Best Science Fiction Series

Dune Chronicles (Dune Chronicles)

by Herbert, Frank

What a crazy ass ride this series is. Still wildly popular and selling off the shelves after nearly 50 years, the Dune series has spawned a movie, computer games, board games, and numerous authorized sequels (sic)....

Miles Vorkosigan Saga (Vorkosigan Saga)

by Bujold, Lois Mcmaster

There's a time for everything. There's a time to read heavy novels filled with grand ideas and space, the universe, and the destiny of mankind through Hard Science Fiction. There's a time to read meaningful discourse on...

Ender Series (Enderverse)

by Card, Orson Scott

Ever read a book that is good in spite of its author's controversial reputation? Card has landed himself in a lot of hot water for his political commentary, primarily driven by his personal religious viewpoint. Thi...

Mote Series (Moties)

by Niven, Larry

and Jerry Pournelle. A far future story of first contact after human societies already span hundreds of star systems. This story explores alien biology, society, art and impacts on humanity's economics, politics, and religions.

Starts with A Mote in God's Eye, the award winning first book in the series of 2 with the 3rd book written by one of the authors. Nothing will prepare you for this book. You will find this book on every damn list of...

Foundation (Foundation)

by Asimov, Isaac

Some softer elements, like FTL and antigrav cars, but otherwise a rational series.

Book Flap Description  One of the great masterworks of science fiction, the Foundation novels of Isaac Asimov are unsurpassed for their unique blend of nonstop action, daring ideas, and extensive world-building. The sto...

Consider Phlebas (Culture) Start here

by Iain M. Banks

A sprawling series with a well developed society complete with social norms, language, biology, artificial intelligences, and the list goes on.

Banks himself once described the plot of Consider Phlebas as: "a shipwrecked sailor falls in with a gang of pirates and goes in search of buried treasure." And that's precisely what it is, a colourful romantic adventur...

Zone Of Thought (Zones Of Thought)

by Vernor Vinge

Ever bought some electronic thing and two days later discovered it was already obsolete? Sucks. This whole idea about broken things is defined by the concept of The Singularity -- a field that Vinge is the master o...

Lilith's Brood (Xenogenesis)

by Butler, Octavia E.

Science fiction isnât always meant to be comfortable or easy reading. Quite the opposite, any literature so based on ideas must challenge the reader, make them think differently (if only for as long as it takes to read t...

The Fall Of Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos)

by Simmons, Dan

A more recent example of a winning space opera series is the Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons. The series contains four novels and several short stories, and they've been wildly successful with fans and critics alike. In 1990 the first novel in the series, Hyperion, won both the Hugo and Locus Awards.

This work is the only comprehensive guide to sequels in English, with over 84,000 works by 12,500 authors in 17,000 sequences.

Revelation Space (Revelation Space) Start here

by Alastair Reynolds

A complex novel that postulates many different lifeforms who struggle against ancient, machine-like intelligences seeking to destroy all new organic life.

Throughout its history, one of the strongest and most interesting aspects of science fiction has been its use in satire. And this is just about the most stunning of contemporary satires, one that is still remarkable appo...

1981: The Shadow Of The Torturer (The Book Of The New Sun) Start here

by Wolfe, Gene

The sun has dimmed, the Earth is cooler and has been transformed in wondrous ways.

'The Shadow of the Torturer' is the first book in Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun tetralogy. Narrated by Severian, a member of the Guild of Torturers, the story follows his adventures as he is cast out for showing m...

Woken Furies (Takeshi Kovacs)

by Morgan, Richard K.

Mixing classic noir sensibilities with a searing futuristic vision of an age when death is nearly meaningless, Richard K. Morgan returns to his saga of betrayal, mystery, and revenge, as Takeshi Kovacs, in one fatal mome...

Ringworld (1971) (Ringworld) Start here

by Niven, Larry

One of the most famous books of the genre, that follows the pros and cons of living on a spinning ring instead of a round planet. The fact that makes this book so famous is that after the author’s ideas were proven impracticable, he wrote a sequel explaining the inadequacies.

In the year 2850, Louis Wu turns 200 and is bored with life. Then a two-headed alien Puppeteer called Nessus offers him a job: join a small expedition to a gigantic artificial ring circling a distant star, a structure of...

The Gap Into Conflict: The Real Story (Gap) Start here

by Donaldson, Stephen R.

Angus Thermopyle is a vicious but unsuccessful pirate who walks in with a beautiful woman on his arm. She is Morn Hyland, a police officer until she met him. His rival Nick Succorso is a bold pirate whose frigate is made...

The Uplift Saga (The Uplift Saga)

by Brin, David

A series with a complex universe where politics can decide the fate of an entire race. Feudalism, bureaucracy, indentureship, international relations, ecology, there is a lot happening in this universe.

No science fiction list would be complete without the inclusion of a science fiction mystery that morphs into an action adventure. Published in 1987 Startide Rising won the Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards and The Upl...

The Reality Dysfunction (Night's Dawn) Start here

by Iii, David R. George

Space is not the only void... In AD 2600 the human race is finally beginning to realize its full potential. Hundreds of colonized planets scattered across the galaxy host a multitude of prosperous and wildly diverse cult...

The Left Hand Of Darkness (1970) (Hainish Cycle)

by Guin, Ursula K. Le

Pacifism and a anarchy—both have merits.

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin won the 1970 Nebula Award for Best Novel.One of the best examples of science fiction in the genre.

The Pride Of Chanur (Chanur) Start here

by Cherryh, C. J.

Starts with Downbelow Station. The aliens are coming. The aliens are coming! Until you read Cherryh you haven't really read good aliens. She's got this peculiar gift for summoning aliens to life as distinct from hu...

Doomsday Book (1993) (Oxford Time Travel) Start here

by Willis, Connie

In 2054, Oxford historians send students back in time to study the past. Kivrin Engle, a young historian, is sent to the English countryside in 1320. But a technician falls ill while setting up the drop, and she arrives...

Red Mars (1994) (Mars Trilogy) Start here

by Robinson, Kim Stanley

A mission is launched to terraform Mars in this scientific epic.

In 2026, a hundred colonists set off on the first long voyage to Mars. Among them are John Boone, the first man to walk on the planet, and his rival Frank Chalmers, a schemer who prefers to work behind the scenes.On arri...

Majipoor Series (Lord Valentine)

by Silverberg, Robert

At the core of all the best science fiction series is good story telling in one form or the other. I mean, who wants to read only about novel ideas and grand concepts if there isn't anything outside of that -- you...