Books like 'Falling Bodies'
Readers who enjoyed Falling Bodies by Rebecca Roanhorse also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
sc-fi space psychological military, war & conflict dystopia aliens indigenous-mc space-opera first-contact invasion
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The Dark Forest by Liu Cixin, Eisso Post
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 68 ratingsThis is the second novel in "Remembrance of Earth’s Past", the near-future trilogy written by the China's multiple-award-winning science fiction author, Cixin Liu. In The Dark Forest, Earth is reeling from the revelation of a coming alien invasion — four centuries in the future...Categorized as:
aliens dystopia first-contact invasion poc-mc space-opera 21st-century action-adventure -
Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 68 ratingsSo far the Foundation was safe. But there was a hidden Second Foundation to protect the first. The Mule has yet to find it, but he was getting closer all the time. The men of the Foundation sought it, too, to escape from Mule's mind control. Only Arkady, a 14 year-old girl seemed to have the answer, or did she.. -
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 67 ratingsFrom the brilliant and award-winning author Ursula K. Le Guin comes a classic tale of two planets torn apart by conflict and mistrust — and the man who risks everything to reunite them.A bleak moon settled by utopian anarchists, Anarres has long been isolated from other worlds, including its mother planet, Urras—a civilization of warring nations, great poverty, and immense wealth... -
Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 68 ratingsFoundation and Empire tells the incredible story of a new breed of man who create a new force for galactic government. Thus, the Foundation hurtles into conflict with the decadent, decrepit First Empire. In this struggle for power amid the chaos of the stars, man stands at the threshold of a new, enlightened life which could easily be put aside for the old forces of barbarism... -
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Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 49 ratingsFor twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. But only Hari Seldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory, can see into the future -- to a dark age of ignorance, barbarism, and warfare that will last thirty thousand years...Categorized as:
dystopia post-apocalyptic space-opera 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook book -
Heaven's River by Dennis E. Taylor
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsCivil war looms in the Bobiverse in this brand-new, epic-length adventure by best seller Dennis E. Taylor.More than a hundred years ago, Bender set out for the stars and was never heard from again. There has been no trace of him despite numerous searches by his clone-mates. Now Bob is determined to organize an expedition to learn Bender’s fate—whatever the cost...Categorized as:
aliens dystopia first-contact invasion post-apocalyptic space-opera action-adventure adult -
Battleship Leviathan by Craig Martelle
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA derelict warship, ancient but still alive. A small team of humans fighting for all humanity.Built for a time when the races were just finding their way to the stars, finding that they could dominate others. The galactic conquests created the arms race and the ancients, the Progenitors had to protect their own. They built a ship to drive the others away.It worked. And it didn’t...Categorized as:
aliens colonization invasion space-opera suspense action-adventure adult anthologies -
The Bound Worlds by Megan E. O'Keefe
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWorlds will collide and fates will be rewritten in the thrilling conclusion to the Devoured Worlds space opera trilogy by award-winning author Megan E. O’Keefe. Naira and Tarquin have found a new home on Seventh Cradle. But the peace they’ve built is short-lived as mysterious assailants ambush the settlement and Naira is haunted by visions of a monstrous future... -
This Alien Shore by C.S. Friedman
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsSheltered all her life in a corporate satellite in Earth's outer orbit, Jamisia must face the truth about her origins and her role in the power struggle between the Guerans who dominate intergalactic transportation and the rest of Earth's far-flung and genetically mutated colonies who are trying to break the Guera Guild's monopoly... -
Earth Awakens by Orson Scott Card, Aaron Johnston
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe story of The First Formic War continues in Earth Awakens.Nearly 100 years before the events of Orson Scott Card's bestselling novel Ender's Game, humans were just beginning to step off Earth and out into the Solar System. A thin web of ships in both asteroid belts; a few stations; a corporate settlement on Luna...Categorized as:
aliens dystopia first-contact invasion space-opera suspense action-adventure apocalyptic -
Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsThe astonishing sequel to Children of Time, the award-winning novel of humanity's battle for survival on a terraformed planet.Thousands of years ago, Earth's terraforming program took to the stars. On the world they called Nod, scientists discovered alien life - but it was their mission to overwrite it with the memory of Earth...Categorized as:
aliens dystopia first-contact invasion post-apocalyptic space-opera 21st-century action-adventure -
The Swarm by Orson Scott Card, Aaron Johnston
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsOrson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston return to their Ender's Game prequel series with this first volume of an all-new trilogy about the Second Formic War in The Swarm.The first invasion of Earth was beaten back by a coalition of corporate and international military forces, and the Chinese army...Categorized as:
aliens first-contact invasion space-opera action-adventure apocalyptic audiobook book -
Bright Light: Star Carrier: Book Eight by Ian Douglas
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsNew York Times bestselling military science fiction author Ian Douglas brings us the eighth—and penultimate—Star Carrier novel, Bright Light, combining the best action, adventure, and hard science into this universe-spanning series There’s no more time . . . There’s always more time . . . Trevor Gray has been stripped of his command of the starship America, and is unsure what to do with his life... -
Legacy Marines by Jonathan P. Brazee
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsEsther and Noah Lysander are the twin children of General Ryck Lysander, Commandant of the Marine Corps, leader of the Evolution, and Chairman of the Federation. When they are told that their father and mother have been assassinated, they are both devastated. Cut adrift, they each decide to enlist in the Corps—but for different reasons... -
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Girl on the Moon by Jack McDonald Burnett
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThis near-future sci-fi adventure sends humankind back to the moon, this time to make first contact with an inscrutable alien race. And when Earth’s new acquaintances become new neighbors, humanity might not be done with the moon yet — and it might not be done with Earth. Fortunately for humankind, it has Conn Garrow.They said Conn wasn’t qualified for astronaut training... -
Warchild by Karin Lowachee
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe merchant ship Mukudori encompasses the whole of eight-year-old Jos's world, until a notorious pirate destroys the ship, slaughters the adults, and enslaves the children. Thus begins a desperate odyssey of terror and escape that takes Jos beyond known space to the homeworld of the strits, Earth's alien enemies. To survive, the boy must become a living weapon and a master spy... -
Armor by John Steakley
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsThe military sci-fi classic in a striking new packageFelix is an Earth soldier, encased in special body armor designed to withstand Earth's most implacable enemy-a bioengineered, insectoid alien horde. But Felix is also equipped with internal mechanisms that enable him, and his fellow soldiers, to survive battle situations that would destroy a man's mind... -
Wasp by Eric Frank Russell
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsThe war has raged for nearly a year and Earth desperately needs an edge to overcome the Sirian Empire's huge advantage in personnel and equipment. That's where James Mowry comes in. Intensively trained, his appearance surgically altered, Mowry secretly lands on one of the Empire's planets... -
The Apollo Murders by Chris Hadfield
Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsAn exceptional debut thriller and “exciting journey” into the dark heart of the Cold War and the space race from New York Times bestselling author and astronaut Chris Hadfield (Andy Weir, author of The Martian and Project Hail Mary). 1973: a final, top-secret mission to the Moon. Three astronauts in a tiny spaceship, a quarter million miles from home. A quarter million miles from help...Categorized as:
suspense action-adventure adult alternate-history amateur-sleuth audiobook book cold-war -
Starfish by Peter Watts
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA huge international corporation has developed a facility along the Juan de Fuca Ridge at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean to exploit geothermal power. They send a bio-engineered crew--people who have been altered to withstand the pressure and breathe the seawater--down to live and work in this weird, fertile undersea darkness... -
Heretics of Dune by Frank Herbert
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsLeto Atreides, the God Emperor of Dune, is dead. In the fifteen hundred years since his passing, the Empire has fallen into ruin. The great Scattering saw millions abandon the crumbling civilization and spread out beyond the reaches of known space. The planet Arrakis-now called Rakis-has reverted to its desert climate, and its great sandworms are dying... -
Tripoint by C.J. Cherryh
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsMerchanter Cargo Chief Marie Hawkins has never forgiven the crime, nor sought justice. Only vengeance. And, for 23 years, the Hawkins's clan ship, Sprite, has lived with her vendetta - and with her son, Tom, the boy sired in the violent assault.Marie's attacker, Austin Bowe, is captain of the Corinthian. When both ships dock at Mariner Station, Marie vanishes and Tom searches for his mother.. -
Halfway Human by Carolyn Ives Gilman
Rated: 4.01 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsTedla is young, beautiful and blond but is neither he nor she. On a far-off world, an asexual class of blands exists to serve their fellow humans, protected and isolated from contact with the rest of the universe. But no bland has ever left its sheltered homeworld--until now. Tedla has been found in an alley light-years away from its planet. And it has just tried to commit suicide... -
Hour of Judgement by Susan R. Matthews
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBurkhayden is a subject colony, leased by the Bench to a Dolgorukij familial corporation for economic exploitation. When a Nurail woman from the service house is brutally raped and beaten, Andrej Koscuisko –- Ship’s Inquisitor on board the Jurisdiction Fleet Ship Ragnarok –- is called upon to render services under contract... -
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The Admiral's Choice by Bob Blanton, Aybiline I. Dahlson
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA fatal mistake. A diabolical plot. And a young woman caught in the middle, forced to fight a fierce battle for survival. Welcome to the world of the gods!Alisia, a young historian, plans to live a normal life: fall in love, marry her prince, maybe have kids someday. But the gods have other plans... -
The Far Side of Evil by Sylvia Engdahl
Rated: 3.99 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsOn completion of her training as an agent of the interstellar federation's Anthropological Service, Elana is sent to a world whose people may soon destroy their civilization... -
Pledge by Catherine Miller
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsUsed.Despised.Unwanted.For the whole of her life, Linora had tried to do as she was told. Guided by her sisters, she had followed her father’s direction, had worked tirelessly at the trade of his house as she bettered her skills in stitch-craft, had learned to mind her tongue and keep her thoughts to herself. And one by one her sisters were arranged into marriages. Leaving her entirely alone... -
Down Among the Dead by K.B. Wagers
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsGunrunner empress Hail Bristol must navigate alien politics and deadly plots to prevent an interspecies war, in this second novel in the Farian War space opera trilogy.In a surprise attack that killed many of her dearest subjects, Hail Bristol, empress of Indrana, has been captured by the Shen -- the most ruthless and fearsome aliens humanity has ever encountered... -
The Spirit of Dorsai by Gordon R. Dickson
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThroughout the universe, the Dorsai are feared and respected as the most effective soldiers humanity has ever known. But the warrior spirit of the Dorsai does not, cannot, reside solely in the men of that race - for when the Dorsai go to fight wars on distant planets, it is the women who remain behind to defend their world and their future... -
Battle Pod by Vaughn Heppner
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe brutal war of extinction enters a horrifying new round as the cyborgs arrive from the Neptune System, in this, the third book of the series. The Highborn are remorselessly crushing the obsolete Homo sapiens. Gambling with humanity’s existence, Supreme Commander James Hawthorne attempts to lure the dreaded Doom Stars into a trap. Social Unity’s combined Battlefleet is the bait...Categorized as:
aliens colonization dystopia invasion post-apocalyptic space-opera action-adventure adult -
Lost Dorsai by Gordon R. Dickson
Rated: 3.91 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsThere are many legends on the planet of the Dorsai, the breeding ground for heroes. Here are two of them.Lost Dorsai: The New Dorsai Companion contains the Hugo Award winning novella, Lost Dorsai, and Dickson's classic short story "Warrior... -
Young Bleys by Gordon R. Dickson
Rated: 3.80 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn the sequel to The Final Encyclopedia, Bleys Ahrens, raised alone by his unhappy Exotic mother and cast out from society, finds his niche in life with Dahno, his half-brother. Reprint. PW... -
Calypso's Guest by Andrew Sean Greer
Rated: 3.80 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA bargain with the gods throws two men together in a timeless short story of adventure and unrequited love inspired by The Odyssey by Andrew Sean Greer, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Less . A man in exile, banished to a planet far from home and cursed with immortality, discovers that a ship has crash-landed near his settlement. After two hundred years, his heart’s desire has come true... -
The Engines of God by Jack McDevitt
Rated: 3.85 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsTwo hundred years ago, humans made a stunning discovery in the far reaches of the solar system: a huge statue of an alien creature, with an inscription that defied all efforts at translation. Now, as faster-than-light drive opens the stars to exploration, humans are finding other relics of the race they call the Monument-Makers - each different, and each heartbreakingly beautiful...Categorized as:
aliens first-contact post-apocalyptic space-opera suspense action-adventure adult archaeology -
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Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 46 ratingsDune Messiah continues the story of the man Muad'dib, heir to a power unimaginable, bringing to completion the centuries-old scheme to create a super-being."Brilliant...It is all that Dune was, and maybe a little bit more... -
Chindi by Jack McDevitt
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsOn a routine survey mission studying a neutron star, an Academy starship receives a transmission in an unknown language. Before leaving the area, the starship launches a series of satellites to find the signal and perhaps discover its origins...Categorized as:
aliens first-contact space-opera suspense action-adventure adult archaeology audiobook -
The Devil and Deep Space by Susan R. Matthews
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAndrej Koscuisko, the Ragnarok’s Ship's Inquisitor, is going home on leave. His ship of assignment is participating in training exercises, and when an observer station unexpectedly explodes –- killing the Ragnarok’s captain -– Pesadie Training Command has to come up with a cover story in a hurry or risk exposure of its black-market profiteering... -
Star Hunt by David Gerrold
Rated: 3.75 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIn the prequel to Voyage of the Star Wolf, first officer Jonathan Korie drives his captain and the crew of their obsolete starship on a fanatical, possibly disastrous search for an enemy that may be a phantom... -
Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman
Rated: 3.81 of 5 stars · 27 ratings2043 A.D.: The Ngumi War rages. A burned-out soldier and his scientist lover discover a secret that could put the universe back to square one. And it is not terrifying. It is tempting.. -
Promises by Nancy Ann Richardson
Rated: 3.63 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsBefore she joined the Jedi academy, Anakin's friend Tahiri knew nothing of her real parents--or how she came to live with the treacherous Tusken Raiders. Now the day has come when Tahiri will learn everything, But first she must prove herself worthy. With Anakin at her side, she must pass a deadly test, using the Force like never before...Categorized as:
space-opera action-adventure book children children-books female-author fiction friendship -
Sphere by Michael Crichton
Rated: 3.78 of 5 stars · 66 ratingsA group of American scientists are rushed to a huge vessel that has been discovered resting on the ocean floor in the middle of the South Pacific. What they find defies their imaginations and mocks their attempts at logical explanation. It is a spaceship of phenomenal dimensions, apparently, undamaged by its fall from the sky. And, most startling, it appears to be at least three hundred years old... -
Xenocide by Orson Scott Card
Rated: 3.78 of 5 stars · 68 ratingsThe war for survival of the planet Lusitania will be fought in the heart of a child named Gloriously Bright.On Lusitania, Ender found a world where humans and pequininos and the Hive Queen could all live together; where three very different intelligent species could find common ground at last. Or so he thought... -
The Cage by Megan Shepherd
Rated: 3.61 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWhen Cora Mason wakes in a desert, she doesn’t know where she is or who put her there. As she explores, she finds an impossible mix of environments—tundra next to desert, farm next to jungle, and a strangely empty town cobbled together from different cultures, all watched over by eerie black windows. And she isn’t alone... -
A War of Gifts by Orson Scott Card
Rated: 3.67 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsOrson Scott Card offers a Christmas gift to his millions of fans with A War of Gifts, a short novel set during Ender Wiggin's first years at the Battle School where it is forbidden to celebrate religious holidays. The children come from many nations, many religions; while they are being trained for war, religious conflict between them is not on the curriculum...Categorized as:
aliens dystopia invasion space-opera action-adventure anthologies audiobook boarding-school -
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Earthbound by Joe Haldeman
Rated: 3.38 of 5 stars · 15 ratings"One of science fiction's most reliable practitioners" (San Francisco Chronicle) continues his saga of space exploration. The mysterious alien Others have prohibited humans from space travel-destroying Earth's fleet of starships in a display of unimaginable power...Categorized as:
aliens dystopia first-contact invasion post-apocalyptic action-adventure adult alternate-history -
Rogue Moon by Algis Budrys
Rated: 3.51 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsRogue Moon is a short sf novel by Algis Budrys, published in 1960. It was a 1961 Hugo Award nominee, losing to Walter M. Miller's A Canticle for Leibowitz. A novella-length version of the story was included in the anthology The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume 2, edited by Ben Bova.Before 1969, every science fiction writer wrote his or her own version of the first Moon landing...
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