My turn to choose our book club's read is up and I would like to take this opportunity to introduce my friends to sci-fi as adults (they read the Hunger Games, A Wrinkle in Time, as kids). I adore sci-fi for the limitless ways it can explore world-building, technology, political ideology, philosophy, gender, etc. The issue is I primarily read series not novels, so I am having a difficult time choosing.
What standalone novel would you recommend for this purpose?
A few notes on them as readers:
- We recently read Braiding Sweetgrass, so they are primed for dialogue on colonialism, environmentalism, imperialism, common sci-fi themes
- They like romance
- Less than 400 pages would be ideal
- They seem to like poetic / flowery prose
- They dislike graphic violence
Thank you in advance
by Undyingcactus1