7 Best Alan Dean Foster Books (2024) That You Must Read!

Bio

Foster was born on the 18^th of November 1946, in New York, New York, United States of America. Foster is an American author of mostly fantasy and sci-fi writing. He has written multiple book series, with more than a dozen standalone books, and, most notably, a plethora of film-script novelizations. At the present moment, Foster is married to Jo Ann Oxley.

Foster acquired his bachelor’s degree in political science and, also, an MFA from the University of California, Los Angeles. A rarely known fact about Foster is that he even holds several state records in senior powerlifting, but also a single world record.

Best Alan Dean Foster Books

Career

The vast majority of Foster’s works concern themselves, or have an underlying facet linked to ecology and the environment. The antagonists in his stories often see their demise at the hands of their own disrespect towards the particular alien race, or the apparently harmless nature of their… nature.

In 2008, Foster was awarded the 2008 Grand Master award from the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers. Being that Foster is quite the well-known author, we will now see what the best Alan Dean Foster books are.

The Alien Series

Loved By Everyone

The Alien movies are some of the most loved horror sci-fi movies of all time, period. This is an undebatable argument. What isn’t as well-known is the fact that the Alien books are not only the top books by Foster but also the greatest science fiction out there. The series consists of eight primary works, though there is one book that is counted as the zero book, oddly enough. Nonetheless, Foster’s books in order are the following:

Alien: Covenant Origins, published in 2017.
Alien: Covenant, published in 2017.
Alien, published in 1979.
Alien: Out of the Shadows, published in 2013.
Alien: River of Pain, published in 2014.
Alien: Sea of Sorrows, published in 2014.
Aliens, published in 1986.
Alien ³, published in 1992.
Alien Resurrection, published in 1997.

Nostromo

Everyone knows – or should know – the story of the Nostromo spaceship and its occupants. They wake from their cryogenic sleep as a distress signal comes blaring through the ship. They go to investigate – a horror staple – on a nearby planet whereby a stowaway boards the ship via facehugger. The rest is a grizzly, gruesome story of pure, unadulterated science-fiction. Truly amazing works in our Foster book reviews.

Weyland-Yutani Corporation

What the zeroth Alien novel by Foster concerns itself is the Covenant ship and how it started off on its course. We learn of the infamous Weyland-Yutani Corporation and how it had its beginning. It doesn’t, however, feature aliens, but is a segue for the story of Alien: Covenant, where everyone’s favorite extraterrestrials are in abundance. It cannot be said enough how fascinating and how timeless the Alien series is. Truly some of the most popular books by Foster.

The Pip & Flinx Series

Pretty Long Series

Though one might come to the conclusion that the Alien series is an extensive one, after all, it features just shy of ten books. Well, the Pip & Flinx series features a whopping fifteen works in its composition. The following list consists of Foster’s Flinx books in order:

The Tar-AiymKrang, published in 1972.
Bloodhype, published in 1973.
Orphan Star, published in 1977.
The End of the Matter, published in 1977.
For the Love of Mother-Not, published in 1983.
Flinx in Flux, published in 1988.
Mid-Flinx, published in 1995.
Reunion, published in 2001.
Flinx’s Folly, published in 2002.
Sliding Scales, published in 2004.
Running from the Deity, published in 2005.
Trouble from Magnet, published in 2006.
Patrimony, published in 2007.
Flinx Transcendent, published in 2009.
Strange Music, published in 2017.

Beautiful Planet

In an unspecified time since the Beginning, there was once an extremely beautiful planet. Moth was its name. Moth was the only planet with wings. The wings were 2 grand, golden clouds hanging in the space about the planet. The planet was a fascinating journey for any interested traveler.

As such, Flinx – part-time thief – and his flight-capable snake Pip, by chance, find themselves in contact with some of the largest traders on Moth. Things occur so as to have Flinx and Pip incorporated on a dangerous adventure. To make matters worse, the adventure takes him off his planet for the first time ever.

Mandatory Reading

In the coming books, Flinx’s adventures and experience abound. They are gems of sci-fi writing and the best-rated books by Foster. Should be mandatory reading, as far as we are concerned.

The Spellsinger Series

Shorter Series

Another series – shorter, this time – from the hands of Foster is the Spellsinger series. It is one of the best Foster series and features the following books, in order of publication:

Spellsinger, published in 1983.
The Hour of the Gate, published in 1984.
The Day of the Dissonance, published in 1984.
The Moment of the Magician, published in 1984.
The Paths of the Perambulator, published in 1985.
The Time of the Transference, published in 1986.
Son of Spellsinger, published in 1993.
Chorus Skating, published in 1994.

Jonathan Thomas Meriweather

Wacky, yet endlessly entertaining, the series is an enthralling read, all-throughout. In Spellsinger, the first and the best Foster book for many fans, we meet hero Jonathan Thomas Meriweather, Jon-Tom for short. Jon-Tom is a pre-law student with aspirations for superstardom – in the rock musical genre.

At the moment, he’s harmlessly under influence from a certain herbal-looking drug as he’s transported from his university to a dimension where animals are sentient, can speak, and even wear clothes. Truly some of the best books by Alan Dean Foster.

‘En’geeniar’

The animals live amongst humans by the wizard – a tortoise – Clothahump. Clothahump was the one that summoned the presence of Jon-Tom. In fact, Clothahump was trying to find a certain entity referred to as ‘En’geeniar’. ‘En’geeniar’ is what Clothahump assumed was the name for wizards in our realm. If it wasn’t obvious, he was referring to engineers. Jon-Tom, however, is only a sanitation engineer.

Entertaining

The first 2 books deal with the crisis that Clothahump summoned Jon-Tom for, while the following 6 see Jon-Tom with sidekick otter, Mudge, and their random adventures. This is the most entertaining series that Foster has written, by far. As such, the books are some of the best Foster novels.

Prodigals

Invasion

Alan Dean Foster, who I like to think of as the king of sci-fi novels, brings us his latest book, Prodigals. In it, he asks (and gives potential answers) the question that I am sure we have all had at some point: what would happen if there was an alien invasion? We surely cannot be the only beings out there, so what would happen if aliens came to Earth?

Would they be invaders? There has always been that fear around if aliens did ever come to Earth, that they would try to take it over. But then you have to start wondering, well, would the aliens have their own invaders that they themselves fear? In this story, Foster plays out what could happen if this were the case.

Looking For Signs

There will be the peacemakers who try their best to keep everyone happy, but these invaders could be something dangerous and sinister. Human beings can prepare for as much as they can, but you can never truly prepare for what you do not know. The only thing humans do know, is that the aliens want something… they just have to learn how to read the signs.

I know I have kept the review of this book super vague, but I didn’t want to spoil anything. This is a really great and fun read from Alan Dean Foster and the best way to go into this book is without any expectations. If you love sci-fi novels, particularly those about outer space, then this is definitely the book for you!

The Unsettling Stars

Simple Mission Turned More

If you are a fan of Star Trek, like me, then you definitely need to give this highly ranked Alan Dean Foster book a try! He based this new sci-fi story on the Star Trek movies by J.J. Abrams. The story takes place in an alternate timeline where a Romulan invader from the future has destroyed the Starship Kelvin.

Captain James T. Kirk and his inexperienced crew have to commandeer a newly repaired U.S.S. Enterprise for a shakedown cruise. It should be nothing more than a simple mission. But then a distress call comes in and the Enterprise has to help a large colony ship filled with alien refugees, who are under attack by an unknown enemy.

Something Sinister

Captain Kirk and his ragtag crew that the situation on the refugee ship is more than they bargained for, and possibly more than they can even handle. The situation is complicated, and as the reason for the attack slowly starts to reveal itself, the crew will discover that things may be more insidious than they initially thought.

This fun and classic read is one of Alan Dean Foster’s new books, and it felt like getting a hug from an old friend. I would especially recommend this one to those who are fans of the TV show, as the story reminded me more of that than the movies. It is well-written and Foster really captured the essence of Star Trek.

The Star Trek: Logs Series

Some of the Best

The Star Trek is another long series. This one features ten of Alan Dean Foster’s best books in its composition. Like we’ve done before, we’ll enumerate the books by year of publication:

Star Trek Log One, published in 1974.
Star Trek Log Two, published in 1974.
Star Trek Log Three, published in 1974.
Star Trek Log Four, published in 1975.
Star Trek Log Five, published in 1975.
Star Trek Log Six, published in 1976.
Star Trek Log Seven, published in 1976.
Star Trek Log Eight, published in 1976.
Star Trek Log Nine, published in 1977.
Star Trek Log Ten, published in 1977.

Hard Math

The Star Trek Log series is based on the thirty-minute animated show broadcasted in the early 1970s. Foster was the one that did the novelization for the shows. For each log, there are three novellas. The three novellas in Star Trek Log One consist of three episodes.

Indispensable

In the first book, there are three novellas. The first is Beyond the Farthest Star, the second is Yesteryear – we learn of the childhood that Spock had –, and the final one is One of Our Planets is Missing – where a menacing, large cloud is on course for a planet of some eighty million people. For the avid Star Trek fan, these books are indispensable. The same can be said for any sci-fi lover. These Foster’s books ranked as the best-selling ones so better read it real quick.

Splinter of the Mind’s Eye

First Non-Canonical Book

Splinter of the Mind’s Eye is actually a part of the Star Wars books that were novelized by Foster, but the series continuity is, in a word, a mess. As such, we chose this one, in particular, for its own innate merits. It is also the last entry on our Foster’s books list

In fact, this is the first noncanonical Star Wars book. Splinter of the Mind’s Eye was published in the year of 1994. The novel is a singularly fast-paced one, something that differs from the other Star Wars books, chock full of tension and an effective air about it.

Cicarpous

We see everyone’s favorite Luke Skywalker as he expects a certain dose of trouble and problems as he volunteered to be Princess Leias entourage. The princess is going on a mission to the planet named Cicarpous. What Luke found out was that on this planet was situated the Kaiburr crystal. This crystal is a rather ominous material, rumored to be able to give the one who uncovers it so much power over the Force that the user would be nigh-almighty.

As such, if someone with sinister intentions acquired it, an insidious storm would be brewing rapidly. Luke has one recourse and he must get going fast. It takes a big step away from what the other, previous Star Wars books were about and it is this feat that we see so praise-worthy. As such, we think it is worthy to be on our list of the best Alan Dean Foster books.

Robert Hazley

Robert is a science fiction and fantasy geek. (He is also the best looking Ereads writer!) Besides reading and writing, he enjoys sports, cosplay, and good food (don't we all?). Currently works as an accountant (would you believe that?)