Books like 'The Starry Rift'
Readers who enjoyed The Starry Rift by James Tiptree Jr. also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary sc-fi space space-opera classics conspiracies political-intrigue
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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:
conspiracies political-intrigue space-opera 21st-century action-adventure adult aliens audiobook -
![Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card]()
Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 70 ratingsWelcome to Battleschool.Growing up is never easy. But try living on the mean streets as a child begging for food and fighting like a dog with ruthless gangs of starving kids who wouldn't hesitate to pound your skull into pulp for a scrap of apple. If Bean has learned anything on the streets, it's how to survive. And not with fists. He is way too small for that. But with brains...Categorized as:
classics space-opera 20th-century action-adventure aliens audiobook bildungsroman boarding-school -
![Born of Defiance by Sherrilyn Kenyon]()
Born of Defiance by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Rated: 4.45 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsBorn an Outcast, Talyn Batur has spent the whole of his life fighting against the prejudice of his people. An Andarion without a father is not something anyone wants to be... -
![Fated Blades by Ilona Andrews]()
Fated Blades by Ilona Andrews
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsAn uneasy alliance between warring families gets heated in this otherworldly novella from bestselling author Ilona Andrews.At first glance, the planet Rada seems like a lush paradise. But the ruling families, all boasting genetically enhanced abilities, are in constant competition for power―and none more so than the Adlers and the Baenas...Categorized as:
political-intrigue space-opera action-adventure adult aliens alpha-mc assassins audiobook -
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![A Bright Shore: The Eden Chronicles-Book One by S.M. Anderson]()
A Bright Shore: The Eden Chronicles-Book One by S.M. Anderson
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA military Sci-Fi political thriller set a short decade from now. In 2031, holding to the concept of Individual Liberty can get you killed. Western Civilization is in collapse, a process led and driven by the world's leading supposed democracies, our own included... -
![Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov]()
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..Categorized as:
classics space-opera 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook book contemporary -
![Born of Fire by Sherrilyn Kenyon]()
Born of Fire by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsIn a universe where assassins make the law, everyone lives in fear--except for Syn. Born of an illicit scandal that once rocked a dynasty, he always knew how to survive on the bloodthirsty streets. But that was then, and the future is now…Syn was raised as a tech-thief until his livelihood uncovered a truth that could end his life...Categorized as:
political-intrigue space-opera abuse action-adventure adult aliens alpha-mc assassins -
![I, Robot by Isaac Asimov]()
I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 76 ratingsThey mustn't harm a human being, they must obey human orders, and they must protect their own existence...but only so long as that doesn't violate rules one and two. With these Three Laws of Robotics, humanity embarked on a bold new era of evolution that would open up enormous possibilities - and unforeseen risks...Categorized as:
classics space-opera 20th-century action-adventure ai alternate-history anthologies audiobook -
![Miles, Mutants, and Microbes by Lois McMaster Bujold]()
Miles, Mutants, and Microbes by Lois McMaster Bujold
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsContent: Falling free Labyrinth Diplomatic immunity Miles Vorkosigan/Naismith : his life and times.Two complete novels and a short novel in one large volume:Falling Free—The Nebula Award-winning novel. Leo Graf was just your typical efficient engineer: mind your own business and do the job... -
![The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin]()
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 67 ratingsFrom the brilliant and award-winning author Ursula K. Le Guin comes a classic tale of two planets torn apart by conflict and mistrust — and the man who risks everything to reunite them.A bleak moon settled by utopian anarchists, Anarres has long been isolated from other worlds, including its mother planet, Urras—a civilization of warring nations, great poverty, and immense wealth... -
![Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card]()
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 66 ratingsAndrew "Ender" Wiggin thinks he is playing computer simulated war games; he is, in fact, engaged in something far more desperate. The result of genetic experimentation, Ender may be the military genius Earth desperately needs in a war against an alien enemy seeking to destroy all human life...Categorized as:
classics space-opera 20th-century action-adventure aliens audiobook bildungsroman book -
![The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks]()
The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 55 ratingsThe Culture--a humanoid/machine symbiotic society--has thrown up many great Game Players. One of the best is Jernau Morat Gurgeh, Player of Games, master of every board, computer and strategy. Bored with success, Gurgeh travels to the Empire of Azad, cruel & incredibly wealthy, to try their fabulous game, a game so complex, so like life itself, that the winner becomes emperor... -
![Forward the Foundation by Isaac Asimov]()
Forward the Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsLibrarian's Note: Alternate cover for this ISBN can be found hereHere, from a grand master of science fiction, is the long awaited final novel of the greatest series ever told. Completed just before his death, Forward The Foundation is the crowning achievement of a great writer's life, a stirring testament to the creative genius of Isaac Asimov...Categorized as:
classics space-opera 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook book contemporary -
![Old Man's War by John Scalzi]()
Old Man's War by John Scalzi
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 50 ratingsJohn Perry did two things on his 75th birthday. First he visited his wife's grave. Then he joined the army.The good news is that humanity finally made it into interstellar space. The bad news is that planets fit to live on are scarce-- and alien races willing to fight us for them are common. So: we fight. To defend Earth, and to stake our own claim to planetary real estate...Categorized as:
classics space-opera 21st-century action-adventure adult aliens apocalyptic audiobook -
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![2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke]()
2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 74 ratingsOn the Moon, an enigma is uncovered.So great are the implications of this discovery that for the first time men are sent out deep into our solar system.But long before their destination is reached, things begin to go horribly, inexplicably wrong...One of the greatest-selling science fiction novels of our time, this classic book will grip you to the very end... -
![The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams]()
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 66 ratingsSeconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of the The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out of work actor... -
![Dynasty of Evil by Drew Karpyshyn]()
Dynasty of Evil by Drew Karpyshyn
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsTwenty years have passed since Darth Bane, reigning Dark Lord of the Sith, demolished the ancient order devoted to the dark side and reinvented it as a circle of two: one Master to wield the power and pass on the wisdom, and one apprentice to learn, challenge, and ultimately usurp the Dark Lord in a duel to the death...Categorized as:
political-intrigue space-opera action-adventure aliens assassins audiobook book contemporary -
![Only in Death by Dan Abnett]()
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... -
![Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold]()
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...Categorized as:
political-intrigue space-opera 20th-century action-adventure adult aliens audiobook book -
![Columbus Day by Craig Alanson]()
Columbus Day by Craig Alanson
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsWe were fighting on the wrong side, of a war we couldn't win. And that was the good news. The Ruhar hit us on Columbus Day. There we were, innocently drifting along the cosmos on our little blue marble, like the native Americans in 1492. Over the horizon come ships of a technologically advanced, aggressive culture, and BAM! There go the good old days, when humans only got killed by each other...Categorized as:
political-intrigue space-opera action-adventure adult ai aliens apocalyptic audiobook -
![Polity Agent by Neal Asher]()
Polity Agent by Neal Asher
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom eight hundred years in the future, a runcible gate is opened into the Polity and those coming through it have been sent specially to take the alien maker back to its home civilization in the Small Magellanic cloud. Once these refugees are safely through, the gate itself is rapidly shut downbecause something alien is pursuing them. The gate is then dumped into a nearby sun... -
![The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury]()
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:
classics space-opera 20th-century action-adventure aliens anthologies apocalyptic audiobook -
![Impact! by Laurence E. Dahners]()
Impact! by Laurence E. Dahners
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 21 ratings“Impact" is the twelfth book in a series of near future SciFi/Thrillers whose heroine Ell Donsaii has a nerve mutation that makes her a genius and provides her some astonishing athletic abilities.In “Impact,” Ell’s been taken off the “Most Wanted” list and is resuming somewhat of a normal life. Her old friend Phil Zabrisk is on his way to Mars... -
![Losing Mars by Peter Cawdron]()
Losing Mars by Peter Cawdron
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsDisaster strikes in orbit around Mars. A Chinese spacecraft is disabled, stranded near Phobos. Well over a hundred million miles from Earth, their only hope for rescue comes from the American base on the edge of the Vallis Marineris on the surface of Mars... -
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![Foundation and Earth by Isaac Asimov]()
Foundation and Earth by Isaac Asimov
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsFOUNDATIONS'S END?Centuries after the fall of the First Galactic Empire, Mankind's destiny lay in the hands of Golan Trevize, former Councilman of the First Foundation. Reluctantly he chose the mental unity of Galaxia as the only alternative to a future of unending chaos.But Mankind as massmind was not an idea Trevize was comfortable with... -
![When the People Fell by Cordwainer Smith]()
When the People Fell by Cordwainer Smith
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsA sweeping saga of the centuries to come, from the new dark age that followed a global war, to the new civilization that arose from the ashes to colonize the stars...Categorized as:
space-opera 20th-century action-adventure adult anthologies contemporary fiction pulp -
![Halo: Ghosts of Onyx by Eric S. Nylund]()
Halo: Ghosts of Onyx by Eric S. Nylund
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsContinuing the saga of the award-winning Xbox(TM) game!The Spartan-II program has gone public. Tales of super-soldiers fending off thousands of Covenant attacks have become the stuff of legend... -
![Born of Vengeance by Sherrilyn Kenyon]()
Born of Vengeance by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsA fate worse than death . . .Bastien Cabarro survived the brutal slaughter of his entire family only to have his wife pin their murders on him. Made Ravin by The League, he is now a target for their assassins-in-training to hunt and kill. The average life expectancy for such beings is six weeks...Categorized as:
political-intrigue space-opera abuse action-adventure adult aliens assassins audiobook -
![Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke]()
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... -
![Beetle in the Anthill by Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky]()
Beetle in the Anthill by Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsMaxim Kammerer is given a high-priority assignment as a security officer: track down Lev Abalkin, whose unorthodox, individualistic way of living threatens the status quo... -
![One Big Bite by Michele Mills]()
One Big Bite by Michele Mills
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratings“Who stole my lunch?” Cannibal’s carefully packed work lunches keep disappearing day after day. Only his. Grrr. Someone obviously appreciates expert cooking, but this constant thievery is about to throw him into a berserker rage. He has to track down this atrocity.“Don’t feed it,” his brothers warn, “you’ll just encourage it to scavenge... -
![Хищные вещи века. Чрезвычайные происшествия by Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky]()
Хищные вещи века. Чрезвычайные происшествия by Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratings"Мы стоим на пороге Мира Изобилия и должны быть готовы принять решение, как к этому миру относиться. Все мы вместе и каждый из нас в отдельности..." - так пишет Борис Стругацкий о повести "Хищные вещи века", которая когда-то казалась ироничной и АБСОЛЮТНО фантастической, а теперь, в наши дни, оказалась пророческой - и едва ли не реалистической!.. -
![The Carpet Makers by Andreas Eschbach]()
The Carpet Makers by Andreas Eschbach
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsSince the time of pre-history, carpetmakers tie intricate knots to form carpets for the court of the Emperor. These carpets are made from the hairs of wives and daughters; they are so detailed and fragile that each carpetmaker finishes only one single carpet in his entire lifetime.This art descends from father to son, since the beginning of time itself... -
![Infinity's Embrace by Anna Carven]()
Infinity's Embrace by Anna Carven
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsRescued from captivity by a group of rather intimidating Kordolians, Noa finds herself recovering at a strange facility in the middle of the desert. SynCorp's medical experiments have left her with an impossible ability she can't control, and nobody really seems to know how to help her. She's fragile and shattered, a mere shadow of her former self, and she has nowhere else to go...Categorized as:
political-intrigue space-opera action-adventure adult aliens alpha-mc anti-hero assassins -
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![Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers by Grant Naylor]()
Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers by Grant Naylor
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThe first lesson Lister learned about space travel was you should never try it. But Lister didn't have a choice. All he remembered was going on a birthday celebration pub crawl through London. When he came to his senses again, with nothing in his pockets but a passport in the name of Emily Berkenstein.So he did the only thing he could... -
![Burning Chrome by William Gibson]()
Burning Chrome by William Gibson
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsTen tales, from the computer-enhanced hustlers of Johnny Mnemonic to the technofetishist blues of Burning Chrome...Categorized as:
classics political-intrigue 20th-century action-adventure adult ai anthologies audiobook -
![The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi]()
The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 47 ratingsThe first novel of a new space-opera sequence set in an all-new universe by the Hugo Award-winning, New York Times-bestselling author of Redshirts and Old Man's War...Categorized as:
conspiracies political-intrigue space-opera 21st-century action-adventure adult audiobook book -
![The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin]()
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 71 ratingsA groundbreaking work of science fiction, The Left Hand of Darkness tells the story of a lone human emissary to Winter, an alien world whose inhabitants can choose - and change - their gender. His goal is to facilitate Winter's inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization...Categorized as:
classics space-opera 20th-century action-adventure aliens audiobook book contemporary -
![Dante by Guy Haley]()
Dante by Guy Haley
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe untold origin story of Chapter Master Dante of the Blood Angels, one of the Imperium's greatest heroes.Dante is Chapter Master of one of the noblest but most troubled Chapters of Space Marines in the Imperium: the Blood Angels. From the time of his birth in the rad-scarred wastes of Baal Secundus, he was destined for glory and strife... -
![Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie]()
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...Categorized as:
conspiracies political-intrigue space-opera 21st-century action-adventure adult ai aliens -
![Crystal Singer by Anne McCaffrey]()
Crystal Singer by Anne McCaffrey
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsHer name was Killashandra Ree. And after ten grueling years of musical training, she was still without prospects. Until she heard of the mysterious Heptite Guild who could provide careers, security, and wealth beyond imagining. The problem was, few people who landed on Ballybran ever left. But to Killashandra the risks were acceptable...Categorized as:
classics space-opera action-adventure audiobook book contemporary dragons female-author -
![Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card]()
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:
classics space-opera 20th-century action-adventure aliens audiobook book coming-of-age -
![Rebel's Quest by Gun Brooke]()
Rebel's Quest by Gun Brooke
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsOn a world torn by war, two women discover a love that defies boundaries, challenges allegiances, and that just might mean the survival—or destruction—of all they hold dear.Roshan O’Landha, a Gantharian resistance fighter, works hard to maintain her cover as a wealthy businesswoman as war on occupied Gantharat seems imminent... -
![Vidění by Vilma Kadlečková, Jaroslav Plesl]()
Vidění by Vilma Kadlečková, Jaroslav Plesl
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsKdyž se jedna z össenských Lodí vynoří z R-A prostoru mrtvá, pro Össeany je to důvod ke smutečním obřadům – a pro Pozemšťany drama. Lidé, kteří v Lodi zůstali, mají být obětováni. Při össenské mši poteče krev; a těžko Össeany přesvědčit, aby to nedělali.Lucas Hildebrandt pokusy o záchranu ignoruje... -
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![Bolo! by David Weber]()
Bolo! by David Weber
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsControlled by their tireless electronic brains which were programmed to admit no possibility of defeat, the gigantic robot tanks known as Bolos were almost indestructible, and nearly unstoppable... -
![The Voyage of the Sable Keech by Neal Asher]()
The Voyage of the Sable Keech by Neal Asher
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsSable Keech is a walking dead man, and the only one to have been resurrected by nanochanger. Did he succeed because he was infected by the Spatterjay virus, or because he came late to resurrection in a tank of seawater? An ancient hive mind, almost incomprehensible to the human race, has sent an agent to this uncertain world...Categorized as:
political-intrigue space-opera action-adventure adult ai audiobook book contemporary -
![Nightfall by Isaac Asimov, Robert Silverberg]()
Nightfall by Isaac Asimov, Robert Silverberg
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsIn 1941, Astounding Science Fiction magazine published a short story by a little-known writer named Isaac Asimov. The story was called "Nightfall", and many years later it has long been recognized as a classic, its author a legend...Categorized as:
classics space-opera 20th-century action-adventure adult aliens anthologies apocalyptic -
![The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell]()
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 55 ratingsIn 2019, humanity finds proof of extraterrestrial life when a listening post picks up exquisite singing from the planet Rakhat. While the U.N. debates possible contact missions, the Society of Jesus quietly organizes an 8-person expedition of its own. What the Jesuits find is a world so beyond comprehension that it will lead them to question what it means to be human... -
![Solaris by Stanisław Lem]()
Solaris by Stanisław Lem
Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsA classic work of science fiction by renowned Polish novelist and satirist Stanislaw Lem.When Kris Kelvin arrives at the planet Solaris to study the ocean that covers its surface, he finds a painful, hitherto unconscious memory embodied in the living physical likeness of a long-dead lover... -
![Legion by Dan Abnett]()
Legion by Dan Abnett
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 34 ratingsA Great War is coming, and it will engulf the Imperium of Man. The Space Marines of the Alpha Legion, the last and most secretive of all the Astartes brotherhoods, arrive on a heathen world to support the Imperial Army in a pacification campaign against strange and uncanny forces...Categorized as:
political-intrigue space-opera 21st-century action-adventure adult apocalyptic audiobook book
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