The most recommended alien invasion books

This one is a deep cut, first published in 1951. It begins as a straightforward adventure, with a protagonist tasked with hunting down a dangerous alien that’s gotten loose on Earth. It becomes increasingly clear that something isn’t right, though, and eventually, our hero realizes that he’s actually a replicant, sent to do this job because his original was too cowardly to do it himself, and that his only hope of survival is to murder his original and take his place. I first read this when I was nine or ten years old, and the growing sense of horror as the truth becomes clear has stuck with me ever since, as has the dark, dark twist of an ending. This might be a tough one to find, but it’s well worth the effort. 

Brown was another author who mixed SF and humor. Here he stood the alien invasion premise on its head. Instead of spaceships from an advanced civilization laying waste to our great cities, Brown wonders how we’d react if the invaders weren’t interested in mass murder or enslaving humanity but simply annoying the hell out of us. His little green men from Mars enjoy insulting and pestering Earthlings. After a while, “War of the Worlds” might be a preferable encounter.

Is it cheating to pick a short story collection? Nah. Of course not!

Fracassi is one of my favorite writers. And if you want to know why, just check out his incredible novel Boys in the Valley. But a novel (usually) is a single story, and all the ideas therein serve that story. What a joy it is to see a writer unleash his full power, his idea machine, in a collection of short stories.

You get a little boy’s birthday wish that backfires in a horrifying way. A story written from the perspective of a haunted house. Yes, you read that right! The world’s most dangerous beach, along with eleven other stories that are pulpy, literary, chilling, and terrifying. 

I love that Fracassi completely leans into the pulpy nature of these stories, giving us all the shocks and scares that we used to get from the “monster of… show more.

This book by Robert Heinlein is an action-packed space adventure featuring creepy insect foes in an interstellar battle with Earth. It follows Trooper Johnny Rico in an epic war story set on distant worlds.

The book features a number of combat engagements with gigantic insect-like “Arachnids” and other bug-like creatures. Meanwhile, several love affairs arise and crumble in the face of Rico’s commitment to the warrior life. While the book has been criticized as preachy and moralizing, these are foibles that I tolerated well, knowing that another action sequence would not be long in coming.

This book doesn't really need a reason to be recommended. I mean, c'mon, we've all seen The Edge of Tomorrow, and admittedly, I did not read the novel until after I saw the movie. Most Americans don't know much about, less yet come across, Japanese graphic novels unless they're already into that kind of stuff.

Regardless, reading the book after seeing the movie was a pleasant surprise. It's like reading Dreamcatcher by Stephen King after seeing the movie. The movies never do the books justice.

Multidimensional books tend to focus on either the existence of higher and lower dimensions, or on parallel universes. The Dark Forest (book 3), like my novel, is one of very few that take the string theory approach rather than show parallel universes.

The Three-Body Problem is an epic three-novel series that takes you from the cultural revolution in the ’60s, all the way to…well, the end. There’s a lot of cryogenic freezing to get the main character through time. 

The final theme of the series, introduced in The Dark Forest, is the unfolding and collapsing of dimensions. In the first book, a radio telescope operator finds out that we aren’t alone. A battle with the alien species ensues, including a scene in the Panama Canal that convinced me to spend a few days visiting the modern marvel. It’s well worth the 1500+ pages.

This review perfectly summed up this book but neglected to mention it has a spectacular cover, which I’ll admit was the first thing that drew my eye. The story also features a bi-racial main character, and since my children are multi-racial, I love seeing this representation. Because I’m an unapologetic book nerd, I adored the many literary references. And I always love a good road trip! All in all, this is one character-driven YA novel you won’t want to miss.

This is the first book in a series. It was my grade school introduction to the concept of young adult post-apocalyptic themes. The fact that one of the central characters is a visually impaired young man who finds a pair of life-changing eyeglasses was a big deal to me. This might be the book that solidified my interest in post-apocalyptic literature. The fact that this apocalypse is the result of an alien invasion is just icing on the cake.

I have a soft spot for stories written from non-human perspectives, and Footfall sticks out in my mind as a prime example of the subgenre. It follows the story of an invasion of Earth by a species called the Fithp, which has a herd-like social structure. The scenes told from the point of view of the invading Fithp present the first contact and alien invasion tropes in a new way. 

The unfolding conquest of Earth gives us a glimpse into Fithp minds and, most importantly, a look at ourselves from an outside perspective. It is a bit of a slow burn, but for me the world-building paid off in the end.

Footfall inspired me to write several short stories about alien invasion.

The title story of this brilliant collection is a very funny alien invasion story told from the point of view of a woman who is convinced that the invasion is all about her. The other stories are similarly quirky and delightful.

The late Carol Emshwiller was a groundbreaking visionary writer who began publishing her funny, intriguing, unusual work after she was 30 and had to pry writing time away from the demands of her growing family.

When necessary, she would empty out the playpen in her living room, get into it with her typewriter, and work on her fiction while her preschool children enjoyed the freedom of the apartment. She was known for avant-garde approach, unreliable narrators, quirky humor, and a liberal, feminist outlook. 

Recipient of the Nebula and the  Philip K. Dick Award. The late Ursula K. LeGuin called her "a major fabulist, a marvelous magical realist, one of… show more.