Books like the expanse?
Books like the expanse?
I'm 75% of the way through the last book in the series. I've read all of the novellas. What would you recommend next?
Three only other series I can think of that's similar is the Three Body series from Cixin Liu.
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There's a bunch of books similar to The Expanse, but not all of them live up to what makes _The Expanse great, the hard science, but here's some that I'd suggest to itch that Space Opera itch you're having trouble scratching:
- Vatta's War
- Honor Harrington
- Children of Time (I haven't read it yet but always hear how great it is.)
- Star Carrier series
- Heritage Trilogy
- Commonwealth Saga
- Foreigner Series
- Dune
- The Lost Fleet Series
- Star Wars Expanded Universe
- Star Trek Novels
- Battletech/Mechwarrior series
- Warhammer
- Halo Novels
- Clone Series
- Old Man's War
- Frontline Series
- Foundation series
I've got so many others, I'll update a little more as I remember authors or titles.
I'll throw in my 2 cents. Children of time is a good trilogy, especially if you like biology but the 1st book was the best with each following book being weaker than the last. Definitely worth reading though as it scratches that hard sci-fi itch.
I'd also add the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy to this list, it's the only series that almost matches The Expanse in terms of pure greatness IMO. I read them a few months ago and I find myself thinking about the concepts and ideas introduced in the trilogy every few days still. Absolutely amazing books that any sci-fi fan should try. I will say that the characters are for the most part, pretty boring and don't come anywhere near the greatness of The Expanse's characters. It's the main complaint I see about those books are the fairly dull characters. The ideas and concepts the trilogy introduces are absolutely fascinating though, even better than anything from The Expanse IMO and it easily makes up for the lackluster characters. It's also fairly hard sci-fi like The Expanse and relies a fair bit on semi-realistic (for the most part) science like The Expanse does. Beware that these books have a fairly pessimistic view of the universe, but that's also what helps make the books so good.
I've gone back to The Three Body Problem multiple times since my first read just so I can re-read my favorite scenes from the book and those books almost single handedly reignited my love for space. I can't recommend them enough.
OP mentioned TBP in the post so I left it off, also I just haven't read it yet, but definitely have to soon.
Children of Time is probably the next sci-fi series I'm reading.
Ffs, I pulled a redditor and read the title and jumped straight to the comments. I'm a dumbass, my bad.
But still, TBP trilogy is absolutely amazing. Give it a shot!
Ha! We've all been there. I actually started the expanse because I wanted something like TBP.
And I was the opposite, I started TBP because I wanted something like The Expanse!