Recommendations based on Adulthood Ritesby Octavia E. Butler

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. Dawn

    by Octavia E. Butler
    An epic science fiction story of a post-apocalyptic future and humanity's struggle for survival.

    Lilith Iyapo has just lost her husband and son when atomic fire consumes Earth—the last stage of the planet’s final war. Hundreds of years later Lilith awakes, deep in the hold of a massive alien ... (Goodreads)

  2. Imago

    by Octavia E. Butler
    A journey through a post-apocalyptic future, exploring the power of human connection and love.

    The stunning conclusion to a postapocalyptic trilogy about an alien species merging with humans—from “one of science fiction’s finest writers” (TheNew York Times). Human and Oankali have been mating ... (Goodreads)

  3. Lilith's Brood

    by Octavia E. Butler
    Humanity's struggle for survival in a post-apocalyptic world, amongst a new species of aliens.

    Lilith Iyapo is in the Andes, mourning the death of her family, when war destroys Earth. Centuries later, she is resurrected – by miraculously powerful unearthly beings, the Oankali. Driven by an ... (Goodreads)

  4. The Left Hand of Darkness

    by Ursula K. Le Guin
    A diplomat's mission to a distant planet, exploring themes of gender and identity.

    The protagonist of the novel is Genly Ai, a male Terran native, who is sent to invite the planet Gethen to join the Ekumen, a coalition of humanoid worlds. , Ai travels to the Gethen planetary system ... (Wikipedia)

  5. The Dispossessed

    by Ursula K. Le Guin
    A sci-fi exploration of utopian and dystopian societies, and the struggle for a better world.

    Librarian note: Alternate cover edition of ISBN, 9780061054884,. Shevek, a brilliant physicist, decides to take action. He will seek answers, question the unquestionable, and attempt to tear down the ... (Goodreads)

  6. The Fifth Season

    by N.K. Jemisin
    A world where seismic and magical disasters ravage the land, and a woman's journey to save humanity.

    In a prologue, an extraordinarily powerful orogene discusses the sad state of the world and laments the oppression of his race. He then uses his enormous power to fracture the entire continent along ... (Wikipedia)

  7. The Lathe of Heaven

    by Ursula K. Le Guin
    An exploration of the power of dreams, with the potential to reshape reality.

    The book is set in Portland, Oregon , in the year 2002. Portland has three million inhabitants and continuous rain. It is deprived enough for the poorer inhabitants to have kwashiorkor , a protein ... (Wikipedia)

  8. Snow Crash

    by Neal Stephenson
    A hacker's quest in a futuristic America dealing with a mysterious computer virus.

    Hiro Protagonist is a hacker and pizza delivery driver for the Mafia. He meets Y.T. (short for Yours Truly), a young skateboard Kourier ( courier ) who refers to herself in the third person , during ... (Wikipedia)

  9. The Three-Body Problem

    by Liu Cixin
    A science fiction novel exploring the consequences of first contact with an alien civilization.

    The story takes place in flash-forwards, flashbacks, and the present time. Below is a chronological plotline. During the Cultural Revolution , Ye Wenjie, an astrophysics graduate from Tsinghua ... (Wikipedia)

  10. The Stone Sky

    by N.K. Jemisin
    A climactic finale to a trilogy, featuring a powerful woman's journey to save her world from destruction.

    Following the events of, The Obelisk Gate, , the former inhabitants of Castrima-under are moving north after damage by rival comm Rennanis has compromised the mechanisms of the geode and made it ... (Wikipedia)

  11. Invisible Man

    by Ralph Ellison
    A black man's journey towards self-actualization in a world of racial oppression.

    The narrator, an unnamed black man, begins by describing his living conditions: an underground room wired with hundreds of electric lights, operated by power stolen from the city's electric grid. He ... (Wikipedia)

  12. The Killing Moon

    by N.K. Jemisin
    In a land where dreams are currency, a priestess and a prince must stop a corrupt ruler from sacrificing innocent lives.

    THE CITY BURNED BENEATH THE DREAMING MOON In the ancient city-state of Gujaareh, peace is the only law. Upon its rooftops and among the shadows of its cobbled streets wait the Gatherers - the keepers ... (Goodreads)

  13. World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

    by Max Brooks
    A collection of interviews recounting tales of the zombie apocalypse.

    It has been nearly twenty years since the start of the apocalyptic worldwide pandemic known as the Zombie War, and about ten years since the war has ended in humanity's victory. The framing device ... (Wikipedia)

  14. Red Mars

    by Kim Stanley Robinson
    Colonists brave the harsh landscapes of Mars, striving to make the planet their new home.

    Red Mars starts in 2026 with the first colonial voyage to Mars aboard the Ares , the largest interplanetary spacecraft ever built and home to a crew who are to be the first hundred Martian colonists. ... (Wikipedia)

  15. The Gate to Women's Country

    by Sheri S. Tepper
    In a post-apocalyptic world, women and men live in separate communities. A woman's discovery of a forbidden truth threatens the status quo.

    The Gate to Women's Country is set in the future, 300 years after a nuclear war destroyed most of human civilization. The book focuses on a matriarchal nation known as Women's Country , and ... (Wikipedia)

  16. Record of a Spaceborn Few

    by Becky Chambers
    A group of humans, the last of their kind, struggle to maintain their culture and way of life aboard a fleet of aging spaceships.

    Centuries after the last humans left Earth, the Exodus Fleet is a living relic, a place many are from but few outsiders have seen. Humanity has finally been accepted into the galactic community, but ... (Goodreads)

  17. The Dark Forest

    by Liu Cixin
    Humanity faces a daunting challenge when an alien race threatens the existence of our species.

    This is the second novel in "Remembrance of Earth’s Past", the near-future trilogy written by the China's multiple-award-winning science fiction author, Cixin Liu. In The Dark Forest , Earth is ... (Goodreads)

  18. Children of Time

    by Adrian Tchaikovsky
    A race of intelligent spiders battles to save their species from extinction.

    The book's plot involves a planet inhabited by evolved spiders uplifted by human scientist Avrana Kern, and their much later discovery by the last humans alive in the universe. , , , The work plays ... (Wikipedia)

  19. Stories of Your Life and Others

    by Ted Chiang
    A collection of short stories exploring themes of science, technology, and humanity.

    Ted Chiang's first published story, ",Tower of Babylon," won the Nebula Award in 1990. Subsequent stories have won the Asimov's SF Magazine reader poll, a second Nebula Award, the Theodore Sturgeon ... (Goodreads)

  20. A Canticle for Leibowitz

    by Walter M. Miller Jr.
    A post-apocalyptic tale of a world struggling to rebuild after a devastating nuclear war.

    After 20th century civilization was destroyed by a global nuclear war , known as the "Flame Deluge", there was a violent backlash against the culture of advanced knowledge and technology that had led ... (Wikipedia)

  21. Oryx and Crake

    by Margaret Atwood
    An exploration of a post-apocalyptic world, and the power of human nature.

    The novel focuses on a post-apocalyptic character called "Snowman", living near a group of primitive human-like creatures whom he calls Crakers . Flashbacks reveal that Snowman was once a boy named ... (Wikipedia)

  22. To Say Nothing of the Dog

    by Connie Willis
    Time-traveling historian visits Victorian England in search of an artifact, amidst a comedy of errors.

    Ned Henry is a time traveler in 1940 studying Coventry Cathedral after the Coventry Blitz of World War II . He is specifically searching for the location of the "Bishop's bird stump ", a MacGuffin ... (Wikipedia)

  23. Childhood's End

    by Arthur C. Clarke
    Human race is transformed by an alien presence, leading to the dawn of a new age.

    The novel is divided into three parts, following a third-person omniscient narrative with no main character. , In some editions, the short first chapter is a separate prologue rather than the ... (Wikipedia)

  24. Memory

    by Lois McMaster Bujold
    A young woman's quest to uncover the mysteries of her family's past and her own identity.

    While leading the Dendarii Mercenaries on a hostage rescue mission, Miles Vorkosigan has a seizure — a recurring consequence of his death and resuscitation in, Mirror Dance, — which results in his ... (Wikipedia)

  25. The Sparrow

    by Mary Doria Russell
    A Jesuit mission to an alien planet ends in tragedy, raising questions about faith, morality, and the nature of God.

    In the year 2019, the SETI program at Arecibo Observatory discovers radio broadcasts of music from the vicinity of Alpha Centauri . The first expedition to Rakhat, the world that is sending the ... (Wikipedia)

  26. Wyrd Sisters

    by Terry Pratchett
    A fantastical adventure of three witches determined to overthrow an evil tyrant.

    Wyrd Sisters features three witches : Granny Weatherwax ; Nanny Ogg , matriarch of a large tribe of Oggs and owner of the most evil cat in the world; and Magrat Garlick , the junior witch, who firmly ... (Wikipedia)

  27. The Calculating Stars

    by Mary Robinette Kowal
    In an alternate history, a meteorite strikes Earth, accelerating the space race. Elma York fights for her place as a female astronaut.

    Shortly after President Thomas Dewey leads the United States to victory in the space race in 1952, a meteorite strikes the Chesapeake Bay , obliterating most of the Eastern Seaboard . In the ... (Wikipedia)

  28. Children of Dune

    by Frank Herbert
    Epic saga of a royal family's struggle for power and the fate of their desert planet.

    Nine years after Emperor Paul Muad'Dib walked into the desert, blind, the ecological transformation of Dune has reached the point where some Fremen are living without stillsuits in the less arid ... (Wikipedia)

  29. Mort

    by Terry Pratchett
    A Discworld fantasy novel about a young man's journey to save a princess from a magical kingdom.

    As a teenager, Mort has a personality and temperament that makes him unsuited to the family farming business. Mort's father Lezek takes him to a local hiring fair in the hope that Mort will land an ... (Wikipedia)

  30. Seveneves

    by Neal Stephenson
    Humanity's struggle for survival after an apocalyptic event threatens to extinguish life on Earth.

    In the near future, an unknown agent causes the Moon to shatter. As the pieces begin to collide with one another, astronomer and science popularizer "Doc" Dubois Harris calculates that Moon fragments ... (Wikipedia)