16 of the Best New Sci-Fi Books in April

All-new Ascension, Lords of Uncreation and Some Desperate Glory – these are the most exciting new sci-fi books in April 2023

The last humans, past lives and danger among the stars. From gripping alien invasions and empires at war to harnessing terrible powers and surviving the depths of empty space. These are some of the most anticipated new sci-fi books of April 2023.

Complete with titles, release dates, authors, synopsis and links to pre-order and buy your favourite new science fiction book releases right now…

16 Awesome New Sci-Fi Books in April 2023

The Scourge Between Stars

Ness Brown, 4 April 2023

A new take on the classic “something’s on the ship” science fiction horror. Ness Brown’s new novella The Scourge Between Stars sees acting captain Jacklyn Albright leading the starving and desperate remnants of humanity back to Earth. The colony mission had failed. They’re frayed and at breaking point. Travelling through interstellar space is taking a terrible toll. But now something’s picking off the crew one by one. And it’s up to Jacklyn to find it or be the captain who saw the last of humanity perish in the cold, dark depths of space.

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Genres Horror, Science Fiction, Novella, Adult, Fantasy, Space Opera, Thriller
Author Ness Brown | Home born New Mexico; lives New York, US
Publisher Tor Publishing Group | Buy it

Star Wars: Cataclysm 

Lydia Kang, 4 April 2023

Part of the Star Wars: The High Republic prequels, Star Wars: Cataclysm takes us back to the Forever War when planets Eiram and E’ronoh are about to call a truce when news of the disastrous treaty signing at Jedha (see Star Wars: The Battle Of Jedha among our sci-fi books in February) sparks new violence. The Jedi suspect a group called the Path of the Open Hand are orchestrating the war. And one of them, Jedi Gella Nattai, thinks a prisoner can give them some answers, but they have to get to him before the Path does.

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Genres Star Wars, Science Fiction, Adult, Space Opera, Fantasy, Canon
Author Lydia Kang | Home Omaha, Nebraska, US
Publisher Random House Worlds | Buy it

Paradise-1

David Wellington, 4 April 2023

The first book in David Wellington’s new Red Space trilogy, Paradise-1 sees Special Agent Petrov and Dr Lei Zhang awake from cryosleep to learn that the colony they were headed to, the first-ever human interstellar colony, has gone dark. All 150’000 souls are missing, and it falls to them to investigate. But the further they go, the more horrifying it gets in David Wellington’s new Paradise-1.

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Genres Horror, Science Fiction, Adult, Mystery
Author David Wellington | Home born Pittsburgh; lives New York, US
Publisher Orbit | Buy it

The Captain 

Will Wight, 4 April 2023

Book 1 in Will Wight’s all-new sci-fi-and-fantasy-blending The Last Horizon series, The Captain sees space-faring Archmage Varic Vallenar so troubled by terrible memories of his previous lives (especially the way his former selves died) that he casts a spell to unite himself with the preceding 6 – giving him all their power and complete memories. Problem is, now that he knows the terrible overpowering forces they faced, he knows he’s nowhere near strong enough to defeat it. Will he die like the others? Or is there hope in the stories of a mythical starship inhabited by near-invincible heroes? Is The Last Horizon real? We find out in Will Wight’s The Captain.

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Genres Science Fiction, Fantasy
Author Will Wight | Home Orlando, Florida, US
Publisher Hidden Gnome Publishing | Buy it 

Some Desperate Glory

Emily Tesh,11 April 2023

Emily Tesh’s debut novel Some Desperate Glory sees Kyr, once thought the best among what’s left of humanity’s warriors on Gaea Station, trained all her life to wield the reality-shifting weapon meant to win back mankind’s homeworld, dealt a terrible blow. Command forces her brother to certain death and assigns her to “the Nursery” to live out her days bearing the children of men she doesn’t know. But she won’t have it. This is the moment. Along with her brother’s seditious friend, and a strange captive alien “majoda”, she turns against everything she knows to find her true destiny in Emily Tesh’s Some Desperate Glory.

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Genres Science Fiction, LGBTQ, Adult, Lesbian, Fantasy, Space Opera, Space
Author Emily Tesh | Home born London; lives Hertfordshire, UK
Publisher Tor.com | Buy it

Untethered Sky

Fonda Lee, 11 April 2023

A new novella from World Fantasy Award-winning author Fonda Lee, Untethered Sky is a fantasy epic with science fiction undertones. It’s the story of the battle-forged relationship between warrior, Ester, and her mount, an immature roc (giant eagle) called Zahra. Raised by an embittered father obsessed with avenging the murder of Ester’s mother and baby brother by a vicious manticore, Ester gets the chance to exact her revenge. But success will hinge on her ability to cooperate and trust in the seemingly loveless and willful bird, Zahra, in Untethered Sky.

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Genres Fantasy, Novella, Adult, Science Fiction, High Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Asian Literature
Author Fonda Lee | Home born Canada; lives Portland Oregon, US
Publisher Tor Publishing Group | Buy it

Promises Stronger Than Darkness 

Charlie Jane Anders, 11 April 2023

Hugo-nominated and Nebula-winning Charlie Jane Anders is back with book 3 in the young adult Unstoppable series. Promises Stronger Than Darkness sees Elza, Rachael and the crew up against the impending end of the world. Problem is, to stop it they have to get help from the crazy Captain Thaoh Argentian who stole their friend Tina’s body – suddenly the most annoying frenemy imaginable. Now all that’s left is for the Unstoppable crew to take on and conquer the entire universe in Promises Stronger Than Darkness.

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Genres Young Adult, Science Fiction, LGBTQ, Lesbian, Fantasy
Author Charlie Jane Anders | Home born Connecticut; lives San Francisco Bay, US
Publisher Tor Teen | Buy it

The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume Seven

Neil Clarke, 11 April 2023

After a two-year hiatus, award-winning Clarkesworld Magazine editor Neil Clarke is back with his annual collection of the year’s best short stories in sci-fi and fantasy. The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume Seven features shorts by 32 top authors including Christopher Rowe, Ellen Klages, Rachel Pollack, KJ Parker, would you believe it Ken Liu, Neil Gaiman and many more – with foreword by Jonathan Strahan.

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Genres Fantasy, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies, Collections, Adult
Author Neil Clarke | Home New Jersey, US
Publisher Night Shade | Buy it

The Blood Gift 

NE Davenport, 18 April 2023

The final book in The Blood Gift duology, The Blood Gift sees elite warrior Ikenna hunted for the blood gift she’d paid to save her squad. And not just by her own people, the Blood Emperor’s Warlord is now also hot on her trail. Problem is both these realms are also waging a bloody war against each other, and she and her crew are smack-bang in the middle of it. No one realises the extent of the incredible powers the Goddess of Blood Rites gave her, though – or that it is slowly tearing her apart from the inside. Perhaps she can put it to some good use though… in The Blood Gift.

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Genres Fantasy, Science Fiction, Adult, Young Adult, High Fantasy
Author NE Davenport | Home Texas, US
Publisher Harper Voyager | Buy it

For the First Time, Again

Sylvain Neuvel, 18 April 2023

The 3rd and final book in the alternate-history sci-fi-thriller Take Them to The Stars series, which started off with Nazis, rocketry and war in the 1940s, For the First Time, Again flings us to the 90s where a new heroine clone, Aster, is totally alone – with no ancestors to tell her whom she really is. Imagine her surprise when she becomes the focus of a deadly hunt, with the Trackers and the US government all willing to part the earth to get at her first. Who is Aster and what do they want with her? 

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Genres Science Fiction, Historical Fiction, Aliens, Speculative Fiction, Alternate History, Adult
Author Sylvain Neuvel | Home Montreal, Canada
Publisher Tor Publishing Group | Buy it

Furious Heaven

Kate Elliott, 18 April 2023

The second book in Kate Elliott’s The Sun Chronicles series, Furious Heaven sees mother-and-daughter rulers Queen-Marshal Eirene and Princess Sun drive back the invading Phene Empire. But, determined to destroy their little republic, the Empire employs a secret sect of assassins and kills Queen Eirene. Now Sun stands alone with her mighty fleets and carefully laid plans to defend their home. But will it be enough, or will she have to forge her own path to victory? Let’s find out in Kate Elliott’s Furious Heaven.

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Genres Science Fiction, LGBTQ, Lesbian, Adult, Retellings, Space Opera
Author Kate Elliott | Home Hawaii, US
Publisher Tor Books | Buy it 

Harley Quinn: Ravenous 

Rachael Allen, 25 April 2023

The seventh book in the DC Icons Series (the second in the Harley Quinn origin trilogy), Harley Quinn: Ravenous sees the once devoted and optimistic parts of Harleen Quinzel all nearly undone as all her feministic, revenge-crazed antics land her in Arkham Asylum. But another chance meeting with the likes of Talia al Ghūl slowly reawakens all of Harleen’s darkness. Until it seems the only way to survive the horrors that haunt the halls of Arkham is to give in and finally let the darkness out… in Harley Quinn: Ravenous.

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Genres Young Adult, DC Comics, LGBTQ, Comics, Science Fiction, New Adult
Author Rachael Allen | Home Atlanta, Georgia, US
Publisher Random House Books for Young Readers | Buy it

Alien Agendas 

Ian Douglas, 25 April 2023

The final book in Ian Douglas’ Solar Warden series sees Commander Mark Hunter and his Joint Space Strike Team as the only thing standing in the way of the highly evolved reptilian Saurians (who survived the dinosaur extinction 65mil years ago) and complete world domination. As the humanoid reptiles revive Nazi strong-man tactics to pry political control of the planet from humans, Hunter must also deal with the Men in Black who’re not helping as the Saurians plan to bring the whole thing crashing down on his head, in Alien Agendas.

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Genres Science Fiction, Military, Space Opera, Hard Science Fiction, War
Author Ian Douglas | Home Pennsylvania, US
Publisher Harper Voyager | Buy it

In the Lives of Puppets

TJ Klune, 25 April 2023

In the brand-new standalone novel In the Lives of Puppets, TJ Klune weaves a darkly fantastical retelling of Pinocchio. When fatherly inventor droid Gio, who lives in hiding with two other droids and a human named Vic, reactivates an old droid named “HAP” from back in his human-hunting days, Hap accidentally alerts acquaintances from Gio’s former life – and they come to take him away. Now, Vic, Hap and the others must go on a perilous journey through a strange, wonderful and dangerous sci-fi-fantasy world to find Gio and bring him back.

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Genres Fantasy, Science Fiction, LGBTQ, Adult, Retellings, Romance
Author TJ Klune | Home born Oregon; lives Virginia, US
Publisher Pan Macmillan | Buy it

Ascension

Nicholas Binge, 27 April 2023

One of the most anticipated books on this list, Nicholas Binge’s Ascension tells the story of teams sent to investigate a huge mountain that suddenly and inexplicably appears in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Time slows as you climb it, and the cold seems to slowly rob you of your memories of everything that came before. Not to mention there are creatures pursuing you through the ice and snow. But you can’t stop, something compels you to try and find the top. That’s where you’ll find the secrets to the limitations of science and belief, where you’ll see the true face of human nature, in Nicholas Binge’s Ascension.

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Genres Science Fiction, Horror, Thriller, Mystery, Adult, Fantasy
Author Nicholas Binge | Home Edinburgh, Scotland
Publisher HarperCollins UK | Buy it

Lords of Uncreation

Adrian Tchaikovsky, 27 April 2023

The final book in Adrian Tchaikovsky’s The Final Architecture series. The brief (though miserable) peace human warrior Idris and crew enjoyed after the alien threat, The Architects, seemingly disappeared in Shards of Earth (Book 1) is well and truly shattered when they return with a vengeance in Eyes of the Void, able to destroy entire planets at will. We join Idris as he returns from terrible “unspace” with news that will spell either hope or doom for the human race in Lords of Uncreation.

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Genres Science Fiction, Space Opera, Fantasy, Adult
Author Adrian Tchaikovsky | Home born Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire; lives Leeds, UK
Publisher Pan Macmillan | Buy it


Note: I try my best to get every bit of info I can, and will keep updating this page all the time. If you know of a book, author, show, channel or event that should be on this list, let me know at elvorne@scifixfantasy.com and I’ll make it happen.


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