Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time

Breq used to be the Justice of Toren - the huge, complex AI that inhabited a colossal starship and all of its thousands of ancillaries in the service of the Radch, the largest of the human empires. Ancillaries are human bodies that were captured in previous Radchaai annexations (or colonizations) – those who resist the takeover are killed and their bodies frozen and stored, ready to be activated a...

Ranking and reviewing the best speculative fiction books of 2021! Here's the extremely abridged version of the list, with a one sentence summary of each: 6. Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark - A murder mystery set in a steampunk version of Cairo with lots of genies.  5. The Galaxy and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers - A bunch of aliens are stuck at an interstellar truck stop, hanging out with...

Gentian line is one of the most powerful forces in the galaxy - one of the 'lines' of clones (called shatterlings) who have been traveling the galaxy since the start of the star-faring era six million years ago. The shatterlings of Gentian line travel alone, but they come together for a reunion every 200,000 years to compare what they have seen on their latest circuit around the galaxy. Campian an...

It is truly unbelievable that this story was written in 1909 - E. M. Forster's dystopian world feels all too real in our increasingly digitally connected and physically isolated real world.  The story is about ritual & superstition, resistance to change, the dangers of reliance on an all-powerful authority, the origins of knowledge and creativity, and a tumultuous relationship between a mother and...

A world where everyone occupies a tiny cell, connected to each other only by machines, and where a parent's responsibility to their child ends at birth. Where all knowledge and experience comes secondhand, through the machine. A world where the machine rules everyone's lives. We absolutely love this classic short story, and we're lucky it's old enough to have entered the public domain so we can re...

David Brin is an astrophysicist whose international best-selling novels include The Postman, Startide Rising, and the Uplift War. He consults for NASA, companies, agencies, and nonprofits about the onrushing future. His first nonfiction book, The Transparent Society, won the Freedom of Speech Award. His newest book is Vivid Tomorrows: Science Fiction and Hollywood. Startide Rising won both the Hug...

These books are among the most popular works of the Golden Age of sci fi, and for good reason. The overall story arc established in the first book is very, very good.   Hari Seldon combines mathematics and psychology to create the new science of psychohistory and predicts that the galaxy-wide empire that has ruled and kept the peace for tens of thousands of years will collapse within 500 years. Th...

Douglas Adams passed away 21 years ago this week, so it seemed like a good time to revisit his amazing work. These are short, digestible books that are jam-packed full of jokes and mad-cap adventures. The first book in the series (the eponymous Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ) is especially full of non-stop zaniness - the chapters are only a few pages long, but every single one feels like it has...

Despite the grim nature of a story about a pandemic that destroys civilization, Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel is full of subtle optimism and deep characters. It jumps between timelines and between characters, and builds mystery about how all these people are going to be connected. It tells a tense story about the dangers posed by other survivors in a post-apocalyptic world, while at the...

In this episode we review Cixin Liu's Hugo award winning Three Body Problem (the book that made him the first person from Asia to win the award), as well as the sequels. If you haven't read the first book yet, you should - it absolutely deserves all its acclaim, with a huge number of big tech ideas, an incredibly compelling character in Ye Wenjie, and even includes a section set during the Cultura...

In this episode we review and discuss Exhalation and Stories of Your Life and Others, Ted Chiang's two short story collections.  These seventeen stories are full of novel scientific ideas, wonderful characters, and thoughtful takes on the morality of future technologies and how they will change society. We certainly aren't alone in thinking they're wonderful - Ted Chiang has won four Hugos, four N...

In this episode we review Ender's Game, what makes it so inspiring to generation after generation of readers, why Ender is so incredibly likeable, discuss empathy as a superpower, and talk about Orson Scott Card's bizarre and outspoken homophobia (and why you should get this book from the library or used book store as a result).  As always, we also recommend and discuss some similar stories if you...

This week we were so excited to interview Joe Haldeman and his wife Gay! The Forever War is absolutely one of the best sci fi books of all time, and we were excited to discuss the origins, real-life inspiration, and message of the book, as well as sci-fi and writing more broadly. In addition to writing more than 30 novels, Joe was also a professor at MIT (as was Gay) where he taught science fictio...

 In this episode we review Adrian Tchaikovosky's most popular book, talk about how he pulled off making giant spiders likeable, discuss how the book started off so strong, and debate whether a book's optimism or pessimism should impact how we view it. We're also joined by a guest - Hasan, a listener who reached out and we invited to guest host an episode - shoot us a message at hugonautspodcast@gm...

In this episode we review KSR's magnum opus, talk about the technology he includes that makes the terraforming project possible, discuss the decline in the quality of each successive book, and debate what makes a character feel real.  As always, we also recommend and discuss some similar stories if you're looking for more great books to read. This week we recommend Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C...

In this episode we review this timeless classic, talk about the real-life risk of meteors and comets hitting Earth, discuss how much it feels like nonfiction covering an event that just hasn't happened yet, and debate what makes a book ending great.  As always, we also recommend and discuss some similar stories if you're looking for more great books to read. This week we recommend Titan by John Va...

In this episode we review The City and The City, talk about the things that make it so interesting and fun to read, how 'weird fiction' fits into sci fi, and who makes the rules of society.  As always, we also recommend and discuss some similar stories if you're looking for more great books to read. This week, we recommend The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin, LA Confidential by Elmore Le...

In this episode we review Left Hand of Darkness, talk about the things that make it so timeless and fun to read, Ursula K Le Guin's real life experiences that inspired the book, and how it transcends sci fi and becomes 'literary' fiction that everyone can and should enjoy.  As always, we also recommend and discuss some similar stories if you're looking for more great books to read:  The Satanic Ve...

In A Fire Upon the Deep , A colony of humans sets up in the transcendence, the part of the galaxy where computers work so well AI can ascend and become godlike. The humans start tinkering with an old artifact, and naturally, they awaken an ancient power. The reborn AI sets off on a reign of destruction, and soon is killing even other deities.  A single ship escapes with the secret to save the univ...

Hyperion by Dan Simmons is one of the best sci fi books of all time, and won the Hugo and the Locus awards in 1990. We give it a 4.5 / 5.  The book is a space epic in the form of Chaucer’s Canterbury tales. Hyperion is a colony world at the edge of Hegemony space, and home to some of the greatest mysteries of the galaxy. A network of giant labyrinths crisscrosses underground across the whole plane...

This series is beloved by its fans, but doesn't get enough recognition in the wider world. These are incredible, character-driven stories that are a breeze to read but beneath the surface have so much to say about what's most important in life and the meaning and definition of personal identity. That makes them the perfect intro to sci fi for anyone new to the genre, and a refreshing read for any...

A Canticle for Leibowitz is set in the aftermath of a horrible nuclear war. The survivors blamed science, and killed intellectuals and burned all the books they could get their hands on. A monastery in the desert of the western US is one of the few places on earth to preserve any knowledge, and the book follows the monks of the monastery in three sections over the following thousand years. The mon...

This is a no-spoiler review. In advance of the new Dune movie, we thought it would be fun to revisit Dune and remember what made it great (and the things that aren't so great). The names are incredible - who can forget the Fremen, the Gom Jabbar, or the Reverend Mother? The writing, on the other hand - we wish we could forget the constant repetition, horrific dialogue, and ending that comes so fas...