November 2024
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    Probably a weird question. But I’ve just finished H.G. Wells’ *War of the Worlds*, which was more interesting anf fun than I anticipated.

    And now I wonder about the “alien invasion” genre. Is there such a thing even? Are there entries that are regarded as classics that I should know?

    I’m not really a sci-fi person so I’m really out of my depth here. But I definitely would be in the mood for something quite suspenseful.

    by cajun_kick_ass

    7 Comments

    1. It’s recent, not a classic, but The Three Body Problem trilogy by Cixin Liu. The Netflix adaptation released yesterday lol

    2. MelnikSuzuki on

      *All You Need is Kill* by Hiroshi Sakurazaka is about a fresh out-of-boot camp private who is killed in his first battle against the aliens invading Earth, only to find himself in a time loop, reliving the day of and the day before the battle.

    3. comparativetreasure on

      Infected by Scott Sigler might scratch that itch. It’s not a classic, it was published in 2008, but I really enjoyed it as an unconventional take on an alien invasion.

    4. >I’m not really a sci-fi person so I’m really out of my depth here. But I definitely would be in the mood for something quite suspenseful.

      The key word/subgenre I would recommend you look at is “first contact.” Here’s some of my favourite suspenseful humans-meeting-aliens books.

      * The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russel. Humans travel to the aliens, the aliens don’t invade, but this is quite a harrowing read.

      * Blindsight by Peter Watts. Available as a free ebook on the author’s website, but this is one of the (imo) harder to read ones. It’s quite dense with a lot of real science and stuff that expects you to already be familiar with common sci fi tropes.

      * City of Illusions by Ursula K. Le Guin. Technically part of a series, but it works as a stand alone novel. It does reference one previous book in the series, Planet of Exile, but that isn’t an alien invasion story.

      * Nightflyers and Other Stories by George R. R. Martin. A collection of sci fi horror stories.

      * Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke. I wouldn’t call this suspenseful, Clarke has a pretty slow paced writing style, but this is a classic and IMO very worth reading.

      * The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham. I have not read this, but I’ve read other books by the author and liked them all. A classic.

      * Good News from Outer Space by John Kessel, maybe? All about conspiracies, and there are aliens, but this isn’t about the aliens invading so much as it is about the worst parts of humanity.

    5. cljnewbie2019 on

      Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (1985) is considered a classic in the alien invasion genre

    6. You might try the Forge of God by Greg Bear (sequel Anvil of the Stars), which has a reasonably contemporary feel.

      And Joe Haldeman: the Forever War is about war with hive-mind bugs, as is Orson Scott Card: Ender’s Game and its sequels

      In asort of homegrown alien mode, there’s John Wyndham: the Day of the Triffids (blind humans battling mobile plants) from the 1950s and Karel Capek: the War with the Newts from the 1930s.

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