Get them hooked young, and they will be loyal forever. Starting young adults off with some of the best teen science fiction is a sure way to keep them invested. The genre is full of life, imagination, and excitement and is sure to get even the most reluctant reader turning pages.
If you’re looking for something for your young adult to get their teeth into, or if you’re a teen looking for a book that is a little more relatable, there is a wealth of sci-fi books out there. Everything from coming-of-age dramas to intergalactic space operas is aimed at the younger, avid reader. This selection of science fiction novels for young adults has everything, from socially challenging to just good old far-flung action.
Iron Widow – Xiran Jay Zhao
With a focus on relationships, sexuality, gender, and race, this book touches on a lot of points that are often key points for young adults. The book itself embraces each of these and normalizes them, enforcing a fair and honest representation of the characters within. However, apart from the human representation, the book itself is a rip-roaring ride through science fiction.
If mech warriors are your thing, look no further than Iron Widow. Our central character is chosen to be the co-pilot of a mechanical war machine fighting against the alien invasion. However, as a woman, she is expected to die in her duty due to the mental strain. However, she perseveres, becoming one of a very select few women strong enough to control the mechs herself.
Cinder – Marissa Meyer
Take the story of Cinderella, mix it up in a teen sci-fi setting, blend it with a bit of cyborg magic, and there you have Cinder, the hit young adult book. This gripping tale takes a cyborg girl of 16 and throws her into an interplanetary political situation. She is one of the greatest mechanics on Earth, a planet falling victim to a plague. She is also immune to this plague. Throughout this book, and the subsequent Lunar Chronicles, the war between Earth and the moon rages on, with Cinder in the middle of it all.
The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
I can’t really write a young adult sci-fi books list without mentioning the current sweetheart of the genre. The Hunger Games takes a well-known trope of sci-fi and wraps it up in an easily digestible and very fun package. Suzanne Collins runs with the idea of a divided social class, in which the poor are used as entertainment for the rich and kept divided by competition. Think Running Man meets Battle Royal, with a bit of extra romance, teen anguish, and justice thrown in. The Hunger Games and their subsequent books have broken records in the teen sci-fi genre and with good cause. They are the perfect gateway drug into the rest of the genre.
1984 – George Orwell
Every teen fiction list, be it science fiction or not, should include this classic. Reading through 1984 as a young man filled me with fear and wonder at the capabilities of a government to crack down on and oppress a population. The suppression of knowledge, the willing kowtowing, and the seemingly inescapable prison of society were horrific to think about. As I grew up and read it again, it just made me a bit angry to realize the reality that George Orwell was writing about in his own time and, subsequently ours.
The book itself is easy enough to digest as a narrative, but the complex points raised throughout are also very important to be aware of, especially approaching the voting age. As an aside, I also hate people referring to things as “Just like 1984” when they have clearly never picked up a copy in their life…
Frankenstein – Mary Shelly
Frankenstein is incredibly old and is still considered one of the first science fiction stories ever written. At first, it may not seem like the typical entry to the young adult sci-fi genre, but it holds true to a lot of the elements needed. It has a misunderstood and outcast child of a crazed and unsupportive parent. It has a society unable to understand the tortured and despairing hero. All elements point towards the trappings of teen science fiction. Was Mary Shelly the original young adult fiction writer as well as the grandmother of sci-fi? Have a read and decide for yourself.
Hell Followed With Us – Andrew Joseph White
This young adult science fiction book ticks a lot of the inclusivity boxes with a trans character, another autistic one, and a gang of queer renegades. These all stem from the writer’s own experience and standpoints, so they are presented with some level of authority. Representation aside, Andrew Joseph White has written a number of smash hit sci-fi novels, but none quite as well received as Hell Followed With Us.
This book takes an interesting run at the Jekyll and Hyde story with a central character being turned into a military bioweapon. He runs from the government lab he is being held in and finds refuge with a rebel gang who takes him in and helps him control the monster he is becoming. However, the agenda of the gang may not be all it first turned out to be.
Skyward – Brandon Sanderson
If you haven’t heard of Brandon Sanderson and his wildly successful collections of books, I would be surprised. His writing in the science fiction and fantasy genres is taking the world by storm, and for good reason. He is able to spin a tale that makes the hundreds of pages of each entry to his various series feel like a novella. His Mistborn, Skyward, and Stormlight Archives series have all come out to roaring success.
Skyward is a wonderful story set in a world in which humanity has been driven almost to extinction. A relentless onslaught by an alien race whittles away the remains of humanity. However, one girl dreams of being a fighter pilot, and when she finds a crashed starfighter, her dreams may just become a reality. This is a gripping coming-of-age teen science fiction book, suitable for anyone’s shelves.
Parable of The Sower – Octavia E Butler
Any one of Butler’s incredible repertoire of science fiction books could be and should be, on any teen’s shelves. I cannot recommend her as a prominent name in science fiction and afrofurturism enough. Her unmatched observations and critiques of the world around us, both in its history, present, and speculative future, are eye-opening and often humbling. However, for the sake of this article, I will refer to Parable of The Sower.
The Parable of The Sower takes place on an earth not so dissimilar to our own in which, due to corporate greed, climate, and vast economic divides, it is crumbling. Our protagonist lives within one of the few gated communities, with every day another gamble as to whether it will be overrun. She has hyperempathy and is able to feel the emotions of those around her much more than normal. She believes humanity needs to leave the earth and start anew on other planets. This is her story to find followers and make her way north.
Uglies – Scott Westerfield
When appearance seems like it is everything, teen science fiction books can be there to remind you that this really isn’t actually the case. Uglies, by Scott Westerfield, takes an introspective look at how we perceive beauty and the value it brings. In a world like ours, of endlessly beautiful people on TV, social media, and advertising, it isn’t hard to become obsessed with being beautiful. These are the themes tackled by Westerfield in his Uglies trilogy.
When teens turn 16, the government of this post-scarcity dystopia provides surgery to all citizens to make them beautiful. They grow up wanting nothing and then gradually move through the hierarchy of beauty as they age. However, unsurprisingly, this isn’t without its traps and flaws. Our main character discovers some of the truth and decides to rebel against the system. Surprise, surprise, the government that forces beauty standards isn’t quite all that nice.
The Mars House – Natasha Pulley
Forcing people to use different entrances, different houses, and different sections of public transport. Forcing people to change their physical appearance to abide by government regulations. Sound familiar? That’s because it is the topic of The Mars House by Natasha Pulley, a sci-fi young adult book that challenges one or two of our current affairs and paints them in a new light. This book challenges a lot of the current political issues with immigration, gender, and identity and makes them easily digestible for a younger audience.
In the future, a resident of the Earth has become a refugee on Mars. However, being adapted to Earth’s gravity and climate, he is remarkably strong and large for the planet. Due to this, he is segregated and treated as a second-class citizen. Different transport, housing, and even job choices are dictated by his unnatural strength. However, when a politician rallies for the Neutralization of Earth refugees, things start to get desperate.
