Books like 'The Imperial Stars'
Readers who enjoyed The Imperial Stars by E.E. "Doc" Smith also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
sc-fi space action / adventure mystery space-opera espionage classics political-intrigue
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Waste of Space by Stuart Gibbs, Gibson Frazier
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsTensions are running high when multibillionaire Lars Sjoburg is poisoned and demands to go home and everyone is looking to Dash Gibson to solve the case, in this third and final book in the New York Times bestselling Moon Base Alpha series.Moon Base Alpha was supposed to be an exciting place to live, but Dash didn't expect for it to be this exciting...Categorized as:
espionage political-intrigue action-adventure audiobook book children children-books fiction -
![Mountain of Mars by Glynn Stewart]()
Mountain of Mars by Glynn Stewart
Rated: 4.52 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe Mage-King of Mars is deadChaos rocks Olympus MonsA new monarch must rise – but she does not stand alone!As the celebration of the victory at Legatus cools, a shuttle accident claims the lives of the Mage-King of Mars and his heir. The Crown and the Mountain fall to the Mage-King’s daughter, seventeen-year-old Kiera Alexander...Categorized as:
espionage political-intrigue space-opera action-adventure adult aliens angst audiobook -
![Boneshaker by Joshua Dalzelle]()
Boneshaker by Joshua Dalzelle
Rated: 4.53 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsMarine First Lieutenant Jacob Brown is bored.For months he's been sitting around on an alien planet, waiting for command to recall his scout team so they could rest and be re-outfitted. The team went through hell during their previous mission, losing both their commanding officer and their ship...Categorized as:
espionage political-intrigue space-opera action-adventure adult aliens book colonization -
![Sword of Mars by Glynn Stewart]()
Sword of Mars by Glynn Stewart
Rated: 4.49 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA defector with a dangerous leadA chance to speak for the silentA perilous quest into enemy starsWhen the star system of Legatus was preparing to secede from the Protectorate of the Mage-King of Mars, it was the secret agents of the Legatan Military Intelligence Directorate that laid the groundwork and fought the covert war to make it happen...Categorized as:
espionage political-intrigue space-opera action-adventure adult aliens angst audiobook -
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![To Stand Defiant by Glynn Stewart]()
To Stand Defiant by Glynn Stewart
Rated: 4.45 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsTrapped between warlordsThe choice is simple:Capitulation…or defiance!From the Solar System itself, Imperator James Calvin Walkingstick prepares the remaining fleets of the Commonwealth for a desperate and brutal campaign to retake their borders and unify humanity one more... -
![The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal]()
The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsMary Robinette Kowal continues her award-winning Lady Astronaut series, which began with The Calculating Stars and The Fated Sky, with The Relentless Moon.The Earth is coming to the boiling point as the climate disaster of the Meteor strike becomes more and more clear, but the political situation is already overheated. Riots and sabotage plague the space program... -
![Vorkosigan's Game: The Vor Game \ Borders of Infinity by Lois McMaster Bujold]()
Vorkosigan's Game: The Vor Game \ Borders of Infinity by Lois McMaster Bujold
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsOmnibus of The Vor Game and the novella "Borders of Infinity"... -
![Foundation's Edge by Isaac Asimov]()
Foundation's Edge by Isaac Asimov
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsAt last, the costly and bitter war between the two Foundations had come to an end. The scientists of the First Foundation had proved victorious; and now they return to Hari Seldon's long-established plan to build a new Empire on the ruins of the old. But rumors persist that the Second Foundation is not destroyed after all—and that its still-defiant survivors are preparing their revenge... -
![Space Case by Stuart Gibbs]()
Space Case by Stuart Gibbs
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsIt’s a murder mystery on the moon in this humorous and suspenseful space adventure from the author of Belly Up and Spy School that The New York Times Book Review called “a delightful and brilliantly constructed middle grade thriller...Categorized as:
espionage political-intrigue space-opera action-adventure aliens audiobook book children -
![Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold]()
Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsA rich Komarran merchant fleet has been impounded at Graf Station, in distant Quaddiespace, after a bloody incident on the station docks involving a security officer from the convoy's Barrayaran military escort. Lord Miles Vorkosigan of Barrayar and his wife, Lady Ekaterin, have other things on their minds, such as getting home in time to attend the long-awaited births of their first children...Categorized as:
espionage political-intrigue space-opera action-adventure adult aliens audiobook book -
![Cetaganda by Lois McMaster Bujold]()
Cetaganda by Lois McMaster Bujold
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsThe latest installment in the adventures of Miles Vorkosigan. Miles and Cousin Ivan travel to Cetaganda to play the part of sprigs of nobility doing their diplomatic duty. But when the Empress of Cetaganda dies naturally, and her lifelong attendant dies unnaturally, Miles and Ivan finds themselves in the thick of it...Categorized as:
classics espionage political-intrigue space-opera 20th-century action-adventure adult aliens -
![Prelude to Foundation by Isaac Asimov]()
Prelude to Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsThis daring story of humanity’s future introduces one of the great masterworks of science fiction: the Foundation novels of Isaac Asimov. Unsurpassed for their unique blend of nonstop action, bold ideas, and extensive world-building, they chronicle the struggle of a courageous group of people to save civilization from a relentless tide of darkness and violence—beginning with one exceptional man... -
![The Worldship Humility by R.R. Haywood]()
The Worldship Humility by R.R. Haywood
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe Worldship Humility...Categorized as:
political-intrigue space-opera action-adventure adult ai audiobook book conspiracies -
![Robots and Empire by Isaac Asimov]()
Robots and Empire by Isaac Asimov
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsLong after his humiliating defeat at the hands of Earthman Elijah Baley, Keldon Amadiro embarked on a plan to destroy planet Earth. But even after his death, Baley's vision continued to guide his robot partner, R. Daneel Olivaw, who had the wisdom of a great man behind him and an indestructable will to win... -
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![The Robots of Dawn by Isaac Asimov]()
The Robots of Dawn by Isaac Asimov
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsA millennium into the future two advances have altered the course of human history: the colonization of the Galaxy and the creation of the positronic brain. Isaac Asimov's Robot novels chronicle the unlikely partnership between a New York City detective and a humanoid robot who must learn to work together... -
![The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold]()
The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsHugo Award Winner! Miles Vorkosigan graduates from the Academy, joins a mutiny, is placed under house arrest, goes on a secret mission, reconnects with his loyal Dendarii Mercenaries, rescues his Emperor, and thwarts an interstellar war. Situation normal, if you're Miles...Categorized as:
classics espionage political-intrigue space-opera 20th-century action-adventure audiobook book -
![Mage-Provocateur by Glynn Stewart]()
Mage-Provocateur by Glynn Stewart
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsVengeance hunts them. Rebellion seeks them. Loyalty commands them. The shadows will fear them. Captain David Rice and Mage Maria Soprano have made their choice, signing up with the Martian Interstellar Security Agency and converting Red Falcon into a covert operations ship for the Protectorate...Categorized as:
espionage political-intrigue space-opera action-adventure adult aliens audiobook book -
![Auberon by James S.A. Corey]()
Auberon by James S.A. Corey
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsA novella set in the universe of James S. A. Corey’s NYT-bestselling Expanse series, Auberon explores a new and alien world and the age-old dangers that humanity has carried with it to the stars. Now a Prime Original series.Auberon is one of the first and most important colony worlds in humanity’s reach, and the new conquering faction has come to claim it...Categorized as:
political-intrigue space-opera 21st-century action-adventure adult aliens audiobook book -
![Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold]()
Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsKomarr could be a garden with a thousand more years' work, or an uninhabitable wasteland if the terraforming fails. Now, the solar mirror vital to the terraforming of the conquered planet has been shattered by a ship hurtling off course. The Emperor of Barrayar sends his newest imperial auditor, Lord Miles Vorkosigan, to find out why...Categorized as:
espionage political-intrigue space-opera 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook book -
![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... -
![Agents of Mars by Glynn Stewart]()
Agents of Mars by Glynn Stewart
Rated: 4.41 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsAn enemy hidden in the shadowsA crack in the armor of secrecyOne chance to find an answerCaptain David Rice and the crew of Red Falcon have spent two years infiltrating the arms smuggling underworld of the Protectorate of the Mage-King of Mars. When the co-opted rebellion on Ardennes reveals a supply chain of weapons intended to fight Mars, this makes them the perfect team to investigate...Categorized as:
espionage political-intrigue space-opera action-adventure adult aliens audiobook book -
![The Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold]()
The Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsBetween the seemingly impossible tasks of living up to his warrior-father's legend and surmounting his own physical limitations, Miles Vorkosigan faces some truly daunting challenges. Shortly after his arrival on Beta Colony, Miles unexpectedly finds himself the owner of an obsolete freighter and in more debt than he ever thought possible...Categorized as:
classics political-intrigue space-opera 20th-century action-adventure audiobook book comedy -
![Kantovan Vault by Joel Shepherd]()
Kantovan Vault by Joel Shepherd
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe UFS Phoenix is on a mission to find a lost data-core that may contain the secret to defeating the alo-deepynine alliance. But the means to find the data-core is hidden deep in tavalai space, in a highest-security vault where the tavalai's manipulative State Department keep all their most treacherous secrets. To recover it, Phoenix must pull off the most daring heist the Spiral has ever seen... -
![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... -
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![The Icarus Hunt by Timothy Zahn]()
The Icarus Hunt by Timothy Zahn
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsSmuggler Jordan McKell has partner Ixil, an alien whose two "ferrets" ride his shoulders and telepathically exchange simple messages. They take a job on the odd-shaped ship Icarus. But the ragtag crew was found at taverns, the secret cargo sealed tight, the employer missing, and a saboteur is aboard...Categorized as:
espionage political-intrigue space-opera action-adventure aliens audiobook book epic -
![Hereticus by Dan Abnett]()
Hereticus by Dan Abnett
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsIn this concluding novel of Dan Abnett's sensational trilogy, a dark figure from the past returns to exact a cruel vengeance upon Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn... -
![A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine]()
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 50 ratingsAmbassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover that her predecessor, the previous ambassador from their small but fiercely independent mining Station, has died. But no one will admit that his death wasn't an accident—or that Mahit might be next to die, during a time of political instability in the highest echelons of the imperial court...Categorized as:
espionage political-intrigue space-opera 21st-century action-adventure adult ai aliens -
![Challenges of the Deeps by Ryk E. Spoor]()
Challenges of the Deeps by Ryk E. Spoor
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsSEQUEL TO GRAND CENTRAL ARENA AND SPHERES OF INFLUENCE. The climax of the Arenaverse adventure SF series!The Arena: a vast alien otherspace that all species were forced to enter when they discovered faster-than-light travel. The Arena: where the lives of entire species might hang in the balance in a single Challenge... -
![Blue Gemini by Mike Jenne]()
Blue Gemini by Mike Jenne
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsScott Ourecky wanted to fly—he never dreamed he'd end up in a secret military space program.The year is 1968: The Cold War is far from over, nuclear annihilation is always only a heartbeat away. America is racing the Soviet Union to land men on the Moon, a war is raging, and a pivotal presidential election looms on the horizon...Categorized as:
espionage political-intrigue action-adventure audiobook book exploration fiction historical -
![The Aleph Extraction by Dan Moren]()
The Aleph Extraction by Dan Moren
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAboard a notorious gangster's luxurious starliner, Simon Kovalic and his crew race to steal a mysterious artifact that could shift the balance of the war...Categorized as:
espionage political-intrigue space-opera action-adventure adult audiobook book cyberpunk -
![Phantom Orbit: A Thriller by David Ignatius]()
Phantom Orbit: A Thriller by David Ignatius
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA subtle and masterful novel from a prescient voice on the cutting edge of spy literature.David Ignatius is known for his uncanny ability, in novel after novel, to predict the next great national security headline. In Phantom Orbit, he presents a story both searing and topical, with stakes as far-reaching as outer space... -
![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")... -
![Tuf Voyaging by George R.R. Martin]()
Tuf Voyaging by George R.R. Martin
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsHonest space trader Haviland Tuf, the owner of the last seedship of Earth's Ecological Engineering Corps, comes to the aid of an emperiled colony struggling to cope with a variety of hostile monsters, an obsessed populace, and a dictator who unleashes plagues to get his own way... -
![The Dust of Kaku by Julia Huni]()
The Dust of Kaku by Julia Huni
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThey say you can never go home. But, you can clean it. Triana Moore, maintenance bot technician on Station Kelly-Kornienko, prefers life in orbit where the air is purified, the commute is short, and nature doesn’t get all over you. But when a minor infraction gets her sent to remedial training dirtside, she doesn’t complain... -
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![The Eighth Continent: A Hard Science Fiction Thriller by Rhett C. Bruno, Felix R. Savage]()
The Eighth Continent: A Hard Science Fiction Thriller by Rhett C. Bruno, Felix R. Savage
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratings"This stellar near-future tale masterfully fuses SF thrills with an enthralling mystery." —Kirkus ReviewNick Morrison always wanted to be an astronaut. When a startup company recruits him to build a lunar launch system at the Moon’s south pole, Nick gladly leaves behind his troubled life on Earth—but Nick doesn’t know that the company is in financial and legal trouble... -
![Into the Fire by Elizabeth Moon]()
Into the Fire by Elizabeth Moon
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn this new military sci-fi thriller from the author of Cold Welcome, space fleet commander Kylara Vatta uncovers deadly secrets on her latest mission--shedding light on her own family's past... -
![Warchild by Karin Lowachee]()
Warchild by Karin Lowachee
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe merchant ship Mukudori encompasses the whole of eight-year-old Jos's world, until a notorious pirate destroys the ship, slaughters the adults, and enslaves the children. Thus begins a desperate odyssey of terror and escape that takes Jos beyond known space to the homeworld of the strits, Earth's alien enemies. To survive, the boy must become a living weapon and a master spy...Categorized as:
espionage political-intrigue space-opera 21st-century abuse action-adventure aliens book -
![Choices of One by Timothy Zahn]()
Choices of One by Timothy Zahn
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom #1 New York Times bestselling author Timothy Zahn comes a brand-new Star Wars adventure, set in the time between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back and featuring the young Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia Organa, and the beloved Mara Jade. The fate of the Rebellion rests on Luke Skywalker’s next move... -
![Shards of Honour by Lois McMaster Bujold]()
Shards of Honour by Lois McMaster Bujold
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsWhen Cordelia Naismith and her survey crew are attacked by a renegade group from Barrayar, she is taken prisoner by Aral Vorkosigan, commander of the Barrayan ship that has been taken over by an ambitious and ruthless crew member. Aral and Cordelia survive countless mishaps while their mutual admiration and even stronger feelings emerge...Categorized as:
classics political-intrigue space-opera 20th-century action-adventure adult aliens audiobook -
![Bloodline by Claudia Gray]()
Bloodline by Claudia Gray
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsWitness the birth of the ResistanceWhen the Rebellion defeated the Empire in the skies above Endor, Leia Organa believed it was the beginning to a lasting peace. But after decades of vicious infighting and partisan gridlock in the New Republic Senate, that hope seems like a distant memory... -
![The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester]()
The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsIn a world in which the police have telepathic powers, how do you get away with murder?Ben Reichs heads a huge 24th century business empire, spanning the solar system. He is also an obsessed, driven man determined to murder a rival. To avoid capture, in a society where murderers can be detected even before they commit their crime, is the greatest challenge of his life...Categorized as:
classics space-opera 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook book contemporary -
![Killashandra by Anne McCaffrey]()
Killashandra by Anne McCaffrey
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsKillashandra Ree's life was one of catastrophic changes. She had joined the Heptite Guild to become a crystal singer, get rich, and forget her past. And at first everything went just as she had hoped. In one season on the deadly beautiful world of Ballybran, she had sung Black Crystal, grown wealthy, and met a man who made her sorrows seem unworthy of notice...Categorized as:
classics space-opera action-adventure audiobook book dragons female-author female-mc -
![Havoc by Ann Aguirre]()
Havoc by Ann Aguirre
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe Conglomerate’s most dangerous convicts have made the prison ship Perdition their home. And they will defend it…Perdition is under siege. Mercenaries have boarded the station with orders to take control of the facility—and execute the prisoners. Their commander is offering full pardons to the first five inmates willing to help the mercs complete their mission...Categorized as:
classics political-intrigue space-opera action-adventure aliens alpha-mc assassins book -
![Solo Command by Aaron Allston]()
Solo Command by Aaron Allston
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWraith Squadron: they are the Rebel Alliance's ultimate strike force. Sleek, swift, and deadly, they are the first in battle, the last line of defense. Now they must find and destroy a wily enemy more powerful than the Empire itself.Their covert mission has been a success. The enemy has been vanquished. Or so they thought... -
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![The Tar-Aiym Krang by Alan Dean Foster, Tim White]()
The Tar-Aiym Krang by Alan Dean Foster, Tim White
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThere is a prequel called For Love of Mother-Not.Moth was a beautiful planet, the only one with wings -- two great golden clouds suspended in space around it.Here was a wide-open world for any venture a man might scheme... -
![Traitor by Matthew Woodring Stover]()
Traitor by Matthew Woodring Stover
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom the depths of catastrophe, a glimmer of hope.After the capture of Coruscant, the mighty heart of the New Republic, a stunned galaxy fears that nothing can stop the Yuuzhan Vong. Still, that crushing defeat produces one small miracle: Jacen Solo is alive. Yet he can scarcely imagine himself in stranger circumstances... -
![Orphan Star by Alan Dean Foster]()
Orphan Star by Alan Dean Foster
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsOne man in the Universe holds the key to the mystery of Flinx’s past–and that man is trying to kill him!It is a strange childhood for a kid, to be adopted by the restless Mother Mastiff and raised in the bustling marketplace of Drallar. Flinx never knew the mom and dad who abandoned him years ago. In fact, his birth has always been shrouded in mystery... -
![The Defector by Chris Hadfield]()
The Defector by Chris Hadfield
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIsrael, late 1973. As the Yom Kippur War flares into life, a state-of-the-art Soviet MIG fighter is racing at breakneck speed over the arid scrublands below . . . and promptly disappears...Categorized as:
espionage political-intrigue fiction historical-fiction audiobook sci-fi mystery space -
![Aurora Blazing by Jessie Mihalik]()
Aurora Blazing by Jessie Mihalik
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsBianca von Hasenberg did her duty for High House von Hasenberg and ended up trapped in a terrible marriage. When her husband dies unexpectedly and leaves her a happy widow, she vows never to marry again. Instead, she uses her connections to save other young women. Information is power and Bianca has a network that would be the envy of the ’verse—if anyone knew about it...Categorized as:
espionage political-intrigue space-opera action-adventure adult alpha-mc angst audiobook -
![Starcross by Philip Reeve]()
Starcross by Philip Reeve
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsArt, Myrtle, and their mother accept the kind invitation of a holiday to an up-and-coming asteroid resort...Categorized as:
espionage political-intrigue space-opera action-adventure aliens alternate-history audiobook book
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