The colonies are carved out of rock, or located in volcanic bubbles and domed craters. In the 22nd century, 3.2 million people live on Earth's moon in 27 different underground colonies. If you've ever wondered what kind of society humans would build if they inhabited another world, The Moon and the Other offers up some ideas. Plus, both his trilogy and Borne feature complex female protagonists, and we can always use more of those. His work is accessible, fun, and filled with both interesting human and non-human characters. If you liked that series, you'll probably like his new novel.īorne shows that VanderMeer is one of the strongest sci-fi writers of today. VanderMeer is also the author of the popular Southern Reach Trilogy. There are many more imaginative and frightening aspects of this world, including beetles that can remove and add memories when put in an ear and worms that can release drugs inside your body. Mord was created by the Company, a biotech firm that lost control of its creations. She first discovers the titular creature on a giant engineered bear named Mord. You don't immediately know what happened to the city that the characters reside in, or what the rules are, but the protagonist, Rachel, slowly leads us through a ravaged city with obstacles at every corner. Robinson has built a New York City that people would still want to live in.Įxploring the world of Borne is like navigating a video game. This book is fascinating for New Yorkers, but anyone with an interest in climate change and Robinson's work will like it. In some ways, the novel is hopeful because it shows that humanity will figure out a way to adapt with the terrifying threat of climate change. Seeing how characters survive in this future is satisfying.

We know that the planet is warming and that sea levels will dramatically change big cities in the future. It's a dystopian novel that doesn't really feel like a dystopian novel because the plot is intimately tied to our current reality. In New York 2140, sea levels have risen 50 feet and lower Manhattan is covered in water, and the MetLife building serves as a hub for the novel's main characters. Although we have a little bit of time before rising sea levels will affect housing and businesses, it's hard to not picture what the future of the most populous U.S. The fear of living in a place that will one day be covered in water is very real for New Yorkers and many other coastal dwellers around the world.

Best sci fi audio books