In this list of the best sci-fi book series, we explore some of the very best SciFi series available. Some of the series that are included were chosen because they showed great potential and had many raving reviews. If you are interested in listening to any of these science fiction book series go to Audible's one month free trial and you can test out their services for free with two books.
1.
Zones of Thought Series
By Vernor Vinge
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Vinge, Vernor (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
Years into the future humans are no longer the only creatures living in a universe where one's mind's potential is solely determined by its location in space. Ranging from the superintelligent entities in the Transcend all the way to the limited minds of the Unthinking Depths. No one knows exactly how the universe got to be like this, separated by "regions of thought". But when the warring Straumli realm get ahold of an ancient artifact as a weapon chaos is unleashed and Ravna is left to flee from it all.
Book 1: A Fire Upon The Deep
Book 2: A Deepness in the Sky
Book 3: The Children of the Sky
Book 4: After the Battle on Starship Hill
2.
Sprawl Trilogy
By William Gibson
- William Gibson (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 01/01/2017 (Publication Date) - Gollancz (Publisher)
The Sprawl Trilogy consist of 3 books following the adventures of a data-thief who goes by the name of Case. Case was the best there ever was until he got caught up with the wrong people. Who damaged his nervous system and banished him from the cyberspace. But Case was given a second chance by his new mysterious employer and two friends who swore to always have his back.
Book 1: Neuromancer
Book 2: Count Zero
Book 3: Mona Lisa Overdrive
3.
The Dune Chronicles
By Frank Herbert
- This set includes: Dune; Dune Messiah; Children of Dune; God Emperor of Dune; Heretics of Dune; and Chapterhouse Dune
- Dune Messiah continues the story of Paul Atreides, better known—and feared—as the man christened Muad’Dib. As Emperor of the known universe, he possesses more power than a single man was ever meant to wield. Worshipped as a religious icon by the fanatical Fremen, Paul faces the enmity of the political houses he displaced when he assumed the throne—and a conspiracy conducted within his own sphere of influence.
- The Children of Dune are twin siblings Leto and Ghanima Atreides, whose father, the Emperor Paul Muad’Dib, disappeared in the desert wastelands of Arrakis nine years ago. Like their father, the twins possess supernormal abilities—making them valuable to their manipulative aunt Alia, who rules the Empire in the name of House Atreides.
- God Emperor of Dune - Millennia have passed on Arrakis, and the once-desert planet is green with life. Leto Atreides, the son of the world’s savior, the Emperor Paul Muad’Dib, is still alive but far from human. To preserve humanity’s future, he sacrificed his own by merging with a sandworm, granting him near immortality as God Emperor of Dune for the past thirty-five hundred years.
- Heretics of Dune - Leto Atreides, the God Emperor of Dune, is dead. In the fifteen hundred years since his passing, the Empire has fallen into ruin. The great Scattering saw millions abandon the crumbling civilization and spread out beyond the reaches of known space. The planet Arrakis—now called Rakis—has reverted to its desert climate, and its great sandworms are dying.
The Dune Chronicles is a 8 book science fiction series dream. Set on a desert plant known as Arrakis, Paul Atreides – a boy who would later be called Muad'Dib – has his mind set on bring the family's dream to reality. The dream was to bring fruition to humankind's oldest and most unattainable dream to life once again.
Book 1: Dune
Book 2: Dune Messiah
Book 3: Children of Dune
Book 4: God Emperor of Dune
Book 5: Heretics of Dune
Book 6: Chapterhouse
Book 7: Hunters of Dune
Book 8: Sandworms of Dune
4.
The Heechee Saga
By Frederik Pohl
![By Frederik Pohl Gateway (Heechee Saga) [Mass Market Paperback]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51RdWPF08RL._SL160_.jpg)
- Frederik Pohl (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- Del Rey (Publisher)
Gateway is what started it all. it opened on all the wealth of the Universe and unleashed horrors unimaginable to most. It was Bob Broadhead who had decided that on his flight on the Heechee spacecraft he would make himself the richest man alive. This worked for him but did not help the rest of the universe.
Book 1: Gateway
Book 2: Beyond The Blue Event Horizon
Book 3: Heechee Rendezvous
Book 4: The Annals Of The Heechee
5.
The Shadow Saga Series
By Orson Scott Card
- Orson Scott Card (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 384 Pages - 12/15/2000 (Publication Date) - Tor Books (Publisher)
As the human race is at war with an alien species, the "Buggers", Earth prepares itself with a group of military geniuses who can fight and win the war. The training for such a group begins in childhood in the high orbital facility called the Battle School. Andrew "Ender" Wiggin is not the only child there, he is simply the best of the best.
Book 1: Ender's Shadow
Book 2: Shadow of the Hegemon
Book 3: Shadow Puppets
Book 4: Shadow of the Giant
Book 5: Shadows in Flight
6.
The Eternal Sky Trilogy
By Elizabeth Bear
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Bear, Elizabeth (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 335 Pages - 03/27/2012 (Publication Date) - Tor Books (Publisher)
Temur was the grandson of the Great Khan. He was walking from the battlefield from which he was left to die alone. Around him were the armies of his cousin and brother who had started the war in order to rule the Khaganate. Now he was the rightful heir to the thrown. But he was not the strongest. The only way he was to survive from his cousin was to go into exile.
Book 1: Range of Ghosts
Book 2: Shattered Pillars
Book 3: Steles of the Sky
7.
Hunter Series
By Mercedes Lackey
- Lackey, Mercedes (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 400 Pages - 08/09/2016 (Publication Date) - LBYR Plus (Publisher)
This 3 book series is a mixture of science fiction and a fantasy. With kings and queen and entirely different universes join Joyeaux Charmand and her adventures as she and her fellow Hunters to protect the most important people.
Book 1: Hunter
Book 2: Elite
Book 3: Apex
8.
Shades of Magic
By V. E. Schwab
- Schwab, V. E. (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 10/16/2018 (Publication Date) - Tor Books (Publisher)
Being one of the last of her kind with the rare capabilities to travel between parallel dimentions, a Antari, Kell has a lot on her mind. She was raised in Arnes and serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador. She is a smuggler, serving only those who are willing to pay top price. However after an exchange goes wrong Kell is forced to escape to Grey London and runs into a fellow thief.
Book 1: A Darker Shade of Magic
Book 2: A Gathering of Shadows
Book 3: A Conjuring of Light
9.
The Foundation Series
By Isaac Asimov
- Isaac Asimov (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 2132 Pages
In the year 12020 G.E. nothing is like what it may seem. With Emperor Cleon I sitting uneasily on his Imperial Throne of Trantor, forty billion people have create civilization of unimaginable technological and cultural complexity. But Cleon knows there are some out their wanting and waiting to see him fall. Those who he would destroy first if he could only see into the future.
Book 1: Prelude to Foundation
Book 2: Forward the Foundation
Book 3: Foundation
Book 4: Foundation and Empire
Book 5: Second Foundation
Book 6: Foundation's Edge
Book 7: Foundation and Earth
Book 8: Foundation's Fears
Book 9: Foundation and Chaos
Book 10: Foundation's Triumph
10.
The Ender Game Series
By Orson Scott Card
- Card, Orson Scott (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 11/04/2008 (Publication Date) - Tor Science Fiction (Publisher)
The government agencies breed child geniuses in order to defend themselves against a hostile alien race's next attack. One of these child geniuses was Andrew "Ender" Wiggin. Ender lived with his parents, sadistic brother Peter, and the his sister Valentine –who he loved more than anyone. As Ender leaves his family to be drafted into the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training, follow his story in this 5 book series.
Book 1: Ender's Game
Book 2: Speaker for the Dead
Book 3: Xenocide
Book 4: Children of the Mind
Book 5: Ender in Exile
11.
Fallen Empire
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Buroker, Lindsay (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 229 Pages - 05/26/2016 (Publication Date)
As the tyrannical empire has finally fallen to the Alliance it is time for celebration. However, not for fighter pilot Captain Alisa Marchenko. After having barely survived her crash in the final battle Captain Marchenko was stranded on a planet billions of miles away from her daughter. Without any money or resources and no transports heading to Perun she still have a plan.
Book 1: Star Normad
Book 2: Honor's Flight
Book 3: Starseers
Book 4: Relic of Sorrows
Book 5: Cleon Moon
Book 6: Arkadian Skies
Book 7: Perilous Hunt
Book 8: End Game
12.
Mote Series
By Larry Niven
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Niven, Larry (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 596 Pages - 08/31/2011 (Publication Date) - Spectrum Literary Agency, Inc. (Publisher)
Being spread across vast distances due to the Alderson Drive the united 'Second Empire of Man' has the capabilities to allow human to easily travel between the stars. However, after an alien probe has been discovered the Navy set out on a mission to determine whether or not the aliens are a threat to their society.
Book 1: The Mote in God's Eye
Book 2: The Gripping Hand
Book 3: Outies
13.
The Hyperion Cantos
Dan Simmons
- Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos)
- Hyperion & The Fall of Hyperion 2 Book Set
- Simmons, Dan (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 481 Pages - 03/01/1990 (Publication Date) - Spectra (Publisher)
On a world beyond reach of the galactic law known as Hyperion awaits a creature called the Shrike. There are some who worship it. Some who wish to destroy it. And then there are some who fear the Shrike. Hidden behind huge structures moving backwards through time in the Valley of the Time Tombs the Shrike awaits for them all.
Book 1: Hyperion
Book 2: The Fall of Hyperion
Book 3: Endymion
Book 4: The Rise of Endymion
14.
The Book of the New Sun
By Gene Wolfe
- Wolfe, Gene (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 416 Pages - 10/15/1994 (Publication Date) - Orb Books (Publisher)
The Book of the New Sun is one of Gene Wolfe most famous novel series. Within it 4 books that master the art of science fiction and fantasy. The series starts out with the tale of a young Severian who is an apprentice in the Guild of Torturers on a world known as Urth. Yet he was exiled for committing the ultimate sin to his profession, showing mercy towards a victim.
Book 1: Shadow & Claw
Book 2: Sword & Citadel
Book 3: The Citadel of the Autarch
Book 4: The Urth of the New Sun
15.
The Culture Series
By Iain Banks
- Iain M. Banks (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- OBT2018 (Publisher)
As the war continued to spread across the galaxy billions of more people were dying. Planets, moons, and stars awaited their destruction. The Idirans fought for their Faith and Culture fought for its moral right to exist.
Book 1: Consider Phlebas
Book 2: The Player of Games
Book 3: Use of Weapons
Book 4: State of the Art
Book 5: Excession
Book 6: Inversions
Book 7: Look to Windward
Book 8: Matter
Book 9: Surface Detail
Book 10: The Hydrogen Sonata
16.
The Mars Trilogy
By Kim Stanley Robinson
![[MARS TRILOGY] RED MARS, GREEN MARS [and] BLUE MARS.](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41RU+Kda8HL._SL160_.jpg)
- Kim Stanley Robinson (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 01/01/1996 (Publication Date) - New York, Toronto, London, Sydney, Auckland: Bantam Books, (Publisher)
For centuries the barren landscape of the red planet has called for humankind. Now a group of one hundred colonists starts off on their mission to transform Mars into a more Earthlike planet.
Book 1: Red Mars
Book 2: Green Mars
Book 3: Blue Mars
17.
Space Odyssey Series
By Arthur C. Clarke
- Arthur C. Clarke (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- Oaitree (Publisher)
This series takes you through a time of humanity's explorations of the universe. And the universe's reaction to humankind. It follows the crew of the spacecraft Discovery as the take off on their journey to Saturn.
Book 1: 2001
Book 2: 2010
Book 3: 2061
Book 4: 3001
18.
Ancillary World
By Ann Leckie
- Leckie, Ann (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 1248 Pages - 09/19/2017 (Publication Date) - Orbit (Publisher)
Alone on a remote and icy planet Breq, a soldier, knew she was getting closer and closer to completing her quest. In her past she was the Justice of Toren – a massive starship with an artificial intelligence linking thousands of their soldiers into the service of the great Radch. The empire that had conquered the galaxy. But with a simple act of treachery all of that was ripped away from her and left her just like every other human, fragile, alone, and a burning desire for vengeance.
Book 1: Ancillary Justice
Book 2: Ancillary Sword
Book 3: Ancillary Mercy
19.
The Young Elites
By Marie Lu
- Lu, Marie (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 400 Pages - 08/25/2015 (Publication Date) - Speak (Publisher)
Decades ago a deadly disease swept through Adelina Amoureru's nation. Most who were effect died soon there after. While the children who survived were left with strange markings. Adelina's hair had turned silver, her lashes were now pale and where her left eye once was is now a jagged scar. Some of the others affected with scars are rummored to now carry more than just the scars. Some say they are believed to have mysterious and powerful gifts. They have come together and call themselves the Young Elites.
Book 1: The Young Elites
Book 2: The Rose Society
Book 3: The Midnight Star
20.
The Gap Cycle
By Stephen R. Donaldson
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Donaldson, Stephen R. (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
Angus Thermopyle was a pirate and a well known pirate. Even the most fearsome of the Delta Sector stayed out of his way when he came through. But when Thermopyle came through Mallory's Bar & Sleep with a beautiful woman at his side, the commoners could not but help to take notice. Her name was Morn Hyland and before she came to be with Thermopyle she was a police officer.
Book 1: The Real Story
Book 2: Forbidden Knowledge
Book 3: A Dark and Hungry God Arises
Book 4: Chaos and Order
Book 5: The Day All Gods Die
21.
The Uplift Saga
By David Brin
- David Brin (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 1216 Pages - 03/19/2025 (Publication Date) - Orbit (Publisher)
Since the beginning of time no species had ever reached the stars without the guidance of a patron, except of course mankind. In this 6 book series follow an adventure that takes you through space on a voyage like non other.
Book 1: Sundiver
Book 2: Startide Rising
Book 3: The Uplift War
Book 4: Brightness Reef
Book 5: Infinity's Shore
Book 6: Heaven's Reach
22.
Hainish Cycle
By Ursula K. Le Guin
- Hardcover Book
- Le Guin, Ursula K. (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 1921 Pages - 09/05/2017 (Publication Date) - Library of America (Publisher)
This series of novels consist of stories written by Ursula K. Le Guin. They take you through time and space on journeys that leave stranded human colonist on a planet one by one killing them. And where ethnologist are sent to a bronze-age planet in order to help defeat an intergalactic enemy.
23.
The Red Trilogy
By Linda Nagata
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Nagata, Linda (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
With advancements in technology and reality TV this series of novels comprises of high drama and political thrillers that combines both military action and classic science fiction.
Book 1: The Red
Book 2: The Trials
Book 3: Going Dark
24.
Majipoor Cycle Series
By Robert Silverberg
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Silverberg, Robert (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
Being a man with no past and a lone wanderer without the knowledge of his origins, Valentine is a member of a motley group of entertainers. Traveling across the magical planet of Majipoor he continues to hope that one day soon he will meet someone that can give him back what he had all lost.
Book 1: Lord Valentine's Castle
Book 2: Majipoor Chronicles
Book 3: Valentine Pontifex
25.
Lucky's Marines
By Larry Niven
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- James, Joshua (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 338 Pages - 02/25/2018 (Publication Date)
As humankind is in a desperate fight against insurmountable odds their only hope is in a lifer Marine that has a violent past. Without even remembering his past the marine is known for picking fights he shouldn't win.
Book 1: Lucky Universe
Book 2: Lucky Legacy
Book 3: Lucy Empire
Book 4: Lucky Forever
Book 5: Lucky Invasion
What Makes a Sci-Fi Book Series So Good?
What happens when a story ends? Have you ever been left with that question and a longing for more action, adventure, and SciFi goodness?
Guarantee it. I know I have wondered what happens next. That's the joy of a great novel. The joy of a great series is exploring that notion.
Series are a great way to really fully explore a story. What may be just a passing detail in Book One becomes highly relevant and critical to the plot in Part Two. Or what about a favorite character's backstory? Or maybe some side quests?
That's what makes a series so good. The ability to continue an already interesting notion and to further explore the underlying universe.
When SciFi Series Meet the Idiot Box
Reading is an amazing way to open up your mind and imagination. Especially with Science Fiction novels.
But as awesome as series are... they do have their drawback. They take much longer to read. Plus add that in with your normal daily schedule... It can be hard to settle down for a good book. Let alone three or four.
But good news is that SciFi series are exceeding popular for television. Stargate, Star Trek, Firefly, Quantum Leap... Bottom line is this:
SciFi makes for good TV.
But what about our favorite books? Are there any series for them? Or is it all made for TV?
There are plenty of adaptations of book series to TV. The 100 series from Kass Morgan. The Space Odyssey Series from Arthur C. Clarke. And there are plenty in production now. I personally can't wait for the adaptation of Isaac Asimov's Foundation series for Apple TV. I'm definitely looking forward to those nights in.
Best SciFi Series on TV
How were these Best SciFi Series Books Chosen?
There were a number of variables that went into choosing these particularly series. First off, I chose some of my own personal favorites i.e. The Ender's Game series. For those of you who don't know, I'm a nut for military science fiction.
Another aspect I looked at was the impact that the series made to the science fiction community. Have you ever met a SciFi reader who hadn't heard of (let alone reread many, many times) The Dune Chronicles? Go ahead and ask around. I'll wait. Frank Herbert set a whole new precedent for Science Fiction with this series. Some would argue that it is the greatest canon in all of SciFi.
And some... you just gotta add because they're classics! Can you image SciFi without Asimov's Foundation series? Or Arthur C. Clarke's Space Odyssey? Stanley Kubrick couldn't. That I know for fact.
Get These Best SciFi Book Series for Free!
If you are looking for another way to enjoy these novels try listening to them in auidobook form! Here are two ways in which you can listen to these best scifi books for free:
1. Audible's One Month Free Trial: When signing up for Audible you will be able to get your first month free. And you also get to pick any two books of your choice for free. After your trial is over and if you would like to continue using Audible's services you can pay $14.95 per month and get one book a month.
2. Playster's One Month Free Trial: When signing up for Playster you can also experience their services for free for your first month. After your trial is over you can also pay $14.95 per month and listen to an unlimited amount of books per month. However if you would like to access everything that Playster has to offer including thousands of more books you can pay for a premium membership of only $29.95.
More...
I am searching for an old series (4 or more) about an alien commander coming g to earth to find wives/slaves to sell on other planets! I can’t remember the author or the book titles! However, my memory is not as good as I would like it. Can you help me please? I found it in a Pamida store in Two Harbors, Minnesota about 25 years ago. Thank you and Good Luck!