Project Hail Mary is such an awesome book. Great buildup, an intriguing plot slowly unfolding with an inquisitive problem solver caught in the middle. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone.
Currently in the midst of this audio book… very fun and entertaining. You know it is great when you look for reasons to get in the car or do the dishes/ laundry just so you can continue listening.
The first third of The Gods Themselves could be written now and one might interpret it as being about our approach to climate change, it's just such a great examination of the problem of negative externalities, I had to re-read the start of the middle third a bunch of times before I grokked it but when I did it I was impressed with how well he gave us a means to empathy to those characters and their point of view (after struggling to figure out what the heck I was reading!).
Sanderson's Skyward Flight series (a few things came out this year, it's young-adult but thoughtfully enjoyable and easy to consume).
I read a few Asimov's this year I hadn't gotten around to, but the two that really stood out were 'The Gods Themselve's and 'The End of Eternity'.
(I primarily read to sci-fi/fantasy)