Reactor magazine recently published lists by their reviewers of best novels of 2024.
Here are some of their suggestions:
The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett—already one of my favorite authors for his Foundryside series—was everything I wanted from a fantasy murder mystery: a reclusive detective and a put-upon assistant reminiscent of the Nero Wolfe series; powerful biochemical magic; and all-too-realistic bureaucracy. And despite my love for vast, world-shattering stories like the two above, I enjoyed that The Tainted Cup wasn’t that; with this first book in the Shadow of the Leviathan series, Bennett threads the needle of setting the mystery in a sprawling world without raising the stakes too far. [Sasha Bonkowsky]
Kerstin Hall’s Asunder has slipped under a lot of radars. Written with precise and glittering prose and a deft eye for characterisation, its worldbuilding is complex and entertaining eldritch, while its protagonist keeps making terrible life choices on account of all the other ones are worse. Compelling, brilliant, weird: I will fight you for the sequel. [Liz Bourke]
Of course Metal From Heaven by august clarke and The City in Glass by Nghi Vo are here. Their latest books were stunning literary achievements. The experience of reading these stories is as intense as the stories themselves.
It felt like I was holding my breath the entire time. These books are gorgeous, lyrical, and relentless, and furious. [Alex Brown]Kaliane Bradley’s The Ministry of Time was an unexpected read that I enjoyed—I picked it up for the deft critique of colonialism explored via the trope of time travel and stayed for the steamy relationship between the narrator and the darkly sexy 19th-century arctic explorer who becomes her roommate. Not every book is both thoughtful and entertaining, but The Ministry of Time is one of those books that knocks both out of the park. [Vanessa Armstrong]
If someone asks for the definition of magic, hand them Kelly Link’s debut novel, The Book of Love. Tell them that by the end, you will not have THE definition of magic, but you will have so many beautiful definitions to choose from. Whimsical, sexy, unrelenting, oppressive, sorrowful, hilarious, real, unreal, quirky, joyous, stalwart, deadly, vicious, musical, romantic, all-powerful, quite small indeed, just a little to the right of what you’re looking at, Link lets us define magic how we want through one of my new favorite novels for life. [Martin Cahill]
Kaliane Bradley’s fantastic The Ministry of Time leans all the way into the weirdness of bringing people from the past into our current moment. Having reeled you in with the promise of time travel and kissing, it slowly reveals itself to be an immensely thoughtful story of complicity, power, and the function of individual choice within unjust systems. [Jenny Hamilton]
You can read the full article, with more recommendations by these and other reviewers, at Reviewers’ Choice: The Best Books of 2024
The Adelaide Fan Review 
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