Benable — create shareable lists of things you recommend!
E.g., products you love, local businesses, travel recs - you can add anything to a Benable list!
Fantasy Books That Are Secretly Sci-Fi
14
items I'm obsessed with books that trick you in the best way possible. You crack the cover expecting dragons or spells, and suddenly you’re knee-deep in lost technology, rogue AIs, or interstellar secrets.
I tend to be a Sci-Fi enjoyer a little more than Fantasy, but those who toe-the-line in-between genres have a pull all of their own. These stories live where genre walls collapse: fantasy epics powered by sci-fi engines. If you're into the weird inte...
I tend to be a Sci-Fi enjoyer a little more than Fantasy, but those who toe-the-line in-between genres have a pull all of their own. These stories live where genre walls collapse: fantasy epics powered by sci-fi engines. If you're into the weird inte...
Sections
3
Magic... or Advanced Tech?
Hidden Pasts and Broken Futures
Genre-Hopping Epics That Break the Mold
Magic... or Advanced Tech?
These books feel like traditional fantasy at first, but the "magic" slowly reveals itself to be tech—sometimes ancient, sometimes alien.
Disguised as a high fantasy with swords and guilds, this literary labyrinth hides a deep sci-fi core. Gene Wolfe weaves a world of forgotten tech, lost knowledge, and strange devices that make you constantly question reality.
The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe
This space opera reads like a chosen-one epic. But the galactic empire, mysterious machines, and ancient alien tech make this a classic case of sci-fi in fantasy's clothing.
Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio
Often shelved with epic fantasy, Dune delivers all the tropes; desert quests, messianic figures, political houses but with an intricate sci-fi framework including genetic manipulation, spacefolding tech, and spice-driven futures.
Dune by Frank Herbert
Set in a post-human solar system, this fast-paced heist story uses advanced tech like time-locked memories and sentient cities, all while feeling like a fantasy adventure straight from a cyberpunk myth.
The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi
This weird fantasy includes elements of biopunk and alternate reality, using surreal cityscapes and mysterious science-based phenomena that challenge genre boundaries.
Ambergris: City of Saints and Madmen/ Shriek: An Afterword/ Finch
Hidden Pasts and Broken Futures
These novels set readers up in what feels like a traditional fantasy world—until the curtain is pulled back to reveal a sci-fi foundation.
On the surface, it's a world of magic and geological chaos. But the origins of "orogeny" and the obelisks are deeply rooted in lost science and ancient technological disasters.
The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin
This post-apocalyptic novel plays out like medieval fantasy, with monks preserving sacred texts. As you read, it becomes clear those “relics” are remnants of 20th-century science, and the cycle of destruction is painfully familiar.
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.
While it leans more toward psychological fantasy, the narrative hints at memory experiments and constructed realities, begging the question: is this labyrinth magical, or manufactured?
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
A dark twist on alternate history, this book starts in what feels like a post-nuclear fantasy realm. But its mutant creatures and fallout culture tie closely to science run amok.
In the Drift by Michael Swanwick
Genre-Hopping Epics That Break the Mold
These titles start in one genre, but explore so many strange and imaginative ideas that it's hard to say where the fantasy ends and the sci-fi begins.
Set in an isolated monastery on an alien planet, this book mixes philosophy, metaphysics, and quantum theory into a narrative that feels like monastic fantasy… until it explodes into interdimensional sci-fi.
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
Blending multiverse theory with sword-and-sorcery action, this classic series travels across realities, with magic and science coexisting in ways that blur every genre line.
The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny
Here, dead gods once ruled, and their miracles shaped reality. But as the story unfolds, those "miracles" may be more science than sorcery—and their destruction has tech-like consequences.
City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett
Told through poetic letters between rival time agents, this love story has the soul of a fantasy romance but is driven by a high-concept, time-hopping war across alternate realities.
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone
This epic blends Western, fantasy, horror, and sci-fi as it follows Roland, a gunslinger on a quest across multiple realities. The mix of technology, alternate worlds, and mystical elements crafts a unique genre crossover.
The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King