📚 With care, thought, and readiness to voyage

July 15, 2026View Online | Join All Access | Listen

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THE HEADLINE

Best science fiction books of the century (so far)

How do you choose the best science fiction books of the century (so far), you ask? With care, thought, and, in the spirit of this genre, a readiness to voyage into the great expanse.

As with our previous Best Books of the Century (So Far) lists, the voracious readers that form our team of writers and editorial staff rattled our memories to find the bestsellers, groundbreakers, award-winners, and pop culture sensations that rose the ranks of countless published science fiction books to be considered for this list.

Here are highlights of titles that made the cut:

Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki “grapples with the darkest parts of being alive, including racism, sexism, and transphobia, while still feeling defiantly hopeful.”

Hugo Award-winner The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin is “quintessential dystopian climate fiction and it’s the first of the epic Broken Earth trilogy.”

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers because “you can’t talk about the best sci-fi of the century without talking about cozy sci-fi, and you can’t talk about cozy sci-fi without talking about Becky Chambers.”

Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah “was a National Book Award Finalist, a celebrity book club pick, and made it onto just about every Best Of. It’s also, simply put, a damn good read.”

Find new or old genre favorites among the reads selected for our list of the Best Science Fiction Books of the Century (So Far).

CLASSICS

The Catcher in the Rye turns 75

The name Holden Caulfield rings a loud bell if you’ve been through the U.S. school system.

J.D. Salinger’s unforgettable classic dogging Holden’s heels, The Catcher in the Rye, turns 75 tomorrow, July 16th.

Here is a character who stands apart from the protagonists of assigned reading by speaking the timeless, universal language of teens to the young readers tasked with digesting the story. Determined to have a gritty holiday courtesy of being expelled from boarding school, the internal narrative of Holden’s reckless, lonesome caper continues to live in the minds of readers.

Who better to speak to Salinger’s life and legacy than his son, Matt Salinger, who remembers his first experience reading The Catcher in the Rye on his way to boarding school, formative conversations with his father, and who, alongside Salinger’s widow Colleen are collating the author’s “50 years’ worth of typed and handwritten pages,” which they hope to publish soon.

If you’re looking for a more objective primer on Salinger and his classic, you should read “Holden Caulfield, the Ultimate Adolescent, Is Turning 75” (gifted link) by Alexandra Jacobs over at The New York Times.

I was among many who later learned about the book’s author, compelled by the mystery of his early retirement from writing and reclusive path. Here’s where I admit that, as a teen reader, I deeply disliked what I viewed as Holden’s privileged narcissism.

I found him obnoxious and sneered my way through the book. Perhaps I’d have more empathy for the alienated teen if I reread The Catcher in the Rye as an adult, as writer Sarah S. Davis did.

In any case, Salinger himself captured my curiosity, though I was ultimately grossed out and disillusioned by the stories of his relationships with teens.

Whatever my opinion on The Catcher in the Rye, the oft-banned, 75-year-old remains in rotation and continues to be beloved by readers of all ages., SW

TOGETHER WITH THRIFTBOOKS

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AI

A surreal moment while suing a generative AI company

photo credit: Tim Llewellyn

Paul Tremblay is the author of Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep, out now from William Morrow. Below, he discusses a moment in the court room that summed up his experience suing a generative AI company.

In the spring of year redacted, I found myself on the coast opposite the one on which I live, cloistered within a glass-entombed meeting room, and having to spend seven legal hours answering questions posed to me by a lawyer representing a giant corporation. Not my idea of fun.

The deposition would turn out to be the penultimate event of my almost two years as a plaintiff in a class action lawsuit, suing a generative AI company on behalf of writers who have had their works scraped and fed into a large language model without having granted permission and without remuneration.

The ultimate event was reading through a transcript of the lawyer’s questions and my answers and discovering to my horror that I speak with the verbal repetitive tics of Foghorn Leghorn combined with the fuzzed-out tempo of the Dude from The Big Lebowski, all of it garnished with a slew of likes and ums.

Anyway, somewhere within those seven hours that I’ll never get back, a lawyer introduced my name of novel redacted as evidence. He did so somewhat sheepishly. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, he perhaps experienced an existential moment of clarity, if not empathy, a moment of what-are-we-doing-here?. Instead of placing published and purchased copies of my novel onto the shared tabletop, he dropped three weighty slabs of printed-out PDFs.

I later learned that the printed PDFs were (mostly) necessary so that the pages could be easier stamped with legal document identifying marks called Bates numbers. But let’s not allow legal minutiae to get in the away of symbol and righteous anger.

My in-the-moment reaction to the printed-out PDFs thudding onto the table and legal record: Jesus Christ, those creatively nouned profanity redacted couldn’t be bothered to buy a copy of my book, even now! EVEN NOW!!!

HIDDEN GEMS

The best books you’ve never heard of

One of the great joys of being a reader is discovering a hidden gem: picking up a book you’ve never heard of and finding a new favorite read.

As much fun as it can be to hop on board the latest buzzy book train, getting recommended the same handful of books by the algorithm over and over gets tiring.

That’s where The Best Books You’ve Never Heard Of series comes in.

⭐ All of these books have under a thousand Goodreads ratings.

For context, a book like Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke, which has only been out for a couple of months, has 282,000 ratings.

One thing I love about putting together these lists is how wide-ranging they are. We all have formats, age categories, and genres we gravitate towards, but when it comes down to it, a good book is a good book.

The Hollow Half: A Memoir of Bodies and Borders by Sarah Aziza: A beautiful and heartbreaking book about the Palestinian diaspora, anorexia treatment, and how generational trauma shows up in the body.

Lu and Ren’s Guide to Geozoology by Angela Hsieh: A queernorm middle grade fantasy graphic novel that deals with grief and cultural divides between generations.

Sympathy for Wild Girls: Stories by Demree McGhee: Queer, feminist, fabulist stories that get under your skin, perfect for fans of Carmen Maria Machado.

Down in the Sea of Angels by Khan Wong: A thought-provoking and genre-blending sci-fi/fantasy book that takes place in San Francisco along three timelines.

Startlement: New and Selected Poems by Ada Limón: A poetry collection that explores dreams, grief, love, the ordinary, and the extraordinary.

 Read the full list for more under-the-radar finds.

TOGETHER WITH BOOK RIOT ALL ACCESS

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TRENDING

What to Know About LitRPG

LitRPG is really having a moment, thanks in no small part to Dungeon Crawler Carl. If you’ve never heard of the subgenre, or want more stories like Carl’s and Princess Donut’s, we’ve got a nifty little beginner’s guide for you.

LitRPG Quick Facts

What is LitRPG?

It stands for “literary role-playing game.” The mechanics of role-playing games, like character stats, levels, and more, are worked into the story.

Where did it come from?

Partially from Dungeons & Dragons, one of the most popular RPGs ever. (In 1970, SFF Queen Andre Norton released Quag Keep, the first novel based in the world of D&D, and a precursor to the LitRPG subgenre.)

Portal fantasy stories became popular in Japan and Korea in the early 2000s, in which characters got transported to different worlds that were often gamified. These are known as isekai.

But what about the name?

The name “LitRPG” was officially coined in 2013 by the Russian publishing house EKSMO, though books that essentially fit the subgenre had already existed for years.

Some of the most popular LitRPGs

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

Solo Leveling by Chugong

The Wandering Inn by Pirateaba

See Rey Rowland’s full guide and get more book recs.

SCI-FICTION AND FANTASY

Science fiction and fantasy new releases to check out in July

One of our favorite things to do is look through new releases and point to things and say “ooooooo.” Here are a few “ooooooo” picks in SFF being published this month.

Dominion by Jean Kwok (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, July 14)

Literary sensation Jean Kwok is kicking off her first trilogy with this Chinese-inspired romantasy! Ribbon dancer Rubi Morningtail is an Azure refugee in the Dominion of the Silver Tyger with no memories and a magical talent she must keep hidden. But when she wounds a battle tyger, she is forced into the Bonding, a trial between tygers and riders, led by the fearsome mage Blake Axefire.

Habits of the Sea by Shea Ernshaw (Atria Books, July 7)

As a young girl, Ellie Mills encountered a floating island in the ocean that magically disappeared the next day, leaving her to question whether she imagined the whole thing. But 20 years later, the island reappears, and Ellie discovers its only inhabitant hasn’t aged since their last encounter. Is what Ellie sees really happening, and what does it mean? (Sing it with me now: Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?)

The Memory Bookshop by Song Yu-jeong, translated by Shanna Tan (William Morrow Paperbacks, July 7)

Magical establishments have been a hot subject in novels for a few years now, but nothing is better than a magical bookshop, amirite? In this Korean bestseller, the Memory Bookshop appears to those who need it most, its shelves filled with books of their own memories. Patrons can go back three chapters in their life to correct past mistakes…but they must give up time in their future as payment.

Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson (Tor Books, July 28)*

Sanderson’s standalone novel set in the Cosmere universe, Warbreaker, gets a new paperback release. Each person born in the world of Warbreaker has the ability to awaken objects (even corpses). But this power can also be bought and sold. I am sure it all goes fine.

Many more sci-fi/fantasy July releases for you to consider if you just can’t get enough.

*A message from our sponsor.

TOGETHER WITH THRIFTBOOKS

Welcome to the Kids Book Fair at ThriftBooks!

Fill your shelves with stories kids will love for less. For a limited time, buy 4 or more Kids Deal Books and use promo code KIDSARECOOL at checkout to get each qualifying book for just $2.99.

There’s no limit to how many times you can use this offer, so stock up on favorites, discover new adventures, and keep young readers turning pages.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Richard Russo, born July 15, 1949

Did you know? Russo cites Robert Louis Stevenson’s children’s poem, “Foreign Lands,” as an early influence. Here are the first two stanzas:

Up into the cherry tree Who should climb but little me? I held the trunk with both my hands And looked abroad in foreign lands.

I saw the next door garden lie, Adorned with flowers, before my eye, And many pleasant places more That I had never seen before.

CRITICAL LINKING

You are now free to roam about the internet

❓ Check out the results of the Read Harder Challenge survey, including the hardest and easiest tasks of the challenge.

️ Spice up your reading life with new research about romance reading habits.

 See the heartthrob rumored to be co-starring in an adaptation of The Bell Jar.

️ Test your knowledge of Greek plays and poems that were turned into movies.

 Browse all of Book Riot’s newsletters to get recommendations tailored to your reading taste.

END NOTES

Written by Rebecca Schinsky, Sharifah Williams, Danika Ellis, Liberty Hardy, Erica Ezeifedi, and Jeff O’Neal. Thanks to Vanessa Diaz for copy editing.

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