Thus begins a frightening cat-and-mouse hunt between the arrogant and careless Frankenstein and his confused, lonely, but intelligent creation.įrankenstein is gothic, it is frightening, and it is a masterpiece of science fiction and horror. His experiment is a success, but the creature frightens him into fleeing, leaving our tragic hero to roam the world alone and learn life without a father or a friend to help him. While studying at university, Victor digs up graves and gathers body parts, gradually assembling them into an enormous new creature, into which he hopes to breathe new life.

The novel tells the story of the titular Victor Frankenstein, a young man obsessed with conquering death after the loss of his mother. Two hundred years after its publication, it is heralded as a classic and a masterpiece by so many metrics. Shelley was the daughter of groundbreaking feminist writer Mary Wollstonecraft, wife of romantic poet Percy Shelley, and author of (in my opinion) the greatest novel ever written.įrankenstein is both a classic of the gothic genre and the first ever sci-fi novel. Written by a girl who, at the time, was not even twenty years old, Frankenstein is considered to be the originator of science fiction literature. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a lot of things. So, if you’re looking to expand your own library of the best sci-fi books that everyone should read, from both the 19th and 20th centuries, these are the ones to check out. The “contemporary sci-fi books” section is reserved for the ever-growing library of modern sci-fi books that this century will continue to gift us with. This means we’re covering everyone from Mary Shelley to Dan Simmons. How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsuįor the purposes of this list, “classic sci-fi books” refers to anything published before the start of the 21st century.To Be Taught If Fortunate by Becky Chambers.This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone.The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K.

Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne.

The Deep Range by Arthur C. Clarke