Series

Books like Old ...: 9 series to read next

Old ... is science fiction and space opera, about aliens and space exploration, adventurous in register. The 9 series below are ranked by how much of that they share — each card says which parts.

Old ... is 2 books, 2013–2015.

The Old ... page →Narrow this list →

Known Space
Humanx Commonwealth
Space Beagle
Heechee
Gaean
Uplift
The Final Architecture
Mesklin
Of Man and Manta

Known SpaceUniverse

universe142 books1964

Set in space and other star systems.

“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 →

Humanx CommonwealthUniverse

universe39 books1972

Set in other star systems and space.

“Two species that ought, by every buried instinct, to recoil from one another instead clasp hand to truhand and build a galaxy together.”
from the catalogue description

Reading order →

Space BeagleSeries

seriesA. E. van Vogt5 books1939

Tense in tone, set in spaceship and space.

Start with Black Destroyer →

HeecheeSeries

seriesFrederik Pohl19 books1972

Set in space and other star systems.

“The Heechee are an advanced alien race that visited the Solar System hundreds of millennia ago and then mysteriously disappeared.”
from the catalogue description
Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0

Start with Gateway →

GaeanSeries

seriesJohn Varley3 books1979

Set in outer planets & moons and space.

“The Gaea Trilogy consists of three science fiction novels by John Varley.”
from the catalogue description
Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0

Start with Titan →

UpliftUniverse

universe13 books1980

About uplift, set in other star systems and space.

“No species, the Galactics insist, ever climbs to sapience alone.”
from the catalogue description

Reading order →

The Final ArchitectureSeries

seriesAdrian Tchaikovsky6 books2021

Tense in tone, about war, set in space and other star systems.

“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 →

MesklinSeries

seriesHal Clement6 books1954

Hard science fiction, set in other star systems.

“The idea came from an object that was at the time believed to exist in the 61 Cygni system, and which might represent an extrasolar planet.”
from the catalogue description
Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0

Start with Mission of Gravity →

Of Man and MantaSeries

seriesPiers Anthony3 books1968

Set in other star systems.

“Three scientists survive on the mysterious planet of Nacre.”
from the catalogue description of Omnivore
Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0

Start with Omnivore →

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 Old ...?: Known Space — the closest match to Old ... on what it is about, not on what sells.
Where do I start with Old ...?: Old Mars. It is the entry the catalogue recommends for Old ....
How big is Old ...?: Old ... is 2 books, 2013–2015.

Books like Old ...: 9 series to read next

Read next in Old ...

Why these

Questions readers ask

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