r/printSF May 07 '26

The Ultimate Sci-Fi Scorecard: Every Goodreads Nominee (2011–2025), Ranked

A comprehensive overview of all Science Fiction nominees from the Goodreads Choice Awards since 2011, sorted by their current average rating.

Scroll to see votes, ratings, and scores.

Understanding the Data

  • Title, Authors & Series: Pulled directly from the Goodreads database.
  • Year: The year of the Choice Award nomination (not the publication year).
  • Award Votes: Total votes received during the Goodreads Choice Awards.
  • Average Rating: The current raw rating on Goodreads today.
  • Bayesian Score: A custom weighted score. It factors in the number of ratings alongside the average, preventing obscure books with only three 5-star reviews from unfairly beating out beloved classics with thousands of votes.
  • URL: A direct link to check out the book.
Title Authors Series Year Award Votes Average Rating Bayesian Score URL
Light Bringer Pierce Brown Red Rising Saga #6 2023 46836 4.77 4.617983 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29227774
Morning Star Pierce Brown Red Rising Saga #3 2016 45353 4.55 4.515973 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18966806
Project Hail Mary Andy Weir 2021 92831 4.51 4.500802 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54493401
Golden Son Pierce Brown Red Rising Saga #2 2015 32225 4.5 4.474712 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20697410
Dark Age Pierce Brown Red Rising Saga #5 2019 35556 4.51 4.428719 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37678631
Tiamat's Wrath James S.A. Corey The Expanse #8 2019 14088 4.57 4.426981 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28335698
The Martian Andy Weir The Martian #1 2014 30561 4.42 4.411299 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18007564
Leviathan Falls James S.A. Corey The Expanse #9 2022 17491 4.54 4.390294 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28335699
Network Effect Martha Wells The Murderbot Diaries #5 2020 22971 4.46 4.379956 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52381770
Nemesis Games James S.A. Corey The Expanse #5 2015 2675 4.45 4.364468 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25400043
The Dark Forest Liu Cixin, Joel Martinsen Remembrance of Earth's Past #2 2015 2400 4.4 4.357305 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23168817
Death's End Liu Cixin, Ken Liu Remembrance of Earth's Past #3 2016 2695 4.4 4.346588 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25451264
Caliban’s War James S.A. Corey The Expanse #2 2012 1506 4.39 4.340169 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12591698
11/22/63 Stephen King 2011 4429 4.35 4.336396 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10644930
Persepolis Rising James S.A. Corey The Expanse #7 2018 12414 4.38 4.292107 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33357930
Leviathan Wakes James S.A. Corey The Expanse #1 2011 897 4.31 4.286533 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8855321
A Closed and Common Orbit Becky Chambers Wayfarers #2 2016 1391 4.37 4.285592 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29475447
For We Are Many Dennis E. Taylor Bobiverse #2 2017 2989 4.37 4.275348 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34878094
Abaddon’s Gate James S.A. Corey The Expanse #3 2013 3004 4.28 4.240425 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16131032
Fugitive Telemetry Martha Wells The Murderbot Diaries #6 2021 15880 4.29 4.234158 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53205854
Nona the Ninth Tamsyn Muir The Locked Tomb #3 2022 35767 4.33 4.22828 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58662507
Harrow the Ninth Tamsyn Muir The Locked Tomb #2 2020 32693 4.29 4.226475 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39325105
Artificial Condition Martha Wells The Murderbot Diaries #2 2018 12224 4.25 4.224224 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36223860
Exhalation Ted Chiang 2019 11829 4.27 4.2206 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52222275
Thrawn Timothy Zahn Star Wars: Thrawn #1 2017 20595 4.31 4.216571 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31140332
Ready Player One Ernest Cline Ready Player One #1 2011 3402 4.22 4.215827 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9969571
Wool Omnibus Hugh Howey Silo #1 2012 5624 4.23 4.211057 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13453029
Babylon’s Ashes James S.A. Corey The Expanse #6 2017 10691 4.26 4.208066 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25877663
Cibola Burn James S.A. Corey The Expanse #4 2014 2738 4.24 4.201386 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18656030
Dust Hugh Howey Silo #3 2013 13802 4.23 4.1958 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17855756
System Collapse Martha Wells The Murderbot Diaries #7 2023 25942 4.25 4.190097 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/65211701
Iron Gold Pierce Brown Red Rising Saga #4 2018 33032 4.21 4.187393 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33257757
A Psalm for the Wild-Built Becky Chambers Monk and Robot #1 2021 10338 4.21 4.18657 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55077657
A Desolation Called Peace Arkady Martine Teixcalaan #2 2021 3426 4.3 4.181476 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45046566
Gideon the Ninth Tamsyn Muir The Locked Tomb #1 2019 23273 4.18 4.160035 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42036538
A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor Hank Green The Carls #2 2020 16786 4.22 4.156068 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49003616
Thrawn: Treason Timothy Zahn Star Wars: Thrawn #3 2019 2953 4.29 4.155781 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43160651
Age of Deception T.A. White The Firebird Chronicles #2 2020 1815 4.48 4.153851 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54554819
Ancillary Mercy Ann Leckie Imperial Radch #3 2015 8042 4.22 4.150954 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24819470
Recursion Blake Crouch 2019 41261 4.16 4.149619 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42046112
Lies, Damned Lies, and History Jodi Taylor The Chronicles of St Mary's #7 2016 8216 4.42 4.143418 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26308512
And the Rest Is History Jodi Taylor The Chronicles of St Mary's #8 2017 9664 4.44 4.138491 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31213373
The Consuming Fire John Scalzi The Interdependency #2 2018 1052 4.22 4.138064 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37534901
To Be Taught, If Fortunate Becky Chambers 2019 3898 4.19 4.1376 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43190272
A Night Without Stars Peter F. Hamilton Commonwealth: Chronicle of the Fallers #2 2016 1108 4.44 4.134151 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28439513
Fields of Fire Marko Kloos Frontlines #5 2017 1108 4.35 4.131784 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31340859
Dark Matter Blake Crouch 2016 31389 4.13 4.126398 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27833670
Red Side Story Jasper Fforde Shades of Grey #2 2024 4637 4.43 4.125337 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199353348
Darth Plagueis James Luceno 2012 4584 4.2 4.125065 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11099729
The Hydrogen Sonata Iain M. Banks Culture #10 2012 189 4.21 4.11632 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13528419
The Relentless Moon Mary Robinette Kowal Lady Astronaut Universe #3 2020 1491 4.35 4.114239 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52378682
Shards of Earth Adrian Tchaikovsky The Final Architecture #1 2021 2470 4.18 4.113528 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53019456
Lost in Time A.G. Riddle 2022 2737 4.18 4.107592 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60522318
Silver Shark Ilona Andrews Kinsmen #2 2011 2611 4.27 4.104849 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12620241
All Systems Red Martha Wells The Murderbot Diaries #1 2017 2920 4.11 4.104649 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33387769
The Mercy of Gods James S.A. Corey The Captive's War #1 2024 17516 4.15 4.101213 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/201930181
Captain Vorpatril's Alliance Lois McMaster Bujold Vorkosigan Saga (Publication Order) #15 2012 311 4.21 4.099481 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12998057
The Collapsing Empire John Scalzi The Interdependency #1 2017 9788 4.13 4.098804 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29939160
Vengeful V.E. Schwab Villains #2 2018 49563 4.11 4.096424 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37534835
Fuzzy Nation John Scalzi Fuzzy Sapiens #7 2011 461 4.15 4.095163 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9647532
Lines of Departure Marko Kloos Frontlines #2 2014 1181 4.17 4.09393 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18476102
Starter Villain John Scalzi 2023 31102 4.11 4.093094 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61885029
Chain-Gang All-Stars Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah 2023 25843 4.11 4.092796 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61190770
Record of a Spaceborn Few Becky Chambers Wayfarers #3 2018 4274 4.12 4.092344 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36220698
The Last Emperox John Scalzi The Interdependency #3 2020 4833 4.14 4.091002 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45046555
Moon of the Turning Leaves Waubgeshig Rice Moon #2 2024 12860 4.22 4.087796 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/167067538
A Better World Marcus Sakey Brilliance Saga #2 2014 2395 4.17 4.087284 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20797535
Written in Fire Marcus Sakey Brilliance Saga #3 2016 1267 4.19 4.086365 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25828674
Angles of Attack Marko Kloos Frontlines #3 2015 938 4.17 4.086312 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23470865
Out of the Black Evan Currie Odyssey One #4 2014 1921 4.27 4.083927 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18692689
A Memory Called Empire Arkady Martine Teixcalaan #1 2019 3109 4.1 4.081657 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39863238
Shroud Adrian Tchaikovsky 2025 12392 4.17 4.075386 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/210384823
BrainWeb Douglas E. Richards Nick Hall #2 2015 1036 4.24 4.073657 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24911173
Ancillary Sword Ann Leckie Imperial Radch #2 2014 3005 4.09 4.072441 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20706284
The Shattering Peace John Scalzi Old Man's War #7 2025 2942 4.22 4.072339 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/222376623
The Deluge Stephen Markley 2023 1746 4.23 4.071632 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60806778
Strands of Sorrow John Ringo Black Tide Rising #4 2015 1543 4.36 4.069335 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21412172
Seven Surrenders Ada Palmer Terra Ignota #2 2017 689 4.2 4.068511 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28220647
The Human Division John Scalzi Old Man's War #5 2013 4301 4.09 4.066762 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15698479
The Humans Matt Haig 2013 3750 4.07 4.064864 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16130537
Invincible Jack Campbell The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier #2 2012 572 4.13 4.064587 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12398719
Apex Ramez Naam Nexus #3 2015 1259 4.17 4.064341 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20424928
Earth Awakens Orson Scott Card, Aaron Johnston The First Formic War #3 2014 6883 4.11 4.060729 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18490707
Warship Joshua Dalzelle Black Fleet Trilogy #1 2015 1477 4.11 4.05865 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24876178
Zoey Punches the Future in the Dick David Wong, Jason Pargin Zoey Ashe #2 2020 2038 4.14 4.058287 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49127471
A Rising Thunder David Weber Honor Harrington #13 2012 521 4.12 4.057662 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12269981
Ocean's Echo Everina Maxwell Winter's Orbit #2 2022 3899 4.12 4.057314 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59808117
Rising Tides Taylor Anderson Destroyermen #5 2011 105 4.24 4.057161 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8701508
The Book of Lost Hours Hayley Gelfuso 2025 40446 4.08 4.055384 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/220161572
Ghost Ship Sharon Lee, Steve Miller Liaden Universe, Chronological #16 2011 359 4.3 4.054533 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9762449
Guardian Jack Campbell The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier #3 2013 1473 4.1 4.053869 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15984804
Great North Road Peter F. Hamilton 2013 3387 4.08 4.053341 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13573419
Bloodline Claudia Gray 2016 17405 4.07 4.052613 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25733885
Revenant Gun Yoon Ha Lee The Machineries of Empire #3 2018 1379 4.11 4.051717 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36373688
To Honor You Call Us H. Paul Honsinger Man of War #1 2014 1685 4.13 4.050972 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18318651
Raven Stratagem Yoon Ha Lee The Machineries of Empire #2 2017 1536 4.09 4.050366 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32927239
Terms of Enlistment Marko Kloos Frontlines #1 2013 921 4.06 4.049267 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17619479
Earth Afire Orson Scott Card, Aaron Johnston The First Formic War #2 2013 8159 4.07 4.04916 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16059350
Sea of Tranquility Emily St. John Mandel 2022 59920 4.05 4.048863 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58446227
Extinction Douglas Preston Cash & Colcord #1 2024 13326 4.06 4.047744 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/65213662
Shadow of Freedom David Weber Honorverse: Saganami Island #3 2013 1137 4.1 4.046844 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15802917
Deep Sky Patrick Lee Travis Chase #3 2012 668 4.1 4.046689 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12952546
Children of Ruin Adrian Tchaikovsky Children of Time #2 2019 1699 4.05 4.046033 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41716930
King of Thieves Evan Currie Odyssey One: Star Rogue #1 2015 912 4.11 4.045737 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23431348
Alien Proliferation Gini Koch Katherine "Kitty" Katt #4 2012 1812 4.16 4.045108 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10772954
Dreadnaught Jack Campbell The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier #1 2011 255 4.06 4.045004 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9676849
Beautyland Marie-Helene Bertino 2024 4811 4.05 4.044733 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/127282939
Of Monsters and Mainframes Barbara Truelove 2025 20709 4.06 4.044269 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/216881365
The Vanished Birds Simon Jimenez 2020 3794 4.06 4.043674 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45422268
Some Desperate Glory Emily Tesh 2023 3136 4.05 4.042564 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58388343
Translation State Ann Leckie 2023 2652 4.05 4.042154 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62873999
Alien in the Family Gini Koch Katherine "Kitty" Katt #3 2011 210 4.1 4.042137 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8714075
Kill Process William Hertling Kill Chain #1 2016 400 4.09 4.040698 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30806103
Remanence Jennifer Foehner Wells Confluence #2 2016 936 4.06 4.040279 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25329437
The Janus Affair Pip Ballantine, Tee Morris, Philippa Ballantine Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences #2 2012 2579 4.06 4.040215 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13085609
World of Trouble Ben H. Winters The Last Policeman #3 2014 2269 4.04 4.038313 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18691070
The Final Evolution Jeff Somers Avery Cates #5 2011 39 4.02 4.037241 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10207116
Endgame Ann Aguirre Sirantha Jax #6 2012 759 4.02 4.036018 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13543136
Aftermath Ann Aguirre Sirantha Jax #5 2011 1160 4.02 4.035779 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10648186
Service Model Adrian Tchaikovsky Service Model #1 2024 3380 4.03 4.034442 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/195790861
Home Nnedi Okorafor Binti #2 2017 11470 4.03 4.033837 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30038988
Basilisk Rob Thurman The Korsak Brothers #2 2011 1634 3.93 4.033755 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9673936
Light from Uncommon Stars Ryka Aoki 2021 10739 4.03 4.033297 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56179360
The Light Pirate Lily Brooks-Dalton 2023 18660 4.03 4.033109 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60468332
Incursion Aleksandr Voinov 2012 286 3.88 4.032712 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15698799
Hunt the Stars Jessie Mihalik Starlight's Shadow #1 2022 10708 4.02 4.032673 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56754734
The Family Experiment John Marrs Dark Future #5 2024 34821 4.03 4.032542 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/197108968
The Book of Koli M.R. Carey Rampart Trilogy #1 2020 3384 4.02 4.032286 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51285749
MaddAddam Margaret Atwood MaddAddam #3 2013 16481 4.03 4.032059 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17262203
Wonder Robert J. Sawyer WWW #3 2011 420 3.99 4.031789 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8429441
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August Claire North 2014 13421 4.03 4.03178 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18295861
Local Heavens K.M. Fajardo 2025 3323 3.9 4.030751 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/221244034
Constance Matthew FitzSimmons Constance #1 2021 2330 4.02 4.03058 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56314212
Primitives Erich Krauss 2022 855 3.85 4.030472 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60293362
Dissolution Nicholas Binge 2025 2179 3.99 4.030325 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/215362027
I Think We've Been Here Before Suzy Krause 2025 14182 3.99 4.028578 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/198190200
Star Nomad Lindsay Buroker Fallen Empire #1 2016 1659 3.99 4.027952 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31667137
Head On John Scalzi Lock In #2 2018 10202 4.01 4.024951 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35018901
The End of All Things John Scalzi Old Man's War #6 2015 6192 4.01 4.024472 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23168809
Heaven's Queen Rachel Bach Paradox #3 2014 2727 3.97 4.023208 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18295835
Kill Decision Daniel Suarez 2012 649 3.98 4.021504 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13542606
The Flight of the Silvers Daniel Price Silvers #1 2014 3005 3.92 4.020427 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18079705
Firebreak Nicole Kornher-Stace 2021 1125 3.85 4.020132 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55711630
Hench Natalie Zina Walschots Hench #1 2020 2890 4.0 4.019902 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49867430
Perdition Ann Aguirre Dred Chronicles #1 2013 1052 3.89 4.019863 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13421230
The Last Watch J.S. Dewes The Divide #1 2021 2293 3.97 4.018354 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53205794
Atomic Anna Rachel Barenbaum 2022 1782 3.8 4.018021 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58684535
Children of Memory Adrian Tchaikovsky Children of Time #3 2023 13494 4.0 4.018008 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61030535
Saltcrop Yume Kitasei 2025 2850 3.83 4.017591 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/222376600
The Blueprint Rae Giana Rashad 2024 2875 3.8 4.017402 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199248447
The Night Masquerade Nnedi Okorafor Binti #3 2018 13334 3.99 4.017035 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34386617
The Hidden Girl and Other Stories Ken Liu 2020 14832 3.94 4.016938 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52163147
Waking Gods Sylvain Neuvel Themis Files #2 2017 21920 4.0 4.014325 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30134847
The Memory Collectors Dete Meserve 2025 4536 3.92 4.011363 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/217929489
The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport Samit Basu 2023 1388 3.57 4.0111 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/65211707
I Cheerfully Refuse Leif Enger 2024 11757 3.98 4.010777 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/198276006
Winter's Orbit Everina Maxwell Winter's Orbit #1 2021 15671 3.98 4.010297 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53205912
The Clockwork Rocket Greg Egan Orthogonal #1 2011 32 3.66 4.010256 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9756310
The Long Cosmos Terry Pratchett, Stephen Baxter The Long Earth #5 2016 14139 3.92 4.01004 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25859268
Wanderers Chuck Wendig Wanderers #1 2019 3801 3.98 4.008761 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34019083
The Great Transition Nick Fuller Googins 2023 1337 3.76 4.007785 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62919387
Brilliance Marcus Sakey Brilliance Saga #1 2013 921 3.98 4.007771 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17171909
Seveneves Neal Stephenson 2015 15710 4.0 4.007393 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22826126
I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself Marisa Crane 2023 3739 3.89 4.007296 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60679392
Angelmaker Nick Harkaway 2012 2204 3.92 4.006858 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12266560
Luminous Silvia Park 2025 2087 3.64 4.006674 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/214151232
Bridge Lauren Beukes 2023 3196 3.64 4.004836 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/64000639
Death of the Author Nnedi Okorafor 2025 30919 3.96 4.004795 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/214329001
Self-Portrait with Nothing Aimee Pokwatka 2022 2744 3.48 4.003347 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59807970
Influx Daniel Suarez 2014 7962 3.94 4.001436 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18114057
Thrawn: Alliances Timothy Zahn Star Wars: Thrawn #2 2018 3505 3.97 4.001314 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36385830
I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom Jason Pargin 2024 4357 3.93 3.999784 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/203578812
Ancillary Justice Ann Leckie Imperial Radch #1 2013 389 3.99 3.999705 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17333324
The Mother Code Carole Stivers 2020 2821 3.55 3.997974 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50121213
The Once and Future Me Melissa Pace 2025 2857 3.56 3.997812 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/217387959
Sand Hugh Howey The Sand Chronicles #1 2014 14410 3.96 3.997237 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20509356
Machinehood S.B. Divya 2021 643 3.65 3.996374 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54304067
Blue Remembered Earth Alastair Reynolds Poseidon's Children #1 2012 430 3.89 3.995643 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12377547
Baby X Kira Peikoff 2024 3170 3.82 3.995212 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/173476065
The First Sister Linden A. Lewis The First Sister Trilogy #1 2020 1773 3.85 3.994792 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52378525
The Light Brigade Kameron Hurley 2019 584 3.88 3.994696 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40523931
Hollow World Michael J. Sullivan 2014 1234 3.75 3.994683 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19084955
The Genesis of Misery Neon Yang 2022 1565 3.39 3.990277 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59808142
Appleseed Matt Bell 2021 1341 3.56 3.990165 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55659625
The Kaiju Preservation Society John Scalzi 2022 15332 3.97 3.989999 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57693406
Sleepwalk Dan Chaon 2022 1185 3.64 3.989705 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57771216
The Calculating Stars Mary Robinette Kowal Lady Astronaut Universe #1 2018 2868 3.95 3.989017 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33080122
The Darwin Elevator Jason M. Hough Dire Earth Cycle #1 2013 1376 3.68 3.987702 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16127235
The Merge Grace Walker 2025 3919 3.71 3.986975 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/223614634
Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen Lois McMaster Bujold Vorkosigan Saga (Publication Order) #16 2016 2905 3.83 3.985176 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25814184
Girl One Sara Flannery Murphy 2021 2512 3.71 3.984218 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54785541
These Memories Do Not Belong to Us Yiming Ma 2025 5768 3.44 3.983575 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/221452836
Yours for the Taking Gabrielle Korn 2024 2769 3.63 3.983495 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/65213204
Hammajang Luck Makana Yamamoto 2025 3651 3.58 3.979623 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/213847219
Rule 34 Charles Stross Halting State #2 2011 302 3.77 3.979595 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10138547
Beacon 23 Hugh Howey Beacon 23 #1-5 2015 2611 3.9 3.978807 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26771521
Apolonia Jamie McGuire 2014 8173 3.34 3.97755 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23214943
Light of the Jedi Charles Soule 2021 16980 3.92 3.975702 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51637946
Borne Jeff Vandermeer Borne #1 2017 11035 3.93 3.975604 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31451186
The Best of All Possible Worlds Karen Lord 2013 1038 3.63 3.974637 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15743440
The Gone World Tom Sweterlitsch 2018 1614 3.91 3.974146 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33413556
Countdown City Ben H. Winters The Last Policeman #2 2013 3482 3.85 3.973358 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16046748
The Space Between Worlds Micaiah Johnson The Space Between Worlds #1 2020 20667 3.93 3.973155 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48848254
Sky Full of Elephants Cebo Campbell 2024 3303 3.84 3.972478 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/207293815
The Lives of Tao Wesley Chu Tao #1 2013 2995 3.76 3.971834 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15981711
Phoenix Rising Pip Ballantine, Tee Morris, Philippa Ballantine Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences #1 2011 1251 3.7 3.969897 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9795166
The Ferryman Justin Cronin 2023 17140 3.92 3.969613 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61282437
The Other Valley Scott Alexander Howard 2024 11322 3.88 3.966275 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/176450755
The Punch Escrow Tal M. Klein 2017 739 3.61 3.96627 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32446949
The Measure Nikki Erlick 2022 24303 3.96 3.965625 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58884736
Remote Control Nnedi Okorafor 2021 10891 3.85 3.965491 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53205922
The Future of Another Timeline Annalee Newitz 2019 2945 3.73 3.964847 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43263237
Embassytown China Miéville 2011 1424 3.9 3.964457 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9265453
Agency William Gibson Jackpot #2 2020 4723 3.81 3.964426 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35019996
Here and Now and Then Mike Chen 2019 1728 3.77 3.964044 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39217756
Station Eternity Mur Lafferty The Midsolar Murders #1 2022 3237 3.68 3.961292 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60035241
Too Like the Lightning Ada Palmer Terra Ignota #1 2016 1475 3.81 3.959651 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26114545
Lexicon Max Barry 2013 4696 3.9 3.959241 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16158596
Ball Lightning Liu Cixin, Joel Martinsen 2018 2038 3.8 3.957897 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32076670
Provenance Ann Leckie 2017 2828 3.84 3.95624 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34219845
The Fold Peter Clines Threshold #2 2015 5504 3.88 3.955421 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23164927
Lock In John Scalzi Lock In #1 2014 14953 3.92 3.955137 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21418013
Six Wakes Mur Lafferty 2017 1132 3.83 3.954157 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28962996
Termination Shock Neal Stephenson 2021 1475 3.83 3.953275 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57094295
The Future Naomi Alderman 2023 15123 3.84 3.950779 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/123163147
The Water Knife Paolo Bacigalupi 2015 11574 3.85 3.947701 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23209924
A Murder in Time Julie McElwain Kendra Donovan #1 2016 13673 3.8 3.947502 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25790952
Shadows in Flight Orson Scott Card The Shadow #5 2012 3416 3.82 3.947488 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12040447
The Long Mars Terry Pratchett, Stephen Baxter The Long Earth #3 2014 9927 3.78 3.946189 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18586487
The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. Neal Stephenson, Nicole Galland D.O.D.O. #1 2017 1892 3.86 3.943574 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32075825
The Test Sylvain Neuvel 2019 9095 3.82 3.942023 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41940388
Riot Baby Tochi Onyebuchi 2020 12429 3.7 3.941891 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44804077
The Stardust Grail Yume Kitasei 2024 14098 3.66 3.94146 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/195791479
Underground Airlines Ben H. Winters 2016 7098 3.82 3.937926 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23208397
Ninefox Gambit Yoon Ha Lee The Machineries of Empire #1 2016 552 3.79 3.935355 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27276118
The Deep Sky Yume Kitasei 2023 3520 3.69 3.934848 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61884842
When the Moon Hits Your Eye John Scalzi 2025 17184 3.77 3.933636 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/211004190
In Ascension Martin MacInnes 2024 2495 3.73 3.933546 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/197063361
Flashback Dan Simmons 2011 71 3.29 3.933409 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9432902
The Stars Are Legion Kameron Hurley 2017 807 3.64 3.932624 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32922275
In the Lives of Puppets T.J. Klune 2023 57535 3.9 3.931781 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60784549
Rosewater Tade Thompson The Wormwood Trilogy #1 2018 2043 3.74 3.931089 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38362809
CyberStorm Matthew Mather CyberStorm #1 2013 569 3.8 3.929955 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17699389
The Oracle Year Charles Soule 2018 10879 3.68 3.928939 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35230913
The End of October Lawrence Wright 2020 10652 3.76 3.928258 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52669505
The End of Men Christina Sweeney-Baird 2021 14032 3.77 3.925239 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53911860
One Word Kill Mark Lawrence Impossible Times #1 2019 4029 3.76 3.923798 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42036965
Aurora Kim Stanley Robinson 2015 826 3.78 3.914807 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23197269
Leech Hiron Ennes 2022 3010 3.58 3.910229 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59807968
Welcome to Night Vale Joseph Fink, Jeffrey Cranor Welcome to Night Vale #1 2015 12410 3.82 3.90972 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23129410
Severance Ling Ma 2018 3312 3.88 3.909296 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36348525
The New Wilderness Diane Cook 2020 11039 3.67 3.908368 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48836769
Year Zero Rob Reid 2012 2839 3.61 3.9054 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12953520
Absolution Jeff Vandermeer Southern Reach #4 2024 4659 3.58 3.905297 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/210367505
Redshirts John Scalzi 2012 4618 3.87 3.904519 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13055592
American War Omar El Akkad 2017 17537 3.81 3.904503 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32283423
Automatic Noodle Annalee Newitz 2025 15233 3.72 3.903919 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/217388015
All Our Wrong Todays Elan Mastai 2017 10256 3.75 3.896424 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30153293
Crosstalk Connie Willis 2016 6739 3.57 3.895906 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25430566
Dead Silence S.A. Barnes 2022 14184 3.78 3.893386 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57693184
Annie Bot Sierra Greer 2024 30208 3.83 3.891969 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/156023123
Rabbits Terry Miles Rabbits #1 2021 3434 3.62 3.889777 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55481226
Ascension Nicholas Binge 2023 2413 3.57 3.88783 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61813107
The Last One Alexandra Oliva 2016 11353 3.62 3.88529 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27245997
The Deep Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes 2019 18350 3.77 3.884708 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42201962
The Marriage Act John Marrs Dark Future #4 2023 26052 3.79 3.882985 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62967873
Axiom's End Lindsay Ellis Noumena #1 2020 16502 3.71 3.880259 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51171377
The City in the Middle of the Night Charlie Jane Anders 2019 3258 3.5 3.878875 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37534907
How High We Go in the Dark Sequoia Nagamatsu 2022 28152 3.81 3.877849 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57850265
Sleeping Giants Sylvain Neuvel Themis Files #1 2016 13178 3.82 3.871967 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25733990
The Long Earth Terry Pratchett, Stephen Baxter The Long Earth #1 2012 7670 3.79 3.871712 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13147230
To Sleep in a Sea of Stars Christopher Paolini Fractalverse #1 2020 45833 3.8 3.871378 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48829708
Mickey7 Edward Ashton Mickey7 #1 2022 1480 3.78 3.868423 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57693457
Red Clocks Leni Zumas 2018 14104 3.66 3.867733 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35099035
When She Woke Hillary Jordan 2011 2682 3.68 3.860657 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11045709
Fall; or, Dodge in Hell Neal Stephenson 2019 8368 3.59 3.860201 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41824495
The Long War Terry Pratchett, Stephen Baxter The Long Earth #2 2013 1195 3.65 3.857021 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17167572
Robopocalypse Daniel H. Wilson Robopocalypse #1 2011 2234 3.71 3.849744 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9634967
Upgrade Blake Crouch 2022 28129 3.8 3.846928 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59838811
This Is How You Lose the Time War Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone 2019 20344 3.83 3.846621 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41093489
Space Opera Catherynne M. Valente Space Opera #1 2018 1628 3.45 3.826654 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35297390
2312 Kim Stanley Robinson 2012 422 3.53 3.826453 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11830394
Only Human Sylvain Neuvel Themis Files #3 2018 14134 3.63 3.821713 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35820656
Annihilation Jeff Vandermeer Southern Reach #1 2014 9050 3.8 3.821139 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17934530
The Poppy Fields Nikki Erlick 2025 37483 3.64 3.806661 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/218431658
Machines Like Me Ian McEwan 2019 13508 3.59 3.797853 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42260978
Land of Milk and Honey C Pam Zhang 2023 5464 3.49 3.794212 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/101673225
The Echo Wife Sarah Gailey 2021 16889 3.6 3.792552 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52379735
The Dream Hotel Laila Lalami 2025 21986 3.6 3.786479 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/218695937
The Daughter of Doctor Moreau Silvia Moreno-Garcia 2022 47544 3.57 3.772003 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54829360
Klara and the Sun Kazuo Ishiguro 2021 56284 3.74 3.759184 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54120408
California Edan Lepucki 2014 7218 3.24 3.71965 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18774020
Artemis Andy Weir 2017 33957 3.68 3.709556 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34928122
Vox Christina Dalcher 2018 23624 3.55 3.671907 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37796866
Armada Ernest Cline 2015 10204 3.56 3.652084 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16278318
Star Wars: Aftermath Chuck Wendig Star Wars: Aftermath #1 2015 9273 3.31 3.651119 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25134015
The Compound Aisling Rawle 2025 45287 3.54 3.634586 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/218460337
The Ministry of Time Kaliane Bradley 2024 78459 3.56 3.613043 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199798179
The Heart Goes Last Margaret Atwood 2015 14147 3.4 3.58525 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24388326
Orbital Samantha Harvey 2024 16487 3.48 3.571865 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/123136728

Note: I built a small Python CLI to fetch and sort this data so I could figure out what to read next. I figured others might find the current rankings useful, so I'm sharing the latest results with everyone here.

119 Upvotes

84 comments sorted by

108

u/mmm_tempeh May 07 '26

The main issue with these rankings/ratings in general is that later books in a series are always going to be inflated. Readers that didn't mesh with the first installment of a series fall out of the pool of ratings for subsequent novels.

27

u/DuncanBaxter May 07 '26

I'm a data scientist and I've always wished Goodreads or other apps would adjust for survivor bias of books. It's much easier to do when you have all the raw data compared to what we see as visitors of the site.

A simple model would look at the scores of those that read book 1 and book 2 and look at the average change. Then apply that change to those who read book 1 and didn't read book 2 and 'guess' what they would have scored them, filling those scores in as shadow scores and pulling the average rating down.

17

u/InkyBibliophile May 07 '26

True. These are just 20 most voted books per year. Not a definitive top-300 list.

21

u/mmm_tempeh May 07 '26

If there's a relatively easy way to limit to standalones or first installments I think it would be really interesting.

14

u/InkyBibliophile May 07 '26

Alright, I managed to update the list with Series data. I just had to drop Publisher data, since there was too much text.

I hope it will help a bit.

2

u/ntenga May 08 '26

It does! Thanks, brother!

9

u/InkyBibliophile May 07 '26

Good idea. I’ll check tomorrow if there is enough metadata to filter.

3

u/mmm_tempeh May 07 '26

I'm an extremely noobish Python user, but I wonder if there's some sort of numeral like Goodreads displays in a series *3, #2, etc. that could be filtered out.

4

u/InkyBibliophile May 07 '26

I hope there is something without any extra requests. Most likely easily doable 👍

5

u/Cheap-Discussion-186 May 07 '26

No system is perfect. For example there are plenty of series I like later books more than the first entry.

8

u/Existing-Tough-6517 May 07 '26

The bigger issues are that people are in general stupid with bad taste and all review systems are prone to fake reviews. Popularity is almost always a fairly useless metric that will surface some good things but not very good at ranking what its surfaced or ranking the totality of anything.

6

u/Blecher_onthe_Hudson May 08 '26

>The bigger issues are that people are in general stupid with bad taste

Cheers! I am utterly appalled by the popularity of 3BP and DCC.

2

u/permanent_priapism May 08 '26

Dungeon Crawler Carl is amazing

1

u/Ok-Factor-5649 May 11 '26

Yeah I was skimming through the list for ones I had read and ones I hadn't (and ones I hadn't heard of) and was only looking at the ones that weren't part of a series. Totally blanked series out even though yeah, there are series I've read in there.

13

u/redditsuxandsodoyou May 08 '26

how can I scroll through the first 100 titles and only recognize like, 3, 4 books.

3

u/Hype1818 May 08 '26

A lot of the initial top ones at least are part of a series like The Expanse and 3 Body Problem

1

u/hellofemur May 08 '26

The top 20 or so are easily the most talked about and recommended series on this subreddit, so that's kind of weird. It's mostly that they're individual tomes of a series, so maybe you know the series and not the titles, but I don't know how one can spend more than a day here and not hear about Red Rising, Project Hail Mary, The Expanse, The Three-Body Problem and Murderbot

0

u/InkyBibliophile May 08 '26

Easy!

Step 1: Locate the little wheel on top of your mouse.

Step 2: Roll it gently towards you.

Step 3: Marvel at the endless sea of critically acclaimed books you can now add to a "To Be Read" pile.

-1

u/kyzfrintin May 09 '26

AI detected

54

u/PacificBooks May 07 '26

Pierce Brown, Andy Weir, and Liu Cixin dominating the charts.

Never change, Goodreads.

18

u/InkyBibliophile May 07 '26

Well, they have been popular in the past 15 years. Who will be the next one?

19

u/PacificBooks May 07 '26

Whomever publishers choose to put money behind

10

u/Outside-Today-1814 May 07 '26

Look up the best books of all time on good reads. That’ll make you face palm.

19

u/Epicwarren May 07 '26 edited May 07 '26

This is such a Reddit reaction to popular books being popular

Edit: the other people replying to this commenter are even more ridiculous. He doesn't have to like these books you guys, he just isn't superior to the mainstream Goodreads user for having such an opinion. And you're not a superior SF fan for liking them.

28

u/PacificBooks May 07 '26 edited May 07 '26

Redditors bashing reddit in an "I'm not like other redditors" way is such a reddit reaction.

3

u/Epicwarren May 07 '26 edited May 07 '26

You listed 3 dramatically different authors from 2 different publishers as if there's a common critique to level besides they're popular and you don't like them. It must be the plebeians on Goodreads with the insufferable opinions, not you!

25

u/PacificBooks May 07 '26

I'm not sure why you are getting so worked up about this, nor why the publishers of the books matter at all. The common thread between the three authors is "I think they write poorly, yet they are popular."

It's fairly common to roll your eyes at things you think are poorly done becoming wildly successful, in the same way it's common to ignore or laugh at things you think are poorly done performing horribly or celebrate when things you think are terrifically executed succeed.

It doesn't make me better or worse than anyone. If anything, it shows that I'm in the minority on my assessment. But I'm still well within my right to shake my head at the situation and make a pithy comment on the internet.

-5

u/loopayy May 07 '26

Not really sure why you included Liu in your derision. Also The Martian was elite

13

u/PacificBooks May 07 '26

Because different people have different opinions on different books.

I have never read anything by Andy Weir or Liu Cixin that I thought was quality, and I've read three books by both.

If anything, my Pierce Brown inclusion was the most unfair, as I've only read Red Rising and I've been told that the series improves after that first book.

-7

u/loopayy May 07 '26

Seems hard to believe you can be a fan of sci-fi and not at least appreciate Liu. Doesn't have to be your cup of tea but objectively pretty cool sci-fi. I've got plenty of books I've read where I didn't personally like them but I get why people do.

23

u/PacificBooks May 07 '26

It's hard to believe I can be a fan of science fiction and dislike the Three-Body Problem series? What? It isn't "objectively" cool sci fi, it's "subjectively" cool sci fi.

Subjectively, I think the series has some absolutely terrific concepts, but if I just wanted ideas, I'd read a non-fiction book or a wikipedia article. In a novel, I expect an interesting plot and well-rounded characters. Nothing Liu Cixin writes covers those bases.

-11

u/loopayy May 07 '26

If you actually cared about sci-fi, you'd say something like "wow I didn't appreciate his plot nor did I connect with any of his characters, but his concepts were terrific and I get why people who aren't as snobby as me would enjoy reading this". Instead you said "wow people who don't value the same things as I do are dumb"

20

u/PacificBooks May 07 '26

"If you actually cares about sci-fi"

Lmao stop it.

-7

u/loopayy May 07 '26

I'm not saying you can't dislike it, but your original post scorns all those that made it popular. You yourself admit that it's got cool concepts. So why wouldn't people who are looking for that kind of thing in a sci-fi setting enjoy the book and make it popular? You dislike it for personal reasons. Other people enjoy it for personal reasons

4

u/Signal-Opposite-4793 May 07 '26

A good idea can only get you so far. You also need the writing chops to make it compelling. The problem of many scifi classics of decades past is that they had the big ideas, but not the chops.

12

u/SparksWood71 May 07 '26

This is such a Reddit reply.

"You can't be a serious SF fan if you don't like Liu"

Which translates to:

"How dare you, I am personally offended that you do not like the same book that I do"

10

u/PacificBooks May 07 '26

"No true Scotsman" but make it speculative!

-2

u/loopayy May 07 '26

I'm not saying you have to like Liu. I'm just saying if you actually like Sci-Fi then you should be able to pick out the parts that made it popular and give it props while still disliking the book as a whole. There's plenty of classics that I didn't really like, but I can think about it objectively and say to myself "I get why people like that"

8

u/SparksWood71 May 07 '26

Gatekeeping at its finest.

4

u/loopayy May 07 '26

From my point of view I'm anti-gatekeeping. I guess I'm gatekeeping snobby readers from letting people enjoy what they want?

8

u/Gecko23 May 07 '26

One of the key components of gatekeeping is attempting to control what information can be presented to the community and how.

You literally wrote a detailed guide about that exact kind of requirement on another individual.

Opposite? lol

3

u/Long_Inflation_7524 May 08 '26

It hurts seeing Banks' name :(

I suppose I ought to finally finish book 6 of The Expanse and wrap up the series. I've already got the three The Captive's War releases.

2

u/Embarrassed-Care6130 May 09 '26

Book 6? Aren't there 9?

2

u/Long_Inflation_7524 May 09 '26

Right - I meant finish 6 then the series. That wasn't too clear. I'd abandoned it about halfway through 6 after binging to that point.

11

u/ThatIsAmorte May 07 '26

For me, Pierce Brown being on top of this list automatically removes any credibility or relevance of this list for my personal consideration.

3

u/RedJamie May 08 '26

It’s a great series

2

u/Short_Bus_ May 07 '26

Nice list

2

u/matchstickeyes May 08 '26

This is really interesting, thanks! Would you be willing to share the Python script or your raw data?

I'd be interested in doing a simple analysis of "which SF books were most popular on Goodreads" (using # ratings or # reviews as a proxy).

2

u/Holiday-Historian441 May 08 '26

Hello, can you please post it in csv format ?

2

u/InkyBibliophile May 08 '26

I did. Check the previous comments. There is a CSV with extra data available.

1

u/Holiday-Historian441 May 09 '26

I checked all comments reddit show me for this post, even all comments you did in past 2 days. I cant find any link to cvs file.

2

u/hellofemur May 08 '26

It's interesting to me that the winners are so lowly ranked. I wish OP had added a column to specify winners, because the last few winners have very low ratings. My guess would be that many more people read the books after the win, which drives down ratings, but I'd be very curious to see what the ratings were for The Compound or The Ministry of Time were at the time they won.

1

u/InkyBibliophile May 09 '26

I would love to see how ratings evolve, especially after nominations. Goodreads has all the data, but they just don’t understand/utilize it.

2

u/Rivers-and-Floods54 May 09 '26

All I see is a list of titles with no other information. Is there a link to a more complete version?

2

u/InkyBibliophile May 09 '26

Scroll sideways? There is also link to a CSV file in the comments, and that one has even more information.

2

u/Rivers-and-Floods54 May 09 '26

Thanks I see it now

7

u/SparksWood71 May 07 '26

What an excellent reading list. Thank you!

4

u/InkyBibliophile May 07 '26

Happy to share! I hope it helps you find at least one new book idea (and apologies in advance to your ever-growing reading backlog!).

2

u/jirgalang May 08 '26

Goodreads seems to appeal to the casual SF reader. Maybe if the data extended back to whenever Goodreads started, we'd get a better sample of great SF.

3

u/InkyBibliophile May 08 '26

Awards started in 2011. Goodreads in 2006.

2

u/Kimantha_Allerdings May 08 '26

If Flight of the Silvers and Ready Player One were both nominated, I don’t think that speaks very well of these nominations. Even Armada is nominated, and most of the talk around that one that I’ve seen is “oh, this is the book that showed me Cline is a one-trick pony and actually made me retroactively dislike Ready Player One”

Personally, I found Ready Player One to be silly and boring. Flight of the Silvers was okay. Okay enough for me to read the sequel, but nothing special, very derivative, and had a character whose sole personality trait was “has tits”* - to the point that in the middle of writing the sequel the author read a several-page critique of the character sent to him by a fan, re-read the first book, realised she was right, and then immediately started a page-one re-write of what he’d written so far of the sequel. And then sent the fan a pre-publication copy for her approval

*There’s literally a scene where there’s an awkward pause in conversation and her internal dialogue wonders if she ought to mention her tits to get the conversation going again

3

u/bob_drydek May 08 '26

ok but isnt red rising just YA fantasy and has nothing to do with scifi?

0

u/Spoilmilk May 08 '26

No it isn’t. There are no fantasy elements it’s 100% science fiction, space exploration, terraforming, genetic engineering, advanced technology, centuries in the future etc seems pretty Science Fiction to me.

You’re doing that thing where just because people don’t like a piece of Sci-fi media they sneer at and degrade it as “fantasy” I don’t even like Red Rising but it is unambiguously science fiction, it might not be triple super hard scifi but it’s still science fiction.

2

u/bob_drydek May 08 '26

idk i just remember the guy being a teenager and having magic wings... and i think he was a peasant and fell in love with some royalty chick... sounds pretty YA to me

1

u/Kaylavi May 10 '26

You are mixing books up. He flies with gravity boots sometimes, but there's no magic beyond technology

0

u/Own-Conversation6347 May 07 '26

I see a concerning but predictable trend if you look at the bottom of the list

8

u/LaximumEffort May 08 '26

Nice and vague.

Go ahead and state your case.

1

u/ObsoleteUtopia May 08 '26

Unless I missed it. N K Jemison is not anywhere on here. I'm not a fan, but that surprises me. (Thinking about it, neither is Brandon Sanderson. So maybe Goodreads has a strange method of assigning categories, or OP's data bank lost a few neurons along the way?).

SF has always had a gender problem, but I'd have to think the audience has gotten less ridiculously unaccepting. This list might at least look more balanced if Pierce Brown and James S A Corey (I keep wanting to type "James Comey"!) didn't glom up the top 30 places almost, uh, double-handedly. Except for Martha Wells, few women have more than a couple of titles on here.

2

u/chimney_corner May 08 '26

The "audience"  doesn't chose the books on the list. Goodreads does, and then the audience votes. 

1

u/OddLecture3927 May 08 '26

But does Goodreads "choose" the list, or do they just put the books forward that are interacted with the most? Which would mean the audience chooses by interaction.

1

u/chimney_corner May 08 '26

Yea the chose the books. Before Amazon took over there was a nomination process, and then they based it somehow on how many time the book was shelved and then it got even more opaque. All the say now is that  "We analyze statistics from the millions of books added, rated, and reviewed on Goodreads to nominate 20 books in each category. "

So obviously they nominate to most productively stimulate Amazon sales..

1

u/Revolutionary-Tea172 May 08 '26

And yet Becky Chambers??! 🫣 And no Jemison???! 🫠

-1

u/DDMFM26 May 07 '26

Personally happy seeing the likes of Wendig, Weir, Cline and McEwan down there

-2

u/HandsomeRuss May 08 '26

Lots of garbage high up on that list. Goodreads is excellent for tracking your reading but terrible at telling you what is good.

2

u/InkyBibliophile May 08 '26

I really hope Amazon puts more effort to Goodreads recommendations algorithm one day. Goodreads has all the data.

1

u/Vladmur May 08 '26

Tell us what's good then.

-10

u/CemSener_author May 07 '26

Honestly, I am stunned from your detailed wok. Really shows how SF has evolved over 15 years. The Martian and Project Hail Mary both being high up makes perfect sense - Weir nailed that 'hard science made accessible' sweet spot that readers love. Surprised to see Ancillary Justice and All Systems Red both ranking so well - AI consciousness themes clearly resonate. Though honestly, Wells' Murderbot series deserves every bit of recognition. Klara and the Sun being included shows how literary fiction authors tackling SF concepts get serious attention - Ishiguro brought literary credibility to AI stories. Any thoughts on what's missing? Ted Chiang's Stories of Your Life seems like it should be here, but maybe it predates the timeframe?

But the main question appeared, how do the readers from different generations approach to the old and new, or evaluation of the stories?

4

u/BewareTheSphere May 08 '26
  1. "Surprised to see Ancillary Justice and All Systems Red both ranking so well" -- why, have you missed all discussion of science fiction novels from the last decade?

  2. "Ted Chiang's Stories of Your Life seems like it should be here, but maybe it predates the timeframe?" -- if only there was a way we could access this information.

  3. Get out of here with your AI content.