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How Many Books on the "Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Books" List Have You Read?
Anything in the science fiction or fantasy genres, especially if there's any crossover.
(This list used to be for science fiction, but got out of control. For the best science fiction, see our new list.
See also
SF and Fantasy Award Winner Lists
Note: Spam will be deleted if detected. Mostly what it will earn is the ire of the regular voters.
(This list used to be for science fiction, but got out of control. For the best science fiction, see our new list.
See also
SF and Fantasy Award Winner Lists
Note: Spam will be deleted if detected. Mostly what it will earn is the ire of the regular voters.
want to read
Ender’s Game (Ender's Saga, #1)
by Orson Scott Card
by Orson Scott Card
4.31 avg rating — 1,460,189 ratings
Andrew "Ender" Wiggin thinks he is playing computer simulated war games; he is, in fact, engaged in
Andrew "Ender" Wiggin thinks he is playing computer simulated war games; he is, in fact, engaged in something far more desperate. The result of genetic experimentation, Ender may be the military genius Earth desperately needs in a war against an alien enemy seeking to destroy all human life. The only way to find out is to throw Ender into ever harsher training, to chip away and find the diamond inside, or destroy him utterly. Ender Wiggin is six years old when it begins. He will grow up fast.
But Ender is not the only result of the experiment. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway almost as long. Ender's two older siblings, Peter and Valentine, are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. While Peter was too uncontrollably violent, Valentine very nearly lacks the capability for violence altogether. Neither was found suitable for the military's purpose. But they are driven by their jealousy of Ender, and by their inbred drive for power. Peter seeks to control the political process, to become a ruler. Valentine's abilities turn more toward the subtle control of the beliefs of commoner and elite alike, through powerfully convincing essays. Hiding their youth and identities behind the anonymity of the computer networks, these two begin working together to shape the destiny of Earth-an Earth that has no future at all if their brother Ender fails.
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Dune (Dune #1)
by Frank Herbert
by Frank Herbert
4.29 avg rating — 1,595,039 ratings
Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, heir to a noble family
Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, heir to a noble family tasked with ruling an inhospitable world where the only thing of value is the “spice” melange, a drug capable of extending life and enhancing consciousness. Coveted across the known universe, melange is a prize worth killing for...
When House Atreides is betrayed, the destruction of Paul’s family will set the boy on a journey toward a destiny greater than he could ever have imagined. And as he evolves into the mysterious man known as Muad’Dib, he will bring to fruition humankind’s most ancient and unattainable dream.
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1984
by George Orwell
by George Orwell
4.20 avg rating — 5,324,251 ratings
A masterpiece of rebellion and imprisonment where war is peace freedom is slavery and Big Brother is
A masterpiece of rebellion and imprisonment where war is peace freedom is slavery and Big Brother is watching. Thought Police, Big Brother, Orwellian - these words have entered our vocabulary because of George Orwell's classic dystopian novel 1984. The story of one man's Nightmare Odyssey as he pursues a forbidden love affair through a world ruled by warring states and a power structure that controls not only information but also individual thought and memory 1984 is a prophetic haunting tale More relevant than ever before 1984 exposes the worst crimes imaginable the destruction of truth freedom and individuality. With a foreword by Thomas Pynchon. This beautiful paperback edition features deckled edges and french flaps a perfect gift for any occasion
Alternate cover edition can be found here.
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Fahrenheit 451
by Ray Bradbury
by Ray Bradbury
3.97 avg rating — 2,766,621 ratings
Nearly seventy years after its original publication, Ray Bradbury’s internationally acclaimed novel
Nearly seventy years after its original publication, Ray Bradbury’s internationally acclaimed novel Fahrenheit 451 stands as a classic of world literature set in a bleak, dystopian future. Today its message has grown more relevant than ever before.
Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television “family.” But when he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known.
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Brave New World
by Aldous Huxley
by Aldous Huxley
3.99 avg rating — 2,042,778 ratings
Brave New World is a dystopian social science fiction novel by English author Aldous Huxley. Largely
Brave New World is a dystopian social science fiction novel by English author Aldous Huxley. Largely set in a futuristic World State, whose citizens are environmentally engineered into an intelligence-based social hierarchy, the novel anticipates huge scientific advancements in reproductive technology, sleep-learning, psychological manipulation and classical conditioning that are combined to make a dystopian society which is challenged by only a single individual: the story's protagonist.
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Foundation (Foundation, #1)
by Isaac Asimov
by Isaac Asimov
4.17 avg rating — 587,638 ratings
The first novel in Isaac Asimov's classic science-fiction masterpiece, the Foundation series
For t
The first novel in Isaac Asimov's classic science-fiction masterpiece, the Foundation series
For twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. But only Hari Seldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory, can see into the future--to a dark age of ignorance, barbarism, and warfare that will last thirty thousand years. To preserve knowledge and save humankind, Seldon gathers the best minds in the Empire--both scientists and scholars--and brings them to a bleak planet at the edge of the galaxy to serve as a beacon of hope for future generations. He calls his sanctuary the Foundation.
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A Wrinkle in Time (Time Quintet, #1)
by Madeleine L'Engle
by Madeleine L'Engle
3.97 avg rating — 1,270,776 ratings
It was a dark and stormy night; Meg Murry, her small brother Charles Wallace, and her mother had com
It was a dark and stormy night; Meg Murry, her small brother Charles Wallace, and her mother had come down to the kitchen for a midnight snack when they were upset by the arrival of a most disturbing stranger.
"Wild nights are my glory," the unearthly stranger told them. "I just got caught in a downdraft and blown off course. Let me sit down for a moment, and then I'll be on my way. Speaking of ways, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract."
A tesseract (in case the reader doesn't know) is a wrinkle in time. To tell more would rob the reader of the enjoyment of Miss L'Engle's unusual book. A Wrinkle in Time, winner of the Newberry Medal in 1963, is the story of the adventures in space and time of Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin O'Keefe (athlete, student, and one of the most popular boys in high school). They are in search of Meg's father, a scientist who disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government on the tesseract problem.
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The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)
by Suzanne Collins
by Suzanne Collins
4.35 avg rating — 9,720,381 ratings
Winning means fame and fortune. Losing means certain death. The Hunger Games have begun. . . .
In t
Winning means fame and fortune. Losing means certain death. The Hunger Games have begun. . . .
In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.
Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before-and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.
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The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1-5)
by Douglas Adams
by Douglas Adams
4.38 avg rating — 336,280 ratings
At last in paperback in one complete volume, here are the five novels from Douglas Adams's Hitchhike
At last in paperback in one complete volume, here are the five novels from Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker series. "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"Seconds before the Earth is demolished for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is saved by Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised Guide. Together they stick out their thumbs to the stars and begin a wild journey through time and space."The Restaurant at the End of the Universe"Facing annihilation at the hands of warmongers is a curious time to crave tea. It could only happen to the cosmically displaced Arthur Dent and his comrades as they hurtle across the galaxy in a desperate search for a place to eat."Life, the Universe and Everything"The unhappy inhabitants of planet Krikkit are sick of looking at the night sky- so they plan to destroy it. The universe, that is. Now only five individuals can avert mild-mannered Arthur Dent and his stalwart crew."So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish"Back on Earth, Arthur Dent is ready to believe that the past eight years were all just a figment of his stressed-out imagination. But a gift-wrapped fishbowl with a cryptic inscription conspires to thrust him back to reality. So to speak."Mostly Harmless"Just when Arthur Dent makes the terrible mistake of starting to enjoy life, all hell breaks loose. Can he save the Earth from total obliteration? Can he save the Guide from a hostile alien takeover? Can he save his daughter from herself?Also includes the short story "Young Zaphod Plays It Safe".
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Slaughterhouse-Five
by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
4.10 avg rating — 1,464,932 ratings
Slaughterhouse-Five, an American classic, is one of the world’s great antiwar books. Centering on th
Slaughterhouse-Five, an American classic, is one of the world’s great antiwar books. Centering on the infamous World War II firebombing of Dresden, the novel is the result of what Kurt Vonnegut described as a twenty-three-year struggle to write a book about what he had witnessed as an American prisoner of war. It combines historical fiction, science fiction, autobiography, and satire in an account of the life of Billy Pilgrim, a barber’s son turned draftee turned optometrist turned alien abductee. As Vonnegut had, Billy experiences the destruction of Dresden as a POW. Unlike Vonnegut, he experiences time travel, or coming “unstuck in time.” An instant bestseller, Slaughterhouse-Five made Kurt Vonnegut a cult hero in American literature, a reputation that only strengthened over time, despite his being banned and censored by some libraries and schools for content and language. But it was precisely those elements of Vonnegut’s writing—the political edginess, the genre-bending inventiveness, the frank violence, the transgressive wit—that have inspired generations of readers not just to look differently at the world around them but to find the confidence to say something about it. Fifty years after its initial publication at the height of the Vietnam War, Vonnegut's portrayal of political disillusionment, PTSD, and postwar anxiety feels as relevant, darkly humorous, and profoundly affecting as ever, an enduring beacon through our own era’s uncertainties.
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The Giver (The Giver, #1)
by Lois Lowry*
by Lois Lowry*
4.12 avg rating — 2,762,767 ratings
At the age of twelve, Jonas, a young boy from a seemingly utopian, futuristic world, is singled out
At the age of twelve, Jonas, a young boy from a seemingly utopian, futuristic world, is singled out to receive special training from The Giver, who alone holds the memories of the true joys and pain of life.
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Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
by Philip K. Dick
by Philip K. Dick
4.09 avg rating — 503,763 ratings
It was January 2021, and Rick Deckard had a license to kill. Somewhere among the hordes of humans ou
It was January 2021, and Rick Deckard had a license to kill. Somewhere among the hordes of humans out there, lurked several rogue androids. Deckard's assignment--find them and then..."retire" them. Trouble was, the androids all looked exactly like humans, and they didn't want to be found!
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Stranger in a Strange Land
by Robert A. Heinlein
by Robert A. Heinlein
3.92 avg rating — 324,825 ratings
Valentine Michael Smith è nato durante la prima missione umana su Marte ed è l’unico sopravvissuto a
Valentine Michael Smith è nato durante la prima missione umana su Marte ed è l’unico sopravvissuto alla spedizione. Cresciuto dai marziani, non è abituato al contatto con gli esseri umani, e al suo rientro sulla Terra è del tutto inconsapevole di ciò che lo sta aspettando. Michael, infatti, non ha idea di cosa siano le donne, non conosce le culture terrestri né il concetto di religione. Spedito sulla Terra dovrà imparare a diventare un umano e a comprendere i pregiudizi e le abitudini sociali, a lui alieni. Il suo ritorno è carico di conseguenze: è l’erede di un gigantesco impero finanziario, oltre che il padrone di Marte. Sotto la protezione dell’irascibile Jubal Harshaw, il giovane Michael scopre ed esplora il senso morale degli esseri umani e il vero significato dell’amore puro. Fonda una sua Chiesa, predicando l’amore libero e condividendo le capacità psichiche che ha acquisito dai marziani, affrontando con forza e determinazione l’inevitabile destino riservato a ogni messia. Le sue credenze e i suoi poteri, che vanno ben oltre i limiti dell’uomo, condurranno a una trasformazione che altererà inevitabilmente e per sempre gli abitanti della Terra... Introduzione di Kurt Vonnegut.
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I, Robot (Robot, #0.1)
by Isaac Asimov
by Isaac Asimov
4.21 avg rating — 374,070 ratings
Isaac Asimov's I, Robot launches readers on an adventure into a not-so-distant future where man and
Isaac Asimov's I, Robot launches readers on an adventure into a not-so-distant future where man and machine , struggle to redefinelife, love, and consciousness—and where the stakes are nothing less than survival. Filled with unforgettable characters, mind-bending speculation, and nonstop action, I, Robot is a powerful reading experience from one of the master storytellers of our time.
I, ROBOT
They mustn't harm a human being, they must obey human orders, and they must protect their own existence...but only so long as that doesn't violate rules one and two. With these Three Laws of Robotics, humanity embarked on perhaps its greatest adventure: the invention of the first positronic man. It was a bold new era of evolution that would open up enormous possibilities—and unforeseen risks. For the scientists who invented the earliest robots weren't content that their creations should ' remain programmed helpers, companions, and semisentient worker-machines. And soon the robots themselves; aware of their own intelligence, power, and humanity, aren't either.
As humans and robots struggle to survive together—and sometimes against each other—on earth and in space, the future of both hangs in the balance. Human men and women confront robots gone mad, telepathic robots, robot politicians, and vast robotic intelligences that may already secretly control the world. And both are asking the same questions: What is human? And is humanity obsolete?
In l, Robot Isaac Asimov changes forever our perception of robots, and human beings and updates the timeless myth of man's dream to play god. with all its rewards—and terrors.
--front flap
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Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos, #1)
by Dan Simmons
by Dan Simmons
4.27 avg rating — 291,664 ratings
On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called
On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all. On the eve of Armageddon, with the entire galaxy at war, seven pilgrims set forth on a final voyage to Hyperion seeking the answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives. Each carries a desperate hope—and a terrible secret. And one may hold the fate of humanity in his hands.
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Animal Farm
by George Orwell
by George Orwell
4.01 avg rating — 4,435,882 ratings
Librarian's note: There is an Alternate Cover Edition for this edition of this book here.
A farm is
Librarian's note: There is an Alternate Cover Edition for this edition of this book here.
A farm is taken over by its overworked, mistreated animals. With flaming idealism and stirring slogans, they set out to create a paradise of progress, justice, and equality. Thus the stage is set for one of the most telling satiric fables ever penned –a razor-edged fairy tale for grown-ups that records the evolution from revolution against tyranny to a totalitarianism just as terrible.
When Animal Farm was first published, Stalinist Russia was seen as its target. Today it is devastatingly clear that wherever and whenever freedom is attacked, under whatever banner, the cutting clarity and savage comedy of George Orwell’s masterpiece have a meaning and message still ferociously fresh.
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Neuromancer (Sprawl, #1)
by William Gibson
by William Gibson
3.89 avg rating — 358,651 ratings
Winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick Awards, Neuromancer is a science fiction masterpiece—
Winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick Awards, Neuromancer is a science fiction masterpiece—a classic that ranks as one of the twentieth century’s most potent visions of the future.
Case was the sharpest data-thief in the matrix—until he crossed the wrong people and they crippled his nervous system, banishing him from cyberspace. Now a mysterious new employer has recruited him for a last-chance run at an unthinkably powerful artificial intelligence. With a dead man riding shotgun and Molly, a mirror-eyed street-samurai, to watch his back, Case is ready for the adventure that upped the ante on an entire genre of fiction.
Neuromancer was the first fully-realized glimpse of humankind’s digital future—a shocking vision that has challenged our assumptions about technology and ourselves, reinvented the way we speak and think, and forever altered the landscape of our imaginations.
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The Handmaid’s Tale (The Handmaid's Tale, #1)
by Margaret Atwood*
by Margaret Atwood*
4.15 avg rating — 2,365,141 ratings
Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife
Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she lived and made love with her husband, Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now…
Funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing, The Handmaid's Tale is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and tour de force.
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The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1)
by J.R.R. Tolkien
by J.R.R. Tolkien
4.40 avg rating — 3,091,889 ratings
Alternate Cover Edition ISBN 0618260269 (copyright page ISBN is 0618346252 - different from back cov
Alternate Cover Edition ISBN 0618260269 (copyright page ISBN is 0618346252 - different from back cover)
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkeness bind them
In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, The Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell into the hands of Bilbo Baggins, as told in The Hobbit.
In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.
--back cover
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Speaker for the Dead (Ender's Saga, #2)
by Orson Scott Card
by Orson Scott Card
4.11 avg rating — 268,845 ratings
In this second book in the saga set 3,000 years after the terrible war, Ender Wiggin is reviled by h
In this second book in the saga set 3,000 years after the terrible war, Ender Wiggin is reviled by history as the Xenocide--the destroyer of the alien Buggers. Now, Ender tells the true story of the war and seeks to stop history from repeating itself. ...
In the aftermath of his terrible war, Ender Wiggin disappeared, and a powerful voice arose: The Speaker for the Dead, who told the true story of the Bugger War.
Now, long years later, a second alien race has been discovered, but again the aliens' ways are strange and frightening...again, humans die. And it is only the Speaker for the Dead, who is also Ender Wiggin the Xenocide, who has the courage to confront the mystery...and the truth.
Speaker for the Dead, the second novel in Orson Scott Card's Ender Quintet, is the winner of the 1986 Nebula Award for Best Novel and the 1987 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
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The Martian Chronicles
by Ray Bradbury
by Ray Bradbury
4.16 avg rating — 282,353 ratings
The strange and wonderful tale of man’s experiences on Mars, filled with intense images and astonish
The strange and wonderful tale of man’s experiences on Mars, filled with intense images and astonishing visions. Now part of the Voyager Classics collection.
The Martian Chronicles tells the story of humanity’s repeated attempts to colonize the red planet. The first men were few. Most succumbed to a disease they called the Great Loneliness when they saw their home planet dwindle to the size of a fist. They felt they had never been born. Those few that survived found no welcome on Mars. The shape-changing Martians thought they were native lunatics and duly locked them up.
But more rockets arrived from Earth, and more, piercing the hallucinations projected by the Martians. People brought their old prejudices with them – and their desires and fantasies, tainted dreams. These were soon inhabited by the strange native beings, with their caged flowers and birds of flame.
Contents:
Rocket Summer
Ylla
The Summer Night
The Earth Men
The Taxpayer
The Third Expedition
-And the Moon Be Still As Bright
The Settlers
The Green Morning
The Locusts
Night Meeting
The Shore
Interim
The Musicians
Way in the Middle of the Air
The Naming of Names
Usher II
The Old Ones
The Martian
The Luggage Store
The Off Season
The Watchers
The Silent Towns
The Long Years
There Will Come Soft Rains
The Million Year Picnic
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The Stand
by Stephen King*
by Stephen King*
4.35 avg rating — 823,169 ratings
This is the way the world ends: with a nanosecond of computer error in a Defense Department laborato
This is the way the world ends: with a nanosecond of computer error in a Defense Department laboratory and a million casual contacts that form the links in a chain letter of death.
And here is the bleak new world of the day after: a world stripped of its institutions and emptied of 99 percent of its people. A world in which a handful of panicky survivors choose sides - or are chosen. A world in which good rides on the frail shoulders of the 108-year-old Mother Abagail - and the worst nightmares of evil are embodied in a man with a lethal smile and unspeakable powers: Randall Flagg, the dark man.
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Snow Crash
by Neal Stephenson*
by Neal Stephenson*
4.01 avg rating — 295,466 ratings
In reality, Hiro Protagonist delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo's CosoNostra Pizza Inc., but in the Metav
In reality, Hiro Protagonist delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo's CosoNostra Pizza Inc., but in the Metaverse he's a warrior prince. Plunging headlong into the enigma of a new computer virus that's striking down hackers everywhere, he races along the neon-lit streets on a search-and-destroy mission for the shadowy virtual villain threatening to bring about infocalypse. Snow Crash is a mind-altering romp through a future America so bizarre, so outrageous… you'll recognize it immediately.
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The Foundation Trilogy (Foundation, #1-3)
by Isaac Asimov
by Isaac Asimov
4.42 avg rating — 107,767 ratings
Foundation begins a new chapter in the story of man's future. As the Old Empire crumbles into barbar
Foundation begins a new chapter in the story of man's future. As the Old Empire crumbles into barbarism throughout the million worlds of the galaxy, Hari Seldon and his band of psychologists must create a new entity, the Foundation-dedicated to art, science, and technology-as the beginning of a new empire.
Foundation and Empire describes the mighty struggle for power amid the chaos of the stars in which man stands at the threshold of a new enlightened life which could easily be destroyed by the old forces of barbarism.
Second Foundation follows the Seldon Plan after the First Empire's defeat and describes its greatest threat-a dangerous mutant strain gone wild, which produces a mind capable of bending men's wills, directing their thoughts, reshaping their desires, and destroying the universe.
This adaptation for BBC Radio 4 was first broadcast in 1973 with a cast which included Lee Montague, Maurice Denham, John Justin, Angela Plesence, Wolfe Morris, Julian Glover and Prunella Scales.
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Jurassic Park (Jurassic Park, #1)
by Michael Crichton
by Michael Crichton
4.13 avg rating — 1,046,007 ratings
An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Now humankind’
An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Now humankind’s most thrilling fantasies have come true. Creatures extinct for eons roam Jurassic Park with their awesome presence and profound mystery, and all the world can visit them—for a price.
Until something goes wrong. . . .
In Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton taps all his mesmerizing talent and scientific brilliance to create his most electrifying technothriller.
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2001: A Space Odyssey (Space Odyssey, #1)
by Arthur C. Clarke
by Arthur C. Clarke
4.18 avg rating — 333,028 ratings
On the Moon, an enigma is uncovered.
So great are the implications of this discovery that for the f
On the Moon, an enigma is uncovered.
So great are the implications of this discovery that for the first time men are sent out deep into our solar system.
But long before their destination is reached, things begin to go horribly, inexplicably wrong...
One of the greatest-selling science fiction novels of our time, this classic book will grip you to the very end.
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The Lord of the Rings
by J.R.R. Tolkien
by J.R.R. Tolkien
4.54 avg rating — 722,636 ratings
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bin
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell by chance into the hands of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins.
From Sauron's fastness in the Dark Tower of Mordor, his power spread far and wide. Sauron gathered all the Great Rings to him, but always he searched for the One Ring that would complete his dominion.
When Bilbo reached his eleventy-first birthday he disappeared, bequeathing to his young cousin Frodo the Ruling Ring and a perilous quest: to journey across Middle-earth, deep into the shadow of the Dark Lord, and destroy the Ring by casting it into the Cracks of Doom.
The Lord of the Rings tells of the great quest undertaken by Frodo and the Fellowship of the Ring: Gandalf the Wizard; the hobbits Merry, Pippin, and Sam; Gimli the Dwarf; Legolas the Elf; Boromir of Gondor; and a tall, mysterious stranger called Strider.
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The Time Machine
by H.G. Wells
by H.G. Wells
3.89 avg rating — 558,020 ratings
“I’ve had a most amazing time....”
So begins the Time Traveller’s astonishing firsthand account of
“I’ve had a most amazing time....”
So begins the Time Traveller’s astonishing firsthand account of his journey 800,000 years beyond his own era—and the story that launched H.G. Wells’s successful career and earned him his reputation as the father of science fiction. With a speculative leap that still fires the imagination, Wells sends his brave explorer to face a future burdened with our greatest hopes...and our darkest fears. A pull of the Time Machine’s lever propels him to the age of a slowly dying Earth. There he discovers two bizarre races—the ethereal Eloi and the subterranean Morlocks—who not only symbolize the duality of human nature, but offer a terrifying portrait of the men of tomorrow as well. Published in 1895, this masterpiece of invention captivated readers on the threshold of a new century. Thanks to Wells’s expert storytelling and provocative insight, The Time Machine will continue to enthrall readers for generations to come.
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Starship Troopers
by Robert A. Heinlein
by Robert A. Heinlein
4.01 avg rating — 243,814 ratings
The historians can’t seem to settle whether to call this one "The Third Space War" (or the fourth),
The historians can’t seem to settle whether to call this one "The Third Space War" (or the fourth), or whether "The First Interstellar War" fits it better. We just call it “The Bug War." Everything up to then and still later were "incidents," "patrols," or "police actions." However, you are just as dead if you buy the farm in an "incident" as you are if you buy it in a declared war...
In one of Robert A. Heinlein’s most controversial bestsellers, a recruit of the future goes through the toughest boot camp in the Universe—and into battle with the Terran Mobile Infantry against mankind’s most alarming enemy.
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The Left Hand of Darkness
by Ursula K. Le Guin
by Ursula K. Le Guin
4.10 avg rating — 214,451 ratings
A groundbreaking work of science fiction, The Left Hand of Darkness tells the story of a lone human
A groundbreaking work of science fiction, The Left Hand of Darkness tells the story of a lone human emissary to Winter, an alien world whose inhabitants spend most of their time without a gender. His goal is to facilitate Winter's inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the completely dissimilar culture that he encounters.
Embracing the aspects of psychology, society, and human emotion on an alien world, The Left Hand of Darkness stands as a landmark achievement in the annals of intellectual science fiction.
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Flowers for Algernon
by Daniel Keyes
by Daniel Keyes
4.23 avg rating — 776,731 ratings
Winner of both the Hugo and Nebula Awards, the powerful, classic story about a man who receives an o
Winner of both the Hugo and Nebula Awards, the powerful, classic story about a man who receives an operation that turns him into a genius...and introduces him to heartache. Charlie Gordon is about to embark upon an unprecedented journey. Born with an unusually low IQ, he has been chosen as the perfect subject for an experimental surgery that researchers hope will increase his intelligence – a procedure that has already been highly successful when tested on a lab mouse named Algernon. As the treatment takes effect, Charlie's intelligence expands until it surpasses that of the doctors who engineered his metamorphosis. The experiment appears to be a scientific breakthrough of paramount importance, until Algernon suddenly deteriorates. Will the same happen to Charlie?
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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)
by J.K. Rowling
by J.K. Rowling
4.47 avg rating — 11,202,028 ratings
"Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms;
"Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger and a snake surrounding a large letter 'H'."
Harry Potter has never even heard of Hogwarts when the letters start dropping on the doormat at number four, Privet Drive. Addressed in green ink on yellowish parchment with a purple seal, they are swiftly confiscated by his grisly aunt and uncle. Then, on Harry's eleventh birthday, a great beetle-eyed giant of a man called Rubeus Hagrid bursts in with some astonishing news: Harry Potter is a wizard, and he has a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. An incredible adventure is about to begin!
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The War of the Worlds
by H.G. Wells
by H.G. Wells
3.83 avg rating — 344,926 ratings
O que parecia ser uma estrela cadente, uma linha flamejante perpassando Maybury, no Reino Unido, era
O que parecia ser uma estrela cadente, uma linha flamejante perpassando Maybury, no Reino Unido, era na verdade uma invasão extraterrestre. Um amontoado de máquinas trípedes – comandadas por marcianos – passou a marchar sobre os arredores de Londres, exterminando humanos a seu bel-prazer mediante raios de calor e liberação de substâncias venenosas. Espalharam pânico, terror e consolidaram a Guerra.
Esse é o ponto de partida de A guerra dos mundos, publicada originalmente em 1897 no periódico britânico Pearson’s Magazine e considerada por especialistas a obra fundamental da ficção científica. O livro em questão serviu como base para múltiplas adaptações para teatro, rádio, televisão e cinema e, apesar de ter sido uma das primeiras obras do autor enquanto romancista, já deixa evidente seu talento singular.
Dono de uma originalidade marcante em seu estilo, H. G. Wells consolidou ao longo de sua carreira literária um imaginário que se provou altamente fértil, tornando-se conhecido por seu dinamismo, vigor e exuberância. A guerra dos mundos também ficou famosa como crítica feita de forma voraz ao avanço assombroso do imperialismo europeu – e à subsequente erradicação de espécies animais e populações indígenas nativas das colônias britânicas. Além disso, pode ser considerada uma metáfora acerca da seleção natural e do darwinismo social, demonstrando o conhecimento do autor nos mais variados campos do saber.
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The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1)
by Patrick Rothfuss*
by Patrick Rothfuss*
4.52 avg rating — 1,064,241 ratings
Told in Kvothe's own voice, this is the tale of the magically gifted young man who grows to be the m
Told in Kvothe's own voice, this is the tale of the magically gifted young man who grows to be the most notorious wizard his world has ever seen.
The intimate narrative of his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, his years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-ridden city, his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a legendary school of magic, and his life as a fugitive after the murder of a king form a gripping coming-of-age story unrivaled in recent literature.
A high-action story written with a poet's hand, The Name of the Wind is a masterpiece that will transport readers into the body and mind of a wizard.
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Ender's Shadow (The Shadow Series, #1)
by Orson Scott Card
by Orson Scott Card
4.32 avg rating — 178,788 ratings
Welcome to Battleschool.
Growing up is never easy. But try living on the mean streets as a child be
Welcome to Battleschool.
Growing up is never easy. But try living on the mean streets as a child begging for food and fighting like a dog with ruthless gangs of starving kids who wouldn't hesitate to pound your skull into pulp for a scrap of apple. If Bean has learned anything on the streets, it's how to survive. And not with fists. He is way too small for that. But with brains.
Bean is a genius with a magician's ability to zero in on his enemy and exploit his weakness.
What better quality for a future general to lead the Earth in a final climactic battle against a hostile alien race, known as Buggers. At Battleschool Bean meets and befriends another future commander - Ender Wiggins - perhaps his only true rival.
Only one problem: for Bean and Ender, the future is now.
Ender's Shadow is the book that launched The Shadow Series, and the parallel novel to Orson Scott Card's science fiction classic, Ender's Game.
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Cat’s Cradle
by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
4.15 avg rating — 432,205 ratings
Told with deadpan humour and bitter irony, Kurt Vonnegut's cult tale of global destruction preys on
Told with deadpan humour and bitter irony, Kurt Vonnegut's cult tale of global destruction preys on our deepest fears of witnessing Armageddon and, worse still, surviving it ...
Dr Felix Hoenikker, one of the founding 'fathers' of the atomic bomb, has left a deadly legacy to the world. For he's the inventor of 'ice-nine', a lethal chemical capable of freezing the entire planet. The search for its whereabouts leads to Hoenikker's three ecentric children, to a crazed dictator in the Caribbean, to madness. Felix Hoenikker's Death Wish comes true when his last, fatal gift to humankind brings about the end, that for all of us, is nigh...
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Childhood’s End
by Arthur C. Clarke
by Arthur C. Clarke
4.12 avg rating — 171,594 ratings
The Overlords appeared suddenly over every city—intellectually, technologically, and militarily supe
The Overlords appeared suddenly over every city—intellectually, technologically, and militarily superior to humankind. Benevolent, they made few demands: unify earth, eliminate poverty, and end war. With little rebellion, humankind agreed, and a golden age began.
But at what cost? With the advent of peace, man ceases to strive for creative greatness, and a malaise settles over the human race. To those who resist, it becomes evident that the Overlords have an agenda of their own. As civilization approaches the crossroads, will the Overlords spell the end for humankind . . . or the beginning?
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The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
by Robert A. Heinlein
by Robert A. Heinlein
4.15 avg rating — 137,776 ratings
It is a tale of revolution, of the rebellion of a former penal colony on the Moon against its master
It is a tale of revolution, of the rebellion of a former penal colony on the Moon against its masters on the Earth. It is a tale of a culture whose family structures are based on the presence of two men for every woman, leading to novel forms of marriage and family. It is the story of the disparate people, a computer technician, a vigorous young female agitator, and an elderly academic who become the movement's leaders, and of Mike, the supercomputer whose sentience is known only to the revolt's inner circle, who for reasons of his own is committed to the revolution's ultimate success.
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Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1)
by Ernest Cline*
by Ernest Cline*
4.23 avg rating — 1,280,532 ratings
Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found here
IN THE YEAR 2044, reality is an ugly
Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found here
IN THE YEAR 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them.
But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.
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The Forever War (The Forever War, #1)
by Joe Haldeman
by Joe Haldeman
4.14 avg rating — 178,574 ratings
The Earth's leaders have drawn a line in the interstellar sand—despite the fact that the fierce alie
The Earth's leaders have drawn a line in the interstellar sand—despite the fact that the fierce alien enemy that they would oppose is inscrutable, unconquerable, and very far away. A reluctant conscript drafted into an elite Military unit, Private William Mandella has been propelled through space and time to fight in the distant thousand-year conflict; to perform his duties without rancor and even rise up through military ranks. Pvt. Mandella is willing to do whatever it takes to survive the ordeal and return home. But "home" may be even more terrifying than battle, because, thanks to the time dilation caused by space travel, Mandella is aging months while the Earth he left behind is aging centuries.
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Rendezvous with Rama (Rama, #1)
by Arthur C. Clarke
by Arthur C. Clarke
4.12 avg rating — 181,552 ratings
At first, only a few things are known about the celestial object that astronomers dub Rama. It is hu
At first, only a few things are known about the celestial object that astronomers dub Rama. It is huge, weighing more than ten trillion tons. And it is hurtling through the solar system at an inconceivable speed. Then a space probe confirms the unthinkable: Rama is no natural object. It is, incredibly, an interstellar spacecraft. Space explorers and planet-bound scientists alike prepare for mankind's first encounter with alien intelligence. It will kindle their wildest dreams... and fan their darkest fears. For no one knows who the Ramans are or why they have come. And now the moment of rendezvous awaits — just behind a Raman airlock door.
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A Canticle for Leibowitz (St. Leibowitz, #1)
by Walter M. Miller Jr.
by Walter M. Miller Jr.
3.99 avg rating — 117,847 ratings
Winner of the 1961 Hugo Award for Best Novel and widely considered one of the most accomplished, pow
Winner of the 1961 Hugo Award for Best Novel and widely considered one of the most accomplished, powerful, and enduring classics of modern speculative fiction, Walter M. Miller, Jr. 's A Canticle for Leibowitz is a true landmark of twentieth-century literature -- a chilling and still-provocative look at a post-apocalyptic future.
In a nightmarish ruined world slowly awakening to the light after sleeping in darkness, the infant rediscoveries of science are secretly nourished by cloistered monks dedicated to the study and preservation of the relics and writings of the blessed Saint Isaac Leibowitz. From here the story spans centuries of ignorance, violence, and barbarism, viewing through a sharp, satirical eye the relentless progression of a human race damned by its inherent humanness to recelebrate its grand foibles and repeat its grievous mistakes. Seriously funny, stunning, and tragic, eternally fresh, imaginative, and altogether remarkable, A Canticle for Leibowitz retains its ability to enthrall and amaze. It is now, as it always has been, a masterpiece.
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The Chain Between Worlds (The Lost Artefacts #1)
by Johnathon Nicolaou*
by Johnathon Nicolaou*
4.42 avg rating — 1,226 ratings
Runner up in the 2021 TCK Publishing Reader’s Choice Awards: Fantasy Genre
At the age of five Linco
Runner up in the 2021 TCK Publishing Reader’s Choice Awards: Fantasy Genre
At the age of five Lincoln was abandoned inexplicably at an orphanage by his father with nothing but a promise to return and an old wrist chain. 11 years later when seemingly ordinary 16-year-old Lincoln runs away from yet another foster home, heading to his favoured spot in New York City, he is attacked by a dog, a monstrous three headed dog the size of a truck. Becoming marked, a string of attacks follow, only ending when he is saved by El, Ben, and AJ, a group of enhanced people known as Ascendants. Discovering the world is not as it seems, with Sorcerers, Nature Spirits and demonic monsters all hiding in plain sight, he learns that he is a long-lost Ascendant himself; discovering that the chain his father left him was at the centre of a conspiracy that resulted in his abandonment and his father’s subsequent disappearance.
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Old Man's War (Old Man's War, #1)
by John Scalzi*
by John Scalzi*
4.23 avg rating — 219,993 ratings
John Perry did two things on his 75th birthday. First he visited his wife's grave. Then he joined th
John Perry did two things on his 75th birthday. First he visited his wife's grave. Then he joined the army.
The good news is that humanity finally made it into interstellar space. The bad news is that planets fit to live on are scarce-- and alien races willing to fight us for them are common. So: we fight. To defend Earth, and to stake our own claim to planetary real estate. Far from Earth, the war has been going on for decades: brutal, bloody, unyielding.
Earth itself is a backwater. The bulk of humanity's resources are in the hands of the Colonial Defense Force. Everybody knows that when you reach retirement age, you can join the CDF. They don't want young people; they want people who carry the knowledge and skills of decades of living. You'll be taken off Earth and never allowed to return. You'll serve two years at the front. And if you survive, you'll be given a generous homestead stake of your own, on one of our hard-won colony planets.
John Perry is taking that deal. He has only the vaguest idea what to expect. Because the actual fight, light-years from home, is far, far harder than he can imagine--and what he will become is far stranger.
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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1)
by Douglas Adams
by Douglas Adams
4.22 avg rating — 1,989,125 ratings
Seconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked of
Seconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor.
Together this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker's Guide ("A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have") and a galaxy-full of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox--the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian, Zaphod's girlfriend (formally Tricia McMillan), whom Arthur tried to pick up at a cocktail party once upon a time zone; Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant, and chronically depressed robot; Veet Voojagig, a former graduate student who is obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he bought over the years.
Where are these pens? Why are we born? Why do we die? Why do we spend so much time between wearing digital watches? For all the answers stick your thumb to the stars. And don't forget to bring a towel!
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The Time Traveler's Wife
by Audrey Niffenegger*
by Audrey Niffenegger*
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1,849,639 ratings
This is the extraordinary love story of Clare and Henry, who met when Clare was six and Henry was th
This is the extraordinary love story of Clare and Henry, who met when Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-two and Henry was thirty. Impossible but true, because Henry suffers from a rare condition where his genetic clock periodically resets and he finds himself pulled suddenly into his past or future. In the face of this force they can neither prevent nor control, Henry and Clare’s struggle to lead normal lives is both intensely moving and entirely unforgettable.
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The Host (The Host, #1)
by Stephenie Meyer
by Stephenie Meyer
3.86 avg rating — 1,043,979 ratings
Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the min
Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of human hosts while leaving their bodies intact. Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, didn't expect to find its former tenant refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.
As Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of Jared, a human who still lives in hiding, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she's never met. Reluctant allies, Wanderer and Melanie set off to search for the man they both love.
Also see: Alternate Cover Editions for this ISBN [ACE]
ACE #1
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ACE #2
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Dragonflight (Dragonriders of Pern, #1)
by Anne McCaffrey
by Anne McCaffrey
4.08 avg rating — 142,897 ratings
How can one girls save an entire world?
To the nobles who live in Benden Weyr, Lessa is nothing but
How can one girls save an entire world?
To the nobles who live in Benden Weyr, Lessa is nothing but a ragged kitchen girl. For most of her life she has survived by serving those who betrayed her father and took over his lands. Now the time has come for Lessa to shed her disguise-and take back her stolen birthright.
But everything changes when she meets a Queen dragon. The bond they share will be deep and last forever. It will protect them when, for the first time in centuries, Lessa's world is threatened by Thread, an evil substance that falls like rain and destroys everything it touches. Dragons and their Riders once protected the planet from Thread and the blood-red star, but there are very few of them left these days. Only the gigantic, golden Queen can breed new dragons. And the Queen is fading... dying...
Now brave Lessa must risk her life, and the life of her beloved dragon, to save her beautiful world...
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Ringworld (Ringworld #1)
by Larry Niven
by Larry Niven
3.94 avg rating — 127,873 ratings
The artefact is a circular ribbon of matter six hundred million miles long and ninety million miles
The artefact is a circular ribbon of matter six hundred million miles long and ninety million miles in radius. Pierson's puppeteers, the aliens who discovered it, are understandably wary of encountering the builders of such an immense structure and have assembled a team of two humans, a mad puppeteer and a kzin, a huge cat-like alien, to explore it. But a crash landing on the vast edifice forces the crew on a desperate and dangerous trek across the Ringworld.
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Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (Captain Nemo, #2)
by Jules Verne
by Jules Verne
3.89 avg rating — 273,346 ratings
When an unidentified “monster” threatens international shipping, French oceanographer Pierre Aronnax
When an unidentified “monster” threatens international shipping, French oceanographer Pierre Aronnax and his unflappable assistant Conseil join an expedition organized by the US Navy to hunt down and destroy the menace. After months of fruitless searching, they finally grapple with their quarry, but Aronnax, Conseil, and the brash Canadian harpooner Ned Land are thrown overboard in the attack, only to find that the “monster” is actually a futuristic submarine, the Nautilus, commanded by a shadowy, mystical, preternaturally imposing man who calls himself Captain Nemo. Thus begins a journey of 20,000 leagues—nearly 50,000 miles—that will take Captain Nemo, his crew, and these three adventurers on a journey of discovery through undersea forests, coral graveyards, miles-deep trenches, and even the sunken ruins of Atlantis. Jules Verne’s novel of undersea exploration has been captivating readers ever since its first publication in 1870, and Frederick Paul Walter’s reader-friendly, scientifically meticulous translation of this visionary science fiction classic is complete and unabridged down to the smallest substantive detail.
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Contact
by Carl Sagan
by Carl Sagan
4.15 avg rating — 151,103 ratings
Jeune astronome convaincue de l'existence d'une vie extraterrestre intelligente, Ellie Arroway doit
Jeune astronome convaincue de l'existence d'une vie extraterrestre intelligente, Ellie Arroway doit faire face au scepticisme de la communauté scientifique à l'égard du projet "Argus", un programme d'écoute spatiale installé au Nouveau-Mexique qu'elle et son équipe tentent par tous les moyens de sauver. Jusqu'au jour où leurs ordinateurs captent un message rationnel émis non pas depuis la Terre, mais depuis Véga, une lointaine étoile. Ellie se lance alors à coeur perdu dans son déchiffrage, pour découvrir qu'il s'agit des plans d'un véhicule censé permettre à des humains de voyager dans l'espace afin de rencontrer ceux qui nous les ont adressés. Or ces êtres
semblent à présent impatients d'établir le contact : ils nous surveillent depuis longtemps, et le moment est peut-être venu pour eux de nous juger...
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The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
by J.R.R. Tolkien
by J.R.R. Tolkien
4.30 avg rating — 4,392,065 ratings
In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of
In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.
Written for J.R.R. Tolkien’s own children, The Hobbit met with instant critical acclaim when it was first published in 1937. Now recognized as a timeless classic, this introduction to the hobbit Bilbo Baggins, the wizard Gandalf, Gollum, and the spectacular world of Middle-earth recounts of the adventures of a reluctant hero, a powerful and dangerous ring, and the cruel dragon Smaug the Magnificent. The text in this 372-page paperback edition is based on that first published in Great Britain by Collins Modern Classics (1998), and includes a note on the text by Douglas A. Anderson (2001).
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Frankenstein: The 1818 Text
by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
3.89 avg rating — 1,804,184 ratings
Mary Shelley's seminal novel of the scientist whose creation becomes a monster.
This edition is th
Mary Shelley's seminal novel of the scientist whose creation becomes a monster.
This edition is the original 1818 text, which preserves the hard-hitting and politically charged aspects of Shelley's original writing, as well as her unflinching wit and strong female voice. This edition also includes a new introduction and suggestions for further reading by author and Shelley expert Charlotte Gordon, literary excerpts and reviews selected by Gordon and a chronology and essay by preeminent Shelley scholar Charles E. Robinson.
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American Gods: Tenth Anniversary (American Gods, #1)
by Neil Gaiman*
by Neil Gaiman*
4.10 avg rating — 984,220 ratings
Days before his release from prison, Shadow's wife, Laura, dies in a mysterious car crash. Numbly, h
Days before his release from prison, Shadow's wife, Laura, dies in a mysterious car crash. Numbly, he makes his way back home. On the plane, he encounters the enigmatic Mr Wednesday, who claims to be a refugee from a distant war, a former god and the king of America.
Together they embark on a profoundly strange journey across the heart of the USA, whilst all around them a storm of preternatural and epic proportions threatens to break.
Scary, gripping and deeply unsettling, American Gods takes a long, hard look into the soul of America. You'll be surprised by what - and who - it finds there...
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The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia
by Ursula K. Le Guin
by Ursula K. Le Guin
4.26 avg rating — 146,660 ratings
Shevek, a brilliant physicist, decides to take action. He will seek answers, question the unquestion
Shevek, a brilliant physicist, decides to take action. He will seek answers, question the unquestionable, and attempt to tear down the walls of hatred that have isolated his planet of anarchists from the rest of the civilized universe. To do this dangerous task will mean giving up his family and possibly his life—Shevek must make the unprecedented journey to the utopian mother planet, Urras, to challenge the complex structures of life and living, and ignite the fires of change.
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I Am Legend and Other Stories
by Richard Matheson
by Richard Matheson
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 135,672 ratings
Robert Neville is the last living man on Earth...but he is not alone. Every other man, woman, and ch
Robert Neville is the last living man on Earth...but he is not alone. Every other man, woman, and child on Earth has become a vampire, and they are all hungry for Neville's blood.By day, he is the hunter, stalking the sleeping undead through the abandoned ruins of civilization. By night, he barricades himself in his home and prays for dawn.How long can one man survive in a world of vampires?
I am legend --
Buried talents --
The near departed --
Prey --
Witch war --
Dance of the dead --
Dress of white silk --
Mad house --
The funeral --
From shadowed places --
Person to person.
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The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer
by Neal Stephenson*
by Neal Stephenson*
4.16 avg rating — 92,742 ratings
The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer is a postcyberpunk novel by Neal Stephenson.
The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer is a postcyberpunk novel by Neal Stephenson. It is to some extent a science fiction coming-of-age story, focused on a young girl named Nell, and set in a future world in which nanotechnology affects all aspects of life. The novel deals with themes of education, social class, ethnicity, and the nature of artificial intelligence.
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World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
by Max Brooks*
by Max Brooks*
4.02 avg rating — 561,240 ratings
The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of
The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years.
Ranging from the now infamous village of New Dachang in the United Federation of China, where the epidemiological trail began with the twelve-year-old Patient Zero, to the unnamed northern forests where untold numbers sought a terrible and temporary refuge in the cold, to the United States of Southern Africa, where the Redeker Plan provided hope for humanity at an unspeakable price, to the west-of-the-Rockies redoubt where the North American tide finally started to turn, this invaluable chronicle reflects the full scope and duration of the Zombie War.
Most of all, the book captures with haunting immediacy the human dimension of this epochal event. Facing the often raw and vivid nature of these personal accounts requires a degree of courage on the part of the reader, but the effort is invaluable because, as Mr. Brooks says in his introduction, "By excluding the human factor, aren't we risking the kind of personal detachment from history that may, heaven forbid, lead us one day to repeat it? And in the end, isn't the human factor the only true difference between us and the enemy we now refer to as 'the living dead'?"
Note: Some of the numerical and factual material contained in this edition was previously published under the auspices of the United Nations Postwar Commission.
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The Man in the High Castle
by Philip K. Dick
by Philip K. Dick
3.59 avg rating — 232,009 ratings
It's America in 1962. Slavery is legal once again. The few Jews who still survive hide under assumed
It's America in 1962. Slavery is legal once again. The few Jews who still survive hide under assumed names. In San Francisco, the I Ching is as common as the Yellow Pages. All because some twenty years earlier the United States lost a war — and is now occupied by Nazi Germany and Japan.
This harrowing, Hugo Award-winning novel is the work that established Philip K. Dick as an innovator in science fiction while breaking the barrier between science fiction and the serious novel of ideas. In it Dick offers a haunting vision of history as a nightmare from which it may just be possible to wake.
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Ubik
by Philip K. Dick
by Philip K. Dick
4.11 avg rating — 120,558 ratings
Glen Runciter está muerto. ¿O lo están todos los demás? Lo que es seguro es que alguien ha muerto en
Glen Runciter está muerto. ¿O lo están todos los demás? Lo que es seguro es que alguien ha muerto en una explosión organizada por los competidores de Runciter. De hecho, sus empleados asisten a un funeral. Pero durante el duelo comienzan a recibir mensajes descorcentantes, e incluso morbosos, de su jefe. Y el mundo a su alrededor comienza a desmoronarse de un modo que sugiere que a ellos tampoco les queda mucho tiempo.
Esta mordaz comedia metafísica de muerte y salvación (que podrá llevar un cómodo envase) es un tour de force de amenaza paranoica y comedia absurda, en la cual los muertos ofrecen consejos comerciales, compran su siguiente reencarnación y corren el riesgo continuo de volver a morir.
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The Andromeda Strain (Andromeda, #1)
by Michael Crichton
by Michael Crichton
3.91 avg rating — 269,241 ratings
The United States government is given a warning by the pre-eminent biophysicists in the country: cur
The United States government is given a warning by the pre-eminent biophysicists in the country: current sterilization procedures applied to returning space probes may be inadequate to guarantee uncontaminated re-entry to the atmosphere.
Two years later, seventeen satellites are sent into the outer fringes of space to collect organisms and dust for study. One of them falls to earth, landing in a desolate area of Arizona.
Twelve miles from the landing site, in the town of Piedmont, a shocking discovery is made: the streets are littered with the dead bodies of the town's inhabitants, as if they dropped dead in their tracks.
--back cover
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Never Let Me Go
by Kazuo Ishiguro*
by Kazuo Ishiguro*
3.85 avg rating — 831,648 ratings
As a child, Kathy – now thirty-one years old – lived at Hailsham, a private school in the scenic Eng
As a child, Kathy – now thirty-one years old – lived at Hailsham, a private school in the scenic English countryside where the children were sheltered from the outside world, brought up to believe that they were special and that their well-being was crucial not only for themselves but for the society they would eventually enter. Kathy had long ago put this idyllic past behind her, but when two of her Hailsham friends come back into her life, she stops resisting the pull of memory.
And so, as her friendship with Ruth is rekindled, and as the feelings that long ago fueled her adolescent crush on Tommy begin to deepen into love, Kathy recalls their years at Hailsham. She describes happy scenes of boys and girls growing up together, unperturbed – even comforted – by their isolation. But she describes other scenes as well: of discord and misunderstanding that hint at a dark secret behind Hailsham's nurturing facade. With the dawning clarity of hindsight, the three friends are compelled to face the truth about their childhood – and about their lives now.
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The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings, #3)
by J.R.R. Tolkien
by J.R.R. Tolkien
4.58 avg rating — 1,019,839 ratings
Alternate cover edition here.
The Companions of the Ring have become involved in separate adventure
Alternate cover edition here.
The Companions of the Ring have become involved in separate adventures as the quest continues. Aragorn, revealed as the hidden heir of the ancient Kings of the West, joined with the Riders of Rohan against the forces of Isengard, and took part in the desperate victory of the Hornburg. Merry and Pippin, captured by Orcs, escaped into Fangorn Forest and there encountered the Ents. Gandalf returned, miraculously, and defeated the evil wizard, Saruman. Meanwhile, Sam and Frodo progressed towards Mordor to destroy the Ring, accompanied by SmEagol--Gollum, still obsessed by his 'precious'. After a battle with the giant spider, Shelob, Sam left his master for dead; but Frodo is still alive--in the hands of the Orcs. And all the time the armies of the Dark Lord are massing. J.R.R. Tolkien's great work of imaginative fiction has been labeled both a heroic romance and a classic fantasy fiction. By turns comic and homely, epic and diabolic, the narrative moves through countless changes of scene and character in an imaginary world which is totally convincing in its detail.
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The Mote in God's Eye (Moties, #1)
by Larry Niven
by Larry Niven
4.07 avg rating — 72,598 ratings
In 3016, the 2nd Empire of Man spans hundreds of star systems, thanks to faster-than-light Alderson
In 3016, the 2nd Empire of Man spans hundreds of star systems, thanks to faster-than-light Alderson Drive. Intelligent beings are finally found from the Mote, an isolated star in a thick dust cloud. The bottled-up ancient civilization, at least one million years old, are welcoming, kind, yet evasive, with a dark problem they have not solved in over a million years.
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The Martian
by Andy Weir*
by Andy Weir*
4.42 avg rating — 1,259,509 ratings
Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars.
Now, he’s sure
Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars.
Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first person to die there.
After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive.
Chances are, though, he won’t have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old “human error” are much more likely to kill him first.
But Mark isn’t ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills — and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit — he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?
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The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, #2)
by J.R.R. Tolkien
by J.R.R. Tolkien
4.50 avg rating — 1,101,473 ratings
The Two Towers. Book Two in J.R.R. Tolkien's acclaimed trilogy, a masterpiece of high fantasy.
Fro
The Two Towers. Book Two in J.R.R. Tolkien's acclaimed trilogy, a masterpiece of high fantasy.
Frodo and his Companions of the Ring have been beset by danger during their quest to prevent the Ruling Ring from falling into the hands of the Dark Lord by destroying it in the Cracks of Doom. They have lost the wizard, Gandalf, in a battle in the Mines of Moria. And Boromir, seduced by the power of the Ring, tried to seize it by force. While Frodo and Sam made their escape, the rest of the company was attacked by Orcs.
Now they continue the journey alone down the great River Anduin -- alone, that is, save for the mysterious creeping figure that follows wherever they go.
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The Sparrow (The Sparrow, #1)
by Mary Doria Russell*
by Mary Doria Russell*
4.14 avg rating — 81,016 ratings
In 2019, humanity finally finds proof of extraterrestrial life when a listening post in Puerto Rico
In 2019, humanity finally finds proof of extraterrestrial life when a listening post in Puerto Rico picks up exquisite singing from a planet that will come to be known as Rakhat. While United Nations diplomats endlessly debate a possible first contact mission, the Society of Jesus quietly organizes an eight-person scientific expedition of its own. What the Jesuits find is a world so beyond comprehension that it will lead them to question what it means to be "human".
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The Stars My Destination
by Alfred Bester
by Alfred Bester
4.06 avg rating — 54,854 ratings
In this pulse-quickening novel, Alfred Bester imagines a future in which people "jaunte" a thousand
In this pulse-quickening novel, Alfred Bester imagines a future in which people "jaunte" a thousand miles with a single thought, where the rich barricade themselves in labyrinths and protect themselves with radioactive hitmen—and where an inarticulate outcast is the most valuable and dangerous man alive.
The Stars My Destination is a classic of technological prophecy and timeless narrative enchantment by an acknowledged master of science fiction.
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Second Foundation (Foundation, #3)
by Isaac Asimov
by Isaac Asimov
4.27 avg rating — 200,021 ratings
So far the Foundation was safe. But there was a hidden Second Foundation to protect the first. The M
So far the Foundation was safe. But there was a hidden Second Foundation to protect the first. The Mule has yet to find it, but he was getting closer all the time. The men of the Foundation sought it, too, to escape from Mule's mind control. Only Arkady, a 14 year-old girl seemed to have the answer, or did she...?
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Uglies (Uglies, #1)
by Scott Westerfeld*
by Scott Westerfeld*
3.84 avg rating — 704,312 ratings
Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. In just a few weeks she'll have the operation th
Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. In just a few weeks she'll have the operation that will turn her from a repellent ugly into a stunning pretty. And as a pretty, she'll be catapulted into a high-tech paradise where her only job is to have fun.
But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to become a pretty. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world—and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally a choice: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. Tally's choice will change her world forever....
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The Fall of Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos, #2)
by Dan Simmons
by Dan Simmons
4.24 avg rating — 144,759 ratings
In the stunning continuation of the epic adventure begun in Hyperion, Simmons returns us to a far fu
In the stunning continuation of the epic adventure begun in Hyperion, Simmons returns us to a far future resplendent with drama and invention. On the world of Hyperion, the mysterious Time Tombs are opening. And the secrets they contain mean that nothing--nothing anywhere in the universe--will ever be the same.
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Journey to the Center of the Earth
by Jules Verne
by Jules Verne
3.85 avg rating — 221,360 ratings
An adventurous geology professor chances upon a manuscript in which a 16th-century explorer claims t
An adventurous geology professor chances upon a manuscript in which a 16th-century explorer claims to have found a route to the earth's core. Professor Lidenbrock can't resist the opportunity to investigate, and with his nephew Axel, he sets off across Iceland in the company of Hans Bjelke, a native guide.
The expedition descends into an extinct volcano toward a sunless sea, where they encounter a subterranean world of luminous rocks, antediluvian forests, and fantastic marine life — a living past that holds the secrets to the origins of human existence.
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Solaris
by Stanisław Lem
by Stanisław Lem
3.99 avg rating — 127,134 ratings
A classic work of science fiction by renowned Polish novelist and satirist Stanislaw Lem.
When Kris
A classic work of science fiction by renowned Polish novelist and satirist Stanislaw Lem.
When Kris Kelvin arrives at the planet Solaris to study the ocean that covers its surface, he finds a painful, hitherto unconscious memory embodied in the living physical likeness of a long-dead lover. Others examining the planet, Kelvin learns, are plagued with their own repressed and newly corporeal memories. The Solaris ocean may be a massive brain that creates these incarnate memories, though its purpose in doing so is unknown, forcing the scientists to shift the focus of their quest and wonder if they can truly understand the universe without first understanding what lies within their hearts.
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Oryx and Crake (MaddAddam, #1)
by Margaret Atwood*
by Margaret Atwood*
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 284,311 ratings
Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780385721677.
Oryx and Crake is at once an unforgettable love story
Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780385721677.
Oryx and Crake is at once an unforgettable love story and a compelling vision of the future. Snowman, known as Jimmy before mankind was overwhelmed by a plague, is struggling to survive in a world where he may be the last human, and mourning the loss of his best friend, Crake, and the beautiful and elusive Oryx whom they both loved. In search of answers, Snowman embarks on a journey–with the help of the green-eyed Children of Crake–through the lush wilderness that was so recently a great city, until powerful corporations took mankind on an uncontrolled genetic engineering ride. Margaret Atwood projects us into a near future that is both all too familiar and beyond our imagining.
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The Day of the Triffids
by John Wyndham
by John Wyndham
4.01 avg rating — 116,252 ratings
This book is fantastic and frightening, but entirely plausible. It doesn't just seem scientifically
This book is fantastic and frightening, but entirely plausible. It doesn't just seem scientifically possible, but its characters are living people shaken out of the civilization they know into the horror of a world dominated by triffids.
The triffids are grotesque and dangerous plants, over seven feet tall, originally cultivated for their yield of high-grade oil. So long as conditions give the mastery to their human directors, they are a valuable asset to mankind. But when a sudden universal disaster turns those conditions upside down, then the triffids, seizing their opportunity, become an active and dreadful menace.
The story of what happens is told here by one of the few people lucky enough to escape the disaster.
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Doomsday Book (Oxford Time Travel, #1)
by Connie Willis
by Connie Willis
4.03 avg rating — 64,092 ratings
For Kivrin, preparing an on-site study of one of the deadliest eras in humanity's history was as sim
For Kivrin, preparing an on-site study of one of the deadliest eras in humanity's history was as simple as receiving inoculations against the diseases of the fourteenth century and inventing an alibi for a woman traveling alone. For her instructors in the twenty-first century, it meant painstaking calculations and careful monitoring of the rendezvous location where Kivrin would be received.
But a crisis strangely linking past and future strands Kivrin in a bygone age as her fellows try desperately to rescue her. In a time of superstition and fear, Kivrin--barely of age herself--finds she has become an unlikely angel of hope during one of history's darkest hours.
Connie Willis draws upon her understanding of the universalities of human nature to explore the ageless issues of evil, suffering, and the indomitable will of the human spirit.
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A Fire Upon the Deep (Zones of Thought, #1)
by Vernor Vinge
by Vernor Vinge
4.13 avg rating — 65,847 ratings
Alternate Cover Edition can be found here.
A Fire upon the Deep is the big, breakout book that ful
Alternate Cover Edition can be found here.
A Fire upon the Deep is the big, breakout book that fulfills the promise of Vinge's career to date: a gripping tale of galactic war told on a cosmic scale.
Thousands of years hence, many races inhabit a universe where a mind's potential is determined by its location in space, from superintelligent entities in the Transcend, to the limited minds of the Unthinking Depths, where only simple creatures and technology can function. Nobody knows what strange force partitioned space into these "regions of thought," but when the warring Straumli realm use an ancient Transcendent artifact as a weapon, they unwittingly unleash an awesome power that destroys thousands of worlds and enslaves all natural and artificial intelligence.
Fleeing the threat, a family of scientists, including two children, are taken captive by the Tines, an alien race with a harsh medieval culture, and used as pawns in a ruthless power struggle. A rescue mission, not entirely composed of humans, must rescue the children-and a secret that may save the rest of interstellar civilization.
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Red Mars (Mars Trilogy, #1)
by Kim Stanley Robinson
by Kim Stanley Robinson
3.86 avg rating — 87,813 ratings
In his most ambitious project to date, award-winning author Kim Stanley Robinson utilizes years of r
In his most ambitious project to date, award-winning author Kim Stanley Robinson utilizes years of research and cutting-edge science in the first of a trilogy chronicling the colonization of Mars.
For eons, sandstorms have swept the desolate landscape. For centuries, Mars has beckoned humans to conquer its hostile climate. Now, in 2026, a group of 100 colonists is about to fulfill that destiny.
John Boone, Maya Toitavna, Frank Chalmers and Arkady Bogdanov lead a terraforming mission. For some, Mars will become a passion driving them to daring acts of courage and madness. For others it offers an opportunity to strip the planet of its riches. For the genetic alchemists, it presents a chance to create a biomedical miracle, a breakthrough that could change all we know about life and death. The colonists orbit giant satellite mirrors to reflect light to the surface. Black dust sprinkled on the polar caps will capture warmth. Massive tunnels, kilometers deep, will be drilled into the mantle to create stupendous vents of hot gases. Against this backdrop of epic upheaval, rivalries, loves and friendships will form and fall to pieces—for there are those who will fight to the death to prevent Mars from ever being changed.
Brilliantly imagined, breathtaking in scope and ingenuity, Red Mars is an epic scientific saga, chronicling the next step in evolution, creating a world in its entirety. It shows a future, with both glory and tarnish, that awes with complexity and inspires with vision.
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The Illustrated Man
by Ray Bradbury
by Ray Bradbury
4.13 avg rating — 106,524 ratings
That The Illustrated Man has remained in print since being published in 1951 is fair testimony to th
That The Illustrated Man has remained in print since being published in 1951 is fair testimony to the universal appeal of Ray Bradbury's work. Only his second collection (the first was Dark Carnival, later reworked into The October Country), it is a marvelous, if mostly dark, quilt of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. In an ingenious framework to open and close the book, Bradbury presents himself as a nameless narrator who meets the Illustrated Man--a wanderer whose entire body is a living canvas of exotic tattoos. What's even more remarkable, and increasingly disturbing, is that the illustrations are themselves magically alive, and each proceeds to unfold its own story, such as "The Veldt," wherein rowdy children take a game of virtual reality way over the edge. Or "Kaleidoscope," a heartbreaking portrait of stranded astronauts about to reenter our atmosphere--without the benefit of a spaceship. Or "Zero Hour," in which invading aliens have discovered a most logical ally--our own children. Even though most were written in the 1940s and 1950s, these 18 classic stories will be just as chillingly effective 50 years from now. --Stanley Wiater
Contents:
· Prologue: The Illustrated Man · ss *
· The Veldt [“The World the Children Made”] · ss The Saturday Evening Post Sep 23 ’50
· Kaleidoscope · ss Thrilling Wonder Stories Oct ’49
· The Other Foot · ss New Story Magazine Mar ’51
· The Highway [as by Leonard Spalding] · ss Copy Spr ’50
· The Man · ss Thrilling Wonder Stories Feb ’49
· The Long Rain [“Death-by-Rain”] · ss Planet Stories Sum ’50
· The Rocket Man · ss Maclean’s Mar 1 ’51
· The Fire Balloons [“‘In This Sign...’”] · ss Imagination Apr ’51
· The Last Night of the World · ss Esquire Feb ’51
· The Exiles [“The Mad Wizards of Mars”] · ss Maclean’s Sep 15 ’49; F&SF Win ’50
· No Particular Night or Morning · ss *
· The Fox and the Forest [“To the Future”] · ss Colliers May 13 ’50
· The Visitor · ss Startling Stories Nov ’48
· The Concrete Mixer · ss Thrilling Wonder Stories Apr ’49
· Marionettes, Inc. [Marionettes, Inc.] · ss Startling Stories Mar ’49
· The City [“Purpose”] · ss Startling Stories Jul ’50
· Zero Hour · ss Planet Stories Fll ’47
· The Rocket [“Outcast of the Stars”] · ss Super Science Stories Mar ’50
· Epilogue · aw *
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Timeline
by Michael Crichton
by Michael Crichton
3.87 avg rating — 215,530 ratings
In an Arizona desert, a man wanders in a daze, speaking words that make no sense. Within twenty-four
In an Arizona desert, a man wanders in a daze, speaking words that make no sense. Within twenty-four hours he is dead, his body swiftly cremated by his only known associates. Halfway around the world, archaeologists make a shocking discovery at a medieval site. Suddenly they are swept off to the headquarters of a secretive multinational corporation that has developed an astounding technology. Now this group is about to get a chance not to study the past but to enter it. And with history opened up to the present, the dead awakened to the living, these men and women will soon find themselves fighting for their very survival -- six hundred years ago.
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The Sirens of Titan
by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
4.15 avg rating — 155,528 ratings
The Sirens of Titan is an outrageous romp through space, time, and morality. The richest, most depra
The Sirens of Titan is an outrageous romp through space, time, and morality. The richest, most depraved man on Earth, Malachi Constant, is offered a chance to take a space journey to distant worlds with a beautiful woman at his side. Of course there's a catch to the invitation—and a prophetic vision about the purpose of human life that only Vonnegut has the courage to tell.
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The Caves of Steel (Robot, #1)
by Isaac Asimov
by Isaac Asimov
4.19 avg rating — 110,619 ratings
A millennium into the future two advancements have altered the course of human history: the coloniza
A millennium into the future two advancements have altered the course of human history: the colonization of the galaxy and the creation of the positronic brain. Isaac Asimov's Robot novels chronicle the unlikely partnership between a New York City detective and a humanoid robot who must learn to work together. Like most people left behind on an over-populated Earth, New York City police detective Elijah Baley had little love for either the arrogant Spacers or their robotic companions. But when a prominent Spacer is murdered under mysterious circumstances, Baley is ordered to the Outer Worlds to help track down the killer. The relationship between Life and his Spacer superiors, who distrusted all Earthmen, was strained from the start. Then he learned that they had assigned him a partner: R. Daneel Olivaw. Worst of all was that the "R" stood for robot--and his positronic partner was made in the image and likeness of the murder victim!
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Foundation and Empire (Foundation, #2)
by Isaac Asimov
by Isaac Asimov
4.22 avg rating — 223,055 ratings
Foundation and Empire tells the incredible story of a new breed of man who create a new force for ga
Foundation and Empire tells the incredible story of a new breed of man who create a new force for galactic government. Thus, the Foundation hurtles into conflict with the decadent, decrepit First Empire. In this struggle for power amid the chaos of the stars, man stands at the threshold of a new, enlightened life which could easily be put aside for the old forces of barbarism. The Foundation novels of Isaac Asimov constitute what is very likely the most famed epic in all of science-fiction
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A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1)
by George R.R. Martin
by George R.R. Martin
4.45 avg rating — 2,698,708 ratings
Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land whe
Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister forces are massing beyond the kingdom’s protective Wall. To the south, the king’s powers are failing—his most trusted adviser dead under mysterious circumstances and his enemies emerging from the shadows of the throne. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the frozen land they were born to. Now Lord Eddard Stark is reluctantly summoned to serve as the king’s new Hand, an appointment that threatens to sunder not only his family but the kingdom itself.Sweeping from a harsh land of cold to a summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, A Game of Thrones tells a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens. Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; a child is lost in the twilight between life and death; and a determined woman undertakes a treacherous journey to protect all she holds dear. Amid plots and counter-plots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, allies and enemies, the fate of the Starks hangs perilously in the balance, as each side endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.
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The Invisible Man
by H.G. Wells
by H.G. Wells
3.63 avg rating — 213,828 ratings
This masterpiece of science fiction is the fascinating story of Griffin, a scientist who creates a s
This masterpiece of science fiction is the fascinating story of Griffin, a scientist who creates a serum to render himself invisible, and his descent into madness that follows.
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Xenocide (Ender's Saga, #3)
by Orson Scott Card
by Orson Scott Card
3.82 avg rating — 164,350 ratings
The war for survival of the planet Lusitania will be fought in the heart of a child named Gloriously
The war for survival of the planet Lusitania will be fought in the heart of a child named Gloriously Bright.On Lusitania, Ender found a world where humans and pequininos and the Hive Queen could all live together; where three very different intelligent species could find common ground at last. Or so he thought.Lusitania also harbors the descolada, a virus that kills all humans it infects, but which the pequininos require in order to become adults. The Starways Congress so fears the effects of the descolada, should it escape from Lusitania, that they have ordered the destruction of the entire planet, and all who live there. The Fleet is on its way, a second xenocide seems inevitable.Xenocide is the third novel in Orson Scott Card's The Ender Saga.
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The Lathe of Heaven
by Ursula K. Le Guin
by Ursula K. Le Guin
4.13 avg rating — 86,066 ratings
A classic science fiction novel by one of the greatest writers of the genre, set in a future world w
A classic science fiction novel by one of the greatest writers of the genre, set in a future world where one man's dreams control the fate of humanity.
In a future world racked by violence and environmental catastrophes, George Orr wakes up one day to discover that his dreams have the ability to alter reality. He seeks help from Dr. William Haber, a psychiatrist who immediately grasps the power George wields. Soon George must preserve reality itself as Dr. Haber becomes adept at manipulating George's dreams for his own purposes.
The Lathe of Heaven is an eerily prescient novel from award-winning author Ursula K. Le Guin that masterfully addresses the dangers of power and humanity's self-destructiveness, questioning the nature of reality itself. It is a classic of the science fiction genre.
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Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch
by Terry Pratchett
by Terry Pratchett
4.25 avg rating — 816,575 ratings
According to the Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter - the world's only totally reliable gu
According to the Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter - the world's only totally reliable guide to the future - the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just after tea...
People have been predicting the end of the world almost from its very beginning, so it’s only natural to be sceptical when a new date is set for Judgement Day. This time though, the armies of Good and Evil really do appear to be massing. The four Bikers of the Apocalypse are hitting the road. But both the angels and demons – well, one fast-living demon and a somewhat fussy angel – would quite like the Rapture not to happen.
And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist…
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A Scanner Darkly
by Philip K. Dick
by Philip K. Dick
4.03 avg rating — 109,134 ratings
Substance D is not known as Death for nothing. It is the most toxic drug ever to find its way on to
Substance D is not known as Death for nothing. It is the most toxic drug ever to find its way on to the streets of LA. It destroys the links between the brain's two hemispheres, causing, first, disorientation and then complete and irreversible brain damage.
The undercover narcotics agent who calls himself Bob Arctor is desperate to discover the ultimate source of supply. But to find any kind of lead he has to pose as a user and, inevitably, without realising what is happening, Arctor is soon as addicted as the junkies he works among...
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The Player of Games (Culture, #2)
by Iain M. Banks
by Iain M. Banks
4.28 avg rating — 79,333 ratings
The Culture - a humanoid/machine symbiotic society - has thrown up many great Game Players. One of t
The Culture - a humanoid/machine symbiotic society - has thrown up many great Game Players. One of the best is Jernau Morat Gurgeh, Player of Games, master of every board, computer and strategy. Bored with success, Gurgeh travels to the Empire of Azad, cruel & incredibly wealthy, to try their fabulous game, a game so complex, so like life itself, that the winner becomes emperor. Mocked, blackmailed, almost murdered, Gurgeh accepts the game and with it the challenge of his life, and very possibly his death.
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Gateway (Heechee Saga, #1)
by Frederik Pohl
by Frederik Pohl
4.06 avg rating — 47,086 ratings
Gateway opened on all the wealth of the Universe... and on reaches of unimaginable horror.
When pr
Gateway opened on all the wealth of the Universe... and on reaches of unimaginable horror.
When prospector Robinette Broadhead went out to Gateway on the Heechee spacecraft, he decided he would know which was the right mission to make him his fortune. Three missions later, now famous and permanently rich, Rob Broadhead has to face what happened to him and what he has become... in a journey into himself as perilous and even more horrifying than the nightmare trip through the interstellar void that he drove himself to take!
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Anathem
by Neal Stephenson*
by Neal Stephenson*
4.17 avg rating — 75,012 ratings
Fraa Erasmas is a young avout living in the Concent of Saunt Edhar, a sanctuary for mathematicians,
Fraa Erasmas is a young avout living in the Concent of Saunt Edhar, a sanctuary for mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers, protected from the corrupting influences of the outside "saecular" world by ancient stone, honored traditions, and complex rituals. Over the centuries, cities and governments have risen and fallen beyond the concent's walls. Three times during history's darkest epochs violence born of superstition and ignorance has invaded and devastated the cloistered mathic community. Yet the avout have always managed to adapt in the wake of catastrophe, becoming out of necessity even more austere and less dependent on technology and material things. And Erasmas has no fear of the outside—the Extramuros—for the last of the terrible times was long, long ago.
Now, in celebration of the week-long, once-in-a-decade rite of Apert, the fraas and suurs prepare to venture beyond the concent's gates—at the same time opening them wide to welcome the curious "extras" in. During his first Apert as a fraa, Erasmas eagerly anticipates reconnecting with the landmarks and family he hasn't seen since he was "collected." But before the week is out, both the existence he abandoned and the one he embraced will stand poised on the brink of cataclysmic change.
Powerful unforeseen forces jeopardize the peaceful stability of mathic life and the established ennui of the Extramuros—a threat that only an unsteady alliance of saecular and avout can oppose—as, one by one, Erasmas and his colleagues, teachers, and friends are summoned forth from the safety of the concent in hopes of warding off global disaster. Suddenly burdened with a staggering responsibility, Erasmas finds himself a major player in a drama that will determine the future of his world—as he sets out on an extraordinary odyssey that will carry him to the most dangerous, inhospitable corners of the planet . . . and beyond.
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The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, #1)
by Brandon Sanderson*
by Brandon Sanderson*
4.66 avg rating — 644,984 ratings
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings, book one of The Storm
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings, book one of The Stormlight Archive begins an incredible new saga of epic proportion.
Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter.
It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them.
One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable.
Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity.
Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar's niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan's motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.
The result of over ten years of planning, writing, and world-building, The Way of Kings is but the opening movement of the Stormlight Archive, a bold masterpiece in the making.
Speak again the ancient oaths:
Life before death.
Strength before weakness.
Journey before Destination.
and return to men the Shards they once bore.
The Knights Radiant must stand again.
...more
Altered Carbon (Takeshi Kovacs, #1)
by Richard K. Morgan
by Richard K. Morgan
4.04 avg rating — 113,778 ratings
Four hundred years from now mankind is strung out across a region of interstellar space inherited fr
Four hundred years from now mankind is strung out across a region of interstellar space inherited from an ancient civilization discovered on Mars. The colonies are linked together by the occasional sublight colony ship voyages and hyperspatial data-casting. Human consciousness is digitally freighted between the stars and downloaded into bodies as a matter of course.
But some things never change. So when ex-envoy, now-convict Takeshi Kovacs has his consciousness and skills downloaded into the body of a nicotine-addicted ex-thug and presented with a catch-22 offer, he really shouldn't be surprised. Contracted by a billionaire to discover who murdered his last body, Kovacs is drawn into a terrifying conspiracy that stretches across known space and to the very top of society.
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Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
by Edwin A. Abbott
by Edwin A. Abbott
3.81 avg rating — 76,476 ratings
This masterpiece of science (and mathematical) fiction is a delightfully unique and highly entertain
This masterpiece of science (and mathematical) fiction is a delightfully unique and highly entertaining satire that has charmed readers for more than 100 years. The work of English clergyman, educator and Shakespearean scholar Edwin A. Abbott (1838-1926), it describes the journeys of A. Square [sic – ed.], a mathematician and resident of the two-dimensional Flatland, where women-thin, straight lines-are the lowliest of shapes, and where men may have any number of sides, depending on their social status.Through strange occurrences that bring him into contact with a host of geometric forms, Square has adventures in Spaceland (three dimensions), Lineland (one dimension) and Pointland (no dimensions) and ultimately entertains thoughts of visiting a land of four dimensions—a revolutionary idea for which he is returned to his two-dimensional world. Charmingly illustrated by the author, Flatland is not only fascinating reading, it is still a first-rate fictional introduction to the concept of the multiple dimensions of space. "Instructive, entertaining, and stimulating to the imagination." — Mathematics Teacher.
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To Say Nothing of the Dog (Oxford Time Travel, #2)
by Connie Willis
by Connie Willis
4.11 avg rating — 43,794 ratings
From Connie Willis, winner of multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards, comes a comedic romp through an unpre
From Connie Willis, winner of multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards, comes a comedic romp through an unpredictable world of mystery, love, and time travel.
Ned Henry is badly in need of a rest. He’s been shuttling between the twenty-first century and the 1940s in search of a hideous Victorian vase called “the bishop’s bird stump” as part of a project to restore the famed Coventry Cathedral, destroyed in a Nazi air raid.
But then Verity Kindle, a fellow time traveler, inadvertently brings back something from the past. Now Ned must jump to the Victorian era to help Verity put things right—not only to save the project but also to prevent altering history itself.
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Kindred
by Octavia E. Butler
by Octavia E. Butler
4.31 avg rating — 264,284 ratings
The visionary author’s masterpiece pulls us—along with her Black female hero—through time to face th
The visionary author’s masterpiece pulls us—along with her Black female hero—through time to face the horrors of slavery and explore the impacts of racism, sexism, and white supremacy then and now.
Dana, a modern Black woman, is celebrating her 26th birthday with her new husband when she is snatched abruptly from her home in California and transported to the antebellum South. Rufus, the white son of a plantation owner, is drowning, and Dana has been summoned to save him. Dana is drawn back repeatedly through time to the slave quarters, and each time the stay grows longer, more arduous, and more dangerous until it is uncertain whether or not Dana’s life will end, long before it has a chance to begin.
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Barrayar (Vorkosigan Saga, #7)
by Lois McMaster Bujold*
by Lois McMaster Bujold*
4.30 avg rating — 30,666 ratings
Cordelia and Aral Vorkosigan's plans for a peaceful married life (after all the bloodshed and trials
Cordelia and Aral Vorkosigan's plans for a peaceful married life (after all the bloodshed and trials recounted in SHARDS OF HONOR) are soon shattered by the political tumult on Barrayar. Resisting enormous pressure, they struggle to keep their family alive while while protecting the child Emperor from enemies who would murder him and assume absolute power over all of Barrayar.
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The Shadow of the Torturer (The Book of the New Sun, #1)
by Gene Wolfe
by Gene Wolfe
3.84 avg rating — 34,548 ratings
The Shadow of the Torturer is the first volume in the four-volume series, The Book of the New Sun. I
The Shadow of the Torturer is the first volume in the four-volume series, The Book of the New Sun. It is the tale of young Severian, an apprentice in the Guild of Torturers on the world called Urth, exiled for committing the ultimate sin of his profession - showing mercy toward his victim - and follows his subsequent journey out of his home city of Nessus.
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Space Trilogy: Out of the Silent Planet / Perelandra / That Hideous Strength
by C.S. Lewis
by C.S. Lewis
4.18 avg rating — 11,902 ratings
The Cosmic Trilogy relates the interplanetary travels of Ransom, C.S. Lewis's ill-informed and terri
The Cosmic Trilogy relates the interplanetary travels of Ransom, C.S. Lewis's ill-informed and terrified victim who leaves Earth much against his will and who, in the first book of the trilogy, Out of the Silent Planet, published by the Bodley Head in 1938, encounters the imaginary and delightful world of Macalandra. In the second book, Perelandra (1943), Ransom is transported to a world of sweet smells and delicious tastes, a new Garden of Eden in which is enacted, with a difference, the story of Temptation. That Hideous Strength (1945) completes the trilogy and finds Dr Ransom returned from his travels in space and living in an English university town - where the Senior Common Room is given a mysterious depth, a more than earthly dimension which such things, in the author's view, always have in life.
C.S. Lewis believed that popular science was the new mythology of his age, and in The Cosmic Trilogy he ransacks the uncharted territory of space and makes that mythology the medium of his spiritual imagination.
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