10 best sci-fi books: must-read science-fiction novels
Space, time travel or dystopia? Take your pick with the best sci-fi books.
The term sci-fi can cover all manner of topics. This genre is all-encompassing, finding room for stories set in the distant future and those not set in any recognisable timeline whatsoever.
But the way the best sci-fi novels look at how we, or those like us, react to change is a common theme.
The definition of ‘science’ in this context can be relatively fluid, while its role within narratives can be dominant or just a conduit for explorations of the human condition.
Whether it’s dealing with fantastical discoveries or things a lot more tangible, the novels listed below are the sort of thing many a sci-fi fan will be intrigued by… if you haven’t read the books in question already...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10. Ann Leckie – Ancillary Justice
The first instalment in Leckie’s Imperial Radch trilogy, Ancillary Justice is one of the more eye-catching addition to the upper echelon of sci-fi writing in the recent past. The novel takes the form of a space opera set on a distant planet, but addresses that most universal of themes, revenge. Considering the praise for its style and ambition, you often have to remind yourself that this was a debut novel.
9. Liu Cixin – The Three Body Problem
Translated from the original Chinese in 2014, this 2008 novel takes the backdrop of China’s Cultural Revolution and uses it to develop a layered plot covering death, aliens and scientific certainties and uncertainties.
A winner of the Hugo Award in 2015, Liu Cixin’s ambitious work can count Barack Obama among its fans, with the former president praising its scope and the way it made his own problems feel tiny by comparison.
8. Alastair Reynolds – House Of Suns
Welsh author Reynolds might be most widely known for his various trilogies, but standalone novel House of Suns more than holds its own in that company.
It is in outer space, millions of years into the future, and follows de facto clones of a 31st century woman named Abigail Gentian. The novel brings together a wealth of disparate themes while allowing the author to show the wherewithal to bring the moving parts together when it matters.
7. China Miéville – The City And The City
Whether or not you’ve seen the TV adaptation of Miéville’s work, you’ll want to give The City and the City a read to enjoy the writing and the ambition.
It concerns two cities that occupy the same space, and their citizens, all of whom are taught to ‘unsee’ the other city and everything that happens there. The City and the City addresses the scientific concept of more than one thing occupying the same space and the more sociological theme of wilful ignorance of the things around us.
6. Fredrik Pohl And Cyril M. Kornbluth – The Space Merchants
When it comes to predicting the future through science-fiction, The Space Merchants does better than plenty of its predecessors or successors.
Published in 1953, the novel conceives of a time in the future during which businesses and the world of advertising have wrested power from traditional governmental sources. It received high praise from Kingsley Amis, who described it as having “many claims to being the best science-fiction novel so far,” and some of its accuracy is almost concerning.