The best science fiction books of the 2000s, ranked
210 science fiction books from the 2000s were recognized by the Hugo, Nebula, Locus or Clarke awards. These are the 25 readers rate highest.
The highest rated: Anathem by Neal Stephenson, ★ 4.20 from 660+ ratings.
The ranking
1. Anathem
Won the Locus Award; finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke and Hugo Awards (2009) ·
Anathem, the latest invention by the New York Times bestselling author of Cryptonomicon and The Baroque Cycle, is a magnificent creation: a work of great scope, intelligence, and imagination that ushers readers into a recognizable — yet strangely inverted — world.Fraa Erasmas is a young…
2. House of Suns
Finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award (2009) ·
Six million years ago, at the dawn of the star-faring era, Abigail Gentian fractured herself into a thousand male and female clones, which she called shatterlings.
3. Old Man's War
Finalist for the Hugo Award (2006) ·
John Scalzi channels Robert Heinlein (including a wry sense of humor) in a novel about a future Earth engaged in an interstellar war against more advanced species.
4. The System of the World
Finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award (2005) ·
The System of the World is a novel by Neal Stephenson and the third and final volume in The Baroque Cycle.
5. The Scar
Finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke and Hugo Awards (2003) ·
A mythmaker of the highest order, China Mieville has emblazoned the fantasy novel with fresh language, startling images, and stunning originality.
6. Cloud Atlas
Finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke and Nebula Awards (2005) ·
From David Mitchell, the Booker Prize nominee, award-winning writer and one of the featured authors in Granta’s “Best of Young British Novelists 2003” issue, comes his highly anticipated third novel, a work of mind-bending imagination and scope.
7. Spin
Won the Hugo Award; finalist for the Locus Award (2006) ·
One night in October when he was ten years old, Tyler Dupree stood in his back yard and watched the stars go out.
8. Redemption Ark
Finalist for the Locus Award (2003) ·
Redemption Ark is a 2002 science fiction novel by Welsh author Alastair Reynolds set in the Revelation Space universe.
9. The Last Colony
Finalist for the Hugo Award (2008) ·
Serving his human colony on distant Huckleberry as a village ombudsman, retired fighter John Perry looks forward to settling into farm life with his wife and adopted daughter before he is drawn back into the dangerous interstellar politics of his past.
10. The Three-Body Problem
Won the Hugo Award; finalist for the Locus and Nebula Awards (2015) ·
A scientific mystery opens a door humanity may wish had stayed shut.
11. Carnival
Finalist for the Locus Award (2007) ·
Carnival is a 2006 science fiction novel by Elizabeth Bear, published in the US by Bantam Spectra.
12. Perdido Street Station
Won the Arthur C. Clarke Award; finalist for the Nebula and Hugo Awards (2001–2003) ·
Beneath the towering bleached ribs of a dead, ancient beast lies New Crobuzon, a squalid city where humans, Re-mades, and arcane races live in perpetual fear of Parliament and its brutal militia.
13. Matter
Finalist for the Locus Award (2009) ·
In a world renowned even within a galaxy full of wonders, a crime within a war.
14. Pushing Ice
Finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award (2006) ·
In 2057, Bella Lind and the crew of the Rockhopper mine comets for their ice, but when Janus, one of Saturn's ice moons, inexplicably leaves its orbit and heads out of the solar system at high speed, Bella is assigned to follow it.
15. The Time Traveler's Wife
Finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award (2005) ·
Audrey Niffenegger's innovative debut, The Time Traveler's Wife, is the story of Clare, a beautiful art student, and Henry, an adventuresome librarian, who have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-three and Henry thirty-one.
16. The Walls of the Universe
Finalist for the Hugo and Nebula Awards (2007) ·
His double offers unlimited worlds. Home is not part of the bargain.
17. The City & the City
Won the Arthur C. Clarke and Hugo Awards; finalist for the Nebula Award (2010) ·
Inspector Tyador Borlú must travel to Ul Qoma to search for answers in the murder of a woman found in the city of Besźel.
18. Defender
Finalist for the Locus Award (2002) ·
Two species share a station. Their alliance hides dangerous secrets.
19. Diplomatic Immunity
Finalist for the Nebula Award (2004) ·
Diplomatic Immunity is a 2002 science fiction novel by American writer Lois McMaster Bujold, part of the Vorkosigan Saga.
21. Little Brother
Finalist for the Hugo and Nebula Awards (2009) ·
Seventeen year old Marcus and his friends are in the wrong place at the wrong time during a major terrorist attack on San Francisco.
22. Revelation Space
Finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award (2001) ·
Nine hundred thousand years ago, something annihilated the Amarantin civilization just as it was on the verge of discovering space flight.
24. Never Let Me Go
Finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award (2006) ·
Ishiguro explores what it means to have a soul and how art distinguishes man from other life forms.
25. Ilium
Won the Locus Award; finalist for the Hugo Award (2004) ·
Ilium is a science fiction novel by American writer Dan Simmons, the first part of the Ilium/Olympos cycle, concerning the re-creation of the events in the Iliad on Earth and Mars.
Not yet rated
These winners do not have enough ratings to rank yet.
- After the Siege by Cory Doctorow
- Burn by James Patrick Kelly
- Clay's Pride by Bud Sparhawk
- Dangerous Space by Kelley Eskridge
- Hav by Jan Morris
- In Spirit by Pat Forde
- Sanctuary by Michael A. Burstein
- The Baroque Cycle: The Confusion; The System of the World by Neal Stephenson
- The Helper and His Hero by Matthew Hughes
- The Mars Girl by Joe Haldeman
- The Tangled Strings of the Marionettes by Adam-Troy Castro
- The Women of Nell Gwynne's by Kage Baker
- Time Ablaze by Michael A. Burstein
- True Names by Benjamin Rosenbaum & Cory Doctorow
How we ranked
Science fiction novels and novellas published from 2000 to 2009 that won or were shortlisted for a major award. The top 25 by weighted reader rating. Books are ranked by a weighted rating: each book’s average is blended with the library average as if it had 100 extra ratings, so a few enthusiastic votes cannot outrank a book thousands of readers love. Ratings are web-aggregated averages. The list updates automatically as new award results come in.