Science fiction has always been divided on how good our future is predicted to be. In some books we live in a wonderful future exploring the galaxy. In others, humanity is all but wiped out by robots or aliens. In grimdark, stories things are especially bad with no hope. Science Fiction is considered to be a largely depressing genre, especially due to the rise of the dystopian and apocalyptic sub-genres in the past 10 years. But this is not entirely true. And a few sad sub-genres does not a doom and gloom genre make. There are tons of fun and happy genres like space westerns, space operas, and sci-fi comedy that lighten the atmosphere. These tend to be more about adventure, justice, and the silliness of space. One of these happier sub-genres is also, of course, hopepunk. When I’m looking for good science fiction now I usually start by looking for books that fit into the hopepunk category. I can’t stop recommending hopepunk books to my friends. Hopepunk may have been created to be the opposite of grimdark, but that doesn’t mean it’s always happy. At its core, hopepunk is just about leaving the reader with hope for the future. Bad things can happen along the way, but they aren’t bad forever. Everything will turn out alright in the end! There’s a lot more great hopepunk out there! If you’re looking for more be sure to check out this list of environmental hopepunk books. Happy reading.
