Books like 'Norstrilia'
Readers who enjoyed Norstrilia by Cordwainer Smith also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
sc-fi space hard sci-fi action / adventure space-opera dystopia classics
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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.. -
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 dystopia space-opera 20th-century action-adventure ai alternate-history anthologies -
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... -
That Which Other Men Cannot Do by Ryk Brown
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsEpisode 15 New forces grow… Old friends are lost… New alliances are forged… Old weapons are made new… With political unrest growing, the Alliance must rush to rebuild their fleet and expand their 'sphere of influence' before their support runs out. But when the Jung up the ante, the Alliance must turn up the heat... -
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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 space-opera 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... -
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... -
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
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... -
The Revelation Space Collection by Alastair Reynolds
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsContains seven fantastic novels: REVELATION SPACE, CHASM CITY, REDEMPTION ARK, ABSOLUTION GAP, THE PREFECT, DIAMOND DOGS & TURQUOISE DAYS and GALACTIC... -
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... -
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 Weak and the Innocent by Ryk Brown
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsEpisode 14 A ship in the hands of their enemy… A liberation gone wrong… A chance to double their ranks… A bold and daring plan… Their support from the Pentaurus cluster dwindling fast, the Alliance faces new and unpleasant realities in the Sol sector. But untoward changes also bring unexpected opportunities… The 'trick' is in how you use them... -
Born of the Ashes by Ryk Brown
Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsEpisode 11 A world in chaos… An eager new ally… A newly acquired ship… An even greater threat on its way… Captain Nathan Scott must decide whether to stand and fight to the end, or live to fight another day… even if it means the end of his world. “Born of the Ashes” is a 122,000 word novel, and is the 11th episode in The Frontiers Saga... -
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Resistance by Ryk Brown
Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsEpisode nine of The Frontiers Saga...A chance to gain much needed resources… A group of highly trained, merciless soldiers… A half-completed ship on a trajectory to nowhere… A lone operative on familiar yet dangerous ground… Captain Scott and the crew of the Aurora have a chance to get everything they need to liberate their home world, but they may have to fight someone else's war first... -
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... -
Rise of the Alliance by Ryk Brown
Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsEpisode 12A new ally providing aid…An old ally joining the fight…Their resources growing with each passing day…Their homeworld finally on the road to recovery…Things finally seem to be coming together for Captain Scott and the Alliance, as he takes his forces on the offensive. However, the Jung may in turn give him more trouble than he bargained for... -
The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 47 ratingsOne of Isaac Asimov's SF masterpieces, this stand-alone novel is a monument of the flowering of SF in the 20th century. It is widely regarded as Asimov's single best SF novel and one every SF fan should read.Andrew Harlan is an Eternal, a member of the elite of the future...Categorized as:
classics dystopia 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook book -
Halo: The Fall of Reach by Eric S. Nylund
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsAs the bloody Human-Covenant War rages on Halo, the fate of humankind may rest with one warrior, the lone SPARTAN survivor of another legendary battle... the desperate, take-no-prisoners struggle that led humanity to Halo--the fall of the planet Reach. Now, brought to life for the first time, here is the full story of that glorious, doomed conflict...Categorized as:
dystopia space-opera 21st-century action-adventure aliens audiobook book contemporary -
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... -
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... -
Homeworld by Evan Currie
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsWar comes home to the Sol system when the Drasin track a human ship back to Earth, with devastating consequences. Facing massive force of invading alien ships wielding terrible power, the crew of the NAC spacecraft, their allies, and the people of Earth must mount a desperate effort to stop them... -
A Show of Force by Ryk Brown
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsEpisode 13 The liberation old worlds… The addition of new allies… The fall of a regime… The death of a trusted friend… The Aurora begins clearing a 20 light year sphere of safety around Earth, taking out Jung forces as they liberate the core systems. However, Captain Scott and the Alliance quickly discover that not every world wants to be liberated, and the Jung have a few surprises of their own... -
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The Last Dancer by Daniel Keys Moran
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe Manhattan-based Unification government controls the earth, but rebellion brews in Occupied America as the American Revolution's tricentennial approaches... -
Foundation and Chaos by Greg Bear
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsA major science fiction author continues one of the most famous SF stories of all time... -
The Crew by Scott Sigler
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIt is the best-kept and worst-kept secret in the Planetary Union navy. The PUV James Keeling, a warship that does things that no other ship can do. It is a weapon, and a liability. The rumor is that eighty percent of the people assigned to the Keeling die before their two-year stint is up... -
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... -
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 1: Resurrection by Randolph Lalonde
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsCaptain Jacob Valance has no memory of his past. Left on a strange ship in an unfamiliar sector of the galaxy, he's forced to begin a new life. Possessing a skill set that leads to bounty hunting and object repossession, he gathers a crew from the rough fringe of the galaxy... -
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... -
Prelude to Extinction by Andreas Karpf
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsEarth's first interstellar mission -- An alien colony in ruins -- Their fight for survival has only just begun.When Jack Harrison climbed down the short ladder from the airlock and stepped onto the debris covered soil, the ground crackled with the sound of dried leaves and twigs... -
Celestia CV-02 by Ryk Brown
Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsEpisode 8A world divided…A ship under construction…A military scrambling to prepare a defense…A moment that everyone hoped would never come…The Earth Defense Force must find a way to defend their world against invasion by the Jung Empire. More importantly, they must protect their newest ship, the UES Celestia, as she may be their last hope... -
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... -
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...Categorized as:
classics dystopia space-opera 20th-century action-adventure adult aliens anthologies -
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The Reporter by Scott Sigler, Mur Lafferty
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe Reporter follows Yolanda Davenport, a reporter for Galaxy Sports Magazine, as she searches for the truth about Ju Tweedy's involvement with the murder of Grace McDermott - the incident that drove Ju to join the Ionath Krakens. The Reporter takes place between week three and week six of the 2684 Galactic Football League season, the season that encompasses The All-Pro... -
An Empire Asunder by Evan Currie
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe coup that won traitor General Corian the Scourwind throne has been overturned, but his ongoing rebellion has left the empire divided. Lydia’s birthright regained, she adjusts to her role as empress at war, while Brennan begins training as an elite Cadreman soldier... -
This Alien Shore by C.S. Friedman
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsSheltered all her life in a corporate satellite in Earth's outer orbit, Jamisia must face the truth about her origins and her role in the power struggle between the Guerans who dominate intergalactic transportation and the rest of Earth's far-flung and genetically mutated colonies who are trying to break the Guera Guild's monopoly... -
Dragon's Egg by Robert L. Forward
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 19 ratings"In science fiction there is only a handful of books that stretch the mind--and this is one of them."--Arthur C. Clarke In a moving story of sacrifice and triumph, human scientists establish a relationship with intelligent lifeforms--the cheela--living on Dragon's Egg, a neutron star where one Earth hour is equivalent to hundreds of their years... -
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")... -
Alien by Alan Dean Foster
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsBased on the screenplay by Dan O'Bannon. The crew of the spaceship Nostromo wake from cryogenic sleep to distress signals from an unknown planet. One is attacked when they investigate a derelict alien craft. Safely on their way back to Sol, none foresee the real horror about to begin... -
Neutron Star by Larry Niven
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsCome to Larry Niven's Universe and meet all the natives: Thrints, Bandersnatchi, Puppeteers -- and a host of other wonderfully created characters.Visit Lookitthat, Down, and Jinx -- indeed, an entire galaxy of planets found only in these stories that trace man's expansion and colonization throughout Known Space.A spectacular cycle of the future . . -
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... -
Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAn utterly gripping story of alien encounter and survival from Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of the Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning Children of Time.They looked into the darkness and the darkness looked back . . -
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Fear the Survivors by Stephen Moss
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsThe earth lies shaken in the aftermath of a conspiracy. Some of the smartest minds on the planet have striven for and died in an effort to scour the skies of four vast alien satellites, but their success has brought a terrible vengeance down upon us. While alien Agents stalk the earth, a team of exhausted scientists and military outcasts struggle to fight them amongst a planet on the brink... -
Fuzzy Sapiens by H. Beam Piper
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsAre Fuzzies People?Pendarvis' Decision had finally declared the Fuzzies to be intelligent beings, and that meant some drastic changes for the Earthmen who had colonized their planet, changes that a lot of people weren't going to accept easily. But why worry? said others.The Fuzzies seemed lovable, fun-loving creatures, only two feet high, and covered with soft, golden fur... -
The Deep Beyond: Cuckoo's Egg / Serpent's Reach (Union-Alliance Universe) by C.J. Cherryh
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsTwo of Cherryh's stand-alone SF novels--including the Hugo Award finalist "Cuckoo's Egg"--are now available in this omnibus volume. Original.Cuckoo's EggThey named him Thorn. They told him he was of their people, although he was so different. He was ugly in their eyes, strange, sleek-skinned instead of furred, clawless, different... -
The Gabble And Other Stories by Neal Asher
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsMost of Neal Asher's stories are set in a galactic future-scape called 'The Polity', and with this collection of marvellously inventive and action-packed short stories, he takes us further into the manifold diversities of that amazing universe... -
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 Summer Queen by Joan D. Vinge
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsSequel To The Hugo Award-Winning Bestseller The Snow QueenThe Summer Queen is the extraordinary sequel to one of science fiction's most celebrated novels, The Snow Queen. Set in a fully realized universe of wonders, this spectacular space epic, itself a finalist for the Hugo Award, is one of the most remarkable novels in the field...Categorized as:
classics space-opera 20th-century action-adventure adult book female-author feminism
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