The 86 best science fiction novels by women

No. 11 on this list. The Slynx · Tatyana Tolstaya · 2000

The Slynx is a significant work in contemporary Russian literature and has been translated into over a dozen languages. It appears in courses on post-Soviet fiction, Russian satire, and dystopian literature but has not achieved the wide curricular presence of classics. In Russia, its reception has been mixed — praised by some as the most important Russian novel of the post-Soviet era, critiqued by others as too familiar in its anti-utopian framework. Its canonical status is still consolidating two decades after publication.

No. 12 on this list. The Female Man · Joanna Russ · 1975

The Female Man holds a secure place in university curricula for feminist theory, science fiction studies, and American literature courses. No syllabus data was available in the database, but the novel's reputation as a foundational feminist SF text ensures regular academic assignment. It is substantially more taught than genre novels but has not reached the universal curriculum presence of mainstream canonical texts.

No. 13 on this list. Oryx and Crake · Margaret Atwood · 2003

Appears on 699 university syllabi (71st percentile in the Open Syllabus Project), placing it firmly in regular academic use across contemporary fiction, speculative fiction, and environmental humanities courses. Its Wikipedia article exists in 15 languages with dedicated reception and adaptations sections, indicating modest but real global reach. It ranks well below foundational canonical texts but well above most genre fiction.

No. 14 on this list. The Giver · Lois Lowry · 1993

The Giver is among the most frequently assigned novels in American middle and high school curricula, appearing on required reading lists across the country for three decades. Its Wikipedia article exists in dozens of languages and it has sold over 12 million copies, reflecting sustained educational and cultural presence far beyond typical children's novels.

No. 15 on this list. Woman on the Edge of Time · Marge Piercy · 1976

Widely taught in feminist literary studies, utopian fiction, and American literature courses since its 1976 publication, the novel holds a firm place in academic syllabi as a landmark of feminist science fiction. No syllabus count data is available, but its sustained presence across women's studies and speculative fiction curricula for five decades marks it as canonical within those fields, comparable in reach to other key feminist texts of the second wave.

No. 16 on this list. A Wrinkle in Time · Madeleine L'Engle · 1962

Taught in schools: Common Core text exemplars (Appendix B) (US), CSEC English B – Caribbean Examinations Council

A standard text in American elementary and middle school curricula for decades, consistently appearing on required reading lists and library recommendation lists nationwide. Won the Newbery Medal in 1963, the most prestigious prize in American children's literature. Its place in the canon of children's science fantasy is secure, though it sits below the level of high school or university syllabi staples.

No. 17 on this list. The City We Became · N.K. Jemisin · 2020

Hugo nominee. One of the most prominent urban fantasies of the 2020s. Jemisin's reputation carries weight.

No. 18 on this list. Binti · Nnedi Okofor · 2015

Hugo and Nebula Award winner. A significant work of Africanfuturist fiction, increasingly taught in university courses.

No. 19 on this list. Harrow · Joy Williams · 2021

Khristen was named Lamb by her mother, who believed the infant had died and come back — a conviction that haunts the girl's entire childhood and sends her west to a peculiar school in a dying forest, where students are made to memorize Nietzsche and the mountains have swallowed the faculty. When the world outside begins to unravel in earnest, Khristen finds herself walking through a landscape of fires and stopped trains toward a derelict lakeside resort presided over by Lola, an elderly woman with terminal cancer and a loose confederation of geriatric eco-saboteurs who have given up on protest and taken up holy havoc. There is also Jeffrey, age ten, who speaks only in legal citations and may or may not be presiding over an afterlife court somewhere in Book Three. Joy Williams wrote her first novel in twenty years as an act of ecological fury and metaphysical comedy simultaneously. Harrow is structured like a dream that changes genre at the chapter break — bildungsroman, dark pastoral, eschatological fable — and it refuses to explain what holds the pieces together. What does hold them together is Williams's prose: flat, aphoristic, suddenly devastating, as when a dying man in a purple room pulls a bag over his head while thinking of the animals he could not save.

No. 20 on this list. The Sirian Experiments · Doris Lessing · 1981

The Canopus in Argos series represents Lessing's ambitious turn toward philosophical science fiction, securing her reputation as a formally innovative writer willing to abandon realism. 'The Sirian Experiments' appears in discussions of feminist science fiction and postcolonial allegory, though it remains less studied than her earlier realist novels or 'The Golden Notebook.' The 2007 Nobel Prize citation acknowledged her as 'that epicist of the female experience, who with skepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilization to scrutiny,' implicitly validating her experimental later work.

No. 21 on this list. All Systems Red · Martha Wells · 2017

A part-organic, part-mechanical construct designed for security work has hacked its own governance module, freeing itself from corporate control. It has not used this freedom to kill anyone. It has used it to watch thousands of hours of soap operas. The construct—which privately calls itself Murderbot—is assigned to protect a team of scientists surveying a planet, and when the mission goes wrong, Murderbot must decide how much it is willing to reveal about its autonomy in order to save the humans it is contractually obligated to protect but has, against its will, begun to care about. Wells writes the novella in Murderbot's first-person voice: sardonic, socially anxious, deeply uncomfortable with feelings, and more interested in the next episode of its favorite show than in the existential implications of its own sentience. The genius of the voice is that Murderbot's social aversion is not played as robotic but as recognizably human—the anxiety of a being that has been treated as equipment and is not sure it wants to be treated as a person. The action sequences are crisp and competent, the corporate dystopia is sketched with efficiency, and the novella's emotional core is small and precise: a creature deciding, tentatively and with great reluctance, to care.

No. 22 on this list. Noughts & Crosses · Malorie Blackman · 2010

Callum is a Nought - an inferior white citizen in a society controlled by the black Crosses. Sephy is a Cross - and the daughter of one of the most powerful, ruthless men in the country. In their hostile, violent world, noughts and Crosses simply don't mix. But when Sephy and Callum's childhood friendship grows into passionate love, they're determined to find a way to be together. And then the bomb explodes...

No. 23 on this list. Ancillary Sword · Ann Leckie · 2014

Strong sequel in an award-winning trilogy. Hugo and Locus Award nominee.

No. 24 on this list. The Power · Naomi Alderman · 2017

In a world where the balance of power is suddenly and profoundly shifted, Naomi Alderman's thought-provoking novel, The Power, explores a reality where women develop the ability to release electrical jolts from their fingertips, allowing them to dominate and control society. This newfound power upends the existing social order, leading to a radical transformation of governments, relationships, and individual lives. As the story unfolds, Alderman delves into themes of oppression, resistance, and the corrupting influence of power. Her writing is nuanced and evocative, weaving together multiple narrative threads to create a rich and immersive world. The tone is both unsettling and mesmerizing, inviting readers to confront the darker aspects of human nature. Readers of speculative fiction and those interested in feminist theory will find The Power to be a compelling and timely exploration of a world turned upside down. With its complex characters, thought-provoking themes, and page-turning plot, this novel is suitable for readers who enjoy intellectually stimulating fiction. Winner of the 2017 Women's Prize, The Power has garnered significant attention for its bold and unflinching examination of a world where traditional power dynamics are reversed. Alderman's unique vision and masterful storytelling make this novel a must-read for anyone interested in exploring the complexities of power, oppression, and social change.

No. 25 on this list. The Leavers · Lisa Ko · 2017

Ranked by literary regard among eligible works in the current catalogue. This position reflects the available catalogue evidence.

No. 26 on this list. Ancillary Justice · Ann Leckie · 2013

Won the Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke Awards — the first novel to sweep all three.

No. 27 on this list. The Emissary · Yoko Tawada · 2014

National Book Award for Translated Literature. A significant work of contemporary Japanese fiction.

No. 28 on this list. Picnic on Paradise · Joanna Russ · 1968

No syllabus data was found in the database for this specific work. Within feminist science fiction, Picnic on Paradise is considered a founding text—it introduced the character Alyx, who would anchor Russ's most celebrated later work. It appears on specialist SF and feminist literature reading lists but is not widely taught in general American literature courses.

No. 29 on this list. Frankissstein · Jeanette Winterson · 2019

Winterson reimagines Mary Shelley's creation myth for the age of artificial intelligence. Two timelines alternate: Mary with Percy and Byron in 1816, birthing Frankenstein during the famous summer; and Ry, a transgender doctor in contemporary Britain, involved with a scientist building sex robots. The prose is playful and serious, Winterson finding in Shelley's monster a template for all the bodies we build and abandon. The novel asks what makes us human, whether consciousness can be created, whether love is possible between creatures and their makers.

No. 30 on this list. The Speed of Dark · Elizabeth Moon · 2003

Nebula Award winner. An important novel in both science fiction and disability literature.