SFF Novellas: Hit Your Reading Goal
By: Gabby Aspiotis
It’s that time of year again: eyeing your reading goal and wondering how you were so ambitious in January (I do this to myself every year). If longer books feel too daunting, novellas are a great way to inch closer to your goal while still being satisfying reads. I’ve curated a list of fifteen sci-fi and fantasy novellas to help you hit your reading goal:
Agnir, ward and hostage, is the reason why two warring clans are at peace. When Agnir and the chieftain’s daughter find a hidden spring, a magic awakens in them that could either unite the clans or start another war.
Legendary dragon hunter Yeva is sent to Quanbao, a reclusive kingdom that worships dragons, to slay the beast rumored to be hiding there. However, as she grows closer to the monarch of Quanbao, it becomes increasingly difficult to fulfill her purpose.
The Fisherman has been kidnapped from their underwater home, stripped of their skin, and imprisoned on a ship led by a human princess. The Fisherman is stuck in female human form and is forced to help the princess hunt for an undersea god in order to reclaim the body stolen from them.
An autonomous robot, Sal, runs her late masters tea shop. Sal is slowly breaking down and is continuously dealing with anti-robot sentiments that threaten the shop. When AI technician Clara walks into Sal’s tea shop, she doesn’t expect to find a robot, especially one who needs her help.
Cleric Chih is traveling in search of stories to collect and record. Chih meets a woman named Rabbit, former trusted handmaiden of the late Empress In-yo. Rabbit tells Chih the story of her life and the secret history of the Empress.
The wajinru, aquatic descendents of pregnant African slave women who were thrown overboard, live in the deep with no memories of their traumatic past. Yetu is the only one who remembers, and it’s destroying her. When she flees to the surface to escape the memories, she learns her people need to reclaim their identities in order to survive.
Ester has been filled with the need to kill manticores since her family was ripped apart by one. She dreams of becoming a ruhker, hunters who fly giant rocs of legend to kill manticores. Determined to prove herself, she must train Zahra, a powerful roc. This partnership leads her on the most dangerous manticore hunt led by the empire.
In the twenty-second century, scientists have made a breakthrough: astronauts can now survive in environments off Earth. Adriane and her crew members have been on a mission to search for habitable worlds and in that time, Earth has changed. Adriane begins to chronicle their journey and both the thrill and sadness that follows.
Two sisters, Esther and Ysabel, live near the edge of Faerie where their family has tended to ancient willow trees that provide them with gifts. They are required to sing for them as thanks for their magic, and they do so dutifully. However, the sisters’ lives and bond is at risk when Esther rejects a suitor for her Faerie lover.
Vân and Sunless Woods both have secrets. Vân, a scholar, is hiding an illegal artificial implant she created when she was a student, and Sunless Woods, a mindship, is a thief. They team up when a corpse is found in Vân’s students’ quarters and find themselves growing closer to one another.
When Wylla, a scavenger with an outdated mask and a ship, receives an alert about an artifact on an abandoned planet, she takes the job. What she finds is impossible: a sentient AI mask named HAWK that retains both memory and identity.
Those who are sworn to the Matron of Assassins are resurrected, wiped of their memories, and proven deadly. They have three unbreakable vows. One night, Eveen breaks them and finds herself on the run when her mission makes her face the past she was supposed to forget.
A self-aware security android who hacked its governor module, and named itself “Murderbot,” is supposed to keep a team of human scientists safe. But what it really wants is just to be left alone and for no one to figure out it can think for itself. This becomes increasingly difficult when a nearby mission goes dark and they must figure out what went wrong so it doesn’t happen to them.
Tutu will be thirteen in three days, the age where they cut out your tongue to ensure the Ajungo Empire continues to send the city water. He is forced to make a deal to save his dying mom and travels to the desert to bring back water to the city.
To escape catastrophic climate change, humanity now resides in domes at the bottom of the sea, running on cyborg labour. Momo, a dermal care technician, is at the height of her career. After meeting her estranged mother, she begins to reflect on her childhood and explore her true identity.
The end of the year is always a stressful time, so I hope having this list can help you hit your reading goal with as little anxiety as possible. Remember: setting a reading goal makes for a fun way to challenge yourself, but you don’t need to if it’s not right for you. Happy readin’!