We all tend to have our favorite genres of books. If we try something new, sometimes all it takes is one bad book to make us uninterested in anything else from that category. Science fiction books can present a challenge for readers who don't fancy spending their time reading about aliens or time travel or other otherworldly phenomena.
However, don’t rule out the entire sci-fi genre. There are a plenty of books that engage with sci-fi ideas without being overwhelming. They may happen to be set in space or make use of other sci-fi tropes, but then they develop in ways that evokes other genres.
Here are five books that are great if you want to test the waters of sci-fi even though the genre initially puts you off. You will not be disappointed.
The Martian by Andy Weir
You likely heard about this book thanks to the 2015 movie starring Matt Damon. Maybe you even considered watching the movie because of Damon, but the idea of something being set on Mars put you off. Well, take Mars out of the equation. The Martian by Andy Weir is far more than your typical sci-fi story, and it’s a perfect book for those who like exciting tales of survival.
The novel follows a scientist on a mission to Mars who is left there alone. Much of the habitat that he and his team had been build on the planet has been destroyed, and there is no way to get Mark Watney back to Earth. So he’s left for dead, but this is a man who isn’t interested in dying. So he decides to find a way to survive, using his botanic knowledge to make his tiny slice of the Red Planet into a place he can survive.
Back on Earth, NASA initially thinks he is dead because there’s no way to communicate with him. It’s only when he shows off his survivalist skills that NASA realizes that he needs to be saved. Suddenly, both Mark's life and the future of manned missions to Mars are at stake.
Kindred by Octavia Butler
There are many books set in the American south before the fall of slavery, but very few like this. We all think that we would fight the slave trade if were around at the time, but the truth is more complicated. It’s what drew me to Kindred by Octavia Butler, as it transports a modern-day woman back to the time period, giving us a close-up look at this brutal institution.
Dana is a 26-year-old Black woman who is snatched from her own time and taken back to the antebellum South. She is summoned to save Rufus, a drowning son of a white plantation owner, and then she finds herself back in her own time. But she keeps getting pulled back, and each time her stay is longer and more difficult.
Why would Dana go back? Does she even have a choice? And can she do anything while there, when she knows exactly how history plays out? This is one of those science fiction stories that brings up a lot of issues about humanity, the darkness of history, and why we can’t keep looking at the past with 21st century goggles.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Do you want something that’s set in the not-so-distant past? Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro takes us to a 1990s boarding school in England and explores themes of friendships, memory, and just what it means to be alive in this world.
Kathy thinks back to her time at Hailsham, a boarding school where everything is magical and safe. The school itself takes pride in protecting the students, allowing them to thrive in their studies, especially when it comes to art and literature.
However, what’s on the outer edges of the school? As Kathy and her friends leave, they learn that the school was holding back secrets. There’s a dystopian feeling to this story, and I think it’s been unfairly categorized as science fiction, because it is a beautiful story about life and human nature.
The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
If you pick up The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton, just know you are getting the same book. This novel has slightly different titles based on where it's sold, due to a clash in titles with other books. Regardless of the title, this is a book you need to read if you don’t think you like the sci-fi genre, as it also pulls in the mystery genre.
This is one of those Groundhog Day-type books. Aiden Bishop is forced to relive the same day over and over again. Only it’s not his death that resets the clock, it’s Evelyn Hardcastle’s death, and Aiden has to figure out who killed her and why.
To add to the sci-fi element, there’s also some body-switching involved. Aiden always wakes up in the body of another guest at the party Evelyn was killed at. That suggests there’s a time limit to his investigation. Throw in a romance, and you have a lot to look forward to with this story.
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
How about something that treads a little bit into the world of fantasy as well as sci-fi? The Midnight Library by Matt Haig gives us a look at what could happen in the afterlife. There's a sliding doors aspect to the story. Is there another branch of our lives out there, running with the other choice that we could have made?
Nora Seed is unhappy with choices she made when she was 16, and she’s been unhappy ever since. At the age of 35, she decides to end it all, and she ends up in a place called the Midnight Library. In here, she gets to visit all of the choices that she could have made. Would her life have been better?
The book explores themes of regret, death, and finding happiness. Again, it's arguable that The Midnight Library deserves to be lumped in with the rest of the sci-fi genre at all. By the end of it, you’ll start to assess your own decisions and whether you are living the best version of your life.
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