Alien encounters, dragon riders and time travelers are just the tip of the iceberg in this year’s best science fiction and fantasy reads! From stunning debuts to much-anticipated series follow-ups, these are our favorite SF/F books of 2023.
First up, the book our She Reads audience chose as the Best Science Fiction Book of 2023:
On Earth as It Is on Television by Emily Jane
When spaceships arrive on Earth and then abruptly depart, the world is left to exist in an environment where they know they aren’t alone, but don’t fully understand their place in the universe. Following the story of multiple characters in the wake of this revelation, the book paints an interesting picture of life in the 21st century, post first contact.
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Congrats Emily!
Flux by Jinwoo Chong
In this quirky debut the tragic stories of Bo, Brandon and Blue are interwoven among the revelation that a tech startup accidentally has discovered time travel. Focusing on themes of trauma and the impact of tragedy over the course a lifetime, this book turns a familiar trope on it’s head in a mystery that unfolds expertly as the layers are peeled back.
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The Possibilities by Yael Goldstein-Love
Becoming a mother does strange things to your mind, but in the case of Hannah, it has completely upended her reality. What at first appears to be a horrific bout of postpartum anxiety quickly transforms into a parallel universe hopping nightmare where one mother will stop at nothing to keep her son from disappearing off the timeline.
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The Future by Naomi Alderman
As tech billionaires flee to their bunkers after getting a heads up that a horrific event is inevitable, the world is left in the wreckage. Martha fled her family cult who believes the end is near. Lai Zhen is a famous online survivalist. When their worlds collide, they’ll need each other in the cataclysm and they may just forge something beautiful as well.
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I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself by Marisa Crane
In this near-future, surveillance state dystopia, a queer mother attempts to raise her child in the wake of losing her wife and the shame of being one of the Shadesters. In this era, those facing legal recourse are instead given a second shadow (or three or four) as an unshakable signal to everyone. Their civil liberties and social status are marred by this new enforcement and Kris must find a way to parent and persevere in the face a world who seeks to cast them both out.
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Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
No list would be complete this year without the inclusion of National Book Award Finalist Chain-Gang All-Stars. In this heart-pounding indictment of the private prison system, a dystopia has emerged that pits prisoners against one another in a gladiator-style fight to the death. Challenging our minds on not only on the nature of incarceration, but also the way violence keeps us entertained, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah is a voice that can’t be missed.
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Odds are, the Best Fantasy Book of 2023 will come as no surprise. Unless you’ve been covering your eyes and plugging your ears, surely you’ve heard of Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. And it should come as no surprise that the sequel to this epic series was voted the top fantasy book of the year by our She Reads audience:
Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros
The 2000s had Harry Potter, the 2010s had Twilight, now it seems, the 2020s belong to the dragon riders. You can never see it coming until it happens, but Fourth Wing and its sequel have blown up in the past year and readers just can’t get enough. In book two, Violet has narrowly survived her first year at Basgiath War College. But this year, survival isn’t enough. She’ll have to fight to hold onto her humanity amidst the brutality of the new vice commandment, determined to sway Violet into betraying the man she loves.
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Congrats Rebecca! Our TikTok feeds would not be the same without you.
Now, here are a few more fantasy titles you won’t want to miss before the end of the year!
The Water Outlaws by S. L. Huang
Derived from classic martial arts literature, The Water Outlaws follows Lin Chong, an arms expert who trains the Emperor’s soldiers until she is ripped from her position and outcast. Now she is operating among thieves and bandits while on the run from the Imperial Marshall. Challenged to face the truth of justice and morality, Lin Chong must decide where her allegiance lies.
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Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon by Wole Talabi
Shigidi, a disgruntled nightmare god in the Orisha spirit company. He’s slowly withering away into irrelevance when he meets Nneoma, a sort-of succubus. Together they try to free him from his godly obligations in a sort of spiritual heist across. worlds.
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Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo
In the follow up to Ninth House, #1 New York Times bestseller Leigh Bardugo takes us on Alex’s next adventure as she is determined to break a soul out of hell. Though no one survives this feat and she has to do this without the help of the Ninth House, she’s assembled a crew ready to do the impossible in order to save Darlington.
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Dazzling by Chikodili Emelumadu
In this novel, West African mythology is at the forefront of a tale of two young women. One, after the loss of her father makes a bargain to get her families fortunes back. The other, destined to protect the land as a leopard. When the two collide, they must decide what they will sacrifice to fulfill their mission.
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A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon
After BookTok went crazy for the doorstop, fantasy novel The Priory of the Orange Tree, readers got the much-anticipated sequel and it did not disappoint. Told through the lens of four women who shaped history and events that reverberate for generations, this sequel is the perfect follow up.
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Starling House by Alix E. Harrow
Chosen for Reese’s Book Club in October, Starling House was a haunting fantasy for the season. All Opal wants is to get her brother out of Eden, Kentucky. When she gets the chance to work in the Starling House, the home of a nineteenth century author who disappeared, she feels called home and intertwined with the buried secrets and ghostly past of Starling.
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