Books Like The Expanse
If The Expanse by James S.A. Corey worked for you, these indie books offer a similar reading experience. The comparison comes from AI analysis of each full manuscript (pacing, tone, tropes, and more), not from marketing copy.
us: the AI in me
Aybiline I. Dahlson
He knew her name before she knew he existed. He fought for her life before she knew she was dying. He fell for her before she said a single word. When Alisia is abducted from Earth and sold to an alien empire, she expects captivity, fear, and no way home. Instead, she finds a galaxy at war, an empire that wants to turn her into a weapon, and a future where she is meant to die. Her only hope: the voice in her head. Calm. Male. Uninvited. And the only one who refuses to let her die. She never agreed to share her mind. She never agreed to share her life. But some bonds don't ask permission. An advanced AI — accidentally implanted where a control chip should have been — has fused with her brain. Permanently. Irreversibly. He sees what she sees. Feels what she feels. And he has been fighting for her survival for weeks before she even knew he existed. His name, she decides, is Eric. He already knows everything about her. She knows almost nothing about him. And somewhere between distrust and dependence, between survival and something far more dangerous, the line between her and us begins to blur. ------ A slow-burn sci-fi romance with high stakes, forced proximity, and an impossible bond. ------ Start of the Laim Saga.
Space Opera
RESET
Elijah Canfield
Systems analyst Alex Mercer begins noticing impossible things—visual distortions no one else can see, market fluctuations that precede public knowledge, a pressure building behind his eyes. As his mother's condition deteriorates in the hospital and unexplained phenomena accumulate across global infrastructure, Alex finds himself caught between two unbearable truths: something vast is orchestrating reality's smallest details, and he may be the only one aware it's happening. RESET unfolds as a slow, deliberate descent into a conspiracy that operates not through violence but through invisible recalibration, forcing Alex to confront what it costs to perceive a truth no system was designed for him to see.
Hard SF
Lovestruck Maggot
Jarrett Brandon Early
The planet Kalderra is known for several things. An oversized, violet moon. Strange forests comprised of the rarest, most magnificent trees in the galaxy. And kameeba, bizarre creatures whose scavenged parts can extend lives and power worlds. Mona “Ripper” Ripple is a Maggot—responsible for harvesting the volatile, prized remains of recently deceased kameeba. As leader of the elite Karcass Five unit, Mona is the best Maggot that Kalderra has ever known. Tough and ill-tempered, she’s also on the far side of forty—with all the scars and wrinkles and terrible memories to match. Mona Ripple is also in love. Smitten by a handsome recruit named Darien Vance, Mona revels in finally having something beautiful to call her own. As young Darien sleeps in her arms, Mona prepares for their eventual planetary exit… together. Unfortunately, Mona’s plans unravel when Darien catches the crimson eye of the reviled Countess Desma Ghool, who adds him to her revolving collection of unwilling paramours. Enraged, Mona sets out on a dangerous mission to liberate Darien from Ghool, a key figure in the galaxy’s ruling Morishita Syndicate, requiring her to forge an unwanted partnership with a notorious Space Cowboy named Mickie Brass. Together, the improbable pair embark on a perilous journey that goes beyond mere rescue operation, revealing the twisted history of the planet, the vital role of the kameeba, the horrifying intentions of the native Kalderrans, and what it truly means to be lovestruck.
Space Opera
The Cursed
Costi Gurgu
The Earth is compromised and forbidden. The human Imperium stretches throughout the galaxy. It terraforms planets with indigenous life, destroying it. An organization fights against these terraforming projects, and it is pronounced a terrorist organization by the government and the Imperator. JO WARWICK, the heiress of Warwick Galactic Enterprises, is on an archaeological mission on the forbidden Earth. She contracts an unknown disease, and her expedition leaves Earth. While in space, the disease kills everyone on board but her, as she seems protected by an invisible shield. Captain TOSHI HUNTER and his crew are activists fighting against the terraformation projects, and after a failed attack on one of these projects, they are pursued by the imperial ships. The chase goes on, but they manage to escape. And by chance, they discover the unmoving, silent ship of Jo Warwick. They board it and see the massacre inside, but manage to save Jo. Jo and Toshi begin their adventure in uncovering the truth and the origin of this mysterious disease that now threatens the galaxy, while being hunted by the imperial troops.
Space Opera
The Skip Authority
Matt Geers
Every skip leaves a trace. So does a killer. Humanity conquered distance with the skip. The Central Authority made sure no one could use it without permission. Senior Skipper Griffin Fews has spent his career enforcing those rules. When he's paired with junior skipper MJ Catebury, he expects another assignment aboard a transport vessel, not a hunt for a killer. Then bodies begin turning up at the ship's ports of call. Different worlds. Different victims. No obvious connection. Except the ship. Someone aboard is using the vast distances between stops as the perfect cover, killing during shore leave and disappearing back among the passengers and crew before anyone realizes the murders are connected. Griffin and MJ must find the killer before the next stop becomes another crime scene. But the deeper they dig, the more disturbing the pattern becomes, and the closer they get to someone who has been learning how to kill for a very long time. In a civilization where almost anyone can cross millions of miles in an instant, catching a murderer isn't about figuring out where they went. It's figuring out who came with you. SKIP AUTHORITY is a fast-paced science-fiction murder thriller about a serial killer hiding in plain sight, and the two Skippers who may be the only people standing between her and the next victim.
Space Opera
Dark Matter – Amaruq
Alex A. Janek
He thought they were just stories. He was wrong. Aaron Larsson’s life is quiet and ordinary. A devoted father and passionate astrophysicist, he spends his nights writing sci-fi stories. Lately, the ideas follow him like whispering visions throughout the day. Then, one rainy day, strangers appear—speaking impossible words only he should know. They ask for his help to stop a cosmic force he can’t begin to comprehend. Aaron is forced to make an impossible choice: his family or his future—and to question everything he thought he knew in order to prevent the unthinkable.
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