Late here. I read tons of fiction, some standounts:<p>Piranesi - Susanna Clark<p>This feels like a lightweight version of House of Leaves, which is probably a double complement. It's got gorgeous prose, and a completely ethereal, mysterious feel the whole way. Themes of memory, life and death, reality, mental illness, etc.<p>Notes From the Burning Age - Claire North<p>Solarpunk thriller set upon a backdrop of Overstory-like prose that praises and exalts natural beauty. Its a neat concept, though slow and very tense. Some content warnings.<p>Mexican Gothic - Silvia Moreno Garcia<p>A modern approach to gothic horror, where gaslighting is part of the horror, but the character knows that some of the gaslighting isn't gaslighting, it's mysterious things happening. Really tense also.<p>The Night Watchman - Louise Erdrich<p>This year's Pulizer, historical fiction based on the Turtle Mountain Native American tribe's attempt to maintain their status as an independent nation in the 1950s, magical realism and a story of community and persistence.<p>Black Sun - Rebecca Roanhorse<p>Medium fantasy set in a really neat mixed Native Central/North American setting. The characters are fantastic, and this book was tense enough that I had to put it down because I was worried about two of the characters I really liked.<p>Middlegame - Seanan McGuire<p>This was really fantastic sort of situational horror. It very clearly horror, but mostly not gore-y. There's bits of implied stuff, but its mostly just like the horror of controlling the lives of a pair of magical soulmates in cruel ways, and also their journey of discovery of what they are and what they can do (which is also horrifying!). I also felt that this book had perhaps the best use of pre-chapter quotes that I've ever seen in a novel, and it invents a whole fake early 20th century childrens book as part of the worldbuilding. That book, "Over the Woodward Wall" has also been published, although I haven't read it.<p>I also read tons of Octavia Butler and N.K. Jemisin, and I can't recommend them enough (especially reading Butler and then Jemisin, as their writings are thematically similar, but approach similar topics from different directions). As well as tons of stuff by Anne Leckie, Becky Chambers, and Martha Wells, which are all great if you want space operas.