Universe

Books like Mass Effect: 9 series to read next

Mass Effect is science fiction and space opera, about space colonization, set in far future, tense in register. The 9 series below are ranked by how much of that they share — each card says which parts.

Mass Effect is 7 books across 2 series, 2007–2018.

“Humanity found the mass relays already humming — roads between the stars laid by hands long gone — and stepped through into a galaxy that had been governed, feuded over, and quietly terrified for far longer than any newcomer was told.”
from the catalogue description

The Mass Effect page →Narrow this list →

CoDominium
Known Space
Alliance-Union
Old Man's War
Shoal Sequence
Commonwealth
Vatta
The Final Architecture
Dune

CoDominiumUniverse

universe98 books1971

Science fiction and military science fiction, set in far future and other star systems.

“The body of work runs along a few hard threads rather than one line.”
from the catalogue description

Reading order →

Known SpaceUniverse

universe142 books1964

Science fiction, about aliens, set in far future and space.

“Give a clever species a few centuries and a working fusion drive, and it will fill the sky with problems.”
from the catalogue description

Reading order →

Alliance-UnionUniverse

universe173 books1976

Science fiction, set in far future.

“Around that spine cluster the merchanter novels of trader Families, the Faded Sun trilogy of human envoys among the martial alien Mri, and the Chanur books, narrated from the hierarchical, whiskered viewpoint of the hani.”
from the catalogue description

Reading order →

Old Man's WarSeries

seriesJohn Scalzi16 books2005

About war.

“Sign a document at 65, saying you intend to join up 10 years later.”
from the catalogue description
Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0

Start with Old Man's War →

Shoal SequenceSeries

seriesGary Gibson4 books2007

Science fiction and space opera, tense in tone, about aliens, set in far future and space.

“Gary Gibson's Shoal Sequence opens with Stealing Light, set two centuries into humanity's uneasy dependence on the Shoal, an alien race that alone holds the secret of faster-than-light travel.”
from the catalogue description

Start with Stealing Light →

CommonwealthUniverse

universe12 books2002

Science fiction and space opera, set in far future.

“Step aboard the train at the Second Chance terminal and ride the wormhole to another star.”
from the catalogue description

Reading order →

VattaUniverse

universe10 books2003

Science fiction and space opera, tense and adventurous in tone, set in far future and space.

“Get kicked out of the Academy and the family still hands you a ship.”
from the catalogue description

Reading order →

The Final ArchitectureSeries

seriesAdrian Tchaikovsky6 books2021

About war.

“Eighty years ago, Earth was destroyed by an alien 'Architect'.”
from the catalogue description of Shards of Earth
Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0

Start with Shards of Earth →

DuneUniverse

universe78 books1963

Science fiction and space opera, about political intrigue, set in far future and other star systems.

“The desert planet, where empire runs on a single substance: the spice melange, which folds space, prolongs life, and unlocks prescience, and which exists nowhere else in the known universe.”
from the catalogue description

Start with Dune →

Why these

No sales rank, no star ratings, no readers also bought.

Shared terms are not a promise that a book feels the same. Two series can be far-future political intrigue and read nothing alike — what the ranking can say is what they are about, and each card says which parts it shares.

Questions readers ask

What should I read after Mass Effect?: CoDominium — the closest match to Mass Effect on what it is about, not on what sells.
How big is Mass Effect?: Mass Effect is 7 books across 2 series, 2007–2018.

Books like Mass Effect: 9 series to read next

Read next in Mass Effect

Why these

Questions readers ask

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