Reading SF in January 2026

[Hobbit]

​

Welcome to January 2026!!

(Last month's discussion of Science Fiction books is HERE. )

Despite it being a new year, it is the usual message here - this thread is where you tell us about what you've been reading in Science Fiction this month - or possibly what you've got for Christmas!

Remember, good or bad, we still want to know what you think.


Lastly, a quick reminder - our 2025 Year Review posts about Fantasy, Horror, & SF books, not to mention TV & Film. are all up and running and are worth a read if you haven't read them already

All the compliments of the season and best wishes for a better 2026.


Hobbit/Mark

 

[Raf]

I read mostly scifi in 2025. My favorite, hands down is the still ongoing series by new author C.S. Garrand. "Species Seventeen: Book 1 of Humanity's Leap". 3 novels so far in the series.

I haven't read "Whalesong" yet. So, it will probably a favorite for 2026 if Cameron holds true to form.

 

[dannymcg]

I last read this book over 50 years ago, I can't remember very much about it.
Maybe halfway through it now, Dragonflight

 

[Hobbit]

I last read this book over 50 years ago, I can't remember very much about it.
Maybe halfway through it now, Dragonflight

And how are you finding it, Danny? Is it holding up?

 

[dannymcg]

And how are you finding it, Danny? Is it holding up?

There's a lot more romance than I remember, I must have skipped over those bits back in the early 1970s.
Plus I didn't remember how smarmy and full of themselves the dragon riders are.

 

[krisbslick]

Finished up Slow Gods by Claire North. It was... well, not for me. I really couldn't get into it and was overall ambivalent to the story and characters. Maybe others might find some merit in it.

I was also able to pick up Species Seventeen by CS Garrand. After the high praise from a few months ago, figured I'd check it out. I'm pleased to say that the praise was well deserved. It was a great military exploration novel. I'll be picking up the sequels very soon.

I have Outlaw Planet by M.R. Carey queued up next, which is a relatively newly released novel set in the Pandominion universe

 

[Hobbit]

Finished up Slow Gods by Claire North. It was... well, not for me. I really couldn't get into it and was overall ambivalent to the story and characters.

If it helps, Kris, it was a DNF for me too. Just lost interest. On another day, though... who knows?

 

[krisbslick]

If it helps, Kris, it was a DNF for me too. Just lost interest. On another day, though... who knows?

I really hoped it was going to be The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August just for space opera, but unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

 

[chitman13]

Thought I'd start 2026 off with some sci-fi and Alastair Reynolds' Halcyon Years sounded good. It was not meant to be - DNF'd after listening to it for an hour or so. Neither story nor narrator did it for me.

 

[Hobbit]

Thought I'd start 2026 off with some sci-fi and Alastair Reynolds' Halcyon Years sounded good. It was not meant to be - DNF'd after listening to it for an hour or so. Neither story nor narrator did it for me.

Sorry to hear that, M: I thought you'd like that one.

Finished A Hole in the Sky : Peter F Hamilton (for review) last week; but then realised you'd reviewed the audiobook, and that there was nothing more I could add to your review!!

Next.....

 

[Raule]

Finished up Slow Gods by Claire North. It was... well, not for me. I really couldn't get into it and was overall ambivalent to the story and characters. Maybe others might find some merit in it.

I was also able to pick up Species Seventeen by CS Garrand. After the high praise from a few months ago, figured I'd check it out. I'm pleased to say that the praise was well deserved. It was a great military exploration novel. I'll be picking up the sequels very soon.

I have Outlaw Planet by M.R. Carey queued up next, which is a relatively newly released novel set in the Pandominion universe

I’m currently reading M.R. Carey’s Outlaw Planet and enjoying the Western elements in it so far (kindle shows me at 37%). This is my first book by Carey, so I haven’t read the Pandominion books. As I understand, this takes place in that universe but can stand alone. There are a few things I had to turn my nit-picky brain off for, such as people in this are described as various animals but they seemingly physically operate and wear clothes like humans. That might make more sense if I had read the Pandominion books. However, that’s a minor quibble. The storytelling has me hooked.

 

[krisbslick]

I’m currently reading M.R. Carey’s Outlaw Planet and enjoying the Western elements in it so far (kindle shows me at 37%). This is my first book by Carey, so I haven’t read the Pandominion books. As I understand, this takes place in that universe but can stand alone. There are a few things I had to turn my nit-picky brain off for, such as people in this are described as various animals but they seemingly physically operate and wear clothes like humans. That might make more sense if I had read the Pandominion books. However, that’s a minor quibble. The storytelling has me hooked.

I'm at 41% in now. I wasn't really feeling it at first, but the story is heating up and the central "mystery" has me intrigued. Although, I had similar gripes with the first two Pandominion books too. Including all the animals just seemed a bit... childish to me. We'll see where the story goes though!

 

[Raf]

Started a new book (for me) by Bobiverse author Dennis Taylor, "The Singularity Trap". A standalone. Pretty good so far.

 

[chitman13]

Started a new book (for me) by Bobiverse author Dennis Taylor, "The Singularity Trap". A standalone. Pretty good so far.

I've always liked Taylor's books, but I never find them as enjoyable as the Bobiverse, though I really have enjoyed his Quantum Earth books, Outland and Earthside.

 

[Raf]

After a long string of experimental KU reads that resulted in DNF's in the last couple of months, I decided to go back to a favorite author. Still KU, but a known author. "The Singularity Trap by Dennis E. Taylor. (Bobiverse author)

Ivan Pritchard is computer programmer / hardware specialist on a dying Earth. Global warming has heated and acidified the oceans even as the melting icecaps have flooded coastal regions worldwide. Driving populations to ever shrinking land masses.

In an effort to do better for his family he signs on as a tech on a ship that mines asteroids for various ores and rare earths. During an exploration of an asteroid, Ivan stumbles upon a millennia old trap set by a probe of The Makers. A trap set before humans had even evolved on the earth. The trap was set for an individual of a spacefaring society. Our MC (Ivan) is the unwitting victim.

Nanobots invade his body and begin a fantastic and horrific transformation that will allow an ancient computer to speak to him and prepare the Earth for assimilation or destruction as another set piece in a war between biologicals and A.I. that spans galactic millennia.

What defines our humanity is a big issue in this story. What combination of body / mind / soul makes us who we are. Superb and very human story.

 

[fluffy bunny]

Happy new year everyone. Over the last few months I've done the entire moving house thing halfway across the country stress. Read a few non-genre books over that time (Old Man and the Sea, Station Eleven, Day of the Jackal, The Secret History, Hombre/ 3:10 to Yuma) before dipping back in over the new year.

Recently finished Childhood's End by Arthur C Clarke. I think it's been about 2 decades since I last read any of his work. This one is a mixed bag for me.

The first half where they talk about human reactions to strange unexplained visitors and then the musings around utopia's impact on humanity was interesting. But I think it's been imitated in other stories over the last few decades to the point where there wasn't that much that seemed 'wow' to myself as a reader.

The last few parts talking about

Spoiler

paranormal phenomenon and the evolution of humanity along these lines

just lost me and the characters weren't strong enough to keep my attention during this exploration. How did people receive this in the 70s?


Moving onto Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I'm only one part in (about 30-40 pages) and still getting used to the author's narrative voice. The story and premise have captured my interest though. Will see how it goes.

 

[Ropie]

Recently finished Childhood's End by Arthur C Clarke. I think it's been about 2 decades since I last read any of his work. This one is a mixed bag for me.

Also two decades since I read it. I think the story is only famous because the aliens turn out to be you-know-who. It's a superb idea, but the story hanging off it is really, as you say, a mixed bag. I enjoyed the book overall but much prefer Rama and The Fountains of Paradise.

Now Hobbit will explain how it's actually the greatest book ever written (just kidding!)

 

[Hobbit]

Now Hobbit will explain how it's actually the greatest book ever written

Not quite. Surprisingly {to me, anyway) I enjoyed Rama much less on a reread than I thought I would.

Favourite Clarke, though? That's a tough one. I love The City and the Stars with its epic scale of time and history. I also love the Songs of Distant Earth, both of which were expanded from short stories (as was Childhood's End!) I always remember A Fall of Moondust for its depiction of cooking sausages on a moon-based liner (!) Imperial Earth was a jolly romp around the Solar System. But of the recent material, The Fountains of Paradise with its mixture of religion and SF is perhaps my favourite, even though overall my first ACC novel read was 2001, and I guess that might be my favourite, if only for that reason.

 

[dannymcg]

Read a few non-genre books over that time (Old Man and the Sea, Station Eleven, Day of the Jackal

I would think Station Eleven falls fully into the genre category!
An epidemic has wiped out most of the world's population and some survivors travel town to town putting on plays

 

[Hobbit]

I would think Station Eleven falls fully into the genre category!

Agreed, but I take fluffy's point. It's another one of those literary books that non-genre readers read without realising it's 'that SF stuff'. (Often with a sniffy tone.) See also Margaret Attwood. I guess the point is that WE know it's SF, even when others don't!!