Books like 'Tom Swift and His Flying Lab'
Readers who enjoyed Tom Swift and His Flying Lab by Victor Appleton II also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary sc-fi mystery action / adventure military, war & conflict classics children aliens invasion first-contact
-
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... -
The Dark Forest by Liu Cixin, Eisso Post
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 68 ratingsThis is the second novel in "Remembrance of Earth’s Past", the near-future trilogy written by the China's multiple-award-winning science fiction author, Cixin Liu. In The Dark Forest, Earth is reeling from the revelation of a coming alien invasion — four centuries in the future...Categorized as:
aliens first-contact invasion 21st-century action-adventure adult apocalyptic audiobook -
Ripple by Michael C. Grumley
Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIt began in Ethiopia, hundreds of thousands of years ago. When a handful of genetic mutations caused evolution to split from the primates. And mankind was born.Now, eons later, evidence of more splits from the apes are being unearthed. And with them, a disturbing realization. Ours was only one of many.And yet we survived. But it was not by luck or chance... -
Caliban's War by James S.A. Corey
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 71 ratingsWe are not alone.On Ganymede, breadbasket of the outer planets, a Martian marine watches as her platoon is slaughtered by a monstrous supersoldier. On Earth, a high-level politician struggles to prevent interplanetary war from reigniting. And on Venus, an alien protomolecule has overrun the planet, wreaking massive, mysterious changes and threatening to spread out into the solar system...Categorized as:
aliens first-contact 21st-century action-adventure adult audiobook book conspiracies -
-
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 first-contact 21st-century action-adventure adult audiobook book colonization -
Fall of Hades by Richard Paul Evans
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsMichael and his friends try to recruit Hatch’s Electric Youth to their side as the thrilling action continues in this electrifying sixth installment of the New York Times bestselling series!Michael and the Electroclan are about to embark on their deadliest mission yet. Some of them may not make it back... -
Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 68 ratingsSo far the Foundation was safe. But there was a hidden Second Foundation to protect the first. The Mule has yet to find it, but he was getting closer all the time. The men of the Foundation sought it, too, to escape from Mule's mind control. Only Arkady, a 14 year-old girl seemed to have the answer, or did she.. -
Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 79 ratingsHumanity has colonized the solar system—Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt and beyond—but the stars are still out of our reach.Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, the Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted...Categorized as:
aliens first-contact 21st-century action-adventure adult audiobook book contemporary -
Abaddon's Gate by James S.A. Corey
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 71 ratingsAbaddon's Gate is the third book in the New York Times bestselling Expanse series. For generations, the solar system - Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt - was humanity's great frontier. Until now. The alien artefact working through its program under the clouds of Venus has emerged to build a massive structure outside the orbit of Uranus: a gate that leads into a starless dark...Categorized as:
aliens first-contact 21st-century action-adventure adult audiobook book contemporary -
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... -
Hyperion by Dan Simmons
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 73 ratingsOn the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all... -
Wolf 359 by Gabriel Urbina, Zach Valenti
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsLife's not easy for Doug Eiffel, the communications officer for the U.S.S. Hephaestus Research Station, currently on Day 448 of its orbit around red dwarf star Wolf 359. He's stuck on a scientific survey mission of indeterminate length, 7.8 light years from Earth...Categorized as:
aliens classics action-adventure alternate-history audiobook book contemporary fiction -
Cibola Burn by James S.A. Corey
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 72 ratingsThe fourth novel in James S.A. Corey’s New York Times bestselling Expanse seriesThe gates have opened the way to thousands of habitable planets, and the land rush has begun. Settlers stream out from humanity's home planets in a vast, poorly controlled flood, landing on a new world... -
The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 62 ratingsWe were in the square, in the square where I'd run, holding her, carrying her, telling her to stay alive, stay alive till we got safe, till we got to Haven so I could save her - But there weren't no safety, no safety at all, there was just him and his men...Fleeing before a relentless army, Todd has carried a desperately wounded Viola right into the hands of their worst enemy, Mayor Prentiss...Categorized as:
aliens children action-adventure apocalyptic audiobook book coming-of-age contemporary -
-
Bone Rider by J. Fally
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsRiley Cooper is on the run. Misha Tokarev, the love of his life, turned out to be an assassin for the Russian mob, and when it comes to character flaws, Riley draws the line at premeditated murder. Alien armor system McClane is also on the run, for reasons that include accidentally crashing a space ship into Earth and evading U.S. military custody... -
Sweep in Peace by Ilona Andrews
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 47 ratingsDina DeMille isn't your typical Bed and Breakfast owner. Her inn defies laws of physics, her dog is secretly a monster, and the only permanent guest of the inn is a former Galactic tyrant with a price on her head... -
Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsCordelia and Arol Vorkosigan's plans for a peaceful married life (after all the bloodshed and trials recounted in SHARDS OF HONOR) are soon shattered by the polital tumult on Barrayar. Resisting enormous pressure, they struggle to keep their family alive while while protecting the child Emperor from enemies who would murder him and assume absolute power over all of Barrayar... -
UnSouled by Neal Shusterman
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsTeens fight for their humanity in this thrilling third book in the New York Times bestselling Unwind Dystology series by Neal Shusterman.Connor and Lev are on the run after the destruction of the Graveyard, the last safe haven for AWOL unwinds... -
Among the Free by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsENOUGH GAMES.Luke Garner is a third-born in a restrictive society that allows only two children per family. Risking his life, he came out of hiding to fight against the Population Police laws. Now, in the final volume of Margaret Peterson Haddix's suspenseful Shadow Children series, Luke inadvertently sets off a rebellion that results in the overthrow of the government...Categorized as:
children action-adventure apocalyptic book children-books coming-of-age contemporary dark -
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 74 ratingsFrom "Rocket Summer" to "The Million-Year Picnic," Ray Bradbury's stories of the colonization of Mars form an eerie mesh of past and future. Written in the 1940s, the chronicles drip with nostalgic atmosphere--shady porches with tinkling pitchers of lemonade, grandfather clocks, chintz-covered sofas...Categorized as:
aliens classics first-contact 20th-century action-adventure anthologies apocalyptic audiobook -
Alien Collective by Gini Koch
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsDespite not having run for office, nor wanting to remain in office, Representative Jeff Martini is being wooed as the vice presidential running mate for a charismatic senator who seems likely to win the campaign... -
Brass Man by Neal Asher
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIan Cormac, a legendary Earth Central Security agent, the James Bond of a wealthy future, is hunting an interstellar dragon, little knowing that, far away, his competition has resurrected an horrific killing machine named "Mr. Crane" to assist in a similar hunt, ecompassing whole star systems. Mr... -
The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 45 ratingsThe time of reckoning has arrived. As a final genocidal Crusade threatens to enslave humanity forever, a new messiah has come of age. She is Aenea and she has undergone a strange apprenticeship to those known as the Others. Now her protector, Raul Endymion, one-time shepherd and convicted murderer, must help her deliver her startling message to her growing army of disciples... -
Winter World by A.G. Riddle
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsA new ice age... and a shocking discovery...will change humanity forever.In the near future, a new ice age has begun.Humanity stands on the brink of extinction.Desperate for answers, scientists send probes into the solar system to take readings. Near Mars, a probe spots a mysterious object drifting toward the Sun... -
-
The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick 4: The Minority Report by Philip K. Dick
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsMany thousands of readers consider Philip K. Dick the greatest science fiction mind on any planet. Since his untimely death in 1982, interest in Dick's works has continued to mount and his reputation has been further enhanced by a growing body of critical attention. The Philip K. Dick Award is now given annually to a distinguished work of science fiction, and the Philip K... -
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 classics first-contact invasion 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Other Side of Dawn by John Marsden
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsSince their home was invaded by enemy soldiers and transformed into a war zone, Ellie and her friends have been fighting for their lives. Now a resolution may finally be in sight. But as enemy forces close in on her hideout, Ellie discovers that the final conflict just may be the most dangerous yet. And not everyone will survive...Categorized as:
classics action-adventure apocalyptic audiobook book coming-of-age contemporary drama -
Ascension Saga: 6 - Faith, Part 3 by Grace Goodwin
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe traitor within the Jax household has been found, and the repercussions are staggering, with Faith barely surviving and their mating destroyed. But Faith has always been unpredictable—just ask her sisters— and nothing will stop her from getting what she wants…and she wants Thor. Even if it kills her... -
Ascension Saga: 7 - Destiny, Part 1 by Grace Goodwin
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsDestiny Jones is a princess with a bad attitude. She doesn’t play nice with others, she doesn’t dress up in pretty clothes, and she has absolutely zero interest in behaving like a lady. Especially when she’s so close to catching the people who tried to have her killed. Oh, and kidnapped her mother, queen of the planet Alera... -
The Reporter by Scott Sigler, Mur Lafferty
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe Reporter follows Yolanda Davenport, a reporter for Galaxy Sports Magazine, as she searches for the truth about Ju Tweedy's involvement with the murder of Grace McDermott - the incident that drove Ju to join the Ionath Krakens. The Reporter takes place between week three and week six of the 2684 Galactic Football League season, the season that encompasses The All-Pro...Categorized as:
aliens action-adventure audiobook book contemporary dystopia fiction galactic-empire -
Ascension Saga: 2 - Trinity, Part 2 by Grace Goodwin
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsLeoron of Alera has learned the truth about his new mate's identity, but landed in the hands of her enemies. The time for secrets is over... Welcome to the Interstellar Brides® all new Ascension Saga and the planet Alera, where women from Earth not only find their mates, but fight to rule the world... -
Alien Research by Gini Koch
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWhen rumors of a new super-drug surface, the FBI comes to Jeff and Kitty Katt-Martini for help. It becomes quickly apparent that the drug is merely the tip of a deadly iceberg and a much more insidious plan is underway involving Titan Security, Gaultier Enterprises, and YatesCorp... -
Alien vs. Alien by Gini Koch
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsJeff and Kitty Katt-Martini and the rest of the American Centaurion Diplomatic Corps are still recovering from their introduction to Washington D.C. politics, parties, and conspiracies. So when compromising pictures arrive, no one’s too surprised. They’re also the least of anyone’s worries... -
Unknown by Wendy Higgins
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn this first installment of NY Times bestselling author, Wendy Higgins's debut New Adult series, a frighteningly realistic apocalyptic America is brought to life, entwined with searing romantic tension that will leave you eager for more. *** Amber Tate believes the worst thing she'll suffer in life is dealing with the unrequited love she feels for her brother's best friend, Rylen Fite... -
-
Alien Diplomacy by Gini Koch
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsBeing newlyweds and new parents is challenging enough. But Jeff and Kitty Martini are also giving up their roles as super-being exterminators and Commanders in Centaurion Division while mastering the political landscape as the new heads of Centaurion's Diplomatic Corps. Enter a shadowy assassination plot and a new set of anti-alien conspirators, and nothing will ever be the same.. -
K-Pax by Gene Brewer
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsImagine a time and space traveler from another planet. One that looks human and exemplifies the ideal world he comes from, a world free from human nature's greed and cruelty. That creature would be "prot", as he calls himself, the newest patient at the Manhattan Psychiatric Institute.Prot seems to know more than he should about faster-than-the-speed-of-light-travel... -
All Systems Red by Martha Wells
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 84 ratings"As a heartless killing machine, I was a complete failure."In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety.But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern... -
The Swarm by Frank Schätzing
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFor more than two years, one book has taken over Germany's hardcover and paperback bestseller lists, reaching number one in Der Spiegel and setting off a frenzy in bookstores: The Swarm.Whales begin sinking ships. Toxic, eyeless crabs poison Long Island's water supply. The North Sea shelf collapses, killing thousands in Europe... -
Lost Time by Nathan Hystad
Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsThe Bridge was opened.The promised land is real.A seventh Token is needed.The Bridge has been triggered, but the surprises don’t end there. What Rex found on the other side was unsettling, and with fresh information, he must race against time with his new allies as they search for their salvation... -
Lost Time by Nathan Hystad
Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsThe Bridge was opened.The promised land is real.A seventh Token is needed.The Bridge has been triggered, but the surprises don’t end there. What Rex found on the other side was unsettling, and with fresh information, he must race against time with his new allies as they search for their salvation... -
Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 47 ratingsSeeking atonement for past crimes, Breq takes on a mission as captain of a troublesome new crew of Radchai soldiers, in the sequel to Ann Leckie's NYT bestselling, award-winning Ancillary Justice. A must read for fans of Ursula K. Le Guin and James S. A. Corey.Breq is a soldier who used to be a warship... -
Core’s Attack by S.E. Smith
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThrust into a deadly game…. Avery Lennox has been called many names, but bond mate was never one of them...Categorized as:
aliens first-contact invasion action-adventure adult alpha-mc alternate-history audiobook -
Lost Time by Nathan Hystad
Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe Bridge was opened.The promised land is real.A seventh Token is needed.The Bridge has been triggered, but the surprises don’t end there. What Rex found on the other side was unsettling, and with fresh information, he must race against time with his new allies as they search for their salvation... -
Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 75 ratingsNow available in mass market, the revised, definitive edition of the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning classic. In this second book in the saga set 3,000 years after the terrible war, Ender Wiggin is reviled by history as the Xenocide--the destroyer of the alien Buggers. Now, Ender tells the true story of the war and seeks to stop history from repeating itself. ..Categorized as:
aliens classics first-contact 20th-century action-adventure audiobook book coming-of-age -
-
Alien Proliferation by Gini Koch
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsAlien Super-Being Exterminator Kitty Katt is expecting her first baby. But the alien attacks are getting more dangerous, and now Kitty and her Alpha Centaurion husband, Jeff, have to find out who's behind the conspiracy to kill Kitty's secret agent mom and what caused Kitty's transformation into a superhuman-and they've got to do it all before the baby shower.. -
The Dead of Night by John Marsden
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsA few months after the first fighter jets landed in their own backyard, Ellie and her five terrified but defiant friends struggle to survive amid a baffling conflict. Their families are unreachable; the mountains are now their home. When two of them fall behind enemy lines, Ellie knows what must happen next: a rescue mission...Categorized as:
classics 20th-century action-adventure apocalyptic audiobook book coming-of-age contemporary -
Doctor Who: Dalek by Robert Shearman
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratings‘The entire Dalek race, wiped out in one second. I watched it happen. I made it happen!’ The Doctor and Rose arrive in an underground vault in Utah in the near future. The vault is filled with alien artefacts. Its billionaire owner, Henry van Statten, even has possession of a living alien creature, a mechanical monster in chains that he has named a Metaltron... -
Rozar by Sue Mercury, Sue Lyndon
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsThe otherworldly stranger is the biggest, fiercest looking alien warrior she's ever seen... and she's already agreed to become his mate.Nadia knows if she stays on Earth, her mob boss ex-husband's goons will eventually find her. When the opportunity to become a Vaxxlian Mail Order Bride arises, she can't sign up fast enough... -
The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin, Ken Liu
Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars · 47 ratingsThe Three-Body Problem is the first chance for English-speaking readers to experience the Hugo Award-winning phenomenon from China's most beloved science fiction author, Liu Cixin.Set against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens...Categorized as:
aliens classics first-contact invasion 21st-century action-adventure adult alternate-history -
Starlight by Lisa Henry
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsBrady Garrett is back in space, this time as an unwilling member of a team of humans seeking to study the alien Faceless and their technology. It’s not the first time Brady’s life has been in the hands of the Faceless leader Kai-Ren, and if there’s one thing Brady hates it’s being reminded exactly how powerless he is...
Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.