Science fiction has long been one of the most versatile genres out there. One minute, you're following an astronaut desperately trying to survive on a distant planet; the next, you're questioning the nature of humanity or wondering what civilization might look like in a hundred years from now. With so many possibilities available, the best sci-fi authors know how to turn an often complex story into an absorbing page-turner.

Of course, a fascinating premise only gets you so far. Even the most fascinating, well-regarded sci-fi books can lose their momentum when the story gets bogged down in unnecessary exposition or a meandering chapter. But flawless sci-fi novels with no bad chapters definitely exist – the six on this list each use their chapters to build toward something bigger, from a deadly game of survival to a mission that could determine humanity's future.

It's not easy for a compelling sci-fi TV series to maintain its quality throughout its entire run, but elite shows like LOST and The Expanse did it.

Octavia E. Butler's Kindred offers an unsettling take on a familiar sci-fi concept: Dana, a Black woman living in 1970s California, is repeatedly pulled nearly 100 years into the past to pre-war Maryland, where she meets Rufus Weylin, the young son of a white plantation owner. Dana gradually realizes that Rufus is one of her ancestors and that his survival is essential to her existence. Each journey back in time forces her to navigate the sheer brutality of slavery while she attempts to protect herself, those around her, and the family line that will eventually lead to her birth.

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