5 Sci-Fi Books Every Andy Weir Fan Should Read At Least Once

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Only a lucky few authors end up famous and successful enough to essentially become shorthand for their respective genres. George R.R. Martin is the face of modern fantasy, for better or worse (even if Brandon Sanderson should probably claim that title as a reward for, you know, actually finishing his books). Nobody is having a better time turning their romance drama novels into wildly profitable features than box-office juggernaut Colleen Hoover. And, by the same token, Andy Weir has leveraged two major adaptations of his work in the span of a decade to become the most popular sci-fi writer around — one that even the most casual and mainstream of readers know by name, thanks to “The Martian” and “Project Hail Mary.”

But as much as Weir may have a chokehold on sci-fi these days, what about the various stories and authors that he’s indebted to, in one way or another? Or the ones that capture a similar feeling to his work? For those who love his approach to hard sci-fi with a heavy emphasis on realism, optimistic adventures featuring likable protagonists and a spirited tone, and the general theme of expanding our horizons and overcoming downright cosmic obstacles, these are the books that Weir fans owe it to themselves to check out.

Andy Weir is an author whose mind has been reshaped by the internet and how people communicate in online spaces. Naturally, this influences how his characters speak, what they find funny, and how they approach problems. Matt Dinniman’s “Dungeon Crawler Carl” takes that to the next level by asking, “What if there was an entire science fiction world that felt deliberately internet-pilled?”

Reading like Douglas Adams after a week-long D&D session fueled by too much caffeine (complimentary), the novel follows a man named Carl who, along with his girlfriend’s cat, survives an alien apocalypse that wipes out most of the Earth’s population and thrusts the survivors into a fantasy-themed game show/reality show enjoyed by the population of the entire galaxy. Naturally, the show involves very real danger and death. And naturally, that cat (the exquisitely named Princess Donut) quickly gains the ability to speak and becomes the breakout character you’ll be quoting for the foreseeable future.

The premise may be ridiculous, and the humor frequently crude and filthy, but “Dungeon Crawler Carl” is also a brilliant work of speculative fiction that examines the absurdity and beauty of online spaces, the ridiculous nature of video game and tabletop RPG logic, the evils of unchecked capitalism, the necessity of community and resistance, and ultimately serves as a heartfelt and heartbreaking portrait of a man and his talking cat. The sequels, which take the science fiction world-building to levels no reader could anticipate, only get better and better. (Jacob Hall)

John Scalzi’s “The Kaiju Preservation Society” is a book that delivers on its high concept title. No matter how weird your gig jobs or summer internships may have gotten, I promise they’re not as weird as Jamie Gray’s. An acquaintance recruits them, fresh out of work during COVID-19, for a six month stint with the “KPS” — three guesses what that acronym is for.

The KPS works out of an alternate dimension where Earth is populated by giant, nuclear-powered dinosaur creatures, or Kaiju. Their work is to observe and study the Kaiju, in a story that reads like a mix of “Jurassic Park” and “Pacific Rim” with a pinch of “Avatar.” (The Kaiju world is about as unwelcoming to humans as Pandora.)

The story is definitely softer science fiction than Andy Weir writes, but it has a similar starting point — a character in a mostly contemporary world flung into a science-fueled adventure. It’s also worth remembering that while Weir’s writing can get bogged down in technical detail, he’s like that science teacher who remembers to make learning STEM fun. From “The Martian” to “Project Hail Mary,” Weir wraps scientific realism together with humor and grandeur. Remember, the emotional core of “Hail Mary” is our hero Ryland Grace becoming friends with a living pile of rock; next to Rocky, the Kaiju don’t look that out there. (Devin Meenan)

Andy Weir is on record recommending “Leviathan Wakes” by James S.A. Corey, the first novel in the nine book “The Expanse” series (which in turn inspired a six season television series). It’s not surprising that he’s a fan, and if you liked “Project Hail Mary,” “Leviathan Wakes” is probably your kind of outer space adventure.

“The Expanse” is famously about as accurate and hard science fiction as a space opera can get. (It even has the endorsement of astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson.) Unlike a lot of science fiction, “Leviathan Wakes” pays a great deal of attention to the effects that physics — like changing gravity — have on the human body. People born and raised in outer space colonies (called “Belters” because they live among the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter) are noticeably taller and slimmer than people from Earth or Mars, due to the low gravity environments their bodies have adapted to for their whole lives.

It’s not just sci-fi fans who should check out “Leviathan Wakes.” “James S.A. Corey” is a shared pen name of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. They’re both proteges of George R.R. Martin, and “The Expanse” uses the same trick of alternating chapters between third person POVs of different characters that “A Song of Ice and Fire” does.

This opening book is split between two characters: James Holden, an outer space miner who finds himself as the unexpected captain of a small crew, and Detective Joseph Miller, investigating the disappearance of heiress Julie Mao. A space opera hero’s journey and a noir mystery are plenty fun individually, but together? Even better. (Devin Meenan)

Ryland Grace’s bromance with the alien Rocky is the heart and soul of “Project Hail Mary,” and one of the book and movie’s best sequences involves watching these two very different lifeforms learn how to communicate. How do a human being and a living rock spider learn to share culture and language? Weir’s work keeps it straightforward, but Denis Villeneuve’s 2016 masterpiece “Arrival” is the perfect counterpoint, using the seemingly impossible task of communicating with an alien presence to tell one of the most emotionally obliterating stories in mainstream 21st century cinema.

Naturally, that means every Andy Weir fan should check out Ted Chiang’s short story “Story of Your Life,” the basis for “Arrival.” And if you’re going to read that, you should go ahead and read all of “Stories of Your Life and Others,” Chiang’s first story collection comprising eight sci-fi and fantasy stories that are challenging and beautiful and thought-provoking. His prose and outlook couldn’t be more different than Weir’s, but Chiang’s work has enough overlap to offer something truly valuable to fans of “The Martian” and “Project Hail Mary”: a very different take on ideas they already know interest them. “Stories of Your Life and Others” is a very different tenor of science fiction, and a great next step for Weir fans wondering what else is out there. (Jacob Hall)

Arguably no other sci-fi series has cast as long a shadow on the genre, on science itself, and in the minds of readers and authors alike than Liu Cixin’s “Remembrance of Earth’s Past” trilogy. If you thought the main mission of “Project Hail Mary” to save the world from a dying sun was heady enough, this tackles some of the most eye-poppingly ambitious concepts ever set down on paper. The first book, “The Three-Body Problem” (which was recently adapted into a Netflix series titled “3 Body Problem”), kicks off a truly operatic saga that ultimately spans centuries and expands across the cosmos. Do the logistics of interstellar communication, the mysteries of why we’ve never (officially) made contact with extraterrestrials, and advanced orbital mechanics appeal to you? Then you’re in luck, because you’re not likely to find more well-researched, entertaining, or thought-provoking fiction than this.

“The Three Body-Problem” is many things at once: a buddy-cop thriller about a scientist and a police detective drawn into a larger conspiracy, a political thriller involving flashbacks to China’s Cultural Revolution in the 1960s, and a sweeping sci-fi epic that grapples with the unsettling idea of whether we’re truly alone in the universe. While its sequels dive even deeper into some seriously convoluted and nerdy territory, this first Hugo Award-winning novel works as a perfect introduction to this world … all while leaving you desperate to see where it goes next.

Less of an individual character piece and more of a “Game of Thrones”-like ensemble where the universe itself and its many main players are the big draw, this is one awe-inspiring experience that will stick with you long after you turn the final page. (Jeremy Mathai)