20 Best science fiction novels for every sci-fi fan

Let's face it: these days, reality isn't very enticing. Thus, we immersed ourselves fully into the conversation as we considered compiling a list of the greatest science-fiction and fantasy novels to read in the twenty-first century. Which far-off worlds were we interested in visiting? Which dragons were we interested in fighting? Which operatic space romances were we interested in experiencing firsthand? From those conversations, we created this collection of novels filled with robots, mutants, alien civilizations, prophets, thieves, shadows, mystics, innovators, and extraterrestrial life. Disclaimer: This article reflects the writer’s opinion. Comment with your feedback to let us know which other books deserve to be on the list.

1) Downbelow Station by C. J. Cherryh

Twenty separate people would have different opinions about C.J. Cherryh's finest novel since her body of work is so vast. However, a Hugo Award and a Locus finalist make it difficult to refute. Thus, in our opinion, Downbelow Station is the best place to start. As humanity spreads out among the stars, Downbelow Station, set in Cherryh's Alliance-Union Universe, is the tale of corporate space exploration gone wrong.

2) Dune by Frank Herbert

Focusing on the planet Arrakis, where the spice is extracted, Frank Herbert's captivating picture of a feudal distant future transformed by the mind-altering capabilities of a drug called spice is a classic that yet feels revolutionary today. The book was so successful that it was adapted into three films and resurrected on television. Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya were among the well-known actors who starred in the subsequent films.

3) Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany

Bellona is no longer the same city; the majority of its residents have left, leaving only the destitute, deranged, and criminals. And a young man, the Kid, who was a poet. This complex and nuanced story navigates racial, gender, and sexual concerns in a near-future, devastated setting in a way that is impossible to overlook.

4) Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

Earth is almost uninhabitable due to the effects of pollution and war. The wealthy have departed the planet, leaving the less fortunate, like Rick Deckard, to fend for themselves. During a particularly difficult assignment, Rick, who earns his livelihood by destroying rogue androids, is forced to consider his work and perhaps his identity. Perhaps the most comprehensible of Dick's many writings, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is an incredible book.

5) Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

The author of Upgrade, Recursion, and the Wayward Pines trilogy presents a "mind-blowing" (Entertainment Weekly) speculative thriller about a regular man who awakens in a world that is oddly different from the one he believed he knew. The narrative of Dark Matter is about decisions, unexplored avenues, and the lengths we will go to in order to live the lives we envision.

6) Darwin’s Radio by Greg Bear

Bear imagines a future in which a little modification that transforms the planet rather than heroic mutations would mark the next stride in human progress. Great characters battling against prejudice in the face of political authority and technological revolution. This book was dubbed a Nebula Award winner.

7) The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau is a stand-alone tale that reads less like a contemporary fantasy and more like a traditional gothic fiction. Set in nineteenth-century Mexico, this rich historical drama reworking of The Island of Doctor Moreau comes from the acclaimed author of Mexican Gothic and Velvet Was the Night.

8) The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord

Even though the majority of the Sadiri survivors are men, they still have to figure out how to keep their people going after their homeworld is destroyed. Under the direction of a lady from the planet's Central Government, they set out to preserve their disappearing species by traveling around the colony world of Cygnus Beta, where they come across a diverse range of people and civilizations.

9) The Big Book of Science Fiction, edited by Jeff VanderMeer and Ann Vandermeer

Since it includes works by many of the top science fiction authors we are talking about on our list, this anthology deserves to be on our "Best Of" lists, even though they don't often. Wells, Clarke, Butler, Vonnegut, Asimov, Liu, Doctorow, Le Guin, and the list goes on and on! An excellent beginning for readers of science fiction.

10) Binti: The Complete Trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor

Nnedi Okorafor presented us with Binti, a young Himba girl who has the opportunity of a lifetime: to enroll in the esteemed Oomza University in her novella that won both Hugo and Nebula awards. Notwithstanding her family's reservations, Binti is a strong contender to go on this intergalactic voyage because of her aptitude for astrolabes and her gift for mathematics. But everything changes when the Medusae, which resemble jellyfish, invade Binti's spaceship, and she is the only one left alive. With only five days to get to her objective, Binti is now left to fight for herself aboard a ship full of the creatures who killed her crew.

11) The Blazing World and Other Writings by Margaret Cavendish

The Blazing World, an early female utopian and proto-science fiction book, is about a lady from Earth who enters another planet through a portal in the North Pole and ascends to the position of empress of a fantasy society composed of half-human, half-animal creatures. Cavendish imagines submarines, boats with motors, and an endless cosmos in this 1666 work, which embodies the theoretical science of the Enlightenment.

12) A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller

Nuclear war razed the Earth, plunging its survivors into a new dark age in which science is reviled and books are destroyed on sight. A small order of Catholic monks dedicated to a legendary miracle worker holds back the wave of ignorance as best that it can as barbarism swells at its gates. A Canticle for Leibowitz is a bittersweet tale that might make you worry about our future as a species.

13) The Children of Men by P. D. James

British novelist P.D. James created a contemporary masterpiece that feels unnervingly current every year by developing an all too believable premise. James imagines a scenario in which the birth rate has dropped to zero. England is ruled by an authoritarian regime, drawing inspiration from the problem of dropping birthrates worldwide. James examines human weakness, love, hopelessness, and the social need for procreation within this narrative framework. James's talent for eloquent, incisive characterization and gradually building suspense elevates this book to a remarkable level.

14) The City & The City by China Mieville

China Mieville's tightly-knit narrative, which received the Hugo Award, combines a police procedural with his wonderful odd fiction. As he searches for a killer, Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad travels across two very different worlds in this story. Incredible narrative from one of today's top authors.

15) 1984 by George Orwell

The finest science fiction frequently uses the future to highlight and address current problems. The dystopian novel 1984, in which our culture is the target of public manipulation and government monitoring, perfectly illustrates this—a must-read for readers of all ages.

16) 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

Tokyo is the setting, and the year is 1984. After heeding the mysterious advice of a cab driver, a young lady called Aomame starts to observe perplexing contradictions in her surroundings. In addition to being a dystopia to match George Orwell's, 1Q84 is a love tale, mystery, fantasy, and self-discovery book.

17) Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan

The plot centers on a private detective whose history and present mix as he tries to uncover the death of a wealthy man in a future when intergalactic travel is accomplished by "sleeving" one's mind into new bodies. It was a grim and grim cyberpunk encounter. A Netflix series now!

18) Amatka by Karin Tidbeck

Vanja serves as an information assistant in a world where reality is governed by language. She chooses to prolong her job after falling in love with her flatmate while collecting intelligence for her country in the ice colony Amatka. Nevertheless, she starts to see that this colony is seriously flawed.

19) Ammonite by Nicola Griffith

Griffith's debut book, Ammonite, was the recipient of both the James Tiptree Jr. and Lambda Awards. A sickness that kills all the males and most of the women, almost destroys a human trip to the planet Jeep. Centuries later, Marghe, an anthropologist, is dispatched to test a vaccination on the initial expedition's descendants, who were all women. Marghe discovers that she has undergone significant and surprising changes as she lives and travels among them.

20) The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch

Shannon Moss works for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service in a covert unit. She is tasked with solving the death of a Navy SEAL's family in western Pennsylvania in 1997, as well as finding his missing teenage daughter. Motivated by a disturbing link from her own history and determined to discover the missing child, Moss goes ahead in time to investigate potential futures in an attempt to gather information that may help solve the current case. Bright and eerie, The Gone World is full with concepts that might break the globe, yet at its core, it is a deeply human tale.