The best sci-fi novel in 2026 so far – plus 6 other great reads

Sci-fi columnist Emily H. Wilson rounds up her favourite reads of the year to date - and highlights one particular book as her top pick The best science-fiction book of the year so far has only just been published. The End of Everything, by M. John Harrison, is about half the length of a regular novel, but it's so powerful and complete that there is nothing slight about it. I consumed it in one greedy gulp before getting up one morning. Our main characters, Phillip and his grandmother Marnie, live along the south coast of England in the wake of an alien invasion. Since the iGhetti began to appear, the European mainland seems to have disappeared, and it has become very hard indeed to work out what is real and what isn't. Strange, dangerous artefacts wash up out of the sea.