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Drawing upon recent award shortlists, critic recommendations, and popular reviews, here are some of the best and most highly-regarded science fiction novels published in the last few years. Award-winning and critically acclaimed novels (2024–2025) The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (2024): A time-travel novel and Goodreads Choice Award nominee that follows a civil servant tasked with working with "expats" from different historical periods. Annie Bot by Sierra Greer (2024): Explores complex themes of AI and companionship, focusing on a bot who becomes increasingly self-aware. Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky (2024): A provocative story about a humanlike service bot navigating a post-apocalyptic world ruled by its own machines. Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (2024): A dystopian novel shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award that presents a brutal, televised prison-fighting spectacle. The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler (2024): Shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award, this book explores the first contact with a species of sentient, deep-sea octopuses. The Mercy of Gods by James S. A. Corey (2024): The start of a new series from the authors of The Expanse, which follows a captive trying to survive in a war-torn future. Notable recent publications (2023) The Blue, Beautiful World by Karen Lord (2023): Explores first contact through the story of a woman who receives an invitation to a global conversation from an extraterrestrial being. Venomous Lumpsucker by Ned Beauman (2023): The winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award, this novel is a satirical eco-thriller about a future of mass extinction. The Red Scholar's Wake by Aliette de Bodard (2023): A sapphic space opera about a scavenger whose mind is transferred into the body of a beautiful space pirate's wife after a marriage of convenience. The Ferryman by Justin Cronin (2023): A thriller set in a utopian island society, where a resident's life is turned upside down when he discovers the dark secrets of his community. Highly-reviewed and popular favorites (2021–2022) Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (2021): From the author of The Martian, this novel follows a lone astronaut who wakes up with amnesia and must save the Earth. The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi (2022): A fun, fast-paced novel where a man joins a secret organization that protects gigantic monsters in an alternate dimension. Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel (2022): A mind-bending story that spans centuries and space as it explores themes of time, pandemics, and the very nature of reality. The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells (ongoing series): While the series has been running for a few years, recent installments like System Collapse (2023) continue to earn high praise for their exploration of a self-hacking, anxious security robot.