Character driven Science Fiction
Explore the best character-driven science fiction books where deep, compelling characters drive the story. Discover top picks for immersive sci-fi narratives that blend emotion, humanity, and futuristic worlds.
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Mistwalker
by Denise Lopes Heald
Environmental refugee Sal Banks is forced into an uneasy alliance with political exile Meesha Raschad as they battle government bureaucracy, intrigue, and Meesha's very dangerous enemies. Original.
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The Tar-Aiym Krang
by Alan Dean Foster
A pickpocket living on the beautiful winged planet of Moth, Flinx, a young orphan and his mini-dragon Pip become trapped in a web of conspiracy and murder when Flinx steals a starmap from a corpse, in a new edition of the classic science fiction novel. Reissue.
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Icerigger
by Alan Dean Foster
Ethan Fortune, an intergalactic salesman and innocent victim in a bungled hijacking attempt, is stranded in a frozen world totally devoid of life-support for humans
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Forest of the Night
by Marti Steussy
A fantasy about a planet inhabited by very intelligent, feathered tigers.
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The Witches of Karres
by James H. Schmitz
Captain Pausert, master of the old pirate chaser Venture has finally found his niche. Unlucky in love and unsuccessful in business on his home planet, he seems to have a knack for selling job lot cargoes around the fringes of the Empire. In fact, he's so far ahead of the game that he even finds time for the occasional heroic act. Like rescuing three poor child slaves from their abusive masters. And then discovers he's broke again, wanted by the authorities and at odds with the most malevolent force in all of space. For Pausert hasn't rescued any ordinary put upon juvenile slaves but three of the legendary witches of Karres complete with awesome psi powers...
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Crystal Singer
by Anne McCaffrey
“No dragons, but [Crystal Singer] has all of [Anne] McCaffrey's gifts for world-building and characterization . . . an excellent book.”—Chicago Sun-Times Her name was Killashandra Ree; and after ten grueling years of musical training she was young, beautiful—and still without prospects. Then she heard of the mysterious Heptite Guild on the planet Ballybran, where the fabled Black Crystal was found. For those qualified, the Guild was said to provide careers, security, and the chance for wealth beyond imagining. The problem was, few people who landed on Ballybran ever left. To Killashandra the risks were acceptable . . .
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Memory
by Bujold
Restored to life after being pronounced dead, Miles Vorkosigan realizes that the event has left him with a profound weakness and is dismissed from his job, but things are further complicated when he remembers something that he saw while dead.
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Vigilant
by James Alan Gardner
A member of the Vigil, monitors of government corruption, Faye Smallwood suddenly becomes the target of a sinister and lethal conspiracy threatening to unleash a deadly plague on the planet and joins forces with outcast explorer Festina Ramos to unravel the mystery. Original.
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Hunted
by James Alan Gardner
For the children of Admiral Alexader York, perfection wasn't just expected, it was guaranteed -- written into their DNA before they were born.But while Samantha grew into the physical and mental marvel their father had bought and paid for, her twin brother Edward proved a disappointment. Genetic tinkering had raised Sam above the common herd, but Edward's faultless body housed a faulty brain. It took all the Admiral's influence to get Edward commissioned in the Outward Fleet Explorer Corps -- a fiercely independent band of misfits who referred to themselves proudly as Expendables. Accompanying Sam on a mission to the troubled planet of Troyen, home to the alien Mandasar, Edward found himself in the midst of a civil war. There, in an instant of horrifying insanity, Sam was killed, along with the alien hive-queen. For the next twenty years, Edward was exiled to a lonely outpost on one of Troyen's moons, blamed by the Admiral for Sam's death -- and blaming himself as well. But when escalating violence forces the evacuation of the system, Edwar d embarks on a perilous journey home that will lead hin into a forgotten past -- and, with the assistance of another ex-Expendable, the greatest Explorere of them all, the legendary Admiral Festina Ramos, into a future thick with conspiracy and betrayal. For there lurks a dark secret powerful enough to bury the hopes of human and Mandasar alike...or give them a new and brighter beginning.
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Valor's Choice
by Tanya Huff
An easy off-world honour guard assignment turns out to be anything but, for Staff Sargeant Torin Kerr and her platoon.
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Primary Inversion
by Catherine Asaro
The Skolian Empire rules a third of the civilized galaxy through its mastery of faster-than-light communication. But war with the rival empire of the Traders seems imminent, a war that can only lead to slavery for the Skolians or the destruction of both sides. Destructive skirmishes have already occurred. A desperate attempt must be made to avert total disaster.
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Secret of the Lost Race
by Andre Norton
"The Constellation of the Wolf was an area of the Galaxy few spacemen wanted to visit, for its sparse worlds were home only to the outcasts of the civilized worlds. But now it had been learned that there was among is runaway refugees who was more than just a misfit - one who was a definite danger to all humanity. The hunt was on for the desperate young man called Joktar - for if he was what they said he was, he could contaminate the universe! Only Joktar didn't believe it - and he rallied a world of courageous outlaws to defend him."--Write-up from the back of the 1969 ACE paperback edition.
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Reefsong
by Carol Severance
After narrowly escaping death in a forest fire, Angie Dinsman found herself under the control of the World Life Company. They promptly equipped her with webbed hands and gills?creating a half-fish, half-woman. Her mission is to uncover secret research files on the waterworld of Lesaat. But first she has to undergo the terrifying process of learning to breathe underwater. After mastering the basics of survival, she faces an insurmountable challenge?finding the information that could end starvation on Earth while sabotaging the Company's evil plans.
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Psion
by Joan D. Vinge
Orphaned young and forced to survive on the streets of a distant planet, telepathic Cat is the ultimate future punk, but he is swept into a struggle for his life when two interstellar powers want to use his mind as a weapon. Reprint.