Book Recommendations

Hey everyone,

A few weeks ago, I posted my list of fantasy book recommendations for you all. This week, I’m posting my sci-fi ones

The Sci-fi books I always recommend [YA/Adult] 

• Cinder by Marissa Meyer. The first in the Lunar Chronicles. It’s a sci-fi retelling of Cinderella, with cyborgs and mysterious diseases and a pretty awesome romance thrown in there for good measure. Cinder isn’t necessarily my favourite in the series, but I do think it’s a bloody good book, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone who likes a dose of fairytale added to their science fiction.
• Warcross by Marie Lu. This is the first in a duology about a hacker girl who accidentally breaks into the world championships of the biggest video game on the planet and ends up getting to compete. Pick this up if you like funny groups of characters, complicated love stories, grey area characters and rainbow hair.
• Invictus by Ryan Graudin. This is one of the first books I ever got from  Netgalley. It’s a wonderful read set in the future, and has a bunch of time travel thrown in there for good measure. It’s a fun and thrilling read, and very quick-paced with some brilliant twists and turns thrown in there for good measure.
• Aurora Rising by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman. Honestly, could this list even exist without including one of my favourite books of the year. Some of you on a budget may want to hold off on buying this one just now, since it’s still a fairly recent release and to my knowledge the paperback isn’t out yet. However, this book is simply astoundingly good. The characters are so funny and charming, and there’s definitely a feeling of strong connections with the people on the page, and the worldbuilding is hilariously quirky and inventive. I recommend this if you like character-driven sci-fi that isn’t too heavy on the science details, and if you like lots of adventure and witty banter.
• This Splintered Silence by Kayla Olson. I got this one in a Book Box Club box and didn’t expect to enjoy it, but it was a very pleasant surprise. It’s about a crew of people in space and what happens to the teenagers on board when all the adults are wiped out by a mysterious disease. This one had me flying through the pages trying to figure out what was going on, and there were oodles of suspense packed into this short novel. I definitely recommend it if you like your sci-fi with a big side helping of suspense and if you like mystery and fast-paced novels that are hard to put down.
• Stolen Time by Danielle Rollins. Another BBC box book, and another great one. This is a bit like Invictus crossed with Aurora Rising, and I’d urge anyone who enjoyed either of those books to pick up this one. It’s another bunch of people time travelling, and a girl from the past who just can’t resist running away from her wedding day in search of an adventure. There’s some great romance in here, as well as a strong cast of characters. My favourite was definitely Dorothy as she’s just so cool. There’s a massive twist at the end that will totally leave you dying for book two.
• Scythe by Neal Schusterman. This is a kind of weird utopian novel. It’s about a world where people have triumphed over death, disease has been eradicated and now the population needs another way to be controlled. So in step the Scythes, people who are trained to live on the outside of society and randomly select people to die by their hand. It’s quite an arduous career, and it involves being very unbiased. While killing is seen as an important career, it is important that Scythes don’t become greedy or murderous or enjoy their power too much. The book is basically about what would happen if this world existed, and if some Scythes became corrupted. Pick this up if you like well-developed worlds and books that have some serious debates in them.
• The Quiet at the End of the World by Lauren James. This one is a pretty quick read, about a boy and a girl who are amongst the last few people on Earth after a virus causes global infertility. As the youngest people on Earth, they’re aware that they’re probably also going to be the very last two people to ever exist on Earth. It’s a pretty introspective and bittersweet read, but one I thoroughly recommend.
• The Running Man by Stephen King. Written under his pseudonym, Richard Bachman, this is a relatively short book about a dystopian game show where a person hides anywhere in the world, trying to escape from hunters who will kill them if they’re caught. For every day they survive, they win money. Yet nobody has ever beaten the game. King’s protagonist, Ben Richards, is forced to compete as he needs money for his son’s life-saving medicine. It’s a very quick and dark book that will leave you hooked til the very end.
• Skyward by Brandon Sanderson. Another YA recommendation. This one is very much about the world-building and includes a talking ship, which was just brilliant to me. I really recommend this to people who like Sanderson’s style of writing, and want something that is easy to understand and not too heavy on the science.

And that’s it for this week.

How many of these books have you read/want to read? What sci-fi novels do you strongly recommend? Let me know your thoughts and feelings in the comment section below ❤