Books like 'The System of the World'
Readers who enjoyed The System of the World by Neal Stephenson also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical sc-fi alternate history action / adventure mystery historical-fiction cyberpunk steampunk industrial-era suspense
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Saving Time by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsLife is good for Team Weird, now heroes and fully fledged Time Police officers. Luke can't wait to bear arms. Jane has a date. And Matthew still hasn't had his hair cut.But Time waits for no one and neither do criminal masterminds. A major threat to the Timeline is looming, one far deadlier than mere idiots who want to change history...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction humor suspense action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook -
Hope for the Best by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe tenth book in the bestselling Chronicles of St Mary's series which follows a group of tea-soaked disaster magnets as they hurtle their way around History. If you love Jasper Fforde or Ben Aaronovitch, you won't be able to resist Jodi Taylor.You can't change History. History doesn't like it. There are always consequences.Max is no stranger to taking matters into her own hands...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor industrial-era steampunk suspense action-adventure adult alternate-history -
Hard Time by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.53 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsA time slip in Versailles, problems in the Ice Age and illegal time travellers in need of rescue. Must be a job for the Time Police. Luke, Jane and Matthew are back and ready to cause havoc, inadvertently or otherwise, in their latest adventures, moving towards the end of their grunt work and towards becoming fully fledged Time Police officers...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction humor suspense action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook -
The Toast of Time by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.57 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsOnce again, the Toast of Time falls butter side down. Dr 'Max' Maxwell prepares for her very first Christmas away from St Mary's...It's that most wonderful time of the year once more. But Max and Markham are a long way from St Mary's...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook book fiction -
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An Argumentation of Historians by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.54 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsBehind the seemingly innocuous facade of St. Mary’s Institute of Historical Research, a different kind of academic work is taking place. Just don’t call it “time travel”―these historians “investigate major historical events in contemporary time.” And they aren’t your harmless eccentrics either; a more accurate description, as they ricochet around history, might be unintentional disaster-magnets...Categorized as:
epic historical-fiction humor industrial-era steampunk suspense action-adventure adult -
Christmas Past by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe First Farrell Family Christmas Max, Leon and Matthew - together at last for Christmas at St Mary's - a time of conspicuous consumption, riotous misbehaviour and the traditional illegal Christmas jump. And this time, it's inter-generational...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor industrial-era steampunk action-adventure alternate-history audiobook book -
Another Time, Another Place by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.52 of 5 stars · 27 ratings'A great mix of British properness and humour with a large dollop of historical fun' ***** BOOK 12 IN THE INTERNATIONALLY BESTSELLING CHRONICLES OF ST MARY'S SERIESFor fans of Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Club, Jasper Fforde and Doctor Who.---'It's time, Max.' And so, a whole new chapter opens up...It's long been known that if a thing can go wrong, it will. With knobs on, usually...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor suspense action-adventure adult alpha-mc alternate-history audiobook -
The Great St Mary's Day Out by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsEveryone deserves to get away for a bit. Even the miscreants at St Mary's. Astonishingly, Dr Bairstow has declared a holiday. Even more astonishingly - he's paying for it. Needless to say, there are strings attached. They have to record the 1601 performance of Hamlet, with Shakespeare himself in the role of the Ghost. It doesn't go well, of course... -
The Long and the Short of it by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.49 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsFollow the disaster magnets of St Mary's as they hurtle around history! The ninth book in The Chronicles of St Mary's Series collects the bestselling short stories in print for the first time. When a Child is Born - A jump back to 1066 to witness the coronation of William the Conqueror goes slightly astray... -
The Ordeal of the Haunted Room by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA Christmas ghost story - Chronicles of St Mary's style! For fans of Doctor Who and Jasper Fforde...and A Christmas Carol. Where better for the annual festive jump than the chance to experience a real Victorian Christmas?On the longest night of 1895, a terrible storm rages above Harewood Hall...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor industrial-era suspense action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook -
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:
cyberpunk epic historical-fiction humor literary-fiction politics technology 20th-century -
The Steam-Pump Jump by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsNot one to let being banged up in Sick Bay stop her, Max has had a brilliant idea. But she needs Markham to execute it on her behalf. The subject of this cunning plan is Peterson, struggling with another bereavement and not doing very well. What’s needed to get him through it is sympathy, sensitivity, tact and understanding.Step forward Mr Markham, for whom sympathy, sensitivity, etc... -
A Perfect Storm by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe brand new short story in the bestselling series, The Chronicles of St Mary’s... -
The Kraken King and the Crumbling Walls by Meljean Brook
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsExperience the incredible adventure and heart-stopping romance of the Iron Seas in this thrilling steampunk tale from New York Times bestselling author Meljean Brook...Categorized as:
epic industrial-era steampunk suspense action-adventure adult alternate-history book -
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The Kraken King and the Abominable Worm by Meljean Brook
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAs they continue their expedition across Australia, Ariq is determined to stay close to Zenobia and figure out what kind of game she’s playing—even as his admiration for the enigmatic woman starts to override his suspicion...Categorized as:
industrial-era outlaws steampunk suspense action-adventure adult alternate-history book -
The Kraken King and the Fox's Den by Meljean Brook
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsExperience the incredible adventure and heart-stopping romance of the Iron Seas in this thrilling steampunk tale from New York Times bestselling author Meljean Brook...Categorized as:
epic industrial-era outlaws steampunk suspense action-adventure adult alternate-history -
Killing Time by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA ghost train, lost in Time, hurtles through the night...Two members of Team 236 are trapped on board. Not ideal under any circumstances but catastrophic when they're at each other's throats... -
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsFraa Erasmas is a young avout living in the Concent of Saunt Edhar, a sanctuary for mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers, protected from the corrupting influences of the outside "saecular" world by ancient stone, honored traditions, and complex rituals. Over the centuries, cities and governments have risen and fallen beyond the concent's walls...Categorized as:
cyberpunk epic historical-fiction industrial-era literary-fiction politics steampunk technology -
Roman Holiday by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAnother rollicking short story from the Chronicles of St Mary’s author Jodi Taylor. Question: What sort of idiot installs his mistress in his wife’s house? Especially when that mistress is Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator, Queen of Egypt and the most notorious woman of her time? Answer: Julius Caesar – poised to become King of Rome. Or as good as...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor industrial-era steampunk action-adventure adult alpha-mc alternate-history -
The Kraken King by Meljean Brook
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsA former smuggler and thief, Ariq-better known as the Kraken King-doesn't know what to make of the clever, mysterious woman he rescues from an airship besieged by marauders. Unsure if she's a spy or a pawn in someone else's game, Ariq isn't about to let her out of his sight until he finds out...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor industrial-era outlaws steampunk action-adventure adult alpha-mc -
The Gangster by C.S. Poe
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratings1881—Special Agent Gillian Hamilton, magic caster for the Federal Bureau of Magic and Steam, has recovered from injuries obtained while in Shallow Grave, Arizona. Now back in New York City, Gillian makes an arrest on New Year’s Eve that leads to information on a gangster, known only as Tick Tock, who’s perfected utilizing elemental magic ammunition...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction industrial-era steampunk suspense action-adventure adult alternate-history -
The Kraken King and the Scribbling Spinster by Meljean Brook
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA former smuggler and thief, Ariq—better known as the Kraken King—doesn’t know what to make of the clever, mysterious woman he rescues from an airship besieged by marauders... -
The Carnelian Crow by Colleen Gleason
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsEver since the debacle of the Chess Queen Enigma, Mina Holmes and Evaline Stoker have laid low, trying to settle back into their quiet lives as young ladies of London. But the Holmesian deductive abilities won't remain dormant for long, and when Mina receives a strange package from a winged, midnight visitor, she is catapulted into a new, dangerous adventure: the search for The Carnelian Crow... -
Moseh's Staff by A.W. Exley
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsAll things must come to an end... London is in the frozen grip of an unnatural winter and Queen Victoria wants answers. Cara and Nate know who - the Curator. The queen's artifact hunters just don't know what is responsible. Cara is on the trail of an ancient and powerful artifact capable of freezing a city and stirring demons. First she must confront her past and her father's history... -
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The Jackal’s House by Anna Butler
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsSequel to The Gilded ScarabSomething is stalking the Aegyptian night and endangering the archaeologists excavating the mysterious temple ruins in Abydos. But is it a vengeful ancient spirit or a very modern conspiracy…...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction humor industrial-era steampunk suspense action-adventure adult -
The Kraken King and the Inevitable Abduction by Meljean Brook
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe Kraken King has declared that Zenobia Fox is under his protection—and with her identity revealed, she needs that protection more than ever. But it comes with a price when Ariq demands that Zenobia reveal her secrets in return.Ariq wants nothing more than for Zenobia to trust him, and he knows exactly which sensual tricks will breach her defenses...Categorized as:
epic industrial-era steampunk suspense action-adventure adult alternate-history book -
Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn which Daniel Waterhouse, fearless thinker and courageous Puritan, pursues knowledge in the company of the greatest minds of Baroque-era Europe -- in a chaotic world where reason wars with the bloody ambitions of the mighty, and where catastrophe, natural or otherwise, can alter the political landscape overnight...Categorized as:
cyberpunk expert historical-fiction myths action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook -
The Very First Damned Thing by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsEver wondered how it all began?It’s two years since the final victory at the Battersea Barricades. The fighting might be finished, but for Dr Bairstow, just now setting up St Mary's, the struggle is only beginning... -
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 suspense 20th-century -
King of the Vagabonds by Neal Stephenson
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA chronicle of the breathtaking exploits of "Half-Cocked Jack" Shaftoe -- London street urchin-turned-legendary swashbuckling adventurer -- risking life and limb for fortune and love while slowly maddening from the pox. . . and Eliza, rescued by Jack from a Turkish harem to become spy, confidante, and pawn of royals in order to reinvent a contentious continent through the newborn power of finance...Categorized as:
crime cyberpunk historical-fiction myths 21st-century action-adventure adult alternate-history -
Sojourn by Jana Oliver
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsLondon, September 1888. An aged Queen Victoria rules. The threat of anarchy hovers in the air. A new kind of evil lurks in the back alleys of Whitechapel. Enter Jacynda Lassiter, a Time Rover on a mission find an overdue tourist' and return him to 2057 before he changes history. Victorian London is a dangerous place for the unwary... -
High Cotton by Joe R. Lansdale
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThis collection of Joe R. Lansdale stories represents the best of the “Lansdale” genre—a strange mixture of dark crime, even darker humor, and adventure tales. The stories are varied in setting and theme, but they are all pure Lansdale—eerie, amusing, and occasionally horrific. In “The Pit,” modern gladiators square off against one another using Roman methods... -
Peacemaker by Lindsay Buroker
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsHalf-breed tinkerer Kali McAlister doesn’t care that the gold rush has stormed into Dawson and prospectors are flooding the north—all she wants is to finish construction of her airship, so she can escape the Yukon and see the world...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor industrial-era steampunk action-adventure alternate-history book comedy -
Sherlock Holmes in Orbit by Mike Resnick, Dean Wesley Smith
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsAuthorized by Dame Jean Conan Doyle, this brand-new collection of 26 Sherlock Holmes stories takes place in Holmes' own era, in our present time, and in the future. All the tales contain some science fiction or fantasy element, and all remain true to the spirit and personality of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous and enduring creation...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction industrial-era steampunk 20th-century action-adventure adult aliens -
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Nero's Fiddle by A.W. Exley
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsOne death by spontaneous human combustion is a rare act of God. Two... is surely a freakish coincidence. Three... well, that's starting to look deliberate. Cara has a new role as Queen Victoria's artifact hunter, she's adapting to married life and living in a country manor that more closely resembles a mausoleum... -
A Girl in Time by John Birmingham, Vanessa Johansson
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsThe past is another country. A dangerous one. On the eve of a huge, breakout success, a poor but brilliant young game developer is pulled out of her world, and time itself, by a cowboy desperately searching for the daughter he lost two hundred years ago. Cady McCall is ready to be rich and famous. She’s sacrificed everything, putting her work ahead of family and friends...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor suspense technology action-adventure alternate-history audiobook book -
Hunted by Lindsay Buroker
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSelf-taught tinkerer Kali McAlister is determined to build an airship and escape the frigid Yukon forever. Unfortunately, she’s the heir to the secrets of flash gold, an alchemical energy source that tends to make her a popular target for bandits, gangsters, and pirates...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor industrial-era steampunk action-adventure alternate-history book comedy -
The Chess Queen Enigma by Colleen Gleason
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsAnd then she mouthed a word at me—an unmistakable word that told me everything I needed to know. “Checkmate.”Evaline Stoker & Mina Holmes have reluctantly agreed to act as social chaperones and undercover bodyguards for Princess Lurelia of Betrovia, who has arrived in London to deliver a letter that details the secret location of an ancient chess queen that’s been missing for centuries... -
The Queen Is Dead by Kate Locke
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsNothing lasts forever---and immortality isn't all its cracked up to be.When her brother Val gets in over his head in an investigation of Half-Blood disappearances and goes missing himself, it's up to Xandra, newly crowned Goblin Queen, to get him back and bring the atrocities to light...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction humor industrial-era steampunk suspense action-adventure alpha-mc -
Hatshepsut's Collar by A.W. Exley
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 23 ratings"Loving you is easy, it's living with you that's killing me."An ancient Egyptian artifact is driving Queen Victoria insane, and that's not top of Cara Devon's growing list of problems.Viscount Nathaniel Lyons is a man of numerous secrets, but there is one in particular that threatens his fledgling relationship with Cara...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction industrial-era myths outlaws steampunk suspense action-adventure -
Her Own Devices by Shelley Adina
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsEscaped lunatics, lost children, vengeful lords, and love. Really, the situation is becoming quite impossible.Seventeen-year-old Lady Claire Trevelyan, left alone after the Arabian Bubble financial disaster claims home and family, now leads the cleverest gang in the London underworld...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor industrial-era steampunk action-adventure alternate-history audiobook book -
The Janus Affair by Pip Ballantine, Tee Morris
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsCertainly no strangers to peculiar occurrences, agents Wellington Books and Eliza Braun are nonetheless stunned to observe a fellow passenger aboard Britain's latest hypersteam train suddenly vanish in a dazzling bolt of lightning. They soon discover this is not the only such disappearance - every case inexplicably unexamined by the Crown...Categorized as:
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Brilliant Devices by Shelley Adina
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsBook four in the Magnificent Devices steampunk series! A lady of resources has the power to change the world-if she can stay alive long enough to do it. Lady Claire Trevelyan had been looking forward to glittering balls, congenial society, and relief from pursuit during her stay with Lord and Lady Dunsmuir in the Canadas. Well, perhaps not entirely...Categorized as:
epic historical-fiction industrial-era steampunk action-adventure alternate-history audiobook book -
Mothstorm by Philip Reeve
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA sinister cloud had appeared on the edge of the Solar System, and seemed to be moving closer. Rather than sit idly by, my family and I decided that we should investigate whatever monstrous force of darkness hid within... -
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The Quantum Curators and the Fabergé Egg by Eva St. John
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsDeath or Glory – just another day in the office.When a priceless Fabergé egg comes to light everyone is after it. Neith Salah is a quantum curator. It's her mission to get the egg; she doesn’t know what it looks like, or where it is, but she knows it’s not on her earth.Julius Strathclyde lives on a parallel earth...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor suspense action-adventure adult alternate-history alternate-universe book -
The Diamond Conspiracy by Pip Ballantine, Tee Morris
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFor years, the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences has enjoyed the favor of Her Majesty the Queen. But even the oldest loyalties can turn in a moment…Having narrowly escaped the electrifying machinations of Thomas Edison, Books and Braun are looking forward to a relaxing and possibly romantic voyage home. But when Braun’s emergency signal goes off, all thoughts of recreation vanish...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor industrial-era literary-fiction steampunk action-adventure adult alpha-mc -
A Study in Ashes by Emma Jane Holloway
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsAs part of her devil’s bargain with the industrial steam barons, Evelina Cooper is finally enrolled in the Ladies’ College of London. However, she’s attending as the Gold King’s pet magician, in handcuffs and forbidden contact with even her closest relation, the detective Sherlock Holmes.Not even Niccolo, the dashing pirate captain, and his sentient airship can save her... -
Desiccated Water by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsDesiccated Water I was on my way to Peterson’s office for our Friday afternoon meeting. The one where he opens out a bottle of wine, I get out the glasses, and we both put our feet up and have a huge moan about the previous week. Sometimes the meetings are quite long... -
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 politics crime literary-fiction fiction sci-fi historical audiobook -
The Return of the Discontinued Man by Mark Hodder
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSPRING HEELED JACK IS JUMPING BACK!It's 9 p.m. on February 15, 1860, and Charles Babbage, the British Empire's most brilliant scientist, performs an experiment. Within moments, blood red snow falls from the sky and Spring Heeled Jack pops out of thin air in London's Leicester Square...
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