{"id":5309,"count":234,"description":"Whether you're searching for escapism by reading books about a faraway universe or enjoy science fiction as a lens to investigate the challenges we face on Earth today, we have a range of sci-fi book recommendations. For the best sci-fi novels of 2025<\/a>, a good starting point is our annual interview about the shortlist of the Arthur C Clarke Award for Science Fiction<\/a>.\r\n\r\nThe classics of sci fi are covered by Adam Roberts, who recommends his top five science fiction classics.<\/a> If you've never read any science fiction but are keen to give it a go, we have a special interview on the best science fiction books for beginners,<\/a> recommended by Nicholas Whyte of the Hugo Awards.\r\n\r\nBooks that have been so frequently recommended on Five Book<\/em>s that they are eligible for a best sci-fi books of all-time list include: Dune <\/em>by Frank Herbert (see also our list of books like Dune<\/a>),\u00a0World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War<\/a><\/em> by Max Brooks, and Ursula K Le Guin's gender-bending classic of interplanetary diplomacy Left Hand of Darkness<\/a>.<\/em>\r\n\r\nBest Sci Fi Books 2025<\/a> | Hard Science Fiction<\/a> |\u00a0Time Travel Books<\/a> |\u00a0Best Sci Fi Audiobooks<\/a> | Alternate History Books<\/a> |\u00a0Dystopian Novels<\/a> | Cyberpunk Books<\/a> | Apocalyptic Books<\/a> |Short Sci-Fi Books<\/a> | Space Opera Books<\/a> | Post Apocalyptic Books<\/a> | Solarpunk Books<\/a> | Alien Invasion Books<\/a> |","link":"https:\/\/fivebooks.com\/category\/fiction\/science-fiction\/","name":"Science Fiction","slug":"science-fiction","taxonomy":"category","parent":11186,"meta":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivebooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories\/5309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivebooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivebooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/taxonomies\/category"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivebooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories\/11186"}],"wp:post_type":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivebooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts?categories=5309"},{"href":"https:\/\/fivebooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book?categories=5309"},{"href":"https:\/\/fivebooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/books_like_this?categories=5309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}