Books like Slaughterhouse-five
30 science fiction books to read after Slaughterhouse-five, by Kurt Vonnegut, the closest match first.
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1. The Atrocity Exhibition
by J. G. Ballard
- On the same lists
Whenever you put a list of books together, you'll always get disagreements. But this could well be the most controversial choice of all, because J.G. Ballard's The Atrocity Exhibition has...
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2. Galapagos
by Kurt Vonnegut
- Same author
This is the story of a band of people shipwrecked on an island in the Galapagos after a crippling global financial crisis and a bacterium that spreads and makes women infertile—except on the shipwrecked island. The book covers the evolution of humanity over the next million years.
It was in the isolated environment of the Galapagos Islands that Charles Darwin made the observations that were crucial to the development of his ideas of natural selection, and it...
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3. Dhalgren
by Delany, Samuel R.
- On the same lists
NOTE: THIS IS #26 on the TOP 100 LIST. The first 1-25 entries are found on THE TOP 25 BEST SCIENCE FICTION LIST. Dhalgren is one of the peculiarities of...
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4. Pavane
by Keith Roberts
- On the same lists
Pavane is a sequence of linked stories set in the 1960s in a world in which the Spanish Armada had succeeded, Catholicism had defeated Protestantism, and the Church ruled Britain...
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5. The Sirens Of Titan
by Kurt Vonnegut
- Same author
This is the novel in which we first encounter some of the themes and ideas that would later emerge in Slaughterhouse-Five. There are Tralfamadorians, there's the familiar resignation in the...
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6. Cat's Cradle
by Kurt Vonnegut
- Same author
Cat's Cradle is written in a style that makes me feel like Vonnegut's sitting back with a joint, having a laugh, in on the joke that is life. It reminds...
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7. Red Rising (not Magic, But Hunger Games Survival Meets School Setting With Some Fantasy Elements)
by Brown, Pierce
- On the same lists
Books in this sub-genre focus almost entirely on magic, but Red Rising stands in stark contrast to that. Part dystopia, part sci-fi fantasy, Red Risingfocuses on the story of a...
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8. Inverted World
by Priest, Christopher
- On the same lists
He had reached the age of 650 miles. With its very first words, Inverted World tells us we are in a very different world. In fact, this is one of...
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9. Stand On Zanzibar
by John Brunner
- On the same lists
In the 1960s, when overpopulation was a common worry for the future, it was often said that the entire population of the world could stand on the Isle of Wight....
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10. 2010: The City & The City
by Miéville, China
- On the same lists
Imagine two cities that share the exact same geographic space, but do not interact with one another under any circumstances. Unless the government authorities grant permission, that is. If citizens...
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11. Lord Of Light
by Zelazny, Roger
- On the same lists
Clones and transfer technology make the doctrine of reincarnation a literal truth.
Zelazny may be famous in the fantasy world for his Amber series, but his best work may just be his stand alone novel, Lord of Light. It's a work that's...
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12. Flowers For Algernon (1967)
by Keyes, Daniel
- On the same lists
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes won the 1967 Nebula Award for Best Novel along with Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany. This is the only time since the start of...
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13. We Were Liars
by E. Lockhart
- On the same lists
In the early 1920s, the manuscript of Zamiatin's novel, We, was smuggled out of Soviet Russia to be published in the West. One of the people who reviewed that novel...
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14. A Canticle For Leibowitz
by Jr., Walter M. Miller
- On the same lists
After a nuclear war monks preserve civilization.
A Canticle for Leibowitz follows the rejuvenation of "civilization" after a devastating nuclear holocaust. It has three distinctive chapters, each one disconnected by centuries, focusing on life at a desert...
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15. Breakfast of Champions
by Kurt Vonnegut
- Same author
Short on plot and big on message, this novel is comedic, satirical, and challenges conventions of form.
Short on plot and big on message, this novel is comedic, satirical, and challenges conventions of form.
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16. The Handmaid's Tale
by Margaret Atwood
- On the same lists
An award winning, Canadian novel that explores themes of women in subjugation and agency in a futuristic theocracy.
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...
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17. Dangerous Visions
by Harlan Ellison
- On the same lists
Throughout its history, many of the finest and most important works of science fiction have been short stories. Magazines and anthologies have been the lifeblood of the genre for at...
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The Commonwealth Saga book 1 Start here
18. Pandora's Star
by Hamilton, Peter F.
- On the same lists
Hummanity can live forever by uploading themselves into new bodies.
The Commonwealth Saga is a vast, sprawling space opera that is spread over several novels and short stories. In a precursor to the main series, Misspent Youth, a rejuvenation procedure...
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19. Frankenstein
by Shelley, Mary
- On the same lists
Arguably the first Sci Fi novel and one that is also very much part of the Gothic tradition.
While not “strictly” a steampunk, this is one of the first science fiction novels, the ultimate science-gone-wrong story, and Victor Frankenstein is the quintessential mad-scientist, harnessing the power of a...
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Old Man's War book 1 Start here
20. Old Man's War
by John Scalzi
- On the same lists
Geriatrics are transferred into healthier bodies and enhanced soldier bodies.
John Scalzi is one of the shining lights of today’s science fiction landscape. His first novel, Old Man’s War, was an incredible introduction, bringing Scalzi to international attention, as well...
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22. Dying Inside
by Silverberg, Robert
- On the same lists
Despite his credentials championing hard, rational science fiction, John W. Campbell was a fervent believer in psi powers. Perhaps because of that, whenever telepathy appeared in science fiction, as in...
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The Ender Quintet book 1 Start here
23. Ender's Game (1986)
by Card, Orson Scott
- On the same lists
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...
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24. R.u.r.
by Karel Capek
- On the same lists
Czech is hardly a widely spoken language, and in the years immediately after the First World War Czechoslovakia had barely gained its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire which had largely...
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Nanotech book 1 Start here
25. Queen City Jazz
by Kathleen Ann Goonan
- On the same lists
Of course, we like to imagine that we won’t change; but nothing is going to stop the environment around us changing, and that is inevitably going to have an effect...
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26. Tales Of The Dying Earth
by Vance, Jack
- On the same lists
A series, and the reason there is a Dying Earth sub-genre.
Tale of the Dying Earth truly stands as one of the greatest works ever penned. Everything that's good and bad about the human condition is eloquently expressed within this tale....
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Ringworld book 1 Start here
27. Ringworld (1971)
by Niven, Larry
- On the same lists
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...
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The Forever War book 1 Start here
28. The Forever War (1976)
by Haldeman, Joe
- On the same lists
In this novel, time travel is a kind of side effect of space travel at near light speeds.
William Mandella is a physics student drafted into an elite force to fight an alien enemy on the far side of the galaxy. Travel between the front lines takes a...
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Firefall book 1 Start here
29. Blindsight
by Peter Watts
- On the same lists
A group of freaks (who are also astronauts) are sent on a one way mission to investigate a mysterious object that appears at the edge of human space. Atmospheric and creepy.
This novel has been hailed as one of the best hard sf stories written this century. It's an awesome novel, packed with invention and new ideas and challenges to the...
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30. Lilith's Brood
by Butler, Octavia E.
- On the same lists
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...
Matches come from series and authors, from the lists the books share, and from the books readers open together. They are rebuilt every night. Back to Slaughterhouse-five.
The shortlist
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