Books like 'Close to Critical'
Readers who enjoyed Close to Critical by Hal Clement also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
sc-fi hard sci-fi action / adventure other worlds aliens first-contact
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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... -
![Path of the Fury by David Weber]()
Path of the Fury by David Weber
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA space adventure with a strong female character in the tradition of Sassinak and Generation Warriors--by the bestselling author of Mutineers' Moon. The "invincible", planet-wrecking pirates made a big mistake when they raided ex-commando leader Alicia DeVries' quiet home world and murdered her family... -
![The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi]()
The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsThe Ghost Brigades are the Special Forces of the Colonial Defense Forces, elite troops created from the DNA of the dead and turned into the perfect soldiers for the CDF's toughest operations. They’re young, they’re fast and strong, and they’re totally without normal human qualms.The universe is a dangerous place for humanity—and it's about to become far more dangerous... -
![The Last Colony by John Scalzi]()
The Last Colony by John Scalzi
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsRetired from his fighting days, John Perry is now village ombudsman for a human colony on distant Huckleberry. With his wife, former Special Forces warrior Jane Sagan, he farms several acres, adjudicates local disputes, and enjoys watching his adopted daughter grow up... -
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![Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper]()
Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsThe chartered Zarathustra Company had it all their way. Their charter was for a Class III uninhabited planet, which Zarathustra was, and it meant they owned the planet lock stock and barrel. They exploited it, developed it and reaped the huge profits from it without interference from the Colonial Government... -
![Drifters' Alliance, Book 2 by Elle Casey]()
Drifters' Alliance, Book 2 by Elle Casey
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsNEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR, ELLE CASEY, brings readers Book 2 of DRIFTERS' ALLIANCE, an ongoing Science Fiction Space Opera series.Captain Cass and her crew are drifting, waiting on word from the Alliance that they’re ready to meet... -
![Gridlinked by Neal Asher]()
Gridlinked by Neal Asher
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsGridlinked is a science fiction adventure in the classic, fast-paced, action-packed tradition of Harry Harrison and Poul Anderson, with a dash of cyberpunk and a splash of Ian Fleming added to spice the mix... -
![Embassytown by China Miéville]()
Embassytown by China Miéville
Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsIn the far future, humans have colonized a distant planet, home to the enigmatic Ariekei, sentient beings famed for a language unique in the universe, one that only a few altered human ambassadors can speak.Avice Benner Cho, a human colonist, has returned to Embassytown after years of deep-space adventure...Categorized as:
aliens first-contact 21st-century action-adventure adult audiobook book colonization -
![The Gripping Hand by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle]()
The Gripping Hand by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle
Rated: 3.84 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsFor the safety of mankind, the aliens called Moties have been quarantined for 25 years (see THE MOTE IN GOD'S EYE) and are now poised to break out of their solar system and spread rapidly into humanity's space... -
![Semiosis by Sue Burke]()
Semiosis by Sue Burke
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsIn this character driven novel of first contact by debut author Sue Burke, human survival hinges on an bizarre alliance.Only mutual communication can forge an alliance with the planet's sentient species and prove that mammals are more than tools.Forced to land on a planet they aren't prepared for, human colonists rely on their limited resources to survive...Categorized as:
aliens first-contact 21st-century action-adventure adult animals apocalyptic audiobook -
![Zero World by Jason M. Hough]()
Zero World by Jason M. Hough
Rated: 3.76 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsTechnologically enhanced superspy Peter Caswell has been dispatched on a top-secret assignment unlike any he’s ever faced. A spaceship that vanished years ago has been found, along with the bodies of its murdered crew—save one. Peter’s mission is to find the missing crew member, who fled through what appears to be a tear in the fabric of space...Categorized as:
aliens action-adventure adult alternate-history alternate-universe assassins audiobook book
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