I’ve met a lot of folks over the past couple of years who’re interested in science fiction and fantasy novels, but don’t quite know how to find good books to read. And so they often fall back on what they consider the classics, novels written in the middle of the last century.
And while some of those books may still hold up, a lot of them don’t, either through problematic attitudes towards gender or race, or that they were simply written in a world that bears little resemblance to the highly-connected world that we now inhabit.
The field of speculative fiction has never been stronger than it is right now. Incredible novels are released every month, from diverse viewpoints and overflowing with imagination. You just need to know where to start.
So, here’s a short list of starting points.
Every book on this list is a great read. Maybe not all of them will be for you, and that’s okay, because something else here will be.
I’ve also tried to pick books which are either stand-alone, or when they are part of a series, are satisfying in a single volume. That said, I would highly recommend any book by these authors.
Give them a try, and if any of these hit the spot, let me know over on Mastodon!
A Psalm for the Wild-Built, by Becky Chambers
A wholesome post-apocalypse, where a travelling monk meets a robot while travelling the wilds.
Genuinely life-affirming and wonderful.
The Traitor Baru Cormorant, by Seth Dickinson
A girl from a conquered archipelago sets out to climb the ranks of the empire who ruined her home, intending to rise to greatness and tear out the empire’s heart from the inside.
An intricately-plotted series, deeply woven into the flaws of imperialism and colonialism, but without letting that awareness get in the way of a great revenge story.
Last Exit, by Max Gladstone
Years ago, a group of friends set out to save the world. They failed, and lost one of their own. Now she’s calling to them from the cracks between worlds, and they all know that at the end of this last roadtrip they’ll have to face her once again.
This feels a lot like an updated take on King’s Dark Tower books, but without a lot of the baggage that series piled up over time.
The Red Scholar’s Wake, by Aliette de Bodard
When a data analyst is captured by pirates, she expects to be tortured or killed. Instead, the pirate queen - a sentient mindship - offers her a deal: marriage, and her freedom, in exchange for hunting down the murderer of the pirate queen’s previous wife.
Really excellent F/F space opera romance.
This is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone
Two agents on opposite sides of the time war fall in love as they encounter each other through time and space.
Brilliantly written, imaginative and adorable.
Children of Time, by Adrian Tchaikovsky
A generation ship fleeing the collapse of humankind reaches a planet previously terraformed for future colonisation. But beneath the eye of an increasingly-erratic AI satellite, evolution has resulted in a world dominated by a highly-advanced arachnid civilisation.
The closest thing to traditional Asimovean science-fiction on this list, but brought right up to date and told with great care and empathy for the similarities and differences between sentient species.
The City We Became, by N K Jemisin
Five New Yorkers take up their role as avatars of the city, to defend their respective boroughs from incursions from a city of unspeakable things lurking just beyond their plane of reality.
A thoroughly modern take on cosmic horror, unpicking the racism and xenophobia inherent in early works of the genre.
The Calculating Stars, by Mary Robinette Kowal
An alternate history of the space race, after a meteor wipes out the eastern seaboard and pushes humanity to colonise other planets in the early 1950s.
In the absence of computers, NASA turns to the former Women Airforce Service Pilots to provide in-flight calculation and orbital trajectories as humanity reaches for the stars, but society may not be ready to accept a Lady Astronaut.
All the Birds in the Sky, by Charlie Jane Anders
Two childhood friends - a witch and a mad scientist - run into each other in near-future San Francisco while each trying to save the world in their own way.
A delightful, imperfect mix of magical realism and apocalyptic science fiction.
Every Heart a Doorway, by Seanan McGuire
Sometimes children go on grand adventures, through mysterious doors to magical realms. And then their quest ends, and they re-emerge into a real world that doesn’t believe them, doesn’t understand the things they’ve seen, how they’re not the same kids who disappeared in the woods on the way home from school.
But there’s a place that understands, where kids-who-were-heroes can go to recover from their collective traumas together, each searching for their door back home.