Two months ago, I decided to spend my summer returning to the genre I first fell in love with, Science Fiction. I picked fifteen books from my TBR pile and expected them to last me through the summer.
Things haven’t quite gone according to plan. In one way, I’m on track; I’ve read eight of the fifteen books on my original list, and I’m sure I’ll have read all fifteen by the end of August. Reading those books reawakened my enthusiasm for SF and, in addition to the eight books from my original list, I’ve read another seven SF books in the past two months.
I’ve enjoyed my reading so much I’ve added more books to my list, raising the target for my Sci FI Summer 2026 to twenty-nine books.
In this post, I’ve shared my impressions of the first fifteen books and updated my list of the books still to come.
I hope at least some of these books make it onto your summer reading list.
Two of the fifteen books I’ve read, stood out for me. They were the ones that snagged my curiosity, grabbed my emotions and kept me turning the pages to find out what would happen next.
‘The Blighted Stars’ was on my original list. It’s the first book of a Space Opera trilogy so I’ve added the second book to my updated list for this summer.
I stumbled across‘’The Dragonfly Gambit’ after I’d published my list. It’s an powerful novella: iIt ntense, inventive, tricky, edgy and written with an effortless immediacy that leaves almost no gap between the protagonist, Inez, and the reader. It won the Nebula Award for Best Novella (2024).
Here are the links to my reviews:
So far, there have been only two books that I set aside because they weren’t working for me.
Matt Dinniman’s ‘Dungeon Crawler Carl’ series has been a publishing sensation, elevating LitRPG to a major sub-genre of SF. The first book had lots of strengths: an innovative idea executed with flair, vividly imagined creatures, and game rules and spectacular fight scenes. All told with gentle humour. But it wasn’t for me. Part of my problem is that I’ve never enjoyed RPGs. I also hate gamification in any form. I can see that the book is also anti-gamification and that the game is positioned as a cruelty-for-profit product that seems like the highest evolution of Imperialistic Capitalism. Even so, I found it hard to sustain my interest in repetitive slaughter-for-loot scenes, so I set this aside at 66%.
I’m a fan of Ann Leckie’s work, so I’d pre-ordered her latest Imperial Radch novel ‘Radiant Star’. I set it aside at 26% because I was bored. The pace was glacial, the storytelling style was distant. I couldn’t get engaged with the plot or the characters.
One of the things I wanted to do this summer was to indulge in well-written Space Operas; the kind of books that know space is big, spaceships are awesome, war is bad but inevitable, and that have ass-kicking heroes/heroines who never give up.
I’d had my appetite for Space Opera whetted by Elizabeth Moon’s series ‘Vatta’s War’ before I set up this challenge, so I had her follow-up duology ‘Vatta’s Peace’ on my list. I enjoyed them just as much as the first series.
It’s Elizabeth Moon’s fault that there are so many additions to my reading list I trawled Elizabeth Moon’s back catalogue and found her 19901q seven-book ‘Serrano’s Legacy’ series, which, surprisingly for something that looked like it would be Military SF, had a lot of stuff about horses in it. I read it, loved it and have been consuming the series at the rate of a book a week.
So far, I’ve read the first five books of the series, and I’ve put the next two on my extended Sc Fi Summer 2026 list. I’ll be reviewing each of the books, but so far I’ve only gotten to the first three.
I’ve read two more Space Operas: ‘Finder’, which wasn’t on the list, and ‘Descendant Machine’, which was.
‘Finder’ is the first book of The Finder Chronicles. This series comes highly recommended by people who enjoy Space Opera as much as I do. The first book was a good romp, slightly marred by a poor choice of narrator. I’ll be continuing with the series, the rest of which thankfully has a different narrator.
When Nicola Mafalda’s scout ship comes under attack, she’s left deeply traumatised by the drastic action it takes to keep her alive. Months later, when an old flame comes to her for help, she realises she has to find a way to forgive both the ship and her former lover. Reckless elements are attempting to reactivate a giant machine that has lain dormant for thousands of years. To stop them, Nicola and her crew will have to put aside their differences, sneak aboard a vast alien megaship, and try to stay alive long enough to prevent galactic devastation.
‘Descendant Machine’ (2023) is the second book in Gareth Powell’s Continuance series. You don’t need to read the first book, ‘Stars and Bones’, to read ‘Descendant Machine’. I enjoyed the second book much more than the first. Powell thinks big, mind-blowingly big. The plot was complex but never confusing. The pairing of a kickass, introverted, fierce, foul-mouthed human female navigator with a calm, urbane, sentient ship was inspired. Gareth Powell’s humour made me smile, and his action scenes rocked.
To vary my SF diet, I included a couple of quirky SF titles in my list, both parts of series that I’d read before.
‘Nobody’s Baby’ was amusing, ingenious, and kind.
‘Platform Decay’ was OK. If you love being in Murderbot’s head, then this ‘family road trip from hell’ novella has a lot to offer. I like Murderbot, but I felt this story was a little thin. I enjoyed most of it, but it didn’t leave me with a “Now THAT’S what makes Murderbot special!” feeling.
Nobody’s Baby’ (2026) is the second Dorothy Gentleman novella, following on from last year’s ‘Murder By Memory’.
It can be seen as a cozy mystery in space. It’s a gentle story, told with a quiet grace that makes it a comforting read. The tone camouflages the confrontation the book explores between the risk-free, poverty-free, technology-enabled extended lifespan enjoyed by the ship’s population while in transit and the fundamental urge to reproduce and create a new generation.
I loved the concept of a ‘wild baby’. The poor thing wasn’t feral. It was just born into a society that is supposed to be baby-free. Watching the lawyers struggling to accommodate what is within their frameworks of what should be was both amusing and slightly frightening.
I liked Dorothy Gentleman’s kindness and empathy. While those are not typical attributes of a fictional detective, in this story, they were what made her successful.
Between now and the end of August, I’m planning to read fourteen more SF books. That’s not as ambitious as it sounds, as I’ve already started three of them, I’ve included the rest of the books that were on my original list, added the remaining two Serrano Legacy books from Elizabeth Moon, the first novel from the author of ‘The Dragonfly Gambit’ and the next novel in the Devoured Worlds series, plus a couple of recent additions to my shelves.
A cyberpunk novel with a Samurai enforcer as the main character, how could I NOT read that?
If the book is as much fun as the cover, I’ll be very happy.
Cold Eternity’ (2025) is a Gothic-Horror-In-Space novel from S.A. Barnes. I enjoyed the opening of her Space Opera, ‘Dead Silence’, but it was very long, and I got bogged down in the middle and didn’t finish it. This book is shorter and more focused, so I’m hoping it will suit me better.
I bought ’The Stardust Grail’ (2024) on the boack of positive reviews and the publisher’s assertion that it was “a thrilling anti-colonial space heist to save an alien civilization.”
I haven’’t read Yume Kitasei before, so this is a roll of the dice but, if it works, I’ll be reading her 2025 novel ‘Saltcrop’ soon..
Adrian Tchaikovsky’s novels are hit or miss for me. When I like them, I really like them. What calls to me about ‘Alien Clay’’ (2024) is that it seems to use aliens to reflect on how strange humans are, especially the kind of humans who run totalitarian regimes.
’Of Oracles and Sirens’ (2026) is another generation ship space opera. It’s both a debut novel and the first book in a planned series.
The ‘resist the alien overlords that everyone else accepts’ vibe appeals to me.
The rest depends on how well Aaron Strix-Corvus Larertew writes.
‘‘The Unfamiliar Garden’ (2022) is the second book in ‘The Comet Cycle’ trilogy. The novels are in the same universe but are focused on different groups of characters.
I read the first book, ‘The Nineth Metal’ (2021) because it was recommended by Stephen King. It was an exicitng read, full of clever twists and turns, I’m hoping this one will be as exciting.
‘Artifact Space’ (2021) is the first book in the Arcana Imperii Series, a three-book space opera series with an underdog heroine,
This has sat on my shelves for eighteen months mostly because it’s length (578 pages) has put me off. I’ve decided it’s time to read this or set it aside.
I’m not always keen on Time Travel stories but ‘The Third Rule of Time Travel’ (2025) opens with a white- knuckle ride in a small plane plumeting to the ground. That hooked me.
I was suprised to find Philip Fracassi writing Science Fiction. I know him as a horror writer. I enjoyed ‘The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre’ (2025).
’The Unkillable Princess’ (2025) is the second book in The Kystrom Chronicles’ that started with the ’The Immortality Thief’ (2022).
I’m expecting this to be an exciting space opera novel.
‘The Fractured Dark’ (2023) follows on from ‘The Blighted Stars’ with the same characters, dealing with the consequences of the outcomes from the first book. If it’s as intense as the first book, I’ll be very happy.
’The Iron Garden Sutra’ (2026) is the debut novel of the author of ‘The Dragonfly Gambit’, I’m expected something different and intriguing I’ve seen it labelled as the same kind of strange-but-brilliant as ‘Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead’. I loved that book so I hope the comparison stands.
I’m excited about ‘’We Are All Ghosts In The Forest’ (2024) because I lost myself completely in Lorraine Wilson’s earlier novel, ’This Is Our Undoing’ (2021). It was a powerful reading experience that left me hungry for more of her work.
‘We Are All Ghosts in the Forest’ was longlisted for the British Science Fiction Awards – Best Novel. Its sequel, ‘The Salt Oracle’ (2025) was a BSFA Best Novel finalist, a Locus Recommended Read and is on the 2026 shortlist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Science Fiction Book of the Year.
‘Change of Command’’ (1999) is the sixth book in The Serrano Legacy series. ‘
‘Against the Odds’ (2000) is the seventh and final book in The Serrano Legacy series.
Mike Finn's Fiction 
Once you have made your way through Elizabeth moon, might I suggest the Chanur series by CJ Cherryh, if you haven’t already read it. It is written in a 1 + 3 + 1 style. The first book can absolutely be read on its own, but if you want more (and higher stakes), read the sequel trilogy. I haven’t read the final book, both written and set many years after the trilogy concluded, as the ending of the trilogy was so satisfying. But I will eventually as Cherryh hasn’t let me down yet.
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I read the Chanur series as they came out in the 1980s. I’d been a C J Cherryh fan since ‘Downbelow Station’. I recently listened to the first two books as audiobooks and I think I’ll revisit the rest of the series that way.
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