Nothing is better than finishing a brilliant science fiction novel knowing that it is only the first in a series. Some of the greatest minds in sci-fi have used the series format to create complex and thrilling universes for their story characters to exist in, while others have created dystopian (and utopian) future environments on earth. This list takes the best of the science fiction series genre and attempts to rank them – a difficult (and obviously subjective) task. For your reading pleasure, here are the 15 greatest science fiction book series.
The bulk of the Vorkosigan Saga concerns Miles Vorkosigan, a disabled aristocrat from the planet Barrayar whose entire life is a challenge to the prejudices of his native planet against “mutants”. The novels The Vor Game, Barrayar, and Mirror Dance each won the Hugo Award for Best Novel, while Falling Free, Memory, and A Civil Campaign were nominated but did not win. The series makes travel between star systems possible through the use of wormholes (spatial anomalies that exist in five spatial dimensions) – enabling instantaneous travel. The inhabited systems are known collectively as the Wormhole Nexus.
Written by Gene Wolfe, this four-part novel is about Serverian, a journeyman torturer who shows mercy to his victim by allowing her to commit suicide to avoid further suffering. As a result of this act he is exiled from the torturers guild Seekers for Truth and Penitence. The series belongs to the Dying Earth subgenre – a type of science fiction or fantasy set in a far distant future in which the Sun is dying. Wolfe uses a lot of allegory in his series, with Severian being identified as a Christ/Apollo figure. It is his destiny to revive the sun and, thereby, save the earth.
Simmons’ Cantos is one of the most well known science fiction series of the last two decades. It is set in the far future and focuses heavily on plot and story development, giving a much lesser role to technical detail. It would be considered soft science fiction and is often described as “space opera”. Of the four novels in the series, Hyperion received the Hugo Award for best Novel and The Fall of Hyperion was nominated for the Nebula Award for best novel. Hyperion is home to the Time Tombs, large artifacts that allow people to travel back and forth in time. The region where the tombs are found is also the home of the Shrike, a menacing being that appears throughout the series.
This is, perhaps, the most well known of the series on this list due to the commercial success of the film 2001, a Space Odyssey. The whole series was originally sparked off by a short story by Clarke, which he later evolved in to a full length novel in conjunction with the production of the movie by Stanley Kubrick. The series combines science fiction and metaphysics. Because the stories and settings of the various books and films diverge, Clarke stated that the continuity of the series represents occurrences in a set of parallel universes.
The Culture is an anarchistic, socialistic, and utopian society set in the future. It is a “post-scarcity” society – meaning that it is is set in a time in which man has overcome all of the problems of poverty and need in the world – as well as eradicating death and disease. It is a totally egalitarian state, requiring no use of force or compulsion except when necessary for the protection of others. The novels deal mostly with people living on the fringes of this society – diplomats, spies, and mercenaries – those who do the dirty work of the culture.
Rendezvous with Rama (the first in the Rama series) was published in 1972. It is set in the 22nd century when a thirty mile long cylindrical object passes through the solar system of Earth. It is revealed to be an alien starship and man decides to intercept it in order to unlock its mysteries. This is a brilliant book and it was accordingly given both the Hugo and Nebula awards upon its release. It is considered to be one of the cornerstones of Clarke’s total output and is seen as a science fiction classic. Under pressure to produce a sequel, Clarke teamed up with Gentry Lee to write the remainder of the series. Lee did the majority of the work and Clarke merely looked over and edited the writing.
The Dune universe (Duniverse) is the political, scientific, and social setting of this six book series of science fiction meets fantasy books. The first book (Dune) was extremely popular and was ultimately adapted in to a film by David Lynch. It was also televised as a miniseries in 2000, and in 2003, its first two sequels also appeared as miniseries. The universe is set in the distant future of man and it has a history stretching some 16,000 years, covering considerable changes in political, social, and religious structures.
Frederik Pohl’s HeeChee are an extremely advanced star traveling race that explored Earth’s solar system millennia ago, disappearing without a trace before man began space exploration. They originated as a plot device to allow Pohl to give a plausible reason for humans to make the effort of colonizing the inhospitable planet Venus. In the book of the series “The Merchants of Venus”, the Heechee are nowhere to be found, but the discovery of tunnels beneath the surface of the planet proves that they were there.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a comedy in science fiction form. It was originally a radio broadcast on BBC Radio 4 which was later adapted in to various other formats. The first series was six self-contained episodes each ending with the planet earth being destroyed in a different way. When Adams was writing the first episode he realized that he needed an alien on the planet to provide context – he settled on making the alien a roving researcher seeking the book “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”.
Ringworld was a the 1970 winner of both the Hugo and Nebula awards. It is considered to be one of the classics of Science Fiction literature. The book was followed by three sequels. The series is set around the year 2855. Two humans and two aliens explore a mysterious “ringworld” – a large artificial ring shaped structure surrounding a star. It is set in a very technologically advanced universe which allows for instant teleportation. The ring has a habitable flat inner surface of an area equal to roughly 3 million earth-sized planets.
This series started with a small novel “Ender’s Game” which was later expanded in to a full sized novel of the same name. It now consists of nine novels, 10 short stories, and two yet to be published books. The first two novels in the series both won the Hugo and the Nebula awards and are considered to be among the most influential science fiction books of the 1980s. The main character, Andrew “Ender” Wiggin, is a child soldier trained in a battle school to be a future leader of Earth.
Heinlein’s Future History described the future of the human race from the middle of the 20th century to the early 23rd century. He wrote most of the stories early in his career (between 1939 and 1941, and 1945-1950). The series primarily defines a core group of stories, but Heinlein scholars now agree that some books not included by Heinlein also belong in the series. Two of the better known books included in the series are The Man Who Sold the Moon, and Time Enough for Love. A complete list of the included books can be found on Wikipedia.
Barsoom is a fictional version of the planet Mars invented by Burroughs for his series of stories. In 1911 he began his career as a writer with A Princess of Mars. Several sequels followed, developing the planet in much greater detailer. A Princess of Mars was probably the first 20th century fictional work to feature a constructed language. Its influence can be clearly seen in both the Star Trek and Farscape franchises. While many of the tales appear to be rather dated today, they were extremely innovative in their time and they helped to inspire serious interest in Mars and space exploration.
The Lensman series by E E Smith introduced many innovative concepts in to the science fiction genre. It was also a runner up for the Hugo All Time Best Series award. The series begins with Triplanetary two billion years before the present day and it is based in a universe with few life forms. The peaceful Arisian race understand life and life-forces in a way that no other race does, and as a result they create the lens – an object which gives its wearer a variety of special mental capabilities including those needed to enforce the law on alien planets and to bridge the communication gap between different life forms.
The Foundation Series is an epic series of books written over a span of 44 years. It contains 7 volumes all closely linked (though they can be read separately). The term “foundation series” is also sometimes used to include the Robot Series and the Empire Series, all of which are set in the same fictional universe (though in earlier times). Including these other series, there are a total of 15 novels and dozens of short stories. The Foundation Series won the 1965 All Time Best Series Hugo award. The premise of the series is that a scientist (Hari Seldon) develops a branch of mathematics known as psychohistory in which the future can be predicted due to mass behavior of humans.
What about the Dark Tower series? Epic.
I would call Dark Tower more fantasy than sci-fi.
they are both technically the same thing, but the Dark Tower is most definitely sci fi
Good list
Great List! So many of these I have’nt heard of and I love Science Fiction Series! Thank you!
Methinks I’m gonna have to check all these out… I’ve only read the ‘Hitchhikers Guide’ and a couple of the ‘Enders Game’ series, though I’ve been meaning to read the ‘Dune’ series for a while, just never got around to it. I reckon you should include ‘The Dark Tower’ as an honorable mention or bonus item, seeing as it spans so many different genres.
I think HHGTTG should get 1…
Damn non-editable comments, I always forget to add things until after I submit the comment…
Anyway, it looks like ‘Ringworld’ was a HUGE influence on the Halo universe, judging by that picture. I also love the picture for the ‘Barsoom’ series.
Fantastic list, so many of these series I’ve never heard of. I’d expect the Dune and Ender series to be a little higher on the list, but then again I have a few books to read. Excuse me while I head to my local library…. thanks JF.
i have only heard of 4 of these. guess science fiction isn’t my thing.
when i was a kid all i read was stephen king and garfield books.
I’m a fan of the “Ringworld” series. I was always in awe of how large the ring was… its circumferance was the size of earth’s orbit around the sun. Halo is tiny compared.
Excellent list. I’ve read most of these books throughout the years, with the exception of “The Book of the New Sun”.
I’ll need to check that out.
Thanks.
Nice list. I once again am introduced to new things I should go check out. My 13 yr old is reading the Dune series and loving it. We own many of these books. I remember seeing them on the bookshelves. I have not read them. My husband is the sci fi reader. He did encourage me to read Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern series. I rather enjoyed it. I liked that she had a strong female lead character. I guess there are some books I should take off the shelves and read.
Lewis’s Ransom trilogy?
Sorry not my kind of list. I love scifi, but not the extreme fantasy stuff. besides hitchhikers should be higher.
every time theres a scifi list, i always mention the overlooked Riverworld series by Philip Jose Farmer. every person that lived is recreated on an alien planet and it follows how they cope with an afterlife they never dreamed of, and to solve the mystery of who put them there.
I agree with Roman. The Dark Tower series isn’t just amazing in it’s scope and scale, but it packs when hell of an emotional punch.
*one, not when
I haven’t read too much science fiction in all my time reading, and most of these series look really interesting. I guess I have a good laundry list of books to look up next time I make a stop at the library.
I do know that HHGTTG is amazingly clever and endlessly funny. So if the other series can be as entertaining, they should be really worthwhile.
Actually, The Dark Tower series is more fantasy than sci fi.
I love the Dark Tower series but it isn’t really Sci-Fi. It’s a fantasy series with some Sci-Fi elements.
While I love Stephen King and particularly the Dark Tower series, it is *not* science fiction. As romerozombie pointed out, the devices of the series are much more in line with fantasy than science fiction. I don’t even think Stephen King himself would consider it anything close to science fiction.
Ringworld reminds me of Halo!
I agree with Slick: I left Dark Tower off because it wasn’t sci fi enough
Come to think of it romerozombie, I think that the Dragonriders of Pern could be considered fantasy too although it is listed as fantasy/Sci Fi. I have seen The Dark Towers listed as science fantasy.
decent list, but you definitely should have included C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy.
Ender should’ve been higher, yo. Also, the Homecoming series by OSC is just as phenomenal.
I’m in complete agreement here about Dark Tower. As a Tower junkie myself, most of the science fiction elements are coincidence. The time travel and robotics (etc.) are really only a means to convey the fantasy elements that are being developed.
Although in terms of fantasy series, I’ve never read anything I liekd better
It’s definetly the best fantasy series I’ve read… and the only. Time-travelling cowboys fighting demons and robots? Yes please!
I can honestly say that I’ve never heard of any of these books, but I am interested in reading some of them. I remember when I was younger, I had a book about sci-fi charcters in books and films. It had drawings and possible looks of alien characters that were included in the novels. I wish I still had it because it would go great with this list.
I never want to read Hitchhiker’s. From what I’ve seen of the film and heard of the books, it sounds like it’ll have really cringeworthy British humour. Bleurgh.
If anoyone’s interested in computer games as well as sci fi books, check out the game Mass Effect for Xbox 360. It’s very smart and probably the most realistic sci fi story. For instance, one alien race can’t communicate with humans as well as other alien species because they don’t understand voice tones or facial expressions.
romerozombie: that has put me off it too to be honest.
What?! The Star Trek novelizations don’t count?!
(just kidding I know they’re not on par w/ the series on this list)
One of my favorites is the Callahan Novels by Spider Robinson
How about:
John Varley’s Titan/Wizard/Demon trilogy
John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War and sequels
James Morrow’s Towing Jehovah and sequels
WHAT? But it’s so good!
How about the Chung Kuo Series by David Wingrove.
romero: You should read HGTG. The film was ***** compared to the books (and the TV series). It was also pretty different.
What, exactly, is wrong with British humour?
I actually completed Mass Effect at the weekend. I wouldn’t say it’s a very realistic sci-fi story at all. Just look at the Asari. Not only are they humanoid, they look like humans (minus the head tentacle things), they have boobs, and they can have regular ***** with humans. These are aliens who evolved compeltely seperately. The elcor and their speech were basically copied from HK-47 from KOTOR. I’m not saying it’s not a good game & story, because it’s amazing, it’s just not realistic.
Ooh, there should be a fantasy book list! The Dark Tower series, Crown of Stars, Dragonlance, and all sorts could go on it. I sort of like sci-fi, but I’m more into fantasy obviously.
dangorironhide: there is nothing wrong with it – I just prefer subtle British humor to slapstick humor (American or British). For the same reason I am not really a big fan of Monty Python.
MethodMan: coming soon
This is a fine list and there are so many omissions:
A few examples:
Gordon Dickson’s Childe Cycle
Ursula LeGuin Hainish Cycle
Zelazny’s Amber Novels
While HHG was fun, it’s more a comedy than SciFi. And Dark Tower is not at all in the same (SF) class as those listed.
A series I would utterly recommend is the ‘Wild Cards’ shared universe/mosaic novel sequence, edited by George RR Martin and contributed to by Melinda Snodgrass, Walter Jon Williams, Roger Zelazny, Chris Claremont amongst others.
The basic premise is that an alien virus is unleased on the Earth, leaving most of its victims dead, some grotesquely deformed and a few super-powered. It’s massively intense stuff and reads like James Elroy writing superhero comics.
How many Sci-Fi lists is this site going to have before people realize how unoriginal the idea is? Stop making them.
YAWN! Sorry but SO not into Sci Fi. How about a list of thrillers, historical novels, screen detectives, soap *****es etc.
What about the Pern series by Anne McCaffrey?
dangorironhide:
The thing about SOME British is that for me, maybe because I am British, I just find it very embarrassing comapared to some American comedy, where my taste like. I like stuff like Superbad and Scrub. And I hate Monty Python. And I turned off The Big Lebowski… don’t burn me!
Good list, but I’m surprised to NOT see Harry Harrison’s Stainless Steel Rat series or anything by Alan Dean Foster. I naturally understand the necessity of including greats like Asimov, Heinlein, and Clarke, but including such obscure titles such as “Book of the New Sun” while leaving out Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser? No comprende.
dangorironhide:
I agree about the Asari, but with the Elcor, I thought it was great how it was to communicate with them. I’ve never played KOTOR. The communication gap is rarely used properly in sci fi – some ridiculous device is invented to clear that up, it’s lazy.
What about Kim Stanley Robinson’s Red Mars/Green Mars/Blue Mars series?
I don’t often feel the need to add to best-of lists, but this seems to be a glaring omission. I mean, you’ve got the rest of the Sci-Fi Canon here…
romero: Ah, I apologise, I thought you were American haha. Each to their own I suppose. I love Monty Python myself
. I haven’t seen The Big Lebowski’, so don’t worry about any burns for that 
In KOTOR, HK47 is an organic-hating robot, with a monotone voice who uses exactly the same type of speech as the Elcor, ‘weary response:…’, ‘condecending remark:…’ etc. Maybe it was just because I’d played KOTOR & KOTOR2 a lot before, but I thought it was pretty lame how they just reused the concept, which got damned annoying after a bit.
the mote in God’s eye…
I see your point. KOTOR and Mass Effect were created by the same people, right?
Like I said though, the alien communication barrier is just thrown aside and it’s an intesresting idea. “How’m I suppose to communicate with -…” “Oh, don’t worry about that here’s a helmet that will help you. Let’s not get into how it works.” LAZY!!!!
Another great sci fi game: ‘Prey’, again for the Xbox 360.
A Native American with no faith in his culture or it’s beliefs is abducted by aliens along with his faithful grandfather and girlfriend. He has to use his culture and beliefs to overcome the the aliens who tried using him for food.
They were indeed, which is why I think it’s lame.
The problem though, is it’s even less realistic to make every race speak the same language, when they evolved seperately, on different planets. I mean, as well as having the problem of learning the language itself, you’ve also got the problem of agreeing on a universal language, which, considering how political the races in Mass Effect are, would be quite hard, and on top of that you’re assuming that all the different races have the means to produce the sounds required for the language. I think, to use Mass Effect as an example, the Hanar are dealt with in the most realistic way, not only in the way the communicate, but also the way they look completely different from any other sentient race in the game.
I know people on Listverse are going to think I’m TOO much of a Dick-head, but what about the VALIS trilogy by Philip K. Dick?? (It’s not an official trilogy, but we call it one.)
Oh…To those who don’t want to read Hitchhiker’s Guide because of the movie:
The movie sucked. The books are great. Please read them.
You forgot the incredibly awesome “Uplift” books by David Brin – two trilogies that can be found at http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/103-2279077-8067858?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=sundiver&x=0&y=0
The most believable multi-extra-terrestrial species premise out there. Absolutely superb. I keep wishing he’d start another trilogy.
My favorite science fiction series was the Covenant series by Steve R. Donaldson
*Steven R. Donaldson.
Good list – Might I add Ben Bova’s Grand Tour.
I would of added Star Wars somewhere on the list. The star wars books are probably some of the funnest books I’ve read, not only as a kid, but as an adult as well.
…nerds