This post is part of Sci-Fi Month 2014, an event hosted by myself and Oh, the Books!. You can keep up to date by following @SciFiMonth on Twitter, or the official hashtag #RRSciFiMonth.
Science fiction can be a scary genre. The potential that it holds can be daunting, and it can be difficult to know where to start. I know many readers who are more than happy to delve into Young Adult science fiction, but are wary of going any further. So I thought I’d make some recommendations of ‘heavier’ science fiction, based on YA books. Let me know what you think, and feel free to share your ideas!
If you enjoyed Insignia by S.J. Kincaid…
… then try Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.
In both books, real life and online gaming become very entangled. So many of my fellow bloggers have read and loved both of these books! The 80s references only serve to make Ready Player One even more awesome.
If you enjoyed Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld…
… then try Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding.
Although one is an alternate history, and the other is a space western, they’re both steampunk books that really gave off the same sense of adventure to me. If you loved the steampunk inventions of Westerfeld’s series, as well as the fast pace of the story, you’ll enjoy Retribution Falls!
If you enjoyed All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill…
… then try Hyperion by Dan Simmons.
Why? Because TIMEY WIMEY! Hyperion features a lot of (complicated but amazing) time travel, and is just a fantastic, fantastic book that I can’t recommend enough (seriously I’ve recommended it so many times over the past two and a bit years).
If you enjoyed Divergent by Veronica Roth…
… then try Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
If you want the classic dystopia disguised as a utopia, as seen in Divergent, then give Brave New World a try. It’s a harrowing tale of good intentions gone horribly wrong.
If you enjoyed Cinder by Marissa Meyer…
… then try Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick.
If you enjoyed reading about cyborgs in Cinder, then you might enjoy PKD’s Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? Like the cyborgs in Cinder’s world, the androids of this book are so human-like that it is almost impossible to tell. Philip K. Dick was a master of science fiction, and this is one of my absolute favourite science fiction books.
If you enjoyed Beta by Rachel Cohn…
… then try House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds.
Now I have to admit that I haven’t actually read Beta, but I really wanted to recommend House of Suns as it is another of my favourites – and as both books are about the lives of clones, I thought it was a good match. Now to read some more Alastair Reynolds and see if he is favourite author material…
Rinn Reads 
Not sure I’d have any YA comparisons to make, but I do have a few SF books I can recommend that I have passed on to several others that either do not read SF generally at all or read very little that they have enjoyed:
The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu: The book has been compared to the television series Chuck, which I haven’t seen, but seems like an accurate comparison just based on the commercials. It is a fun book about alien possession and symbiosis in a spy agency framework.
Wool by Hugh Howey would be a good place to go for those who have liked the Hunger Games series. It isn’t dystopian, like Hunger Games, but is about humanity’s survival and freedom vs. government control in a post-apocalyptic world.
Love Minus Eighty by Will McIntosh is set in a near future Earth where technology and social media are even more integrated into our lives. This is a story about relationships, has some nice romance, and great science fictional elements.
More recommendations are always wonderful!
I’ve heard a LOT of good things about The Lives of Tao, but haven’t gotten round to reading it myself. Wool also seems to be a popular one too.
I’m going to use this flow chart in the reverse! Hyperion is one of my favorite books, so I’m going to check out All Our Yesterdays. Same goes for Insignia. Thanks for this!
Oooh I never knew you loved Hyperion, I’m so glad to find another fan of the series! 😀
Ooh great list of recommendations, there’s a lot I haven’t read on both YA and adult sides of your list. Gotta add them to my to-read 🙂
Thanks Julie! 🙂 Let me know if you get round to any of these.
Love this rec list! It is great too for going from adult to YA!
I never even thought of it that way, but that’s true 😀