We’ve run through our favorite games, movies, and TV shows of the year so far, and now it’s time to talk about our favorite sci-fi and fantasy books of the year. With new titles from beloved authors, impressive debuts, and short story collections, we’ve got a variety of new fantasy and sci-fi for you to dive into this year.
We’ll continue to update this article as we catch up on our to-read lists and as new titles are released, so stay tuned! the list is in reverse chronological order of release, so the most recently published books will be at the top.
You are reading: New sci fi fantasy books
and while you’re here, be sure to check out our list of 14 fantastic new romance books you should read.
empty eyes by adrian tchaikovsky
The Architects, an alien species of moon-sized planet destroyers, are back and the only thing that used to protect them is no longer effective. So how does humanity respond? with infighting, power grabs and petty bickering. At the center of all of this is Idris Tellemier, the only person to ever communicate with an architect, who spends most of the Eyes of the Void being traded, used, and kidnapped for political gain and protection. but while idris is in charge of saving the world, his friends in the vulture god are tasked with saving idris. Eyes of the Void finds solace, Kris, Kit, and Ollie (who legitimately gets their own POV chapters this time) navigating the tense political atmosphere and facing off against enemies ranging from architects to cultists and their own people to protect. his unusual family.
adrian tchaikovsky has constructed a dizzyingly complicated narrative, and his ingenious world-building gets a chance to shine in the eyes of the void, as the crew of the vulture god becomes further entangled with new characters, species and cultures, the most of which are the crew find various ways to get angry. And though the book raises more questions than it answers, the composite mysteries raise the stakes to poignant heights as Idris’s quest to learn how to stop the Architects reveals startling truths about the very makeup of the universe. —sadie gennis
the hunger of the gods by john gwynne
In its second installment, the bloodsworn saga continues to be a ruthless and brutal series filled with graphic action, flawless world-building, and an ever-expanding cast of characters who straddle the lines of morality. only now, it’s no longer just about mortals fighting for power, revenge, or family. The gods have returned to Vigrið, throwing the balance of society into chaos. As many struggle to find footholds of power in the changing world order, our original protagonists (okra, elvar, and varg) resolutely continue down their paths to rescue and avenge those taken from them, even if it means fighting (or enslaving). ) to a god. . while the characters’ stories were largely separate in the first novel, here they drift in and out of each other’s lives as fate and (mis)fortune reveal how intricately their paths have become intertwined. Tightly paced and invigorating action, Hunger for the Gods is the epic payoff to the foundation Gwynne meticulously laid in Shadow of the Gods and an exciting setting for the series’ conclusion. —sg
sea of tranquility by emily st. John Mandel
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emily street. John Mandel has demonstrated his talent for writing intertwined stories, with Station Eleven and The Glass Hotel introducing their casts bit by bit, slowly revealing how each of these characters knows each other. The Sea of Tranquility is even more extensive, stretching from the 1910s and into the future, a time when people live on lunar colonies. The book also creates an official Mandel multiverse, if that’s your thing, with characters from the Glass Hotel serving as some of the main focuses of the novel.
My favorite part of Sea of Tranquility is its full embrace of one of my favorite sci-fi tropes. It’s a time travel story with a series of well-crafted twists, all in Mandel’s flowing, introspective writing style. It’s a great read for anyone who loves the Matrix movies or enjoyed Disney’s Loki (but maybe wished it stayed a little better on the landing). —nicole clark
this rebellious heart of katherine locke
budapest is where csilla’s family has lived for hundreds of years. it’s also where they died. In 1956, seven years after her parents were executed by Soviet police, Jewish typist Csilla and her aunt prepare to flee to Israel. But after chance encounters with a student revolutionary and an angel of death, Csilla begins to question what means more to her: fighting to survive or fighting for a better life.
With its richly drawn characters and harrowing portrayals of post-Holocaust trauma and anti-Semitism, this rebellious heart is a grounded, often harrowing, account of Jewish life under Russian occupation. As Csilla finds herself at the forefront of the Hungarian revolution, she navigates the conflicting realities that have shaped her: remembering and forgetting, survival and freedom, and loving a city that has never loved her. Elegantly blending history with magical realism and Jewish folklore, Katherine Locke has created a profound tribute to those willing to risk everything for hope. —sg
how spring comes and other stories edited and compiled by yu chen and regina kanyu wang
Chinese science fiction has become increasingly popular in the United States, as Ken Liu (an accomplished author in his own right) translated Liu Cixin’s groundbreaking Three-Body Problem into English. since then, Chinese speculative fiction has grown in popularity, giving way to other literary talents.
The Way Spring Comes is a collection of 17 Chinese science fiction and fantasy stories, all of which have been written, translated, and edited entirely by women and non-binary writers. Curated by Yu Chen and Regina Kanyu Wang, the excellent collection spans themes and tropes. —nc
goliath by tochi onyebuchi
in the near future, a massive flight of targets to space colonies has left the largely poor bipoc population barely surviving on earth, which has become uninhabitable after ecological and climate disasters. the man. but although the powerful and privileged have left the planet, the system from which they benefit remains intact. now, years later, space colonists have begun to return, some to gentrify the neighborhoods their ancestors abandoned and others as traumatized tourists looking to gawk at those left behind. Goliath, a non-linear series of vignettes, switches between the perspectives of various characters, but the main focus is on a group of stackers, a team of black and brown workers who manage to salvage bricks from demolished buildings to ship to the colonies. . With no hope that circumstances will improve, they have long accepted that pain will be the main constant in their inevitably short lives: if the cancerous air doesn’t kill them, automated police drones will. But while much of their lives are defined by pain, stackers keep moving forward, searching for meaning and fleeting moments of joy in a world designed to destroy them.
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Impressive in its scale, ambition and range of voice, Goliath is a powerful work that is much more than the sum of its parts. In addition to the stackers, Tochi Onyebuchi weaves together stories of a white gay couple who leave the colonies to play pioneers in the land, a journalist hoping to tell the story of the stackers (but in reality, hoping to alleviate her guilt). white), an incarcerated yale graduate who becomes a negotiator at a prison protest, and a black sheriff who drags a slaver across the west to retrieve the body of a murdered child. goliath is simultaneously sprawling and intimate, exploring racism, classism, gentrification, the prison system, and the climate crisis through brief moments in these largely disconnected lives. But taken together, these small moments add up to a powerful look at America’s broken system and the harrowing trajectory we find ourselves on. —sg
akata woman of nnedi okorafor
If the first two installments of nsibidi’s script series were about sunny discovering and exploring her identity, akata woman is about her defining her. The inventive and adventurous novel follows Sunny during a period of great growth as she and Chichi are forced to honor her deal with the giant spider Udide in order to return her stolen Ghazal. With Orlu and Sasha on their heels, the coven’s treacherous journey to retrieve the ancient scroll leads them to discover stunning new worlds and the ever-increasing limits of their juju skills. But as Sunny struggles to keep up with her rapidly evolving powers, she must also confront the growing fracture in her relationship with her spiritual face, Anyanwu.
Being a duplicate and being a free agent carry heavy loads in leopard culture, but throughout the akata woman, sunny finds a strength and comfort in who she is and what she can do. It’s another beautiful stage in Sunny’s coming-of-age journey, made even more impactful by Nnedi Okorafor’s rhythmic prose. -sg
how high we got in the dark from sequoia nagamatsu
how high we go in the dark by sequoia nagamatsu is easily one of the best books I’ve read this year so far, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s my absolute favorite for the end of the year. Tender and dystopian, the pandemic novel is told in a series of vignettes, each exposing a different sector of future society and ultimately connecting through characters and circumstances.
nagamatsu vividly paints a picture of a society that inevitably builds industry out of pain, as people fight for basic human dignity and struggle to hold on to the memories of their loved ones. is an ambitious critique of late-stage capitalism, wrapped in a series of family dramas that sound wild out of context: a toy robot dog containing recordings of a deceased mother’s lullabies, a state park euthanasia for children whose Parents want them to have happy ending memories, and tech-bro created Funeral Coins are just a few of the scenarios. —nc
daughter of the moon goddess by sue lynn tan
This heartfelt, lyrical fantasy follows xingyin, a young immortal woman secretly raised by her mother chang’e, the moon goddess exiled to a life of solitude by the cruel celestial emperor. But when xingyin’s existence is discovered, she must flee the only home she’s ever known and forge a new path while hiding the truth of who she is.
the daughter of the moon goddess traces the years of xinglin’s journey with efficient and effortless speed, chronicling her evolution from a sheltered child to the unlikely but most beloved companion of the heavenly prince and a decorated archer in the service of the very emperor she despises. Meanwhile, xingyin must juggle the desires and duties she develops in her new life with her longstanding determination to free her mother from the yoke of the emperor. A story about how far we come for love and the painful decisions we must make along the way, the daughter of the moon goddess weaves together Chinese mythology, court intrigue, romance, action and betrayal in one of the debuts. most exciting of the year. -sg
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