Books like “The Quantum Thief”

What to read after “The Quantum Thief” by Hannu Rajaniemi: a list matched by tropes, mood and atmosphere. Under each book you will see what it has in common.

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1
Schismatrix
Bruce Sterling · 1985
Similar atmosphere: “Philosophical”
- Space Opera
- Philosophical
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.
2
Hyperion
Dan Simmons · 1989
Similar atmosphere: “Philosophical”
- Space Opera
- Philosophical
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.
3
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.
4
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.
5
The Collapsing Empire
John Scalzi · 2017
From the same world: “Space Opera”
- Space Opera
The Interdependency is bound together by the Flow, a network of routes that made the empire rich. When a scientist proves the Flow is shifting, an heir to the throne must hold together feuding houses before trade and power collapse.
6
Foundation
Isaac Asimov · 1951
Similar atmosphere: “Philosophical”
- Space Opera
- Philosophical
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.
7
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.
8
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
Becky Chambers · 2014
From the same world: “Space Opera”
- Space Opera
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.
9
The End of Eternity
Isaac Asimov · 1955
Similar atmosphere: “Philosophical”
- Philosophical
Andrew Harlan works for Eternity, an organization that lives outside time and edits human history for what it believes is the greater good. His work is upended when he falls in love with a woman from his own past.
10
Speaker for the Dead
Orson Scott Card · 1986
Similar atmosphere: “Philosophical”
- Philosophical
Years after the war against the Formics, Andrew Wiggin travels as a Speaker for the Dead, revealing the truth of the departed. On the colony world Lusitania he is drawn into the fate of a human family and the alien Pequeninos, whose customs hide a terrible secret.
11
The Three-Body Problem
Cixin Liu · 2008
Similar atmosphere: “Philosophical”
- Philosophical
During the Cultural Revolution a secret military project sends signals into space, and an answer comes back. Decades later a scientist is pulled into a hidden struggle over how humanity should reply to an alien civilization facing its own collapse.
12
Red Mars
Kim Stanley Robinson · 1992
Similar atmosphere: “Philosophical”
- Philosophical
The first hundred colonists arrive on Mars in 2026 to build a new world, a mission split between those who want to preserve the planet and those who want to change it. Over decades their disagreements grow into open conflict with Earth.