Best summer books of 2023: Science fiction

Ascension by Nicholas Binge (Harper Voyager/Riverhead)

Part techno-thriller, part examination of faith and determinism, Ascension follows a group of scientists as they explore an enormous mountain that has inexplicably manifested in the middle of the Pacific. There are monsters. There are violent deaths. But there are also mysteries that cannot be fathomed through empiricism alone.

The Red Scholar’s Wake by Aliette de Bodard (Gollancz)

From uneasy beginnings, love develops between a pair of Sapphic space pirates — a human and a sentient spaceship — in a far-future galaxy heavily influenced by precolonial Vietnamese culture. The novel revels in gorgeous detail and cut-throat politics while also giving an object lesson in normalising otherness.

The Malevolent Seven by Sebastien de Castell (Jo Fletcher Books)

De Castell’s tale of warring wizards reads like a gonzo Western with added spellcasting. A band of misfit magician anti-heroes assembles to defeat a septet of necromantic brothers. The lines between good and evil are blurred in a novel that serves up equally generous dollops of gore and snarkiness.

Summer Books 2023

All this week, FT writers and critics share their favourites. Some highlights are:

Monday: Environment by Pilita Clark
Tuesday: Economics by Martin Wolf
Wednesday: Fiction by Laura Battle
Thursday: Politics by Gideon Rachman
Friday: Critics’ picks
Saturday: History by Tony Barber

Moths by Jane Hennigan (Angry Robot)

Gender-flipping the basic themes of The Handmaid’s Tale, Hennigan’s first, fierce effort portrays a post-apocalyptic world where males, thanks to a bizarre toxic infection, either die or go murderously mad and must be incarcerated for the good of all. Matriarchal rule is the solution, if not necessarily a straightforward one.

Godkiller by Hannah Kaner (Harper Voyager)

Mercenary warrior Kissen — a foulmouthed bisexual woman with a prosthetic leg — is the memorable protagonist of Kaner’s impressive, iconoclastic debut. Godkiller is a blistering, blood-soaked fantasy-quest adventure that respects sword-and-sorcery traditions while at the same time turning the genre’s tireder tropes on their head.

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