disassociated

Mind blown: are these the best science-fiction/fantasy books of the twenty-first century?

25 August 2025

Singapore based Australian blogger, and science-fiction writer Skribe, recently asked his Mastodon followers to name one sci-fi/fantasy novel, written this century, that has blown their minds. From those suggestions, he drew up this list of seven titles:

• A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine, published in 2020
• Anathem by Neal Stephenson, published in 2010
• Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie, published in 2013
• Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky, published in 2015
• Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, published in 2020
• Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, published in 2021
• The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin, published in 2015

In a since closed poll asking people to vote for the title they considered the best, I went for Piranesi. Mainly because it was the only novel from the list that I’d read, but also because British author Susanna Clarke’s tome compelled me to write at length about it afterwards.

Long story short, Piranesi is about someone of the same name, who finds themselves mostly alone in a house of epic proportions. It can literally take days to move from one part of the multi-level structure, to another. The house itself is a character in its own right, and as I read through the story, I almost felt as if I was there with Piranesi, so vivid was Clarke’s description of the sprawling abode.

RELATED CONTENT

books, literature, novels, science fiction, Susanna Clarke