Best Fiction Books of the 21st Century (So Far)

This is one of the 759 lists we use to generate our main The Greatest Books list.

About this list

Kirkus Reviews, 100 Books

This list is a curated gallery of featured book reviews from the Kirkus Reviews site, assembled to showcase notable titles across a wide range of genres and publication year.Selection criteria visible in the markup point to editorial curation from Kirkus’s review archive—genre categorization, publication metadata, and a starred designation appear to guide inclusion—rather than reader polling, and the layout and consistent card structure imply an internal, systematic process for highlighting standout reviews (including translated or edited editions when applicable). Overall, the list reads as an editors’ compilation intended to surface critically recognized reviews across fiction, mystery, romance, science fiction & fantasy, graphic novels, and more.

Who Voted: Kirkus Reviews, the number of voters and names are unknown

This list was originally published in 2025 and was added to this site about 1 year ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
443 Americanah Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 2013 Nigerian English
17152 In The Country Mia Alvar 2015 Unknown English
1435 Life After Life Kate Atkinson 2013 British English
3130 Oryx and Crake Margaret Atwood 2003 Canadian English
14985 Arthur And George Julian Barnes 2005 British English
837 The Sellout Paul Beatty 2015 American English
2827 A Manual For Cleaning Women Lucia Berlin 2015 American English
232 2666 Roberto Bolaño 2004 Chilean Spanish
8566 Witness Jamel Brinkley 2023 American English
2242 Milkman Anna Burns 2018 Irish English
314 The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay Michael Chabon 2000 American English
14985 Sacred Games Vikram Chandra 2006 Indian English
1585 Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell Susanna Clarke 2004 British English
14985 Monica Daniel Clowes 2023 American English
7679 The Netanyahus Joshua Cohen 2021 American English
14985 Everything Inside Edwidge Danticat 2019 Haitian English
874 The Last Samurai Helen DeWitt 2000 American English
3060 Trust Hernan Díaz 2022 Argentinian English
396 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Junot Diaz 2007 Dominican English
2498 Room Emma Donoghue 2010 Irish English
421 A Visit From The Goon Squad Jennifer Egan 2010 American English
14232 LaRose Louise Erdrich 2016 American English
418 Middlesex Jeffrey Eugenides 2002 American English
2806 James Percival Everett 2024 American English
4806 Those Who Leave And Those Who Stay Elena Ferrante 2013 Italian Italian
17152 My Favorite Thing Is Monsters Emil Ferris 2017 American English
791 Gone Girl Gillian Flynn 2012 American English
3139 Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk Ben Fountain 2012 American English
6836 We are All Completely Beside Ourselves Karen Joy Fowler 2013 American English
237 The Corrections Jonathan Franzen 2001 American English
17152 The Secret Place Tana French 2014 Irish English
2805 Fates and Furies Lauren Groff 2015 American English
2227 Exit West Mohsin Hamid 2017 Pakistani English
804 The Vegetarian Han Kang 2007 Korean Korean
2818 The Great Fire Shirley Hazzard 2003 Australian English
10780 An Island Princess Starts A Scandal Adriana Herrera 2023 Unknown English
3430 Get A Life, Chloe Brown Talia Hibbert 2019 British English
17152 The Stranger's Child Alan Hollinghurst 2011 British English
7998 Magpie Murders Anthony Horowitz 2016 British English
266 Never Let Me Go Kazuo Ishiguro 2005 British English
7761 Black Leopard, Red Wolf Marlon James 2019 Jamaican English
4866 The Love Songs Of W.E.B. Dubois Honorée Fanonne Jeffers 2021 American English
1117 The Fifth Season N. K. Jemisin 2015 American English
17152 Palmares Gayl Jones 1994 American English
574 The Known World Edward P. Jones 2003 American English
9073 Euphoria Lily King 2014 American English
14985 Lisey's Story Stephen King 2006 American English
2107 Demon Copperhead Barbara Kingsolver 2022 American English
17152 Marrying Winterborne Lisa Kleypas 2016 American English
898 My Struggle Karl Ove Knausgård 2009 Norwegian Norwegian
17152 Paul Takes The Form Of A Mortal Girl Andrea Lawlor 2017 American English
1206 Pachinko Min Jin Lee 2017 American English
2486 Small Island Andrea Levy 2004 British English
2327 The Three-Body Problem Cixin Liu 2006 Chinese Chinese
13941 The Story Of My Teeth Valeria Luiselli 2015 Mexican Spanish
2736 Severance Ling Ma 2018 American English
3541 Her Body and Other Parties Carmen Maria Machado 2017 American English
17152 Daring And The Duke Sarah MacLean 2020 American English
1983 The Great Believers Rebecca Makkai 2018 American English
1381 Station Eleven Emily St John Mandel 2014 Canadian English
397 Wolf Hall Hilary Mantel 2009 British English
5529 The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store James McBride 2023 American English
290 The Road Cormac McCarthy 2006 American English
17152 The Ninth Hour Alice McDermott 2017 American English
248 Atonement Ian McEwan 2001 British English
3053 Red, White & Royal Blue Casey McQuiston 2019 American English
17152 All Our Names Dinaw Mengestu 2014 American English
5309 The Emperor's Children Claire Messud 2006 American English
427 Cloud Atlas David Mitchell 2004 British English
17152 The Collected Stories Lorrie Moore 2008 American English
7891 Love Toni Morrison 2003 American English
1723 1Q84 Haruki Murakami 2009 Japanese Japanese
3172 The Bee Sting Paul Murray 2023 Irish English
922 The Sympathizer Viet Thanh Nguyen 2015 American English
4393 The Friend Sigrid Nunez 2018 American English
947 Bel Canto Ann Patchett 2001 American English
14985 Binocular Vision Edith Pearlman 2011 American English
4416 Detransition, Baby Torrey Peters 2021 American English
14985 The Secret Lives Of Church Ladies Deesha Philyaw 2020 American English
475 Gilead Marilynne Robinson 2004 American English
918 The Plot Against America Philip Roth 2004 American English
1898 Tenth of December George Saunders 2013 American English
262 Austerlitz W. G. Sebald 2001 German German
2468 On Beauty Zadie Smith 2005 British English
1354 Olive Kitteridge Elizabeth Strout 2008 American English
7757 Shuggie Bain Douglas Stuart 2020 Scottish English
741 The Goldfinch Donna Tartt 2013 American English
2367 Brooklyn Colm Toibin 2009 Irish English
3233 The Books Of Jacob Olga Tokarczuk 2014 Polish Polish
4395 We The Animals Justin Torres 2011 American English
2229 A Gentleman in Moscow Amor Towles 2016 American English
17152 A Heart Of Blood And Ashes Milla Vane 2020 Unknown English
2527 On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous Ocean Vuong 2019 American English
10071 Beautiful Ruins Jess Walter 2012 American English
1650 Sing, Unburied, Sing Jesmyn Ward 2017 American English
11216 Memorial Bryan Washington 2020 American English
1010 Fingersmith Sarah Waters 2002 British English
770 The Underground Railroad Colson Whitehead 2016 American English
1765 A Little Life Hanya Yanagihara 2015 American English
2829 Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow Gabrielle Zevin 2022 American English