What are some current trends in sci-fi and fantasy literature?

Currently, as of 2025?

Space opera is also a big genre these days; it has always been popular to some extent yet ebbs and flows in popularity depending on the capricious whims of the zeitgeist. Space opera of the 2020s has arguably gotten more diverse and socially-aware than older space opera, often focusing on real-world political issues and social dynamics beyond “here’s some cool technology, look how cool it is!” That said, there has always been some social commentary in science fiction to some extent, particularly when we start looking at anything in the 50s/60s onward, when we were past old-school adventure stories and onto some experimental stuff in a new genre. Some early stuff was very much “Conan the Barbarian, but in space” or “Tarzan, but in space,” and those works certainly have a place in the genre—they’ve never truly gone away, to be fair—but mainstream science fiction has typically concerned itself with thematically meatier themes as time has gone on. Hence, modern space opera concerns itself with issues like racism, classism, sexism, ableism, environmental destruction, colonialism, imperialism, and all sorts of modern-day sociopolitical issues, but in space.

There are a lot of “cozy” fantasy, science fiction, and horror novels that are usually characterized by familiar, optimistic, heartwarming themes; low stakes, and an emphasis on fun and humor rather than drama. They usually try to stay uncontroversial and not make any contentious statements about the world or society. I don’t really like this genre because I prefer my speculative fiction novels, even the more “happy” ones, to commit a bit more to making some sort of statement on the human condition. That said I don’t really read much of this stuff because I don’t usually read things that don’t appeal to me plot- and genre-wise.

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In science fiction, I see a lot of stuff based on current issues, particularly climate change. A whole genre of “cli-fi” novels has emerged, some of which are marketed as science fiction, fantasy, horror, or other speculative fiction genres, and some of which are marketed as literary fiction. That is, the branch of literary fiction that is speculative in that made-up things are happening, but somebody behind a desk decided that it was Literature instead of Science Fiction or Fantasy or Horror, so Literary Fiction it was marketed as.

*—I specify “the Golden Age of Piracy” instead of just saying “pirate romance” because I realize that, in our modern world, the word “pirate” has multiple additional meanings and connotations. As in, a romance book with a hero who is vaguely similar to Neo from “The Matrix” (1999) prior to the events of the film would, technically, be a “pirate romance.”

Needless to say, though, these other subgenres, which I’m just going to call paranormal romance and historical fantasy romance because they existed before the romantasy label really caught on, are still going strong. Because, regardless of the nomenclature, people like their fantasy, their romance, and their fantasy romance.

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Cli-fi novels usually concern a world that is already suffering the worst effects of climate change, sometimes a post-apocalyptic wasteland and sometimes a world like our own that isn’t gone just yet but is just very hot. Other novels feature a world that is just starting to feel climate change’s effects and is maybe trying to reverse them. There are also a few where people have solved, or attempted to solve climate change, but it’s not permanent, not actually working, or there’s some sort of evil secret behind it. I have not read much of this stuff so I am going off of a great deal of marketing copy I’ve read.

Notable recent examples of modern space opera that I’ve actually read and can recommend include Braking Day (2022) by Adam Oyebanji, Paradise-1 (2023) by David Wellington, The Scourge Between Stars (2023) by Ness Brown, Alien Clay (2024) by Adrian Tchaikovsky, and New Adventures in Space Opera (2024), an anthology edited by Jonathan Strahan. I’ve also started on a few other releases including The Spare Man (2022) by Mary Robinette Kowal, Station Eternity (2022) by Mur Lafferty, The Mercy of Gods (2024) by James S.A. Corey, and am hoping to read Revenant-X, the sequel to Paradise-1, when I can finally get my hands on one. Notable authors I haven’t read but who are quite successful in the genre at the moment include Beth Revis, Everina Maxwell, Emily Tesh, and Rebecca Fraimow.

low fantasy with an ensemble cast that surrounds a city, country, or other setting that essentially acts as a character in and of itself e.g. Divine Cities series by Robert Jackson Bennett, Tyrant Philosophers series by Adrian Tchaikovsky, Navola (2024) by Paolo Bacigalupi, Founders Trilogy by Robert Jackson Bennett, going back a decade or two Ian McDonald and China Mieville at least partly contributed to the popularity of this genre

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For instance, paranormal romance, which is usually romance in an urban-fantasy setting with human-like beings like vampires, werewolves, angels, demons, and demigods; has been around for ages. Time-travel romance is also its own category, to some extent. Most classic tales that modern fantasy draws inspiration from, such as Arthurian legend, Greek and Roman myths, and Shakespeare’s plays, feature romance as a central element, so a lot of modern fantasy inspired by much-older works is going to feature romance as well without having the same genre standards as modern romance novels. None of these works are usually called “romantasy.”

There are probably some other trends I’m missing here, but these are the ones that I’m most aware of based on what I, personally, read and look into when I’m looking for stuff to review.

These aren’t really “genres,” but in the last few years I’ve seen a lot of books and stories that would fall into the following niches:

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fantasy mystery taking place in a secondary world (i.e. not modern world fantasy mysteries, which have been around for ages) e.g. The Tainted Cup (2024) by Robert Jackson Bennett, The Last Hour Between Worlds (2024) by Melissa Caruso, The Warden (2023) by Daniel M. Ford

Since everybody is talking about it, I’ve decided to wait a little while to discuss romantasy, which as far as I can tell describes romance books with romance tropes and storylines that take place in what is usually a high-fantasy setting. I am delineating this at the start because there are many, many fantasy stories that include romance, but are not categorized as “romantasy.”

I have seen a few fantasy books that take place on Earth and/or in a modern setting described as “romantasy,” but these are not really the core of the genre in my opinion. Many modern romantasy books are the sort of thing that would have been called “urban fantasy romance” or “paranormal romance” a few years ago, like witch romances taking place on an Earth similar to ours that read more like “Gilmore Girls” than Game of Thrones. It is also common to see historical romantasy that falls into some other historical romance subgenre—like Regency romance, Victorian romance, or romance taking place in the Golden Age of Piracy*—and has fantasy elements mixed in, like that one book somebody on YouTube described as “Bridgerton with fairies.” These books are usually drawing more inspiration from Jane Austen than Michael Moorcock.

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Well, as a book reviewer who reads a bunch of stuff as it comes out and reads the descriptions of virtually everything else that’s coming out, I feel I might have some insights into that.

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science fiction about self-aware robots, computers, or spaceships e.g. Service Model (2024) by Adrian Tchaikovsky, Murderbot series by Martha Wells, Monk and Robot series by Becky Chambers, Paradise-1 (2023) by David Wellington

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