Old Man's War

Ender's Game Orson Scott Card

The world's most gifted child soldier is trained in zero-gravity combat simulations for an alien war -- but the final battle may not be a game.

The War of the Worlds H.G. Wells

Martian tripods incinerate the English countryside and all of Victorian England's confidence in its own dominance -- a novel that invented the alien invasion.

Ready Player One Ernest Cline

In 2044, a teenager hunts for a hidden Easter egg inside a vast virtual reality world -- the prize is control of the entire simulation.

Project Hail Mary Andy Weir

A man wakes up alone on a spaceship with no memory of who he is -- and gradually realizes he's humanity's last hope.

Slaughterhouse-Five Kurt Vonnegut

Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time -- moving randomly between the firebombing of Dresden, a zoo on an alien planet, and an ordinary American life.