Curated category · 2006—2025
Award-winning and editorially recommended science fiction & fantasy across twenty years, organized for discovery rather than sales ranking.
Showing 1–48 of 341
A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna appears in NPR’s 2025 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, staff picks, fiction, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Archipelago of the Sun by Yoko Tawada, translated by Margaret Mitsutani appears in NPR’s 2025 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, tales from around the world, rather short, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Audition for the Fox by Martin Cahill appears in NPR’s 2025 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, seriously great writing, rather short, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Beasts of Carnaval by Rosália Rodrigo appears in NPR’s 2025 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around rather long, tales from around the world, the dark side, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Black Woods, Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey, illustrated by Ruth Hulbert appears in NPR’s 2025 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around staff picks, book club ideas, family matters, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher appears in NPR’s 2025 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, seriously great writing, the dark side, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Hungerstone by Kat Dunn appears in NPR’s 2025 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around staff picks, book club ideas, let’s talk about sex, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
I, Medusa by Ayana Gray appears in NPR’s 2025 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, family matters, seriously great writing, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Immaculate Conception by Ling Ling Huang appears in NPR’s 2025 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, for art lovers, it’s all geek to me, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Katabasis by R.F. Kuang appears in NPR’s 2025 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around staff picks, the dark side, sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros appears in NPR’s 2025 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, rather long, fiction, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Psychopomp & Circumstance by Eden Royce appears in NPR’s 2025 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, identity & culture, the states we’re in, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Son of the Morning by Akwaeke Emezi appears in NPR’s 2025 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, love & romance, let’s talk about sex, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia appears in NPR’s 2025 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around staff picks, family matters, the dark side, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
A contemporary academic discovers a hidden journal containing a Blackfeet man's testimony to a Lutheran pastor in 1912. The confession recounts his transformation into a vampire and a long pursuit of vengeance tied to the destruction of buffalo and violence against Native people.
The Door on the Sea by Caskey Russell appears in NPR’s 2025 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, rather long, fiction, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow appears in NPR’s 2025 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, love & romance, staff picks, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
The Incandescent by Emily Tesh appears in NPR’s 2025 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, tales from around the world, rather long, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
The Isle in the Silver Sea by Tasha Suri appears in NPR’s 2025 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, love & romance, tales from around the world, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson appears in NPR’s 2025 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around staff picks, fiction, sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
In an empire defended from giant sea creatures by biological engineering, an imperial officer is killed when a tree erupts from his body. Investigator Ana Dolabra and her magically altered assistant Din follow the impossible murder into a wider network of corruption and danger.
When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi appears in NPR’s 2025 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around staff picks, funny stuff, sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
When They Burned the Butterfly by Wen-yi Lee appears in NPR’s 2025 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, love & romance, book club ideas, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas Westerbeke appears in NPR’s 2024 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, staff picks, book club ideas, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher appears in NPR’s 2024 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, family matters, the dark side, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
An Academy for Liars by Alexis Henderson appears in NPR’s 2024 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, the dark side, rather long, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Annie Bot by Sierra Greer appears in NPR’s 2024 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, staff picks, book club ideas, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Blackheart Man by Nalo Hopkinson appears in NPR’s 2024 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, book club ideas, seriously great writing, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Blood of the Old Kings by Sung-il Kim, translated by Anton Hur appears in NPR’s 2024 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, fiction, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Blue Lard by Vladimir Sorokin, translated by Max Lawton appears in NPR’s 2024 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, eye-opening reads, funny stuff, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Bride by Ali Hazelwood appears in NPR’s 2024 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, love & romance, staff picks, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Dead in Long Beach, California by Venita Blackburn appears in NPR’s 2024 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around fiction, sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, staff picks, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Haunt Sweet Home by Sarah Pinsker appears in NPR’s 2024 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, book club ideas, no biz like show biz, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas appears in NPR’s 2024 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, love & romance, staff picks, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan appears in NPR’s 2024 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, love & romance, staff picks, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Metal from Heaven by August Clarke appears in NPR’s 2024 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, book club ideas, let’s talk about sex, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Nicked by M. T. Anderson appears in NPR’s 2024 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, historical fiction, love & romance, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Ours by Phillip B. Williams appears in NPR’s 2024 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around historical fiction, sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, book club ideas, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Pink Slime by Fernanda Trías, translated by Heather Cleary appears in NPR’s 2024 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, book club ideas, seriously great writing, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Rakesfall by Vajra Chandrasekera appears in NPR’s 2024 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, book club ideas, identity & culture, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Real Americans by Rachel Khong appears in NPR’s 2024 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around fiction, sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, staff picks, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
Kyr grows up aboard Gaea Station, trained to avenge an Earth destroyed by the powerful alien Wisdom. When an assignment exposes lies within her militarized community, she is forced to reconsider the cause that shaped her entire identity.
Shesheshen is a shapeshifting monster who assembles a body from whatever materials are available and expects humans to hunt her. After Homily nurses her back to health, affection grows even as Shesheshen learns that Homily's family is searching for the monster they blame for a curse.
Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune appears in NPR’s 2024 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, staff picks, family matters, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
The Book of Love by Kelly Link appears in NPR’s 2024 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, book club ideas, family matters, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
The Bright Sword: A Novel of King Arthur by Lev Grossman appears in NPR’s 2024 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, historical fiction, book club ideas, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed appears in NPR’s 2024 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, the dark side, rather short, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez appears in NPR’s 2024 Books We Love guide. NPR’s editors categorized the recommendation around sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction, the dark side, fiction, placing it within the year’s broader reading conversation.
