10 Best Sci-fi Fantasy Novels to Read in 2023
Science fiction is an ever-evolving exciting genre, also plenty of new writers are innovating and pushing it forward. Here are 10 of the best sci fi books that you can look forward reading in 2023.
1.
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr:
Navigating between 15th-century Constantinople, present-day Idaho and an interstellar ship in the future, 2022’s Cloud Cuckoo Land seems like a random collection of stories at first. But Anthony Doerr (the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of All the Light We Cannot See) manages to connect all his characters’ stories, building layer upon layer of beautiful complexity until you get a testament to the resilience of the human spirit.
2.
Ready Player One Series by Ernest Cline:
What makes Ready Player One so frightening and enthralling is that it’s set in the very near future, one that seems just on the horizon. In the story, protagonist Wade Watts blurs the lines between the real world and virtual reality — the metaverse, anyone? — as he searches for a hidden fortune that could turn his life around forever. This thrilling bestseller keeps readers on the edge of their seats, wondering if Wade will find the game’s Easter egg before his rivals find him first. If you’re a fan of the first book, which was published in 2011, you’ll fly through the sequel, Ready Player Two. And while it pales in comparison to the books, the 2018 film adaptation, directed by Steven Spielberg, is worth a watch.
3.
Beyond the Father by Opëshum Patroz:
A fast-paced sci-fi fantasy thriller set in some other planet named: Xyber. It’s the first book in an 8-book series. The debut author builds ambience on the planet for future books. The story grapples readers with a unique philosophy that is as much as strange to its citizens as to readers. The engaging narrative traverses in all directions, telling the tales sometimes from Mollards, at times takes the account of Non-Mollards. These two types of citizens are vying for existence pattern, while Mollards are machines, and Non-Mollards humans with feelings and aspirations. The chilling rivalry between them set the tone and tempo of the novel.
4.
Warcross series by Marie Lu:
Like Ready Player One, this 2017 sci-fi series by №1 New York Times bestselling author Marie Lu centers around a game with real-life consequences. The game is Warcross, an international obsession where money can be made but security is compromised. Our protagonist is Emika Chen, a teen hacker and bounty hunter who is about to be thrust into dangerous circumstances. Fans of game-based sci-fi and the anime/Netflix show Cowboy Bebop will find the world and stakes of Warcross thrilling and irresistible. Like Lu’s Young Elites and Legend series, the Warcross series is a collection of young adult novels that’ll appeal to adult readers who love to be swept up in a great story.
5.
The Superflare by Andrew G. Berger:
A multi-layered science fiction that takes readers to the world that is being run by robots and machines, there humans are like prisoners. It’s a wonderful sight to witness how the human characters overcome the oppressive regime of robots to reclaim their status in the world. A deadly solar storm causes all types of digital systems and communication dysfunctional. People around the world are interrupted from their life. Some find it disturbing but many took it as an opportunity to run away from the cages of AI robotic world ruled by Tron, a super robot. How…why…and what fills the narration of the novel.
6.
How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu:
Have tissues handy as you read How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu, because this book will make you cry. Told through vignettes in an apocalyptic, post-pandemic world, this 2022 novel highlights the tender moments of love and beauty that peek through the sidewalk cracks of an otherwise bleak life: a catastrophic archaeology site in Siberia, an amusement park filled with dying children, funerary skyscrapers. Intimate and compassionate, each of Nagamatsu’s stories pierces through themes of death and grief with hope.
7.
The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi:
Bestselling sci-fi writer John Scalzi is back at it again, this time with giant radioactive Godzilla-like dinosaurs — during the COVID-19 pandemic! Nominated for the 2022 Dragon Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, The Kaiju Preservation Society features Jamie, a New York City food delivery driver during lockdown who takes on a field job at an animal rights organization. What he doesn’t expect is to get transported to an alternate dimension with massive creatures called Kaiju, where there are even greater threats to earth than the pandemic itself.
8.
The Machineries of Empire trilogy by Yoon Ha Lee:
New York Times bestselling author Yoon Ha Lee brings us a trilogy that mixes military sci-fi with space opera. Read the books in order, starting with Ninefox Gambit and following with Raven Stratagem and then Revenant Gun. At the helm of the first story is Captain Kel Cheris, a disgraced leader who must partner with an unpredictable (and undead) general in order to gain redemption. Winner of a Locus Award and nominated for Hugo, Nebula and Arthur C. Clarke awards, Ninefox Gambit will have you hooked on the whole series. Want more of the undead? Take a bite out of one of these vampire books.
9.
Ocean’s Echo by Everina Maxwell:
Set in the same world as her debut enemies-to-lovers romance, Winter’s Orbit, Everina Maxwell’s 2022 stand-alone novel, Ocean’s Echo, is the queer military space opera you never knew you needed. Opposites collide and inevitably attract as neuromodified soldiers Tennal, a rebellious socialite who can read minds, and Surit, a dutiful officer who can control them, get bound together and drawn into political intrigue. Come for the gay romance, stay for the ambitious world-building and epic space battles.
10.
The Sixth World series by Rebecca Roanhorse:
In the Sixth World series, created by New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Roanhorse, everything below 3,500 feet of elevation is submerged in water after an environmental disaster. In Dinétah, what was once a Navajo reservation, a post-apocalyptic rebirth has opened the door for spirits and monsters from the past to roam. Maggie Hoskie, a monster hunter, is called on to fight and find truth. So far, there are two books set in this world. Start with the award-winning Trail of Lightning (2018), a story that will have you pondering how we treat earth, the limits of technology and our inner demons. Get great books like this each month by signing up for one of these book subscription boxes.
