The 16 Best Science Fiction Books for Beginners to Read in 2022

Hello and welcome to my blog. I'm going to be sharing The 16 Best Science Fiction Books for Beginners to Read in 2022.

People that are newer to sci-fi and are looking for where to start to see. if they enjoy the genre and to see what types of sci-fi they might like so with that in mind each book that is on the list I picked for a particular type of reader.

for example, if you're looking for action you might like this if you enjoy comedy you might like that.

so I can almost guarantee there should be at least one book on this list that you should enjoy and hopefully many more.

so top 16 science fiction books for beginners that sounds quite easy to throw together doesn't it let me tell you I had an absolute nightmare with this one actually that sounds a bit dramatic let's get some perspective, please.

I had to think about some books for a couple of hours I got through it I survived what I ended up doing was approaching this one from a fairly unique angle it's not just 16 indisputable classics that every sci-fi noob should read nor is it 16 easy to read entry-level sci-fi books I've created a magnificent framework a scaffolding of science fiction.

because if you're brand new to this genre and you read my list in the order you'll go on a grand tour of science fiction and then when you're finished you'll be ready to dive in much deeper you don't want 16 entry-level science fiction books you want to progress as you go if you've read any of these books then simply read the next one on the list or try one of the alternatives that I'll talk about.

Table Of Contents

16. Dark Matter: A Novel

15. Ender's Game

14. Flowers for Algernon

13. Replay

12. Cat's Cradle: A Novel

11. Leviathan Wakes

10. The Martian

9. Red Rising

8. Childhood's End

7. 1984

6. We Are Legion

5. House of Suns

4. A Canticle for Leibowitz

3. To Your Scattered Bodies Go

2. Dune

1. Shadow & Claw

The 16 Best Science Fiction Books for Beginners to Read in 2022

16. Dark Matter: A Novel

Dark Matter: A Novel by Blake Crouch

This book is for readers that are fans of Christopher Nolan and I went with the dark matter by blake crouch in a dark matter a man gets abducted and when he wakes up the world at first appears to be the same but then his wife isn't his wife his son was never born and instead of a college professor, he is a celebrated physicist.

so the questions are what's real what's not really how did everything change and can he change it back so the story is different but in terms of the tone, this felt a little bit to me like a memento or inception with its mind-bending concepts so it also has a film-like quality where each scene feels like a chapter and it moves at a breakneck pace so if that sounds like your kind of thing check out dark matter.

15. Ender's Game

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

This book is for readers looking for military sci-fi and or smart kids and I went with ender's game by Orson Scott card so in the future humanity is at war with an insect-like alien species and fearing an invasion the international fleet enlists gifted children in order and trains them in order to become commanders at battle school.

so ender's game has deep characters philosophical questions tactical battles and an immensely satisfying plot it's interesting to see this setup of the military training trope from the perspective of kids super-intelligent kids but kids nonetheless and ones that I grew to be incredibly connected to so ender's game absolutely deserves to be a classic and is one of the all-time favorites I hope you love it too.

14. Flowers for Algernon

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

This book is for readers that don't want any spaceships or aliens and I went with flowers for Algernon by daniel keys.

this is the softest sci-fi on the list if you're just looking to dip your toe into the sci-fi waters then this classic offers some fantastically written light speculative fiction and the premise of the book is that a man with a low IQ is offered an experimental surgery to increase his intelligence after it successfully worked on a mouse he takes the surgery and it starts to work but the mouse starts to regress so the question becomes will the same happen to him and is there anything he can do to stop.

so this story is told through journal entries and we follow his journey through the narrative but also we see how the journal entries are written themselves because as he becomes more intelligent his ability to write and articulate himself changes as well I think this book is a real literary achievement that packs an emotional punch and yeah it's it's sci-fi.

13. Replay

Replay by Ken Grimwood

This book is for readers looking for time travel and I went with replay by ken Grimwood now time travel is a pretty well-known concept in sci-fi.

so even if you're newer to the genre it's probably something you're already interested in or familiar with although this might be one of the lesser-known books on the list so in replay we follow a man that is stuck in a bit of a rut and then he dies at the age of 43 he wakes up 25 years earlier when he's 18 and remembers everything from his previous life now 25 years later the same thing happens again so it's a groundhog day type concept but instead of being stuck in a time loop of one day he is reliving 25 years.

so the questions become what will he do differently what will he repeat why is he in this time loop and is there anything he can do to get out of it so this is a very premise-based book so if that idea hooked you pick it up and see how it plays out.

12. Cat's Cradle: A Novel

Cat's Cradle: A Novel by Kurt Vonnegut

This book is for readers looking for thought-provoking comedy and I went with cat's cradle by Kurt Vonnegut.

I actually left my copy of Cat's Cradle at my parent's house so this is the sirens of titan standing in its place also a good book.

so anyway there's probably really only a handful of writers that actually make me laugh out loud while reading and Kurt Vonnegut is one of them in cat's cradle the narrator travels to interview the children of the co-creator of the atomic bomb and he learns about a substance called ice 9 that freezes any water that it comes into contact with he then travels to a fictional Caribbean island and learns about this irreverent religion called boccanonism and it all comes together.

so this book combines some heavy themes with absurdist humor I highly recommend it to anyone that's trying to make sense of a seemingly nonsensical world.

11. Leviathan Wakes

Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey

This book is for readers looking for space opera and I went with leviathan wakes by James s a Corey. so this is kind of the opposite of my flowers for Algernon recommendation if you are looking for space action check out the first book in the Expanse series it can be read as a standalone but if you enjoy it you can continue the series as well as watch the tv show.

so the book is set in the future where humans can travel between planets but not yet between stars and it alternates between two main storylines we follow Jim holden who he and his crew find a secret come into possession of a secret that powerful people are willing to kill for and detective miller who is trying to track down a missing girl.

so this book offers action-adventure as well as a noir detective story in space it is the longest book on the list but it is very fast-paced and very readable so I think this is the kind of thing you're looking for.

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