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Quick answer: If you loved Adrian Tchaikovsky, read Liu Cixin's The Three-Body Problem, then Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama and Childhood's End, then Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness, and Becky Chambers's The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet and Iain M. Banks's The Player of Games. All are thoughtful science fiction and fantasy.
Adrian Tchaikovsky is a British author of Children of Time and the Shadows of the Apt series. These picks share his ideas.
Table of Contents
Quick Picks at a Glance
| Book | Author | Ages | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Three-Body Problem | Liu Cixin | Adult | readers who like hard science fiction |
| Rendezvous with Rama | Arthur C. Clarke | Adult | readers who like exploration |
| Childhood's End | Arthur C. Clarke | Adult | readers who like big ideas |
| The Left Hand of Darkness | Ursula K. Le Guin | Adult | readers who want depth |
| The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet | Becky Chambers | Adult | readers who like found families |
| The Player of Games | Iain M. Banks | Adult | game and empire |
| Foundation | Isaac Asimov | Adult | readers who want a grand scale |
| Gardens of the Moon | Steven Erikson | Adult | readers who want a deep series |
| The Goblin Emperor | Katherine Addison | Adult | readers who like courtly drama |
| Ender's Game | Orson Scott Card | Adult | sci-fi fans |
| The Windup Girl | Paolo Bacigalupi | Adult | biopunk |
| Station Eleven | Emily St. John Mandel | Adult | readers who like quiet apocalypses |
| Dune | Frank Herbert | Adult | readers who love politics and prophecy |
| Red Rising | Pierce Brown | 15+ | older teens who like sci-fi epics |
| Dungeon Crawler Carl | Matt Dinniman | Adult | the author's best-known series |
1. The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin
A secret in China's past leads to contact with an alien civilization. Big ideas and hard science.
Best for: readers who like hard science fiction.
2. Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
Humans explore a mysterious alien spacecraft. Hard science and mystery.
Best for: readers who like exploration.
3. Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke
Alien Overlords arrive and end war, but at a price. Thoughtful and eerie.
Best for: readers who like big ideas.
4. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
An envoy visits a world where people have no fixed gender. A classic of social science fiction.
Best for: readers who want depth.
5. The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
A crew of misfits travels through space on a tunneling ship. Warm, kind and character-driven.
Best for: readers who like found families.
6. The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks
A master gamer is sent to play a game that decides an empire. Often the best entry in the Culture.
Best for: game and empire.
7. Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Hari Seldon predicts the fall of a galactic empire and sets up a plan to shorten the dark age. A landmark of big-idea sci-fi.
Best for: readers who want a grand scale.
8. Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
The first of The Malazan Book of the Fallen, a dense, epic series. Complex and ambitious.
Best for: readers who want a deep series.
9. The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
Maia, a half-goblin, becomes emperor and must survive court intrigue. Kind, quiet and gripping.
Best for: readers who like courtly drama.
10. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Ender Wiggin is recruited to a battle school in space. A classic of young genius and manipulation.
Best for: sci-fi fans.
11. The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
In a future Thailand shaped by climate collapse and bioengineering, a genetically engineered woman is treated as a servant. A dark, vivid and political novel.
Best for: biopunk.
12. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
A traveling Shakespeare troupe wanders a world changed by a flu pandemic. Quiet, hopeful and beautifully written.
Best for: readers who like quiet apocalypses.
13. Dune by Frank Herbert
Paul Atreides and his family take over the desert planet Arrakis, and a plot unfolds. A foundational sci-fi epic.
Best for: readers who love politics and prophecy.
14. Red Rising by Pierce Brown
Darrow, a miner on Mars, infiltrates the ruling class to overthrow it. It is violent and mature, but fast and gripping.
Best for: older teens who like sci-fi epics.
15. Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
Carl and his cat Princess Donut are dragged into a deadly alien game show beneath Earth. The starting point for Dinniman's world, with sharp humor, gore and surprising heart.
Best for: the author's best-known series.
How We Chose These Books
Every pick is a real, widely available book that shares something specific with Adrian Tchaikovsky: its tone, its themes, its pace or the kind of characters it puts at the center. We mixed well-known favorites with a few less obvious titles, and we noted who each book suits best so you can match it to the reader. Where a book belongs to a series, we list the first volume so you can start at the beginning.
If you are not sure where to begin, start with the first three picks in the table: they are the closest match to Adrian Tchaikovsky. The rest of the list moves further out, so it works well once you know which part of the original you liked most.
How to Choose
For science fiction, read The Three-Body Problem. For alien minds, try Rendezvous with Rama. For epic fantasy, pick Gardens of the Moon.
Related: Lara Adrian Printable Book List · 12 Dystopian Books Like the Hunger Games | Best Books to Read Like Hunger Games
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Adrian Tchaikovsky?
A British fantasy and science fiction author born in 1972.
What is his best-known book?
Children of Time.
Where do I start?
With Children of Time.
Which book here is best for the author's best-known series?
Try Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman, which suits readers looking for the author's best-known series.