Jordan’s Top 15 Sci-Fi Novels Ranked
As a first time novel writer I think it’s important to start with the obvious and list my favorite sci-fi books. Hopefully this will give you a glimpse at the foundations of my imagination and indicate whether or not my writing style and storytelling abilities will appeal to your personal tastes. I understand that life is rather short when it comes to investing one’s free time in a novel without knowing with certainty that you’ll be properly entertained and enjoy the ride from start to finish. I myself can only find the time to read 20-30 books per year and I find it disheartening when I determine a book wasn’t the right fit for me.
The books in this list aren’t necessarily what I aim to achieve with my own writing, nor can I claim that my novel will rise to quality and depth that I believe these stories contain. This list is not exhaustive and may be subject to change over time as I read more and more. A ranked list is very subjective, these are my personal choices and not an attempt to claim any of these titles are necessarily better than something someone else may have enjoyed more. You may even hate some of these books, or mine for that matter, and that’s perfectly fine. These are books I devoured and couldn’t put down and pondered long after finishing them. Let me know what your favorites are in the comments, I’d love to hear them. We stand on the shoulders of giants.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Douglas Adams
Yes, my favorite book of all time is actually five books. Sue me. This is the series that opened my eyes to what science fiction could be. If there’s any crumb of British humor in my own writing, perhaps crossed with a healthy dose of Kurt Vonnegut, this is why. There isn’t a lick of hard science in The Guide which is what makes it so plucky and endearing. The 2005 movie adaptation starring Martin Freeman, Mos Def, Sam Rockwell, Zooey Deschanel, and Alan Rickman is a riot and it’s still worth a watch. There’s a reason why this novel is at the top of so many science fiction lists, including my own. Read it as soon as possible if you haven’t yet, don’t forget a towel, and DON’T PANIC! #42
“He felt that his whole life was some kind of dream and he sometimes wondered whose it was and whether they were enjoying it.”
My second pick is the first book in a series of nine titles plus nine novellas. The Expanse series is worth every dot of ink on the page. The science here is quite a bit more real and complex but not over the top and easy to follow for the most part. The Amazon series was also an excellent rendition of the printed work, though it (sadly) did not span the complete series. As far as I know, this is the closest thing we’ve got to Game of Thrones in space. Beltalowda!
“Everyone’s too busy trying to survive to spend any time creating something new.”
If you like hard science in your fiction this is as hard as it goes. A true world building epic detailing (and I mean detailing) an overarching plot spanning centuries to settle and terraform Mars. This trilogy has had numerous deals for adaption into a series but it has proven too large a task and has been abandoned at least four times. This will not be everyone’s cup of tea as it often gets lost in the weeds of Martian geology rather than the characters of the story but I have yet to read a better tale about terraforming a planet.
“In games there are rules, but in life the rules keep changing.”
The Light of Other Days
Stephen Baxter and Arthur C. Clarke
Advanced wormhole technology is released to the public and chaos ensues. Imagine if personal privacy was no longer a thing. Imagine if you could view any moment of our past and discover hard truths about long standing myths. You won’t find this book on many other sci-fi lists, and certainly not ranked this highly, but I loooooved it! I’m dying for this to be adapted into a series or movie, the mini-series Devs on Hulu is the closest comparison. I simply need more people to read and discuss this one!
“The point, you see, is not the answers themselves, but the mental development we enjoy through striving for those answers.”
Blake Crouch has quickly become one of my favorite authors. His sci-fi thrillers are all absolutely mind-bending page-turners. Here we explore the themes of memory, time, and identity. You could argue that Dark Matter is the better of the two on this list but Recursion gets the edge for me. I wouldn’t be surprised if this gets adapted for the screen sometime soon as it seems much of Blake’s work is ready-made for it.
“Time is an illusion, a construct made out of human memory. There’s no such thing as the past, the present, or the future. It’s all happening now.”
Parallel universes. Quantum mechanics. Yet, digestible and character driven. This book shines a refreshing light on the tried and true trope of humans wishing they could see what their lives would look like had they made other choices. This is another banger by Blake Crouch and you can catch the new series on Apple TV+. Of the books on this list, Dark Matter has seemed to be the most palatable to readers not native or privy to science fiction.
“It's terrifying when you consider that every thought we have, every choice we could possibly make, branches off into a new world.”
If I gave you a list of my personal heroes Carl Sagan would be right at the top. Contact features one of the most realistic explorations of humanity learning to communicate with an intelligent alien species. Not only that but said communication doesn’t lead to invasion, annihilation, or warfare of which pervades most first contact stories. The movie adaptation starring Jodie Foster is still quite watchable though, from memory, the ending diverges from the novel. In this current era of rampant Hollywood reboots and remakes, this is one they should try again.
“For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.”
This is a staple and a classic you’ll find on most any list of science fiction favorites. Certainly, unless you’re living under an actual sand dune, you’ve heard of the movie adaptations featuring Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya (which are fantastic). Yes, this is another series, but you can read and enjoy Dune as a standalone novel. What else do I need to say? Spice melange, the most valuable substance in the universe. Sandworms!
“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.”
You know and love him from his hit novel and movie adaptation The Martian. Andy’s sophomore novel, Artemis, wasn’t a favorite of mine but my goodness is Project Hail Mary fantastic! Don’t sleep on this one, read it before the movie starring Ryan Gosling comes to the big screen! It will be fascinating to see how they create a realistic interpretation of Rocky.
“Sometimes, the stuff we all hate ends up being the only way to do things.”
Dragon’s Egg
Robert L. Forward
Few books have stretched my mind and imagination more than this one. This is another story about humanity connecting with an alien life form without meeting violent ends. It’s hard to describe this novel without revealing spoilers. It’s also hard to fully understand this novel unless you’ve got the focus and determination for it. This one is for the true sci-fi fans looking for deep cuts and classics.
“The human race settled down to solving the insoluble problem in the best way that they knew - they ignored it and hoped it would go away.”
The Humans
Matt Haig
Matt Haig’s story The Humans is a very down to earth tale about an extraterrestrial learning what it’s like to live among us. The alien’s encounters run the gamut of human life from absurd contradictions to endearing. If you’re looking for a story that makes you feel a bit warmer toward the predicament of being alive on this planet give it a read! This one is for fans of the web comic Strange Planet.
“No one will understand you. It is not, ultimately, that important. What is important is that you understand you.”
Hyperion
Dan Simmons
Another book that is part of a series but can be read as a standalone novel. This one features the Shrike, quite possibly the most fear educing creature in all of science fiction. It’s an epic adventure set on an epic world of epic proportions. Did I say epic enough times? That’s what to expect from this novel. This one is regularly featured on any other list of best sci-fi novels, and rightfully so.
“It occurs to me that our survival may depend upon our talking to one another.”
The Martian
Andy Weir
Oh, just that other book that everyone remembers by Andy Weir. The famous tale of Mark Watney’s quest to survive being left behind all alone on Mars. The film adaptation was pretty dang good too, starring Matt Damon. This one was fun for the inventive science that comes from living in a vacuum against all odds, plus the language of Watney swearing like a sailor and who wouldn’t in such a situation.
“My asshole is doing as much to keep me alive as my brain.”
Rendezvous with Rama
Arthur C. Clarke
Yes, yes. Another book in a series that can be read as a standalone. Imagine having the opportunity to visit an unoccupied and mysterious spacecraft slinging through the solar system for just a short while. This one might be adapted for the big screen one day by Denis Villeneuve, who has the chops with Dune, Blade Runner 2049, and Arrival all under his belt. Can’t wait!
“If such a thing had happened once, it must surely have happened many times in this galaxy of a hundred billion suns.”
This is sort of a sneaky bonus entry as it’s more of a surrealist art book than a sci-fi novel. However, the illustrations are so fun to look at along with a fragmented story that was in fact adapted into an excellent Amazon series of the same name. Simon is a Swedish artist specializing in retro-futuristic design which is something I’m attracted to like a moth to a flame.
“A fictionalized suburban town in the 1980s inhabited by fantastic machines.”
Honorable mentions:
Three books by Neil Gaimen Good Omens, American Gods, and The Ocean At The End of the Lane don’t neatly fit into the definition of science fiction, they are closer to magical realism and fantasy. While this is a list of my favorite sci-fi, I would be remiss to create any list of my favorite literature without mention of Gaimen and his exceptional craft of storytelling.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and 1984 by George Orwell are also sci-fi-esque in nature but fall more into dystopian fantasy.
The Foundation series by Isaac Asimov (a sci-fi giant) is one that I enjoyed conceptually but which failed to hook me with shallow character development. It doesn’t make the list for me but I appreciate it’s breadth and merit.
There are also many titles I could include by the late, great Kurt Vonnegut who is one of my favorite authors (Slaughterhouse Five, Mother Night, The Sirens of Titan) but the sci-fi elements of his work are often not the focal point of the story and serve as a conduit for some excellent social commentary instead.
There are other titans of science fiction that have missed my list - notably Ursula K. Le Guin, Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, Jules Verne, and William Gibson. I have read at least one novel by each of them and I respect their craft, mastery of literature, and forward thinking. None of their works are quite my favorites at this point. That can always change in the future but for now, this is my list take it or leave it. Happy reading!
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