Science Fiction/Fantasy Books

After reading and thoroughly enjoying Hyperion I decided to look for a few “best of” lists for science fiction. I do like the blurring of science fiction and fantasy and when I stumbled across the Your Picks: Top 100 Science-Fiction, Fantasy Books, I was sold. There are clearly more than 100 when you add in all the series, but I’ve read quite a few on the list and have more on my TBR list. Overall, I’m excited about expanding my science fiction horizons and will slowly work work my way through this list like all my other lists.

1. The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien
   • The Fellowship of the Ring
   • The Two Towers
   • The Return of the King
2. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
3. Ender’s Game – Orson Scott Card
4. The Dune Chronicles – Frank Herbert
5. A Song of Ice and Fire Series – George R.R. Martin
6. 1984 – George Orwell
7. Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury
8. The Foundation Trilogy – Isaac Asimov
9. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
10. American Gods – Neil Gaiman
11. The Princess Bride – William Goldman
12. The Wheel of Time Series – Robert Jordan
13. Animal Farm – George Orwell
14. Neuromancer – William Gibson
15. Watchmen – Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
16. I, Robot – Isaac Asimov
17. Stranger in a Strange Land – Robert A. Heinlein
18. The Kingkiller Chronicles – Patrick Rothfuss
19. Slaughterhouse-Five – Kurt Vonnegut
20. Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
21. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? – Philip K. Dick
22. The Handmaid’s Tale (The Handmaid’s Tale #1) – Margaret Atwood
23. The Dark Tower Series – Stephen King
    • The Gunslinger
    • The Drawing of the Three
    • The Waste Lands
    • Wizard and Glass
    • Wolves of the Calla
    • Song of Susannah
    • The Dark Tower

24. 2001: A Space Odyssey – Arthur C. Clarke
25. The Stand – Stephen King
26. Snow Crash – Neal Stephenson
27. The Martian Chronicles – Ray Bradbury
28. Cat’s Cradle – Kurt Vonnegut
29. The Sandman Series – Neil Gaiman
30. A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess
31. Starship Troopers – Robert A. Heinlein
32. Watership Down – Richard Adams
33. Dragonflight – Anne McCaffrey
34. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress – Robert A. Heinlein
35. A Canticle for Leibowitz – Walter M. Miller Jr.
36. The Time Machine – H.G. Wells
37. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea – Jules Verne
38. Flowers for Algernon – Daniel Keyes
39. The War of the Worlds – H.G. Wells
40. The Amber Chrnoicles – Roger Zelazny
41. The Belgariad – David Eddings
42. The Mists of Avalon – Marion Zimmer Bradley
43. Mistborn Trilogy – Brandon Sanderson
44. Ringworld – Larry Niven
45. The Left Hand of Darkness – Ursula K. Le Guin
46. The Silmarillion – J.R.R. Tolkien
47. The Once and Future King – T.H. White
48. Neverwhere – Neil Gaiman
49. Childhood’s End – Arthur C. Clarke
50. Contact – Carl Sagan
51. The Hyperion Cantos – Dan Simmons
    • Hyperion (#1)
    • The Fall of Hyperion (#2)
    • Endymion (#3)
    • The Rise of Endymion (#4)
52. Stardust – Neil Gaiman
53. Cryptonomicon – Neal Stephenson
54. World War Z – Max Brooks
55. The Last Unicorn – Peter S. Beagle
56. The Forever War – Joe Haldeman
57. Small Gods – Terry Pratchett
58. The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant The Unbeliever – Stephen R. Donaldson
59. The Vorkosigan Saga – Lois McMaster Bujold
60. Going Postal – Terry Pratchett
61. The Mote in God’s Eye – Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
62. The Sword of Truth Series – Terry Goodkind
63. The Road – Cormac McCarthy
64. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell – Susanna Clarke
65. I Am Legend – Richard Matheson
66. The Riftwar Saga – Raymond E. Feist
67. The Sword of Shannara Trilogy – Terry Brooks
68. The Conan the Barbarian Series – Robert E. Howard and Mark Schultz
69. The Farseer Trilogy – Robin Hobb
70. The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffeneggar
71. The Way of Kings – Brandon Sanderson
72. Journey to the Center of the Earth – Jules Verne
73. The Legend of Drizzt Series – R.A. Salvatore
74. Old Man’s War – John Scalzi
75. The Diamond Age – Neal Stephenson
76. Rendezvous with Rama – Arthur C. Clarke
77. The Kushiel’s Legacy Series – Jacqueline Carey
78. The Dispossessed – Ursula K. Le Guin
79. Something Wicked This Way Comes – Ray Bradbury
80. Wicked – Gregory Maguire
81. The Malazan Book of the Fallen Series – Steven Erikson
82. The Eyre Affair (Thursday Next #1) – Jasper Fforde
83. The Culture Series – Iain M. Banks
84. The Crystal Cave – Mary Stewart
85. Anathem – Neal Stephenson
86. The Codex Alera Series – Jim Butcher
87. The Book of the New Sun – Gene Wolfe
88. The Thrawn Trilogy – Timothy Zahn
89. The Outlander Series – Diana Gabaldon
90. The Elric Saga – Michael Moorcock
91. The Illustrated Man – Ray Bradbury
92. Sunshine – Robin McKinley
93. A Fire Upon the Deep – Vernor Vinge
94. The Caves of Steel – Isaac Asimov
95. The Mars Trilogy – Kim Stanley Robinson
96. Lucifer’s Hammer – Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
97. Doomsday Book – Connie Willis
98. Perdido Street Station – China Mieville
99. The Xanth Series – Piers Anthony
100. The Space Trilogy – C.S. Lewis

Additional books from this BuzzFeed quiz which included Young Adult novels and more female writers.

101. Patternist Series – Octavia E. Butler
102. Dhalgren – Samuel R. Delany
103. The Female Man – Joanna Russ
104. Brown Girl in the Ring – Nalo Hopkinson
105. The Drowned World – J.G. Ballard
106. The Stars My Destination – Alfred Bester
107. China Mountain Zhang – Maureen F. McHugh
108. Solaris – Stanislaw Lem
109. Witch World – Andrew Norton
110. Gun, with Occasional Music – Jonathan Lethem
111. Sarah Canary – Karen Joy Fowler
112. The Giver – Lois Lowry
113. How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe – Charles Yu
114. Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro
115. Embassytown – China Miéville
116. Zone One – Colson Whitehead
117. Little Brother – Cory Doctorow
118. Zoo City – Lauren Beukes
119. The Time Quartet – Madeleine L’Engle
120. Ubik – Philip K. Dick
121. Nova – Samuel R. Delaney
122. Blindsight – Peter Watts
123. The Windup Girl – Paolo Bacigalupi
124. Accelerando – Charles Stross
125. Kindred – Octavia Butler
126. The Day of the Triffids – John Wyndham
127. The Demolished Man – Alfred Bester
128. Schismatrix – Bruce Sterling
129. Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
130. The Space Merchants – Frederik Phol and Cyril M. Kornbluth
131. Riddley Walker – Russell Hoban
132. Light – M. John Harrison
133. Slow River – Nicola Griffith
134. Stand on Zanzibar – John Brunner
135. Sphere – Michael Crichton
136. Beggars in Spain – Nancy Kress
137. Who Fears Death – Nnedi Okorafor
138. Last and First Men – Olaf Stapledon
139. Roadside Picnic – Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
140. The MaddAddam Trilogy – Margaret Atwood
     • Oryx & Crake (#1)
     • The Year of the Flood (#2)
     • MaddAddam (#3)
141. Earth Abides – George R. Stewart
142. Babel-17 – Samuel R. Delany
143. Altered Carbon – Richard K. Morgan
144. The Hunger Games Trilogy – Suzanne Collins (most recent reviews)
     • The Hunger Games (#1)
     • Catching Fire (#2)
     • Mockingjay (#3)
145. Crash – J.G. Ballard
146. The City and the Stars – Arthur C. Clarke
147. Parable Series – Octavia E. Butler
148. The Man in the High Castle – Philip K. Dick
149. Beyond Apollo – Barry Malzberg
150. The Lord of Light – Roger Zelazny
151. Gravity’s Rainbow – Thomas Pynchon