I haven't read a ton of modern SF, but my favorites from the last 5 years are:<p>* All Systems Red by Martha Wells. It's about a very introspective AI security droid who is trying to disguise the fact that he's become self-aware and has free will. It's very short, but I almost missed a flight because once I picked it up, I just kept reading it until it was done.<p>* Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. This is by the author of The Martian, but I think I liked this one even more than that. It's still got that very procedural, engineering-porn style, but the scope is grander, a bit more Arthur C. Clarke and a bit less MacGuyver.<p>* Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. A lot of people may call this fantasy, but I don't think the distinction is meaningful in this case. It's about someone who gets stuck in a strange world that's sort of The Library of Babel meets The School of Athens.<p>* Recursion by Blake Crouch. False memory syndrome (e.g. The Mandela Effect) becomes a global existential crisis. All Blake Crouch books are incredibly fast page turners with fun SF ideas: Dark Matter, Wayward Pines, also good.<p>* Agency by William Gibson. I actually thought this book was just okay, but I am adding it to this list because it's the sequel to The Peripheral, which was amazing (but is older than 5 years). The premise is that people in the future can send information into the past, creating a parallel world. Like most William Gibson novels, it seemed like gibberish at first, but then when it clicked I really liked it, though it was sort of terrifying to think about.