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  1. Genres
  2. ›Science Fiction

Best Science Fiction Books

Science fiction stories

1,193 summaries

Showing 169–192 of 1,193

  1. The Infinite Sea

    Rick Yancey

    ★ 3.9 (119k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    In a world where alien invaders have shattered trust, Cassie and her allies must find their humanity to fight the 5th Wave, which aims to wipe out humankind.

  2. Illuminae

    Amie Kaufman

    ★ 4.3 (114k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    In 2575, a planet-wide invasion forces Kady and her ex-boyfriend Ezra to flee on a spaceship where a deadly plague, a rogue AI, and corporate secrets threaten their survival, all documented through hacked files.

  3. Life As We Knew It

    Susan Beth Pfeffer

    ★ 3.9 (113k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    After a meteor shifts the moon, plunging the world into an Arctic winter, a teenage girl's journal records her family's fight to survive tsunamis, earthquakes, and an ash-choked sky.

  4. The Mist

    Stephen King

    ★ 4.0 (113k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    Trapped in a supermarket by a strange mist with unseen monsters, survivors must face their fears and the truth behind a secret government project to fight an otherworldly invasion.

  5. The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress

    Robert A. Heinlein

    ★ 4.2 (113k) average on GoodreadsPolitics

    In a future where Earth's lunar penal colony revolts for independence, a one-armed computer technician, a female activist, a wise professor, and a self-aware supercomputer lead a revolution against an oppressive government, battling for freedom and the meaning of humanity.

  6. School's Out—Forever

    James Patterson

    ★ 4.2 (112k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    Max, a genetically engineered bird-kid, must navigate the terrifying normalcy of an FBI-run 'school' while uncovering her destiny to save the world and facing her greatest enemy: a clone of herself.

  7. Across the Universe

    Beth Revis

    ★ 3.8 (112k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    Waking fifty years too early on a generational spaceship, a frozen girl must uncover a murderer among the isolated, future-shocked inhabitants before her parents become the next victims, all while navigating a forbidden romance with the ship's enigmatic young leader.

  8. Messenger

    Lois Lowry

    ★ 3.9 (112k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    As a sinister closed-mindedness seeps into his once-welcoming village, a young messenger must journey through a treacherous forest, relying on a newfound inner power to deliver one last, vital message.

  9. Among the Hidden

    Margaret Peterson Haddix

    ★ 4.0 (112k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    Confined to his home as an illegal third child, Luke discovers a defiant kindred spirit who challenges him to join a dangerous rebellion against a totalitarian regime that forbids his very existence.

  10. Mostly Harmless

    Douglas Adams

    ★ 4.0 (110k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    Arthur Dent, a man always confused by the universe, finds his new peace broken by a galaxy-wide plot, a smart guidebook, and a surprise teenage daughter, all while dealing with the dread of making sandwiches and the threat of total destruction.

  11. Recursion

    Blake Crouch

    ★ 4.2 (109k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A detective and a neuroscientist race to stop a plague of false memories from unraveling reality, making them question if their past ever truly existed.

  12. Skeleton Crew

    Stephen King

    ★ 4.0 (109k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A terrifying mist unleashes interdimensional horrors upon a trapped supermarket, while other King classics explore everything from cursed objects to shortcuts to paradise, proving that the mundane can become monstrous at any turn.

  13. The Young Elites

    Marie Lu

    ★ 3.9 (108k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    A fever survivor, abandoned by her family, discovers a terrifying power. She must choose between a secret society of gifted outcasts and the darkness threatening to consume her.

  14. Under the Never Sky

    Veronica Rossi

    ★ 4.0 (108k) average on GoodreadsFantasy
  15. The Talisman

    Stephen King

    ★ 4.1 (108k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A twelve-year-old boy goes on a dangerous, reality-bending quest across two dimensions of America to find a mystical talisman and save his dying mother.

  16. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Tales of Terror

    Robert Louis Stevenson

    ★ 4.0 (107k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    A respected doctor's chilling transformation into a monstrous alter-ego reveals the Victorian era's darkest worries about human nature, science, and hidden depravity.

  17. Children of Dune

    Frank Herbert

    ★ 3.9 (106k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    On a greening Arrakis, nine-year-old twins with their father's prescient burden navigate a galactic empire that both craves and fears their messianic destiny amidst whispers of rebellion.

  18. Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

    Haruki Murakami

    ★ 4.2 (105k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    In a divided Tokyo, a data shuffler with a jazz obsession navigates a war between 'Ciphers' and the 'System,' while in a dreamlike 'End of the World,' a man without a shadow reads skulls and battles memory loss to find a shared truth.

  19. The Year of the Flood

    Margaret Atwood

    ★ 4.1 (105k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    After a global flood, a trapeze dancer and a God's Gardener emerge from their shelters to navigate a world of gene-spliced creatures and violent gangs, searching for loved ones and a way forward.

  20. Y: The Last Man, Vol. 1: Unmanned

    Brian K. Vaughan

    ★ 4.1 (104k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    In a world suddenly devoid of all but one man and his monkey, Yorick Brown's desperate quest for answers and his girlfriend is constantly threatened by a planet of powerful, and often vengeful, women.

  21. Ringworld

    Larry Niven

    ★ 4.0 (104k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    A diverse crew of humans and aliens journeys across a massive artificial ringworld, only to crash-land and confront its mysteries and dangers.

  22. Extras

    Scott Westerfeld

    ★ 3.6 (104k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    In a future obsessed with fame and radical self-expression, a 'nobody' reporter uncovers a secret that could catapult her to stardom or shatter her world.

  23. Going Postal

    Terry Pratchett

    ★ 4.4 (104k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    From the gallows to a government desk, a con artist is forced to resurrect a derelict postal service, battling sentient mail, a ruthless communication monopoly, and his own criminal instincts to deliver hope to a city.

  24. The Running Man

    Richard Bachman

    ★ 3.9 (103k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    In a grim future where poverty is a death sentence, Ben Richards gambles his life on a brutal reality TV show, 'The Running Man,' hoping to win enough to save his dying daughter.

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