Recommendations based on Too Like the Lightningby Ada Palmer

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. The Obelisk Gate

    by N.K. Jemisin
    A magical journey of survival, facing cosmic forces that threaten the universe.

    The story is told primarily from the perspectives of Essun, a powerful orogene driven out of her home at the beginning of the first book, and Nassun, her adolescent daughter. Schaffa, Essun's former ... (Wikipedia)

  2. The Fifth Season

    by N.K. Jemisin
    A world where seismic and magical disasters ravage the land, and a woman's journey to save humanity.

    In a prologue, an extraordinarily powerful orogene discusses the sad state of the world and laments the oppression of his race. He then uses his enormous power to fracture the entire continent along ... (Wikipedia)

  3. Ancillary Sword

    by Ann Leckie
    Space opera about a starship captain's struggle to survive a hostile imperial government.

    Seeking atonement for past crimes, Breq takes on a mission as captain of a troublesome new crew of Radchai soldiers, in the sequel to Ann Leckie's NYT bestselling, award-winning Ancillary Justice. A ... (Goodreads)

  4. Ancillary Mercy

    by Ann Leckie
    A military captain confronts her past and enemies in a quest to save humanity.

    Ancillary Mercy is the stunning conclusion to the trilogy that began with Ancillary Justice , the only novel ever to win the Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke Awards. For a moment, things seemed to ... (Goodreads)

  5. Snow Crash

    by Neal Stephenson
    A hacker's quest in a futuristic America dealing with a mysterious computer virus.

    Hiro Protagonist is a hacker and pizza delivery driver for the Mafia. He meets Y.T. (short for Yours Truly), a young skateboard Kourier ( courier ) who refers to herself in the third person , during ... (Wikipedia)

  6. Seveneves

    by Neal Stephenson
    Humanity's struggle for survival after an apocalyptic event threatens to extinguish life on Earth.

    In the near future, an unknown agent causes the Moon to shatter. As the pieces begin to collide with one another, astronomer and science popularizer "Doc" Dubois Harris calculates that Moon fragments ... (Wikipedia)

  7. The Stone Sky

    by N.K. Jemisin
    A climactic finale to a trilogy, featuring a powerful woman's journey to save her world from destruction.

    Following the events of, The Obelisk Gate, , the former inhabitants of Castrima-under are moving north after damage by rival comm Rennanis has compromised the mechanisms of the geode and made it ... (Wikipedia)

  8. Ninefox Gambit

    by Yoon Ha Lee
    A disgraced captain is given a chance to redeem herself by recapturing a fortress using unconventional tactics in a far-future society.

    The first installment of the trilogy, Ninefox Gambit , centers on disgraced captain Kel Cheris, who must recapture the formidable Fortress of Scattered Needles in order to redeem herself in front of ... (Goodreads)

  9. The Traitor Baru Cormorant

    by Seth Dickinson
    A young woman's struggle to free her homeland from oppressive foreign rule.

    Tomorrow, on the beach, Baru Cormorant will look up from the sand of her home and see red sails on the horizon. The Empire of Masks is coming, armed with coin and ink, doctrine and compass, soap and ... (Goodreads)

  10. Ancillary Justice

    by Ann Leckie
    A sci-fi epic of revenge and redemption, exploring the far reaches of the galaxy.

    On a remote, icy planet, the soldier known as Breq is drawing closer to completing her quest. Once, she was the Justice of Toren - a colossal starship with an artificial intelligence linking ... (Goodreads)

  11. Binti

    by Nnedi Okorafor
    A journey of self-discovery for a young African girl as she confronts xenophobia, racism, and alien cultures.

    A young woman named Binti is the first member of the Himba ethnic group on Earth (closely modeled on the Himba people ) , to be accepted into the prestigious intergalactic university Oomza Uni. Upon ... (Wikipedia)

  12. Annihilation

    by Jeff VanderMeer
    A team of four women venture into a mysterious, surreal landscape in search of answers.

    A team of four women cross the border into an uninhabited area known as "Area X", an unspecified coastal location that has been closed to the public for three decades. The group consists of a ... (Wikipedia)

  13. Anathem

    by Neal Stephenson
    A philosophical novel set in a monastic society, exploring the limits of knowledge.

    Anathem is set on the fictional planet of Arbre. Thousands of years before the events in the novel, the planet's intellectuals entered concents ( monastic communities) to protect their activities ... (Wikipedia)

  14. Uprooted

    by Naomi Novik
    A young woman's battle to save her home from a magical force, while uncovering secrets of her past.

    “Our Dragon doesn’t eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside our valley. We hear them sometimes, from travelers passing through. They talk as though we were doing human ... (Goodreads)

  15. Stories of Your Life and Others

    by Ted Chiang
    A collection of short stories exploring themes of science, technology, and humanity.

    Ted Chiang's first published story, ",Tower of Babylon," won the Nebula Award in 1990. Subsequent stories have won the Asimov's SF Magazine reader poll, a second Nebula Award, the Theodore Sturgeon ... (Goodreads)

  16. The Scar

    by China Miéville
    A fantastical journey of survival in a dangerous, watery underworld.

    The Scar opens with the journey of a small ship which has set out from the city New Crobuzon (the setting of Perdido Street Station ). It is heading to the city's new colony, Nova Esperium, which ... (Wikipedia)

  17. Red Mars

    by Kim Stanley Robinson
    Colonists brave the harsh landscapes of Mars, striving to make the planet their new home.

    Red Mars starts in 2026 with the first colonial voyage to Mars aboard the Ares , the largest interplanetary spacecraft ever built and home to a crew who are to be the first hundred Martian colonists. ... (Wikipedia)

  18. City of Blades

    by Robert Jackson Bennett
    A retired soldier is tasked with uncovering an ancient secret, which could determine the fate of an empire.

    A generation ago, the city of Voortyashtan was the stronghold of the god of war and death, the birthplace of fearsome supernatural sentinels who killed and subjugated millions. Now, the city’s god is ... (Goodreads)

  19. Blindsight

    by Peter Watts
    A sci-fi tale of a journey to the outer reaches of space and a confrontation with alien life.

    In the year 2082, thousands of large, coordinated objects of an unknown origin, dubbed "Fireflies", burn up in the Earth's atmosphere in a precise grid, while momentarily broadcasting across an ... (Wikipedia)

  20. Jade City

    by Fonda Lee
    Epic fantasy tale of generations of a powerful crime family in a city of magical jade.

    Bero, a minor thief, attempts to steal jade from a No Peak Fist while he is dining in a clan-affiliated restaurant, but Bero and his Abukei accomplice Sampa are quickly caught and brought to Hilo for ... (Wikipedia)

  21. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

    by Becky Chambers
    An intergalactic adventure filled with unlikely friendships and epic space battles.

    Follow a motley crew on an exciting journey through space-and one adventurous young explorer who discovers the meaning of family in the far reaches of the universe-in this light-hearted debut space ... (Goodreads)

  22. Among Others

    by Jo Walton
    A young girl navigates life after a traumatic event, finding solace in books and magic.

    The novel is presented as the diary of Morgana, a 15-year-old Welsh science fiction and fantasy fan, in 1979 and 1980. She and her twin sister Morwenna, both frequently using the nicknames "Mor" or ... (Wikipedia)

  23. Children of Time

    by Adrian Tchaikovsky
    A race of intelligent spiders battles to save their species from extinction.

    The book's plot involves a planet inhabited by evolved spiders uplifted by human scientist Avrana Kern, and their much later discovery by the last humans alive in the universe. , , , The work plays ... (Wikipedia)

  24. The Library at Mount Char

    by Scott Hawkins
    A group of orphans with supernatural abilities must battle for control of a mysterious library.

    An unexplained catastrophe destroys part of a town, but twelve children survive. The survivors are "adopted" and raised by a powerful, god-like figure called Father. Together they live in "the ... (Wikipedia)

  25. Way Station

    by Clifford D. Simak
    A man living in a remote Wisconsin town discovers a secret gateway to other worlds.

    Enoch Wallace, an American Civil War veteran, is chosen by an alien to administer a way station for interplanetary travel. His job is to monitor the machinery of the way station and make sure arrival ... (Wikipedia)

  26. Wild Seed

    by Octavia E. Butler
    A shape-shifting immortal and a mortal healer's lives intertwine over centuries, exploring power, oppression, and the human condition.

    Wild Seed is the story of two immortal Africans named Doro and Anyanwu. Doro is a spirit who can take over other people's bodies, killing anyone and anything in his path, while Anyanwu is a woman ... (Wikipedia)

  27. A Closed and Common Orbit

    by Becky Chambers
    A robot's adventures in a strange new world as she discovers her true identity.

    Lovelace was once merely a ship's artificial intelligence. When she wakes up in an new body, following a total system shut-down and reboot, she has no memory of what came before. As Lovelace learns ... (Goodreads)

  28. Embassytown

    by China Miéville
    Exploring a distant alien city and unraveling its mysteries.

    Embassytown takes place mostly in the city of the title, on the planet Arieka. Embassytown exists on the very edge of the "Manchmal" (from the German for "sometimes"), which is suspected to be the ... (Wikipedia)

  29. Saga, Volume 6

    by Brian K. Vaughan
    The sixth installment of the epic space opera graphic novel series, following the lives of a family caught in the midst of an intergalactic war.

    After a dramatic time jump, the three-time Eisner Award winner for Best Continuing Series continues to evolve, as Hazel begins the most exciting adventure of her life: kindergarten. Meanwhile, her ... (Barnes & Noble)

  30. The Peripheral

    by William Gibson
    A journey to the future, exploring the possibilities of a post-apocalyptic world.

    The novel begins sometime in the near-future in a small town in rural America. Flynne Fisher works at a local 3D printing shop and lives with her mother and her brother Burton, who sustained brain ... (Wikipedia)