10 Sci-Fi Books That Are As Good as 'Dune'

As for Dune, the first book, it's a little like Lawrence of Arabia but on a desert planet, and with various interesting science fiction elements. An almost overwhelming number, really, and they're not what’s going to be explored here. Instead, here are a bunch of sci-fi novels that are just as worth reading as Dune. That’s not to say that these are better than Dune, nor are they the only classic science fiction books worth reading once you’ve gotten through Dune, but they're a bunch of great and/or classic ones.

10 'Lucifer's Hammer' (1977)

Lucifer’s Hammer is all about a huge comet approaching the Earth, and the chaos that results, all of it becoming more intense when it eventually comes time for the collision. That’s an event that tips Lucifer’s Hammer from science fiction into a full-on post-apocalyptic novel, and it mostly works on both counts, even if it feels like Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle are a little more at home writing the comparatively dry and science-heavy earlier sections of the book.

It’s a frequently handled premise tackled well, and Lucifer’s Hammer is probably a little better than Ringworld, which Niven wrote on his own (it is probably more famous than Lucifer’s Hammer, though). If the end of the world, explored through fiction, is interesting to you, then Lucifer’s Hammer does ultimately stand as a fairly easy to recommend book.

9 'Hyperion' (1989)

The events of Hyperion would make for a pretty great season of television, since it’s a novel that’s largely about a group of interesting characters headed toward a mysterious destination, and each one recounts the events that led to them taking part in the journey to the world of Hyperion. And then the ending of the book does deal with some stuff that happens at the destination, so, like, that would be a sensible season finale or something.

And then there are other books in the series, so why no one’s jumped on this yet (as of 2026), when so many other books have been made into TV shows, is a mystery. Maybe one day. For now, Hyperion is a great read, and one of the better character-focused science fiction novels out there (with the first book in the series certainly being the best, though the sequels are also compelling).

8 'Under the Dome' (2009)

Including even one Stephen King book here might be one too many, in the eyes of some, since he’s a little more at home in the horror genre, and the realm of dark fantasy, too (see The Dark Tower). Also, some of his more controversial and not-great books dive into science fiction, like The Tommyknockers and Dreamcatcher. He’s gotten better with sci-fi more recently, though, if Under the Dome is anything to go by.

This has more sci-fi elements near the end, but most of it’s a survival-focused story that kicks off when a mysterious dome traps the population of a small town in just the town, with no way out. The level of suspense and dread throughout Under the Dome is high, and it’s also successfully ambitious in drawing things out across more than 1000 pages with things never really coming close to feeling boring.

7 'Slaughterhouse-Five' (1969)

Set in World War II, but feeling like significantly more than just a book about that conflict, Slaughterhouse-Five goes to some mind-bending places with its sci-fi elements throughout, and it’s also surprisingly satirical, too. That all sounds like a lot’s being bitten off for something that probably won’t take you more than a couple of days to read, but there is a rather staggering balance between all these elements struck here.

It’s probably not as surprising, though, when you consider this is a Kurt Vonnegut Jr. novel, and his work was just about always ambitious and unique. Slaughterhouse-Five has him recounting experiences from his time spent serving in World War II, but in ways that few other authors have ever come close to doing, and it remains a powerful – and undeniably singular, as far as sci-fi goes – read all these decades later.

6 'Swan Song' (1987)

Like Lucifer’s Hammer, Swan Song is a post-apocalyptic novel, but here, the end of the world is caused by nuclear war. It’s probably the most reliably grim way the world can end, but Swan Song does spend most of its pages on documenting how various survivors get by in a radically changed world, and one where fantastical elements ultimately play an increasingly significant role as the story goes on.

Swan Song gets very big in scope, and it’s also very well-paced, cutting quite effortlessly between various groups of characters in a manner that ensures the novel as a whole always feels like it’s moving forward. It’s a dark and lengthy read, but a very rewarding one that also isn't just misery for the sake of misery. Among all the books out there about surviving post-apocalyptic worlds, it’s one of the more surprisingly bittersweet ones, all things considered.

5 'Frankenstein' (1818)

A bit like how you have to mention The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari when you're talking about all-time great twist endings in cinema history, so too does it feel obligatory to mention Frankenstein when talking about classic and important literary works of science fiction. This is one of the first true science fiction novels, even if there were stories written before 1818 that had elements subsequently recognized as sci-fi in nature.

As for Frankenstein, you probably know the plot here, or some variation of the story, even if you’ve not read Mary Shelley’s original novel, thanks to all those movie adaptations… though, admittedly, some of them do deviate quite a bit. It’s a story that’s still best experienced in its original form, and it’s remarkable to read it 200+ years on from when it was written, since you can really appreciate how influential and ahead of its time it was.

4 'The Forever War' (1974)

Some might argue The Forever War is an even better sci-fi novel than Dune, but that’s not being done here, necessarily. Instead, here’s a slightly more cowardly suggestion that both are great. The Forever War isn't quite as famous, and not having any major adaptations yet (either TV or film in nature) might have something to do with that, but, like Hyperion, it does feel like it could be made into something very interesting on-screen, if any filmmakers were feeling sufficiently brave.

The Forever War really does live up to the “Forever” part of the title, thanks to its structure, which is probably the most interesting and easy-to-spoil part of The Forever War. There are bold predictions made here about the future that honestly don’t feel too off the mark, and so much to dig into thematically, if you like analyzing your science fiction in depth, regarding what The Forever War has to say about… you know… war... and how long they sometimes go on for.

3 '11/22/63' (2011)

Oops, another Stephen King book. This one’s 11/22/63, and it wasn’t written too much longer after Under the Dome. It was similar in length and ambition, yet probably has more by way of science fiction elements, given time travel plays a massive role in the narrative here. To cut a long story short, the protagonist is given the chance to travel back to 1958, and he does so with the intention of preventing the assassination of John F. Kennedy, destined to happen five years on from the point in time he arrives at.

It’s no exaggeration to say that it’s up there among the very best things Stephen King has ever written, even if it sounds (and is) a little outside his expected wheelhouse. King largely pulled off doing time travel the right way (or at least a compelling way), with 11/22/63, and for a book that’s so long, it really is a pleasant surprise to find it so easily readable and engrossing pretty much right from the start.

2 'A Clockwork Orange' (1962)

The crime and sci-fi genres violently collide in A Clockwork Orange, which is one of the all-time great dystopian novels, and was also famously (or infamously) made into an all-time great dystopian movie. The premise is the same across both, and Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation is honestly surprisingly faithful, up until the end, as A Clockwork Orange (1971) ends before the point at which A Clockwork Orange (1962) does.

That makes both versions very much worth experiencing, even if it’s an uneasy read, in book form, and a very uneasy watch, in its movie form. It has to be, though, with the way A Clockwork Orange chooses to explore incredibly hard-to-answer questions about morality, justice, and the extent to which technology could – or should – be utilized in the supposed name of rehabilitation.

1 'Gravity's Rainbow' (1973)

For as trippy as Slaughterhouse-Five could be, it’s got nothing on Gravity’s Rainbow when you take into account how dense and lengthy the latter is. They're both worth comparing as World War II-related books that also have some sci-fi elements, but the line between science fiction, dreams, real-life horrors, and satire is so very blurred throughout Gravity’s Rainbow.

Would there be lines between all those things, rather than just “a” line? Who knows. Reading this book is a nightmare, albeit a cathartic (to finally finish it) and rewarding one (because it'll stay implanted in your brain forever). There’s nothing else like it, not even the other weird and usually compelling books Thomas Pynchon has written. It’s an important and endlessly perplexing read, and there probably won’t ever be another way to experience it, other than reading it, so if you’ve got a strong enough stomach, that’s very much worth doing at some point in your life.