2024 Reads - Fiction
So, here’s a list of what kept me up at night in 2024.
Well, that is, on top of crippling anxiety about the state of the planet and humanity, and blossoming periods of self-doubt accompanied by slow-motion replays of every decision I have made in my entire life. You feel me?
Really though, I loved reading in 2024. This post explores the fiction I enjoyed over the year, mostly while tucked up in bed with a cup of T2 ‘Nighty Night’ tea.
This post was mostly for me, selfish right?
It was a pleasure to look back and reflect on the adventures I experienced through books over the last 12 months. Hopefully there’s something in it for you too!
Perhaps a new book to add to your to-read list?
Maybe there’s a read that we’ve shared?
My favourite fiction book of the year goes to Starter Villain by John Scalzi. What a hilarious blast of a read! Please pick up a copy of this!
Just click on the cover of each book for the GoodReads link, if you’re interested in reading more about them.
Here’s to more wonderful reads in 2025.
Translation Slate - Ann Leckie
Translation Slate is a standalone science fiction novel set in the world of Leckie’s Imperial Radch trilogy. It was a nominee in the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards, and there are many solid reasons why! I enjoyed the intertwining stories of the key characters, exploring human relationships and emotions in a complex and intriguing alien world.
I thought the first half of Translation Slate was fantastic, and I got through it in just a few days. The second half (especially the final quarter) I found a little confusing, slightly juvenile, and with much less flow than the rest of the book. Still, I read through to the end, and I think each protagonist was afforded a full story arc and reasonable conclusion.
Leckie uses a quality space opera setting, with plenty of intrigue and action, to explore themes like gender, the essence of humanity, and personal identity. She does it well, and despite my slight displeasure regarding the book’s ending, I still ended up giving Translation Slate 5 stars.
The Space Between Us - Doug Johnstone
Telepathic squid-like aliens who arrive on earth, seem to survive without support outside of their natural environment, and oh, they induce magic alien strokes.
Yes, this is quite a far-fetched story.
Add several cliché characters, including some stock-standard heroes and villains, all with well-worn story roles and relationships.
The plot was also full of holes, and not tiny “no one will notice” holes either. The government agency that was giving chase to the main characters seemed so deeply incompetent that it was just too hard to overlook.
Still – the story was somewhat saved by the fun thing that is the main squid-alien character, Sandy.
If you can overlook the plot holes and clichés, The Space Between Us is a fun enough read
The Park Bench - Chaboute
What a wonderful read this beautiful, hopeful story of humanity was.
I was lucky enough to pick up a copy of The Park Bench from a bookshop bargain table for just $5 but would now have happily payed full price (whatever that might be!) for this beautiful graphic novel.
The book’s title really does say it all.
The Park Bench is a 336-page, almost wordless black-and-white graphic novel, which follows the stories that attach themselves to a solitary park bench over time.
Seasons change, people and animals come and go, and Chaboute’s storytelling allows us a glimpse of the joy, pain, hope, sadness, and beauty that fills those who encounter the bench during their daily lives.
This was certainly one of my favourite reads in 2024. It was a gentle reminder of the powerful stories that each person carries within them throughout every day, and the importance of paying attention to the world around us to see how those stories interact with time, place, and people.
Dallergut Dream Department Store - Mi-Ye Lee (Translated by Sandy Joosun Lee)
I saw a review for this book that simply said, “No plot just vibes.” You know what, I think that is not far off the truth.
Of course, there is a plot, as the excerpt reads:
“Day and night, visitors both human and animal from all over the world shuffle in sleepily in their pyjamas, lining up to purchase their latest adventure. Each floor in the department store sells a special kind of dream, including nostalgic dreams about your childhood, trips you've taken, and delicious food you've eaten, as well as nightmares and more mysterious dreams.”
The short novel simply floats along with Penny, the Dallergut Dream Department Store’s newest hire, as she discovers how the store works and learns the ins and outs of making, selling, and experiencing dreams.
It’s whimsical, somewhat eccentric, and if I am honest a little boring at times. There is no solid conclusion at the end of the book, and I was left both satisfied and discontent after reading. I suppose, in summary, the book itself felt like a bit of a dream – and really, is that such a bad thing to take away from a piece of floating fiction?
Tell Me an Ending - Jo Harkin
Imagine getting a message to tell you that you once chose to have a memory removed, and that because of a recent lawsuit the company that did the removal is both obliged to inform you it happened and offer you the opportunity to get the memory back.
Tell Me an Ending follows four characters as they struggle with how to respond to this news - their stories weave together as they interact with Noor, a psychologist working at the memory removal clinic in question.
The characters and their stories are well-developed, complex and uber-interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed the ever-building suspense throughout the novel, and I really think that Harkin did a wonderful job wrapping each character’s story up in a satisfying ending.
Tackling a theme like ‘the power of memory’ in a 448-page debut novel and delivering such a thought-provoking and captivating story is quite an achievement.
A 5-star read, in my opinion.
2034: A Novel of the Next World War - Elliot Ackerman & Admiral James Stavridis
I expected something different than what I got from this book.
It seemed to have been marketed as a somewhat serious look at what a third world war (a nuclear war) might entail. Yes, still fiction, but well situated in real-world possibilities that seem to hang over our heads more and more perilously each year.
It wasn’t anything like that.
That doesn’t mean it was boring. It was a fun enough read, although I had to get past the ‘US versus the rest’ vibes, shallow character development, and unexplained assumptions built into the clunky plot.
I’m certainly no expert (not even an armchair one) when it comes to warfare and military tactics, but I have quite the suspicion that 2034 doesn’t contain many true-to-life moments in the few (and short) battles that are described.
I’m also not a big reader of this genre (is it ‘war-fiction’?) but I can only imagine that Tom Clancy has a few books that would leave 2034 in the dust.
I somewhat applaud the effort though. As I noted above, I think this was intended as a serious(ish) cautionary tale – it’s just a shame it wasn’t able to live up to what it seemed to claim to deliver.
I’d avoid this book unless you’re a ‘war-fiction’ (?) lover…
The Searcher - Tana French
Dark.
Mysterious.
Drawn out.
The Searcher plays back like a movie in my mind, a memory of events even, rather than just the memory of a book that I have read. French’s depiction of rural Ireland, and talented building of characters and their stories, made this book a true pleasure.
The Searcher is certainly a slow burn. It’s mysterious and unhurried, and the well-deserved 2020 Goodreads Choice Award nominee for Readers’ Favourite Mystery and Thriller.
The plot itself is not, in my view, complicated. What French does well is build complexity in character relationships, with themselves and each other – especially when it comes to Cal, the retired detective from Chicago who gets more than he planned for in his move to a remote village in rural Ireland for retirement.
I’d read this one again in a few years, just to add volume to the ‘memories’ I have thanks to French’s wonderful storytelling.
The Watchers - A. M. Shine
Book, yes.
Movie, no.
I’m so glad that I read the book before watching the movie.
Mina, the main character who finds herself lost in a dark and wonderfully described Irish forest, is a joy to follow. However, she doesn’t experience much joy herself.
I found the Irish folklore built into the story to be very interesting. While he watchers were not the most terrifying creatures possible, they sure were intriguing and very well used by Shine to build suspense and unease.
This will likely not be the last Irish Folk Horror I read – if only because Shine’s written a sequel (on my list).
Still, while I enjoyed this, I wasn’t scared by it…I’m still on the lookout for that horror novel that stops me from sleeping (out of fear, not out of wanting to keep reading until 2 am).
Supernova Era - Cixin Liu (Translated by Joel Martinsen)
So, a nearby star has died, there’s a supernova event that showers Earth with deadly levels of radiation, and within a year everyone over the age of thirteen dies.
Audacious to be sure.
Promising as well.
But in the end, it was slightly disappointing, and kind of, well, boring.
I thought of giving up at a few points, but as my first time reading a Chinese author’s novel translated into English, I really wanted to see it through to the end.
I’ve heard so many good things about Cixin Liu’s work though, and there was just enough in this book to give me the confidence to try one of their more popular and recent efforts.
This one though…well the physical copy that I purchased, it’s already at the op-shop.
Ascension - Nicholas Binge
There’s a new, enormous snow-covered mountain that has appeared in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Zero explanation, but it ofcourse needs to be explored – explained – and climbed.
This is the most normal thing that happens in Ascension, and I love it for that!
Horror. Thriller. Mystery. Fantasy. Metaphysical analysis. I’m not sure what genre this book sits in, to be honest. I really did enjoy it though, as did many others, since it was a Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Readers' Favorite Science Fiction in 2023.
The higher up the mountain the book’s team of scientists ascends, the stranger the events of this book become.
This book does get quite weird, but I wouldn’t let that put you off. I especially loved the characters' growing paranoia and the frequent but well-designed twists, spins, and turns.
I sped through Ascension – and thoroughly enjoyed the climb.
The Stranding - Kate Sawyer
Post-apocalyptic fiction is certainly a dime a dozen at the moment, and I’ve read my share over the last few years. The Stranding stands above most, to be sure. It’s quiet, personal and relational, and that all contributes to the still and dying world that Sawyer has built for the two main characters – Ruth and Alex.
I read a few reviews that punish the book for being too uneventful. I disagree. The book is full of interesting events, conversations, and possibilities. Sure, there are no zombies, or whatever other highly dramatic, fast-paced end-of-days events that people might have wanted. What there is though is a whole lot of well developed space, interesting observations, and strong feelings that really drew me in and kept me well engaged throughout.
This book left me feeling both empty and full of hope. It was beautifully written, and such a great accomplishment for a debut novel.
Five star read.
Sea of Tranquility - Emily St. John Mandel
I am unsure how to best describe this novel.
The write-up tells us that is it:
“A novel of art, time travel, love, and plague that takes the reader from Vancouver Island in 1912 to a dark colony on the moon five hundred years later, unfurling a story of humanity across centuries and space.”
So yes, there is time travel. Yes, there are people on the moon. Yes, there is a pandemic. And, yes, there is a whole lot of raw humanity.
Still, this was one of those stories that was so well written, so different to everything else I’ve been reading, that it left me a little unsure how to explain it.
I guess all I can say is, make sure you read this book - and if you do, read it well (if that’s a thing?).
I’ll be re-reading this sometime soon enough. I knew that I would as soon as I finished the book, and I will keep looking forward to doing so from that very moment.
Clean five stars.
Oh, and it was the Goodreads Choice Award Winner for Readers' Favorite Science Fiction (2022).
Deservedly so.
Insomnia - Sarah Pinborough
I love it when a novel makes you actually feel what is going on in the story. As in, to not just understand the plot, enjoy the characters, and appreciate the writing style, but also to connect with the vibe of the book on an emotional and personal level. I think that is the true talent of a good writer.
Pinborough absolutely achieved this with Insomnia. The restlessness, exhaustion and ever-growing paranoia experienced by the narrator, Emma, is so well built into the text that you can’t help but join her emotional rollercoaster as you read it. This might not be what some people want, mind you…as empathising with Pinborough’s depiction of the personal terror that is insomnia is perhaps not everyone’s idea of a good time.
I thought it was a great read though. I don’t need every novel to leave me feeling joyous and happy. This one really didn’t, but I still loved the book right to the end - including the very well-executed final twist!
How High We Go In The Dark - Sequoia Nagamatsu
I don’t usually do ‘short-story-like’ books. I seem to find them a bit unfulfilling and they need me to reset my attention too many times.
How High We Go In The Dark has me questioning that rule. It was a fantastic collection of interconnected stories centred around a virus released from melting permafrost and the ensuring plague that brings death and destruction across the globe.
I saw a review that called the book “deeply compassionate,” and I think that’s an apt description. There are a few stories in How High We Go In The Dark that really hit hard, and ask the reader for a genuine emotional response – the story with the pigs being the prime example. To be honest, it’s quite a sad book, full of death, sorry and intrigue. As a Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Readers' Favorite Science Fiction (2022), and for Readers' Favorite Debut Novel (2022), it comes well recommended.
The slow and immersive prose and the vast range of perspectives and experiences conveyed through the various short stories held my attention all the way through. While there were a few stories that I didn’t love as much as the rest, they were the minority, and they still helped build into the full narrative of the book.
Quite the book, this one – I do recommend it.
The Dreamers - Karen Thompson Walker
I read this book around the middle of 2024, by which stage I had firmly told myself “No more pandemic books.” As I was looking for my next read, and soon after having read my first (but not last for the year) Emily St. John Mandel novel - Sea Of Tranquillity – I saw that she had called The Dreamers “stunning.” That was enough for me to allow myself one final (so I thought) book that relied on a virus/plague/pandemic as its primary device.
So glad I allowed myself to do so. The Dreamers was certainly vague and mysterious, as many reviews have labelled it. The large cast of characters all drift in and out of focus as we follow the primary character Mei, whose freshman roommate stumbles into their dorm room, falls asleep, and simply does not wake up. Repeat that over and over, and suddenly Mei is in the middle of a ‘sleep sickness’ pandemic.
Sure, the premise isn’t super original. Yes, the middle got a little muddy. And, yes, the end was quite short and sudden. Counter that with rather poetic prose, some very wise quotes - “But isn’t the future always an imaginary thing before it comes?” - and enough hazy distance to allow you to engineer your own thoughts and theories, and The Dreamers is a very enjoyable read.
Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel
This was a re-read. I didn’t realise until a few chapters in, and as soon as I knew it was, I was more than fine with the fact. Station Eleven turned 10 in 2024, meaning I must have hired a copy from my local library and read it some while ago. It’s a pre-Covid pandemic story, and it’s a damn fine one. Fine enough to have won a Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Readers' Favorite Fiction in 2014.
It’s post-apocalyptic.
There’s a Shakespearean troupe.
It includes a prophet.
We learn of a mysterious comic book.
Plus there is Hollywood.
It’s quiet, loud, still, action-packed, thoughtful, and overall, just fantastic.
By now, I am a true fan of Emily St. John Mandel’s writing. I think she’s truly skilled at painting meaningful and interesting worlds and drawing the reader right into them. I loved the setting of this novel, a world without the chaos of our modern civilisation, in which a wonderful cast of characters play out one of the favourite stories I read in 2024 (and, likely, in 2014 as well).
It's very worth a read, and it doesn’t count as a ‘post-Covid pandemic novel’ in my counting!
Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone - Benjamin Stevenson
The title drew me in, it’s attention-grabbing is it not?
The book made me laugh, it really is a funny book!
I finished it in just a few days. It’s not a complicated read (although there are twisting plots and some good surprises), but it kept my attention well, and I sure did want to know the outcome.
The book’s narrator, Ernest Cunningham, speaks directly to the reader throughout the novel. He is the author of a book that is about how to write books, and yes that ‘meta’ vibe really does permeate the whole of this novel. I found it to be enjoyable and a good break from everything else that I had been reading. Some people might find it annoying, it’s true. I didn’t though. I loved it.
Five stars from me!
Everyone On This Train Is A Suspect - Benjamin Stevenson
As the title suggests, this is a follow-on from Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, a book that I really did enjoy. I was excited to revisit the witty world of Ernest Cunningham and experience another twisting murder mystery delivered through the broken fourth wall (Ernest, the narrator, addresses the reader directly).
The book didn’t disappoint in that sense! It was great in all the ways the previous book was – including being very funny and not at all easy (for me at least) to guess the ending. There were a range of sleuthy games that the reader could play as the book developed, but I didn’t quite have the mental energy to go along with them. They seemed fun though!
In this end, this felt similar to the previous book...but on a train, and with a mostly new cast of characters. I liked that, but I also found myself slightly bored towards the end. I think I’d had my fill of the witty, sometimes narky delivery of Ernest Cunningham. I came to this book for more of that though, so I can’t complain!
Would I read a third book of this series? Perhaps, but only when I know I need to switch things up from my regular book pile.
The Mother Fault - Kate Mildenhall
I loved watching The Handmaid's Tale, so reading that The Mother Fault “Imagines a world as terrifying and visionary as Margaret Atwoods’s Gilead” had me very interested in exploring this book. I was sold after seeing that it was set in Australia, with an all-powerful government that has rescued the population from climate-crisis-induced social collapse.
Honestly, so much of this book seemed very, very plausible, which was quite distressing at times (and super interesting).
I didn’t love the characters though, including Mim, the lead who risks all to find her husband (kids in tow) while evading capture, and whatever else that might bring. The story was fast-paced enough to hold me through until the end, even if I didn’t feel all that connected to those in it. I also think the book tried a little hard to be too many things, instead of leaning hard into the interesting dystopian Australia that Mildenhall created for the reader.
In Ascension - Martin MacInnes
Longlisted for the Booker Prize
Shortlisted for the Kitschies award
Winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award, Blackwell's Book of the Year, and the Saltire Prize for Fiction.
Ascension requires and rewards a patient, focused read. I’ve seen some reviews that compare it in part to Interstellar, and I can see those similarities.
It’s a novel about the micro and the macro, all at once - I would say that it has a detailed luminosity. Exactly the kind of writing you would expect if the synopsis truly foretold the story: “An astonishing novel about a young microbiologist investigating an unfathomable deep vent in the ocean floor, leading her on a journey that will encompass the full trajectory of the cosmos and the passage of a single human life.”
This isn’t a novel full of sophisticated hooks, overly distinctive prose, or memorable twists and reveals. It has a steady and sensible quality to it, and it drew me right in from start to end.
Enjoyed every page of this wonderfully written, and a thoroughly interesting story.
Five star read in my view.
Mania - Lionel Shriver
“What if calling someone stupid was illegal?”
That’s the entire premise of this book. It’s an interesting enough concept, and it’s the focus on Shriver’s writing, but I feel it is done so in neglect of any quality character development and meaningful story arc.
In other words, the book explores interesting events and their impact on a semi-interesting world, but the characters are shallow and annoying, and to be honest it’s just so hard to care about them.
Still, I enjoyed aspects of Mania, including how widespread Shirver’s mocking of society did go. Sure, there are a few lessons packed in here, but the learnings, story, and applicability fall short of my initial expectations and well short of anything like 1984 or The Handmaid’s Tale.
The God Of The Woods - Liz Moore
Well, this is a wonderful book, and the first 2024 release that I read in 2024 (I’m a bit behind with my reading, thanks so much academic studies…).
The well-deserved 2024 Goodreads Choice Award Winner for Readers' Favorite Mystery & Thriller is just so beautifully written.
Yes, there are a lot of perspectives (seven, maybe more?) throughout this 500-odd-page novel about the disappearance of a 13-year-old girl at a 1975 summer camp. I think Moore uses all those points of view incredibly well to design, and walk the reader through, a dense and constantly changing cast and setting.
It’s all very well developed throughout, and the ending is both surprising and satisfying. So worth reading.
Starter Villain - John Scalzi
Ok. This was my favourite 2024 read.
Yes. I purchased Starter Villain because of the front cover. I had my eye on it for a while, waiting for the price to drop, and I snatched it up as soon as I saw it on sale.
What a hilarious, fun, and engaging novel! It was my first read of Scalzi (certainly won’t be my last) and I was very impressed.
It’s satire, science fiction, humour, and fantasy. There’s a LOT of dialogue, which I might have otherwise found too much - not here though. Charlie, the main character, is so likeable. He’s a divorced substitute teacher, living alone with his cat, whose long-lost uncle dies and leaves him with his supervillain business.
There are talking cats, unionised dolphins, supervillains, greedy corporate types, and everything in between.
Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Readers' Favorite Science Fiction in 2023, and my favourite fiction book in 2024.
Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata
At just 163 pages, this was the shortest fiction book I read in 2024. It started, then it was over. Convenience Store Woman is Sayaka Murata’s English-language debut. I picked it up on sale, curious about the title and front cover, and open to something a bit different than my regular reads. So glad I did. This is such a cute, quick and accurate social commentary. It’s a bit dark at times, but still full of hope and empowerment.
The book is really just the story of thirty-six-year-old Tokyo resident Keiko Furukura’s employment at a ‘Smile Mart’ convenience store.
No need to explain further, to be honest. Just to say this is a lovely and enjoyable book, and I’m very glad that I read it.
Afterland - Lauren Beukes
I thought I liked this book a few chapters in, but then I started realising that I didn’t.
I don’t think it is at all the “sharply feminist, high-stakes thriller” that the synopsis claims it to be. You’re going to have to do more than just ‘remove all men’ to claim to portray feminism in my opinion.
There’s certainly some deep American noir, and yes there are some moments that are interesting (I mean, the cult-like nuns were fun), but I couldn’t look past the deeply binary worldview and consequential transmisogyny (be it conscious or not), and the combination of so many references to penises and sperm in the context of a 13-year-old.
It often felt a bit young-adult in style as well, but I don’t think that was the intended audience.
Anyway, I read through to the end, but rather begrudgingly.
The Anomaly - Herve Le Tellier (tanslated by Adriana Hunter)
Oh I did love The Anomaly, which was the last fiction read for me in 2024.
Herve Le Tellier takes the reader on a true journey. The Anomaly is part satire, part speculative science fiction, and a good part philosophy. It's very theoretical at times, and that might put some readers off. I promise it's worth wading through any complexity, as there are some wonderful stories weaved together.
Multiple versions of stories that is, as this is a doppelganger tale, where the same plane lands, full of the same people, twice. The Anomaly explores the human, scientific, societal, and philosophical consequences of this event.
Did I say that I loved the book?
What a great novel to end my 2024 fiction reading on.
