The Greatest Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels of 2023

And how they stack-up to the best SFF books of the past 50 years

Each year I set forth on an adventure to help identify new novels worthy of your attention; anchoring in results from awards across the science fiction and fantasy community. You can find the crown jewels of 2022 here, and read up on the full methodology behind these rankings in my foundational 50-year (1970–2021) project to determine the greatest SFF novels of all time (tl;dr I coalesce a dozen major SFF awards into a weighted index that attempts to objectively rank thousands of novels across time).

Now, for SFF nerds like me, it’s impossible to talk about 2023 without first pointing out some of the spicy controversies that shaped this year’s award season. The Locus award winner for best novel was met with criticism from vocal online communities; prompting the author to publicly explain “how awards work”. The Hugo Awards were held in Chengdu, China — resulting in at least one notable author protest, demanding her novelette be removed and declaring, “Given that China is primarily a state-run nation, no event of a magnitude like WorldCon’s will be free of government involvement.” There’s also ongoing conspiracy theories about Hugo delays and nomination statistics still not released (as of December 3, the Hugo final ballot voting statistics have been released, however the important nomination data remains absent). And largely, there seems to be very little consensus across award bodies and fans about which novels truly deserved recognition this year.

The top 5 books of 2023

Having said all that, it’s time to take a look at the results. This year’s top books, counting down from number five:

#5: Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

If there is one consistent trend in 2023, it is the rise and recognition of the comfort read in fantasy and sci-fi. For the past decade, this sub-genre has been defined by Becky Chambers and her award-winning Wayfarer’s series (and more recently her Monk and Robot novellas). This year, the unlikely Legends & Lattes — “A novel of high fantasy and low stakes” — by Travis Baldree exploded onto the scene, taking comfort to the next level. An orc named Viv retires from battle and opens a coffee shop with a lovable cast of fantastical friends. L&L received best novel nominations from two of the most prestigious awards in SFF — Hugo and Nebula. This is Baldree’s debut novel, and following its incredible success, Tor and Baldree have already published a prequel released just last month.

#4: Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Where to begin with Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir??… other than to say, you cannot begin with this novel — as it is the third installment in The Locked Tomb series. Often described as “lesbian necromancers in space”, this series has garnered quite the following (22K people claim membership to a dedicated TheNinthHouse subreddit) due to its originality, humor, and mind-bending mystery. Nona introduces a new protagonist who… well… doesn’t even know who she is; kicking off another wild ride. The publisher’s tagline nods to the rising trend of comfort reads as well: “Her city is under siege. The zombies are coming back. And all Nona wants is a birthday party.”; although despite Nona’s wishes, this is a pretty intense read. Nominated for the three biggest awards — Hugo, Nebula, and Locus — but alas still no wins (more on that below).

#3: The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi is the aforementioned controversial Locus award winner. Self-described by Scalzi as “light and catchy, with three minutes of hooks and choruses”, many in the community were scratching their heads at the critical acclaim. One Twitter user’s post criticizing excerpts from the novel, such as — “We all screamed and Satie did a thing and our helicopter did another thing and somehow we got past Edward…” — garnered an incredible 3.8M views. Scalzi himself countered with a blog post that effectively explained that a book wins an award because people like it (even if you don’t). And people do like The Kaiju Preservation Society; the book has 45K Goodreads reviews, a 4-star rating, and was nominated for the Goodreads Choice award (alongside Hugo and Dragon award nominations). This year it seems people wanted comfort, in the words of Scalzi: “We all need a pop song from time to time, particularly after a stretch of darkness.”

#2: Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher, a pseudonym for Ursula Vernon, continues the trend of short, easy-to-read books that just feel good. Kingfisher typically writes children’s and young adult novels and is most commonly known for her award-winning A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking. Despite the opening dark backdrop of domestic violence, this succinct novel about a princess setting out on an adventure is mostly charming and familiar. You’ll meet fun, lovable characters along the way (a witch, a godmother, a knight, and a… demonic chicken) and plod along well-trotted narrative paths that make the journey a smooth ride for the reader. Nettle & Bone received 5 nominations and won this year’s Hugo award.

#1: Babel by R.F. Kuang

Perhaps no sci-fi fantasy novel received more promotion and marketing this past year than Babel by R.F. Kuang. Kuang broke into the SFF scene with her popular Poppy War trilogy, earning her many devoted fans and harsh critics. You will find a lot of debate online, typically ending in a “locked thread” due to the heat on both sides of the argument.

Regardless, there’s no denying that Babel is an ambitious work, billed as “a historical fantasy epic that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British Empire.” Babel won the Locus award for best fantasy novel, as well as the Nebula award. It received three other major nominations, although most notably did not appear on the Hugo shortlist. This has led many to speculate that either Kuang declined a nod (which we won’t know until nomination statistics are released) or, for the more conspiratorially inclined, perhaps it was Kuang’s criticism of imperialism that resulted in censorship by Chengdu WorldCon. Coincidentally (or not), another Hugo favorite that failed to receive a nomination was The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler, which has led to speculation that the story’s inclusion of a free Tibet could have led to similar exclusion from the shortlist.

More likely, there were simply less voters this year at WorldCon due to it’s location; leading to less predictable results. Still, the lack of consensus around this year’s awards and nominations have compelled me to highlight a few additional reads that you might be interested in checking out:

Honorable mentions

• Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel — From the author of the best-selling Station Eleven, this “story of humanity across centuries and space” won the Goodreads Choice Award for science fiction.
• The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez — Praised for it’s unique storytelling structure and changing POVs, this epic fantasy won the British Fantasy Award.
• The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler — The Locus Award debut novel winner, this exploration of consciousness and AI might be the ‘truest’ hardcore sci-fi novel on the list.
• Saint Death’s Daughter by C.S. E. Cooney — Despite winning this year’s World Fantasy Award, many likely missed this unique epic fantasy due to its small publisher (Rebellion Publishing).
• How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu — This debut novel is my favorite of the year. It is a beautiful, dark, depressing collection of post-future-pandemic stories that stitch together into a sci-fi novel. It only garnered a handful of obscure nominations, such as the new Ursula K. Le Guin Prize, likely due to frequent classification as “literature” (instead of genre fiction).

Did any make the top 100 of all time?

Now, time to zoom out and put these top books in their place by carefully weighing their success and normalizing by the relative competition for that year. Where do this year’s greats stack up among the best of all time? (Or at least since 1970, when most awards established their footing). As you might imagine, looking at all novels since 1970 covers about 50 years, so each year we expect about 2 to make the top 100. This year is no different.

Our top-ranked Babel by Kuang lands at #39 on the all-time list, nestled between Asimov’s Foundation follow-up and David Brin’s The Postman. Some might object to it scoring higher marks than the modern classic The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin, but rest assured the Broken Earth trilogy overall does quite well for itself (as the 4th highest-ranking series of all time).

Nettle & Bone then slides in at #60 overall, just behind recent Hugo winner A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine and Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson.

Next up would be The Kaiju Preservation Society, which landed at #141 overall, not quite cracking the top 100.

The continued success of Scalzi

Speaking of Kaiju, each year I like to revisit the author all-time greats rankings. When I first shared my 50-year analysis on Reddit, to my surprise, John Scalzi himself jokingly commented:

And as luck would have it, Scalzi now officially sits above King at #25 all-time, thanks to the success of The Kaiju Preservation Society. The reality is that since his first traditionally published novel Old Man’s War in 2005, Scalzi has been at the forefront of the sci-fi fantasy award landscape. For comparison’s sake, over this stretch of time the top authors rank as follows:

As you can see, Scalzi now boasts 5 major award wins and 29 nominations. The Kaiju Preservation Society is now his second highest rated novel, after Redshirts, which won the Hugo in 2013. Beyond Scalzi’s climb, the top author list saw no other real significant shake-ups this year.

On the flip side…

Where Scalzi has proven quite successful on the award circuit, others have produced much-loved series that haven’t quite brought home the bacon.

Most notably, Anne McCaffrey is famous for her ‘Dragonriders of Pern’ fantasy series. McCaffrey owns the distinct honor of being the highest-ranking author without an award win for a novel (she has a few for her novellas); sitting at rank #69 on the all-time author list. She garnered 21 nominations.

Hot on her heels though, is the contemporary Tamsyn Muir, the second-highest-ranked author (#76) without an award victory yet. Her Locked Tomb series has 12 nominations, and Alecto the Ninth, the 4th and final installment in the series, is currently set to be released sometime in 2024 — I know I at least will be anxiously waiting to see if this is the title that finally sees Muir take gold, or instead propels her even closer to overtaking McCaffrey as the most nominated author with no award wins.

And finally, what else do these two series have in common? Absolutely incredible first-edition cover art!

That’s a wrap

I hope this tour of 2023’s science fiction and fantasy novels serves you well this holiday season. And until next year, happy reading!

P.S. For those keeping track, in my 2022 update, I highlighted Arkady Martine’s Teixcalaan books as the greatest duology of all time; but, alluded to the fact that N.K. Jemisin’s ‘Great Cities’ duology was coming to a close and could upset these rankings. Alas, Jemisin’s novel The World We Make only received two nominations and sits at rank 1054 all-time — posing no threat to Martine. The Teixcalaan duology remains as the one to beat.