Books like 'The Swarm'
Readers who enjoyed The Swarm by John Whitman also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
sc-fi horror action / adventure military, war & conflict space-opera war magic family ghosts aliens
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Leviathan Falls by James S.A. Corey
Rated: 4.55 of 5 stars · 48 ratingsThe Laconian Empire has fallen, setting the thirteen hundred solar systems free from the rule of Winston Duarte. But the ancient enemy that killed the gate builders is awake, and the war against our universe has begun again... -
Nemesis Games by James S.A. Corey
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 61 ratingsThe fifth novel in Corey's New York Times bestselling Expanse series--now being produced for television by the SyFy Channel!A thousand worlds have opened, and the greatest land rush in human history has begun. As wave after wave of colonists leave, the power structures of the old solar system begin to buckle.Ships are disappearing without a trace. Private armies are being secretly formed... -
Gemina by Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 60 ratingsMoving to a space station at the edge of the galaxy was always going to be the death of Hanna’s social life. Nobody said it might actually get her killed.The sci-fi saga that began with the breakout bestseller Illuminae continues on board the Jump Station Heimdall, where two new characters will confront the next wave of the BeiTech assault... -
Don't Cross this Line by Michael Anderle
Rated: 4.52 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsIt's been three years Bethany Anne and her team have been building, trying their best to stay off the radar and not fight with those they are trying to save. The emotions have boiled to the surface. The is a line drawn in the sand, and some idiots just have to step across it. Those that thought the cat didn't have claws are about to find out how very, very wrong they are... -
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We Have Contact by Michael Anderle
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsWhen you least expect it, expect it. Bethany Anne has been notified there is a spaceship inside the system...but they can't find it. Is it Kurtherian, someone else? The governments have to be told about aliens, which sparks a worldwide effort by Governments to find what TQB has... Oh, and Eric wants to date Gabrielle but he wants her to know he can protect her if need be... -
The Scientist, the Rat, and the Assassin by Sara King
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThis is what happens when, in the chaos of an alien apocalypse where the all-powerful galactic empire of Congress has laid the smackdown on Earth for breaking its universal laws on genetic experimentation, the world's smartest human (sort of) swears to obey the galaxy's greatest assassin (definitely) on Wednesdays through Mondays, if she will give him Tuesdays in turn... -
The Legend of ZERO: The Scientist, the Rat, and the Assassin by Sara King
Rated: 4.57 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsThis is what happens when, in the chaos of an alien apocalypse where the all-powerful galactic empire of Congress has laid the smackdown on Earth for breaking its universal laws on genetic experimentation, the world's smartest human (sort of) swears to obey the galaxy's greatest assassin (definitely) on Wednesdays through Mondays, if she will give him Tuesdays in turn... -
Babylon's Ashes by James S.A. Corey
Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars · 57 ratingsThe sixth book in the New York Times bestselling Expanse series. NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES A revolution brewing for generations has begun in fire. It will end in blood.The Free Navy - a violent group of Belters in black-market military ships - has crippled the Earth and begun a campaign of piracy and violence among the outer planets... -
The Legend of ZERO: Forgotten by Sara King
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIt's been 819 years since Congress abandoned humanity to a Stone Age fate on an Earth infested with man-eating monsters, and now the galactic government, in all its benevolence, has come back to force humanity back into citizen status in its great collective......Except this time, thanks to Prime Commander Dobbs, humanity has a surprise for our alien conquerors... -
Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsIt begins in the realm of the Real, where matter still matters.It begins with a murder.And it will not end until the Culture has gone to war with death itself.Lededje Y'breq is one of the Intagliated, her marked body bearing witness to a family shame, her life belonging to a man whose lust for power is without limit... -
Void Stalker by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
Rated: 4.45 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsThe third in the bestselling Night Lords series.Talos leads First Claw further down their dark path, until the eldar of craftworld Ulthwe foresee a great conflict centered around the Night Lords, and the xenos muster for battle!The third book in the Night Lords trilogy by New York Times bestselling author Aaron Dembski-Bowden... -
Tasmanian SFG: Welcome to Hell by C.R. Daems
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsJolie was three when she found she was ugly and deformed. She was five when she found she was a sub-human and an outcast. She was seven when five boys and two girls dragged her out of the orphanage and beat her unconscious, leaving her lying bleeding and broken in the street. She was content to lie there and die, tired of being hated and abused... -
Shakedown by Scott Sigler
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratings"A gritty tale of cosmic dread.”— Pierce Brown, #1 New York Times Bestselling author of RED RISINGFew know the warship’s actual name. Fewer still know what it really is. And almost no one knows of its unique ability, an ability that could tilt the balance of power if not outright win the war.But everyone has heard the rumors. Rumors about the worst place the Planetary Union Fleet can send you... -
Betrayer by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsThe Shadow Crusade has begun. While the Ultramarines reel from Kor Phaeron’s surprise attack on Calth, Lorgar and the rest of the Word Bearers strike deep into the realm of Ultramar. Their unlikely allies, Angron and the World Eaters, continue to ravage each new system they come across – upon the garrison planet of Armatura, this relentless savagery may finally prove to be their undoing... -
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Only in Death by Dan Abnett
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsAs the crusade to liberate the Sabbat Worlds continues, Colonel-Commissar Gaunt leads the Tanith First-and-Only into an unforgiving new warzone - the fortress world of Jago... -
Blood Reaver by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsDriven on by their hatred of the False Emperor, the Night Lords stalk the shadows of the galaxy, eternally seeking revenge for the death of their primarch. Their dark quest leads them to a fractious alliance with the Red Corsairs, united only by a common enemy. Together with this piratical band of renegades, they bring their ways of destruction to the fortress-monastery of the Marines Errant... -
The Lost Colony by Vaughn Heppner
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWe fought the invading New Men to a standstill and defeated the alien Destroyer sent to obliterate Earth. The worst should be over, but it’s not. Perfect android replicas are impersonating high-level officials so trust is failing. Worse, the New Men have found allies with an impenetrable stealth technology. This time, however, Earth is going on the offensive... -
The Technician by Neal Asher
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe Theocracy has been dead for 20 years, and the Polity rules on Masada. But the Tidy Squad consists of rebels who cannot accept the new order. Their hate for surviving theocrats is undiminished, and the iconic Jeremiah Tombs is at the top of their hitlist... -
Zero's Return by Sara King
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsTHE AMAZING NEW VOLUME IN THE #1 BESTSELLING LEGEND OF ZERO SERIES!In this apocalyptic addition to the #1 Bestselling Legend of ZERO series, the PlanOps Prime veteran, universal hero, and living legend Joe Dobbs has become an icon of heroism to the Congressional citizenry—but his real adventure is only just beginning... -
Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 47 ratingsThe man known as Cheradenine Zakalwe was one of Special Circumstances' foremost agents, changing the destiny of planets to suit the Culture through intrigue, dirty tricks and military action.The woman known as Diziet Sma had plucked him from obscurity and pushed him towards his present eminence, but despite all their dealings she did not know him as well as she thought... -
Judgment Day by Arthur T. Bradley
Rated: 4.37 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsThe Survivalist (Judgment Day) is the third book in Dr. Bradley's Survivalist Series. (Series Order: Frontier Justice, Anarchy Rising, Judgment Day, Madness Looms - coming summer of 2014).The United States continues to devolve into total lawlessness as it struggles to recover from a pandemic that left billions dead. Gangs of convicts sweep through towns, raping and murdering with impunity... -
The First Heretic by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsAmidst the galaxy-wide war of the Great Crusade, the Emperor castigates the Word Bearers for their worship. Distraught at this judgement, Lorgar and his Legion seek another path while devastating world after world, venting their fury and fervour on the battlefield... -
A Thousand Sons by Graham McNeill
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsCensured at the Council of Nikea for his flagrant use of sorcery, Magnus the Red and his Thousand Sons Legion retreat to their homeworld pf Prospero to continue their use of the arcane arts in secret... -
The Rookie by Scott Sigler
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsSet in a lethal pro football league 700 years in the future, THE ROOKIE is a story that combines the intense gridiron action of "Any Given Sunday" with the space opera style of "Star Wars" and the criminal underworld of "The Godfather... -
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The Neutronium Alchemist by Peter F. Hamilton
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsNot every fallen angel comes from heaven...The ancient menace has finally escaped from Lalonde, shattering the Confederation's peaceful existence. Those who succumbed to it have acquired godlike powers, but now follow a far from divine gospel as they advance inexorably from world to world... -
War Factory by Neal Asher
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThorvald Spear, resurrected from his death over a hundred years earlier, continues to hunt Penny Royal, the rogue AI and dangerous war criminal on the run from Polity forces. Beyond the Graveyard, a lawless and deadly area in deep space, Spear follows the trail of several enemy Prador, the crab-like alien species with a violent history of conflict with humanity... -
Malleus by Dan Abnett
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsIn the 41st Millenium, the enemies of mankind are legion, omnipresent and utterly deadly. While the warriors of the Imperium fight with firepower and faith, the Holy Inquisition hunts the shadows for the most terrible of foes – rogue psykers, xenos, and daemons. Inquisitor Eisenhorn must track down and defeat the forces who would destroy him or face the wrath of the Ordo Malleus... -
Redemption Ark by Alastair Reynolds
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsLate in the twenty-sixth century, the human race has advanced enough to accidentally trigger the Inhibitors - alien killing machines designed to detect intelligent life and destroy it. The only hope for humanity lies in the recovery of a secret cache of doomsday weapons -and a renegade named Clavain who is determined to find them... -
Da Big Dakka by Mike Brooks
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAn Ufthak Blackhawk NovelUfthak Blackhawk reckons he’s in for it. Da Meklord has summoned him, and the Gargantsmasha just knows his boss wants to kick his teef in and be done with it.READ IT BECAUSEUfthak Blackhawk faces the Drukhari in the teeming flesh pits of their dark city of Commorragh as he finds himself challenged to gladiatorial combat against the masters of pain... -
Horus Rising by Dan Abnett
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsAfter thousands of years of expansion and conquest, the imperium of man is at its height. His dream for humanity nearly accomplished, the emperor hands over the reins of power to his warmaster, Horus, and heads back to Terra... -
The Lost and the Damned by Guy Haley
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWith the solar defences overcome through the devastating strength of the Traitor armada and the power of the warp, Horus launches his assault on the Throneworld in earnest. After withstanding a ferocious barrage of ordnance, an immense ground war commences outside the Palace with every inch gained paid for in the lives of billions. On the thirteenth day of Secundus, the bombardment of Terra began... -
The Emperor's Gift by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsThe Grey Knights are all that stands between mankind and the ravages of Chaos. Since their secretive beginnings during the Horus Heresy, these legendary Space Marine daemon hunters have journeyed into the dark realms of the warp – and beyond – in pursuit of their supernatural enemies... -
Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsIn Adrian Tchaikovsky's Elder Race, a junior anthropologist on a distant planet must help the locals he has sworn to study to save a planet from an unbeatable foe.Lynesse is the lowly Fourth Daughter of the queen, and always getting in the way... -
Death Match by Joshua Anderle, Michael Anderle
Rated: 4.41 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWhat happens if the final for your freshman year is to take the hardest, deadliest test the Nexus Academy has devised for your skill classification? And then open it up for player-vs-player action where even your partners can gain skill points for stabbing you in the back? It is time for Kaiden to grow up a little and play with a larger team to accomplish a three-peat... -
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The Moldy Dead by Sara King
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe Moldy Dead is one of the powerful and poignant "Creation Myth" stories for Sara King's overwhelmingly popular Legend of ZERO series. It is the history of Congress' First Contact with the sentient species known as the Geuji, and the unspeakable tragedy that befell their entire species in the early history of Congress... -
Alone by Scott Sigler
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn the final installment of an exhilarating sci-fi adventure trilogy in the vein of The Hunger Games, Divergent, and Red Rising, Scott Sigler’s unforgettable heroine, Em Savage, must come to grips once and for all with the perilous mysteries of her own existence.“We thought this place was our destiny—not our doom... -
The Master of Mankind by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsAs war splits the galaxy, the Emperor toils in the vaults beneath the Imperial Palace. But his great work is in peril, and the forces of Chaos are closing in…While Horus’ rebellion burns across the galaxy, a very different kind of war rages beneath the Imperial Palace... -
The Naked God by Peter F. Hamilton
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsThe Confederation is starting to collapse politically and economically, allowing the 'possessed' to infiltrate more worlds. Quinn Dexter is loose on Earth, destroying the giant arcologies one at a time. As Louise Kavanagh tries to track him down, she manages to acquire some strange and powerful allies whose goal doesn't quite match her own... -
Siege by Rhiannon Frater
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsSiege is the conclusion to Rhiannon Frater’s As the World Dies trilogy, which should appeal to fans of The Walking Dead. Both The First Days and Fighting to Survive won the Dead Letter Award from Mail Order Zombie. The First Days was named one of the Best Zombie Books of the Decade by the Harrisburg Book Examiner. The zombie illness has shattered civilization... -
Duty Calls by Sandy Mitchell
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsWhile assisting local forces quell widespread civil disorder, Commissar Cain and his regiment of Valhallans discover sinister forces are at work behind the scenes... -
The Void by Greig Beck
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsSomething has traveled for a billion years to find us - and now it has. In space, Commander Mitch Granger and his crew are nearing the end of their scientific mission - along with their covert satellite photography for the military. As they prepare for reentry, an unknown object emerges from the void; the name given to deep, dark space. The object proves impossible to evade... -
Aliens by Alan Dean Foster
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsHaving survived one encounter with an alien, Ripley is persuaded to return to the planet where her crew found the alien ship. A colony has been established there, but suddenly all contact with the settlers has been lost. Accompanied by marines, Ripley is going to find out why... -
Tomb by Paul Elard Cooley
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsTheir mission was to recover an ancient derelict from the farthest edge of the Sol system. What they’ve found could spell the end of humanity. Trapped on the Mira, Corporal Kalimura must lead her squad of injured marines to safety. But, aboard the derelict, every shadow is a possible threat, and around every corner lurks another hazard... -
Cyborg Strike by David VanDyke
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsCyborgs, genetic engineering, and military action. Under the threat of impending alien invasion, when the Professor and the rogue Septagon Shadow cyborg program surface in Russia, the world has a problem... -
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Fusion Fire by Kathy Tyers
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA new life for Lady FirebirdLady Firebird didn't fully understand her former enemy, the Sentinel Brennen Caldwell. That might take a lifetime. But she knew enough, loved enough, to embrace his mysteries--and his certainty--and to step out on the frightening path of pair bonding.Exiled from her royal heritage, she had escaped the terrible fate of her birth as an expendable wastling... -
The Orion Plague by David VanDyke
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsMilitary science fiction post-apocaplyptic thriller / alien invasion. BOOK 7 OF THE SERIES.Guns blazing, Master Sergeant Jill Repeth and her team search the nuclear wasteland for her kidnapped fiancé, while Spooky Nguyen prepares Earth's first-ever Space Marines for duty aboard the experimental battleship Orion...Categorized as:
aliens space-opera action-adventure adult apocalyptic book fiction genetic-engineering -
Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThey travelled into the unknown and left themselves behind . . .On the distant world of Kiln lie the ruins of an alien civilization. It’s the greatest discovery in humanity’s spacefaring history – yet who were its builders and where did they go?Professor Arton Daghdev had always wanted to study alien life up close. Then his wishes become a reality in the worst way... -
The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsIn AD 2600 the human race is finally beginning to realize its full potential. Hundreds of colonized planets scattered across the galaxy host a multitude of prosperous and wildly diverse cultures. Genetic engineering has pushed evolution far beyond nature's boundaries, defeating disease and producing extraordinary spaceborn creatures... -
Fallen Dragon by Peter F. Hamilton
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsDeploying invulnerable twenty-fifth-century soldiers called Skins, Zantiu-Braun's corporate starships loot entire planets. But as the Skins invade bucolic Thallspring, Z-B's strategy is about to go awry, all because of: Sgt... -
Konrad Curze: The Night Haunter by Guy Haley
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsA Horus Heresy: Primarchs novelFew among the legendary primarchs are as feared as Konrad Curze, the Night Haunter. Even before his fall to darkness, he was a sinister legend, a remorseless killer. This is his story...
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