If Dune left you wondering what to read next, this list has similarly epic stories with rich world-building that explore life on other planets, imperialism, genetic engineering, and more!
The Abyss Beyond Dreams by Peter F. Hamilton
A first volume of a two-part series set in the Commonwealth universe traces a cultural clash in the Void that compels humanity to forge precarious ties with a shape-changing alien species so that both can escape a mutual prison. By the best-selling author of The Evolutionary Void.
The Fifth Season by N. K Jemisin
A first entry in a new trilogy by the award-winning author of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms finds the sole continent of the earth threatened by murder, betrayal, a super-volcano and overlords who use the planet’s power as a weapon.
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
After discovering that the previous ambassador in her post may have been murdered, Mahit Dzmare arrives in the capital of the Teixcalaanli Empire determined to find the killer, as she hides a secret which may save her station from the Teixcalaan’s desire for expansion.
Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson
A sequel to The Way of Kings finds Dalinar leading the human armies into an escalating war with the Parshendi, while Shalland and Jasnah search for a mythical city to secure humanity’s survival and Kaladin struggles to master his Windrunner powers.
Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
In a post-Apocalyptic world where a few technology-endowed immortal humans rule the Earth as the pantheon of Hindu gods, one among them, Siddhartha, dares to oppose their tyranny. Winner of the Hugo Award.
Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Idris, an enhanced human, and his crew, 50 years after the destruction of the earth by alien aggressors, the Architects, discover some strange in space that many people would kill to obtain—and could herald the return of the enemy.
Dune: The Duke of Caladan by Brian Herbert
To save the Imperium, Duke Leto Atreides, surrounded by conspirators and would-be assassins, puts his life, and the lives of his family, on the line for the sake of duty.
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
Now isolated in a single frail human body, Breq, an artificial intelligence that used to control a massive starship and its crew of soldiers, tries to adjust to her new humanity while seeking vengeance and answers to her questions.
A band of psychologists, under the leadership of psychohistorian Hari Seldon, plants a colony to encourage art, science, and technology in the declining Galactic Empire and to preserve the accumulated knowledge of humankind.
The winner of a 1990 Hugo Award follows seven pilgrims on a voyage to the world of Hyperion—dominated by the all-powerful creature, the Shrike—where they hope to learn the secret that will save humanity.
Leviathan Wakes by James S. A Corey
After Captain Jim Holden discovers a derelict, abandoned spaceship, he unearths a secret that threatens to throw the entire solar system into war and a vast conspiracy that could mean the end of the human race.
Delany’s classic work of science fiction chronicles the intergalactic adventures of Mouse, an itinerant minstrel, and intrepid spaceship Captain Lorq Von Ray, as they set out to journey through the core of a recently imploded sun.
