A break from reality: delve into the world of speculative fiction with 5 these novels
- We put together this collection of books that are sure to be an out-of-this-world experience for you
- Some of the works include Margaret Atwood ‘s ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ to the Chinese groundbreaking book, ‘The Three-Body Problem’
A listicle of five books that are all based on speculative fiction. Photo: Shutterstock Picture a world with three suns and a sky filled with flickering stars that communicate with humanity. Such enigmatic settings are featured in the highly acclaimed Chinese speculative fiction epic The Three-Body Problem.
Speculative fiction, which encompasses a wide range of genres from fantasy to science fiction and horror, imagines worlds distinct from ours. This week, we delve into five novels that invite us to contemplate the “what-if” scenarios beyond our reality.
5 modern retellings of classic mythology and folklore
1. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Set in a dystopian version of England in the late 1990s, this 2005 novel is a poignant mystery that revolves around Kathy H, Ruth, and Tommy, who were raised at a secluded boarding school called Hailsham for a specific purpose. Written by a Nobel Prize-winning author, this novel explores themes of memories, mortality, and humanity.
“Memories, even your most precious ones, fade surprisingly quickly. But I don’t go along with that. The memories I value most, I don’t ever see them fading.”
2. The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu and translated by Ken Liu
The Chinese book is hailed as a groundbreaking work of speculative fiction among Western audiences. The sci-fi Hugo Award-winning series follows a Chinese scientist who decides to contact an alien civilisation, which leads to an irreversible invasion by extraterrestrial life.
“Is it possible that the relationship between humanity and evil is similar to the relationship between the ocean and an iceberg floating on its surface? Both the ocean and the iceberg are made of the same material.”
3. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
Only one human survived on a spacecraft that landed on Mars – Valentine Michael Smith, who is then raised by Martians. This 1961 science fiction novel, which won the Hugo Award for Best Novel, tells the story of Smith’s expedition returning to Earth. The book delves into themes of spirituality and clashes between Martian ideals and earthly rules.
“Jealousy is a disease, love is a healthy condition. The immature mind often mistakes one for the other, or assumes that the greater the love, the greater the jealousy - in fact, they are almost incompatible; one emotion hardly leaves room for the other.”
4. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Picture a world where everyone is content and happy – through artificial means. This 1931 novel imagines a futuristic society where emotions can be engineered. Life can be created outside the womb and sorted as embryos based on a class system. This literary classic examines the dangers of reproductive technology and psychological manipulation.
“One believes things because one has been conditioned to believe them.”
5. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
A dystopian novel set in a totalitarian society, the story follows Offred, a handmaid. Her sole purpose in life is to bear children for high-ranking officials in a society that is plagued by a severe infertility problem.
“We were the people who were not in the papers. We lived in the blank white spaces at the edges of print. It gave us more freedom. We lived in the gaps between the stories.”