Top 10 SciFi Novels/Series | Updated 2024! | LeeReads

[@ssmytheYT]

Murderbot (1-7) was awesome! Definitely fun.

[@armantookmanian1938]

Wow! I read Murderbot (a unique and fun read) and thoroughly enjoyed it, but was unaware it was part of a series - thank you for pointing me to the followups!

[@LeeReads]

You're very welcome, I hope you enjoy!

[@wburris2007]

Dune, Children of Time, and The Expanse are some of my favorites.

[@LeeReads]

Sounds like we may have similar taste! 😀

[@sarahbevc2434]

Ooooh A Memory Called Empire sound really interesting! Thank you for great recommendations! I also put Ender's Game on my TBR list. I'm slowly getting into Star Wars expended universe too - but very slowly. I try to be with SW characters I'm currently reading about for as long as possible and SW universe is so big, I'm taking my time, enjoying it slowly.

[@LeeReads]

Yeah there is a lot in the star wars universe!! It can be overwhelming, with lots of hits and misses. I can recommend specific favs if you're interested!

[@sarahbevc2434]

@@LeeReads Thank you, I would love hearing your recommendation and thoughts on SW books! :-)

[@nxsardella]

I’m new to your channel and this is so timely as I found your channel through your Kate Elliott overview after recently finishing (and loving) King’s Dragon, and I just picked up the Jaran omnibus ebook for $3 yesterday. I’ve also been loving the Dune saga recently.

[@LeeReads]

Yay! This makes me so glad to hear. I know JARAN is older but I really feel that it holds up and is underrated. Are you going to continue with crown of Stars series? I am still only on book 4 of 7 after all these years but it really becomes quite epic.

[@nxsardella]

@@LeeReads I do plan to continue with Crown of Stars! I already own the whole series and I have a feeling I’ll still want more Elliott after that.

[@nxsardella]

I really fell in love with Elliott’s character work by the end of the book - this seems to be a hallmark of her writing so I hope she may become an eventual favorite.

[@sket179]

Many of the books you mentioned are on my loved or tbr lists. I've loved Ender (did you read all 15 books? They are all great), Expanse (agree that the tv adaptation is great), Murderbot, the Martian and Hail Mary. I need to read children of time and dune. I have Tchaikovsky already in my shelf, and a reserved the Martine at the local library. Your military sci-fi lured me into your channel. I'll comment on that as well, as it seems we have similar tastes. I like how you're aware about comfort vs thought-provoking reads, because many channels concentrate only on the latter. Maybe they are embarrassed on telling people about the "pulp" literature which I find weird. Sometimes you want to have your mind blown, and other times you want to have a laugh and be wrapped inside of a warm blanket.

[@LeeReads]

Since this all hobby for me I am not ashamed to talk about the "comfort" reads. Also I may not think as deeply about some others as I should, but I have to do a lot of deep thought for work and sometimes just want a break! Ender series... I read speaker for the dead and the next one or two after that (I think) and also the Bean series. But it's been a long time! I remember enders game, enders shadow, and speaker for the dead the most.

[@rebecca.reader]

I'm reading Dune at the moment! It's great 👍

[@michaelkibble740]

Dune is worth the read and a reread

[@21gramsofsoul]

Hi. Really glad some of my own favorites were in there, so that I can trust your other picks. Sometimes I watch these types of videos and I don't know or like the selections, so don't bother investigating. Looking forward to reading some of your picks.

[@uwebech5825]

Great list Lee. Thanks. Have many of those under my belt already but you put a few on my TBR list. Best of the pack is undoubtedly Project Hail Mary for me. Ray Porter really nailed the audiobook and actually added things that the novel couldn't do (the Alien language). Funny that The Martian had the opposite problem where the audiobook could not do justice to the chemical equations that the book displayed.

[@BenjaminsBookclub]

Great list! I can't get over how much I enjoyed Children of Time

[@LeeReads]

It was so great. I really need more people I know to read it!!

[@mrmicro22]

The Vorkosigan Saga is so good and so readable. The author has 3 names that escape me but she is great.

[@LeeReads]

Lois McMaster budjuld! Love her books. I've read 2 of the vorkosigan saga and need to continue.

[@ewaguzenda9863]

Lois McMaster Bujold. Vorkosigan Saga has now something like 18 books and is sooo good. And funny especially the later books have a nice sense of humor.

[@russupton7507]

Children of time was so good! I now want to read Murder Bot.

[@mustashman260]

Children of time was amazing. The line where the lady/AI was in the satellite and said to tell them “I am their God” brought chills to me. The other two books in the series were amazing too. Though I will never look at spiders and octopuses the same way.

[@DuckRon626]

Loved Murderbot #1. #2 seemed pretty much the same story. #3 was hear we go again. End of story. Loved Children of Time. One of the best SF books I’ve ever read. 2nd book, to me was the same thing with octopi. Heard #3 was better but haven’t yet read it. Dune is my favorite SF books that I’ve ever read.

[@OlafFichtner]

Books I read from this list: "A memory called Empire" - yes, definitely. Plus the sequel. Wonderfully weird societies. "The Expanse" - oh, this is hard SF on an epic scale. How epic you will only find out when you finish the last book - and I mean finish. "Children of Time" - plus sequel. It was partially difficult to get my head around the concepts in the first book, the second is even more challenging. Have you ever tried to communicate in vibrations? Or in colours? "Murderbot" - this is just fun. These are more or less crime stories, written from the perspective of a killing machine that doesn't want to kill any more. "Martian" - hard SF, wonderful story. Survival, cooperation of all of mankind... BTW, there is a ship called "Mark Whatney" in the Expanse universe... "Hail Mary" - hard SF again, especially thrilling considering our climate problems. "Ender's Game" - mainly action, but raising ethical questions.

[@rosslangerak8361]

Just off the top of my head and in no particular order, A Fire Upon The Deep by Vernor Vinge Use Of Weapons by Iain M Banks Hardwired by Walter Jon Williams Startide Rising by David Brin Madness Season by CS Friedman The Rift by Walter Jon Williams Downbelow Station by CJ Cherryh Footfall by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle The Vang by Christopher Rowley In The Company Of Others by Julie E Czerneda The Legacy Of Heorot by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle and Steven Barnes

[@lazerblu]

Great list, either read or TBR all your recommendations. If you haven't already I'd suggest reading all the Vorkosigan saga books, great stories and characters.

[@LeeReads]

I really love Lois McMaster Budjuld and I've startee Vorkosigan saga but really need to continue! I started with shards of honor and barrayar and now I'm on young miles :)

[@1183newman]

A Fire Upon The Deep, Hyperion, Dune, Children Of Time and Mockingbird (Walter Tevis) are my favorite scifi novels i have read and are all considered classics of the genre. Peter F Hamilton's Commonwealth Saga is also epic.

[@LeeReads]

@@1183newman I haven't read A Fire Upon The Deep or Hyperion yet but I mean to! I'll look up Mockingbird. Ugh and I need to try Commonwealth as well! So many books

[@squeakeththewheel]

Tevis also wrote the great The Man Who Fell to Earth, made into a movie starring David Bowie (!)

[@khomo12]

Thank you! Hmm, never heard of jaran before...👍👍👍📚🤖🚀🐲

[@LeeReads]

@@khomo12 jaran has been one of my favorite books for years! I love the mix of sci-fi with fantasy vibes

[@bpuryea]

Project Hail Mary

[@LeeReads]

I can't believe how much I struggled to come up with that name haha

[@sket179]

My top, perfect for me sci-fi books are Forever War, Old Man's War, the Lathe of Heaven, 1984, Do Android's dream of electric sheep?, the stars my destination, player of games, flashforward, Enderverse, Expanse, Remembrance of earth's past (3-Body problem), the city and the city, Lexicon, Terms of Enlistment, Sleeping Giants, A history of what comes next, Gateway. Most of them are my comfort reads. I can expand on any of them if you want. Many of them were recommended to me, and I've recommended to others.

[@LeeReads]

Oooh the city and the city. Surprised myself by really loving that one. I need to read more by the author. I am intrigued (but also intimidated by) three body problem! I need to give it a solid go.

[@sket179]

@@LeeReads I tried Embassytown but it was too confusing to me at that point. BBC made a 4 part miniseries of the city and the city. It's on Amazon prime, but it was geoblocked in Finland, so I ordered a used DVD. It was only 5€+5€ shipping, and was well worth it.

[@sket179]

3-body problem: it's very divisive, some hate or get bored with it, others love it. I've "converted" a couple of my friends into sci-fi using this as a gateway. I think it has hard sci-fi in it, but it's written plainly and it's easy to follow. Character development gets a bashing which is justified criticism. But it picks up in other areas. And by Goodreads, it's rating ascends which I agree. But please don't feel put away by whatever you've heard. It's not confusing or difficult to read.

[@carolynking5470]

@@LeeReads I really really disliked The Three-Body Problem. Poorly-written, cardboard characters, no redeeming qualities but I slogged through. A waste of reading time, imho. (My husband thought that the cultural revolution info was good, but that was all.)

[@squeakeththewheel]

Lathe of Heaven! All-time favorite.

[@celticarchie]

Star Wars Extended Universe also known as Actual Canon. ;P My latest SF read was The Midwick Cuckoos by John Wyndham. :)

[@LeeReads]

It still counts as canon??!? MY heart!

[@richx9035]

Murderbot is just outstanding.

[@timlong9913]

Read Ender's Shadow - almost as good as Ender's Game and it expands upon the original story - very highly recommended.

[@LeeReads]

Yes I have read that entire series! Love Bean's perspective.

[@seagulls43]

I tried to read Jaran twice but it was so slow and without action but the character work was good

[@tibbydudeza]

Nice list - subscribed.

[@jamesdylandean614]

@jamesdylandean614 Okay , here goes: I am only eighty years old and and was reading sic fi when I first learned to read. I am a mediocre, but prolific author myself of thirty volumes at the present. Included are sci fi short stories. Here is my top ten, that number twelve because of the inflation that is effecting almost everything these days. hehehehehehehe. Dune, no.1, but the rest in no particular order: Dragon Flight, Rendezvous with Rama, Eon, Ringworld, Looper, Lefthand of Darkness, Time Machine, A Princess of Mars, Norstrilia, A Fire in the Deep, Ender's Game. If you haven't read all of these, your sci fi PHD is still in progress.

[@ebhitchko]

Empyrean series by Rebecca Yarros - fantasy, sci-fi. Page turner both books!

[@LeeReads]

I thought Fourth Wing was really fun! Glad you enjoyed the second one, sadly it wasn't for me. I just saw a title reveal for the third!

[@armantookmanian1938]

Good to see women SF authors on your list, although surprised that neither Ursala Le Guin nor Anne McCaffrey appeared - perhaps you felt they are more in the Fantasy genre?

[@LeeReads]

Good point, I feel like Anne McCaffrey is fantasy even though Dragonriders is definitely SF. To tell the truth I've only read the one by her, though! Ursala Le Guin--I still haven't finished Earthsea! You're revealing my incompleteness haha.

[@mrmicro22]

I thought the criteria was books that she enjoyed. No quota required.

[@ReadingIDEAS.-uz9xk]

Not read a lot of sci fi. Just reading Dune at the moment. Hope you are reading something good at the moment.

[@LeeReads]

Thanks, I am. So library audiobooks became available so I've been listening to a lot of novellas, which is unexpected but I'll take it. Hope you enjoy Dune, it's a meaty one!

[@aloisflynn2003]

Have an amazing day :D

[@LeeReads]

Thank you, you as well!

[@MsGorteck]

At 2:40ish, did you really show a copy of a book with out the cover? If so I believe that means the author did not get royalties for that copy.

[@LeeReads]

I bought it with a cover, but at one point it was on the bottom shelf of the bookcase and my dog chewed it up! So don't worry, author got paid. :)

[@balrog7252]

I'm just asking out of curiosity. I take it you haven't read Cixin Liu's Remembrance of Earth's Past because that's the only reason this trilogy wasn't on this list?

[@LeeReads]

I haven't read that series yet! I keep thinking I should try the three-body problem...

[@balrog7252]

@@LeeReads Of course you should. Just remember that the Three-Body Problem is really just the introduction to a great story about humanity and the difficult choices it must make to defend itself against an invasion by an alien race. To appreciate the entirety of this story, you must read the remaining volumes entitled The Dark Forest and Death's End. After reading a little over 20 SF books so far, I consider Remembrance of Earth's Past to be the best SF book I have ever read. His ideas, e.g. about tracking earthlings through this civilization, the mixing of dimensions, the theory of the Dark Forest, which could be discussed for hours, whether the ultimate offensive and defensive weapons in the universe are really... cosmic. This trilogy, even though it belongs to hard science fiction, is understandable to readers who do not come into contact with such literature on a daily basis. The author has a wonderful gift of describing these difficult phenomena based on physics as we know it in a clear and transparent way.😀

[@LeeReads]

@@balrog7252 I don't know why this one intimidates me so much! But I definitely would want to read it before potentially watching the show. Do you think it would be good on audiobook?

[@balrog7252]

@@LeeReads I prefer to read books in paperback, but of course you can listen to the audiobook. And believe me, there are books that are more difficult to read, e.g. Blindsight by Peter Watts, it is a difficult hard science fiction book.😋

[@clsteele]

Loved children of time and its sequal! I was somewhat let down by the 3rd in the series but hey ho

[@LeeReads]

@@clsteele 3rd one was "weird" in comparison to the others but I love the idea of the corvid brains and how it all came together

[@johncampbell4389]

The book missing it's cover is :bogus:...

[@LeeReads]

My dog chewed it off :(

[@psikeyhackr6914]

Daemon and Freedom by Daniel Suarez Near future CyberRealism.

[@LeeReads]

Had not heard of these, thank you!

[@martinallen7528]

A recommend starship troopers and hyperion

[@LeeReads]

Hyperion is on my list to read this year!! I read starship troopers back before I was on booktube, fun book!

[@d3mist0clesgee12]

interesting

[@metalrules1615]

Check out Ariya Kai the Secret of Colony L.I.F.E. by F. Z. Zach. Well worth reading.

[@Blitnock]

This video shows what happens when a kid grows up on space opera.

[@sydneygardener540]

Wow I have read most of those books. I would not put any of the close to frank herberts books. They may be comparable to his son and co author continuation, but not dune to chapter house. That’s like comparing lord of the rings to Harry Potter.

[@LeeReads]

I see your point but this list just highlights books and series I particularly love/enjoy for whatever reason, it's not about relative "goodness". Since they all have flaws--even Dune! 😄

[@mlt6322]

While your list is good it does nothing for me since it doesn't contain the "RAMA series" or the "EON series by Greg Bear". I consider them the 2 best of all time.

[@LeeReads]

I haven't heard of EON! I have recently read Rendezvous with Rama but just the first book.

[@mlt6322]

@@LeeReads EON was a Greg Bear series of 3 books between 1985 - 1990. The books are hard to find but you can get digital copies through public libraries.

[@LeeReads]

@@mlt6322 awesome thank you!!

[@JayWye52]

No Asimov? Fail. Foundation is THE best sci-fi. then there's Heinlein's Moon is a Harsh Mistress.

[@LeeReads]

@@JayWye52 I've read both but they're just not my favorite. Glad you enjoy them though!

[@torres870rem]

All this KZbinrs review the same books over and over.

[@LeeReads]

I hope that means you find my selections unique rather than the same! :P

[@notlessgrossman163]

Misleading title, you clearly are listing the top ten SF books YOU read not THE top ten SF books

[@MarinaK03]

Ha! There is no such thing as “THE top ten SF books.

[@notlessgrossman163]

​​​@@MarinaK03there is if one takes an informed scholarly approach.. like any literary discourse, there are evident influential books that marked a period and laid the foundation for subsequent works. Chaucer preceded Shakespeare and would not be left of a list of English literature. Wouldn't it be odd to have a top list and fail to mention Asimov, Heinlein, LeGuin or Gibson etc?

[@notlessgrossman163]

That being said, the video here is great and her list is a well curated reflection of a personal exploration of the genre.

[@carolynking5470]

I really liked The Martian (among many many other books). I came across this highly enjoyable "Q&A with Andy Weir: Inside the Mind Behind Project Hail Mary And The Martian!" kzbin.info/www/bejne/oGLPepZrd757qMk