Books like 'The Face'
Readers who enjoyed The Face by Jack Vance also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
sc-fi space mystery action / adventure space-opera pulp crime revenge space-travel aliens
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Fields of Fire by J.N. Chaney, Terry Maggert
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsVan's next mission has begun, and at the heart of it is the power to save lives.Meanwhile, a hungry galaxy looks to a brilliant young scientist for answers, making her the most wanted person in known space.After years of research, Adayluh Creel perfects a resource to feed sixteen races--or more, all with one golden plant capable of growing on the most hostile worlds... -
A Night Without Stars by Peter F. Hamilton
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsThe planet Bienvenido is in crisis. It has finally escaped the Void, emerging into regular space. But it's millions of light-years from Commonwealth assistance, and humans are battling the Fallers for control of their world... -
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... -
Judas Unchained by Peter F. Hamilton
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsRobust, peaceful, and confident, the Commonwealth dispatched a ship to investigate the mystery of a disappearing star, only to inadvertently unleash a predatory alien species that turned on its liberators, striking hard, fast, and utterly without mercy. The Prime are the Commonwealth's worst nightmare... -
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Deception by Craig Martelle, Michael Anderle
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsLies & deceit leading to a domino of crimes.The Trans-Pacific Task Force is getting ready to deploy but they don’t have what they need. Someone’s been skimming. A contract won through mistruths. Incomplete payments limiting the army’s readiness.Colonel Marcie Walton is angry and calling anyone who will answer.Magistrate Rivka Anoa is on the job and thrown into the middle of two shooting wars... -
The Saints of Salvation by Peter F. Hamilton
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsHumanity is struggling to hold out against a hostile takeover by an alien race that claims to be on a religious mission to bring all sentient life to its God at the End of Time. But while things may look grim in the immediate aftermath of the attack, mankind is busy playing an even longer game than the aliens may have expected... -
Space Specter by Jenny Schwartz
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe Saloon Sector is the Federation’s official frontier, but beyond it lurks the Badstars. Bandits hide there. The Saloon Sector is Sheriff Max Smith’s territory. Since the revelation of his secret identity, life has changed for Max and Thelma. Their relationship is under increased pressure... -
Judgment of Mars by Glynn Stewart
Rated: 4.37 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsA war fought in the shadowsA conspiracy shattered in fireA moment of weakness… When politics are played for blood. The destruction of the secret archive of the Royal Order of Keepers on Mars has left Damien Montgomery, Hand of the Mage-King, with his enemies defeated, his lover dead—and his questions unanswered... -
The Red Admiral by C.R. Daems
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAnna's success as the Eastar NIA station chief has catapulted her into the position of Director of NIA Stations. Anna is uncomfortable with the promotion and bored. She has a master chief secretary, a lieutenant aide-de-camp, and fifteen commanders and their staff to do the work. But she suspects not all of her commanders are happy with their new, very young admiral or are doing their jobs... -
Bane of Worlds by Anthony James
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsFollowing his successful mission to recover the missing warship ESS Crimson, Captain John Duggan finds himself unredeemed in the eyes of his superiors. His duties resume and this time he’s given something easy - escort a cargo ship to a distant planet and bring it home safely. But war is never so predictable and a straightforward mission becomes something much more important... -
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... -
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:
aliens crime single-planet space-opera space-travel 20th-century action-adventure adult -
Salvation Lost by Peter F. Hamilton
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsThe comparative utopia of twenty-third century Earth is about to go dreadfully awry when a seemingly benign alien race is abruptly revealed to be one of the worst threats humanity has ever faced. Driven by an intense religious extremism, the Olyix are determined to bring everyone to their version of god as they see it... -
Slow Time Between the Stars by John Scalzi
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsAn artificial intelligence on a star-spanning mission explores the farthest horizons of human potential—and its own purpose—in a mind-bending short story by New York Times bestselling author John Scalzi.Equipped with the entirety of human knowledge, a sentient ship is launched on a last-ditch journey to find a new home for civilization. Trillions of miles. Tens of thousands of years... -
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Activated by Ell Leigh Clarke, Michael Anderle
Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn the Future, Even the Broken Can Make a Change... When Molly gets called onto a case that she is uniquely qualified for, the team discovers a little more about her past.In the race against the clock to prevent the city of Spire from being subjected to a deadly toxin, it takes both new team members and new allies working together in order to save the millions of lives... -
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... -
A Pocket Full of Lies by Kirsten Beyer, Martin Frei
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe Full Circle Fleet has resumed its unprecedented explorations of the Delta Quadrant and former Borg space. Commander Liam O'Donnell of the U.S.S. Demeter makes a promising first contact with the Nihydron—humanoid aliens that are collectors of history... -
Chains of Duty by Anthony James
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsFor Captain John Duggan, it seems like war never ends. Each success brings another mission and more death. Following events at the Helius Blackstar, Duggan is given the Space Corps’ newest warship – a heavy cruiser armed to the teeth with the latest weapons and technology... -
Orion Lost by Alastair Chisholm
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAfter a catastrophic Unknown Event leaves the colony ship Orion stranded deep in space, it's up to thirteen-year-old Beth and her friends to navigate through treacherous and uncharted territory and reach safety... -
Reconnaissance in Force by Terry Mixon
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWhen going to war, it pays to know your enemy. Particularly when they can crush you like a bug.Princess Kelsey Bandar has one slim chance to steal the tech her people needs to survive. Only a bold strike deep into enemy space keeps the New Terran Empire alive.Success gives them a chance. Failure dooms them to death and worse.Kelsey and her friends once again risk everything for their people... -
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:
crime single-planet space-opera space-travel 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
Méridien by S.H. Jucha
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe Méridiens are fleeing to their far colonies—and they have reason to run. Over the course of decades, they have lost hundreds of ships, billions of people, and seven Confederation colonies to an alien enemy: an advancing swarm of silver ships transported in the bowels of a gigantic, spherical vessel... -
Discovery by Ken Lozito
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsExploring New Earth should be a thrilling undertaking. Instead, the more the colonists learn about the planet, the more alarmed they become. Alien ruins hint at a species who fought great wars among themselves and disappeared centuries ago.When Connor Gates discovers a hidden bunker, he finds something he never expected... -
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... -
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The Dreaming Void by Peter F. Hamilton
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsThe year is 3589, fifteen hundred years after Commonwealth forces barely staved off human extinction in a war against the alien Prime. Now an even greater danger has surfaced: a threat to the existence of the universe itself... -
Orion Uncharted by J.N. Chaney, Jonathan Yanez
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe Orion has fallen.After barely escaping with their lives, the crew of the Orion has scattered across an unknown world. With a diminishing hope of returning home, they have no choice but to band together.But between the local wildlife, lack of supplies, a missing crew, and a strange, ominous door that can't be opened, Dean and his new friends will need everything at their disposal to survive... -
Mere Mortals by David Mack
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsOn Earth, Federation President Nanietta Bacco gathers allies and adversaries to form a desperate last line of defense against an impending Borg invasion. In deep space, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Captain Ezri Dax join together to cut off the Collective's route to the Alpha Quadrant... -
Junkyard by Lindsay Buroker
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsMcCall Richter works as a skip tracer, tracking down criminals, con men, and people who stop making payments on their fancy new spaceships. Her job description says nothing about locating vast quantities of stolen maple syrup, but thanks to her helpful new android employee, she finds herself tramping through a “sugar house” on a frosty moon full of suspicious characters... -
Hail the Hero by Timothy Ellis
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThis is an alternate cover edition for ASIN: B015AYA7CGAs the war comes to an end, Jonathon Hunter sees the good and bad sides to being considered the hero, but which is which? All he wants to do is go home, but home isn’t any closer than it was a month ago, and this time, he's going the long way around... -
Chaos Vector by Megan E. O'Keefe
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsDazzling space battles, intergalactic politics, and rogue AI collide in the second book in this epic space opera by award-winning author Megan O'Keefe.Sanda and Tomas are fleeing for their lives after letting the most dangerous smartship in the universe run free... -
Crimson Tempest by Anthony James
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFifty-three years after it vanished, Earth's only Super-Devastator warship, the ESS Crimson sends out a distress signal... Humanity is fighting against an implacable foe. The Ghasts – a ruthless alien race - seem hell-bent on wiping out mankind. They have a vast warfleet and their technology is advancing at a terrible rate... -
Rare Earth by Kurt Allan, Derek Shoales
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA lost mining crew, 400 million miles from Earth. A retired miner journeys to find out why. “There’s something out there…” Waldo Packwood has had a rough time of things lately. He’s lost his job, his friends, and finally his family. At 50 years old, he’s living alone in a small apartment wondering what’s happened to his life... -
Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe modern classic of space opera that began with Children of Time continues in this extraordinary novel of humanity's battle for survival on a terraformed planet. Earth failed. In a desperate bid to escape, the spaceship Enkidu and its captain, Heorest Holt, carried its precious human cargo to a potential new paradise... -
A Gift of Time by Jerry Merritt
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWhen Micajah Fenton discovers a crater in his front yard with a broken time glider in the bottom and a naked, virtual woman on his lawn, he delays his plans to kill himself. While helping repair the marooned time traveler’s glider, Cager realizes it can return him to his past to correct a mistake that had haunted him his entire life... -
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Demon by John Varley
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsISBN moved from less recent editionThe satellite-sized alien Gaea has gone completely insane. She has transformed her love of old movies into monstrous realities. She is Marilyn Monroe. She is King Kong. And now she must be destroyed...Categorized as:
aliens space-opera space-travel action-adventure adult anthologies audiobook female-mc -
Winterfair Gifts by Lois McMaster Bujold
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsThis Hugo-nominated novella adds a delightful extra chapter to Bujold's Vorkosigan series, describing the wedding of Miles and Ekaterin and events leading up to it. In the festive season of Winterfair on the planet Barrayar, Lord Miles Vorkosigan is making elaborate preparations for his wedding... -
Into the Black by Evan Currie
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsThis edition of Odyssey One has been completely edited and remastered to correct the typos and content issues that reviewers commented on in the original edition. Beyond the confines of our small world, far from the glow of our star, lies a galaxy and universe much larger and more varied than anyone on Earth can possibly imagine... -
The Honor of the Queen by David Weber
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsIt's hard to give peace a chance when the other side regards war as a prelude to conquest. That's why Manticore needs allies against Haven, and planet Grayson is placed to make a good ally. But the Foreign Office overlooked a cultural difference when they sent Honor Harrington to carry the flag... -
Genesis by Ken Lozito
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsA mission gone wrong. Innocent lives have been lost. Escaping wrongful imprisonment wasn’t something Connor had in mind, but being put into stasis aboard Earth’s first interstellar colony ship was something he couldn’t have prepared for. For three hundred thousand colonists, the new colony brings the promise of a fresh start…a second chance... -
The Gangster by Scott Sigler
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsTHE GANGSTER is the sixth book in the Galactic Football League series.The ongoing mental battle between star quarterback Quentin Barnes and team owner Gredok the Splithead is coming to a head. Endless threats and the promise of ultraviolence hangs on their every word... -
Mission Inadvisable by J.S. Morin
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsPart-time heroes. Full-time outlaws. Carl Ramsey has done the unthinkable: he turned down a lucrative job. When the deed is too despicable even for outlaws like the Mobius crew, someone nasty had to be behind it. Carl and his friends decide to hunt down their potential employer and turn him over to the authorities... -
Stowaway to Heaven by J.S. Morin
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIf you can't beat 'em, hijack 'em. Push a man hard enough and long enough and he's going to push back. Carl Ramsey finally has a plan to deal with transgalactic megacorp Harmony Bay. With the aid of a new ace up his sleeve, the Mobius crew finally have a heist that can put an end to the company's harassment. They're going to steal the ship responsible for Harmony Bay's black ops... -
Masterminds by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe fate of the Alliance hangs in the balance as the masterminds behind the Anniversary Day bombings trigger the final stages of a plan decades in the making. A plan that will bring about the total destruction of every dome on the Moon... -
House of Shards by Walter Jon Williams
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsDrake Maijstral, the most daring Allowed Burglar in the galaxy, is now setting his sights on the Eltdown Shard, a spectacular necklace embodying the flame of a dying star. Through the media vids, the audience watches him--in an intricate plot designed to both steal the necklace and foil his major rival... -
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Blowback by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe Moon, shaken by the Anniversary Day tragedies, deals with devastation. The Earth Alliance believes another attack imminent, but no one knows where or when it will strike. Just like no one knows who ordered the attacks in the first place.The Moon’s chief security office, Noelle DeRicci, does her best to hold the United Domes government together... -
The Terra Gambit by Terry Mixon
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSent on a mission critical to the survival of the New Terran Empire, Jared Mertz must travel deep into the AI-dominated Rebel Empire on an operation of deception. Only there are games afoot that no one could foresee and players at the table that no one could expect. The stakes couldn't be higher. When unexpected enemies deal themselves in, Jared must bet everything on a single hand... -
Paloma by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAs a Retrieval Artist, Miles Flint helps the Disappeared, saving the lives of those oppressed under the Earth Alliance regime. He owes his livelihood, and his very sense of honor, to a woman known as Paloma. It was she who was responsible for setting him on this path—and now she has been murdered.Summoned by Paloma’s desperate call, Miles reaches her apartment too late... -
Buried Deep by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsForensic anthropologist Aisha Costard has been summoned to Mars to examine skeletal remains recently discovered beneath a building erected by the Disty aliens. The bones belong to a human who vanished thirty years ago with her children. She is believed to have been one of the Disappeared, outlaws wanted for crimes against alien civilizations... -
Retreat And Adapt by Thomas DePrima
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsAdmiral Jenetta Carver, in Region One for just the second time since becoming Commander of the Second Fleet, receives a message that the scout-destroyer Yenisei, on routine patrol, is overdue. The ship's last report ended with a statement that they were attempting to overtake several small ships spotted on their DeTect monitors... -
Noumenon Infinity by Marina J. Lostetter
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsTravel to the remotest reaches of deep space in this wondrous follow-up to the acclaimed Noumenon—a tale of exploration, adventure, science, and humanity.Generations ago, Convoy Seven and ICC left Earth on a mission that would take them far beyond the solar system...
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