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[NOTE: THIS IS THE AI MODE ANSWER, REGULAR GOOGLE SEARCH DID NOT INCLUDE AN AI OVERVIEW, A REDDIT THREAD WAS THE FIRST RESULT] To find the best recent science fiction novels, consider award winners and popular choices from the last few years, including works published in 2024 and 2025. Award-winning and highly-reviewed recent novels 2025 Releases Annie Bot by Sierra Greer: Explores themes of sentience and personhood through the lens of a personalized android companion. Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky: An acclaimed novel from an author who consistently receives praise for his sci-fi. The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley: Follows a civil servant who is tasked with assisting a time traveler who has been plucked from the 19th century. 2024 Releases A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine: The first book in the critically lauded Teixcalaan duology, which won the Hugo Award for Best Novel. It features a new ambassador investigating the murder of her predecessor in a politically complex galactic empire. Orbital by Samantha Harvey: Shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize, this is a quiet, contemplative novel that explores life and humanity through the eyes of astronauts on the International Space Station. System Collapse by Martha Wells: The seventh novel in the beloved and award-winning Murderbot Diaries series, about a part-human, part-bot security construct that just wants to be left alone to watch its shows. 2023 Releases Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky: The third book in the Children of Time series, this space opera continues the story of humanity's expansion and encounters with advanced, non-human species. Starter Villain by John Scalzi: A funny and fast-paced adventure about a man who inherits his supervillain uncle's empire—including his talking cat and a lair full of minions. Popular titles from 2020–2022 Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (2021): A classic "hard sci-fi" adventure from the author of The Martian, about a lone astronaut who must save Earth from a cosmic disaster. A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (2021): A cozy, hopepunk novella that follows a tea monk and a robot who meet on a moon where humanity and nature are in balance. Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel (2022): A mind-bending, time-spanning novel that connects various lives, from an 18th-century colonist to a present-day writer to a lunar resident in the future. Light Bringer by Pierce Brown (2023): The sixth book in the popular Red Rising saga, an epic space opera with class-based societal conflict.