Best Science Fiction Books of 2018

The Science Fiction Novels of 2018 That Won Awards and Readers' Votes

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Which science fiction novels defined 2018? This list ranks the year's books by how many independent signals back them: the Hugo, Nebula and Arthur C. Clarke awards, and the Goodreads Choice Awards science fiction vote.

Books that won or were shortlisted for several awards come first, followed by the books readers voted for most.

The ranking

1

The Calculating Stars (cover not available)

The Calculating Stars

by Mary Robinette Kowal

On a cold spring night in 1952, a huge meteorite fell to Earth and obliterated much of the east coast of the United States, including Washington, DC. The ensuing climate cataclysm will soon render Earth inhospitable for...

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2

Revenant Gun

Revenant Gun

"Shuos Jedao is awake... and nothing is as he remembers. He's a teenager, a cadet--a nobody--in the body of an old man; a general in command of an elite force. And he's the most feared, and reviled, man in the galaxy. Je...

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3

Record of a Spaceborn Few (cover not available)

Record of a Spaceborn Few

by Becky Chambers

Centuries after the last humans left Earth, the Exodus Fleet is a living relic, a place many are from but few outsiders have seen. Humanity has finally been accepted into the galactic community, but while this has opened...

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4

Space Opera (cover not available)

Space Opera

by Catherynne M. Valente

"Mankind will not get to fight for its destiny. They must sing. A century ago, the Sentience Wars tore the galaxy apart and nearly ended the entire concept of intelligent space-faring life. In the aftermath, a curious tr...

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5

Rosewater (cover not available)

Rosewater

by Tade Thompson

"Rosewater is a town on the edge. A community formed around the edges of a mysterious biodome, its residents comprise the hopeful, the hungry, and the helpless--people eager for a glimpse inside the dome or a taste of it...

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6

Blackfish City (cover not available)

Blackfish City

by Sam J. Miller

Qaanaaq is a floating Arctic city built after the climate wars, crowded with refugees and spreading a disease called the breaks. When a mysterious woman arrives riding an orca with a polar bear at her side, she draws fou...

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7

Semiosis (cover not available)

Semiosis

"Colonists from Earth wanted the perfect home, but they'll have to survive on the one they found. They don't realize another life form watches...and waits...Only mutual communication can forge an alliance with the planet...

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8

Frankenstein in Baghdad (cover not available)

Frankenstein in Baghdad

by Ahmed Saadawi

In Baghdad during the American occupation, a junk dealer called Hadi stitches together body parts of bombing victims to give them a proper burial. The body he assembles comes to life and seeks revenge. A dark, satirical...

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9

The Electric State (cover not available)

The Electric State

by Simon Stalenhag

In an alternate 1997, a teenage girl and her robot companion Skip travel across a ruined American West where a war between humans and drones has left behind giant machines and abandoned neurocasters. Simon Stalenhag's il...

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10

The Loosening Skin (cover not available)

The Loosening Skin

by Aliya Whiteley

In a world where people shed their skin every seven years and lose their attachments with it, Rose Allington has a syndrome that makes her moult far more often. Years after she leaves her job as bodyguard to the actor Ma...

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11

Vengeful (cover not available)

Vengeful

by V. E. Schwab

A superpowered collision of extraordinary minds and vengeful intentions--V.E. Schwab returns with the thrilling follow-up to Vicious.MAGNETO and PROFESSOR X SUPERMAN and LEX LUTHOR SYDNEY and SERENA CLARKE VICTOR VALE an...

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12

Iron Gold

Iron Gold

by Pierce Brown

"Ten years after the events of Morning Star, Darrow and the Rising are battling the remaining Gold loyalist forces and are closer than ever to abolishing the color-coded caste system of Society for good. But new foes wil...

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13

Vox (cover not available)

Vox

by Christina Dalcher

On the day the government decrees that women are no longer allowed more than one hundred words per day, Dr. Jean McClellan is in denial. This can't happen here. Not in America. Not to her. This is just the beginning. Soo...

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14

Only Human (cover not available)

Only Human

by Sylvain Neuvel

"World War Z meets The Martian in the explosive follow-up to Sleeping Giants ("One of the most promising series kickoffs in recent memory"--NPR) and Waking Gods ("Pure, unadulterated literary escapism"--Kirkus Reviews)....

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15

Red Clocks (cover not available)

Red Clocks

In this ferociously imaginative novel, abortion is once again illegal in America, in vitro fertilization is banned, and the Personhood Amendment grants rights of life, liberty, and property to every embryo. In a small Or...

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16

The Night Masquerade (cover not available)

The Night Masquerade

by Nnedi Okorafor

Binti has returned home after the war, and the peace she has helped to build is threatened as the Khoush and Himba peoples are at odds again. The third Binti novella, and the last, brings her story to a close with a new...

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17

Persepolis Rising (cover not available)

Persepolis Rising

by James S.a. Corey

The seventh book in the NYT bestselling Expanse series, Persepolis Rising finds an old enemy returning home with more power and technology than anyone thought possible, and the crew of the aging gunship Rocinante tries t...

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18

Artificial Condition (cover not available)

Artificial Condition

by Martha Wells

It has a dark past - one in which a number of humans were killed. A past that caused it to christen itself Murderbot. But it has only vague memories of the massacre that spawned that title, and it wants to know more. Tea...

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19

Head On

Head On

Hilketa is a frenetic and violent pastime where players attack each other with swords and hammers. The main goal of the game: obtain your opponent's head and carry it through the goalposts. With flesh and bone bodies, a...

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20

Severance (cover not available)

Severance

Candace Chen, a millennial drone self-sequestered in a Manhattan office tower, is devoted to routine. With the recent passing of her Chinese immigrant parents, she’s had her fill of uncertainty. She’s content just to car...

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Trending Books in Best Science Fiction Books of 2018

The Calculating Stars (cover not available)

The Calculating Stars

Mary Robinette Kowal

Buy on Amazon

Severance (cover not available)

Severance

Buy on Amazon

Red Clocks (cover not available)

Red Clocks

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Vox (cover not available)

Vox

Christina Dalcher

Buy on Amazon

Rosewater (cover not available)

Rosewater

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Blackfish City (cover not available)

Blackfish City

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Semiosis (cover not available)

Semiosis

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Frankenstein in Baghdad (cover not available)

Frankenstein in Baghdad

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The Electric State (cover not available)

The Electric State

Simon Stalenhag

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The Night Masquerade (cover not available)

The Night Masquerade

Buy on Amazon

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