Books like 'Hero'

Readers who enjoyed Hero by S.J. Bryant also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.

historical sc-fi action / adventure military, war & conflict space space-opera soldiers military post-apocalyptic colonization

UnArcana Stars by Glynn Stewart
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars
· 28 ratings
A humanitarian mission into unfriendly starsA training cruise under the watch of a fortified fleet baseThe closing jaws of a trap years in the makingIt has been over a year since the UnArcana Worlds of the Protectorate of the Mage-King of Mars seceded, shattering the unity of the human race...

Categorized as:
exploration military soldiers space-opera space-travel action-adventure adult aliens
Space Specter by Jenny Schwartz
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
· 10 ratings
The Saloon Sector is the Federation’s official frontier, but beyond it lurks the Badstars. Bandits hide there. The Saloon Sector is Sheriff Max Smith’s territory. Since the revelation of his secret identity, life has changed for Max and Thelma. Their relationship is under increased pressure...

Categorized as:
colonization female-mc industrial-era space-opera western action-adventure adult ai
Cordelia's Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars
· 36 ratings
In her first trial by fire, Cordelia Naismith captained a throwaway ship of the Betan Expeditionary Force on a mission to destroy an enemy armada...

Categorized as:
female-mc military space-opera 20th-century action-adventure anthologies audiobook disability
The Ceph Sector by Jenny Schwartz
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
· 8 ratings
The legendary Ceph have been in stasis for forty two millennia. In a century, they’ll wake. History remembers them as an unstoppable force, employing a mysterious power to decimate sentient life on the planets they attacked. Jaya’s first mission as a new Shaman Justice is to lead an expedition into the perilous Ceph Sector...

Categorized as:
colonization exploration industrial-era military soldiers space-opera space-travel action-adventure
Absolution by Glynn Stewart
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
· 8 ratings
A homeworld is not always home.Family is not always blood.Enemies are not always who you expect.Captain Evridiki “EB” Bardacki wants nothing more than to quietly ride off into the sunset with his fiancé, his crew, and his adopted daughter, Trace...

Categorized as:
western military soldiers space-travel space-opera exploration industrial-era sci-fi
Axis Crossing by S.H. Jucha
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
· 10 ratings
The descendants of a fourth Earth colony ship, Destiny, successfully establish a foothold in unoccupied space. Naiad, the home world, is a frozen ball, but the colonists persevere and expand through wormholes to remote systems.Navigating the time-space anomalies requires Axis-ships...

Categorized as:
space-opera western exploration space-travel industrial-era sci-fi fiction audiobook
Discretion by Glynn Stewart
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
· 10 ratings
A crew, scattered across enemy linesA father, separated from his daughterA daughter who will not wait for rescueThe bounty for bringing down a major crime syndicate may have removed Captain Evridiki “EB” Bardacki’s immediate financial needs, but no freighter captain wants to fly empty between the stars...

Categorized as:
space-opera western military soldiers industrial-era sci-fi space audiobook
HMS Nightingale by J.A. Sutherland
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
· 12 ratings
For Lieutenant Alexis Carew, it should be the perfect assignment — a command of her own and a chance to return to her home star system...

Categorized as:
colonization female-mc industrial-era military space-opera action-adventure alpha-mc audiobook
The Gardens of Nibiru by Richard Fox
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars
· 14 ratings
Earth defeated the Toth invasion. Now humanity takes the fight to the aliens. The supreme Toth overlord, Mentiq, rules his species with an iron fist from his fortress on the planet Nibiru. Armed with stolen Toth technology, the Breitenfeld travels to the world with a single mission: Kill Mentiq and end the Toth threat to Earth...

Categorized as:
industrial-era military soldiers space-opera action-adventure adult ai aliens
The Little Ships by J.A. Sutherland
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars
· 24 ratings
Newly commissioned lieutenant, Alexis Carew is appointed into HMS Shrewsbury, a 74-gun ship of the line in New London’s space navy. She expects Shrewsbury will be sent into action in the war against Hanover, but instead she finds that she and her new ship are pivotal in a Foreign Office plot to bring the star systems of the French Republic into the war and end the threat of Hanover forever...

Categorized as:
colonization industrial-era military space-opera action-adventure audiobook book coming-of-age
How Firm a Foundation by David Weber
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars
· 18 ratings
The Charisian Empire, born in war, has always known it must fight for its very survival. What most of its subjects don't know even now, however, is how much more it's fighting for. Emperor Cayleb, Empress Sharleyan, Merlin Athrawes, and their innermost circle of most trusted advisers do know...

Categorized as:
colonization military post-apocalyptic soldiers space-opera action-adventure adult ai
Mutineer by J.A. Sutherland
Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars
· 24 ratings
Just as Midshipman Alexis Carew thinks she’s found a place in the Royal Navy, she’s transferred aboard H.M.S. Hermione. Her captain is a tartar, liberal with the cat, who thinks girls have no place aboard ship. The other midshipmen in the berth are no better. The only advice she’s offered is to keep her head down and mouth shut – things Alexis is rarely able to do...

Categorized as:
colonization female-mc industrial-era military space-opera action-adventure audiobook book
The Queen's Pardon by J.A. Sutherland
Rated: 4.49 of 5 stars
· 15 ratings
Allies and enemies are not always what they seem. Trapped on a hostile world, hunted by pirate bands and abandoned by her fellow captains, Alexis Carew must lead her small band to safety, even though it seems every hand is set against her...

Categorized as:
industrial-era military soldiers space-opera action-adventure audiobook book coming-of-age
Crimson Sun by J.N. Chaney, Terry Maggert
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
· 6 ratings
The Nyctus don’t like losing, and they’ll go to any lengths to turn the tides of war.When the idyllic planet Nebo is scorched into oblivion, it’s obvious that the Nyctus are moving massive fleets into human space again, and their intention is clear: even if they lose their ships, they will render planets into ash...

Categorized as:
exploration industrial-era military space-opera space-travel action-adventure adult audiobook
Wayward Galaxy 2 by Jason Anspach, J.N. Chaney
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars
· 8 ratings
'WAYWARD GALAXY 2' is the explosive sequel to the blockbuster first book that had sci-fi listeners calling for more. This next installment featured the gritty combat of Galaxy's Edge combined with the world-building intrigue of the Renegade Star series...

Categorized as:
exploration industrial-era military soldiers space-opera space-travel action-adventure adult
Andromeda Rising by Jay Allan
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars
· 8 ratings
A Hero is Born The Gut. An industrial hell. The foulest and most decrepit slum on Parsephon. A nest of human misery, where hope is word long forgotten, and the dead are carted away every day. It is the worst pit in the Confederation’s great industrial machine known as the Iron Belt...

Categorized as:
western space-opera exploration space-travel soldiers military colonization industrial-era
Hero to the Rescue by Timothy Ellis
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
· 10 ratings
"I'm not in the rescue business," states Jonathon Hunter, to the amusement of his crew. But rescues are the least of his concerns. Darkness is coming, and there are still people out there who don’t like him. The Sirius system has always fascinated Jon, and he is drawn to solve its mysteries...

Categorized as:
exploration military soldiers space-opera space-travel action-adventure book coming-of-age
Star Wars: Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force by Ryder Windham
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
· 10 ratings
THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO THE ABSOLUTE POWER AT THE HEART OF THE STAR WARS GALAXY The Force, in the immortal words of Obi-Wan Kenobi, “surrounds us, it penetrates us, it binds the galaxy together...

Categorized as:
industrial-era military space-opera action-adventure adult anthologies far-away-galaxy fiction
The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars
· 37 ratings
In 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...

Categorized as:
military space-opera space-travel 20th-century action-adventure adult aliens audiobook
Fortune's Stroke by Eric Flint, David Drake
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars
· 14 ratings
Aide, a human soul embodied in a jewel, journeys back in time to join forces with Belisarius, the greatest general of the sixth century, to stop Link, an evil supercomputer that is using its vast powers to rewrite history to create the powerful, technologically advance Malwa Empire. Reprint...

Categorized as:
military space-opera action-adventure adult alternate-history book fiction historical
Initiate by Joshua Anderle, Michael Anderle
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars
· 21 ratings
It was just one fight, but it changed Kaiden Jericho's life forever.He was in a gang but was trying to change his future when a board member of the elite advanced academy NEXUS made a snap decision and offered him a chance. Then fate, or an unbalanced genius, offered him another...

Categorized as:
colonization industrial-era military space-opera action-adventure aliens audiobook book
Alien Artifacts by Jasper T. Scott
Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars
· 13 ratings
A DEADLY MISSION ON AN UNCHARTED WORLD RIDDLED WITH ANCIENT SECRETSOn his last job, Cade Korbin lost his ship, lost his credits, and barely escaped with his life, but it’s not over. His enemy is still out there, nursing a decades-old vendetta that has yet to be quenched. Making matters worse, his guild is coming after him for breaking their rules...

Categorized as:
exploration industrial-era military post-apocalyptic soldiers space-travel action-adventure adult
Renegade Evolution by J.N. Chaney
Rated: 4.52 of 5 stars
· 11 ratings
The truth about the gods will set you free.Jace Hughes and the people of Earth have joined with the Union and the Sarkonians to create the largest alliance in human history. They have amassed a wealth of weapons, shields, and the strongest military ever conceived.But it may not be enough...

Categorized as:
exploration industrial-era military space-opera space-travel action-adventure adult audiobook
Nemesis by Jonathan Yanez
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
· 6 ratings
Villainy has a new face. With the Voy recently dispatched, Daniel Hunt and the rest of the Pack think they have a moment of reprieve from the madness. They would be wrong. A stranger from the future comes with a story so wild it's hard to deny. If this wasn't enough a new Relic is introduced onto the field. Every faction will do whatever it takes to claim it as their own...

Categorized as:
colonization exploration industrial-era military post-apocalyptic soldiers space-travel action-adventure
The Enemy Within by Jasper T. Scott
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
· 6 ratings
DISCOUNTED FROM $3.99 UNTIL AUGUST 27thTHEY LEFT SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS FROM THE COSMOS AND FOUND AN EVIL AS OLD AS TIME Lucien, Garek, Addy, and Brak are all that's left of the Inquisitor's crew...

Categorized as:
exploration industrial-era military soldiers space-opera space-travel action-adventure adult
Zero Day Threat by R.M. Olson
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
· 6 ratings
Four ex-convicts. One charismatic mastermind. And the most dangerous heist the System has ever seen.Jez is a damn good pilot, and she’s always worked alone. Until she got picked up for smuggling, that is.Now she’s lost her ship, lost her job, lost her reputation, and is on the run from the law...

Categorized as:
space-opera female-mc military soldiers industrial-era sci-fi action-adventure lgbtq
Orion Uncharted by J.N. Chaney, Jonathan Yanez
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
· 8 ratings
The Orion has fallen.After barely escaping with their lives, the crew of the Orion has scattered across an unknown world. With a diminishing hope of returning home, they have no choice but to band together.But between the local wildlife, lack of supplies, a missing crew, and a strange, ominous door that can't be opened, Dean and his new friends will need everything at their disposal to survive...

Categorized as:
exploration industrial-era space-opera space-travel action-adventure adult aliens audiobook
Cosmic Catalyst by Jenny Schwartz
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
· 8 ratings
ASIN B076PSPMHH moved to latest edition as per guidelinesEveryone has secrets. But some people will risk the galaxy to protect theirs. When starship shaman Jaya Romanov and her new mate partner, galactic bounty hunter and robot wolf shifter, Vulf Trent, saved the galaxy from the deadly actions of a determined geriatric terrorist, they forgot that old Earth truism: no good deed goes unpunished...

Categorized as:
industrial-era military soldiers space-opera space-travel action-adventure adult aliens
Leviathan by Jack Campbell
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars
· 31 ratings
Two Syndicate World star systems have fallen prey to a mysterious fleet of warships—a fleet controlled entirely by artificial intelligence—that is now targeting Alliance space. The warships are no mystery to Geary. They were developed by his government to ensure security, but malfunctioned. If the Syndics learn the truth, the war with the Alliance will resume with a vengeance...

Categorized as:
exploration military post-apocalyptic space-opera space-travel action-adventure adult ai
Occupied Earth (The Sequel to First Encounter) by Jasper T. Scott
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars
· 10 ratings
FROM MILLION-COPY BESTSELLER JASPER T. SCOTT THE FORERUNNERS LEFT EARTH IN SEARCH OF INTELLIGENT LIFE, AND THEY FOUND IT. Captain Clayton Cross and his crew encountered the Kyra, an advanced race of avian carnivores. They fled this first encounter, but the Kyra beat them back to Earth by almost a century. Earth lost the war in just a few weeks. Our cities burned, and billions died...

Categorized as:
colonization exploration industrial-era military post-apocalyptic soldiers space-opera space-travel
Final Days: Escape by Nathan Hystad, Jasper T. Scott
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars
· 10 ratings
Andrew and Kendra have learned what's on the other side of the ridge, but it leaves them with more questions than answers. Their colony has turned into a dictatorship under the thumb of its delusional self-appointed leader, the Reverend, making their lives a living nightmare...

Categorized as:
colonization industrial-era post-apocalyptic space-opera space-travel action-adventure adult aliens
Starcaster by J.N. Chaney, Terry Maggert
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars
· 10 ratings
Magic. Steel. Blood. Victory.The Earth’s navy is left drifting among the stars as Nyctus ships swarm, their purpose unknown as they continue their advance, burning one system after another.Humanity's extinction seems inevitable.But on one of the forgotten worlds, a boy is left behind, and he holds a talent unlike anything the galaxy has ever known.Thorn Stellers is a mage, made to lead and fight...

Categorized as:
colonization exploration industrial-era military space-opera space-travel action-adventure adult
Blood in the Water by Taylor Anderson
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
· 12 ratings
Taylor Anderson’s enthralling New York Times bestselling series of alternate history continues as game-changing revelations upend the Grand Alliance in a potentially cataclysmic war. Ever since the USS Walker came from another world war to defy the terrifying Grik and diabolical Dominion, Matt Reddy and his crew have given their all to protect the oppressed Lemurians...

Categorized as:
exploration military post-apocalyptic space-travel action-adventure adult aliens alternate-history
The Bounty Hunter by Jasper T. Scott
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
· 12 ratings
BY MILLION-COPY BESTSELLER JASPER T. SCOTTFROM OUTLAW TO BOUNTY HUNTER TO VIGILANTE: REVENGE IS JUST THE BEGINNINGCade Korbin became a bounty hunter because he knew what it was like to be hunted. What he didn’t know was who he’d end up hunting.When it suited the Coalition, Cade was a Paladin, a member of their elite special forces. He did their dirty work and cleaned up their messes...

Categorized as:
exploration industrial-era military soldiers space-opera space-travel action-adventure adult
Fury by Jonathan Yanez
Rated: 4.45 of 5 stars
· 11 ratings
The more he uncovers, the less he really knows. So far answers to Daniel's past have taken him from the moon to Earth and Mars. Each memory recovered leads to yet more questions. Everything is about to change. When the survival of the humankind is threatened Daniel will have to put his own crusade for answers on hold...

Categorized as:
industrial-era post-apocalyptic space-opera action-adventure adult aliens book classics
Annihilation by Jonathan Yanez
Rated: 4.49 of 5 stars
· 10 ratings
The Battle For Mars Comes to a Bloody End Daniel Hunt has been many things in his life but a commander in a full out military conflict has never been one of them. The Voy is a deadly opponent and if humanity is going to have a chance every faction must come together...

Categorized as:
colonization exploration industrial-era military post-apocalyptic soldiers space-opera space-travel
Into the Dark by J.A. Sutherland
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars
· 14 ratings
At fifteen, Alexis Carew has to face an age old problem - she's a girl, and only a boy can inherit the family's vast holdings. Her options are few. She must marry and watch a stranger run the lands, or become a penniless tenant and see the lands she so dearly loves sold off. Yet there may be another option, one that involves becoming a midshipman on a shorthanded spaceship with no other women...

Categorized as:
colonization industrial-era military space-opera action-adventure audiobook book coming-of-age
Damnation by Jean Johnson
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars
· 14 ratings
It began with a terrible vision of the future. Compelled by her precognitive abilities, Ia must somehow save her home galaxy long after she’s gone...

Categorized as:
exploration female-mc industrial-era military post-apocalyptic soldiers space-opera space-travel
An Officer's Duty by Jean Johnson
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars
· 16 ratings
Jean Johnson—the national bestselling author of the Sons of Destiny novels—returns to the world she introduced in A Soldier’s Duty with a terrible vision of the future... Promoted in the field for courage and leadership under fire, Ia is now poised to become an officer in the Space Force Navy—once she undertakes her Academy training...

Categorized as:
female-mc industrial-era military post-apocalyptic soldiers space-opera space-travel action-adventure
Wayward Galaxy by Jason Anspach, J.N. Chaney
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
· 20 ratings
The future isn’t what they expected.A company of Army Rangers is sent on an interstellar colony ship to secure a foothold on a dangerous, alien planet through violence of action...

Categorized as:
exploration industrial-era military soldiers space-opera space-travel action-adventure adult
A Mighty Fortress by David Weber
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars
· 18 ratings
Young Cayleb Ahrmahk has accomplished things few people could even dream of. Not yet even thirty years old, he’s won the most crushing naval victories in human history. He’s smashed a hostile alliance of no less than five princedoms and won the hand of the beautiful young Queen Sharleyan of Chisholm...

Categorized as:
colonization military post-apocalyptic soldiers space-opera action-adventure adult ai
By Schism Rent Asunder by David Weber
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars
· 18 ratings
The world has changed. The mercantile kingdom of Charis has prevailed over the alliance designed to exterminate it. Armed with better sailing vessels, better guns and better devices of all sorts, Charis faced the combined navies of the rest of the world at Darcos Sound and Armageddon Reef, and broke them...

Categorized as:
colonization military post-apocalyptic soldiers space-opera action-adventure adult ai
Space Deputy by Jenny Schwartz
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars
· 15 ratings
A millennium into the future, the Saloon Sector is where the Wild West meets the 1950s, in space, with robots. It’s where careers go to die. Thelma Bach graduated top of her class after four years at the Galactic Justice academy. But she’s a Rock Sector citizen. The core worlders were never going to let her transcend her background...

Categorized as:
exploration female-mc industrial-era military soldiers space-opera space-travel western
The Short Victorious War by David Weber
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars
· 27 ratings
The proles are revolting.The families who rule the People's Republic of Haven are in trouble. The treasury's empty, the Proles are restless, and civil war is imminent.But the ruling class knows what they need to keep in power; another short, victorious war to unite the people and fill the treasury once more...

Categorized as:
female-mc military space-opera space-travel 20th-century action-adventure adult aliens
King of the Wastes by Nicholas Sansbury Smith
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars
· 10 ratings
Face the uncertain future without fear...A year has passed since the Hell Divers defeated the machines at Kilimanjaro. The freed captives have settled into their new home at the Vanguard Islands, joining survivors from around the world. But extreme weather and failed crops have raised the specter of famine...

Categorized as:
colonization exploration female-mc industrial-era military post-apocalyptic soldiers space-travel
Parabellum by Jonathan Yanez
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
· 8 ratings
The enemy has shown its true face. Now, the battle rages on two fronts.But the true enemy still lies in the shadows.Humanity reels in the face of a new alien threat. False information spews from the podium of a leader bent on power and conquest.Daniel Hunt finds himself on the run from the very people he had vowed to protect...

Categorized as:
colonization industrial-era post-apocalyptic space-opera action-adventure adult aliens book
Renegade Atlas by J.N. Chaney
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
· 24 ratings
The search for Earth has begun.After barely escaping the Union's grasp, The Renegade Star is off to parts unknown. Every member of its crew is a wanted fugitive. None of them can ever return home.But all is not lost.Thanks to Lex, a strange girl with a remarkable gift, the path to Earth has been revealed...

Categorized as:
colonization exploration industrial-era military soldiers space-opera space-travel action-adventure
Absolution by Jonathan Yanez
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars
· 11 ratings
Redemption exists but the price must be paid in blood. Daniel Hunt is still searching for answers to his past. Along the way, he stumbled across The Order, an ancient society credited for toppling Earth. His search will take him into the Badlands where a former member of the Pack Protocol has made her home. Except all is not as it seems in the small town and war is in the air...

Categorized as:
colonization industrial-era post-apocalyptic space-opera action-adventure adult aliens book
The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
· 6 ratings
Gathered together in one hardcover volume: three timeless novels from the founding father of science fiction.The first great novel to imagine time travel, The Time Machine (1895) follows its scientist narrator on an incredible journey that takes him finally to Earth’s last moments—and perhaps his own...

Categorized as:
industrial-era military post-apocalyptic action-adventure adult aliens anthologies classics
The Fifth Column by J.N. Chaney, Molly Lerma
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
· 6 ratings
After a soldier is left for dead, Eva Delgado’s life begins to unravel. The truth of what happened remains a mystery, and the government will stop at nothing to keep it buried. Together with the unit’s medic, Eva finds herself branded a terrorist and enemy of the State, hunted by two opposing governments...

Categorized as:
exploration industrial-era military soldiers space-travel action-adventure adult audiobook

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