Books like 'City'
Readers who enjoyed City by Clifford D. Simak also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical sc-fi 20th century space action / adventure classics dystopia animals dogs post-apocalyptic
-
The Last Question by Isaac Asimov
Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsIf you’re a fan of the Sci-Fi genre, then chances are that you’ve heard of ‘The Last Question’, a science fiction short story written by Isaac Asimov in 1956. The story deals with the development of computers (artificial intelligence) called Multivacs and their relationships with humanity through the courses of seven historic settings, beginning in 2061... -
Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales by Ray Bradbury
Rated: 4.41 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsFor more than sixty years, the imagination of Ray Bradbury has opened doors into remarkable places, ushering us across unexplored territories of the heart and mind while leading us inexorably toward a profound understanding of ourselves and the universe we inhabit. In this landmark volume, America's preeminent storyteller offers us one hundred treasures from a lifetime of words and ideas...Categorized as:
classics dystopia literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult anthologies fiction -
The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsA millennium into the future two advancements 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 Complete Stories, Vol. 1 by Isaac Asimov
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsThe first volume consists of the stories previously collected in Earth Is Room Enough, Nine Tomorrows, and Nightfall and Other Stories (but not the commentary from Nightfall and Other Stories). Volume One contains the following 48 short stories:- The Dead Past- The Foundation of S. F...Categorized as:
classics dystopia robots 20th-century action-adventure anthologies fiction hard-sci-fi -
-
Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 68 ratingsFoundation and Empire tells the incredible story of a new breed of man who create a new force for galactic government. Thus, the Foundation hurtles into conflict with the decadent, decrepit First Empire. In this struggle for power amid the chaos of the stars, man stands at the threshold of a new, enlightened life which could easily be put aside for the old forces of barbarism...Categorized as:
aliens classics dystopia literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
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... -
Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 49 ratingsFor twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. But only Hari Seldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory, can see into the future -- to a dark age of ignorance, barbarism, and warfare that will last thirty thousand years...Categorized as:
classics dystopia literary-fiction post-apocalyptic 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
The Fated Sky by Mary Robinette Kowal
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsThe Fated Sky continued the grand sweep of alternate history begun in The Calculating Stars. It is 1961, and the International Aerospace Coalition has established a colony on the moon. Elma York, the noted Lady Astronaut, is working on rotation, flying shuttles on the moon and returning regularly to Earth.But humanity must get a foothold on Mars... -
The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsA millennium into the future, two advancements have altered the course of human history: the colonization of the Galaxy and the creation of the positronic brain. On the beautiful Outer World planet of Solaria, a handful of human colonists lead a hermit-like existence, their every need attended to by their faithful robot servants... -
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 Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 44 ratingsRobert A. Heinlein was the most influential science fiction writer of his era, an influence so large that, as Samuel R. Delany notes, "modern critics attempting to wrestle with that influence find themselves dealing with an object rather like the sky or an ocean." He won the Hugo Award for best novel four times, a record that still stands...Categorized as:
classics colonization dystopia literary-fiction robots 20th-century action-adventure ai -
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... -
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 Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 68 ratingsOn the world called Hyperion the mysterious Time Tombs are opening and seven pilgrims risk their lives to petition the entity called the Shrike - a creature that may well control the fate of all mankind...Categorized as:
aliens apocalyptic classics dystopia literary-fiction robots 20th-century action-adventure -
-
Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 47 ratingsThe man known as Cheradenine Zakalwe was one of Special Circumstances' foremost agents, changing the destiny of planets to suit the Culture through intrigue, dirty tricks and military action.The woman known as Diziet Sma had plucked him from obscurity and pushed him towards his present eminence, but despite all their dealings she did not know him as well as she thought... -
Callahan's Crosstime Saloon by Spider Robinson
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsCallahan's Place is the neighborhood tavern to all of time and space, where the regulars are anything but. Pull up a chair, grab a glass of your favorite, and listen to the stories spun by time travelers, cybernetic aliens, telepaths...and a bunch of regular folks on a mission to save the world, one customer at a time... -
Those Who Survive by Kir Bulychev
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe Planet Had No Name! When the exploratory starship from Earth PolarStar crashed in the ice-covered mountains of the nameless planet the few survivors who made it to the warmer lowlands had no idea just how hostile this world could be. The plants were poisonous or actively hunted them, the animals were not all that friendly either. Most of them died. Some had children... -
Excession by Iain M. Banks
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsThe international sensation Iain M. Banks offers readers a deeply imaginative, wittily satirical tale, proving once again that he is "a talent to be reckoned with" ("Locus"). In Excession, the Culture's espionage and dirty tricks section orders Diplomat Byr Gen-Hofoen to steal the soul of a long-dead starship captain... -
The Neutronium Alchemist by Peter F. Hamilton
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsNot every fallen angel comes from heaven...The ancient menace has finally escaped from Lalonde, shattering the Confederation's peaceful existence. Those who succumbed to it have acquired godlike powers, but now follow a far from divine gospel as they advance inexorably from world to world... -
Endymion by Dan Simmons, Guy Abadia
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 50 ratingsThe multiple-award-winning SF master returns to the universe that is his greatest success--the world of Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion--to tell a story of love and memory, triumph and terror in a novel even more magnificent than its predecessors.Two hundred and seventy-four years after the fall of the WorldWeb in Fall of Hyperion, Raoul Endymion is sent on a quest... -
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... -
The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsIn the twenty-second century Earth obtains limitless, free energy from a source science little understands: an exchange between Earth and a parallel universe, using a process devised by the aliens. But even free energy has a price. The transference process itself will eventually lead to the destruction of the Earth's Sun--and of Earth itself... -
The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick 1: The Short Happy Life of the Brown Oxford by Philip K. Dick, Steven Owen Godersky
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsMany thousands of readers consider Philip K. Dick the greatest science fiction mind on any planet. Since his untimely death in 1982, interest in his works has continued to mount, and his reputation has been further enhanced by a growing body of critical attention... -
Dune by Frank Herbert, Brian Herbert
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 58 ratingsHere is the novel that will be forever considered a triumph of the imagination. Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, who would become the mysterious man known as Muad'Dib. He would avenge the traitorous plot against his noble family—and would bring to fruition humankind's most ancient and unattainable dream...Categorized as:
aliens classics dystopia literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure audiobook book -
-
Dawn by Octavia E. Butler
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsLilith Iyapo has just lost her husband and son when atomic fire consumes Earth—the last stage of the planet’s final war. Hundreds of years later Lilith awakes, deep in the hold of a massive alien spacecraft piloted by the Oankali—who arrived just in time to save humanity from extinction...Categorized as:
aliens apocalyptic classics dystopia post-apocalyptic 20th-century action-adventure adult -
S Is For Space by Ray Bradbury
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsS is for science fiction, spine-tingling, supernatural and sublime! S is for stories from a "Star Wilderness that stretched as far as eye and mind could see and imagine"... -
Four Ways to Forgiveness by Ursula K. Le Guin
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsAt the far end of our universe, on the twin planets of Werel and Yeowe, all humankind is divided into "assets" and "owners," tradition and liberation are at war, and freedom takes many forms. Here is a society as complex and troubled as any on our world, peopled with unforgettable characters struggling to become fully human...Categorized as:
aliens classics dystopia literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult anthologies -
R Is for Rocket by Ray Bradbury
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsContents:Introduction · in R Is for Rocket [“King of the Gray Spaces”] · ss Famous Fantastic Mysteries Dec ’43 The End of the Beginning [“Next Stop: The Stars”] · ss Maclean’s Oct 27 ’56 The Fog Horn [“The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms”] · ss The Saturday Evening Post Jun 23 ’51 The Rocket [“Outcast of the Stars”] · ss Super Science Stories Mar ’50 The Rocket Man · ss Maclean’s Mar 1 ’51 The Golden...Categorized as:
classics dystopia literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure anthologies children-books fiction -
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")... -
The Uplift War by David Brin
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThis is the third book in the Uplift series. Humanity has contacted their Patron Line and uplifted chimpanzees and dolphins to full partnership. But on a distant planet occupied by Earth humans and neo-chimps, it seems the chimps have information concerning the location of the Progenitors... -
Robot Dreams by Isaac Asimov
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsRobot Dreams collects 21 of Isaac Asimov's short stories spanning the body of his fiction from the 1940s to the 1980s----exploring not only the future of technology, but the future of humanity's maturity and growth... -
A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsAlternate Cover Edition can be found here. A Fire upon the Deep is the big, breakout book that fulfills the promise of Vinge's career to date: a gripping tale of galactic war told on a cosmic scale... -
Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 45 ratingsEarth is long since dead. On a colony planet, a band of men has gained control of technology, made themselves immortal, and now rule their world as the gods of the Hindu pantheon. Only one dares oppose them: he who was once Siddhartha and is now Mahasamatman. Binder of Demons, Lord of Light... -
Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 46 ratingsIn one of Robert Heinlein's most controversial bestsellers, a recruit of the future goes through the toughest boot camp in the Universe--and into battle with the Terran Mobile Infantry against mankind's most frightening enemy...Categorized as:
aliens classics dystopia literary-fiction utopia 20th-century action-adventure audiobook -
-
Bolo by Keith Laumer
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsBolo. Originally developed as far back as the 1980's by the Bolo Division of General Motors, these great artillery machines took on awareness in later designs and gradually began to replace man in that most human of endeavors: War.But let Bolo speak for itself... -
The Andalite Chronicles by K.A. Applegate, Katherine Applegate
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsHis name is Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul.An Andalite war-prince. The one who gave five young humans the ability to morph into any animal they touch. They are still out there, fighting an evil so powerful there isn't a moment that goes by when they can actually feel safe. Their story continues.But this is how it all began.The story that came before Animorphs . . -
Tales of Pirx the Pilot by Stanisław Lem
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIn Pilot Pirx, Lem has created an irresistibly likable character: an astronaut who gives the impression of still navigating by the seat of his pants-a bumbler but an inspired one. By investing Pirx with a range of human foibles, Lem offers a wonderful vision of the audacity, childlike curiosity, and intuition that can give humans the courage to confront outer space. Translated by Louis Iribarne...Categorized as:
classics colonization 20th-century action-adventure adult anthologies audiobook exploration -
Return of the Jedi by James Kahn, George Lucas
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsIt was a dark time for the Rebel Alliance...Han Solo, frozen in carbonite, has been delivered into the hands of the vile gangster Jabba the Hutt. Determined to rescue him, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Lando Calrissian launch a hazardous mission against Jabba's Tatooine stronghold... -
The Many-Colored Land by Julian May
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsWhen a one-way time tunnel to Earth's distant past, specifically six million B.C., was discovered by folks on the Galactic Milieu, every misfit for light-years around hurried to pass through it. Each sought his own brand of happiness. But none could have guessed what awaited them. Not even in a million years...Categorized as:
aliens classics dystopia 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history anthologies -
Star Wars: A New Hope by George Lucas, Alan Dean Foster
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsLuke Skywalker challenged the stormtroopers of a distant galaxy on a daring mission - where a force of life became the power of death! Luke Skywalker was a twenty-year-old who lived and worked on his uncle's farm on the remote planet of Tatooine ... and he was bored beyond belief... -
Gateway by Frederik Pohl
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 47 ratingsRich or dead. Those were the choices Gateway offered. Gateway opened on all the wealth of the Universe & on reaches of unimaginable horror. The humans who rode the alien Heechee spacecraft stored on the planetoid couldn't know whether the trip would make them millionaires or corpses... -
Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle
Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsTHE LUCKY ONES WENT FIRST…The gigantic comet has slammed into Earth, forging earthquakes a thousand times too powerful to measure on the Richter scale, tidal waves thousands of feet high. Cities were turned into oceans; oceans turned into steam...Categorized as:
apocalyptic classics dystopia post-apocalyptic 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
Ringworld by Larry Niven
Rated: 4.01 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsThe artefact is a circular ribbon of matter six hundred million miles long and ninety million miles in radius. Pierson's puppeteers, the aliens who discovered it, are understandably wary of encountering the builders of such an immense structure and have assembled a team of two humans, a mad puppeteer and a kzin, a huge cat-like alien, to explore it... -
The Door Into Summer by Robert A. Heinlein
Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsIt is 1970, and electronics engineer Dan Davis has finally made the invention of a lifetime: a household robot with extraordinary abilities, destined to dramatically change the landscape of everyday routine... -
-
The City and The Stars by Arthur C. Clarke
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 44 ratingsMen had built cities before, but never such a city as Diaspar; for millennia its protective dome shutout the creeping decay and danger of the world outside. Once, it held powers that rules the stars. But then, as legend had it, The invaders came, driving humanity into this last refuge...Categorized as:
aliens apocalyptic classics dystopia literary-fiction post-apocalyptic utopia 20th-century -
Way Station by Clifford D. Simak
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsEnoch Wallace is an ageless hermit, striding across his untended farm as he has done for over a century, still carrying the gun with which he had served in the Civil War. But what his neighbors must never know is that, inside his unchanging house, he meets with a host of unimaginable friends from the farthest stars... -
Grass by Sheri S. Tepper
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsGenerations ago, humans fled to the cosmic anomaly known as Grass. But before humanity arrived, another species had already claimed Grass for its own. It too had developed a culture...... Now a deadly plague is spreading across the stars, leaving no planet untouched, save for Grass. But the secret of the planet's immunity hides a truth so shattering it could mean the end of life itself...Categorized as:
aliens apocalyptic classics colonization dystopia literary-fiction post-apocalyptic 20th-century -
Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsStar Maker is a science fiction novel by Olaf Stapledon, published in 1937. The book describes a history of life in the universe, dwarfing in scale Stapledon's previous book, Last and First Men (1930), a history of the human species over two billion years...Categorized as:
aliens classics dystopia utopia 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history -
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... -
The Solution by K.A. Applegate, Katherine Applegate
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsDavid, the newest Animorph, is not what he appears. His need to control the other Animorphs and Ax is all he thinks about. And the things he does are starting to break up the group.Rachel and the others know that time is running out. The newest battle against the Yeerks is the most important one yet. And it's not one that will wait. Winning this fight could mean slowing down the invasion...
Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.