The best sci-fi and fantasy books of 2023, so far

Though we’re only halfway through the year, it’s been packed with excellent science fiction and fantasy books. Many of our favorites once again blur the line between sci-fi and fantasy — but this year was a particular standout for books blurring the line between SFF and other genres, from historical fiction Westerns to fable retellings to intergenerational sagas in translation.

Although we may have crested this wave, the sense of discoloration and dread has persisted, reflected in novels written under new formats. There’s a preponderance of post-post apocalyptic science fiction unpacking lofty ideas like sentience and humanity, often set on different planets or among the stars. The year so far has seen a rise in supernatural thrillers and horrors.

Take your pick. Whichever direction you head in, it will be sure to grip you — and make you think. We’ll keep this updated throughout the year, in reverse chronological order, so the newest releases will always be listed first.

Cover art for Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Lords of Uncreation, which shows a spaceship approaching what looks like a space battle next to a planet, with exploding orbs in space and a lot of spaceships in the distance.

Lords Of UncreationAdrian Tchaikovsky, “The Final Architecture 3”

After reading the Final Architecture Series, I knew that I could never be a complete architect. Even if they were concepts I intuitively understood, it was difficult to grasp their nuances.

I was well prepared for my future after this acceptance Lords Of UncreationEven the characters are unable to grasp certain concepts, and their minds can literally be shattered if they attempt to. Like looking directly into the sun, confronting the blurred space between the real and unreal (as well as the eldritch terrors that lurk within) poses a grave threat to those doing so head-on – at least to anyone other than weary intermediary Idris Tellemier, whose risk is merely reduced rather than eliminated. Adrian Tchaikovsky’s characters are so rooted, emotional and vibrant, that they overshadow the brain-bending dangers lurking in unspace. Vulture God’s crew.

It isn’t to say Tchaikovsky doesn’t deliver an incredible satisfying conclusion to unspace mysteries (he does!) But what I’ll remember most is how he crafted the perfect emotional resolution to this intellectually intricate tale that left me in tears and has stayed with me since. —Sadie Gennis

Lead art for Justin Cronin’s The Ferryman, which pictures a cloudy sky over the horizon, as a single sail boat sits on the water.

Proctor Bennett, ferryman and ferryman of the Propersa utopia, is responsible for ferrying unhappy citizens to the Nursery where they can retire from their previous lives before returning to their younger selves with no memory of the past. Proctor Bennett is a ferryman whose job it is to guide unhappy citizens from the utopian Propersa to the Nursery, where they retire their old selves before returning in younger bodies with no memories of their former lives. He starts questioning predetermined truths, and he confronts the darker side to Prospera. This company is run by a staff of disgruntled support workers whose unhappiness builds towards revolution.

This premise is not new. The Ferryman This is not the case. This tightly-wound, atmospheric thriller weaves together layers of knotted mystery with Proctor’s haunting POV as he grapples with his relationship to grief, happiness, family, and identity. It’s a sharply complex mystery with a cinematic quality to it. Throughout reading, I couldn’t help but fan-cast who would star in a Christopher Nolan adaptation of it. But even if you aren’t an Inception fan, it’ll be easy to become immersed in The Ferryman’s distinct dystopian world. —SG

Cover image for Jade Song’s Chlorine, featuring a large fin in the ocean waves.

I think I have been waiting my whole life for this book — for someone to write adolescence like the body horror it is, with all of the cultural specificity of being a Chinese American girl, simply bursting at the seams with sapphic longing. ChlorineRen Yu is the star of this film, who thinks she’s a mermaid. But she is tethered to land by her human ambition: By the parents who constantly push her to achieve, and by a swim coach who pays inappropriate attention to her — pushing her to swim faster times, while also making her feel uncomfortable in her skin.

Ren’s steadfast belief in being a mermaid feels both like a flight of fancy, and increasingly like a means of dissociating from the horrors of everyday life. It’s hard enough to be a girl without the pressure of high expectations from parents and men. Jade Song’s writing is gruesomely lyrical, contrasting the sublime with the deeply disturbing. This book made me almost throw up at several points, which I meant as a compliment. —Nicole Clark

A Black woman stands alone in a field, her face covered by shadow, in the cover art for Lone Women by Victor LaValle.

Adelaide Henry is traveling to Montana, where she plans on making a new life as a homesteader — leaving the flames of her California home, and the bodies of her parents, behind. She has to bear a lot of weight. When she opens her steam trunk, the people in front of her will die. The homesteading boom in Montana, 1915 is underway, but not all are welcoming of Adelaide, a Black woman who is traveling alone.

In this masterfully paced novel, Victor LaValle blends horror and fantasy. It’s satisfyingly bloody, while making incisive commentary on the price of being an outsider. Westerns have long focused on white fantasy, and occasionally made room for early suffragette struggles. But LaValle’s vision of history emphasizes just how powerful white women are in upholding the interests of their white husbands, and how far these women will go to protect the societal structures that put them in proximity to power. Women on their own also examines how shame, and the family unit, ultimately uphold these unspoken rules — ostracizing those who might otherwise find community support.

It was great! I’m now going through all the interviews LaValle gave on this website. Women on their ownPress circuit and reading all the books he mentions. This is a great gift. —NC

Cover image of Nathan Ballingrud’s The Strange, depicting a diner on Mars.

Nathan Ballingrud’s debut novel was added to my TBR pile after seeing it marketed as a blend of Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles and Charles Portis’ True Grit I’m always dubious about marketing comparisons, but was thrilled when StrangeDeliver this promise.

In an alternate history where humanity colonized Mars in the early 1900s, the red planet has lost all communication with Earth, leaving the fate of 14-year-old Annabelle Crisp’s mother unknown. When a thief steals Annabelle’s sole voice recording of her mom, she and her beloved Kitchen Engine, Watson, set off into the desert to retrieve what’s hers and see justice served. The longer Annabelle’s adventure goes on, the more she loses perspective and drifts away from righteousness in dogged pursuit of her own selfish desires. Struggling to comprehend that the world can’t be divided into binaries like right or wrong and black or white, Annabelle converts her fear into anger, lashing out and harming those around her, including those providing aid.

Annabelle Crisp can be cruel and vengeful, but Ballingrud’s writing makes it difficult not to empathize and understand her. Annabelle Crisp isn’t a hero and she isn’t a villain, but she is an outstanding protagonist in a wonderfully original sci-fi tale. —SG

Cover image for Moses Ose Utomi’s The Lies of the Ajungo, featuring a figure walking upside down on mounds of sand as a castle lurks in front.

Moses Ose Utomi’s debut novella is a visceral, dark fable that tells the story of a boy who lives in the City of Lies. This metropolis relies on water from the Ajungo Empire, which has brutal rules. The price of this exchange is steep: at 13, all children of the City of Lies have their tongues cut off and are sent to Ajungo.

Even with this gruesome tithe, the Ajungo send barely enough water for the population to survive, and far from what they’d need to do so comfortably, let alone thrive. Tutu embarks on an adventurous journey shortly before his 13th birthday to rescue his mother, and his city. As Tutu explores the outside world for the first time, his perception of truth and history is challenged, and he comes to understand how the decisions and deceptions of those in power rewrite the past and shape the future to uphold those with privilege and foster compliance in those who don’t. —SG

Cover image for Mariana Enriquez’s Our Share of Night, featuring a red hand with long yellow fingernails.

This literary tome defies categorization, so I’ll paint a scene instead: A father (Juan) whisks his son (Gaspar) away on a trip. Juan’s character is unpredictable; he can appear to be violent or terrifying. But he also appears to be tender and almost infinitely in love. He is not a book that can be opened. And if you think you’ve seen his hands elongate, spindly fingers yielding to piercing claws — well no, you didn’t.

It is a slow and terrible experience. We Share the Night charts a family’s desperate attempt at escaping the clutches of a death cult in Argentina. Many of its members are prepared to do anything to get the secret to immortality. Set in 1981, the novel’s supernatural terrors intertwine with those of the Dirty War, the authoritarian violence offering cover for the cult to operate uninhibited.

I will read anything Mariana Enríquez writes next, it’s an absolute joy to experience her work. —NC

Cover image for Annalee Newitz’s The Terraformers, which features a futuristic cityscape with lush greenery.

TerraformersIt is concerned only with the question of what behavior will last. It is set in the distant future of more than 50 000 years (yes, it’s true). TerraformersThe process for terraforming a planet and turning it into a tourist destination is described. The technology has progressed in ways that are hard to fathom, such as the ability of animals and robots to have intelligence on par with humans. Some aspects of the society may be familiar, such as real estate developers who raise rents without warning. Local government that hates public transportation? That every video call still has one person who can’t get the camera to work?

Prescient and absurd in equal measure TerraformersIts story is divided into three novellas separated by 700 years. One of those stars a sentient train who teams up with an investigative journalist … who also happens to be a cat … who’s also trying to prove this ostensibly privatized planet is in fact public land. This book was written by Annalee Newitz (founder of io9, and writer for almost every major science magazine under the sun). Terraformers is unexpectedly one of the most accurate representations of the journalistic process I’ve ever read. It all comes down to one unmistakable conclusion: Capitalism must be kept in check through the truth. Even 50,000 years in the future, a free press is among society’s most essential facets. The more things change… —Ari Notis

The cover image of Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of Memory, which depicts a spaceship approaching a large orange planet.

Children of MemoryAdrian Tchaikovsky, “Children of Time 3”

Adrian Tchaikovsky’s highly anticipated third book in the Children of Time trilogy once again delves into some of science fiction’s headiest topics. There are parallels to earlier installments — Tchaikovsky once again uses another hyper-intelligent animal species to examine the idea of what being “alive” really means. He also takes the reader somewhere new and completely different, which is outside of the scope and content of previous titles. It’s difficult to explain without giving away the entire premise.

What I would say is to hold on and enjoy the ride. Authors like this are willing to explore Asimovesque concepts and take their plot in new directions. I still can’t believe that I have recommended a book about sentient spider colonies to so many friends, but here we are. It’s worth spending time on this final chapter. —NC

#scifi #fantasy #books