Books like 'The Galaxy, and the Ground Within'
Readers who enjoyed The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
futuristic sc-fi space action / adventure military, war & conflict space-opera lgbtq aliens cozy family
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Tiamat's Wrath by James S.A. Corey
Rated: 4.57 of 5 stars · 48 ratingsThirteen hundred gates have opened to solar systems around the galaxy. But as humanity builds its interstellar empire in the alien ruins, the mysteries and threats grow deeper... -
Persepolis Rising by James S.A. Corey
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 53 ratingsIn the thousand-sun network of humanity's expansion, new colony worlds are struggling to find their way. Every new planet lives on a knife edge between collapse and wonder, and the crew of the aging gunship Rocinante have their hands more than full keeping the fragile peace...Categorized as:
aliens colonization drama exploration first-contact found-family space-opera space-travel -
A Grimm Sacrifice by Jeffery H. Haskell
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn order to survive, Interceptor must change the rules.The Consortium is in real trouble. Caliphate Naval forces have stepped up their raids on the border planets and are taking people by the thousands. They can defend the wormhole, or they can defend their planets, not both...Categorized as:
space-opera aliens invasion colonization space-travel first-contact exploration sci-fi -
Life Goes On by Michael Anderle
Rated: 4.54 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIt is finished... Sweat dripping off her brow as the threads started long ago start to fuse together. It’s time to make plans, hide the truth, and get the HELL off her throne.But, how to accomplish creating a Federation, when those coming together want to gut her Empire?Anyone who understands the Queen Bitch, knows she won't accept that condition without a fight...Categorized as:
aliens first-contact invasion lgbtq space-opera space-travel action-adventure audiobook -
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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... -
My Ride is a Bitch by Michael Anderle
Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsIt's out there, it's ALWAYS been out there - just no one believed it.Governments, Black Ops, Rich Businessmen...All want alien tech and some are going to great lengths, illegal lengths, to procure it.Someone went so far as to endanger a young girls family. A young girl who wrote a letter to the Queen Bitch. Now, those that are searching for the technology will have to deal with TQB...Categorized as:
aliens exploration first-contact humor invasion space-opera space-travel action-adventure -
Nightfall by Jay Allan
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsNight is falling. The unstoppable Hegemony invasion has reached the very heart of the Confederation. Battle after desperate battle has been fought, and each time, the Confeds have been pushed back, columns of battered and blasted ship retreating from system to system. Now, they prepare to grimly defend the capital world of Megara, the very center of the Confederation...Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration first-contact invasion space-opera space-travel action-adventure -
Resolve by Jenny Schwartz
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe unmissable conclusion to the science fiction series that has it all—ancient aliens, rogue AIs, beleaguered royalty, semi-repentant pirates, and the chance to go where no humans have gone before (well, not for five hundred years)—all wrapped up in the possibility of a happy-ever-after for everyone (bad guys excluded)...Categorized as:
space-opera aliens multi-pov space-travel exploration first-contact colonization sci-fi -
Alien Arcana by Glynn Stewart
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsAn alien ruinA murdered archeologistAn ancient secret—and a conspiracy that will kill to keep it! When a scientist is murdered after finding signs of alien magic in an archeological dig, Mage Damien Montgomery, Hand of the Mage-King of Mars, is sent to investigate both the murder and the alien runes... -
Give No Quarter by Jamie McFarlane
Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsAlternate cover for ASIN B01FQ57I7G can be found here: Give No Quarter Branded criminals and on the run from the most powerful corporation in the known universe, Liam Hoffen and the crew of Hotspur have a simple choice to make...Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration first-contact invasion space-opera space-travel action-adventure -
The Ceph Sector by Jenny Schwartz
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe legendary Ceph have been in stasis for forty two millennia. In a century, they’ll wake. History remembers them as an unstoppable force, employing a mysterious power to decimate sentient life on the planets they attacked. Jaya’s first mission as a new Shaman Justice is to lead an expedition into the perilous Ceph Sector...Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration first-contact invasion space-opera space-travel action-adventure -
Aurora's End by Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsThe squad you love is out of time. Prepare for the thrilling finale in the epic, best-selling Aurora Cycle series about a band of unlikely heroes who just might be the galaxy's last hope for survival.Is this the end? What happens when you ask a bunch of losers, discipline cases, and misfits to save the galaxy from an ancient evil? The ancient evil wins, of course. Wait. . . . Not. So. Fast... -
Zero Recall by Sara King
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsIt's been 53 turns after the legendary Commander Zero graduated as a Congie warrior. Joe, now a battle hardened veteran, has spent his life surviving wars he had no right to survive. Yet his real test is coming: New forces are conspiring to start a great war like the universe has never seen, one that would rip apart the very fabric of Congress...Categorized as:
aliens exploration first-contact invasion space-opera space-travel action-adventure book -
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Bane of Worlds by Anthony James
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsFollowing his successful mission to recover the missing warship ESS Crimson, Captain John Duggan finds himself unredeemed in the eyes of his superiors. His duties resume and this time he’s given something easy - escort a cargo ship to a distant planet and bring it home safely. But war is never so predictable and a straightforward mission becomes something much more important... -
I Married a Mothman by Regine Abel
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsHe’s everything she never knew she wanted.When Venus embarked on a luxury cruise, she never expected to rescue a young Promethean demi-god—or that he’d bind her as his guardian... -
The White Fleet by Jay Allan, Jeffrey Kafer
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe war is over, but the struggle continues. Tyler Barron and his spacers have set out into the unknown, deep into the Badlands, seeking to discover the empire's old tech and the secrets of its tortured history before Gaston Villieneuve and the resurgent Union can beat them to it. The White Fleet is a vast force, powerful, and crewed by the toughest veterans from the war...Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration first-contact invasion space-opera space-travel action-adventure -
Confederation by Michael R. Hicks
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn the second book of the In Her Name science fiction & fantasy series, Reza Gard has been banished from the Kreelan Empire and is once again a stranger in a strange land as he returns to the human Confederation. Befriended by a marooned Confederation naval officer leading a desperate fight against the Kreelans on a distant colony world, she reunites Reza with Nicole Carré... -
Of A Darker Void by G.S. Jennsen
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhen man and machine are one and the same, death is no longer an inevitability. But in the darkest reaches of space, neither is life.Diplomat. Rebel. Fugitive. Nika Tescarav has lived many lives, though she no longer remembers most of them...Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration family first-contact friendship invasion space-opera -
Roklyn by Alana Khan
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsTo stay alive, Roklyn buried his emotions. Can he risk everything to trust the ailing Earth girl he’s sworn to protect?PaigeI’ve come to this medical center to save my life. My grumpy but intriguing bodyguard can receive services also, but only if he’s my “mate... -
Aurora Burning by Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsOur heroes are back… kind of. From the bestselling co-authors of the Illuminae Files comes the second book in the epic series about a squad of misfits, losers, and discipline cases who just might be the galaxy’s best hope for survival.First, the bad news: an ancient evil—you know, your standard consume-all-life-in-the-galaxy deal—is about to be unleashed... -
Pursuit of the Bold by Jamie McFarlane
Rated: 4.51 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA world-shattering invasion. A long-dead rumor. A death-defying risk to save humanity. If the Kroerak Empire had a soft spot, Liam Hoffen would have found it by now. After years of fighting the blasted bug invaders, he’s all but thrown in the towel. To make matters worse, intercepted enemy plans show the empire’s next attack could wipe them off the map...Categorized as:
aliens exploration first-contact invasion space-opera space-travel action-adventure adult -
Incursion at Elea Station by Jamie McFarlane
Rated: 4.54 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsAn alien invasion. A home-world destroyed. Can an embattled captain survive a daring fight to save the remnant of his colony? Privateer Liam Hoffen can’t wait to reunite with his family. But after he emerges from a 20-year stasis, he’s shocked to discover a hostile enemy has razed his home and exiled his people...Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration invasion space-opera space-travel action-adventure adult -
Deep Space - Hidden Terror by Laurence E. Dahners
Rated: 4.62 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsThis hard Sci-Fi novel is the sixth book in the “Stasis Stories,” a series of optimistic tales of technological innovation in the near future. They follow Kaem Seba, a young man with extraordinary math talents. With his friends, he’s come up with a device that allows time to be stopped within limited volumes of space-time... -
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Lyel by Ava Ross
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAn alien warrior seeking redemption meets a captured Earth woman being treated as a pet. Will their love survive in a hostile world?Kidnapped by four-armed, blue skinned aliens, Isabelle "Isi" is sold to the head of the Al'kieern kidnapping operation. Isi has accepted she'll live and die as a songbird pet to the queen. If nothing else, performing for the Al'kieern beats being sold as a breeder... -
Andromeda Rising by Jay Allan
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA Hero is Born The Gut. An industrial hell. The foulest and most decrepit slum on Parsephon. A nest of human misery, where hope is word long forgotten, and the dead are carted away every day. It is the worst pit in the Confederation’s great industrial machine known as the Iron Belt...Categorized as:
space-opera aliens invasion exploration first-contact space-travel colonization sci-fi -
Rogue World by B.V. Larson
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsThe Galactics arrived with their Battle Fleet in 2052. Rather than being exterminated under a barrage of hell-burners, Earth joined a vast Empire that spanned the Milky Way. Today, Battle Fleet 921 is returning to Earth. It hasn’t been seen by human eyes since our blissful day of Annexation...Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration first-contact humor invasion space-opera space-travel -
To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 45 ratingsIn her new novella, Sunday Times best-selling author Becky Chambers imagines a future in which, instead of terraforming planets to sustain human life, explorers of the solar system instead transform themselves. Ariadne is one such explorer. As an astronaut on an extrasolar research vessel, she and her fellow crewmates sleep between worlds and wake up each time with different features... -
Judgment of the Bold by Jamie McFarlane
Rated: 4.49 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA retreating alien enemy. Civilization's new beginning. A terrifying threat could postpone his victory lap… forever. After discovering an indefensible weapon, Liam thought he had the Kroerak invaders on the ropes. But as he and his crew root out the last alien strongholds, he comes face to face with the staggering damage the invaders wreaked on the crew’s now-inhospitable homeworlds...Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration space-opera space-travel action-adventure adult audiobook -
Olympus by Ivan Kal
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratings-NOTE- This book has been professionally re-edited as of March 17, 2016 The year is 2081. Earth is recovering from a devastating nuclear war. An age of technological advancement. A find at the bottom of the Ocean. A man driven by a dream. The time for humanity to reach to the stars is now. A find provides Tomas Klein with the tools to speed up his timetable and execute his plans... -
A Pocket Full of Lies by Kirsten Beyer, Martin Frei
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe Full Circle Fleet has resumed its unprecedented explorations of the Delta Quadrant and former Borg space. Commander Liam O'Donnell of the U.S.S. Demeter makes a promising first contact with the Nihydron—humanoid aliens that are collectors of history...Categorized as:
aliens exploration first-contact invasion space-opera space-travel action-adventure adult -
Escaping Fate by Regine Abel
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsEnslaved. Exploited. Hunted.Born and raised on a slavers ship, Amalia is one of the rare survivors of the Veredian race. Like all Veredian females, Amalia possesses a unique psi ability which makes her the prized pet of her master Gruuk. She escapes to Xelix Prime, a warrior planet where slavery is prohibited...Categorized as:
aliens colonization female-mc first-contact humor invasion multi-pov action-adventure -
Invasion by Jay Allan
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWar…like none that has come before. The Hegemony has launched the invasion Tyler Barron and his Confederation comrades have feared, and all the Rim is ablaze with the fires of war and destruction. The Hegemony has brought its vast fleets, its advanced technology, and its endless legions of grim cyborg warriors to impose its system of rigid genetic hierarchy over all humanity on the Rim...Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration first-contact invasion space-opera space-travel action-adventure -
Black Dawn by Jay Allan
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWar is coming, darker and more terrible than any that have come before. The Hegemony is coming to impose its brutal system of genetic supremacy on the Confederation and the other nations on the Rim, to make its elite Masters the unchallenged rulers of all human habitation in the galaxy...Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration first-contact invasion space-opera space-travel action-adventure -
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Field of Dishonor by David Weber
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsHONOR BETRAYEDThe People's Republic of Haven's sneak attack on the Kingdom of Manticore has failed. The Peeps are in disarray, their leaders fighting for power in bloody revolution, and the Royal Manticoran Navy stands victorious.But Manticore has domestic problems of its own, and success can be more treacherous than defeat for Honor Harrington... -
The Fractured Dark by Megan E. O'Keefe
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsDying planets, dangerous conspiracies, and secret romance abound in the second installment of the Devoured Worlds trilogy by award-winning author Megan E. O'Keefe. Naira and Tarquin have escaped vicious counter-revolutionaries, misprinted monsters, and the pull of a dying planet... -
Chasing the Shadows by Maria V. Snyder
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsYear 2522. Lyra Daniels is dead.Okay, so I only died for sixty-six seconds. But when I came back to life, I got a brand new name and a snazzy new uniform. Go me! Seriously, though, it's very important that Lyra Daniels stays dead, at least as far as my ex-friend Jarren, the murdering looter, knows.While dying is the scariest thing that's happened to me, it morphed my worming skills...Categorized as:
aliens family first-contact invasion space-opera space-travel action-adventure archaeology -
Home World by B.V. Larson
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThe Galactics arrived with their Battle Fleet in 2052. Rather than being exterminated under a barrage of hell-burners, Earth joined a vast Empire that spanned the Milky Way. When the Earth is invaded by a rival empire, James McGill’s legion must defend the Home World. The top brass has complex plans, but none of that matters much to McGill, who chooses his own unique path...Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration first-contact invasion space-opera space-travel action-adventure -
Final Battle by Michael R. Hicks
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsFollowing Confederation, Final Battle is the last book in the saga of Reza Gard. Reza is caught up in a daring plot to assassinate the Confederation President, even as something goes terribly wrong in the Empire and its warriors lose their will to fight. Reunited with Tesh-Dar, Reza and his friends fight to save the woman he loves, with the fate of the Empire and Humanity hanging in the balance... -
Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsAn all-time science fiction classic, Rendezvous with Rama is also one of Clarke's best novels--it won the Campbell, Hugo, Jupiter, and Nebula Awards. A huge, mysterious, cylindrical object appears in space, swooping in toward the sun. The citizens of the solar system send a ship to investigate before the enigmatic craft, called Rama, disappears...Categorized as:
aliens drama exploration first-contact invasion space-opera space-travel 20th-century -
Death World by B.V. Larson
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsThe Galactics arrived with their Battle Fleet in 2052. Rather than being exterminated under a barrage of hell-burners, Earth joined a vast Empire that spanned the Milky Way. Our only worthwhile trade goods are our infamous mercenary legions, elite troops we sell to the highest alien bidder. In the fifth book of the Undying Mercenaries series, James McGill meets new challenges...Categorized as:
aliens colonization first-contact invasion space-opera space-travel action-adventure adult -
Jo's Journey by S.E. Smith
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsJo Strauss was committed to two things in her life – her family and her life as an acrobat/high-wire performer. She takes both very serious. Her life was orderly, in control, and she was finally settling down in one place so she could spend more time with her parents instead of moving all over the world every few weeks... -
Vartan by Alana Khan
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBorn in space. Raised as a pet. LyraI’ve never worn clothes, held a fork, or made a decision in my life. When my old master dies, I’m put up for auction and sold to the highest bidder. I expected my life to continue in the way it had always been—kneeling at my master’s feet—but instead, I’m told I’m now free.I should feel grateful, but I’m terrified. Pleasing him becomes my new desire...Categorized as:
aliens female-mc first-contact invasion multi-pov space-travel action-adventure adult -
Renegades by K. Gorman
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe Shadows have taken over half of the system, and Karin is the only one who can fight back.Genetically engineered from birth, Karin Makos’s powers have made her the Alliance’s most wanted person. With her sister still missing, and only a cryptic notebook left behind for clues, the mystery of her past is going to take a lot more time and resources than they have to unravel it...Categorized as:
aliens colonization female-mc first-contact space-opera action-adventure adult audiobook -
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Wrage by Alana Khan
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsElyse is convinced only drunkards and children tell the truth, and believes the insults Wrage hurled at her were unforgivable. Except no one told him the local brew was ten times more potent to his race than any other... -
Taken by Harmony Raines
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsChrissi always dreamed of being an astronaut, just like her dad, devoting her whole life to Operation Saviour, the human race’s last ditch attempt to find a new home. But days before her first launch, the project was cancelled, leaving her to pick up the pieces of her life. All thanks to the arrival of the Karal...Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration first-contact invasion space-travel action-adventure adult -
Caveman Alien’s Prize by Calista Skye
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsHe's a nightmare of violence and danger.And he's about to win a prize for it: me.JinxNobody said being abducted by aliens and dumped on a dinosaur planet would be fun.But we five Earth girls are surviving so far, squeezed between two rival tribes of fierce cavemen... -
Alien in Flames by January Bell
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsI'll do anything to keep Earth safe— even marrying the alien king.When I joined the Earth Federation after the Roth alien invasion, I was put through the most intense spy training on the planet. I took a vow to do whatever necessary to protect humanity, and I meant every word.So when the opportunity presents itself to make myself the queen of the Roth and steer intergalactic history? I'm all in... -
Blood Ties by K. Gorman
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsTogether again, and ready to bring the system to its knees.Karin Makos has spent the last two months running from one thing or another—but all that's about to change. Her sister's back, and Nomiki's ready to grab their problems by the horns, throw them on their backs, and rip into them with her modified carbon steel blades...Categorized as:
space-opera aliens female-mc invasion first-contact space-travel colonization sci-fi -
Forbidden System by David Alastair Hayden
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe Benevolency UniverseA superintelligence called the Benevolence has ruled humanity for over three thousand years. Under its guidance we have spread amongst the stars and experienced an unprecedented age of peace, prosperity, and technological advancement. All of that is about the change...
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