Every Hugo Award winner for Best Novel, ranked by readers
The Hugo is voted on by science fiction fans, and 66 science fiction novels have won Best Novel. Here they are ranked by how much readers love them today, from the all-time favorite to the ones that have aged least well.
The highest rated: Network Effect by Martha Wells, ★ 4.44 from 1,650+ ratings.
The ranking
1. Network Effect
Won the Hugo, Locus and Nebula Awards (2021) · · Won 2021
Murderbot has inconvenient feelings and a much bigger problem.
2. Dune
Won the Hugo and Nebula Awards (1966) · · Won 1966
A desert planet. An empire in the balance. A future that refuses to stay written.
3. Ender's Game
Won the Hugo and Nebula Awards; finalist for the Locus Award (1986) · · Won 1986
Ender's Game is a 1985 military science fiction novel by American author Orson Scott Card.
4. The Fifth Season
Won the Hugo Award; finalist for the Nebula Award (2016) · · Won 2016
The world is ending again. This time, the earth has a voice.
5. Hyperion
Won the Hugo and Locus Awards (1990) · · Won 1990
Seven pilgrims. Seven stories. One destination beyond explanation.
6. The Dispossessed
Won the Hugo, Locus and Nebula Awards (1975) · · Won 1975
Two worlds, opposing ideals, and a physicist trying to build a bridge.
7. The Stone Sky
Won the Hugo and Nebula Awards (2018) · · Won 2018
Humanity will finally be saved or destroyed in the shattering conclusion to the post-apocalyptic and highly acclaimed NYT bestselling trilogy that won the Hugo Award three years in a row.
8. The Obelisk Gate
Won the Hugo Award; finalist for the Nebula Award (2017) · · Won 2017
""Intricate and extraordinary."--New York Times on The Fifth Season (A New York Times Notable Book of 2015) The second novel in a new fantasy trilogy by Hugo, Nebula & World Fantasy Award nominated author N.K.
9. A Desolation Called Peace
Won the Hugo and Locus Awards; finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke and Nebula Awards (2022) · · Won 2022
A Desolation Called Peace is a 2021 space opera science fiction novel by Arkady Martine.
10. The Left Hand of Darkness
Won the Hugo and Nebula Awards (1970) · · Won 1970
An icy world. A solitary envoy. A radical question about being human.
11. A Memory Called Empire
Won the Hugo Award; finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke and Nebula Awards (2020) · · Won 2020
Poetry, politics, and a murder at the heart of an irresistible empire.
12. A Deepness in the Sky
Won the Hugo Award; finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke, Locus and Nebula Awards (2000) · · Won 2000
A Deepness in the Sky is a science fiction novel by American writer Vernor Vinge.
13. The Diamond Age
Won the Hugo and Locus Awards; finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke and Nebula Awards (1996–1997) · · Won 1996
The story of an engineer who creates a device to raise a girl capable of thinking for herself reveals what happens when a young girl of the poor underclass obtains the device.
14. Speaker for the Dead
Won the Hugo, Locus and Nebula Awards (1987) · · Won 1987
Ender Wiggin, the young military genius, discovers that a second alien war is inevitable and that he must dismiss his fears to make peace with humanity's strange new brothers.
15. The Forever War
Won the Hugo, Locus and Nebula Awards (1976) · · Won 1976
A soldier returns from battle to a world that has moved on without him.
16. Rendezvous with Rama
Won the Hugo, Locus and Nebula Awards (1974) · · Won 1974
Something enormous has entered the solar system. The door is open.
17. A Fire Upon the Deep
Won the Hugo Award; finalist for the Locus and Nebula Awards (1993) · · Won 1993
Thousands of years in the future, humanity is no longer alone in a universe where a mind's potential is determined by its location in space, from superintelligent entities in the Transcend, to the limited minds of the Unthinking Depths, where only simple creatures, and technology…
18. Barrayar
Won the Hugo and Locus Awards; finalist for the Nebula Award (1992) · · Won 1992
Barrayar is a science fiction novel by American writer Lois McMaster Bujold.
19. Mirror Dance
Won the Hugo and Locus Awards (1995) · · Won 1995
Mark Vorkosigan hijacks a ship of the Dendarii Mercenaries and flies to the outlaw planet, Jackson's Whole, to destroy the clone creches where he was raised.
20. Foundation's Edge
Won the Hugo and Locus Awards; finalist for the Nebula Award (1983) · · Won 1983
After the defeat of the Mule by the Second Foundation, Terminus enjoys a period of prosperity and stability which is publicly attributed to the Seldon Plan, but which some feel is the work of the Second Foundation.
21. Spin
Won the Hugo Award; finalist for the Locus Award (2006) · · Won 2006
One night in October when he was ten years old, Tyler Dupree stood in his back yard and watched the stars go out.
22. Doomsday Book
Won the Hugo, Locus and Nebula Awards; finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award (1993) · · Won 1993
Somewhere in the future, ordinary history students must travel back in time as part of their university degree.
23. To Say Nothing of the Dog
Won the Hugo and Locus Awards; finalist for the Nebula Award (1999) · · Won 1999
Connie Willis' entertaining comedy inspired by Jerome K.
24. Ancillary Justice
Won the Arthur C. Clarke, Hugo and Nebula Awards (2014) · · Won 2014
A starship’s intelligence. One remaining body. A very personal reckoning.
25. The Calculating Stars
Won the Hugo, Locus and Nebula Awards (2019) · · Won 2019
Earth needs an escape plan. A gifted pilot needs a seat at the table.
26. The Vor Game
Won the Hugo Award; finalist for the Locus Award (1991) · · Won 1991
The Vor Game is a science fiction novel by Lois McMaster Bujold, first published in September 1990.
27. Neuromancer
Won the Hugo and Nebula Awards (1985) · · Won 1985
A hacker’s second chance leads into the machinery of a wired future.
28. The Three-Body Problem
Won the Hugo Award; finalist for the Locus and Nebula Awards (2015) · · Won 2015
A scientific mystery opens a door humanity may wish had stayed shut.
29. Some Desperate Glory
Won the Hugo Award; finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award (2024) · · Won 2024
While we live, the enemy shall fear us.
30. The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
Won the Hugo Award; finalist for the Nebula Award (1966–1967) · · Won 1967
It is the late 21st Century and the Moon has been colonized -- as a giant, open, prison.
31. The City & the City
Won the Arthur C. Clarke and Hugo Awards; finalist for the Nebula Award (2010) · · Won 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.
32. A Canticle for Leibowitz
Won the Hugo Award (1961) · · Won 1961
Highly unusual After the Holocaust novel.
33. The Gods Themselves
Won the Hugo, Locus and Nebula Awards (1973) · · Won 1973
The year is 2100 A.D.… And Man no longer stands alone in the universe.
34. Way Station
Won the Hugo Award (1964) · · Won 1964
Way Station is a 1963 science fiction novel by American writer Clifford D.
35. Blue Mars
Won the Hugo and Locus Awards; finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award (1997) · · Won 1997
The red planet is red no longer, as Mars has become a perfectly inhabitable world.
36. Gateway
Won the Hugo, Locus and Nebula Awards (1978) · · Won 1978
Gateway is a 1977 science-fiction novel by American writer Frederik Pohl.
37. Redshirts
Won the Hugo and Locus Awards (2013) · · Won 2013
Ensign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since the year 2456.
38. Ringworld
Won the Hugo, Locus and Nebula Awards (1971) · · Won 1971
The ' (1970–2004), by science fiction author Larry Niven, is a part of his Known Space set of stories.
39. The Uplift War
Won the Hugo and Locus Awards; finalist for the Nebula Award (1988) · · Won 1988
David Brin's Uplift novels are among the most thrilling and extraordinary science fiction ever written.
40. Lord of Light
Won the Hugo Award; finalist for the Nebula Award (1968) · · Won 1968
A colony of humankind is subjugated by the First Colonists, the crew of the starship that brought them to their new home 1000 years before.
41. The Windup Girl
Won the Hugo and Nebula Awards (2010) · · Won 2010
What Happens when bio-terrorism becomes a tool for corporate profits? And what happens when said bio-terrorism forces humanity to the cusp of post-human evolution?
42. Startide Rising
Won the Hugo, Locus and Nebula Awards (1984) · · Won 1984
David Brin: “Startide Rising” (1983) This is a sci fi story about a Terran (Earth) crew of neo-dolphins and humans on the starship “The Streaker”.
43. Starship Troopers
Won the Hugo Award (1960) · · Won 1960
Starship Troopers takes place in the midst of an interstellar war between the Terran Federation of Earth and the Arachnids (referred to as "The Bugs") of Klendathu.
44. The Fountains of Paradise
Won the Hugo and Nebula Awards; finalist for the Locus Award (1980) · · Won 1980
In the 22nd century visionary scientist Vannevar Morgan conceives the most grandiose engineering project of all time, and one which will revolutionize the future of humankind in space: a Space Elevator, 36,000 kilometers high, anchored to an equatorial island in the Indian Ocean.
46. Stand on Zanzibar
Won the Hugo Award; finalist for the Nebula Award (1969) · · Won 1969
Originally published in 1968, Stand on Zanzibar was a breakthrough in science fiction storytelling technique, and a prophetic look at a dystopian 2010 that remains compelling today.
47. The Demolished Man
Won the Hugo Award (1953) · · Won 1953
In a world in which the police have telepathic powers, how do you get away with murder? Ben Reichs heads a huge 24th century business empire, spanning the solar system.
48. Dreamsnake
Won the Hugo, Locus and Nebula Awards (1979) · · Won 1979
In a world devastated by nuclear holocaust, Snake is a healer.
49. Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang
Won the Hugo and Locus Awards; finalist for the Nebula Award (1977) · · Won 1977
Before becoming one of today's most intriguing and innovative mystery writers, Kate Wilhelm was a leading writer of science fiction, acclaimed for classics like The…
50. Stranger in a Strange Land
Won the Hugo Award (1962) · · Won 1962
Stranger in a Strange Land is a 1961 science fiction novel by American author Robert A.
51. Blackout/All Clear
Won the Hugo, Locus and Nebula Awards (2011) · · Won 2011
Blackout and All Clear are the two volumes that constitute a 2010 science fiction novel by American author Connie Willis.
52. Double Star
Won the Hugo Award (1956) · · Won 1956
One minute, down and out actor Lorenzo Smythe was — as usual — in a bar, drinking away his troubles as he watched his career go down the tubes.
53. The Yiddish Policemen's Union
Won the Hugo, Locus and Nebula Awards (2008) · · Won 2008
The Yiddish Policemen's Union is a 2007 novel by American author Michael Chabon.
55. Rainbows End
Won the Hugo and Locus Awards (2007) · · Won 2007
World famous poet Robert Gu missed twenty years of progress while he nearly died from Alzheimer's.
56. To Your Scattered Bodies Go
Won the Hugo Award; finalist for the Locus Award (1972) · · Won 1972
Imagine that every human who ever lived, from the earliest Neanderthals to the present, is resurrected after death on the banks of an astonishing and seemingly endless river on an unknown world.
57. This Immortal
Won the Hugo Award (1966) · · Won 1966
This Immortal, serialized as ...And Call Me Conrad, is a science fiction novel by American author Roger Zelazny.
58. The Snow Queen
Won the Hugo and Locus Awards; finalist for the Nebula Award (1981) · · Won 1981
The Snow Queen is a 1980 science fiction novel by American writer Joan D.
59. A Case of Conscience
Won the Hugo Award (1959) · · Won 1959
The citizens of the planet Lithia are some of the most ethical sentient beings Father Ramon Ruiz-Sanchez has ever encountered.
60. Forever Peace
Won the Hugo and Nebula Awards; finalist for the Locus Award (1998–1999) · · Won 1998
Joe Haldeman returns with a story about the horrors of war -- and how we might move past them.
61. Downbelow Station
Won the Hugo Award; finalist for the Locus Award (1982) · · Won 1982
Pell's Star occupied the central spot in the coming conflict between Earth's tired stellar empire and the tough onslaught of its rebellious colonies.
62. They'd Rather Be Right
Won the Hugo Award (1955) · · Won 1955
One of 3 novels by early Hugo winner Mark Clifton, exploring ideas re closed vs.
63. The Big Time
Won the Hugo Award (1958) · · Won 1958
The Big Time is a short science fiction novel by American writer Fritz Leiber.
64. The Wanderer
Won the Hugo Award (1965) · · Won 1965
All eyes were watching the eclipse of the Moon when the Wanderer--a huge, garishly colored artificial world--emerged.
65. The Man in the High Castle
Won the Hugo Award (1963) · · Won 1963
The Man in the High Castle is an alternate history novel by American writer Philip K.
Not yet rated
These winners do not have enough ratings to rank yet.
- Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson · Won 1994
How we ranked
Every science fiction novel that won the Hugo Award for Best Novel. Fantasy winners are not part of this library. 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.