6 Best Sci-Fi Books Released Since 2010, Ranked for Bold Visions of Life Beyond Earth
Survival on a Red Planet
In The Martian, Mark Watney is left alone on Mars after a dust storm, an injury and his crew’s evacuation. His habitat and limited food supply turn the planet into a dangerous place to endure.
Andy Weir’s story follows Watney as he calculates calories, grows potatoes and repurposes equipment. His sarcastic logs sit alongside the practical problems that could threaten his survival.
Unknown Worlds and New Minds
Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation sends a team of women into Area X, where the Biologist encounters strange growth, silence and a tower descending into the earth. A mutation spreads as the expedition’s purpose becomes harder to grasp.
Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of Time follows human survivors aboard the Gilgamesh and spiders transformed by an uplift virus. The spider chapters explore how their civilization develops memory, science, faith and social structures.
An Empire and an Unfinished Account
In Arkady Martine’s A Memory Called Empire, Mahit Dzmare arrives at the Teixcalaanli court as a representative of her people. Her predecessor was murdered, and the memory chip meant to guide her has been sabotaged.
The text presents six books as its subject but names only four, and its account of A Memory Called Empire breaks off mid-sentence. It therefore leaves two selections and the rest of Mahit’s story unspecified.
Key points
- The ranking says it covers six science-fiction books released since 2010, but names only four in the text.
- The Martian centers on Mark Watney’s efforts to survive alone on Mars.
- Annihilation and Children of Time explore transformation, unfamiliar environments and non-human life.
- The account of A Memory Called Empire ends before Mahit’s story is fully described.