Science Fiction Books That Sound Cool

It's almost the end of the year which means it's time to hardcore plan for next year. I really want to get into sci-fi. I definitely want to read more adult sci-fi books specifically. It's just finding those perfect books for me that will take some time as I get into this genre. I read some sci-fi for an experiment so I have a lot of sequels I want to read next year including Aurora Burning, Binary, The Magnificent Nine, and Artificial Condition.  I'm not sure of many 2021 Sci-Fi books coming out. At least the very few I have seen I am not interested in but I am interested in some older ones which you can see below. I've blatantly taken this title from BooksandLala but basically, I want to look at which sci-fi books that sound cool to me so I can have a nice list of them to possibly read next year. Let me know if I have any of your favorites on this list.

A race for survival among the stars... Humanity's last survivors escaped earth's ruins to find a new home. But when they find it, can their desperation overcome its dangers?

WHO WILL INHERIT THIS NEW EARTH?

The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age—a world terraformed and prepared for human life.

But all is not right in this new Eden. In the long years since the planet was abandoned, the work of its architects has borne disastrous fruit. The planet is not waiting for them, pristine and unoccupied. New masters have turned it from a refuge into mankind's worst nightmare.

Now two civilizations are on a collision course, both testing the boundaries of what they will do to survive. As the fate of humanity hangs in the balance, who are the true heirs of this new Earth?

Children of Time is pretty popular right now. I like the idea of reading about humans and apparently huge spiders having to coexist on a planet. Apparently, the spiders are cute or at least endearing from the reviews I've seen. It sounds strange so I'm into it.

Hunt the bots. Avoid the carbons. Stay alive.

Sawyer’s life is simple, if not easy. Her home might be in ruins, but she can protect what’s left of it.

A city destroyed by the bots—that’s home. Humans have been hunted, but Sawyer is one of a few who have turned the tables. She’s a Watcher. Taking out the bots one by one. Protecting what’s left. It’s the carbons she needs to be wary of. Faster and stronger than humans, they’re dangerous. But Sawyer’s smarter. That will keep her alive.

At least, that’s what she believed. But the carbons are evolving, and their plans are ever more cunning. Suddenly her friends are dying. Safety can no longer be taken for granted—not even for the Watchers. At least she has Kenzie. Love is a strong word, but whatever they have, it’s what keeps her going.

Embarking on a desperate mission to save humanity from extinction, Sawyer discovers that the line between friend and foe is no longer easily drawn when one of her own betrays them.

And when a horrific plan comes to fruition, Sawyer will have a choice: who to save, and who to let go.

Watcher is a YA book about hunting down robots. It sounds like a fun, thrilling sci-fi that I would enjoy. 

Ensign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since the year 2456. It’s a prestige posting, and Andrew is thrilled all the more to be assigned to the ship’s Xenobiology laboratory.

Life couldn’t be better…until Andrew begins to pick up on the fact that:

(1) every Away Mission involves some kind of lethal confrontation with alien forces

(2) the ship’s captain, its chief science officer, and the handsome Lieutenant Kerensky always survive these confrontations

(3) at least one low-ranked crew member is, sadly, always killed.

Not surprisingly, a great deal of energy below decks is expended on avoiding, at all costs, being assigned to an Away Mission. Then Andrew stumbles on information that completely transforms his and his colleagues’ understanding of what the starship Intrepid really is…and offers them a crazy, high-risk chance to save their own lives.

Redshirts was recommended to me by my brother a few years back but I haven't been as interested in sci-fi as I have been now. It sounds like it will be funny. I think it's based on how Redshirts would always die in Star Trek episodes if I am not mistaken. There are so many non-main characters that die in those series and I've only seen like fifteen episodes. I'm expecting some light humor and an action-packed plot.

Humanity has colonized the solar system—Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt and beyond—but the stars are still out of our reach.

Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, the Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for—and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why.

Detective Miller is looking for a girl. One girl in a system of billions, but her parents have money and money talks. When the trail leads him to the Scopuli and rebel sympathizer Holden, he realizes that this girl may be the key to everything.

Holden and Miller must thread the needle between the Earth government, the Outer Planet revolutionaries, and secretive corporations—and the odds are against them. But out in the Belt, the rules are different, and one small ship can change the fate of the universe.

Leviathan Wakes is another pretty popular book right now. I'm interested in reading space operas with crews that I can care for and them having to go against tyrannical governments like Aurora Rising. I'm in the dark of what readers love about this but I know there is a whole host of people that do, so I might too.

A video game developer becomes obsessed with a willful character in her new project, in a mind-bending exploration of what it means to be human by the New York Times bestselling author of Recursion.

Maxine was made to do one thing: die. Except the minor non-player character in the world Riley is building makes her own impossible decision—veering wildly off course and exploring the boundaries of the map. When the curious Riley extracts her code for closer examination, an emotional relationship develops between them. Soon Riley has all new plans for her spontaneous AI, including bringing Max into the real world. But what if Max has real-world plans of her own?

Summer Frost is a novella that just sounds amazing as it surrounds a video game developer and a character in her project who does what they want. Will the AI rebel, find it's way into the world, and/or destroy its creator? Who knows? But I want to know.

For fans of television shows Black Mirror and Westworld, this compelling, mind-bending novel is a twisted look into the future, exploring how far we will go to remake ourselves into the perfect human specimen and what it means to be human at all.

Set in our world, spanning the near to distant futures, Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful is a novel made up of six interconnected stories that ask how far we will go to remake ourselves into the perfect human specimens, and how hard that will push the definition of "human."

This extraordinary work explores the amazing possibilities of genetic manipulation and life extension, as well as the ethical quandaries that will arise with these advances. The results range from the heavenly to the monstrous.

Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful is a YA novel with six interconnected stories. It reminds me of Uglies which I loved in High School. There are very few YA sci-fi books that look and sound this cool so I'm looking forward to seeing how this author connects these six stories to create one interesting book.

Late in the twenty-first century, big business is booming and state institutions are thriving thanks to advances in genetic engineering, which have produced a compliant population free of addictions. Violent crime is a rarity.

Hyper-intelligent Jayna is a star performer at top predictive agency Mayhew McCline, where she forecasts economic and social trends. A brilliant mathematical modeler, she far outshines her co-workers, often correcting their work on the quiet. Her latest coup: finding a link between northeasterly winds and violent crime.

When a string of events contradicts her forecasts, Jayna suspects she needs more data and better intuition. She needs direct interactions with the rest of society. Bravely—and naively—she sets out to disrupt her strict routine and stumbles unwittingly into a world where her IQ is increasingly irrelevant…a place where human relationships and the complexity of life are difficult for her to decode. And as she experiments with taking risks, she crosses the line into corporate intrigue and disloyalty.

Can Jayna confront the question of what it means to live a “normal” life? Or has the possibility of a “normal” life already been eclipsed for everyone?

A Calculated Life sounds so perfect for me. I love the idea of this data analysis mathematician who goes out into the world and expands her mind. I feel like it's going to be very reflective and intelligent like Gemsigns was. I absolutely loved that book so I am expecting good things with this one.

Alyssa Farshot has spent her whole life trying to outrun her family legacy. Her mother sacrificed everything to bring peace to the quadrant, and her uncle has successfully ruled as emperor for decades. But the last thing Alyssa wants is to follow in their footsteps as the next in line for the throne. Why would she choose to be trapped in a palace when she could be having wild adventures exploring a thousand-and-one planets in her own ship?

But when Alyssa’s uncle becomes gravely ill, his dying wish surprises the entire galaxy. Instead of naming her as his successor, he calls for a crownchase, the first in seven centuries. Representatives from each of the empire’s prime families—including Alyssa—are thrown into a race to find the royal seal, which has been hidden somewhere in the empire. The first to find the seal wins the throne.

Alyssa’s experience as an explorer makes her the favorite to win the crown she never wanted. And though she doesn’t want to be empress, her duty to her uncle compels her to participate in this one last epic adventure. But when the chase turns deadly, it’s clear that more than just the fate of the empire is at stake. Alyssa is on her most important quest yet—and only time will tell if she’ll survive it.

Crownchasers focuses on this deadly competition, a royal main character, and a fight for the throne. Since it's a sci-fi and based on the cover it seems to be set in space or a non-Earth planet. All of which sounds like a fast-paced action-packed sci-fi that I want to read more of.

In the future, nanochips in human brains control emotions in order to maintain world peace. When the chip's developer plans a lethal update that will return Earth to 'the garden,' a young woman with a faulty chip is the only one who can stop him.

Eden Chip is such a bad title but I would love to read a book on nanotechnology. I love books on survival and heroes on a quest to save the day. When I'm looking for sci-fi books, I am looking for more fast-paced reads with some sparingly reflective, quiet books. And this fits the bill for a fast-paced read with a subject that I am extremely interested in reading.

Sci-fi is such a difficult genre to find books that really interest me. The good thing about that is that it gets me to be pickier about what I am reading so I am more likely to love the books I pick. I've found some interesting books on Worlds Without End. If you know any other site that I might find some more sci-fi books let me know in the comments. Also, if you love any sci-fi books that kind of fit into the books I've chosen or the sequels I am planning to read next year I would love to read about your recommendation too.

What sci-fi books are you looking forward to reading?