Books like 'Rack and Ruin'

Readers who enjoyed Rack and Ruin by Chele Cooke also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.

sc-fi action / adventure space military, war & conflict space-travel post-apocalyptic dystopia exploration colonization galactic-empire

The Colossus by Jay Allan
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
· 10 ratings
The Hegemony strikes again… The Confederation and its allies have won their first victory, retaken their capital from he forces of the Hegemony. But the enemy is not beaten, far from it, and they are back, with an unstoppable weapon, a vast superbattleship, a deadly hybrid of imperial and Hegemony technology, called the Colossus...

Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration galactic-empire invasion space-travel action-adventure adult
The Lost Supernova by Vaughn Heppner
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars
· 12 ratings
Androids used to mingle among us, pretending to be human. Then an alien puppet-master altered their programming. Unknown to us, androids began leaving human society, burning their clothes and peeling off their skin to reveal the chrome-colored bodies underneath. They gathered in a system were a star had exploded, blowing away the atmosphere of a Jupiter-like planet...

Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration galactic-empire invasion space-travel action-adventure adult
The Lost Swarm by Vaughn Heppner
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars
· 12 ratings
Star Watch stands guard over the Commonwealth, having defeated New Men, massed Swarm fleets and android attackers. The victories have cost lost ships, slain crews and smashed star systems. The accumulated damage means that Star Watch now strains to keep order as political instability, increased space piracy and rebellions stretch the stellar organization to the limit...

Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration galactic-empire invasion space-travel action-adventure adult
The Lost Artifact by Vaughn Heppner
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars
· 14 ratings
Star Watch defeated the Swarm Invasion Fleet, but at a terrible cost in destroyed star systems, smashed battleships and billions of dead. In the aftermath of the costly victory, chaos threatens as worlds leave the Commonwealth of Planets, face mass starvation or succumb to increased piracy. The war against the Swarm Imperium has just begun. Humanity needs unity or each planet will fall alone...

Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration galactic-empire invasion space-travel action-adventure adult
The Legend of ZERO: Forgotten by Sara King
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars
· 6 ratings
It's been 819 years since Congress abandoned humanity to a Stone Age fate on an Earth infested with man-eating monsters, and now the galactic government, in all its benevolence, has come back to force humanity back into citizen status in its great collective......Except this time, thanks to Prime Commander Dobbs, humanity has a surprise for our alien conquerors...

Categorized as:
aliens dystopia exploration invasion post-apocalyptic space-travel action-adventure book
Leviathan's Fear: A Military Sci-Fi Series by Craig Martelle
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars
· 6 ratings
Trapped in Ga’ee space, Leviathan runs for its life.And the lives of its crew.Declan Payne and Harry Wesson decide to go on the offensive. They have no choice.They can’t go home. It only delays the inevitable.The Ga’ee march relentlessly into the space of the seven races while turning an inward eye toward the interloper, the ship they call God1...

Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration galactic-empire invasion space-travel action-adventure adult
Prince Peacemaker by Fred Huges
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
· 8 ratings
Hazard survived the war… but can he survive the peace?The empire defeated the Swarm at the Battle of Iris, but it came at a great cost. To win, Hazard King needed to reveal he was Crown Prince Henry and take command of the Imperial Fleet as War Leader. Now their enemy is suing for peace, something many in the empire don’t want to give...

Categorized as:
aliens invasion colonization space-travel galactic-empire exploration sci-fi military
Prince Commander by Fred Hughes
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
· 8 ratings
Hazard King was ready to get back to a normal life…Well, as normal a life as the next emperor of the Brittania Empire could expect, anyway. Hazard wanted to continue his naval career—to grow and take on positions of higher responsibility—because he knew the Swarm would be back, and he intended to be there to fight them when they returned...

Categorized as:
aliens invasion colonization space-travel galactic-empire exploration sci-fi military
Death Defied: Age of Expansion - A Kurtherian Gambit Series by Justin Sloan, P.T. Hylton
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
· 8 ratings
An evil intelligence bent on galactic domination is about to meet the Justice Enforcer. When a mysterious AI demands the release of a criminal, it gets something else instead: the wrath of Valerie’s Elites. Now the team must travel to a remote space station to uncover the secret their enemies want to keep hidden...

Categorized as:
aliens post-apocalyptic invasion exploration colonization space-travel galactic-empire sci-fi
Survivors by Toby Neighbors
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
· 10 ratings
Nothing in the Corps is guaranteed!Staff Sergeant Eli Vanhorn isn’t the man he used to be. Once a proud member of the Fleet Marine Corps’ elite Terrestrial Advance Combat teams, the battle on colony planet Luyten C left him broken and scarred. But after a year of surgeries and physical therapy, he’s ready to complete his enlistment as Master of Arms on the exploration vessel Rihla...

Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration galactic-empire space-travel action-adventure book fiction
Galactar by Anthony James
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
· 10 ratings
Following decades of war and the recent catastrophic loss of an entire planet, the Human Planetary Alliance is riven by internal disputes and rivalries. The military’s old guard fights for power against those who see a chance to turn things around.After a series of hard-fought victories, Captain Carl Recker is becoming recognized as a man who gets results - a man who knows how to beat the Daklan...

Categorized as:
aliens exploration galactic-empire invasion space-travel action-adventure adult book
Fulcrum Gun by Anthony James
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
· 10 ratings
Lost in hostile space and pursued by the most powerful warship in the known universe, Captain Carl Recker is losing hope and running out of options. His battleship Fulcrum is no match for this enemy and the Meklon aliens who might have helped him are dead, killed by the Galactar’s murderous weaponry.Somehow, Recker must find a way to succeed where the might of an alien empire already failed...

Categorized as:
aliens exploration galactic-empire invasion space-travel action-adventure adult book
Laws of Ancidium by Anthony James
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
· 10 ratings
Having fought his hardest battle, Captain Carl Recker returns to planet Lustre, bringing the alien battleship Fulcrum with him.Recker is under no illusions that he’ll be offered backdated shore leave, but his feet don’t even touch the ground before trouble shows up. A heavily armed fifty-thousand-metre Meklon interstellar drops out of lightspeed near the planet...

Categorized as:
aliens exploration galactic-empire invasion space-travel action-adventure adult book
Salvage by Jenny Schwartz
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
· 10 ratings
Secrets can get a girl killed. Cherry Pendit knows to keep hers close. But what if it’s whispering to her? What if it’s warning her of danger on the galactic horizon, and only she can save her clan?To save the people she loves, Cherry will have to risk her life to rescue a man she’s never met.A hunted man, a man abandoned on a derelict space station, on the far side of a black hole...

Categorized as:
aliens galactic-empire invasion exploration colonization space-travel sci-fi space-opera
The Lost Star Gate by Vaughn Heppner, Mark Boyett
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
· 12 ratings
The Swarm is coming!This time, enemy science vessels study us as Hive Masters gather hundreds of thousands of starships for an avalanche invasion.Instead of facing massed bug fleets in hopeless battle, we have a desperate plan: use a Builder nexus, create a hyper-spatial tube and send suicide-ships thousands of light-years into Swarm territory...

Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration galactic-empire invasion space-travel action-adventure adult
Salvation Lost by Peter F. Hamilton
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
· 30 ratings
The 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...

Categorized as:
aliens colonization dystopia exploration invasion space-travel action-adventure adult
The Others by Jay Allan
Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars
· 17 ratings
From the deepest darks of unknown space, evil comes… Admiral Tyler Barron and the Confederation navy face a new threat, darker and deadlier than any that have come before...

Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration galactic-empire invasion space-travel action-adventure adult
When the Axe Falls by Jon R. Osborne
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
· 6 ratings
The clouds of war continue to build…and not everyone is blind… Bjorn Tovesson III, the owner of Bjorn’s Berserkers, is a man tied to the past, but who’s not afraid to innovate. Whether it is new tactics or new equipment, Bjorn is willing to try anything, once, in an effort to grow his company into the status of the fabled Four Horsemen...

Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration galactic-empire invasion space-travel action-adventure adult
Dirty Deeds by Mark Wandrey
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
· 6 ratings
Old mercs don't die, you do. Abraham Murdock left his home of Sheridan Arkansas at seventeen to start a merc career that spanned almost 50 years, working for dozens of companies, killing aliens and getting paid across the galaxy. Near the end of his career, he landed a gig with Cartwright’s Cavaliers...

Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration galactic-empire invasion space-travel action-adventure adult
Dark Moon Arisen by Chris Kennedy, Mark Wandrey
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
· 6 ratings
The war continues! The Omega War is in full swing. Earth has fallen to General Peepo’s army, and the surviving Human mercenaries have taken refuge at the hidden Winged Hussars’ base in New Warsaw...

Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration galactic-empire invasion space-travel action-adventure adult
Star Force: Temple Wars by Aer-ki Jyr
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
· 6 ratings
he bell has been rung, and the Return of the Reignor has come...

Categorized as:
aliens colonization dystopia exploration galactic-empire invasion space-travel action-adventure
Honor the Threat by Kevin Ikenberry
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
· 6 ratings
Peacemakers. The Galactic Union’s most capable enforcers and resolute negotiators, their name alone elicits fear and awe among the Union’s citizenry. Except for Jessica Francis. Not only is she the newest Peacemaker, Jessica is also the first Human Peacemaker, and she commands the respect of few, both inside and outside the Peacemaker’s Guild...

Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration galactic-empire invasion space-travel action-adventure adult
Alpha Contracts by Chris Kennedy, Mark Wandrey
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
· 6 ratings
“Before CASPers were the lords of the battlefield, men tested their metal against aliens one-on-one.” First contact has been made, and Earth’s militaries and its premier mercenary companies stand ready to take their first tentative steps outside the Solar System...

Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration galactic-empire invasion space-travel action-adventure adult
A Pale Dawn by Chris Kennedy, Mark Wandrey
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
· 6 ratings
The tides of war have shifted, and humanity has the Galactic Union on the run. After a stunning victory at the Merc Guild shipyard of Golara, the leaders of the Four Horsemen mercenary units of Earth have decided it’s time to take back the colonies the Merc Guild has captured, and the Horsemen split up to liberate them...

Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration galactic-empire invasion space-travel action-adventure adult
Storm Clouds by Chris Kennedy, Mark Wandrey
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
· 6 ratings
The Omega War ended, not with a bang, but with a whimper. The Peacemaker-enforced ceasefire brought an end to the hostilities, but not a resolution, and now it’s up to the Four Horsemen to forge a lasting peace...

Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration galactic-empire invasion space-travel action-adventure adult
Do No Harm by Robert E. Hampson, Chris Kennedy
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
· 6 ratings
When Todd’s critically damaged ship dropped out of hyperspace near the Human colony world of Azure, he had no memory of his past. He didn’t know who he was, or even what he was, and the Humans didn’t either. That didn’t stop the colonists of Azure—they took him in, anyway…even though they didn’t understand how he could do some of the things he could do...

Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration galactic-empire invasion space-travel action-adventure adult
Star Force: Phoenix by Aer-ki Jyr
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
· 6 ratings
Cal-com's journey is not at an end. In fact, it's just beginning..

Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration galactic-empire invasion space-travel action-adventure adult
Lucky Justice: Lucky's Marines | Book Seven by Joshua James
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
· 6 ratings
A simple mission gone impossibly wrong. Ambushed by an enemy that shouldn't exist, Lucky and his Marines must overcome powerful forces with limitless resources – and a princess with limitless ego. But Sergeant Lucky Savage has a powerful weapon of his own. Whether he can manage to control it is an open question...

Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration galactic-empire invasion space-travel action-adventure adult
Stardust by Edward W. Robertson
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
· 6 ratings
The invaders have arrived. The last battle for humanity is about to begin. STARDUST is the final book in the Rebel Stars series...

Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration invasion space-travel action-adventure adult book
Star Force: The Powers That Be by Aer-ki Jyr
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
· 6 ratings
In youth you'd lay awake at night and scheme..

Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration galactic-empire invasion space-travel action-adventure adult
Refuge 9 by Anthony James
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
· 6 ratings
War is never easy. For the human Unity League, this is a truth to be stamped on the barrel of every gun and painted on the side of every warship. The Sekar aliens have already killed billions and nobody knows where they came from or how to defeat them. The enemy’s only weakness is tharniol – the rarest substance in the known universe...

Categorized as:
aliens exploration galactic-empire invasion space-travel action-adventure adult audiobook
Valkyrie's Daughter by John E. Siers
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
· 6 ratings
The alien Akara have a secret. They've discovered the location of a planet that is home to a primitive human civilization, another ancient "seeding" of the legendary Progenitors. But this planet lies in the territory of the Otuka, spacefaring alien predators who consider human flesh to be a delicacy and the planet to be their private hunting preserve...

Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration galactic-empire invasion space-travel action-adventure adult
The Lyons' Pride by Chris Kennedy, Marisa Wolf
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
· 6 ratings
No other Human is more enigmatic than the LyonOn the African savanna, the male lion is the lord who watches over his family, while the females of the clan do the real work.Joel, “The Lyon” Lyons thought that owning a mercenary company would be similar—he could sit back and allow the Lyoness to run the Pride...

Categorized as:
galactic-empire aliens invasion exploration space-travel colonization sci-fi military
Justice Earned: Age of Expansion - A Kurtherian Gambit Series by Justin Sloan, P.T. Hylton
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
· 6 ratings
What does it mean to fight for justice? Valerie went to space to make a difference, to form alliances for the Etheric Federation, and to kick some major ass.   When she's put up against a massive enemy fleet with only the promise of a legendary weapon lost long ago, she has the chance to do all three...

Categorized as:
post-apocalyptic aliens invasion exploration colonization space-travel galactic-empire sci-fi
Imperial Command by D.J. Holmes
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars
· 11 ratings
Trapped behind enemy lines, the survivors of the raid on Jaranna have been forced to flee deeper into enemy territory. Behind them Karacknid fleets gather to exact revenge. With danger at every turn, Admiral Lightfoot must find a way to get his ships home or Earth will be left defenceless.On Earth the Empire has been formed and is bringing the outlying colonies into its fold...

Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration galactic-empire invasion space-travel action-adventure adult
The Prisoner of Eldaron by Jay Allan, Mark Boyett
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars
· 8 ratings
The Search for Erik Cain...The Superpowers of Earth have fought their final war, leaving Earth a devastated ruin, populated only by scattered groups of survivors living in primitive squalor. Out in space, however, humanity moves forward, and the former colonies of Earth's dead nations are now free from the yoke of the despotic governments that had long ruled over them...

Categorized as:
aliens colonization dystopia exploration galactic-empire invasion space-travel action-adventure
Star Force: Origin Series by Aer-ki Jyr
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars
· 8 ratings
The Origin Series is empire building at its finest, with 100 episodes and over 2.5 million words in the military science fiction serial detailing the rise of Star Force from corporate entity into an interstellar empire over the course of more than a millennium...

Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration galactic-empire invasion space-travel action-adventure adult
Star Force: Origin Series by Aer-ki Jyr
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars
· 8 ratings
The Origin Series is empire building at its finest, with 100 episodes and over 2.5 million words in the military science fiction serial detailing the rise of Star Force from corporate entity into an interstellar empire over the course of more than a millennium...

Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration galactic-empire invasion space-travel action-adventure adult
Star Force: Origin Series by Aer-ki Jyr
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars
· 8 ratings
The Origin Series is empire building at its finest, with 100 episodes and over 2.5 million words in the military science fiction serial detailing the rise of Star Force from corporate entity into an interstellar empire over the course of more than a millennium...

Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration galactic-empire invasion space-travel action-adventure adult
Empires in Ruin by Anthony James
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars
· 8 ratings
Protected by their energy shields, the Lavorix warships Aeklu and Verumol survived the largest explosion ever created by technology. Now salvaged by the Human Planetary Alliance and their new Daklan allies, these once unstoppable weapons of mass destruction sit in a construction yard undergoing extensive repairs...

Categorized as:
aliens exploration galactic-empire invasion space-travel action-adventure adult book
Victory's Defeat by Mark Tufo
Rated: 4.61 of 5 stars
· 11 ratings
Beth forever fanning the flames of tension and dissension has the Stryvers, the Progerians and the entire Human race on the brink of annihilation. It is up to Michael Talbot, BT, Drababan and the United Earth Marine Corps to stave off this extinction event, along with General Ginson aboard the outgunned, out manned and the nearly crippled USS Guardian...

Categorized as:
aliens colonization dystopia exploration galactic-empire invasion post-apocalyptic space-travel
Empire's Birth by D.J. Holmes
Rated: 4.66 of 5 stars
· 10 ratings
The Karacknid invasion of Earth has been turned back. Yet the War of Doom has only just begun. Tens of thousands of warships are amassing along the Varanni Alliance border. In one fell swoop they threaten to strike into the heart of Alliance space, conquering and devastating everything in their wake...

Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration galactic-empire invasion space-travel action-adventure adult
The Alliance by Raymond L. Weil
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
· 10 ratings
A mission to free a world from the Kleese has gone terribly wrong. Lieutenant Ryan Nelson and his Marines are trapped with no hope of rescue. On the Kleese home world, a division grows between the regular Kleese and the militaristic Zaltule. The war against the Kleese intensifies as the human led Alliance attempts a daring attack against the heart of the Kleese Empire...

Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration galactic-empire invasion post-apocalyptic space-travel action-adventure
Insurrection by Raymond L. Weil
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
· 10 ratings
The final battle between the Humans and the Zaltule is drawing near. However, the Arachnids have a secret that will ensure victory and allow them to wipe out the Human race once and for all.In the Strell Empire, former Supreme Overlord Xatul plans his return. He has amassed a fleet to take back control of the Kleese Empire...

Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration galactic-empire invasion post-apocalyptic space-travel action-adventure
Fortress Earth by Vaughn Heppner
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
· 10 ratings
Earth’s last Assault Troopers target the oldest being in existence. In the fourth book of the Extinction Wars series, Abaddon commands a Karg-Jelk Super Fleet bent on annihilating humanity. Years of intense terraforming has healed the Earth from the ravages of alien hell-burners and a deadly bio-terminator...

Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration galactic-empire invasion space-travel action-adventure adult
Legend of the Sword by Michael R. Hicks
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars
· 14 ratings
Six months after the alien Kreelan Empire launched its invasion of human space, the Confederation of Humanity is rapidly growing. The planet of Saint Petersburg, however, would rather see the Confederation destroyed. With a secretly built navy, they have lured the Confederation fleet into a trap, even as the Kreelans prepare another devastating attack...

Categorized as:
aliens dystopia galactic-empire invasion post-apocalyptic space-travel action-adventure adult
Prelude to Extinction by Andreas Karpf
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars
· 14 ratings
Earth'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...

Categorized as:
aliens dystopia exploration invasion space-travel action-adventure adult book
Defeat's Victory by Mark Tufo
Rated: 4.75 of 5 stars
· 8 ratings
In this explosive conclusion to the Indian Hill series we find Mike, Tracy, Drababan, BT and the entire crew of the now destroyed USS Guardian hurtling through space, head on into their destiny. But will it be the one they seek or the destruction of all they know and have ever known...

Categorized as:
aliens colonization dystopia exploration galactic-empire invasion post-apocalyptic space-travel
Alabaster Noon by Chris Kennedy, Mark Wandrey
Rated: 4.75 of 5 stars
· 8 ratings
The invasion of Earth is a broken dream, a victim of Peepo’s ability to play the long game better than anyone thought possible. With Alexis Cromwell shot in the back by her XO and the fleet in ruins, the Humans have run back to New Warsaw to lick their wounds, but the Merc Guild now knows the location of their hidden base, and they are in hot pursuit...

Categorized as:
aliens colonization exploration galactic-empire invasion space-travel action-adventure adult
Scorpio by Marko Kloos
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars
· 16 ratings
On a distant Earth colony, an orphaned survivor of an alien invasion discovers that the greatest world-ending dangers aren’t behind her.It’s been eight years since an alien invasion drove a small surviving group of settlers to seek refuge in an underground shelter...

Categorized as:
dystopia aliens colonization invasion space-travel exploration sci-fi fiction

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