11 of the best science fiction books for holiday reading

Eyes of the Void, Sea of Tranquility and The Memory Librarian are among our top sci-fi novels to read this holiday

Humans 20 July 2022

Jupiter from Europa. Computer artwork of a view towards Jupiter and its moons, across the surface of Europa as it might have looked four billion years ago. Europa is the fourth largest of the moons that orbit Jupiter. It is believed to be composed of silicate rocks with a layer of water ice covering the entire surface. It may contain more water than all of Earth&#039;s oceans combined but its distance from its sun meant that there wasn&#039;t enough heat to prevent it from freezing over.

An artist’s impression of Jupiter and its moon Europa, on which the sci-fi novel Eversion is set

DETLEV VAN RAVENSWAAY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

MANY of us head off for the holidays, what better time to immerse ourselves in stories that range further afield, out into the final frontier of space or elsewhere into the multiverse of imaginative possibilities?

The thing about science fiction today is its enormous variety: of subjects, of voices, of possibilities. If classic space opera is your thing, you will know Adrian Tchaikovsky, the ruling king of UK sci-fi: volume two of his …

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