If hits like Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse have reminded us about one thing, it’s that the world of alternate realities and parallel universes or multiverses bring out the best stories. The beloved subgenre of science fiction will transport you out of this world, so if you’re up for the ride, strap in, and take a look at these must-read otherworldly stories.

Check out the best fantasy and sci-fi books coming in summer 2022>>

The Impossible Us by Sarah Lotz

A love match that is out of this world—literally. For Nick and Bee, they weren’t supposed to meet. Nick, a failed writer and dog lover thinks that his life is over after his marriage also failed. Bee, a serial dater, knows she has it all except love. Her business as a dressmaker is going well, and she has family and friends who love her. After their first encounter from a mistaken email Nick sent, the two begin to talk and eventually grow fond of each other; they even ignore the different cultural or political references. But when they decide to take the next step to meet, they realize they are worlds apart—parallel worlds, to be exact.

A Million Worlds with You by Claudia Gray

The weight of the multiverse sits on Marguerite Caine’s shoulders. Since her first time using her father’s invention, the Firebird, which lets her cross over to different multiverses, she’s been stuck in a cross-dimensional feud. Her position also allows her to hear news, much like how the evil Triad Corporation intends to end hundreds of universes at once. With this news and the defeat of her boyfriend’s mind, Marguerite will face the Triad and try to stop their plan—including their ultimate weapon, an evil and psychologically tweaked Marguerite. 

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

When an agent of the commandant finds a letter among the ashes of their dying world, it sparks a tale of love and loyalty. Two women, also time-traveling spies, share letters to one another across a time war. It starts with the two merely wanting to secure the best outcome for their warring factions, using taunting words about battlefield boasts. Only across time and dimensions do their letters begin to form a romantic bond neither expected and neither wants to let go, even if it means death.

The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

After Covid-19 swept through New York City, one dead-end driver, Jamie Gray, will do anything for a thrill. One day Jamie delivers to Tom, a former acquaintance who happens to work at what he calls an animal rights’ organization. Tom recruits Jamie to complete a trip for a last-minute mission, only Jamie isn’t stopping anywhere on Earth. He’s going off-world, onto another Earth in an alternate dimension where dinosaurs roam and humans don’t exist. But one animal, in particular, the Kaiju, a very large and dangerous panda, needs help after other travelers have discovered their planet and seek to cause the Kaiju harm. 

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

Eighteen-year-old Edwin Saint Andrew is now in exile, after an ill-conceived incident at a dinner party. When he enters the Canadian wilderness and hears the notes of an echoing violin on an airship terminal, he truly becomes lost. Two centuries later, Olive Llewellyn, a famous writer who lives on a second moon colony, is touring the Earth when she stumbles upon the similar sound of a violin playing through the trees. So when a detective named Gaspery-Jacques Roberts hears of an exiled son driven to madness, he has to do something extraordinary that just might disrupt the timeline of their universe and more.