So, I read lots of science fiction books, and therefore lots of sci-fi book series. After all, the sci-fi book series forms of the core of the genre. An author writes a good book, leaves enough on the table to allow for more, the book gets popular, and then: Bam! It’s a series. It’s happened hundreds of times.
But I don’t often write about science fiction in this blog. I did write about the curious implications of one book in the era of COVID-19, and another in the era of automation. But I’ll go a little bigger in this post. Here are some of my favorite sci-fi book series.
5 Favorite Sci-Fi Book Series
I’ll try to cover as wide a range as possible with this list. So, I won’t just write about robot books or galactic empires from the 1940s or 1950s. But there will be one series that fits this description. Which one? Let’s find out.
Isaac Asimov – The Foundation Series
Oops, it was the first one. But these books about a galactic empire do not peddle shoddy goods. For a bit of trivia, the first three books in this series won a special Hugo Award in 1966 for the Best All-Time Sci-Fi Book Series.
And deservedly so. In these books, Asimov perfected the style of ‘future history.’ He focused less on characters – no characters make it through even a large part of the series – but rather on the broad historical plot. Foundation is about a collapsing galactic empire and a new science of ‘psychohistory’ designed to fight it.
If that sounds familiar, it’s because countless sci-fi authors used it as a model. But Asimov does it best.
What to read: Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation
Frank Herbert – The Dune Chronicles
It’s almost impossible to describe the plot of Dune to anyone who doesn’t know it. It’s…the story of a futuristic conflict between a totalitarian empire and a group of religious fanatics who overthrow it? It’s…about the battle of a giant sandworm-human hybrid to save the universe from robots?
It’s both of those things. But, more than anything, Herbert provides a ton of useful lessons about society.
What to read: Dune, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune
Ursula K. Le Guin – The Hainish Cycle
Le Guin’s Hainish sci-fi book series is really less a series than a collection of stories in a common world. Her worlds usually aren’t at war, and she doesn’t rely on gimmicky plot moves or tricks. The format fits very well her theme of exploring deeper social issues.
She portrays highly technological, futuristic societies that suffer from issues we could just as easily find in Plato’s Republic. She does all this more effectively than perhaps any other sci-fi author. Readers can begin from any story in the series and hop in.
What to Read: The Dispossessed, The Left Hand of Darkness, The Word for World is Forest
Cixin Liu – Remembrance of Earth’s Past
We’ve seen lots of recent sci-fi work from China. And Liu gives us here one of the best Chinese sci-fi book series. On the surface, Remembrance of Earth’s Past tells a story about humanity’s first encounter with alien life.
There’s nothing unique about that. Many sci-fi books tell that story. Liu puts a unique spin on it by telling the story in a particularly…gloomy and dystopian way. It’s not that alien civilizations turn out to be warlike. Rather, Liu presents the universe as a dark forest, where civilizations hide from one another because each civilization that announces its presence is promptly destroyed.
Beyond this, Liu situates the politics of Earth within Chinese communist history – particularly the history of the Cultural Revolution.
What to read: The Three-Body Problem, The Dark Forest, Death’s End
Kim Stanley Robinson – The Mars Trilogy
Robinson tells a story centering on the settlement and terraforming of Mars. What he does better than anyone else is give scientific and social details about how this process would go. He traces it from first contact to land formation to sea formation.
As he traces the politics of the new world, he bases political parties and movements on the traditions of the U.S. left. It’s an approach like no other.
What to read: Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars
Addendum
It’s not easy to make a list like this. I left off the list several recent sci-fi book series worth checking out. For anyone into military sci-fi or space opera, I’d place John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War series and James S. A. Corey’s The Expanse at the top of my Honorable Mention list.
