Sci-Fi Series That Finished in 2021
While they may provoke a sense of loss, there is nothing like a powerful close to a series; and, while these finales are sure to find you thrilled to the last, this list was largely inspired by the readers out there who, perhaps burned one too many times, won't start a series unless it is finished. We get not wanting to be left hanging. With series spanning two books to a whopping eighteen, there is something on this list for everyone. And so, without further ado, we present our list of seven superb sci-fi series that concluded in 2021.
Sons of War 3: Sinners by Nicholas Sansbury Smith
Release Date: February 16th, 2021
To fight evil, you must embrace evil.
The motto of Marine Sergeant Ronaldo Salvatore lives on in his son, Dominic, and his undercover team known as the Saints. With the support of LAPD Captain Zed Marks, the Saints embark on a mission to destroy the criminal organizations that have a stranglehold on Los Angeles.
Through brains, cunning, and sheer ruthlessness, the most powerful leader, Don Antonio Moretti, has risen from underdog to contender for the throne. He believes that only the Vega family of narcos stands in his way, but he has underestimated another underdog.
As the Morettis and Vegas slug it out, the Saints go outside the law to deliver the City of Angels from evil. In this three-way death match, the streets will run with blood before a victor ever emerges.
Read Sons of War 3: Sinners here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.
A Desolation Called Peace (Teixcalaan Book 2) by Arkady Martine
Release Date: March 2nd, 2021
A Desolation Called Peace is the spectacular space opera sequel to Arkady Martine's genre-reinventing, Hugo Award-winning debut, A Memory Called Empire.
An alien armada lurks on the edges of Teixcalaanli space. No one can communicate with it, no one can destroy it, and Fleet Captain Nine Hibiscus is running out of options.
In a desperate attempt at diplomacy with the mysterious invaders, the fleet captain has sent for a diplomatic envoy. Now Mahit Dzmare and Three Seagrass—still reeling from the recent upheaval in the Empire—face the impossible task of trying to communicate with a hostile entity.
Their failure will guarantee millions of deaths in an endless war. Their success might prevent Teixcalaan’s destruction—and allow the empire to continue its rapacious expansion.
Or it might create something far stranger . . .
Read A Desolation Called Peace here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook
Galaxy, and the Ground Within: Wayfarers 4 by Becky Chambers
Release Date: April 20th, 2021
With no water, no air, and no native life, the planet Gora is unremarkable. The only thing it has going for it is a chance proximity to more popular worlds, making it a decent stopover for ships traveling between the wormholes that keep the Galactic Commons connected. If deep space is a highway, Gora is just your average truck stop.
At the Five-Hop One-Stop, long-haul spacers can stretch their legs (if they have legs, that is), and get fuel, transit permits, and assorted supplies. The Five-Hop is run by an enterprising alien and her sometimes helpful child, who work hard to provide a little piece of home to everyone passing through.
When a freak technological failure halts all traffic to and from Gora, three strangers—all different species with different aims—are thrown together at the Five-Hop. Grounded, with nothing to do but wait, the trio—an exiled artist with an appointment to keep, a cargo runner at a personal crossroads, and a mysterious individual doing her best to help those on the fringes—are compelled to confront where they’ve been, where they might go, and what they are, or could be, to each other.
Get your copy of Galaxy, and the Ground Within here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.
Infinite Crown (The Messenger Book 15) by J.N. Chaney and Terry Maggert
But the universe is shrinking, thanks to Realm scientists and the efforts of Kai and his brethren, who find that secrets still remain in the hidden places where humans store memory, and history—and weapons.
Pursuing Pavel Hu into the darkness, Dash finds the truth about human history, and just what it means to end a war that has raged since before Earth was civilized, and when the sun itself was young.
The Deepers have nowhere to go but ahead, and in their way is the most powerful fleet ever assembled—
But in the final battle for galaxies far and wide, will Dash and his mechs be enough?
Read Infinite Crown here on Amazon.
Out of Time (The Delta Devlin Novels Book 3) by Matthew Mather
Release Date: October 19th, 2021
Newly promoted Marshal Devlin must stop a ruthless conspiracy that stretches across the globe—and even across the decades into the future.
Critical components of the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s most powerful supercollider and largest machine ever built, have been stolen, and Delta Devlin is brought in by Interpol to investigate.
At the same time, a dead body appears washed up on the shores of the East River in Delta’s hometown of New York City—one with very similar injuries to those left by the serial killer she caught to start her career.
As events in the present collide in a tangle of secrets and lies, Delta cannot trust anyone—even her family and loved ones—as her own future and past weave together in a mind-bending web that only she can unravel to stop an apocalyptic disaster from unfolding.
Grab Out of Time here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.
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Leviathan Falls (The Expanse Book 9) by James S.A. Corey
Release Date: November 30th, 2021
The Laconian Empire has fallen, setting the thirteen hundred solar systems free from the rule of Winston Duarte. But the ancient enemy that killed the gate builders is awake, and the war against our universe has begun again.
In the dead system of Adro, Elvi Okoye leads a desperate scientific mission to understand what the gate builders were and what destroyed them, even if it means compromising herself and the half-alien children who bear the weight of her investigation. Through the wide-flung systems of humanity, Colonel Aliana Tanaka hunts for Duarte’s missing daughter. . . and the shattered emperor himself. And on the Rocinante, James Holden and his crew struggle to build a future for humanity out of the shards and ruins of all that has come before.
As nearly unimaginable forces prepare to annihilate all human life, Holden and a group of unlikely allies discover a last, desperate chance to unite all of humanity, with the promise of a vast galactic civilization free from wars, factions, lies, and secrets if they win.
But the price of victory may be worse than the cost of defeat.
Get your copy of Leviathan Falls here on Amazon. Also available on audiobook.
Empire Reborn: Blood on the Stars 18 by Jay Allan
Expected Release Date: November 2021
Jay Allan fans are soon to get the final book in what is Allan's most popular series: Blood on the Stars. It's been almost a year and a half since Descent Into Darkness and like you, we are dying to know what happens next. How will it all end?!
For those new to the series, the synopsis from book 1, Duel in the Dark:
A duel, in the deepest darks, a savage fight between two veteran warriors, two captains, two heroes.
An epic battle that only one can survive. A fight to determine if there is peace, or a bloody war where billions will die.
The Confederation battleship Dauntless has spent ten months patrolling the border, alone, watching for an attack from the enemy Union. The crew is exhausted, and the aging vessel needs repairs.
The fleet is mobilized, ready for the war it knows is coming. The forward bases are overloaded beyond capacity, and Dauntless is sent clear across the Confederation, to a base along the peaceful and sleepy sector known as the Far Rim.
But the quiet frontier isn’t quite what it seems, and a distress call from a mining colony at the edge of Confederation space, sends Captain Tyler Barron and his ship forward into the unknown.
Barron and his crew have their ship—and each other—but they can expect no reinforcements. His superiors believe that Union deceit is at play, that the attack is merely a diversion, intended to draw Confederation forces from the disputed border. Their orders are clear: no ships will be transferred from the main front. Stopping whatever is happening on the Far Rim is Barron’s responsibility, and his alone.
Barron is the grandson of the Confederation’s greatest hero, and his name has always carried great privilege, along with crushing responsibility. Now he must prove that he has inherited more than just a name from his famous ancestor.
He must face the enemy, and win the victory.
Before the Confederation is caught between two enemies and destroyed.
Dive into Blood on the Stars here on Amazon.
Have you been keeping up with these series? Which finale are you most excited for? Which series are you most sad about saying goodbye to? Any that you missed that you're going to check out? Let us know here in the comments, or over in the Discover Sci-Fi Facebook group!
*All book-related copy in this post was pulled from Amazon, Goodreads & Wikipedia, unless otherwise credited.
Blood on the Stars by Jay Allan is my most anticipated of seven series listed. Of the other six, I have heard of three but I have not read any book in those six series, though the Messenger series sounds like a probable addition to my TBR list.