... and seven more that began!

Ready to explore the galaxies of yesterday and the universes of tomorrow? As we embark into 2025, it’s time to reflect on the sci-fi book series that wrapped up their epic tales in 2024—and celebrate the bold new adventures that began. Whether you’re a fan of gripping finales or excited to dive into fresh worlds, this list has you covered.

From the bittersweet goodbyes of long-running series to the thrilling first chapters of new sagas, sci-fi fans have plenty to celebrate. So grab your favorite reading fuel (coffee, tea, or the tears of fictional characters), and let’s journey through the series finales that defined the year!

SERIES THAT ENDED

The Prefect Dreyfus Series by Alastair Reynolds

From the king of modern space opera comes a new adventure in the Prefect Dreyfus series—Machine Vendetta is a thrilling tale of deadly conspiracies and old enemies that refuse to die.

Panoply is a small, efficient police force, dedicated to maintaining the rule of democracy among the ten thousand disparate city-states orbiting the planet Yellowstone.

Ingvar Tench was one of Panoply's most experienced operatives. So why did she walk alone and unarmed into a habitat with a vicious grudge against her organization?

As his colleagues pick up the pieces following her death, Prefect Tom Dreyfus must face his conscience. Four years ago, when an investigation linked to one of his most dangerous adversaries got a little too personal, Dreyfus arranged for Tench to continue the inquiry by proxy. In using her, did Dreyfus also put her in the line of fire? And what does Tench's attack tell him about an enemy he had hoped was dormant?

Now complete with 3 thrilling installments, finish the The Prefect Dreyfus Emergencies Saga with Machine Vendetta, now available here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook, in paperback and in hardcover.

The Token Series by Nathan Hystad

Aliens are among us, but who will stop the invasion?

Special Agent Waylen Brooks is charged with doing the impossible: preventing an alien incursion, without alerting the general population. Will his past finally catch up with him before he can succeed?

Rory Swanson wants to forget the Shadow following her, but every time she ignores it someone dies.

Silas Gunn is the Key. With no other option, he must travel to Planet D to visit the field of Shadows. Little does he know what he seeks is also seeking him.

A lifetime of deception will need to be reckoned in order to survive what’s coming.

Warmth of the Sun concludes the epic science fiction thriller that started with Echoes From the Moon, by Nathan Hystad, the author of Lost Contact, The Other Place, and Below Us.

Warmth of the Sun is available here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook, and in paperback.

The Devoured Worlds Series by Megan E. O'Keefe

Worlds will collide and fates will be rewritten in the thrilling conclusion to the Devoured Worlds space opera trilogy by award‑winning author Megan E. O’Keefe.

Naira and Tarquin have found a new home on Seventh Cradle. But the peace they’ve built is short-lived as mysterious assailants ambush the settlement and Naira is haunted by visions of a monstrous future. Catastrophe strikes when Tarquin uncovers a plot to bring about the end of the universe. As humanity races against the clock to prevent their extinction, old secrets come to light and loyalties fracture, and Naira realizes she may be the key to saving the world—or ending it.

A thrilling trilogy that finalized in 2024, get caught up now with book 3 The Bound Worlds is available here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook, and in paperback.

After The Tide Series by Anthony J. Melchiorri

The real monsters lurk among us…

The Florida coastline has been ravaged by hurricanes. Food supplies and electricity are dwindling. Oni-Agent infested creatures prowl the flooded streets in search of prey. But they aren’t the only evil that plagues people struggling to survive the brutal conditions.

Dom and the Hunters travel to post-apocalyptic Miami to investigate rumors of human trafficking. Opportunistic cartels and other nefarious organizations seek to carve out a piece of the region for themselves. The Hunters navigate the criminal underworld to put a stop to these horrific groups.

They soon discover that someone is hunting them.

The rumors of human trafficking are only a tiny piece of a much larger, more treacherous puzzle involving some of the Hunters’ worst enemies. Enemies that threaten to destroy what remains of the United States.

Dom and his team stand as America's last defense against a rising tide of chaos. Failure is not an option, but success may demand a price too heavy to bear.

Did you know that Anthony J. Melchiorri's The Tide series has a spin-off? Taking place 10 years after the main series, dive into the complete 3-book side-story series, After the Tide. After the Tide: Inferno is available here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook, and in paperback.

Hell Divers Series by Nicholas Sansbury Smith

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Nicholas Sansbury Smith throws the Divers into another action-packed adventure in the final installment of the Hell Divers series.

Two final dives. One mission that will determine the fate of humanity--forever.

The Forerunner has decimated the Vanguard Islands in a surprise attack from the Trident warship. King Kade Long--seeing no alternative--accepts a peace deal, committing to a perilous mission with X, the "Immortal," to activate weather-modification reactors at the poles. But as Kade and X set off, the fragile peace is threatened by Gran Jefe's one-man guerrilla war against the psychopathic knight, General Jack. Meanwhile, halfway across the world, Michael and his family begin to settle into their new life in the Canary Islands, only to discover that it's not the sanctuary they believed it was.

Diving into the most inhospitable territory yet, the Hell Divers face horrific monsters bred for a single purpose: to keep them out at any cost. Their only hope of defeating the monsters and restoring the planet is for enemies to unite behind the Immortal and finally work together. But with blood being shed back home, these heroes may have nothing left to save.

In Hell Divers XII: Heroes, beloved characters will confront their fates in a desperate bid to resurrect the world, though not all will live to see the dawn of a new era.

One of the most highly anticipated series finales of the year, Hell Divers XII: Heroes is available here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook (narrated by R.C. Bray), in paperback and in hardcover.

A Prayer for Earthrise Series by Daniel Arenson

The final battle is here. The final showdown between man and monster.

Years ago, the aliens hit us hard. Tentacled aliens. Bloodthirsty aliens. They burned our cities. Devoured our children. Conquered our world.

It ends now.

We lost in space. We lost on land. We lost our world. But a few rebels still fight. A few brave souls still stand tall.

Einav Ben-Ari. Marco Emery. Addy Linden. Names that will echo through the generations. Heroes of Earth. Rebels. They lead a last, desperate assault.

This is our final stand. We must liberate our world.

Or Earth will be lost forever.

A Prayer for Earthrise, the six-book space opera, concludes with On the Milky Way Rivers.

On the Milky Way Rivers is available here on Amazon. Also available in paperback and in hardcover.

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SERIES THAT BEGAN

Southern Reach Series by Jeff Vandermeer

ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2024:

The New York Times, The Washington Post, New York magazine, Time, Kirkus, Literary Hub, Goodreads.

The surprise fourth volume in Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach series—and the final word on one of the most provocative and popular speculative fiction series of our time.

When the Southern Reach trilogy was first published a decade ago, it was an instant sensation, celebrated in a front-page New York Times story before publication, hailed by Stephen King and many others. Each volume climbed the bestseller list; awards were won; the books made the rare transition from paperback original to hardcover; the movie adaptation became a cult classic. All told, the trilogy has sold more than a million copies and has secured its place in the pantheon of twenty-first-century literature.

And yet for all this, for Jeff VanderMeer there was never full closure to the story of Area X. There were a few mysteries that had gone unsolved, some key points of view never aired. There were stories left to tell. There remained questions about who had been complicit in creating the conditions for Area X to take hold; the story of the first mission into the Forgotten Coast—before Area X was called Area X—had never been fully told; and what if someone had foreseen the world after Acceptance? How crazy would they seem?

Structured in three parts, each recounting a new expedition, Absolution is a brilliant, beautiful, and ever-terrifying plunge into unique and fertile literary territory. There are some long-awaited answers here, to be sure, but also more questions, and profound new surprises. It is the final word on one of the most provocative and popular speculative fiction series of our time.

Absolution is available here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook, in paperback, and in hardcover.

Frontlines: Evolution by Marko Kloos

On a distant Earth colony, an orphaned survivor of an alien invasion discovers that the greatest world-ending dangers aren’t behind her.

It’s been eight years since an alien invasion drove a small surviving group of settlers to seek refuge in an underground shelter. Cut off from the rest of humanity, the ragtag band has maintained a narrowly functioning colony due to communal effort and salvage runs. Alex Archer has her own duties as a dog handler. While this off-world colony may be harsh, Ash, Alex’s black shepherd raised to sense threats, makes living in it a little nicer.

But the tenuous hide-and-seek with the monstrous species known as the Lankies is about to come to an end for Alex and her close-knit crew of soldiers, techs, and friends. When a salvage operation goes catastrophically wrong, the Lankies home in on the humans.

With hopes of a rescue long faded, all Alex has left is will—and the fear that there’s so much more to lose.

Scorpio is available here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook and in paperback.

Ambits Run by L.M. Sagas

L. M. Sagas's debut, Cascade Failure, is a high-octane, sci-fi adventure blending J. S. Dewes's Divide series with Firefly. It features a fierce, messy, chaotic space family, vibrant worlds, and an exploration of the many ways to be—and not to be—human.

Most Anticipated Books of 2024—Goodreads, Polygon, The Nerd Daily
Best SFF Novels of 2024—Bookpage.

There are only three real powers in the Spiral: the corporate power of the Trust versus the Union's labor's leverage. Between them the Guild tries to keep everyone's hands above the table. It ain't easy.

Branded a Guild deserter, Jal "accidentally" lands a ride on a Guild ship. Helmed by an AI, with a ship's engineer/medic who doesn't see much of a difference between the two jobs, and a "don't make me shoot you" XO, the Guild crew of the Ambit is a little . . . different.

They're also in over their heads. Responding to a distress call from an abandoned planet, they find a mass grave, and a live programmer who knows how it happened. The Trust has plans. This isn't the first dead planet, and it's not going to be the last.

Unless the crew of the Ambit can stop it.

Cascade Failure is available here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook and in paperback.

Sunken Spaceship by Anthony J. Melchiorri

An unlikely hero is swept up into intergalactic affairs when he stumbles upon a crashed starship.

Ex-Army paratrooper Griffin “Fin” Brooks thought he left danger behind when his battlefield injuries forced him to pursue a new career in marine biology. But one fateful night off the coast of South Africa a ship nearly crashes into him and his loyal golden retriever, Jacques.

Not just any ship. A starship.

Though its alien pilot is dead, the rare extraterrestrial animal inside is not. Fin learns the creature is being smuggled across the galaxy when a pair of interstellar visitors respond to the crash. But those same investigators accuse Fin and his dog of crimes he didn’t even know existed.

The only way to clear his name is to take the strange creature to its home planet and find out who’s responsible for killing the starship’s pilot. Which means Fin quickly needs to learn how to fly a spacecraft and navigate a galaxy teeming with intelligent life beyond his wildest dreams.

And he’s not the only one with designs for the crashed starship and its cargo. Fin will need every skill he’s honed as a paratrooper and a marine biologist if he—and his dog—are to survive.

Sunken Spaceship is available here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook and in paperback.

The Garrett Mann Series by Steven Konkoly

An FBI agent hunting a serial killer has to up his game when a trail of murders is not what it seems in a riveting thriller by Wall Street Journal bestselling author Steven Konkoly.

Five dismembered bodies are found along the roadside, dumped in the middle of nowhere. This isn’t new to Special Agent Garrett Mann. Head of ARTEMIS, a specialized FBI task force hell-bent on hunting down cartel-related killings in the Southwest, Mann has seen this before.

He and his team have been tracking similar kills along thousands of miles of rural roads running north, south, and back again. When the latest slaughter yields a key piece of evidence, Mann thinks he’s found the killer and solved the case. That’s when the nightmare begins.

From a lakeside Minnesota mansion to an abandoned CIA black site in New Mexico, the hunt is on. But the closer Mann gets to his prey, the deadlier the stakes become. This is no ordinary serial killer. He’s not working alone—and the stakes go far beyond just preventing the serial killer’s next massacre. What Mann unravels is a powerful and far-reaching conspiracy beyond his wildest imagination.

A Clean Kill is available here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook and in paperback.

The Captives War Series by James S.A. Corey

How humanity came to the planet called Anjiin is lost in the fog of history, but that history is about to end.

The Carryx – part empire, part hive – have waged wars of conquest for centuries, destroying or enslaving species across the galaxy. Now, they are facing a great and deathless enemy. The key to their survival may rest with the humans of Anjiin.

Caught up in academic intrigue and affairs of the heart, Dafyd Alkhor is pleased just to be an assistant to a brilliant scientist and his celebrated research team. Then the Carryx ships descend, decimating the human population and taking the best and brightest of Anjiin society away to serve on the Carryx homeworld, and Dafyd is swept along with them.

They are dropped in the middle of a struggle they barely understand, set in a competition against the other captive species with extinction as the price of failure. Only Dafyd and a handful of his companions see past the Darwinian contest to the deeper game that they must play to survive: learning to understand – and manipulate – the Carryx themselves.

With a noble but suicidal human rebellion on one hand and strange and murderous enemies on the other, the team pays a terrible price to become the trusted servants of their new rulers.

Dafyd Alkhor is a simple man swept up in events that are beyond his control and more vast than his imagination. He will become the champion of humanity and its betrayer, the most hated man in history and the guardian of his people.

This is where his story begins.

The Mercy of Gods is available here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook, in paperback and in hardcover.

The Archimedes Engine by Peter F. Hamilton

Forty thousand years ago, humanity fled a dying Earth. Traveling in massive arkships, these brave pioneers spread out across the galaxy to find a new home. After traveling thousands of light-years, one fleet of arkships arrived at Centauri, a dense cluster of stars with a vast array of potentially habitable planets. The survivors of Earth signaled to the remaining arkships that humanity had finally found its new home among the stars.

Thousands of years later, the Centauri Cluster has flourished. The original settlers have evolved into advanced beings known as Celestials and divided themselves into powerful Dominions. One of the most influential is that of the Crown Celestials, an alliance of five great houses that controls vast areas of Centauri. As arkships continue to arrive, the remaining humans and their descendants must fight for survival against overwhelming odds or be forced into serving the Crown Dominion.

Among those yearning for a better life is Finn, for whom Earth is not a memory but merely a footnote from humanity’s ancient history. Born on one of the Crown Dominion worlds, Finn has known nothing but the repressive rule of the Celestials, though he dreams of the possibility of boundless space beyond his home.

When another arkship from Earth, previously thought lost, unexpectedly arrives, Finn sees his chance to embrace a greater destiny and become a Traveler—one of a group of brave heroes dedicated to ensuring humanity’s future by journeying into the vast unknown of distant space.

Exodus is available here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook, in paperback and in hardcover.

Star Empires by Jasper T. Scott

Born to royalty, raised by corsairs, and bound by vengeance.
His destiny waits to be reclaimed...

Corvus Centauri rises from the ashes of betrayal and loss to carve his destiny among the stars. Once a child of noble blood, now a battle-hardened warrior raised among corsairs, Corvus must navigate a galaxy rife with treachery, ambition, and the haunting echoes of his past.

As he pieces together the mysteries behind his family’s fall, Corvus discovers long-buried secrets that could tip the balance of power in Frontier Space.

But to reclaim his birthright, Corvus must wield more than a blaster or a plasma sword—he must become a wise and cunning leader like his father, one that knows not only how to fight, but who to fight, and when not to.

Star Empires is an epic tale of war, betrayal, and family ties cast against an interstellar backdrop in the distant future. This series is perfect for fans of space operas with high stakes, unforgettable characters, and worlds teetering on the edge of chaos. Will Corvus rise to greatness, or sink to villainy in his quest for revenge?

Star Empires is available here on Amazon. Also available in paperback.

2024 gave us a lot to love in the world of sci-fi, with unforgettable conclusions and exciting new beginnings. Whether you’re catching up on a series that just ended or diving headfirst into the year’s breakout hits, there’s never been a better time to expand your TBR pile.

Which series are you sad to say goodbye to? And which new adventures are you most excited to follow into the future? Let us know in the comments—because the best part of sci-fi isn’t just the stories. It’s the fans who make the journey unforgettable.

Let us know in the comments below or over in the Discover Sci-Fi Facebook group which universe you'll be exploring first—happy reading!

Sci-Fi Series That Ended in 2024…