesi	6 out of 10
2021	N.K. Jemisin	The City We Became	7 out of 10
2021	Silvia Moreno-Garcia	Mexican Gothic
2021	C.L. Polk	The Midnight Bargain
2021	Rebecca Roanhorse	Black Sun	4 out of 10

2020	Sarah Pinsker	A Song for a New Day	6 out of 10
2020	Charles E. Gannon	Marque of Caine
2020	Alix E. Harrow	The Ten Thousand Doors of January	9 out of 10
2020	Arkady Martine	A Memory Called Empire	10 out of 10
2020	Silvia Moreno-Garcia	Gods of Jade and Shadow
2020	Tamsyn Muir	Gideon the Ninth	8 out of 10

2019	Mary Robinette Kowal	The Calculating Stars	9 out of 10
2019	R.F. Kuang	The Poppy War
2019	Sam J. Miller	Blackfish City
2019	Naomi Novik	Spinning Silver	8 out of 10
2019	C.L. Polk	Witchmark
2019	Rebecca Roanhorse	Trail of Lightning	4 out of 10

2018	N.K. Jemisin	The Stone Sky	9 out of 10
2018	Lara Elena Donnelly	Amberlough
2018	Theodora Goss	The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter
2018	Daryl Gregory	Spoonbenders
2018	Mur Lafferty	Six Wakes
2018	Fonda Lee	Jade City
2018	Annalee Newitz	Autonomous

2017	Charlie Jane Anders	All the Birds in the Sky	5 out of 10
2017	Mishell Baker	Borderline
2017	N.K. Jemisin	The Obelisk Gate	9 out of 10
2017	Yoon Ha Lee	Ninefox Gambit	7 out of 10
2017	Nisi Shawl	Everfair

2016	Naomi Novik	Uprooted	8 out of 10
2016	Charles E. Gannon	Raising Caine
2016	N.K. Jemisin	The Fifth Season	8 out of 10
2016	Ann Leckie	Ancillary Mercy	10 out of 10
2016	Ken Liu	The Grace of Kings
2016	Lawrence M. Schoen	Barsk
2016	Fran Wilde	Updraft

2015	Jeff VanderMeer	Annihilation
2015	Katherine Addison	The Goblin Emperor	8 out of 10
2015	Charles E. Gannon	Trial by Fire
2015	Ann Leckie	Ancillary Sword	9 out of 10
2015	Cixin Liu	The Three-Body Problem	6 out of 10
2015	Jack McDevitt	Coming Home	5 out of 10

2014	Ann Leckie	Ancillary Justice	10 out of 10
2014	Karen Joy Fowler	We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
2014	Neil Gaiman	The Ocean at the End of the Lane
2014	Charles E. Gannon	Fire with Fire
2014	Nicola Griffith	Hild	8 out of 10
2014	Linda Nagata	The Red: First Light
2014	Sofia Samatar	A Stranger in Olondria
2014	Helene Wecker	The Golem and the Jinni

2013	Kim Stanley Robinson	2312	5 out of 10
2013	Saladin Ahmed	Throne of the Crescent Moon	7 out of 10
2013	Tina Connolly	Ironskin
2013	N.K. Jemisin	The Killing Moon
2013	Caitlín R. Kiernan	The Drowning Girl
2013	Mary Robinette Kowal	Glamour in Glass

2012	Jo Walton	Among Others	10 out of 10
2012	Kameron Hurley	God's War
2012	N.K. Jemisin	The Kingdom of Gods	8 out of 10
2012	Jack McDevitt	Firebird	6 out of 10
2012	China Miéville	Embassytown	9 out of 10
2012	Genevieve Valentine	Mechanique

2011	Connie Willis	Blackout	5 out of 10
2011	Connie Willis	All Clear	5 out of 10
2011	M.K. Hobson	The Native Star
2011	Nnedi Okorafor	Who Fears Death
2011	N.K. Jemisin	The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms	7 out of 10
2011	Mary Robinette Kowal	Shades of Milk and Honey
2011	Jack McDevitt	Echo	8 out of 10

2010	Paolo Bacigalupi	The Windup Girl	7 out of 10
2010	Christopher Barzak	The Love We Share Without Knowing
2010	Laura Anne Gilman	Flesh and Fire
2010	China Miéville	The City & The City	9 out of 10
2010	Cherie Priest	Boneshaker	8 out of 10
2010	Jeff VanderMeer	Finch

2009	Ursula K. Le Guin	Powers	8 out of 10
2009	Cory Doctorow	Little Brother	7 out of 10
2009	Jack McDevitt	Cauldron	5 out of 10
2009	Ian McDonald	Brasyl	7 out of 10
2009	Terry Pratchett	Making Money
2009	David J. Schwartz	Superpowers

2008	Michael Chabon	The Yiddish Policemen's Union	10 out of 10
2008	Tobias S. Buckell	Ragamuffin
2008	Joe Haldeman	The Accidental Time Machine
2008	Nalo Hopkinson	The New Moon's Arms
2008	Jack McDevitt	Odyssey	6 out of 10

2007	Jack McDevitt	Seeker	8 out of 10
2007	Richard Bowes	From the Files of the Time Rangers
2007	Jeffrey Ford	The Girl in the Glass
2007	Ellen Kushner	The Privilege of the Sword
2007	Wil McCarthy	To Crush the Moon
2007	Jo Walton	Farthing	8 out of 10

2006	Joe Haldeman	Camouflage	7 out of 10
2006	Susanna Clarke	Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell	8 out of 10
2006	Jack McDevitt	Polaris	7 out of 10
2006	Terry Pratchett	Going Postal	8 out of 10
2006	Geoff Ryman	Air	10 out of 10
2006	John C. Wright	Orphans of Chaos

2005	Lois McMaster Bujold	Paladin of Souls	8 out of 10
2005	Cory Doctorow	Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
2005	Jack McDevitt	Omega	7 out of 10
2005	David Mitchell	Cloud Atlas
2005	Sean Stewart	Perfect Circle
2005	Gene Wolfe	The Knight

2004	Elizabeth Moon	The Speed of Dark	9 out of 10
2004	Lois McMaster Bujold	Diplomatic Immunity	8 out of 10
2004	Carol Emshwiller	The Mount	7 out of 10
2004	Kathleen Ann Goonan	Light Music
2004	Nalo Hopkinson	The Salt Roads
2004	Jack McDevitt	Chindi	8 out of 10

2003	Neil Gaiman	American Gods	7 out of 10
2003	Kelley Eskridge	Solitaire	9 out of 10
2003	Ursula K. Le Guin	The Other Wind	8 out of 10
2003	Robert A. Metzger	Picoverse
2003	China Miéville	Perdido Street Station	9 out of 10
2003	Michael Swanwick	Bones of the Earth	6 out of 10

2002	Catherine Asaro	The Quantum Rose	7 out of 10
2002	Jeffrey A. Carver	Eternity's End
2002	Geoffrey A. Landis	Mars Crossing
2002	George R.R. Martin	A Storm of Swords	7 out of 10
2002	Wil McCarthy	The Collapsium
2002	Patricia A. McKillip	The Tower at Stony Wood
2002	Tim Powers	Declare	5 out of 10
2002	Connie Willis	Passage	8 out of 10

2001	Greg Bear	Darwin's Radio	7 out of 10
2001	Lois McMaster Bujold	A Civil Campaign	9 out of 10
2001	Charles de Lint	Forests of the Heart
2001	Kathleen Ann Goonan	Crescent City Rhapsody
2001	Nalo Hopkinson	Midnight Robber
2001	Jack McDevitt	Infinity Beach

2000	Octavia E. Butler	Parable of the Talents	8 out of 10
2000	Ken MacLeod	The Cassini Division	6 out of 10
2000	Maureen F. McHugh	Mission Child
2000	George R.R. Martin	A Clash of Kings	6 out of 10
2000	Sean Stewart	Mockingbird
2000	Vernor Vinge	A Deepness in the Sky	8 out of 10

1999	Joe Haldeman	Forever Peace	7 out of 10
1999	Catherine Asaro	The Last Hawk	8 out of 10
1999	Jack McDevitt	Moonfall
1999	Harry Turtledove	How Few Remain
1999	Martha Wells	The Death of the Necromancer
1999	Connie Willis	To Say Nothing of the Dog	7 out of 10

1998	Vonda N. McIntyre	The Moon and the Sun	8 out of 10
1998	Lois McMaster Bujold	Memory	6 out of 10
1998	Kate Eliott	King's Dragon
1998	George R.R. Martin	A Game of Thrones	7 out of 10
1998	Jack McDevitt	Ancient Shores
1998	Walter Jon Williams	City on Fire	8 out of 10
1998	Connie Willis	Bellwether	8 out of 10

1997	Nicola Griffith	Slow River	9 out of 10
1997	Nina Kiriki Hoffman	The Silent Strength of Stones
1997	Patricia A. McKillip	Winter Rose
1997	Tim Powers	Expiration Date
1997	Robert J. Sawyer	Starplex
1997	Neal Stephenson	The Diamond Age	7 out of 10

1996	Robert J. Sawyer	The Terminal Experiment	2 out of 10
1996	John Barnes	Mother of Storms
1996	Nancy Kress	Beggars and Choosers	6 out of 10
1996	Paul Park	Celestis
1996	Walter Jon Williams	Metropolitan	7 out of 10
1996	Gene Wolfe	Caldé of the Long Sun

1995	Greg Bear	Moving Mars	8 out of 10
1995	Octavia E. Butler	Parable of the Sower	9 out of 10
1995	Jonathan Lethem	Gun, With Occasional Music	6 out of 10
1995	James Morrow	Towing Jehovah
1995	Rachel Pollack	Temporary Agency
1995	Kim Stanley Robinson	Green Mars	6 out of 10
1995	Roger Zelazny	A Night in the Lonesome October

1994	Kim Stanley Robinson	Red Mars	5 out of 10
1994	Kevin J. Anderson & Doug Beason	Assemblers of Infinity
1994	Algis Budrys	Hard Landing
1994	Nancy Kress	Beggars in Spain	8 out of 10
1994	Gene Wolfe	Nightside the Long Sun

1993	Connie Willis	Doomsday Book	8 out of 10
1993	John Barnes	A Million Open Doors
1993	Karen Joy Fowler	Sarah Canary
1993	Maureen F. McHugh	China Mountain Zheng	8 out of 10
1993	Vernor Vinge	A Fire Upon the Deep	7 out of 10
1993	Jane Yolen	Briar Rose

1992	Michael Swanwick	Stations of the Tide	6 out of 10
1992	John Barnes	Orbital Resonance
1992	Lois McMaster Bujold	Barrayar	6 out of 10
1992	Emma Bull	Bone Dance
1992	Pat Cadigan	Synners	6 out of 10
1992	William Gibson & Bruce Sterling	The Difference Engine

1991	Ursula K. Le Guin	Tehanu	9 out of 10
1991	Valerie Martin	Mary Reilly
1991	James Morrow	Only Begotten Daughter
1991	Dan Simmons	The Fall of Hyperion	8 out of 10
1991	John E. Stith	Redshift Rendezvous
1991	Jane Yolen	White Jenna

1990	Elizabeth Ann Scarborough	The Healer's War	8 out of 10
1990	Poul Anderson	The Boat of a Million Years
1990	Orson Scott Card	Prentice Alvin
1990	John Kessel	Good News from Outer Space
1990	Mike Resnick	Ivory
1990	Jane Yolen	Sister Light, Sister Dark

1989	Lois McMaster Bujold	Falling Free	7 out of 10
1989	Gregory Benford	Great Sky River
1989	Orson Scott Card	Red Prophet
1989	William Gibson	Mona Lisa Overdrive
1989	Lewis Shiner	Deserted Cities of the Heart
1989	George Turner	Drowning Towers
1989	Gene Wolfe	The Urth of the New Sun	5 out of 10

1988	Pat Murphy	The Falling Woman	8 out of 10
1988	Greg Bear	The Forge of God
1988	David Brin	The Uplift War	8 out of 10
1988	Avram Davidson	Vergil in Averno
1988	George Alec Effinger	When Gravity Fails	6 out of 10
1988	Gene Wolfe	Soldier of the Mist

1987	Orson Scott Card	Speaker for the Dead	10 out of 10
1987	Margaret Atwood	The Handmaid's Tale
1987	William Gibson	Count Zero
1987	Leigh Kennedy	The Journal of Nicholas the American
1987	James Morrow	This Is the Way the World Ends
1987	Gene Wolfe	Free Live Free

1986	Orson Scott Card	Ender's Game	9 out of 10
1986	Brian W. Aldiss	Helliconia Winter
1986	Greg Bear	Blood Music
1986	David Brin	The Postman	4 out of 10
1986	Barry N. Malzberg	The Remaking of Sigmund Freud
1986	Tim Powers	Dinner at Deviant's Palace
1986	Bruce Sterling	Schismatrix

1985	William Gibson	Neuromancer	7 out of 10
1985	Jack Dann	The Man Who Melted
1985	Robert A. Heinlein	Job: A Comedy of Justice
1985	Larry Niven	The Integral Trees	6 out of 10
1985	Lewis Shiner	Frontera
1985	Kim Stanley Robinson	The Wild Shore

1984	David Brin	Startide Rising	7 out of 10
1984	Gregory Benford	Against Infinity
1984	R.A. MacAvoy	Tea with the Black Dragon
1984	Norman Spinrad	The Void Captain's Tale	6 out of 10
1984	Jack Vance	Lyonesse
1984	Gene Wolfe	The Citadel of the Autarch	7 out of 10

1983	Michael Bishop	No Enemy But Time	5 out of 10
1983	Brian Aldiss	Helliconia Spring
1983	Isaac Asimov	Foundation's Edge	6 out of 10
1983	Philip K. Dick	The Transmigration of Timothy Archer
1983	Robert A. Heinlein	Friday	7 out of 10
1983	Gene Wolfe	The Sword of the Lictor	7 out of 10

1982	Gene Wolfe	The Claw of the Conciliator	8 out of 10
1982	A.A. Attanasio	Radix
1982	Suzy McKee Charnas	The Vampire Tapestry
1982	John Crowley	Little, Big	8 out of 10
1982	Russell Hoban	Riddley Walker
1982	Julian May	The Many-Colored Land	7 out of 10

1981	Gregory Benford	Timescape	5 out of 10
1981	Frederik Pohl	Beyond the Blue Event Horizon
1981	Robert Stallman	The Orphan
1981	Walter Tevis	Mockingbird
1981	Joan D. Vinge	The Snow Queen	6 out of 10
1981	Gene Wolfe	The Shadow of the Torturer	8 out of 10

1980	Arthur C. Clarke	The Fountains of Paradise	8 out of 10
1980	Richard Cowper	The Road to Corlay
1980	Thomas M. Disch	On Wings of Song
1980	Frederik Pohl	Jem
1980	John Varley	Titan	4 out of 10
1980	Kate Wilhelm	Juniper Time

1979	Vonda N. McIntyre	Dreamsnake	7 out of 10
1979	C.J. Cherryh	The Faded Sun: Kesrith
1979	Gardner Dozois	Strangers
1979	Tom Reamy	Blind Voices
1979	Gore Vidal	Kalki

1978	Frederik Pohl	Gateway	7 out of 10
1978	Gregory Benford	In the Ocean of Night
1978	Terry Carr	Cirque
1978	David Gerrold	Moonstar Odyssey
1978	Richard A. Lupoff	Sword of Demon

1977	Frederik Pohl	Man Plus	6 out of 10
1977	Samuel R. Delany	Triton
1977	Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle	Inferno	7 out of 10
1977	Marta Randall	Islands
1977	Robert Silverberg	Shadrach in the Furnace
1977	Kate Wilhelm	Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang	5 out of 10

1976	Joe Haldeman	The Forever War	7 out of 10
1976	Poul Anderson	A Midsummer Tempest
1976	Alfred Bester	The Computer Connection
1976	Michael Bishop	A Funeral for the Eyes of Fire
1976	Marion Zimmer Bradley	The Heritage of Hastur
1976	Italo Calvino	Invisible Cities
1976	Arthur Byron Cover	Autumn Angels
1976	Samuel R. Delany	Dhalgren
1976	E.L. Doctorow	Ragtime
1976	Tanith Lee	The Birthgrave
1976	Katherine MacLean	The Missing Man
1976	Barry N. Malzberg	Guernica Night
1976	Vonda N. McIntyre	The Exile Waiting
1976	Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle	The Mote in God's Eye
1976	Joanna Russ	The Female Man	6 out of 10
1976	Robert Silverberg	The Stochastic Man
1976	Ian Watson	The Embedding
1976	Roger Zelazny	Doorways in the Sand

1975	Ursula K. Le Guin	The Dispossessed	8 out of 10
1975	T.J. Bass	The Godwhale
1975	Philip K. Dick	Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
1975	Thomas M. Disch	334

1974	Arthur C. Clarke	Rendezvous with Rama	3 out of 10
1974	Poul Anderson	The People of the Wind
1974	David Gerrold	The Man Who Folded Himself
1974	Robert A. Heinlein	Time Enough for Love	7 out of 10
1974	Thomas Pynchon	Gravity's Rainbow

1973	Isaac Asimov	The Gods Themselves	7 out of 10
1973	John Brunner	The Sheep Look Up
1973	George Alec Effinger	What Entropy Means to Me
1973	David Gerrold	When HARLIE Was One
1973	Robert Silverberg	The Book of Skulls
1973	Robert Silverberg	Dying Inside
1973	Norman Spinrad	The Iron Dream

1972	Robert Silverberg	A Time of Changes	5 out of 10
1972	Poul Anderson	The Byworlder
1972	T.J. Bass	Half Past Human
1972	R.A. Lafferty	The Devil is Dead
1972	Ursula K. Le Guin	The Lathe of Heaven	7 out of 10
1972	Kate Wilhelm	Margaret and I

1971	Larry Niven	Ringworld	7 out of 10
1971	David G. Compton	The Steel Crocodile
1971	R.A. Lafferty	Fourth Mansions
1971	Joanna Russ	And Chaos Died
1971	Robert Silverberg	Tower of Glass
1971	Wilson Tucker	The Year of the Quiet Sun

1970	Ursula K. Le Guin	The Left Hand of Darkness	8 out of 10
1970	John Brunner	The Jagged Orbit
1970	Robert Silverberg	Up the Line
1970	Norman Spinrad	Bug Jack Barron
1970	Kurt Vonnegut	Slaughterhouse-Five
1970	Roger Zelazny	Isle of the Dead

1969	Alexei Panshin	Rite of Passage	5 out of 10
1969	James Blish	Black Easter
1969	John Brunner	Stand on Zanzibar	8 out of 10
1969	Philip K. Dick	Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
1969	R.A. Lafferty	Past Master
1969	Joanna Russ	Picnic on Paradise
1969	Robert Silverberg	The Masks of Time

1968	Samuel R. Delany	The Einstein Intersection	5 out of 10
1968	Piers Anthony	Chthon
1968	Hayden Howard	The Eskimo Invasion
1968	Robert Silverberg	Thorns
1968	Roger Zelazny	Lord of Light	7 out of 10

1967	Daniel Keyes	Flowers for Algernon	8 out of 10
1967	Samuel R. Delany	Babel-17	7 out of 10
1967	Robert A. Heinlein	The Moon is a Harsh Mistress	6 out of 10

1966	Frank Herbert	Dune	8 out of 10
1966	Poul Anderson	The Star Fox
1966	William S. Burroughs	Nova Express
1966	Avram Davidson	Rogue Dragon
1966	Thomas M. Disch	The Genocides
1966	Philip K. Dick	Dr. Bloodmoney
1966	Philip K. Dick	The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
1966	G.C. Edmondson	The Ship That Sailed the Time Stream
1966	Keith Laumer	A Plague of Demons
1966	Clifford D. Simak	All Flesh is Grass
1966	James White	The Escape Orbit
1966	Theodore L. Thomas & Kate Wilhelm	The Clone

Note that in two years (1976 and 1966) the shortlist was every novel that received a vote, so for those years it's not particularly selective.

Ratings for books that don't have a review are based on my memory of the book. The rating may well change if I get a chance to read the book again.

Last modified and spun 2023-10-23