The 40 Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books of 2026 So Far

The 18th (yes, 18th!) book in Butcher’s long-running Dresden Files series finds its titular character, Harry Dresden, struggling with grief. But Chicago is struggling, his brother is seriously ill, and he’s now betrothed to a vampire. He’ll have to put his own feelings aside to be the wizard everyone needs him to be.

Think dating is hard right now? Maybe you’ll find solace in For Human Use, where a new app helps people find love with cadavers. You read that right. And as the app gains popularity, two men behind its funding and growth are pitted against one another.

Best known for his Dungeon Crawler Carl series, Matt Dinniman is back with a standalone novel. Oliver lives on the planet New Sonora, but when Earth decides to evict the planet’s tenants, they make a deadly game of it, allowing Earth’s gamers to use war machines for fun. Oliver decides to try and save his home no matter what.

Leena can see the dead, but keeps her secret closely guarded. When her brother falls ill, she decides to bargain away her secret to a dangerous merchant. Her trade leads her to a mysterious estate, where she has to fight for her life to escape the merchant’s grasp.

The first in a new trilogy, Tao Wong’s The First Step follows a young farmer who joins a school of cultivation, and begins a magical journey filled with martial arts, Chinese mythology, and a chance at immortality.

It’s post-WWI Britain, and what people hope to be a time of peace is overtaken by a new threat. Fae are taking children, and one vet decides he’ll be the one to bring them back.

If you don’t normally read short story collections, now’s your chance. Featuring award-winning and nominated stories, this book may be the perfect read to get you out of a reading slump with tales you can finish in one sitting.

A grief support group gets dark with the newest release from horror writer Eric LaRocca. After the death of his husband, Simeon becomes enmeshed with The Wretches, whose intense methods to process the death of loved ones leads Simeon to a mysterious man who promises they can all get one last moment with a loved one for a steep price.

The graduate of a deadly academy is the protagonist of Mark Lawrence’s newest novel. Rue, now an old woman, is finally at peace with her violent upbringing. But as soon as she thinks she’s entered retirement, the sins of her past come back to haunt her.

Trees can drag you to your death. Artificial monsters stalk the lands. And alien men wander around town. John Maraintha is dropped on the planet Scythia and has to find a way to adapt and survive.

Fans of classic folktale retellings will enjoy this take on The Little Mermaid. Rather than following Ariel, it centers on her granddaughter, who is awash in complex politics after the assassination of her father. To save her family’s legacy, she makes a deal with the famed sea-witch Ursla.

If you’re a fan of The Substance, you may enjoy this new book. A young struggling writer named Maggie meets an established producer who’s looking to revive her career. The solution to both of their problems is an experimental procedure–that takes Maggie’s youth and gives it to the older producer–along with a $3 million payout that helps with Maggie’s money troubles. But both women quickly realize that the blood transfusion is anything but a simple transaction.

Space operas are a sci-fi subgenre that never get old. When a starship’s crew returns to their home galaxy after a decade away, they find the once peaceful space they knew is now on the brink of war–and they’re expected to fight in it. It’s up to the ship’s captain to make life or death decisions that may have irrevocable impacts on her crew.

A ten-year-old girl goes on a journey with her AI toy to reach New York in this novel all about the complex relationship between man and machine.

This debut follows a billionaire who has prepared for the apocalypse and is ready to survive in his bunker with his family. But above ground, raiders are also fighting to stay alive, and aren’t too happy with their new neighbors.

Earth is in ruins. A colony ship on the way to its new home keeps its original civilians in cryostasis, while their descendants maintain the vessel on its four hundred yearlong journey to a new planet. But midway through the trip, the crew of descendants starts to wonder why they’re spending their lives in service of a world they’ll never see.

A beloved actor in an epic fantasy franchise where much of the characters believe the world is real makes a bold choice to break out of the false reality the studio has built, and convince his co-stars to go with him.

The eighth, highly anticipated book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series picks up on the tenth floor, where Carl and Donut try to make sense of the system AI’s mysterious plans and learn more about why it calls the eleventh floor ‘A Parade of Horribles’.

If you’re yearning for an epic tale of political intrigue, this new Ann Leckie read is for you. The empire of Radch is dealing with internal turmoil, and when a major decision is made on the religious site called Radiant Star, that turmoil could result in irrevocable changes to everyone in the city of Ooioiaa.