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  1. Genres
  2. ›Science Fiction

Best Science Fiction Books

Science fiction stories

1,193 summaries

Showing 241–264 of 1,193

  1. All Systems Red

    Martha Wells

    ★ 4.2 (71k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    A reclusive, self-hacked security android, who just wants to watch its shows, is forced to protect the irritating humans it secretly cares about when a corporate expedition goes dangerously wrong.

  2. Disclosure

    Michael Crichton

    ★ 3.8 (70k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A high-tech executive fights to save his career and fortune when his new female boss accuses him of sexual harassment after he rejects her advances.

  3. Heir to the Empire

    Timothy Zahn

    ★ 4.1 (70k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    Five years after Endor, as the New Republic finds its footing, Grand Admiral Thrawn emerges from the unknown regions with a brilliant tactical mind and two devastating discoveries, threatening to shatter the fragile peace and reignite the galactic civil war.

  4. Sleeping Giants

    Sylvain Neuvel

    ★ 3.8 (70k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A mysterious, colossal metal hand discovered by a young girl sparks a global race against time to decipher its alien origins and purpose, threatening to either unite or obliterate humanity.

  5. Max

    James Patterson

    ★ 4.1 (68k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    Hawaii's coast is under attack by a deep-sea threat. Max and her winged flock must dive into the abyss to rescue her mother from an underwater evil, confronting their biggest fear.

  6. God Emperor of Dune

    Frank Herbert

    ★ 3.9 (67k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    For 3,500 years, the immortal, part-sandworm God Emperor Leto Atreides II has ruthlessly guided humanity along his 'Golden Path,' manipulating destiny and sacrificing his own humanity to ensure mankind's ultimate survival against an unknowable, existential threat.

  7. Year One

    Nora Roberts

    ★ 4.0 (67k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    After a New Year's Eve plague brings magic and chaos, survivors navigate society's ruins, finding purpose and new beginnings as ancient good and evil awaken.

  8. Skyward

    Brandon Sanderson

    ★ 4.5 (67k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    On a planet where humans fight for survival against aliens, a determined girl finds her calling as a pilot by befriending an ancient, sentient spaceship.

  9. Prelude to Foundation

    Isaac Asimov

    ★ 4.1 (67k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    In a vast galactic empire nearing collapse, a young mathematician, Hari Seldon, invents a science that predicts the future, making him central to humanity's survival or ruin.

  10. Red Mars

    Kim Stanley Robinson

    ★ 3.9 (67k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    A hundred colonists set out to terraform Mars, battling the hostile planet and their own clashing ideas, ambitions, and loyalties as they try to build a new world.

  11. Next

    Michael Crichton

    ★ 3.5 (67k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    In a future where genetic manipulation is common, 'Next' is a thriller about stolen genes, chimp-human hybrids, and a collapsing sense of reality, showing humanity's dangerous relationship with its own genetic future.

  12. How to Stop Time

    Matt Haig

    ★ 3.8 (67k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    A centuries-old man, tired of outliving loved ones, risks everything for a forbidden romance. This relationship might teach him to live in the present, despite a secret society watching him and his past memories.

  13. Monsters of Men

    Patrick Ness

    ★ 4.2 (67k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    In a world where all thoughts are audible, two young lovers must navigate a three-way war between vengeful aliens, desperate human factions, and an approaching wave of settlers, forcing them to choose between personal survival and the fate of an entire planet.

  14. The Atlantis Gene

    A.G. Riddle

    ★ 3.7 (66k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    An ancient Antarctic discovery and a modern genetic breakthrough spark a global conspiracy, forcing a geneticist and an agent to race against a powerful enemy intent on unleashing the next, deadly stage of human evolution.

  15. The Wind Through the Keyhole

    Stephen King

    ★ 4.2 (66k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    During a fierce storm in Mid-World, Roland Deschain, the last gunslinger, tells a story about his youth and a boy's encounter with a shape-shifting monster, connecting it to an old legend of bravery.

  16. Enclave

    Ann Aguirre

    ★ 3.9 (66k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    In a post-apocalyptic New York, a young Huntress raised in an underground enclave must navigate the monster-filled ruins of the Topside with a former surface-dweller after their warnings are dismissed and they are exiled into the dangers they sought to prevent.

  17. Stories of Your Life and Others

    Ted Chiang

    ★ 4.2 (66k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    This collection explores how language changes time, mathematical truths fall apart, and biblical events happen literally, making us question reality and what humans can understand.

  18. The Final Warning

    James Patterson

    ★ 3.9 (65k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    In Antarctica, a winged teenager named Max must outsmart an army wanting to control her powers, all while fighting global warming and a government that sees her as both an experiment and a weapon.

  19. Cibola Burn

    James S.A. Corey

    ★ 4.2 (65k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    As humanity spreads through alien gates to new worlds, Holden and the Rocinante crew are caught between desperate settlers and a ruthless corporation on a planet where a deadly disease and the echoes of the protomolecule threaten interstellar war.

  20. The Dark Forest

    Cixin Liu

    ★ 4.4 (64k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    With humanity's every thought exposed to an alien invasion force centuries away, a select few must craft secret strategies hidden within their own minds, even from their own kind, to save a doomed Earth.

  21. The Sparrow

    Mary Doria Russell

    ★ 4.1 (63k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    A Jesuit mission to a planet of singing aliens finds a universe so beautiful and brutal, it shatters their faith and changes what they think it means to be human.

  22. Stars Above

    Marissa Meyer

    ★ 4.2 (63k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    This collection of short stories explores the hidden origins and connections of cyborg mechanics, soldiers, and hackers within the Lunar Chronicles universe, revealing its romantic core.

  23. Renegades

    Marissa Meyer

    ★ 4.2 (62k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    In a city rebuilt by superpowered heroes, a vengeful assassin with the power to steal sleep infiltrates their ranks, only to find herself drawn to the artistic prodigy son of her sworn enemies, who champions the very justice she seeks to dismantle.

  24. Carve the Mark

    Veronica Roth

    ★ 3.8 (62k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    In a galaxy where unique currentgifts define destiny, a resilient woman with the power to inflict pain and a loyal man who can disrupt it are forced together, challenging the brutal tyranny of her brother and the deep-seated animosity between their worlds.

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