Summer is upon us, and it’s time to stack up your book stacks for summer reading. We think these new sci-fi and fantasy novels releasing in June would make excellent vacation companions, whether you’re hitting the beach, traveling to new cities, or enjoying a staycation.
Historical fantasy novels explore African American folklore and steampunk pasts. Inventive sci-fi novels tackle a future with AI and space heists. In fantasy, Rebecca Roanhorse epically concludes her Between Earth and Sky trilogy, while other books take place aboard pirate ships or delve into Korean mythology.
We’ve tried to find something for every reader in this month’s sci-fi and fantasy roundup. Which ones are you looking forward to reading? Here are the best sci-fi fantasy books to consider in June 2024, or check out our top sci-fi and fantasy picks for May and April if you're interested in even more great reads.
Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Tchaikovsky’s novels are often quite philosophical, addressing big questions about humanity and our place in the world/galaxy, and his latest is no different. It’s a funny, allegorical science fiction about the end of humans and the rise of robots.
The robot valet Uncharles, while shaving his master, slits his master’s throat and kills him. Uncharles has a programming error that needs to be fixed. A series of encounters with other robots follow, where Uncharles attempts to follow his programming despite the ludicrousness of doing so with so few humans still alive.
While attempting to be reserviced, The Wonk intercepts him, telling Uncharles he has contracted the protagonist virus and now has free agency. The Wonk follows Uncharles in his search for humans to serve, trying to encourage his agency while simultaneously attempting to find answers as to why the apocalypse happened. It’s an entertaining and thought-provoking read. Tchaikovsky does an excellent job narrating the audiobook.
See Here for UK - Published by Tor
Running Close to the Wind by Alexandra Rowland
This hilariously raunchy pirate fantasy had me laughing out loud many times. It follows the peculiarly lucky, extremely horny, and very pathetic Avra, a former Arasti spy who has accidentally stolen the invaluable secret for navigating the seas during sea serpent season from the Shipbuilder’s Guild. He flees with the papers to the seas and takes refuge on the pirate Captain Teveri az-Haffar’s ship. He and Teveri once had a spicy relationship with one another, but Teveri is angry after Avra composed a song about their many sexual escapades and sang it for other pirates to hear. They kind of want Avra dead.
Avra convinces them not to murder him by dangling the Shipbuilder’s Guild Secret and the possibility of making lots of money by selling it. Avra also hopes they can continue their relationship, though a handsome new crew member is putting a wrench in his plans. Brother Julien is a monk who has taken a vow of celibacy and, oddly, joined the pirate crew. Avra is immediately suspicious of Julien, though he also wants to get him into bed. Meanwhile, Teveri is scheming about the best way to sell Avra’s stolen secrets.
While the main character is intentionally annoying at all times, it’s hard not to love him. This is such an entertaining, voicey new queer fantasy. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator, Casey Jones, puts on a stellar performance.
See Here for UK - Published by Tor
The Cautious Traveller's Guide to the Wastelands by Sarah Brooks
This atmospheric steampunk fantasy with a touch of horror takes place in an alternative version of the late 1800s. The Great Trans-Siberian Express barrels across the Wastelands between Beijing and Moscow, protecting its passengers from an eerieness that has transformed the landscape. Strange creatures lurk outside the train’s impenetrable glass, and the land itself can infect minds. Every journey is different, and on the last, three people were infected and died. The train was temporarily grounded, but now it continues its perilous journey again.
Marya Petrovna’s father made the glass on the train and was blamed for its last disastrous trip, which led to his death. She’s determined to prove her father’s innocence and rides the train seeking information. Henry Grey’s scientific career as a naturalist is in ruins, and he hopes to redeem himself by making discoveries about the Wastelands. The teenage Zhang Weiwei was born and raised on the train. It is her home, but she, more than anyone, is aware of the constant danger threatening to seep its way inside.
This beautifully written historical fantasy is a cross between Jeff VanderMeer’s Area X trilogy, The Night Circus, and Agatha Christie’s novels. While it is a bit of a slow burn, the world-building and characters are absolutely captivating.
See Here for UK - Published by W&N
Moonbound by Robin Sloan
Robin Sloan’s third novel is an inventive retelling of Arthurian legend set in the same universe as Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, though you don’t need to have read it to enjoy Moonbound.
The novel takes place 11,000 years in our future. When 12-year-old Ariel discovers a long-ago wrecked spaceship, the AI within leaps into his consciousness, eager for new life. The chronicler, as the fungal AI is known, witnessed events thousands of years earlier that led to the fall of civilization through the mind of Altissa Praxa, a human soldier. The world is greatly changed—a wizard rules Ariel’s town, the townsfolk speak of dragons, and animals talk. However, the chronicler quickly realizes it’s part of a familiar story that would have Ariel become king.
When Ariel angers the wizard, he’s forced to escape the castle and his home. The chronicler, still tucked away in his consciousness, aids Ariel as they quest through the wilderness, encountering many strange and unusual sights. This wild and fascinating ride blends science fiction, fantasy, and the apocalypse. The audiobook is excellent.
See Here for UK - Published by MCD
The Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei
Kitasei follows up her fantastic sci-fi debut, The Deep Sky, with this fun, action-packed space heist novel, which is like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade but with aliens.
Maya Hoshimoto was once an intergalactic art thief, but now she’s a failing graduate student studying anthropology. She works at a campus museum and knows more about the artifacts there than her professors. Her thesis advisor, Liam, has warned her that if she can’t improve her thesis, she might be dropped from the university.
She has decided never to live a life of crime again, but when a wealthy academic approaches her about stealing the infamous stardust grail, she decides to do one last heist. Not for the rich academic, but for her best friend, a tentacled, telepathic alien she calls Auncle, who needs the grail to help xe’s species procreate. However, not only would the grail save Auncle’s species from extinction, it would also save humanity. Maya had long ago decided to align herself with Auncle, who had helped her as a child, but she’s now feeling conflicted.
See Here for UK - Flatiron Books
The Stars Too Fondly by Emily Hamilton
Fantasy romance has been popular for the last couple of years, and now sci-fi romance is trying to catch up. This queer romantic sci-fi takes place on a near-future Earth. Decades earlier, the spaceship Providence was intended to travel to a habitable planet years away to see if humans could survive there. Dr. Wilhelmina Lucas and Dr. Halvorsen, the scientists who made Providence, used a dark matter engine to power the spaceship. However, when the time arrives for Providence to blast off into space, everyone aboard disappears. They are presumed dead. In response, the U.S. shut down its space program.
Chloe and her three friends grew up listening to stories about the Providence disaster. Now in their late twenties, they decide to sneak onto the spaceship for fun. However, they accidently send it blasting into space, and when they do, the dark matter engine embues them with powers. Chloe can now see into the past, present, and future, something she calls wimping, while her friends can manipulate space and control ice.
The friends discover that Dr. Lucas had uploaded a hologram of herself into Providence—Billie—and as time passes, Chloe begins to fall in love with the hologram of her childhood hero. But how do you love a hologram? Though a bit light on scientific realities, it’s overall an entertaining, slow-burn romance.
See Here for UK - Published by Gollancz
The God and the Gumiho by Sophie Kim
This is a super fun contemporary fantasy romance based on Korean folklore with lots of snark, heated arguments that turn into heated bedroom moments, and coffee.
The novel rotates between two characters. Seokga is a fallen trickster god. After attempting to overthrow his brother, ruler of the heavenly kingdom of Okhwang, Seokga has been condemned to live among mortals. Once he dispatches 20,000 rogue creatures, he'll be allowed back into the heavenly kingdom. He detests living in the mortal realm, though he does love coffee.
Hani pretends to be a young gumiho—a nine-tailed fox—when, in reality, she is the Scarlet Fox, a notorious gumiho who consumed the livers and stole the souls of many, many men hundreds of years earlier. She's so sated she hasn't needed to kill since. It's now illegal to murder mortals, and she's in hiding as a barista. Seokga goes to the coffee shop Hani works at frequently, and the two hate each other. When men attack her one night, she kills them with her infamous scarlet daggers, alerting Seokga to her presence.
Seokga's brother makes him a bargain that he can return to the heavenly realm if he kills the Scarlet Fox and a powerful shadow demon. But Hani overhears the conversation. She applies for a job to become Seokga's assistant with the intent of ruining any evidence. Neither the god nor the gumiho bargained for developing deeper feelings for one another. The dual narrators for the audiobook are fantastic.
See Here for UK - Published by Hodderscape
Daughter of the Merciful Deep by Leslye Penelope
This lovely historical fantasy is set in an African American town by the Loxahatchee River in the 1920s and 30s. Jane Edwards lost her voice after white men drove her and her family from their home with tragic consequences. Her family found refuge in Awenasa, founded by a Black man for other Black folk like Jane and her family. Now she works as his bookkeeper and uses sign language to communicate.
White officials want to buy up Awenasa for pennies and drown it for a new dam they’re building. As Jane investigates the legality of their actions and whether the town could rebuild, she sees a man from her family’s past whom she knows died and follows him to the river. Her search to discover more about the dead man integral to her family’s past and how to save her town will lead her to the water gods from African folklore. This powerful novel about trauma, racism, resilience, and community is full of heart and magic.
See Here for UK - Published by Orbit
Mirrored Heavens by Rebecca Roanhorse
If you’ve been waiting to read the Between Earth and Sky trilogy until all the books were complete, now is the time to pick them up! This final book in the trilogy is a wonderful ending to the series.
If you’re unfamiliar with the trilogy, Roanhorse bases them on pre-Colombian mythology and culture. This third and final book centers my favorite character from the series—Xiala—the rogue Teek captain. She has returned home, but the incoming war on Tova follows her there nonetheless. Can she fully come into her powers gifted from the Mother, keep her people safe, and reunite with Serapio?
Meanwhile, Serapio has embraced his powers as the Crow God reborn. Now he must navigate politics and a new prophecy that has him losing everything. But that is his destiny regardless, he believes, so he sets out to complete the prophecy with a disturbing brutality that leaves the people he loves at his mercy.
Naranpa is exploring new facets of her power as god-touched. She has apprenticed herself to a rural witch, who is teaching her how to walk in dreams. Amid the teachings, she takes care of tuktuks and longs for Iktan, who thinks she is dead.
Other chapters rotate between Iktan, Balam, Okoa, and even more characters. It’s a complex, intriguing series, one of my favorites in the last few years. If you’re looking for an epic fantasy series outside the more typical medieval European fantasy setting, you should definitely pick up these books.
See Here for UK - Published by Solaris
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Margaret Kingsbury is a freelance writer, editor, and all-around book nerd based in Nashville, TN. Her pieces on books and reading have appeared in Book Riot, BuzzFeed News, School Library Journal, StarTrek.com, Parents, and more. Follow her on Instagram @BabyLibrarians and Twitter and Bluesky @AReaderlyMom
