- Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
An envoy shaped by a fragmented artificial intelligence navigates imperial power and questions of personhood in this award-winning space opera.
- The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson
A brilliant outsider enters an empire’s machinery of power, where political strategy and personal loyalties collide.
- Ninefox gambit by Yoon Ha Lee
A disgraced captain and an unusual strategist navigate the rigid doctrines and political machinery of a far-reaching empire.
- Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera
A young man raised to kill a god navigates a city where political power and religious belief shape everyday reality.
- by Everina Maxwell
An arranged marriage between two men becomes entangled with an investigation that could destabilize interstellar diplomacy.
- The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
An envoy’s mission on a wintry world tests the limits of cultural understanding and political trust.
- by Joan Slonczewski
A peaceful ocean-dwelling society confronts an imperial threat through nonviolent resistance and careful negotiation.
- Employees by Olga Ravn
Testimonies from human and humanoid crew members turn a workplace inquiry into a spare meditation on memory and belonging.
- The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
A physicist’s journey between contrasting worlds explores how political systems shape individual lives.
- by Micaiah Johnson
A woman able to travel between alternate Earths becomes a valuable and vulnerable figure in a stratified society.
- The Archive Undying by Emma Mieko Candon
In a world shaped by failing godlike machines, a damaged archivist and a former pilot become caught in a struggle over power.
- by Annalee Newitz
Across centuries of planetary engineering, a community struggles over who gets to shape a world and who gets to call it home.
- by Tasha Suri
A captive princess and a maid with dangerous powers form an alliance against an oppressive empire.
- by Max Gladstone
A tech entrepreneur is swept into a vast interstellar conflict involving an enigmatic empress and unlikely allies.
- The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
A diverse ship’s crew takes on a dangerous assignment while negotiating the cultures and relationships that hold them together.
- by Kaliane Bradley
A civil servant assigned to supervise a time-displaced explorer finds that an official program carries personal and political complications.
- by Simon Jimenez
A mysterious boy connects the lives of a spacefaring crew and a woman shaped by the vast reach of interstellar commerce.
- The City & The City by China Miéville
A murder investigation unfolds in two intertwined cities whose residents are trained not to see one another.
- The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett
An unusual detective and his assistant investigate a baffling death in an empire facing extraordinary threats.
- The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez
Two travelers escort a captive moon-god through an empire in a formally inventive tale of resistance and storytelling.
- Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler
A researcher investigating signs of octopus intelligence encounters questions about consciousness, communication, and control.
- by Sarah Beth Durst
A young woman trains for a perilous role in a kingdom where rulers must contend with powerful spirits of nature.
- The unspoken name by A. K. Larkwood
A priestess who escapes a destined sacrifice becomes a powerful player in conflicts among rival rulers and gods.
- The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin
New York’s living boroughs take human form and must work together against a force seeking to remake the city.