It’s Later Than You Think: 5 Excellent Near-Future Sci-Fi Novels

Bees are a really important part of the world, and this novel deals with the idea that the last bees in the world have died. That event is tied to Sasha’s father, “The Last Beekeeper,” who is currently residing in prison for related crimes. Ten years after his sentencing, Sasha returns to the farm where she grew up, now housing squatters, to find the information she knows he has hidden about the bees. But instead, she discovers a tight community that becomes like the family she has always wanted.

This one is a winner of the Arthur C. Clarke award! Doug has recently acquired Annie Bot, an AI robot created to be the optimal girlfriend. But when Doug tells Annie that his favorite thing about her is her ability to seem human, her AI begins to adjust and learn. So, to please him, her system tries to be more human and starts to change. Soon, Annie begins questioning everything, becoming less perfect, making mistakes, and wondering what she really wants for herself. You know, like a human.

This recent novel is similar to 1984 and its Thought Police because it depicts a surveillance state in which people are locked up for their dreams. While going through airport security, Sara is pulled out of line by the Risk Assessment Administration. They tell her that according to data from her dreams, she is going to commit a crime against her husband. Sara is swiftly locked up in the Dream Hotel with other unfairly accused women, and months go by with no hope of leaving. That is, until a new resident arrives with ideas for fighting back.

This 2025 release received so many accolades, including an Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence and a National Book Award nomination. In near-future India, Ma, her daughter, and her elderly father are trying to escape the collapsing city of Kolkata and its food shortage. Looking to join her husband in Michigan, things take a terrible turn when the necessary paperwork is stolen. Ma must search the chaotic city for the thief, as the story then also follows the thief, who never imagined he would have to survive in a world like this.

You’ve probably heard us mention this one before. It’s a Book Riot favorite! Moon of the Crusted Snow is an award-winning, unsettling read about a small, isolated northern Anishinaabe community that has just lost electricity. As days pass and it doesn’t return, the leaders start making plans for long-term survival. But then outsiders arrive with startling news of the world beyond their woods, and things slowly start to descend into panic and chaos.