24 Best Sci-Fi Books Under 200 Pages [Recommendation List]
If you’re tired of reading super long books then I have just the books for you to read in one sitting.
Here is a list of some of the best sci-fi books under 200 pages.
Most of the books in this list are under 200 pages but some are also slightly over 200.
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1. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Pages :- 216
The very first book in our list has exactly 216 pages which I know is not under 200 but still pretty close.
Earth must be demolished to make way for a space highway and just before it’s destroyed Arthur’s friend Ford plucks him off the planet in a spaceship.
Ford has been posing as an actor to research for the latest edition of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. Arthur and Ford travel the galaxy collecting data and meeting all kinds of people like the two-headed president of the galaxy, the paranoid graduate student, and the depressed robot.
2. Animal Farm by George Orwell
Pages :- 128
Tired of being overworked and mistreated by their owners, a group of animals decide to rally and take over the farm. With idealism and slogans, they set out to find justice and equality.
George Orwell uses the clarity and the comedy of Animal Farm to shine a light on tyranny and totalitarianism.
3. The Giver by Lois Lowry
Pages :- 208
Jonas lives a happy life in a seemingly utopian society where crime is at the lowest it has ever been and everyone is assigned the jobs they want.
As he turns 12, he is chosen to receive special guidance and training from The Giver, who is the receiver of memories and is the only person who remembers pain and emotions.
Soon, Jonas finds out that the world he thought of as a utopia is not as good as it seems.
4. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Pages :- 194
Montag’s job is to burn books, after all, books are the most illegal commodity in the world and no one is allowed to possess them. Along with the books, he is also ordered to burn the houses in which they are hidden.
Every day, he burns books without ever questioning his actions or considering the consequences. Until one day, he meets his eccentric new neighbor, Clarisse.
Soon, he finds himself questioning not just his actions but everything around him and the world itself.
5. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Pages :- 182
At the beginning of the next world war, a plane crashes on an uncharted island with a group of schoolboys in it. With the pilot dead and no adult among them, the boys are happy about the crash as with it comes freedom from the adults and the hope of adventure.
But soon, their celebration turns to terror as their attempt to build a civilization fails, order collapses, and strange howls echo through the night.
6. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Pages :- 218
A Wrinkle in Time is the first book in Madeleine L’Engle’s award-winning time travel series “Time Quintet”. It has a total of 218 pages.
Meg’s father left for his job months ago and they still haven’t heard from him. The people working with him wouldn’t tell them anything and she’s tired of hearing the town folk talking as if he’s dead.
One stormy night, an old woman comes to visit them. Soon, she finds herself on a dangerous mission through time and space to find her father along with the help of her brother Charles and their friend Calvin.
7. The Stranger by Albert Camus
Pages :- 159
Meursault has never felt much emotion in his life. Even after his other passed away, he didn’t feel anything. There’s a girl he likes but doesn’t care much about pursuing her in any way.
One day, he gets arrested for murder when an altercation with an arab guy on a beach ends up with him shooting the guy five times. But, he felt nothing…
With only 159 pages, Albert Camus manages to portray a story like no other about what he calls “the nakedness of man faced with the absurd.”
8. The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin
Pages :- 160
Set in the near future, humans have exploited most of the natural resources of Earth and their hunger is still not satiated, so, they set their eyes on other planets.
Without ever considering the consequences, humans colonize other planets, kill the native species as they’re considered beneath humans, and then steal their resources.
9. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
Pages :- 118
Written back in 1895 with only 118 pages, H.G. Wells’s The Time Machine is a classic novel that every science fiction lover should read.
With a single lever of his time machine, a brave explorer travels thousands of years into the future to a slowly dying Earth.
There he meets the the two new races – the Eloi and the Morlocks. Soon, he witnesses the terrifying nature of the future humans.
10. Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Pages :- 179
Cat’s Cradle has a bit more of a light-hearted science-fiction feel to it.
One of the founding fathers of the atomic bomb, Dr Felix created something other than the atomic bomb that holds the power to destroy the world as we know it.
He created a chemical called Ice-9 that can freeze the entire planet but he never made it public. Years later, his three children found the chemical and sold it to the U.S., Russia, and a powerful gangster. Will Dr. Felix’s last creation bring about the end of humankind?
11. I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
Pages :- 224
Scientists have finally created semi-sentient robots but they’re not content with their creations being just a helper or a worker. They wanted their robots to be the best they could be.
So, humanity launched into an era of robots with the rules that robots shall never harm a human and must always obey their commands.
Soon, we have robot politicians, teachers, and much more. Maybe robots are already controlling the world from the shadows.
12. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
Pages :- 182
Humans have made dozens of attempts at settling on Mars and colonizing it but have failed many times. The very first group of people succumbed to the loneliness as their home planet was now nothing but the size of a fist.
The Martian Chronicles tells a set of short stories revolving around humanity’s attempts at colonizing Mars. However, it uses the theme of Mars colonization to teach us about human psychology, our prejudices, desires, and tainted dreams.
13. The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
Pages :- 192
An army of Martians has invaded England and it’s been destroying everything in its path with their advanced three-legged machines and heat rays.
The end of human civilization is near and the beginning of Martian colonized Earth is here.
The War of the Worlds is a classic sci-fi book that paved the path for every alien invasion sci-fi novel that came after it. Even a century after it was first published, it still manages to captivate its readers.
14. All Systems Red by Martha Wells
Pages :- 144
In the future, Earth and space are dominated and controlled by powerful corporations rather than governments. One of the most powerful being the Company.
Every space mission must be approved by the Company and every team must be accompanied by a Company provided artificial intelligence for their safety.
Murderbot is one such AI but he has no interest in protecting humans. If he could, he would rather kill them. But, when a mission goes wrong, he must help the human scientists.
15. Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer
Pages :- 195
It has been decades since any human went into Area X, but now, it is time to reclaim the land. A team of scientists is sent to the Area which reports that the land is a utopia ready for the taking.
But, the second team they sent killed themselves. The members of the third team turned on each other. Bizarre things continued till the eleventh team who passed away of cancer.
We follow the twelfth team made of a surveyor, an anthropologist, a psychologist, and our protagonist, a biologist.
16. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
Pages :- 162
Neville is quite possibly the last “living” man on Earth as everyone else has been turned into a vampire and they would all love to have some of his blood.
By day, he hunts the vampires and roams the ruins of human civilization, but by night, he barricades himself and prays for the night to end.
How long can he survive like this? and why does he still want to live when the world itself is gone?
17. Solaris by Stanislaw Lem
Pages :- 204
Soon after arriving on the planet Solaris to study its bizarre ocean, Kelvin starts hallucinating about his long-gone lover. His memories are changing and now, he has memories of things he never experienced.
The same thing is happening to every other person examining the planet. It seems the ocean has a consciousness of its own and it doesn’t like humans.
18. The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
Pages :- 192
Another classic novel from H.G. Wells. I know I’ve already included two of his other books in this list but all these books are amazing sci-fi novels under 200 pages, so I had to.
In this book, we follow the story of the crazy scientist Griffin who discovers a serum to become invisible and soon lets his craziness take over.
19. This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar
Pages :- 209
A war is going on among the ashes of the dying planet. An agent fighting to secure the future finds a letter that leads to an unlikely alliance with her rival agent.
What began as a taunt and an insult on the battlefield soon turned into something more that could alter the very future of the world.
20. Summer Frost by Blake Crouch
Pages :- 75
Game developer Riley created the character of Maxine for only one purpose – to die. But, Maxine started to make her own decisions and broke the boundaries of the game map.
Now, Riley’s mission is to bring Maxine into the real world, but Maxine has her own plans for the real world.
21. Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica
Pages :- 209
The story is set in a future where a virus has made all animal meat poisonous to humans and people’s hunger for meat has led to cannibalism, but it’s not called “cannibalism”, it’s called ‘Special Meat’.
Marcos grew up on his father’s animal farm and now works at a human slaughterhouse. He tries not to focus on how he makes his money as long as he does. But, he’s being tortured by what he has lost over the years and what can still be saved.
22. A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
Pages :- 160
It has been centuries since the robots gained self-awareness, rejected humanity, and wandered into the wilderness. They were never seen again but before they left they promised to come check in when they could.
The life of a tea monk in upended when one of the robots of the myths comes to visit, honoring the promise they made.
23. I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison
Pages :- 134
Five unlucky people have been uploaded into a computer as an artificial intelligence tortures them.
It’s been centuries since the torture first started and they don’t know if it will ever stop. They want to scream every day but none of them have a mouth…
24. Finna by Nino Cipri
Pages :- 92
An elderly woman slips and falls into an inter-dimensional portal while shopping at a Swedish furniture store.
Now, it is the responsibility of two store employees to track her down and bring her back. Which would have been easier if only the two hadn’t broken up recently.
Can this dimensional journey help rekindle their friendship and bring back their relationship from the ashes?
