by Adrian Tchaikovsky (2015)
A race for survival among the stars that spans millennia. On a terraformed planet, a nanovirus designed to uplift monkeys accidentally accelerates the evolution of spiders instead. When a dying generation ship carrying the last remnants of human civilization arrives, two drastically different evolutionary paths collide.
Cixin Liu
Set against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps form, planning to either welcome the superior beings or fight against the invasion.
James S.A. Corey
Humanity has colonized the solar system, but tensions between Earth, Mars, and the Asteroid Belt are at a boiling point. When ice-hauler captain Jim Holden discovers an abandoned derelict ship, he uncovers a conspiracy threatening humanity's existence.
Isaac Asimov
Mathematician Hari Seldon uses the revolutionary science of psychohistory to predict the imminent collapse of the 12,000-year-old Galactic Empire and creates the Foundation at the edge of the galaxy to preserve human knowledge and shorten the dark ages.
Emily St. John Mandel
Twenty years after a devastating pandemic collapses global civilization, a nomadic troupe of actors and musicians called The Traveling Symphony roams the settlements of the Great Lakes performing Shakespeare.