75 Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time What Is The Best Science Fiction Book Ever Written?

We don’t define ‘best’ or ‘science fiction’ or even ‘novel’ for them – we’ve shortlisted books with illustrations and poems before. Some of the judges look for a novel that fits firmly into the tradition of science fiction but still feels new. One of this year’s judges looks for a science fiction vibe – they wanted great novels that had a science fiction flavour. Some judges seek titles that they can thrust into the hands of people who dismiss science fiction as just entertainment. The winning book has to survive rereading, as typically the judges reread the shortlist.

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

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. 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.

Ringworld Series by Larry Niven

Astronauts and billionaires, comedians and bank executives, professors and presidents, teenagers and patients at the end of their lives – they panic, they plan, they wonder and they hope. All in a story that goes all the places you’d expect, and to many others you could never anticipate. Microsoft’s logo with the tagline “Your potential. Our passion.”—below the main corporate name—is based on a slogan Microsoft used in 2008. The book starts out with another outstanding war between two deadly enemies.

The main character who will be discovering this mysterious place alongside you is Robinette Broadhead and he starts his journey to the gateway on the Heechee spacecraft. Half of the series talks about how this character experiences his journey to the gateway and what happens inside. Then you find out what he actually manages to achieve with this whole adventure and so much more is to come in the remaining books. The thing that helped most in this was the Alderson Drive, a piece of tech that has the ability to travel faster than light. Science fiction books with wars never get boring as no two wars are the same and most of them get to a pretty huge scale. This series is another war one alright and you get to read about a war that rages across an entire galaxy.

• Venomous Lumpsucker is very funny at times, and there’s been a thread of satire and black humour over the decades.
• 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.
• If she were a real woman, you’d be thinking this is coercive control, but if it’s just a machine… well, it gets messy.
• Does it say something about the world we live in that this and Service Model are the most fun books on the short list?
• Arkady Martine’s Teixcalaan duology is a must-read for fans of epic space opera.
• Arkady Martine’s debut sci-fi book is an immersive political space opera for fans of Ann Leckie and Iain M. Banks.

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. Stories of Your Life and Others is Ted Chiang’s masterful debut collection. 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.

The Collected Stories by Cixin Liu

Upgrade is the mind-bending sci-fi thriller from Blake Crouch, author of Matter and Recursion. If your concentration was better, if you could multitask quicker, read faster, memorize more? 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. 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.

The winner will make them think, but it might make them cry or make them angry. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy began life as a Radio 4 show intercorporate investments 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. This classic science fiction novel is a must-read for fans of the genre.

The Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan

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. 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.

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. But no one will admit his death wasn’t accidental – and she might be next. 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.

• Microsoft has announced another round of layoffs that will affect 42 employees at its Redmond campus, as reported in a state filing with the Employment Security Department.
• Charles first has to negotiate the medical and police services and then the fact that it is unemployed.
• Ambassador Mahit Dzmare travels to the Teixcalaanli Empire’s interstellar capital, eager to take up her new post.
• 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.
• Nearly 70% of the Fortune 500 use Microsoft 365 Copilot, according to Microsoft press statements, and Barclays has rolled out more than 100,000 seats with plans to scale further.

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It has been criticized for its monopolistic practices, and the company’s software has been criticized for problems with ease of use, robustness, and security. And finally, the last book in our review is a story that will be told throughout a series of 11 books and it all starts in Dauntless, the first book. Most science fiction fans absolutely love reading stories about Mars and all kinds of events related to our neighbor planet. The reason for this is because we are closer than ever to colonizing Mars and reading stories like these can sure bring a lot of excitement. The Wheel of Time also holds a highly adventurous plot where you get to meet more amazing characters and travel to some pretty amazing place. The first book of the series, The Eye of the World, introduces you to the main character, Rand al’Thor, and so begins this epic adventure.

A bunch of aliens discover it but are too afraid to explore deeper as who knows what might present itself, it’s a never before seen object before after all. So they form a team of a bunch of characters who will go and explore its contents, what follows next is an amazing story that will leave you wanting more after you are finished reading it. Our next pick one of the best science fiction book series and an amazing and unforgettable story and the reason for that is simply because of the main character and protagonist inside. His name is John Perry and the story follows him as he is about to go and join the army. There has been peace in interstellar space for a decade, but now the most advanced alien species humanity has ever met is on the verge of war – and Earth is being dragged into the conflict.

The Book of the New Sun Series by Gene Wolfe

Here is one of the best science fiction book series out there that has a unique plot to it. This type of story writing is not common but it’s great to read about. The story starts as you get to meet the main character of the series, the young Severian. 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. 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. 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 2025, the best of 2024 and our all-time picks.