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Hugo Award for Best Novel Winners: Every Winning Book, Newest First

The Hugo Award for Best Novel is the main prize in science fiction and fantasy. It has been given every year since 1953, except 1954 and 1957, and is voted on by fans who are members of the World Science Fiction Convention.

Use it to find the genre’s landmark books, from classics to recent hits. The list includes space opera, time travel, alternate history and epic fantasy. Each book has a hook and a note on what you get from reading it.

Best for: Readers who want the best-loved science fiction and fantasy.

Years: The year shown is the year the award was given. Most books came out the year before, or earlier.
Ties: Three years had two winners: 1966, 1993 and 2010.
This list: Winners in award-year order, newest first. Not a ranking.
Source: Wikipedia, Hugo Award for Best Novel

75 books

2026
The Everlasting
Alix E. Harrow
Fantasy · Melancholic
A scholar and returning war veteran researches the knight Sir Una Everlasting and travels through time with her
What you get: A lively, imaginative story about a scholar tracing a famed knight.
Amazon Description
2025
The Tainted Cup
Robert Jackson Bennett
Fantasy · Tense
In an empire walled against leviathans, a young engraver assists an eccentric investigator after a murder
What you get: A fresh, gripping case in a strange, richly imagined empire.
Amazon Description
2024
Some Desperate Glory
Emily Tesh
Science Fiction · Dark
Raised on Gaea Station after the Majo War destroyed Earth, a young woman named Kyr comes of age
What you get: A bold, emotional and fast-moving novel about belonging.
Amazon Description
2023
Nettle & Bone
T. Kingfisher
Fantasy · Warm
The youngest of three princesses leaves a convent to help her sister, with a dust-wife and a demon-possessed chicken
What you get: A funny, adventurous quest with unforgettable companions.
Amazon Description
2022
A Desolation Called Peace
Arkady Martine
Science Fiction · Tense
A few months after the first Teixcalaan novel, an alien threat emerges as the empire faces war
What you get: A clever, tense story of language, empire and understanding.
Amazon Description
2021
Network Effect
Martha Wells
Science Fiction · Light
Murderbot, a security android, joins a research expedition that runs into a hostile vessel and a wormhole
What you get: Dry humor, action and a narrator you will want to hang out with.
Amazon Description
2020
A Memory Called Empire
Arkady Martine
Science Fiction · Tense
Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the Teixcalaanli Empire carrying her dead predecessor's memories and must investigate his death
What you get: A clever, atmospheric mystery set at a glittering imperial court.
Amazon Description
2019
The Calculating Stars
Mary Robinette Kowal
Science Fiction · Hopeful
After a meteorite strikes in 1952, a mathematician and former WASP pilot argues for women in a space program
What you get: A warm, determined story about women who will not be left on the ground.
Amazon Description
2018
The Stone Sky
N. K. Jemisin
Fantasy · Dark
The final book of the Broken Earth trilogy, set on the supercontinent of the Stillness
What you get: A moving, grand finale that ties the story together.
Amazon Description
2017
The Obelisk Gate
N. K. Jemisin
Fantasy · Dark
Mother and daughter, both orogenes, separated shortly before the latest Fifth Season, try to find each other
What you get: A powerful, absorbing middle volume with big revelations.
Amazon Description
2016
The Fifth Season
N. K. Jemisin
Fantasy · Dark
On a single supercontinent hit by world-ending Fifth Seasons, orogenes who control the earth are feared and persecuted
What you get: A bold, gripping story with a deep sense of world and heroines you care about.
Amazon Description
2015
The Three-Body Problem
Cixin Liu
Science Fiction · Epic
Earth makes contact with an alien civilization from a system of three Sun-like stars orbiting one another
What you get: A mind-expanding mystery that opens huge questions and keeps you hungry for more.
Amazon Description
2014
Ancillary Justice
Ann Leckie
Science Fiction · Tense
Breq, the last fragment of a destroyed starship's AI, seeks revenge against the ruler of her civilization
What you get: A fresh, gripping story with a distinct voice and big ideas about identity.
Amazon Description
2013
Redshirts
John Scalzi
Science Fiction · Light
Aboard the starship Intrepid, new ensigns notice that low-ranking crew keep dying on away missions
What you get: Quick, witty entertainment that makes you laugh and then surprises you with heart.
Amazon Description
2012
Among Others
Jo Walton
Fantasy · Warm
A 15-year-old Welsh science fiction fan moves to England after a traumatic loss and keeps a diary
What you get: A warm, quirky story that celebrates reading and finding your people.
Amazon Description
2011
Blackout/All Clear
Connie Willis
Science Fiction · Tense
Oxford historians sent to World War II Britain find themselves in trouble in a two-volume time-travel novel
What you get: A detailed, moving and suspenseful story full of period life.
Amazon Description
2010
The Windup Girl
Paolo Bacigalupi
Science Fiction · Dark
In a 23rd-century Thailand shaped by climate change, megacorporations control food through engineered seeds
What you get: A vivid, richly imagined future that pulls you into its streets and ideas.
Amazon Description
2010
The City & the City
China Miéville
Fantasy · Tense
A police inspector investigates a murder in Besźel, a city that shares its space with Ul Qoma
What you get: An original, thought-provoking mystery set in two cities that share the same space.
Amazon Description
2009
The Graveyard Book
Neil Gaiman
Fantasy · Warm
A toddler whose family is murdered is raised by the supernatural residents of a graveyard
What you get: A warm, imaginative story about a boy raised by friendly ghosts. Charming and touching.
Amazon Description
2008
The Yiddish Policemen's Union
Michael Chabon
Science Fiction · Dark
In an alternate Sitka, Alaska, a Yiddish-speaking city, a detective investigates a death as the city nears reversion
What you get: A clever, atmospheric noir with a rich sense of place and a sharp-tongued detective.
Amazon Description
2007
Rainbows End
Vernor Vinge
Science Fiction · Thoughtful
In 2025 San Diego, a former poet recovered from Alzheimer's must adjust to a world of ubiquitous networks
What you get: A clever, lively look at a world of augmented reality.
Amazon Description
2006
Spin
Robert Charles Wilson
Science Fiction · Thoughtful
Three teenagers watch every star vanish at once, as Earth is enclosed in a membrane that slows time
What you get: A gripping, emotional story with huge ideas and a deeply human core.
Amazon Description
2005
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Susanna Clarke
Fantasy · Thoughtful
In 19th-century England during the Napoleonic Wars, magic returns through two magicians, Gilbert Norrell and Jonathan Strange
What you get: A rich, witty alternate history of English magic that feels wonderfully real.
Amazon Description
2004
Paladin of Souls
Lois McMaster Bujold
Fantasy · Hopeful
Ista, mother of Chalion's young ruler, sets out on a pilgrimage after the family curse is lifted
What you get: A touching, adventurous quest with humor and heart.
Amazon Description
2003
Hominids
Robert J. Sawyer
Science Fiction · Thoughtful
An experiment on a parallel Earth sends a Neanderthal scientist into our world, and his lab partner stands trial
What you get: An engaging, easy-to-read story about two worlds meeting.
Amazon Description
2002
American Gods
Neil Gaiman
Fantasy · Dark
Ex-convict Shadow becomes bodyguard to a mysterious con man named Mr. Wednesday and travels across America
What you get: A strange, atmospheric journey through a hidden world of old gods. It delivers a rich sense of mystery and imagination.
Amazon Description
2001
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
J. K. Rowling
Fantasy · Warm
In his fourth year at Hogwarts, Harry Potter's name comes out of the Goblet of Fire for the Triwizard Tournament
What you get: A thrilling contest, shifting loyalties and a turn toward real danger. It brings the full rush of a story getting bigger, braver and more emotional.
Amazon Description
2000
A Deepness in the Sky
Vernor Vinge
Science Fiction · Epic
Human traders and a ruthless rival civilization meet an alien species on a planet orbiting a star that goes dormant
What you get: A grand, absorbing story of traders and a curious alien civilization.
Amazon Description
1999
To Say Nothing of the Dog
Connie Willis
Science Fiction · Light
Time-traveling Oxford historians search 1940 Coventry for a missing object called the Bishop's bird stump
What you get: Light, witty and full of Victorian fun, with mysteries and a romance that make you smile.
Amazon Description
1998
Forever Peace
Joe Haldeman
Science Fiction · Dark
In 2048, soldiers fight remote wars through robots called soldierboys, linked to machines by implants
What you get: A thoughtful, fast-moving story that asks what peace would take.
Amazon Description
1997
Blue Mars
Kim Stanley Robinson
Science Fiction · Hopeful
A century after the second revolution, Mars adopts a new constitution while Earth floods and the solar system opens up
What you get: A calm, reflective finish full of big ideas and hopeful moments.
Amazon Description
1996
The Diamond Age
Neal Stephenson
Science Fiction · Thoughtful
In a near-future world of nanotechnology, a girl named Nell receives an interactive book that teaches her
What you get: A creative, wonder-filled story that makes learning and imagination feel like an adventure.
Amazon Description
1995
Mirror Dance
Lois McMaster Bujold
Science Fiction · Tense
Miles Vorkosigan's clone Mark takes his place on a rescue mission to the lawless planet Jackson's Whole
What you get: A gripping, moving story of identity and family that keeps you on edge.
Amazon Description
1994
Green Mars
Kim Stanley Robinson
Science Fiction · Hopeful
Fifty years after Red Mars, survivors of the First Hundred hide while resistance groups prepare a second revolution
What you get: A big, richly imagined novel of ideas and change on Mars.
Amazon Description
1993
A Fire Upon the Deep
Vernor Vinge
Science Fiction · Epic
A superintelligence awakened in a research facility starts an interstellar crisis across the galaxy's Zones of Thought
What you get: A grand adventure with inventive ideas and characters who truly feel alive.
Amazon Description
1993
Doomsday Book
Connie Willis
Science Fiction · Melancholic
A young historian from mid-21st-century Oxford is sent to the 14th century, a period thought too dangerous
What you get: A moving, absorbing story of the past and those who live in it, with a strong sense of place.
Amazon Description
1992
Barrayar
Lois McMaster Bujold
Science Fiction · Tense
Cordelia has married Aral and must adjust to Barrayar, a world with simpler technology and far more violent politics
What you get: A lively, heartfelt story of a woman making a home in a new world.
Amazon Description
1991
The Vor Game
Lois McMaster Bujold
Science Fiction · Tense
Newly graduated, Miles Vorkosigan is posted to a winter infantry training base on remote Kyril Island
What you get: A fun, quick-thinking story full of plots and charming characters.
Amazon Description
1990
Hyperion
Dan Simmons
Science Fiction · Epic
Seven pilgrims travel to the Time Tombs on Hyperion, each telling a tale, as an invasion approaches
What you get: A rich, imaginative story with several intriguing tales and a sense of epic mystery.
Amazon Description
1989
Cyteen
C. J. Cherryh
Science Fiction · Dark
After the murder of a powerful scientist and politician on the capital world of Union, the consequences spread
What you get: A big, rich novel of politics and science that rewards your patience.
Amazon Description
1988
The Uplift War
David Brin
Science Fiction · Tense
An avian species invades the planet Garth, where humans and uplifted chimpanzees resist
What you get: An energetic, inventive story of ordinary people defending their home.
Amazon Description
1987
Speaker for the Dead
Orson Scott Card
Science Fiction · Thoughtful
Three thousand years after Ender's Game, a Speaker for the Dead visits a Catholic colony beside a sentient species
What you get: A deeply human story about understanding others, more reflective than action-heavy.
Amazon Description
1986
Ender's Game
Orson Scott Card
Science Fiction · Tense
Humanity is at war with an insectoid alien species, and gifted children are trained as officers through war games
What you get: A fast, clever story about a gifted boy and a bigger challenge than he expected. It keeps you gripped and makes you think about leadership and strategy.
Amazon Description
1985
Neuromancer
William Gibson
Science Fiction · Dark
In a near-future dystopia, an AI and a traumatized former soldier recruit a computer hacker for a heist
What you get: A stylish, electric trip into the world that shaped modern cyberpunk, with a heist plot and a dazzling vision of the networked future. A landmark to explore.
Amazon Description
1984
Startide Rising
David Brin
Science Fiction · Tense
The ship Streaker, crewed by uplifted dolphins, humans and a chimpanzee, finds a derelict alien fleet
What you get: A lively, inventive tale of a ship with an unusual crew and a big secret.
Amazon Description
1983
Foundation's Edge
Isaac Asimov
Science Fiction · Epic
Five hundred years after the Foundation's founding, Golan Trevize searches for the Second Foundation
What you get: An engaging, thoughtful continuation with mysteries to unravel.
Amazon Description
1982
Downbelow Station
C. J. Cherryh
Science Fiction · Tense
During the Company Wars, Pell Station is the transit point between the Earth and Union sectors
What you get: A detailed, gripping story of a space station caught between powers.
Amazon Description
1981
The Snow Queen
Joan D. Vinge
Science Fiction · Epic
On a mostly oceanic planet, two matriarchal clans trade control of the government every 150 years
What you get: A lush, absorbing story of two cultures and a world on the turn.
Amazon Description
1980
The Fountains of Paradise
Arthur C. Clarke
Science Fiction · Hopeful
An engineer proposes an orbital tower linking Earth to a satellite 36,000 km above the surface
What you get: A calm, awe-filled story of an ambitious tower reaching for the sky.
Amazon Description
1979
Dreamsnake
Vonda N. McIntyre
Science Fiction · Hopeful
Snake, a healer who treats illness with genetically engineered snakes, searches for a replacement for her dreamsnake
What you get: A warm, adventurous story about a healer and her unusual companions.
Amazon Description
1978
Gateway
Frederik Pohl
Science Fiction · Dark
Humans on a crowded Earth pilot abandoned alien starships from an asteroid, hoping for wealth and facing great danger
What you get: A thoughtful, tense story with a fascinating setup and a narrator you follow closely.
Amazon Description
1977
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang
Kate Wilhelm
Science Fiction · Melancholic
After civilization collapses, a family's isolated Virginia community survives by turning to cloning
What you get: A calm, haunting novel about a family and what it takes to carry on.
Amazon Description
1976
The Forever War
Joe Haldeman
Science Fiction · Dark
Soldiers fighting an interstellar war age slowly while those they left behind grow old
What you get: A gripping, emotional story about a soldier and time, with plenty to reflect on.
Amazon Description
1975
The Dispossessed
Ursula K. Le Guin
Science Fiction · Thoughtful
Shevek, a physicist from Anarres, travels to its twin world Urras in the Tau Ceti system
What you get: A rich, human story that makes you think about freedom, home and the price of change.
Amazon Description
1974
Rendezvous with Rama
Arthur C. Clarke
Science Fiction · Thoughtful
In the 2130s, human explorers intercept a large cylindrical alien starship that enters the Solar System
What you get: A sense of awe as explorers enter a mysterious alien ship, written with a calm, curious spirit.
Amazon Description
1973
The Gods Themselves
Isaac Asimov
Science Fiction · Thoughtful
An energy device called the Pump exchanges matter between our universe and a parallel one
What you get: A smart, three-part story with a strikingly original second act.
Amazon Description
1972
To Your Scattered Bodies Go
Philip José Farmer
Science Fiction · Epic
Humanity is resurrected on the shores of a mysterious river, and Richard Francis Burton wakes among them
What you get: An imaginative, gripping journey along a river where everyone who ever lived is reborn.
Amazon Description
1971
Ringworld
Larry Niven
Science Fiction · Epic
In 2850, a mission travels to an enormous artificial ring around a sunlike star
What you get: An exciting expedition full of wonder, with an engineering marvel at its center.
Amazon Description
1970
The Left Hand of Darkness
Ursula K. Le Guin
Science Fiction · Thoughtful
An envoy urges an icy planet's nations to join an alliance; its people have no fixed sex
What you get: A quiet, beautiful story about understanding another world and another person.
Amazon Description
1969
Stand on Zanzibar
John Brunner
Science Fiction · Thoughtful
In 2010, an overpopulated world and a large cast of characters meet a corporate deal and a genetic breakthrough
What you get: A bold, mosaic-style novel that gives a broad, lively picture of a crowded world.
Amazon Description
1968
Lord of Light
Roger Zelazny
Science Fiction · Epic
A science-fantasy world shaped by Hindu and Buddhist traditions, with modern Western characters
What you get: A dazzling, imaginative adventure with gods, rebels and clever twists.
Amazon Description
1967
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
Robert A. Heinlein
Science Fiction · Tense
In 2075, the Moon's penal colony plans independence from Earth with the help of a self-aware computer
What you get: A lively, smart adventure with a memorable computer character and a spirit of freedom.
Amazon Description
1966
Dune
Frank Herbert
Science Fiction · Epic
The Atreides family takes stewardship of the desert planet Arrakis, the only source of the drug melange
What you get: A rich, immersive world of desert planets, noble houses and prophecy. It is a landmark of science fiction that rewards you with a story as big as its universe.
Amazon Description
1966
This Immortal
Roger Zelazny
Science Fiction · Thoughtful
A guide leads an alien official through the ruins of a post-nuclear Earth overrun by mutated lifeforms
What you get: A lively, stylish tour through a strange future Earth with a wry narrator.
Amazon Description
1965
The Wanderer
Fritz Leiber
Science Fiction · Tense
A wandering planet enters the Solar System, and disconnected groups of people cope with what follows
What you get: A sweeping, tense story of how very different people react to a world-changing event.
Amazon Description
1964
Way Station
Clifford D. Simak
Science Fiction · Warm
A Civil War veteran runs an interstellar way station on his family farm, until the government takes notice
What you get: A quiet, moving story of a lonely keeper of a station for travelers among the stars.
Amazon Description
1963
The Man in the High Castle
Philip K. Dick
Science Fiction · Dark
Fifteen years after the Axis powers won World War II, the former United States is divided between Japan and Germany
What you get: A tense, atmospheric what-if that makes you think about reality and choice.
Amazon Description
1962
Stranger in a Strange Land
Robert A. Heinlein
Science Fiction · Thoughtful
A man raised by Martians is brought to Earth and meets human society for the first time
What you get: A thought-provoking, imaginative story about an outsider that makes you reconsider familiar things.
Amazon Description
1961
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Walter M. Miller Jr.
Science Fiction · Melancholic
Monks of the Albertian Order of Leibowitz preserve surviving knowledge across thousands of years after a nuclear war
What you get: A rich, haunting story across centuries that makes you think about knowledge and what we save.
Amazon Description
1960
Starship Troopers
Robert A. Heinlein
Science Fiction · Tense
In a future ruled by veterans, Johnny Rico joins the Mobile Infantry in a war against the Arachnids
What you get: Action-filled storytelling and plenty to debate about duty and society.
Amazon Description
1959
A Case of Conscience
James Blish
Science Fiction · Thoughtful
In 2049, a Jesuit biologist joins a team judging whether the planet Lithia can be opened to human contact
What you get: A serious, absorbing story that raises big questions about belief and choice.
Amazon Description
1958
The Big Time
Fritz Leiber
Science Fiction · Tense
Two factions fight the Change War by altering history, and the story is set in a station outside the universe
What you get: A compact, imaginative story of time-travelers in a single room, full of style.
Amazon Description
1956
Double Star
Robert A. Heinlein
Science Fiction · Light
A struggling actor hired as a double learns on the trip to Mars that he must impersonate a politician
What you get: A lively, clever story of impersonation and politics on Mars. Short and entertaining.
Amazon Description
1955
They'd Rather Be Right
Mark Clifton & Frank Riley
Science Fiction · Thoughtful
Two professors build a cybernetic brain that offers a better mind and eternal youth to those who give up prejudice
What you get: A classic-era idea story that makes you wonder what a better mind would be like.
Amazon Description
1953
The Demolished Man
Alfred Bester
Science Fiction · Tense
In the 24th century, a wealthy businessman commits murder in a society where telepaths read minds
What you get: A clever cat-and-mouse story that mixes crime and fantastic ideas with style.
Amazon Description