Best Science Fiction Books for Young Adults

Ready Player One: A Novel (Ready Player One) Start here

by Cline, Ernest

Not 'strictly' a LitRPG novel, but Ready Player One has a lot of elements that make up an LITRPG book, those being the in-game sequences. This is not only a LitRPG (partially) but a fantastically, brilliantly funny scien...

Ender's Game (1986) (The Ender Quintet) Start here

by Card, Orson Scott

The first in a famous series that seems to become more literary as its characters age. Follows a child prodigy and in the process makes the reader think about war, the means to war, and even loneliness.

Earth has survived two invasions by an insect-like alien race, and the International Fleet is training the most gifted children to lead the next defence. Six-year-old Andrew "Ender" Wiggin is taken from his family and se...

Dune (Dune Chronicles) Start here

by Herbert, Frank

The whole series over time shows the colonization and taming of the wild planet Dune over thousands of years.

A blend of sci-fi and fantasy, Frank Herbert's Dune created a foundation for many of the themes in modern genre fiction. Its exploration of ecology, pacifism, and mysticism pairs with a story of destiny to remain rel...

House Of The Scorpion (Matteo Alacran) Start here

by Nancy Farmer

Winner of the 2002 National book award as well as a Printz and Newbery Honor book in 2003, House of the Scorpion has a lot of literary acclaim for a sci-fi novel. This futuristic, coming-of-age adventure tackles so...

The Hunger Games Trilogy (The Hunger Games)

by Collins, Suzanne

Katniss Everdeen, a 16-year-old girl who competes in a battle to the death.

Suzanne Collins' engaging narrative, while not entirely original, has garnered millions of fans across the globe, proving that The Hunger Games Trilogy has something for adults and children alike. On a superficial leve...

The Giver (The Giver) Start here

by Lois Lowry

Newbery Award winning, The Giver, the first of The Giver quartet, is a dystopian coming of age story that is soon to be adapted into a major motion picture. In Jonas's ordered world, everyone is given a job at age...

Little Brother (Little Brother) Start here

by Cory Doctorow

A near-future dystopia that has been compared to ground-breaking books such as 1984 and Fahrenheit 451, Little Brother is part coming-of-age story and part political treatise. Marcus Yallow and his friends skip sch...

Shade’s Children

by Nix, Garth

Winner of the Golden Duck Award and nominated for an Aurealis, Shade's Children is a grim dystopian tale that is high on mystery and action. Earth has been taken over by evil Overlords who harvest anyone over the ag...

Ship Breaker (Ship Breaker) Start here

by Bacigalupi, Paolo

The first in a YA dystopian series, this novel depicts an Earth where natural resources are exhausted, cities are drowning, and Antarctica is gone, global warming.

The 2011 Printz-award winning Ship Breaker is a dystopian thrill ride. Severe climate change has rendered coastal areas into wastelands; corporations have free reign to do whatever they'd like, and the world has...

Leviathan (Leviathan) Start here

by Westerfeld, Scott

Westerfeld takes today's futuristic visions of cyborgs and genetically engineered creatures and puts them into WWI.

A steampunk fantasy with a lot of oomph to it. It’s an alternative history story, one that merges the period history of World War 1 events with a fantastical world where there are airships made from bioengineered creatur...

The Knife Of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking) Start here

by Patrick Ness

The Knife of Never Letting Go is a dystopian sci-fi thriller that will knock your socks off. Shortlisted for the Carnegie medal, the novel is the story of Todd Hewitt, the last child in the settlement of Prentis...

Life As We Knew It (Last Survivors) Start here

by Susan Beth Pfeffer

First in the Last Survivors Quartet, Life as We Knew It chronicles the lives of a family in rural Pennsylvania which are turned upside down when an asteroid knocks the moon out of orbit. Told through journal entri...

The Adoration Of Jenna Fox (The Jenna Fox Chronicles) Start here

by Mary E. Pearson

The Adoration of Jenna Fox is a novel that raises a lot of questions. When Jenna wakes up after a year long coma, she has no idea who she is or how she got there. Her parents tell her that they're her parents an...

Beggars In Spain (Sleepless) Start here

by Nancy Kress

How much more could you do if you didn't have to sleep? That's the simple question that starts this superb trilogy.In this near future world, a philosophy that is becoming ever more dominant is known as Yagaiism, aft...

Zoe S Tale (Old Man's War)

by John Scalzi

Zoe's Tale is the fourth novel in Scalzi's Old Man's War series, and although, it's not specifically marketed to young adults, it's the perfect introduction to the genre for young readers. Zoe Boutin-Perry, the pro...

Divergent (Divergent) Start here

by Roth, Veronica

Divergent is a teen dystopia that is now a major motion picture. It's an action-packed thrill ride through a post-apocalyptic version of Chicago where society has split up into five factions, based on how people felt...

Unwind (Unwind Dystology) Start here

by Shusterman, Neal

In the world of this story life can be sustained indefinitely, but at what cost? This is the story of children who try to escape their fate to be unwound—have their organs transplanted into other bodies.

Unwind, the first novel in the Unwind dystology is a truly disturbing YA blend of science fiction and horror. Set in a dystopian society after a series of civil wars dealing with abortion rights, the warring parties...

Legend (Drenai Tales) Start here

by Gemmell, David

Gemmell specializes in heroic fantasy. His best book is widely regarded as Legend. Legend doesn’t try to be anything but what it is: a heroic adventure with lots of blood, battles, babes, and badass magic. There’s a plot...

The 5th Wave (The 5th Wave) Start here

by Rick Yancey

Tired of corrupt governments and plagues starting your apocalypse? Why not give aliens a whirl? In a concept that worked great for Independence Day, The 5th Wave features aliens who are out to destroy all of humani...

Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles) Start here

by Marissa Meyer

A popular trope in fantasy is the revival of fairytales, with a twist. You only have to go to the cinema and watching Red Riding Hood, Snow White and the Huntsmen, and Hansel and Gretel to see your childhood favori...

Maximum Ride The Angel Experiment (Maximum Ride) Start here

by James Patterson

Maximum Ride:The Angel Experiment is a mad scientist story from the experiment's point of view. Max is a fourteen year-old girl, oldest of her small group of friends that are closer than family to her. Oh, and she...