Books like 'Phantom Orbit: A Thriller'
Readers who enjoyed Phantom Orbit: A Thriller by David Ignatius also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
mystery sc-fi action / adventure space military, war & conflict espionage crime technology military politics
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Leviathan Falls by James S.A. Corey
Rated: 4.55 of 5 stars · 48 ratingsThe Laconian Empire has fallen, setting the thirteen hundred solar systems free from the rule of Winston Duarte. But the ancient enemy that killed the gate builders is awake, and the war against our universe has begun again... -
![Nemesis Games by James S.A. Corey]()
Nemesis Games by James S.A. Corey
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 61 ratingsThe fifth novel in Corey's New York Times bestselling Expanse series--now being produced for television by the SyFy Channel!A thousand worlds have opened, and the greatest land rush in human history has begun. As wave after wave of colonists leave, the power structures of the old solar system begin to buckle.Ships are disappearing without a trace. Private armies are being secretly formed... -
![Caliban's War by James S.A. Corey]()
Caliban's War by James S.A. Corey
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 71 ratingsWe are not alone.On Ganymede, breadbasket of the outer planets, a Martian marine watches as her platoon is slaughtered by a monstrous supersoldier. On Earth, a high-level politician struggles to prevent interplanetary war from reigniting. And on Venus, an alien protomolecule has overrun the planet, wreaking massive, mysterious changes and threatening to spread out into the solar system...Categorized as:
military political-intrigue politics technology 21st-century action-adventure adult aliens -
![A Night Without Stars by Peter F. Hamilton]()
A Night Without Stars by Peter F. Hamilton
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsThe planet Bienvenido is in crisis. It has finally escaped the Void, emerging into regular space. But it's millions of light-years from Commonwealth assistance, and humans are battling the Fallers for control of their world... -
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![Mountain of Mars by Glynn Stewart]()
Mountain of Mars by Glynn Stewart
Rated: 4.52 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe Mage-King of Mars is deadChaos rocks Olympus MonsA new monarch must rise – but she does not stand alone!As the celebration of the victory at Legatus cools, a shuttle accident claims the lives of the Mage-King of Mars and his heir. The Crown and the Mountain fall to the Mage-King’s daughter, seventeen-year-old Kiera Alexander... -
![Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold]()
Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsForced to abandon his undercover role as leader of the Dendarii Mercenaries, Miles Vorkosigan persuades Emperor Gregor to appoint him Imperial Auditor so he can penetrate Barrayar’s intelligence and security operations (ImpSec)...Categorized as:
crime military political-intrigue politics 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
![Boneshaker by Joshua Dalzelle]()
Boneshaker by Joshua Dalzelle
Rated: 4.53 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsMarine First Lieutenant Jacob Brown is bored.For months he's been sitting around on an alien planet, waiting for command to recall his scout team so they could rest and be re-outfitted. The team went through hell during their previous mission, losing both their commanding officer and their ship...Categorized as:
espionage military political-intrigue action-adventure adult aliens book colonization -
![Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey]()
Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 79 ratingsHumanity has colonized the solar system—Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt and beyond—but the stars are still out of our reach.Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, the Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted... -
![Abaddon's Gate by James S.A. Corey]()
Abaddon's Gate by James S.A. Corey
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 71 ratingsAbaddon's Gate is the third book in the New York Times bestselling Expanse series. For generations, the solar system - Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt - was humanity's great frontier. Until now. The alien artefact working through its program under the clouds of Venus has emerged to build a massive structure outside the orbit of Uranus: a gate that leads into a starless dark...Categorized as:
crime military political-intrigue politics technology 21st-century action-adventure adult -
![Sword of Mars by Glynn Stewart]()
Sword of Mars by Glynn Stewart
Rated: 4.49 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA defector with a dangerous leadA chance to speak for the silentA perilous quest into enemy starsWhen the star system of Legatus was preparing to secede from the Protectorate of the Mage-King of Mars, it was the secret agents of the Legatan Military Intelligence Directorate that laid the groundwork and fought the covert war to make it happen... -
![Judas Unchained by Peter F. Hamilton]()
Judas Unchained by Peter F. Hamilton
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsRobust, peaceful, and confident, the Commonwealth dispatched a ship to investigate the mystery of a disappearing star, only to inadvertently unleash a predatory alien species that turned on its liberators, striking hard, fast, and utterly without mercy. The Prime are the Commonwealth's worst nightmare... -
![Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold]()
Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold
Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars · 40 ratingsThe dwarfish, fetally-damaged yet brilliant Miles Vorkosigan has more than his share of troubles. Having recently escaped an assassination plot whose tool was a brainwashed clone of himself, Miles has set the clone, Mark, free for a new chance at life... -
![The Last Hunter by J.N. Chaney, Terry Mixon]()
The Last Hunter by J.N. Chaney, Terry Mixon
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsThose that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.Two centuries after the Confederation staved off an invasion by the robotic Locusts, Captain Jack Romanoff faces mandatory retirement from an ever-shrinking Navy. Actions speak louder than words. The Confederation doesn’t think the Locusts are coming back... -
![A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine]()
A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsNow a USA Today bestseller! Publishers Weekly's Best Books of 2021Bookpage's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of 2021 Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee for Best Science Fiction Book of 2021"[An] all around brilliant space opera, I absolutely love it...Categorized as:
military political-intrigue politics 21st-century action-adventure adult aliens audiobook -
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![Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells]()
Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells
Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars · 59 ratingsSciFi’s favorite crabby A.I. is again on a mission. The case against the too-big-to-fail GrayCris Corporation is floundering, and more importantly, authorities are beginning to ask more questions about where Dr. Mensah's SecUnit is.And Murderbot would rather those questions went away. For good... -
![Young Miles by Lois McMaster Bujold]()
Young Miles by Lois McMaster Bujold
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsThe Warrior's Apprentice 1The Mountains of Mourning 373The Vor Game 465Author's Afterword 829IT ISN'T EASY, BEING VOR...Being a Vor lord on the war-torn planet Barrayar wasn't easy. Being an officer in Barrayar's military wasn't easy...Categorized as:
military politics 20th-century action-adventure anthologies audiobook coming-of-age female-author -
![Catalyst by S.J. Kincaid]()
Catalyst by S.J. Kincaid
Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsS. J. Kincaid has created a fascinating dystopian world for Insignia, her futuristic science-fiction adventure series perfect for fans of Ender's Game. Earth is in the middle of WWIII, battling to determine which governments and corporations will control the resources of the solar system.Teen Tom Raines grew up with nothing, some days without even a roof over his head...Categorized as:
military technology action-adventure audiobook boarding-school book children cyberpunk -
![Vorkosigan's Game: The Vor Game \ Borders of Infinity by Lois McMaster Bujold]()
Vorkosigan's Game: The Vor Game \ Borders of Infinity by Lois McMaster Bujold
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsOmnibus of The Vor Game and the novella "Borders of Infinity"... -
![Thrawn by Timothy Zahn]()
Thrawn by Timothy Zahn
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 42 ratingsOne of the most cunning and ruthless warriors in the history of the Galactic Empire, Grand Admiral Thrawn is also one of the most captivating characters in the Star Wars universe, from his introduction in bestselling author Timothy Zahn’s classic Heir to the Empire through his continuing adventures in Dark Force Rising, The Last Command, and beyond... -
![Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton]()
Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton
Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars · 46 ratingsThe year is 2380. The Intersolar Commonwealth, a sphere of stars some four hundred light-years in diameter, contains more than six hundred worlds, interconnected by a web of transport "tunnels" known as wormholes. At the farthest edge of the Commonwealth, astronomer Dudley Bose observes the impossible: Over one thousand light-years away, a star... vanishes. It does not go supernova... -
![Cibola Burn by James S.A. Corey]()
Cibola Burn by James S.A. Corey
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 72 ratingsThe fourth novel in James S.A. Corey’s New York Times bestselling Expanse seriesThe gates have opened the way to thousands of habitable planets, and the land rush has begun. Settlers stream out from humanity's home planets in a vast, poorly controlled flood, landing on a new world... -
![Red Angel: Coup d'etat by C.R. Daems]()
Red Angel: Coup d'etat by C.R. Daems
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAn insidious cabal has decided to change the direction of the United Alliance of Stars (UAS) with a coup d'etat--but not through a military takeover. They have devised a subtler coup: the manipulation of the Committee, the fifteen-star system that sets policy for the UAS... -
![The Red Admiral by C.R. Daems]()
The Red Admiral by C.R. Daems
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAnna's success as the Eastar NIA station chief has catapulted her into the position of Director of NIA Stations. Anna is uncomfortable with the promotion and bored. She has a master chief secretary, a lieutenant aide-de-camp, and fifteen commanders and their staff to do the work. But she suspects not all of her commanders are happy with their new, very young admiral or are doing their jobs... -
![Voice of Mars by Glynn Stewart]()
Voice of Mars by Glynn Stewart
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsYOU CAN NEVER GO HOMEWhen accusations of piracy and mass murder are laid against his homeworld, Damien Montgomery is sent to resolve the crisis.As counter-accusations fly and an old flame re-enters his life, the newest Hand of the Mage-King of Mars finds himself in the midst of a bloody interstellar shadow war... -
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![Hijackers by C.R. Daems]()
Hijackers by C.R. Daems
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAnna's nice comfortable world is in turmoil. Because of their success in destroying the foreign Raiders, Anna, Kris, and Adrian were promoted to full commander, and the project team was disbanded. Kris and Adrian were given NIA offices to manage on Stone Ring and Westar, and Anna is being pressured to move to Eastar to manage the NIA station... -
![Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold]()
Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsA rich Komarran merchant fleet has been impounded at Graf Station, in distant Quaddiespace, after a bloody incident on the station docks involving a security officer from the convoy's Barrayaran military escort. Lord Miles Vorkosigan of Barrayar and his wife, Lady Ekaterin, have other things on their minds, such as getting home in time to attend the long-awaited births of their first children... -
![Cetaganda by Lois McMaster Bujold]()
Cetaganda by Lois McMaster Bujold
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsThe latest installment in the adventures of Miles Vorkosigan. Miles and Cousin Ivan travel to Cetaganda to play the part of sprigs of nobility doing their diplomatic duty. But when the Empress of Cetaganda dies naturally, and her lifelong attendant dies unnaturally, Miles and Ivan finds themselves in the thick of it...Categorized as:
crime espionage military political-intrigue politics 20th-century action-adventure adult -
![Defiance by Joel Shepherd]()
Defiance by Joel Shepherd
Rated: 4.37 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsThe UFS Phoenix is hunting for the long-lost drysine data-core. Within it lie the secrets to saving humanity from the resurgent deepynine machine-race. To recover it, Captain Erik Debogande must work together with the man who holds his sister hostage — the power-hungry parren leader Aristan. Aristan has sworn he will return Lisbeth Debogande once Phoenix grants him equal access to its prize... -
![Earth Below, Sky Above by John Scalzi]()
Earth Below, Sky Above by John Scalzi
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsAt last, the Earth and the Colonial Union have begun formal discussions about their relationship in the futurea chance for the divisions in humanity to be repaired. The diplomats and crew of the Clarke are on hand to help with the process, including Ambassador Ode Abumwe and CDF Lieutenant Harry Wilson, both of whom were born on Earth. But not everyone wants The Human Division to be repaired.. -
![Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold]()
Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsCordelia and Arol Vorkosigan's plans for a peaceful married life (after all the bloodshed and trials recounted in SHARDS OF HONOR) are soon shattered by the polital tumult on Barrayar. Resisting enormous pressure, they struggle to keep their family alive while while protecting the child Emperor from enemies who would murder him and assume absolute power over all of Barrayar...Categorized as:
military political-intrigue politics 20th-century action-adventure adult aliens audiobook -
![The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold]()
The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsHugo Award Winner! Miles Vorkosigan graduates from the Academy, joins a mutiny, is placed under house arrest, goes on a secret mission, reconnects with his loyal Dendarii Mercenaries, rescues his Emperor, and thwarts an interstellar war. Situation normal, if you're Miles...Categorized as:
espionage military political-intrigue politics 20th-century action-adventure audiobook book -
![Mage-Provocateur by Glynn Stewart]()
Mage-Provocateur by Glynn Stewart
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsVengeance hunts them. Rebellion seeks them. Loyalty commands them. The shadows will fear them. Captain David Rice and Mage Maria Soprano have made their choice, signing up with the Martian Interstellar Security Agency and converting Red Falcon into a covert operations ship for the Protectorate... -
![The Mountains of Mourning by Lois McMaster Bujold]()
The Mountains of Mourning by Lois McMaster Bujold
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 30 ratings[A Miles Vorkosigan Story] Twenty year old Ensign Miles Vorkosigan plays detective in a murder case, and tests the balance of power as a member of the Barrayaran nobility. [Publisher's Note: The Mountains of Mourning was originally published as a stand-alone novella in the May 1989 issue of Analog... -
![Auberon by James S.A. Corey]()
Auberon by James S.A. Corey
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsA novella set in the universe of James S. A. Corey’s NYT-bestselling Expanse series, Auberon explores a new and alien world and the age-old dangers that humanity has carried with it to the stars. Now a Prime Original series.Auberon is one of the first and most important colony worlds in humanity’s reach, and the new conquering faction has come to claim it...Categorized as:
crime military political-intrigue politics 21st-century action-adventure adult aliens -
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![Vortex by S.J. Kincaid]()
Vortex by S.J. Kincaid
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsThe impossible was just the beginning. Now in their second year as superhuman government weapons-in-training at the Pentagonal Spire, Tom Raines and his friends are mid-level cadets in the elite combat corps known as the Intrasolar Forces. But as training intensifies and a moment arrives that could make or break his entire career, Tom’s loyalties are again put to the test...Categorized as:
military technology action-adventure audiobook boarding-school book coming-of-age cyberpunk -
![Raiders by C.R. Daems]()
Raiders by C.R. Daems
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAnna and her Naval Intelligence Agency, NIA, teammates have a new high-priority assignment: foreign raiders who are wreaking havoc within the United Alliance of Stars. They hit high value targets, have access to inside information, kill the security guards, and leave no witnesses. The NIA team soon discovers the raiders' system has been well thought out and has no weak links to exploit... -
![Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold]()
Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsKomarr could be a garden with a thousand more years' work, or an uninhabitable wasteland if the terraforming fails. Now, the solar mirror vital to the terraforming of the conquered planet has been shattered by a ship hurtling off course. The Emperor of Barrayar sends his newest imperial auditor, Lord Miles Vorkosigan, to find out why...Categorized as:
crime espionage military political-intrigue politics 20th-century action-adventure adult -
![Ravenor Rogue by Dan Abnett]()
Ravenor Rogue by Dan Abnett
Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsIn the third book of the series, Inquisitor Ravenor's pursuit of his arch-nemesis Molotch takes him and his team to places dark and dangerous. Unknown to Ravenor, one of his team hides a deadly secret that could doom them all... -
![Agents of Mars by Glynn Stewart]()
Agents of Mars by Glynn Stewart
Rated: 4.41 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsAn enemy hidden in the shadowsA crack in the armor of secrecyOne chance to find an answerCaptain David Rice and the crew of Red Falcon have spent two years infiltrating the arms smuggling underworld of the Protectorate of the Mage-King of Mars. When the co-opted rebellion on Ardennes reveals a supply chain of weapons intended to fight Mars, this makes them the perfect team to investigate... -
![The Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold]()
The Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsBetween the seemingly impossible tasks of living up to his warrior-father's legend and surmounting his own physical limitations, Miles Vorkosigan faces some truly daunting challenges. Shortly after his arrival on Beta Colony, Miles unexpectedly finds himself the owner of an obsolete freighter and in more debt than he ever thought possible...Categorized as:
military political-intrigue politics 20th-century action-adventure audiobook book classics -
![Kantovan Vault by Joel Shepherd]()
Kantovan Vault by Joel Shepherd
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe UFS Phoenix is on a mission to find a lost data-core that may contain the secret to defeating the alo-deepynine alliance. But the means to find the data-core is hidden deep in tavalai space, in a highest-security vault where the tavalai's manipulative State Department keep all their most treacherous secrets. To recover it, Phoenix must pull off the most daring heist the Spiral has ever seen... -
![Discovery by Ken Lozito]()
Discovery by Ken Lozito
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsExploring New Earth should be a thrilling undertaking. Instead, the more the colonists learn about the planet, the more alarmed they become. Alien ruins hint at a species who fought great wars among themselves and disappeared centuries ago.When Connor Gates discovers a hidden bunker, he finds something he never expected... -
![The Worst Ship in the Fleet by Skyler Ramirez]()
The Worst Ship in the Fleet by Skyler Ramirez
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA Military Science Fiction Adventure!Brad Mendoza is an idiot. He knows it, and so does everyone else. A promising naval career down the drain just because he accidentally killed 504 civilians. So, it's time for him to give up and accept a dead-end command on Persephone, the worst ship in the fleet... -
![Brass Man by Neal Asher]()
Brass Man by Neal Asher
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIan Cormac, a legendary Earth Central Security agent, the James Bond of a wealthy future, is hunting an interstellar dragon, little knowing that, far away, his competition has resurrected an horrific killing machine named "Mr. Crane" to assist in a similar hunt, ecompassing whole star systems. Mr... -
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![Hereticus by Dan Abnett]()
Hereticus by Dan Abnett
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsIn this concluding novel of Dan Abnett's sensational trilogy, a dark figure from the past returns to exact a cruel vengeance upon Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn... -
![A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine]()
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 50 ratingsAmbassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover that her predecessor, the previous ambassador from their small but fiercely independent mining Station, has died. But no one will admit that his death wasn't an accident—or that Mahit might be next to die, during a time of political instability in the highest echelons of the imperial court... -
![Oracle by Douglas E. Richards]()
Oracle by Douglas E. Richards
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsA breathtaking near-future thriller. From the NY Times bestselling author whose books have been downloaded over a million times. An interstellar war is racing toward an unsuspecting Earth. Can one young woman stop it before it's too late? LA detective Anna Abbott can see brief, cryptic visions of the future. She just doesn't know it yet. But others do... -
![Blue Gemini by Mike Jenne]()
Blue Gemini by Mike Jenne
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsScott Ourecky wanted to fly—he never dreamed he'd end up in a secret military space program.The year is 1968: The Cold War is far from over, nuclear annihilation is always only a heartbeat away. America is racing the Soviet Union to land men on the Moon, a war is raging, and a pivotal presidential election looms on the horizon...Categorized as:
espionage military political-intrigue politics action-adventure audiobook book exploration -
![Straits of Power by Joe Buff]()
Straits of Power by Joe Buff
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe next world war rages. With the Allies at a stalemate with the Berlin-Boer Axis, every battle takes on a new significance. But in a conflict fought with billion-dollar technology and campaigns comprising millions of soldiers, the outcome may rest in the hands of a single man ..Categorized as:
military political-intrigue action-adventure adult alternate-history book fiction historical -
![Space Murder by N.L. Haverstock, Nikki Haverstock]()
Space Murder by N.L. Haverstock, Nikki Haverstock
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFor everything there is a season…Once the star student of her training class, Captain Liz Laika is now an outcast, a casualty of family scandal. Now stuck in the worst post in the Fleet, she should keep her head down. But when a Cerulean passenger is found decapitated, and Liz is framed for the murder, she has no choice but to fight for her life...
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