Best French Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books
Reading French Sci-Fi and Fantasy books is an excellent way to improve your language skills while diving into exciting, imaginative worlds. If you’re at B1 or B2 level, this is the perfect time to start exploring longer, narrative-rich texts. These genres are packed with powerful vocabulary, natural sentence structures, and cultural depth that will help you read more instinctively.
In this article, Thomas, our language educator and passionate sci-fi/fantasy fan, shares his top picks—from timeless classics like Jules Verne to contemporary voices such as Mathieu Gaborit and Romain Lucazeau. Whether you’re fascinated by alternate histories, post-apocalyptic survival, or magical realms, these books are a fantastic way to learn while being entertained.
📚 This selection will continue to grow over time, so feel free to check back now and then for new recommendations!
Pierre Bottero is a French author of children’s literature, whose major works belong to the fantasy genre. He published his first texts with Flammarion, and it was Rageot that released the Ewilan saga in hardcover — a double heroic fantasy trilogy that became a huge success, with over 1 million copies sold. Ewilan won over both young readers and older ones alike, thanks to its rich world-building and relatable characters. He received numerous awards, including the Prix Imaginales – Best Work for Young Readers 2004 for La Quête d’Ewilan. He also received le prix Paille en Queue 2008 du Salon du Livre jeunesse de l’océan Indien, pour Le pacte des Marchombres. Tragically, Pierre Bottero died at the age of 45 in a motorcycle accident.
Camille’s life is turned upside down when she enters the world of Gwendalavir, where threatening creatures recognise her as Ewilan and try to kill her. She is the heir to a remarkable gift that could prove decisive in her people’s struggle to win back their freedom.
In 2007, Jean-Philippe Jaworski published his first short story collection, Janua Vera (Les Moutons électriques; reissued in paperback by Folio), which received critical acclaim. In 2009, he released his first novel, Gagner la guerre, which won the Prix Imaginales in the Francophone Novel category. Both books are set in the Old Kingdom, a fantasy world where magic is rare but powerful, drawing heavily on sword and sorcery as well as historical fiction inspired by the Italian Renaissance. The Chevalier aux épines trilogy continues to expand this richly developed universe. In 2013, he published Même pas mort, the first volume of a saga titled Rois du monde, set among the Celts — particularly the Bituriges — and featuring the legendary hero Bellovesos (Prix Imaginales 2014).
Maxime Chattam is a thriller author, best known for his work in that genre. A true master of suspense with a wildly vivid—if rather terrifying—imagination, Chattam has undeniably established himself as one of the leading names in contemporary French crime fiction. Autre-Monde is, for now, the author’s only fantasy series. It consists of seven volumes, the first of which, L’Alliance des Trois, was published in 2008. The final volume, Genèse, was released in November 2016, bringing this literary epic to a close.
A mysterious storm shakes both sky and Earth. In its wake, the planet seems to have been emptied of its human population. Only children and teenagers have survived the deadly event. They find themselves alone, facing a transformed world: nature has become bigger, stronger, and far more ruthless. Autre-Monde tells the story of these young survivors as they struggle to live and fight in this new reality — a world filled with wonder and peril.
Pierre Pevel is a French fantasy and science fiction author. He rose to prominence with his trilogy Les Ombres de Wielstadt, published in 2001, which earned him the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire in 2002.
The year is 1633, during the reign of Louis XIII. Cardinal Richelieu is keeping close watch over the kingdom of France, increasingly threatened by Spain and its new allies: dragons. In the face of such an extraordinary threat, extraordinary measures must be taken. The Cardinal is forced to recall an elite company he had once disbanded. Under the command of Captain La Fargue, the bravest and most fearless swordsmen in the kingdom are gathered once again to reform the legendary Blades of the Cardinal.
The first volume in a series that pays brilliant tribute to the finest swashbuckling novels, Les Lames du Cardinal is a remarkable work of historical fantasy. It was rightfully awarded the Prix Imaginales des Lycéens in France in 2009 and the Morningstar Award for Best New Author in the UK in 2010.
Pierre Grimbert is a French publisher and author, particularly known for his fantasy novels. In 1995, he wrote Le Secret de Ji. The first volume, Six héritiers, was awarded the Julia-Verlanger Prize in 1997 and the Ozone Prize for Best Francophone Fantasy Novel the same year.
A hundred and eighteen years before the events of the story, Nol the Strange visited all the rulers of the known world. A group of the wisest men and women accompanied him on a mysterious journey that began on the island of Ji. Few returned, and Nol was not among them. The survivors took their secret to the grave. Since that day, their descendants have gathered regularly to commemorate this fatal event. No one else pays attention to the story anymore — except those who ordered the assassination of all the heirs of the sages. For the survivors, only one hope remains: to uncover the Secret of Ji themselves.
With its endearing characters, sharp dialogue, and gripping suspense, Le Secret de Ji stands out as a vivid and skillfully crafted quest. Thanks to Pierre Grimbert’s clear and refreshing writing style, it remains a cornerstone of French fantasy literature. His second series is La Malerune, though he only wrote the first volume. The next two books in the series were penned by Michel Robert.
Pierre Bordage is a French science fiction author. He rose to prominence with his trilogy Les Guerriers du silence, published by Éditions de l’Atalante, which sold 50,000 copies. This space opera, along with the Wang cycle, was praised by literary critics as a cornerstone of the revival of French science fiction in the 1990s.
The Confederation of Naflin comprises around a hundred worlds, among them the splendid and refined Syracusa. But lurking in the shadows of the ruling family are the mysterious Scaythes of Hyponeros — beings from a distant world, gifted with unsettling psychic powers — who are orchestrating a massive conspiracy, with the establishment of a dictatorship over the Confederation being only one step in their plan…
Although he writes science fiction, his narratives are more character-driven than technology-focused, drawing inspiration from epics and mythologies from around the world. Bordage has received numerous literary awards, including the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire (1993) and the Grand Prix Paul-Féval for popular literature (2000).
Mathieu Gaborit began his novel-writing career in 1995 with Souffre-jour, the first volume of Les Chroniques crépusculaires, a dark and baroque fantasy novel that immediately established him as one of the most innovative authors in the genre. In 1997, he published Bohème, a science fiction novel influenced by Jules Verne and Zola, earning him the title of “the inventor of French steampunk.” With Les Chroniques crépusculaires, Mathieu Gaborit revolutionized speculative fiction by creating a fantasy universe of great originality and unparalleled elegance, while showcasing masterful storytelling and character development.
In the fall of 2025, a complete collection celebrating 30 years will be released.
Olivier Peru is a French novelist, illustrator, screenwriter, and comic book artist. His first novel, Druide, published by Éclipse, was awarded the 2011 “Breakthrough of the Year” prize at the Futuriales and the 2013 Prix Imaginales des lycéens. In 2013, he released the first book of a new fantasy trilogy titled Martyrs.
The druids rule over a primordial and sacred forest at the heart of the world. Keepers of ancient wisdom, they are the guardians of the Old Pact, whose observance ensures peace among the peoples. But a brutal and unprecedented blood crime threatens the fragile political balance of the northern kingdoms. The druid Obrigan, assisted by his two apprentices, has only twenty-one days—no more—to uncover the truth behind the tragedy, or all-out war will erupt. And as the countdown ticks away, each moon brings a new wave of corpses, drawing him ever deeper into the horror…
Jean-Laurent Del Socorro is a French writer best known for his historical fantasy novels. In 2015, he published his debut novel, Royaume de vent et de colères (Kingdom of Wind and Wrath), a work of historical fantasy set in Marseille during the Wars of Religion. The novel received the 2015 Elbakin.net Award for Best French Fantasy Novel.
In 2017, Del Socorro released Boudicca, another historical fantasy novel, this time focused on Queen Boudica and her resistance against the Roman conquest in the 1st century.
Marseille, 1596. Camped outside the city gates, the troops of Henry IV are determined to break the will of the rebellious city of Marseille, whose self-proclaimed independence has lasted long enough. Yet the fate of the Marseillais will not be decided on the battlefield, but here and now, within the four walls of an inn called La Roue de la Fortune (The Wheel of Fortune). There, all those who, directly or indirectly, will play a part in the coming drama, cross paths. But who among them holds the key to the city’s future? Axelle, the former warrior turned innkeeper? Gabriel, the disillusioned knight? Victoire, head of the assassins’ guild? Silas, her ruthless henchman? Or Armand, the persecuted magician?
Patrick K. Dewdney, born in England, is a British writer living in France. He lives in Limousin and writes in French.
The death of the king and the ensuing political turmoil plunge the primates of Brune into chaos. An orphan of the streets who knows nothing of his origins, Syffe grows up in Corne-Brune, an isolated town on the wild frontier. There, he survives by stealing and doing odd jobs, until the storms that shake the old world finally capsize his own, and his destiny is forever changed.
L’enfant de poussière opens Le Cycle de Syffe, a great fantasy saga carried by the powerful writing of Patrick K. Dewdney. It has received the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire, the Prix Pépite du Roman, the Prix Libr’à Nous Imaginaire, the Prix Julia Verlanger and the Prix Imaginaire de la 25ᵉ Heure du Livre du Mans.
Alain Damasio is a French writer of sci-fi and fantasy. He also works as a scriptwriter for comics, radio fictions, movie and TV series. He is also notable as an audio and spoken word artist.
In France in 2040, sociologist Lorca Varèse joins an elite military unit in an attempt to find his missing daughter. She is believed to have been kidnapped by the Furtifs, an invisible species that intrigues the army.
Car chases, urban riots, high-tech manhunts: there’s no time to get bored in this futuristic tale, which can already be considered a classic of the genre. Rarely has a French science fiction book enjoyed such public and media success (250,000 copies sold).
Pierre François Marie Louis Boulle was a French author. He is best known for the work La planète des singes (1963), and for writing (1952), both made into award-winning films.His science-fiction novel La planète des singes in which intelligent apes gain mastery over humans.
Are there human beings beyond our galaxy? That is the question pondered by Professor Antelle, his assistant Arthur Levain, and journalist Ulysse Mérou as they observe the landscape of a planet near Betelgeuse from their spaceship: cities and roads are visible, strangely similar to those on Earth. Upon landing, the three men discover that the planet is inhabited by apes. The apes capture Ulysse Mérou and begin experimenting on him. It is up to the journalist to prove his humanity to these intelligent primates.
Romain Lucazeau is a French entrepreneur, consultant, and speculative fiction writer. Alongside his consulting career, he began publishing science fiction and fantasy short stories in 2007 in various anthologies, fanzines, and magazines in both France and Canada.
Between 2008 and 2010, he won several awards, including Visions du Futur, the Bagneux Festival, and the Imaginales of Épinal (short story category).
In October 2016, he published his first novel, Latium, an alternate-history space opera, which earned him the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire in the Francophone Novel category.
In a distant future, the human species has perished in the great Cataclysm. All that remains after the extinction is a race of intelligent automatons, transformed into vast starships. Orphaned by their creators and gods, isolated and neurotic, these princes and princesses of space linger within the Urbs, awaiting an inevitable alien invasion—one they are programmed not to resist.
Plautine is one of them. The last to still cling to the mystical hope of humanity’s return, she has been drifting for centuries on the edges of Latium when a mysterious signal compels her to resume her quest.
Latium is a space opera filled with dazzling space battles and intricate intrigue—a breathtaking science fiction spectacle in the vein of Dan Simmons.
Jules Gabriel Verne was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His novels are generally set in the second half of the 19th century, taking into account contemporary scientific knowledge and the technological advances of the time. Jules Verne has been the second most-translated author in the world since 1979, ranking below Agatha Christie and above William Shakespeare. He has sometimes been called the “father of science fiction”, a title that has also been given to H. G. Wells and Hugo Gernsback. Vingt Mille Lieues sous les Mers is one of his best and most famous novels.
A sea monster, “a huge thing,” has been reported by several ships around the world. An expedition is organized aboard the Abraham Lincoln, an American frigate, to rid the seas of this fearsome creature. On board are the Frenchman Pierre Aronnax, a professor at the Paris Museum, and his loyal servant Conseil.
When they finally spot the monster, two massive waterspouts crash onto the frigate’s deck, throwing Aronnax, Conseil, and the Canadian harpooner Ned Land onto the creature’s back… which turns out to be a fabulous submarine, the Nautilus, designed and commanded by a mysterious man: Captain Nemo, who seems fiercely hostile to all of humanity.
Condemned to never again see their homeland, their families, or friends, the three men nonetheless begin the most extraordinary adventure…
René Barjavel was a French author, journalist and critic who may have been the first to think of the grandfather paradox in time travel. He is best known as a science fiction author, whose work often involved the fall of civilisation due to technocratic hubris and the madness of war, but who also favoured themes emphasising the durability of love. René Barjavel wrote several novels with these themes, such as Ravage, Le Grand Secret, La Nuit des temps, and Une rose au paradis. Barjavel wrote Le Voyageur imprudent (1943), the first novel to present the famous Grandfather paradox of time travel: if one goes backwards in time and kills one of their ancestors before he had children, the traveller cannot exist and therefore cannot kill the ancestor.
Antarctica.
Leading a French scientific mission, Professor Simon has been drilling through the ice for what feels like an eternity.
In the vast white desert, there is nothing—just cold, wind, and silence. Until a sound, very faint, is heard.
More than 900 meters beneath the ice, something is calling. Amid general excitement, an expedition to the center of the Earth is set in motion.
Robert Merle was a French novelist. Merle’s 1967 novel Un animal doué de raison, a stark Cold War satire inspired by John Lilly’s studies of dolphins and the Caribbean Crisis, was translated into English and filmed as The Day of the Dolphin (1973) starring George C. Scott. Merle’s post-apocalyptic novel Malevil (1972) was also adapted into a 1981 film.
An atomic war devastates the planet, and in the ruins of France, a group of survivors forms a sedentary community behind the walls of a fortress.
Will the group manage to overcome the daily threats arising from their situation — the indiscipline of its members, their ideological differences, and above all, the armed gangs coveting their supplies and their “crenellated nest”?
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Check our other reading recommendations to discover more French books suited to your level—from gripping thrillers to heartwarming tales and classics. Reading regularly is one of the best ways to build vocabulary and develop an intuitive feel for French!
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