Series

Books like Planetary: 9 series to read next

Planetary is science fiction, set in far future and space. The 9 series below are ranked by how much of that they share — each card says which parts.

Planetary is 13 books, 2018–2021.

The Planetary page →Narrow this list →

Cities in Flight
Known Space
Heechee
Uplift
Academy / Priscilla (Hutch) Hutchins
State / Leshy Circuit
Gaean
Ender's Game
Humanx Commonwealth

Cities in FlightSeries

seriesJames Blish10 books1950

Space opera.

“The stories cover roughly two thousand years, from the very near future to the end of the universe.”
from the catalogue description
Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0

Start with They Shall Have Stars →

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 →

HeecheeSeries

seriesFrederik Pohl19 books1972

Space opera.

“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 →

UpliftUniverse

universe13 books1980

Space opera, about uplift.

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

Reading order →

Academy / Priscilla (Hutch) HutchinsSeries

seriesJack McDevitt16 books1983

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

“Beginning with The Engines of God, the series treats deep time and the near-total absence of intelligent alien life as its central mystery, favoring slow-burn discovery over action.”
from the catalogue description

Start with The Engines of God →

State / Leshy CircuitSeries

seriesLarry Niven9 books1969

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

Start with Passerby →

GaeanSeries

seriesJohn Varley3 books1979

Space opera.

“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 →

Ender's GameUniverse

universe39 books1977

Science fiction, set in far future.

“To beat your enemy you must first understand him so completely that you love him — and in the instant you love him, you destroy him.”
from the catalogue description

Reading order →

Humanx CommonwealthUniverse

universe39 books1972

Science fiction, adventurous in tone, about aliens, set in far future 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 →

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 Planetary?: Cities in Flight — the closest match to Planetary on what it is about, not on what sells.
Where do I start with Planetary?: Mercury. It is the entry the catalogue recommends for Planetary.
How big is Planetary?: Planetary is 13 books, 2018–2021.

Books like Planetary: 9 series to read next

Read next in Planetary

Why these

Questions readers ask

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