The award for Best First Novel was first presented in 1981. Awards presented in a given year are for works published in the previous calendar year.
Locus Award for Best First Novel Public
Created and curated by Phil in SF
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Black Powder War by Naomi Novik (Temeraire, #3)
After their fateful adventure in China, Capt. Will Laurence of His Majesty's Aerial Corps and his extraordinary dragon, Temeraire, are …
Phil in SF says: 2007 co-winner
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4 stars
Aging death-metal rock legend Judas Coyne is a collector of the macabre: a cookbook for cannibals...a used hangman's noose...a snuff …
Phil in SF says: 2008 winner
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Singularity's Ring by Paul Melko
After the Singularity, there's an artificial ring around Earth…and 90 percent of humanity is gone.
Either billions of humans are …
Phil in SF says: 2009 winner
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The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
4 stars
What Happens when bio-terrorism becomes a tool for corporate profits? And what happens when said bio-terrorism forces humanity to the …
Phil in SF says: 2010 winner
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The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin (Inheritance Trilogy, #1)
4 stars
Yeine Darr is an outcast from the barbarian north. But when her mother dies under mysterious circumstances, she is summoned …
Phil in SF says: 2011 winner
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The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
4 stars
The Night Circus is a 2011 fantasy novel by Erin Morgenstern. It was originally written for the annual writing competition …
Phil in SF says: 2012 winner
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Throne of the Crescent Moon by Phil Gigante, Saladin Ahmed
3 stars
The Crescent Moon Kingdoms, home to djenn and ghuls, holy warriors and heretics, are at the boiling point of a …
Phil in SF says: 2013 winner
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Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (Imperial Radch, #1)
4 stars
On a remote, icy planet, the soldier known as Breq is drawing closer to completing her quest.
Once, she was …
Phil in SF says: 2014 winner
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The Memory Garden by M. Rickert
In a beautifully written tale woven together with magic and mystery, flowers and food, Bay Singer finally discovers the secrets …
Phil in SF says: 2015 winner
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The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu (The Dandelion Dynasty, #1)
4 stars
Wily, charming Kuni Garu, a bandit, and stern, fearless Mata Zyndu, the son of a deposed duke, seem like polar …
Phil in SF says: 2016 winner
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Ninefox Gambit (The Machineries of Empire, #1) by Yoon Ha Lee (The Machineries of Empire, #1)
4 stars
Captain Kel Cheris of the hexarchate is disgraced for using unconventional methods in a battle against heretics. Kel Command gives …
Phil in SF says: 2017 winner
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The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss (The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club, #1)
Based on some of literature’s horror and science fiction classics, this is the story of a remarkable group of women …
Phil in SF says: 2018 winner
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Trail of Lightning (The Sixth World, #1)
3 stars
While most of the world has drowned beneath the sudden rising waters of a climate apocalypse, Dinétah (formerly the Navajo …
Phil in SF says: 2019 winner
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Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (The Locked Tomb, #1)
4 stars
Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth unveils a solar system of swordplay, cut-throat politics, and lesbian necromancers. Her characters leap off …
Phil in SF says: 2020 winner
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Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger, Rovina Cai
5 stars
Imagine an America very similar to our own. It's got homework, best friends, and pistachio ice cream.
There are some …
Phil in SF says: 2021 winner
