Answer Details

Drawing from recent award nominations and highly-rated lists, here are some of the best and most talked-about science fiction novels published within the last few years. The selection covers a range of styles, from hard sci-fi to cyberpunk and space opera. Award winners These recent titles have received major recognition, making them excellent, safe bets for a great read. The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera (2023): This fantasy-tinged science fiction novel was the 2024 Nebula Award winner for Best Novel. It tells the story of a man who must escape his magical family to pursue his own path in a city built around myth. Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh (2023): A 2024 Hugo Award winner for Best Novel, this queer space opera is praised for its masterful deconstruction of classic sci-fi tropes. It follows a young woman raised in a militaristic colony who sets off on a path of revenge. System Collapse by Martha Wells (2023): The winner of the 2024 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, this is the seventh installment in the beloved Murderbot Diaries series. It follows the sarcastic, anxious, and socially awkward SecUnit known as Murderbot as it navigates a new disaster with its human companions. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (2021): From the author of The Martian, this novel is a thrilling survival story about a lone astronaut who wakes up with amnesia on a last-ditch mission to save humanity. It won a number of awards and is widely considered one of the decade's best. A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine (2019): This space opera and murder mystery won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2020. A diplomatic ambassador arrives at the capital of a powerful empire to find her predecessor murdered, and must solve the case before her own station is at risk. Other highly-reviewed recent works These recent novels and novellas may not have won the top awards, but they have received high praise from critics and readers. The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler (2022): Shortlisted for the 2024 Arthur C. Clarke Award, this highly-acclaimed novel follows a marine biologist studying the first known non-human sentient species—a newly discovered species of octopus. The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz (2023): Included on the 2024 Locus Award shortlist, this is a heartfelt story about a terraforming team that discovers indigenous life on the planet they are supposed to reshape. In the Lives of Puppets by T.J. Klune (2023): An adventure set in a peculiar, futuristic forest, this charming novel follows a family of robots and one human who must go on a quest to rescue their father. Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki (2021): This unique, genre-bending novel involves a classical violinist who makes a Faustian bargain, a transgender runaway, and queer alien refugees, all in California's San Gabriel Valley. Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel (2022): A speculative fiction novel involving art, time travel, and a plague that spans from Vancouver Island in 1912 to a moon colony five hundred years later.