Books like 'The Immortal King Rao'
Readers who enjoyed The Immortal King Rao by Vauhini Vara also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical sc-fi historical-fiction dystopia literary-fiction poc-mc technology humor satire
-
Animal Farm / 1984 by George Orwell
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 72 ratingsThis edition features George Orwell’s best-known novels—1984 and Animal Farm—with an introduction by Christopher Hitchens.In 1984, London is a grim city where Big Brother is always watching you and the Thought Police can practically read your mind. Winston Smith joins a secret revolutionary organisation called The Brotherhood, dedicated to the destruction of the Party...Categorized as:
dystopia historical-fiction humor literary-fiction satire 20th-century alternate-history animals -
Need a Little Time by Adam Eccles
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSometimes, the strangest things can happen, right on your doorstep.When you find out your best friend and business partner is secretly sleeping with your wife, it may be time to move on… From your job and your marriage... Which is precisely what happened to Jamie Newgent... -
Complete Stories by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Dave Eggers
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFeaturing five never-before-published Vonnegut stories!Here for the first time is the complete short fiction of one of the twentieth century’s foremost imaginative geniuses. More than half of Vonnegut’s output was short fiction, and never before has the world had occasion to wrestle with it all together... -
The Futurological Congress: From the Memoirs of Ijon Tichy by Stanisław Lem
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe Futurological Congress is the fourth satirical science fiction novel in the Memoirs of Ijon Tichy series from Kafka Prize–winning author Stanislaw Lem. “Nobody can really know the future. But few could imagine it better than Lem... -
-
Santa Grint by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsPre-order a brand new TIME POLICE short story from million-copy bestselling author of THE CHRONICLES OF ST MARY'S.It all begins when the Time Police hold their first Children's Christmas Party. Their most dangerous mission yet . . .No good deed ever goes unpunished. Lt Grint succumbs to his softer side and soon lives to regret it...Categorized as:
humor historical-fiction time-travel sci-fi fiction audiobook action-adventure alternate-history -
The 2020 Commission Report on the North Korean Nuclear Attacks Against the United States: A Speculative Novel by Jeffrey Lewis
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratings“A brilliantly conceived page-turner.”—Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation and Command and ControlAmerica lost 1.4 million citizens in the North Korean attacks of March 2020. This is the final, authorized report of the government commission charged with investigating the calamity. “The skies over the Korean Peninsula on March 21, 2020, were clear and blue...Categorized as:
dystopia historical-fiction humor literary-fiction satire adult alternate-history apocalyptic -
Mama Hissa's Mice by Saud Alsanousi
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFrom the author of The Bamboo Stalk and winner of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction comes an apocalyptic and caustically funny novel about the power of friendship in a war-torn world...Categorized as:
dystopia historical-fiction literary-fiction poc-mc 21st-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
City of Shadows by Alex Scarrow
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsLiam O'Connor should have died at sea in 1912.Maddy Carter should have died on a plane in 2010.Sal Vikram should have died in a fire in 2026.But all three have been given a second chance - to work for an agency that no one knows exists. Its purpose: to prevent time travel destroying history...Hunted by cyborg assassins from the future, the TimeRiders must abandon New York and go on the run...Categorized as:
dystopia historical-fiction poc-mc action-adventure alternate-history audiobook book children-books -
The Aviator by Eugene Vodolazkin, Evgheni Vodolazkin
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsFrom award-winning author Eugene Vodolazkin comes this poignant story of memory, love, and loss spanning twentieth-century Russia.A man wakes up in a hospital bed, with no idea who he is or how he came to be there. The only information the doctor shares with his patient is his name: Innokenty Petrovich Platonov...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century 21st-century adult audiobook book drama -
Watchbird by Robert Sheckley
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhen Gelsen entered, he saw that the rest of the watchbird manufacturers were already present. There were six of them, not counting himself, and the room was blue with expensive cigar smoke. As a watchbird manufacturer, he was a member manufacturer of salvation, he reminded himself wryly. Very exclusive. You must have a certified government contract if you want to save the human race... -
Horatio by T.J. Klune
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsOn October 15, 1979, two men take to the road, leaving their town behind, waiting for the peanut farmer president to come onto the radio to make an important announcement about the future of all mankind. In the hours leading up to the broadcast, Jamie and Harry will look back on their relationship, and what it means to live in defiance like there's no tomorrow... -
Prophet Song by Paul Lynch
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA fearless portrait of a society on the brink as a mother faces a terrible choice, from an internationally award-winning authorOn a dark, wet evening in Dublin, scientist and mother-of-four Eilish Stack answers her front door to find the GNSB on her step. Two officers from Ireland’s newly formed secret police are here to interrogate her husband, a trade unionist.Ireland is falling apart...Categorized as:
dystopia literary-fiction historical-fiction fiction sci-fi historical parenthood family -
Cry of the Curlew by Peter Watt
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsSquatter Donald Macintosh little realises what chain of events he is setting in motion when he orders the violent dispersal of the Nerambura tribe on his property, Glen View. Unwitting witnesses to the barbaric exercise are bullock teamsters Patrick Duffy and his son Tom...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction poc-mc adult book fiction historical indigenous-mc -
St. Mary's and the Great Toilet Roll Crisis by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA short story, dedicated to NHS workers, inspired by the recent toilet roll crisis...Categorized as:
humor historical-fiction time-travel sci-fi fiction audiobook action-adventure historical -
-
Uova fatali / Cuore di cane by Mikhail Bulgakov
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsDeluxe Russian edition of Bulgakov's two most famous early novellas. Also contains Bulgakov's short story collection The Diaboliad and assorted prose sketches. Gorgeous illustrations, limited edition... -
The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary by Ken Liu
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA scientific invention makes it possible to virtually travel back in time and witness historical events. It is only possible to witness it once from the same perspective, because the process eats up the record. The inventor and her husband draw attention to the atrocities of Unit 731 during WWII. They hope that eyewitnesses will shut down denialists. But Chinese versus Japanese, and U.S...Categorized as:
dystopia historical-fiction action-adventure adult book fiction historical time-travel -
Engine Empire: Poems by Cathy Park Hong
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsEngine Empire is a trilogy of lyric and narrative poems that evoke an array of genres and voices, from Western ballads to sonnets about industrialized China to fragmented lyric poems set in the future. Through three distinct yet interconnected sequences, Cathy Park Hong explores the collective consciousness of fictionalized boomtowns in order to explore the myth of prosperity... -
A Girl in Time by John Birmingham, Vanessa Johansson
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsThe past is another country. A dangerous one. On the eve of a huge, breakout success, a poor but brilliant young game developer is pulled out of her world, and time itself, by a cowboy desperately searching for the daughter he lost two hundred years ago. Cady McCall is ready to be rich and famous. She’s sacrificed everything, putting her work ahead of family and friends...Categorized as:
dystopia historical-fiction humor technology action-adventure alternate-history audiobook book -
Tower of Babylon by Ted Chiang
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA Vintage Shorts “Short Story Month” Selection Together with a crew of other miners and cart-pullers, Hillalum is recruited to climb the Tower of Babylon and unearth what lies beyond the vault of heaven...Categorized as:
dystopia historical-fiction humor literary-fiction poc-mc satire 20th-century action-adventure -
The Secret of Elephants by Vasundra Tailor
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsNavsari, India. Penniless and trapped in a loveless marriage, Nirmala spends her days anxiously caring for her sick young son, Varun. Looming over Nirmala’s impoverished home is an imposing mansion built by her grandfather, and from its balcony her cruel aunt scorns them, refusing to help in any way...Categorized as:
historical-fiction poc-mc literary-fiction fiction historical mystery female-author sci-fi -
Soul by Andrei Platonov, Robert Chandler
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsA New York Review Books OriginalThe Soviet writer Andrey Platonov saw much of his work suppressed or censored in his lifetime. In recent decades, however, these lost works have reemerged, and the eerie poetry and poignant humanity of Platonov’s vision have become ever more clear...Categorized as:
dystopia historical-fiction literary-fiction 20th-century adult book classics communism -
Memoirs of a Space Traveler: Further Reminiscences of Ijon Tichy by Stanisław Lem
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIjon Tichy is an ordinary space traveler whose extraordinary curiosity leads him to the very fringes of science. Their plans are grandiose, the bargains they make too often Faustian, for the ends these scientists pursue concern humanity's greatest and most ancient obsessions: immortality, artificial intelligence, and top-of-the-line consumer items... -
Store of the Worlds: The Stories of Robert Sheckley by Robert Sheckley
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsRobert Sheckley was an eccentric master of the American short story, and his tales, whether set in dystopic cityscapes, ultramodern advertising agencies, or aboard spaceships lighting out for hostile planets, are among the most startlingly original of the twentieth century...Categorized as:
dystopia humor literary-fiction 20th-century action-adventure adult anthologies classics -
The Children's Story by James Clavell, George Selden
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsIt was a simple incident in the life of James Clavell—a talk with his young daughter just home from school—that inspired this chilling tale of what could happen in twenty-five quietly devastating minutes. He writes, "The Children's Story came into being that day. It was then that I really realized how vulnerable my child's mind was —any mind, for that matter—under controlled circumstances...Categorized as:
dystopia historical-fiction humor literary-fiction satire 20th-century anthologies children -
-
A Modest Proposal and Other Satirical Works by Jonathan Swift
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsThe originality, concentrated power and ‘fierce indignation’ of his satirical writing have earned Jonathan Swift a reputation as the greatest prose satirist in English literature. Gulliver’s Travels is, of course, his world renowned masterpiece in the genre; however, Swift wrote other, shorter works that also offer excellent evidence of his inspired lampoonery...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor literary-fiction satire anthologies audiobook classics comedy -
World's End by T. Coraghessan Boyle
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThis multi-generational novel ranges over the history of the Hudson River Valley from the late seventeenth century to the late 1960s with low humor, high seriousness, and magical, almost hallucinatory prose. It follows the interwoven destinies of families of Indians, lordly Dutch patrons, and yeomen... -
The Snail on the Slope by Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsThe Snail on the Slope takes place in two worlds. One is the Administration, an institution run by a surreal, Kafkaesque bureaucracy whose aim is to govern the forest below. The other is the Forest, a place of fear, weird creatures, primitive people and violence. Peretz, who works at the Administration, wants to visit the Forest... -
Black No More by George S. Schuyler
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA hillarious exploration of the bizarre events which occur when blacks literally 'disappear' from society... -
The Tarnished Lady by Sandra Hill
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratings“Sandra Hill writes stories that tickle the funnybone and touch the heart. Her books are always fresh, romantic, inventive, and hilarious.”—New York Times bestselling author Susan Wiggs“Sandra Hill always delivers smart, sexy, laugh-out-loud action... -
Peach Blossom Paradise by Ge Fei
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAn enthralling story of revolution, idealism, and a savage struggle for utopia by one of China's greatest living novelistsIn 1898 reformist intellectuals in China persuaded the young emperor that it was time to transform his sclerotic empire into a prosperous modern state...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction dystopia fiction historical classics 21st-century audiobook -
Let's Put the Future Behind Us by Jack Womack
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFormer bureaucrat Max Borodin is one of Moscow's most successful businessmen. He strolls through the wreckage of today's Russia with ease - convincing people to do his bidding, providing its citizens (both friends and clients) with the luxury goods they covet, and generally leading a prosperous and satisfying existence... -
The Heebie-Jeebie Girl by Susan Petrone
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsYoungstown, Ohio, 1977. Between the closing of the city's largest steel mill and the worst blizzard in more than 40 years, the table is set for remarkable change. Unemployed steel worker Bobby Wayland is trying hard to help his family and still pay for his wedding, but the only solution he can think of involves breaking the law...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction book family fiction historical magical-realism young-adult -
The Book of Disappearance: A Novel by Ibtisam Azem
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhat if all the Palestinians in Israel simply disappeared one day? What would happen next? How would Israelis react? These unsettling questions are posed in Azem’s powerfully imaginative novel...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction poc-mc satire adult alternate-history book fiction -
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA time travel romance, a speculative spy thriller, a workplace comedy, and an ingeniously constructed exploration of the nature of truth and power and the potential for love to change it Welcome to The Ministry of Time, the exhilarating debut novel by Kaliane Bradley... -
-
Psalms For The End Of The World by Cole Haddon
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIt's 1962 and physics student Grace Pulansky believes she has met the man of her dreams, Robert Jones, while serving up slices of pecan pie at the local diner. But then the FBI shows up, with their fedoras and off-the-rack business suits, and accuses him of being a bomb-planting mass-murderer...Categorized as:
historical-fiction dystopia sci-fi fiction time-travel historical crime post-apocalyptic -
The Hopkins Manuscript by R.C. Sherriff
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn The Hopkins Manuscript we watch through his eyes as the moon veers off course, draws slowly closer to the earth, and finally crashes into it on May 3rd 1946. Because it falls into the Atlantic much of humanity survives – only to generate new disasters. But this is not science fiction in the mode of H G Wells's The War of the Worlds; it is a novel about human nature... -
Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert: A Novel by Bob the Drag Queen
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratings“It’s a knockout.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) From RuPaul’s Drag Race winner, Traitors contestant, and host of HBO’s We’re Here comes an inventive, wondrous novel about American hero Harriet Tubman that remixes history into a fresh, dynamic novel about love, freedom, salvation, and hip-hop... -
You Bright and Risen Angels by William T. Vollmann
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsIn the jungles of South America, on the ice fields of Alaska, the plains of the Midwest, and the streets of San Francisco, a fearsome battle rages. The insects are vying for world domination; the inventors of electricity stand in evil opposition. Bug , a young man, rebels against his own kind and joins forces with the insects... -
White Lotus by John Hersey
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe story follows a young Arizona girl renamed White Lotus. As she ages, she evolves from “a bewildered, terrified slave to a conscious and intelligent revolutionary.” Her orchestrated, yet simple act of standing before her captors on one leg, head bowed like a sleeping bird becomes an often repeated act of nonviolent civil disobedience, an unconventional act in the spirit of Gandhi and Dr... -
The Membranes by Chi Ta-wei
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIt is the late twenty-first century, and Momo is the most celebrated dermal care technician in all of T City. Humanity has migrated to domes at the bottom of the sea to escape devastating climate change. The world is dominated by powerful media conglomerates and runs on exploited cyborg labor... -
The Status Civilization by Robert Sheckley
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWill Barrent had no memory of his crime . . . but he found himself shipped across space to a brutal prison-planet. On Omega, his only chance to advance himself -- and stay alive -- is to commit an endless series of violent crimes. The average inmate's life expectancy from time of arrival is three years... -
What Storm, What Thunder by Myriam J.A. Chancy
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsAt the end of a long, sweltering day, as markets and businesses begin to close for the evening, an earthquake of 7.0 magnitude shakes the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince. Award-winning author Myriam J. A...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction poc-mc action-adventure adult audiobook book disaster -
Animal Farm by Ian Wooldridge, George Orwell
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsGeorge Orwell’s 1945 satire on the perils of Stalinism has proved magnificently long-lived as a parable about totalitarianism anywhere—and has given the world at least one immortal phrase: “Everyone is equal, but some are more equal than others... -
El Ángel en la Casa by Beca Aberdeen
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsEn una Inglaterra victoriana alternativa, los hombres han perdido el poder. Infectados con una bacteria que les deja dóciles y sin voluntad, son repartidos como siervos personales. En la ceremonia anual, Amanda Fairfax se decide por Callum, pues sus ojos la atrapan como los de ningún otro. Pronto se da cuenta de que, en efecto, él no es como los demás. Callum es el primer hombre normal en décadas...Categorized as:
dystopia historical-fiction romance fiction sci-fi industrial-era victorian historical -
-
Apocryphal Tales by Karel Čapek
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsThe stories in this collection tackle great events and figures of history, myth, and literature in unexpected ways, questioning views on such basic concepts as justice, progress, wisdom, belief, and patriotism... -
Pilgrimage to Earth by Robert Sheckley
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsPilgrimage to Earth is a collection of science fiction short stories by Robert Sheckley. It was first published in October 1957 by Bantam Books (catalogue number A1672) and already reprinted a month later... -
Bears Discover Fire by Terry Bisson
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsBears Discover Fire is the first short story collection by the most acclaimed science fiction author of the decade, author of such brilliant novels as Talking Man and Voyage to the Red Planet... -
NSA - Nationales Sicherheits-Amt by Andreas Eschbach
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsWeimar 1942: Die Programmiererin Helene arbeitet im Nationalen Sicherheits-Amt und entwickelt dort Programme, mit deren Hilfe alle Bürger des Reichs überwacht werden. Erst als die Liebe ihres Lebens Fahnenflucht begeht und untertauchen muss, regen sich Zweifel in ihr...Categorized as:
dystopia historical-fiction fiction sci-fi audiobook historical alternate-history ww2 -
Making History by Stephen Fry
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIn Making History, Fry has bitten off a rather meaty chunk by tackling an at first deceptively simple premise: What if Hitler had never been born? An unquestionable improvement, one would reason--and so an earnest history grad student and an aging German physicist idealistically undertake to bring this about by preventing Adolf's conception...Categorized as:
dystopia historical-fiction humor satire 20th-century action-adventure adult alternate-history -
Time Tourist Outfitters, Ltd. by Christy Nicholas
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsNo matter where the watch hands turn, she’d rather remain home. But with every time-traveling trekker’s life at stake, can she stop a deadly clock?Wilda Firestone survives off black coffee and white-hot sarcasm. And despite the colorful slew of characters filing through her time tourism costume shop, the retired First Nations Temporal Agent would prefer a quiet, more linear existence...Categorized as:
historical-fiction humor poc-mc action-adventure alternate-history audiobook book female-author
Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.