Books like “The Collapsing Empire”

What to read after “The Collapsing Empire” by John Scalzi: a list matched by tropes, mood and atmosphere. Under each book you will see what it has in common.

About “The Collapsing Empire”

Another favorite book?

Or start with a well-known book

1
Ancillary Justice
Ann Leckie · 2013
From the same world: “Space Opera”
- Space Opera
A soldier who was once a starship's artificial intelligence wakes in a single human body. Cut off from her many selves, she crosses a collapsing empire to find the officer who destroyed everything she was, and to settle a debt of revenge.
2
Leviathan Wakes
James S. A. Corey · 2011
From the same world: “Space Opera”
- Space Opera
- Space Ship
A detective on Ceres and an ice-hauler's executive officer are thrown together when a missing woman and a derelict ship point to something buried on an asteroid. Their search uncovers a conspiracy that could ignite war between Earth, Mars and the Belt.
3
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
Becky Chambers · 2014
From the same world: “Space Opera”
- Space Opera
- Space Ship
A young woman joins the crew of a tunnelling ship that builds wormholes between distant worlds. The long haul to a new client planet is told through its mismatched crew, a pilot, a doctor, an engineer and an AI, all looking for somewhere to belong.
4
A Fire Upon the Deep
Vernor Vinge · 1992
From the same world: “Space Opera”
- Space Opera
In a galaxy where thought and technology work differently at its edges, a human expedition releases an ancient menace from a lost archive. Two children stranded on a medieval world and a crew racing to stop the Blight are drawn into the same crisis.
5
A Memory Called Empire
Arkady Martine · 2019
From the same world: “Space Opera”
- Space Opera
Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives at the heart of the Teixcalaanli Empire to replace a predecessor who died under unclear circumstances. Guided by his recorded memories, she must survive court politics, assassins, and a capital that hides its own plans.
6
The Quantum Thief
Hannu Rajaniemi · 2010
From the same world: “Space Opera”
- Space Opera
Jean le Flambeur is a thief imprisoned in a city where residents trade their memories and time. He is offered his freedom if he can pull off one more impossible heist, with a warrior from a distant society watching his every move.
7
Schismatrix
Bruce Sterling · 1985
From the same world: “Space Opera”
- Space Opera
Abelard Lindsay is a trained diplomat moving between two posthuman factions, the Shapers and the Mechanists, as humanity spreads across space. His long career of alliances and betrayals carries him across a changing solar system.
8
Dune
Frank Herbert · 1965
From the same world: “Space Opera”
- Space Opera
- Rebellion
On the desert planet Arrakis, young Paul Atreides survives the destruction of his family and is taken in by the Fremen. As he learns their ways and the spice trade that powers an empire, he becomes the centre of a prophecy, a rebellion and a war for control of the known universe.
9
Gateway
Frederik Pohl · 1977
From the same world: “Space Opera”
- Space Opera
- Space Ship
Prospectors ride alien ships left behind at Gateway, gambling their lives on unknown destinations in search of fortune. A miner haunted by his past signs on for one more trip, and the station's robot therapist records the fears he cannot voice.
10
Hyperion
Dan Simmons · 1989
From the same world: “Space Opera”
- Space Opera
On the eve of war, seven pilgrims travel to the planet Hyperion to seek the Shrike, a deadly creature of legend. Each tells the story of what brought them there, and their tales circle the fate that awaits them at the Time Tombs.
11
Foundation
Isaac Asimov · 1951
From the same world: “Space Opera”
- Space Opera
As the Galactic Empire begins to decay, mathematician Hari Seldon foresees thirty thousand years of chaos. To shorten the coming dark age he gathers scholars on the remote world Terminus, where the Foundation must survive plots, warlords and its own predictions.
12
Old Man's War
John Scalzi · 2005
From the same world: “Space Opera”
- Space Opera
- Space Ship
At seventy-five, John Perry joins the Colonial Defense Forces, leaving Earth for a new body and a war among the stars. What begins as a chance at a second life becomes a fight to understand the colonies, the enemy and what he is fighting for.