Best science fiction novels by year
Here’s an update to this list. I haven’t read any science fiction novels published in 2024 yet.
Winner | Runner Ups | |||
Year | Author | Title | Author | Title |
2023 | Annalee Newitz | The Terraformers | Sue Burke | Dual Memory |
Mur Lafferty | Chaos Terminal | |||
Ann Leckie | Translation State | |||
Robert J. Sawyer | The Downloaded | |||
John Scalzi | Starter Villain | |||
2022 | Ren Hutchings | Under Fortunate Stars | Julie E. Czerneda | To Each This World |
Mur Lafferty | Station Eternity | |||
Emily St. John Mandel | Sea of Tranquility | |||
John Scalzi | The Kaiju Preservation Society | |||
Adrian Tchaikovsky | Children of Memory | |||
2021 | Sue Burke | Immunity Index | Orson Scott Card | The Last Shadow |
Andy Weir | Project Hail Mary | Becky Chambers | The Galaxy, and the Ground Within | |
Marina J. Lostetter | Activation Degradation | |||
Adrian Tchaikovsky | Elder Race | |||
2020 | Adrian Tchaikovsky | The Doors of Eden | Stephen Baxter | World Engines: Creator |
Marina J. Lostetter | Noumenon Ultra | |||
Nnedi Okorafor | Binti | |||
Olga Ravn | The Employees | |||
Robert J. Sawyer | The Oppenheimer Alternative | |||
John Scalzi | The Last Emperox | |||
Dennis E. Taylor | Heaven’s River | |||
2019 | Annalee Newitz | The Future of Another Timeline | Stephen Baxter | World Engines: Destroyer |
Sue Burke | Interference | |||
Karl Schroeder | Stealing Worlds | |||
Adrian Tchaikovsky | Cage of Souls | |||
Adrian Tchaikovsky | Children of Ruin | |||
2018 | Sue Burke | Semiosis | Becky Chambers | Record of a Spaceborn Few |
Claire North | 84K | Marina J. Lostetter | Noumenon Infinity | |
Kim Stanley Robinson | Red Moon | |||
John Scalzi | The Consuming Fire | |||
John Scalzi | Head On | |||
2017 | Annalee Newitz | Autonomous | Stephen Baxter | The Massacre of Mankind |
Kim Stanley Robinson | New York 2140 | Kameron Hurley | The Stars Are Legion | |
Mur Lafferty | Six Wakes | |||
Ann Leckie | Provenance | |||
Marina J. Lostetter | Noumenon | |||
John Scalzi | The Collapsing Empire | |||
Dennis E. Taylor | All These Worlds | |||
Dennis E. Taylor | For We Are Many | |||
Andy Weir | Artemis | |||
Edward Willett | The Cityborn | |||
2016 | Stephen Baxter & Alastair Reynolds | The Medusa Chronicles | Becky Chambers | A Closed and Common Orbit |
Yoon Ha Lee | Ninefox Gambit | |||
Mickey Zucker Reichert | I, Robot: To Preserve | |||
Robert J. Sawyer | Quantum Night | |||
Dennis E. Taylor | We Are Legion (We Are Bob) | |||
Connie Willis | Crosstalk | |||
Robert Charles Wilson | Last Year | |||
2015 | Neal Stephenson | Seveneves | Julie E. Czerneda | This Gulf of Time and Stars |
Adrian Tchaikovsky | Children of Time | Ann Leckie | Ancillary Mercy | |
Jack McDevitt | Thunderbird | |||
Will McIntosh | Defenders | |||
Kim Stanley Robinson | Aurora | |||
John Scalzi | The End of All Things | |||
Robert Charles Wilson | The Affinities | |||
2014 | Becky Chambers | The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet | Stephen Baxter | Ultima |
Ann Leckie | Ancillary Sword | |||
John Scalzi | Lock In | |||
Karl Schroeder | Lockstep | |||
Emily St. John Mandel | Station Eleven | |||
2013 | Matt Haig | The Humans | Stephen Baxter | Proxima |
Ann Leckie | Ancillary Justice | Will McIntosh | Love Minus Eighty | |
Mickey Zucker Reichert | I, Robot: To Obey | |||
Robert J. Sawyer | Red Planet Blues | |||
John Scalzi | The Human Division | |||
Robert Charles Wilson | Burning Paradise | |||
2012 | Kim Stanley Robinson | 2312 | Stephen Baxter | Iron Winter |
David Brin | Existence | |||
Orson Scott Card | Shadows in Flight | |||
Robert J. Sawyer | Triggers | |||
John Scalzi | Redshirts | |||
Karl Schroeder | Ashes of Candesce | |||
2011 | Will McIntosh | Soft Apocalpyse | Stephen Baxter | Bronze Summer |
Laura J. Mixon | Up Against It | |||
Mickey Zucker Reichert | I, Robot: To Protect | |||
Robert J. Sawyer | Wonder | |||
John Scalzi | Fuzzy Nation | |||
Joan Slonczewski | The Highest Frontier | |||
Neal Stephenson | Reamde | |||
Vernor Vinge | The Children of the Sky | |||
Robert Charles Wilson | Vortex | |||
2010 | Connie Willis | All Clear | Stephen Baxter | Stone Spring |
Cixin Liu | Death’s End | |||
Robert J. Sawyer | Watch | |||
Connie Willis | Blackout | |||
Charles Yu | How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe | |||
2009 | Paolo Bacigalupi | The Windup Girl | Stephen Baxter | Ark |
Julie E. Czerneda | Rift in the Sky | |||
David Marusek | Mind Over Ship | |||
Jack McDevitt | Time Travelers Never Die | |||
Robert J. Sawyer | Wake | |||
Karl Schroeder | The Sunless Countries | |||
Robert Charles Wilson | Julian Comstock | |||
2008 | Alastair Reynolds | House of Suns | Stephen Baxter | Flood |
Neal Stephenson | Anathem | Stephen Baxter | Weaver | |
Orson Scott Card | Ender in Exile | |||
Julie E. Czerneda | Riders of the Storm | |||
Cixin Liu | The Dark Forest | |||
Douglas Preston | Blasphemy | |||
John Scalzi | Zoe’s Tale | |||
Karl Schroeder | Pirate Sun | |||
2007 | Stephen Baxter | Navigator | Stephen Baxter | Conqueror |
Jule E. Czerneda | Reap the Wild Wind | |||
Joe Haldeman | The Accidental Time Machine | |||
Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson | Sandworms of Dune | |||
Robert J. Sawyer | Rollback | |||
John Scalzi | The Last Colony | |||
Karl Schroeder | Queen of Candesce | |||
Robert Charles Wilson | Axis | |||
2006 | Cixin Liu | The Three-Body Problem | Stephen Baxter | Emperor |
Peter Watts | Blindsight | Julie E. Czerneda | Regeneration | |
Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson | Hunters of Dune | |||
John Scalzi | The Android’s Dream | |||
John Scalzi | The Ghost Brigades | |||
Karl Schroeder | Sun of Suns | |||
Vernor Vinge | Rainbows End | |||
2005 | Alastair Reynolds | Pushing Ice | Julie E. Czerneda | Migration |
Robert Charles Wilson | Spin | Joe Haldeman | Old Twentieth | |
Karin Lowachee | Cagebird | |||
David Marusek | Counting Heads | |||
Robert J. Sawyer | Mindscan | |||
John Scalzi | Agent to the Stars | |||
John Scalzi | Old Man’s War | |||
Karl Schroeder | Lady of Mazes | |||
Charles Stross | Accelerando | |||
John Varley | Mammoth | |||
Peter Watts | Behemoth Book Two: Seppuku | |||
Edward Willett | Lost in Translation | |||
2004 | Julie E. Czerneda | Survival | Joe Haldeman | Camouflage |
James Alan Gardner | Radiant | Alexander C. Irvine | Have Robot, Will Travel | |
Scott Mackay | Omnifix | |||
Peter Watts | Behemoth Book One: B-Max | |||
2003 | Robert Charles Wilson | Blind Lake | Julie E. Czerneda | Hidden in Sight |
Cory Doctorow | Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom | |||
William Gibson | Pattern Recognition | |||
Karin Lowachee | Burndive | |||
Robert J. Sawyer | Humans | |||
Robert J. Sawyer | Hybrids | |||
2002 | Stephen Baxter | Evolution | David Brin | Kiln People |
Robert J. Sawyer | Hominids | Julie E. Czerneda | To Trade the Stars | |
Karin Lowachee | Warchild | |||
Scott Mackay | Orbis | |||
Jim Munroe | Everyone in Silico | |||
Karl Schroeder | Permanence | |||
Michael Swanwick | Bones of the Earth | |||
Mark W. Tiedemann | Aurora | |||
2001 | Connie Willis | Passage | Julie E. Czerneda | In the Company of Others |
Robert Charles Wilson | The Chronoliths | Candas Jane Dorsey | A Paradigm of Earth | |
James Alan Gardner | Ascending | |||
Donald Kingsbury | Psychohistorical Crisis | |||
Scott Mackay | The Meek | |||
Adam Roberts | On | |||
Peter Watts | Maelstrom | |||
2000 | Ursula K. Le Guin | The Telling | Arthur C. Clarke & Stephen Baxter | The Light of Other Days |
Karl Schroeder | Ventus | Julie E. Czerneda | Changing Vision | |
James Alan Gardner | Hunted | |||
Jack McDevitt | Infinity Beach | |||
Jim Munroe | Angry Young Spaceman | |||
Alastair Reynolds | Revelation Space | |||
Robert J. Sawyer | Calculating God | |||
Joan Slonczewski | Brain Plague | |||
Mark W. Tiedemann | Chimera | |||
Mark W. Tiedemann | Mirage | |||
1999 | Neal Stephenson | Cryptonomicon | David Brin | Foundation’s Triumph |
Vernor Vinge | A Deepness in the Sky | Orson Scott Card | Ender’s Shadow | |
Joël Champetier | The Dragon’s Eye | |||
Julie E. Czerneda | Ties of Power | |||
James Alan Gardner | Vigilant | |||
Robert J. Sawyer | Flashforward | |||
Peter Watts | Starfish | |||
1998 | Robert J. Sawyer | Factoring Humanity | Greg Bear | Foundation and Chaos |
Robert Charles Wilson | Darwinia | David Brin | Heaven’s Reach | |
A. C. Crispin & Ru Emerson | Voices of Chaos | |||
Julie E. Czerneda | Beholder’s Eye | |||
James Alan Gardner | Commitment Hour | |||
Nalo Hopkinson | Brown Girl in the Ring | |||
Scott Mackay | Outpost | |||
Jack McDevitt | Eternity Road | |||
Mary Doria Russell | Children of God | |||
Alison Sinclair | Cavalcade | |||
Connie Willis | To Say Nothing of the Dog | |||
1997 | Dan Simmons | The Rise of Endymion | Gregory Benford | Foundation’s Fear |
Arthur C. Clarke | 3001: The Final Odyssey | |||
Julie E. Czerneda | A Thousand Words for Stranger | |||
James Alan Gardner | Expendable | |||
Robert J. Sawyer | Illegal Alien | |||
Robert Wright | A Scientific Romance | |||
1996 | Robert J. Sawyer | Starplex | Roger MacBride Allen | Utopia |
Orson Scott Card | Pastwatch | David Brin | Infinity’s Shore | |
Orson Scott Card | Children of the Mind | |||
A. C. Crispin & T. Jackson King | Ancestor’s World | |||
Peter F. Hamilton | The Reality Dysfunction | |||
Jack McDevitt | Ancient Shores | |||
Maria Doria Russell | The Sparrow | |||
Dan Simmons | Endymion | |||
Alison Sinclair | Blueheart | |||
1995 | Stephen Baxter | The Time Ships | David Brin | Brightness Reef |
Neal Stephenson | The Diamond Age | Julia Ecklar | ReGenesis | |
Robert J. Sawyer | The Terminal Experiment | |||
Alison Sinclair | Legacies | |||
1994 | Vonda N. McIntyre | Nautilus | Roger MacBride Allen | Inferno |
A. C. Crispin & Kathleen O’Malley | Silent Songs | |||
James Patrick Kelly | Wildlife | |||
Robert J. Sawyer | End of an Era | |||
Robert J. Sawyer | Foreigner | |||
Jules Verne | Paris in the Twentieth Century | |||
Robert Charles Wilson | Mysterium | |||
1993 | Isaac Asimov | Forward the Foundation | Roger MacBride Allen | Caliban |
Greg Bear | Moving Mars | |||
Robert J. Sawyer | Fossil Hunter | |||
Joan Slonczewski | Daughter of Elysium | |||
1992 | Neal Stephenson | Snow Crash | Ben Bova | Mars |
Vernor Vinge | A Fire Upon the Deep | A. C. Crispin & Deborah A. Marshall | Serpent’s Gift | |
Greg Egan | Quarantine | |||
Maureen F. McHugh | China Mountain Zhang | |||
Vonda N. McIntyre | Metaphase | |||
Kim Stanley Robinson | Red Mars | |||
Robert J. Sawyer | Far-Seer | |||
Sean Stewart | Passion Play | |||
Connie Willis | Doomsday Book | |||
Robert Charles Wilson | The Harvest | |||
1991 | Orson Scott Card | Xenocide | A. C. Crispin & Jannean Elliott | Shadow World |
Alexander Jablokov | Carve the Sky | |||
Vonda N. McIntyre | Transition | |||
Robert Charles Wilson | A Bridge of Years | |||
1990 | Robert J. Sawyer | Golden Fleece | Iain M. Banks | Use of Weapons |
David Brin | Earth | |||
Michael Crichton | Jurassic Park | |||
A. C. Crispin & Kathleen O’Malley | Silent Dances | |||
James Morrow | City of Truth | |||
Robert Silverberg | The New Springtime | |||
Dan Simmons | The Fall of Hyperion | |||
Robert Charles Wilson | The Divide | |||
1989 | Dan Simmons | Hyperion | A. C. Crispin | StarBridge |
Dave Duncan | West of January | Vonda N. McIntyre | Starfarers | |
Geoff Ryman | The Child Garden | |||
Joan Slonczewski | The Wall Around Eden | |||
Sheri S. Tepper | Grass | |||
1988 | Iain M. Banks | The Player of Games | Isaac Asimov | Prelude to Foundation |
Jack L. Chalker | Masks of the Martyrs | |||
Kim Stanley Robinson | The Gold Coast | |||
Kim Stanley Robinson | Pacific Edge | |||
Robert Silverberg | At Winter’s End | |||
Sheri S. Tepper | The Gate to Women’s Country | |||
1987 | David Brin | The Uplift War | Iain M. Banks | Consider Phlebas |
Jack L. Chalker | Warriors of the Storm | |||
Jack L. Chalker | Pirates of the Thunder | |||
Arthur C. Clarke | 2061: Odyssey Three | |||
Michael Crichton | Sphere | |||
Robert Charles Wilson | Memory Wire | |||
1986 | Orson Scott Card | Speaker for the Dead | Isaac Asimov | Foundation and Earth |
Joan Slonczewski | A Door Into Ocean | Jack L. Chalker | Lords of the Middle Dark | |
Arthur C. Clarke | The Songs of Distant Earth | |||
Wayland Drew | The Master of Norriya | |||
Clifford D. Simak | Highway of Eternity | |||
Vernor Vinge | Marooned in Realtime | |||
1985 | Orson Scott Card | Ender’s Game | Isaac Asimov | Robots and Empire |
Greg Bear | Blood Music | |||
Greg Bear | Eon | |||
David Brin | The Postman | |||
Wayland Drew | The Gaian Expedient | |||
Phyllis Gotlieb | The Kingdom of the Cats | |||
Frank Herbert | Chapterhouse: Dune | |||
Crawford Kilian | Brother Jonathan | |||
Carl Sagan | Contact | |||
1984 | Kim Stanley Robinson | The Wild Shore | Douglas Adams | So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish |
David Brin | The Practice Effect | |||
Wayland Drew | The Memoirs of Alcheringia | |||
Suzette Haden Elgin | Native Tongue | |||
Frank Herbert | Heretics of Dune | |||
William Gibson | Neuromancer | |||
Vernor Vinge | The Peace War | |||
1983 | David Brin | Startide Rising | Isaac Asimov | The Robots of Dawn |
1982 | Isaac Asimov | Foundation’s Edge | Douglas Adams | Life, the Universe and Everything |
Arthur C. Clarke | 2010: Odyssey Two | Phyllis Gotlieb | Emperor, Swords, Pentacles | |
Donald Kingsbury | Courtship Rite | |||
1981 | Frank Herbert | God Emperor of Dune | Julian May | The Many-Colored Land |
Clifford D. Simak | Project Pope | |||
Elisabeth Vonarburg | The Silent City | |||
1980 | Douglas Adams | The Restaurant at the End of the Universe | Gregory Benford | Timescape |
David Brin | Sundiver | |||
Phyllis Gotlieb | A Judgment of Dragons | |||
Joan Slonczewski | Still Forms on Foxfield | |||
Gene Wolfe | The Shadow of the Torturer | |||
1979 | Douglas Adams | The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy | Arthur C. Clarke | The Fountains of Paradise |
John Varley | Titan | |||
1978 | Clifford D. Simak | Mastodonia | ||
1977 | Frederik Pohl | Gateway | ||
1976 | Frank Herbert | Children of Dune | ||
1975 | ||||
1974 | Ursula K. Le Guin | The Dispossessed | Joe Haldeman | The Forever War |
Niven & Pournelle | The Mote in God’s Eye | |||
1973 | David Gerrold | The Man Who Folded Himself | Arthur C. Clarke | Rendezvous With Rama |
1972 | Isaac Asimov | The Gods Themselves | John Brunner | The Sheep Look Up |
Robert Silverberg | Dying Inside | |||
Arkady & Boris Strugatsky | Roadside Picnic | |||
1971 | Ursula K. Le Guin | The Lathe of Heaven | ||
1970 | Larry Niven | Ringworld | ||
1969 | Ursula K. Le Guin | The Left Hand of Darkness | Michael Crichton | The Andromeda Strain |
Philip K. Dick | UBIK | |||
Frank Herbert | Dune Messiah | |||
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. | Slaughterhouse-Five | |||
1968 | Arthur C. Clarke | 2001: A Space Odyssey | Philip K. Dick | Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? |
Anne McCaffrey | Dragonflight | |||
1967 | Ursula K. Le Guin | City of Illusions | ||
1966 | Ursula K. Le Guin | Rocannon’s World | Robert A Heinlein | The Moon is a Harsh Mistress |
Ursula K. Le Guin | Planet of Exile | |||
1965 | Frank Herbert | Dune | Philip K. Dick | The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch |
Clifford D. Simak | All Flesh is Grass | |||
1964 | ||||
1963 | Clifford D. Simak | Way Station | Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. | Cat’s Cradle |
1962 | Philip K. Dick | The Man in the High Castle | Madeline L’Engle | A Wrinkle in Time |
1961 | Harry Harrison | The Stainless Steel Rat | Robert A Heinlein | Stranger in a Strange Land |
Stanislaw Lem | Solaris | |||
1960 | Walter M. Miller, Jr. | A Canticle for Leibowitz | ||
1959 | Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. | The Sirens of Titan | ||
1958 | James Blish | A Case of Conscience | ||
1957 | ||||
1956 | Alfred Bester | The Stars My Destination | Isaac Asimov | The Naked Sun |
Arthur C. Clarke | The City and the Stars | |||
1955 | Isaac Asimov | The End Of Eternity | ||
1954 | Arthur C. Clarke | Childhood’s End | Ray Bradbury | Fahrenheit 451 |
Hal Clement | Mission of Gravity | |||
1953 | Alfred Bester | The Demolished Man | Isaac Asimov | The Caves of Steel |
Isaac Asimov | Second Foundation | |||
Theodore Sturgeon | More Than Human | |||
1952 | Clifford D. Simak | City | Isaac Asimov | The Currents of Space |
Isaac Asimov | Foundation and Empire | |||
1951 | Isaac Asimov | Foundation | Isaac Asimov | The Stars, Like Dust |
John Wyndham | The Day of the Triffids | |||
1950 | Ray Bradbury | The Martian Chronicles | Isaac Asimov | Pebble in the Sky |
1949 | George Orwell | Nineteen Eighty-Four |