Best Science Fiction of All Time: 26 Must-Read Books

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

These iconic books with a Goodreads rating of 4 have earned the authors literary awards.

1. "The Lord of the Rings" by John Tolkien

• Goodreads rating: 4, 4.
• Awards: International Science Fiction Award in the Fiction category (1957), SFinks Award in the Book of the Year category (2000), Prometheus Award in the Hall of Fame category (2009).

The Tolkien Trilogy, based on which Peter Jackson directed the legendary movie saga, stands the test of time and sets the bar for fantasy genre. The book is different from the film, so it will delight the reader with many interesting details and unexpected plot twists.

The hobbit Frodo and his companions embark on a journey through the fairytale universe to destroy the Ring and restore peace on earth. On the way, many dangers await them, which will require great valor and courage from the little hobbits.

2. "Dune" by Frank Herbert

• Goodreads rating: 4, 2.
• Awards: Hugo Award for Best Novel (1966), Nebula Award for Best Novel (1965), SFinks Award for Book of the Year (2008).

The action takes place in the distant future, where social life and culture revolve around "spice", there is a constant struggle for the extraction and use of this special substance. At first glance, it may seem that this is another story of the struggle between good and evil, nobility and selfish interests. However, the book is more polyphonic.

Herbert managed to create a kind of chronicle of the distant future, which explores the issues of politics, religion, ecology and technology, rightfully considered the brightest and most original in the history of world science fiction.

3. "A Song of Ice and Fire" by George Martin

• Goodreads rating: 4, 4.
• Awards: Academy Award for Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror - first two books (2001), Academy Award for Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror - first three books (2002).

This ranking would be incomplete without the Game of Thrones saga. The book allows you to follow the endless confrontation between the Starks and Lannisters without downloading the next season of the series. Magic, mystery, intrigue, passion, romance and adventure fill its pages and take the reader to a completely new world.

According to the author, in the last volumes, he did not kill those characters who die on the screen, which allows you to follow the fate of your favorite characters for a longer time.

4. 1984 by George Orwell

• Goodreads rating: 4, 1
• Awards: Prometheus Award in the Hall of Fame category (1984).

Orwell managed to create an antipode to the great, but not all recognized dystopia of the 20th century - "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley. The author tries to answer the question which is more terrible: an ideal consumer society or an ideal society of ideas? It turns out that there is nothing worse than complete lack of freedom in both the first and second cases.

Orwell predicted the total power of television, widespread surveillance, and many other cultural phenomena that we see today. Therefore, the book has not lost its relevance over the years.

5. "The Gods Themselves", Isaac Asimov

• Goodreads rating: 4.
• Awards: Hugo Award for Best Novel (1973), Nebula Award for Best Novel (1972), Locus Award for Best Novel (1973), Dietmar Award for "Foreign fiction (USA, novel)" (1973).

Azimov's novel consists of three parts, the names of which, if listed in the correct sequence, make up the famous saying of Friedrich Schiller: "Against stupidity, the Gods themselves are powerless to fight."

Two worlds appear before the reader: dying and full of strength. The greatest scientific discovery in the history of mankind gives people an inexhaustible source of cheap energy, which gives hope for salvation to a dying world. But things are not so simple, and the price for this discovery turns out to be too high for everyone.

6. "Date with Rama", Arthur Clarke

• Goodreads rating: 4.
• Awards: Hugo Award for Best Novel (1974), Nebula Award for Best Novel (1973), Locus Award for Best Novel (1974), British Science Fiction Association Award for category "Best Novel" (1974).

The case when the novel received as many as seven prestigious awards in the field of science fiction (Lifehacker listed the most famous of them) and marked the beginning of a series of books by different authors who explore the relationship of earthlings with a different mind.

The action takes place in the near future. An unusually shaped asteroid moves through the entire galaxy towards the solar system. A crew of earthlings lands on the surface of the asteroid and begins to collect data, which only complicates the search for an answer to the main question: "Who and why created this whopper?.."

7. "Roadside Picnic", Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

• Goodreads rating: 4, 5.
• Awards: Prize named after Jules Verne in the category "Novel (USSR)" (1979), Prize "Golden Graulli" in the category "Foreign novel" (1981).

One of the few works of Russian-language science fiction that does not lose, but only gains popularity over time.

Roadside Picnic is reflected in world culture. Andrei Tarkovsky made his legendary film "Stalker" based on it. A few decades later, the story formed the basis of a computer game and became the beginning of a series of books, which take place in the fictional world created by the Strugatskys.

After the aliens visited the Earth, Zones appeared on it, in which completely different laws of existence operate. The society turned out to be not ready for the "gifts" of the aliens and is struggling to adapt to the new reality, following the few Stalkers.

8. "Speaker for the Dead" by Orson Scott Card

• Goodreads rating: 4.
• Awards: Hugo Award for Best Novel (1987), Nebula Award for Best Novel (1986), Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (1987), Academy of Science Award science fiction, fantasy and horror in the category "Best Foreign Book (USA)" (1995).

In Russian translation, the book is also known under the titles "The Voice of Those Who Are Not" and "Herald of the Dead". This novel was a direct sequel to the novel Ender's Game, which also won several literary awards and received a great response from fans of science fiction.

Earthlings meet another race of evolved creatures. The differences between them are so great that it almost leads to a new conflict of civilizations.

9. American Gods by Neil Gaiman

• Goodreads rating: 4, 1.
• Awards: Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel (2001), Hugo Award for Best Novel (2002), Nebula Award for Best Novel (2002), Locus Award for Best Novel (Fantasy) "(2002), Academy Award for Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror in the category" Best Fantasy (UK / USA) "(2001).

The book formed the basis of the series of the same name, which was highly appreciated by both viewers and critics. Therefore, if you want to understand modern science fiction, this novel is one of the first to read.

The main character served three years in prison and was finally released. He does not yet suspect that the main tests for him are just beginning. The wife dies in a car accident, and a strange man named Wednesday draws the hero into tangled events …

10. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

• Goodreads rating: 4.
• Awards: Governor-General of Canada Literary Award in the English Prose category (1985), Los Angeles Times Book Award in the Fiction category (1986), Arthur C. Clarke Award in the Best Novel category (1987).

Another book based on which the popular dystopian TV series was filmed. Margaret Atwood is building a pretty convincing panorama of the future, which may come tomorrow.

In the new world, women are not allowed to own property, work, love, read or write. They are here only for one thing - to give birth. And if someone is not capable of this, she remains to work in hard labor until her death, which under such conditions occurs earlier than usual. The main character of the book - Fredova's maid - challenges the system, for which she has to pay.

11. 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur Clarke

• Goodreads rating: 4, 1.
• Awards: New Dimension Magazine Award for Best Book (UK / Sri Lanka) (1968).

An example of how a book appears after the film of the same name - and finds its audience, living its own life. Arthur Clarke wrote his science fiction novel based on a screenplay he collaborated with Stanley Kubrick on. It is believed that the work was ahead of its time.

An unknown object has been discovered on the moon, which is sending a powerful signal into space. Scientists managed to find out that the signal goes towards one of the satellites of Saturn. The interplanetary ship "Discovery" is sent there to explore unknown spaces …

12. Ready Player One by Ernest Kline

• Goodreads rating: 4, 2.
• Awards: Prometheus Prize for Best Novel (2012), Alex Prize (2012).

In the near future, when the world is experiencing another economic recession and a shortage of resources, you can truly feel alive only in the virtual space where representatives of humanity spend their days. Before dying, the creator of this space creates a series of intricate puzzles. The one who solves them first will inherit his enormous fortune and power over the whole world. The main character decides to try his hand and starts looking for clues.

Today, the writer is working on a sequel, so readers will soon have the opportunity to find out what happened to their favorite characters.

13. "The Left Hand of Darkness", Ursula Le Guin

• Goodreads rating: 4.
• Awards: Hugo Prize for Best Novel (1970), Nebula Prize for Best Novel (1969), Italian magazine Nova SF Prize for Best Novel (1972), SFinks Prize for Book of the Year”(1996).

Not the most famous novel by an American writer, but big, complex and serious. In it, Le Guin poses and resolves global philosophical and moral questions - this is precisely why fans of intellectual fiction love him.

The book describes the world of the distant planet Zima, to which the main character arrives with a mission of goodwill - the unification of many planets into one system. But for this he must bridge the gap between his own views and the ideas of a completely alien culture with which he is faced.

14. "Prince of Light", Roger Zelazny

• Goodreads rating: 4, 7.
• Awards: Hugo Prize in the Best Novel category (1968), Lazar Komarcic Prize in the Best Foreign Novel category (1985).

The writer's biographers agree that the science fiction writer was well versed in Eastern culture. And the novel is proof of this, because on its pages the gods of the Hindu pantheon come to life, who interact with people and demons.

This book is more of a philosophical discourse on being than a classic science fiction novel. However, the poignant plot keeps the reader's attention throughout the story.

15. Infinity War by Joe Haldeman

• Goodreads rating: 4, 1.
• Awards: Hugo Prize for Best Novel (1976), Nebula Prize for Best Novel (1975), Locus Prize for Best Novel (1976), Lazar Komarcic Prize for Best Foreign Novel "(1986).

The most famous book of the author, thanks to which his name is heard by fans of science fiction today. Haldeman fought in Vietnam, which had a great influence on all of his work and this novel in particular. The novel can be called anti-militaristic.

The main character is a soldier of the space forces who fights against insidious aliens and dreams of returning home. When he finds himself on his native land, he realizes that here he also feels like a stranger. It turns out that finding happiness and your place in life in peacetime is even more difficult than in wartime.

16. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

• Goodreads rating: 4, 1.
• Awards: Prize of the Italian magazine Nova SF in the category "Best Novel" (1970).

This science fiction novel brought Bradbury his first success. Thanks to him, the writer received many prestigious awards and found the love of fans all over the world.

The novel consists of separate chronicles, in which the author reflects on the pressing issues of the existence of mankind - both on Earth and in the entire Universe. People dream of conquering space so much, but they don’t think about what kind of endless longing for everything human that is left at home can overwhelm them …

17. "Confrontation" by Stephen King

• Goodreads rating: 4, 3.
• Awards: Barry Levine Award for Book of the Year (Revised and Revised Edition) (1990), Balrog Award for Best Novel (1979), World Fantasy Award for Best Novel (1979).

Despite the fact that other books have brought King great fame, this novel won many awards. Agree, a good reason to pay attention to it.

The population of America is dying out due to the virus, however, even in such a situation, the struggle for world domination does not subside. A mysterious person who can subdue the weak seeks to seize power. Few of those who managed to survive and maintain adequate ideas about good and evil decide to prevent the impostor at all costs.

18. Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein

• Goodreads rating: 4.
• Awards: Hugo Award for Best Novel (1960).

In Russian, this book was also published under other titles: "Star Infantry", "Star Rangers", "Space Marines" and "Soldiers of Space". Even if you've watched the film adaptation of Paul Verhoeven, the book is still worth reading. Heinlein focuses on important political and social phenomena, and the plot boasts even more unpredictable twists. At the same time, the novel is considered one of the most controversial works of science fiction: after its release, Heinlein was called a militarist and accused of promoting fascism.

Earth is being attacked by a dangerous enemy, and the Star Marines must confront a sentient bug civilization that has nothing to do with humans. In such a war, power decides everything, because there is simply no time to seek reconciliation.

19. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

• Goodreads rating: 4.
• Awards: Nebula Prize in the Best Novel category (1966).

The book will appeal to those who want a little break from space fiction, switching to fiction with a universal human face. The novel is notable for its deep psychologism and makes us think about the questions of love and responsibility that we often ask ourselves in everyday life.

Charlie Gordon, a 33-year-old floor washer, is mentally retarded. Despite this, he has a job, friends and an irresistible desire to socialize. After he takes part in a scientific experiment, his life is turned upside down. Charlie's IQ almost triples, and he begins to comprehend things familiar to him in a completely new way.

20. Harry Potter Books, J. K. Rowling

• Goodreads rating: from 4 to 3.
• Awards: British National Book Award for Children's Book of the Year (1998), Nestle Children's Book Award (1997-1999), Whitbread Award for Children's Book of the Year (1999).

Although the Harry Potter books have already formed a separate literary direction, formally they are classified as fiction. The books have won many awards (Lifehacker only listed a few).

There is no point in retelling the plot, since even those who have not read Rowling's books have probably watched the movie saga. Let's just say that this series of books is one of the best examples of children's literature, for which Rowling has been compared to Jane Austen and the ancient Greek poet Homer.

21. "We", Evgeny Zamyatin

• Goodreads rating: 4, 5.
• Awards: Prometheus Award in the Hall of Fame category (1994).

The second Russian-language book on this list, which is widely known outside of Russia. This novel influenced the work of Aldous Huxley and George Orwell, and many of the metaphors from the book have long gone to the people.

The inhabitants of Utopia have lost their individuality so much that they distinguish each other by numbers. In this world, they eat artificial food, draw down the curtains at a signal to rest, and every year they unanimously re-elect the head of government. Does it look like anything?..

22. Discworld by Terry Pratchett

• Goodreads rating: 4.
• Awards: Academy Award for Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror (1995–1999).

Pratchett writes in the genre of humorous fiction, which today enjoys success far outside the UK. The books in this series are a kind of parody of classic fantasy. They not only entertain and ironically notice the shortcomings of modern society, but also make you think about things that are important for everyone.

The writer is distinguished by an original style of storytelling, thanks to which his books are loved even by those who are far from fiction.

23. "Solaris", Stanislav Lem

• Goodreads rating: 4, 2.
• Awards: Geffen Prize (2003).

The novel describes the relationship of people with the intelligent ocean of the planet Solaris. At the same time, Lem disputes the position of other science fiction writers who believe that contact with extraterrestrial civilizations will bring total happiness to humanity. The heroes of Solaris cannot know the alien mind, they feel lonely far from the Earth and are afraid of everything new.

The action takes place in the distant future. But the author raises philosophical questions that are relevant for humanity in the present. Perhaps that is why Andrei Tarkovsky shot the film of the same name, and the idea of a smart ocean was reflected in the work "Stars are cold toys" by Sergei Lukyanenko.

24. Transfer Station, Clifford Simak

• Goodreads rating: 4.
• Awards: Hugo Prize for Best Novel (1964).

Simak became famous for his original ideas, carefully crafted plots and the ability to speak simply about difficult things.

The hero of the novel from the American wilderness. At first glance, he leads a measured and uninteresting lifestyle. Everything would be fine, but only a person does not age. This is what draws the attention of a CIA agent to him.

25. Hyperion by Dan Simmons

• Goodreads rating: 4, 2.
• Awards: Hugo Award for Best Novel (1990).

This novel by the American writer is often compared to Jeffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, where the narrative includes several timelines at once, and several characters can be called the main ones.

Many worlds participate in an interstellar war, and the fate of humanity depends on how it ends. On the planet Hyperion, which occupies a key place in this confrontation, the Tombs of Time begin to open - gigantic structures that move from the future to the past. Seven pilgrims go to these sites to solve their mystery and save people.

26. The Witcher, Andrzej Sapkowski

• Goodreads rating: from 4.
• Awards: Lituanicon Prize (2006).

The cycle can be attributed to the so-called dark fantasy. The main character, the witcher Geralt, protects people from monsters. The action takes place in the world of many races, peoples, communities, each of which strives to defend its interests at all costs.

Sapkowski draws analogies with our reality and makes fun of the vices of modern society. The cycle is not over yet, and, according to the author, the next book should be published very soon.

What science fiction books would you add to this list? Share in the comments.