I used to be intimidated by books labeled as science-fiction because I want to enjoy a book without feeling like I need to put it down and get a degree in astrophysics or genetic engineering before I can continue. Enter soft sci-fi books. I also love some romance in my stories but I need it to be coupled with sabotage, explosions, sword or fist-fights, and action. I’m a YA sci-fi author (wild, I know, since I definitely can’t understand the theory of relativity) with a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. My trilogy, Legacy of Debris, is a series of post-apocalyptic fairytale retellings, released in 2021.
What if Cinderella took place in a post-apocalyptic Texas where instead of fairy godmothers, you have only grit and resilience to help you?
Ellie Hudson immerses herself in one of the few things the Supply Wars haven’t destroyed—her ranch work and her secret baseball games with her best friend. But her power-hungry stepmother is leading a group of domestic terrorists in an effort to start another Civil War and frame Ellie as the instigator. Ellie’s lost her father, her home, and her patience with her stepmother’s abuse. Don’t miss Book 1 in this post-apocalyptic survival series with a dark, fairy-tale spin.
Scythe has some of the most fantastic world-building in a dystopian that I’ve read. The story is told by switching back and forth between two main characters, one male, Rowan, and one female, Citra, which adds depth to the story without getting too confusing. *I’m looking at you Six of Crows.*
Society has reached the point where no one dies from natural causes anymore, and people can live indefinitely. Scythes have been tasked with killing people at random to keep the population somewhat in check. When Citra and Rowan are selected to study and learn under a famous scythe, the moral dilemmas that follow are both thought-provoking and entertaining. Scythe is the first book I’ve read that addresses the universal problem of our impending deaths with this beautiful balance of respect and humor.
"A true successor to The Hunger Games." Maggie Stiefvater
In a perfect world, what is there left to fear? A chilling and thought-provoking sci-fi novel from New York Times bestselling author Neal Shusterman.
A dark, gripping and witty thriller in which the only thing humanity has control over is death.
In a world where disease, war and crime have been eliminated, the only way to die is to be randomly killed ("gleaned") by professional scythes. Citra and Rowan are teenagers who have been selected to be scythes' apprentices, and despite wanting nothing to do with the vocation, they must learn…
If you’re at all familiar with Brandon Sanderson, you may worry that diving into this YA work of his will require a significant amount of mental fortitude to follow. But unlike his high fantasy novels, Sanderson really dials it back in Skyward, making it an easy read with such fantastic dialogue that I laughed aloud repeatedly. Spensa is a curious, resilient girl, hellbent on redeeming her father’s legacy. Of the many AI’s that I’ve come to love in my sci-fi stories, MBOT is my all-time favorite and reason alone to read this book.
Spensa's world has been under attack for hundreds of years. An alien race called the Krell leads onslaught after onslaught from the sky in a never-ending campaign to destroy humankind. Humanity's only defense is to take to their ships and fight the enemy in the skies. Pilots have become the heroes of what's left of the human race.
Spensa has always dreamed of being one of them; of soaring above Earth and proving her bravery. But her fate is intertwined with her father's - a pilot who was killed years ago when he abruptly deserted his team, placing Spensa's chances…
Aurora Rising follows an unlikely crew of teens with well-developed and conflicting personalities with fantastically-written POV switches. I love the fast-paced writing, the dialogue, and the small bit of romance tossed in. There are aliens and intrigue, fist-fights, and plot twists and I loved the alien worlds.
'Aurora Rising is to sci-fi what Stranger Things is to the cinema of the eighties - a fusion of everything you love about the genre that adds up into something completely fresh.' Samantha Shannon
From the New York Times and internationally bestselling authors of The Illuminae Files comes a new science fiction epic...
The year is 2380, and the graduating cadets of Aurora Academy are being assigned their first missions. Star pupil Tyler Jones is ready to recruit the squad of his dreams, but his own boneheaded heroism sees him stuck with the dregs nobody else in the Academy would…
While this book came out a while ago in 2009, and was made more famous by the film adaptation, I feel it’s fallen under the radar for people who have recently discovered their love of science fiction. Dashner’s dystopian is dominated by male characters, which I found refreshing since so many popular dystopian novels feature female protagonists.The Maze Runner’s non-stop action makes it the sort of book you want to read in a single sitting.
The first book in the New York Times bestselling Maze Runner series - now a series of major movies starring Dylan O'Brien!
SEE THE FILMS. READ THE BOOKS. ENTER THE MAZE ...
When the doors of the lift crank open, the only thing Thomas remembers is his first name. But he's not alone.
He's surrounded by boys who welcome him to the Glade - a walled encampment at the centre of a bizarre and terrible stone maze. Like Thomas, the Gladers don't know why or how they came to be there - or what's happened to the world outside.
I know, I already listed a book by Kaufman on this list and I’m not sorry about it. This book has it all. Enemies to lovers, space travel, ghosts, clean romance, great character development, and attention to detail that created vivid, beautiful scenes in an alien environment. This book is more of a romance than the other ones on my list, but what can I say? I like to think that if the world ends, or spaceships explode and you’re stranded on a weird planet, love will go on (but not like, Titanic style.)
"One of the most intense, thrilling, and achingly beautiful stories I've ever read."--Marie Lu, New York Times best-selling author of the Legend trilogy
The first in the New York Times bestselling author duo Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner's sweeping science fiction trilogy, These Broken Stars is a timeless love story about hope and survival in the face of unthinkable odds.
It's a night like any other on board the Icarus. Then, catastrophe strikes: the massive luxury spaceliner is yanked out of hyperspace and plummets into the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen are the only survivors.
Liveaboard sailor Cass Lynch thinks her big break has finally arrived when she blags her way into skippering a Viking longship for a Hollywood film. However, this means returning to the Shetland Islands, the place she fled as a teenager. When a corpse unexpectedly appears onboard the longship, she can run from the past no longer: Cass and her family come under intense scrutiny from the disturbingly shrewd Detective Inspector Gavin Macrae.
Even if Cass’s local knowledge and sailing wisdom help to clear the Lynch family of suspicion, they may not be enough to stay ahead of the murderer’s game... and avoid becoming the next victim.
Death on a Shetland Longship: The Shetland Sailing Mysteries
When she wangles the job of skippering a Viking longship for a film, Cass Lynch thinks her big break has finally arrived - even though it means returning home to the Shetland Islands, which she ran away from as a teenager. Then the `accidents' begin - and when a dead woman turns up on the boat's deck, Cass realises that she, her family and her past are under suspicion from the disturbingly shrewd Detective Inspector Macrae. Cass must call on all her local knowledge, the wisdom she didn't realise she'd gained from sailing and her glamorous, French opera singer mother…
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