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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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
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
5 stars
The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the …
Phil in SF says: 2012 winner
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Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed
4 stars
Throne of the Crescent Moon is a fantasy novel written by American writer Saladin Ahmed. It is the first book …
Phil in SF says: 2013 winner
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Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
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
No rating
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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3 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
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
No rating
Mary Jekyll, alone and penniless following her parents' death, is curious about the secrets of her father's mysterious past. One …
Phil in SF says: 2018 winner
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Trail of lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse
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
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
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A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark
4 stars
Nebula, Locus, and Alex Award-winner P. Djèlí Clark returns to his popular alternate Cairo universe for his fantasy novel debut, …
Phil in SF says: 2022 winner
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Mountain in the Sea by Vajra Chandrasekera
4 stars
Humankind discovers intelligent life in an octopus species with its own language and culture, and sets off a high-stakes global …
Phil in SF says: 2023 winner
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The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera
4 stars
Fetter was raised to kill, honed as a knife to cut down his sainted father. This gave him plenty to …
Phil in SF says: 2024 winner
