Books like The Diamond Age
30 science fiction books to read after The Diamond Age, by Stephenson, Neal, the closest match first.
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1. Anathem
by Stephenson, Neal
- Same author
- On the same lists
Wow, what a ride from beginning to end. True to a Neal Stephenson tradition, it ties a number of completely different ideas and themes together into a (somehow) working thread....
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2. Snow Crash
by Stephenson, Neal
- Same author
- On the same lists
Considered by some as a parody of Cyberpunk. This novel popularized and cemented its use of the term avatar to describe online virtual bodies
Meet Hiro Protagonist: hacker, samurai swinging swordsman and pizza delivery boy. When his best friend dies of a brain fry and his ex girlfriend asks for his help, Hiro switches...
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Hyperion Cantos book 1 Start here
3. Hyperion
by Simmons, Dan
- On the same lists
So most of this series is in fact, not Dying Earth but it is a pinnacle of science fiction. The Poet's Tale: Hyperion Cantos in the first novel of Hyperion is a part of the Dying Earth sub-genre and it is the connection the readers have from Earth to the strange new universe of Hyperion.
A grand intelligent space opera tale that also tells a series of very personal tales. This juxtaposition between epic and the personal gives real life to the story. The whole...
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4. Termination Shock
by Stephenson, Neal
- Same author
A billionaire has an idea for reversing global warming, but will it work? And what will the consequences for the planet be? A disparate group of characters from around the...
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5. The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.
by Stephenson, Neal
- Same author
Tristan Lyons hires Melisande Stokes, a Harvard linguist, to translate historic texts for a classified government agency, the Department of Diachronic Operations. Her translations point to a past in which...
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6. Seveneves
by Stephenson, Neal
- Same author
"What would happen if the world were ending? A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band...
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Culture book 3
7. Use Of Weapons
by Iain M. Banks
- On the same lists
Features a Utopian society (culture) that's post scarcity, controlled by benevolent A. I.'s who act for the good of the society. When Culture encounters less enlightened societies, the fun begins.
Iain Banks burst onto the literary scene with his controversial first novel, The Wasp Factory, the violent story of a girl who had been brought up as an emasculated boy....
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The Sprawl book 1 Start here
8. Neuromancer (1985)
by Gibson, William
- On the same lists
Gibson is the father of Cyberpunk and this novel in particular is significant. In this novel the term cyberspace is coined.
Case was the best hacker in the Sprawl until his employers damaged his nervous system, and now he can no longer reach cyberspace. He drifts through the criminal underworld of...
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9. The Martian Chronicles
by Bradbury, Ray
- On the same lists
A chronology of the human colonization of Mars, after fleeing an atomically devastated Earth, including the conflicts between humans and the native Martians.
Ray Bradbury's science fiction is unlike anything else being written at the time, and that is particularly true of The Martian Chronicles. A collection of linked stories that tell of...
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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...
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11. The Stars My Destination
by Alfred Bester
- On the same lists
A mechanic is the sole survivor on a ship that is just a wreck.
He was one hundred and seventy days dying and not yet dead. Gully Foyle is a shipwrecked sailor abandoned out in space, and when ships pass him by without stopping...
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Otherland book 1 Start here
12. Otherland
by Williams, Tad
- On the same lists
This one has been around for a long while now and pre-dates the whole LitRPG movement. However, as the premise of the story takes place partly in a massive, realistic...
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13. Bring The Jubilee
by Ward Moore
- On the same lists
Science fiction likes to play with history. Look how fragile our world is, just one small change there, or there, or there, and things would be ever so much worse....
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Space Odyssey book 1 Start here
14. 2001 A Space Odyssey
by Clarke, Arthur C.
- On the same lists
This novel is an epic story, a story in which two astronauts must fight for their lives, against an extraordinary computer named HAL.
The classic science fiction novel that captures and expands on the vision of Stanley Kubrick’s immortal film—and changed the way we look at the stars and ourselves. From the savannas...
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15. The Anubis Gates
by Powers, Tim
- On the same lists
An award winning novel that has time travel, historical figures, Egyptian mythology, and 19th century England.
In creating this world, Powers borrowed ideas from all over the place. Mythology, Ancient Egyptian theology, quantum theory, and classical literature“ they're all used in The Anubis Gates. It's a...
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16. Solaris
by Lem, Stanislaw
- On the same lists
A trek across an alien planet is also a coming of age story.
Psychologist Kris Kelvin arrives at a research station hovering over the ocean-covered planet Solaris and finds it nearly deserted: his mentor is dead, and the two surviving scientists seem to...
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17. Falling Free (1989)
by Bujold, Lois Mcmaster
- On the same lists
A long running and award winning series that mixes politics, romance, medical ethics, personal identity, and hierarchies.
The quaddies are a generation of people engineered by the corporation GalacTech to work in zero gravity, with four arms and no legs, and they are treated as company property....
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18. To The Moon
by Heinlein, Robert A.
- On the same lists
An award winning novel about a colony that rebels against the Lunar Authority that controls it.
Science fiction-roman.
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19. The Adolescence Of P-1
by Thomas J. Ryan
- On the same lists
Contrary to popular belief, Canadians do know more about life other than snow, hockey, poutine, and being awfully polite. They've also managed to produce Thomas J. Ryan, the author of...
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20. Tau Zero
by Anderson, Poul
- On the same lists
Tempted as we were to place this at number one, it's at number three of our top 25 hard science fiction books because this isn't just hard science fiction, it's...
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21. When Harlie Was One
by David Gerrold
- On the same lists
Ever felt like your computer was your best friend and the only person who really understood you? The only person who really listened? C'mon, I can't be the only nerd...
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22. Mindplayers
by Pat Cadigan
- On the same lists
Allie Haas likes to get high. Her dealer likes to get her high. One day he convinces her to try a new, stolen madcap' - very illegal. The experience nearly...
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23. 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...
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The Forever War book 1 Start here
24. The Forever War (1976)
by Haldeman, Joe
- On the same lists
In this novel, time travel is a kind of side effect of space travel at near light speeds.
William Mandella is a physics student drafted into an elite force to fight an alien enemy on the far side of the galaxy. Travel between the front lines takes a...
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25. Transit
by Edmund Cooper
- On the same lists
First published published in 1964, this novel it hasn't lost anything of its appeal 40+ years later, mainly because its themes are timeless. Two men and two women are abducted...
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Vurt book 1 Start here
26. Vurt
by Jeff Noon
- On the same lists
A first time novelist, Noon has received high praise for this hip novel. A sister is lost in a coloured virtual reality that's existence is questionable and from which there is no escape. The story unfolds as her brother searches for her.
Feathers come in many colours, and each colour a different thing. There's. Black - painful, gentle; and Pink - for porno, your every eroticism fulfilled. Blues are legal, for dreaming...
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Ready Player One book 1 Start here
27. Ready Player One: A Novel
by Cline, Ernest
- On the same lists
Not 'strictly' a LitRPG novel, but Ready Player One has a lot of elements that make up an LITRPG book, those being the in-game sequences. This is not only a...
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28. The Female Man
by Joanna Russ
- On the same lists
The book intertwines the lives of four women who live in parallel worlds—when they meet it is their views on gender roles that startle one another.
It is the 1970s. Joanna lives in a world much like our own, where the feminist movement is just beginning. In Jeannine's world, however, there was no Second World War...
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Hainish Cycle book 4
29. The Left Hand Of Darkness (1970)
by Guin, Ursula K. Le
- On the same lists
Pacifism and a anarchy—both have merits.
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin won the 1970 Nebula Award for Best Novel.One of the best examples of science fiction in the genre.
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30. Rainbows End
by Vernor Vinge
- On the same lists
Rainbows End, for all it sounds like the title of a children's fantasy book, is some incredibly relevant sci fi. Sitting at number eight on our top 25 hard science...
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 The Diamond Age.
The shortlist
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