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There are several excellent sci-fi books that were published in the last 10 years that belong among the best sci-fi stories. Generally, it can be difficult to narrow down the best science fiction stories—the genre has a rich history of compelling stories, from books to movies to TV shows. Some of the best sci-fi TV shows are based on books, while there are science fiction films that rightfully dominate award shows, such as Everything Everywhere All At Once. There is always a wide selection to choose from, regardless of the decade's selection.
Science fiction is also a broad topic containing several subgenres, including dystopia, space operas, aliens, and time travel. Furthermore, there are excellent stories that blend science fiction with other genres, including books that perfectly blend sci-fi and romance. Some sci-fi books contain more science than fiction, but it does not make the narrative less compelling. Over the last decade, there have been many amazing science fiction stories, but there are 10 books that stand out as the best in sci-fi, more so than any other.
10 Red Rising By Pierce Brown (2014)
The First Book In The Red Rising Saga
Red Rising is the first installment in the Red Rising Saga by Pierce Brown. This ambitious sci-fi book series takes place in a dystopian future where humanity has effectively colonized the Solar System. While all the books are excellent, the first installment is exceptional. The protagonist, Darrow, infiltrates the upper-class Gold society to free his fellow Reds and other low-ranked Colors. The scientific system in the Red Rising Saga is a creative imagining of what the Solar System would look like if the worst of humanity took over.
|
Book Title |
Publication Date |
Narrative Timeline |
|
Red Rising |
Januaty 28, 2014 |
Book events take place over the course of a year |
|
Golden Son |
January 6, 2015 |
Begins two years after Red Rising; book events take place in several months |
|
Morning Star |
February 9, 2016 |
Begins one year after Golden Son; book events take place over two years |
|
Iron Gold |
January 16, 2018 |
Begins ten years after Morning Star; book events take place over two months |
|
Dark Age |
July 30, 2019 |
Begins six weeks after Iron Gold; book events take place over a few months |
|
Light Bringer |
July 25, 2023 |
Begins the same year as Dark Age; book events take place over a few months |
|
Red God |
TBA |
N/A |
Red Rising is an incredible book. The narrative covers several themes, including love, loss, freedom, oppression, resistance, caste systems, and betrayal against the backdrop of a colonized Solar System. Darrow represents millions of disenfranchised people who struggle every day under the thumb of the oppressive in power—in this case, the Society. There are many fantasy and sci-fi books that tell similar stories of oppression. However, Pierce Brown brings something new by using a colonized Solar System and having Darrow infiltrate the oppressive class in order to defeat them.
9 The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet By Becky Chambers (2014)
The First Book In The Wayfarers Series
The Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers is impressive on its own—four books that can be read as standalone novels, but all interconnect in Chambers' universe, the Galactic Commons. Each novel explores themes of found family, interspecies dynamics, inner conflicts, multiculturalism, and trials and tribulations. While each book in the Wayfarers series is unique and well-written in its own way, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet is the original story that has the biggest impact, as the crew of the Wayfarer endure many unexpected twists and turns throughout their journey.
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The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet is one of the best novels of the last 10 years because, unlike most sci-fi and fantasy novels, this book prioritizes character interiority and complex relationships over a plot-driven narrative. It is difficult to write a compelling sci-fi story where the primary driving factor is the characters, but Becky Chambers is exceptionally talented. Of course, exciting events occur in the book, but the narrative is riveting because of how the characters deal with them. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet is the quintessential space opera novel of the last decade.
8 Station Eleven By Emily St. John Mandel (2014)
A Standalone Novel
Station Eleven is a standalone novel by Emily St. John Mandel, revolving around a group of ordinary people whose lives become intertwined due to the deadly pandemic, the Georgia Flu. The novel was wildly successful and even became a miniseries on MAX in December 2021. However, Station Eleven is not among the best sci-fi novels of the last 10 years because of its popularity. Station Eleven explores themes such as family, faith, and survival as humanity endures a life-altering, catastrophic pandemic. Station Eleven was also a finalist for the National Book Award, a testament to this ingenious book.
7 Children of Time By Adrian Tchaikovsky (2015)
The First Book In The Children Of Time Trilogy
Children of Time is a science fiction space opera by Adrian Tchaikovsky revolving around humanity's attempt at genetic engineering on other planets. However, the experiment does not go as planned, and humanity's genetic engineering ends up affecting spiders instead of monkeys, genetically advancing arachnids to humanity's level throughout millennia. Although two more books follow Children of Time—Children of Ruin and Children of Memory—the first installment is the most powerful, taking space operas to new heights by exploring genetic engineering among spiders.
Although it is a trilogy, each Children of Time book works as a standalone.
In 2016, Children of Time won the Arthur C. Clarke Award. This prestigious award began with the titular Arthur C. Clarke, an innovative sci-fi writer who revolutionized the genre—something that Tchaikovsky's Children of Time accomplished. In 2023, the Children of Time trilogy won the Hugo Award for Best Series, illustrating the impact the series has as a whole. Children of Time also depicts a spider society advancing while humanity spirals into corruption, nearly decimating the human race. Science fiction stories that successfully explore the worst of humanity in revolutionary ways certainly belong among the best sci-fi books.
6 The Fifth Season By N.K. Jemisin
The First Book In The Broken Earth Trilogy
The Fifth Season is the first book in the Broken Earth trilogy, and the fact that each book in the series won the Hugo Award for Best Novel is a testament to the story. The Fifth Season introduces Earth thousands of years from now, on the cusp of a Fifth Season—the deadliest type of natural disaster. The Broken Earth is a stunning masterpiece, covering themes such as oppression, systemic regimes, motherhood, family, and redemption. The trilogy is certainly one of the best sci-fi series of all time, but The Fifth Season is undoubtedly the best novel in the trilogy.
The Fifth Season accomplishes what many science fiction stories cannot—it is one of the few books that perfectly blends fantasy and sci-fi.
The Fifth Season accomplishes what many science fiction stories cannot—it is one of the few books that perfectly blends fantasy and sci-fi. Both genres are dense and often require total focus on one rather than using both to create a story. However, The Fifth Season effortlessly establishes a sci-fi dystopian future entrenched in fantastical elements. N.K. Jemisin successfully completes this task while providing a compelling narrative with complex characters and dynamics. The Fifth Season is not just among the best sci-fi books of the last 10 years; it is one of the best sci-fi books of all time.
5 Scythe By Neal Shusterman (2016)
The First Book In The Arc of A Scythe Series
The Arc of a Scythe trilogy explores a futuristic world where humanity has defeated all forms of death and destruction and enlisted artificial intelligence—the Thunderhead—to track population growth and eliminate lives when necessary. Now, humans can only die at the hands of the Scythedom, a group of specially trained people who kill—also known as "glean"—other humans when it is their time. The two protagonists, Citra and Rowan, train under Scythe Faraday as everything they believe in regarding life, death, morality, and humanity, is put to the ultimate test.
Scythe is not only part of Time's 100 Best YA Books of All Time, but it has also received numerous other accolades. There is a lot of potential in a sci-fi story that explores the boundaries of human life and artificial intelligence, and Neal Shusterman successfully capitalizes on the potential. Scythe is the ideal science fiction novel that grapples with the contrasting themes of life and death. This book explores these concepts more than any other science fiction narrative and is an essential read in the genre.
4 This Is How You Lose The Time War By Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone (2019)
A Standalone Novella
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone may be a short novella, but it does not lessen the impact of this story. Mohtar and Gladstone wrote the book in epistolary format, telling a beautifully romantic story about two agents of separate enemy time organizations, Red and Blue, who unexpectedly fall in love after sending messages to each other, initially motivated by competition and rivalry. The authors wrote Red and Blue's letters separately—Max Gladstone wrote Red's while Amal El-Mothar wrote Blue's—which keeps a creative level of authenticity in the story.
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This Is How You Lose the Time War has won a Nebula Award, a Locus Award, and a Hugo Award, some of the most prestigious award organizations for science fiction and fantasy. Reading This Is How You Lose the Time War multiple times is a must because the narrative almost tells a different perspective during each read, making it a unique experience. This Is How You Lose the Time War highlights how governments and organizations at war often use their soldiers and civilians as collateral damage, a critical subject gleaned through a sci-fi lens.
3 Exhalation: Stories By Ted Chiang
A Collection Of Short Stories
Ted Chiang is renowned for his sci-fi stories—one of his most popular narratives, "Story of Your Life," was adapted into the 2015 film Arrival, starring Amy Adams. Similarly to "Story of Your Life," Arrival features a complex timeline that involves humans altering their perspective of time due to contact with aliens. However, "Story of Your Life" is part of Chiang's first collection, and Exhalation is his second collection. Exhalation has several poignant narratives that study humanity and its place within the universe, especially as technology advances.
Exhalation does have a splash of fantasy with narratives such as "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" and "Omphalos." Otherwise, the short stories are entrenched within science fiction, particularly focusing on artificial intelligence and developing scientific technology. Exhalation is another masterpiece by Ted Chiang that illustrates the depths of his creative mind as he puts humanity in various precarious positions in his stories. Although Exhalation is not a novel, Ted Chiang's incredible work needs to be among the best sci-fi books of the last 10 years.
2 Klara And The Sun By Kazuo Ishiguro (2021)
A Standalone Novel
Kazuo Ishiguro has written across multiple genres, but he is a master of science fiction, as illustrated by his book Never Let Me Go. Therefore, it is no surprise that his most recent novel, Klara & the Sun, another science fiction narrative, is one of the best sci-fi books of the last decade. Similarly to Never Let Me Go, Klara & the Sun studies artificial intelligence and its place within society. The book's narrator is Klara, an AF (Artificial Friend) who faithfully believes in the Sun's ability to heal and nourish life, especially since AFs are solar-powered.
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Never Let Me Go
Director Mark Romanek
Release Date October 15, 2010
Runtime 103 minutes
Klara & the Sun was long-listed for the Booker Prize in 2021, a prestigious literary award. Kazuo Ishiguro utilizes Klara & the Sun to comment insightfully about how humans use and interact with AI. Although many books and movies portray artificial intelligence as AI horror stories, Kazuo Ishiguro constantly defies this expectation with Klara & the Sun, opting to tell a moving story depicting artificial intelligence as more human and compassionate than some real people. Klara & the Sun is a notable book and serves as a reminder of what AI can look like if humans utilize it for good.
1 Project Hail Mary By Andy Weir (2021)
A Standalone Novel
Project Hail Mary is a novel by Andy Weir that follows the protagonist, Ryland Grace, during two different timelines—his last days on Earth and his new life on the spaceship Hail Mary. Ryland is traveling toward a star, Tau Ceti, searching for a cure for the microbes—known as Astrophage—devouring the Sun and other stars. However, Rylands ends up on an unexpected journey with a new species, an Eridian named Rocky, as they both search for a solution to the Astrophage. Project Hail Mary depicts a compelling, character-driven narrative that propels critical questions involving human supremacy, scientific knowledge, home, and morality.
Source: Time Magazine
What's your favorite movie from the Top 5?
Arrival (2016)
39%, 23 votes
Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)
8%, 5 votes
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
14%, 8 votes
Dune: Part Two (2024)
22%, 13 votes
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse (2018)
17%, 10 votes
Total Votes: 59
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