2011
Leviathan Wakes – by James S.A. Corey
The Icarus Effect – by James Swallow
2012
2013
Steelheart – by Brandon Sanderson
2014
Cibola Burn – by James S.A. Corey
2015
Children of Time – by Adrian Tchaikovsky
2016
Morning Star – by Pierce Brown
Hell Divers – by Nicholas Sansbury Smith
2017
Company Town – by Madeline Ashby
2018
Record of a Spaceborn Few – by Becky Chambers
Exit Strategy – by Martha Wells
2019
Summer Frost – by Blake Crouch
2020
Automatic Reload – by Ferrett Steinmetz
2021 (thus far)
Project Hail Mary – by Andy Weir
While I’ve tried to avoid repetition from the same series, there were a few years where I didn’t have much choice. Turns out, there were a number of years where I binged little but fantasy. I’m not going to go in-depth on anything here, but I did want to explain 2011. At first, I tried for one book a year, but that was way too restrictive. There were too many years with too many great books I would’ve left out. Next I tried two a year but there were a couple of problems to that as well—specifically 2011, 2016, and 2020. But three was too many. Some years (like 2012-2014) I struggled even to get two. So I settled on two, with the exception of 2011, where I couldn’t avoid including three.
Some of my highlights from this list include:
- The Expanse – I’ve only read up to Book 6 but still the series is awesome and needs mentioning.
- Andy Weir – even though he had a ten year gap between killer reads (as Artemis fell flat).
- Pierce Brown – try as I may, I couldn’t avoid listing two from the Son of Mars trilogy.
- Authors Becky Chambers, Martha Wells, Adrian Tchaikovsky who somehow I managed to limit to one year each despite their amazing series.
In all—four authors (Andy Weir, Blake Crouch, James S.A. Corey, & Pierce Brown were featured twice. Brandon Sanderson, Becky Chambers, Nicholas Sansbury Smith, and Martha Wells each made the shortlist multiple times, but only ended up with the one book. There are four authors (Kristyn Merbeth, Danny Tobey, Madeline Ashby and Mur Lafferty) featured despite this being their only book I’ve yet read. And then two books—The Icarus Effect (Deus Ex) and The Slab (Gears of War)—that were based on video game franchises. While I’ve read all of these, I’ve only reviewed 8 of these:
- The Fold – by Peter Clines
- Hell Divers – by Nicholas Sansbury Smith
- Six Wakes – by Mur Lafferty
- Summer Frost – by Blake Crouch
- Fortuna – by Kristyn Merbeth
- The God Game – by Danny Tobey
- Automatic Reload – by Ferrett Steinmetz
- Doors of Sleep – by Tim Pratt
…Which I’ve decided to link up because why not.
Don’t know if anyone else is doing a list of their best from the last ten years, but I’d love to see your own picks! Any that I seriously missed on, or forgot to include? Do let me know;)
A Refuge from Life 
Love this list! I did a best of the decade list last year (I guess it depends on what you think of as the “new decade.”) Super happy to see Company Town on here! I loved that book so much and have desperately been waiting for her to write something else.
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I don’t have an overview of publications from each year ready, I‘m always reading a mix of old and new books.
Project Hail Mary will be on my list, and Children of Time as well. The others not so much.
Last year‘s favorite is House of Styx, from Andreas Eschbach „Eines Menschen Flügel“ (don’t know if that gets translated) and Liu’s Hidden Girls.
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Some pretty good stuff on here, I think I’ve only not read 3-4. Very cool to see video-game tie-ins listed as well, as a genre, they’ve gotten very good in the last few years.
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Always happy to see my beloved Expanse featuring so prominently on a book list! 🙂
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I really have to get back to Sanderson’s sci-fi series you listed. I loved the first book and just have not picked up the next one. Series ADD like usual for me.
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Yeah I’m a bit ADD as well like that. I get distracted by new stuff, old stuff and shiny covers.
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It’s interesting looking back at things like this, though it’s not something I’ve done. I’ve really enjoyed several of the books on your list and some might also make it to my own list. But there’s also a lot more here to explore, which is always nice.
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I hope you do! I’d love to see your list!!
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I’m all for Children of Time. I’d probably feature some Asher on my list, but I generally don’t pay much attention to the publication year so I would have to check every title and I’m too lazy for that! 😉
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