hardcover
Hardcover

NPRs Top 100 Science-Fiction and Fantasy Books of All Time

In 2011, NPR set out to make a list of what their listeners believed to be the best science fiction and fantasy books ever written. More than 5,000 people nominated books, then over 60,000 people voted on the best ones. This list is highlights the most popular books voted by NPR readers across these two genres.

#1

The Lord of the Rings

#1-3 of 3 in The Lord of the Rings

1954 • 1,879 Readers • 1,178 pages 4.5

#2

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

#1 of 6 in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

1979 • 4,348 Readers • 215 pages 4.2

#3

Ender's Game

#1 of 6 in Ender's Saga

1985 • 3,052 Readers • 256 pages 4.3

#4

Dune

#1 of 8 in Dune

1965 • 5,593 Readers • 704 pages 4.3

#5

A Game of Thrones

#1 of 6 in A Song of Ice and Fire

1996 • 3,898 Readers • 819 pages 4.4

#6

1984

1949 • 6,939 Readers • 328 pages 4.2

#7

Fahrenheit 451

1953 • 4,414 Readers • 227 pages 3.9

#8

The Foundation Trilogy: Foundation, Second Foundation, Foundation And Empire

#1-3 of 9 in Foundation (Publication Order)

1950 • 427 Readers • 615 pages 4.2

#9

Brave New World

1900 • 3,608 Readers • 332 pages 3.9

#10

American Gods

#1 of 2 in American Gods

2001 • 3,060 Readers • 635 pages 4

#11

The Princess Bride

1973 • 1,586 Readers • 399 pages 4.2

#12

The Eye of the World

#1 of 14 in The Wheel of Time

1990 • 2,303 Readers • 708 pages 4

#13

Animal Farm

1945 • 4,867 Readers • 122 pages 4

#14

Neuromancer

#1 of 3 in Sprawl

1984 • 2,196 Readers • 271 pages 3.8

#15

Watchmen

#1 of 12 in Watchmen

1987 • 1,560 Readers • 415 pages 4.4

#16

I, Robot

#0.1 of 4 in Robot

1950 • 1,450 Readers • 304 pages 4.1

#17

Stranger in a Strange Land

#1 of 1 in Stranger in a Strange Land

1961 • 1,043 Readers • 422 pages 3.7

#18

The Name of the Wind

#1 of 3 in The Kingkiller Chronicle

1 • 3,219 Readers • 669 pages 4.4

#19

Slaughterhouse 5

2 Critical Insights

1968 • 2,903 Readers • 292 pages 4.1

#20

Frankenstein

181 • 3,077 Readers • 353 pages 3.9

#21

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

1968 • 2,059 Readers • 223 pages 3.9

#22

The Handmaid's Tale

#1 of 3 in The Handmaid's Tale

1985 • 3,477 Readers • 324 pages 4.1

#23

The Gunslinger

#1 of 7 in The Dark Tower

1982 • 1,933 Readers • 238 pages 3.6

#24

2001: A Space Odyssey

#1 of 4 in Space Odyssey

1968 • 1,241 Readers • 221 pages 4.1

#25

The Stand

1978 • 1,869 Readers • 1,553 pages 4.2

#26

Snow Crash

1992 • 1,817 Readers • 448 pages 3.9

#27

The Martian Chronicles

1950 • 1,085 Readers • 182 pages 4

#28

Cat's Cradle

1963 • 1,397 Readers • 192 pages 4.1

#29

#30

A Clockwork Orange

1962 • 1,723 Readers • 72 pages 3.9

#31

Starship Troopers

23 Heinlein's Juveniles

1959 • 814 Readers • 292 pages 3.7

#32

Watership Down

#1 of 2 in Watership Down

1972 • 1,067 Readers • 385 pages 4.1

#33

Dragonflight

#1 of 3 in Dragonriders of Pern

1968 • 492 Readers • 347 pages 3.8

#34

The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress

1963 • 713 Readers • 288 pages 3.8

#35

A Canticle for Leibowitz

#1 of 2 in St. Leibowitz

1959 • 758 Readers • 334 pages 3.9

#36

The Time Machine

1894 • 1,360 Readers • 144 pages 3.7

#37

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

#1 of 3 in Capitaine Nemo

1866 • 740 Readers • 394 pages 3.6

#38

Flowers for Algernon

19 • 2,036 Readers • 311 pages 4.3

#39

The War of the Worlds

18 Smart Pop

1897 • 888 Readers • 192 pages 3.7

#40

Nine Princes in Amber

#1 of 15 in The Chronicles of Amber

1970 • 385 Readers • 175 pages 3.6

#41

Pawn of Prophecy

#1 of 5 in The Belgariad

1982 • 533 Readers • 262 pages 3.9

#43

Mistborn: The Final Empire

#1 of 3 in The Mistborn Saga: The Original Trilogy

2006 • 4,241 Readers • 534 pages 4.4

#44

Ringworld

#1 of 5 in Ringworld

1970 • 699 Readers • 288 pages 3.6

#45

The Left Hand of Darkness

#4 of 18 in Hainish Cycle

1969 • 1,578 Readers • 267 pages 4.1

#46

The Silmarillion

5 Middle-earth Universe

1977 • 1,184 Readers • 481 pages 3.9

#47

The Once and Future King

#1 in The Once and Future King

1958 • 559 Readers • 650 pages 3.8

#48

Neverwhere

#1 of 1 in London Below, The World of Neverwhere

1996 • 1,758 Readers • 480 pages 4.1

#49

Childhood's End

1953 • 842 Readers • 212 pages 4

#50

Contact

1985 • 714 Readers • 453 pages 4.1

#51

Hyperion

#1 of 4 in Hyperion Cantos

1989 • 2,115 Readers • 492 pages 4.3

#52

Stardust

#1 of 1 in Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess' Stardust

1997 • 1,431 Readers • 248 pages 4

#53

Cryptonomicon

1999 • 882 Readers • 1,152 pages 4.2

#54

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

16 World War Z

2006 • 1,378 Readers • 5h 59m 3.9

#55

The Last Unicorn

3 The Last Unicorn

1968 • 493 Readers 3.9

#56

The Forever War

#1 of 2 in The Forever War

1974 • 973 Readers • 203 pages 4

#57

Small Gods

#13 of 42 in Discworld

1992 • 653 Readers • 388 pages 4.3

#58

Lord Foul's Bane

#1 of 4 in The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever

1977 • 301 Readers • 369 pages 3.3

#59

Shards of Honour

#1 of 16 in Vorkosigan Saga (Publication Order)

1986 • 331 Readers • 272 pages 3.9

#60

Going Postal

#33 of 42 in Discworld

2004 • 583 Readers • 422 pages 4.4

#61

The Mote in God's Eye

#1 of 3 in Moties

1974 • 413 Readers 3.8

#62

Wizard's First Rule

#1 of 14 in Sword of Truth

18 • 634 Readers • 848 pages 3.7

#63

The Road

1974 • 2,353 Readers • 287 pages 4

#64

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

#1 in Strange & Norrell

2004 • 1,492 Readers • 865 pages 4

#65

I Am Legend

1954 • 922 Readers • 312 pages 3.9

#66

Magician: Apprentice

#1 of 4 in The Riftwar Saga

1982 • 731 Readers • 485 pages 4

#67

The Sword of Shannara

#10 of 33 in Shannara (Chronological Order)

1976 • 411 Readers • 670 pages 3.3

#68

The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian

#1 of 2 in Conan the Cimmerian

2003 • 101 Readers • 464 pages 3.9

#69

Assassin's Apprentice

#1 of 3 in The Farseer Trilogy

1995 • 1,278 Readers • 400 pages 4.1

#70

The Time Traveler's Wife

2003 • 1,322 Readers • 522 pages 3.9

#71

The Way of Kings

#1 of 6 in The Stormlight Archive

2010 • 3,500 Readers • 1,007 pages 4.6

#72

Journey to the Center of the Earth

#9 of 3 in Wishbone Classics

1864 • 439 Readers • 242 pages 3.7

#73

Homeland

#1 of 3 in The Dark Elf Trilogy

1990 • 418 Readers • 343 pages 3.9

#74

Old Man's War

#1 of 6 in Old Man's War

2005 • 1,378 Readers • 320 pages 4.1

#75

The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer

1995 • 586 Readers • 536 pages 4.1

#76

Rendezvous with Rama

#1 of 4 in Rama

1973 • 872 Readers • 252 pages 3.9

#77

Kushiel's Dart

#1 of 3 in Phèdre's Trilogy

2001 • 384 Readers • 930 pages 3.9

#78

The Dispossessed

#6 of 18 in Hainish Cycle

1974 • 1,125 Readers • 400 pages 4.2

#79

Something Wicked This Way Comes

10 Green Town

1962 • 673 Readers • 232 pages 3.9

#80

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

#1 of 4 in The Wicked Years

1995 • 862 Readers • 406 pages 3.4

#81

Gardens of the Moon

#1 of 10 in Malazan Book of the Fallen

1999 • 1,375 Readers • 559 pages 4

#82

The Eyre Affair

#1 of 7 in Thursday Next

2001 • 526 Readers • 387 pages 3.9

#83

Consider Phlebas

#1 of 10 in Culture

1987 • 914 Readers • 544 pages 3.6

#84

The Crystal Cave

#1 of 4 in Arthurian Saga

1970 • 175 Readers • 514 pages 3.9

#85

Anathem

2008 • 731 Readers • 1,092 pages 4.1

#86

Furies of Calderon

#1 of 6 in Codex Alera

2004 • 536 Readers • 516 pages 3.9

#87

The Shadow of the Torturer

#1 of 5 in The Book of the New Sun

1980 • 609 Readers • 276 pages 3.7

#88

Heir to the Empire

#1 of 3 in Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy

1991 • 537 Readers • 528 pages 4.1

#89

Outlander

#1 of 14 in Outlander

1991 • 1,083 Readers • 627 pages 3.9

#90

Elric of Melniboné

#1 of 18 in The Elric Saga

1972 • 366 Readers • 24h 12m 3.5

#91

The Illustrated Man

1901 • 430 Readers • 244 pages 4

#92

Sunshine

2003 • 190 Readers • 476 pages 3.6

#93

A Fire Upon the Deep

#1 of 5 in Zones of Thought

1992 • 689 Readers • 624 pages 4

#94

The Caves of Steel

#1 of 4 in Robot

1952 • 521 Readers • 200 pages 4

#95

Red Mars

#1 of 3 in Mars Trilogy

1992 • 672 Readers • 671 pages 3.7

#96

Lucifer's Hammer

#1 of 1 in Lucifer's Hammer, Audio

1977 • 206 Readers • 642 pages 3.6

#97

Doomsday Book

#1 of 4 in Oxford Time Travel

1992 • 508 Readers • 593 pages 3.8

#98

Perdido Street Station

#1 of 8 in New Crobuzon

2000 • 741 Readers • 24h 9m 4

#99

A Spell for Chameleon

#1 of 45 in Xanth

1977 • 187 Readers • 344 pages 3.4

#100

Out of the Silent Planet

#1 of 3 in The Space Trilogy

1938 • 319 Readers • 155 pages 3.8