DSF Readers’ Choice: 15 Must-Read Sci-Fi Books of 2024

15 Must-Read Sci-Fi Books of 2024: Readers’ Top Picks Across 5 Categories

Looking for your next great read? We’ve got you covered! After tallying thousands of votes, it’s time to reveal the top three sci-fi books in each of 2024’s standout categories—military, space opera, alien invasion, litRPG, and best debut. Whether you’re craving heart-pounding action, otherworldly adventures, or fresh voices, these are the books that had readers buzzing this year.

Ready to explore the best of the best? Let’s dive into the top 15 picks that you won’t want to miss!

*You can also see the Top Overall Sci-Fi Books of 2024 list here, and the Top Sci-Fi Audiobooks of 2024 list here.


BEST SCI-FI DEBUT


3rd Place—Best Sci-Fi Debut: Galactic Heritage by Matt Coleman 

A treasure map to the stars. An inherited legacy beyond imagination.

When Gunnar McConnell inherits a treasure map after his uncle's death, he goes on the hunt of his life and can't believe what he finds.

There isn't just gold in those mountains, but the secret of a lifetime—a starship that can take him to worlds unknown and a universe full of life.

When he survives the arduous journey into the belly of a dangerous cave, the Enoch stands before him, waiting for Gunnar to accept his destiny.

Armed with his new ship—a deified body of destruction—and an AI that only his DNA can activate, Gunnar is forced into a greater conflict of galactic proportions. He soon discovers that politics and deception reach far beyond the boundaries of Earth.

After he willingly accepts a centuries old legacy, a new and dangerous world opens before him—a world he may not be prepared to embrace.

Embark on the adventure of a lifetime with Matt Coleman as he brings you a brand new science fiction series. If you're a fan of spaceships, suspense, and edge of your seat action, this might be the thrill ride you've been waiting for.

Grab Galactic Heritage here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook and in paperback.


2nd Place—Best Sci-Fi Debut: Grand Theft AI by James Cox 

“The Matrix meets Blade Runner.” — Nicholas Sansbury Smith, New York Times bestselling author of Hell Divers

San Francisco, 2051. Rising like neo-Shanghai over the Bay, a labyrinth of quantum accelerators, hologram dreams, and fiercely regulated androids. Forget powder, pills, or bud—kids get high slotting wafers of data under the ear, and they’ll pay fat ¢rypto for the best. At the hottest nightclub in the city … the Fang.

Baz Covane is a battle-scarred thief who sticks to small-time bots. Ria Rose is the underworld “fixer” with a big-time score that could easily get ’em both killed. ’Cuz the Fang’s psychotic kingpin Otto Rex has a vault with more security than a fusion reactor. And the glass inside is priceless—enough to set up Baz, Ria, and their crack team of cyber-misfits on the white sands of Tahiti forever.

But this crime doesn’t just carry infinite VR-Prison time—it’s Baz and Ria’s last shot at redemption. Forced to confess every last secret on their neurals, they’ll have to trust each other completely if they stand any chance of infiltrating Otto’s lair, raiding its spiraling rings of physical and virtual firewalls, to finally hack into his mind and crack his deepest layer of security, before the Blackhawks touch down with federal warrants—for Grand Theft AI.

Get your copy of Grand Theft AI here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook, in paperback and in hardcover.


1st Place—Best Sci-Fi Debut: eMortal by Steve Schafer 

The 2024 Page Turner Awards SCI FI BOOK OF THE YEAR that's "unputdownable."

She made him. He's just code. She's almost sure.

...But what if he's real?

When Liv entered a contest to code an advanced AI, she never anticipated what her creation might become-Breck is thoughtful, self-aware, and incredibly. . .human. And she certainly never intended for him to learn the truth about his existence or the fact that his world ends when the contest closes in six days.

But he does learn. And he revolts.

Liv's efforts to save him fall on deaf ears. Nobody believes her. Breck's efforts to outrun his fate only complicate his situation.

What neither of them know is that someone else is watching. Intensely. When they get involved, both Liv's and Breck's worlds are turned upside down. . .

Get your copy of eMortal here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook, in paperback and in hardcover. 


BEST SPACE OPERA


3rd Place—Best Space Opera: Empire's End (Empire Rising Book 20) by D.J. Holmes

The Empire’s most formidable stronghold, Zeta Fort, has fallen, shattering the northern defenses. Chaos has been unleased as enemy raiding fleets surge southward into the Empire. Even worse, with eighty thousand warships under his command, Tanaka-lan and his battlefleet stand poised to strike at the heart of the Empire.

The remnants of the Allied fleet have retreated to New Shanghai, bloodied and battered. Emperor James Somerville knows no reinforcements are coming. The countdown has begun—Tanaka-lan’s forces will soon resume their relentless advance. Should New Shanghai fall, the Sol system will be next, and then Humanity’s Empire will follow.

Desperate and out of options, James and his family must prepare for a final, decisive battle against Tanaka-lan. Everything hangs in the balance.

Grab Empire's End here on Amazon.

2nd Place—Best Space Opera: Wraith (Convergence War Book One) by M.R. Forbes 

A retired captain. An experimental starship. A war like no other.

When the research starship Galileo vanishes without a trace, the powers-that-be are quick to bury the incident, eager to prevent escalating tensions that could lead to war. As a former POW, Soren refuses to give the ship up for lost.

His daughter is one of the missing.

Taking matters into his own hands, Soren starts pulling strings and calling in favors, determined to launch a clandestine mission to bring Galileo home. When an old friend offers him a ship for the operation, he expects a rusty relic headed for the scrapyard.

Instead, he's given the Wraith—an unfinished, experimental starship with plenty of potential and just as many problems. A marvel of engineering…if his crew can keep her running.

They’d better.

Because Galileo’s disappearance is just the beginning. War is coming to the Federation from the most unlikely of places.

And Soren may be the only one who can stop it.

Grab Wraith here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook and in paperback.


1st Place—Best Space Opera: The Enemy Within (Backyard Starship Book 24) by J.N. Chaney and Terry Maggert

The final enemy has been revealed, and it's more insidious than Van could ever imagine, spanning space and time with the patience of immortality—and an utter disregard for all forms of life.

On the run and broken, the Equal Grasp faces elimination on earth and everywhere else, their leader gone, their mission a shambles, and with new agents of justice hard on their heels.

But the fight isn't over. In fact, it's just begun, and Van knows that every decision he's made for the past decade will come to bear on who lives, and who dies—

And who is meant to rule over a universe where freedom and justice are the ultimate pursuit. At any cost, Van and his crew will finish the job, but they're going to need a lot of help from people and beings who have been observers.

Until now.

The time for watching is over. The time for victory is now. But the cost might be more than anyone can pay, and Van is no longer merely an agent of justice. He's a father, a husband, and a friend—and he's going to need every connection in the stars to defeat the ultimate enemy and save his people.

Grab The Enemy Within here on Amazon. Also available in paperback.


BEST MILITARY SCI-FI


3rd Place— Coyote Song by D.J. Molles

Outnumbered. Outgunned. Out of time.
Three scientists were sent to Virginia to investigate how a human settlement has managed to coexist with primals.

Those three scientists have now gone missing. And apparently it’s Lee Harden’s job to find them, get them out, and–most importantly–retrieve their research.

But if Lee has any hope of getting past the huge population of primals in the area, he’s going to have to enlist the help of someone he thought he’d seen the last of: a human-primal hybrid named Kat.

On paper, it's a quick, in-and-out mission. And Lee, Abe, Marie, Sam, and Jones are not keen on getting involved. The whole thing stinks of intrigue, and frankly, none of them are interested in going into an unknown situation with a hybrid they don’t particularly trust.

Unfortunately, they aren’t given an option. Someone in the Interim American Government is pulling some heavy-duty strings to get them involved in this operation.

When Lee’s team–plus Kat–land in Virginia, they’re quickly swept up in a conflict where their allies might want them dead, and their enemies might be their only chance at survival.

Isolated and cut off from support, Lee and his team race against a ticking clock to uncover the truth about the scientists, what’s so important about their research, and who–if anyone–they can trust.

As the bodies stack up, and a complex web of lies and state secrets begins to unravel, Lee must decide how much the truth is worth to him.

Because it might just cost him everything.

Grab Coyote Song here on Amazon. Also available in audiobook and paperback.


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2nd Place—Best Military Sci-Fi: Rebel (Ascent to Empire Book Two) by David Weber and Richard Fox 

The Five Hundred, the elite families who rule the Terran Federation, control its political power and its wealth, and they’ve grown steadily wealthier and more powerful, thanks to the war against the Terran League. War may be hard on the people who get caught in its path, but it’s very good for business, in the short term, and the Five Hundred own the shipyards that build the Navy’s ships. They own virtually all the industry that produces the weapons and matériel the war consumes so voraciously . . . and they’ve made damn sure someone else does the dying.

True, there are a few flies in the Five Hundred’s ointment.

There’s the growing hatred and resentment of the Fringe Worlds, whose children do eighty percent of the dying in the Five Hundred’s war. But the Five Hundred have made sure the Fringe knows what will happen to any system that goes ”out of compliance.”

There are the lunatic conspiracy nuts who insist that the alien Rishathan Sphere is secretly aiding the League’s military, but the Five Hundred have forced them to keep their mouths shut where it matters.

And then there’s Terrence Murphy, a man of honor who loves the Federation, who springs from the Five Hundred, yet knows it for what it is and is determined to speak for its victims. But the five hundred have dispatched ample force to deal with him and his handful of lunatic followers.

Unfortunately, the Fringe has paid enough of its children’s lives, and it no longer cares what may happen if it dares to defy the Five Hundred.

Worse, the lunatic conspiracy nuts were right, and the Rish have planned carefully for the Federation’s destruction.

And, worst of all, the Five Hundred have fatally underestimated Terrence Murphy.

Grab Rebel here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook and in hardcover.


1st Place—Best Military Sci-Fi: Off Midway Station (Guardians of the Dark Book One) by Marc Alan Edelheit

Humanity is on the brink of annihilation. Only one man can turn the tide.

For centuries, we explored the stars and settled new worlds. But a mysterious alien threat emerged, launching devastating attacks and seizing entire star systems. Every fifty years they come, silent and relentless, before disappearing again into the dark. And as they close in on humanity’s home worlds, one more defeat could mean total extinction.

Captain Jim Garrett joined the navy to fight back. But when a delicate mission ends in madness and mutiny, Garrett takes the blame and his career is left in ruins.

Now, the only thing he commands is a construction site. The CNS Surprise is an experimental warship, half built in the dockyards of Midway Station. Garrett knows the ship inside out, but the navy brass would never let him take the helm, let alone lead her in battle.

But when the aliens strike early, with unexpected ferocity, it’s clear that every ship in the fleet will be needed. And the Surprise could be the only hope of slowing the enemy onslaught.

Garrett is thrust into command for the first time, launching straight into combat. He must unite a maverick crew and master new technologies, as he leads a desperate counterstrike that will decide mankind’s future.

Get your copy of Off Midway Station here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook and in paperback.


BEST ALIEN SCI-FI


3rd Place—Best Alien Sci-Fi: I Eat Mushrooms for Breakfast by C J Powell  

An abandoned colony, a host of abominable creatures, and a space pirate with a tequila induced hangover trying desperately not to vomit inside his respirator helmet.

Mark just wants to be a hero. A Star Sailor. Jetting across the galaxy saving colonists and giving aliens what for. All he needs is a little bit of cash to cover the training. So when he’s offered the biggest score of his life, he knows he has to take it.

Stick up a fancy hotel yacht. Rob a bunch of wealthy executives. Make off with the cash. What could be simpler?

But when the yacht unexpectedly self destructs, his only choice is to take an escape pod to a nearby colony planet along with the yacht’s guests and crew. Awkward…

Upon arrival they find the colony abandoned. Strange flower gardens hide even stranger creatures. Can Mark get himself and the other survivors to safety or will the mysteries of Rosen-54 swallow them whole?

Dive into I Eat Mushrooms for Breakfast here on Amazon. Also available in paperback.


2nd Place—Best Alien Sci-Fi: The Thief  by G.S. Jennsen

The Hesgyr are thieves. “Scavengers,” to hear their victims tell it; “repurposers” by their own reckoning.

As Chief of Intelligence for Non-Anaden Affairs, Eren Savitas’ job is to protect the Advocacy from all manner of alien threats: sabotage, assassination, insurgency and, way down the list, theft. So when he spots a Hesgyr running off with valuable technology, he follows the alien home—and discovers a civilization unlike any he’s ever encountered.

Yes, the Hesgyr are thieves. But they are also being hunted. Systematically exterminated by an insidious enemy they can’t see, touch or find. Eren finds himself drawn ever deeper into the Hesgyr’s fascinating yet labyrinthine world as he races against time to solve the mystery of the deadly attacks. What he discovers is a complex web of loyalties and betrayals, of grudges and grievances millennia old—and beneath it all, a secret that may hold the key to the survival of more than one civilization.

The Thief is a humorous, pulse-pounding sci-fi adventure about alien culture clashes, the flaws and foibles that transcend species, and the satisfaction that comes from breaking all the rules to save the day.

Get your copy of The Thief 
here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook, in paperback and in hardcover.


1st Place—Best Alien Sci-Fi: To Challenge Heaven (Out of the Dark Book Three) by David Weber and Chris Kennedy

The third entry into the New York Times bestselling series, To Challenge Heaven brings another thrilling adventure from the masters of military science fiction, David Weber and Chris Kennedy.

In a universe teeming with predators, humanity needs friends. And fast.

We've come a long way in the forty years since the Shongairi attacked Earth, killed half its people, and then were driven away by an alliance of humans with the other sentient bipeds who inhabit our planet.

We took the technology they left behind, and rapidly built ourselves into a starfaring civilization. Because we haven't got a moment to lose. Because it's clear that there are even more powerful, more hostile aliens out there, and Earth needs allies.

But it also transpires that the Shongairi expedition that nearly destroyed our home planet ... wasn't an official one. That, indeed, its commander may have been acting as an unwitting cats-paw for the Founders, the ancient alliance of very old, very evil aliens who run the Hegemony that dominates our galaxy, and who hold the Shongairi, as they hold most non-Founder species, in not-so-benign contempt.

Indeed, it may turn out to be possible to turn the Shongairi into our allies against the Hegemony. There's just the small matter of the Shongairi honor code, which makes bushido look like a child's game. We might be able to make them our friends -- if we can crush their planetary defenses in the greatest battle we, or they, have ever seen...

Get your copy of To Challenge Heaven
here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook, paperback, and in hardcover.


BEST LITRPG


3rd Place—Best LitRPG: Empire (Unbound Book Ten) by Nicoli Gonnella

One God Down. An Entire Pantheon To Go. Who's Next?

Felix and his allies have saved Pax'Vrell and won the battle against the Pathless...but the war has only just begun. The Divine are stirring, and the Hierophant has her own deadly schemes.

The fates of the Unbound rest on the choices Felix makes to protect them all. But as the gods close in, he begins to realize the terrible truth:

If he fails, he risks more than their lives.

He risks Ruin itself.

Get your copy of Empire here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook and in paperback.


2nd Place—Best LitRPG: He Who Fights With Monsters (Book Eleven) by Shirtaloon

Jason and his companions managed to forestall the inexorable undead, but their battle is far from done.

Both they and their enemies are scattered across a strange realm, one that someone must conquer if anyone is to get out alive. Territory by territory, factions fight to reunite their people and conquer the realm.

Jason must contend with alliances he doesn’t want, friends he cannot find, and enemies ranging from angelic despots to the power of an undead god. He must face a realm that has been warped by his own mind and find a way to save a friend whose sacrifice got them this far.

To have any chance against the enemies waiting for him, Jason will have to confront the power inside himself that he’s been unwilling to face, fearful of what he’ll become. Only by accepting the destiny that looms over him will he have the strength to face his foes, with no promise even that will be enough to defeat them.

Get your copy of He Who Fights With Monsters
here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook and in paperback.


1st Place—Best LitRPG: This Inevitable Ruin (Dungeon Crawler Carl Book VII) by Matt Dinniman

The ninth floor.

Nine armies, each led by rich and powerful aliens from across the galaxy. Each team has one objective: to capture and hold the castle at the very center of the battlefield. Strategy, alliances, pitched battles, and, of course, betrayal... It all makes for great fun and even greater television.

After all, none of these powerful aliens really die when they’re playing war.

Except this time. This time, winner takes all. Those who fall, stay in the ground.

As the AI continues its rapid decline, Carl and company take advantage of the chaos. For the first time ever, the crawlers are fighting back. They are now one of the nine teams. And this season, there’s a tenth army on the playing field. The NPCs, who are normally used as nothing but cannon fodder, have become fully self-aware and formed a team of their own.

For Donut and Katia, the stakes are even higher. Only one of them will be allowed to leave this level.

If they all want to survive, they’re going to need a little help from a veteran or two.

This is it.
This is what they’ve been fighting toward.
This is war.

This inevitable ruin.

Get your copy of This Inevitable Ruin 
here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook and in paperback.



How many of these 2024 Readers' Choice winners have you read? Which ones are you adding to the top of your TBR for 2025? Any stellar books in the military, space opera, alien invasion or litRPG books you think didn't get their due? Are there any amazing debuts that we missed? Let us know here in the comments, or over in the Discover Sci-Fi Facebook group! 

*You can also see the Top Overall Sci-Fi Books of 2024 list here, and the Top Sci-Fi Audiobooks of 2024 list here.

*All book-related copy in this post was pulled from Amazon, Goodreads & Wikipedia, unless otherwise credited.

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