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The 72 Most Popular Sci-Fi Novels of the Past Three Years
Science fiction fans tend to be a ravenous lot, and, as such, the publishing industry has traditionally obliged by keeping the shelves fully stocked with new sci-fi. Everybody wins! The trouble is, there’s a lot to sort through…
It always helps to have a sense of what other sci-fi fans are reading. We’ve collected below 72 of the most popular science fiction novels of the past three years, as determined by reader shelvings and Want to Read choices. Each of the titles was published in the U.S. in 2019 or later. For series in which multiple books qualify, we’ve selected the first title of that series.
There really is something here for every taste: the hard sci-fi of Andy Weir, the literary alchemy of Emily St. John Mandel, the gorgeous African Futurism of Nnedi Okorafor. Several debut authors have announced their presence with authority these past three years: Jessamine Chan and Sequoia Nagamatsu, to name two. Short story enthusiasts should not miss the work of Ted Chiang. Also: Know Your Monsters.
Scroll over the book covers below for more details about each title, and add any promising leads to your own Want to Read shelf.
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by
Kimmy
(new)
Jul 06, 2022 03:14AM
Check out the prolific Australian author Peter Cawdron - never fails to deliver a well thought out and researched interpretation of first contact, ranging in locations from the jungle to Antarctica, situations and realistically drawn characters. He’s an automatic read for me!Peter Cawdron
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Too Like the Lightning, The Thing Itself, and The Ministry for the Future are probably my favorites, but there were also Club Ded, Смерти.net, Возвращение «Пионера», An Unkindness of Ghosts, The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, and books by Yoss
Definitely agree with those who say to add Murderbot series!
Red Rising Saga by Pierce Brown, and also Murderbot.
I read
Dead Space
by Kali Wallace over the weekend and it was fantastic.I see I have some on this list on my TBR already so this was a good reminder article.
I agree with the comment about Peter Cawdron. His books are very satisfying to read. Check him out, you will not be disappointed!
Karen wrote: "I cannot believe Murderbot is not on this list. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5..."
I totally agree. I have suggested the Murderbot books to many people - they all loved them. Like A++ love them. And I can't believe they haven't been made into movies.
I cannot wait until the day my books or one of my future books are on a list like this.
In addition to many already mentioned:- The Hod King and The Fall of Babel by Josiah Bancroft
- Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (which I liked better than Gideon)
- We Shall Sing a Song Into the Deep by Andrew Kelly Stewart
- When the Sparrow Falls - Neil Sharpson (maybe my favorite book of 2021)
- Leviathan Falls - James S.A. Corey (great end to series)
Sleeping Giants trilogy by Sylvain Neuvel and anything by Orson Scott Card.
Another vote for Murderbot. Also the Joe Ballen series by David M. Kelly.
Barbara wrote: "The Ender series by Scott Card"That sci-fi series has not been released in the last three years. The last three years is what this blog entry is highlighting.
I've only attempted one of the books on the list and DNF'd it. A few of them are on my TBR though.
Love the list and all the titles mentioned in the comments. I have read about 25% of the list and added many to my to read list.
Also, the Terra Ignota serie by Ada Palmer :)
Johana wrote: "Also, the Terra Ignota serie by Ada Palmer :)"Definitely!
A list of the top 999 books of any genre could be posted and you would still get "Why isn't my favorite book on this list?" Publishing a list like this must be one of the most under-appreciated jobs in the country.For 1 thing, this is a list of the Most Popular. Not the Best Whatever list.
I have read, only "To sleep in the sea of stars" from this list but I have recently started my journey into the Expanse universe, and planning to read more Sci-Fi going forward but let's see.
If you haven't read the Illuminae series, or the Dune series you should check those out, as well as the Red Rising series
SG wrote: "Red Rising Saga by Pierce Brown, and also Murderbot."Agree!
to those of you mentioning murderbot: the article title clearly states this is a list of novels, the murderbot diaries series almost entirely consists of novellas.
From this list, I recommend Project Hail Mary, Recursion, and To Sleep in a Sea of Stars. There are many on this list I haven't read though.
Sharon wrote: "The three body problem !!!"Three body problem is an excellent series that any sci-fi fan should read, but it is older than three years.
Karen wrote: "I cannot believe Murderbot is not on this list. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5..."
Me too! Shocked.
Lots of good stuff here; thank you finally for keeping sci fi and fantasy SEPARATE! Yay!
Kimmy Classic Australian Crawl wrote: "Check out the prolific Australian author Peter Cawdron - never fails to deliver a well thought out and researched interpretation of first contact, ranging in locations from the jungle to Antarctica..."I agree! He's fantastic!
Thanks for the list. Several titles I really liked on here, so I'll mine it for suggestions. I also enjoyed Agency by William Gibson (book two of the Peripheral series), Driving the Deep by Suzanne Palmer (also second of a series but easy to pick up, about an interstellar repo man), and The Light Years by RWW Greene, a far-future, easy-to-read novel that is not military SF, unlike a lot of titles in similar settings.
Henley wrote: "If you haven't read the Illuminae series, or the Dune series you should check those out, as well as the Red Rising series"Neither Illuminae Files or Dune were published within the last 3 years which is what this list is highlighting.
mace wrote: "to those of you mentioning murderbot: the article title clearly states this is a list of novels, the murderbot diaries series almost entirely consists of novellas."If you read through the full list, what you're claiming is clearly not the case, since there are short stories included on the list... Murder Bot is a glaring omission as are a few other very popular sci-fi books/series. As usual with Goodreads "most popular" lists, they usually aren't 100% reflections of what has actually been popular among sff communities either on or off Goodreads, and have evidently been curated for marketing purposes.
mace wrote: "to those of you mentioning murderbot: the article title clearly states this is a list of novels, the murderbot diaries series almost entirely consists of novellas."List includes The Psalm of the Wild Built (147p) and The Test (112p). Those are both novellas.
Ann wrote: "Barbara wrote: "The Ender series by Scott Card"That sci-fi series has not been released in the last three years. The last three years is what this blog entry is highlighting."
I don't support homophobic authors but the Ender's Game series is actually still being published. This list covers books released from 2019 onwards and 2 Enders Game novels were released since 2019 (The Hive & The Last Shadow).
I've read this year Philip K Dick 'Ubik' & 'Valis' very weird & out there! Also read Ursula le Guin 'The lathe of Heaven' - really worth reading.
I'm going to throw out two names of people who have ongoing projects: Ada Hoffman and Saad Z. Hossain. Hoffman's "The Outside" trilogy straddles cosmic horror and space opera. Hossain has a series of novels and a series of novellas that incorporate SF, fantasy, and dystopian absurdity.
I marked a couple to find but so many on the same themes - kid/teen main characters, climate change & pandemics. I'm insearch of something different :)
Sharon wrote: "The three body problem !!!"Title says 'past three years'. TBP is a fair bit older.
Karen wrote: "I cannot believe Murderbot is not on this list. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5..."
I know, right? Kinda makes me question the whole list...
Karen wrote: "I cannot believe Murderbot is not on this list. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5..."
maybe it's because it's a tedious piece of drivel!
most of the books on this list shouldn't even qualify as SciFi - just setting something on a spaceship or slightly into the future shows absolutely zero imagination, but then that's the problem with the modern disease of touchy feely hippy snowflakeness that infests modern bookshelves
