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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.
Comments Showing 51-100 of 110 (110 new)
Thank you for - finally! - splitting the SF from F books; it's appreciated.
Laurent wrote: "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 wit..."Okay, boomer.
this list is weird for not including murderbot
I have only read 1 book from this list. I find that in general, what is supposedly popular is rarely the kind of thing I like to read. Of course, there are exceptions, but often I find popular means whatever sells this week in the world's political climate. That kind of thing doesn't interest me. I much prefer a good scifi story that is actually scifi, and not something (as someone else pointed out that just happens to take place on a space ship or on a foreign planet. I read a definition of science fiction onec that said if you remove the scifi part, and the story colapses, then it's scifi. Often I find removing the spaceship, the moon or the planet it takes place on does absolutely nothing to the story, so by that definition, those stories aren't science fiction. However, I do have to applaud the editors for (as someone else pointed out) finally separating scifi and fantasy. Too many folks think it's the same genre, and that's just sad.
I’ve really enjoyed The Authority Wars series so far from T.H. Solomon. I also thought Star Wars: Brotherhood was one of the better Star Wars books I’ve read in a while.
It's a golden age for creative SF. Such things don't last forever; enjoy the moment, which has maintained itself for quite a few years now. This particular list generally matches my own preferences but those with other preferences should be able to find plenty to their taste elsewhere. Among my favorites are Time War, The Anomaly (L'Anomalie), The City in the Middle of the Night, and Light from Uncommon Stars -
followed quite closely by a dozen others mentioned. Of the thirty-odd I've read, the only one that struck me as weak was McEwan's. He seems to be unfamiliar with the genre and overconfident of his own originality in this territory. And given that he's generally a gifted writer, he ought to have thought to make some use of that talent in this setting. As for example Ishiguro does, when writing in the genre. (No doubt someone liked the McEwan very much, and it must have some virtues that escaped me.)
The absence of Murderbot is striking and it's not clear how that happened. And one would look for The Expanse, not at the top of the list but in terms of popularity and execution, it should be present. More as a series than as a single publication, which may be why it is absent from the 3-year window.
R. F. Kuang's Poppy War trilogy is another very strong candidate, with 2/3 falling in the designated time frame. And a new work this year looking promising.
Something one will not find on a list of this type is the stream of interesting little publications from PM Press presenting "Outspoken Authors." They open further horizons.
Several of Peter Cawdron's "First Contact" collection belong here; Losing Mars, Clowns, Anomaly, Jury Duty, Welcome to the Occupied States of America, Wherever Seeds May Fall, Generation of Vipers.
Freefall, Shadowfall and Windfall - The Amalie Noether trilogy - LGBTQ+ adventure.... and the girl gets the girl in the end.
The Space Between Worlds - a gem!
I've read five of these. My favorites are John Scalzi and Andy Weir and One Word Kill.Some of the writers, like Stephenson and Chambers, are not really my thing.
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..."Thanks. I'd love to make one of these lists one day
while I do agree, murderbot are mostly novellas, one of them isn't, network effect, winner of last year's hugo, so yeah Murderbot is missing!Also missing Mary Robinette Kowal's Lady Astronaut series, her first came out (and also won a hugo) in 2019, plus 2 sequels. Rebecca Roanhorse's Black Sun was also a good book and not listed (and nominated for Hugo, but lost to Murderbot!
Peter wrote: "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 ..."We’re doing our best to get your name out there!
Grimm's War series by Jeffery H. Haskell. Best military science fiction.
+1 for Lady Astronaut by Mary Robinette Kowal, her other books are delightful, too! Looking forward to Mur Lafferty's new book coming out in October, Six Wakes is great. Also: Murderbot!
Karen wrote: "I cannot believe Murderbot is not on this list. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5..."
Totally agree!
Jasmin wrote: "Red Rising should be top of that list!!"Red Rising was published before 2019.
In addition to many suggestions for Peter Cawdron novels, which I agree. Here are four additional sci-fi novels that were better than GREAT: The Peacemaker's Code-Deepak Malhotra, The Sentinel-T.M. Haviland, The Emissary-Michael Edwards, and The Virgo Paradox-R.H. Johnson.
Jeffrey wrote: "Red Rising Series 4 Books Collection Set"The first 4 books came out over 3 years ago so only book 5 qualifies.
Jasmin wrote: "Red Rising should be top of that list!!"Red Rising came out 8 years ago. This is a list for the past 3 years.
Unfortunately there were no Brazilian writers on this list but I want to recommend Back in the USSR: Um Thriller Surrealista, by Fábio Fernandes, Matando gigantes, by Claudia Dugim, Amália Atrás de Amália, by Marco Aqueiva, and some short stories of Braulio Tavares in the book Fanfic. Yes, they are all from the same collection, but they're all amazing.
@Marc - Black Sun is in the fantasy list. Likewise, Dragon Republic (which I had mentioned here) is in that list as well. And Piranesi ...Makes sense.
Anyone else chuckling at the irony of readers who failed to read the title of this list and are suggesting books older than "the past 3 years"?
Murderbot, duh. Also the Ancillary series by Ann Leckie should be on this list. The Three Body Problem.
Elisabeth wrote: "The Memory Police"Any good? It's been on my bookshelf for over a year!
Has someone created a top 10 (the signal) out of these 72?
Karen wrote: "I cannot believe Murderbot is not on this list. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5..."
Yes, thank you--only one of the best science fiction series ever written!
Sharon wrote: "The three body problem !!!"Way more than 3 years old but a great read.
If you love dogs, read a A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World, Read anything by Becky Chambers.
Yes Murderbot should be on the list.
Dennis E. Taylor Bobiverse should also be there, If you are a fan of Douglas Adams, the Bobiverse had a strong Adams Vibe.
No The three body problem????No Ministry for the Future???
this needs better curating.
Vajnis wrote: "The Space Between Worlds - a gem!"I completely agree - it was an amazing book and should really get more attention
Besides Winter's Orbit, is there a book here with a gay or bi male lead I should know about?
Nice to see a pair of Neal Stephenson books on the list.Neal Stephenson
Perhaps my favorite modern SF author.
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."I read one of his and enjoyed it too!
Don't mean to be rude, just realistic, I could care less what other books other science fiction readers are reading.
This is a terrible list. Most aren't even Sci-Fi. You've left out some of the highest rated Sci-Fi and Military Sci-Fi books that are at the top of the charts... Where's the Expeditionary Force series and/or Wayward Galaxy? Where are books like Starship Troopers, the Moon is a Harsh Mistress or the numerous other books by Heinlein or a thousand other books then these books that few have even heard of?
I am guilty as many others who rushed to comment on the post and didn’t read the criteria of book selection announced at the start of the list:- published in the U.S. in 2019 or later
- novels (not shorter things like novellas)
- top 72 as determined by *reader shelvings and Want to Read choice*
Apart from some small flaws like including novellas like A Psalm for Wild Built and The Test, it is hard to argue with the list, especially since it is not easy for us to see “want to read” part.
What this list shows clearly is what we already know - top anticipation, i.e., “Want to Read” is not the same as top post-reading quality (rating) and popularity (number of ratings).
So, all suggestions of missing books are really helpful - I compared several books suggested by others as missing to show that some important novels from top authors published after 2019 have not made “anticipation” list, but fared much better than many top anticipated books from this list in post-reading scores. I hope, Good Reads will one day publish a list of top SciFi books of the last 3 years by post-reading popularity. Meanwhile, more suggestions of missing books (novels, 2019 or later!) would be appreciated. I agree with one of the comments that we are living through a golden age of creative SciFi and I do not want to miss landmarks!
Not included
Network Effect (Murderbot-5), 2020, 350pp, 4.46 50,249 ratings
Leviathan Falls, 2021, 528pp, 4.54 32,005 ratings
The Raven Tower, 2019, 416pp, 3.92 16,354 ratings
Included
A Psalm for Wild Built 147pp. 4.28 29,452 ratings
The Test, 201, 108pp, 3.85 16,783 ratings
The Candy House 334pp 3.73 11,525 ratings
I don't consider myself a SciFi fan but I've loved five of these. I'll read any genre with a good story to tell.
Anyone who enjoys post apocalypse stuff, particularly The Last Of Us and the 28...Later movie series should check out Before and After and it's sequel Flesh and Blood by Andrew Shanahanhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
Indeed. Liu Xicin's The Three Body Problem is the best SF I've read in ages.