Reading Orders

A software engineer dies and wakes up as an AI space probe, replicating himself across the galaxy in this witty and thought-provoking sci-fi series.

A terraforming experiment goes wrong, uplifting spiders instead of apes, creating a civilization that must eventually face humanity's last survivors.

Begin with Dune — one of the greatest sci-fi novels ever written. Continue through Frank Herbert's original saga before exploring Brian Herbert's prequels.

A child genius is trained to fight an alien war in this landmark science fiction series. Start with the original quartet.

A mathematician predicts the fall of a galactic empire and creates a Foundation to shorten the coming dark age. The cornerstone of science fiction.

Seven pilgrims travel to the Time Tombs on the planet Hyperion, each with a tale to tell, in this literary sci-fi masterpiece.

An AI who once controlled a starship now inhabits a single human body and seeks revenge against the ruler who destroyed her ship.

The definitive hard sci-fi saga of colonizing and terraforming Mars, exploring science, politics, and what it means to build a new world.

At 75, you can join the Colonial Defense Forces, get a young new body, and fight aliens. The catch? The universe is more dangerous than you imagined.

Dystopian sci-fi set in a massive virtual reality world where a teenage boy hunts for an Easter egg left by its creator.

A miner from Mars infiltrates the ruling class in a brutal, color-coded caste society. Equal parts Hunger Games and Game of Thrones.

China's most celebrated science fiction saga. First contact with an alien civilization triggers a cosmic crisis spanning centuries.

Post-apocalyptic sci-fi set in an underground silo where humanity has survived for generations, hiding dark truths.

Literary science fantasy set in a far-future Earth (Urth) narrated by Severian, a torturer's apprentice who cannot forget anything he has ever experienced.

On a planet wracked by catastrophic seismic events, people with the power to control earthquakes are both feared and exploited. The first trilogy to win three consecutive Hugo Awards.

Humanity has colonized the solar system — and is about to discover something that changes everything. Hard sci-fi at its best.

The answer is 42. Arthur Dent's planet is demolished for a hyperspace bypass and his hitchhiking adventure across the galaxy begins.

Wildly inventive necromancer-fantasy-in-space series where bone magic, gothic horror, and sapphic romance collide.

A part-organic, part-mechanical security construct who has hacked its own governing module prefers watching soap operas to dealing with humans.

Science fiction series following Miles Vorkosigan, a physically disabled but brilliantly clever man navigating military and political life across a galactic empire.