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29 of the Best Science Fiction Books Everyone Should Read

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Looking for your next sci-fi must-read? Cyberpunk, space operas, dystopias – we've pulled together some of the WIRED team's favourite science fiction novels. Some are eerily plausible, others are wild trips of the imagination, but all present compelling visions of our possible future. Listed here in chronological order for completists.

You may also enjoy our guides to best sci-fi movies and the best space movies , too. If you're after more reading inspiration, try our selection of the best fantasy books and we have a guide to the best audiobooks if you're feeling lazy.

It's Prime Day 2023, so we've uncovered the top discounts. Check out the best Prime Day deals in the UK here.​​

The Blazing World, by Margaret Cavendish (1666)

This book is arguably the first science fiction book ever written. The Blazing World's language may be dated, but this fearless feminist text from Margaret Cavendish is packed full of imagination is not just incredibly brave for its time. It's also still incredibly relevant; cited as inspiration by writers including China Miéville and Alan Moore.

Cavendish's utopian tale follows the adventures of a kidnapped woman, who travels to another world run by part-humans, part animals - fox men, fish men, geese men, the list goes on. As she is a very beautiful woman, she becomes their Empress, and organises an an almighty invasion of her own world, complete with literal fire(stones) raining from the sky.

Price: £10 | Amazon | Waterstones | Wordery | Audible trial

Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley (1818)

Mary Shelley started writing classic gothic thriller Frankenstein when she was 18 years old. Two centuries later, it is a major ancestor of both the science fiction and horror genres, tackling huge themes like the nature of life and death, immortality and genetic engineering. It is a pro-science novel that at its heart shows Dr Frankenstein as the callous fiend of the story, who created a being and was not willing to accept responsibility for his actions. In an age where the space between technical life and death is narrower than ever, and scientists are playing with the makeup of what makes us humans, Frankenstein can still teach an important lesson: just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

Price: £6 | Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells | Audible trial

Foundation, by Isaac Asimov (1951)

Asimov was a prolific writer, but many of his best works are classic short stories such as Nightfall , or The Last Question , which play out like long jokes with a punchline twist at the end. In the Foundation series, he’s in another mode entirely, charting the rise and fall of empires in sweeping brush strokes. Asimov’s prose can be stilted, and betrays the attitudes of its time in the portrayal of female characters, but it has left a lasting legacy.

The Foundation series follows Hari Seldon, who is the architect of psychohistory – a branch of mathematics that can make accurate predictions thousands of years in advance, and which Seldon believes is necessary to save the human race from the dark ages. You can see why it’s one of Elon Musk’s favourite books (along with The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy , and The Moon is A Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein – also recommended). A long-awaited screen adaptation is one of the flagship shows of Apple TV+.

Price: £8 | Amazon | Waterstones | Wordery | Audible trial

The Stars My Destination, by Alfred Bester (1957)

This landmark novel begins with a simple proposition – what if humans could teleport? – and sprawls into a tale of rebirth and vengeance that winds across the Solar System: The Count of Monte Cristo for the interstellar age. First published as Tiger! Tiger! in the UK, named after the William Blake poem, it follows Gully Foyle – a violent, uneducated brute who spends six months marooned in deep space, and the rest of the book seeking retribution for it.

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Solaris, by Stanislaw Lem (1961)

If you think you know Solaris from the 2002 Steven Soderbergh film, the original book may come as a bit of a surprise. Written by Polish writer Stanislaw Lem in 1961, this short novel is heavier on philosophy than plot. It follows a team of humans on a space station who are trying to understand the mysterious living ocean on the planet Solaris, with little success – their research is limited to lengthy descriptions that paint a vibrant picture of the alien planet but fail to elucidate how it works. As they poke and prod, Solaris ends up exposing more about them than it does about itself, with the book demonstrating the futility of humans trying to comprehend something not of their world.

Price: £9 | Amazon | Waterstones | Wordery | Audible trial

Dune, by Frank Herbert (1965)

In 2012, WIRED US readers voted Dune the best science-fiction novel of all time. It’s also the best-selling of all time, and has inspired a mammoth universe, including 18 books set over 34,000 years and a terrible 1984 movie adaptation by David Lynch, his worst film by far. A very different effort was released in 2021, directed by Denis Villeneuve. The series is set 20,000 years in the future in galaxies stuck in the feudal ages, where computers are banned for religious reasons and noble families rule whole planets. We focus on the planet Arrakis, which holds a material used as a currency throughout the Universe for its rarity and mind-enhancing powers. Lots of giant sandworms, too.

Price: £10 | Amazon | Waterstones | Foyles | Audible trial

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein (1966)

One of Elon Musk's favourite books, apparently, this gripping novel paints a plausible picture of life on Earth's satellite, three years before man set foot on the moon for the first time. Its depictions of the challenges of life in orbit, and the ingenuity of human solutions to the problem – even among the exiles and misfits who make up the lunar population – are memorable.

Ice, by Anna Kavan (1967)

Anna Kavan's last (and best) sci fi novel provides a haunting, claustrophobic vision of the end of the world, where an unstoppable monolithic ice shelf is slowly engulfing the earth and killing everything in its wake. The male protagonist and narrator of the story (who is nameless) is eternally chasing after an elusive and ethereal young woman, while contemplating feelings that become darker and more violent towards her as the ice closes in. He frequently crosses paths with the Warden, the sometimes-husband but also captor of the young woman, who is always one step ahead. And as the ice closes off almost all paths by land and sea, he is running out of time to catch them up.

The novel reads like a grown-up, nightmarish version of Alice in Wonderland : Kavan takes you on a journey that is hallucinogenic and unsettling, with no regard to whether the narrator is dreaming or awake. But the true genius of the book is its language - depicting a powerful allegory crushing pain of addiction, loneliness and mental illness will do little to cheer you up, but will capture your attention.

Price: £8 | Amazon | Waterstones | Foyles | Audible trial

The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. Le Guin (1969)

Le Guin alternated between genres during her prolific career, and this intricate novel came out the year after the classic fantasy book A Wizard of Earthsea . The bulk of the action takes place on Winter, a remote Earth-like planet where it’s cold all year round, and everyone is the same gender. It was one of the first novels to touch on ideas of androgyny – which is viewed from the lens of protagonist Genly Ai, a visitor from Earth who struggles to understand this alien culture.

A Scanner Darkly, by Philip K Dick (1977)

A curious novel that reads less like sci-fi and more like a hallucinated autobiography detailing the author’s struggle with drug addiction. In a near-future California, vice cop Bob Arctor lives undercover with a community of drug addicts hooked on devastating psychoactive dope Substance D. Arctor, who needs to don a special “scramble suit” to hide his face and voice when meeting his fellow cops, has to grapple with gradually losing his sense of self.

Kindred, by Octavia E. Butler (1979)

Though Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred was published more than 40 years ago, it carries lessons and learnings that we can all still use today. When African-American writer, Dana finds herself transported from 1979 Los Angeles to the pre-Civil War Antebellum south to repeatedly save her white slave-owning ancestor, she must confront the horrendous reality of surviving slavery while not losing her modern day identity. This is only more complicated when she accidentally transports back with her white husband.

The novel explores major themes of power, race and inequality. Butler’s contextualising of this era is devastating; the way in which she contrasts modern day 1979 with the pre-Civil War age offers a different perspective on the complicated and degrading reality of slavery. Kindred allows you, the reader, to engage with the emotional impacts of slavery, something unfortunately often lost in too many of today’s teachings of the subject.

Neuromancer, by William Gibson (1984)

The definitive cyberpunk novel, William Gibson’s Neuromancer follows hacker-turned-junkie Henry Case as he tries to pull off one last, rather dodgy sounding job in the hope of reversing a toxin that prevents him from accessing cyberspace. Set in a dystopian Japanese underworld, the novel touches on all manner of futuristic technology, from AI to cryonics, and features a cast of creative characters that will stick with you long after you turn the last page.

Consider Phlebas, by Iain Banks (1987)

Back in 1987, after four acclaimed fiction novels, Iain Banks published his first sci-fi book, Consider Phlebas , a true space opera and his first book of many to feature the Culture, an interstellar utopian society of humanoids, aliens and sentient machines ostensibly run by hyper-intelligent AI "Minds". A war rages across the galaxy with one side fighting for faith, the other a moral right to exist. Banks melds this conflict with something approaching a traditional fantasy quest: the search for a rogue Mind that has hidden itself on a forbidden world in an attempt to evade destruction.

Hyperion, by Dan Simmons (1989)

Winner of the 1990 Hugo Award for Best Novel and part of a two-book series, Hyperion is a richly woven sci-fi epic told in the style of The Canterbury Tales . In the world of Hyperion , humanity has spread to thousands of worlds, none more intriguing or dangerous as Hyperion. It's home to the Time Tombs, ageless structures which are mysteriously travelling backward through time, and guarding them is the terrifying creature known as the Shrike. It kills anyone who dares encroach on the Time Tombs and has inspired a fanatical religious group who control pilgrimages to the tombs. On the eve of an invasion, a group of travellers convene what's likely to be the last Shrike pilgrimage and share their tales of what brought them there.

Jurassic Park, by Michael Crichton (1990)

Before it mutated into the mega media franchise “Jurassic World”, Jurassic Park was a smart, thoughtful and gripping sci-fi classic written by Michael Crichton, author of the equally brilliant Andromeda Strain. Crichton's tale remains a great parable about the dangers of genetic engineering, (as well as a slightly heady exploration of chaos theory). His descriptions of dinosaurs are also brilliant, like the T-Rex: "Tim felt a chill, but then, as he looked down the animal's body, moving down from the massive head and jaws, he saw the smaller, muscular forelimb. It waved in the air and then it gripped the fence."

Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson (1992)

Frantic, fun and almost suspiciously prescient, Snow Crash grabs you from its opening sequence – a high-speed race through an anarchic Los Angeles that has been carved up into corporate-owned ‘burbclaves’ – and barely lets up. The book follows main character Hiro Protagonist (yes, really), an elite hacker and swordsman, as he tries to stop the spread of a dangerous virus being propagated by a religious cult. It combines neurolinguistics, ancient mythology and computer science, and eerily predicts social networks, cryptocurrency and Google Earth.

Price: £9 | Amazon | Waterstones | Wondery | Audible trial

Vurt, by Jeff Noon (1993)

“Vurt is a feather - a drug, a dimension, a dream state, a virtual reality.” That’s what the back of this 1993 cyberpunk novel reads, and it’s a perfect way into the chaotic and surreal world of Vurt . Set in a gritty future Manchester, Vurt follows the story of Scribble, who’s on a mission to find his sister Desdemona who he believes is trapped inside a feather called Curious Yellow. That’s right, a feather. Vurt is about virtual reality, but not the strapping on a headset kind. Instead, people put feathers into their mouths to visit different dimensions and states of consciousness. Written in a frantic, dark and funny way that makes the action feel like it’s bouncing along beside you, Vurt won the Arthur C. Clarke award in 1994 and has since become a cult classic – although it’s not always easy to find a copy.

Price: £17 | Amazon | Audible trial

Under The Skin, by Michel Faber (2000)

Set in Scotland, Under The Skin is about an alien who’s sent to Earth to drug hitchhikers that she then delivers to her home planet. Despite being here to lead people to their deaths, she’s contemplative about Earth and nature. We’re used to considering what an alien visiting Earth for the first time might think about certain things, but the way Faber writes about Isserley’s experiences feels fresh, strange and, at times, oddly beautiful.

At times, Under The Skin is profoundly unnerving and difficult to read. But it’s not gratuitous. Elements of the novel are meant to be satirical, touching on present-day themes of our treatment of each other, animals and the Earth. We also highly recommend Jonathan Glazer’s 2013 movie adaptation, which is loosely based on the book but is a brilliant and intensely dark movie full of haunting imagery and a breath-taking score.

Price: £8 | Amazon | Waterstones | Audible trial

Metro 2033, by Dmitry Glukhovsky (2002)

It’s 2033, and a nuclear apocalypse has forced the rag-tag remains of the human population of Moscow to flee to the underground maze of tunnels below the city. Here they develop independent tribes in each metro station, trade goods and fight against each other. But hidden in the tunnels between the stations hide terrifying flesh-eating mutants and a voice that is driving people mad… This is the premise of Dmitry Glukhovsky’s wildly successful novel, which was later made into a series of video games. Part epic tale, part thriller, the translated story follows a teenager called Artyom, who has to travel to the heart of the Metro through unpredictable dangers to save the remains of humankind. Expect to be shocked.

Price: £9 | Amazon | Waterstones | Foyles | Audible trial

Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood (2003)

While The Handmaid’s Tale describes a world that seems more plausible by the day, in Oryx and Crake Atwood spins a genetically-modified circus of current trends taken to their absolute extreme – a “bio-engineered apocalypse,” is how one reviewer put it. A number of television adaptations have been mooted, including a now-defunct HBO project with Darren Aronofsky, but this might be one to place alongside The Stars My Destination in the impossible-to-adapt file. The world of the book is vibrant, surreal and disturbing enough.

Read more: The best sci-fi movies everyone should watch once

The Three-Body Problem, Liu Cixin (2008)

Liu Cixin was already one of China’s most revered science fiction writers when, in 2008, he decided to turn his hand to a full-length novel. The Three-Body Problem is the result – an era-spanning novel that jumps between the Cultural Revolution, the present day, and a mysterious video game. The first part of a trilogy, it’s a fascinating departure from the tropes of Western science fiction, and loaded with enough actual science that you might learn something as well as being entertained.

Children of Time, by Adrian Tchaikovsky (2015)

Children of Time is an epic book about a dying Earth. People are leaving, and there’s a plan to keep some of them safe and the human race flourishing elsewhere. However, things don’t quite pan out how they should. This is a saga of a story spanning many, many generations. That’s a tricky thing to pull off and ensure readers still follow with care and attention. But Adrian Tchaikovsky infuses interest, humanity and authenticity into every character and storyline so well. You’ll find yourself rooting for every new character that comes next – even when they’re only distantly related to the one you met a few chapters ago. The book deals with small interactions and feuds through to huge themes about belief, artificial intelligence, legacy, discovery, alienness and much more. It’s no surprise it won the 2016 Arthur C. Clarke Award. There’s a follow-up called Children of Ruin and (fingers crossed) a possible movie adaptation in the works.

The Martian, by Andy Weir (2015)

Andy Weir's debut novel literally puts the science into science fiction, packing in tonnes of well-researched detail about life on Mars. There's descriptions of how to fertilise potatoes with your own excrement, and hack a life-support system for a Martian rover – in levels of detail that the movie adaptation starring Matt Damon came nowhere near to reaching. The sassy, pop-culture laden writing style won't be to everyone's taste – this book probably won't get taught in English Literature lessons – but the first-person perspective makes sense for this story of an astronaut stranded on the Red Planet with no way to get home.

Price: £7.50 | Amazon | Waterstones | Foyles | Audible trial

The Heart Goes Last, by Margaret Atwood (2015)

An odd cocktail of a novel: part techno dystopia, part satire, part sex comedy, part classic Atwood. In a bleak, postlapsarian version of the US, young lovebirds Charmaine and Stan endure a miserable existence sleeping in their car and dodging criminals’ knives. Salvation arrives under the guise of an offer to move to the Positron Project – a gated community modelled after an American 1950s suburb. The rub? All Positron’s couples must spend every other month working in a prison, temporarily swapping homes with another couple, called “alternates”. When both Charmaine and Stan start developing oddball sexual relations with their alternates, things move rapidly south.

The Power, by Naomi Alderman (2016)

Margaret Atwood also had a hand in this gripping novel, which inverts the premise of The Handmaid’s Tale , and puts women in the ascendancy. Atwood mentored the author, Naomi Alderman, as she wrote this inventive thriller about women and girls discovering a powerful new ability to emit electricity from their hands, up-ending civilisation in different ways across the world. The Power is paced like a television series, and it is, in fact, coming to screens soon via Amazon Studios.

Borne, by Jeff VanderMeer (2017)

The Annihilation series showcased Jeff VanderMeer's gift for the surreal, and he turns it up a notch in Borne – which starts with an unknown scavenger plucking an object from the fur of a giant flying bear in a post-apocalyptic city, and only gets weirder from there as the main character strikes up a friendship with an intelligent sea anemone-like creature called Borne. The story is, it eventually transpires, one of biotechnology run amok – which makes for the most colourful dystopia you're likely to come across.

Moonrise: The Golden Age of Lunar Adventures, by Mike Ashley (2018)

Moonrise , from the British Library's Science Fiction Classics series, could just have easily appeared in the 1950s or even the 1900s in this list. It's a brilliantly curated anthology of twelve SF short stories about the moon – getting to it, exploring it, contemplating it – with lunar-inclined fiction from H.G. Wells and Arthur C. Clarke present and correct but also the likes of Judith Merril's 1954 Dead Centre , which distills all the potential tragedies of space programs into just a handful of haunting images. From author and science fiction historian Mike Ashley.

Exhalation, by Ted Chiang (2019)

Exhalation is a book of short stories rather than a novel, but hear us out. Ted Chiang is a fantastic science-fiction writer who weaves real science and theory into his tales. This makes them feel somehow part of this world despite dealing with a range of classic sci-fi themes, including parallel realities, robot pets and time travel.

From a circular time travelling portal in ancient Baghdad to a device that allows you to meet your parallel self that you can trade-in at a local store in the present day, it’s glorious science-fiction filled with wonder and mystery. There are stories and ideas nestled in Exhalation’s pages that stick with you long after you’ve finished reading. Chiang has breathed life into the science-fiction genre, creating stories that feel refreshing and human rather than concerning distant worlds and ideas that can lead to a disconnect. This is evident in his short story Story of Your Life , the source material for Denis Villeneuve's Arrival .

The Resisters, by Gish Jen (2020)

A speculative dystopia set in an 'Auto America', Gish Jen's The Resisters , which was published in early 2020, puts the sport of baseball – of all the things – at the centre of her world, which is divided into people who still get to have jobs, the Netted, as in 'Aunt Nettie', as in the internet, and the rest: the Surplus. The story centres on Gwen, who comes from a Surplus family but who has the chance to rise in status when her baseball skills get attention, with Jen taking on surveillance culture and the value of work and leisure.

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This article was originally published by WIRED UK

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Recommended by sci-fi novelists and scientists.

Last updated: September 08, 2024

Whether you're searching for escapism by reading books about a faraway universe or enjoy science fiction as a lens to investigate the challenges we face on Earth today, we have a range of sci-fi book recommendations. For the best sci-fi novels of 2024 , a good starting point is our annual interview about the shortlist of the Arthur C Clarke Award for Science Fiction .

The classics of sci fi are covered by Adam Roberts, who recommends his top five science fiction classics. If you've never read any science fiction but are keen to give it a go, we have a special interview on the best science fiction books for beginners, recommended by Nicholas Whyte of the Hugo Awards.

Sci fi is heavily dependent on science, which itself is advancing rapidly. We also have a list of sci fi books recommended by scientists .

Books that have been so frequently recommended on Five Book s that they are eligible for a best sci-fi books of all-time list include: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks, and Ursula K Le Guin's gender-bending classic of interplanetary diplomacy Left Hand of Darkness .

The Best Science Fiction: The 2024 Arthur C. Clarke Award Shortlist , recommended by Andrew M. Butler

Chain gang all stars: a novel by nana kwame adjei-brenyah, the ten percent thief by lavanya lakshminarayan, in ascension by martin macinnes, the mountain in the sea by ray nayler, some desperate glory by emily tesh, corey fah does social mobility: a novel by isabel waidner.

Every year, the judges for the Arthur C. Clarke Award highlight the best of the latest batch of science fiction books. In 2024, the six-strong shortlist includes an exploration of octopus intelligence, a queer space opera, and a dystopian novel hailed as the new  Hunger Games . Andrew M. Butler , academic and chair of the judges, talks us through the finalists for the title of sci fi novel of the year.  See all our science fiction and  best novels of 2024  recommendations

Every year, the judges for the Arthur C. Clarke Award highlight the best of the latest batch of science fiction books. In 2024, the six-strong shortlist includes an exploration of octopus intelligence, a queer space opera, and a dystopian novel hailed as the new  Hunger Games . Andrew M. Butler, academic and chair of the judges, talks us through the finalists for the title of sci fi novel of the year.  See all our science fiction and  best novels of 2024  recommendations

The Best Space Opera Books , recommended by Kate Elliott

The pride of chanur by c. j. cherryh, the vanished birds by simon jimenez, a fire upon the deep by vernor vinge, the genesis of misery by neon yang, leviathan wakes by james s. a. corey.

Space opera—a popular subgenre of science fiction—features louder-than-life characters, hair-raising action sequences, and spacefaring civilisations. Kate Elliott , a prolific author of sci fi and fantasy novels, recommends five space opera books that will grab you by the collar and drag you off on an intergalactic adventure.

Space opera—a popular subgenre of science fiction—features louder-than-life characters, hair-raising action sequences, and spacefaring civilisations. Kate Elliott, a prolific author of sci fi and fantasy novels, recommends five space opera books that will grab you by the collar and drag you off on an intergalactic adventure.

The Best Ursula Le Guin Books , recommended by Sherryl Vint

The dispossessed by ursula le guin, the word for world is forest by ursula le guin, the left hand of darkness by ursula le guin, 'paradises lost', in the found and the lost.

Ursula Le Guin's most groundbreaking books are considered landmark texts in speculative fiction, exploring themes of colonisation, gender, nationalism and environmentalism through allegorical means. Here, the science fiction scholar Sherryl Vint selects five of the best books by Ursula Le Guin and examines her legacy as one of the great American writers.

Ursula Le Guin’s most groundbreaking books are considered landmark texts in speculative fiction, exploring themes of colonisation, gender, nationalism and environmentalism through allegorical means. Here, the science fiction scholar Sherryl Vint selects five of the best books by Ursula Le Guin and examines her legacy as one of the great American writers.

The Best Sci-Fi & Fantasy Novels, as Chosen by Fans: the 2024 Hugo Award , recommended by Sylvia Bishop

Translation state by ann leckie, witch king by martha wells, the saint of bright doors by vajra chandrasekera, the adventures of amina al-sirafi: a novel by shannon chakraborty, starter villain by john scalzi.

Every year, members of the World Science Fiction Society nominate writers for the Hugo Award, then vote for the winner. All speculative fiction is eligible – fantasy as well as sci-fi – and the shortlist is one of the most prestigious for both genres. Here, Sylvia Bishop introduces us to the nominees for the title of the best speculative novel of 2024 – and the page-turning champion.

The Best Sci Fi Books on Space Settlement , recommended by Erika Nesvold

Parable of the talents by octavia e. butler, the calculating stars by mary robinette kowal, cibola burn by james s. a. corey, red mars by kim stanley robinson.

We look to the stars and imagine a new home for humanity, an escape from the troubles that plague us here on Earth, but as astrophysicist Erika Nesvold points out, many of our problems will join us on our voyage. Here, she selects five science fiction books that illuminate the challenges and possible conflicts we’ll face if we head for this new frontier.   

The Best Science Fiction Books About Aliens , recommended by Jaime Green

Star maker by olaf stapledon, solaris by stanisław lem, semiosis by sue burke, the sparrow by maria doria russell, embassytown by china miéville.

Science fiction helps us work through not only the possibilities of the cosmos but also the nature of humanity itself, argues Jaime Green —science writer and author of a new book on the search for alien biology, The Possibility of Life . Here she highlights five classic works of sci-fi that explore ideas of consciousness and communication in the setting of outer space.

Science fiction helps us work through not only the possibilities of the cosmos but also the nature of humanity itself, argues Jaime Green—science writer and author of a new book on the search for alien biology, The Possibility of Life . Here she highlights five classic works of sci-fi that explore ideas of consciousness and communication in the setting of outer space.

The Best Political Sci-Fi Books , recommended by Arkady Martine

Foreigner by c. j. cherryh, last first snow by max gladstone, infomocracy by malka older, exordia by seth dickinson, dune by frank herbert.

Science fiction has a rich tradition of examining not only space-age technology but political ideology. Arkady Martine , author of the Hugo-award winning A Memory Called Empire , introduces us to political science fiction books that explore systems of government, power hierarchies, and the geopolitics of other planets.

Science fiction has a rich tradition of examining not only space-age technology but political ideology. Arkady Martine, author of the Hugo-award winning A Memory Called Empire , introduces us to political science fiction books that explore systems of government, power hierarchies, and the geopolitics of other planets.

The Best Philip K. Dick Books , recommended by David Hyde

Solar lottery by philip k dick, the man in the high castle by philip k dick, the three stigmata of palmer eldritch by philip k dick, ubik by philip k dick, a scanner darkly by philip k dick.

Philip K. Dick was a prolific sci fi writer, publishing 44 novels and over a hundred short stories. Once hooked, you'll devour them all, says David Hyde , the publisher and festival organiser better known as 'Lord Running Clam' within the lively fan community. Here, he introduces us to his top five books by Philip K. Dick: novels featuring alternate realities, ambiguous endings and philosophical questions that are puzzling new generations of fans.

Philip K. Dick was a prolific sci fi writer, publishing 44 novels and over a hundred short stories. Once hooked, you’ll devour them all, says David Hyde, the publisher and festival organiser better known as ‘Lord Running Clam’ within the lively fan community. Here, he introduces us to his top five books by Philip K. Dick: novels featuring alternate realities, ambiguous endings and philosophical questions that are puzzling new generations of fans.

The Best Science Fiction Worlds , selected by Tom Huddleston

Surface detail by iain m banks, the time ships by stephen baxter.

For many readers of science fiction , world building is the most important feature of their favourite books. Tom Huddleston , author of  The Worlds of Dune, explains how the best fictional worlds are original and immersive—and, above all, mind-expanding. Here he introduces us to his top five sci fi worlds, and to the extraordinary thinkers who created them.

For many readers of science fiction , world building is the most important feature of their favourite books. Tom Huddleston, author of  The Worlds of Dune, explains how the best fictional worlds are original and immersive—and, above all, mind-expanding. Here he introduces us to his top five sci fi worlds, and to the extraordinary thinkers who created them.

The Best Science Fiction of 2023: The Arthur C. Clarke Award Shortlist , recommended by Tom Hunter

Venomous lumpsucker: a novel by ned beauman, the red scholar's wake by aliette de bodard, plutoshine by lucy kissick, the anomaly by hervé le tellier, translated by adriana hunter, the coral bones by e.j. swift, metronome by tom watson.

Every year, the judges of the Arthur C Clarke Award select the best sci-fi novels of the previous twelve months. We asked prize director Tom Hunter to talk us through the six science fiction books that made the 2023 shortlist—including a space opera romance and a high-concept action thriller that has already won the most prestigious award in Francophone literature.

We ask experts to recommend the five best books in their subject and explain their selection in an interview.

This site has an archive of more than one thousand seven hundred interviews, or eight thousand book recommendations. We publish at least two new interviews per week.

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The 75 Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time

See if your favorites made our expanded list.

Since time immemorial, mankind has been looking up at the stars and dreaming, but it was only centuries ago that we started turning those dreams into fiction. And what remarkable dreams they are—dreams of distant worlds, unearthly creatures, parallel universes, artificial intelligence, and so much more. Today, we call those dreams science fiction.

Science fiction’s earliest inklings began in the mid-1600s, when Johannes Kepler and Francis Godwin wrote pioneering stories about voyages to the moon. Some scholars argue that science fiction as we now understand it was truly born in 1818, when Mary Shelley published Frankenstein , the first novel of its kind whose events are explained by science, not mysticism or miracles. Now, two centuries later, sci-fi is a sprawling and lucrative multimedia genre with countless subgenres, such as dystopian fiction, postapocalyptic fiction, and climate fiction, to name just a few. It’s also remarkably porous, allowing for some overlap with genres like fantasy and horror .

Sci-fi brings out the best in our imaginations and evokes a sense of wonder, but it also inspires a spirit of questioning. Through the enduring themes of sci-fi, we can examine the zeitgeist’s cultural context and ethical questions. Our favorite works in the genre make good on this promise, meditating on everything from identity to oppression to morality. As the Nobel Prize-winning novelist Doris Lessing said, “Science fiction is some of the best social fiction of our time.”

Over two years ago, we published a version of this list featuring 50 books. But why stop at 50? Now, as part of our latest Summer Fiction Week , we’ve cast a wider net and expanded the list to 75 titles. Choosing the 75 best science fiction books of all time wasn’t easy, so to get the job done, we had to establish some guardrails. Though we assessed single installments as representatives of their series, we limited the list to one book per author. We also emphasized books that brought something new and innovative to the genre—to borrow a great sci-fi turn of phrase, books that “boldly go where no one has gone before.”

Now, in ranked order, here are the best science fiction books of all time.

The Echo Wife, by Sarah Gailey

Westworld meets The Stepford Wives in this gripping revenge thriller about the unlikely alliance between a woman and her clone. After geneticist Evelyn Caldwell learns that her husband, Nathan, is cheating on her, she soon ferrets out the truth: Rather than work on their strained marriage, Nathan stole Evelyn’s proprietary cloning technology and replaced her with a more docile substitute. But when Evelyn finds her clone standing over Nathan’s dead body, crying, “It was self-defense,” these quasi-sisters will have to work together to conceal the crime and preserve Evelyn’s scientific reputation. The Echo Wife ’s juicy premise runs deep, raising eerie questions about love, justice, and individuality.

The Calculating Stars, by Mary Robinette Kowal

Mary Robinette Kowal’s outstanding alt-history series Lady Astronaut begins with a disaster: When a meteorite hits the eastern seaboard in 1952, millions of people are killed, including the president and most other government officials. Mathematician and pilot Elma York calculates that the resulting climate shift will wipe out life on Earth in a matter of decades, meaning that the only solution is to establish a colony on Mars. Elma longs to become an astronaut, but because of the sexism, racism, and antisemitism of the time, she and other women are benched as “human computers.” Against the thrilling backdrop of this burgeoning space race, Elma and her colleagues wage an increasingly public war against discrimination, fighting for their right to become astronauts. Textured with strong scientific research and achingly real characters, The Calculating Stars is a lively time machine to an alternate past.

Redshirts, by John Scalzi

Not all science fiction has to be serious. John Scalzi sets this metafictional satire on the starship Intrepid , where low-ranking crew members reach a grim realization: On the ship’s frequent away missions, it’s always the ensigns who die a cheap, gruesome death. If that sounds like a riff on Star Trek ’s ill-fated “redshirts,” that’s because it is: These ensigns are the expendables of their own third-rate Star Trek rip-off, doomed to become cannon fodder. “Sooner or later, the Narrative will come for each of us,” one muses. Like a sci-fi comedy crossed with The Truman Show , Redshirts follows the ensigns’ efforts to transcend their own narrative. “You’re making bad science fiction, and we have to live in it,” one complains. Snappy and surprising, Redshirts takes a comic premise and elevates it into a clever meditation on fiction and free will.

Beautyland, by Marie-Helene Bertino

In 1977, Adina Giorno is born to a single mother in Philadelphia. Then, at age four, she’s “activated” by her extraterrestrial superiors 300,000 light years away on the dying planet Cricket Rice, who task her with reporting back about how humans think and behave. Through a fantastical fax machine in her bedroom, Adina transmits astute and often hilarious observations about the confounding behavior of earthlings (for instance: “Human beings don’t like when other humans seem happy”). Meanwhile, she experiences the bittersweetness of growing up; ostracized by the popular clique and mocked for her dark skin, she learns how sometimes, being human means feeling alien. Warm, witty, and touching, Beautyland is a modern classic in the making—an out-of-this-world exploration of loneliness and belonging.

The Ten Percent Thief, by Lavanya Lakshminarayan

This recent debut earned its place on our list for two reasons: its innovative mosaic structure and its nightmarish satire of life under algorithmic rule. In the technocapitalist hellscape of Apex City (formerly known as Bangalore), citizens live in thrall to the odious Bell Corp and its Bell Curve: a modern-day caste system determined by productivity and social media virality. The elite Twenty Percent enjoy luxurious privileges, while the middling Seventy Percent lead workaday lives and the precarious Ten Percent risk becoming Analogs, forced to live a dehumanizing existence without electricity or running water. But when the elusive “Ten Percent Thief” steals from the Twenty Percent to give to the Analogs, like a cyberpunk Robin Hood, a revolution brews. Told through various perspectives all across Apex City, this biting satire considers how we live now—our unfettered capitalism, our “hustle and grind” culture, our obsession with “correct” opinions—and shows it to us through a dystopian kaleidoscope, hideous and true.

Midnight Robber, by Nalo Hopkinson

When we head for the stars, we take culture with us—and Midnight Robber exemplifies how sci-fi writers can build the world we know into the worlds we imagine. On the technologically advanced planet Toussaint, descendants of Caribbean immigrants live under the watchful supervision of Granny Nanny, an all-seeing AI who guides the fate of humanity. When young Tan-Tan is spirited to a planet of exiles by her abusive father, she escapes his clutches and finds refuge among the douen, an alien race inspired by Afro-Caribbean folklore. To survive on this new planet, Tan-Tan becomes the stuff of myth herself: the Robber Queen, a Carnival legend who steals from the rich and gives to the poor. Told with magic and music in a unique patois, this bildungsroman reads as much like a futuristic folk tale as it does sci-fi.

Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson

Long before Facebook’s Metaverse, Neal Stephenson coined the term in this cyberpunk acid trip of a novel. Snow Crash ’s Hiro Protagonist lives a double life: In reality, he delivers pizzas for the Mafia, but in the Metaverse, he’s a hacker and a warrior prince. When he learns about a lethal virus picking off hackers one by one, his race to find its dastardly architect sends him pinballing through everything from technological conspiracy to ancient Sumerian mythology. It’s sexy, action-packed, and downright prophetic in its vision of our virtual future; you’ll want to strap in tight for this dizzying techno-thriller.

Star Maker, by Olaf Stapledon

Some of the best science fiction makes us ask, “What the hell did I just read?” Star Maker is one of those books—an enormously ambitious history of the universe, told by an Englishman who floats into the cosmos one evening while contemplating its vastness. Disembodied and imbued with godlike powers, he speeds through extraordinary galaxies in search of intelligent life, encountering several exotic alien civilizations along the journey. It all culminates in an encounter with the Star Maker himself, which unspools like a brain-bending creation myth. This eschatological acid trip is a singular work of imagination—one that will leave you with more questions than answers.

Contact, by Carl Sagan

The great Carl Sagan wrote dozens of works of nonfiction but just one novel: Contact , a 1985 bestseller that later became a Jodie Foster flick. Sagan’s preoccupations with intelligent life come into view through Dr. Ellie Arroway, a principled astronomer who detects and decrypts a deep-space transmission from a planetary system far, far away. At the transmission’s urging, the nations of the world race to build a mysterious machine, but faith leaders call the enterprise (and the rationality of science) into question. Through this thoughtful, layered story, Sagan plumbs the often antagonistic relationship between science and religion, asking if perhaps both are seeking contact in different forms. After all, disciples from each camp can agree on one thing: “The universe is a pretty big place. If it's just us, seems like an awful waste of space.”

Under the Skin, by Michel Faber

Haunting and dread-filled, Under the Skin blends horror with sci-fi to create something unforgettably disturbing. In the Scottish Highlands, a strange-looking drifter named Isserley cruises the highways picking up hunky hitchhikers, who often vanish into thin air after entering her beat-up vehicle. Through her taut conversations with her passengers, Isserley teases out clues about their lives, wondering who might miss them if they disappear. To say too much about Isserley and her agenda is to spoil the book’s mysteries, but through this character, Michel Faber toys with sci-fi’s fundamental questions, like: What makes us human? Beneath our different appearances, are we all the same? Under the Skin reminds us that not every sci-fi novel needs to be a treatise on interstellar travel; in fact, this one lingers because of its masterful friction between the quotidian and the strange.

Way Station, by Clifford D. Simak

In the backwoods of Wisconsin, there lives a hermit named Enoch Wallace. Though Enoch is 124 years old, he doesn’t look a day over 30—that’s because Enoch is a caretaker, and for over a century, he’s been running a rest stop for intergalactic travelers inside his rickety Civil War-era farmhouse. Enoch’s neighbors look the other way, but when the government catches wind of a strange man who never ages living in a house that no human can enter, their investigators come knocking, with disastrous consequences. Clifford D. Simak was a fine practitioner of what’s now called “pastoral science fiction”—think of it as classic sci-fi set in the countryside, inflected with that familiar Bradbury-esque Midwestern sentimentalism. The subgenre has fallen into disuse, but if you ever find yourself longing to be transported to a cornfield at dusk, looking up at the stars and wondering what’s out there, let Simak be your guide. Warm, wise, and bittersweet, Way Station is his masterpiece.

Sea of Rust, by C. Robert Cargill

“Robot western,” you say? Say no more! In C. Robert Cargill’s speculative future, machines have proven victorious in the much-feared war between man and machine; now humans have been extinct for over three decades, and two supercomputers (called One World Intelligences) are vying to become king of the ruins. Enter Brittle, a former caregiver robot now scavenging to survive in the barren Sea of Rust (formerly the Rust Belt). When an OWI launches a scheme to assimilate millions of robots into the mainframe, Brittle and a merry band of gunslingers travel through the robot underground to defend their individuality. On its surface, Sea of Rust is a rip-roaring shoot’em-up, but underneath, it’s an Asimovian meditation on sci-fi’s most enduring questions. Is an artificial life still a life? Are human creations doomed to repeat human mistakes? Cargill is a fine standard-bearer for the next frontier of this time-honored subgenre.

What Mad Universe, by Fredric Brown

Published in 1949 during the waning glory of science fiction’s golden age, What Mad Universe is a dazzling high-wire performance—at once a cheeky satire of classic pulp magazines and an excellent pulp tale in its own right. In a near-future setting, pulp magazine editor Keith Winton is transported to a parallel universe through a freak rocket launch accident. This alternate reality looks just like home, but with some key differences: Here, everything from Keith’s magazines is a fact of daily life, from interstellar travel to war with extraterrestrials. Soon enough, Keith becomes a fugitive on the run in New York City, desperate to get back to his own timeline. What Mad Universe is packed with daffy, self-referential details for the devoted sci-fi reader; for instance, in Fredric Brown’s alternate universe, H.G. Wells never wrote a novel about a Martian invasion of Earth, but rather a political manifesto condemning the human colonization of Mars. Campy and comical, this novel is both an homage and a send-up, not to be missed.

The Book of Phoenix, by Nnedi Okorafor

Science fiction and magical realism collide in this imaginative prequel to Nnedi Okorafor’s World Fantasy Award-winning Who Fears Death . Here we meet Phoenix, an “accelerated woman” grown in New York’s Tower 7. Though she’s only two years old, she has the mind and body of a middle-aged adult, along with superhuman abilities. Phoenix suffers a painful awakening when her lover takes his life under dubious circumstances, proving that Tower 7 is less of a home and more of a prison. Her daring escape leads her to Ghana, where she learns brutal truths about colonialism and vows to fight back against her oppressors. Blistering with love and rage, Phoenix’s fight for justice is downright electrifying.

Semiosis, by Sue Burke

In this outstanding debut, Sue Burke blitzes beloved genre tropes (like colony ships and first contact) into a character-driven story about manifest destiny gone galactic. In the 2060s, a group of humans flee their ravaged Earth; 158 years later, they settle on a lush planet and christen it Pax (Latin for “peace”). But the settlers won’t find any peace here, because Pax’s abundant native plants are sentient, and they aren’t keen on sharing their world. Narrated by successive generations of colonists (and even the plants themselves, who think of the human settlers as “their” animals), Semiosis charts the turf war between these two factions. Sometimes that war is downright lethal, while other times it’s a nuanced struggle for two cultures to communicate without a shared language. In this magnificently alien world, Burke tells a powerful story about the dangerous hubris of colonialism.

Excession, by Iain M. Banks

Banks’ The Culture series, spanning ten installments published over 25 years, centers on the titular Culture, a post-scarcity intergalactic empire dominated by the Minds, a cabal of (mostly) harmless artificial intelligences. In this futuristic landscape of “space socialism,” as the author calls it, each volume centers on an agent of the Culture tasked with influencing specific change. Through this diversity of protagonists, Iain M. Banks assesses his ambiguous utopia from ever-changing perspectives. Our favorite volume is Excession , the most cerebral of the lot—and one that speaks to us all the more powerfully in the age of AI. When a black sphere 50 times older than the universe appears in remote space, the all-knowing Minds are stumped. For the first time ever, they’ve encountered what Banks calls “the Outside Context Problem”—a dilemma they lack the frame of reference to solve. Following the Minds as they deliberate and disagree about the sphere, Excession stands out in its series (and in the sci-fi canon) for its high-minded characterization of AI.

The Claw of the Conciliator, by Gene Wolfe

Revered as “the Melville of science fiction” by Ursula K. Le Guin, Gene Wolfe wrote dense and heady books that aren’t for the faint of heart. But for serious sci-fi readers, there are immense rewards to penetrating Wolfe’s baroque prose and visionary imagination. His best-known work is The Book of the New Sun , a dazzling tetralogy about Severian, a torturer exiled for showing mercy to a prisoner. Our favorite volume is The Claw of the Conciliator , the second installment in the series, wherein Severian heads to the city of his exile, only to be waylaid along the journey by love, fantastical creatures, and a mysterious artifact with ancient powers. Erudite and intricate, this series is a colossus of imagination and language—a must-read for any serious student of the genre.

Lord of Light, by Roger Zelazny

As a key architect of science fiction’s New Wave (a 1960s and 1970s movement for the genre to become more experimental), Roger Zelazny wrote boundary-breaking books that pushed the field in a new direction. His best novel, Lord of Light , fuses heady concepts from religion and philosophy with the familiar trappings of sci-fi. On a colony planet, crew members from the original expedition (the Firsts) have biohacked themselves into immortality through reincarnation; meanwhile, their descendants worship them as Hindu gods, eager for their own chance at another lifetime. The Firsts achieve reincarnation through a technology that transfers minds between bodies, but they keep a tight grip on the process, subjecting the population to mind scans to determine worthy subjects. Sam, a young commoner who embraces Buddhism over Hinduism, plans to seize the tech (à la Prometheus stealing fire from the gods), deliver it to the people, and usher in a new era of enlightenment. Epic in scope and richly imagined, Lord of Light is a pivotal example of sci-fi’s ability to fold multiple disciplines into one story.

This Is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Structured as a poetic correspondence between two time-traveling spies, this forbidden romance puts the “distance” in “long-distance relationship.” As Agents Red and Blue hopscotch through the multiverse, altering history on behalf of their respective military superpowers, they leave behind secret messages for one another—first taunting, then flirtatious, then flowering with love and devotion. “There’s a kind of time travel in letters, isn’t there?” Blue muses. “Letters are structures, not events,” Red replies. “Yours give me a place to live inside.” Amid the dangerous chaos of their circumstances, Red and Blue find constants in one another. Playful and imaginative, told with lyrical grace, this is a dazzling puzzle box of a novella.

The Resisters, by Gish Jen

Welcome to AutoAmerica, where AIs have put many people out of work, the privileged Netted live on high ground, and the rest of the population, known as Surplus, live in swamplands wracked by consumerism. Teenage Gwen plays baseball with fellow members of the Surplus in an underground league, but when the government takes notice of her talents, she’s shipped off to the Olympics in ChinRussia, playing in dangerous territory alongside the Netted. Like Brave New World before it, The Resisters explores our consent in our own subjugation. “No one would have chosen the extinction of frogs and of polar bears… and yet it was something we humans did finally choose,” Gish Jen writes. In this funny and tender novel, she makes the impossible look easy, grafting a heartfelt story about family onto big questions about freedom and resistance.

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NPR Books Summer Poll 2021: A Decade Of Great Sci-Fi And Fantasy

Sci-fi has changed a lot in the past decade — these 7 reads will show you how.

Jason Sheehan

Let me tell you about the most revolutionary science fiction book I've ever read .

It was a few years ago. 2018. And I didn't think much about it when I shoved it in my bag and headed out the door. It was a slight thing with a weird title by an author just debuting on the adult lists and, to me, it was just the thing I was reading on a weekday when I had nothing else more pressing that I had to do.

I remember opening the book, folding back the cover, reading the first lines --

The machine said the man should eat tangerines. It listed two other recommendations as well, so three in total. A modest number, Pearl assured the man as she read out the list that had appeared on the screen before her: one, he should eat tangerines on a regular basis; two, he should work at a desk that received morning light; three, he should amputate the uppermost section of his right index finger.

And after that? I was gone . Those lines, in their perfect blandness, weird specificity and WTF kick of the whole finger thing, dropped me like a sucker punch. How do you not keep reading? How do you not need to know who and, like, how and, for god's sake, why after something like that.

I lost most of a day to Katie Williams's Tell The Machine Goodnight. I read it straight through, and when I was done, I read the whole thing again — taking my time, dipping in and out, lingering in one of the most remarkably mundane, beautifully believable, heartbreakingly true pieces of science fiction I'd read in longer than I can recall. I wrote a review of it for NPR that, I think, was remarkably unsuccessful at detailing just how thoroughly this book had blown my mind.

The reason Tell The Machine hit me so hard — the reason it settled into my brain like a virus and never really left; the reason I count it as one of the most revolutionary genre reads of the past decade, at least — is because it answered a question I've been asking about science fiction for as long as I've been reading science fiction: Why can't it be more normal ?

You see a thousand literary novels about siblings coming back home for a funeral after many years away. You see a thousand about marriages failing and the carnage that ensues. You see generational stories about families in crisis, about growing up, about growing old. I have always wondered why science fiction can't do the same. Why can't it handle its humans with the same care and weight of detail that it does its warp drives and time machines?

Williams says, It can, dummy. Just watch.

Tell The Machine is, more than anything, about people. There are no robots, no rockets, no car chases or space wars. The stakes are small (a job, a marriage, an eating disorder), the action is quiet. It is devastating, joyous, hopeful and sad, all on a purely human level. It takes the essential question of all science fiction (what if ...) and extends it no further than a single piece of technology: What if there were a machine that can tell you, with 100% accuracy, what will make you happy? Everything else is just people.

And that is a revolution. That is rebellious in the same way that Neuromancer was rebellious when it said The future can be now or when The Handmaid's Tale said The future can be yesterday or when Dhalgren said The future can be a place, and also more f*****d up than you can possibly imagine .

Of all the genres out there, science fiction is the one that's supposed to cause trouble. It's built to ask uncomfortable questions and burn stuff down. It is as much the kid in the back of the classroom sketching rocket ships in the pages of his history book as it is the other kid out in the parking lot slashing the tires of all the teachers' cars.

And over the past decade, both of those kids have been having their say. Williams changed the game for me with Tell The Machine, showing me that something I thought was maybe impossible was really just a matter of putting words on paper. And she's certainly not alone. Want to know who else is out there causing trouble and changing science fiction for the better?

Let's talk.

Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente

You wanna talk about a serious revolution in science fiction. Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy was a highly public (and highly successful) pantsing of the genre establishment when it was released in 1979 — a giant foam middle finger given to the wheezing ghosts of the Golden Age and all the space heroes that came after.

Cat Valente's Space Opera ? Same kind of energy. With the shelves packed with grimdark dytopias, Valente gave us Decibel Jones — the omnisexual, gender-fluid, washed-up former Brit-pop glam rocker chosen (along with bandmate Oort St. Ultraviolet) to compete in a kind of pan-galactic Eurovision Song Contest that will determine the fate of the Earth. The book was (and is) completely bonkers, full of long, ridiculous digressions on galactic history, flora and fauna (not unlike HGTTG , actually). "It's all big ideas written in glitter," I said about it in its moment. There are wormholes, murderhippos, big gargly space monsters, love, sex, tears. It is deeply weird and funny as hell and exists as a reminder that science fiction, heavy as it can sometimes get, can also be strange and funny and not at all serious and still get the job done.

The Wayfarers series, Becky Chambers

There's nothing like living in an actual dystopia to make you lose your taste for the fictional ones, right?

For decades, science fiction has been obsessed with the myriad ways we humans were going to eff-up the planet. And while I do love a lot of these stories (like, a lot of them), any well that's been gone back to with the frequency that science fiction writers have visited that one is bound to run dry eventually.

Enter Becky Chambers, super nerd. She looked at the gray, ashen, poisoned literary landscape laid out before her and said, Okay, how about the future, but happy?

How about the future, but competent?

How about the future, but ... good?

In her Wayfarers series (initially self-published, later picked up by a major publisher, just to add an extra revolutionary kicker to the model), she presented a vision of a multi-species universe, working collectively for the common good. She gave us experts using their knowledge for the betterment of all. She gave us spaceships, robots, adventures but (like Katie Williams) a focus on characters and their personal struggles.

Chambers writes what could be called "Arguably Utopian Fiction" — a universe of characters striving toward good, though not always succeeding; where the best minds and the best intentions are bent toward common goals and sometimes fall incredibly short. They are largely light on plot, heavy on character, thoughtful, close and contemplative — all of which is such a radical departure from the common run of science fiction that came before that it stands as an almost singular expression of the form.

Tales From The Loop by Simon Stalenhag

Tales from the Loop , by Simon Stålenhag Skybound hide caption

Stalenhag is beloved for his art — largely for his endless visions of an alternate 1980's Sweden full of robots, dinosaurs and unusual things happening around an imaginary particle accelerator/science lab/wormhole generator called The Loop .

Me? I love him for his words. The art is cool, no doubt. But the reason I keep three of his books on my desk at all times is because no other writer working (except maybe Michael Poore in Reincarnation Blues ) is better at telling huge stories in small spaces than Stalenhag.

Tales From The Loop worldbuilds visually, but it comes alive for me in the small vignettes written into the margins. For example:

It stood under the oak tree in the yard — an oily, sad little tin can thing, its head partially entangled in some sort of canvas cover. It had discovered me and stood perfectly still, its head fixed in my direction. As I approached, it rocked nervously to and fro where it stood. It flinched, rustling its wiring, each time the snow crunched underneath my boots. Soon I was close, so close I could reach the cover hanging from one of its lenses. I leaned forward, managed to get hold of the canvas, and yanked it off. The optics underneath it quickly focused. It was marked FOA on the side, which meant this was an escapee from Munso. Then our front door rattled, and with three quick bounds the robot was gone. The door opened and there, on the steps, stood my father.

And that's it . 143 words. A complete story, beautiful and haunting. And Stalenhag does this over and over and over again, on nearly every page. His work is both grounded and fantastical, perfectly suited to our modern tastes of ideas served in appetizer-sized portions. What's more, Loop (published in 2015, funded entirely through a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign) upended things both by proving the viability of crowd-funding in the increasingly siloed world of traditional publishing and presaged the boom we're now seeing in genre flash and micro fiction.

"The Ones Who Stay And Fight" by N.K. Jemisin, from How Long 'Til Black Future Month

N.K. Jemisin deserves to be on the list for a number of reasons, but her short story, "The Ones Who Stay And Fight," speaks to a very specific kind of revolt that's important to call out.

The story is a direct and confrontational refutation of the classic 1973 Ursula K. Le Guin story "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas." In Omelas, Le Guin was playing a philosophical game. She presented a perfect utopia where everyone was comfortable, happy and at peace all the time. The catch? All this goodness depended on the systematic imprisonment and misery of a single child. Most citizens of Omelas, when the truth is revealed to them, are horrified, but stay. A few of them walk away. Jemisin, in pointed conversation with the original, turns the entire system on its head, setting up a game with the same stakes, but then giving the central child of the story agency and engagement with the community born of suffering.

Neither story is comforting. Neither leaves you feeling good after reading. Both raise enormous internal questions. But within the framing of this list, it's Jemisin's very act of engaging directly with a genre classic and remaking it for the current age that is revolutionary. If literature is a conversation held across time, then Jemisin's turn at the mic is revelatory. And for all of those out there who'd like to see the privileged white libertarianism knocked out of Heinlein or the stain of active racism scrubbed from the Cthulu mythos, Jemisin's story was a harbinger of how it might be done.

Gold Fame Citrus by Claire Vaye Watkins

There is a moment near the start of Watkins's looping, bizarre, almost hallucinatory tale of too-near-future California that has hung with me ever since the first time I read it. Just a couple lines that laid down the basics of every end-of-the-world climate nightmare I would ever have. These are them:

For now, enough money could get you fresh produce and meat and dairy, even if what they called cheese was Day-Glo and came in a jar, and the fish was mostly poisoned and reeking, the beef gray, the apples blighted even in what used to be apple season, pears grimy even when you paid extra for Bartletts from Amish orchards. Hard sour strawberries and blackberries filled with dust. Flaccid carrots, ashen spinach, cracked olives, bruised hundred-dollar mangos, all-pith oranges, shriveled lemons, boozy tangerines, raspberries with gassed aphids curled in their hearts, an avocado whose crumbling taupe innards once made you weep.

Writing dystopian climate fiction hardly feels like a revolutionary act now. Not today, when it's all essentially just the history of tomorrow. But when you can get at the aching sadness of it, the unbelievable boredom, the futility, the soft, dry, bloodless horror and weariness and strangeness all at once? That's something special. That's something real .

And that's what Watkins did. Horribly, she didn't make me want to save the world. She made me feel like it was already too late to do anything but wait for the end.

Mothership: Tales From Afrofuturism And Beyond , edited by Bill Campbell and Edward Austin Hall

Mothership: Tales from Afrofuturism and Beyond, e dited by Bill Campbell and Edward Austin Hall Rosarium Publishing hide caption

A long, long time ago — back in another age when genre fiction needed a good shake and some slapping around — Harlan Ellison assembled an anthology called Dangerous Visions . Its table of contents is littered with a who's-who of the time, big-name speculative scribblers and a handful of up-and-comers who all came together to write original stories designed to take sharp pokes and wild swings at a genre that'd become stale, predictable and dull. In itself, it was maybe not as entirely swaggering and rogueish as it wanted to claim, but for its time? Reasonably dangerous. And that danger compounded when it was found (and read, and re-read) by the young writers who'd make up the vanguard of the New Wave of the 70's and 80's. They learned from its example that there was value in taking chances. That sometimes just having your voice heard was enough.

Over the past decade, one of the most ground-breaking (and vastly overdue) revolutions in science fiction is the inclusion of new voices. Particularly those coming from BIPOC writers. And way back in 2013, editors Bill Campbell and Edward Hall put together the Mothership anthology which, today, serves the same purpose Dangerous Visions did way back in 1967.

It stands as both an accounting of most of the major voices in speculative fiction from around the world, an introduction to some of those who were less known eight years ago, AND as a wicked primer on Afrofuturism. It's got Rabih Alameddine writing about sex and death, witches, 9/11 and boyhood in Beirut; Victor LaValle in modern Iceland with murderous trolls; Carmen Maria Machado getting weird like Animal Farm with downloadable food and hybrid animals while Daniel Jose Older plays cops-and-ghosts and Junot Diaz talks about an epidemic disease coming out of Haiti and the Dominican Republic that, today, seems eerily prescient. Tobias Buckell writes about ghosts. N.K. Jemisin tells a love story about fractured time, alternate realities and email. Ernest Hogan puts Yakuza on the moon.

If the biggest revolution of the past 10 years has been an attempt (not yet successful) at making the stories in front of you look more like the world they are reflecting, then Mothership could be like a table of contents for the future of science fiction. It isn't complete. It isn't even all sci-fi. But it's a start.

And every revolution has to start somewhere.

Jason Sheehan knows stuff about food, video games, books and Star Blazers . He's the restaurant critic at Philadelphia magazine, but when no one is looking, he spends his time writing books about giant robots and ray guns. Tales From the Radiation Age is his latest book.

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Best Science Fiction Book Review Blogs in 2024

Showing 98 blogs that match your search.

Luke's Blog

https://www.lukeharkness.com/

Luke runs a book blog with over 120 book reviews covering a range of genres and tips for aspiring bloggers on how to get started and what works best.

Blogger : Luke Harkness

Genres : Science Fiction

🌐 Domain authority: 4

👀 Average monthly visits: 2,300 p/mo

💌 Preferred contact method: Social media

⭐️ Accepts indie books? Yes

Reader Voracious

https://readervoracious.com

Connecting voracious readers with their next great read since 2018. Other than book reviews, you will find bookish discussions, lists of upcoming releases, and guides & resources for readers/bloggers. As an advocate for reading diversely, all of my reviews will list representation in the book, as well as content/trigger warnings.

Blogger : Kal Rochelle

🌐 Domain authority: 25

👀 Average monthly visits: 7,000 p/mo

💌 Preferred contact method: Email

The Future Fire

http://reviews.futurefire.net/

We will consider all subgenres of speculative fiction (and related nonfiction), regardless of author or medium, including self-published work, but we are especially interested in seeing more books by and about women, people of color, LGBTQIA, disabled people, people with nonwestern languages and religions, and other under-represented groups.

Blogger : TFF Team

🌐 Domain authority: 45

👀 Average monthly visits: 6,000 p/mo

http://www.bookriot.com/

We're always interested in hearing about new books, but even with a stable of writers across book blogs we can't get to everything. So if you'd like to tell us about something, shoot us an email. Before sending something for consideration, take a look around the site to get a feel for who we are, who our readers are, and how we go about things. Bonus points will go to submissions that have looked at our contributors and can suggest which contributor might be a good fit for the book.

Blogger : Book Riot Contributors

🌐 Domain authority: 80

👀 Average monthly visits: 995,200 p/mo

Quill and Quire

https://quillandquire.com/

Quill & Quire is the magazine of the Canadian book trade. The magazine reviews around 400 new titles each year, offering the most comprehensive look at Canadian-authored books in the country.

Blogger : The Q&Q Team

🌐 Domain authority: 57

👀 Average monthly visits: 81,500 p/mo

💌 Preferred contact method: Mail

⭐️ Accepts indie books? No

Elgee Writes

https://elgeewrites.com/

Gayathri loves reading, recommending books and talking about bookish things in real life. Her blog is just an extension of that habit. When she is not reading books or creating online content, she freelances as a beta reader. She lives currently in Dubai.

Blogger : Gayathri

🌐 Domain authority: 29

👀 Average monthly visits: 1,500 p/mo

BookWritten

https://bookwritten.com

BookWritten is a platform where you can learn more about books, literature, poetry, and much more. We believe in connecting people through the art of reading.

Blogger : Pradeep Kumar

🌐 Domain authority: 20

👀 Average monthly visits: 75,000 p/mo

💌 Preferred contact method: email

Review Tales by Jeyran Main

http://www.jeyranmain.com/

Jeyran Main is a professional book editor, marketing advisor, and book reviewer. She has had the pleasure of making friends with many publishers & authors throughout her life and career. Her passion is to spread positive energy to anyone who needs it, and in return, she would love it if they forwarded it to someone else. Please email her for book review requests, with the title and summary of your book.

Blogger : Jeyran Main

🌐 Domain authority: 23

👀 Average monthly visits: 3,000 p/mo

Read. Eat. Repeat.

https://readeatrepeat.net/

Hi! I’m Jordan, wife to one husband and mom to two little girls. Blogging and writing are my side gig, and I love creating delicious recipes and reading lots of books to share with you guys! My favorite genre to review is historical fiction but I do read a bit of everything.

Blogger : Jordan

🌐 Domain authority: 26

👀 Average monthly visits: 2,500 p/mo

💌 Preferred contact method: Website contact form

Book Lover Worm

https://bookloverwormblog.wordpress.com/

I am a book lover and reviewer. I’ve always loved reading and remember the joys of reading the Famous Five, Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. I prefer crime fiction and psychological thrillers but also have a soft spot for chick-lit and women’s fiction and anything else that catches my interest.

Blogger : Sandra

🌐 Domain authority: 27

Bookbugworld

https://bookbugworld.com/

Bookbugworld stays true to its promise. A fun and niche virtual space where you can discuss the books you love or find new ones to add to your TBR.

Blogger : Rejitha

🌐 Domain authority: 12

👀 Average monthly visits: 250 p/mo

Worlds In Ink

http://worldsinink.blogspot.com/

I prefer to review print copies of books whenever possible. I am also able to review EPUB formatted ebooks by special arrangement. Print copies will be given precedence due to the cost involved in getting them to me.

Blogger : KJ Mulder

The LitBuzz Hive

https://www.thelitbuzz.com/

A book review site featuring a diverse Hive of voices reading and sharing, we have a vast palette. We welcome both indie and traditionally-published authors - at no charge for reviews, ever.

Blogger : The LitBuzz Hive

🌐 Domain authority: 7

👀 Average monthly visits: 300 p/mo

Dear Author

http://dearauthor.com

We review contemporary romance books, paranormal romance books, historical romance books, urban fantasy, science fiction, and fantasy. From time to time, we will review mystery books but rarely. The site is primarily devoted to the romance genre.

Blogger : The DA Team

👀 Average monthly visits: 10,000 p/mo

Books And Pals

http://www.booksandpals.blogspot.com/

Please read the instructions carefully. Failure to follow them will result in your submission being ignored with no acknowledgement. All reviews are final. Prior to submission, we would advise reading this post and the Guide to Reviews, as well as getting a general feel for the book review blog.

Blogger : Al & Pals

🌐 Domain authority: 43

👀 Average monthly visits: 18,600 p/mo

So you want to find a book blog?

If you’re a voracious reader, you might think of a book blog as an oasis in the middle of the desert: a place on the Internet that brims with talk about books, books, and more books.

Well, good news — we built this directory of the 200 of the best book blogs  to satiate your thirst. Take a walk around, use the filters to narrow down your search to blogs in your preferred genre, and feel free to bookmark this page and come back, as we do update it regularly with more of the best book blogs out there. 

If you’re an aspiring author, you might see a book blog more as a book review blog: a place where you can get your yet-to-be published book reviewed. In that case, you’ll be glad to know that most of the book blogs in our directory are open to review requests and accept indie books! We expressly designed this page (and our book marketing platform, Reedsy Discovery ) to be useful to indie book authors who need book reviews. If you’re wondering how to approach a book blog for a review request, please read on. 

You’ve found a book blog. Now what? 

Let’s say that you’re an author, and you’ve found a couple of book blogs that would be perfect fits to review your book. What now? Here are some tips as you go about getting your book reviews:

• Be sure to read the review policy. First, check that the book blog you’re querying is open to review requests. If that’s the fortunate case, carefully read the blog’s review policy and make sure that you follow the directions to a T.  
• Individualize your pitches. Book bloggers will be able to immediately tell apart the bulk pitches, which simply come across as thoughtless and indifferent. If you didn’t take the time to craft a good pitch, why should the blogger take the time to read your book? Personalize each pitch to up your chances of getting a response. 
• Format your book in a professional manner before sending it out. Ensure that your manuscript isn’t presented sloppily. If the book blogger asks for a digital ARC, you might want to check out apps such as Instafreebie or Bookfunnel. 
• Create a spreadsheet to track your progress. Wading through so many book blogs can be troublesome — not to mention trying to remember which ones you’ve already contacted. To save yourself the time and trouble, use a simple Excel spreadsheet to keep track of your progress (and results). 

Looking to learn even more about the process? Awesome 👍 For a detailed guide, check out this post that’s all about getting book reviews. 

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Locus Online

The Magazine of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Field

Catherynne M. Valente: Get to the Future

Cory Doctorow: Marshmallow Longtermism

Moniquill Blackgoose: Also There Are Dragons

Sarah Langan: The Ultimate Gaslight

Chịkọdịlị Emelụmadụ: Mindframe

Cory Doctorow: Reckoning

Travis Baldree: Event Horizon

M.R. Carey: Vertical Freedom

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SF/Fantasy/Horror News View All

2024 Mo Siewcharran Prize Shortlist

The six-title shortlist for this year’s Mo Siewcharran Prize has been announced. The award “aims to nurture talent from under-represented backgrounds writing in English.”

This year’s submission call was for YA and adult fantasy novels. Shortlisted entries include:

• The Devotee , H.D. Ahmed
• Sandstorm , Aliyah Goga
• The Master of the Valley , Cassie Leung
• The Treaties We Break , Tina Shah
• Modern Day Dragons , Ana Sun

Hardwick Named New Baen Contest Director

Changes at Saga

2024 Ditmar Awards Preliminary Ballot

Rosenbaum’s Game

Internet Archive Loses Appeal

WSFS Issues Apology

Sf/fantasy/horror reviews view all.

We Mostly Come Out at Night edited by Rob Costello: Review by Alex Brown

We Mostly Come Out at Night , Rob Costello, ed. (Running Press 978-0-76248-319-8, $18.99, 384pp, hc) May 2024.

We Mostly Come Out at Night , a new dark fantasy YA anthology, looks at the scarier side of queerness. The anthol­ogy opens with editor Rob Costello’s powerful introductory essay about queerness and its rela­tionship to monstrousness, how we as a society and as individuals create monsters to reflect our fears and ...Read More

How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive by Craig DiLouie: Review by Gabino Iglesias

How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive , Craig DiLouie (Redhook 978-0-31656-931-6, $19.99, 400pp, ppb) June 2024.

Funny horror is hard to do right, but Craig DiLouie delivers plenty of it in How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive . At once a send up of the movie industry, a brutal horror novel where a lot of people die in horrible ways, and an exploration of art and ...Read More

Something Kindred by Ciera Burch: Review by Colleen Mondor

Something Kindred , Ciera Burch (Farrar Straus Giroux 978-0-374-38913-0, $19.99, hc, 284pp) March 2024.

Seventeen-year-old Jericka is 100% not having, at all, the summer she was promised. Stuck in her mother’s hometown of Coldwater, Maryland, Jericka is supposed to be visiting all the beaches in New Jersey with her best friend, figuring out if she and her boyfriend are really as serious as they seem to be and taking pictures ...Read More

Escape Pod, Strange Horizons, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies : Short Fiction Reviews by Charles Payseur

Escape Pod 5/16/24 Strange Horizons 5/20/24, 5/27/24, 6/10/24, 6/17/24 Beneath Ceaseless Skies 5/30/24, 6/13/24

Rocky Cornelius returns to Escape Pod with An­drew Dana Hudson ’s May story, “ The Concept Shoppe: A Rocky Cornelius Consultancy ”. Having left uncool hunting behind her, Rocky is a creative consultant for Primal, a new store that’s selling the postapocalypse experience in a future that feels in many ways postapocalyptic, right down to the ...Read More

Analog : Short Fiction Reviews by A.C. Wise

Analog 5-6/24

The May/June 2024 issue of Analog opens with “Uncle Roy’s Computer Repairs and Used Robot Parts” by Martin L. Shoemaker , a charming novella about a man who retires with his wife to her hometown and starts his own computer repair business only to find himself accidentally in a bitter rivalry with the town’s resident “whiz kid.” It’s a fun story that does a good job of capturing ...Read More

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New Books, 10 September 2024

Weekly Bestsellers, 9 September 2024

New Books, 3 September 2024

Weekly Bestsellers, 2 September 2024

Roundtable & more view all, roshani chokshi and niv sekar guest post.

A. Y. Chao Guest Post–“Sparking Joy”

Ness Brown Guest Post

Vanessa Len Guest Post–“Goosebumps and Paradigm Shifts”

Beyond the mag: vlogs & more view all.

Check out the New Books Video for 7/23/24!

If you have a few minutes, we’ve got the top genre books hitting shelves, IRL and digital, this week! Help us keep doing this weekly round up by liking and subscribing!

Archangels of Funk by Andrea Hairston: Review by Sean Dowie

Archangels of Funk , Andrea Hairston (Tor­dotcom 978-1-25080-728-1, $29.99, 384pp, hc) July 2024.

Andrea Hairston’s Archangels of Funk forced me to rewire my brain chemistry. The book contains a stew of dense but rewarding elements as people, dogs, spirits, and bots dot a literary canvas unlike anything I’ve read. It’s a cozy dystopia that demands attention, demands that you think on its wavelength. The book largely contains good but flawed ...Read More

The Price of Redemption by Shawn Carpenter: Review by Liz Bourke

The Price of Redemption , Shawn Carpenter (Saga 978-1-6680-3373-9, $18.99, 358pp, tp) July 2024.

The Price of Redemption is Shawn Carpen­ter’s debut novel. Inspired by the exploits of the British Royal Navy during during the French revolutionary wars, it sets its story in a different world to ours and adds magic to the mixture. As a fan of both fantasy and of the naval adventure story (though frequently through gritted ...Read More

Key Lime Sky by Al Hess: Review by Paul Di Filippo

Key Lime Sky , Al Hess (Angry Robot 978-1915998125, trade paperback, 304pp, $18.99) August 2024,

It has been said that Irish fantasist Flann O’Brien had a penchant for involving the humble bicycle in his surreal fiction, until the vehicle became a kind of numinous totem or idiosyncratic symbol. A few other writers of fantasy have deployed such a technique—recurring enigmatic touchstone with multiple meanings—and now Al Hess joins their ranks, ...Read More

Small Wonders, Flash Fiction Online, and Cast of Wonders : Short Fiction Reviews by Charles Payseur

Small Wonders 5/24 Flash Fiction Online 5/24 Cast of Wonders 5/29/24

I’ll start off with May’s Small Wonders, a pub­lication dedicated to flash fiction and poetry, which includes Angel Leal ’s powerful poem ‘‘ Music of the Seraphim ’’. A child meets an angel and is filled with a desire for something new – new experiences, a new body, a new place to be – and find their prayers and ...Read More

2024 NESFA Short Story Contest

The New England Science Fiction Association (NESFA) SF/F short story contest is now open to entries.

“The purpose of this contest is to encourage amateur and semi-professional writers to reach the next level of proficiency…. If you have received more than $1000 for your fiction writing from any source on the date you submit your story and/or have published, in any paying publication, a novel or multiple shorter works adding ...Read More

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Reviews :: Book Genre :: Science Fiction

This archive contains links to all of the Science Fiction Book Reviews we've written over the years. Everything from light stuff like Star Wars to the heavy duty hitters like Reynolds. If you've come here looking for something in that realm, you're in luck! We just happen to have more than a few suggestions lying around the place waiting for your perusal.

If you're looking for something else, say a book in another genre or maybe just any book that we happened to think was awesome-sauce, browse around the site for a bit and check out our reviews.

Just don't forget to let us know what you thought of a book you've read or if there's a suggestion you have for something we'd like to read! We're always looking for some brilliant new escape into the worlds of science and the universe.

• The Far Reaches

It seems like my social media feeds have been getting slammed lately by ads for this new anthology of science fiction stories put together by Amazon. Almost seemed to double in frequency after I got them, oddly enough. Sometimes it just boggles my mind how much money must flow through the coffers of social media ads, and I can’t help but wonder how much of it goes to absolute waste. In this case, it got me to pick them up, but everything since then? Yeah.

You’ll notice that our image doesn’t match the name of the collection. Yup. Thank you e-book collections. So, instead I just included the cover for the best story in the group. Hint hint. Wink wink. Nudge nudge. Read the rest of this review »

If there are any core concepts more central to the genre of science fiction than mind-bending ideas, awe-inspiring vistas, and grand adventure, I don’t know what they are. In the relatively short time period since the fantasy genre has split from it, and stories written under its guise have taken us up and out into the cosmos, many authors have endeavored to fill the space with their version of the best kind of fiction. I may be biased, but in my view there is no better fiction than great science fiction. And Alastair Reynolds is writing some of the best science fiction there is. Read the rest of this review »

• Legionnaire

I’m always on the lookout for a great, quick read, and when I came across this one, I decided pretty quickly that it fit the bill. Read the rest of this review »

• The Heirs of Babylon

I haven’t read near enough Glen Cook.

I keep telling myself this, and yet my penchant for continuing to push his books down my TBR pile is, quite frankly, fairly embarrassing. I actually received this book quite some time ago, and only recently took the chance to read it. Mainly because it was short and I needed to get to something short. One of these days I’m going to figure out how to get ahead of the review game again, and have these things scheduled out. Until then, one foot in front of the other. Read the rest of this review »

Primordial Threat

This is one of those reads that I took on a whim. Prior to it, I hadn’t come across this author or any of his books. Taking a quick look at his back log, he’s put out quite a few, across a surprising number of genres. Found out after the read, that this book had been part of the first year of the Self-Published Science Fiction Competition, which I thought was pretty cool. Although, after seeing online how voraciously the author tackles the concepts of self-publication and marketing, it didn’t surprise me in the slightest that he would have been one of those to throw his hat into the ring that first year. In my opinion, he pushes the boundaries, in many respects, as to what can be accomplished as a self-published author. Smart dude for sure. Read the rest of this review »

The Book That Wouldn’t Burn

This book has an interesting title. Don’t you think? I must admit, it threw me for a bit of a loop the first time I saw it. Same for the series name. Didn’t quite know what to think after the initial announcement. Excitement for a new Mark Lawrence book? Well, yeah, of course. But what kind of book was this going to be? Any idea as to whether or not it would be connected to the rest of his books, as they all seem to be so far? It sure didn’t sound like it. But there was always the chance. And so, alas, not a book that I pre-ordered, but when I got the chance to get an eArc, I was in. Of course, I was. What kind of question is that? THE BOOK THAT WOULDN’T BURN is the first of a new projected trilogy from Mr. Mark Lawrence, one of our favorite authors here at EBR. Although, given this guy’s throughput, it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest to find out that he’d already penned (at the very least) the first draft of the last line of the series. Guy produces. Evar and Livira are two […] Read the rest of this review »

We’re long-standing proponents of the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off ( EBR Archive ) here at EBR. Even though we haven’t thrown our hat into the reviewer-ring in quite some time, we still believe in both the importance and efficacy of that contest, and have nothing but great things to say about it and those who continue to run it. Thankfully, there are those who believe that Science Fiction authors should also have those same kind of opportunities (Hugh Howey). Enter The Self-Published Science Fiction Competition ( SPSFC ).

This book happens to be the winner of the first year of that contest.

And also? It’s awesome. Read the rest of this review »

Empire of Silence

This is a book that I likely would not have picked up of my own accord. Instead, my reading of it came on the shoulders of the recommendation of a trusted friend. Not that anything in particular made me shy away from the book. These days I just tend to avoid anything resembling large-ish science fiction tomes that don’t also come with a strong recommendation from someone I trust. My poor experience with the genre in general, I guess, but this won’t be news to those that follow our site. Read the rest of this review »

Project Hail Mary

When Ryland Grace wakes up on his spaceship, he doesn’t know where he is at first. For the first few chapters it is this very mystery that compels you to keep reading because you must know what’s going on. Who he is. Why he’s there. And what happened. Fortunately, Andy Weir doesn’t keep you in suspense for very long. If you loved THE MARTIAN, you’ll love PROJECT HAIL MARY. Read the rest of this review »

Broken Angels

So, a few months ago, one of our readers commented on my review for ALTERED CARBON ( EBR Review ) that I should look into the second and third books in this series. If I’m being completely honest, I wasn’t too high on the idea, as I’ve never really been overly enamored with Richard K. Morgan’s books. Still I thanked the reader for the comment and proceeded on my merry way.

Then, randomly, I found a copy of the second book in the series at one of the second-hand bookstores that I frequent, and the thing was only two bucks. The thickness of the spine made it look like it was going to be relatively short too. So, I picked it up with no real intention to read it any time soon. But the opportunity to dive in was quickly afforded me when I was asked to chaperone for a couple days at a girl’s camp my daughter was attending. All I needed to do was be present. So I figured, why not grab a quick read and see what came of it?

And here we are.

I mention all this mostly because at no point in this whole process did I think there was going to be any chance that I might actually like this book.

Man, do I love being surprised. Read the rest of this review »

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•   Science Fiction & Fantasy
•   The best sci-fi books of 2024, and all time

The best sci-fi books of 2024, and all time

We take a look at our favourite sci-fi books, including must-reads for 2024, and the best science fiction novels of all time..

From spectacular sequels and award-winning novels , to continuing adventures in science fiction's most popular universes, our list of sci-fi books includes some of the best new reads of 2024, the best of 2023 and our all-time picks. No matter what kind of science fiction fan you are – space opera, dystopian , or even classic sci-fi – our edit is packed full of must-reads . 

The best sci-fi books of 2024

Service model, by adrian tchaikovsky.

Meet CharlesTM, the latest in robot servant technology. Programmed to undertake the most menial household chores, Charles is loyal, efficient and logical. That is, until a fault causes him to murder his owner. Understandably perplexed, Charles finds himself without a master. Fleeing the household, he enters a world he never knew existed. Here an age-old human hierarchy is disintegrating into ruins, and an entire robot ecosystem devoted to its wellbeing is struggling to find a purpose. Charles is about to discover that sometimes all it takes is a nudge to overcome the limits of your programming. But can he help fix the world, or is it too badly broken?

Don't Miss

Adrian Tchaikovsky's books in order

Exodus: the archimedes engine, by peter f. hamilton.

With Earth dying, humans are forced to flee and explore distant space in search of home. Finding Centauri, a cluster of habitable planets, the first group of settlers made their home and evolved into advanced beings. Thousands of years later they rule the star systems and treat humans, including young Finn, as their slaves. Seizing the chance to jump aboard an arriving ark ship to travel the universe, Finn sets off on a mission to search for freedom, and a better place for humans to call home. Set within the world of EXODUS, a new science-fiction RPG action-adventure game, Exodus: The Archimedes Engine is the first in a new duology from sci-fi legend Peter F. Hamilton .

World Walkers

By neal asher.

War looms between alternate worlds and only one mutant can save the multiverse in World Walkers , the new standalone novel from Neal Asher. Set within the Owner universe, it’s the story of Ottanger, a rebel and mutant who, thanks to the experimentations of the totalitarian regime, develops the ability to jump between worlds. Utilising his new power to visit alternate realities, he sees a terrifying future for his world and realises he must stand up and fight against the power of the all-powerful Committee to have a chance of saving it. 

Stories of Your Life and Others

By ted chiang.

A sci-fi classic in a brand-new edition. From a soaring Babylonian tower that connects a flat Earth to the firmament above, to a world where angelic visitations are a wondrous and terrifying part of everyday life; from a neural modification that eliminates the appeal of physical beauty, to an alien language that challenges our very perception of time and reality, Chiang’s unique imagination invites us to question our understanding of the universe and our place in it.  Stories of Your Life and Others  is Ted Chiang's masterful debut collection.

In the Lives of Puppets

By tj klune.

In the Lives of Puppets  is a queer retelling of the Pinocchio tale, from bestselling author TJ Klune. In a strange little home built into the branches of a grove of trees live three robots – fatherly inventor android Giovanni Lawson, a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine, and a small vacuum desperate for love and attention. Vic Lawson, a human, lives there too. The day Vic salvages and repairs an unfamiliar android labelled ‘HAP’, he learns of a shared dark past between the robots – a past spent hunting humans. The family, once hidden and safe, are now exposed. 

A complete guide to TJ Klune's books

On the distant world of Kiln lie the ruins of an alien civilization. A great mystery awaits mankind: who were the builders and where are they now? These questions become brutally real for Professor Arton Daghdev, exiled from Earth to Kiln’s off-world labour camp due to his political activism. Facing the planet’s dangerous ecosystem and the camp's harsh regime, Arton fights for survival. Amidst these threats, Kiln holds a profound, fearsome secret, challenging the understanding of life and intelligence, and might be Arton's key to freedom.

The best sci-fi books of 2023

Fractal noise, by christopher paolini.

On the planet Talos VII, twenty-three years before the events of  To Sleep in a Sea of Stars , an anomaly is detected: a vast circular pit, with dimensions so perfect that it could only have been the result of conscious design. So a small team is assembled to learn more – perhaps even who built the hole and why. Their mission will take them on a hazardous trek to the very edge of existence. For xenobiologist Alex Crichton this opportunity is a desperate attempt to find meaning in an uncaring universe.  Fractal Noise  is the thrilling prequel to  To Sleep in a Sea of Stars  by   Christopher Paolini.

Starter Villain

By john scalzi.

John Scalzi brings us a turbo-charged tale of a family business with a difference, as Charlie discovers when he inherits it. It’s also way more dangerous than Charlie could ever have imagined, because his uncle had kept his supervillain status a secret. Divorced and emotionally dependent on his cat, Charlie wasn’t loving life. Now Charlie must decide if he should stay stuck in his rut, or step up to take on the business, the enemies, the minions, the hidden volcano lair. But there’s much more to being an Evil Mastermind than he suspected. Yet could this also, finally, be his chance to shine?

Douglas Adams's Starship Titanic

By terry jones.

From the minds of Douglas Adams and Terry Jones comes Starship Titanic. This is the 2023 edition of the hilarious novelization of the third-best adventure game of 1999. Get ready for the launch of the Starship Titanic, the grandest and most advanced spaceship ever built. But as architect Leovinus inspects the ship, he discovers alarming flaws: shoddy craftsmanship, malfunctioning cybersystems, and clumsy robots. The next day, as the galaxy watches, the ship starts its journey but quickly succumbs to a catastrophic failure. In mere moments, the ambitious project meets its end, setting the stage for an intriguing tale to unfold.

by Blake Crouch

Upgrade  is the mind-bending sci-fi thriller from Blake Crouch, author of Matter  and  Recursion . What if you were the next step in human evolution? If your concentration was better, if you could multitask quicker, read faster, memorize more? For Logan Ramsay, it’s happening. He knows that it’s not natural, that his genes have been hacked. He has been targeted for an upgrade, and with a terrifying plan in place to replicate his upgrade throughout the world’s population, he may be the only person capable of stopping what has already been set in motion.

Rebellion could be their salvation – or their doom. War Bodies is a gripping, high-octane standalone set in Neal Asher's expansive Polity universe. In a world ruled by machines, the Cyberat face a rebellion when the human Polity arrives. Piper, raised as a weapon, seeks help from the Polity after his parents are captured by the oppressive regime. As war escalates, Piper must confront the enigmatic technology implanted in his own body. It could be the answer to their fight or the trigger for catastrophic consequences. The fate of civilization hangs in the balance as the battle unfolds.

Lords of Uncreation

After releasing Eyes of the Void earlier this year, Adrian Tchaikovsky brings us Lords of Uncreation, the final high-octane instalment in the Final Architecture space opera trilogy. Idris Telemmier has uncovered a secret that changes everything – the Architects’ greatest weakness. A shadowy Cartel scrambles to turn his discovery into a weapon against these alien destroyers of worlds. But between them and victory stands self-interest. The galaxy’s great powers would rather pursue their own agendas than stand together against this shared terror. If you are new to the series, discover all of Adrian Tchaikovsky's books in order below. 

by Hiron Ennes

A masterpiece of gothic sci-fi, Leech is unlike anything you've read before. In an isolated chateau, the baron's doctor has committed suicide, and the Interprovincial Medical Institute sends out a replacement. But the new physician soon discovers that his predecessor was hosting a parasite, which should have been impossible, as the physician was already possessed – by the Institute. For hundreds of years, the Institute has taken root in young minds and shaped them into doctors to protect humanity from the horrors their ancestors unleashed, but now there’s competition: a parasite is spreading.

by Sarah K Jackson

In the aftermath of a devastating microplastics storm that decimated humanity, Not Alone follows the journey of Katie and her son in a tale that intertwines heart-stopping adventure with the profound bond between a mother and child. Trapped within the confines of their apartment, they navigate a world where survival hinges on scavenging for sustenance. Katie, braves the dangers outside while Harry remains sheltered, oblivious to the truth of their existence. This remarkable debut delves into themes of love, trust, and hope while unmasking the imminent peril that looms over humanity as a whole.

The Kaiju Preservation Society

In New York, Jamie is a driver for food delivery apps, looking for any opportunity to escape his daily schedule. Then, after making a delivery to old acquaintance Tom, he gets the chance to escape more than just his delivery gig. Tom works for an animal rights organisation – but not any that you've heard of. Known as the 'Kaiju Preservation Society', Jamie unwittingly signs on with Tom to venture to the Earth of an alternate dimension, where massive dinosaur-like creatures called 'Kaiju' roam a human-free world. But they’re in trouble – the Society are not the only ones who have found their way to the Kaiju world. . .

Sea of Tranquillity

By emily st. john mandel.

It's 1912, and eighteen-year-old Edwin St. Andrew is on a journey across the Atlantic, having been exiled from society in England. Arriving in British Columbia, he enters a forest, mesmerised by the Canadian wilderness. All is silent, before the notes of a violin reverberate through the air. Two centuries later, and acclaimed author Olive Llewelyn is travelling over the earth, on a break from her home in the second moon colony. At the heart of her bestselling novel, a man plays a violin for spare change in the corridor of an airship terminal, as a forest rises around him. This compelling novel immerses the reader in parallel worlds, and multiple possibilities.

A complete guide to Emily St. John Mandel

Forty-thousand years ago, humanity fled a dying Earth and found a far cluster of stars with thousands of potentially habitable planets. In the years since, the Centauri Cluster has flourished. The original settlers evolved into advanced beings known as Celestials, and any remaining humans must fight for survival against overwhelming odds. Enter Finn. When another ark ship from Earth, previously thought lost, unexpectedly arrives, he sees his chance to embrace a greater destiny and become a Traveler – brave heroes dedicated to ensuring humanity’s future by journeying into the vast unknown of distant space.

Peter F. Hamilton's far-future novel is set in the same universe as new online RP game Exodus on which the author is a creative consultant.

Children of Memory

Spanning generations, species and galaxies, best-selling author Adrian Tchaikovsky gives us the unmissable follow-up to Children of Time and Children of Ruin. Years after arkships were sent to establish new outposts following the failure of Earth, a fragile colony has managed to survive on Imir. But, existence here is a far cry from the paradise the initial mission intended. When strangers appear, society on Imir begins to fracture as neighbour turns against neighbour. But, perhaps some other intelligence is also at work, toying with colonists and space-fearing scientists alike . . .

The best sci-fi books of all time

Named in Barack Obama's 2019 summer reading list, this groundbreaking collection of science fiction short stories is the second from acclaimed author Ted Chiang. In these nine stunningly original and poignant stories, we encounter a portal through time in ancient Baghdad, a scientist who makes a shocking discovery that will affect all of humanity and a woman who cares for an AI ‘pet’ for over twenty years. Addressing, among others, essential questions around the nature of the universe and what it means to be human, this is science fiction writing at its most thoughtful.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

By douglas adams.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy began life as a Radio 4 show in 1978 and has since spawned adaptations across almost every format, making it a staple on every respectable list of the best sci-fi books. Following the galactic adventures of Arthur Dent after his house's untimely demolition to make way for a new hyperspace express route, this new edition of 'The Guide' features exclusive bonus archive material and a new introduction from Russell T. Davies. This classic science fiction novel is a must-read for fans of the genre. 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy books: a complete guide

Classic science fiction stories, by adam roberts.

Bringing you aliens from outer space, intriguing inventions, zany future tech and whole imaginative worlds to explore, this collection of short stories is a treasure. From the 1750s to the start of the twentieth century, it includes work by star authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, H. G. Wells and H. P. Lovecraft, as well as giving a voice to less acclaimed but equally brilliant writers including Florence McLandburgh and Ambrose Bierce. Macmillan Collector’s Library titles come cloth-bound, with gold foil edges and handy ribbon markers.

Invisible Sun

By charles stross.

In this chillingly resonant dystopian adventure, two versions of America are locked in conflict. The New American Commonwealth is caught in a deadly arms race with the USA, its parallel-world rival. And the USA’s technology is decades ahead. Yet the Commonweath might self-combust first – for its leader has just died, leaving a crippling power vacuum. Minister Miriam Burgeson must face allegations of treason without his support, in a power grab by her oldest adversary. Invisible Sun  is the final installment in Charles Stross’s Empire Games trilogy.

Station Eleven

On a snowy night in Toronto, renowned actor Arthur Leander dies on stage, coinciding with the arrival of a devastating virus in North America. Two decades later, Kirsten, a member of the Travelling Symphony, brings Shakespeare's words to life in the settlements that have emerged post-collapse. However, her newfound hope is jeopardized, prompting a critical question: in a world devoid of civilization, what is worth safeguarding? And to what lengths would one go to ensure its preservation? A dreamily atmospheric novel set in the eerie days of civilization's collapse, Emily St John Mandel's Station Eleven is a must-read. 

Pandora's Star

Earth 2329: Humanity has spread across the galaxy, colonising hundreds of planets linked by wormholes. Finally, there is peace. But when stars thousands of light years away start to vanish, ex-NASA astronaut Wilson Kime is sent to discover the cause. Travelling in his faster-than-light spaceship, Kime arrives to find the stars imprisoned in an immense force field. Entire star systems are sealed off. But who could possess this technology? And were they trying to keep us out, or keep something else in? Pandora's Star is the first part of Peter F. Hamilton's epic Commonwealth Saga duology. 

A Desolation Called Peace

By arkady martine.

This spectacular sequel to Arkady Martine’s Hugo Award-winning debut sci-fi book sees the Teixcalaanli Empire facing an alien threat which could bring about its complete destruction. Fleet Captain Nine Hibiscus is all that stands between the empire and all-out war, so in desperation, he sends an envoy to negotiate with the mysterious invaders. Whether they succeed or fail could change the face of Teixcalaan forever. Arkady Martine’s Teixcalaan duology is a must-read for fans of epic space opera. 

The City & The City

By china miéville.

A mind-bending tale of two cities that exist alongside each other in the same time and space, this award-winning book is a murder mystery taken to dazzling metaphysical and artistic heights. When the body of a woman is found in the decaying city of Beszel, somewhere at the edge of Europe, it looks like a routine case for Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad. But as he probes, the evidence begins to point to conspiracies far stranger and more deadly than anything he could have imagined. China Miéville combines crime fiction with sci-fi in this strange and gripping tale of murder and conspiracy.

by Colson Whitehead

  Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Colson Whitehead was inspired to write this apocalyptic sci-fi novel because of his teenage fascination with the work of Stephen King and Issac Asimov. A plague has ravaged the planet, and the population is divided into the living and the living dead. Mark Spitz is working on a task force to clear the infested from ‘Zone One’, but things quickly go from bad to worse . . . 

This high concept sci-fi thriller asks the question: what if someone could rewrite your entire life? When Detective Barry Sutton is called to help a woman threatening to jump from a building, he’s unaware of the series of events the incident will trigger. Unable to stop the woman taking her own life, the last words she says to him are ‘My son has been erased.’ As Barry begins to investigate her case, he finds she’s not the only one making such claims. All over the country, people are waking up to different lives, an epidemic the media have dubbed ‘False Memory Syndrome’. But what if the cause is more sinister than a disease?

A Memory Called Empire

Arkady Martine's debut sci-fi book is an immersive political space opera for fans of Ann Leckie and Iain M. Banks.  A Memory Called Empire  introduces the idea of a technology by which a select few can carry their predecessors in their minds and take advantage of their wisdom and memories. Ambassador Mahit Dzmare travels to the Teixcalaanli Empire’s interstellar capital, eager to take up her new post. Yet when she arrives, she discovers her predecessor was murdered. But no one will admit his death wasn’t accidental – and she might be next. This is the first book in the  Texicalaan duology . 

War of the Worlds

By h. g. wells.

The inspiration for countless science fiction stories and novels, H. G. Wells’s sci-fi classic is a must for any science fiction fan’s bookshelf. Written in semi-documentary style, the 1938 radio adaptation famously caused panic when listeners believed the fictional new bulletins were real, and this novel about a terrifying alien invasion still grips readers to this day. 

The Time Machine

H. G. Wells was among the first to express a plausible scientific method of time travel, and he also coined the term ‘time machine’ in this science fiction novella. The book has been adapted into three different films, and still influences science fiction writers today. The Time Machine is a pioneering classic that is considered by many to be the most influential sci-fi book of all time.

Shards of Earth

Shoot into outer space with Adrian Tchaikovsky's high-octane, far-future space opera series. Eighty years ago, Earth was destroyed by an alien enemy. So mankind created enhanced humans ­such as Idris – who could communicate mind-to-mind with our aggressors. Then these ‘Architects’ simply disappeared and Idris and his kind became obsolete. Now, Idris and his crew have something strange, abandoned in space. It’s clearly the work of the Architects – but are they really returning? Shards of Earth is the first epic story in the Final Architecture trilogy. 

by Nnedi Okorafor

Binti is the first person in her family to be accepted at the prestigious Oomza University, but to take up the place will mean leaving all she knows for a new life travelling among the stars. And there are dangers in this new life, for the university has long warred with a nightmare alien race called the Meduse . . . This Hugo Award-winning novella is the first in Nnedi Okorafor’s science fiction series. 

by Frank Herbert

Frank Herbert’s science fiction classic is one of the bestselling sci-fi books of all time and was adapted into the film of the same name directed by David Lynch. Set 20,000 years in the future, the universe depends on the supply of Melange, a rare element, which can be used for everything from extending life-spans to interstellar travel. This precious element is found on only a single planet, Arrakis. And whoever controls Arrakis controls the universe . . . 

Frankenstein

By mary shelley.

Mary Shelley's story of a man who creates a monster he cannot control was a precursor of modern science fiction and a must-read for any sci-fi fans wanting to understand the history of the genre. Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant but wayward scientist, builds a human from dead flesh. Horrified at what he has done, he abandons his creation. The hideous creature learns language and becomes civilized but society rejects him. Spurned, he seeks vengeance on his creator. 

Nineteen Eighty-Four

By george orwell.

George Orwell ’s  Nineteen Eighty-Four  is one of the most famous and influential novels of the 20th century. The year is 1984. The country is impoverished and permanently at war, people are watched day and night by Big Brother and their every action and thought is controlled by the Thought Police. Winston Smith works in the department of propaganda, where his job is to rewrite the past. Spurred by his longing to escape, Winston rebels. This terrifying dystopia, which he created in a time of great social and political unrest, remains acutely relevant and influential to this day.

Lovecraft Country

By matt ruff.

An imaginative blend of magic, power, hope, and freedom that stretches across time, touching diverse members of two Black families, Matt Ruff's sci-fi horror is a devastating kaleidoscopic portrait of racism – the terrifying specter that continues to haunt us today. Set in Chicago, 1954 – Atticus Turner embarks on a road trip, along with his uncle and childhood friend, in search of his missing father. But soon they encounter both mundane terrors of white America and malevolent spirits that seem straight out of the weird tales Uncle George devours. 

The Black Locomotive

By rian hughes.

Prepare for a riveting tale that explores the delicate balance between progress and the timeless wisdom of bygone eras. Within the robust framework of London's concrete and steel, the city thrives on innovation and progress. However, as the clandestine Crossrail extension beneath Buckingham Palace is constructed, an enigmatic anomaly emerges, presenting an archaeological enigma that has the potential to reshape our perception of history and the very genesis of London. Should our contemporary society crumble, we may find ourselves compelled to embrace the ancient technologies of the past to safeguard our future.

by Octavia E. Butler

The first science fiction written by a black woman, Kindred is a cornerstone of American literature. Dana's 26th birthday takes a surreal turn when dizziness overcomes her during a move into a new apartment.  In an instant, she is transported to a verdant wood by a sprawling river, where a distressed child's cries pierce the air. Acting instinctively, she rescues him, only to face the alarming sight of an aged rifle in the hands of the boy's father.  The next thing she knows she's back in her apartment, soaking wet. It's the most terrifying experience of her life . . .  until it happens again.

2001: A Space Odyssey

By arthur c. clarke.

2001: A Space Odyssey takes readers from the ancient savannas of Africa to the outer reaches of our solar system. It is an allegory of humanity's quest for knowledge in the vast universe, and the universe's mysterious response. Follow the crew of the Discovery spacecraft as they venture towards Saturn, their mission overseen by the formidable HAL 9000, an advanced AI that challenges the boundaries of human intellect. Exploring themes of space exploration, technological risks, and the bounds of human potential, this marvel remains an enduring classic of monumental proportions.

Consider Phlebas

By iain m. banks.

First published in 1987, Consider Phlebas is the first book in Iain M. Banks's The Culture series, a classic space opera about an interstellar post-scarcity society. The Idirans fought for their Faith, while the Culture defended its moral existence. Within the cosmic conflict, an individual crusade. Deep within a fabled labyrinth on a barren world, a Planet of the Dead proscribed to mortals, lay a fugitive Mind. Both the Culture and the Idirans sought it. It was the fate of Horza, the Changer, and his motley crew of unpredictable mercenaries, human and machine, actually to find it, and with it their own destruction.

by Isaac Asimov

In the first novel in Isaac Asimov's classic science-fiction masterpiece, we travel to a sprawling galaxy on the brink of collapse. But a brilliant mathematician named Hari Seldon predicts the impending downfall. To safeguard civilization's future, Seldon establishes the Foundation, a covert organization tasked with preserving knowledge and shaping the course of history. As empires rise and fall, political intrigue intertwines with scientific brilliance, offering a captivating blend of epic scope, intricate plotting, and profound exploration of humanity's destiny.

Leviathan Wakes

By james s. a. corey.

Set in a future where humanity has colonized the solar system, tensions between Earth, Mars, and the Belt threaten to ignite a catastrophic war. Amidst this turmoil, a missing person's case leads a hardened detective and a disillusioned ship captain to uncover a conspiracy that could plunge the entire system into chaos. James S.A. Corey weaves a masterful tale, blending exhilarating action, intricate world-building, and complex characters. With its seamless blend of mystery, political intrigue, and interstellar adventure, Leviathan Wakes is the first book in The Expanse series, now also a major TV series. 

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

By philip k. dick.

Set in a post-apocalyptic future, where the line between humans and androids blurs, Do Andorids Dream of Electric Sheep? follows Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter tasked with tracking down rogue androids hiding among society. As Deckard's pursuit intensifies, moral dilemmas arise, blurring the boundaries of empathy and identity. Dick's mesmerizing prose transports you to a world filled with existential questions, intricate plot twists, and profound reflections on what it means to be human. This masterpiece served as the basis for the 1982 film Blade Runner and is a dystopian sci-fi must-read. 

Brave New World

By aldous huxley.

Largely set in a futuristic World State, inhabited by genetically modified citizens and an intelligence-based social hierarchy, Brave New World anticipates huge scientific advancements in reproductive technology, sleep-learning, psychological manipulation and classical conditioning that are combined to make a dystopian society which is challenged by only a single individual: the story's protagonist. With its seamless fusion of science fiction, social critique, and philosophical depth, the book challenges societal norms, sparks introspection, and reveals the delicate balance between freedom and conformity. 

The Martian

By andy weir.

A survival story for the 21st century and the international bestseller behind the major film by Ridley Scott. Stranded alone on Mars after a mission gone awry, astronaut Mark Watney must summon every ounce of his resourcefulness and resilience to survive. With limited supplies, daunting challenges, and a tenacious spirit, Watney uses his scientific expertise to defy the odds and find a way back home. Weir's masterful storytelling, filled with equal parts wit and tension, immerses you in the harsh beauty of Mars while showcasing the indomitable human spirit. 

by Terry Miles

Rabbits is an electrifying, compulsive read based on the hit podcast from the Public Radio Alliance – perfect for fans of  Stranger Things  and  Black Mirror . Rabbits is a secret, dangerous and sometimes fatal underground game. The rewards for winning are unclear, but there are rumours of money, CIA recruitment or even immortality. Or it might unlock the universe’s greatest secrets. But everyone knows that the deeper you get, the more deadly the game becomes – and the body count is rising. The eleventh round is about to begin, and what happens in the game, stays in the game . . . 

Set in the same world as Neal Asher's acclaimed Polity universe, Jack Four is a thrilling, fast-paced standalone novel packed with action. Jack Four – one of twenty human clones – has been created to be sold. His purchasers are the alien prador and they only want him for their experimentation program. But there is something different about Jack. No clone should possess the knowledge that’s been loaded into his mind. And no normal citizen of humanity’s Polity worlds would have this information. . .

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Science Fiction and Fantasy

The War Orphan and the Warmongering Alien

New books by Seth Dickinson, Heather Fawcett and Ray Nayler.

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By Amal El-Mohtar

Amal El-Mohtar is the Book Review’s science fiction and fantasy columnist, a Hugo Award-winning writer and the co-author, with Max Gladstone, of “This Is How You Lose the Time War.”

EXORDIA (Tordotcom, 532 pp., $29.99) is Seth Dickinson’s fourth novel and first work of science fiction, following three installments of the excellent Baru Cormorant fantasy series, and it revisits many of those novels’ themes and structures: empire, war and sacrifice.

Set in 2013, “Exordia” is a first-contact story: Anna, a Kurdish survivor of genocide who is fostered in the United States, meets a many-headed snake alien named Ssrin in Central Park. Anna and Ssrin become friends and roommates; Ssrin explains that she comes from a galaxy-conquering empire called the Exordia, and needs Anna’s help to rebel against it.

Anna, Dickinson writes, “is all in, the way only a woman chased out of her home by sarin gas can be all in. Her adult life began at age 7, with an act of alien intrusion, with the roar of Saddam’s helicopters. This is nothing new to her. She’s ready to risk it all, because no part of her life since that first alien invasion has felt real.”

There is a version of this book that might be more palatable to a broad readership: a version in which a traumatized war orphan’s friendship with a warmongering alien heals and redeems them both. This is very decisively not that book. It deliberately withholds what its first three chapters (and dust jacket) seem to promise: a “narratively complete” story centering Anna and Ssrin. Instead, “Exordia” compounds, enlarges and repeats their wounds — the ones inflicted on them, and the ones they inflict on the world and each other — as Dickinson uses a host of other characters to scrutinize ethics, fractal mathematics, theoretical physics and the military-industrial complexes of several nations. The result is agonizing and mesmerizing, a devastating and extraordinary achievement, as well as dizzyingly unsatisfying, given where it ends.

The publisher of “Exordia” claims it is a stand-alone novel. This is baffling. If you stop a play after its first act, it does not become a one-act play. “Exordia” is structured and paced like Book 1 of a series; Dickinson has stated in interviews that a sequel is “absolutely” intended. The word “Exordia” itself — the plural of “exordium” — suggests beginnings and introductions, a throat-clearing before the main work, and I sincerely hope Dickinson gets the opportunity to continue it.

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Amazing Worlds of Science Fiction and Science Fact

Keith Cooper

224 pages | 12 color plates | 5.43 x 8.5 | © 2025

Film Studies

Physical Sciences: Astronomy and Astrophysics , Physics--Popular Books

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"Unpacking science fiction alongside real exoplanet discoveries, Cooper’s Amazing Worlds of Science Fiction and Science Fact is a captivating, cutting-edge view of worlds beyond our Solar System that explores the intersection of fiction and fact. An essential read for anyone fascinated by the cosmos."

Sara Seager, professor of planetary science, physics and aeronautical and astronautical engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and author of "The Smallest Lights in the Universe"

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