Books like 'The Children Star'
Readers who enjoyed The Children Star by Joan Slonczewski also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
sc-fi hard sci-fi aliens first-contact classics
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Cold Eyes by Peter Cawdron
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsCOLD EYES is a FIRST CONTACT tribute to the 1974 science fiction classic, THE MOTE IN GOD'S EYE.The UN warship Magellan is twelve light-years from Earth, exploring a cold eye, a tidally-locked super-earth called Bee. At least two advanced, intelligent species evolved on the planet, but no one is waiting for them in orbit. Dali Patel has to figure out why... -
![Nightfall and Other Stories by Isaac Asimov]()
Nightfall and Other Stories by Isaac Asimov
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsA collection of early Asimov short stories, showcasing the development of the author's oeuvre. The title comes from Asimov's breakthrough short story.CONTENTS:Nightfall - Astounding, Sept 1941Green Patches - Galaxy, Nov 1950Hostess - Galaxy, May 1951Breeds There a Man . . -
![Fair Trade: An Alien Invasion Story by Mackey Chandler]()
Fair Trade: An Alien Invasion Story by Mackey Chandler
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsMost of my writing is in a series people seem to enjoy but there is a constant small crowd who say: I'd really like your take on an alien invasion story. Well this is for them. The bulk of the aliens come to Earth stories assume their vast superiority, sometimes invincibility. Sometimes they suddenly appear on the white house lawn dictating terms... -
![Visitor by C.J. Cherryh]()
Visitor by C.J. Cherryh
Rated: 4.48 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsThe seventeenth novel in Cherryh’s Foreigner space opera series, a groundbreaking tale of first contact and its consequences…The human and atevi inhabitants of Alpha Station, orbiting the world of the atevi, have picked up a signal from an alien kyo ship telling them that the ship is inbound toward Alpha... -
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![Quantum Void by Douglas Phillips]()
Quantum Void by Douglas Phillips
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsEight months after the astounding discoveries made at Fermilab… Particle physics was always an unlikely path to the stars, but with the discovery that space could be compressed, the entire galaxy had come within reach. The technology was astonishing, yet nothing compared to what humans encountered four thousand light-years from home... -
![Quantum Space by Douglas Phillips]()
Quantum Space by Douglas Phillips
Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsThis is an alternate Cover Edition for ASIN: B06ZY9T5Y5.If you liked the authenticity of The Martian, the page-turning pace of Da Vinci Code, and the inspirational world view of Arthur C. Clarke, you'll love Quantum Space.High above the windswept plains of Kazakhstan, three astronauts on board a Russian Soyuz capsule begin their reentry... -
![The Long Voyage of the Little Fleet by Mackey Chandler]()
The Long Voyage of the Little Fleet by Mackey Chandler
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn the first book of this series "Family Law", Lee's parents and their business partner Gordon found a class A habitable planet. They thought their quest as explorers was over and they'd live a life of ease. But before they could return and register their claim Lee's parents died doing a survey of the surface... -
![A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge]()
A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsAlternative Cover Edition can be found here. After thousands of years searching, humans stand on the verge of first contact with an alien race. Two human groups: the Qeng Ho, a culture of free traders, and the Emergents, a ruthless society based on the technological enslavement of minds.The group that opens trade with the aliens will reap unimaginable riches... -
![Omnia by S.H. Jucha]()
Omnia by S.H. Jucha
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsAlex Racine, who led an elite group of humans and SADEs (self-ware digital entities), left the newly discovered planet of Celus-5 under difficult circumstances. Few of the Harakens with Alex thought there was little he could do to bring peace to the embroiled planet... -
![Quantum Entangled: A Quantum Series Mystery by Douglas Phillips]()
Quantum Entangled: A Quantum Series Mystery by Douglas Phillips
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsTwenty-three intelligent species. One ancient mystery. And two humans thrust into the middle.Daniel Rice hasn’t felt right since his return from a dystopian future now extinguished. Curious dreams repeat with detailed precision. A voice - or something - seems to be calling him. His problem isn’t medical, it’s not even scientific, and it’s driving his wife crazy... -
![Celus-5 by S.H. Jucha]()
Celus-5 by S.H. Jucha
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFor the Sojourn’s initial mission, the Haraken explorer ship undertakes the investigation of Celus-5, a world identified by Willem, a SADE (self-aware digital entity), and his team of scientists, as the best prospect for a new colony.What should be a routine survey mission becomes a disaster. To the Harakens’ surprise, they discover, not one, but two alien species engaged in conflict... -
![Conspirator by C.J. Cherryh]()
Conspirator by C.J. Cherryh
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFirst in a brand-new "Foreigner" trilogy from Hugo Award winning author C. J. Cherryh. Cajeiri is the young son of the powerful leader of the Western Association-and he has become a target for forces bent on destroying his father's rule. For Cajeiri is the first "ateva" youth to have lived in a human environment... -
![Allotropes by Laurence E. Dahners]()
Allotropes by Laurence E. Dahners
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratings“Allotropes" is the eighth in a series of near future SciFi/Thrillers whose young heroine Ell Donsaii has a nerve mutation which has made her a genius as well as an athletic phenomenon.In “Allotropes,” she finds even more uses for the quantum entangled wormholes that she discovered... -
![Xenophobia by Peter Cawdron]()
Xenophobia by Peter Cawdron
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsXenophobia is set in Malawi, Africa, with US soldiers acting as peacekeepers to stop a civil war erupting. When an alien spacecraft arrives in orbit, America is thrown into turmoil and US troops are withdrawn from hotspots around the globe to provide support at home. Malawi descends into chaos... -
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![By Other Means by Evan Currie]()
By Other Means by Evan Currie
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe Hayden War has ended and now SOLCOM and the Alliance are face to face in talks, but neither side has the slightest idea what happened in the ultimate battle of the war... -
![Sol by S.H. Jucha]()
Sol by S.H. Jucha
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsSol’s warships paid the ultimate price for threatening the Haraken and New Terran worlds. Now, Haraken President Alex Racine and his Méridien partner, Renée de Guirnon, are engaged in a desperate gamble to stop a war between their worlds and United Earth’s (UE) massive forces before it starts... -
![Wherever Seeds May Fall by Peter Cawdron]()
Wherever Seeds May Fall by Peter Cawdron
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsAstronomers from around the world watch in awe as an extrasolar comet approaches Saturn, being drawn in by its immense gravity. When the comet grazes the planet rather than plunging beneath the clouds, speculation is rife... -
![Protector by C.J. Cherryh]()
Protector by C.J. Cherryh
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIt's coming up on Cajeiri's birthday. The boy has been promised he can have the young human children he knew from his voyage sent down from the space station for a two week stay. But there's far a darker business going on in the background--a major split compromising the Assassins' Guild, which furnishes security and law enforcement to the whole continent... -
![Peacemaker by C.J. Cherryh]()
Peacemaker by C.J. Cherryh
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsAt last—Cajeiri has his young guests from the starship, three young folk entranced by weather and trees and creatures with minds of their own. It’s all he dreamed of..Categorized as:
aliens first-contact action-adventure adult audiobook book colonization female-author -
![The Long-Range War by Christopher G. Nuttall]()
The Long-Range War by Christopher G. Nuttall
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe gloves have finally come off ... The Tokomak, the unquestioned masters of the galaxy, have dispatched a massive fleet to crush the Solar Union - and the fledgling Galactic Alliance - before the human race and its alien allies can tear the galactic order asunder. Hundreds of thousands of starships under the command of an alien tactical genius, bent on exterminating the entire human race .. -
![Intruder by C.J. Cherryh]()
Intruder by C.J. Cherryh
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe civil war among the alien atevi has ended. Tabini-aiji, powerful ruler of the Western Association, along with Cajeiri his son and heir, and his human paidhi, Bren Cameron, have returned to the Bujavid, their seat of power.But factions that remain loyal to the opposition are still present, and the danger these rebels pose is far from over... -
![Amplitude by Dean M. Cole]()
Amplitude by Dean M. Cole
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsComplete the Dimension Space Trilogy Angela’s reset bought us a new chance, but with the event set to repeat itself, she and Vaughn must fight separate battles to save their comrades. In Houston, Director Randal McCree races against the clock as he frantically struggles to save a scrabbled together team... -
![Deep Black (Infinite Sky #1) by Samuel Best]()
Deep Black (Infinite Sky #1) by Samuel Best
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsTwo crews return to Titan. Who will survive?Titan. Sixth moon of Saturn. A deadly enigma harboring the greatest secret in the history of humankind.In the wake of the first mission, two companies with very different goals plot a return to that distant moon. Their ships are safer, their technology has improved…and they want answers... -
![The Artifact by Peter Cawdron]()
The Artifact by Peter Cawdron
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFive hundred miles from the Mediterranean, deep in the interior of Libya, lost in the heart of the Sahara itself, lies an oasis trapped in the past. With no surface water, Harat Zuwayyah barely supports any life at all. The scorching wind howls across the desert, driving the sand and threatening to bury the village. Professor Susan Taylor excavates an Egyptian tomb dated to prehistoric times... -
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![The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle]()
The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsIn 3016, the 2nd Empire of Man spans hundreds of star systems, thanks to faster-than-light Alderson Drive. Intelligent beings are finally found from the Mote, an isolated star in a thick dust cloud. The bottled-up ancient civilization, at least one million years old, are welcoming, kind, yet evasive, with a dark problem they have not solved in over a million years... -
![Prelude to Extinction by Andreas Karpf]()
Prelude to Extinction by Andreas Karpf
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsEarth's first interstellar mission -- An alien colony in ruins -- Their fight for survival has only just begun.When Jack Harrison climbed down the short ladder from the airlock and stepped onto the debris covered soil, the ground crackled with the sound of dried leaves and twigs... -
![Unidentified: A Science-Fiction Thriller by Douglas E. Richards, Dan Bittner]()
Unidentified: A Science-Fiction Thriller by Douglas E. Richards, Dan Bittner
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsUFOs are real. When Jason Ridley discovers their shocking agenda, his actions will either transform humanity...or destroy it entirely. Unidentified details the actual evidence that UFOs are here, while offering a mind-blowing fictional take on the reasons why. A riveting pause-resister packed with nonstop action, epic ideas, and astonishing twists... -
![The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov]()
The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsIn the twenty-second century Earth obtains limitless, free energy from a source science little understands: an exchange between Earth and a parallel universe, using a process devised by the aliens. But even free energy has a price. The transference process itself will eventually lead to the destruction of the Earth's Sun--and of Earth itself...Categorized as:
aliens classics first-contact 20th-century action-adventure adult anthologies audiobook -
![Invaders by Laurence E. Dahners]()
Invaders by Laurence E. Dahners
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 15 ratings“Invaders” is about events that occur several years after those in the novel “Disc.” GSI (Gettnor Space Industries) is beginning to investigate our solar system and mine the asteroids. Aircraft and automobile companies are beginning to switch over to thrusters from their more traditional products. New uses for thrusters are popping up in the healthcare and sports industries... -
![Invader by C.J. Cherryh]()
Invader by C.J. Cherryh
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsThe first book in C.J.Cherryh's eponymous series, Foreigner, begins an epic tale of the survivors of a lost spacecraft who crash-land on a planet inhabited by a hostile, sentient alien race... -
![Waves on Mars by D.R. Swan]()
Waves on Mars by D.R. Swan
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsDooms Day, May 3, 2101, at 6:00 and twenty seconds. The alien artifact’s predicted collision with Earth by the planet-killing asteroid was fast approaching... -
![The Color of Distance by Amy Thomson]()
The Color of Distance by Amy Thomson
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsJuna is the sole survivor of a team of surveyors marooned in the dense and isolated Tendu rain forest, an uninhabitable world for humans. Her only hope for survival is total transformation--and terrifying assimilation--into the amphibian Tendu species. Juna will learn more about her own human nature than ever before... -
![Resurgence by C.J. Cherryh]()
Resurgence by C.J. Cherryh
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe twentieth book in the beloved Foreigner saga returns to the trials of diplomat Bren Cameron, as he navigates the tenuous peace he has struck between human refugees and the alien atevi.Bren Cameron, diplomat in residence, usually represents the ruler of the atevi state... -
![Phenomena by Douglas Phillips]()
Phenomena by Douglas Phillips
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsPhenomena is a story of intrigue, psychological distress, and one scientist’s quest to untangle the mysteries of human consciousness…Amelia Charron is a neuroscientist researching brain disorders. She routinely uses astonishing mind-linking technology that allows her to enter the dream world of patients... -
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![The Past Through Tomorrow: Vol. 2 by Robert A. Heinlein]()
The Past Through Tomorrow: Vol. 2 by Robert A. Heinlein
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsHere, in volume two of two volumes, are the other half of the stories, novelettes and novellas which make up Heinlein's famous Future History -- the rich, imaginative architecture of Man's destiny that many consider his greatest and most prophetic work. Heinlein wrote most of the Future History stories early in his career, between 1939 and 1941 and between 1945 and 1950... -
![Revelation: Ascendancy: Book 1 by D. Ward Cornell]()
Revelation: Ascendancy: Book 1 by D. Ward Cornell
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsFirst Contact, told from the alien's perspective. Newly edited and released. Michael Baker is a 35 year old, natural born, American citizen from Texas, a successful entrepreneur and amateur astronomer. The scientific community mocks him when he publishes the time and coordinates where a supernova will occur. When it occurs, people start wondering who Michael is... -
![Fuzzies and Other People by H. Beam Piper]()
Fuzzies and Other People by H. Beam Piper
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsThe friendship between human Jack Holloway and the small, golden-furred creatures of the planet Zarathustra has a profound impact on both Holloway and the Fuzzies... -
![But The Stars by Peter Cawdron]()
But The Stars by Peter Cawdron
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 11 ratings"But the stars that marked our starting fall away.We must go deeper into greater pain,for it is not permitted that we stay."–Dante Alighieri, Inferno, 1301 ADAt the start of the 22nd century, the starship Acheron is in orbit around WISE 5571 only, unbeknownst to the crew, the ship has been overrun by telepathic extraterrestrials... -
![Espero by S.H. Jucha]()
Espero by S.H. Jucha
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsTrouble infiltrated the Harakens’ capital city of Espero, in the form of New Terra criminal gangs who grew wealthy and powerful on the moons of Ganymede, hiding behind the cover of an ill-conceived mining charter. The gangs brought stims and addictive hallucinogenic drugs to Espero, distributing them to the young on the planet... -
![Dragon's Egg by Robert L. Forward]()
Dragon's Egg by Robert L. Forward
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 19 ratings"In science fiction there is only a handful of books that stretch the mind--and this is one of them."--Arthur C. Clarke In a moving story of sacrifice and triumph, human scientists establish a relationship with intelligent lifeforms--the cheela--living on Dragon's Egg, a neutron star where one Earth hour is equivalent to hundreds of their years... -
![The Invincible by Stanisław Lem]()
The Invincible by Stanisław Lem
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsThe Invincible (Polish: Niezwyciężony) is a science fiction novel by Polish writer Stanislaw Lem, published in 1964. The Invincible originally appeared as the title story in Lem's collection Niezwyciężony i inne opowiadania ("The Invincible and Other Stories")... -
![The Arachnid by Kishore Tipirneni]()
The Arachnid by Kishore Tipirneni
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsU.S. spy satellites over Asia make a disturbing discovery. An arachnid, an elephant-sized creature created by an alien race, is roaming a forest in North Korea. How did it get there? What is its purpose? Is it a weapon of some kind? When there’s complete radio silence from the North Koreans, and further satellite images show the area around the creature being evacuated, the U.S... -
![Neutron Star by Larry Niven]()
Neutron Star by Larry Niven
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsCome to Larry Niven's Universe and meet all the natives: Thrints, Bandersnatchi, Puppeteers -- and a host of other wonderfully created characters.Visit Lookitthat, Down, and Jinx -- indeed, an entire galaxy of planets found only in these stories that trace man's expansion and colonization throughout Known Space.A spectacular cycle of the future . . -
![Inherit the Stars by James P. Hogan]()
Inherit the Stars by James P. Hogan
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsTHE MAN ON THE MOON WAS DEAD. They called him Charlie. He had big eyes, abundant body hair and fairly long nostrils. His skeletal body was found clad in a bright red spacesuit, hidden in a rocky grave. They didn't know who he was, how he got there, or what had killed him... -
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![Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky]()
Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAn utterly gripping story of alien encounter and survival from Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of the Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning Children of Time.They looked into the darkness and the darkness looked back . . -
![Ships of the Line by Doug Drexler, Michael Okuda]()
Ships of the Line by Doug Drexler, Michael Okuda
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThey dared to risk it all in a skiff of reeds or leather, on a ship of wood or steel, knowing the only thing between them and certain death was their ship. To explore, to seek out what lay beyond the close and comfortable, every explorer had to embrace danger. And as they did so, what arose was a mystical bond, a passion for the ships that carried them...Categorized as:
aliens first-contact action-adventure anthologies fiction genetic-engineering hard-sci-fi invasion -
![The Jupiter Catastrophe: Hard Science Fiction by Brandon Q. Morris]()
The Jupiter Catastrophe: Hard Science Fiction by Brandon Q. Morris
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAfter a long journey to Saturn’s moon Enceladus, spaceship ILSE is on its way back to Earth, carrying crucial cargo. The crew is exhausted and wants nothing more than a quick return home. Suddenly, a chain of malfunctions puts the expedition in peril. The difficulties appear to be related to planet Jupiter, whose orbit they are crossing... -
![Latent Flaw by Andreas Karpf]()
Latent Flaw by Andreas Karpf
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIt has been three years since the crew of the Magellan returned…Earth may now be a target: “Latent Flaw” – The highly-anticipated sequel to “Prelude to Extinction.”A crescent moon set against a jeweled field of stars gracefully slid into view. The thin arc of its crater-filled landscape drew Jack’s mind in...Categorized as:
aliens first-contact sci-fi exploration fiction invasion hard-sci-fi action-adventure -
![The Long Road Home by Christopher G. Nuttall]()
The Long Road Home by Christopher G. Nuttall
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIn the wake of the Solar Union’s stunning victory over the Tokomak - the masters of the galactic community - humanity has been invited to send a diplomatic mission to the Kingdom of Harmonious Order, one of the oldest and most significant races in known space. It is an opportunity that cannot be missed, a chance to forge ties with a powerful ally... -
![The Visitor: First Contact SF by Tony Harmsworth]()
The Visitor: First Contact SF by Tony Harmsworth
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe Visitor - hard, near-future science fiction for the reader who likes realism.Specialist astronaut Evelyn Slater encounters a small, ancient, badly damaged, alien artefact (UK spelling) on the first ever space-junk elimination mission. Where was it from? Who sent it?International governments impose a security clampdown...
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