sci fi book reviews 2022

The 19 best science fiction books of 2022 so far, according to Goodreads

When you buy through our links, Business Insider may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more

• Science fiction is a wide genre that includes dystopias, space epics , and apocalyptic fiction.
• We turned to Goodreads to rank the best new science fiction books of 2022.
• For more great novels, check out the best books of 2022 so far .

Science fiction stories have been entertaining readers for decades , from iconic reads like "Jurassic Park" to epic space adventures that take us across galaxies, through time, and in between dimensions. Science fiction classics will always have a place in readers' hearts, but new science fiction releases offer more and more mind-bending dystopias, speculations, and unique beings beyond our wildest imaginations. 

Goodreads is the world's largest platform for readers to rate, review, and recommend their favorite books, so we turned to Goodreads reviewers to rank the best new science fiction releases of 2022. These titles are ranked by how often they've been added to readers' "Want to Read" shelves and had to have been published this year to make the list.

The 19 best science fiction books of 2022 so far, according to Goodreads:

"the school for good mothers" by jessamine chan.

"The School for Good Mothers" by Jessamine Chan, available at Amazon and Bookshop ,  from $18.19 

With over 21,000 ratings on Goodreads, "The School for Good Mothers" is the most popular science fiction novel amongst Goodreads reviewers so far in 2022. Though Frida Liu is already struggling in nearly every aspect of her life, everything gets monumentally worse when a lapse in judgment leaves her in the hands of a Big Brother-like institution that will determine whether or not Frida is a "good" mother and thus, whether or not she is worthy of keeping her daughter.

"Sea of Tranquility" by Emily St. John Mandel

"Sea of Tranquility" by Emily St. John Mandel , available at Amazon and Bookshop ,  from $16.25 

Readers are loving Emily St. John Mandel's latest release, an expansive story of three people in vastly different situations across time and space, from the Canadian wilderness in 1912 to an Earthly book tour in the 22nd century to a detective sent to investigate an anomaly but discovers much more. From the bestselling author of " Station Eleven ," "Sea of Tranquility" is a playfully dynamic novel that begins with quickly shifting timelines but transforms into a masterful and gripping narrative.

"How High We Go in the Dark" by Sequoia Nagamatsu

"How High We Go in the Dark" by Sequoia Nagamatsu , available at Amazon and Bookshop ,  from $17.99 

In 2030, researchers discover the perfectly preserved remains of a girl who seems to have died of an ancient virus, accidentally unleashing a plague that will devastate and reshape humanity for generations. Told in a series of intricate and interwoven stories, readers love the compassionate and ambitious nature of this 2022 release.

"The Candy House" by Jennifer Egan

"The Candy House" by Jennifer Egan, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $19.69

Own Your Unconscious is a revolutionary technology that allows people to access, download, and share every memory they've ever had. Though some have embraced the technology wholeheartedly, others see its greatest consequences. Told through a collection of linked narratives across different lives, families, and decades, "The Candy House" offers an intriguing science fiction novel about humanity's need for connection.

"The Kaiju Preservation Society" by John Scalzi

"The Kaiju Preservation Society" by John Scalzi, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $21.99

From the author of the bestselling "Interdependency" series comes a new standalone novel set in New York City at the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic. When Jamie makes a food delivery to an old acquaintance, he's pulled into what he's told is an "animal rights organization," though the animals are not from our Earth. Now part of the Kaiju Preservation Society, Jamie discovers the dinosaur-like creatures that roam an alternate, human-free dimension of Earth in this new novel that's an exciting mix of science fiction, fantasy, adventure, and comedy.

"Tell Me an Ending" by Jo Harkin

"Tell Me an Ending" by Jo Harkin, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $23.35

"Tell Me an Ending" follows four characters who are part of thousands across the world that have just learned they once chose to have a memory removed, but now have the opportunity to get it back. As psychologist Noor works to reinstate people's lost memory, she digs deeper into the technology in this speculative, dystopian sci-fi novel about the consequences of forgetting. 

"Dead Silence" by S.A. Barnes

"Dead Silence" by S.A. Barnes, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $20.59

When Claire Kovalik and her crew pick up a strange distress signal in space, they find the Aurora, a luxury space-liner that famously disappeared on its maiden voyage over 20 years ago. As they begin to investigate, this fast-paced sci-fi horror novel unfolds with paranormal elements and terrifying turns in a story that's been described as "The Titanic" meets "The Shining."

"The Paradox Hotel" by Rob Hart

"The Paradox Hotel" by Rob Hart, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $20.49

In The Paradox Hotel, the super-rich gather before and after their time-traveling trips at the nearby timeport. As head of security for the hotel and former security for the US government's time travel organization, January Cole is puzzled why she can see what others can't, though her mental state and grip on reality are rapidly declining from traveling so drastically through time. When dark secrets and a possible killer emerge, January must uncover what is happening and why as her past, present, and future collide. 

"The Starless Crown" by James Rollins

"The Starless Crown" by James Rollins, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $17.10

In this first book of a new science fiction/adventure series, a gifted young student foretells an apocalyptic future, for which she is sentenced to death. On the run with a banded team of outcasts including a soldier, a prince, and a thief, she must work with the others to uncover the dark secrets of the past to save the future of their world.

"Goliath" by Tochi Onyebuchi

"Goliath" by Tochi Onyebuchi, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $18.59

Set in 2050, "Goliath" explores a slowly emptying futuristic Earth where the wealthy have abandoned the planet in favor of space colonies, leaving the less fortunate to fend for themselves in a rapidly deteriorating landscape. This speculative, literary science fiction novel features several narratives in a story about race, class, and gentrification.

"Hunt the Stars" by Jessie Mihalik

"Hunt the Stars" by Jessie Mihalik, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $15.29

Desperately in need of enough credits to keep her crew together, bounty hunter Octavia Zarola agrees to take a job from her sworn enemy, Torran Fletcher, even though he insists on taking his crew along as well. As the crews set out on the hunt, Octavia begins to suspect a deeper, more sinister plot in which she may be a pawn, leaving her to decide where her loyalties lie.

"End of the World House" by Adrienne Celt

"End of the World House" by Adrienne Celt, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $25.49

In Paris on a last-hurrah friends' trip before an upcoming move, Bertie and Kate are offered a private tour of the Louvre by a strange man and soon find themselves alone in the museum. When the two get separated, Bertie finds herself in the middle of a strange mystery that forces her to confront the control she has over her own life in this genre- and mind-bending story set in a world on the edge of an apocalypse.

"The Memory Librarian" by Janelle Monáe

"The Memory Librarian" by Janelle Monáe, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $19.65

"The Memory Librarian" is a collection of science fiction short stories that bring one of Janelle Monáe's albums to life with stories of liberation in a futuristic, totalitarian landscape. In collaboration with other talented writers, the themes of this read are expressed in stories of technology, memory, queerness, race, and love.

"City of Orange" by David Yoon

"City of Orange" by David Yoon, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $27

Loved for its character-driven narrative, "City of Orange" is the story of a man who wakes up in an apocalyptic, desolate landscape with only injuries and vague memories to guide him forward. As he tries to survive, the man encounters a young boy who seems to be the key to understanding where he is, how he got there, and what really happened. 

"The Blood Trials" by N.E. Davenport

"The Blood Trials" by N.E. Davenport, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $25.49

When Ikenna's grandfather, the former Legatus, is murdered, she is certain that someone on the Tribunal ordered his death and is determined to uncover who. To get closer to the truth, Ikenna pledges herself to the Praetorian Trials, a brutal and violent initiation with a staggering mortality rate, and faces unprecedented dangers and prejudices, all for the chance of justice.

"Light Years From Home" by Mike Chen

"Light Years From Home" by Mike Chen, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $21.10

15 years ago, Evie and Kass's dad and brother disappeared on a camping trip and though their father returned days later, convinced he'd been abducted by aliens, their brother remained missing. Evie never stopped searching for Jakob, so when her UFO network discovers a new event, she investigates and discovers her brother has finally returned — and has the FBI close on his tail.

"The Impossible Us" by Sarah Lotz

"The Impossible Us" by Sarah Lotz, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $14.99

In this science-fiction love story, Nick and Bee's paths cross over a misdirected email and sparks fly as they continue to send messages back and forth. When they decide to meet in person, nothing goes according to plan and it seems Nick and Bee are impossibly farther apart than they could have imagined. 

"Mickey7" by Edward Ashton

"Mickey7" by Edward Ashton, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $23.07

Mickey7 is an Expendable, an entirely disposable and replaceable person sent on a dangerous expedition to colonize Niflheim, ready to be replaced once again the moment this iteration of himself dies. When Mickey7 goes missing on a mission, his colony has already replaced him with a new clone, Mickey8. Knowing he'll be thrown in the recycler if his clone is discovered, Mickey7 must keep their existence a secret as the threat of native species and unsuitable human conditions on Niflheim threaten everyone's survival.

"Primitives" by Erich Krauss

"Primitives" by Erich Krauss, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $20.66

Set 30 years after The Great Fatigue ended most of humanity and left the human race in a primitive state, two people make shocking and gruesome discoveries a world apart. As Seth and Sarah find themselves in a deadly race to save humanity against fear, reality, and other survivors, their fates will intertwine in this new post-apocalyptic tale.

• Main content

• ADMIN AREA MY BOOKSHELF MY DASHBOARD MY PROFILE SIGN OUT SIGN IN

Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2022

MAY 3, 2022

by Kelly Barnhill

This novel’s magic goes far beyond the dragons. Full review >

AUG. 9, 2022

SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY

by Wesley Chu

Dramatic, fun, thoughtful, clever, and (literally) punchy. Full review >

APRIL 12, 2022

by C.S.E. Cooney

Grisly, dark, lovely, funny, heartfelt. Full review >

FEB. 22, 2022

THRILLER & SUSPENSE

by Rob Hart

Funny, thrilling, poignant, and profound. Full review >

FEB. 15, 2022

by Marlon James

The second part of this trilogy is darker and, in many ways, more moving than its predecessor. Full review >

NOV. 1, 2022

by N.K. Jemisin

A ray of hope in a dark time. Full review >

AUG. 30, 2022

by Simon Jimenez

Lyrical, evocative, part poem, part prose—not to be missed by anyone, especially fans of historical fantasy and folktale. Full review >

AUG. 23, 2022

by R.F. Kuang

Dark academia as it should be. Full review >

SEPT. 13, 2022

by Tamsyn Muir

A deceptively quiet beginning rockets to a thrilling finish, preparing us for the next volume’s undoubtedly explosive finale. Full review >

by Alexandra Rowland

An engaging fantasy/romance set in a large, lush, and inclusive world. Full review >

More Book Lists

Recent News & Features

• Perspectives

• Seen & Heard

• In the News

• 20 Books That Should Be Bestsellers
• 20 Most Addictive Books of 2024 (So Far)
• 30 Books To Celebrate AANPHI Heritage Month
• 20 Best Books To Read in May
• Episode 372: Miranda July
• Episode 371: Best May Books with Aimee Nezhukumatathil
• Episode 370: Alexandra Tanner
• Episode 369: Guest Host David Levithan

The Magazine: Kirkus Reviews

Featuring 325 reviews of fiction, nonfiction, children’s, and YA books; also in this issue: interviews with Colm Tóibín, Amy Tan, George Takei, and Bianca Xunise; and more

The Kirkus Star

One of the most coveted designations in the book industry, the Kirkus Star marks books of exceptional merit.

The Kirkus Prize

The Kirkus Prize is among the richest literary awards in America, awarding $50,000 in three categories annually.

Great Books & News Curated For You

Be the first to read books news and see reviews, news and features in Kirkus Reviews . Get awesome content delivered to your inbox every week.

• Discover Books Fiction Thriller & Suspense Mystery & Detective Romance Science Fiction & Fantasy Nonfiction Biography & Memoir Teens & Young Adult Children's
• News & Features Bestsellers Book Lists Profiles Perspectives Awards Seen & Heard Book to Screen Kirkus TV videos In the News
• Kirkus Prize Winners & Finalists About the Kirkus Prize Kirkus Prize Judges
• Magazine Current Issue All Issues Manage My Subscription Subscribe
• Writers’ Center Hire a Professional Book Editor Get Your Book Reviewed Advertise Your Book Launch a Pro Connect Author Page Learn About The Book Industry
• More Kirkus Diversity Collections Kirkus Pro Connect My Account/Login
• About Kirkus History Our Team Contest FAQ Press Center Info For Publishers
• Privacy Policy
• Terms & Conditions
• Reprints, Permission & Excerpting Policy

© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Popular in this Genre

Hey there, book lover.

We’re glad you found a book that interests you!

Please select an existing bookshelf

Create a new bookshelf.

We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!

Please sign up to continue.

It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!

Already have an account? Log in.

Trouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.

Almost there!

• Industry Professional

Welcome Back!

Sign in using your Kirkus account

Contact us: 1-800-316-9361 or email [email protected].

Don’t fret. We’ll find you.

Magazine Subscribers ( How to Find Your Reader Number )

If You’ve Purchased Author Services

Don’t have an account yet? Sign Up.

• NONFICTION BOOKS
• BEST NONFICTION 2023
• BEST NONFICTION 2024
• Historical Biographies
• The Best Memoirs and Autobiographies
• Philosophical Biographies
• World War 2
• World History
• American History
• British History
• Chinese History
• Russian History
• Ancient History (up to 500)
• Medieval History (500-1400)
• Military History
• Art History
• Travel Books
• Ancient Philosophy
• Contemporary Philosophy
• Ethics & Moral Philosophy
• Great Philosophers
• Social & Political Philosophy
• Classical Studies
• New Science Books
• Maths & Statistics
• Popular Science
• Physics Books
• Climate Change Books
• How to Write
• English Grammar & Usage
• Books for Learning Languages
• Linguistics
• Political Ideologies
• Foreign Policy & International Relations
• American Politics
• British Politics
• Religious History Books
• Mental Health
• Neuroscience
• Child Psychology
• Film & Cinema
• Opera & Classical Music
• Behavioural Economics
• Development Economics
• Economic History
• Financial Crisis
• World Economies
• Investing Books
• Artificial Intelligence/AI Books
• Data Science Books
• Sex & Sexuality
• Death & Dying
• Food & Cooking
• Sports, Games & Hobbies
• FICTION BOOKS
• BEST NOVELS 2024
• BEST FICTION 2023
• New Literary Fiction
• World Literature
• Literary Criticism
• Literary Figures
• Classic English Literature
• American Literature
• Comics & Graphic Novels
• Fairy Tales & Mythology
• Historical Fiction
• Crime Novels
• Science Fiction
• Short Stories
• South Africa
• United States
• Arctic & Antarctica
• Afghanistan
• Myanmar (Formerly Burma)
• Netherlands
• Kids Recommend Books for Kids
• High School Teachers Recommendations
• Prizewinning Kids' Books
• Popular Series Books for Kids
• BEST BOOKS FOR KIDS (ALL AGES)
• Ages Baby-2
• Books for Teens and Young Adults
• THE BEST SCIENCE BOOKS FOR KIDS
• BEST KIDS' BOOKS OF 2023
• BEST BOOKS FOR TEENS OF 2023
• Best Audiobooks for Kids
• Environment
• Best Books for Teens of 2023
• Best Kids' Books of 2023
• Political Novels
• New History Books
• New Historical Fiction
• New Biography
• New Memoirs
• New World Literature
• New Economics Books
• New Climate Books
• New Math Books
• New Philosophy Books
• New Psychology Books
• New Physics Books
• THE BEST AUDIOBOOKS
• Actors Read Great Books
• Books Narrated by Their Authors
• Best Audiobook Thrillers
• Best History Audiobooks
• Nobel Literature Prize
• Booker Prize (fiction)
• Baillie Gifford Prize (nonfiction)
• Financial Times (nonfiction)
• Wolfson Prize (history)
• Royal Society (science)
• Pushkin House Prize (Russia)
• Walter Scott Prize (historical fiction)
• Arthur C Clarke Prize (sci fi)
• The Hugos (sci fi & fantasy)
• Audie Awards (audiobooks)

Make Your Own List

The Best Fiction Books » Science Fiction

The best science fiction of 2022: the arthur c. clarke award shortlist, recommended by andrew m. butler.

Deep Wheel Orcadia: A Novel by Harry Josephine Giles

Every year, the judges for the Arthur C. Clarke Award select the best of the latest batch of new scifi books. In 2022, the science fiction award's shortlist includes new work from Nobel Prize winner Kazuo Ishiguro, a novel-in-verse from the Scottish writer Harry Josephine Giles, and a new title in Arkady Martine's beloved Teixcalaan series. Andrew M. Butler , academic and chair of the judges, talks us through the finalists.

Interview by Cal Flyn , Deputy Editor

Klara and the Sun: A Novel by Kazuo Ishiguro

A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine

A River Called Time by Courttia Newland

Wergen: The Alien Love War by Mercurio D Rivera

Skyward Inn by Aliya Whiteley

1 Deep Wheel Orcadia: A Novel by Harry Josephine Giles

2 klara and the sun: a novel by kazuo ishiguro, 3 a desolation called peace by arkady martine, 4 a river called time by courttia newland, 5 wergen: the alien love war by mercurio d rivera, 6 skyward inn by aliya whiteley.

T hank you for joining us to discuss the shortlist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award for the best science fiction books of 2022. We find the books highlighted by the Clarke Award are always very popular with our readers. To start us off, for anyone who has missed our previous years’ coverage , could you tell me a bit about the prize and how the judging process works?

Initially, two judges each were supplied every year by the British Science Fiction Association , the Science Fiction Foundation , and the International Science Policy Foundation—which no longer exists. Later we hooked up with Sci-Fi London for a fifth—an odd number makes a deadlock less likely. The first award, in 1987, went to Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale , and caused a bit of a kerfuffle because she said she didn’t write science fiction. The award has often gone to a left field title—most notoriously when Marge Piercy’s Body of Glass won out over Kim Stanley Robinson’s Red Mars . On the other hand, some commentators are unhappy that more experimental books have been overlooked in favour of more ‘core’ science fiction. It comes down to the tastes of those five judges in the room.

“The history of genre science fiction is dominated by straight white men”

The judges—this year Phoenix Alexander, Kris Black, Nicole Devarenne, Stark Holborn and Nick Hubble—get sent all the books, which they are expected to read and assess, and we have various meetings to whittle these down to a shortlist of six. Then we have a last meeting to decide the winner. Most years the judges plead for seven books, but we keep it fixed at a half dozen.

How many books were considered for the 2022 science fiction prize?

Let’s talk about Deep Wheel Orcadia by the Scottish writer Harry Josephine Giles. It’s a novel-in-verse, which takes a very interesting literary approach. Can you tell us more?

Novels-in-two-verses, you might argue. One in Orcadian, one in English. Orcadian is a dialect of Scots—as opposed to Gaelic—and there’s a history of Scots feeding into science fiction and horror, especially Gothic horror. In 1919, someone came up with the idea of the Caledonian antisyzygy —the Scots think in one language, but feel in another, say. There’s a sort of divided consciousness at the centre of Scottish books , poetry and art—and we can trace this division in authors such as Robert Louis Stevenson, Iain M. Banks and many others.

I think I can relate to that.

The action of Deep Wheel Orcadia is mostly set on or close to an isolated space station, at a crisis point in the solar system, and focuses on the working and private lives of the characters on board. You could decide to read the Orcadian version and then the English, or vice versa, or just one—but you’d miss so much if you only read half. I think you can pick up the Orcadian, as you might the Riddleyspeak in Russell Hoban’s Riddley Walker .

Mind you, the English isn’t straightforward. Look at this on the first page:

She watched the Deep Wheel approach, grey-green, its Central Station still turntwistwhirlspinning againstaboutbefore the yellow gas giant.

That first coinage is a translation, well, four translations, of ‘tirlan,’ which I assume could be translated as any of them. Translators usually just pick one equivalent, which can shift the meaning of the original. As the text is their own translation, Giles could adjudicate between them, but allows all four. And sometimes what you might see as ‘Received Pronunciation’ dialogue breaks into the Orcadian.

Use of the Orcadian dialect gestures towards Giles’s Orkney Islands heritage. But here it’s applied in a futuristic setting. Does that jar?

There’s a long tradition of science fiction looking to the past or to other cultures as inspiration. I was at a maritime museum in Bergen, Norway, a couple of years ago and a map there located Orkney as almost being central to the Viking interests—the North Sea as a sort of internal sea as the Mediterranean was for the Romans. You can read the Norse sagas and some of the Old English poetry of the pre-eleventh century and there’s a science fictional, certainly a fantastical, feel. There’s an account of discovering America , say, which might be real history or might be an imagined history.

I’ll look forward to hearing about them. Let’s talk about Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro next. Why have the judges highlighted it as one of the best science fiction books of 2022?

I can’t be too specific about their opinions, but we spent a long time arguing over its inclusion— Never Let Me Go was shortlisted a few years ago and The Buried Giant was submitted, but that probably too fantasy . Some of the judges had very emotional reactions to the novel, especially about the central narrating character, Klara, who is an ‘Artificial Friend’ and somewhat… pliant. But in fact, most of the female characters in the novel are passive or altruistic, accepting of their fate. The novel was on the Booker long-list, and he’s won a Nobel Prize —pretty rare for scifi writers—but that won’t necessarily count in his favour or indeed against him.

Ishiguro’s novels are often speculative but find a mainstream audience; do you think the diehard scifi fan will enjoy this book too?

I don’t see why not—arguably it’s a traditional science fiction novel, told from a first-person point of view. Ishiguro was on the original Gran ta list of the best young British novelists back in 1983, with Martin Amis, Salman Rushdie, Ian McEwan and Clarke-winner Christopher Priest. Several of them have written science fiction or something close to it.

Another previous Clarke Award shortlistee Arkady Martine returns with her new space opera,  A Desolation Called Peace . Tell us about it, and why this work of science fiction made your 2022 shortlist.

I guess this is space opera, about interplanetary conflict and first contact, not necessarily in that order. The Teixcalaanli Empire encounters a superior alien threat and Three Seagrass, the protagonist from the previous book, is brought in to try and communicate with them. She insists on getting the help of her friend, Ambassador Mahit Dzmare, hoping to stop a war. But there are factions within the empire who would like war or would find it quite useful for their careers, so there are a lot of conflicting and murky motives on display.

Does it work as a standalone novel, or should readers start with the first book in her Teixcalaan sequence, A Memory Called Empire , before moving onto this title?

I don’t think you need to read Empire to enjoy Peace ; in fact, not all of the judges had, since it was different group of readers. I’d read it, but that’s a few years ago now and I’ll try and read them back-to-back before the final meeting. You need to know that Mahit’s predecessor as ambassador died in mysterious circumstances and that she has an incomplete back up of him in her mind. The Teixcalaanli emperor, Six Direction, was also under attack and now Nineteen Adze has taken over the position. But there’s an eleven-year-old partial clone of Six who is taking an interest in imperial events and make possibly end up making it worse.

Next up on our 2022 science fiction shortlist we have Courttia Newland’s highly acclaimed A River Called Time . It’s set in an alternative London, called Dinium. Tell us more.

It’s so timely—there’s the In the Black Fantastic exhibition at the Hayward Gallery at the moment, which has both responses to the legacy of colonialism and attempts at reconstructing the lost heritage of what we call African. Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad recast an era of American slavery through science fiction and Namwali Serpell’s The Old Drift put a science fictional spin on a long history of Zambia; both won the Clarke Award in previous years. Recently there was Marlon James’s fantasy trilogy, which draws on African mythology and narratives. Newland uses beliefs from various African cultures, and you have to accept them as true within the context of the novel. It’s way of looking at the world, treating it as science.

Get the weekly Five Books newsletter

In this novel, Africa has not been subjected to the horrors and traumas of European colonisation and it seems as if technology has developed faster than in our world. I think you could argue about this—the Industrial Revolution seems pretty solidly developed through imperial exploitation—but it’s clearly a divergence from our history, way back. There’s a timeline at the start of the book where Columbus reaches American in 1392 or thereabouts, so technologically, things have happened more quickly. There’s been some disaster in what we call London, a couple of centuries before the novel, around the time of the Regency . An Ark has been built—essentially a fortress—to protect the chosen citizens from poverty and the fall out of the disaster. The central character, Markriss Denny, aspires to join this elite and has discovered he can astral project himself. But he pretty quickly discovers that the Ark isn’t a utopia, and that he is part of a struggle which could destroy everything.

I think this is what you might call a ‘multiverse’ novel. Could you talk a little bit about what that means, and how Newland deals with diverging timelines?

I think the term goes back to William James in the nineteenth century, but a key name is the quantum theorist Erwin Schrödinger—he of the dead-and-alive-cat thought experiment—who suggested that different events could be described or predicted by the same equations at the same time. He wasn’t happy about this. The writer Michael Moorcock then used the term—or maybe he came up with it independently, I’m not sure—to describe his individual and overlapping novels featuring versions of the Eternal Champion. He rewrites the different books with the same character, or vice versa.

In a sense, the idea relates to the science fictional alternate world—such as in Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle where the Nazis won the Second World War . In that novel, characters slide between versions of reality, and the same is true of A River Called Time . It’s not necessarily the same imagined world in each of the sections. In fact, in one case, clearly not. That could be a spoiler, so I won’t say any more. Newland plays it straight, but we as readers are trying to work out what is real and what isn’t. Funnily enough, I’ve wondered if Whitehead is doing something equivalent in The Underground Railroad; it’s as if each station opens in a different version of America.

Mercurio D Rivera’s Wergen: The Alien Love War is next on your 2022 science fiction shortlist. Can you explain the concept, and what you liked about the book?

This is formed from short stories. There’s a term for this which science fiction criticism invented and has argued over ever since, the ‘fix-up.’ Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles is a good example—that’s a series of short stories set on Mars, mostly, which reads as if it’s a novel. But in fact, some editions of it have different stories. They tend to be episodic and can cover a long period of time.

The Wergen are an alien race who are sexually attracted to human beings, whether they like it or not, and want to help them. Humans are more than happy to exploit this, and some of the Wergen resist or fight back. They don’t want to be subject to desires they can’t control. It’s an extraordinary achievement—Wergen biology is fascinating, and it really plays with our notions of gendered desire. Of course, same sex and opposite sex is rather different when applied to cross-species relationships. It’s deeply moving at times. There are lots of tragic moments.

When N.K. Jemisin endorsed this book she described it as “mindblowing hard science fiction.” What does that term mean, ‘hard’ science fiction?

That term is also argued about! It tends to refer to science fiction that is very dependent on scientific extrapolation— physics , chemistry, astronomy, the hard sciences—in fact, the sort of fiction that Clarke tended to write. In later novels, he had the habit of stopping the narrative to spend a chapter discussing a random moon of Jupiter or wherever, presumably jumping off from the latest academic scientific article. It tends to be used as the opposite of ‘soft’ science fiction, which extrapolates from sociology, psychology and other soft sciences. There’s a chapter in Alien Love War where a group of characters are descending in freefall from a great height and hoping to survive. In hard science fiction, the author will have worked out the mass of the planet below and the gravitational pull, when maximum velocity would be reached, and so forth. In soft science fiction you’d get an allusion to Icarus or Lucifer, as you try not to worry that that character won’t walk again.

That brings us to Skyward Inn by Aliya Whiteley, billed as a sci-fi retelling of Daphne du Maurier ‘s Jamaica Inn . Why is Skyward Inn one of the best science fiction books of 2022?

Again, I think the judges were responding to the platonic romance at the inn between a human, Jem, and a Qitan, Isley. It seems we invaded the Qitans’ planet when we discovered it, looking to exploit them, except they more or less willingly surrendered. The inn is in ‘the Protectorate,’ an anti-technological enclave in Devon, where Isley is the only permitted alien. It feels a little like the fundamentalist settlement in Wyndham’s The Chrysalids : a puritanical, pastoral utopia-dystopia, which wants to stop the clock. This enclave is threatened by the arrival of another Qitan and a plague. There’s no escape from pandemics!

It seems so. Can you read Skyward Inn as an allegory of colonialism? Should you?

Can I? There’s certainly the thread of conquest as based on capitalism—which was typical of European imperialism, as I said earlier. A few of the reviews I’ve looked at cite H.G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds , with its throwaway footnote about the genocide in Tasmania . Partly Wells imagines us in the role of the colonised—then all the Martians die from flu, or something like it.

In Skyward Inn, I think it gets more complicated, since there’s a cultural interaction between the species, like there was in Alien Love War. And A Desolation Called Peace, come to that. How changed were we by the people we colonised, kidnapped or enslaved? We’ve appropriated their music and their food, and yet acknowledging historical injustices is often dismissed as just another woke salvo in the culture wars. Meanwhile, the National Trust and English Heritage get attacked for acknowledging the source of the swag that financed so many of the stately piles they look after… The impact of the encounter with the alien is profound in several of these novels – it’s up to the reader to decide if these changes are to be welcomed or feared.

Finally, do you think science fiction is in good health in 2022?

I think so. To return to H.G. Wells , he gave us a toy box of half a dozen or so novels: time travel , alien invasion, trips to the Moon, and so on. There’s a constant fear that these devices will go stale or become useless clichés—although there’s always room for another murder or another romance in other genres. The history of genre science fiction is dominated by straight white men and, whilst there’s nothing wrong in that in itself, it’s refreshing to get an unfamiliar take on the world from other identities. We obviously owe a debt to Mary Shelley, but far too many other women have been downplayed or written out of scifi history. With a few exceptions.

There’s only a handful of Black, British science fiction writers. If you look at the catalogue for the exhibition I mentioned before, In the Black Fantastic, African Diasporic science fiction has been healthy for decades in music, cover art, the visual arts and so on. It’s just not necessarily been published in New Worlds or InterZone or by Gollancz or HarperCollinsVoyager, and we’ve not been paying enough attention.

I’m sure Stewart Hotston will have crunched the numbers for us, about how many writers of colour were submitted and how many women, and how that compares to previous years. But the diversity of our shortlist is testimony to the strength of the books, rather than the judges filling quotas. And I genuinely don’t know which book will be chosen as the winner. I think we will have a tough and even more passionate meeting to decide.

Part of our  best books of 2022  series.

September 3, 2022

Five Books aims to keep its book recommendations and interviews up to date. If you are the interviewee and would like to update your choice of books (or even just what you say about them) please email us at [email protected]

Support Five Books

Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you've enjoyed this interview, please support us by donating a small amount .

Andrew M. Butler

Andrew M. Butler is a British academic who teaches film, media and cultural studies at Canterbury Christ Church University. He is a former editor of Vector , the critical journal of the British Science Fiction Association and was membership secretary of the Science Fiction Foundation. He is the non-voting chair of the judges for the Arthur C Clarke Award for Science Fiction.

We ask experts to recommend the five best books in their subject and explain their selection in an interview.

This site has an archive of more than one thousand seven hundred interviews, or eight thousand book recommendations. We publish at least two new interviews per week.

Five Books participates in the Amazon Associate program and earns money from qualifying purchases.

© Five Books 2024

The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2022 and 2023, Crunched

Jenn Northington

Jenn Northington has worked in the publishing industry wearing various hats since 2004, including bookseller and events director, and is currently Director of Editorial Operations at Riot New Media Group. You can hear her on the SFF Yeah! podcast nerding out about sci-fi and fantasy. When she’s not working, she’s most likely gardening, running, or (obviously) reading. Find her on Tumblr at jennIRL and Instagram at iamjennIRL .

View All posts by Jenn Northington

A little on my Highly Unscientific Methology: As the 2023 awards shortlists and “Best Of The Year” lists start going up, I grab the links; once I get a critical mass, I start to check for speculative fiction titles. Some of these lists and awards are SFF specific and some are not, but there is often a book or two from our genres of interest mixed in with the others. Then, I dump the titles into a spreadsheet and run some formulas to calculate how many times they’re showing up, because…well, why not? It’s always interesting to see what books from the prior year are getting awards nods, and what from this year are getting all the end-of-year buzz. 

I try to check similar sources every year, and have a running list. Sometimes I’ll add a new one, sometimes I’ll skip one, because again…why not? We are still missing a few lists that I do like to incorporate; most notably, the Goodreads Choice Awards haven’t been voted on yet (although frankly, that’s the one I’m least interested in seeing the results of, because they are usually a snooze). I’ll be updating this post as those and others come in, so check back!

It’s also worth noting that I generally don’t distinguish by format between novel and novella, but I do screen out short stories since it doesn’t seem fair to the stories: very few end-of-year posts are highlighting specific ones. (That would be a really interesting separate list, though, note to self.)

I’m pretty delighted with the results from this year; even without some big-deal lists, there’s already a fascinating mix of usual suspects and surprises. So let’s dig into them!

Awards – Titles Published in 2022, Nominated or Awarded* in 2023

Even Though I Knew the End by C. L. Polk (6 nominations/wins)

Babel by R.F. Kuang (5)

Spear by Nicola Griffith (4)

Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn (3)

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (3)

Into the Riverlands by Nghi Vo (3)

The Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel (3)

I was genuinely shocked that anything beat Babel — the publicity, word-of-mouth, and reviews for that book were out of this world, for good reason. It’s still possible as the year closes out that Babel could move up the ranks. But as a long-time fan of Polk’s, I can’t be mad about where this list stands right now! I think it’s notable as well what a cross-section of writers, styles, and sub-genres this list covers. 

It’s largely fantasy, but we’ve got a mix — historical, contemporary, second world, our world, adult, YA, etc. The only sci-fi-ish title on here is The Daughter of Doctor Moreau , which is historical. It’s not because my sources don’t have sci-fi titles; eyeballing it, it looks like more division in sci-fi around what got attention, whereas the fantasy contenders had a few heavy-hitters. I’ve read four of the seven, so no huge surprises here aside from the order.

Why only seven? Because that was the cut-off before we got into the long-tail of two mentions. 

Best of 2023 (Published in 2023)

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (6)

Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang (4)

Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez (4)

There were three clear “most picked” titles this year, and I don’t think they’ll be a surprise to anyone. Chain-Gang All-Stars took the world by storm, and it deserves every accolade its getting. I know Sharifah loved Our Share of Night (she talked about it on the pod!) and Land of Milk and Honey has been on my TBR since it was announced.

I struggled, I confess, with whether or not to present you with the “mentioned twice” list. It got longer and longer as this post developed and new lists went live (this is the third time before publication I’ve updated it, in just two days!). But it’s a really interesting selection, and since I get to decide, here you go! In no particular order, here is every book** (so far) that got at least two mentions in this year’s Best ofs:

Ballad & Dagger by Daniel José Older

Brother Alive by Zain Khalid

Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak by Charlie Jane Anders

Future by Naomi Alderman

The Kindred by Alechia Dow

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez

Unraveller by Frances Hardinge

Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

The Water Outlaws by S.L. Huang

Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei

Prophet by Sin Blaché and Helen Macdonald

White Cat, Black Dog by Kelly Link

Translation State by Ann Leckie

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

Lone Women by Victor LaValle

Victory City by Salman Rushdie 

Again, there’s nice range here; we’ve got literary speculative fiction, YA is represented, there’s some horror, and one of my all-time favorites ( The Spear Cuts Through Water ) is here. (I would have been VERY UNHAPPY if it was not on there, everyone please read it.) One of them, Brother Alive by Zain Khalid, I was really excited to see twice, because that’s a debut and I love a new author to get excited about. More sci-fi, as well!

As I said at the top, I’ll update this post as the final round-ups trickle in; it’ll be interesting to see if there are any dramatic moves up and down in placement. I’m betting not, but you never know! In the meantime, I’ve got some catch-up reading to do.

*I don’t distinguish too much between shortlists and finalists/winners for Awards, because the shortlists are where the juicy stuff is to my mind.

**This is neither scientific, comprehensive, or 100% accurate, in part because I tried to feed my data into a chatbot to do the counting for me and it failed spectacularly no matter how I tried to get it to do what I wanted, AND it muddled the data for me. So there are probably others that should be on here and aren’t; mea culpa, and also AI is really not as useful as people keep insisting, even for data-crunching.

Book Riot (Best Of) Publishers Weekly (Best Of) Ignyte Awards National Book Awards British Science Fiction Association Awards Philip K Dick Award British Book Awards Future Worlds Awards Locus Awards Elgin Awards Bard Fiction Prize Books Are My Bag Awards Nebula Awards TIME (Best Of) World Fantasy Awards Amazon (Best Of) Aspen Award Barnes & Noble (Best Of) Harper’s Bazaar (Best Of) Los Angeles Times Book Prize Oprah (Best Of) Hugo Awards Aurora Awards Ursula K. LeGuin Prize Washington Post Best SFF NYPL Best Books New York Times Book Review 100 Notable

You Might Also Like

• Craft and Criticism
• Fiction and Poetry
• News and Culture
• Lit Hub Radio
• Reading Lists

• Literary Criticism
• Craft and Advice
• In Conversation
• On Translation
• Short Story
• From the Novel
• Bookstores and Libraries
• Film and TV
• Art and Photography
• Freeman’s
• The Virtual Book Channel
• Behind the Mic
• Beyond the Page
• The Cosmic Library
• The Critic and Her Publics
• Emergence Magazine
• Fiction/Non/Fiction
• First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing
• The History of Literature
• I’m a Writer But
• Lit Century
• Tor Presents: Voyage Into Genre
• Windham-Campbell Prizes Podcast
• Write-minded
• The Best of the Decade
• Best Reviewed Books
• BookMarks Daily Giveaway
• The Daily Thrill
• CrimeReads Daily Giveaway

The Best Reviewed Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Books of 2022

Featuring emily st. john mandel, marlon james, celeste ng, silvia moreno-garcia, and more.

We’ve come to the end of another bountiful literary year, and for all of us review rabbits here at Book Marks, that can mean only one thing: basic math, and lots of it.

Yes, using reviews drawn from more than 150 publications, over the next two weeks we’ll be calculating and revealing the most critically-acclaimed books of 2022, in the categories of (deep breath): Fiction ; Nonfiction ; Memoir and Biography ; Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror; Short Story Collections; Essay Collections; Poetry; Mystery and Crime; Graphic Literature ; and Literature in Translation .

Today’s installment: Sci-Fi , Fantasy , and Horror .

Brought to you by Book Marks , Lit Hub’s “Rotten Tomatoes for books.”

1. Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel (Knopf)

28 Rave • 9 Positive • 3 Mixed • 1 Pan Read an interview with Emily St. John Mandel here

“In  Sea of Tranquility,  Mandel offers one of her finest novels and one of her most satisfying forays into the arena of speculative fiction yet, but it is her ability to convincingly inhabit the ordinary, and her ability to project a sustaining acknowledgment of beauty, that sets the novel apart. As in Ishiguro, this is not born of some cheap, made-for-television, faux-emotional gimmick or mechanism, but of empathy and hard-won understanding, beautifully built into language … It is that aspect of  Sea of Tranquility, Mandel’s finely rendered, characteristically understated descriptions of the old-growth forests her characters walk through, the domed moon colonies some of them call home, the robot-tended fields they gaze over or the whooshing airship liftoff sound they hear even in their dreams, that will, for this reader at least, linger longest.”

–Laird Hunt ( The New York Times Book Review )

2. Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng (Penguin)

21 Rave • 5 Positive • 4 Mixed

“Stunning … One of Ng’s most poignant tricks in this novel is to bury its central tragedy…in the middle of the action. This raises the narrative from the specific story of a confused boy and his defeated father to a reflection on the universal bond between parents and children … Our Missing Hearts will land differently for individual readers. One element we shouldn’t miss is Ng’s bold reversal of the biblical story of the Tower of Babel. It is the drive for conformity, the suppression of our glorious cacophony, that will doom us. And it is the expression of individual souls that will save us.”

–Bethanne Patrick ( The Lost Angeles Times )

3. Bliss Montage by Ling Ma (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

21 Rave • 5 Positive • 2 Mixed

“The strangeness of living in a body is exposed, the absurdity of carrying race and gender on one’s face, all against the backdrop of an America in ruin … Ma’s meticulously-crafted mood and characterization … Ma’s gift for endings is evident … Ma masterfully captures her characters’ double consciousness, always seeing themselves through the white gaze, in stunning and bold new ways … Even the weaker stories in the book…are redeemed by Ma’s restrained prose style, dry humor, and clever gut-punch endings. But all this technical prowess doesn’t mean the collection lacks a heart. First- and second-generation Americans who might have been invisible for most of their lives are seen and held lovingly in Ma’s fiction.”

–Bruna Dantas Lobato ( Astra )

4. Moon Witch, Spider King by Marlon James (Riverhead)

15 Rave • 7 Positive • 1 Mixed • 1 Pan

“Marlon James’s Moon Witch, Spider King, the second book in his Dark Star trilogy, is both a continuation of the narrative that began with Black Leopard, Red Wolf in 2019 and an outstanding retelling of that story that expands on what the first book started. While shifting points of view, James…enriches the existing story, and the result is a book that simultaneously celebrates African mythology while creating its own … an impressive amalgamation of folklore, magic, and mythology that weaves together several narratives, but the element that makes it memorable is James’s prose. As lush as the forests he describes, the prose in this novel is simple, rhythmic, and strangely elegant. This is writing with a kind of cadence that turns every line into a poem, every story a tale told around a fire, every event an occurrence deserving of attention … Retelling the same story from a different perspective is not a gimmick here; it is a successful literary device that leads to a gripping narrative … This is a novel about the power of grief where anger is a driving force, and in that, despite all its fantastical elements, it is a deeply human story.”

–Gabino Iglesias ( The Boston Globe )

=5. Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century by Kim Fu (Tin House)

13 Rave • 4 Positive Read a story from Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century here

“..the horrors are more intimate, smaller, and less global in scale. This is not a collection filled with fantastic beasts, although a sea monster does make an appearance, but instead illuminates the monstrous nature of humanity … Technology, rather than magic, catalyzes these changes. That is not to say there are not some traces of unexplained fantasy, such as a girl who sprouts wings from her ankles, but mostly, Fu’s monsters manifest from modernity … The success of Kim Fu’s stories is the element of the unexpected. There are surprises lurking in these narratives, whether it is a quick final plot twist or unexpected peculiarity …

Although Fu seems more concerned with alienation stemming from individual relationships, there is criticism of conventional consumer capitalism … The characters in Fu’s collection are eccentric and unexpected in their choices, and many of their stories feature unforeseen endings that strike the right tone for the dark era we live in … Fu opens a window looking onto the sad possibilities of our own failures.”

–Ian MacAllen ( The Chicago Review of Books )

=5. The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey)

13 Rave • 4 Positive Read an essay by Silvia Moreno-Garcia here

“The imagination of Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a thing of wonder, restless and romantic, fearless in the face of genre, embracing the polarities of storytelling—the sleek and the bizarre, wild passions and deep hatreds—with cool equanimity … the novel immerses readers in the rich world of 19th-century Mexico, exploring colonialism and resistance in a compulsively readable story of a woman’s coming-of-age … The visceral horror of what Carlota has endured, combined with Moreno-Garcia’s pacing and drama, makes for a mesmerizing horror novel.”

–Danielle Trussoni ( The New York Times )

7. Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield (Flatiron)

12 Rave • 4 Positive • 1 Mixed Read an essay by Julia Armfield here

“I have not stopped dreaming of Our Wives Under the Sea since I finished it … Julie Armfield’s debut novel is sharp, atmospheric, dryly funny, sad, distinctive. If it doesn’t appear on numerous prize lists, I’ll eat my hat … There are ecological undertones—one thinks of rising tides, though the climate crisis is not explicitly mentioned … Indeed, though the writing is relentlessly exacting, Our Wives Under the Sea tends towards the unknowable, which might also be synonymous with death or the uncanny. There is an almost spiritual endlessness to its quest. Like all good novels, it goes deep and then deeper again.”

–Niamh Donnelly ( The Irish Times )

8. How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu (William Morrow)

10 Rave • 6 Positive • 1 Mixed • 1 Pan Read an interview with Sequoia Nagamatsu here

“The reader might best approach the book like a melancholy Black Mirror season … This is a lovely though bleak book. Humanity has long turned to humor in our darkest moments, but levity feels absent even in a chapter narrated by a stand-up comedian. That said, the somber tone unifies the disparate characters and story lines … a welcome addition to a growing trend of what we might call the ‘speculative epic’: genre-bending novels that use a wide aperture to tackle large issues like climate change while jumping between characters, timelines and even narrative modes … Nagamatsu squarely hits both the ‘literary’ and ‘science fiction’ targets, offering psychological insights in lyrical prose while seriously exploring speculative conceits … a book of sorrow for the destruction we’re bringing on ourselves. Yet the novel reminds us there’s still hope in human connections, despite our sadness.”

–Lincoln Michel ( The New York Times Book Review )

9. The Wall by Marlen Haushofer (New Directions)

10 Rave • 1 Positive

“The return to the now solidly established horror, in realism’s steady pacing, is always more visceral than the initial encounter … a dystopian novel that gradually becomes a utopian one, as our narrator makes a new community. Haushofer’s inhabiting of animality is remarkably tender and selfless … Haushofer is a rather terrifying writer, brutal both in her unillusioned clarity and in the calm with which she tracks the consequences of her fictional premises … one of those books which effortlessly wring meaning upon meaning from their opening narrative conceit … pulses with a meaningful politics that is always in danger of being unravelled by the novel’s own movement toward a resigned, fatalistic, strictly apolitical naturism.”

–James Wood ( The New Yorker )

10. A Tiny Upward Shove by Melissa Chadburn (Farrar, Staus and Giroux)

9 Rave • 3 Positive Listen to an interview with Melissa Chadburn here

“It is a wild and ambitious conceit, but it succeeds because of the exuberance of the aswang’s voice and the richness of the details … the women are vivid: their hair and jewelry and clothes, their preoccupations and mannerisms … The horrors Alex in particular endures are lurid and hard to read. But the book is rescued by a joy evident in the writing, something ablaze at its core. It burns.”

–Erin Somers ( The New York Times Book Review )

Our System:

RAVE = 5 points • POSITIVE = 3 points • MIXED = 1 point • PAN = -5 points

• Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)

Previous Article

Next article, support lit hub..

Join our community of readers.

to the Lithub Daily

Popular posts.

Follow us on Twitter

Anatomy of a Kidnapping: An Inside Look at the First Few Days in Terrorist Captivity

• RSS - Posts

Literary Hub

Created by Grove Atlantic and Electric Literature

Sign Up For Our Newsletters

How to Pitch Lit Hub

Advertisers: Contact Us

Privacy Policy

Support Lit Hub - Become A Member

Become a Lit Hub Supporting Member : Because Books Matter

For the past decade, Literary Hub has brought you the best of the book world for free—no paywall. But our future relies on you. In return for a donation, you’ll get an ad-free reading experience , exclusive editors’ picks, book giveaways, and our coveted Joan Didion Lit Hub tote bag . Most importantly, you’ll keep independent book coverage alive and thriving on the internet.

Become a member for as low as $5/month

science fiction & fantasy

Ordinary People, Extraordinary Circumstances

These new science fiction and fantasy novels feature Icelandic horses, memory removal and romance in the multiverse.

Credit... Jing Wei

Supported by

• Share full article

By Amal El-Mohtar

• April 4, 2022

To paraphrase Ian Fleming: To read one good book is happenstance; two is coincidence; three is wild good fortune. That a columnist should enjoy novels in her purview is not particularly noteworthy — but to read three excellent books in sequence, all for the same column, is unusual, a critic’s jackpot. These are stories of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, and the less you know about their plots going in, the better.

Sarah Tolmie’s ALL THE HORSES OF ICELAND (Tordotcom, 111 pp., paper, $15.99) is a slim and beautiful chronicle that reminded me of Naomi Mitchison’s “Travel Light”; a medieval Christian scholar named Jor relates the marvelous history of a nameless white mare from whom all of Iceland’s horses are descended, and the no-nonsense Icelander, Eyvind of Eyri, who traveled to Mongolia to find her.

Eyvind is far from home, intending to sail from Scandinavia to Greece on a merchant vessel and seek his fortune. But when the captain makes Christian conversion a condition of the venture, Eyvind refuses, and instead joins the party of a Jewish Khazar named David, bound far inland to the steppes of Central Asia to trade with a Khan. Once there, Eyvind learns that the Khan’s encampment is plagued by a ghost — and it has been prophesied that someone fitting Eyvind’s description will banish it. While Eyvind protests that he is no magician, only he seems able to see and hear the mysterious white mare, and to acknowledge that she has some connection to the ghost.

Everything about this book is understated, writ small: the length and breadth of a journey through war-torn territory, the wonder of learning new languages and technologies through trade and hospitality, the sheer unlikeliness of caring for and working with horses. Tolmie — both a medievalist and professed horse person — brings a scholarly precision to her fantasy that makes magic mundane and the mundane utterly sublime. The simple fact of honest men doing their best, discussing customs, names, religions and opinions with genuine curiosity, is deeply refreshing, a kind of grace.

Jo Harkin’s TELL ME AN ENDING (Scribner, 429 pp., $27.99) follows five far-flung people in alternating chapters — Noor, Finn, Mei, William, Oscar — who all have some connection to Nepenthe, a British company that offers therapeutic memory removal. Nepenthe has two kinds of clients: “self-informed and self-confidential. The self-informeds know that they’ve had a memory removed; the self-confidentials don’t.” But a court order forces the company to offer the latter the option of memory restoration, which would reveal that they’ve had memories deleted in the first place and, for some, throw their lives and relationships into turmoil as they decide how to proceed.

Noor is a psychologist working for Nepenthe; Finn’s a contented architect, husband and father in Arizona; Mei’s a young woman living with her British father in Kuala Lumpur; William’s a former policeman living in an English village; and Oscar is in Morocco, on the run, but can’t remember why or from whom. As the book develops, the loose weave of their separate lives begins to tighten, and knots of connection emerge between them.

Sharply, beautifully written and punctuated with wry, slanted asides, “Tell Me an Ending” is one of the most sophisticated works of science fiction I’ve read recently. It’s full of tender portraits of people who aren’t inherently admirable or great — people who are bitter, jealous, anxious, taciturn — as they navigate the core question of who they are, with or without their memories. But there’s a deeper question, too, subtle as a pulse beneath each chapter’s skin: Where does memory live? Is it a node of synapses in the brain, or is it something more distributed — something in the stories we inherit, the stories we choose, the stories we choose to leave behind?

THE IMPOSSIBLE US (Ace, 482 pp., paper, $17) , by Sarah Lotz, is an utterly delightful epistolary romance between Nick, a grumpy failed novelist turned freelance editor, and Bee, a cheerful workaholic with commitment issues, who refashions her clients’ wedding dresses into other clothing. When Nick types up an angry message demanding payment from a client and accidentally sends it to Bee, the two begin a cheeky, charming correspondence that will change both their lives — in multiple universes.

“The Impossible Us” is that rare “I laughed, I cried” book; I gulped it down in a single sitting that started too early in the day and ended too late at night. I also somehow managed to read it having thoroughly misunderstood its science-fictional premise, and enjoyed being surprised by it so much that I want to offer you the same experience. Don’t read the jacket copy, dive in and become profoundly invested in two relentlessly normal people trying to figure out a relationship together despite evil exes, fierce best friends and a shadowy organization obsessed with the multiverse.

These novels, with their last pages, left me in the kind of tears that nourish and refresh, left me in awe of books as a technology, of what we’re capable of saying to one another: each of us, singly and together, just trying our best.

Amal El-Mohtar is a Hugo Award-winning writer and co-author, with Max Gladstone, of “This Is How You Lose the Time War.”

Explore More in Books

Want to know about the best books to read and the latest news start here..

The complicated, generous life  of Paul Auster, who died on April 30 , yielded a body of work of staggering scope and variety .

“Real Americans,” a new novel by Rachel Khong , follows three generations of Chinese Americans as they all fight for self-determination in their own way .

“The Chocolate War,” published 50 years ago, became one of the most challenged books in the United States. Its author, Robert Cormier, spent years fighting attempts to ban it .

Joan Didion’s distinctive prose and sharp eye were tuned to an outsider’s frequency, telling us about ourselves in essays that are almost reflexively skeptical. Here are her essential works .

Each week, top authors and critics join the Book Review’s podcast to talk about the latest news in the literary world. Listen here .

Advertisement

Filed under:

17 upcoming sci-fi and fantasy books to look forward to in 2022

New books from Tolkien, King, and many more

Share this story

• Share this on Facebook
• Share this on Reddit
• Share All sharing options

Share All sharing options for: 17 upcoming sci-fi and fantasy books to look forward to in 2022

Have you ever wondered why so many highly anticipated books come out in the fall every year? It turns out, readers buy the most books between Labor Day and Christmas — and science fiction and fantasy are no exception. This fall is packed with new releases from N.K. Jemisin, Stephen King, S.A. Chakraborty, Brandon Sanderson, Neon Yang, Alan Moore, C.L. Polk, Mary Robinette Kowal, and even… J.R.R. Tolkien? (In a manner of speaking, yes.)

Here are our 17 most anticipated science fiction and fantasy books hitting shelves between Sept. 1 and Dec. 31, 2022.

Fairy Tale by Stephen King (Sept. 6)

At some point in the early days of the pandemic, Stephen King reportedly asked himself, “What could you write that would make you happy?” The resulting novel, Fairy Tale, is about a high school athlete named Charlie Reade. When Charlie starts doing odd jobs for a reclusive old man, he discovers a portal to another world — “a vast deserted city” and a “sprawling palace with glass towers so high their tips pierced the clouds.”

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (Sept. 13)

Everyone’s favorite space necromancers are back in the third installment of Muir’s Locked Tomb series. On the heels of Gideon the Ninth and Harrow the Ninth, the interplanetary saga of the Nine Houses pivots to a woman named Nona, who recently woke up in a new body with no memory of her life before. She was originally going to be a character in the final book of a planned trilogy, Alecto the Ninth , but according to Carl Engle-Laird (Muir’s editor at Tordotcom), Nona “could not be contained, and demanded her own volume,” which will make Alecto the Ninth the fourth and (for now) final book in fall 2023.

Bliss Montage by Ling Ma (Sept. 13)

The author of one of the best novels of the 2010s — Severance ( no, not the show ) — returns with a brilliant short story collection that straddles many different genres, including science fiction, fantasy, and horror, all the while staying grounded in everyday realism. For a sneak peek, check out “ Peking Duck ” in The New Yorker or “ Office Hours ” in The Atlantic.

Lark Ascending by Silas House (Sept. 27)

House’s dystopian seventh novel is a clever reversal of the Irish migration to America during the potato famine of the 1840s. In the near future, as the United States succumbs to wildfires, a family of American refugees flees across the Atlantic to Ireland, “the last country not yet overrun by extremists.” Of course, things are never what they seem when protagonists seek a safe haven in an apocalypse.

The Famous Magician by César Aira (Sept. 27)

Aira’s short books are the literary equivalent of a Périgord black truffle — small, rich delicacies worth savoring and contemplating. This 48-page novelette is about an aging writer in Buenos Aires who stumbles upon a magician in a book market. The magician, Ovando, presents the writer with a “devil’s bargain”: omnipotent power in exchange for never reading or writing again.

The Genesis of Misery by Neon Yang (Sept. 27)

After earning Nebula and Hugo award nominations for their Tensorate series novella, The Black Tides of Heaven, Yang is back with their first full-length novel. The Genesis of Misery reimagines Joan of Arc as a space-fantasy warrior named Misery Nomaki, who hears the voice of an angel in their head. It’s also the first book in a new series called the Nullvoid Chronicles.

The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler (Oct. 4)

Have you been waiting your entire life for a novel about humans discovering a civilization of octopi? The wait is over! In Nayler’s debut, a marine biologist travels to an isolated Vietnamese archipelago to study a new (deadly) cephalopod species with off-the-charts intelligence. But in true Michael Crichton fashion, a tech company has already purchased the islands and evacuated the locals — and it’s got its own agenda for the octopi.

Illuminations by Alan Moore (Oct. 11)

This is the first-ever short story collection from Alan Moore, best known for writing comic books like Watchmen, V for Vendetta, From Hell, and Batman: The Killing Joke . More than 40 years in the making, some of these stories have never been published before, and they bounce between genres with glee. There are ghosts, sorcerers, creatures, the four horsemen of the apocalypse, and a long novella, “What We Can Know About Thunderman,” that fictionalizes the history of comic books.

The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal (Oct. 11)

Tor is billing this as “ The Thin Man in space.” The Spare Man is a mystery set on a luxurious, interplanetary cruise ship from the author of The Calculating Stars, which won both the Hugo and Nebula awards for best novel in 2019. When her spouse is arrested for murder on their honeymoon, the heiress-inventor Tesla Crane decides to investigate the crime herself.

The River of Silver by S.A. Chakraborty (Oct. 11)

Chakraborty’s Daevabad trilogy — The City of Brass, The Kingdom of Copper, and The Empire of Gold — is among the most celebrated fantasy series of the century so far. This book of stories is set in the same universe, and features new characters, old characters, and never-before-seen material that broadens the scope of the world.

The Atlas Paradox by Olivie Blake (Oct. 25)

Blake’s self-published series starter, The Atlas Six, absolutely blew up on TikTok last year like few books have before or since. After becoming a viral sensation, Tor picked it up (and the rest of the planned trilogy). In December 2021, Amazon announced a forthcoming TV adaptation of the series, and now the second novel is hitting shelves on Oct. 15. It will continue following the six magicians who joined the Alexandrian Society, a secret organization dedicated to guarding lost knowledge passed down from ancient civilizations.

The World We Make by N.K. Jemisin (Nov. 1)

Who can forget 2020’s The City We Became, Jemisin’s mold-breaking novel about five people who become living avatars of the boroughs of New York? This sequel will complete the Great Cities duology, as the New York avatars team up with other cities around the world to defeat “the Enemy” and her puppet: a mayoral candidate hellbent on making New York whiter and wealthier.

Even Though I Knew the End by C.L. Polk (Nov. 8)

Polk, who won a World Fantasy Award for their debut novel Witchmark in 2019, reimagines midcentury Chicago as a breeding ground for “divine monsters” and serial killers, like the White City Vampire. Even Though I Knew the End is also a noir romance between a magical detective and the woman she loves, as well as a supernatural murder mystery.

The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson (Nov. 15)

Sanderson’s original Mistborn trilogy is widely considered one the best fantasy series ever written. The Lost Metal is the fourth and final book in the follow-up Wax and Wayne tetralogy, set 300 years after the events of the trilogy. Confused yet? Welcome to the Cosmere.

Africa Risen edited by Sheree Renée Thomas, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, and Zelda Knight (Nov. 15)

This anthology features 32 science fiction and fantasy stories from African writers living on the continent and of the diaspora, including Tananarive Due, Tobias S. Buckell, Ytasha L. Womack, Sandra Jackson-Opoku, and Wole Talabi. Expect plenty of cyborgs, spirits, robots, djinn, and a rain goddess.

Tread of Angels by Rebecca Roanhorse (Nov. 15)

Tread of Angels has a really unique combination of setting and premise: In 1883, a mining town in the Colorado mountains experiences a gold rush when a new element called Divinity is discovered beneath the earth. But this isn’t our Colorado — it’s home to the descendants of demons and angels, many years after an ancient war.

The Fall of Númenor by J.R.R. Tolkien (Nov. 15)

Fans of Prime Video’s The Rings of Power will eat up this newly expanded collection of writings about the Second Age of Middle-earth (the period of time covered by the new TV series), including Tolkien’s “Atlantis” myth set in the island kingdom of Númenor, the rise of Sauron, and the forging of the rings of power.

Polygon’s rest-of-2022 preview

Advertisement

Our pick of the best sci-fi and speculative fiction books for 2022

By Sally Adee

29 December 2021

The Unfamiliar Garden / The Sky Vault

Benjamin Percy

Hodder & Stoughton

Not one but two sequels to The Ninth Metal come out this year. A comet peppers Earth with a new metallic super-ore whose discovery changes everything. Out in January and August, respectively.

Goliath: A novel

Tochi Onyebuchi

In the 2050s, space colonies offer refuge from a collapsing climate, but only for the rich. The rest have to figure out how to live in it. Out in January.

Edward Ashton

St Martin’s Press

Mickey7 is a disposable human who is sent to colonise dangerous new worlds, a job he is suited for because he can regenerate. After being lost, presumed dead, he meets his successor and they must team up to survive. Out in February.

Adam Roberts

In the dystopian near future, smartphones have become sex toys and the hottest new social media platform grows directly into your brain. What could possibly go wrong? Out in February.

The Cartographers

Peng Shepherd

William Morrow

In this dark fable, a young woman finds a strange map among her estranged father’s things after his untimely death. Deadly secrets and gothic-inflected speculative fiction ensue. Out in March.

Lucy Kissick

Lucy Kissick is a nuclear scientist with a PhD in planetary geochemistry. Her book about terraforming Pluto – even as native alien species are discovered – may put you in mind of Kim Stanley Robinson. Out in April.

Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak

Charlie Jane Anders (Titan)

Teenage geniuses in space. Book two of a fun, rompy, LGBTQ+ space opera series that blurs the line between young adult and science fiction. Out in April.

Alastair Reynolds

Airships, steampunk, a mysterious artefact and expeditions that keep going wrong. It’s up to Dr Silas Coade to figure out why. Out in May.

Oliver Langmead

An influencer comedy of horrors billed as A Clockwork Orange meets RuPaul’s Drag Race . The fun kicks off when nosebleeds become a fashion trend – and it sparks a vicious fight for credit. Out in May.

Article amended on 10 January 2022

Sign up to our weekly newsletter.

Receive a weekly dose of discovery in your inbox! We'll also keep you up to date with New Scientist events and special offers.

More from New Scientist

Explore the latest news, articles and features

The best new science fiction books of May 2024

Annie jacobsen: 'what if we had a nuclear war’, read an extract from nuclear war: a scenario by annie jacobsen, the biology of kindness review: living well and prospering.

Subscriber-only

Popular articles

Trending New Scientist articles

clock This article was published more than  1 year ago

The 9 best science fiction and fantasy novels of 2022

This was the year our dreams grew teeth. The best science fiction and fantasy books of 2022 managed to combine mournfulness and rage. In them, we’re seeing the first indication of how the pandemic and our recent political turmoil might change our stories, in the form of work that’s sharper, funnier and weirder.

‘Babel,’ by R.F. Kuang

Kuang starts with a neat concept : Linguist nerds gain magical abilities from the work of translation, exploiting the subtle differences between words in two languages to transform the world. This could have been a simple, cozy story of student life, bonding and romance, with a dark undercurrent, but Kuang goes further, brilliantly transforming it into a savage critique of imperialism — and an honest examination of what it takes to topple an empire.

‘How High We Go in the Dark,’ by Sequoia Nagamatsu

At first, “ How High We Go ” — a novel in interconnected stories about the devastation from a strange disease that comes from ancient corpses unfrozen in Antarctica — seems like a simple plague tale. But Nagamatsu’s ambitions reach higher and deeper, taking the story in some truly weird directions. Each of its narratives explores human grief in new ways, and each captures something about how technology and corporate interests can distort it. But throughout, human connection provides a saving grace.

‘A Prayer for the Crown-Shy,’ by Becky Chambers

Chambers’s “Monk and Robot” books are deceptively simple: A tea-making monk and a quizzical robot journey together in a world where humans have abandoned most forms of greed and exploitation. The second book, “ A Prayer for the Crown-Shy ,” sees the pair visiting human settlements, which puts them in more social situations. This lets Chambers delve far deeper into themes around our relationships with the people and the things in our lives — and what, exactly, a kinder society looks like.

‘The World We Make,’ by N.K. Jemisin

In this conclusion to Jemisin’s “Great Cities” duology , a group of living avatars who personify New York do battle against an ancient eldritch monstrosity that represents gentrification and white nationalism, with the fate of cities everywhere at stake. Jemisin’s characters are more complex the second time around, and their quirks and struggles make for a potent love letter to the environments they embody.

‘The City Inside,’ by Samit Basu

Basu’s evocative and thrilling novel explores with warmth and snark a future Delhi. Joey and her new employee, Rudra, work for an up-and-coming influencer (“Flowstar”) in a next-wave social media world, but politics keeps intruding on their finely crafted entertainment. The ultrarich have designs to reduce the rest of humanity to glorified cattle, climate change is worsening, and it’s getting harder and harder to sell a glamorous mirage to the masses. “The City Inside” feels like a lost season of “Black Mirror.”

‘The Cartographers,’ by Peng Shepherd

In this irresistible fantasy , some old maps contain intentional errors that can become real places — if you have a copy. Shepherd builds a high-stakes thriller around the battle for possession of the last remaining map that leads to a host of buried secrets. But even as the plot keeps us turning pages, Shepherd makes us wonder how many of our common spaces exist only because we believe they exist, and to what degree maps shape the real world, rather than the other way around.

‘The Story of the Hundred Promises,’ by Neil Cochrane

Many of the year’s best books were about the power and longevity of stories. “ The Story of the Hundred Promises ” shows how competing narratives can burnish or tarnish someone’s reputation and even their soul. A transgender sailor named Darragh searches for the mysterious wizard who reshaped his body and discovers two sets of stories about this enchanter: a hagiography and a hatchet job. Cochrane’s world packs as much kindness and casual queerness as Chambers’s, but selfishness and transphobia always lurk in the dark corners.

‘The Unbalancing,’ by R.B. Lemberg

What could have been a clear-cut apocalyptic thrill ride becomes something much more thoughtful in the hands of Lemberg, who weaves together a gentle romance and an examination of what holds people together. Lemberg’s characters — an unlikely couple facing the death of their city — wield both social and magical power, and the difference between the two adds spice to a beautiful story about saving what you can.

‘The Women Could Fly,’ by Megan Giddings

In what is hands down the year’s best fantasy novel, women are constantly suspected of being witches — and this provides just as rich a parable of organized misogyny as you’d expect. But “ The Women Could Fly ” feels too lived in, too nuanced and undeniable to merely ring out a warning klaxon. Giddings perfectly captures the experience of a young woman staring down a quarter-life crisis and figuring out who she wants to be.

Charlie Jane Anders is the author of “ Victories Greater Than Death ” and “ Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak ,” the first two books in a young-adult trilogy. Her other books include “ The City in the Middle of the Night ” and “ All the Birds in the Sky .” She’s won the Hugo, Nebula, Sturgeon, Lambda Literary, Crawford and Locus awards.

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

Books You Love

We asked, you answered: your 50 favorite sci-fi and fantasy books of the past decade.

Petra Mayer

The question at the heart of science fiction and fantasy is "what if?" What if gods were real, but you could kill them ? What if humans finally made it out among the stars — only to discover we're the shabby newcomers in a grand galactic alliance ? What if an asteroid destroyed the East Coast in 1952 and jump-started the space race years early?

NPR Books Summer Poll 2021: A Decade Of Great Sci-Fi And Fantasy

Summer reader poll 2021: meet our expert judges.

Summer Reader Poll 2018: Horror

Click if you dare: 100 favorite horror stories.

Summer Reader Poll 2019: Funny Books

We did it for the lols: 100 favorite funny books.

This year's summer reader poll was also shaped by a series of "what ifs" — most importantly, what if, instead of looking at the entire history of the field the way we did in our 2011 poll , we focused only on what has happened in the decade since? These past 10 years have brought seismic change to science fiction and fantasy (sometimes literally, in the case of N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth series), and we wanted to celebrate the world-shaking rush of new voices, new perspectives, new styles and new stories. And though we limited ourselves to 50 books this time around, the result is a list that's truly stellar — as poll judge Tochi Onyebuchi put it, "Alive."

As always, a pretty extensive decision-making process went into the list, involving our fabulous panel of expert judges — but we know you eager readers want to get right to the books. So if you're inclined, follow these links to find out how we built the list (and what, sadly, didn't make it this year ). Otherwise, scroll on for the list!

We've broken it up into categories to help you find the reading experience you're looking for, and you can click on these links to go directly to each category:

Worlds To Get Lost In · Words To Get Lost In · Will Take You On A Journey · Will Mess With Your Head · Will Mess With Your Heart · Will Make You Feel Good

Worlds To Get Lost In

Are you (like me) a world-building fanatic? These authors have built worlds so real you can almost smell them.

The Imperial Radch Trilogy

Breq is a human now — but once she was a starship. Once she was an AI with a vast and ancient metal body and troops of ancillaries, barely animate bodies that all carried her consciousness. Poll judge Ann Leckie has created a massive yet intricate interstellar empire where twisty galactic intrigues and multiple clashing cultures form a brilliant backdrop for the story of a starship learning to be a human being. Your humble editor got a copy of Ancillary Justice when it came out and promptly forced her entire family to read it.

Buy Featured Book

Your purchase helps support NPR programming. How?

• Independent Bookstores

The Dead Djinn Universe (series)

What a wonderful world P. Djélì Clarke has created here — an Arab world never colonized, where magic-powered trams glide through a cosmopolitan Cairo and where djinns make mischief among humans. Clarke's novella Ring Shout also showed up on our semifinalists list, and it was hard to decide between them, but ultimately our judges felt the Dead Djinn Universe offered more to explore. But you should still read Ring Shout , a wild ride of a read where gun-toting demon-hunters go up against Ku Klux Klan members who are actual, pointy-headed white demons. Go on, go get a copy! We'll wait.

The Age of Madness Trilogy

One of my pet peeves with fantasy novels is they sometimes don't allow for the progression of time and technology — but in Joe Abercrombie's Age of Madness series, the follow-up to his debut First Law trilogy, industrialization has come to the world of The Union, and it's brought no good in its wake. More than that — machines may be rising, but magic will not give way, and all over the world, those at the bottom of the heap are beginning to get really, really angry. This series works as a standalone — but you should also read the excellent First Law series (even though it's old enough to fall outside the scope of this list).

The Green Bone Saga

This sprawling saga of family, honor, blood and magical jade will suck you in from the very first page. Poll judge Fonda Lee's story works on every conceivable level, from minute but meaningful character beats to solid, elegantly conveyed world-building to political intrigue to big, overarching themes of clan, loyalty and identity. Plus, wow, the jade-powered martial arts sequences are as fine as anything the Shaw Brothers ever put on screen. "Reviewing books is my actual job," says fellow judge Amal El-Mohtar, "but I still have to fight my husband for the advance copies of Fonda's books, and we're both THIS CLOSE to learning actual martial arts to assist us in our dueling for dibs."

The Expanse (series)

Yes, sure, you've seen the TV show (you HAVE, right? Right?) about the ragtag crew of spacers caught up in a three-way power struggle between Earth, Mars and the society that's developed on far-off asteroid belts. But there's much, much more to explore in the books — other planets, other characters, storylines and concepts that didn't make it to the screen. Often, when a book gets adapted for film or TV, there's a clear argument about which version is better. With The Expanse , we can confidently say you should watch and read. The only downside? Book- Avasarala doesn't show up until a few volumes in.

The Daevabad Trilogy

Nahri is a con woman (with a mysteriously real healing talent) scraping a living in the alleys of 18th century Cairo — until she accidentally summons some true magic and discovers her fate is bound to a legendary city named Daevabad, far from human civilization, home of djinns and bloody intrigues. Author S.A. Chakraborty converted to Islam as a teenager and after college began writing what she describes as "historical fanfiction" about medieval Islam; then characters appeared, inspired by people she met at her mosque. "A sly heroine capable of saving herself, a dashing hero who'd break for the noon prayer," she told an interviewer . "I wanted to write a story for us, about us, with the grandeur and magic of a summer blockbuster."

Teixcalaan (series)

The Aztecs meet the Byzantines in outer space in this intricately imagined story of diplomatic intrigue and fashionable poetic forms. Mahit Dzmare is an ambassador from a small space station clinging desperately to its independence in the face of the massive Teixcalaanli empire . But when she arrives in its glittering capital, her predecessor's dead, and she soon discovers she's been sabotaged herself. Luckily, it turns out she's incredibly good at her job, even without her guiding neural implant. "I'm a sucker for elegant worldbuilding that portrays all the finer nuances of society and culture in addition to the grandness of empire and the complexity of politics," says judge Fonda Lee. "Arkady Martine delivers all that in droves."

The Thessaly Trilogy

Apollo, spurned by Daphne, is trying to understand free will and consent by living as a mortal. Athena is trying to create a utopia by plucking men and women from all across history and dropping them on an island to live according to Plato's Republic. Will it all go according to plan? Not likely. "Brilliant, compelling, and frankly unputdownable," wrote poll judge Amal El-Mohtar , "this will do what your Intro to Philosophy courses probably couldn't: make you want to read The Republic ."

Shades of Magic Trilogy

V.E. Schwab has created a world with four Londons lying atop one another : our own dull Grey, warm magic-suffused Red, tyrannical White, and dead, terrifying Black. Once, movement among them was easy, but now only a few have the ability — including our hero, Kell. So naturally, he's a smuggler, and the action kicks off when Grey London thief Lila steals a dangerous artifact from him, a stone that could upset the balance among the Londons. Rich world building, complex characters and really scary bad guys make Schwab's London a city — or cities — well worth spending time in.

The Divine Cities Trilogy

On the Continent, you must not, you cannot, talk about the gods — the gods are dead. Or are they? Robert Jackson Bennett's Divine Cities trilogy builds a fully, gloriously realized world where gods are the source of power, miracles and oppression, and gods can also be killed. But what happens next, when the gods are gone and the work of running the world is left to regular human men and women? What happens in that unsettled moment when divinity gives way to technology? This series spans a long timeline; the heroes of the first volume are old by the end. "And as ancient powers clash among gleaming, modern skyscrapers, those who have survived from the first page to these last have a heaviness about them," writes reviewer Jason Sheehan , "a sense that they have seen remarkable things, done deeds both heroic and terrible, and that they can see a far and final horizon in the distance, quickly approaching."

The Wormwood Trilogy

Part of a recent wave of work celebrating and centering Nigerian culture, this trilogy is set in a future where a fungal alien invader has swallowed big global cities, America has shut itself away and gone dark, and a new city, Rosewater, has grown up around a mysterious alien dome in rural Nigeria. It's a wild mashup of alien invasion, cyberpunk, Afro-futurism and even a touch of zombie horror. "I started reading Rosewater on vacation and quickly set it down until I got home, because Tade Thompson's work is no light beach read," says judge Fonda Lee. "His writing demands your full attention — and amply rewards it."

Black Sun (series)

Author Rebecca Roanhorse was tired of reading epic fantasy with quasi-European settings, so she decided to write her own . The result is Black Sun , set in a world influenced by pre-Columbian mythology and rich with storms, intrigue, giant bugs, mysterious sea people, ritual, myth and some very scary crows. (They hold grudges, did you know?) This is only Book 1 of a forthcoming series, but we felt it was so strong it deserved to be here, no matter where Roanhorse goes next.

Words To Get Lost In

If you're one of those people who thought genre fiction writing was workmanlike and uninspiring, these books will change your mind.

Susanna Clarke at last returns to our shelves with this mind-bendingly glorious story — that's a bit hard to describe without spoiling. So we'll say it's about a mysterious man and the House that he dearly loves, a marvelous place full of changing light and surging tides, statues and corridors and crossings, birds and old bones and passing days and one persistent visitor who brings strangely familiar gifts. Clarke "limns a magic far more intrinsic than the kind commanded through spells," wrote reviewer Vikki Valentine , "a magic that is seemingly part of the fabric of the universe and as powerful as a cosmic engine — yet fragile nonetheless."

Imagine Circe, the fearsome witch of the Odyssey, as an awkward teenager, growing up lonely among scornful gods and falling for what we modern folks would call a f***boy, before coming into her own, using her exile on the island of Aiaia to hone her powers and build an independent life. Circe only shows up briefly in the Odyssey, but Madeline Miller gives her a lush, complex life in these pages. She has worked as a classics teacher, and as our reviewer Annalisa Quinn noted , Miller "extracts worlds of meaning from Homer's short phrases."

Mexican Gothic

A sharp young socialite in 1950s Mexico City travels to a creepy rural mansion to check on her cousin, who has fallen ill after marrying into a mysterious family of English landowners. What could possibly go wrong? Silvia Moreno-Garcia "makes you uneasy about invisible things by writing around them," said reviewer Jessica P. Wick. "Even when you think you know what lurks, the power to unsettle isn't diminished." Not to be too spoilery — but after reading this stylishly chilling novel, you'll never look at mushrooms the same way again.

The Paper Menagerie And Other Stories

"I taught Liu's 'The Man Who Ended History' in a graduate seminar one semester," says judge Tochi Onyebuchi, "and one of the toughest tasks I've ever faced in adulthood was crafting a lesson plan that went beyond me just going 'wtf wtf wtf wtf wtf' for the whole two hours. Some story collections are like those albums where the artist or record label just threw a bunch of songs together and said 'here,' and some collections arrive as a complete, cohesive, emotionally catholic whole. The Paper Menagerie is that."

Spinning Silver

Judges had a hard time deciding between Spinning Silver and Uprooted , Novik's previous fairy tale retelling. Ultimately, we decided that this reclamation of "Rumpelstiltskin" has a chewier, more interesting project, with much to say about money, labor, debt and friendship, explored in unflinching yet tender ways. Judge Amal El-Mohtar reviewed Spinning Silver for NPR when it came out in 2018. "There are so many mathemagicians in this book, be they moneylenders turning silver into gold or knitters working to a pattern," she wrote at the time . "It's gold and silver all the way down."

Exhalation: Stories

"I often get the same feeling reading a Ted Chiang story as I did listening to a Prince song while he was still with us," says judge Tochi Onyebuchi. "What a glorious privilege it is that we get to share a universe with this genius!" This poll can be a discovery tool for editors and judges as much as audience, so hearing that, your humble editor went straight to the library and downloaded a copy of this collection.

Olondria (series)

In Olondria, you can smell the ocean wind coming off the page, soldiers ride birds, angels haunt humans, and written dreams are terribly dangerous. "Have you ever seen something so beautiful that you'd be content to just sit and watch the light around it change for a whole day because every passing moment reveals even more unbearable loveliness and transforms you in ways you can't articulate?" asks judge Amal El-Mohtar. "You will if you read these books."

Her Body And Other Parties: Stories

These eight stories dance across the borders of fairy tale, horror, erotica and urban legend, spinning the familiar, lived experiences of women into something rich and strange. As the title suggests, Machado focuses on the unruly female body and all of its pleasures and risks (there's one story that's just increasingly bizarre rewrites of Law & Order: SVU episodes). At one point, a character implies that kind of writing is "tiresome and regressive," too much about stereotypical crazy lesbians and madwomen in the attic. But as our critic Annalisa Quinn wrote , "Machado seems to answer: The world makes madwomen, and the least you can do is make sure the attic is your own."

The Buried Giant

Axl and Beatrice are an elderly couple, living in a fictional Britain just after Arthur's time, where everyone suffers from what they call "mist," a kind of amnesia that hits long-term memories. They believe, they vaguely remember that they once had a son, so they set out to find him — encountering an elderly Sir Gawain along the way, and long-forgotten connections to Arthur's court and the dark deeds the mist is hiding. Poll judge Ann Leckie loves Arthurian legends. What she does not love are authors who don't do them justice — but with The Buried Giant , she says, Kazuo Ishiguro gets it solidly right.

Do you love space opera? Alternate history? Silent film? (OK, are you me?) Then you should pick up Catherynne M. Valente's Radiance , which mashes up all three in a gloriously surreal saga about spacefaring filmmakers in an alternate version of 1986, in which you might be able to go to Jupiter, but Thomas Edison's death grip on his patents means talkies are still a novelty. Yes, Space Opera did get more votes, but our judges genuinely felt that Radiance was the stronger book. Reviewing it in 2015, judge Amal El-Mohtar wrote , " Radiance is the sort of novel about which you have to speak for hours or hardly speak at all: either stop at 'it's magnificent' or roll on to talk about form, voice, ambition, originality, innovation for more thousands of words than are available to me here before even touching on the plot."

Will Take You On A Journey

Sure, all books are some kind of journey, but these reads really go the distance.

The Changeling

It's easy(ish) to summarize The Changeling : Rare book dealer Apollo Kagwa has a baby son with his wife, Emma, but she's been acting strange — and when she vanishes after doing something unspeakable, he sets out to find her. But his journey loops through a New York you've never seen before: mysterious islands and haunted forests, strange characters and shifting rhythms. The Changeling is a modern urban fairy tale with one toe over the line into horror, and wherever it goes, it will draw you along with it.

Wayfarers (series)

Becky Chambers writes aliens like no one else — in fact, humans are the backward newcomers in her generous, peaceful galactic vision. The Wayfarers books are only loosely linked: They all take place in the same universe, but apart from that you'll meet a new set of characters, a new culture and a new world (or an old world transformed). Cranky space pacifists, questing AIs, fugitives, gravediggers and fluffy, multi-limbed aliens who love pudding — the only flaw in this series is you'll wish you could spend more time with all of them.

Binti (series)

Binti is the first of her people, the Himba, to be offered a place at the legendary Oomza University, finest institution of learning in the galaxy — and as if leaving Earth to live among the stars weren't enough, Binti finds herself caught between warring human and alien factions. Over and over again throughout these novellas, Binti makes peace, bridges cultures, brings home with her even as she leaves and returns, changed by her experiences. Our judges agreed that the first two Binti stories are the strongest — but even if the third stumbles, as judge and critic Amal El-Mohtar wrote, "Perhaps the point is just having a Black girl with tentacles for hair possessing the power and freedom to float among Saturn's rings."

Lady Astronaut (series)

What would America's space program have looked like if, say, a gigantic asteroid had wiped out the East Coast in 1952 — and started a countdown to destruction for the rest of the world? We'd have had to get into space much sooner. And all the female pilots who served in World War II and were unceremoniously dumped back at home might have had another chance to fly. Mary Robinette Kowal's Hugo Award-winning series plays that out with Elma York, a former WASP pilot and future Lady Astronaut whose skill and determination help all of humanity escape the bonds of Earth. Adds judge Amal El-Mohtar: "Audiobook readers are in for a special treat here in that Kowal narrates the books herself, and if you've never had the pleasure of attending one of her readings, you get to experience her wonderful performance with bonus production values. It's especially cool given that the seed for the series was an audio-first short story."

Children of Time (duology)

Far in the future, the dregs of humanity escape a ruined Earth and find what they think is a new hope deep in space — a planet that past spacefarers terraformed and left for them. But the evolutionary virus that was supposed to jump-start a cargo of monkeys, creating ready-made workers, instead latched on to ... something else, and in the intervening years, something terrible has arisen there. Poll judge Ann Leckie says she can't stand spiders (BIG SAME), but even so, she was adamant that the Children of Time books deserve their spot here.

Wayward Children (series)

Everyone loves a good portal fantasy. Who hasn't looked in the back of the closet hoping, faintly, to see snow and a street lamp? In the Wayward Children series, Seanan McGuire reminds us that portals go both ways: What happens to those children who get booted back through the door into the real world, starry-eyed and scarred? Well, a lot of them end up at Eleanor West's School for Wayward Children. The prolific McGuire turned up on our semifinalists list A Lot. We had a hard time deciding between this and her killer stand-alone Middlegame , but the Wayward Children won the day with their shimmering mix of fairy tale, fantasy and emotional heft — not to mention body positivity and solid queer and trans representation. (As with a lot of the also-rans, though, you should really read Middlegame too.)

The Space Between Worlds

There are 382 parallel worlds in Micaiah Johnson's debut novel, and humanity can finally travel between them — but there's a deadly catch. You can visit only a world where the parallel version of you is already dead. And that makes Cara — whose marginal wastelands existence means only a few versions of her are left — valuable to the high and mighty of her own Earth. "They needed trash people," Cara says, to gather information from other worlds. But her existence, already precarious, is threatened when a powerful scientist figures out how to grab that information remotely. "At a time when I was really struggling with the cognitive demands of reading anything for work or pleasure, this book flooded me with oxygen and lit me on fire," says judge Amal El-Mohtar. "I can't say for certain that it enabled me to read again, but in its wake, I could."

Will Mess With Your Head

Do you love twisty tales, loopy logic, unsolved mysteries and cosmic weirdness? Scroll on!

Black Leopard, Red Wolf

Poll judge Amal El-Mohtar once described Black Leopard, Red Wolf as " like being slowly eaten by a bear ." Fellow judge Tochi Onyebuchi chimes in: " Black Leopard, Red Wolf is a Slipknot album of a book. In all the best ways." Set in a dazzling, dangerous fantasy Africa, it is — at least on the surface — about a man named Tracker, in prison when we meet him and telling his life story to an inquisitor. Beyond that, it's fairly indescribable, full of roof-crawling demons, dust-cloud assassins, blood and (fair warning) sexual violence. A gnarly book, a difficult book, sometimes actively hostile to the reader — yet necessary, and stunning.

Southern Reach (series)

The Southern Reach books are, at least on the surface, a simple tale of a world gone wrong, of a mysterious "Area X" and the expeditions that have suffered and died trying to map it — and the strange government agency that keeps sending them in. But there's a lot seething under that surface: monsters, hauntings, a slowly building sense of wrong and terror that will twist your brain around sideways. "If the guys who wrote Lost had brought H.P. Lovecraft into the room as a script doctor in the first season," our critic Jason Sheehan wrote , "the Southern Reach trilogy is what they would've come up with."

The Echo Wife

Part sci-fi cautionary tale, part murder mystery, The Echo Wife is a twisty treat . At its center are a famed genetic researcher and her duplicitous husband, who uses her breakthrough technology to clone himself a sweeter, more compliant version of his wife before ending up dead. "As expertly constructed as a Patek Philippe watch," says poll judge Tochi Onyebuchi. "Seamlessly blends domestic thriller and science fiction," adds fellow judge Fonda Lee. "This book is going to haunt my thoughts for a long time."

The Locked Tomb (series)

This series is often described as "lesbian necromancers in space," but trust us, it's so much more than that. Wildly inventive, gruesome, emotional, twisty and funny as hell, the Locked Tomb books are like nothing you've ever read before. And we defy you to read them and not give serious consideration to corpse paint and mirror shades as a workable fashion statement. There are only two books out now, of a planned four-book series, but Gideon the Ninth alone is enough to earn Tamsyn Muir a place on this list: "Too funny to be horror, too gooey to be science fiction, has too many spaceships and autodoors to be fantasy, and has far more bloody dismemberings than your average parlor romance," says critic Jason Sheehan. "It is altogether its own thing."

Remembrance of Earth's Past (series)

Liu Cixin became the first author from Asia to win a Hugo Award for Best Novel, for The Three-Body Problem , the first volume in this series about one of the oldest questions in science fiction: What will happen when we meet aliens? Liu is writing the hardest of hard sci-fi here, full of brain-twisting passages about quantum mechanics and artificial intelligence (if you didn't actually know what the three-body problem was, you will now), grafted onto the backbone of a high-stakes political thriller. Poll judge Tochi Onyebuchi says, "These books divided me by zero. And, yes, that is a compliment."

Machineries of Empire (series)

In the Hexarchate, numbers are power: This interstellar empire draws its strength from rigidly enforced adherence to the imperial calendar, a system of numbers that can alter reality. But now, a "calendrical rot" is eating away at that structure, and it's up to a mathematically talented young soldier — and the ghost of an infamous traitor — to try to repair the rot while a war blazes across the stars around them. " Ninefox Gambit is a book with math in its heart, but also one which understands that even numbers can lie," our critic Jason Sheehan wrote . "That it's what you see in the numbers that matters most."

Will Mess With Your Heart

Books that'll make you cry, make you think — and sometimes make you want to hide under the bed.

The Broken Earth (series)

In the world of the Stillness, geological convulsions cause upheavals that can last for centuries — and only the orogenes, despised yet essential to the status quo — can control them. N.K. Jemisin deservedly won three back-to-back Hugo awards for these books, which use magnificent world building and lapidary prose to smack you in the face about your own complicity in systems of oppression. "Jemisin is the first — and so far only — person ever to have won a Hugo Award for Best Novel for every single book in a series. These books upheaved the terrain of epic fantasy as surely and completely as Fifth Seasons transform the geography of the Stillness," says poll judge Amal El-Mohtar.

Station Eleven

Author Emily St. John Mandel went on Twitter in 2020 and advised people not to read Station Eleven , not in the midst of the pandemic. But we beg to disagree. A story in which art (and particularly Shakespeare) helps humanity come back to itself after a pandemic wipes out the world as we know it might be just the thing we need. "Survival is insufficient," say Mandel's traveling players (a line she says she lifted from Star Trek ), and that's a solid motto any time.

This Is How You Lose the Time War

Enemies-to-lovers is a classic romance novel trope, and it's rarely been done with as much strange beauty as poll judge Amal El-Mohtar and co-author Max Gladstone pull off in this tale of Red and Blue, two agents on opposite sides of a war that's sprawled across time and space. "Most books I read are objects of study. And more often than not, I can figure out how the prose happened, how the character arcs are constructed, the story's architecture," says judge Tochi Onyebuchi. "But then along comes a thing so dazzling you can't help but stare at and ask 'how.' Amal and Max wrote a cheat code of a book. They unlocked all the power-ups, caught all the Chaos Emeralds, mastered all the jutsus, and honestly, I'd say it's downright unfair how much they flexed on us with Time War , except I'm so damn grateful they gave it to us in the first place." (As we noted above, having Time War on the list meant that Max Gladstone couldn't make a second appearance for his outstanding solo work with the Craft Sequence . But you should absolutely read those, too.)

The Poppy War Trilogy

What if Mao Zedong were a teenage girl? That's how author R.F. Kuang describes the central question in her Poppy War series . Fiery, ruthless war orphan Fang Runin grows up, attends an elite military academy, develops fire magic and wins a war — but finds herself becoming the kind of monster she once fought against. Kuang has turned her own rage and anger at historical atrocities into a gripping, award-winning story that will drag you along with it, all the way to the end. "If this were football, Kuang might be under investigation for PEDs," jokes judge Tochi Onyebuchi, referring to performance-enhancing drugs. "But, no, she's really just that good."

The Masquerade (series)

Baru Cormorant was born to a free-living, free-loving nation, but all that changed when the repressive Empire of Masks swept in, tearing apart her family, yet singling her out for advancement through its new school system. Baru decides the only way to free her people is to claw her way up the ranks of Empire — but she risks becoming the monster she's fighting against. "I've loved every volume of this more than the one before it, and the first one was devastatingly strong," says judge Amal El-Mohtar — who said of that first volume, "This book is a tar pit, and I mean that as a compliment."

An Unkindness of Ghosts

The Matilda is a generation ship, a vast repository of human life among the stars, cruelly organized like an antebellum plantation: Black and brown people on the lower decks, working under vicious overseers to provide the white upper-deck passengers with comfortable lives. Aster, an orphaned outsider, uses her late mother's medical knowledge to bring healing where she can and to solve the mystery of Matilda 's failing power source. Poll judge Amal El-Mohtar originally reviewed An Unkindness of Ghosts for us , writing "What Solomon achieves with this debut — the sharpness, the depth, the precision — puts me in mind of a syringe full of stars."

The Bird King

G. Willow Wilson's beautiful novel, set during the last days of Muslim Granada, follows a royal concubine who yearns for freedom and the queer mapmaker who's her best friend. "It is really devastating to a critic to find that the only truly accurate way of describing an author's prose is the word 'luminous,' but here we are," says judge Amal El-Mohtar. "This book is luminous. It is full of light, in searing mirror-flashes and warm candleflame flickers and dappled twists of heart-breaking insight into empire, war and religion."

American War

This was judge Tochi Onyebuchi's personal pick — a devastating portrait of a post-climate-apocalypse, post-Second Civil War America that's chosen to use its most terrifying and oppressive policies against its own people. "It despairs me how careless we are with the word 'prescient' these days, but when I finished American War , I truly felt that I'd glimpsed our future," Onyebuchi says. "Charred and scarred and shot through with shards of hope."

Poll judge Tochi Onyebuchi centers this story on the kind of person who's more often a statistic, rarely a fully rounded character: Kevin, who's young, Black and in prison . Born amid the upheaval around the Rodney King verdict, Kevin is hemmed in by structural and individual racism at every turn; meanwhile, his sister Ella has developed mysterious, frightening powers — but she still can't do the one thing she truly wants to do, which is to rescue her brother. This slim novella packs a punch with all the weight of history behind it; fellow judge Amal El-Mohtar says, "I've said it in reviews and I'll say it again here: This book reads like hot diamonds, as searing as it is precise."

On Fragile Waves

Every year, we ask our judges to add some of their own favorites to the list, and this year, Amal El-Mohtar teared up talking about her passion for E. Lily Yu's haunted refugee story On Fragile Waves . "I need everyone to read this book," she says. "I wept throughout it and for a solid half-hour once I had finished it, and I know it's hard to recommend books that make you cry right now, but I have no chill about this one: It is so important, it is so beautiful, and I feel like maybe if everyone read it the world would be a slightly less terrible place."

Will Make You Feel Good

Maybe, after the year we've just had, you want to read a book where good things happen, eventually? We've got you.

The Goblin Emperor

In a far corner of an elven empire, young half-goblin Maia learns that a mysterious accident has left him heir to the throne. But he has been in exile almost all his life — how can he possibly negotiate the intricate treacheries of the imperial court? Fairly well, as it turns out. Maia is a wonderful character, hesitant and shy at first, but deeply good and surprisingly adept at the whole being-an-emperor thing. The only thing wrong with The Goblin Emperor was that it was, for a long time, a stand-alone. But now there's a sequel, The Witness for the Dead — so if you love the world Katherine Addison has created, you've got a way back to it. "I just love this book utterly," says judge Amal El-Mohtar. "So warm, so kind, so generous."

Murderbot (series)

Oh Murderbot — we know you just want to be left alone to watch your shows, but we can't quit you. Martha Wells' series about a murderous security robot that's hacked its own governing module and become self-aware is expansive, action-packed, funny and deeply human . Also, your humble poll editor deeply wishes that someone would write a fic in which Murderbot meets Ancillary Justice 's Breq and they swap tips about how to be human over tea (which Murderbot can't really drink).

The Interdependency (series)

John Scalzi didn't mean to be quite so prescient when he started this trilogy about a galactic empire facing destruction as its interstellar routes collapse — a problem the empire knew about but ignored for all the same reasons we punt our problems today. "Some of that was completely unintentional," he told Scott Simon . "But some of it was. I live in the world." The Interdependency series is funny, heartfelt and ultimately hopeful, and packed with fantastic characters. To the reader who said they voted "because of Kiva Lagos," we say, us too.

The Martian

You don't expect a hard sci-fi novel to start with the phrase "I'm pretty much f****d," but it definitely sets the tone for Andy Weir's massive hit. Astronaut Mark Watney, stranded alone on Mars after an accident, is a profane and engaging narrator who'll let you know just how f****d he is and then just how he plans to science his way out of it. If you've only seen the movie, there's so much more to dig into in the book (including, well, that very first line).

Sorcerer to the Crown/The True Queen

A Regency romp with squabbling magicians, romance and intrigue, with women and people of color center stage? Yes, please! These two books form a wonderful balance. Sorcerer to the Crown is more whimsical and occasionally riotously funny despite its serious underlying themes. The True Queen builds out from there, looking at the characters and events of the first book with a different, more serious perspective. But both volumes are charming, thoughtful and thoroughly enjoyable.

How We Built This

Wow, you're some dedicated readers! Thanks for coming all the way down here to find out more. As I said above, we decided to limit ourselves to 50 books this year instead of our usual 100, which made winnowing down the list a particular challenge. As you may know, this poll isn't a straight-up popularity contest, though, if it were, the Broken Earth books would have crushed all comers — y'all have good taste! Instead, we take your votes (over 16,000 this year) and pare them down to about 250 semifinalists, and then during a truly epic conference call, our panel of expert judges goes through those titles, cuts some, adds some and hammers out a final curated list.

What Didn't Make It — And Why

As always, there were works readers loved and voted for that didn't make our final list of 50 — it's not a favorites list if you can't argue about it, right? Sometimes, we left things out because we felt like the authors were well known enough not to need our help (farewell, The Ocean at the End of the Lane , Neil Gaiman, we hope you'll forgive us!), but mostly it happened because the books either came out before our cutoff date or already appeared on the original 2011 list. (Sorry, Brandon Sanderson! The first Mistborn book was actually on this year's list, until I looked more closely and realized it was a repeat from 2011.)

Some books didn't make it this year because we're almost positive they'll come around next year — next year being the 10th anniversary of our original 2012 YA poll, when (spoiler alert!) we're planning a similar redo. So we say "not farewell, but fare forward, voyagers" to the likes of Raybearer , Children of Blood and Bone and the Grishaverse books; if they don't show up on next year's list I'll, I don't know, I'll eat my kefta .

And this year, because we had only 50 titles to play with, we did not apply the famous Nora Roberts rule, which allows particularly beloved and prolific authors onto the list twice. So as much as it pains me, there's only one Seanan McGuire entry here, and Max Gladstone appears alongside poll judge Amal El-Mohtar for This Is How You Lose the Time War but not on his own for the excellent Craft Sequence . Which — as we said above — you should ABSOLUTELY read.

One Final Note

Usually, readers will vote at least some works by members of our judging panel onto the list, and usually, we let the judges themselves decide whether or not to include them. But this year, I put my editorial foot down — all four judges made it to the semifinals, and had we not included them, the final product would have been the less for it. So you'll find all four on the list. And we hope you enjoy going through it as much as we enjoyed putting it together!

Best sci-fi books: modern masterpieces & all-time classics

Here’s a scintillating selection of the best sci-fi books, with modern hits and sci-fi classics for you to enjoy.

• New sci-fi books
• Modern sci-fi books
• Classic sci-fi books

Explore the unknown from the comfort of your home, with the best sci-fi books of all time.

As we drift ever further into a fresh new year, it’s only natural for curious minds to hunger for something far-out and exotic and science fiction literature is the answer. It’s the perfect accompaniment to the occasion, whether it’s finding the perfect transportive book or discovering a rare gem to cozy up with during these cold, dark days.

Sci-fi comes in a wealth of varieties and flavors, and that’s what makes the genre so enticing for readers of all persuasions, from gung-ho military sci-fi, dire dystopian sagas, and revealing concept art editions, to old-fashioned space operas and terrifying extraterrestrial encounters.

If you're interested in checking out more of the science that inspires some of these amazing sci-fi tales, then check out our best space and astronomy books guide.

To cover more ground, we've split our guide into three categories: newly released sci-fi books (within the last year), modern sci-fi books, and classic sci-fi books. Now, sit back and enjoy our collection of the best sci-fi books out there.

Best new sci-fi books

1. the simulated multiverse.

Why you can trust Space.com Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test and review products.

• Author: Rizwan Virk
• Publisher: Bayview Books (2021)

MIT computer scientist, Silicon Valley video game guru, and bestselling author Rizwan Virk (“The Simulation Hypothesis”) explores the wild notion of a complex multiverse that has generated legions of believers over the past decade. 

Here Virk offers up mind-scrambling dissections of provocative topics like parallel universes, infinite timelines, quantum computing, alternate simulated realities, contorted definitions of space and time, and the Mandela Effect (a phenomenon in which the minority of the population recalls memories of past events different from the consensus). Think “The Man in the High Castle” high on both the blue and red pill from “ The Matrix .” It’s a fascinating explanation of our world that might shake the foundations of your digital reality, but does so in a totally digestible style.

2. The Art of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge

• Author: Amy Ratcliffe
• Publisher: Abrams (2021)

This isn’t nearly as exciting as an actual trip to Disneyland Resort or Walt Disney World, but it costs far less and offers a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the theme parks’ newest Star Wars lands. Written by pop culture expert and theme park aficionado, Amy Ratcliffe, this deluxe 256-page coffee table book displays the incredible portfolio of pre-visualization art that inspired the creation of the fictional world of Galaxy’s Edge and its bustling Black Spire Outpost on the Outer Rim planet of Batuu. 

“We looked back on work that happened over five years ago in some cases, but everyone recalled their thought processes and their excitement about working in the Star Wars galaxy,” Ratcliffe told Space.com. “I think readers will not only get an idea of the immense amount of work that went into developing such an ambitious land, but they’ll also see how much care and thoughtfulness went into it.” 

Walt Disney Imagineering’s trademark creative method comes alive using a constellation of vivid concept artworks, sketches, attraction blueprints, photos, and exclusive interviews with the talented team of Imagineers who helped construct the illusion of a life-size Star Wars trading destination.

• Buy “The Art of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge” now on Amazon

3. Providence

• Author: Max Berry
• Publisher: G. P. Putnam’s Sons (2020)

Quietly released during the height of the global pandemic panic, Max Barry’s (“Lexicon”) novel deserves a spot on our list as it’s one of the best sci-fi novels of the decade. It spins a compelling yarn about a weird race of hive-like, amorphous aliens that spit miniature black holes as defensive weapons and the AI-driven battleship called the Providence Five and its small four-person crew sent to deep space to annihilate them. 

Seven years after a tragic first contact event that left several astronauts dead, this hyper-aware spaceship gradually travels inside enemy territory where it becomes paranoid ala HAL-9000 in “2001: A Space Odyssey,” resulting in some frightening encounters transmitted back to Earth to a captivated global audience. Fans of The Expanse will devour this book before another plasma round explodes!

• Buy “Providence” now on Amazon

4. Leviathan Falls

• Author:  James S. A. Corey
• Publisher: Orbit (2021)

As wise minds once said, all good things must end, and so it is with the best-selling series of military sci-fi novels “The Expanse”. On Nov. 30, the ninth and final book of Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham’s (writing as James S. A. Corey) immensely popular saga landed on Earth. The book dropped just before the sixth and last season of Amazon Prime’s “The Expanse” TV series began airing in December (psst... if you like this TV show, you might like some other of the best sci-fi TV shows based on books ). Following 2019’s “Tiamat’s Wrath,” this climactic volume picks up after the Laconian Empire falls and 1,300 systems are free of the tyrannical rule of Winston Duarte.

In this intense grand finale, Elvi Okoye commands a last-ditch quest to the Adro system to learn more about the enigmatic alien presence known as the gate builders and what long-lost nemesis ended their cosmic construction projects. Back aboard the Rocinante, Captain James Holden and his intrepid colleagues attempt to peaceably reunite Mankind out of the innumerable calamities that have come before.

“We’re going to pay off the promises we’ve been making in the first eight books and complete the story,” Abraham told Space.com. “That’s all we can really promise. And it is the last one. We’re not leaving it open for sequels and prequels and side stories. We wanted to tell one complete story and have a satisfying finish and hopefully that’s what we’re delivering.”

• Buy “Leviathan Falls” now on Amazon

5. Shards of Earth

• Author: Adrian Tchaikovsky 

Adrian Tchaikovsky is the Arthur C. Clarke award-winning author of “Children of Time” and if you’ve never read his tight, rhythmic prose, you’re in for a real treat.

The storyline is set in the aftermath of an 80-year war against angry aliens called the Architects. Idris Telemmier is a genetically-modified soldier once used as a telepathic weapon in the decades-long battle. With the inability to grow older or sleep since the conflict ceased, Idris now exists aboard a salvage spaceship named Vulture God. Humans created these intimidating soldiers who could connect mentally with the enemy when the Earth died.

A half-century later, Idris and his team have happened upon some discarded object that’s clearly of the Architects’ design. Does this signal the aggressive race’s resurgence in this part of the galaxy? Chased by criminals, fanatics, and politicians while custodians of a rare alien item, Idris zooms through the heavens trying to evade his pursuers while seeking the ultimate truth.

• Buy “Shards of Earth” now on Amazon

6. At the Mountains of Madness: Volumes 1 and 2

• Author: H. P. Lovecraft
• Illustrator: François Baranger
• Publisher: Design Studio Press (2020/21)

Fans of H. P. Lovecraft’s unforgettable sci-fi horror novella will savor this impressive oversized hardback adaptation showcasing the absorbing art of French illustrator François Baranger. The recounting of a doomed Miskatonic University expedition to sub-zero Antarctica where specimens of an ancient alien species are discovered in a crumbling stone city is now accompanied by frozen landscapes of otherworldly dread.

Baranger is well known for his work as an internationally-recognized concept designer for popular movies and video games, and here he’s achieved the difficult task of reimagining one of Lovecraft’s most terrifying tales into pure nightmare material. Volume 2 was just released on December 22 to complete the set!

• Buy “At the Mountains of Madness: Volume 1” now on Amazon
• Buy “At the Mountains of Madness: Volume 2” now on Amazon

7. Frank Herbert’s Dune: The Graphic Novel, Book 1

• Author: Frank Herbert
• Adapted by: Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson
• Illustrators: Bill Sienkiewicz (cover), Raúl Allén, and Patricia Martín
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams (2020)

With the success of director Denis Villeneuve’s epic rendition of the seminal 1965 sci-fi novel last year, you might want to check out this stunning graphic novel rendition adapted by Herbert’s son, Brian Herbert, and collaborator Kevin J. Anderson. This pair of writers has vastly expanded the scale and scope of the original “Dune” with over a dozen prequel and sequel novels over the last 22 years. This is the first time the masterwork has been offered in a premium illustrated format (the debut release of a trilogy), now richly adorned with artwork by artists Raúl Allén and Patricia Martín, and an epic cover by Eisner Award-winning illustrator Bill Sienkiewicz. 

“His vast library did not include very many comics or graphic novels, but in his newspaper career he was not only a feature writer but also a professional photographer,” Herbert told Space.com , speaking about his father’s cinematic eye. “He used to tell me that he wrote scenes in his novels – and especially in “Dune” – with a camera in mind, as if he were looking at each scene through the lens of a camera.”

• Buy “Frank Herbert’s Dune: The Graphic Novel, Book 1” now on Amazon

8. The Empire Strikes Back: From a Certain Point of View

• Authors and artists: Tom Angleberger, Sarwat Chadda, S. A. Chakraborty, Mike Chen, Adam Christopher, Katie Cook, Zoraida Córdova, Delilah S. Dawson, Tracy Deonn, Seth Dickinson, Alexander Freed, Jason Fry, Hank Green, Christie Golden, Rob Hart, Lydia Kang, Michael Kogge, R. F. Kuang, C. B. Lee, Mackenzi Lee, John Jackson Miller, Michael Moreci, Daniel José Older, Mark Oshiro, Amy Ratcliffe, Beth Revis, Lilliam Rivera, Cavan Scott, Emily Skrutskie, Karen Strong, Anne Toole, Catherynne M. Valente, Austin Walker, Martha Wells, Django Wexler, Kiersten White, Gary Whitta, Brittany N. Williams, Charles Yu, and Jim Zub
• Publisher: Del Rey (2020)

To help celebrate the 40th anniversary of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Del Rey released a stout, 576-page hardcover stuffed with 40 short stories featuring unsung supporting Star Wars heroes, villains, droids, and aliens from the 1980 film. Ever wondered what it’s like caring for tauntauns on the icy world of Hoth? Or about the goings on in the dark depths of Cloud City? Well, now you can find out!

This entertaining anthology showcases contributions by bestselling authors and well-known artists like Austin Walker, Hank Green, Tracy Deonn, Delilah Dawson, Alexander Freed, John Jackson Miller, Anne Toole, and many more. Participating writers generously donated compensations for their tales and proceeds will be given to First Book, a nonprofit providing learning materials to educators and organizations serving kids in need.

• Buy “The Empire Strikes Back: From a Certain Point of View” now on Amazon

9. Star Trek: The Artistry of Dan Curry

• Authors: Dan Curry and Ben Robinson
• Publisher: Titan Books (2020)

For Star Trek junkies and tech-heads wanting to delve deep into the sensational special effects and worldbuilding of the Star Trek franchise, there’s no bolder release than this lavish volume written by seven-time Emmy Award-winning visual effects supervisor and director, Dan Curry. For three decades, Curry has contributed concept art, title sequences, matte paintings, spaceship design, and practical weapons to numerous series and spin offs including The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise. Written by Curry and Ben Robinson, this is a 204-page treasure packed with rare sketches, concept art, behind-the-scenes stills, and never-seen storyboards celebrating the accomplishments of one of Star Trek’s most acclaimed artisans.

“The illusions that created the universe of Star Trek were the result of many gifted and dedicated artists,” Curry told Space.com. “There was no single hero of its visual effects. I was very fortunate to design and create a lot of things that became part of the Star Trek franchise. I feel it was a decent legacy to leave behind when I ultimately move into the non-biological phase of existence.”

• Buy “Star Trek: The Artistry of Dan Curry” now on Amazon

10. The Last Watch

• Authors: J. S. Dewes
• Publisher: Tor Books (2021)

Here’s a rousing space adventure by author J. S. Dewes that chronicles the vigilant crew of the Argus as they perform guard duty against an extraterrestrial threat at the far limits of the universe. This impressive series debut is part of a two-book project called “The Divide” and boasts a motley collection of soldiers led by commander Adequin Rake, who endeavors to protect her crew and humanity from a collapsing cosmic anomaly.

It’s basically “The Expanse” meets “The Dirty Dozen” where a rag-tag group of Sentinels must pull together to save themselves and ensure a viable future. An excellent example of military sci-fi pumped up with pathos, memorable characters, and a relentless juggernaut of a plot. Its sequel, “The Exiled Fleet,” arrived this past August so you won’t have to wait for the follow up!

• Buy “The Last Watch” (The Divide Series, 1) now on Amazon
• Buy “The Exiled Fleet” (The Divide Series, 2) now on Amazon

Best modern sci-fi books

• Authors: Daniel Suarez
• Publisher: Dutton (2019)

In "Delta-v," an unpredictable billionaire recruits an adventurous cave diver to join the first-ever effort to mine an asteroid. The crew's target is asteroid Ryugu, which in real life Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft has been exploring since June 2018. 

From the use of actual trajectories in space and scientific accuracy, to the title itself, Delta-v — the engineering term for exactly how much energy is expended performing a maneuver or reaching a target — Suarez pulls true-to-life details into describing the exciting and perilous mission. The reward for successful asteroid mining is incredible, but the cost could be devastating.

2. The Lady Astronaut series - The Calculating Stars/The Fated Sky/The Relentless Moon 

• Author: Mary Robinette Kowal
• Publisher: Tor Books (2018-2020)

What if space exploration wasn't a choice but a necessity, driven by the knowledge that Earth would soon become uninhabitable and powered by international coalitions built after a catastrophic meteorite impact? That's the alternative history novelist Mary Robinette Kowal explores in her Lady Astronaut series. 

The books follow mathematician and World War II pilot Elma York, who dreams of becoming an astronaut herself. Kowal intricately melds real history with her fictional plot to create a series that is simultaneously hopeful and pragmatic. The Lady Astronaut offers a powerful vision of how spaceflight could be a positive force in society.

3. Red Moon

• Author: Kim Stanley Robinson
• Publisher: Orbit (2018)

Red Moon, the latest novel from legendary science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson, blends realism and drama in a way that instantly transports the reader to the lunar surface. The book, which takes place 30 years into the future, opens on the journeys of Fred Fredericks, an American quantum engineer working for a Swiss company, and Ta Shu, a poet, feng shui expert and celebrity travel reporter to the moon where they are traveling to work. In the world of the book, China has become the first political and technological entity to inhabit the moon in a serious, long-term way.

At first, as a reader, you may find yourself adjusting to the character's clumsy movements in lunar gravity and anticipating what life on the moon might really be like, but the story takes a shocking turn and life on the moon turns out to be much different from what you may have expected. "Red Moon" does an incredible job immersing the reader in a captivating alien, yet still familiar, world while at the same time staying grounded in a reality that we could truly one day face.

4. Before Mars

• Author: Emma Newman
• Publisher: Ace (2018)

Emma Newman's latest book set in her "Planetfall" universe, "Before Mars," sees a geologist arriving at a small Mars base after a lengthy journey only to realize that things aren't as they seem. The base's AI is untrustworthy, the psychologist seems sinister, and the main characters finds a note to herself she has no memory of writing. In a world of perfectly immersive virtual reality, can she trust what she sees? Or did the long trip take a toll on her sanity? "Before Mars" takes place on an eerie, largely empty Mars after a giant corporation buys the rights to the planet.

It's a thrilling read but — like Newman's other "Planetfall" books — also a deep dive into the protagonist's psychology as she grapples with what she discovers on the Red Planet. "Before Mars" and the other books in the same universe (" Planetfall " and " After Atlas ") can be read in any order, but Space.com highly recommends giving them all a look.

• Author: Andy Weir
• Publisher: Crown (2017)

In " The Martian " (Crown, 2014) first-time author Andy Weir gave voice to the sardonic, resourceful botanist Mark Watney as he struggled for survival stranded on Mars. In his second novel, "Artemis," he follows Jazz Bashara, a porter (and smuggler) on the moon who's drawn into a crime caper. 

Weir brings a similar meticulous detail to his descriptions of the moon as the ultimate tourist destination as he did to Watney's misadventures on Mars, but his characterization of Jazz doesn't play to his writing strengths like Watney's log entries did. Still, "Artemis" is an entertaining romp through a really intriguing future moon base, with plenty of one-sixth-gravity action and memorable twists. It's well worth the read. Plus, there's an audiobook version  read by Rosario Dawson .

6. Provenance

• Author: Ann Leckie
• Publisher: Orbit (2017)

A young woman plots to find stolen artifacts in "Provenance," which takes place in the same universe as author Ann Leckie's award-winning  "Ancillary" trilogy  of books — but introduces readers to a new selection of future human cultures with a more straightforward and less high-concept adventure story. 

Don't let that fool you, though: The book's exploration of multiculture, multispecies conflict (with aliens called the Geck) works just as much intriguing worldbuilding into the mix as her previous books. Plus, there are mind-controlled robots, stolen alien ships and a society with three genders.

7. Leviathan Wakes - The Expanse series

• Author: James S.A. Corey
• Publisher: Orbit (2011)

200 years in the future, humanity has colonized the solar system and is split among three factions on the brink of conflict: Earth, Mars and the Asteroid Belt, which includes the spinning Ceres asteroid colony. As multiple viewpoint characters are ensnared in a system-wide mystery, the story's scope slowly broadens to reveal the full complexity of the novels' science fiction world. The books, co-written by Dan Abraham and Ty Franck, originally stemmed from a  tabletop roleplaying game idea , and it shows through the detailed worldbuilding and exploration of a solar system remade in humanity's image. Plus, it's a fun, tightly-plotted set of spacefaring adventure stories.

The series is slated for nine books, and they've appeared steadily one per year from 2011-2015 for a total of five so far (plus some tie-in novellas). They're also the basis for Syfy's TV show "The Expanse," recently renewed for a 13-episode second season. Book six, "Babylon's Ashes," is slated for release December 2016.

See  here  and  here  for Q&As with the series' authors describing the book's inception and the TV show's development (plus, the coolest sci-fi in the series).

• Publisher: Orbit (2015)

After numerous novels and short stories probing humanity's trials in the near future, far future and distant past, science fiction master Kim Stanley Robinson offers his own highly detailed spin on the challenge of interstellar travel in his new book "Aurora" (Orbit, 2015).

Humanity's first trip to another star is incredibly ambitious, impeccably planned and executed on a grand scale in "Aurora." The novel begins near the end of a 170-year mission aboard a spaceship carrying roughly 2,000 humans to the seemingly Earth-like moon of a planet orbiting a nearby star, Tau Ceti.

Told largely from the perspective of the ship's computer, "Aurora" emphasizes the fragile unity of all the living and nonliving parts aboard the starship as it hurtles through space. As the story of the landing unfolds, the narrative doesn't shy away from the science or the incredible complexity of a 2,000-person, multigenerational ship. The spacecraft is portrayed as one organism that can have conflicting interests or fall out of balance but that ultimately has to work in concert to reach its destination intact.

Best classic sci-fi books

1. the martian chronicles.

• Author: Ray Bradbury
• Publisher: Doubleday (1951)

In case you haven't heard of him, Ray Bradbury is an  icon of science fiction writing . In "The Martian Chronicles," Bradbury explores the gradual human settlement of the Red Planet, through a series of lightly connected stories. Bradbury paints the Martian landscape and its inhabitants with master strokes, but equally strong is his portrayal of the psychological dangers that await the human settlers who arrive there. 

This, as well as the space-themed stories in Bradbury's other classic collection "The Illustrated Man," struck a chord with me when I was young and dreamed about traveling to the stars. Reading his work today, it is amazing to see that although Bradbury writes from a time when human space travel hadn't yet begun (the book was first published in 1950), the issues and questions his stories raise are still relevant as humanity takes its first steps into that great frontier.

2. Ender's Game

• Author: Orson Scott Card
• Publisher: Tor Books (1985)

This classic science fiction novel by Orson Scott Card should be ever-present on any space fan's bookshelf. Card's novel follows the life of Ender Wiggin as he learns to fight the Formics, a horrifying alien race that almost killed off all humans when they attacked years and years ago. 

Wiggin learns the art of space war aboard a military space station built to help train young people to fight the cosmic invaders. Basically, this book is a coming-of-age tale that makes you want to fly to space and also forces you to think about some serious social issues presented in its pages. (The book is the first in a quintet, and inspired a much larger body of work that takes place in the same universe.)

3. The Martian

• Publisher: Random House (2014)

"The Martian," by Andy Weir, is a truly great science fiction book that's heavy on the science. Weir tells the story of Mark Watney, a fictional NASA astronaut stranded on Mars, and his difficult mission to save himself from potential doom in the harsh Red Planet environment. Watney seems to have everything against him, yet Weir deftly explains not only what Watney's survival needs are but also how he goes about trying to make them work. "The Martian" also was made into a movie, which was released in 2015. The film stars Matt Damon as Watney and is directed by space movie veteran Ridley Scott.

• Publisher: Chilton Books (1965)

In "Dune," Frank Herbert imagines a vast, intricate future universe ruled by an emperor who sets the Atreides and Harkonnen families warring over the desert planet Arrakis, also known as Dune. The arid world holds the only source of the spice mélange, necessary for space travel. Spread across star systems, "Dune" teems with wild characters: human computers (Mentats), tribal fighters (Fremen), mind-controlling "witches" (Bene Gesserit Sisterhood) and humans ranging from the corrupt Baron Harkonnen to Paul "Muad'Dib" Atreides, whose journey from a sheltered childhood anchors the story. 

Early on, the Baron says, "Observe the plans within plans within plans," summing up the adversaries' wary analyses of each faction's complex motivations. This cerebral second-guessing balances with epic action throughout the book, centering on the perhaps best-known feature of the Duniverse: the monstrous spice-producing sandworms. The best-selling novel raised science fiction literature to greater sophistication by including themes of technology, science, politics, religion and ecology, although the burgeoning Dune franchise remains less popular than Star Wars (which borrowed heavily from "Dune").

5. Hyperion - Hyperion Cantos Series

• Author: Dan Simmons
• Publisher: Doubleday (1989)

Part space epic, part "Canterbury Tales," "Hyperion" tells the story of seven pilgrims who travel across the universe to meet their fate, and the unspeakably evil Shrike, who guards the Time Tombs on the planet Hyperion. 

On the way, each pilgrim tells his or her own tale, and each world is so exquisitely created that it's hard to believe it all came from the mind of one author. The tale of the scholar whose daughter ages backward after her visit to the Tombs, and his quest to save her as she returns to childhood, is my favorite — it's heartbreaking and terrifying at the same time.

• Author: Frederik Pohl
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press (1977)

"Gateway" is the first science fiction book I ever read, because my father, a longtime sci-fi junkie, had loved it. It's an intense read that explores why we make the choices we do, and how we deal with the consequences of those choices in the black vacuum of space. In "Gateway," those with the money to leave the dying Earth can hitch a ride on a starship that will either make them wealthy beyond their wildest dreams or lead them to a grim and possibly violent death. Or, like our hero, you could wind up in the grip of a massive black hole and have to make difficult decisions that lead you to the couch of an electronic shrink.

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

Get the Space.com Newsletter

Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!

Jeff Spry is an award-winning screenwriter and veteran freelance journalist covering TV, movies, video games, books, and comics. His work has appeared at SYFY Wire, Inverse, Collider, Bleeding Cool and elsewhere. Jeff lives in beautiful Bend, Oregon amid the ponderosa pines, classic muscle cars, a crypt of collector horror comics, and two loyal English Setters.

Darth Vader's vile Jedi-killers are on the hunt in Marvel Comics' 'Star Wars: Inquisitors'

ULA chronicles the rise of Vulcan rocket in new employee-drawn comic book

SpaceX launches 23 Starlink satellites from Florida

Most Popular

• 2 Scientists could make blazing-fast 6G using curving light rays
• 3 'Extreme' solar storms cook up sweet Mother's Day auroras for Moms everywhere
• 4 The stormy sun erupts with its biggest solar flare yet from a massive sunspot — and it's still crackling (video)
• 5 Houston, we have an encore: ISS virtual reality experience 'The Infinite' returns

The Best Sci Fi Books

Find a great science fiction book, the best fantasy books of 2022.

Women and authors of color really brought their A game in 2022. Holy cow. They’re tearing it up. RIP your To Read list.

J.R.R. Tolkien famously described the Second Age of Middle-earth as a “dark age, and not very much of its history is (or need be) told.” And for many years, readers would need to be content with the tantalizing glimpses of it found within the pages of The Lord of the Rings and its appendices, including the forging of the Rings of Power, the building of the Barad-dûr, and the rise of Sauron.

It was not until Christopher Tolkien published The Silmarillion after his father’s death that a fuller story could be told. Although much of the book’s content concerned the First Age of Middle-earth, there were at its close two key works that revealed the tumultuous events concerning the rise and fall of the island of Númenor. Raised out of the Great Sea and gifted to the Men of Middle-earth as a reward for aiding the angelic Valar and the Elves in the defeat and capture of the Dark Lord Morgoth, the kingdom became a seat of influence and wealth; but as the Númenoreans’ power increased, the seed of their downfall would inevitably be sown, culminating in the Last Alliance of Elves and Men.

Even greater insight into the Second Age would be revealed in subsequent publications, first in Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth , then expanded upon in Christopher Tolkien’s magisterial twelve-volume The History of Middle-earth , in which he presented and discussed a wealth of further tales written by his father, many in draft form.

Now, adhering to the timeline of “The Tale of Years” in the appendices to The Lord of the Rings , editor Brian Sibley has assembled into one comprehensive volume a new chronicle of the Second Age of Middle-earth, told substantially in the words of Tolkien from the various published texts, with new illustrations in watercolor and pencil by the doyen of Tolkien art, Alan Lee.

After a lifetime of bounties and bloodshed, Viv is hanging up her sword for the last time.

The battle-weary orc aims to start fresh, opening the first ever coffee shop in the city of Thune. But old and new rivals stand in the way of success―not to mention the fact that no one has the faintest idea what coffee actually is.

If Viv wants to put the blade behind her and make her plans a reality, she won’t be able to go it alone.

The true rewards of the uncharted path are the travelers you meet along the way. And whether drawn together by ancient magic, flaky pastry, or a freshly brewed cup, they may become partners, family, and something deeper than she ever could have dreamed.

“A gentle little cozy set against an epic fantasy backdrop… This charming outing will please anyone who’s ever wished to spend time in a fantasy world without all the quests and battles.” —Publishers Weekly

Book 3 of The Scholomance Book 2: The Last Graduate Book 1: A Deadly Education

The one thing you never talk about while you’re in the Scholomance is what you’ll do when you get out. Not even the richest enclaver would tempt fate that way. But it’s all we dream about: the hideously slim chance we’ll survive to make it out the gates and improbably find ourselves with a life ahead of us, a life outside the Scholomance halls.

And now the impossible dream has come true. I’m out, we’re all out—and I didn’t even have to turn into a monstrous dark witch to make it happen. So much for my great-grandmother’s prophecy of doom and destruction. I didn’t kill enclavers, I saved them. Me and Orion and our allies. Our graduation plan worked to perfection: We saved everyone and made the world safe for all wizards and brought peace and harmony to all the enclaves everywhere.

Ha, only joking! Actually, it’s gone all wrong. Someone else has picked up the project of destroying enclaves in my stead, and probably everyone we saved is about to get killed in the brewing enclave war. And the first thing I’ve got to do now, having miraculously gotten out of the Scholomance, is turn straight around and find a way back in.

“The magic and mystery of this chillingly lovely novel will appeal to both YA and adult fans of J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books… An unresolved ending leaves readers eager for the next installment.” —Library Journal, starred review

Book 2 of The Great Cities Duology Book 1: The City We Became

All is not well in the city that never sleeps. Even though the avatars of New York City have temporarily managed to stop the Woman in White from invading—and destroying the entire universe in the process—the mysterious capital “E” Enemy has more subtle powers at her disposal. A new candidate for mayor wielding the populist rhetoric of gentrification, xenophobia, and “law and order” may have what it takes to change the very nature of New York itself and take it down from the inside.

In order to defeat him, and the Enemy who holds his purse strings, the avatars will have to join together with the other Great Cities of the world in order to bring her down for good and protect their world from complete destruction.

“The kind of book you lose an entire day to… and emerge shaken and dazzled on the other end. The writing is clear and visceral and intense. It’s some of the most brilliant, unapologetic speculative fantasy I’ve read in years.” —Washington Post

During the overthrow of the Mexican government, Beatriz’s father was executed and her home destroyed. When handsome Don Rodolfo Solórzano proposes, Beatriz ignores the rumors surrounding his first wife’s sudden demise, choosing instead to seize the security that his estate in the countryside provides. She will have her own home again, no matter the cost.

But Hacienda San Isidro is not the sanctuary she imagined.

When Rodolfo returns to work in the capital, visions and voices invade Beatriz’s sleep. The weight of invisible eyes follows her every move. Rodolfo’s sister, Juana, scoffs at Beatriz’s fears—but why does she refuse to enter the house at night? Why does the cook burn copal incense at the edge of the kitchen and mark the doorway with strange symbols? What really happened to the first Doña Solórzano?

Beatriz only knows two things for certain: Something is wrong with the hacienda. And no one there will save her.

Desperate for help, she clings to the young priest, Padre Andrés, as an ally. No ordinary priest, Andrés will have to rely on his skills as a witch to fight off the malevolent presence haunting the hacienda and protect the woman for whom he feels a powerful, forbidden attraction. But even he might not be enough to battle the darkness.

Far from a refuge, San Isidro may be Beatriz’s doom.

“A thing of uncanny, chilling beauty. Hauntings, exorcisms, incantations, forbidden love— The Hacienda transports one to a world where love triumphs over demons.” —The New York Times

Book 4 of the Dandelion Dynasty Book 3: The Veiled Throne Book 2: The Wall of Storms Book 1: The Grace of Kings

The concluding book of The Dandelion Dynasty begins immediately after the events of The Veiled Throne , in the middle of two wars on two lands among three people separated by an ocean yet held together by the invisible strands of love.

Harried by Lyucu pursuers, Princess Théra and Pékyu Takval try to reestablish an ancestral dream even as their hearts grow in doubt. The people of Dara continue to struggle against the genocidal Lyucu as both nations vacillate between starkly contrasting visions for their futures. Even the gods cannot see through the Wall of Storms, for only mortal hearts can decide mortal fates.

“[M]agnificent fantasy epic.” —NPR

Book 2 of The Burning Kingdoms Book 1: The Jasmine Throne

The prophecy of the nameless god—the words that declared Malini the rightful empress of Parijatdvipa—has proven a blessing and curse. She is determined to claim the throne that fate offered her. But even with rage in her heart and the army of loyal men by her side, deposing her brother is going to be a brutal and bloody fight.

The power of the deathless waters flows through Priya’s blood. Now a thrice born priestess and an Elder of Ahiranya, she dreams of seeing her country rid of the rot that plagues it: both Parijatdvipa’s poisonous rule, and the blooming sickness that is spreading through all living things. But she doesn’t yet understand the truth of the magic she carries.

Their chosen paths once pulled them apart. But Malini and Priya’s souls remain as entwined as their destinies. And saving their kingdom from those who would rather see it burn will come at a terrible price.

“Alluring, action-packed, and gut-wrenching.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

The people suffer under the centuries-long rule of the Moon Throne. The royal family—the despotic emperor and his monstrous sons, the Three Terrors—hold the countryside in their choking grip. They bleed the land and oppress the citizens with the frightful powers they inherited from the god locked under their palace.

But that god cannot be contained forever.

With the aid of Jun, a guard broken by his guilt-stricken past, and Keema, an outcast fighting for his future, the god escapes from her royal captivity and flees from her own children, the triplet Terrors who would drag her back to her unholy prison. And so it is that she embarks with her young companions on a five-day pilgrimage in search of freedom—and a way to end the Moon Throne forever. The journey ahead will be more dangerous than any of them could have imagined.

“Lyrical, evocative, part poem, part prose—not to be missed by anyone, especially fans of historical fantasy and folktale. It’s both like nothing and everything you’ve ever read: a tale made from the threads that weave the world, and all of us, together.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

I was born on the full moon under an auspicious constellation, the holiest of positions—much good it did me.

So begins Kaikeyi’s story. The only daughter of the kingdom of Kekaya, she is raised on legends of the gods: how they churned the vast ocean to obtain the nectar of immortality, how they vanquish evil and ensure the land of Bharat prospers, and how they offer powerful boons to the devout and the wise. Yet she watches as her father unceremoniously banishes her mother, listens as her own worth is reduced to how great a marriage alliance she can secure. And when she calls upon the gods for help, they never seem to hear.

Desperate for some measure of independence, she turns to the texts she once read with her mother and discovers a magic that is hers alone. With this power, Kaikeyi transforms herself from an overlooked princess into a warrior, diplomat, and most favored queen, determined to carve a better world for herself and the women around her.

But as the evil from her childhood tales threatens the cosmic order, the path she has forged clashes with the destiny the gods have chosen for her family. Kaikeyi must decide if resistance is worth the destruction it will wreak—and what legacy she intends to leave behind.

“A powerful, feminist retelling of the epic… Patel resets the balance of power, creating an unforgettable heroine who understands that it isn’t necessarily kings or gods who change history.” —The Washington Post

Marra never wanted to be a hero.

As the shy, convent-raised, third-born daughter, she escaped the traditional fate of princesses, to be married away for the sake of an uncaring throne. But her sister wasn’t so fortunate―and after years of silence, Marra is done watching her suffer at the hands of a powerful and abusive prince.

Seeking help for her rescue mission, Marra is offered the tools she needs, but only if she can complete three seemingly impossible tasks: ― build a dog of bones ― sew a cloak of nettles ― capture moonlight in a jar

But, as is the way in tales of princes and witches, doing the impossible is only the beginning.

Hero or not―now joined by a disgraced ex-knight, a reluctant fairy godmother, an enigmatic gravewitch and her fowl familiar―Marra might finally have the courage to save her sister, and topple a throne.

“Blending fairy-tale familiarity and common-sense characters, Kingfisher’s prose balances grim circumstances with humor and heart.” —Library Journal, starred review

Book 2 of Between Earth and Sky Book 1: Black Sun

The great city of Tova is shattered. The sun is held within the smothering grip of the Crow God’s eclipse, but a comet that marks the death of a ruler and heralds the rise of a new order is imminent.

The Meridian: a land where magic has been codified and the worship of gods suppressed. How do you live when legends come to life, and the faith you had is rewarded?

As sea captain Xiala is swept up in the chaos and currents of change, she finds an unexpected ally in the former Priest of Knives. For the Clan Matriarchs of Tova, tense alliances form as far-flung enemies gather and the war in the heavens is reflected upon the earth.

And for Serapio and Naranpa, both now living avatars, the struggle for free will and personhood in the face of destiny rages. How will Serapio stay human when he is steeped in prophecy and surrounded by those who desire only his power? Is there a future for Naranpa in a transformed Tova without her total destruction?

“The pages turn themselves. A beautifully crafted setting with complex character dynamics and layers of political intrigue? Perfection.” —Kirkus, starred review

Charm is a witch, and she is alone. The last of a line of conquered necromantic workers, now confined within the yard of regrown bone trees at Orchard House, and the secrets of their marrow.

Charm is a prisoner, and a survivor. Charm tends the trees and their clattering fruit for the sake of her children, painstakingly grown and regrown with its fruit: Shame, Justice, Desire, Pride, and Pain.

Charm is a whore, and a madam. The wealthy and powerful of Borenguard come to her house to buy time with the girls who aren’t real.

Except on Tuesdays, which is when the Emperor himself lays claim to his mistress, Charm herself.

But now―Charm is also the only person who can keep an empire together, as the Emperor summons her to his deathbed, and charges her with choosing which of his awful, faithless sons will carry on the empire―by discovering which one is responsible for his own murder.

If she does this last thing, she will finally have what has been denied her since the fall of Inshil―her freedom. But she will also be betraying the ghosts past and present that live on within her heart.

Charm must choose. Her dead Emperor’s will or the whispers of her own ghosts. Justice for the empire or her own revenge.

“A masterfully woven plot with refreshing narrators.” ―Publishers Weekly

Book 1 of The Empire of the Wolf Book 2: The Hunger of the Gods

The Empire of the Wolf simmers with unrest. Rebels, heretics, and powerful patricians all challenge the power of the Imperial throne.

Only the Order of Justices stands in the way of chaos. Sir Konrad Vonvalt is the most feared Justice of all, upholding the law by way of his sharp mind, arcane powers, and skill as a swordsman. At his side stands Helena Sedanka, his talented protégé, orphaned by the wars that forged the Empire.

When the pair investigates the murder of a provincial aristocrat, they unearth a conspiracy that stretches to the very top of Imperial society. As the stakes rise and become ever more personal, Vonvalt and Helena must make a choice: Will they abandon the laws they’ve sworn to uphold, in order to protect the Empire?

“Murder mystery meets grimdark political fantasy in this first of a trilogy… An intriguingly dark deconstruction of a beloved mystery trope.” ―Kirkus, starred review

Olivia Prior has grown up in Merilance School for Girls, and all she has of her past is her mother’s journal—which seems to unravel into madness. Then, a letter invites Olivia to come home to Gallant. Yet when Olivia arrives, no one is expecting her. But Olivia is not about to leave the first place that feels like home; it doesn’t matter if her cousin Matthew is hostile, or if she sees half-formed ghouls haunting the hallways.

Olivia knows that Gallant is hiding secrets, and she is determined to uncover them. When she crosses a ruined wall at just the right moment, Olivia finds herself in a place that is Gallant—but not. The manor is crumbling, the ghouls are solid, and a mysterious figure rules over all. Now Olivia sees what has unraveled generations of her family, and where her father may have come from.

Olivia has always wanted to belong somewhere, but will she take her place as a Prior, protecting our world against the Master of the House? Or will she take her place beside him?

“Evocative prose, eerie [black and white] artwork by Šumberac, and superbly rendered characters… elevate this affective, bone-chilling standalone from Schwab, which fuses Shirley Jackson’s gothic horror sensibilities with the warmth and dark whimsy of Neil Gaiman.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

Book 1 of the Kithamar Trilogy

Kithamar is a center of trade and wealth, an ancient city with a long, bloody history where countless thousands live and their stories unfold.

This is Alys’s.

When her brother is murdered, a petty thief from the slums of Longhill sets out to discover who killed him and why. But the more she discovers about him, the more she learns about herself, and the truths she finds are more dangerous than knives.

Swept up in an intrigue as deep as the roots of Kithamar, where the secrets of the lowest born can sometimes topple thrones, the story Alys chooses will have the power to change everything.

“[An] outstanding series debut, which instantly hooks readers with dual mysteries… Readers will eagerly anticipate the sequel.” ―Publishers Weekly, starred review

Book 2 of the Dark Star Trilogy Book 1: Black Leopard, Red Wolf

In Black Leopard, Red Wolf , Sogolon the Moon Witch proved a worthy adversary to Tracker as they clashed across a mythical African landscape in search of a mysterious boy who disappeared. In Moon Witch, Spider King , Sogolon takes center stage and gives her own account of what happened to the boy, and how she plotted and fought, triumphed and failed as she looked for him.

It’s also the story of a century-long feud—seen through the eyes of a 177-year-old witch that Sogolon had with Aesi, chancellor to the king. It is said that Aesi works so closely with the king that together they are like the eight limbs of one spider. Aesi’s power is considerable—and deadly. It takes brains and courage to challenge him, which Sogolon does for reasons of her own.

“A rare sequel that is better than its predecessor… Moon Witch, Spider King is a breathtaking book, one that functions as well as a standalone as it does a sequel… Make no mistake, this series is absolutely a must-read.” —NPR

Book 2 of The Serpent Gates Book 1: The Unspoken Name

Two years after defying the wizard Belthandros Sethennai and escaping into the great unknown, Csorwe and Shuthmili have made a new life for themselves, hunting for secrets among the ruins of an ancient snake empire.

Along for the ride is Tal Charossa, determined to leave the humiliation and heartbreak of his hometown far behind him, even if it means enduring the company of his old rival and her insufferable girlfriend.

All three of them would be quite happy never to see Sethennai again. But when a routine expedition goes off the rails and a terrifying imperial relic awakens, they find that a common enemy may be all it takes to bring them back into his orbit.

“Ancient relics, old foes, and new allies abound as Larkwood delves further into her vibrant fantasy world of fickle gods, blood sacrifices, treachery, unswerving fidelity, and boundless love that will intrigue fans and attract new series readers.” ―Booklist

Book 3 of The Nsibidi Scripts Book 2: Akata Warrior Book 1: Akata Witch

From the moment Sunny Nwazue discovered she had mystical energy flowing in her blood, she sought to understand and control her powers. Throughout her adventures in Akata Witch and Akata Warrior , she had to navigate the balance between nearly everything in her life—America and Nigeria, the “normal” world and the one infused with juju, human and spirit, good daughter and powerful Leopard Person.

Now, those hard lessons and abilities are put to the test in a quest so dangerous and fantastical, it would be madness to go… but may destroy the world if she does not. With the help of her friends, Sunny embarks on a mission to find a precious object hidden deep in an otherworldly realm. Defeating the guardians of the prize will take more from Sunny than she has to give, and triumph will mean she will be forever changed.

“In this series, Okorafor creates a stunningly original world of African magic that draws on Nigerian folk beliefs and rituals instead of relying on the predictable tropes of Western fantasy novels.” —Time

Book 1 of the Celestial Kingdom Book 2: Heart of the Sun Warrior

Growing up on the moon, Xingyin is accustomed to solitude, unaware that she is being hidden from the feared Celestial Emperor who exiled her mother for stealing his elixir of immortality. But when Xingyin’s magic flares and her existence is discovered, she is forced to flee her home, leaving her mother behind.

Alone, powerless, and afraid, she makes her way to the Celestial Kingdom, a land of wonder and secrets. Disguising her identity, she seizes an opportunity to learn alongside the emperor’s son, mastering archery and magic, even as passion flames between her and the prince.

To save her mother, Xingyin embarks on a perilous quest, confronting legendary creatures and vicious enemies. But when treachery looms and forbidden magic threatens the kingdom, she must challenge the ruthless Celestial Emperor for her dream—striking a dangerous bargain in which she is torn between losing all she loves or plunging the realm into chaos.

“Tan’s remarkable debut and duology launch transports readers into a stunning world… The result is a riveting page-turner that will leave fantasy lovers satisfied and eager for more.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

Carlota Moreau: A young woman growing up on a distant and luxuriant estate, safe from the conflict and strife of the Yucatán peninsula. The only daughter of a researcher who is either a genius or a madman.

Montgomery Laughton: A melancholic overseer with a tragic past and a propensity for alcohol. An outcast who assists Dr. Moreau with his experiments, which are financed by the Lizaldes, owners of magnificent haciendas and plentiful coffers.

The hybrids: The fruits of the doctor’s labor, destined to blindly obey their creator and remain in the shadows. A motley group of part human, part animal monstrosities.

All of them live in a perfectly balanced and static world, which is jolted by the abrupt arrival of Eduardo Lizalde, the charming and careless son of Dr. Moreau’s patron, who will unwittingly begin a dangerous chain reaction.

For Dr. Moreau keeps secrets, Carlota has questions, and, in the sweltering heat of the jungle, passions may ignite.

“The imagination of Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a thing of wonder, restless and romantic, fearless in the face of genre, embracing the polarities of storytelling—the sleek and the bizarre, wild passions and deep hatreds—with cool equanimity.” —The New York Times, Editors’ Choice

Despite the title, yes, this is a fantasy book.

1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel.

Babel is the world’s center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver working—the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars—has made the British unparalleled in power, as its knowledge serves the Empire’s quest for colonization.

For Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge obeys power, and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain, Robin realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to stopping imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide…

“ Babel has earned tremendous praise and deserves all of it. It’s… inventive and engaging, passionate and precise. Kuang is fiercely disciplined even when she’s playful and experimental.” —New York Times Book Review

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

• International edition
• Australia edition
• Europe edition

The best recent science fiction, fantasy and horror – reviews roundup

The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard; A View from the Stars by Cixin Liu; Flowers from the Void by Gianni Washington; The Dark Side of the Sky by Francesco Dimitri; The Hungry Dark by Jen Williams; To the Stars and Back by various writers

The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard ( Atlantic, £16.99 ) This debut novel is set in an isolated valley caught between its own past and future. To the east is a valley 20 years ahead; to the west, the same place is 20 years in the past. To protect against catastrophic changes to the timeline, the borders are fenced and patrolled by armed guards. The governing Conseil grants a few brief supervised crossings every year, to elderly mourners desperate for a glimpse of their loved ones when they were still alive. Odile is a shy, studious girl training for a place on the Conseil when she glimpses two visiting mourners lurking outside the school. Recognising them as older versions of the parents of a funny, talented boy she likes, she faces an impossible choice. He is doomed to die, but if she tries to save him, she will destroy her own future. The experience changes her life and never stops haunting her until, years later, she must confront other ethical dilemmas. This is an unusual approach to time travel, a philosophical thought experiment and a deeply moving, ultimately thrilling story about memory, love and regret.

A View from the Stars by Cixin Liu ( various translators; Head of Zeus, £20 ) Essays and short stories from the past three decades by the author of The Three-Body Problem . His stories are filled with a sense of wonder as they push ideas about the future of humanity to their extremes, and the personal essays offer a rare glimpse into attitudes towards science fiction in China and how the genre has changed. A fascinating collection.

Flowers from the Void by Gianni Washington ( Serpent’s Tail, £14.99 ) The stories in this wide-ranging collection of horror and fantasy run from the gothic grotesque to even more disturbing tales about weird obsessions and fatal misunderstandings. Some border on science fiction, with alien creatures and lifesize living dolls, while a fantasy about an African witch trying to join an all-white coven in colonial Massachusetts is so richly imagined it feels like a novel in miniature. An impressive debut from a very talented new writer.

The Dark Side of the Sky by Francesco Dimitri ( Titan, £9.99 ) The tale of a cult told from the inside, through the voices of its members, collectively known as the Bastion. To outsiders, founders Becca and Ric are dangerous con artists, but those in the community believe they have found a better, more spiritual way to live, and that the Bastion is truly the last defence against our world’s destruction. They have seen the stars change when they gather in the pine forest, and are aware of being watched by hungry eyes on the other side of the sky. An absorbing, fascinating novel, cleverly devised so that the reader is never quite sure where reality ends and fantasy begins.

The Hungry Dark by Jen Williams ( HarperVoyager, £16.99) After seven fantasy novels, Williams changed direction to crime thrillers. Her latest involves the hunt for a serial killer, but sits firmly in the British folk horror tradition. As a child, Ashley was haunted by the sight of silent grey figures gathering around her, and had a premonition of a tragedy she was unable to prevent. As an adult, she makes a living as a psychic – but it’s all faked, until those strange figures appear again and lead her to the body of a missing child. Atmospheric and suspenseful, a well-plotted blend of supernatural and crime.

To the Stars and Back: Stories in Honour of Eric Brown, edited by Ian Whates ( NewCon Press, £13.99 ) All new stories from some of Britain’s top SF writers, including Alastair Reynolds, Justina Robson, Ian Watson, Philip Palmer and other friends and admirers of the author Eric Brown, who died last year.

• Science fiction books
• Science fiction roundup
• Horror books
• Fantasy books

Most viewed

10 More Sci-Fi, Horror, and Fantasy Books to Read Ahead of Their Upcoming Adaptations

Vampires, devils, forest monsters, video-game drama, deep-space thrills, and yet another stephen king tale are all heading to screens big and small..

With Apple TV+ series Dark Matter —adapted from Blake Crouch’s best-selling novel—now streaming, it seemed like the perfect time to assemble a new list of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror books that have movies and TV series in the works . Add them to your summer reading list, and you’ll be an expert in the material by the time they hit screens!

Bless Your Heart by Lindy Ryan

Lindy Ryan’s debut novel was picked up in March with an eye toward developing it into a TV series. Set in 1999, the story follows a family of women who own the only funeral parlor in their small Texas town—a business that gets awfully complicated when (as the book’s vampiric cover art suggests) the dead start rising from their graves.

The Devil in Silver by Victor LaValle

Victor LaValle’s The Changeling made for quite the fascinating Apple TV+ series last year , so we’re looking forward to this adaptation of one of his other novels—a thriller set in a psychiatric hospital haunted by a monster who might be the actual Devil. The author himself shared an update on X earlier this year, reporting he’d been at AMC’s New York offices “meeting with a lot of talented people about hiring for roles” for a Devil in Silver TV show. He added, “Early stages but it is happening.” (Now, someone do Lone Women next!)

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Oscar winner Siân Heder (CODA) was recently tapped to direct Paramount Pictures’ anticipated big-screen adaptation of this 2022 best-seller. It spans decades in the lives of childhood friends who create a blockbuster video game together—a tale that will no doubt translate to a visually dynamic screen story.

The Watchers by A.M. Shine

Better start reading fast—the adaptation from writer-director Ishana Night Shyamalan (daughter of M. Night Shyamalan, who produces) opens June 7; it stars Dakota Fanning and you can watch the trailer here. The Watchers novel is described as a horror adventure set in a spooky forest where humans are held prisoner by mysterious creatures.

Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder

Let’s just let the official description do the talking for this one: “In this blazingly smart and voracious debut novel, an artist turned stay-at-home mom becomes convinced she’s turning into a dog.” The movie comes out this December and stars Amy Adams; it’s adapted and directed by Marielle Heller (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood) .

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Andy Weir’s The Martian was made into a successful 2015 Ridley Scott-directed movie , so it makes sense Hollywood would want to pick up another of his titles. Project Hail Mary is another space-set thriller, about a teacher turned astronaut who awakens in a far-flung region of the galaxy—at first unable to remember his mission, which could save the future of humanity. Last month, Deadline updated that the adaptation (and it’s a high-profile one, directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, and starring Ryan Gosling) has secured a release date of March 20, 2026.

The Electric State by Simon Stålenhag

This illustrated sci-fi saga from the creator of Tales From the Loop follows an orphaned teen who heads on a journey to find her missing brother, with the help of a robot companion and a drifter she meets along the way. The adaptation is due to hit Netflix sometime this year; it’s directed by Joe and Anthony Russo , and features a star-studded cast , with Millie Bobby Brown playing the main character alongside Chris Pratt, Stanley Tucci, Giancarlo Esposito, Ke Huy Quan, and Jason Alexander—plus Billy Bob Thornton, Anthony Mackie, Brian Cox, and Jenny Slate performing voice roles.

The Monkey by Stephen King

Hollywood never grows tired of Stephen King adaptations. The source material here is a short story first published in 1980, then revised and released as part of 1985 collection Skeleton Crew (which also features the already twice-adapted “The Mist”). Hollywood also loves tales of haunted toys, and The Monkey movie sounds like it will be a major horror release; according to Deadline , the Osgood Perkins -directed, James Wan-produced movie’s cast includes Theo James (playing the twin main characters), Tatiana Maslany, and Elijah Wood. It wrapped shooting in March but does not yet have a release date.

Night’s Edge by Liz Kerin

This 2023 novel follows a unique family relationship—mom’s a hungry vampire and her daughter’s spent her entire life keeping that uncomfortable fact a secret. As she grows into a young adult, she longs to be able to live her own life. Deadline reported last year that a Night’s Edge TV series was in early development at Freeform and 20th Television, and before you write it off after hearing “Freeform,” the talent working on it includes WandaVision creator Jac Schaeffer and Star Wars: The Acolyte architect   Leslye Headland.

Sky’s End by Marc J. Gregson

Antoine Fuqua’s production company just picked up the rights to this first novel in a new dystopian YA series, hoping to make it into a film franchise. According to the official description, it follows an exiled teen on a mission of rescue and revenge, and is “set in a civilization of islands that float above toxic black clouds.”

The BookTok creators whose sci-fi recommendations will shake up your reading list

T rying to figure out what to read next can be overwhelming, especially with the number of excellent science fiction and fantasy books that come out every year. But dozens of BookTokers — TikTokers who focus on books, from sharing favorites to critiquing classics — are here to help.

We’ve made a list of some of our favorite BookTokers who either focus on SFF, or have broad taste that includes a lot of speculative books. Fear not; this list expands beyond the much hyped books like Olivie Blake’s The Atlas Six or Sarah J. Maas’s numerous fantasy titles. This isn’t an exhaustive list either — the wide world of BookTok is full of creators who do excellent work. Since publishing this list, we’ve updated it with new BookTokers on the scene, and have removed a few BookTokers who have since stopped posting on the platform.

@torithatnerd

Tori reads broadly across science fiction and fantasy — doing everything from hyping up specific books to recommending books based off of the video games you might like. I am extremely envious of the bookshelf that’s the backdrop in most of her videos.

@greekchoir

Bailey is a fantasy and sci-fi lover, and her bio specifically shouts out her love of dark academia stories. Though her recommendations run the gamut, she is also a linguist, and I particularly enjoy her list of best SFF books with great world-building around language . She also has a great list of stand-alone fantasy recs — which feels like a rarity given the number of excellent fantasy series with numerous entries.

@fictionalfates

Joel has been a content creator on other platforms, but finally joined TikTok in 2023. They’re more than a booktoker, as their fantastic book recs work alongside cozy lifestyle content — like bookshelf decoration, cozy desk setups , and skincare routines — while talking about books.

@book_reviews_kill

Evan’s focus is on SFF, though his taste leans fantasy. His TikToks range from thoughtful analysis of individual titles, like V.E. Schwab’s The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Elder Race , to best books of the year, all-time favorites, and book hauls. His videos can tend toward the longer side, since they’re analysis-heavy — but they’re very accessible, and a great choice for those just starting to get into SFF or seasoned readers who are looking to dig deeper.

Ares recommends tons of SFF like hefty fantasy series, graphic novels and comics (like Saga and Monstress ), as well as manga. Ares also shares resources to help readers diversify the authors featured on their shelves. (And when I see someone who loves Ken Liu’s Dandelion Dynasty , I have to feature them.)

Drea recommends science fiction and fantasy books, shares her thoughts on favorite nerdy movies and TV shows — like House of the Dragon , Star Wars or, more recently, The Marvels — and also makes fun content around things like throwing Pokémon launch parties . She also makes tons of recs lists for books written by queer authors in the SFF space.

@thoughtsontomes_

If you love SFF tropes and are looking to add to that to-read stack, you’ve come to right place. Sam makes lots of specific recommendations based on tropes and themes like female rage , hero to villain , or dark academia — along with sharing queer readings of SFF.

@chaptersofchi

Adannia’s taste is broad and fairly omnivorous, including literary fiction like Yaa Gyasi’s Transcendent Kingdom as well as romance and YA. Of course, she also features tons of science fiction and fantasy , with a focus on an inclusive range of reads — featuring lots of SFF heavy hitters like Octavia E. Butler and Nnedi Okorafor. Adannia’s TikToks also touch on subjects like anti-Blackness in BookTok (and in publishing and criticism more broadly).

@books.with.lee

Lee’s taste is also very broad, but with a focus on international authors — especially with her 2022 “Reading Across Africa” challenge and 2023 “Reading Across Asia” challenge. Throughout the year, she also recommends speculative fiction, among many other genres. She also originated a trend where BookTokers share images of their favorite books in the thumbnail — browsing these is a great way to quickly find other creators to follow.

@melissas.bookshelf

Melissa Blair, who is also the author of A Broken Blade , recommends a broad range of books, including science fiction and fantasy, often highlighting indigenous authors (like Karen McBride, who wrote Crow Winter , a speculative literary fiction work). I’d recommend watching her tour of her local bookstore , where she points out great books from indigenous authors in Canada and the United States.

Madi Lim recommends books across a variety of genres, but science fiction and fantasy are in regular rotation. She also makes “ BookTok News ” TikToks dedicated to news — and BookTok tea — from movie adaptation announcements to conventions gone wrong. Some of her recommendations include Sue Lynn Tan’s Daughter of the Moon Goddess and Aiden Thomas’ Cemetery Boys .

@asthebookends

If you’re in the mood for lots of SFF lists to dig through, especially centered on granular themes — like urban fantasy or fallen heroes — or simply books with a certain level of “spice” (BookTok speak for how explicit or hot a book is), Erin Fehres’ account is for you. Peppered with lists and individual recommendations, there’s lots to choose from.

@amivireads

Amivi runs a bookclub called “Sapphic and Proud” with queer favorites across genres, including science fiction and fantasy. They share tons of sapphic must-reads and fantasy recommendations from Black writers , with favorites that include Ayana Gray’s Beasts of Prey and N.E. Davenport’s The Blood Trials .

@bookwormbullet

Ayushi champions a number of books that haven’t taken off on BookTok, but still deserve the love and attention of readers. She also highlights YA fantasies written by women of color , and reps lots of Desi authors — both SFF and outside the genre. (If you’re also a romance reader, Ayushi has got you covered.)

@libraryofclaire

If you were looking for queer recommendations , you’ve come to the right place. Claire champions books from across genres — with a frequent focus on science fiction — but they do an excellent job of highlighting queer SFF as well as sapphic books of all types. (Hello, Gideon the Ninth .) They also have an excellent list of books to read if you like D&D .

@johannawithbooks

If you’re looking to add more Latinx authors to your shelf, you can’t go wrong with Johanna’s recommendations. This book haul alone has a ton of excellent books to dig into (Fans of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Gods of Jade and Shadow rise up!!!).