Sci-Fi and Fantasy novels are some of the most imaginative and original works there are, but with so much available in the genre and so many releases it can be hard to keep up. Here are 10 books we recommend that have been released this year.
Sea of Tranquility – Emily St. John Mandel
If you’ve read Station Eleven and The Glass Hotel you know how stunning the writing of Emily St. John Mandel is. Spanning from the 1910s to the far-flung future, Sea of Tranquility tells three unique stories with paradoxes, anomalies and perhaps a smidge of time travel thrown in for good measure.
Goliath – Tochi Onyebuchi
Set on a future Earth where the wealthy have left the planet as it deteriorates the less fortunate left behind have to find a way to survive. This book is a heavy one, it covers everything from race, and class to gentrification. It’s truly a story about people and their different ways of looking at things.
Akata Woman – Nnedi Okorafor
“Those of us who have read Akata Witch and Akata Warrior cannot wait to get our hands on this third installment,” says Essay Writing Service writer Mark Barrett. Sunny Nwazue became obsessed with understanding and mastering her abilities as soon as she realized she had mystical energy coursing through her blood. She had to balance practically every aspect of her existence over the first two volumes’ adventures, including Nigeria and America, the “regular” world and the one imbued with juju, humans, and spirits.
How High We Go in the Dark – Sequoia Nagamatsu
A pandemic novel could be considered a bit ambitious given the last few years, but Sequoia Nagamatsu manages to tell this story of a dystopian world dealing with an ancient virus while also criticizing capitalism and the way people will inevitably build an industry out of grief.
The Paradox Hotel – Rob Hart
Time travel, shady US government organizations, potential murder, and of course paradoxes. This book holds all the best elements of a science fiction thriller told through January Cole, a woman who is struggling to keep one foot in reality as it changes around her.
The Starless Crown – James Rollins
The first book in a series, The Starless Crown deals with the price of knowing too much and the fear of that which we don’t understand. After a young student predicts an apocalyptic future she has to run away in order to avoid execution. Alongside a team of outcasts, she begins to try and save the future of the world.
End of the world House – Adrienne Celt
Another apocalypse novel with fantastic shades of Groundhog Day. Two women, best friends since high school, travel to Paris to have one last hurrah before they are going to be separated due to life and work. After being invited to tour the Louvre privately they end up stuck in a loop of a day repeating itself, especially disconcerting when there seems to be an apocalypse on the horizon but the world is just refusing to end.
The Memory Librarian – Janelle Monáe
If you have heard any of her music you know Janelle Monáe is incredibly talented and doesn’t shy away from letting you know her thoughts. The Memory Librarian is a collection of short stories which actually coincides with one of her albums. Discussing technology, memory, queerness, race, love and much more Monáe in collaboration with some other talented writers bring these stories to life.
Dead Silence – S.A. Barnes
A bit more traditional sci-fi horror, Dead Silence follows a salvage crew as they discover a distress signal that leads to a luxury space-liner that famously disappeared on its maiden voyage 20 years before.
The Kaiju Preservation Society – John Scalzi
This book may be set during the COVID-19 pandemic but it is not what you would expect from that setting. It tells you of Jamie, a food delivery driver, getting pulled into a new “animal rights” group that turns out to focus on animals that don’t reside on earth. This book provides some much-needed levity as well as a good dash of adventure.
There are so many other books we could go on about and these descriptions barely scratch the surface of how brilliant these stories are. To get the full picture you’ll just need to go out and read them for yourself.
