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Revelation Space

Books like Revelation Space

30 science fiction books to read after Revelation Space, by Alastair Reynolds, the closest match first.

  1. Redemption Ark

    Revelation Space book 3

    1. Redemption Ark

    by Alastair Reynolds

    • Same series
    • Same author

    The great wall is a massive construction, large enough to enclose an entire city, and the atmosphere above it. The wall encloses the base of the Conjoiners, a group that...

  2. Chasm City

    Revelation Space book 2

    2. Chasm City

    by Alastair Reynolds

    • Same series
    • Same author

    Chasm City is the story of what happens when utopia is hit by an epidemic. The story is told through the eyes of Tanner Mirabel, who decides to travel to...

  3. Absolution Gap

    Revelation Space book 4

    3. Absolution Gap

    by Alastair Reynolds

    • Same series
    • Same author

    They are ancient killing machines, designed to locate and destroy any life form reaching a certain level of intelligence. Now, stirred from eons of sleep, the Inhibitors have descended on...

  4. The Prefect

    Revelation Space book 5

    4. The Prefect

    by Alastair Reynolds

    • Same series
    • Same author

    The Prefect is an Alastair Reynolds novel in the Revelation Space universe, in which a prefect of the Panoply tries to find out who is attacking the Glitter Band's habitats.

  5. Blindsight

    Firefall book 1 Start here

    5. Blindsight

    by Peter Watts

    • On the same lists

    A group of freaks (who are also astronauts) are sent on a one way mission to investigate a mysterious object that appears at the edge of human space. Atmospheric and creepy.

    This novel has been hailed as one of the best hard sf stories written this century. It's an awesome novel, packed with invention and new ideas and challenges to the...

  6. Ringworld (1971)

    Ringworld book 1 Start here

    6. Ringworld (1971)

    by Niven, Larry

    • On the same lists

    One of the most famous books of the genre, that follows the pros and cons of living on a spinning ring instead of a round planet. The fact that makes this book so famous is that after the author’s ideas were proven impracticable, he wrote a sequel explaining the inadequacies.

    In the year 2850, Louis Wu turns 200 and is bored with life. Then a two-headed alien Puppeteer called Nessus offers him a job: join a small expedition to a...

  7. Lilith's Brood

    7. Lilith's Brood

    by Butler, Octavia E.

    • On the same lists

    Science fiction isnât always meant to be comfortable or easy reading. Quite the opposite, any literature so based on ideas must challenge the reader, make them think differently (if only...

  8. Spin

    Spin book 1 Start here

    8. Spin

    by Robert Charles Wilson

    • On the same lists
    Hugo winner 2006

    The stars go out—replaced by an alien-made barrier that slows the passage of time on Earth and the danger the sun poses comes ever closer.

    One night, when he is 12 years old, Tyler Dupree and two friends witness all the stars in the sky suddenly disappearing. It turns out that a membrane has been...

  9. House Of Suns

    9. House Of Suns

    by Alastair Reynolds

    • Same author

    What are the Welsh famous for? Prior to House of Suns' rip-roaring success, it was Sean Connery, Catherine Zeta-Jones. And not much else! But in 2007, Welsh science-fiction author Alastair...

  10. Red Mars (1994)

    Mars Trilogy book 1 Start here

    10. Red Mars (1994)

    by Robinson, Kim Stanley

    • On the same lists

    A mission is launched to terraform Mars in this scientific epic.

    In 2026, a hundred colonists set off on the first long voyage to Mars. Among them are John Boone, the first man to walk on the planet, and his rival...

  11. 2010: The City & The City

    11. 2010: The City & The City

    by Miéville, China

    • On the same lists

    Imagine two cities that share the exact same geographic space, but do not interact with one another under any circumstances. Unless the government authorities grant permission, that is. If citizens...

  12. Doomsday Book (1993)

    Oxford Time Travel book 1 Start here

    12. Doomsday Book (1993)

    by Willis, Connie

    • On the same lists

    In 2054, Oxford historians send students back in time to study the past. Kivrin Engle, a young historian, is sent to the English countryside in 1320. But a technician falls...

  13. Synners

    13. Synners

    by Pat Cadigan

    • On the same lists

    Synners are jacked-in outlaws, hooked on the astonishing worlds of virtual space as an escape from the grim, depressing industrial reality around them. But, hot-wired in to cyberspace, they have...

  14. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy

    Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy book 1 Start here

    14. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy

    by Douglas Adams

    • On the same lists

    It began as a radio series on the BBC. It was quickly adapted for television (with many of the same cast), and much later there came a film version (though...

  15. Century Rain

    15. Century Rain

    by Alastair Reynolds

    • Same author

    The future is noir-ish, technology has caused a catastrophe that make Earth uninhabitable. An archeologist is sent to investigate a copy of Earth that is found at the other end of a worm hole.

    The future is noir-ish, technology has caused a catastrophe that make Earth uninhabitable. An archeologist is sent to investigate a copy of Earth that is found at the other end...

  16. Red Rising (not Magic, But Hunger Games Survival Meets School Setting With Some Fantasy Elements)

    16. Red Rising (not Magic, But Hunger Games Survival Meets School Setting With Some Fantasy Elements)

    by Brown, Pierce

    • On the same lists

    Books in this sub-genre focus almost entirely on magic, but Red Rising stands in stark contrast to that. Part dystopia, part sci-fi fantasy, Red Risingfocuses on the story of a...

  17. Pandora's Star

    The Commonwealth Saga book 1 Start here

    17. Pandora's Star

    by Hamilton, Peter F.

    • On the same lists

    Hummanity can live forever by uploading themselves into new bodies.

    The Commonwealth Saga is a vast, sprawling space opera that is spread over several novels and short stories. In a precursor to the main series, Misspent Youth, a rejuvenation procedure...

  18. Old Man's War

    Old Man's War book 1 Start here

    18. Old Man's War

    by John Scalzi

    • On the same lists

    Geriatrics are transferred into healthier bodies and enhanced soldier bodies.

    John Scalzi is one of the shining lights of today’s science fiction landscape. His first novel, Old Man’s War, was an incredible introduction, bringing Scalzi to international attention, as well...

  19. Contact

    19. Contact

    by Sagan, Carl

    • On the same lists

    Scientists discover a message from an intelligent source and must travel deep into space to meet it.

    In the year 1999 a multinational team of astronauts sets out to discover the secrets of the universe.

  20. Air: Or, Have Not Have

    20. Air: Or, Have Not Have

    by Geoff Ryman

    • On the same lists

    An award winning novel concerned with information technology and its potential for change.

    The internet changed our lives in ways that, even now, we probably don't fully appreciate. But what is the effect of the internet? To what extent are we different from...

  21. The Atrocity Exhibition

    21. The Atrocity Exhibition

    by J. G. Ballard

    • On the same lists

    Whenever you put a list of books together, you'll always get disagreements. But this could well be the most controversial choice of all, because J.G. Ballard's The Atrocity Exhibition has...

  22. Tales Of The Dying Earth

    22. Tales Of The Dying Earth

    by Vance, Jack

    • On the same lists

    A series, and the reason there is a Dying Earth sub-genre.

    Tale of the Dying Earth truly stands as one of the greatest works ever penned. Everything that's good and bad about the human condition is eloquently expressed within this tale....

  23. Queen City Jazz

    Nanotech book 1 Start here

    23. Queen City Jazz

    by Kathleen Ann Goonan

    • On the same lists

    Of course, we like to imagine that we won’t change; but nothing is going to stop the environment around us changing, and that is inevitably going to have an effect...

  24. Foundation

    24. Foundation

    by Asimov, Isaac

    • On the same lists

    Some softer elements, like FTL and antigrav cars, but otherwise a rational series.

    Book Flap Description  One of the great masterworks of science fiction, the Foundation novels of Isaac Asimov are unsurpassed for their unique blend of nonstop action, daring ideas, and extensive...

  25. The Yiddish Policemen's Union

    25. The Yiddish Policemen's Union

    by Chabon, Michael

    • On the same lists
    Hugo winner 2008 Nebula winner 2007

    What if the State of Israel was destroyed? They would live in Alaska.

    In this book, Chabon created a world where Israel had never been founded after World War II. Instead the state of displaced Jews is located in Sitka, Alaska. Chabon used...

  26. Flowers For Algernon (1967)

    26. Flowers For Algernon (1967)

    by Keyes, Daniel

    • On the same lists

    Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes won the 1967 Nebula Award for Best Novel along with Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany. This is the only time since the start of...

  27. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea

    27. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea

    by Verne, Jules

    • On the same lists

    The classic example.

    When Hugo Gernsback wanted to define "scientifiction" in the very first issue of Amazing, he called it the "Edgar Allan Poe, Jules Verne, H.G. Wells type of story". It puts...

  28. We Were Liars

    28. We Were Liars

    by E. Lockhart

    • On the same lists

    In the early 1920s, the manuscript of Zamiatin's novel, We, was smuggled out of Soviet Russia to be published in the West. One of the people who reviewed that novel...

  29. Cry Of The Wind

    Storyteller book 2

    29. Cry Of The Wind

    by Sue Harrison

    • On the same lists

    We all know what happens when aliens invade: there's a big fight and then the aliens are driven off, or humanity is reduced to servitude. Well, no. We've got enough...

  30. Contacting Aliens: An Illustrated Guide To David Brin's Uplift Universe

    30. Contacting Aliens: An Illustrated Guide To David Brin's Uplift Universe

    by Brin, David

    • On the same lists

    When the black monolith appears in Arthur C. Clarke's 2001, A Space Odyssey, or the demons in Childhood's End, that is Uplift. But what if humanity has reached into space...

Matches come from series and authors, from the lists the books share, and from the books readers open together. They are rebuilt every night. Back to Revelation Space.

The shortlist

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