The best fantasy and sci-fi books of 2022

We’ve run through our favorite games, movies, and TV shows of the year to date, and now it’s time to talk about our favorite science fiction and fantasy books of the year. We have new sci-fi and fantasy titles, including debuts by beloved authors and shorter-story collections.

We’ll continue to update this article as we catch up on our to-read lists and as new titles are released, so stay tuned! It is in reverse chronological ordering of publication, which means that the first published books will appear at the top.

And while you’re here, be sure to check out our list of 14 great new romance books you should read.

Image: Pan McMillan

They are now known as the Architects. These alien planet-destroyer species that have been living on moons is back and the only thing that could stop them from returning is gone. What is humanity’s response? There is infighting and power grabs as well as petty disputes. Idris Tellemier is the central figure of this mess. She spends most of her time communicating with architects. Eyes of The Voidbeing used to gain political protection and profit. Idris bears the burden of saving the world. But his Vulture God companions are charged with Idris’s safety. Eyes of The VoidKit, Kris and Ollie find Solace in the tense political climate. They face down their enemies, from the Architects and cultists, to defend their family.

Adrian Tchaikovsky is the author of a complex narrative. His imaginative world-building shines in. The Eyes of the Void as the Vulture God crew becomes further entangled with new characters, species, and cultures — most of whom the crew finds various ways to piss off. And though the book raises more questions than answers, the compounding mysteries raise the stakes to heart-pounding heights as Idris’ quest to learn how to stop the Architects unravels startling truths about the very makeup of the universe. —Sadie Gennis

Orbit Books

The Bloodsworn Saga’s second installment is a brutal and graphic series that continues to be filled with violent action and world-building. It also features a growing cast of characters who cross the line of morality. Only now, it’s no longer just about mortals fighting for power, revenge, or family. Gods have returned to Vigrið, throwing the balance of society into chaos. As many scramble to find footholds of power in the shifting world order, our original protagonists — Okra, Elvar, and Varg — continue resolutely down their paths to rescue and avenge those taken from them, even if that means fighting (or enslaving) a god. While characters’ storylines were largely separate in the first novel, here they weave in and out of each other’s lives as fate and (mis)fortune reveal how intricately their paths intertwined. The novel is fast-paced with high energy action. The Hunger of the GodsGwynne has meticulously laid out the foundation that will pay off in a huge payout Shadow of the Gods This is a fantastic setup for the series finale. —SG

Image: Penguin Random House

Emily St. John Mandel’s talent at writing interlacing stories has been demonstrated with both Station ElevenAnd The Glass HotelIntroduce their characters in a gradual fashion. Sea of TranquilityIt is also sprawling and stretches from 1910s to the future. This time, people are living in moon colonies. The book also creates an official Mandel multiverse, if that’s your thing, with characters from The Glass Hotel serving as some of the novel’s primary focuses.

The best part about Sea of TranquilityIts embrace of science fiction tropes in general. It’s a time travel story with a number of well-plotted turns, all in Mandel’s fluid, introspective writing style. It’s a great read for anyone who loves The Matrix movies or enjoyed Disney’s LokiIt may have stuck the landing slightly better, but it was still a good idea. —Nicole Clark

Image: Penguin Random House

Budapest is where Csilla’s family has lived for hundreds of years. It’s also where they died. Csilla is a Jewish journalist and aunt who fled to Israel seven years ago, after her parents had been executed by Soviet police. Csilla meets a student revolutionary and an angel death after a chance encounter. She begins to question what it means to her to fight for survival or a better future.

It is filled with richly drawn characters, poignant depictions of post-Holocaust traumas and antisemitism. The Rebel HeartThis is an honest, sometimes heartbreaking story about Jewish life in Russia under Russian occupation. As Csilla finds herself on the forefront of the Hungarian revolution, she navigates the dueling realities that have shaped her — remembering and forgetting, survival and freedom, and loving a city that has never loved her back. Katherine Locke blends history and magical realism with Jewish folklore to create a beautiful tribute to people who will risk all for the sake of hope. —SG

Tor Publishing

Chinese science fiction has become increasingly popular in the United States, as Ken Liu (an accomplished author in his own right) translated Liu Cixin’s groundbreaking Three-Body Problem into English. Chinese speculative fiction is now very popular and has opened the door to other literary talents.

Spring is here! is a collection of 17 Chinese science fiction and fantasy stories — and all of them have been written, translated, and edited entirely by women and nonbinary writers. This excellent collection, which Yu Chen and Regina Kanyu Wang curated, covers many topics and tropes. —NC

Image: Tor/Macmillan

GoliathBy Tochi Onyebuchi

A mass white flight from Earth to space colonies will soon be the norm. This has made it impossible for the BIPOC, who are largely poverty-stricken, to live on Earth. Earth has been rendered uninhabitable by ecological and man-made catastrophes. The system that the wealthy and powerful have benefited from remains in place, even though they left the planet. Now, years later, the space colonists have begun to return — some to gentrify the neighborhoods their ancestors deserted and others as trauma tourists seeking to gawk at those who’d been left behind. An unlinear sequence of vignettes. Goliath switches between several characters’ perspectives, but the main focus is on a group of stackers, a Black and brown crew of workers who scrape by salvaging bricks from demolished buildings to send to the colonies. With no hope of circumstances improving, they’ve long ago come to accept that grief will be the primary constant in their inevitably short lives — if the cancerous air doesn’t kill them, the automated drone police will. The stackers are unable to stop living in pain and continue their journey, seeking meaning and moments of joy, even though so much of life is defined by it.

It is impressive in scale, ambition and voice range. GoliathIt is more than just the sum of its individual parts. In addition to the stackers, Tochi Onyebuchi weaves in tales of a gay white couple leaving the colonies to play pioneer on Earth, a journalist hoping to tell the stackers’ story (but really, hoping to assuage her white guilt), an incarcerated Yale grad who becomes a negotiator in a prison protest, and a Black marshal dragging a slaver across the West to retrieve the body of a murdered boy. Goliath It is both intimate and sprawling, with moments that capture the lives of largely unconnected people and explore racism, classism and the prison system. But taken together, these small moments add up to a powerful look at America’s broken system and the harrowing trajectory we find ourselves on. —SG

Image: Penguin Random House

Sunny was exploring her identity in the Nsibidi Scripts first installments. Akata WomanIt is all about how she defines it. Sunny’s imaginative, adventurous novel is set during an era of high growth. Sunny and Chichi have to keep their promise to Udide for her stolen ghazal. With Orlu and Sasha tagging along, the coven’s treacherous journey to retrieve the ancient scroll leads them to discover breathtaking new worlds and the increasing limits of their juju abilities. Sunny struggles to keep up with her constantly evolving abilities, but she also has to deal with the increasing fractures in her relationship with Anyanwu her spirit face.

In Leopard culture, being doubled or being an agent free of charge carries heavy weights. However, throughout the world Akata WomanSunny is able to find strength in herself and the things she can accomplish. It’s yet another beautiful leg in Sunny’s coming-of-age journey, made all the more impactful by Nnedi Okorafor’s rhythmic prose. –SG

HarperCollins Image

Sequoia Nagamatsu’s What a high place to go in the dark is easily one of the best books I’ve read this year so far — and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s my absolute favorite by the end of the year. Tender and dystopian, the pandemic novel is told in a series of vignettes, each exposing a different pocket of future society — and eventually connecting through characters and circumstances.

Nagamatsu’s portrayal of society in grief shows how people are fighting for their basic human dignity while trying to preserve the memories of those they love. It’s an ambitious critique of late-stage capitalism, wrapped up in a series of family dramas that sound wild out of context: a robo-dog toy that contains recordings of a deceased mother’s lullabies, a euthanasia state park for children whose parents want them to have happy final memories, and tech-bro-created funereal currencies are just a few of the scenarios. —NC

Harper Voyager

This heartfelt, lyrical fantasy follows Xingyin, a young immortal raised in secret by her mother Chang’e, the moon goddess exiled to a life of solitude by the cruel Celestial Emperor. But when Xingyin’s existence is discovered, she must flee the only home she’s ever known and carve a new path for herself while hiding the truth of who she is.

The Moon Goddess’ Daughter sweeps through the years of Xinglin’s journey with efficient, effortless speed, chronicling her evolution from a sheltered child to the Celestial prince’s unlikely but dearest companion and a decorated archer serving the very emperor she despises. All the while, Xingyin must juggle the desires and duties she develops in her new life with her long-held determination to free her mother from under the emperor’s thumb. The story of love, and the hard decisions we make. The Moon Goddess’ Daughter weaves together Chinese mythology, court intrigue, romance, action, and betrayal into one of the year’s most exciting debuts. –SG