These are the best-rated sci-fi books on Goodreads. The titles here might not be a surprise, but where they land in the rankings, and what that says about sci-fi literature, that’s certainly worth exploring in more detail.

Goodreads lets readers rate and review books, and as such, there is a lot that can be learned from looking at a book’s Goodreads metrics. That includes its average star rating (on a 5-star scale), in addition to the overall number of ratings a book has. For the purposes of this ranking, only sci-fi novels with over 1 million ratings have been considered. Which narrows things down to a surprisingly elite few.

Below are the Top 5 highest-rated sci-fi books on Goodreads, though there are six entries, because two novels tied for the 5th spot. And at the end of the list, there is an honorable mention, a modern science fiction classic that just barely fell below the 1 million rating threshold.

It is also worth citing a few titles that boast over 1 million ratings, but didn’t make the cut here: Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park (4.14 average star rating), Lois Lowry’s The Giver (4.12 average), Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five (4.10 average), and Divergent, which has a staggering 4.5 million ratings, but just a 4.13 average.

Finally, shout out to some seriously, criminally underrated sci-fi classics on Goodreads: Vernor Vinge’s A Fire Upon the Deep, and the novel it shared the Hugo Award with, Connie Willis’ Doomsday Book, and Ubik by Philip K. Dick, to name just a few.

6

Ready Player One

Written By Ernest Cline; 4.22 Average Rating

Ready Player One landed debut novelist Ernest Cline on the bestseller list in 2011, by which point the film rights had already been acquired by Warner Bros. The adaptation became a hot project in Hollywood. A host of A-list directors were considered, before the production scored a major coup by getting the GOAT, Steven Spielberg, to do the movie.

Which generated huge buzz for the book. Today, that is reflected in Ready Player One’s nearly 1.35 million ratings on Goodreads, which average out to a 4.22 rating. 48% of its ratings are 5-stars, meaning just under half of readers who rated the book loved it.

For the book’s critics, the takeaway here shouldn’t be that Ready Player One’s score is too high, it is that so many of the greatest works of science fiction literature are, literally, vastly underrated on Goodreads.

[Get the Ready Player One audiobook narrated by Wil Wheaton here.]

5

The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy

Written By Douglas Adams; 4.22 Average Rating

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy sharing its average rating with Ready Player One is a bit of a cruel mirage of Goodreads stats. The novels’ respective reputations are incomparable, but their Goodreads numbers tell a clearer story. For context, one million reviewers have given Hitchhiker’s Guide five stars. That’s almost 75% of the total of Ready Player One’s ratings.

Still, 50% 5-stars feels low for Douglas Adams’ book. Almost 15% of readers rating Hitchhiker’s Guide just 3-stars is downright sacrilegious to fans who revere the sci-fi satire. That’s another quirk of Goodreads data that becomes more apparent the more you start to crunch the numbers: more ratings can, in some cases, weigh down a novel’s overall average.

[Pick up a copy of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy here.]

4

Dune

Written By Frank Herbert; 4.29 Average Rating

Setting aside quality for a moment, we can easily quantify Dune’s importance to sci-fi literature, and pop culture at large. Its influence on Star Wars alone is worth writing entire, almost Dune-length books about. Plus, Frank Herbert’s first Dune book is the #1 best-selling sci-fi novel of all time. To the tune of 20+ million copies.

Which makes it remarkable that it has only been rated on Goodreads 1.7 million times. Of those readers, 900k, or 52%, rated it 5-stars. Another half a million, or 30%, gave it 4-stars. Just under 20% of readers have given Dune 3-stars or less. This equals out to a 4.29 star average. Like with Hitchhiker’s Guide this will seem low to Dune fans, but again, the more readers the book attracts, the more less-than-stellar reviews are likely to be a consequence.

[Grab a copy of Dune here.]

3

Ender’s Game

Written By Orson Scott Card; 4.31 Average Rating

With its current 4.31 average, Ender’s Game holds a slight advantage over Dune, but keep in mind that it has been rated roughly 200k less times. Orson Scott Card’s novel is still frequently cited as a sci-fi must-read, but it debatably suffers from a diminished reputation these days, compared to Dune, which has never been more popular. Suggesting that the two will likely swap places in this ranking at some point sooner rather than later.

Speculation aside, the books’ overall numbers are pretty similar. 53% of Ender’s Game readers (equally just north of 800k) gave it a 5-star score. 30% gave it 4-stars, while about 250k people rated it 3-stars and under. Card’s book, along with its sequels, still have a devoted fanbase, and still connects with scores of new readers, but it isn’t for everybody.

[Pick up Ender’s Game and its sequels here.]

2

The Martian

Written By Andy Weir; 4.42 Average Rating

Andy Weir’s The Martian has only been rated 1.38 million times (and counting), putting it on par with Ready Player One at the lower end of the range covered here. That said, its ratings and reviews are impressively positive. 56% of respondents have bestowed 5-stars on The Martian, while bad ratings (1 and 2-stars) make up less than 2% of its total.

Weir is the hottest name in popular science fiction right now. That shows in his dominant positioning in this ranking. His novels are finding a crossover audience, thanks to their successful film adaptations as well as their accessible sci-fi storytelling on the page. Those people are signal boosting his work on Goodreads, securing him the #2 and #1 spot on the current list of top-rated sci-fi novels.

[Get your copy of The Martian here.]

1

Project Hail Mary

Written By Andy Weird; 4.51 Average Rating

It is an accomplishment for any novel to hold a 4.5 rating or above on Goodreads, especially one that has been rated nearly two million times. It is especially notable for a sci-fi novel. Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary has done it.

Based on the overwhelmingly positive response to the Ryan Gosling film version, the Ray Porter-narrated audiobook, and Weir’s novel as a whole, it can be projected to maintain its exceptional rating even as more ratings continue to pour in. 62% of readers on Goodreads give Project Hail Mary 5-stars, while 28% give it 4-stars. Negative reviews and ratings for the book are negligible.

By a significant margin, Project Hail Mary is the best-rated sci-fi book on Goodreads. But for people who have read Project Hail Mary already, and are looking for what sci-fi to read next, Goodreads ratings might not be the best metric to go by.

[Get Project Hail Mary in all formats here.]

Honorable Mention: Red Rising

Pierce Brown’s “Red Rising” series, currently at six books and counting, is one of the most lauded sci-fi franchises to launch in the past fifteen years. The first novel, Red Rising, is currently just over one hundred ratings away from cracking the 1 million mark on Goodreads.

That’s right. 999, 890 by last count. But that will soon change. According to Goodreads, nearly 100k people are currently reading Red Rising, and over a million users have it marked as “want to read.” So, expect a surge in ratings to put Red Rising into the Top 5 very soon.

Where will it land? Its current 4.27 average rating would qualify it for 5th on the list, bumping down Ready Player One and Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. However, considering Red Rising’s popularity is still rising, there’s a strong chance it could overtake Dune and Ender’s Game quickly, with enough positive reviews.

Release Date

March 15, 2026

Runtime

157 minutes

Director

Christopher Miller, Phil Lord

Writers

Drew Goddard, Andy Weir

Producers

Aditya Sood, Amy Pascal, Andy Weir, Christopher Miller, Phil Lord, Rachel O’Connor, Ryan Gosling