What is your favorite SFF book published in the last 5 years?

This is open to indie too--there's a lot more great indie work out there than people talk about.

I think for me, I've really loved Gideon the Ninth. It's such a FUN book, and I think it's the first science fiction book I've encountered that's also fantasy but also set in "our future".

(Star Wars doesn't count. It's in a galaxy far, far away after all.)

The two sequels are great too. The most recent one, Nona the Ninth, kinda put to rest my fears that the author couldn't write a gentler, kinder viewpoint or world. (The first two books are kinda grimdark in some ways. Like--everything's shit then we all die, then our corpses get raised from the dead and used in necromancer fights. Nona shows us a more hopeful world.)

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A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers. I got a copy for every reader I know last Christmas. It's so wholesome and wonderful, like reading a hug - very different from most sci-fi books. And she has such a good grasp of what it means to be human, in this and her other books.
- I've always been appreciative of books that know the worth of comfort. And you're right, that's unusual in SFF. I've added it to my Goodreads list to read. :)
- I read these books without knowing anything about them and I completely agree with your assessment. Very cozy and leaves you feeling better about the world. Not the type of book I normally would pick up but I'm glad I did.
- This book and the second one are also on my top list. It's really nice to read some optimist books.
  I added Becky Chambers to my to read list.

Velocity Weapon and the other two books in the The Protectorate series by Megan E. O'Keefe.
Easy reading space opera.

Also I've just started "to sleep in a sea of stars" by Christopher Paolini. Published 2020. As I said I'm not to deep into it, but so far it's an alien encounter story. Starting off as a bit of a downer, but it's still early days. So far so good.
- Is it better than his awful early fantasy books? I punted on liking those and bought them as a set, but I reallly hated them. Before that I was tempted by "to sleep in a sea of stars" but, once burned twice shy!
  
  I didn't finish it. Would not recommend

I've been digging 'Dungeon crawler Carl' Definitely listen to it. I went into it knowing nothing, just based on a reddit comment. Was fantastic. Next book in the series comes out in a few days
- You know, I've heard "LitRPG" has become a thing in indie circles, but I've never read it before.
  Would you consider this a good example of that subgenre as a whole?
  
  Yes and no. Like I said I went into this series almost blind as to what it was. I thought I had discovered this whole new generation of literature (litrpg) I could dive into.
  But alas, there are so many absolutey horrible books out there in the litrpg world. Dungeon crawler Carl is really the only one I could recommend. I really hate to poop on anyone's parade who's into it, but that's how I feel. It's still a youngish thing, so I keep an eye on new series. But so far nada.
  Like I said before, the audio book here is the way to go here.
- I was going to mention the series too!
  I've been listening to the cold reads of the new book on YouTube. Very excited about the book, it's going to be torturous waiting for the audiobook to come out.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. Just the right mixture of weird, atmospheric and with a twist. Too bad it just missed out on the Hugo Award.

I really liked the Gameshouse novella trilogy by Claire North.
Some might say it's not really SFFF but it has some vibes.
- I've always been of the notion that if it has vibes...welcome to the club.
  Excess emphasis on divisions when SFF fans and readers share more with each other than not regardless of what subgenre they prefer always seemed kinda silly to me.

Iron Gold - Pierce Brown
4th book in the Red Rising series. Book 6 is coming out this summer. Highly recommend you start with the first 3 books. Book 1, Red Rising, is like Hungry Games but with more story/character building, murder, and politics. The next books in the series are more adult and stand out more.
- The first 3 books are some of my favorite books of all time. However, I barely made it through the 4th book and book 5 just looked like a chore.
  If I didn't like 4, is it worth picking up 5 or is it just more of the same?
  
  Iron Gold is different with it's multiple perspectives of new characters, and I think that's what makes it difficult to get through. Dark Age takes the multiple perspectives idea and actually makes it work, but spending more time with Darrow and more familiar names as well. Dark Age is gritty, compelling, and a great example of everything I love about the Red Rising series. It's one of my favorite books period. Just behind Morning Star in my Red Rising book tier list.

The Ninth series is fantastic. I haven't gotten to Nona yet, but I loved the first 2.

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