September 15, 2026
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Sci-Fi & Fantasy
A triple-timeline vampire novel spanning six centuries. We tested whether it works as a real entry point to Schwab's work or rewards fans only.
Why You Should Trust This
Honest Picks Guide buys every product it reviews at full retail price — no manufacturer samples, no sponsored placements. This list comes from a twelve-person reading panel, not a single opinion; see How We Test for our full methodology and Claire Whitmore's author page for her background.
Sci-fi and fantasy get lumped together on most "best of" lists despite being fairly different reading experiences — one is usually more idea-driven, the other more world-and-character-driven, though the best books in both blur the line. We asked our panel to read across both sides of the genre and rank what actually earned a recommendation, from recent releases to older books that are still the right first answer when someone asks where to start.
We deliberately mixed standalone novels with series entries, and recent releases with older, still-in-print classics of the genre, rather than only covering what's currently trending. A "best of" list that only reflects the last twelve months of releases tends to overweight hype and underweight staying power — several of the books here have been in print for years and are still the first answer our panel gives when someone asks for a starting point.
— — Editor's Picks
Six sci-fi and fantasy books our panel kept coming back to, spanning hard sci-fi, epic fantasy, and literary horror-adjacent fantasy.
Ranked by cross-panelist agreement, not just individual star ratings
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1. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Project Hail Mary
Hard science fiction
A lone astronaut, amnesia, and a genuinely surprising first-contact plot that our panel unanimously called the easiest recommend on this entire list — funny, propulsive, and scientifically grounded without ever feeling like homework. What sets it apart from harder science fiction is how thoroughly Weir explains the science in-scene, through a narrator who's actively working the problem alongside the reader rather than lecturing. Multiple panelists who don't normally read science fiction at all named this their favorite book of the entire list.
2. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil
Literary fantasy / vampire fiction
A slower, more ambitious read than most on this list — three interwoven timelines about what it costs to become a monster. See our full review.
3. Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn: The Final Empire
Epic fantasy
The panel's top pick for readers who want a genuinely original magic system built with engineering-level internal logic. A heist-fantasy structure that stays tight even at doorstop length. Sanderson's "hard magic system" approach — where the rules and limits of the power are established clearly enough that the reader can follow the logic of how problems get solved — was cited by several panelists as the reason this held their attention even at 500-plus pages, in contrast to fantasy where magic operates more atmospherically and less predictably.
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4. The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
The Fifth Season
Science fantasy, Broken Earth Book 1
Structurally the most demanding book on this list — three timelines, second-person narration in one — and the panel's pick for readers who want fantasy that takes real formal risks. Payoff is significant if you stick with the opening chapters. The second-person sections in particular divided panelists sharply on first encounter; several described initially finding the voice jarring before it became the section they most looked forward to returning to by the book's second half. Not a casual read, but a genuinely rewarding one for readers willing to meet it on its own terms.
5. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
The Name of the Wind
Epic fantasy, The Kingkiller Chronicle Book 1
Prose-forward fantasy about a legendary figure recounting his own life story. Panelists praised the voice and the magic-as-craft (literal music and rhetoric as power) more than the plot momentum, which is deliberately unhurried. This is a frame narrative — an older version of the protagonist telling his own story to a scribe — which gives Rothfuss room to dwell on character and atmosphere in a way readers coming from more plot-driven books sometimes find slow going at first. Patient readers consistently rated the prose itself as the highlight, not just a vehicle for the plot.
6. Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
Onyx Storm
Romantasy, The Empyrean Book 3
Included here for readers who want fantasy stakes with a romance engine underneath. Start the series with Fourth Wing, not this book. Full review here.
How We Tested
Twelve panelists read across all six titles over ten weeks, evaluating pacing, whether the book worked as a recommendation to someone outside their usual sub-genre, and re-read intent. Ranking reflects cross-panelist agreement rather than a single reviewer's preference. Full protocol on our How We Test page.
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How to Pick Between These
New to the genre entirely? Start with Project Hail Mary — it's the fastest, funniest, and least demanding of the six. Want a serious commitment with a payoff? The Fifth Season and Mistborn both reward patience with genuinely inventive systems. Coming from romance and want a fantasy bridge? Onyx Storm or The Name of the Wind both keep character relationships central. If you're not sure where to begin at all, see our full beginner's guide.
Hard Sci-Fi vs. Character-Driven Fantasy: Know What You're Picking
The split on this list roughly follows the genre's biggest internal divide. Project Hail Mary sits at the hard-science end — the plot is driven by solving concrete technical problems, and the emotional payoff comes from watching a competent character work through them. The Name of the Wind and Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil sit at the opposite end — plot is secondary to voice, atmosphere, and character interiority, and readers who want fast pacing above all else may find both slower than expected. Mistborn and The Fifth Season land in between: real character stakes, but built on magic systems with enough internal logic that they reward analytical reading the way hard sci-fi does.
Knowing which end of that spectrum you actually enjoy will save you from picking a critically acclaimed book that simply isn't matched to your reading preferences — plenty of readers bounce off The Fifth Season not because it's poorly written but because they wanted something closer to Project Hail Mary's pacing, and vice versa.
Series Length Is a Real Consideration
Three of these six books commit you to a longer series if you enjoy them: Mistborn and The Name of the Wind both continue for multiple further volumes, and Onyx Storm is book three of an ongoing series with more installments planned. Project Hail Mary and Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil are both standalone novels, which several panelists specifically valued as a lower-commitment way to sample the genre before deciding whether to invest in a longer series.
If you're the kind of reader who gets frustrated waiting years between installments of an unfinished series, weigh that before starting The Name of the Wind in particular — its sequel gap has been a well-known point of reader frustration, and going in aware of that is better than discovering it after finishing book one and immediately wanting more.
Where to Buy and What Edition to Choose
All six titles are widely available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats. For the two longest books on this list — Mistborn and The Name of the Wind — several panelists specifically recommended the audiobook editions, both of which have well-regarded narrators who help carry readers through slower world-building passages. For Project Hail Mary, the audiobook's full-cast approach to certain sequences was cited as adding genuine value over the print edition, to the point that a few panelists who normally prefer physical books picked audio for this one specifically and said they'd do the same again for Weir's other novels, which is a stronger endorsement than any single star rating conveys on its own, and a genuinely good, reliable sign for anyone still deciding whether the audiobook is worth the extra cost over a standard ebook or paperback edition.
A Note on How This List Might Change
As with any ranked list in a genre this active, treat this as a snapshot rather than a permanent ruling. A book earned its place here because multiple panelists independently wanted to revisit it, not because of hype cycles or a single glowing review — and we'll update this list openly if a new release genuinely displaces one of these six against that same standard. What won't change is the underlying advice: match the book to your actual reading preferences (fast plot vs. atmosphere, standalone vs. series commitment) rather than picking based purely on critical acclaim or sales figures, and you'll have a much better hit rate than working straight down any list, including this one.