The best new science fiction books of July 2025 featuring our culture editor’s pick of the year so far

The riches to Gogo await science fiction fans in July, with two of the books that I have appreciated the most so far this year which should be published for all. Fancy a beautifully written vision of a world that turns faster and faster, in which the consequences of this acceleration take place in a subtle but increasingly disturbing way? Try Alex Foster Circular movement. Or how about a brilliant story of “generation ship”? Then it’s Hal Lacroix Here and beyond You are looking for. Elsewhere, there is climatic fiction, zombies, space romance and a last snail in its kind. Enjoy – I will certainly do it!

Located in the not too distant future, this first incredibly impressive novel imagines a land orbited by massive planes, which allow the richest to jump from New York to London in an hour, or in order in sushi in Japan. The spin of the earth, meanwhile, is accelerating gradually, with days at the beginning a few seconds shorter but, a nightmare, contracting at only two hours as the novel progresses, with all kinds of terrible consequences. I just finished this novel and it’s wonderful – maybe my best reading of the year so far: disturbing, intelligent, beautifully written and, like all the best dystopias, it makes me even more grateful for the world in which I live now, turning at a reasonable pace.

I love a good story of “generation ship”, and it is a cracker, which takes place after life on Earth collapsed, with 600 people who take place on a trip to 360 years in space towards a new planet. The generations must live on Shipworld before their arrival, and Hal Lacroix shows us the difficulties that go up for people on board, from the disease to the rebellions to certain travelers who come to doubt that they are even on a ship. Do not just believe in his shine: our science fiction criticism Emily H. Wilson also gave him a firm boost, and his taste is impeccable (or, at least, he aligns himself strongly with mine!).

It is hot in London while I write this, so a vision of a dystopian future of Susanna Kwan, in a future San Francisco where it has rained for years, seems rather attractive. We follow BO, whose family and friends fled a city destroyed by terrible floods. Bo lives alone above the streets that have become rivers. She is about to leave on a ship, but when her elderly neighbor Mia asks for help, she decides to stay behind. This novel is compared to the literary dystopia of Emily St. John Mandel Eleven station and at the Eleanor Catton climate-activist thriller Birnam woodBoth that I loved, so I want to immerse myself in the world of Kwan rain.

We already explore a earth that turns quickly, a destroyed land and a rainy land in the science fiction of this month. Now we have a version of the earth of a yu in which the sun disappears slowly. This novel is located in a small village surrounded by deserts and follows two sisters who find it difficult to survive. As the temperatures drop, the inhabitants of the village realize that they are all going to die – until the beacons appear, “ordinary people with heads replaced by a burning and blinding light, like miniature suns”. Intriguing!

Kezza is an acrobat in the Martian circus, living a difficult life, when she discovers a “sinister secret”. A thousand years later, Azad lives on the desert planet of Nabatea but joined historians traveling in space to find out why his ancestors left Mars.

This novel of climatic fiction (I will not adopt the nickname “cli-fi” as I do not strongly like it) takes place in 2056, in a self-sufficient community on a remote Welsh island, established to avoid the “clearances” of the authoritarian government. But Glesni, 13, thinks that his family hides something, especially when someone on the continent washes.

Presented by the editor as perfect for fans of Gabrielle Zevin Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrowThis follows Zoe and Jack, who meet as a student in chemistry at Harvard. Two years later, they abandoned to join a business promising a longer lifespan – but the company will test their love for each other “at its limit”.

I admit that it might not be completely classified as science fiction, but support me: it is a Road-Road novel, taking place in 2022 Ukraine, implying a “free-tiver scientist” Yeva and Lefty, a “last snail of its genre with a last shot to perpetuate its species”. Yeva’s passion tries to reproduce rare snails, and she finances her work by leaving with men who come to Ukraine on “Romanesque visits” in search of “docile brides”. “Brilier … funny and intelligent, full of science, desire and adventure”, explains Ann Patchett in her article. I think science, and the enduring snail, means that it slips here as something that fans of science fiction would appreciate.

There are not enough zombie novels, by the opinion of this superfall of The Walking Dead. Fortunately, Leigh Radford is there to fight this shortage, with the story of a scientist whose husband was the last person to be bitten in a pandemic of zombies. While the government brings together and has the infected, our scientist Kesta keeps a dangerous secret: her Zombie husband, Tim, is linked to her bed to prevent her from unleashing, while she tries to find a cure for her … A fun turn on the tale – although Rick Grimes would have offered Tim in a heart rate, saying …

I have this on my reading battery and I look forward to it. Erick imagines an experimental treatment center where the broken heart can sleep through their pain, waking up until they are healed. Of course, there are “dark side effects”, and we follow four foreigners (and a dog: Wizard of Oz Territory here for sure) on their way to the fields of poppies, in search of healing of sorrow.

Described by its publisher as a “new adventure of Saphic science fiction action” ,, “, Volatile memory Understands Wylla, who discovers a piece of lucrative technology on a neighboring planet. The technology turns out to be the corpse of a woman wearing an AI mask who brought her back to life – a woman who “sees Wylla in a way that nobody ever has.” The pair decided to find answers …

In a world on the edge of the climate collapse, the fiona eco -influence has stayed in her apartment since the death of her boyfriend Ed. But when her favorite plant is left to her door, she sprinkles her ashes in the ground – and wakes up the next day to see that not only did she flower it, but she can speak. ED is back – as an indoor plant.