Books like 'Transition'
Readers who enjoyed Transition by Iain M. Banks also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary sc-fi space action / adventure alternate history multiverse mystery horror hard-sci-fi technology
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Exhalation by Ted Chiang
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsalternate cover for this ISBN can be found hereThe universe began as an enormous breath being held.From the acclaimed author of Stories of Your Life and Others — the basis for the Academy Award-nominated film Arrival — comes a ground-breaking new collection of short fiction: nine stunningly original, provocative, and poignant stories...Categorized as:
dystopia hard-sci-fi horror literary-fiction technology time-travel 21st-century action-adventure -
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:
dystopia hard-sci-fi literary-fiction mystery space-opera technology 20th-century action-adventure -
Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 67 ratingsTed Chiang's first published story, "Tower of Babylon," won the Nebula Award in 1990. Subsequent stories have won the Asimov's SF Magazine reader poll, a second Nebula Award, the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award, and the Sidewise Award for alternate history. He won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 1992. Story for story, he is the most honored young writer in modern SF... -
Wolf 359 by Gabriel Urbina, Zach Valenti
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsLife's not easy for Doug Eiffel, the communications officer for the U.S.S. Hephaestus Research Station, currently on Day 448 of its orbit around red dwarf star Wolf 359. He's stuck on a scientific survey mission of indeterminate length, 7.8 light years from Earth... -
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Countdown by Michael Atamanov
Rated: 4.41 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsAt long last, an extraterrestrial civilization reached out and made the First Contact. However, no one on Earth took their communique for the genuine article. In a similar vein, very few people appreciated just how little time our new suzerains had promised to keep our planet safe.Regardless, the end of their message showed humankind how to access a mysterious game... -
Web of Worlds by Michael Atamanov
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsCeasefires have one big downside: they eventually come to an end. And when they do, once again game nodes are set ablaze, and platoons of Dark Faction soldiers threaten our customary world with destruction. The enemy has grown stronger and more numerous. To make matters worse, they also got their hands on even deadlier weaponry... -
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:
dystopia hard-sci-fi mystery time-travel 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history -
External Threat by Michael Atamanov
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsThe countdown timer continues to tick, but Earth is still not ready to repel an invasion from space. Gnat is on his voyage with the Shiamiru, all the while trying to find backup for humanity among the great spacefaring races. After all, based on what he’s already seen, he knows not to count on the good sense of his own kind... -
Game Changer by Michael Atamanov
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsOur galaxy is at war! Great alien races have just clashed in desperate combat and its aftershocks are echoing even in our backwater. The Geckho - protectors and overlords of planet Earth - join the global conflict too. Is it a good thing for humanity? Hard to say. On one hand, the Geckho are too busy to defend our planet which doesn’t sound too good...Categorized as:
space-opera action-adventure adult aliens alternate-history audiobook book colonization -
Tansy's Titan by S.E. Smith
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsTansy Bell, is the middle daughter of the three Bell sisters. She has always been a little different, even for a Bell. A chameleon, she can change her appearance and personality to blend in almost anywhere. She uses this talent to bring some of the worse criminals in the world to justice.Mak ‘Tag Krell Manok is the wild one of his four brothers...Categorized as:
space-opera suspense action-adventure adult aliens alpha-mc alternate-history audiobook -
Ha'ven's Song by S.E. Smith
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsHa’ven Ha’darra is the Crown Prince for the Curizans, an advanced species known for their technology. They may not have the power to shift like the Valdier or the Sarafin but they have hidden powers of their own that they guard. Not even his best friends, Creon Reykill of the Valdier or Vox d’Rojah of the Sarafin, are aware of the powers he holds within his deadly frame... -
The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin, Ken Liu
Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars · 47 ratingsThe Three-Body Problem is the first chance for English-speaking readers to experience the Hugo Award-winning phenomenon from China's most beloved science fiction author, Liu Cixin.Set against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens...Categorized as:
dystopia hard-sci-fi mystery politics space-opera technology 21st-century action-adventure -
Carnifex by Tom Kratman
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsRevenge: it won’t bring your wife and kids back, but it might help with the nightmares.Patricio Carrera has been waging what amounts to a private world war to bring to justice the murderers of his family. He’s raised an army and air force and used them. He’s raised a fleet and he’s about to use that. He’s suborned one republic and is about to undermine another...Categorized as:
space-opera action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook book contemporary fiction -
Encounter with Tiber by Buzz Aldrin, John Barnes
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFree tracking...Categorized as:
hard-sci-fi politics space-opera action-adventure adult aliens alternate-history anthologies -
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The Deaths of Tao by Wesley Chu, Mikael Naramore
Rated: 3.91 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsBooklist Starred Review Shelf Awareness Starred ReviewThe sequel to The Lives of Tao.The Prophus and the Genjix are at war. For centuries they have sought a way off-planet, guiding humanity’s social and technological development to the stage where space travel is possible...Categorized as:
conspiracies dystopia political-intrigue politics suspense time-travel action-adventure adult -
The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Rated: 3.87 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsLee’s best friend went missing on Bodmin Moor, four years ago. She and Mal were chasing rumours of monsters when they found something all too real. Now Mal is back, but where has she been, and who is she working for?When government physicist Kay Amal Khan is attacked, the security services investigate...Categorized as:
dystopia hard-sci-fi horror multiverse mystery political-intrigue space-opera time-travel -
Mission to Minerva by James P. Hogan
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsTRANSPORTED ACROSS THE MUILTIVERSE.Over light-years of space and 50,000 years back in time, to create a new history.... Only to find there was no way back.Earth is adapting to a future of amicable coexistence with the advanced aliens from Thurien, descended from ancestors who once inhabited Minerva, a vanished planet of the Solar System...Categorized as:
hard-sci-fi space-opera time-travel action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook book -
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 81 ratingsAmong the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandant finds a letter. It reads: Burn before reading. Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, grows into something more. Something epic. Something romantic... -
Redshirts by John Scalzi
Rated: 3.81 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsEnsign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since the year 2456. It’s a prestige posting, and Andrew is thrilled all the more to be assigned to the ship’s Xenobiology laboratory...Categorized as:
dystopia hard-sci-fi mystery space-opera time-travel 21st-century action-adventure aliens -
Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War by P.W. Singer, August Cole
Rated: 3.75 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsWhat will the next global conflict look like? Find out in this ripping, near-futuristic thriller. The United States, China, and Russia eye each other across a twenty-first century version of the Cold War, which suddenly heats up at sea, on land, in the air, in outer space, and in cyberspace...Categorized as:
dystopia mystery political-intrigue politics suspense technology action-adventure adult -
The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett, Stephen Baxter
Rated: 3.79 of 5 stars · 50 ratingsNORMALLY, WHEN THERE WAS NOTHING TO DO, HE LISTENED TO THE SILENCE.The Silence was very faint here. Almost drowned out by the sounds of the mundane world. Did people in this polished building understand how noisy it was? The roar of air conditioners and computer fans, the susurration of many voices heard but not decipherable...Categorized as:
dystopia multiverse mystery space-opera time-travel 21st-century action-adventure aliens -
The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu
Rated: 3.74 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsWhen out-of-shape IT technician Roen woke up and started hearing voices in his head, he naturally assumed he was losing it. He wasn’t. He now has a passenger in his brain – an ancient alien life-form called Tao, whose race crash-landed on Earth before the first fish crawled out of the oceans... -
A Desert Called Peace by Tom Kratman
Rated: 3.67 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFive hundred years from now, humankind has found a link to a remarkably Earth-like planet and settled there, dividing as humans will -- into dozens of nation-states. The Federated States of Columbia has consolidated power and risen against the oppression of Earth's corrupt Caliphate...Categorized as:
space-opera action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook book contemporary fiction -
Do You Dream of Terra-Two? by Temi Oh
Rated: 3.69 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsWhen an Earth-like planet is discovered, a team of six teens, along with three veteran astronauts, embark on a twenty-year trip to set up a planet for human colonization—but find that space is more deadly than they ever could have imagined...Categorized as:
horror space-opera action-adventure afrofuturism alternate-history audiobook book coming-of-age -
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Founders by James Wesley, Rawles
Rated: 3.59 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsTHE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT IS GONE. It’s the near future, and thanks to a perfect storm of reckless banking practices, hyperinflation, a stock market gone mad, and the negligence of our elected officials, the entire social, political, and economic infrastructure of America has collapsed...Categorized as:
dystopia mystery political-intrigue politics suspense action-adventure adult alternate-history -
The Trade of Queens by Charles Stross
Rated: 3.57 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA dissident faction of the Clan, the alternate universe group of families that has traded covertly with our world for a century or more, have carried nuclear devices between the worlds and exploded them in Washington, DC, killing the President of the United States...Categorized as:
multiverse politics time-travel action-adventure adult alternate-history apocalyptic audiobook -
The Long War by Terry Pratchett, Stephen Baxter
Rated: 3.62 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsA generation after the events of The Long Earth, mankind has spread across the new worlds opened up by Stepping. Where Joshua and Lobsang once pioneered, now fleets of airships link the stepwise Americas with trade and culture. Mankind is shaping the Long Earth - but in turn the Long Earth is shaping mankind..Categorized as:
dystopia multiverse politics space-opera technology 21st-century action-adventure ai -
Only Human by Sylvain Neuvel
Rated: 3.63 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsIn her childhood, Rose Franklin accidentally discovered a giant metal hand buried beneath the ground outside Deadwood, South Dakota. As an adult, Dr. Rose Franklin led the team that uncovered the rest of the body parts which together form Themis: a powerful robot of mysterious alien origin...Categorized as:
dystopia mystery politics space-opera suspense action-adventure aliens alternate-history -
The Sky People by S.M. Stirling
Rated: 3.49 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsMarc has been assigned to Jamestown, the US-Commonwealth base on Venus, near the great Venusian city of Kartahown. Set in a countryside swarming with sabertooths and dinosaurs, Jamestown is home to a small band of American and allied scientist-adventurers.But there are flies in this ointment - and not only the Venusian dragonflies, with their yard-wide wings...Categorized as:
space-opera action-adventure adult aliens alternate-history audiobook book colonization -
Farnham's Freehold by Robert A. Heinlein
Rated: 3.54 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsHugh Farnham was a practical, self-made man and when he saw the clouds of nuclear war gathering, he built a bomb shelter under his house. What he hadn't expected was that when the apocalypse came, a thermonuclear blast would tear apart the fabric of time and hurl his shelter into a world with no sign of other human beings... -
How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu
Rated: 3.45 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsA story of a son searching for his father . . . through quantum space–time. Minor Universe 31 is a vast story-space on the outskirts of fiction, where paradox fluctuates like the stock market, lonely sexbots beckon failed protagonists, and time travel is serious business. Every day, people get into time machines and try to do the one thing they should never do: change the past...Categorized as:
dystopia hard-sci-fi literary-fiction mystery time-travel 21st-century action-adventure adult
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