Books like 'Against the Day'
Readers who enjoyed Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical sc-fi action / adventure alternate history military, war & conflict 20th century historical-fiction steampunk industrial-era postmodernism
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Purple Hearts by Michael Grant
Rated: 4.58 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsNew York Times bestselling author Michael Grant unleashes the gritty and powerful conclusion to the Front Line series and evokes the brutal truth of World War II: War is hell. An epic tale of historical reimagining, perfect for fans of Code Name Verity and Salt to the Sea...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure alternate-history book female-mc fiction -
![Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson]()
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsCryptonomicon zooms all over the world, careening conspiratorially back and forth between two time periods—World War II and the present. Our 1940s heroes are the brilliant mathematician Lawrence Waterhouse, crypt analyst extraordinaire, and gung-ho, morphine-addicted marine Bobby Shaftoe...Categorized as:
classics epic historical-fiction humor literary-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure -
![Silver Stars by Michael Grant]()
Silver Stars by Michael Grant
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsShe’s fighting to survive.The summer of 1943, World War II. The Germans have been bloodied, but Germany is very far from beaten. The North African campaign was only the beginning of the long journey for Frangie, Rainy, Rio, and the millions of other Allies.Now the American army is moving on to their next target: the Italian island of Sicily...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure alpha-mc alternate-history book dark -
![Operation Long Jump by William Peter Grasso]()
Operation Long Jump by William Peter Grasso
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe Allied invasion of Papua New Guinea begins. Badly.Alternative history takes center stage as Operation Long Jump, the second book in the Jock Miles World War 2 adventure series, plunges us into the horrors of combat in the rainforests of Papua New Guinea. As a prelude to the Allied invasion, Jock Miles and his men seize the Japanese observation post on the mountain overlooking Port Moresby...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history book espionage -
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![Operation Easy Street by William Peter Grasso]()
Operation Easy Street by William Peter Grasso
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsPort Moresby was bad. Buna was worse.The WW2 alternative history adventure of Jock Miles continues as MacArthur orders American and Australian forces to seize Buna in Papua New Guinea. Once again, the Allied high command underestimates the Japanese defenders, plunging Jock and his men into a battle they’re not equipped to win...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history book fiction -
![Iron Gray Sea by Taylor Anderson]()
Iron Gray Sea by Taylor Anderson
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn Taylor Anderson’s acclaimed Destroyermen series, a parallel universe adds an extraordinary layer to the drama of World War II. Now, Lieutenant Commander Matthew Reddy, the crew of USS Walker, and their allies battle an ever-growing host of enemies across the globe in a desperate battle for freedom …War has engulfed the—other earth... -
![Goliath by Scott Westerfeld]()
Goliath by Scott Westerfeld
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsAlek and Deryn are abroad the Leviathan when the ship is ordered to pick up an unusual passenger. This brilliant/maniacal inventor claims to have a weapon called Goliath that can end the war. But whose side is he really on?While on their top-secret mission, Alek finally discovers Deryn's deeply kept secret. Two, actually. Not only is Deryn a girl disguised as a guy...she has feelings for Alek...Categorized as:
historical-fiction industrial-era steampunk war ww1 20th-century action-adventure alternate-history -
![Winds of Wrath by Taylor Anderson]()
Winds of Wrath by Taylor Anderson
Rated: 4.61 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsMatt Reddy and the crew of the USS Walker are positioned to push the line of battle to the breaking point on an alternate Earth, in the thrilling return to the New York Times bestselling Destroyermen series.Matt Reddy and his sailors have fought, bled, and died for their Lemurian friends and other allies from across time, but their enemies are still operational... -
![Pass of Fire by Taylor Anderson]()
Pass of Fire by Taylor Anderson
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAfter being transported to a strange alternate Earth, Matt Reddy and the crew of the USS Walker have learned desperate times call for desperate measures, in the return to the New York Times bestselling Destroyermen series.Time is running out for the Grand Human and Lemurian Alliance... -
![Operation Fishwrapper by William Peter Grasso]()
Operation Fishwrapper by William Peter Grasso
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsJune 1944: A recon flight is shot down over the Japanese-held island of Biak, soon to be the next jump in MacArthur’s leapfrogging across New Guinea. Major Jock Miles, US Army—the crashed plane’s intelligence officer—must lead the handful of survivors to safety. It’s a tall order for a man barely recovered from a near-crippling leg wound...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history book fiction -
![Long Walk To The Sun by William Peter Grasso]()
Long Walk To The Sun by William Peter Grasso
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn this alternate history adventure set in WW2’s early days, a crippled US military struggles to defend vulnerable Australia against the unstoppable Japanese forces. When a Japanese regiment lands on Australia’s desolate and undefended Cape York Peninsula, Jock Miles, a US Army captain disgraced despite heroic actions at Pearl Harbor, is ordered to locate the enemy’s elusive command post...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history book fiction -
![Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld]()
Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsThe behemoth is the fiercest creature in the British navy. It can swallow enemy battleships with one bite. The Darwinists will need it, now that they are at war with the Clanker powers.Deryn is a girl posing as a boy in the British Air Service, and Alek is the heir to an empire posing as a commoner. Finally together aboard the airship Leviathan, they hope to bring the war to a halt...Categorized as:
historical-fiction industrial-era steampunk war ww1 20th-century action-adventure alternate-history -
![Rising Tides by Taylor Anderson]()
Rising Tides by Taylor Anderson
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn Taylor Anderson's acclaimed Destroyermen series, a parallel universe adds a extraordinary layer to the drama of World War II. Now, as Lieutenant Commander Matthew Reddy and the crew of the U.S.S. Walker continue their battle for both freedom and survival, the stakes become much more personal...and much more perilous... -
![Maelstrom by Taylor Anderson]()
Maelstrom by Taylor Anderson
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe final thrilling chapter in the “gripping and riveting” Destroyermen Trilogy.Lieutenant Commander Matthew Reddy, along with the men and women of the U.S.S. Walker, are once again at war... -
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![The Nonborn King by Julian May]()
The Nonborn King by Julian May
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsOn Earth, six million B.C., two species of alien ruled, the graceful humanoid Tanu and their twisted brethren, the Firvulag. Then men from twenty-second century Earth arrived through a one-way time tunnel — and soon the aliens were locked in a battle to the death, for the humans had upset the precarious balance of power that existed between them...Categorized as:
epic historical-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult aliens alternate-history anthologies -
![Devil's Due by Taylor Anderson]()
Devil's Due by Taylor Anderson
Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsNew York Times bestselling author Taylor Anderson continues the thrilling Destroyermen series of alternate history and military strategy, as the conflict is about to become terrifyingly personal... -
![To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis]()
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsConnie Willis' Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Doomsday Book uses time travel for a serious look at how people connect with each other. In this Hugo-winning companion to that novel, she offers a completely different kind of time travel adventure: a delightful romantic comedy that pays hilarious homage to Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction humor industrial-era literary-fiction steampunk war 20th-century -
![Deadly Shores by Taylor Anderson]()
Deadly Shores by Taylor Anderson
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsNational bestselling author Taylor Anderson’s explosive WWII alternate-history series continues as a do-or-die battle is waged that risks far more than anyone bargained for. The long-planned raid on the heart of the Grik Empire has grown more ambitious—and dangerously ill defined. Only Matthew Reddy, commander of the old destroyer USS Walker, seems focused on its original intent... -
![Storm Surge by Taylor Anderson]()
Storm Surge by Taylor Anderson
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsIn the Pacific, as USS Walker is repaired and updated after a previous battle and Matt Reddy is healing from his wounds, planning begins for a bold raid on the very heart of the Grik Empire... -
![Crusade by Taylor Anderson]()
Crusade by Taylor Anderson
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe "gripping and riveting" Destroyermen saga continues.Lieutenant Commander Matthew Reddy, along with the men and women of the USS Walker, have chosen sides in a war not of their making. Swept from the World War II Pacific into an alternate world, they have allied with the Lemurians?a mammalian race threatened by the warlike reptilian Grik... -
![The Golden Torc by Julian May]()
The Golden Torc by Julian May
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsBy A.D. 2110 nearly 100,000 humans had fled the civilized strictures of the Galactic Milieu for the freedom they thought existed at the end of the one-way time tunnel to Earth, six million B.C.But all of them had fallen into the hands of the Tanu, a humanoid race who'd fled their own galaxy to avoid punishment for their barbarous ways...Categorized as:
epic historical-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult aliens alternate-history book -
![Firestorm by Taylor Anderson]()
Firestorm by Taylor Anderson
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsLieutenant Commander Matthew Reddy and the crew of the USS Walker find themselves caught between the nation they swore to defend and the allies they promised to protect...Categorized as:
historical-fiction industrial-era steampunk war 20th-century action-adventure adult aliens -
![All Clear by Connie Willis]()
All Clear by Connie Willis
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIn Blackout, award-winning author Connie Willis returned to the time-traveling future of 2060—the setting for several of her most celebrated works—and sent three Oxford historians to World War II England: Michael Davies, intent on observing heroism during the Miracle of Dunkirk; Merope Ward, studying children evacuated from London; and Polly Churchill, posing as a shopgirl in the middle of the...Categorized as:
epic historical-fiction humor industrial-era literary-fiction steampunk war 20th-century -
![Distant Thunders by Taylor Anderson]()
Distant Thunders by Taylor Anderson
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThe fourth thrilling adventure in the Destroyermen series... -
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![River of Bones by Taylor Anderson]()
River of Bones by Taylor Anderson
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe crew of a WWII destroyer face their greatest challenge yet as they try to survive in a strange new world in the next thrilling book in the New York Times bestselling series.Commander Matt Reddy and his crew are afraid it may finally be the end of the USS Walker... -
![Stalin's Hammer: Paris by John Birmingham]()
Stalin's Hammer: Paris by John Birmingham
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe future vs the past. History is at war with itself in this popular alternate history. The Soviet Union controls half of Europe and supreme dictator Joseph Stalin wants the rest. Only Prince Harry can stop him and the super weapon he has developed...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure alternate-history book children-books cold-war -
![Maid of Baikal by Preston Fleming]()
Maid of Baikal by Preston Fleming
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhat if a Siberian Joan of Arc had rescued the White Armies at a critical point of the Russian Civil War in 1919? MAID OF BAIKAL offers an alternative outcome to that war through the intervention of Zhanna Dorokhina, a young woman from the shores of Siberia’s Lake Baikal...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history book -
![The Royal Librarian by Daisy Wood]()
The Royal Librarian by Daisy Wood
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA royal palace. A closed book. A betrayal that will echo through generations…Windsor, 1940: War rages, and as bombs rain down across Britain, nowhere is safe: not even a royal palace.Secretly tasked with foiling a suspected plot, Sophie Klein is placed in the Royal Library at Windsor castle, where the princesses reside... -
![Midnight on the Marne by Sarah Adlakha]()
Midnight on the Marne by Sarah Adlakha
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsSet during the heroism and heartbreak of World War I, and in an occupied France in an alternative timeline, Sarah Adlakha’s Midnight on the Marne explores the responsibilities love lays on us and the rippling impact of our choices.France, 1918. Nurse Marcelle Marchand has important secrets to keep... -
![A Band of Brothers by William R. Forstchen]()
A Band of Brothers by William R. Forstchen
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn the ten years since his regiment was transported to an alien world, Commander Andrew Keane has bravely fought time and time again for humanity's freedom. But after the is injured in battle, his confidence is shaken, and his ability to lead is damaged. Seeing their leader struck down also takes its toll on Keane's men, who have followed him to hell and back...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure adult aliens alternate-history apocalyptic -
![In at the Death by Harry Turtledove]()
In at the Death by Harry Turtledove
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFranklin Roosevelt is the assistant secretary of defense. Thomas Dewey is running for president with a blunt-speaking Missourian named Harry Truman at his side. Britain holds onto its desperate alliance with the USA’s worst enemy, while a holocaust unfolds in Texas...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history book dystopia -
![Front Lines by Michael Grant]()
Front Lines by Michael Grant
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratings1942. World War II. The most terrible war in human history. Millions are dead; millions more are still to die. The Nazis rampage across Europe and eye far-off America.The green, untested American army is going up against the greatest fighting force ever assembled—the armed forces of Nazi Germany.But something has changed...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure alpha-mc alternate-history audiobook book -
![The Gate to Women's Country by Sheri S. Tepper]()
The Gate to Women's Country by Sheri S. Tepper
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsTepper's finest novel to date is set in a post-holocaust feminist dystopia that offers only two political alternatives: a repressive polygamist sect that is slowly self-destructing through inbreeding and the matriarchal dictatorship called Women's Country...Categorized as:
classics epic historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history -
![Time and Time Again by Ben Elton]()
Time and Time Again by Ben Elton
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIt’s the 1st of June 1914 and Hugh Stanton, ex-soldier and celebrated adventurer is quite literally the loneliest man on earth. No one he has ever known or loved has been born yet. Perhaps now they never will be.Stanton knows that a great and terrible war is coming. A collective suicidal madness that will destroy European civilization and bring misery to millions in the century to come... -
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![Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank]()
Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 46 ratings“An extraordinary real picture of human beings numbed by catastrophe but still driven by the unconquerable determination of living creatures to keep on being alive.” —The New Yorker“Alas, Babylon.” Those fateful words heralded the end... -
![The Defector by Chris Hadfield]()
The Defector by Chris Hadfield
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIsrael, late 1973. As the Yom Kippur War flares into life, a state-of-the-art Soviet MIG fighter is racing at breakneck speed over the arid scrublands below . . . and promptly disappears... -
![Polostan by Neal Stephenson]()
Polostan by Neal Stephenson
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe first installment in Neal Stephenson’s three-part Bomb Light cycle, Polostan follows the early life of the enigmatic Dawn Rae Bjornberg. Born in the American West to a clan of cowboy anarchists, Dawn is raised in Leningrad after the Russian Revolution by her Russian father, a party line Leninist who re-christens her Aurora...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction fiction sci-fi historical audiobook fantasy espionage -
![Lest Darkness Fall & Related Stories by L. Sprague de Camp, Pohl Frederik]()
Lest Darkness Fall & Related Stories by L. Sprague de Camp, Pohl Frederik
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsRarely do books have such a great influence on a genre as Lest Darkness Fall has had on science fiction. Frequently quoted as one of the 'favorite' books of many of the masters of the field, this book by L. Sprague de Camp helped establish time-travel as a solid sub-genre of science fiction...Categorized as:
classics historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history anthologies -
![Designated Targets by John Birmingham]()
Designated Targets by John Birmingham
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsIt's World War II and the A-bomb is here to stay. The only question: Who's going to drop it first?The Battle of Midway takes on a whole new dimension with the sudden appearance of a U.S.-led naval task force from the twenty-first century, the result of a botched military experiment...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook book -
![Theater of Spies by S.M. Stirling]()
Theater of Spies by S.M. Stirling
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe second novel in an alternate history series where Teddy Roosevelt is president once more right before WWI breaks out, and on his side is the Black Chamber, a secret spy network watching America's back...Categorized as:
historical-fiction industrial-era steampunk war ww1 20th-century action-adventure adult -
![Final Impact by John Birmingham]()
Final Impact by John Birmingham
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 27 ratings“The action is nonstop, the characters very real–and very different from each other–and, to coin a phrase, it makes you think.” –S. M. Stirling, author of Island in the Sea of TimeIn the year 2021 a multinational fleet–experimenting with untested weapons technology–pitched through time, crash-landing in 1942...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook book -
![Into the Storm by Taylor Anderson]()
Into the Storm by Taylor Anderson
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsPressed into service when World War II breaks out in the Pacific, the USS Walker---a Great-War vintage "four-stacker" destroyer---finds itself in full retreat from pursuit by Japanese battleships. Its captain, Lieutenant Commander Matthew Patrick Reddy, knows that he and his crew are in dire straits... -
![Walk in Hell by Harry Turtledove]()
Walk in Hell by Harry Turtledove
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe year is 1915, and the world is convulsing. Though the Confederacy has defeated its northern enemy twice, this time the United States has allied with the Kaiser. In the South, the freed slaves, fueled by Marxist rhetoric and the bitterness of a racist nation, take up the weapons of the Red rebellion...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war ww1 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook -
![Drive to the East by Harry Turtledove]()
Drive to the East by Harry Turtledove
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsHarry Turtledove–the master of alternate history–has recast the tumultuous twentieth century and created an epic that is powerful, bold, and as convincing as it is provocative. In Drive to the East he continues his saga of warfare that has divided a nation and now threatens the entire world...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history book fiction -
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![The Grapple by Harry Turtledove]()
The Grapple by Harry Turtledove
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn this stunning retelling of World War II, Harry Turtledove has created a blockbuster saga that is thrilling, troubling, and utterly compelling... -
![Days of Infamy by Newt Gingrich, William R. Forstchen]()
Days of Infamy by Newt Gingrich, William R. Forstchen
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 14 ratings“Absolutely brilliant! Fast paced and filled with tension and suspense. Every page resonates with the momentous events and great personalities of World War II – and scenes so carefully crafted you feel like you’re there. This is a ‘must read’ for all who look at history and wonder: “What if…” -- Oliver North, Lt. Col., USMC (Ret...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history book fiction -
![Shadows of Annihilation by S.M. Stirling]()
Shadows of Annihilation by S.M. Stirling
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe third novel in a World War I alternate history series where America's greatest weapon against Germany is Black Chamber secret agent Luz O'Malley and technical genius Ciara Whelan. Only they can protect America's best hope of winning the war...Categorized as:
historical-fiction war ww1 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook -
![End of the Beginning by Harry Turtledove]()
End of the Beginning by Harry Turtledove
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsSix weeks ago, Imperial Japanese military forces conquered and occupied the Hawaiian Islands. A puppet king sits on Hawaii’s throne, his strings controlled by the general of the invasion force. American POWs, malnourished and weak, are enslaved as hard laborers until death takes them. Civilians fare little better, struggling to survive on dwindling resources... -
![The Goblin Reservation by Clifford D. Simak]()
The Goblin Reservation by Clifford D. Simak
Rated: 3.99 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsFirst-class entertainment (The Sunday Times) from a classic SF author. En route to an interplanetary research mission, a scientist is abducted by a strange, shadowy race of aliens and taken to a previously uncharted planet, a storehouse of information that would be invaluable--even to an Earth so advanced that time travel allows goblins, dinosaurs, even Shakespeare to coexist...Categorized as:
classics humor 20th-century action-adventure adult aliens alternate-history audiobook -
![On the Beach by Nevil Shute]()
On the Beach by Nevil Shute
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsAfter the war is over, a radioactive cloud begins to sweep southwards on the winds, gradually poisoning everything in its path. An American submarine captain is among the survivors left sheltering in Australia, preparing with the locals for the inevitable. Despite his memories of his wife, he becomes close to a young woman struggling to accept the harsh realities of their situation...
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