The best science fiction books of 2024, according to the major awards
The 25 science fiction books from 2024 that the Hugo, Nebula, Locus and Clarke awards singled out, ranked by how much recognition each one earned.
The most acclaimed: The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler, ★ 3.89 from 90+ ratings.
The list
1. The Tusks of Extinction
Won the Hugo Award; finalist for the Locus and Nebula Awards (2025) ·
The mammoths return to life. Their human enemies remain.
3. The Man Who Saw Seconds
Won the Locus Award (2025) ·
The Man Who Saw Seconds is a 2024 science fiction thriller novel by the Slovak-Canadian writer Alexander Boldizar, published by CLASH Books.
4. The Dragonfly Gambit
Won the Nebula Award (2025) ·
She joins the commander's orbit. Revenge is her real mission.
6. The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain
Finalist for the Hugo, Locus and Nebula Awards (2025) ·
A prisoner receives a scholarship. Freedom has hidden conditions.
7. Alien Clay
Finalist for the Hugo and Locus Awards (2025) ·
On the distant world of Kiln lie the ruins of an alien civilization.
8. Countess
Finalist for the Locus and Nebula Awards (2025) ·
An officer faces treason charges. Her loyalties begin to change.
9. Navigational Entanglements
Finalist for the Hugo and Locus Awards (2025) ·
Award-winning author of The Red Scholar’s Wake Aliette de Bodard comes for your heart with a compelling tale of love, duty, and found-family in an exciting new space opera that brings xianxia-style martial arts to the stars.
10. Rakesfall
Finalist for the Locus and Nebula Awards (2025) ·
Two souls share a violent history. Death cannot separate their stories.
11. The Ministry of Time
Finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke and Hugo Awards (2025) ·
In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she'll be working on.
12. Rose/House
Finalist for the Hugo and Locus Awards (2024) ·
Rose/House is a 2023 science fiction mystery novella by American author Arkady Martine.
13. The Mercy of Gods
Finalist for the Locus Award (2025) ·
How humanity came to the planet called Anjiin is lost in the fog of history, but that history is about to end.
14. The Bezzle
Finalist for the Locus Award (2025) ·
The bezzle is a term originally coined by John Kenneth Galbraith for a long-term pattern of bad faith in which the mark does not realize at the time that they have been a victim, and may even feel that they have gained in the short term, until being disillusioned later on.
15. The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles
Finalist for the Locus Award (2025) ·
The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles is a 2024 science fiction mystery novella by Malka Older.
16. She Who Knows
Finalist for the Locus Award (2025) ·
She Who Knows is a 2024 novella by Nnedi Okorafor.
17. Extremophile
Finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award (2025) ·
Punk biohackers take a job. Climate resistance raises the stakes.
18. Space Oddity
Finalist for the Locus Award (2025) ·
Earth's musicians tour the galaxy. Celebrity becomes a diplomatic problem.
19. Private Rites
Finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award (2025) ·
Three sisters inherit a house. The world keeps filling with water.
20. Lost Ark Dreaming
Finalist for the Nebula Award (2025) ·
Off the coast of West Africa, decades after the dangerous rise of the Atlantic Ocean, the region’s survivors live inside five partially submerged, kilometers-high towers originally created as a playground for the wealthy.
21. Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory
Finalist for the Nebula Award (2025) ·
A soldier refuses an order. Exile brings a difficult assignment.
22. Absolution
Finalist for the Locus Award (2025) ·
Absolution is a 2024 novel by Jeff VanderMeer, and the fourth entry in the Southern Reach Series.
23. Corey Fah Does Social Mobility
Finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award (2024) ·
A writer wins a prize. Claiming it proves surprisingly difficult.
24. Kinning
Finalist for the Locus Award (2025)
Empathy spreads across the world. Everfair faces struggles of its own.
25. Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock
Finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award (2025)
A clone hunts her predecessors. Their lives complicate her orders.
How we ranked
Science fiction books first published in 2024 that won or were shortlisted for the Hugo, Nebula, Locus or Arthur C. Clarke awards. Ranked by wins, then by the number of awards that shortlisted them, then by rating. Ratings are web-aggregated averages. The list updates automatically as new award results come in.