Any novella recommendations?

November 30, 2023 8:43 AM

I'm recently finding myself really drawn to fantasy and science fiction novellas that manage to build entire universes in a relatively short period of time: think Becky Chambers's Psalm for the Wild Built, T. Kingfisher's Thornhedge, Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone's and Rivers Solomon's The Deep. I'm also super-fascinated by novellas that are stand-alone entries in the same universe: think P. Djéli Clark's The Haunting of Tram Car 015. What should I read next? (A bit more description of my reading taste inside, though I'm willing to be surprised!)

A few extra descriptions of my taste/what I'm looking for:
(1) I'm not hugely fond of overly technical magical/sci-fi systems: what I liked about all the novellas listed above is that I could grasp the rules of the world very quickly.
(2) Tonally, most of the novellas I've liked have fallen into two categories: (1) wistful, melancholy, and romantic (Psalm and Thornhedge) or (2) funny and character-driven (Tram Car). Open to other options, of course! But that's been the trend.
(3) I'd love to read books that don't necessary center the US or Europe (Solomon and Clark), or that expand on less-dominant mythologies within those cultures/histories.

Thanks in advance for your recommendations!

posted by lavenderhaze to Media & Arts (23 answers total)

Murderbot diaries is perfect for this if you haven't read them.

The Cyberiad is more short stories than novella length but it's a fun and clever read, maybe a bit too old for your taste.
posted by SaltySalticid at 9:04 AM on November 30, 2023

Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children series will probably do it for you.
posted by seanmpuckett at 9:05 AM on November 30, 2023

The Singing Hills Cycle by Nghi Vo. There are 4 novellas so far, out of a planned 6. They are set in an alternate/fantasy world that's based on the history of Vietnam. I've recommended them before. The author's intent is that they can be read in any order. I've read them in publication order so far, and there are some minor callbacks to previous stories but nothing that I think would mess with you if you read them in a different order.
posted by expialidocious at 9:06 AM on November 30, 2023

The Nghi Vo books are great because you kind of want to read them again once you've finished. For reasons.
posted by seanmpuckett at 9:08 AM on November 30, 2023

In its worldbuilding it 'cheats' by leaning on a lot of Western and fairy-tale tropes, but I really loved Catherynne Valente's Six-Gun Snow White.
posted by Tomorrowful at 9:13 AM on November 30, 2023

An older rec: The Steerswoman series by Rosemary Kirstein might work for you. Starts out feeling very High Fantasy but ends up going interesting places.

Emma Newman's Planetfall series (can be read out of order but the author recommends you read After Atlas before Atlas Alone) is also good! Each of the books is in a fairly different style; I think Planetfall and Before Mars probably come closest to meeting your brief, although they're both a lot more anxiety-making than Becky Chambers' books (I haven't read the others on your list).
posted by mskyle at 9:25 AM on November 30, 2023

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
posted by lizard music at 9:42 AM on November 30, 2023

Strongly recommending The Past Is Red by Cat Valente.
posted by matildaben at 10:07 AM on November 30, 2023

Sarah Gailey: Upright Women Wanted, River of Teeth, Taste of Marrow.
posted by seanmpuckett at 10:25 AM on November 30, 2023

Also a plug for K Eason's How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse and its sequel. Short novel length but plays to all the strengths you asked for.
posted by seanmpuckett at 10:27 AM on November 30, 2023

Wistful, melancholy and romantic

Rachel Ingalls' 1982 Mrs. Caliban checks all of your boxes. It casts a soft but lingering light.
posted by virago at 10:50 AM on November 30, 2023

This Census Taker by China Mieville has some fantasy elements and also some references to the world of Bas-Lag where 3 other books take place, which may imply it is set there.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 11:11 AM on November 30, 2023

I think you might like the novella Good Mountain by Robert Reed.
posted by mbrubeck at 11:11 AM on November 30, 2023

Thank you so much to everyone for your suggestions (and I welcome any others anyone else wants to suggest)! These all look great, and you all did a fantastic job picking up on my taste—I love a lot of these writers already, but had no idea so many of them had written novellas as well. I'm in for a great winter of reading. :) Also, I noticed in my original ask that I left out the Gladstone and El-Mohtar title (This is How You Lose the Time War: highly recommend if you have not read it!
posted by lavenderhaze at 12:19 PM on November 30, 2023

You might like Defekt, by Nino Cipri, and Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke.
posted by zompist at 1:33 PM on November 30, 2023

I assume you have Nine Goblins by T. Kingfisher in the queue already, but if you don't, it's very funny. Quite different than Thornhedge.

Pretty sure Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh fits with what you're after.

Slightly less sure about Sisters of the Vast Black, but I'm 4 out of 5 with you on novellas (haven't read The Deep, so clearly I should) and I really enjoyed this one, so I think it's worth a look.

Least sure about Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton, because it's written in a novel of manners style, so very stylistically different from what you've listed here, but I was very entertained by it.

Strong second on the Singing Hills Cycle, Murderbot Diaries, and Binti recommendations, I enjoyed all of those a lot.
posted by EvaDestruction at 2:12 PM on November 30, 2023

Any and all T. Kingfisher! Especially Nettle & Bone, the Saints of Steel series, A Wizards Guide to Defensive Baking, and Illuminations.
posted by maryellenreads at 2:21 PM on November 30, 2023

Lois McMaster Bujold's Penric and Desdemona novella series might work for you. It's set in a pre-existing world from three other novels, but you do not need to read the novels first; the first novella will give you the relevant worldbuilding rules.
posted by humbug at 2:40 PM on November 30, 2023

In the 'related questions' section at the bottom of the page, the second entry is "The answer is: "You should try Terry Pratchett " ".
.... well, I'm not going to argue with the algorithm.

(I'd start with the witches arc, or the adjacent Tiffany Aching books.)
posted by cfraenkel at 6:07 PM on November 30, 2023

I'm not sure if "The Slow Regard of Silent Things" would make sense without the context of the other novels, but I think it'd be a grand experiment to try. I'm not a big poetry person, but somehow the lushness of the writing really resonated with me. There is almost no dialogue and nothing resembling a typical plot, just mysterious and melancholy world building from an atypical perspective.
posted by past unusual at 6:27 PM on November 30, 2023

Zen Cho's The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water (more short-novel length than novella) -- you pick up enough of the worldbuilding + queer wuxia immediately, but not everything is what you think, either. It rewards a re-read.
posted by away for regrooving at 6:51 PM on November 30, 2023

Any and all T. Kingfisher!

One small caveat that there are some horror titles - I think they're novels, rather than novellas, so I'm assuming you may pass them by on that account. I was creeped out enough by parts of the Clockwork Boys and the Wonder Engine that I haven't wanted to venture into her horror work, even though I'm sure it's good.
posted by EvaDestruction at 9:19 PM on November 30, 2023

Nthing T. Kingfisher, Murderbot, and Wayward Children, but I also picked up Damnation for Beginners by Alan Campbell at the library recently. It's horror-ish, but an extremely well-drawn world in a short novella. I went on to get Lye Street and liked that as well.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14478265-damnation-for-beginners
posted by elizabot at 9:47 AM on December 1, 2023