Here are 100 books that Polostan fans have personally recommended if you like Polostan. Book DNA is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Book cover of The Emperor's Finest

Unknown Author

By Sandy Mitchell ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Emperor's Finest as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The search for the source of the alien threat leads Ciaphas Cain to a drifting space hulk. But when the Reclamator Space Marines suffer terrible losses, Cain and his trusty aide Jurgen must go it alone. With the tyranids waking and a group of stowaway orks on the loose, Cain must use all his ingenuity and cunning to escape the space hulk alive.


If you love Polostan...

Ad

Book cover of Blind Angels

Blind Angels by Terry Madden,

“A non-stop action thrill ride of fantasy meets sci-fi meets cyberpunk.”

Camber Maypole was human once, an avid climber and chief medical officer aboard the Vera Rubin, a colony ship headed for a distant planet. But the day before launch, she was scrubbed for "insubordination." Against her will, her consciousness…

Book cover of The Cartographers

winter

From Winter's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Unknown Author Why Winter loves this book

I loved that it involved museums and mystery. I could never have predicted the existence of the alternate world, nor the development of the characters--esp the villain! I like science fiction that's rooted in the actual earth and is believable.

By Peng Shepherd ,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked The Cartographers as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Exquisitely written ... Be prepared to be swept away on an incredible journey' Brad Thor, #1 bestselling author of Black Ice

'A story about magical maps that lead to your heart's desire [and] the people who would do anything to find them ... A vastly rich experience' Charles Soule, author of The Oracle Year

There are some maps you can lose yourself in...
Nell Young has lived her life in and around maps. Her father, Dr. David Young, was one of the most respected cartographers in the world. But this morning he was found dead - or murdered? - in…


Book cover of Your Absence Is Darkness

David Paranka

From David's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Unknown Author Why David loves this book

Overall, the books portrays many "sad" events, but even so, the book itself is not a "downer." The author showed the rewarding sides of life in an isolated locale among a small population, and I loved how the plot wove back and forth between events of past and their influence on the present.

By Jón Kalman Stefánsson , Philip Roughton (translator) ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Your Absence Is Darkness as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Longlisted for the 2024 Republic of Consciousness US and Canada Prize • A World Literature Today Notable Translation of 2024 • A Shelf Awareness Best Book of 2024

A spellbinding saga about the inhabitants and inheritors of one rural community, by one of Iceland's most beloved novelists. 

A man comes to awareness in a cold church in the Icelandic countryside, not knowing who he is, why he’s there or how he arrived, with a stranger staring mockingly from a few pews back. Startled by the man’s cryptic questions, he leaves—and plunges into a history spanning centuries, a past pressed into…


If you love Neal Stephenson...

Ad

Book cover of Terra Blanca - Insurrection: Gaia Prequel

Terra Blanca - Insurrection by Zoë Routh,

A test of leadership, loyalty, and legacy. Rylie Addison faces the greatest leadership challenge of her life. As climate change ravages the world, leaving millions displaced, Rylie is handpicked by the enigmatic Maja Garcia of Gaia Enterprises to govern Terra Blanca, an unprecedented man-made island community for climate refugees.

As…

Book cover of Growth of the Soil

Unknown Author

By Knut Hamsun ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Growth of the Soil as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The story of an elemental existence in rural Norway.


Book cover of Snow Crash

Andrew Johnson Author Of Neon Skies and Misread Stars

From my list on genre-defying SF books that resist labels.

Why am I passionate about this?

Ever since I discovered science fiction and fantasy as a kid, I loved playing in other worlds. It didn’t take me long to start creating my own to play in, so I thought I might as well write them down. I also learned that it’s more fun to throw disparate elements and genres together. Why not throw some time travel and aliens in a Western? Or put some aliens and a little cyberpunk in an alternate history? I always find the most interesting worlds are the ones where things are not so easily categorized.

Andrew's book list on genre-defying SF books that resist labels

Andrew Johnson Why Andrew loves this book

This is a cyberpunk classic, but what I really love about it is the combination of modern computer technology with Sumerian mythology, the Tower of Babel myth, and how well Stephenson is able to integrate them, so we have hackers throwing around Sumerian terms like 'me' and 'nam-shub'.

And for me, I love that there’s just a lot of cool stuff happening here, like a biker with an atomic bomb on a deadman switch, a nuclear-powered needle gun. And our lead character is named Hiro Protagonist. But probably the biggest point for me is that despite the dystopian setting, there really is more hope in this story than one would think.

By Neal Stephenson ,

Why should I read it?

20 authors picked Snow Crash as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The “brilliantly realized” (The New York Times Book Review) breakthrough novel from visionary author Neal Stephenson, a modern classic that predicted the metaverse and inspired generations of Silicon Valley innovators

Hiro lives in a Los Angeles where franchises line the freeway as far as the eye can see. The only relief from the sea of logos is within the autonomous city-states, where law-abiding citizens don’t dare leave their mansions.

Hiro delivers pizza to the mansions for a living, defending his pies from marauders when necessary with a matched set of samurai swords. His home is a shared 20 X 30…


Book cover of Cryptonomicon

Robert J. Lloyd Author Of The Bloodless Boy

From my list on science-based historical fiction novels.

Why am I passionate about this?

I write as Robert J. Lloyd, but my friends call me Rob. Having studied Fine Art at a BA degree level (starting as a landscape painter but becoming a sculpture/photography/installation/performance generalist), I then moved to writing. During my MA degree in The History of Ideas, I happened to read Robert Hooke’s diary, detailing the life and experiments of this extraordinary and fascinating man. My MA thesis and my Hooke & Hunt series of historical thrillers are all about him. I’m fascinated by early science, which was the initial ‘pull’ into writing these stories, but the political background of the times (The Popish Plot and the Exclusion Crisis, for example) is just as enticing. 

Robert's book list on science-based historical fiction novels

Robert J. Lloyd Why Robert loves this book

About WWII codebreaking, the reason this makes my ‘Best 5’ is that, besides being constantly inventive and informative, it’s also very funny. (I’m that shallow.)

There are similarities, I think, with Catch 22, in the plot’s intelligence, absurdity, and dreamlike turns.

I think Stephenson’s character Bobbie Shaftoe, a soldier who carries out counterintelligence deceptions, is hilarious. Also, Stephenson’s use of real historical characters–he presents believable portraits of Alan Turing, Douglas MacArthur, Karl Dönitz, and Hermann Göring, with a walk-on appearance by Albert  Einsteingave me license to do so in my own fiction.

By Neal Stephenson ,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked Cryptonomicon as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

With this extraordinary first volume in an epoch-making masterpiece, Neal Stephenson hacks into the secret histories of nations and the private obsessions of men, decrypting with dazzling virtuosity the forces that shaped this century.

In 1942, Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse—mathematical genius and young Captain in the U.S. Navy—is assigned to detachment 2702. It is an outfit so secret that only a handful of people know it exists, and some of those people have names like Churchill and Roosevelt. The mission of Waterhouse and Detachment 2702—commanded by Marine Raider Bobby Shaftoe-is to keep the Nazis ignorant of the fact that Allied Intelligence…


If you love Polostan...

Ad

Book cover of The Regolith Temple

The Regolith Temple by Roxana Arama,

An ancient Roman temple terraforming Mars. An android longing for his human wife. Will their epic clash bring Earth to its knees?

Android Y1 is heartbroken. He was once a neuroscientist who uploaded his own brain to study it. Now he hates watching his human self take his wife and…

Book cover of Seveneves

Arthur Geis Author Of The Rocket Scientist

From Arthur's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Arthur's 3 favorite reads in 2025

Arthur Geis Why Arthur loves this book

To me, this was just a very clever and imaginative story of what might happen if the Earth becomes too hazardous for human life. Love stuff like this.

By Neal Stephenson ,

Why should I read it?

9 authors picked Seveneves as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The astounding new novel from the master of science fiction.
President Barack Obama's summer reading choice and recently optioned by Ron Howard and IMAGINE to be made into a major motion picture.

What would happen if the world were ending?

When a catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb, it triggers a feverish race against the inevitable. An ambitious plan is devised to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere. But unforeseen dangers threaten the intrepid pioneers, until only a handful of survivors remain...

Five thousand years later, their progeny - seven distinct races now three…


Book cover of Dune

Justin C. Davis Author Of The Deathly Shadow

From my list on where darkness stalks the edges of wonder.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always been drawn to stories where light trembles on the edge of annihilation. The Deathly Shadow grew from that space—where broken people must still try, even when hope is an ember. I’m especially interested in how violence shapes children—their choices, their trust, and the way they carry themselves through a collapsing world. I strive to write characters with real emotional weight and a filmic sense of presence—where every gesture, glance, and silence means something. I believe the darkest stories, when told with care, can reveal what we most need to protect. This book explores the cost of survival—and whether love, memory, and courage are enough to challenge even the worst of endings.

Justin's book list on where darkness stalks the edges of wonder

Justin C. Davis Why Justin loves this book

This book is prophecy, power, and paranoia wrapped in a sandstorm.

It was the first book that showed me how deeply philosophy and politics could be embedded in a fantastical world. It taught me that “epic” doesn’t mean loud—it means legacy. I still marvel at Herbert’s precision—his control of tone, symbolism, and tension.

It’s the rare kind of book that makes you feel like you’re trespassing into something sacred and dangerous. Every time I return to it, I leave with something new—and a little unsettled.

By Frank Herbert ,

Why should I read it?

78 authors picked Dune as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Before The Matrix, before Star Wars, before Ender's Game and Neuromancer, there was Dune: winner of the prestigious Hugo and Nebula awards, and widely considered one of the greatest science fiction novels ever written.

Melange, or 'spice', is the most valuable - and rarest - element in the universe; a drug that does everything from increasing a person's lifespan to making interstellar travel possible. And it can only be found on a single planet: the inhospitable desert world of Arrakis.

Whoever controls Arrakis controls the spice. And whoever controls the spice controls the universe.

When the Emperor transfers stewardship of…


Book cover of Neuromancer

enemis

From Enemis' 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Unknown Author Why Enemis loves this book

One of the progenitors of the Cyberpunk genre; unlike modern takes on Cyberpunk, this keeps to the core dystopian themes that have been all but forgotten thanks to the over emphases on aesthetics.

By William Gibson ,

Why should I read it?

18 authors picked Neuromancer as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The book that defined the cyberpunk movement, inspiring everything from The Matrix to Cyberpunk 2077.

The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.

William Gibson revolutionised science fiction in his 1984 debut Neuromancer. The writer who gave us the matrix and coined the term 'cyberspace' produced a first novel that won the Hugo, Nebula and Philip K. Dick Awards, and lit the fuse on the Cyberpunk movement.

More than three decades later, Gibson's text is as stylish as ever, his noir narrative still glitters like chrome in the shadows and his depictions of…


If you love Neal Stephenson...

Ad

Book cover of Exit Black

Exit Black by Joe Pitkin,

Imperium is the most expensive structure ever created. Once an orbiting laboratory, it is now a space hotel for the fantastically wealthy. But as the station preps for its first group of space tourists, Dr. Chloe Bonilla, Imperium’s resident biophysicist, finds herself questioning whether babysitting a passel of space glampers…

Book cover of The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer

Jeremy S. Pratte Author Of FIVE

From my list on science fiction that makes you think and laugh.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always been a creative, imaginative person, and I love creating exciting, fantastical worlds, either through my fine art or the stories I write. As such, I am always intrigued by creations by others that depict all the interesting possibilities of reality. I consume and create fantasy and science fiction tales, which take up the majority of my readings and viewings. But I also love comedy! I love to think and laugh, and when I come across a story that makes me do both, that’s a beautiful double whammy! And I particularly love sci-fi because it isn’t just about escapism, but this genre leads to real-world scientific advancements.

Jeremy's book list on science fiction that makes you think and laugh

Jeremy S. Pratte Why Jeremy loves this book

Who doesn’t love a good cyberpunk novel? Well, I love them! And this is a good one! It depicts a dark and gritty 21st century sci-fi future, which is fine, but now that we are actually in the 21st century and approaching some of the technology featured in the book, it makes it now all the more interesting.

With nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, and an interactive book for learning (which now we’d just call a tablet like an iPad), it really makes you wonder if we are actually heading for the world of the book. 

By Neal Stephenson ,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Diamond Age as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

CULT AUTHOR NEAL STEPHENSON'S UNSTOPPABLE SCI-FI CLASSIC

The future is small. The future is nano . . .

And who could be smaller or more insignificant than poor Little Nell - an orphan girl alone and adrift in a world of Confucian Law, Neo-Victorian values and warring nanotechnology?

Well, not quite alone. Because Nell has a friend, of sorts. A guide, a teacher, an armed and unarmed combat instructor, a book and a computer: the Young Lady's Illustrated Primer is all these and much much more. It is illicit, magical, dangerous.

And it isn't Nell's. It was stolen. And now…


Book cover of The Emperor's Finest
Book cover of The Cartographers
Book cover of Your Absence Is Darkness

Share your top 3 reads of 2025!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,276

readers submitted
so far, will you?