N.K. Jemisin, The Broken Earth, Orbit.

• The Fifth season, 2015.
• The Obelisk Gate, 2016.
• The Stone Sky, 2017.

There aren't many novels that have received the Hugo Award and that I've really liked. But The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin grabbed me from the first pages and I couldn't leave it until I had reached the end.

This review has been initially published in October 2016 and substantially updated and enriched in August 2017 after I've finished reading The Stone Sky. It nonetheless remains spoiler free.

Cixin Liu, The Remembrance of Earth,

• The Three-body problem, 2014.
• The Dark Forest, 2015.
• Death's End, 2016.

There's something of Mamoru Oshii's Avalon in The Three body problem, and also something of Kim Stanley Robinson, and also something of Otherland by Tad Williams (in much, much better), and also something of Stephen Baxter... Actually, the list of works and authors who seem to have inspired Cixin Liu is a long one, but the novel can't be summed up to that because it's a story in its own right...

Lois McMaster Bujold, (by internal chronological order (1))

• Falling Free, 1988.
• Shards of Honor, 1986.
• Barrayar, 1991.
• The Warrior's Apprentice, 1986.
• "Mountains of Mourning", 1987.
• The Vor Game, 1990.
• Cetaganda, 1995.
• Ethan of Athos, 1986.
• "Labyrinths", 1989.
• "The Borders of Infinity", 1987.
• Brothers in Arms, 1989.
• Mirror Dance, 1994.
• Memory, 1996.
• Komarr, 1998.
• A Civil Campaign, 1999.
• "Winterfair Gifts", 2004.
• "Diplomatic Immunity", 2002.
• Captain Vorpatril's Alliance, 2010.
• Cryoburn, 2012. (2)

The Vorkosigan Saga is one of the names given to an ensemble of science-fiction novels and novellas written by Lois McMaster Bujold.
Most of the novels focus on the Vorkosigan family, and more particularly on Miles Naismith Vorkosigan. Currently, the series spans about forty years of the life of this family (apart from Falling Free which takes place 200 years in their past) and takes place on the planet Barrayar, on other planets colonised by humanity or on an orbital station...

Illustration by TravisTheGeek.

There was the GamerGate, then the ridiculous drama that the Hugo were. 2015 really contributed to make everyone think that science-fiction was a conservative genre, not to mention sexist, fascist, racist and homophobic, despite the history of the genre itself.
So here is a short collection of SFF novels that could all pass the Bechdel test. This list comprises only ten books (and it was bleeding hard to keep it to only ten books!) with completely personal choices and by chronological order...

Connie Willis, To Say nothing of the dog, Bantam Spectra, 1997.

When someone tells me they don't like reading science-fiction but would like to give it another try anyway, To Say nothing of the dog is the book I always recommend. It's also one of my all times favourites...