15 Unique Time Travel Books Fans Shouldn't Miss

The Time Machine remains a cornerstone of time-travel fiction. Employing things we now see as tropes, such as the titular machine which throttles a person through time, H.G. Wells' tale of a mysterious far future is also a social allegory on class and an anthropological story as the Time Traveler grapples with understanding what the Eloi and Morlocks truly are. Wells' classic tale captures numerous themes while also the starkness of being a stranger in a strange land. Despite being more than a century old, its ideas and imagery still hold up today.

Michael Swanwick's Bones of the Earth was nominated for all of sci-fi's major awards (Hugo, Nebula, Campbell, and Locus) when released in 2002 and was itself an expansion of Swanwick's Hugo-winning short story "Scherzo with Tyrannosaur." The story has themes of anthropological examination through far-flung time travel. In the case of Swanwick's book, most of the story revolves around scientists studying prehistory through time travel. The novel also involves a far alternate future and its own allegory, which offers a timely focus on the bigger picture of environmental impact. 

Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife is a significant piece of time-travel fiction, not just because of its considerable success but also the way it made time travel palatable to a literary fiction audience. By focusing on the relationship between Henry and Claire as they intersect each other at different points in their lives, the book created an intimate and poignant (and often funny) tale of how time and memory can impact a relationship.

Terence M. Green's Shadow of Ashland uses a completely different mechanic from The Time Traveler's Wife but hits on many of the same feelings and messages. The difference here, however is that the book shifts its focus from a spousal relationship to the greater family. Green's book prompts many layers of examination as his protagonist Leo encounters letters seemingly arriving from the past, which ultimately leads to another form of time travel in a small Kentucky town. Family, love, and loss are all examined in a book that critics also rightfully compared to another time-travel stalwart: Jack Finney's Time and Again. 

Good Omens, both the book by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett and the recent adaptation starring David Tennant and Michael Sheen, isn't a time-travel story in the traditional sense. It doesn't involve hopping back and forth, but it does have two characters who exist for a very, very, very long time and build an irreverent friendship around this. This funny, scathing, and touching tale of prophecies, religion, and friendship is one of a kind, from its off-kilter tone to its "nothing is sacred" approach.

Everyone Says That at the End of the World is a perfect tonal match for fans of Good Omens. This end-of-days story expands the world as we know it by establishing the earth as the universe's mental asylum—and a former Christian rock star named Milton is going to guide it to its end of days. Add in Jesus-clones and interdimensional time travelers and a road trip across the United States, and you get a story that is filled with irreverent humor and acerbic commentary. 

The wonderful novella Alice Payne Arrives is the first of a series by award-winning writer Kate Heartfield. It features two protagonists, the titular Alice, who’s a bandit from the 18th century, and Prudence, who’s a time-traveling agent trying to fix history. Alice and Prudence start out at opposite ends of the timeline but eventually meet in a story that’s rollicking and fun, but also intimate and emotional. Alice and Prudence are loaded with flaws, but that’s a significant part of their charm. 

Quantum Leapwas never a huge commercial success during its run on NBC from 1989 to 1993, but it remains a cult favorite on a very simple premise: physicist Sam Beckett “leaps” through time into the life of someone else based on a seemingly random mission to “put right what once went wrong.” The series used a very loose time-travel mechanic (which honestly made no sense) to focus on social and personal justice, while also highlighting the ways that the smallest moments could shift and echo through someone’s own timeline, all while highlighting key moments in history—and how small moments can lead to them. 

The Future of Another Timeline, by award-winning science writer Annalee Newitz, takes these ideas but pushes them down a very different path. Like Quantum Leap, there is still the sense of putting right what once went wrong, driven by a strong sense of social justice. However, Newitz’s tale expands the scope of time travel by following a team of time travelers seeking to undo the deeds of Comstockers—time-travelers bent on stripping women’s rights by altering history. This frightening concept is especially prescient given the push and pull of today’s politics, but woven throughout is an extremely personal tale that just happens to jump across many different years. 

If you find the plot of time travel stories too confusing, detailed and hard to keep track of, you’re not the only one. So, try This is How You Lose the Time War—a co-written sublime novella, brimming with poetry and beauty. The narrative is told through the letters exchanged between Red and Blue, two spies on the opposing sides of an interdimensional time war. You don’t need to understand the rules of time travel or what exactly is initially going on, to fall in love with this evocative, poignant and heart-wrenching book. 

If you’re interested in military science fiction and interstellar wars with alien civilizations, pick up a copy of Joe Haldeman’s Forever War. Carefully plotted, the novel delves into the futility of war and engages with the relativistic nature of time via the story of William Mandella, a physics-student-turned-soldier embroiled in a thankless war, who soon finds himself out of time—literally and metaphorically. A classic that has stood the test of time, Forever War remains a deeply relevant and thoughtful read, especially given our current political climate.

The Way trilogy by Greg Bear unfolds in an artificial universe at the center of a hollowed-out asteroid, and includes the novels, Eon (1985), Eternity (1988) and Legacy (1994). Though published last, Legacy can be read as a prequel of sorts, narrated in the first-person by Olmy (an important character in the earlier books) who ventures into the world of Lamarckia, through a gate in the Way. Bear’s worldbuilding is highly vivid and interesting, keeping you hooked till the last page, blending elements of hard science with insightful social commentary.

Extremely enjoyable and tightly plotted, John Varley’s Mammoth intelligently tackles time travel and ecology, probing the limits of science. The story follows multibillionaire Howard Christian who wishes for a mammoth to be part of his circus act. And soon enough, a 12,000-year-old mammoth is discovered encased in ice, along with the frozen body of an old man carrying a time machine. Of course, Howard hires a mathematician, Matt Wright, to fix the machine, and chaos ensues. Fun, engaging and full of surprises, Mammoth will take readers on an unforgettable wild ride. 

The Artemis Fowl series is a ton of fun for kids, following the adventures of a boy genius and criminal mastermind and his brushes with hi-tech fairies. The Time Paradox was slated to be the last book in the series, and it did not disappoint, as a much-older Artemis must save his mother from a debilitating disease and confront his feelings for the fairy Holly Short, while trying to outwit his greatest enemy: his younger self. 

A sci-fi classic, Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five infuses the trope of time travel in an innovative way—by featuring the main character Billy Pilgrim as being “unstuck” in time. The story grapples with Billy’s PTSD following his experiences during World War II, his time trapped in an alien planet with a porn star he later falls in love with, and other strange adventures, told in an experimental non-linear format. Darkly funny and scathingly satirical, Slaughterhouse-Five remains a seminal work in metafiction with a distinct post-modernist sensibility. 

If you’re looking for another nostalgic YA read dealing with teenagers trying to figure out time travel, try Guillaume Prévost’s The Book of Time. It tells the story of Sam Faulkner, a fourteen-year-old boy who’s still coming to terms with his mother’s death in a car accident when his father suddenly disappears. A string of mysterious objects takes him on a journey through time—through Viking villages, World War I, Dracula’s castle, ancient Egypt, and more. Packed with action and adventure, The Book of Time is a quick read that will leave you curious about the sequels and compel you to find out what exactly happened to Faulkner’s family.  

Finally, if you enjoy time travel stories in film and television (especially Doctor Who), you’ll definitely enjoy this anthology of beautifully written short stories set in the Doctor Who universe by bestselling and award-winning writers such as Cecilia Ahern, Trudi Canavan, Joanne Harris and more. There are eight stories in total, featuring Doctors from their Second to Eleventh incarnations, along with their companions, all up to the usual trouble—fighting aliens, saving the universe and the like.  Whether you’re a diehard Whovian or a fan of light-hearted but frenetically-paced short stories, Time Trips is a great collection to read through.