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Critically acclaimed novels from 2024 and 2025 Rose/House by Arkady Martine (2025): The Hugo Award-winning author delivers a murder mystery centered on a house that is also an artificial intelligence. Only an architect's former protégé is allowed in, but when a body appears, the AI goes silent. The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (2024): A time-travel novel and Goodreads Choice Award nominee that follows a civil servant tasked with assisting "traversers"—people rescued from different points in history. She must protect a Victorian naval officer and ends up falling in love with him. The Mercy of Gods by James S.A. Corey (2024): From the co-author of The Expanse series, this space opera follows a young man's journey to another star system after humans are driven from Earth by an alien power. Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky (2024): Set in the same universe as his Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning novel Children of Time, this book follows a political activist who is exiled to a distant world containing the ruins of an ancient alien civilization. Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky (2024): In this novel, a robot programmed for menial household tasks accidentally murders his owner and flees, discovering a world of decaying human hierarchies and struggling robot ecosystems. Starter Villain by John Scalzi (2024): A fast-paced, humorous adventure in which a divorced man inherits his late uncle's supervillain business, complete with a volcano lair and a legion of henchmen. Fan-favorite novels from recent years Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (2021): A classic hard sci-fi novel about an amnesiac astronaut who wakes up to discover he is the last hope for humanity. The Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells: The series begins with the novella All Systems Red (2017) and continues with the recent novel System Collapse (2023). It follows a cynical, self-hacked security android who just wants to be left alone to watch its media but keeps getting pulled into trouble. The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi (2022): A book for fans of monster movies, in which a food delivery driver is offered a strange new job with a company that protects giant, dinosaur-like creatures in an alternate dimension. The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler (2022): In this novel, a marine biologist studies the world's first known non-human sentient species—a community of highly intelligent octopuses. The book received widespread praise for its deep themes and sense of wonder. Leviathan Falls by James S.A. Corey (2021): This is the final installment of the epic Expanse series, wrapping up the long-running war for control of the solar system.